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Show S96 EMIGRANrr'S GUI~E. day of rest much more inclit1ed to repeat debauch, than to perform the sacred duties, that all laws, divine and human, have imposed ; lluties, that to perform, is t0 secure the highest enjoyment of which our nature is Eusceptible. Let the poorest young man of from twenty to thirty years of age, who finds himself in the theatre we have under our view, only tum his eye towards the different members of society, and at every glance he will find men in difft-rent circumstances, who, at a similar age with his own, had J10 other patrimony but health of body and mind, and who experienced no other good fortune but the effects of wellconuucted labour. If from Europe, he will find nothing of the hauteur of biah life, towards men who are engaged in honest industry. He is the~e relieved from that depression of heart that arises from contumely, " the proud man's scorn.'' Treated as, a party to a fair contract, and not as a dependant, his mind expands, his nature be comes daily more exalted, and feelings and virtues arise in his soul of which he bad no previous conception. Many will say that these observations can only apply to the people of the states and territories where slavery is prohibited. That is, however, not the fact ; a residence of sixteen years io places where slavery is prevalent, enables us to contradict a general expression, that in such places, whitf:s, performing manual labour, are confounded in the moral estimates of the people with slaves. Though less respect is certainly paiJ to useful labour in the slave states than where all the duties of life are performed by the whites ; yet the distance, l)etween the two races of men are in all cases immense. So deep, profcmnd, am.l inveterate is the feeling on that subject, that not any where in the United States, can property, sobriety, intelligence, and every other advantage, except colour, raise in public opinion a man the most remotely allied to the African, to a rank equal to the meanest white. Any person who resides a few years in Louisiana will ue witness to some very remarkable exemplifications of this innate contempt for all those whose affinity involve them in the contumely heaped upon men degraded by slavery. Some of the most wealthy planters in the two states of Louisiana and Mississippi have made their out~et as mechanics. They are now respected, in exact proportion as their conduct merits. There exists no country where skilful mechanics, particularly carpenters, blacksmiths, millwrights, bricklayers, and tanners, have a more fruitful field before them than in Alabama, 1\'Iississippi, and Louisiana. l f attentive to the duties of their professions, they incur no risk of being confounued with any class of men but the virtuous and the honest. One circumstance alone can degrade the white man in any part of the United States, to a level with the slave ; that is his own moral dereliction. It is this source from which has flowed almost a11 ~ he supposed contempt experienced in the southern states by Jabourmg men. The whole of these admonitory lessons may be summed up in fe~Y v:c rds; th at with caution, temperance, honesty and industry , mo~t • El\HGRANT'S GUIDE. 297 men will not . only sec~r~ c_ompetence, but wealth, in any part of the valleys of Oh10 and Mtsstssrppr. The lesso~~ that can be given respecting health would be in great part a repetitiOn. of wh~t has, or n1ight be, said on the subject of wealth. . There Js one Circumstance in the former case but little con~ lected w1~h the latter; that is, exposure to night air. In all pJaces m the Un1ted State£ south of Tennessee, and in summer in many places north ?f that ~tate, night air is extremely deleterious.' Travellers unacquamted wtth the peculiar circumstances of thes~ reO' ions are apt t_o neglect, ~rare uninformed what proper precautions to0 take to p:ovt?e for their own safety.* Man is so constituted as to compel hi?J, m _ord~r to enjoy a healthy state of body or mind, to sleep onetlllrd lus trme ; and any circumstance that derange3 this natural course for any lengt~ of time, superinuuces pain and disease. We are persuaded tbat _no_ II_ttle_ of the ordinary mortality prevalent up~n the hanks of the ~Jss.estppt and its confluent streams, arises from undue exposur~ to mght dews and want of rest. Regimen must be ]eft to the habits, temperaMlent, and pursuits of the individual ; no advicQ from another, or ev~n rules adopted personally, can be undeviatin~Jy pursued. P~rplexity of min~ often leads to disease. We have been forced to WI~nesa some fatal mstances where death could be traced from disappomte~ hop_es. In no_ country has so many instances of those unfounded mfiatwns of rnmd been exhibited as in the countries we have reviewed in this treatise. . As every ert~aval?ance of expectation ~as be~n fostered, the chagrm that follows faiJure must be in prop_ortwn to the warmth which hopes of success have been cherished. Ctrcumstances of bitter regret sometimes happen where the sufferer has bee·n guilty of no other fault than credulity. Land purchases are abundant, _where the purchasers struggled for life against the effect~ of one rumous step. The cau~es are uumerous why emigrants, particularly Europeans, ought to proceed with the utmost caution n1 the pur~hase ..o. f 1a~ded property. If the pur~hase~ are made from the U n_Ited . States government, no apprehension need be indulged respectm_g lllle ; but great car~ should be used in choosing the spot. The advtce of persons long restllent ought to be taken as it respects adv~ntages of commerce, agriculture, health, and other local convemences. If the _purchase is made from private persons, too much care cannot b_e used Ill conTeyance. 1 n the state of Louisiana and Missouri tern tory, la~ded estate is tacitly mortgaged for its own price -conse· tq uently ' It be c omes tl·1 e I· mperati·v e d uty o f a purchaser to ' ascertain ba~ the payments have been made upon former sales and that the cham of title is c_Jear from the first grantee to the se11er. ' The most radtcal fault committed by emigrants respecting land, is, the purc~ase of too much, and the investment of capital in that man~~ r, whtch ~oul_d be much more be~eficialJy employed upon the rrplete cultr~atwn of a lesser quantity. The probable rise in the ~ ce of land IS no excuse for this error. Where one man has gained *See page 40 of this Treatise. 38 |