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Travels Through the States of North America,
and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada,
During the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797, Vol. I.
PREFACE.
AT a period when war was spreadingdesolation over the fairestparts of Europe, when anarchy seemedto be extending its frightful progressfrom nation to nation, and whenthe storms that were gathering overhis native country[1] in particular,rendered it impossible to say howsoon any one of its inhabitants mightbe forced to seek for refuge in a foreignland; the Author of the followingpages was induced to cross theAtlantic, for the purpose of examiningwith his own eyes into the
1. Ireland.
ivtruth of the various accounts whichhad been given of the flourishing andhappy condition of the United Statesof America, and of ascertaining whether,in case of future emergency, anypart of those territories might belooked forward to, as an eligible andagreeable place of abode. Arrived inAmerica, he travelled pretty generallythrough the states of Pennsylvania,Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, NewJersey, and New York; he afterwardspassed into the Canadas, desirous ofobtaining equal information as to thestate of those provinces, and of determiningfrom his own immediateobservations, how far the present conditionof the inhabitants of the Britishdominions in America might be inferior,or otherwise, to that of thepeople