This Mr. Hulme knew the comforts and cheapness of Philadelphia, and its market, too well to think of settling at Boulton-house Prairie; besides, he evidently sneers, as much as a friend can, at the choice of situation Mr. B. has made, because it appears not to possess any {119} of the capabilities for mills, &c.: he adds, "I was rather disappointed, or sorry at any rate, not to find near Mr. Birkbeck's any of the means for machinery, such as waterfalls, minerals, and mines; some of those however he may yet find." Thus has Mr. B. chosen to build a house, plant a garden, and dwell in a situation where he cannot grow corn so cheap as he can purchase it, and have it conveyed at a considerable expence from the settlement of Harmony,[41] distant above twenty miles; in a situation too, which if it have any recommendation at all, it must be for the purposes of agriculture, for others it has none that are yet discovered. This may be to the taste, and it may suit the purse of Mr. B., and no one could fairly find fault with him for pleasing himself; but, when he steps beyond this line, and publishes plausible representations to induce others to seek fortune and independence in such situations, he is then doing that which he has no right to do, and has much to answer for: he has led people into this wilderness where, for any thing he has done, they may in vain look around for the expected shelter; they will see only Mr. B's house and garden, and perhaps {120} two or three log huts which at present constitute the whole of the new town of Wansborough; in short, he seems only to have thought of himself and to have falsified his public promises. I believe it to be a fact that the colony could not have outlived the winter of 1818, but that the whole must have been dispersed or starved, had it not been for the exertions of Mr. Flower; who perceived in time the coming want, and at considerable trouble and expence obtained a sufficient and timely supply. Mr. Birkbeck, in his publication, inveighs strongly against land-jobbing; yet if I am correctly informed he has obtained and is now gaining great profits by it,--he has entered as many as thirty thousand acres, which he now disposes of in lots as high, where he can, as four dollars per acre; it seems indeed to be his only business, to carry on which with better success he has given to others, it is said, an interest in the concern to find out and bring in purchasers of more money than judgment. One of these jackals, reported to be so employed, I met with on the road.