| Title: | Letter from Craven County, South of Carolina [U.S.] to Dromore |
|---|---|
| ID | 3898 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | 1781-90/18 |
| Year | 1785 |
| Sender | unknown |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | S.Carolina, USA |
| Destination | Dromore, Co. Down, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | son-father |
| Source | The Belfast Mercury, no.22, vol.III, 14 October 1785, p.3, c.1 |
| Archive | The Linenhall Library, N. Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9407215 |
| Date | 10/01/1785 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 06:06:1994. |
| Word Count | 372 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Extract of a letter from a native of this kingdom, several years a resident in America, to his father near Dromore, dated Craven County, State of South Carolina, Jan. 10, 1785. "The country here is blessed with good air and water; our [spirits?] are good; religious distinctions are unknown, no one lords it over another; every denomination supports their own clergy, no advancement is derived on account of opini[-----] [----] Our civil laws are founded on the ancient and approved basis of natural right and moral equity, and calculated to protect our liberty; our Representatives, or Assembly men, are chosen by ourselves, for making our own laws: The expenses of the war are to be paid as follows - first Tory pro[perty?], land and moveables, are confiscated and sold, and the profits go to the Treasury for that end; next the vacant lands to be settled, are charged at the rate of 10£ Sterl. [per?] 100 acres at settling; which together with moderate [-----] and negro taxes, will in a little time (without hurting planters or citizens) pay our proportion of the expences. The prices of grain, cattle, etc. take as follows: corn [----]d per bushell; wheat 2s.2d; rice is 9d, barley ditto; cow with calf 2 guineas, some 2 and a half; 3 plow horse 7 [-----], pork 14s.6d per cwt. All the foregoing Irish Sterl. yearly holding with little or no variation. - This Country [is?] again to wear the looks of peace and plenty; foreign, [--]nternal trade is prosecuted with vigor; our markets are fully stocked, and benign freedom spreads around her [-----]ing wings. All kinds of Tradesmen meet with good engagement, and a labouring man can earn 1s.6d per day. [No] restraint is laid on settlers from any European nation. People here tan their own leather and make their own [-----]; the girls spin flax, wool and cotton, and chiefly both [------] and taylor their own manufacturers with more skill [than?] [a?] European would expect. - There is no 1d.10s and a [----] in this Country; no illegal impositions, no fox-tail [-----] nor does my Lord Bishop's [bosom?] raise a dust to [elevate?] the poor. - And now I leave you to judge, whether who possesses freedom, peace and plenty, or those who [live?] under the galling yoke of oppression, stand fairest to the comfort of human life." |
