| Title: | Carlile Pollock, New York, to Rev Dr. William Campbell, Armagh |
|---|---|
| ID | 2127 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Pollock, Carlile/88 |
| Year | 1789 |
| Sender | Pollock, Carlile |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | works in the family |
| Sender Religion | Protestant (originally A Presbyterian) |
| Origin | New York, USA |
| Destination | Armagh, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Rev. William Campbell |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | nephew-uncle |
| Source | The Bulletin of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, Vol. 23, 1994. |
| Archive | The Armagh County Museum, Armagh |
| Doc. No. | 9802463 |
| Date | 23/06/1789 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 09:02:98. |
| Word Count | 2026 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | "MY DEAR UNCLE": a LETTER from NEW YORK, 1789 edited by W.D. PATTON. The text reproduced here is taken from a copy of a letter which was written to the Rev. Dr. William Campbell, Presbyterian minister of Armagh, by his nephew Carlile [Carlisle?] Pollock in New York. Campbell (1727-1805) was a well-known and scholarly minister of the Synod of Ulster of New Light persuasion who had ministered in Armagh since his settlement there in 1764 (1). He served as Moderator of the Synod from 1773 to 1774, and represented the Synod in various dealings with the government. He was born in Newry and married his cousin Jane Carlile, [Carlisle?] also from Newry, in November 1758. Her sister Elizabeth married John Pollock of Drumcashalone (or Ashgrove), Newry. The Campbells had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters: Carlile [Carlisle?], George and Hugh emigrated to America and settled in New York; their sister Mary, married Isaac Corry, M.P. for Newry (2). The letter indicates that Campbell's son Robert, who was then 16 years of age, had emigrated earlier in the year to learn the Pollock family business in New York and to settle there. He died at New York on 16 June 1791 (3). Newyork, 23rd June, 1789 My dear Uncle, I received your kind and affectionate letter of 16th of April by Robert, who is now writing to you. The idea of distance from home will I hope be lessened by his being domesticated with friends, who will endeavour to make his time both pleasing & useful. I have the most perfect reliance on the goodness of his dispositions, and the fairness of his mind for the stock he comes from, cannot produce bad fruit. My Aunts affectionate and anxious temper, which I well know, may be at rest, respecting Robert's well being. Were she an eye witness of our family situation and habits of living she cou'd not wish him to be better situated, & as to the business which he has to learn with us, he will find it a system of fair trade, on a footing of the most suitable exactness and regularity. It will be George's peculiar province to train him in the family Counting house, and in him, he will have a Master capable of making him a competent Merchant, and whose heart is recitude itself. Mrs Pollock too will consider him as a Brother and I trust his own conduct will ensure him a continuance of the esteem of us all. Robert appeared to feel himself at home from the day he came among us. He likes his situation, and is pleased with the Country. He does not appear to have any longing after home, which I recollect the force of at his age, & I hope this is in a great measure owing to his considering himself still in his own family. I am highly gratified with the Tracts you sent me, which I have not however had time to read thro' having only just got into the examination of the Bis. Stock's defence & apology (4). I shall oblige several of my friends here with a perusal of them. I do not, on mature consideration, regret your having declined adventuring to this Country. If you were 20 years younger, and placed here, I am confident you would make a congregation and Society for yourself but you cou'd never form yourself to what they are. I will venture to say, you yourself wou'd not be a Presbyterian in this Country, such as they are here. I have attended their Church, but I have discontinued my attendance there, because they preach what I do not understand. They are of the Methodist class, and endeavour to bewilder the mind instead of enlightening it. If you consider the mass of people that compose a congregation in America, you will find that few of them are capable of distinguishing religion from ranting and declamation. I have myself heard a Mr Clark who left the neighbourhood of Monaghan 20 years ago preach in the oldest Presbyterian Church here, and liken God to a mouse in the wall, (speaking in the most vulgar Scottish accent) for he cou'd see you, but you cou'd not see him. He told us also that all our thoughts ran upon getting children, and what were they when we had them ? A mere mass of corruption !- He also said there was a man at our elbows, and he was a greater Man than the Emperor of Germany, and the King of France, (the Governor was present and every eye was ready to give him the compliment) but he soon undeceived us, by letting us know that this Man was the Deel. [Devil?] This Preacher is heard, and his house is full, and the same people, perhaps, would prefer his preaching to yours (5). I am not, from my own observation, of opinion that Men act most wisely and consistently in religious matters, when left altogether to themselves. This country proves this to my satisfaction. I am disgusted beyond measure at what is called here religion, and I have fled to the Episcopal Litany, as the least exceptional of any public service I can find. I take as much of it as I like, and lay the rest aside. It must be a considerable time before the Presbyterian Church is on a right footing here. Men, in the gross, are not sufficiently refined by education and opulence. You might preach to empty pews, & a fellow who cou'd not understand even what he preached himself wou'd be followed by crowds. As Robert will have full opportunity to judge for himself, we shall leave him to act in his choice unbiased by us. We shall only take care that his attendance shall be regular at Public Worship. I shall have your Notes bound in with the Pamphlets, and peruse both carefully. To write on the politics of America, it wou'd be most unquestionably necessary to have had a long residence in this Country, which is certainly unique. General principles may be safely applied, but they wou'd loose much of their force, by not knowing the American character in the original. In Adams's defence of the Constitutions of the American States pub. In London, you will see in the conclusion I believe of the Preface an observation he made to a French Gentleman in Paris who expressed an intention of writing on American Government, and no more just remark was ever made. The education and habits of the Americans differ from that of all other Men. They have from the cradle, sentiments which the subject(s) of any Government in Europe are either strangers to, particularly liberty, far beyond even the idea of an English Man, is (or ?) their Idol, but this independence contributes not to social pleasure. They (the Mass I mean) are far from amiable. They are selfish, uncommunicative, and unneighbourly. A Country Man does not know his neighbour, and affects, if you ask him, even not to know his name. And yet far West, their doors are open to the Traveller, but curiosity is here to be gratified. I lament this, for I love the Country, of all the Earth. It is a Noble Country, and there are men enough in it to engage your affections, whom you can select for yourself. We have expended fourteen thousand pounds sterlg. in building an Edifice for the Meetings of Congress, (at the sole expence of this State,) which forms a principal ornament of our City. When both Houses are accommodated with a suitable dignity, and by this conveyance I send you the debates of the lower House, taken in short hand by a person who has permission to sit behind the Speaker's Chair and I shall continue to send them as they come out. 29 July I intended the foregoing to have been sent by the first opportunity after Robert's arrival, but missed the sailing of the Vessel. I have now the pleasure to tell you, that Robert is well, and his conduct and attention to business, everything that we can wish. His appetite is good, and light cloathing [clothing?] bears him thro' the summer as well as a native, tho' we have had the thermometer some days at 88. The residence of Congress and the President, who is certainly the most generally beloved Man of any this day on Earth, has had its effect on our Governor and his Party. He has summoned the Legislature, and Senators have been elected to Congress, notwithstanding the hubbub they raised at the meeting of which I sent you the debates. The two Rascally States of Rhode Island and North Carolina must in the end come in. The new Government operates gently so far, and I believe it is their object to make its effects almost imperceptible (6). It is wonderful to observe the difference between a Republic and a Monarchy. In the one, the Governors are obliged to creep submissively round the affections of the People. In the other-"tel est mon plaisir" says the Gentleman who rules the roost, and roasted ye may be, and be damned. When you imagine a Country nearly boundless in extent, where government is scarcely felt, and education pervading even the remotest parts, where the Lands (crave ?) the settlers and not the Men the Lands, where even in the first stage of settlement, a log hut and a few acres of cleared ground, surrounded by the Forest in all its natural beauties, it is a subject for a landscape painter- and the Owner of this Forest is more obliged to you for settling on it, than you are for his permission. When all this is considered, it is folly to conjecture that such a country should not be happy and prosperous (7). But such opinions have been very general in Europe. There was an opinion, in which I was with all the World fixed, that America cou'd not become a Manufacturing Country for a great length of time, at least until she had a (redundant ?) population. This, however, was merely a speculative axiom. The fact is otherwise. She is actually at this moment a manufacturing Country to an astonishing extent in all the useful articles most necessary for Man, and in many of the finer mechanic arts. Mathematical Instrument Makers, Surgeons and Common Cutlers, Gold and Silversmiths, Jewellers, Clock and Watch Makers, Painters Carvers &c.., follow their trades to great advantage. And the making of coarse linen, sheeting, broad cloths, hats, sailcloth, also all the cotton works of Manchester with all their machines, and all works in Iron from an anchor to a common nail, with iron founderies &c., &c. is carried on to an incredible extent, when you consider it as a Country where these things were never to happen. But the culture of Silk surprises me more than any other, I have seen (...)testring & other Silks for Women's wear, made in common linen looms, for want of other, which was allowed to be as good as any from Europe, even by Englishmen. And sewing silk of all kinds and colors the same. Mr. Aspinwall who has the chief merit of reviving this Culture in the Eastern States and has with great labor led the people into it, I intimately know. They can raise a pound of silk and prepare it for the loom, or sewing by the same expenditure of labor &c., that they can a pound of common linen yarn. And a pound of this silk is worth six dollars. The cultivation of the Mulberry tree, he led them into by degrees-each man planted perhaps a dozen, and the family amused themselves with as many worms as these would sustain. From amusement it has become a business - whole plantations are made, million of trees are planted, and six dollars a pound for silk, has had more weight when once felt, than better oratory than his would have without it. He complains that the want of a collected body of laboring people, in one spot, impedes the rapidity of its progress. It is at present in the hands of farmers, who individually, do just as they like with it. But in my opinion there is nothing can stop the current of so advantagious ( advantageous ?) a cultivation, and I shou'd not be surprised to find in my day, that its produce wou'd pay for half the imports of the Nation. We were at considerable expence (expense ?) last Season to improve our Works for cleaning flaxseed, and we have the satisfaction to learn that our Brand was liked in Ireland. This business is generally left to Porters. We do it ourselves. We shall keep Robert right at it next winter. I am extremely pleased to learn you had some intention of removing to Clonmel. I hope my Aunt will not dislike the removal. I am sure anything is better than Armagh and a winter's morning on the Tullyhappies-land of Arcadia ! (8) My love and most affectionate wishes will ever attend to you my dear Uncle and you my dear Aunt, and my Cousins, who are now beyond my recollection. I beg to be kindly remembered to Mrs. McClinchy, whom I am glad to hear from Robert is well and happy. Your most affectionate Friend & Nephew, Carlile Pollock. 1. See my forthcoming publication "Rev Dr. William Campbell of Armagh, Presbyterian and Patriot" (Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland) for further details. I am grateful to Mr. Ramsey Greer, the Deputy Director of the Armagh County Museum, Armagh, for permission to reproduce this letter. Other material of Campbell's is in the possession of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland. 2. See a family geneaology in file MS. No. A9, Armagh County Museum, Armagh. 3. Genealogical table in William Campbell's Bible, Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland. 4. A Vindication of the Principles and Character of the Presbyterians of Ireland. Addressed to the Bishop of Cloyne in Answer to his Book entitled, The Present State of the Church of Ireland (1787) and, An Examination of The Bishop of Cloyne's Defence of his Principles; with Observations on some of his Lordship's Apologists particularly the Rev. Dr. Stock; containing an Enquiry into the Constitution and Effects of our Ecclesiastical Establishment; and also an Historical Review of the Political Principles and Conduct of Prebyterians and Episcopals in Great Britain and Ireland. With a Defence of the Church of Scotland from the Charge of Persecution brought by his Lordship's Apologist (1788). 5. This is very likely to be the Rev. Thomas Clark. A licentiate of the Burgher Presbytery of Glasgow, between 1749 and 1751, he itinerated throughout Counties Monaghan, Tyrone, Armagh and Down to advance the Seceding cause. He was ordained to the pastoral charge of Ballybay in 1751. He was the leader of the Cahans exodus, in which 300 Presbyterians left for America in 1764. He died in 1792, minister of a congregation at Long Kane, Abbeville, South Carolina, but had been for some years previous to settling there a minister in New York. Reid says he was a devout evangelical; that he "expressed himself in broad Scotch" and "used very homely language in his sermons" and, referring to one of his tracts, that the language was "exceedingly uncouth, and it supplies abundant proof that its author was sadly deficient in literary polish." However Reid warmed to his evangelical heart, as Pollock evidently did not! J.S. Reid, History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, ed. W.D. Killen (Belfast 1867) vol 3, pp. 310-317. See also, J.M. Patten and A. Graham, The Somonauk Book (Chicago, 1928) and J.A. McIvor, Extracts from a Ballbay Scrapbook (Ballybay, 1975). 6. By the Treaty of Paris of 1783 the American War of Independence had wrested control of the continent from the British colonial power. The Americans were conscious of a sense of nationhood and hopeful for the future despite the many obstacles that stood in their way. The government and Congress were at this stage weak bodies, many of the states still jealous of their own powers and resistant to giving them up completely to a central power. This is reflected in the comment about his own state and on Rhode Island and North Carolina, the last of the thirteen states to come into the union. George Washington was revered as the man who had won the War with Britain. See Hugh Brogan, The Penguin History of the United States of America (Penguin, 1990). 7. The populated area of the Americas had until this time clustered around the eastern seaboard. Now the trail west beckoned to explore and settle the vast tracts of land beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Opportunities abounded as did also the difficulties. 8. Campbell moved to Clonmel (old) congregation in November 1789, near to his old friends and sponsors the Bagwell family. |
