cannot be made "straight," and he who attempts it will often find that
his inordinate toils only vex his own soul. He who does the ill in
society is alone responsible for it, and if he chances not to be rebuked
for it on this imperfect theatre of human action, yet he cannot flatter
himself at all that he shall pass through a future state "scot free."
The author views man ever as an accountable being, who lives, in a
providential sense, that he may have an opportunity to bear record to
the principles of truth, wherever he is, and this, it is perceived, can
be as effectually done, so far as there are causes of action or
reflection, in the recesses of the forest, as in the area of the
drawing-room, or the purlieus of a court. It is believed that, in the
present case, the printing of the diary could be more appropriately
done, while most of those with whom the author has acted and
corresponded, thought and felt, were still on the stage of life. The
motives that, in a higher sphere, restrained a Wraxall and a Walpole in
withholding their remarks on passing events, do not operate here; for if
there be nothing intestimonial or faulty uttered, the power of a stern,
high-willed government cannot be brought to bear, to crush independence
of thought, or enslave the labors of intellect: for if there be a
species of freedom in America more valuable than another, it is that of
being pen-free.

It is Sismondi, I think, who says that "time prepares for a long flight,
by relieving himself of every superfluous load, and by casting away
everything that he possibly can." The author certainly would not ask him
to carry an onerous weight. But, in the history of the settlement of
such a country and such a population as this, there must be little, as
well as great labors, before the result to be sent forward to posterity
can be prepared by the dignified pen of polished history; and the writer
seeks nothing more than to furnish some illustrative memoranda for that