Such public opinion can be found in quantity sufficient to base an estimate only in travellers' books, in reviews, and in newspapers of the period.

When all these are brought together it is found that while there was an almost universal British criticism of American social customs and habits of life, due to that insularity of mental attitude characteristic of every nation, making it prefer its own customs and criticize those of its neighbours, summed up in the phrase "dislike of foreigners"-- it is found that British opinion was centred upon two main threads; first America as a place for emigration and, second, American political ideals and institutions[10].
British emigration to America, a governmentally favoured colonization process before the American revolution, lost that favour after 1783, though not at first definitely opposed.

But emigration still continued and at no time, save during the war of 1812, was it absolutely stopped.
Its exact amount is unascertainable, for neither Government kept adequate statistics before 1820.

With the end of the Napoleonic wars there came great distress in England from which the man of energy sought escape.

He turned naturally to America, being familiar, by hearsay at least, with stories of the ease of gaining a livelihood there, and influenced by the knowledge that in the United States he would find people of his own blood and speech.