light of all this mischief, provided he could stood to infer, that our general convention make himself an absolute prince. That, to was divinely inspired, when it formed the support the new dignity with splendour in his new federal constitution, merely because family, the partial poll tax, already levied and that constitution has been unreasonably and given to Aaron, was to be followed by a ge- vehemently opposed; yet, I must own, I have neral one, which would probably be aug. so much faith in the general government of mented from time to time, if he were suffer- the world by Providence, that I can hardly ed to go on promulgating new laws, on pre- conceive a transaction of such momentous imtence of new occasional revelations of the di-portance to the welfare of millions now exvine will, till their whole fortunes were de-isting, and to exist in the posterity of a great voured by that aristocracy. 66 Moses denied the charge of peculation, and his accusers were destitute of proofs to support it; though facts, if real, are in their nature capable of proof. "I have not," said he (with holy confidence in the presence of God,) "I have not taken from this people the value of an ass, nor done them any other injury." But his enemies had made the charge, and with some success among the populace; for no kind of accusation is so readily made, or easily believed, by knaves, as the accusation of knavery. In fine, no less than two hundred and fifty of the principal men "famous in the congregation, men of renown," heading and exciting the mob, worked them up to such a pitch of phrenzy, that they called out, stone him, stone him, and thereby secure our liberties; and let us choose other captains, that may lead us back into Egypt, in case we do not succeed in reducing the Canaanites. On the whole, it appears, that the Israelites were a people jealous of their newly acquired liberty, which jealousy was in itself no fault; but that, when they suffered it to be worked upon by artful men, pretending public good, with nothing really in view but private interest, they were led to oppose the establishment of the new constitution, whereby they brought upon themselves much inconvenience and misfortune. It farther appears, from the same inestimable history, that when, after many ages, the constitution had become old and much abused, and an amendment of it was proposed, the populace, as they had accused Moses of the ambition of making himself a prince, and cried out, stone him, stone him; so, exciting by their high-priests and scribes, they exclaimed against the Messiah, that he aimed at becoming king of the Jews, and cried, crucify him, crucify him. From all which we may gather, that popular opposition to a public measure is no proof of its impropriety, even though the opposition be excited and headed by men of distinction. To conclude, I beg I may not be under *Numbers, chap. xvi. ver. 13. "Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in this wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us." ↑ Numbers, chap. iii. 1 Exodus, chap. xxx. Numbers, chap. xvi. nation, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent ruler, in whom all inferior spirits live, and move, and have their being. THE INTERNAL STATE OF AMERICA; Being a true description of the Interest and Policy of that vast Continent. At THERE is a tradition, that, in the planting of New England, the first settlers met with many difficulties and hardships; as is generally the case when a civilized people attempt establishing themselves in a wilderness country. Being piously disposed, they sought relief from Heaven, by laying their wants and distresses before the Lord, in frequent set days of fasting and prayer. Constant meditation and discourse on these subjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented; and, like the children of Israel, there were many disposed to return to that Egypt, which perse-, cution had induced them to abandon. length, when it was proposed in the assembly to proclaim another fast, a farmer of plain sense rose and remarked, that the inconveniences they suffered, and concerning which they had so often wearied Heaven with their complaints, were not so great as they might have expected, and were diminishing every day as the colony strengthened; that the earth began to reward their labour, and to furnish liberally for their subsistence; that the seas and rivers were found full of fish, the air sweet, the climate healthy; and, above all, that they were there in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious: he therefore thought, that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would be more comfortable, as tending more to make them contented with their situation; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they owed to the Divine Being, if, instead of a fast, they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His advice was taken; and from that day to this they have, in every year, observed circumstances of public felicity sufficient to furnish employment for a thanksgiving day; which is therefore constantly ordered and religiously observed. I see in the public newspapers of different states frequent complaints of hard times, deadness of trade, scarcity of money, &c. It is not my intention to assert or maintain, that these complaints are entirely without foundation. There can be no country or nation existing, in which there will not be some people so circumstanced, as to find it hard to gain a livelihood; people who are not in the way of any profitable trade, and with whom money is scarce, because they have nothing to give in exchange for it; and it is always in the power of a small number to make a great clamour. But let us take a cool view of the general state of our affairs, and perhaps the prospect will appear less gloomy than has been imagined. make a very considerable part of the city inhabitants. At the distance I live from our American fisheries, I cannot speak of them with any degree of certainty; but I have not heard, that the labour of the valuable race of men employed in them is worse paid, or that they meet with less success, than before the revolution. The whale-men indeed have been deprived of one market for their oil; but another, I hear, is opening for them, which it is hoped may be equally advantageous; and the demand is constantly increasing for their spermaceti candels, which therefore bear a much higher price than formerly. There remain the merchants and shopkeepers. Of these, though they make but a small part of the whole nation, the number is considerable, too great indeed for the business they are employed in; for the consumption of goods in every country has its limits; the faculties of the people, that is, their ability to buy and pay, being equal only to a certain quantity of merchandise. If merchants cal much, they will of course find the sale dull for the overplus, and some of them will say, that trade languishes. They should, and doubtless will grow, wiser by experience, and import less. If too many artificers in town, and farmers from the country, flattering them The great business of the continent is agriculture. For one artisan, or merchant, I suppose, we have at least one hundred farmers, by far the greatest part cultivators of their own fertile lands, from whence many of them draw not only the food necessary for their subsistence, but the materials of their clothing, so as to need very few foreign sup-culate amiss on this proportion, and import too plies; while they have a surplus of productions to dispose of, whereby wealth is gradually accumulated. Such has been the goodness of Divine Providence to these regions, and so favourable the climate, that, since the three or four years of hardship in the first settlement of our fathers here, a famine or scar-selves with the idea of leading easier lives, city has never been heard of amongst us; on the contrary, though some years may have been more, and others less plentiful, there has always been provision enough for ourselves, and a quantity to spare for exportation. And although the crops of last year were generally good, never was the farmer better paid for the part he can spare commerce, as the published price currents abundantly testify. The lands he possesses are also continually rising in value with the increase of population; and, on the whole, he is enabled to give such good wages to those who work for him, that all who are acquainted with the old world must agree, that in no part of it are the labouring poor so generally well fed, well clothed, well lodged, and well paid, as in the Uuited States of America. If we enter the cities, we find, that, since the revolution, the owners of houses and lots of ground have had their interest vastly augmented in value; rents have risen to an astonishing height, and thence encouragement to increase building, which gives employment to an abundance of workmen, as does also the increased luxury and splendour of living of the inhabitants, thus made richer. These workmen all demand and obtain much higher wages than any other part of the world would afford them, and are paid in ready money.This class of people therefore do not, or ought not, to complain of hard times; and they turn shopkeepers, the whole natural quantity of that business divided among them all may afford too small a share for each, and occasion complaints, that trade is dead; these may also suppose, that it is owing to scarcity of money, while, in fact, it is not so much from the fewness of buyers, as from the excessive number of sellers, that the mischief arises; and, if every shopkeeping farmer and mechanic would return to the use of his plough and working tools, there would remain of widows, and other women, shopkeepers sufficient for the business, which might then afford them a comfortable maintenance. Whoever has travelled through the various parts of Europe, and observed how small is the proportion of people in affluence or easy circumstances there, compared with those in poverty and misery; the few rich and haughty landlords, the multitude of poor, abject, rackrented, tythe-paying tenants, and half paid and half-starved ragged labourers; and views here the happy mediocrity, that so generally prevails throughout these states, where the cultivator works for himself, and supports his family in decent plenty, will, methinks, see abundant reason to bless Divine Providence for the evident and great difference in our favour, and be convinced, that no nation known to us enjoys a greater share of human felicity. It is true, that in some of the states there are parties and discords; but let us look back, and ask if we were ever without them? Such will exist wherever there is liberty; and perhaps they help to preserve it. By the collision of different sentiments, sparks of truth are struck out, and political light is obtained. The different factions, which at present divide us, aim all at the public good: the differences are only about the various modes of promoting it. Things, actions, measures, and objects of all kinds, present themselves to the minds of men in such a variety of lights, that it is not possible we should all think alike at the same time on every subject, when hardly the same man retains at all times the same ideas of it. Parties are therefore the common lot of humanity; and ours are by no means more mischievous or less beneficial than those of other countries, nations, and ages, enjoying in the same degree the great blessing of political liberty. Some indeed among us are not so much grieved for the present state of our affairs, as apprehensive for the future. The growth of luxury alarms them, and they think we are from that alone in the high road to ruin. They observe, that no revenue is sufficient without economy, and that the most plentiful income of a whole people from the natural productions of their country may be dissipated in vain and needless expenses, and poverty be introduced in the place of affluence. This may be possible. It however rarely happens: for there seems to be in every nation a greater proportion of industry and frugality, which tend to enrich, than of idleness and prodigality, which occasion poverty; so that upon the whole there is a continual accumulation. Reflect what Spain, Gaul, Germany, and Britain were in the time of the Romans, inhabited by people little richer than our savages, and consider the wealth they at present possess, in numerous well-built cities, improved farms, rich moveables, magazines stocked with valuable manufactures, to say nothing of plate, jewels, and coined money; and all this, notwithstanding their bad, wasteful, plundering governments, and their mad destructive wars; and yet luxury and extravagant living rich. At present our independent governments may do what we could not then do, discourage by heavy duties, or prevent by heavy prohibitions, such importations, and thereby grow richer; if, indeed, which may admit of dispute, the desire of adorning ourselves with fine clothes, possessing fine furniture, with elegant houses, &c. is not, by strongly inciting to labour and industry, the occasion of producing a greater value, than is consumed in the gratification of that desire. The agriculture and fisheries of the United States are the great sources of our increasing wealth. He that puts a seed into the earth is recompensed, perhaps, by receiving forty out of it; and he who draws a fish out of our water, draws up a piece of silver. Let us (and there is no doubt but we shall) be attentive to these, and then the power of rivals, with all their restraining and prohibiting acts, cannot much hurt us. We are sons of the earth and seas, and, like Antæus in the fable, if, in wrestling with a Hercules, we now and then receive a fall, the touch of our parents will communicate to us fresh strength and vigour to renew the contest. SETTLEMENT ON OHIO. When lord Halifax presided over the British Board of Trade, 1760, a plan was suggested by Dr. Franklin for establishing a colony or settlement on the river Ohio; considerations of policy and utility were combined in this design; among others that of serving as a protection to the interior frontier of the adjoining colonies against the Indians, which was highly approv ed by the Board of Trade. It had not been proceeded in at that period, but in 1770 it was renewed, and Thomas Walpole, an eminent banker of London, was associated with Dr. Franklin, John Sargent, and Samuel Wharton, and many others of great property in the design. A petition praying for a tract of land on the Ohio for this purpose was presented to the king in Council by the above-named persons, on behalf of themselves and others. After the petition had been for some time before the privy council, it was referred, as usual, to the Board of Trade, to consider and report. The report made appears to have been drawn up by lord Hillsborough, who then presided at that Board. The answer which follows was written by Dr. Franklin. Those papers excited great attention at that period, and it is believed lord Hillsborough never forgave Dr. Franklin the humiliation he felt from this answer. Report of the Lord Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, on the Petition of the Honourable Thomas Walpole and his Associates, for a Grant of Lands on the river Ohio, in North America. has never suffered much restraint in those countries. Then consider the great proportion of industrious frugal farmers inhabiting the interior parts of these American states, and of whom the body of our nation consists, MY LORDS,-Pursuant to your lordships and judge whether it is possible, that the order of the 25th May, 1770, we have taken luxury of our sea-ports can be sufficient to ruin into our consideration the humble memorial such a country.-If the importation of foreign of the honourable Thomas Walpole, Benjamin luxuries could ruin a people, we should pro- Franklin, John Sargent, and Samuel Wharbably have been ruined long ago; for the Bri- ton, esquires, in behalf of themselves and their tish nation claimed a right, and practised it, associates, setting forth among other things, of importing among us not only the superflui- "That they presented a petition to his maties of their own production, but those of every jesty in council, for a grant of lands in Amenation under heaven; we bought and consum- rica (parcel of the lands purchased by governed them, and yet we flourished and grewment of the Indians) in consideration of a price to be paid in purchase of the same; that | with good policy and justice that his main pursuance of a suggestion which arose jesty should comply with that part of the mewhen the said petition was under considera- morial which relates to those lands, which are tion of the lords commissioners for trade and situated to the east of that line, and are part plantations, the memorialists presented a pe- of the dominion of Virginia. tition to the lords commissioners of the treasury, proposing to purchase a larger tract of land on the river Ohio in America, sufficient for a separate government; whereupon their lordships were pleased to acquaint the memorialists, they had no objection to accepting the proposals made by them, with respect to the purchase-money and quit-rent to be paid for the said tract of land, if it should be thought adviseable by those departments of government, to whom it belonged to judge of the proprietary of the grant, both in point of policy and justice, that the grant should be made; in consequence whereof the memorialists humbly renew their application, that a grant of said lands may be made to them, reserving therein to all persons their just and legal rights to any parts or parcels of said lands which may be comprehended within the tract prayed for by the memorialists;" whereupon we beg leave to report to your lordships, I. That according to the description of the tract of land prayed for by the memorialists, which description is annexed to their memorial, it appears to us to contain part of the dominion of Virginia, to the south of the river Ohio, and to extend several degrees of longitude westward from the western ridge of the Appalachian mountains, as will more fully appear to your lordships from the annexed sketch of the said tract, which we have since caused to be delineated with as much exactness as possible, and herewith submit to your lordships, to the end that your lordships may judge, with the greater precision, of the situation of the lands prayed for in the memorial. III. And first with regard to the policy, we take leave to remind your lordships of that principle which was adopted by this board, and approved and confirmed by his majesty, immediately after the treaty of Paris, viz. the confining the western extent of settlements, to such a distance from the sea-coast, as that those settlements should lie within the reach of the trade and commerce of this kingdom, upon which the strength and riches of it depend, and also of the exercise of that authority and jurisdiction, which was conceived to be necessary for the preservation of the colonies, in a due subordination to, and dependence upon, the mother-country; and these we apprehend to have been two capital objects of his majesty's proclamation of the 7th of October, 1763, by which his majesty declares it to be his royal will and pleasure, to reserve under his sovereignty, protection, and dominion, for the use of the Indians, all the lands not included within the three new governments, the limits of which are described therein, as also all the lands and territories lying to the westward of the sources of the rivers which fall into the sea from the west and north-west, and by which, all persons are forbid to make any purchases or settlements whatever, or to take possession of any of the lands above reserved, without special license for that purpose. IV. It is true indeed, that partly from want of precision in describing the line intended to be marked out by the proclamation of 1763, and partly from a consideration of justice in regard to legal titles to lands, which had been settled beyond that line, it has been since thought fit to enter into engagements with the Indians, for fixing a more precise and determined boundary between his majesty's territories and their hunting grounds. II. From this sketch your lordships will observe, that a very considerable part of the lands prayed for lies beyond the line, which has, in consequence of his majesty's orders for that purpose, been settled by treaty, as V. By this boundary, so far as regards the well with the tribes of the Six Nations and case now in question, your lordships will obtheir confederates, as with the Cherokee In- serve, that the hunting grounds of the Indians dians, as the boundary line between his ma- are reduced within narrower limits than were jesty's territories and their hunting grounds; specified by the proclamation of 1763; we beg and as the faith of the crown is pledged in the leave, however, to submit to your lordships, most solemn manner both to the Six Nations that the same principles of policy, in referand to the Cherokees, that notwithstanding ence to settlements at so great a distance the former of these nations had ceded the pro- from the seacost as to be out of the reach of perty in the lands to his majesty, yet no set- all advantageous intercourse with this kingtlement shall be made beyond that line, it is dom, continue to exist in their full force and our duty to report to your lordships our opi- spirit, and though various propositions for . nion, that it would on that account be highly erecting new colonies in the interior parts of improper to comply with the request of the America have been, in consequence of this memorial, so far as it includes any lands be-extension of the boundary line, submitted to yond the said line. the consideration of government (particularly It remains therefore, that we report to your in that part of the country wherein are situlordships our opinion, how far it may consistated the lands now prayed for, with a view to that object) yet the dangers and disadvan- "The proposition of forming inland colonies in America, is, we humbly conceive, entirely new it adopts principles in respect to American settlements different from what has hitherto been the policy of this kingdom, and leads to a system which if pursued through all its consequences, is, in the present state of that country, of the greatest importance. the advantages represented to arise from it in these different articles, that it was so liberally supported by the aid of parliament. "The same motives, though operating in a less degree, and applying to fewer objects, did, as we humbly conceive, induce the forming the colonies of Georgia, East Florida, and West Florida, to the south, and the making those provincial arrangements in the proclamation of 1763, by which the interior country was left to the possession of the Indians. 66 Having thus briefly stated what has been the policy of this kingdom in respect to colonizing in America, it may be necessary to take a cursory view of what has been the effect of it in those colonies, where there has been sufficient time for that effect to discover itself; because, if it shall appear from the present state of these settlements, and the progress they have made, that they are likely to produce the advantages above stated, it will, we humbly apprehend, be a very strong argument against forming settlements in the interior country; more especially, when every "The great object of colonizing upon the advantage, derived from an established gocontinent of North America, has been to im-vernment, would naturally tend to draw the prove and extend the commerce, navigation, and manufactures of this kingdom, upon which its strength and security depend. "1. By promoting the advantageous fishe-ships, and struggling with few difficulties, ry carried on upon the northern coast. "2. By encouraging the growth and culture of naval stores, and of raw materials, to be transported hither in exchange for perfect manufactures and other merchandise. "3. By securing a supply of lumber, provisions, and other necessaries, for the support of our establishments in the American islands. stream of population; fertility of soil and temperature of climate offering superior incitements to settlers, who, exposed to few hard could, with little labour, earn an abundance for their own wants, but without a possibility of supplying ours with any considerable quantities. Nor would these inducements be confined in their operation to foreign emigrants, determining their choice where to settle, but would act most powerfully upon the inhabitants of the northern and southern latitudes of your majesty's American dominions; who, In order to answer these salutary pur-ever suffering under the opposite extremes poses it has been the policy of this kingdom to confine her settlements as much as possible to the sea-coast, and not to extend them to places inaccessible to shipping, and consequently more out of the reach of commerce; a plan, which, at the same time that it secured the attainment of these commercial objects, had the further political advantage of guarding against all interfering of foreign powers, and of enabling this kingdom to keep up a superior naval force in those seas, by the actual possession of such rivers and harbours as were proper stations for fleets in time of war. "Such, may it please your majesty, have been the considerations inducing that plan of policy hitherto pursued in the settlement of your majesty's American colonies, with which the private interest and sagacity of the settlers co-operated from the first establishments formed upon that continent: it was upon these principles, and with these views, that government undertook the settling of Nova Scotia in 1749; and it was from a view of of heat and cold, would be equally tempted by a moderate climate to abandon latitudes peculiarly adapted to the production of these things, which are by nature denied to us; and for the whole of which we should, without their assistance, stand indebted to, and dependant upon other countries. "It is well known, that antecedent to the year 1749, all that part of the sea-coast of the British empire in America, which extends north-east from the province of Main to Canceau in Nova Scotia, and from thence north to the mouth of St. Laurence river, lay waste and neglected; though naturally affording, or capable by art of producing, every species of naval stores; the seas bounding with whale, cod, and other valuable fish, and having many great rivers, bays, and harbours, fit for the reception of ships of war. Thus circumstanced, a consideration of the great commercial advantages which would follow from securing the possession of this country, combined with the evidence of the value set upon it by our enemies, who, during the war which terminated |