inability of their ruined debtors, have some right to call upon their own government (which by its bad projects has ruined those debtors) for a compensation. A sum given by Parliament for this purpose would be more properly disposed, than in rewarding pretended loyalists, who fomented the war. And, the heavier the sum, the more tendency it might have to discourage such destructive projects hereafter. Among the merchants of Britain, trading formerly to America, there are to my knowledge many considerate and generous men, who never joined in this clamour, and who, on the return of peace, though by the treaty entitled to an immediate suit for their debts, were kindly disposed to give their debtors reasonable time for restoring their circumstances, so as to be able to make payment conveniently. These deserve the most grateful acknowledgments. And indeed it was in their favour, and perhaps for their sakes in favour of all other British creditors, that the law of Pennsylvania, though since much exclaimed against, was made, restraining the recovery of old debts during a certain time. For this restraint was general, respecting domestic as well as British debts, it being thought unfair, in cases where there was not sufficient for all, that the inhabitants, taking advantage of their nearer situation, should swallow the whole, excluding foreign creditors from any share. And in cases where the favourable part of the foreign creditors were disposed to give time, with the views abovementioned, if others less humane and considerate were allowed to bring immediate suits and ruin the debtor, those views would be defeated. When this law expired in September, 1784, a new one was made, continuing for some time longer the restraint with respect to domestic debts, but expressly taking it away where the debt was due from citizens of the State to any of the subjects of Great Britain;' which shows clearly the disposition of the Assembly, and that the fair intentions above ascribed to them in making the former act, are not merely the imagination of the writer. Indeed, the clamour has been much augmented by numbers joining it, who really had no claim on our country. Every debtor in Britain, engaged in whatever trade, when he had no better excuse to give for delay of payment, accused the want of returns from America. And the indignation, thus excited against us, now appears so general among the English, that one would imagine their nation, which is so exact in expecting punctual payment from all the rest of the world, must be at home the model of justice, the very pattern of punctuality. Yet, if one were disposed to recriminate, it would not be difficult to find sufficient Matter in several Parts of their Conduct. But this I forbear. The two separate Nations are now at Peace, and there can be no use in mutual Provocations to fresh Enmity. If I have shown clearly that the present Inability of many American Merchants to discharge their Debts, contracted before the War, is not so much their Fault, as the Fault of the crediting Nation, who, by making an unjust War on them, obstructing their Commerce, plundering and devastating their Country, were the Cause of 1 Extract from an Act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, entitled, "An Act for directing the Mode of recovering Debts contracted before the first Day of January, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven." Exception in Favour of British Creditors. "Sect. 7. And provided also, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that this Act, nor any thing therein contained, shall not extend, or be construed to extend, to any debt or debts which were due before the fourth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, by any of the citizens of the State, to any of the subjects of Great Britain."— F. that Inability, I have answered the Purpose of writing this Paper. How far the Refusal of the British Court to execute the Treaty in delivering up the Frontier Posts may on account of this Deficiency of Payment, be justifiable, is chearfully submitted to the World's impartial Judgment. 1799. THE INTERNAL STATE OF AMERICA; (L. C.) BEING A TRUE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTEREST AND 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 dispos'd, 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 dispos'd to return to that Egypt, which Persecution had induc'd them to abandon. At length, when it was proposed in the Assembly to proclaim another Fast, a Farmer of plain Sense rose, and remark'd, that the Inconveniencies they suffer'd, and concerning which they had so often weary'd Heaven with their Complaints, were not so great as they 1 Two copies, the rough draft and a transcript, of this article exist in L. C. Sparks and Bigelow printed from the transcript. I have followed the rough draft. - ED. might have expected, and were diminishing every day, as the Colony strengthen'd; that the Earth began to reward their Labour, and to furnish liberally for their Subsistence; that the Seas and Rivers were 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 ow'd 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, observ'd 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 Papers 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 intirely 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. The great Business of the Continent is Agriculture. For one Artisan, or Merchant, I suppose, we have at least 100 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 Subsistance, but the Materials of their Clothing, so as to have little Occasion for foreign Supplies; 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 Scarcity has never been heard of among us; on the contrary, tho' 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 altho' 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 well fed, well cloth'd, well lodg'd, and well paid, as in the United 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 encrease Building, which gives Employment to an abundance of Workmen, as does also the encreas'd Luxury and Splendor of Living of the Inhabitants, thus made richer. These Workmen all demand and obtain much higher Wages than any |