Chapter XXXIII: Letter III (4)

I received your obliging letter of the 10th May, with the most acceptable present of your _Physiocratie_, which I have read with great pleasure, and received from it a great deal of instruction. There is such a freedom from local and national prejudices and partialities, so much benevolence to mankind in general, so much goodness mixt with the wisdom, in the principles of your new philosophy, that I am perfectly charmed with them, and wish I could have stayed in France for some time, to have studied in your school, that I might by conversing with its founders have made myself quite a master of that philosophy.... I had, before I went into your country, seen some letters of yours to Dr. Templeman, that gave me a high opinion of the doctrines you are engaged in cultivating and of your personal talents and abilities, which made me greatly desirous of seeing you. Since I had not that good fortune, the next best thing is the advantage you are so good to offer me of your correspondence, which I shall ever highly value, and endeavour to cultivate with all the diligence I am capable of.

I am sorry to find that that wisdom which sees the welfare of the parts in the prosperity of the whole, seems yet not to be known in this country.... We are so far from conceiving that what is best for mankind, or even for Europe in general, may be best for us, that we are even studying to establish and extend a separate interest of Britain, to the prejudice of even Ireland and our colonies.... It is from your philosophy only that the maxims of a contrary and more happy conduct are to be drawn, which I therefore sincerely wish may grow and increase till it becomes the governing philosophy of the human species, as it must be that of superior beings in better worlds. I will take the liberty of sending you a little fragment that has some tincture of it, which, on that account, I hope may be acceptable.

Be so good as to present my sincere respect to that venerable apostle, Dr. Quesnay, and to the illustrious Ami des Hommes (of whose civilities to me at Paris I retain a grateful remembrance), and believe me to be, with real and very great esteem Sir,

Your obliged and most obedient humble servant
B. FRANKLIN.

TO JOHN ALLEYNE[75]

Craven Street, [August 9, 1768].

DEAR SIR

You made an Apology to me for not acquaint^g me sooner with your Marriage. I ought now to make an Apology to you for delaying so long the Answer to your Letter. It was mislaid or hid among my Papers and much Business put it out of my Mind, or prevented my looking for it and writing when I thought of it. So this Account between us if you please may stand balanced. I assure you it gave me great Pleasure to hear you were married, and into a Family of Reputation. This I learnt from the Public Papers. The Character you give me of your Bride (as it includes every Qualification that in the married State conduces to mutual Happiness) is an Addition to that Pleasure. Had you consulted me, as a Friend, on the Occasion, Youth on both sides I should not have thought any Objection. Indeed, from the matches that have fallen under my Observation, I am rather inclin'd to think, that early ones stand the best Chance for Happiness. The Tempers and habits of young People are not yet become so stiff and uncomplying, as when more advanced in Life; they form more easily to each other, and hence many Occasions of Disgust are removed. And if Youth has less of that Prudence, that is necessary to conduct a Family, yet the Parents and elder Friends of young married Persons are generally at hand to afford their Advice, which amply supplies that Defect; and, by early Marriage, Youth is sooner form'd to regular and useful Life; and possibly some of those Accidents, Habits or Connections, that might have injured either the Constitution, or the Reputation, or both, are thereby happily prevented.

Particular Circumstances of particular Persons may possibly sometimes make it prudent to delay entering into that State; but in general, when Nature has render'd our Bodies fit for it, the Presumption is in Nature's Favour, that she has not judg'd amiss in making us desire it. Late Marriages are often attended, too, with this further Inconvenience, that there is not the same Chance the parents shall live to see their offspring educated. "_Late Children_," says the Spanish Proverb, "_are early Orphans_." A melancholy Reflection to those, whose Case it may be! With us in America, Marriages are generally in the Morning of Life; our Children are therefore educated and settled in the World by Noon; and thus, our Business being done, we have an Afternoon and Evening of chearful Leisure to ourselves; such as your Friend at present enjoys. By these early Marriages we are blest with more Children; and from the Mode among us, founded in Nature, of every Mother suckling and nursing her own Child, more of them are raised. Thence the swift Progress of Population among us, unparallel'd in Europe.

In fine, I am glad you are married, and congratulate you most cordially upon it. You are now more in the way of becoming a useful Citizen; and you have escap'd the unnatural State of Celibacy for Life, the Fate of many here, who never intended it, but who, having too long postpon'd the Change of their Condition, find at length, that 'tis too late to think of it, and so live all their Lives in a Situation that greatly lessens a Man's Value. An odd Volume of a Set of Books you know is not worth its proportion of the Set, and what think you of the Usefulness of an odd Half of a Pair of Scissors? It cannot well cut any thing. It may possibly serve to scrape a Trencher.

Pray make my Compliments and best Wishes acceptable to your Spouse. I am old and heavy and grow a little indolent, or I should ere this have presented them in Person. I shall make but small Use of the old Man's Privilege, that of giving Advice to younger Friends. Treat your Wife always with Respect; it will procure Respect to you, not from her only but from all that observe it. Never use a slighting Expression to her, even in jest, for Slights in Jest, after frequent bandyings, are apt to end in angry earnest. Be studious in your Profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least, you will, by such Conduct, stand the best Chance for such Consequences. I pray God to bless you both; being ever your affectionate Friend,

B. FRANKLIN.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE LONDON CHRONICLE[76]

August 18, 1768.

QUERIES, _recommended to the Consideration of those Gentlemen who are for vigorous measures with the Americans._

1. Have the Colonists _refused_ to answer any reasonable requisitions made to their _Assemblies_ by the mother country?

2. If they have _not refused_ to grant reasonable aids in the way, which they think consistent with _liberty_, why must they be stripped of their property without their own _consent_, and in a way, which they think _inconsistent_ with liberty?

3. What is it for a people to be _enslaved_ and _tributary_, if this be not, viz. to be _forced_ to give up their property at the arbitrary pleasure of persons, to whose authority they have not _submitted_ themselves, nor _chosen_ for the purpose of imposing taxes upon them? Wherein consisted the impropriety of King Charles's demanding ship money by his sole authority, but in its being an exercise of power by the King, which the people had not _given_ the King? Have the people of America, as the people of Britain, by sending representatives, _consented_ to a power in the British parliament to tax them?

4. Has not the British parliament, by repealing the stamp act, acknowledged that they judged it _improper_? Is there any difference between the stamp act, and the act obliging the Americans to pay _whatever we please_, for articles which they _cannot do without_, as glass and paper? Is there any difference as to justice between our treatment of the colonists, and the tyranny of the Carthaginians over their conquered Sardinians, when they obliged them to take all their corn from them, and at whatever price they pleased to set upon it?

5. If that be true, what is commonly said, viz. That the mother country gains _two millions_ a year by the colonies, would it not have been wiser to have gone on quietly in the _happy way_ we were in, till our gains by those rising and flourishing countries should amount to _three_, _four_ or _five_ millions a year, than by these new fashioned vigorous measures to kill the goose which lays the golden eggs? Would it not have been better policy, instead of _taxing_ our colonists, to have done whatever we could to _enrich_ them; and encourage them to take off our articles of _luxury_, on which we may put our own price, and thus draw them into paying us a _voluntary_ tax; than deluge them in blood, thin their countries, impoverish and distress them, interrupt their commerce, force them on bankruptcy, by which our merchants must be ruined, or tempt them to emigrations, or alliances with our enemies?

6. The late war could not have been _carried on_ without America, nor without Scotland? Have we treated America and Scotland in such a manner as is likely in future wars to encourage their zeal for the common cause? Or is England alone to be the Drawcansir of the world, and to bully not only their enemies, but her _friends_?

7. Are not the subjects of Britain concerned to check a ministry, who, by this rage of heaping taxes on taxes, are only drawing into their own hands more and more wealth and power, while they are hurting the _commercial_ interest of the empire in general, at the same time that, amidst profound _peace_, the national debt and burden on the public continue undiminished?

N. M. C. N. P. C. H.

POSITIONS TO BE EXAMINED, CONCERNING NATIONAL WEALTH

Dated April 4, 1769.

1. All food or subsistence for mankind arises from the earth or waters.

2. Necessaries of life, that are not food, and all other conveniences, have their values estimated by the proportion of food consumed while we are employed in procuring them.

3. A small people, with a large territory, may subsist on the productions of nature, with no other labour than that of gathering the vegetables and catching the animals.

4. A large people, with a small territory, finds these insufficient, and, to subsist, must labour the earth, to make it produce greater quantities of vegetable food, suitable for the nourishment of men, and of the animals they intend to eat.

5. From this labour arises a _great increase_ of vegetable and animal food, and of materials for clothing, as flax, wool, silk, &c. The superfluity of these is wealth. With this wealth we pay for the labour employed in building our houses, cities, &c., which are therefore only subsistence thus metamorphosed.

6. _Manufactures_ are only _another shape_ into which so much provisions and subsistence are turned, as were equal in value to the manufactures produced. This appears from hence, that the manufacturer does not, in fact, obtain from the employer, for his labour, _more_ than a mere subsistence, including raiment, fuel, and shelter; all which derive their value from the provisions consumed in procuring them.

7. The produce of the earth, thus converted into manufactures, may be more easily carried to distant markets than before such conversion.

8. _Fair commerce_ is, where equal values are exchanged for equal, the expense of transport included. Thus, if it costs A in England as much labour and charge to raise a bushel of wheat, as it costs B in France to produce four gallons of wine, then are four gallons of wine the fair exchange for a bushel of wheat, A and B meeting at half distance with their commodities to make the exchange. The advantage of this fair commerce is, that each party increases the number of his enjoyments, having, instead of wheat alone, or wine alone, the use of both wheat and wine.

9. Where the labour and expense of producing both commodities are known to both parties, bargains will generally be fair and equal. Where they are known to one party only, bargains will often be unequal, knowledge taking its advantage of ignorance.

10. Thus, he that carries one thousand bushels of wheat abroad to sell, may not probably obtain so great a profit thereon, as if he had first turned the wheat into manufactures, by subsisting therewith the workmen while producing those manufactures; since there are many expediting and facilitating methods of working, not generally known; and strangers to the manufactures, though they know pretty well the expense of raising wheat, are unacquainted with those short methods of working, and, thence being apt to suppose more labour employed in the manufactures than there really is, are more easily imposed on in their value, and induced to allow more for them than they are honestly worth.

11. Thus the advantage of having manufactures in a country does not consist, as is commonly supposed, in their highly advancing the value of rough materials, of which they are formed; since, though six pennyworth of flax may be worth twenty shillings, when worked into lace, yet the very cause of its being worth twenty shillings is, that, besides the flax, it has cost nineteen shillings and sixpence in subsistence to the manufacturer. But the advantage of manufactures is, that under their shape provisions may be more easily carried to a foreign market; and, by their means, our traders may more easily cheat strangers. Few, where it is not made, are judges of the value of lace. The importer may demand forty, and perhaps get thirty, shillings for that which cost him but twenty.

12. Finally, there seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by _war_, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbours. This is _robbery_. The second by _commerce_, which is generally _cheating_. The third by _agriculture_, the only _honest way_, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favour, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.

TO MISS MARY STEVENSON

Saturday Evening, Sept^r 2, 1769.

Just come home from a Venison Feast, where I have drank more than a Philosopher ought, I find my dear Polly's chearful, chatty Letter that exhilerates me more than all the Wine.

Your good Mother says there is no Occasion for any Intercession of mine in your behalf. She is sensible that she is more in fault than her Daughter. She received an affectionate, tender Letter from you, and she has not answered it, tho' she intended to do it; but her Head, not her Heart, has been bad, and unfitted her for Writing. She owns, that she is not so good a Subject as you are, and that she is more unwilling to pay Tribute to Cesar, and has less Objection to Smuggling; but 'tis not, she says, mere Selfishness or Avarice; 'tis rather an honest Resentment at the Waste of those Taxes in Pensions, Salaries, Perquisites, Contracts, and other Emoluments for the Benefit of People she does not love, and who do not deserve such Advantages, because--I suppose--because they are not of her Party.

Present my Respects to your good Landlord and his Family. I honour them for their conscientious Aversion to illicit Trading. There are those in the World, who would not wrong a Neighbour, but make no Scruple of cheating the King. The Reverse, however, does not hold; for whoever scruples cheating the King, will certainly not wrong his Neighbour.

You ought not to wish yourself an Enthusiast. They have, indeed, their imaginary Satisfactions and Pleasures, but these are often ballanc'd by imaginary Pains and Mortifications. You can continue to be a good Girl, and thereby lay a solid Foundation for expected future Happiness, without the Enthusiasm that may perhaps be necessary to some others. As those Beings, who have a good sensible Instinct, have no need of Reason, so those, who have Reason to regulate their Actions, have no Occasion for Enthusiasm. However, there are certain Circumstances in Life, sometimes, wherein 'tis perhaps best not to hearken to Reason. For instance; possibly, if the Truth were known, I have Reason to be jealous of this same insinuating, handsome young Physician;[77] but, as it flatters more my Vanity, and therefore gives me more Pleasure, to suppose you were in Spirits on acc^t of my safe Return, I shall turn a deaf Ear to Reason in this Case, as I have done with Success in twenty others. But I am sure you will always give me Reason enough to continue ever your affectionate Friend,

B. FRANKLIN.

P.S. Our Love to Mrs. Tickell. We all long for your Return. Your Dolly was well last Tuesday; the Girls were there on a Visit to her; I mean at Bromley. Adieu. No time now to give you any acc^t of my French Journey.

TO JOSEPH PRIESTLEY

London, Sept. 19: 1772.

DEAR SIR,

In the Affair of so much Importance to you, wherein you ask my Advice, I cannot for want of sufficient Premises, advise you _what_ to determine, but if you please I will tell you _how_. When those difficult Cases occur, they are difficult, chiefly because while we have them under Consideration, all the Reasons _pro_ and _con_ are not present to the Mind at the same time; but sometimes one Set present themselves, and at other times another, the first being out of Sight. Hence the various Purposes or Inclinations that alternately prevail, and the Uncertainty that perplexes us.

To get over this, my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns; writing over the one _Pro_, and over the other _Con_. Then during three or four Days Consideration, I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives, that at different Times occur to me, _for_ or _against_ the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out. If I find a Reason _pro_ equal to some two Reasons _con_, I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons _con_, equal to some three Reasons _pro_, I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration, nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly. And, tho' the Weight of Reasons cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities, yet, when each is thus considered, separately and comparatively, and the whole lies before me, I think I can judge better, and am less liable to make a rash Step; and in fact I have found great Advantage from this kind of Equation, in what may be called _Moral_ or _Prudential Algebra_.

Wishing sincerely that you may determine for the best, I am ever, my dear Friend, yours most affectionately,

B. FRANKLIN.

TO MISS GEORGIANA SHIPLEY[78]

London, September 26, 1772.

DEAR MISS,

I lament with you most sincerely the unfortunate end of poor MUNGO. Few squirrels were better accomplished; for he had had a good education, had travelled far, and seen much of the world. As he had the honour of being, for his virtues, your favourite, he should not go, like common skuggs, without an elegy or an epitaph. Let us give him one in the monumental style and measure, which, being neither prose nor verse, is perhaps the properest for grief; since to use common language would look as if we were not affected, and to make rhymes would seem trifling in sorrow.

EPITAPH.

Alas! poor MUNGO!
Happy wert thou, hadst thou known
Thy own felicity.
Remote from the fierce bald eagle,
Tyrant of thy native woods,
Thou hadst nought to fear from his piercing talons,
Nor from the murdering gun
Of the thoughtless sportsman.
Safe in thy wired castle,
GRIMALKIN never could annoy thee.
Daily wert thou fed with the choicest viands,
By the fair hand of an indulgent mistress;
But, discontented,
Thou wouldst have more freedom.

Too soon, alas! didst thou obtain it;
And wandering,
Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton, cruel RANGER!

Learn hence,
Ye who blindly seek more liberty,
Whether subjects, sons, squirrels or daughters,
That apparent restraint may be real protection;
Yielding peace and plenty
With security.

You see, my dear Miss, how much more decent and proper this broken style is, than if we were to say, by way of epitaph,

Here SKUGG
Lies snug,
As a bug
In a rug.

and yet, perhaps, there are people in the world of so little feeling as to think that this would be a good-enough epitaph for poor Mungo.

If you wish it, I shall procure another to succeed him; but perhaps you will now choose some other amusement.

Remember me affectionately to all the good family, and believe me ever,

Your affectionate friend,
B. FRANKLIN.

TO PETER FRANKLIN

[No date.][79]

DEAR BROTHER,

I like your ballad, and think it well adapted for your purpose of discountenancing expensive foppery, and encouraging industry and frugality. If you can get it generally sung in your country, it may probably have a good deal of the effect you hope and expect from it. But as you aimed at making it general, I wonder you chose so uncommon a measure in poetry, that none of the tunes in common use will suit it. Had you fitted it to an old one, well known, it must have spread much faster than I doubt it will do from the best new tune we can get compos'd for it. I think too, that if you had given it to some country girl in the heart of the _Massachusetts_, who has never heard any other than psalm tunes, or _Chevy Chace_, the _Children in the Wood_, the _Spanish Lady_, and such old simple ditties, but has naturally a good ear, she might more probably have made a pleasing popular tune for you, than any of our masters here, and more proper for your purpose, which would best be answered, if every word could as it is sung be understood by all that hear it, and if the emphasis you intend for particular words could be given by the singer as well as by the reader; much of the force and impression of the song depending on those circumstances. I will however get it as well done for you as I can.

Do not imagine that I mean to depreciate the skill of our composers of music here; they are admirable at pleasing _practised_ ears, and know how to delight _one another_; but, in composing for songs, the reigning taste seems to be quite out of nature, or rather the reverse of nature, and yet like a torrent, hurries them all away with it; one or two perhaps only excepted.

You, in the spirit of some ancient legislators, would influence the manners of your country by the united powers of poetry and music. By what I can learn of _their_ songs, the music was simple, conformed itself to the usual pronunciation of words, as to measure, cadence or emphasis, &c., never disguised and confounded the language by making a long syllable short, or a short one long, when sung; their singing was only a more pleasing, because a melodious manner of speaking; it was capable of all the graces of prose oratory, while it added the pleasure of harmony. A modern song, on the contrary, neglects all the proprieties and beauties of common speech, and in their place introduces its _defects_ and _absurdities_ as so many graces. I am afraid you will hardly take my word for this, and therefore I must endeavour to support it by proof. Here is the first song I lay my hand on. It happens to be a composition of one of our greatest masters, the ever-famous _Handel_. It is not one of his juvenile performances, before his taste could be improved and formed: It appeared when his reputation was at the highest, is greatly admired by all his admirers, and is really excellent in its kind. It is called, "_The additional_ Favourite _Song in_ Judas Maccabeus." Now I reckon among the defects and improprieties of common speech, the following, viz.

1. _Wrong placing the accent or emphasis_, by laying it on words of no importance, or on wrong syllables.

2. _Drawling_; or extending the sound of words or syllables beyond their natural length.

3. _Stuttering_; or making many syllables of one.

4. _Unintelligibleness_; the result of the three foregoing united.

5. _Tautology_; and

6. _Screaming_, without cause.

For the _wrong placing of the accent, or emphasis_, see it on the word _their_ instead of being on the word _vain_.

And on the word _from_, and the wrong syllable _like_.

For the _drawling_, see the last syllable of the word _wounded_. And in the syllable _wis_, and the word _from_, and syllable _bove_.

For the _stuttering_, see the words _ne'er relieve_, in

Here are four syllables made of one, and eight of three; but this is moderate. I have seen in another song, that I cannot now find, seventeen syllables made of three, and sixteen of one. The latter I remember was the word _charms_; viz. _cha, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, arms_. Stammering with a witness!

For the _unintelligibleness_; give this whole song to any taught singer, and let her sing it to any company that have never heard it; you shall find they will not understand three words in ten. It is therefore that at the oratorios and operas one sees with books in their hands all those who desire to understand what they hear sung by even our best performers.

For the _Tautology_; you have, _with their vain mysterious art_, twice repeated; _magic charms can ne'er relieve you_, three times. _Nor can heal the wounded heart_, three times. _Godlike wisdom from above_, twice; and, _this alone can ne'er deceive you_, two or three times. But this is reasonable when compared with _the Monster Polypheme, the Monster Polypheme_, a hundred times over and over, in his admired _Acis and Galatea_.

As to the _screaming_, perhaps I cannot find a fair instance in this song; but whoever has frequented our operas will remember many. And yet here methinks the words _no_ and _e'er_, when sung to these notes, have a little of the air of _screaming_, and would actually be screamed by some singers.

I send you inclosed the song with its music at length. Read the words without the repetitions. Observe how few they are, and what a shower of notes attend them: You will then perhaps be inclined to think with me, that though the words might be the principal part of an ancient song, they are of small importance in a modern one; they are in short only a _pretence for singing_.

I am, as ever,
Your affectionate brother,
B. FRANKLIN.

P.S. I might have mentioned _inarticulation_ among the defects in common speech that are assumed as beauties in modern singing. But as that seems more the fault of the singer than of the composer, I omitted it in what related merely to the composition. The fine singer, in the present mode, stifles all the hard consonants, and polishes away all the rougher parts of words that serve to distinguish them one from another; so that you hear nothing but an admirable pipe, and understand no more of the song, than you would from its tune played on any other instrument. If ever it was the ambition of musicians to make instruments that should imitate the human voice, that ambition seems now reversed, the voice aiming to be like an instrument. Thus wigs were first made to imitate a good natural head of hair; but when they became fashionable, though in unnatural forms, we have seen natural hair dressed to look like wigs.

ON THE PRICE OF CORN, AND MANAGEMENT OF THE POOR[80]

TO THE PUBLIC

I am one of that class of people, that feeds you all, and at present is abused by you all; in short I am a _farmer_.

By your newspapers we are told, that God had sent a very short harvest to some other countries of Europe. I thought this might be in favour of Old England; and that now we should get a good price for our grain, which would bring millions among us, and make us flow in money; that to be sure is scarce enough.

But the wisdom of government forbade the exportation.

"Well," says I, "then we must be content with the market price at home."

"No;" say my lords the mob, "you sha'nt have that. Bring your corn to market if you dare; we'll sell it for you for less money, or take it for nothing."

Being thus attacked by both ends _of the constitution_, the head and tail _of government_, what am I to do?

Must I keep my corn in the barn, to feed and increase the breed of rats? Be it so; they cannot be less thankful than those I have been used to feed.

Are we farmers the only people to be grudged the profits of our honest labour? And why? One of the late scribblers against us gives a bill of fare of the provisions at my daughter's wedding, and proclaims to all the world, that we had the insolence to eat beef and pudding! Has he not read the precept in the good Book, _Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn_; or does he think us less worthy of good living than our oxen?

"O, but the manufacturers! the manufacturers! they are to be favoured, and they must have bread at a cheap rate!"

Hark ye, Mr. Oaf, the farmers live spendidly, you say. And pray, would you have them hoard the money they get? Their fine clothes and furniture, do they make them themselves, or for one another, and so keep the money among them? Or do they employ these your darling manufacturers, and so scatter it again all over the nation?

The wool would produce me a better price, if it were suffered to go to foreign markets; but that, Messieurs the Public, your laws will not permit. It must be kept all at home, that our _dear_ manufacturers may have it the cheaper. And then, having yourselves thus lessened our encouragement for raising sheep, you curse us for the scarcity of mutton!

I have heard my grandfather say, that the farmers submitted to the prohibition on the exportation of wool, being made to expect and believe, that, when the manufacturer bought his wool cheaper, they should also have their cloth cheaper. But the deuce a bit. It has been growing dearer and dearer from that day to this. How so? Why, truly, the cloth is exported; and that keeps up the price.

Now, if it be a good principle, that the exportation of a commodity is to be restrained, that so our people at home may have it the cheaper, stick to that principle, and go thorough-stitch with it. Prohibit the exportation of your cloth, your leather, and shoes, your iron ware, and your manufactures of all sorts, to make them all cheaper at home. And cheap enough they will be, I will warrant you; till people leave off making them.

Some folks seem to think they ought never to be easy till England becomes another Lubberland, where it is fancied that streets are paved with penny-rolls, the houses tiled with pancakes, and chickens, ready roasted, cry, "Come eat me."

I say, when you are sure you have got a good principle, stick to it, and carry it through. I hear it is said, that though it was _necessary and right_ for the ministry to advise a prohibition of the exportation of corn, yet it was _contrary to law_; and also, that though it was _contrary to law_ for the mob to obstruct wagons, yet it was _necessary and right_. Just the same thing to a tittle. Now they tell me, an act of indemnity ought to pass in favour of the ministry, to secure them from the consequences of having acted illegally. If so, pass another in favour of the mob. Others say, some of the mob ought to be hanged, by way of example. If so,--but I say no more than I have said before, _when you are sure that you have a good principle, go through with it_.

You say, poor labourers cannot afford to buy bread at a high price, unless they had higher wages. Possibly. But how shall we farmers be able to afford our labourers higher wages, if you will not allow us to get, when we might have it, a higher price for our corn?

By all that I can learn, we should at least have had a guinea a quarter more, if the exportation had been allowed. And this money England would have got from foreigners.

But, it seems, we farmers must take so much less, that the poor may have it so much cheaper.

This operates, then, as a tax for the maintenance of the poor. A very good thing you will say. But I ask, Why a partial tax? why laid on us farmers only? If it be a good thing, pray, Messieurs the Public, take your share of it, by indemnifying us a little out of your public treasury. In doing a good thing, there is both honour and pleasure; you are welcome to your share of both.

For my own part, I am not so well satisfied of the goodness of this thing. I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is, not making them easy _in_ poverty, but leading or driving them _out_ of it. In my youth, I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. There is no country in the world where so many provisions are established for them; so many hospitals to receive them when they are sick or lame, founded and maintained by voluntary charities; so many almshouses for the aged of both sexes, together with a solemn general law made by the rich to subject their estates to a heavy tax for the support of the poor. Under all these obligations, are our poor modest, humble, and thankful? And do they use their best endeavours to maintain themselves, and lighten our shoulders of this burthen? On the contrary, I affirm, that there is no country in the world in which the poor are more idle, dissolute, drunken, and insolent. The day you passed that act, you took away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependence on somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health, for support in age or sickness.

In short, you offered a premium for the encouragement of idleness, and you should not now wonder, that it has had its effect in the increase of poverty. Repeal that law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. _Saint Monday_ and _Saint Tuesday_ will soon cease to be holidays. SIX _days shalt thou labour_, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them.

Excuse me, Messieurs the Public, if, upon this _interesting_ subject, I put you to the trouble of reading a little of _my_ nonsense. I am sure I have lately read a great deal of _yours_, and therefore from you (at least from those of you who are writers) I deserve a little indulgence.

I am yours, &c.
ARATOR.

AN EDICT BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA[81]

[From the _Gentleman's Magazine_, October, 1773.]

Dantzic, Sept. 5, [1773].

We have long wondered here at the supineness of the English nation, under the Prussian impositions upon its trade entering our port. We did not, till lately, know the claims, ancient and modern, that hang over that nation; and therefore could not suspect that it might submit to those impositions from a sense of duty or from principles of equity. The following Edict, just made publick, may, if serious, throw some light upon this matter.

"FREDERIC, by the grace of God, King of Prussia, &c., &c., &c., to all present and to come, (_à tous présens et à venir_,) Health. The peace now enjoyed throughout our dominions, having afforded us leisure to apply ourselves to the regulation of commerce, the improvement of our finances, and at the same time the easing our domestic subjects in their taxes: For these causes, and other good considerations us thereunto moving, we hereby make known, that, after having deliberated these affairs in our council, present our dear brothers, and other great officers of the state, members of the same, we, of our certain knowledge, full power, and authority royal, have made and issued this present Edict, viz.

"Whereas it is well known to all the world, that the first
German settlements made in the Island of Britain, were by
colonies of people, subject to our renowned ducal ancestors,
and drawn from their dominions, under the conduct of Hengist,
Horsa, Hella, Uff, Cerdicus, Ida, and others; and that the
said colonies have nourished under the protection of our
august house for ages past; have never been emancipated
therefrom; and yet have hitherto yielded little profit to the
same: And whereas we ourself have in the last war fought for
and defended the said colonies, against the power of France,
and thereby enabled them to make conquests from the said
power in America, for which we have not yet received adequate
compensation: And whereas it is just and expedient that a
revenue should be raised from the said colonies in Britain,
towards our indemnification; and that those who are
descendants of our ancient subjects, and thence still owe us
due obedience, should contribute to the replenishing of our
royal coffers as they must have done, had their ancestors
remained in the territories now to us appertaining: We do
therefore hereby ordain, and command, that, from and after
the date of these presents, there shall be levied and paid
to our officers of the _customs_, on all goods, wares, and
merchandizes, and on all grain and other produce of the
earth, exported from the said Island of Britain, and on all
goods of whatever kind imported into the same, a duty of four
and a half per cent _ad valorem_, for the use of us and our
successors. And that the said duty may more effectually be
collected, we do hereby ordain, that all ships or vessels
bound from Great Britain to any other part of the world, or
from any other part of the world to Great Britain, shall in
their respective voyages touch at our port of Koningsberg,
there to be unladen, searched, and charged with the said
duties.

"And whereas there hath been from time to time discovered in
the said island of Great Britain, by our colonists there,
many mines or beds of iron-stone; and sundry subjects, of our
ancient dominion, skilful in converting the said stone into
metal, have in time past transported themselves thither,
carrying with them and communicating that art; and the
inhabitants of the said island, presuming that they had a
natural right to make the best use they could of the natural
productions of their country for their own benefit, have not
only built furnaces for smelting the said stone into iron,
but have erected plating-forges, slitting-mills, and
steel-furnaces, for the more convenient manufacturing of the
same; thereby endangering a diminution of the said
manufacture in our ancient dominion;--we do therefore hereby
farther ordain, that, from and after the date hereof, no mill
or other engine for slitting or rolling of iron, or any
plating-forge to work with a tilt-hammer, or any furnace for
making steel, shall be erected or continued in the said
island of Great Britain: And the Lord Lieutenant of every
county in the said island is hereby commanded, on information
of any such erection within his county, to order and by force
to cause the same to be abated and destroyed; as he shall
answer the neglect thereof to us at his peril. But we are
nevertheless graciously pleased to permit the inhabitants of
the said island to transport their iron into Prussia, there
to be manufactured, and to them returned; they paying our
Prussian subjects for the workmanship, with all the costs of
commission, freight, and risk, coming and returning; any
thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

"We do not, however, think fit to extend this our indulgence
to the article of wool; but, meaning to encourage, not only
the manufacturing of woollen cloth, but also the raising of
wool, in our ancient dominions, and to prevent both, as much
as may be, in our said island, we do hereby absolutely forbid
the transportation of wool from thence, even to the mother
country, Prussia; and that those islanders may be farther and
more effectually restrained in making any advantage of their
own wool in the way of manufacture, we command that none
shall be carried out of one county into another; nor shall
any worsted, bay, or woollen yarn, cloth, says, bays,
kerseys, serges, frizes, druggets, cloth-serges, shalloons,
or any other drapery stuffs, or woollen manufactures
whatsoever, made up or mixed with wool in any of the said
counties, be carried into any other county, or be waterborne
even across the smallest river or creek, on penalty of
forfeiture of the same, together with the boats, carriages,
horses, &c., that shall be employed in removing them.
Nevertheless, our loving subjects there are hereby permitted
(if they think proper) to use all their wool as manure for
the improvement of their lands.

"And whereas the art and mystery of making hats hath arrived
at great perfection in Prussia, and the making of hats by our
remoter subjects ought to be as much as possible restrained:
And forasmuch as the islanders before mentioned, being in
possession of wool, beaver and other furs, have
presumptuously conceived they had a right to make some
advantage thereof, by manufacturing the same into hats, to
the prejudice of our domestic manufacture: We do therefore
hereby strictly command and ordain, that no hats or felts
whatsoever, dyed or undyed, finished or unfinished, shall be
loaded or put into or upon any vessel, cart, carriage, or
horse, to be transported or conveyed out of one county in the
said island into another county, or to any other place
whatsoever, by any person or persons whatsoever; on pain of
forfeiting the same, with a penalty of five hundred pounds
sterling for every offence. Nor shall any hat-maker, in any
of the said counties, employ more than two apprentices, on
penalty of five pounds sterling per month; we intending
hereby, that such hatmakers, being so restrained, both in the
production and sale of their commodity, may find no advantage
in continuing their business. But, lest the said islanders
should suffer inconveniency by the want of hats, we are
farther graciously pleased to permit them to send their
beaver furs to Prussia; and we also permit hats made thereof
to be exported from Prussia to Britain; the people thus
favoured to pay all costs and charges of manufacturing,
interest, commission to our merchants, insurance and freight
going and returning, as in the case of iron.

"And, lastly, being willing farther to favour our said
colonies in Britain, we do hereby also ordain and command,
that all the _thieves_, highway and street robbers,
house-breakers, forgerers, murderers, s--d--tes, and villains
of every denomination, who have forfeited their lives to the
law in Prussia; but whom we, in our great clemency, do not
think fit here to hang, shall be emptied out of our gaols
into the said island of Great Britain, for the better
peopling of that country.

"We flatter ourselves, that these our royal regulations and
commands will be thought just and reasonable by our
much-favoured colonists in England; the said regulations
being copied from their statutes of 10 and 11 William III. c.
10, 5 Geo. II, c. 22, 23, Geo. II. c. 29, 4 Geo. I. c. 11,
and from other equitable laws made by their parliaments; or
from instructions given by their Princes; or from resolutions
of both Houses, entered into for the good government of their
_own colonies in Ireland and America_.

"And all persons in the said island are hereby cautioned: not
to oppose in any wise the execution of this our Edict, or any
part thereof, such opposition being high treason; of which
all who are suspected shall be transported in fetters from
Britain to Prussia, there to be tried and executed according
to the Prussian law.

"Such is our pleasure.

"Given at Potsdam, this twenty-fifth day of the month of
August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, and in
the thirty-third year of our reign.

"By the King, in his Council.

"RECHTMAESSIG, _Sec._"

Some take this Edict to be merely one of the King's _Jeux d'Esprit_: others suppose it serious, and that he means a quarrel with England; but all here think the assertion it concludes with, "that these regulations are copied from acts of the English parliament respecting their colonies," a very injurious one; it being impossible to believe, that a people distinguished for their love of liberty, a nation so wise, so liberal in its sentiments, so just and equitable towards its neighbours, should, from mean and injudicious views of petty immediate profit, treat its own children in a manner so arbitrary and tyrannical!

RULES BY WHICH A GREAT EMPIRE MAY BE REDUCED TO A SMALL ONE

Presented to a late Minister, when he entered upon his Administration

[From the _Gentleman's Magazine_, Sept., 1773.]

An ancient Sage boasted, that, tho' he could not fiddle, he knew how to make a _great city_ of _a little one_. The science that I, a modern simpleton, am about to communicate, is the very reverse.

I address myself to all ministers who have the management of extensive dominions, which from their very greatness are become troublesome to govern, because the multiplicity of their affairs leaves no time for _fiddling_.

I. In the first place, gentlemen, you are to consider, that a great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges. Turn your attention, therefore, first to your _remotest_ provinces; that, as you get rid of them, the next may follow in order.

II. That the possibility of this separation may always exist, take special care the provinces are never incorporated with the mother country; that they do not enjoy the same common rights, the same privileges in commerce; and that they are governed by _severer_ laws, all of _your enacting_, without allowing them any share in the choice of the legislators. By carefully making and preserving such distinctions, you will (to keep to my simile of the cake) act like a wise ginger-bread-baker, who, to facilitate a division, cuts his dough half through in those places where, when baked, he would have it _broken to pieces_.

III. Those remote provinces have perhaps been acquired, purchased, or conquered, at the _sole expence_ of the settlers, or their ancestors, without the aid of the mother country. If this should happen to increase her _strength_, by their growing numbers, ready to join in her wars; her _commerce_, by their growing demand for her manufactures; or her _naval power_, by greater employment for her ships and seamen, they may probably suppose some merit in this, and that it entitles them to some favour; you are therefore to _forget it all_, _or resent it_, as if they had done you injury. If they happen to be zealous whigs, friends of liberty, nurtured in revolution principles, _remember all that_ to their prejudice, and resolve to punish it; for such principles, after a revolution is thoroughly established, are of _no more use_; they are even _odious_ and _abominable_.

IV. However peaceably your colonies have submitted to your government, shewn their affection to your interests, and patiently borne their grievances; you are to _suppose_ them always inclined to revolt, and treat them accordingly. Quarter troops among them, who by their insolence may _provoke_ the rising of mobs, and by their bullets and bayonets _suppress_ them. By this means, like the husband who uses his wife ill _from suspicion_, you may in time convert your _suspicions_ into _realities_.

V. Remote provinces must have _Governors_ and _Judges_, to represent the Royal Person, and execute everywhere the delegated parts of his office and authority. You ministers know, that much of the strength of government depends on the _opinion_ of the people; and much of that opinion on the _choice of rulers_ placed immediately over them. If you send them wise and good men for governors, who study the interest of the colonists, and advance their prosperity, they will think their King wise and good, and that he wishes the welfare of his subjects. If you send them learned and upright men for Judges, they will think him a lover of justice. This may attach your provinces more to his government. You are therefore to be careful whom you recommend for those offices. If you can find prodigals, who have ruined their fortunes, broken gamesters or stockjobbers, these may do well as _governors_; for they will probably be rapacious, and provoke the people by their extortions. Wrangling proctors and pettifogging lawyers, too, are not amiss; for they will be for ever disputing and quarrelling with their little parliaments. If withal they should be ignorant, wrong-headed, and insolent, so much the better. Attornies' clerks and Newgate solicitors will do for _Chief Justices_, especially if they hold their places _during your pleasure_; and all will contribute to impress those ideas of your government, that are proper for a people _you would wish to renounce it_.

VI. To confirm these impressions, and strike them deeper, whenever the injured come to the capital with complaints of maladministration, oppression, or injustice, punish such suitors with long delay, enormous expence, and a final judgment in favour of the oppressor. This will have an admirable effect every way. The trouble of future complaints will be prevented, and Governors and Judges will be encouraged to farther acts of oppression and injustice; and thence the people may become more disaffected, and at length desperate.

VII. When such Governors have crammed their coffers, and made themselves so odious to the people that they can no longer remain among them, with safety to their persons, _recall and reward_ them with pensions. You may make them _baronets_ too, if that respectable order should not think fit to resent it. All will contribute to encourage new governors in the same practice, and make the supreme government, _detestable_.

VIII. If, when you are engaged in war, your colonies should vie in liberal aids of men and money against the common enemy, upon your simple requisition, and give far beyond their abilities, reflect that a penny taken from them by your power is more honourable to you, than a pound presented by their benevolence; despise therefore their voluntary grants; and resolve to harass them with novel taxes. They will probably complain to your parliaments, that they are taxed by a body in which they have no representative, and that this is contrary to common right. They will petition for redress. Let the Parliaments flout their claims, reject their petitions, refuse even to suffer the reading of them, and treat the petitioners with the utmost contempt. Nothing can have a better effect in producing the alienation proposed; for though many can forgive injuries, _none ever forgave contempt_.