It certainly excites in dustry,
nourishes
emulation, and inspires some sense of personal value into all ranks of people.
Edmund Burke
The Duke of Richmond personally sur veyed the place, and obtained a fuller knowledge of its true state and condition than any of our minis ters had done; and, in consequence, had larger of fers from the Duke of Choiseul than had ever been received.
But, as these were short of.
our just ex pectations under the treaty, he rejected them.
Our then ministers, knowing that, in their administration, the people"s minds were set at ease upon all the es sential points of public and private liberty, and that no project of theirs could endanger the concord of the empire, were under no restraint from pursuing every just demand upon foreign nations.
The author, towards the end of this work, falls in to reflections upon the state of public morals in this country: he draws use from this doctrine, by recom mending his friend to the king and the public, as an other Duke of Sully; and he concludes the whole performance with a very devout prayer.
*1. -IF-qn
? ? ? ? on run PRESENT srarn or rnn NATION. 413
The prayers of politicians may sometimes be sin cere; and as this prayer is in substance, that the au thor, or his friends, may be soon brought into power, I have great reason to believe it is very much from the heart. It must be owned too that after he has drawn such a picture, such a shocking picture, of the state of this country, he has great faith in thinking the means he prays for sufficient to relieve us: after the character he has given of its inhabitants of all ranks and classes, he has great charity in caring
much about them; and indeed no less hope, in being of opinion, that such a detestable nation can ever be come the care of Providence. He has not even found five good men in our devoted city.
He talks indeed of men of virtue and ability. But where are his men of virtue and ability to be found? Are they in the present administration? Never were a set of people more blackened by this author. Are they among the party of those (no small body) who
adhere to the system of 1766? These it is the great
? of this book to calumniate. Are they the persons who acted with his great friend, since the change in 1762, to his removal in 1765? Scarcely any of these are now out of employment; and we are
He observes, that the virtue of the most exemplary prince that ever swayed a sceptre " can never warm or illuminate the body of his people, if foul mirrors are placed so near him as to refract and dissipate the
rays at their first emanation. " * Without observing * Page 46.
'
purpose
in possession of his desideratum. Yet Ithink he hardly means to select, even some of the highest of them, as examples fit for the reformation of a corrupt world.
? ? ~I
upon the propriety of this metaphor, or asking how mirrors come to have lost their old quality of reflect ing, and to have acquired that of refracting, and dissi pating rays, and how far their foulness will account for this change; the remark itself is common and true: no less true, and equally surprising from him, is that which immediately precedes it: " It is in vain to endeavor to check the progress of irreligion and licentiousness, by punishing such crimes in om indi vidual, if others equally culpable are rewarded with the honors and emoluments of the state. " * I am not in the secret of the author's manner of writing; but it appears to me, that he must intend these reflec tions as a satire upon the administration of his happy years. Were ever the honors and emoluments of the state more lavishly squandered upon persons scanda lous in their lives than during that period ? In these scandalous lives, was there anything more scandalous than the mode of punishing one culpable individual? In that individual, is anything more culpable than his having been seduced by the example of some of those very persons by whom he was thus persecuted?
The author is so eager to attack others, that he pro vides but indifferently for his own defence. I believe, without going beyond the page I have now before me, he is very sensible, that I have sufficient matter of further, and, if possible, of heavier charge against his friends, upon his own principle. But it is because the advantage is too great, that I decline making use of it. I wish the author had not thought that all methods are lawful in party. Above all he ought to have taken care not to wound his enemies through the sides of his country. This he has done, by mak
'Page 46.
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OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
? ? ? ? on THE PRESENT surn or rm'1 NATION.
ing that monstrous and overcharged picture of the distresses of our situation. No wonder that he, who finds this country in the same condition with that of France at the time of Henry the Fourth, could also find a resemblance between his political friend and
the Duke of Sully. As to those personal resem blances, people will often judge of them from their affections: they may imagine in these clouds whatso ever figures they please; but what is the conforma tion of that eye which can discover a resemblance of this country and these times to those with which the author compares them? France, a country just re covered out of twenty-five years of the most cruel and
desolating civil war that perhaps was ever known. The kingdom, under the veil of momentary quiet, full of the most atrocious political, operating upon the most furious fanatical factions. Some pretenders even to the crown ; and those who did not pretend to
the whole, aimed at the partition of the monarchy. There were almost as many competitors as provinces ; and all abetted by the greatest, the most ambitious, and most enterprising power in Europe. No place safe from treason; no, not the bosoms on which the
most amiable prince that ever lived reposed his head; not his mistresses; not even his queen'. As to the finances, they had scarce an existence, but as a mat ter of plunder to the managers, and of grants to insa
tiable and ungrateful courtiers.
How can our author have the heart to describe this
as any sort of parallel to our situation? To be sure, an April shower has some resemblance to a water spout; for they are both wet: and there is some like
ness between a summer evening's breeze and a hurri cane ; they are both wind: but who can compare our
415
? ? ? ? 416 OBSERVATIONS ON A LATE PUBLICATION _
disturbances, our situation, or our finances, to those of France in the time of Henry? Great Britain is indeed at this time wearied, but not broken, with the efforts of a victorious foreign war; not sutficiently relieved by an inadequate peace, but somewhat bene fited by that peace, and infinitely by the conse quences of that war. The powers of Europe awed by our victories, and lying in ruins upon every side of us. Burdened indeed we are with debt, but abounding with resources. We have a trade, not perhaps equal to our wishes, but more than ever we
In effect, no pretender to the crown ; nor nutriment for such desperate and destructive factions as have formerly shaken this kingdom.
As to our finances, the author trifles with us. When Sully came to those of France, in what order was any part of the financial system? or what sys tem was there at all? There is no man in ofiice who must not be sensible that ours without the act of any parading minister, the most regular and orderly system perhaps that was ever known the best se cured against all frauds in the collection, and all mis application in the expenditure public money.
admit that, in this flourishing state of things, there are appearances enough to excite uneasiness and apprehension. admit there cankerworm in the rose:
Medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis fioribus angat.
This nothing else than spirit of disconnection, of distrust, and of treachery among public men. It no accidental evil, nor has its effect been trusted to the usual frailty of nature; the distemper has been
inoculated. The author sensible of and we la.
""1-I_gqlgluu
? possessed.
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is a;
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on THE PRESENT srarn or rm: NATION. 417
ment it together. This distemper is alone sufficient to take away considerably from the benefits of our constitution and situation, and perhaps to render their continuance precarious. If these evil disposi tions should spread much farther, they must end in our destruction; for nothing can save a people des titute of public and private faith. However, the author, for the present state of things, has extended
'the charge by much too widely; as men are but too apt to take the measure of all mankind from their own particular acquaintance. Barren as this age may be in the growth of honor and virtue, the coun try does not want, at this moment, as strong, and those not a few examples, as were ever known, of an unshaken adherence to principle, and attachment to connection, against every allurement of interest. Those examples are not furnished by the great alone ; nor by those, whose activity in public affairs may render it suspected that they make such a character
one of the rounds in their ladder of ambition; but by men more quiet, and more in the shade, on whom an unmixed sense of honor alone could operate. Such
examples indeed are not furnished in great abun dance amongst those who are the subjects of the au
? He must look for them in another camp. He who complains of the ill effects of a divid
and heterogeneous administration, is not justifi able in laboring to render odious in the eyes of the public those men, whose principles, whose maxims of policy, and whose personal character, can alone
thor's panegyric.
ed
a remedy to this capital evil of the age: is he consistent with himself, in constantly extolling those whom he knows to be the authors of the very mischief of which he complains, and which
the whole nation feels so deeply. v0L. I. 27
administer neither
? ? ? 418 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
The persons who are the objects of his dislike and complaint are many of them of the first families, and weightiest properties, in the kingdom; but infinitely more distinguished for their untainted honor, public and private, and their zealous, but sober attachment to the constitution of their country, than they can be by any birth, or any station. If they are the friends of any one great man rather than another, it is not that they make his aggrandizement the end of their union ; or because they know him to be the most active in caballing for his connections the largest and speediest emoluments. It is because they know him, by personal experience, to have wise and en larged ideas of the public good, and an invincible constancy in adhering to it; because they are con vinced, by the whole tenor of his actions, that he will never negotiate away their honor or his own: and that, in or out of power, change of situation will make no alteration in his conduct. This will give to such a person in such a body, an authority and respect that no minister ever enjoyed among his ve
nal dependents, in the highest plenitude of his power ; such as servility never can give, such as ambition never can receive or relish.
This body will often be reproached by their adversa ries, for want of ability in their political transactions ; they will be ridiculed for missing many favorable con
junctures, and not profiting of several brilliant oppor tunities of fortune; but they must be contented to endure that reproach; for they cannot acquire the reputation of that kind of ability without losipg all the other reputation they possess.
They will be charged too with a dangerous spirit of exclusion and proscription, for being unwilling to
. 'Ii'. 'W'"
? ? ? ? on rnn PRESENT sraru or rnn NATION. 419
mix in schemes of administration, which have no bond of union, or principle of confidence. That charge too they must suffer with patience. If the reason_of the thing had not spoken loudly enough, the miserable examples of the several administra
tions constructed upon the idea of systematic discord would be enough to frighten them from such mon strous and ruinous conjunctions. It is however false, that the idea of an united administration carries with it that of a proscription of any other party. It does indeed imply the necessity of having the great strong holds of government in well-united hands, in order
to secure the predominance of right and uniform prin ciples; of having the capital offices of deliberation and execution of those who can deliberate with mu tual confidence, and who will execute what is re solved with firmness and fidelity. If this system cannot be rigorously adhered to in practice, (and what system can be so? ) ought to be the constant
aim of good men to approach as nearly to as possi ble. No system of that kind can be formed, which will not leave room fully sufficient for healing coali tions: but no coalition, which, under the specious name of independency, carries in its bosom the un reconciled principles of the original discord of parties, ever was, or will be, an healing coalition. Nor will
the mind of our sovereign ever know repose, his king dom settlement, or his business order, efficieney, or grace with his people, until things are established upon the basis of some set of men, who are trusted
by the public, and who can trust one another.
This comes rather nearer to the mark than the
author's description of proper administration, un der the name of men ability and virtue, which
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? 420 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
conveys no definite idea at all; nor does it apply specifically to our grand national distemper. All parties pretend to these qualities. The present min istry, no favorites of the author, will be ready enough to declare themselves persons of virtue and ability; and if they choose a vote for that purpose, perhaps it would not be quite impossible for them to procure it. But, if the disease be this distrust and discon nection, it is easy to know who are sound and who are tainted ; who are fit to restore us to health, who
to continue, and to spread the contagion. The pres ent ministry being made up of draughts from all parties in the kingdom, if they should profess any adherence to the connections they have left, they must convict themselves of the blackest treachery. They therefore choose rather to renounce the prin ciple itself, and to brand it with the name of pride and faction. This test with certainty discriminates the opinions of men. The other is a description vague and unsatisfactory.
As to the unfortunate gentlemen who may at any time compose that system, which, under the plausi ble title of an administration, subsists but for the establishment of weakness and confusion; they fall into different classes, with different merits. I think the situation of some people in that state may deserve a certain degree of compassion ; at the same time that they furnish an example, which, it is to be hoped, by being a severe one, will have its effect, at least, on the growing generation ; if an original seduction, on plausible but hollow pretences, into loss of honor, friendship, consistency, security, and repose, can fur nish it. It is possible to draw, even from the very prosperity of ambition, examples of terror, and mo tivcs to compassion.
? ? ? ? on mn PRESENT STATE or THE NATION. 421
I believe the instances are exceedingly rare of men immediately passing over a clear, marked line of vir tue into declared vice and corruption. There are a sort of middle tints and shades between the two ex tremes ; there is something uncertain on the confines of the two empires which they first pass through, and which renders the change easy and imperceptible. There are even a sort of splendid impositions so well
contrived, that, at the very time the path of rectitude is quitted forever, men seem to be advancing into some higher and nobler road of public conduct. Not that such impositions are strong enough in them selves ; but a powerful interest, often concealed from those whom it affects, works at the bottom, and se cures the operation. Men are thus debauched away from those legitimate connections, which they had formed on a judgment, early perhaps, but sufficiently mature, and wholly unbiassed. They do not quit
them upon any ground of complaint, for grounds of just complaint may exist, but upon the flattering and most dangerous of all principles, that of mend
ing what is well. Gradually they are habituated to other company ; and a change in their habitudes soon makes a way for a change in their opinions. Certain persons are no longer so very frightful, when they come to be known and to be serviceable. As to
their old friends, the transition is easy ; from friend ship to civility ; from civility to enmity: few are tho steps from dereliction to persecution.
People not very well grounded in the principles of public morality find a set of maxims in offiee ready made for them, which they assume as naturally and
inevitably, as any of the insignia or instruments of the situation. A certain tone of the solid and prac
? ? ? ? OBSERVATIONS ON A LATE PUBLICATION
tical is immediately acquired. Every former profes sion of public spirit is to be considered as a debauch of youth, or, at best, as a visionary scheme of unat tainable perfection. The very idea of consistency is
The convenience of the business of the day is to furnish the principle for doing it. Then the whole ministerial cant is quickly got by heart. The prevalence of faction is to be lamented. All opposition is to be regarded as the effect of envy and disappointed ambition. All administrations are de clared to be alike. The same necessity justifies all their measures. It is no longer a matter of discus sion, who or what administration is; but that admin istration is to be supported, is a general maxim. Flat tering themselves that their power is become necessary to the support of all order and government;
thing which tends to the support of that power is sanctified, and becomes a part of the public interest.
Growing every day more formed to affairs, and bet ter knit in their limbs, when the occasion (now the only rule) requires they become capable of sacri ficing those very persons to whom they had before sacrificed their original friends. It now 'only in the ordinary course of business to alter an opinion, or to betray connection. Frequently relinquishing one set of men and adopting another, they grow into
total indifference to human feeling, as they had before to moral obligation; until at length, no one original impression remains upon their minds: every principle obliterated every sentiment eflaced.
In the mean time, that power, which all these changes aimed at securing, remains still as tottering and as uncertain as ever. They are delivered up into the hands of those who feel neither respect for
exploded.
? every
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their persons, nor gratitude for their favors; who are put about them in appearance to serve, in reality to govern them; and, when the signal is given, to abandon and destroy them in order to set up some new dupe of ambition, who in his turn is to be aban doned and destroyed. Thus living in a state of con tinual uneasiness and ferment, softened only by the miserable consolation of giving now and then prefer ments to those for whom they have no value; they are unhappy in their situation, yet find it impossible to resign. Until, at length, soured in temper, and disappointed by the very attainment of their ends, in some angry, in some haughty, or some negligent mo ment, they incur the displeasure of those upon whom they have rendered their very being dependent. Then
perierunt tempera longi servitii; they are cast off with scorn; they are turned out, emptied of all nat ural character, of all intrinsic worth, of all essential dignity, and deprived of every consolation of friend ship. Having rendered all retreat to old principles ridiculous, and to old regards impracticable, not be ing able to counterfeit pleasure, or to discharge dis content, nothing being sincere, or right, or balanced
in their minds, it is more than a chance, that, in the delirium of the last stage of their distempered power, they make an insane political testament, by which they throw all their remaining weight and conse quence into the scale of their declared enemies, and
the avowed authors of their destruction. Thus they finish their course. Had it been possible that the Whole, or even a great part of these effects on their minds, I say nothing of the effect upon their fortunes, could have appeared to them in their first departure from the right line, it is certain they would have rc
? ? ? ? 424 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
jected every temptation with horror. The principle of these remarks, like every good principle in moral ity, is trite; but its frequent application is not the less necessary.
As to others, who are plain practical men, they have been guiltless at all times of all public pretence. Neither the author nor any one else has reason to be angry with them. They . belonged to his friend for their interest; for their interest they quitted him; and when it is their interest, he may depend upon they will return to their former connection. Such people subsist at all times, and, though the nuisance of all, are at no time worthy subject of discussion.
false virtue and plausible error that do the mis chief.
If men come to government with right dispositions, they have not that unfavorable subject which this au thor represents to work upon. Our circumstances are indeed critical; but then they are the critical circumstances of strong and mighty nation. corruption and meanness are greatly spread, they are not spread universally. Many public men are hith erto examples of public spirit and integrity. Whole parties, as far as large bodies can be uniform, have preserved character. However they may be deceived in some particulars, know of no set of men amongst us, which does not contain persons on whom the na tion, in difficult exigcnce, may well value itself. Private life, which the nursery of the common wealth, yet in general pure, and on the whole dis posed to virtue and the people at large want neither generosity nor spirit. No small part of that very luxury, which so much the subject of the author's declamation, but which, in most parts of life, by be
? ? ? is ;
is
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a
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a
If
it,
It is
a
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ing well balanced and diffused, is only decency and convenience, has perhaps as many, or more good than evil consequences attending it.
It certainly excites in dustry, nourishes emulation, and inspires some sense of personal value into all ranks of people. What we want is to establish more fully an opinion of uniform ity, and consistency of character, in the leading men of the state; such as will restore some confidence to
profession and appearance, such as will fix subordi nation upon esteem. Without this, all schemes are begun at the wrong end. All who join in them are liable to their consequences. All men who, under whatever pretext, take a part in the formation or the support of systems constructed in such a manner as must, in their nature, disable them from the execu tion of their duty, have made themselves guilty of all
the present distraction, and of the future ruin, which they may bring upon their country.
It is a serious affair, this studied disunion in gov ernment. In cases where union is most consulted in the constitution of a ministry, and where persons are best disposed to promote differences, from the va
rious ideas of men, will arise; and from their pas sions will often ferment into violent heats, so as greatly to disorder all public business. What must
be the consequence, when the very distemper made the basis of the constitution; and the original weak ness of human nature still further enfeebled by art and contrivance It must subvert government from the very foundation. It turns our public councils into the most mischievous cabals where the consid
? not how the nation's business shall be car ried 0n, but how those who ought to carry on shall circumvent each other. In such state of things, no
eration
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order, uniformity, dignity, or effect, can appear in our proceedings, either at home or abroad. Nor will it make much difference, whether some of the constitu ent parts of such an administration are men of vir tue or ability, or not ; supposing it possible that such men, with their eyes open, should choose to make a
'
hand of Providence. I do not like to answer, as our author so readily does, for the event of any specula tion. But surely the nature of our disorders, if any thing, must indicate the proper remedy. Men who act steadily on the principles I have stated may in all events be very serviceable to their country; in one case, by furnishing (if their sovereign should be so advised) an administration formed upon ideas very different from those which have for some time been unfortunately fashionable. But, if this should not be the case, they may be still serviceable; for the ex ample of a large body of men, steadily sacrificing am
bition to principle, can never be without use. It will certainly be prolific, and draw others to an imitation.
Vera gloria radices agit, atque etiam propagatur.
I do not think myself of consequence enough to im
itate my author, in troubling the world with the prayers or wishes I may form for the public: full as little am I disposed to imitate his professions; those professions are long since worn out in the political service. If the work will not speak for the author, his own declarations deserve but little credit.
part in such a body.
The effects of all human contrivances are in the
U'
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APPENDIX.
in "-1
much misplaced industry has been used by the SOauthor of " The State of the Nation," as well as by other writers, to infuse discontent into the people, on account of the late war, and of the effects of our national debt ; that nothing ought to be omitted which
may tend to disabuse the public upon these subjects. When I had gone through the foregoing sheets, I rec ollected, that, in pages 58, 59, 60, I only gave the comparative states of the duties collected by the ex cise at large; together with the quantities of strong beer brewed in the two periods which are'there com
It might be still thought, that some other ar ticles of popular consumption, of general convenience, and connected with our manufactures, might possibly have declined. I therefore now think it right to lay before the reader the state of the produce of three cap ital duties on such articles; duties which have fre quently been made the subject of popular complaint.
The duty on candles; that on soap, paper, &c. ; and that on hides.
Average of net produce of duty on soap,
&c. , for eight years ending 1767 . . . ? 264,902
Average of ditto for eight years ending 1754. . . . . . . . . . . 228,114
Average increase . . ? 36,78--8
? pared.
? ? ? 428 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
Average of net produce of duty on can
dles for eight years ending 1767 . . . . ? 155,789
Average of ditto for eight years ending
\1754 136 ,716
Average increase . he t\ \ 073 7
Average net produce of duty on hides, _
eight years, ending 1767 . . . . . ? 189,216 Ditto eight years, ending 1754 . . . . 168,200
Average increase . . . ? 21,016
This increase has not arisen from any additional du ties. None have been imposed on these articles dur ing the war. Notwithstanding the burdens of the war, and the late dearness of provisions, the con sumption of all these articles has increased, and the revenue along with it. "
in Jamaica. "Orders were given," says he, " in August, 1765, for the free admission of Spanish vessels into all the co1onies. "* He then observes, that the exports to Jamaica fell 40,904l. short of those of 1764; and that the exports of the succeeding year, 1766, fell short of those of 1765, about eighty pounds ; from whence he wisely infers, that this decline of ex ports being since the relaxation of the laws of trade, there is a just ground of suspicion, that the colonies have been supplied with foreign commodities instead of British.
* His note, p. 22.
? There is another point in
tion," to which, I fear, I have not been so full in my
ports
I ought to have been, and as I am well
answer as
warranted to be. The author has endeavored to throw a suspicion, or something more, on that salu tary, and indeed necessary measure of opening the
The State of the Na
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Here, as usual with him, the author builds on a fact which is absolutely false; and which, being so, renders his whole hypothesis absurd and impossible. He asserts, that the order for admitting Spanish ves sels was given in August, 1765. That order was not signed at the treasury board until the 15th dag qf the Novernberfollowing ; and therefore so far from aifect ing the exports of the year 1765, that, supposing all possible diligence in the commissioners of the cus toms in expediting that order, and every advantage of
vessels ready to sail, and the most favorable wind, it would hardly even arrive in Jamaica, within the lim its of that year.
This order could therefore by no possibility be a cause of the decrease of exports in 1765. If it had any mischievous operation, it could not be before 1766. In that year, according to om' author, the ex ports fell short of the preceding, just eighty pounds. He is welcome to that diminution; and to all the cou sequences he can draw from it.
But, as an auxiliary to account for this dreadful loss, he brings in the Free-port Act, which he observes (for his convenience) to have been made in spring, 1766; but (for his convenience likewise) he forgets, that, by the express provision of the act, the regula tion was not to be in force in Jamaica until the No vember following. Miraculous must be the activity of that contraband whose operation in America could,
before the end of that year, have reacted upon Eng land, and checked the exportation from hence! Un less he chooses to suppose, that the merchants at Whose solicitation this act had been obtained, were so frightened at the accomplishment of their own most earnest and anxious desire, that, before any good or
429
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evil eifect from it could happen, they immediately put a stop to all further exportation.
It is obvious that we must look for the true effect of that act at the time of its first possible operation, that is, in the year 1767. On this idea how stands
the account?
A
1764, Exports to Jamaica . . . . ? 456,528
1765 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1766 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1767 (first year of the Free-port Act) .
This author, for the sake of a present momentary credit, will hazard any future and permanent dis grace. At the time he wrote, the account of 1767 could not be made up. This was the very first year of the trial of the Free-port Act; and we find that the sale of British commodities is so far from being lessened by that act, that the export of 1767 amounts to 52,000l. more than that of either of the two pre ceding years, and is 11,000l. above that of his stand ard year 1764. If I could prevail on myself to ar gue in favor of a great commercial scheme from the appearance of things in a single year, I should from this increase of export infer the beneficial effects of that measure. In truth, it is not wanting. Nothing but the thickest ignorance of the Jamaica trade could have made any one entertain a fancy, that the least ill effect on our commerce could follow from this opening of the ports. But, if the author argues the effect of regulations in the American trade from the export of the year in which they are made, or even of the following; why did he not apply this rule to his own? He had the same paper before him which I have now before me. He must have seen that in
_
415,624 415,544 467,681
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his standard year (the year 1'7 04), the 9,. incipal yea, of his new regulati<m=. >, the export fell no less man 128,450l. short of that in 1763! Did the export trade revive by these regulations in
1765, during which year they continued in their full_force? It
fell about 40,000l. still lower. Here is a fall of 168,000l. ; to account for which, would have become the author much better than piddling for an 80l. fall in the year 1766 (the only year in which the order he objects to could operate), or in presuming a fall of exports from a regulation which took place only in November, 1766 ; whose effects could not appear un til the following year; and which, when they do ap pear, utterly overthrow all his flimsy reasons and af fected suspicions upon the effect of opening the ports.
This author, in the same paragraph, says, that "it Was asserted by the American factors and agents, that the commanders of our ships of war and tenders, hav
ing custom-house commissions, and the strict orders given in 1764 for a due execution of the laws of trade in the colonies, had deterred the Spaniards from trad ing with us; that the sale of British manufactures in the West Indies had been greatly lessened, and the
receipt of large sums of specie prevented. "
If the American factors and agents asserted this,
they had good ground for their assertion.
knew that the Spanish vessels had been driven from our ports. The author does not positively deny the fact. If he should, it will be proved. When the fac tors connected this measure, and its natural conse quences, with an actual fall in the exports to Ja
maica, to no less an amount than 128,450l. in one year, and with a further fall in the next, is their assertioll very wonderful? The author himself is
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on A_ LATE PUBLICATION.
by a _fall of only 40,000l. ; for giving mm the facts which he chooses to coin, it is no more. The "expulsion of the Spanish vessels must
certainly have been one cause, if not of the first de clension of the exports, yet of their continuance in their reduced state. Other causes had their opera tion, without doubt. In what degree each cause pro duced its effect, it is hard to determine. But the fact of a fall of exports upon the restraining plan, and of a rise upon the taking place of the enlarging plan, is established beyond all contradiction.
This author says, that the facts relative to the Spanish trade were asserted" by American factors and agents; insinuating, that the ministry of 1766 had no better authority for their plan of enlargement than such assertions. The moment he chooses he shall see the very same thing asserted by governors of provinces, by commanders of men-of-war, and by offi cers of the customs persons the most bound in duty to prevent contraband, and the most interested in the seizures to be made in consequence of strict regula tion. suppress them for the present; wishing that the author may not drive me to more full discussion of this matter than may be altogether prudent to enter into. wish he had not made any of these dis cussions necessary.
full as much alarmed
1. . + .
? ? ? I I
it
;
a
it,
? THOUGHTS
THE CAUSE OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS.
Hoc vero ooeultum, intestinum, domesticum malum, non modo nou existit, verum etiam opprimit, antequam perspicere atque explorare
? potueris.
von. 1.
Cxc.
The author, towards the end of this work, falls in to reflections upon the state of public morals in this country: he draws use from this doctrine, by recom mending his friend to the king and the public, as an other Duke of Sully; and he concludes the whole performance with a very devout prayer.
*1. -IF-qn
? ? ? ? on run PRESENT srarn or rnn NATION. 413
The prayers of politicians may sometimes be sin cere; and as this prayer is in substance, that the au thor, or his friends, may be soon brought into power, I have great reason to believe it is very much from the heart. It must be owned too that after he has drawn such a picture, such a shocking picture, of the state of this country, he has great faith in thinking the means he prays for sufficient to relieve us: after the character he has given of its inhabitants of all ranks and classes, he has great charity in caring
much about them; and indeed no less hope, in being of opinion, that such a detestable nation can ever be come the care of Providence. He has not even found five good men in our devoted city.
He talks indeed of men of virtue and ability. But where are his men of virtue and ability to be found? Are they in the present administration? Never were a set of people more blackened by this author. Are they among the party of those (no small body) who
adhere to the system of 1766? These it is the great
? of this book to calumniate. Are they the persons who acted with his great friend, since the change in 1762, to his removal in 1765? Scarcely any of these are now out of employment; and we are
He observes, that the virtue of the most exemplary prince that ever swayed a sceptre " can never warm or illuminate the body of his people, if foul mirrors are placed so near him as to refract and dissipate the
rays at their first emanation. " * Without observing * Page 46.
'
purpose
in possession of his desideratum. Yet Ithink he hardly means to select, even some of the highest of them, as examples fit for the reformation of a corrupt world.
? ? ~I
upon the propriety of this metaphor, or asking how mirrors come to have lost their old quality of reflect ing, and to have acquired that of refracting, and dissi pating rays, and how far their foulness will account for this change; the remark itself is common and true: no less true, and equally surprising from him, is that which immediately precedes it: " It is in vain to endeavor to check the progress of irreligion and licentiousness, by punishing such crimes in om indi vidual, if others equally culpable are rewarded with the honors and emoluments of the state. " * I am not in the secret of the author's manner of writing; but it appears to me, that he must intend these reflec tions as a satire upon the administration of his happy years. Were ever the honors and emoluments of the state more lavishly squandered upon persons scanda lous in their lives than during that period ? In these scandalous lives, was there anything more scandalous than the mode of punishing one culpable individual? In that individual, is anything more culpable than his having been seduced by the example of some of those very persons by whom he was thus persecuted?
The author is so eager to attack others, that he pro vides but indifferently for his own defence. I believe, without going beyond the page I have now before me, he is very sensible, that I have sufficient matter of further, and, if possible, of heavier charge against his friends, upon his own principle. But it is because the advantage is too great, that I decline making use of it. I wish the author had not thought that all methods are lawful in party. Above all he ought to have taken care not to wound his enemies through the sides of his country. This he has done, by mak
'Page 46.
? 414
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? ? ? ? on THE PRESENT surn or rm'1 NATION.
ing that monstrous and overcharged picture of the distresses of our situation. No wonder that he, who finds this country in the same condition with that of France at the time of Henry the Fourth, could also find a resemblance between his political friend and
the Duke of Sully. As to those personal resem blances, people will often judge of them from their affections: they may imagine in these clouds whatso ever figures they please; but what is the conforma tion of that eye which can discover a resemblance of this country and these times to those with which the author compares them? France, a country just re covered out of twenty-five years of the most cruel and
desolating civil war that perhaps was ever known. The kingdom, under the veil of momentary quiet, full of the most atrocious political, operating upon the most furious fanatical factions. Some pretenders even to the crown ; and those who did not pretend to
the whole, aimed at the partition of the monarchy. There were almost as many competitors as provinces ; and all abetted by the greatest, the most ambitious, and most enterprising power in Europe. No place safe from treason; no, not the bosoms on which the
most amiable prince that ever lived reposed his head; not his mistresses; not even his queen'. As to the finances, they had scarce an existence, but as a mat ter of plunder to the managers, and of grants to insa
tiable and ungrateful courtiers.
How can our author have the heart to describe this
as any sort of parallel to our situation? To be sure, an April shower has some resemblance to a water spout; for they are both wet: and there is some like
ness between a summer evening's breeze and a hurri cane ; they are both wind: but who can compare our
415
? ? ? ? 416 OBSERVATIONS ON A LATE PUBLICATION _
disturbances, our situation, or our finances, to those of France in the time of Henry? Great Britain is indeed at this time wearied, but not broken, with the efforts of a victorious foreign war; not sutficiently relieved by an inadequate peace, but somewhat bene fited by that peace, and infinitely by the conse quences of that war. The powers of Europe awed by our victories, and lying in ruins upon every side of us. Burdened indeed we are with debt, but abounding with resources. We have a trade, not perhaps equal to our wishes, but more than ever we
In effect, no pretender to the crown ; nor nutriment for such desperate and destructive factions as have formerly shaken this kingdom.
As to our finances, the author trifles with us. When Sully came to those of France, in what order was any part of the financial system? or what sys tem was there at all? There is no man in ofiice who must not be sensible that ours without the act of any parading minister, the most regular and orderly system perhaps that was ever known the best se cured against all frauds in the collection, and all mis application in the expenditure public money.
admit that, in this flourishing state of things, there are appearances enough to excite uneasiness and apprehension. admit there cankerworm in the rose:
Medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis fioribus angat.
This nothing else than spirit of disconnection, of distrust, and of treachery among public men. It no accidental evil, nor has its effect been trusted to the usual frailty of nature; the distemper has been
inoculated. The author sensible of and we la.
""1-I_gqlgluu
? possessed.
? ? is
I a
it,
is a;
is
is
I
of
is,
? _
on THE PRESENT srarn or rm: NATION. 417
ment it together. This distemper is alone sufficient to take away considerably from the benefits of our constitution and situation, and perhaps to render their continuance precarious. If these evil disposi tions should spread much farther, they must end in our destruction; for nothing can save a people des titute of public and private faith. However, the author, for the present state of things, has extended
'the charge by much too widely; as men are but too apt to take the measure of all mankind from their own particular acquaintance. Barren as this age may be in the growth of honor and virtue, the coun try does not want, at this moment, as strong, and those not a few examples, as were ever known, of an unshaken adherence to principle, and attachment to connection, against every allurement of interest. Those examples are not furnished by the great alone ; nor by those, whose activity in public affairs may render it suspected that they make such a character
one of the rounds in their ladder of ambition; but by men more quiet, and more in the shade, on whom an unmixed sense of honor alone could operate. Such
examples indeed are not furnished in great abun dance amongst those who are the subjects of the au
? He must look for them in another camp. He who complains of the ill effects of a divid
and heterogeneous administration, is not justifi able in laboring to render odious in the eyes of the public those men, whose principles, whose maxims of policy, and whose personal character, can alone
thor's panegyric.
ed
a remedy to this capital evil of the age: is he consistent with himself, in constantly extolling those whom he knows to be the authors of the very mischief of which he complains, and which
the whole nation feels so deeply. v0L. I. 27
administer neither
? ? ? 418 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
The persons who are the objects of his dislike and complaint are many of them of the first families, and weightiest properties, in the kingdom; but infinitely more distinguished for their untainted honor, public and private, and their zealous, but sober attachment to the constitution of their country, than they can be by any birth, or any station. If they are the friends of any one great man rather than another, it is not that they make his aggrandizement the end of their union ; or because they know him to be the most active in caballing for his connections the largest and speediest emoluments. It is because they know him, by personal experience, to have wise and en larged ideas of the public good, and an invincible constancy in adhering to it; because they are con vinced, by the whole tenor of his actions, that he will never negotiate away their honor or his own: and that, in or out of power, change of situation will make no alteration in his conduct. This will give to such a person in such a body, an authority and respect that no minister ever enjoyed among his ve
nal dependents, in the highest plenitude of his power ; such as servility never can give, such as ambition never can receive or relish.
This body will often be reproached by their adversa ries, for want of ability in their political transactions ; they will be ridiculed for missing many favorable con
junctures, and not profiting of several brilliant oppor tunities of fortune; but they must be contented to endure that reproach; for they cannot acquire the reputation of that kind of ability without losipg all the other reputation they possess.
They will be charged too with a dangerous spirit of exclusion and proscription, for being unwilling to
. 'Ii'. 'W'"
? ? ? ? on rnn PRESENT sraru or rnn NATION. 419
mix in schemes of administration, which have no bond of union, or principle of confidence. That charge too they must suffer with patience. If the reason_of the thing had not spoken loudly enough, the miserable examples of the several administra
tions constructed upon the idea of systematic discord would be enough to frighten them from such mon strous and ruinous conjunctions. It is however false, that the idea of an united administration carries with it that of a proscription of any other party. It does indeed imply the necessity of having the great strong holds of government in well-united hands, in order
to secure the predominance of right and uniform prin ciples; of having the capital offices of deliberation and execution of those who can deliberate with mu tual confidence, and who will execute what is re solved with firmness and fidelity. If this system cannot be rigorously adhered to in practice, (and what system can be so? ) ought to be the constant
aim of good men to approach as nearly to as possi ble. No system of that kind can be formed, which will not leave room fully sufficient for healing coali tions: but no coalition, which, under the specious name of independency, carries in its bosom the un reconciled principles of the original discord of parties, ever was, or will be, an healing coalition. Nor will
the mind of our sovereign ever know repose, his king dom settlement, or his business order, efficieney, or grace with his people, until things are established upon the basis of some set of men, who are trusted
by the public, and who can trust one another.
This comes rather nearer to the mark than the
author's description of proper administration, un der the name of men ability and virtue, which
? ? ? of a
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it
? 420 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
conveys no definite idea at all; nor does it apply specifically to our grand national distemper. All parties pretend to these qualities. The present min istry, no favorites of the author, will be ready enough to declare themselves persons of virtue and ability; and if they choose a vote for that purpose, perhaps it would not be quite impossible for them to procure it. But, if the disease be this distrust and discon nection, it is easy to know who are sound and who are tainted ; who are fit to restore us to health, who
to continue, and to spread the contagion. The pres ent ministry being made up of draughts from all parties in the kingdom, if they should profess any adherence to the connections they have left, they must convict themselves of the blackest treachery. They therefore choose rather to renounce the prin ciple itself, and to brand it with the name of pride and faction. This test with certainty discriminates the opinions of men. The other is a description vague and unsatisfactory.
As to the unfortunate gentlemen who may at any time compose that system, which, under the plausi ble title of an administration, subsists but for the establishment of weakness and confusion; they fall into different classes, with different merits. I think the situation of some people in that state may deserve a certain degree of compassion ; at the same time that they furnish an example, which, it is to be hoped, by being a severe one, will have its effect, at least, on the growing generation ; if an original seduction, on plausible but hollow pretences, into loss of honor, friendship, consistency, security, and repose, can fur nish it. It is possible to draw, even from the very prosperity of ambition, examples of terror, and mo tivcs to compassion.
? ? ? ? on mn PRESENT STATE or THE NATION. 421
I believe the instances are exceedingly rare of men immediately passing over a clear, marked line of vir tue into declared vice and corruption. There are a sort of middle tints and shades between the two ex tremes ; there is something uncertain on the confines of the two empires which they first pass through, and which renders the change easy and imperceptible. There are even a sort of splendid impositions so well
contrived, that, at the very time the path of rectitude is quitted forever, men seem to be advancing into some higher and nobler road of public conduct. Not that such impositions are strong enough in them selves ; but a powerful interest, often concealed from those whom it affects, works at the bottom, and se cures the operation. Men are thus debauched away from those legitimate connections, which they had formed on a judgment, early perhaps, but sufficiently mature, and wholly unbiassed. They do not quit
them upon any ground of complaint, for grounds of just complaint may exist, but upon the flattering and most dangerous of all principles, that of mend
ing what is well. Gradually they are habituated to other company ; and a change in their habitudes soon makes a way for a change in their opinions. Certain persons are no longer so very frightful, when they come to be known and to be serviceable. As to
their old friends, the transition is easy ; from friend ship to civility ; from civility to enmity: few are tho steps from dereliction to persecution.
People not very well grounded in the principles of public morality find a set of maxims in offiee ready made for them, which they assume as naturally and
inevitably, as any of the insignia or instruments of the situation. A certain tone of the solid and prac
? ? ? ? OBSERVATIONS ON A LATE PUBLICATION
tical is immediately acquired. Every former profes sion of public spirit is to be considered as a debauch of youth, or, at best, as a visionary scheme of unat tainable perfection. The very idea of consistency is
The convenience of the business of the day is to furnish the principle for doing it. Then the whole ministerial cant is quickly got by heart. The prevalence of faction is to be lamented. All opposition is to be regarded as the effect of envy and disappointed ambition. All administrations are de clared to be alike. The same necessity justifies all their measures. It is no longer a matter of discus sion, who or what administration is; but that admin istration is to be supported, is a general maxim. Flat tering themselves that their power is become necessary to the support of all order and government;
thing which tends to the support of that power is sanctified, and becomes a part of the public interest.
Growing every day more formed to affairs, and bet ter knit in their limbs, when the occasion (now the only rule) requires they become capable of sacri ficing those very persons to whom they had before sacrificed their original friends. It now 'only in the ordinary course of business to alter an opinion, or to betray connection. Frequently relinquishing one set of men and adopting another, they grow into
total indifference to human feeling, as they had before to moral obligation; until at length, no one original impression remains upon their minds: every principle obliterated every sentiment eflaced.
In the mean time, that power, which all these changes aimed at securing, remains still as tottering and as uncertain as ever. They are delivered up into the hands of those who feel neither respect for
exploded.
? every
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a
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their persons, nor gratitude for their favors; who are put about them in appearance to serve, in reality to govern them; and, when the signal is given, to abandon and destroy them in order to set up some new dupe of ambition, who in his turn is to be aban doned and destroyed. Thus living in a state of con tinual uneasiness and ferment, softened only by the miserable consolation of giving now and then prefer ments to those for whom they have no value; they are unhappy in their situation, yet find it impossible to resign. Until, at length, soured in temper, and disappointed by the very attainment of their ends, in some angry, in some haughty, or some negligent mo ment, they incur the displeasure of those upon whom they have rendered their very being dependent. Then
perierunt tempera longi servitii; they are cast off with scorn; they are turned out, emptied of all nat ural character, of all intrinsic worth, of all essential dignity, and deprived of every consolation of friend ship. Having rendered all retreat to old principles ridiculous, and to old regards impracticable, not be ing able to counterfeit pleasure, or to discharge dis content, nothing being sincere, or right, or balanced
in their minds, it is more than a chance, that, in the delirium of the last stage of their distempered power, they make an insane political testament, by which they throw all their remaining weight and conse quence into the scale of their declared enemies, and
the avowed authors of their destruction. Thus they finish their course. Had it been possible that the Whole, or even a great part of these effects on their minds, I say nothing of the effect upon their fortunes, could have appeared to them in their first departure from the right line, it is certain they would have rc
? ? ? ? 424 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
jected every temptation with horror. The principle of these remarks, like every good principle in moral ity, is trite; but its frequent application is not the less necessary.
As to others, who are plain practical men, they have been guiltless at all times of all public pretence. Neither the author nor any one else has reason to be angry with them. They . belonged to his friend for their interest; for their interest they quitted him; and when it is their interest, he may depend upon they will return to their former connection. Such people subsist at all times, and, though the nuisance of all, are at no time worthy subject of discussion.
false virtue and plausible error that do the mis chief.
If men come to government with right dispositions, they have not that unfavorable subject which this au thor represents to work upon. Our circumstances are indeed critical; but then they are the critical circumstances of strong and mighty nation. corruption and meanness are greatly spread, they are not spread universally. Many public men are hith erto examples of public spirit and integrity. Whole parties, as far as large bodies can be uniform, have preserved character. However they may be deceived in some particulars, know of no set of men amongst us, which does not contain persons on whom the na tion, in difficult exigcnce, may well value itself. Private life, which the nursery of the common wealth, yet in general pure, and on the whole dis posed to virtue and the people at large want neither generosity nor spirit. No small part of that very luxury, which so much the subject of the author's declamation, but which, in most parts of life, by be
? ? ? is ;
is
I
a
is
a
If
it,
It is
a
? on run PRESENT surn on THE NATION. 4:25
ing well balanced and diffused, is only decency and convenience, has perhaps as many, or more good than evil consequences attending it.
It certainly excites in dustry, nourishes emulation, and inspires some sense of personal value into all ranks of people. What we want is to establish more fully an opinion of uniform ity, and consistency of character, in the leading men of the state; such as will restore some confidence to
profession and appearance, such as will fix subordi nation upon esteem. Without this, all schemes are begun at the wrong end. All who join in them are liable to their consequences. All men who, under whatever pretext, take a part in the formation or the support of systems constructed in such a manner as must, in their nature, disable them from the execu tion of their duty, have made themselves guilty of all
the present distraction, and of the future ruin, which they may bring upon their country.
It is a serious affair, this studied disunion in gov ernment. In cases where union is most consulted in the constitution of a ministry, and where persons are best disposed to promote differences, from the va
rious ideas of men, will arise; and from their pas sions will often ferment into violent heats, so as greatly to disorder all public business. What must
be the consequence, when the very distemper made the basis of the constitution; and the original weak ness of human nature still further enfeebled by art and contrivance It must subvert government from the very foundation. It turns our public councils into the most mischievous cabals where the consid
? not how the nation's business shall be car ried 0n, but how those who ought to carry on shall circumvent each other. In such state of things, no
eration
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order, uniformity, dignity, or effect, can appear in our proceedings, either at home or abroad. Nor will it make much difference, whether some of the constitu ent parts of such an administration are men of vir tue or ability, or not ; supposing it possible that such men, with their eyes open, should choose to make a
'
hand of Providence. I do not like to answer, as our author so readily does, for the event of any specula tion. But surely the nature of our disorders, if any thing, must indicate the proper remedy. Men who act steadily on the principles I have stated may in all events be very serviceable to their country; in one case, by furnishing (if their sovereign should be so advised) an administration formed upon ideas very different from those which have for some time been unfortunately fashionable. But, if this should not be the case, they may be still serviceable; for the ex ample of a large body of men, steadily sacrificing am
bition to principle, can never be without use. It will certainly be prolific, and draw others to an imitation.
Vera gloria radices agit, atque etiam propagatur.
I do not think myself of consequence enough to im
itate my author, in troubling the world with the prayers or wishes I may form for the public: full as little am I disposed to imitate his professions; those professions are long since worn out in the political service. If the work will not speak for the author, his own declarations deserve but little credit.
part in such a body.
The effects of all human contrivances are in the
U'
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APPENDIX.
in "-1
much misplaced industry has been used by the SOauthor of " The State of the Nation," as well as by other writers, to infuse discontent into the people, on account of the late war, and of the effects of our national debt ; that nothing ought to be omitted which
may tend to disabuse the public upon these subjects. When I had gone through the foregoing sheets, I rec ollected, that, in pages 58, 59, 60, I only gave the comparative states of the duties collected by the ex cise at large; together with the quantities of strong beer brewed in the two periods which are'there com
It might be still thought, that some other ar ticles of popular consumption, of general convenience, and connected with our manufactures, might possibly have declined. I therefore now think it right to lay before the reader the state of the produce of three cap ital duties on such articles; duties which have fre quently been made the subject of popular complaint.
The duty on candles; that on soap, paper, &c. ; and that on hides.
Average of net produce of duty on soap,
&c. , for eight years ending 1767 . . . ? 264,902
Average of ditto for eight years ending 1754. . . . . . . . . . . 228,114
Average increase . . ? 36,78--8
? pared.
? ? ? 428 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
Average of net produce of duty on can
dles for eight years ending 1767 . . . . ? 155,789
Average of ditto for eight years ending
\1754 136 ,716
Average increase . he t\ \ 073 7
Average net produce of duty on hides, _
eight years, ending 1767 . . . . . ? 189,216 Ditto eight years, ending 1754 . . . . 168,200
Average increase . . . ? 21,016
This increase has not arisen from any additional du ties. None have been imposed on these articles dur ing the war. Notwithstanding the burdens of the war, and the late dearness of provisions, the con sumption of all these articles has increased, and the revenue along with it. "
in Jamaica. "Orders were given," says he, " in August, 1765, for the free admission of Spanish vessels into all the co1onies. "* He then observes, that the exports to Jamaica fell 40,904l. short of those of 1764; and that the exports of the succeeding year, 1766, fell short of those of 1765, about eighty pounds ; from whence he wisely infers, that this decline of ex ports being since the relaxation of the laws of trade, there is a just ground of suspicion, that the colonies have been supplied with foreign commodities instead of British.
* His note, p. 22.
? There is another point in
tion," to which, I fear, I have not been so full in my
ports
I ought to have been, and as I am well
answer as
warranted to be. The author has endeavored to throw a suspicion, or something more, on that salu tary, and indeed necessary measure of opening the
The State of the Na
? ? ? on THE PRESENT surn or run NATION.
Here, as usual with him, the author builds on a fact which is absolutely false; and which, being so, renders his whole hypothesis absurd and impossible. He asserts, that the order for admitting Spanish ves sels was given in August, 1765. That order was not signed at the treasury board until the 15th dag qf the Novernberfollowing ; and therefore so far from aifect ing the exports of the year 1765, that, supposing all possible diligence in the commissioners of the cus toms in expediting that order, and every advantage of
vessels ready to sail, and the most favorable wind, it would hardly even arrive in Jamaica, within the lim its of that year.
This order could therefore by no possibility be a cause of the decrease of exports in 1765. If it had any mischievous operation, it could not be before 1766. In that year, according to om' author, the ex ports fell short of the preceding, just eighty pounds. He is welcome to that diminution; and to all the cou sequences he can draw from it.
But, as an auxiliary to account for this dreadful loss, he brings in the Free-port Act, which he observes (for his convenience) to have been made in spring, 1766; but (for his convenience likewise) he forgets, that, by the express provision of the act, the regula tion was not to be in force in Jamaica until the No vember following. Miraculous must be the activity of that contraband whose operation in America could,
before the end of that year, have reacted upon Eng land, and checked the exportation from hence! Un less he chooses to suppose, that the merchants at Whose solicitation this act had been obtained, were so frightened at the accomplishment of their own most earnest and anxious desire, that, before any good or
429
? ? ? ? 480 OBSERVATIONS on A LATE PUBLICATION
evil eifect from it could happen, they immediately put a stop to all further exportation.
It is obvious that we must look for the true effect of that act at the time of its first possible operation, that is, in the year 1767. On this idea how stands
the account?
A
1764, Exports to Jamaica . . . . ? 456,528
1765 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1766 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1767 (first year of the Free-port Act) .
This author, for the sake of a present momentary credit, will hazard any future and permanent dis grace. At the time he wrote, the account of 1767 could not be made up. This was the very first year of the trial of the Free-port Act; and we find that the sale of British commodities is so far from being lessened by that act, that the export of 1767 amounts to 52,000l. more than that of either of the two pre ceding years, and is 11,000l. above that of his stand ard year 1764. If I could prevail on myself to ar gue in favor of a great commercial scheme from the appearance of things in a single year, I should from this increase of export infer the beneficial effects of that measure. In truth, it is not wanting. Nothing but the thickest ignorance of the Jamaica trade could have made any one entertain a fancy, that the least ill effect on our commerce could follow from this opening of the ports. But, if the author argues the effect of regulations in the American trade from the export of the year in which they are made, or even of the following; why did he not apply this rule to his own? He had the same paper before him which I have now before me. He must have seen that in
_
415,624 415,544 467,681
? ? ? ? ON THE PRESENT
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431
his standard year (the year 1'7 04), the 9,. incipal yea, of his new regulati<m=. >, the export fell no less man 128,450l. short of that in 1763! Did the export trade revive by these regulations in
1765, during which year they continued in their full_force? It
fell about 40,000l. still lower. Here is a fall of 168,000l. ; to account for which, would have become the author much better than piddling for an 80l. fall in the year 1766 (the only year in which the order he objects to could operate), or in presuming a fall of exports from a regulation which took place only in November, 1766 ; whose effects could not appear un til the following year; and which, when they do ap pear, utterly overthrow all his flimsy reasons and af fected suspicions upon the effect of opening the ports.
This author, in the same paragraph, says, that "it Was asserted by the American factors and agents, that the commanders of our ships of war and tenders, hav
ing custom-house commissions, and the strict orders given in 1764 for a due execution of the laws of trade in the colonies, had deterred the Spaniards from trad ing with us; that the sale of British manufactures in the West Indies had been greatly lessened, and the
receipt of large sums of specie prevented. "
If the American factors and agents asserted this,
they had good ground for their assertion.
knew that the Spanish vessels had been driven from our ports. The author does not positively deny the fact. If he should, it will be proved. When the fac tors connected this measure, and its natural conse quences, with an actual fall in the exports to Ja
maica, to no less an amount than 128,450l. in one year, and with a further fall in the next, is their assertioll very wonderful? The author himself is
? They
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OBSERVATIONS
on A_ LATE PUBLICATION.
by a _fall of only 40,000l. ; for giving mm the facts which he chooses to coin, it is no more. The "expulsion of the Spanish vessels must
certainly have been one cause, if not of the first de clension of the exports, yet of their continuance in their reduced state. Other causes had their opera tion, without doubt. In what degree each cause pro duced its effect, it is hard to determine. But the fact of a fall of exports upon the restraining plan, and of a rise upon the taking place of the enlarging plan, is established beyond all contradiction.
This author says, that the facts relative to the Spanish trade were asserted" by American factors and agents; insinuating, that the ministry of 1766 had no better authority for their plan of enlargement than such assertions. The moment he chooses he shall see the very same thing asserted by governors of provinces, by commanders of men-of-war, and by offi cers of the customs persons the most bound in duty to prevent contraband, and the most interested in the seizures to be made in consequence of strict regula tion. suppress them for the present; wishing that the author may not drive me to more full discussion of this matter than may be altogether prudent to enter into. wish he had not made any of these dis cussions necessary.
full as much alarmed
1. . + .
? ? ? I I
it
;
a
it,
? THOUGHTS
THE CAUSE OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS.
Hoc vero ooeultum, intestinum, domesticum malum, non modo nou existit, verum etiam opprimit, antequam perspicere atque explorare
? potueris.
von. 1.
Cxc.
