affairs there; without which, Solomon, if he were alive and with you, could not make a right judgment of what is to be done there. By the ftate of affairs there, I mean not only what is acted at the council-board, in the army, city, and country, but likewise how these several bodies are generally affected to this nomination of Cromwell's fon; what opinion they have of, and kindness to, his perfon; who is difcontented at it; and upon what account they are fo, and to what degree; what formed parties are made or making against it; and how they propose to carry on their defign-whether under the veil of a parliament, or by open declared force; how Monk and Mr Harry Cromwell like it; and of what confideration Lambert is upon this change. Moft of thefe, and many other particulars, ought to be well known upon able and impartial intelligence. from the place, before you can be ready for a judgment, either of the defign itself or of the timing; and in the mean time, both the King's party in England and we here, cannot (in my opinion) act too filent a part. When their partialities fhall come to the height, that is, when the fwords fhall be drawn, our tale will be heard, the weakest party will be glad to take us by the hand, and give us the means of arming and embodying ourfelves; and then will be our time to speak our own language. But if we appear be fore upon our own account, it will only serve to unite our enemies, and confirm their new government by a victory over us, whereby we shall be utterly difabled to do our duty when the true feafon fhall come; which I doubt not will quickly be, if we have but the patience to wait for it. But whilft I thus declare my opinion against their abortions, I would not be understood that no endeavours of ours may be proper to haften the timely birth; on the contrary, I think much good is to be done by difcreet and fecret application, by well chofen perfons, to thofe of power and interest amongst them, whom we fhall find moft difcontented with Cromwell's partiality in setting this young man over their heads, that have borne the brunt of the day in the common cause, as they call it; and who have fo good an opinion of themselves, as to believe that they have deferved as much of them they fought for as Cromwell himself did. Who thefe are is not eafy for us as yet to know; but fuch there are certainly, and a little time will easily discover them, and probably enough we may find fome of them in Cromwell's own family, and amongft thofe that in his life stuck closeft to him. Be they where they will, if they have power and will to do good, they ought to be cherished. But the perfon that my eye is chiefly on, is able alone to restore the King, and not abfolutely averfe to it, neither in his principles nor in his affections, and that is as like to be unfatisfied with this choice as another amonft them, is Monk, who commandeth abfolutely at his devotion a better army (as I am informed) than that in England is, and in the King's quar rel can bring with him the ftrength of Scotland, and fo protect the nor thern, that he cannot fail of them in his march; the reputation whereof (if he declares) will as much give the will to the appearing of the King's party in the reft of England, as the drawing the army from the fouthern, weftern, and eaftern, counties, will give them the means to appear in arms. Thus the work will be certainly done, in fpite of all oppofi tion that can be apprehended; and the gaining of one man will alone make fure work of the whole. I need not give you his character; you know he is a fullen man, that values him enough, and much believes that his knowledge and reputation in arms Intereft and Policy of the Continent of America. fits him for the title of Highness, and the office of Protector, better than Mr Richard Cromwell's skill in horfe races and husbandry doth. You know, befides, that the only ties that have hitherto kept him from grumbling, have been the vanity of conftancy to his profeffions, and his affection to Cromwell's perfon; the latter whereof is doubly diffolved, firft, by the jealoufies he had of him, and now by his death; and if he be handfomely put in mind who was his firft mafter, and what was promifed him when he came out of the Tower, the firft fcruple will not long trouble him. Nothing of either of them can now ftick with him; and, befides, if I am well informed, he that lately believed his head was in danger from the father (and, therefore, no arts nor importunities could bring him to London), will not easily trust the fon. The way to deal with him 73 is, by fome fit perfon (which I think is the greateft difficulty) to show him plainly, and to give him all imaginable fecurity for it, that he fhall better find all his ends (thofe of honour, power, profit, and fafety) with the King, than in any other way he can take. Neither are we to boggle at any way he fhall propose in the declaring himself; let it at the first be Prefbyterian, be King and Parliament, be a third party, or what he will, fo it oppose the prefent power, it will at last do the King's bufinefs; and, after a little time, he will and muft alone fall into the tract we would have him go in; when he has engaged paft retreat, he will want you as much as you will want him, and you may mould him into what form you please. You have my opi nion (though in too much hafte); pray think seriously of it.' A New Defcription of the Intereft and Policy of the Continent of America: By bis Excellency Dr BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Prefident of the State of Penfl vania. THE HERE is a tradition, that in the planting of New England, the first fettlers met with many difficulties and hardships, as is generally the cafe when a civilized people attempt eftablishing themfelves in a wilderness country. Being piously difpofed, they fought relief from Heaven, by laying their wants and diftreffes before the Lord in frequent fet days of fafting and prayer. Conftant meditation and difcourfe on thefe fubjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented; and like the children of Ifrael, there were many difpofed to return to that Egypt which perfecution had induced them to abandon. At length, when it was propofed in the Affembly to proclaim another faft, a farmer of plain fenfe rofe, and remark VOL. IV. N° 20. ed, that the inconveniences they fuffered, and concerning which they had often wearied Heaven with their complaints, were not to great as they might have expected, and were diminished every day as the colony. ftrengthened; that the earth began to reward their labour, and to furnifh liberally for their fubfiftence that the feas and rivers were found full of fish, the air fweet, the climate healthy; and above all, that they were there in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious: he therefore thought, that reflecting and converfing on thefe fubjects would be more comfortable, as tending more to make them contented with their fituation; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they owed to the Divine Being, K if, if, inftead of a faft, they fhould proclaim a thankfgiving. His advice was taken; and from that day to this, they have in every year obferved circumstances of public felicity fufficient to furnifh employment for a thanksgiving day; which is therefore conflantly ordered, and religiously obferved. I fee in the public newfpapers of different States, frequent complaints of hard times, deadnefs of trade, fcarcity of money, &c. &c. It is not my intention to affert or maintain that thefe complaints are entirely without foundation. There can be no country or nation existing, in which there will not be fome people fo circumftanced as to find it hard to gain a livelihood: people, who are not in the way of any profitable trade, and with whom money is fcarce, because they have nothing to give in exchange for it; and it is always in the power of a small number to make a great clamour. But let us take a cool view of the general state of our affairs, and perhaps the profpeét will appear lefs gloomy than has been imagined. The great bufinefs of the continent is agriculture. For one artifan or merchant, I fuppofe we have at least one hundred farmers, by far the greatest part cultivators of their own fertile lands; from whence many of them draw not only food neceffary for their fubfiftence, but the materials of their clothing, fo as to need very few foreign fupplies; while they have a furplus of productions to difpofe of, whereby wealth is gradually accumulated. Such has been the good nefs of Divine Providence to thefe ' regions, and fo favourable the climate, that fince the three or four years of hardships in the first fettlement of our fathers here, a famine or fcarcity has never been heard of amongst us; on the contrary, though fome years may have been more, and others lefs plentiful, there has always been provifion enough for ourselves, and a quantity to fpare for exportation. And although the crops of last year were generally good, never was the farmer better paid for the part he can fpare of commerce, as the published prices current abundantly teftify. The lands he poffeffes are continually rifing in value with the increase of population And on the whole, he is enabled to give fuch wages to thofe who work for him, that all who are acquainted with the world muft agree, that in no part of it are labouring poor fo generally well fed, well clothed, well lodged, and well paid, as in the United States of America. an a If we enter the cities, we find, that fince the revolution, the owners of houfes and lots of ground have had their intereft vaftly augmented in value; rents have rifen to ftonishing height, and thence encouragement to increase building, which gives employment to an abundance of workmen, as does alfo the increafed luxury and fplendor of living of the inhabitants thus made richer. These workmen all demand and obtain much higher wages than any other part of the world would afford them, and are paid in ready money. This rank of people, therefore, do not, or ought not, to complain of hard times; and they make a very confiderable part of the city inhabi tants. At the distance I live from our American fisheries, I cannot fpeak of them with any certainty; but I have not heard that the labour of the valuable race of men employed in them is worfe paid, or that they meet with lefs fuccefs than they did before the revolution. The whale men indeed have been deprived of one market for their oil; but another, I hear, is opening for them, which it is hoped may be equally advanta geous. of the True State and Intereft of America. geous: And the demand is contantly increafing for their fpermaceti candles, which therefore bear a much higher price than formerly. There remain the merchants and Shopkeepers. Of thefe, though they make but a small part of the whole nation, the number is confiderable; too great indeed for the bufinefs they are employed in; for the confump. tion of goods in every country has its limits. The faculties of the people, that is their ability to buy and pay, is equal only to a certain quantity of merchandise. If.merchants calculate amifs on this proportion, and import too much, they will of courfe find the fale dull for the overplus, and fome of them will fay that trade languishes. They fhould, and doubtless will, grow wifer by experience, and import lefs. If too many artificers and farmers turn fhopkeepers, the whole quantity of that bufinefs divided amongst them, may afford too fmall a fhare for each, and occafion complaints that trading is dead; they may all fuppofe, that it is owing to the fcarcity of money, while, in fact, it is not fo much from the fewness of buy ers, as from the exceffive number of fellers that the mischief arifes; and if every fhopkeeper, farmer, and mechanic, would return to the ufe of his plough and working tools, there would remain of widows and other women shopkeepers fufficient for the bufinefs, which might then afford them a comfortable mainte 75 fo generally prevails throughout thefe States, where the cultivator works for himfelf, and fupports his family in decent plenty; will, methinks, fee abundant reafon to blefs Divine Providence for the evident and great difference in our favour, and be convinced, that no nation known to us enjoys a greater share of human felicity. It is true, that in fome of the States there are parties and difcord; but let us look back, and afk if we were ever without them? Such will exift wherever there is liberty; and perhaps they help to preferve it. By the collifion of different fentiments, fparks of truth are ftruck out, and political light is obtained. The different factions which at prefent divide us, aim all at the public good; the differences are only about the various modes of promoting it. Things, actions, meafures, and objects of all kinds, prefent themselves to the minds of men in fuch a variety of lights, that it is not poffible we fhould all think alike at the fame time on every subject, when hardly the fame man retains at all times the fame ideas of it. Parties are therefore the common lot of hymanity, and ours are by no means mifchievous or lefs beneficial than thofe of other countries, nations, and ages, enjoying in the fame degree the great blefling of political liberty. Some indeed among us are not fo much grieved for the prefent state of our affairs, as apprehenfive for the future. The growth of luxury alarms them, and they think we are from that alone in the high road to ruin. They obferve, that no revenue is fufficient without œconomy, and that the most plentiful income of a whole people from the natural productions of their country, may be diffipated in vain and needlefs expences, and poverty be introduced in the place of affluence. This may K 2 be be poffible. It, however, rarely happens; for there feems to be in every nation a greater proportion of induftry and frugality, which tend to enrich, than of idleness and prodigality, which occafion poverty; fo that upon the whole there is a continual accumulation. Reflect what Spain, Gaul, Germany, and Britain, were in the time of the Romans, inhabited by people little richer than our favages, and confider the wealth they at prefent poffefs, in numerous well-built cities, improved farms, rich moveables, magazines ftocked with valuable manufactures, to fay nothing of plate, jewels, and coined money; and all this notwithstanding their bad, wafteful, plundering government, and their mad destructive wars; and yet luxury and extravagant living has never fuffered much restraint in those countries Then confider the great proportion of induftrious and frugal farmers inhabiting the interior parts of these American States, and of whom the body of our nation confifts, and whether it is poffible that the luxury of our fea-ports can be fufficient to ruin fuch a country. If the importation of foreign luxuries could ruin a people, we should probably have been ruined long ago; for the British nation claimed a right, and practised it, of importing among us, not only the fuperfluities of M. their own production, but thofe of every nation under heaven; we bought and consumed them, and yet we flourished and grew rich. At prefent our independent government may do what we could not then do, difcourage by heavy duties, or prevent by prohibitions, fuch importations, and thereby grow richer; if indeed, which may admit of dif pute, the defire of adorning ourfelves with fine clothes, &c. is not, by ftrongly inciting to labour and induftry, the occafion of producing a greater value than is confumed in the gratification of that defire. The agriculture and fifheries of the United States are the great fources of our increafing wealth. He that puts a feed into the earth is recompenfed perhaps by receiving forty out of it; and he who draws a fish out of our waters, draws up a piece of filver. Let us (and there is no doubt but we fhall) be attentive to thefe; and then the power of rivals, with all their reftraining and prohibiting acts, cannot much hurt us. We are fons of the earth and feas; and, like Anteus in the fable, if in wrestling with a Hercules we now and then receive a fall, the touch of our parents will communicate to us fresh ftrength and vigour to renew the conteft. An Egyptian Anecdote. SAVARY, in his letters from Egypt (lately publifhed), obferves, that the Egyptian women, although generally tender and timid, become bold and ungovernable when the paffion of love happens to take poffeffion of them. Guards,' locks, and bars, prove then but feeble obftacles to the violence of their de fires. Impending death itfelf can |