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yet, I must own, I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Provi dence, that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing, and to exist in the posterity of a great nation, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent and benificent Ruler, in whom all inferior spirits live, and move, and have their being.

THE INTERNAL STATE OF AMERICA. Being a true Description of the Interest and Policy of that vast Continent.

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THERE is a tradition, that, in the planting of New-England, the first settlers met with many. difficulties and hardships; as is generally the case when a civilized people attempt establishing themselves in a wilderness country. Being pi,. ously disposed, they sought relief from heaven, by laying their wants and distresses before the Lord, in frequent set days of fasting and prayer. Constant meditation and discourse on these subjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented; and, like the children of Israel, there were many disposed to return to that Egypt which persecution had induced them to abandon. At length, when it was proposed in the assembly to pro.. claim another fast, a farmer of plain sense rose, and remarked, that the inconveniences they suffered, and concerning which they had so often wearied heaven with their complaints, were not

so great as they might have expected, and were diminishing every day as the colony strengthened; that the earth began to reward their labour, and to furnish liberally for their subsistence; that the seas and rivers were found full of fish, the air sweet, and the climate healthy; and, above all, that they were there in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious; he therefore thought, that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would be more comfortable, as tending more to make them contented with their situation; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they owed to the Divine Being, if, instead of a fast, they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His advice was taken, and from that day to this they have, in every year, observed circumstances of public felicity sufficient to furnish employment for a thanksgiving day, which is therefore constantly ordered and religiously observed.

I see in the public papers of different states frequent complaints of hard times, deadness of trade, scarcity of money, &c. &c. It is not my intention to assert or maintain that these complaints are entirely without foundation. There can be no country or nation existing, in which there will not be some people so circumstanced as to find it hard to gain a livelihood; people who are not in the way of any profitable trade, and with whom money is scarce, because they have nothing to give in exchange for it; and it is always in the power of a small number to make a great clamour. But let us take a cool

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view of the general state of our affairs, and p haps the prospect will appear less gloomy than has been imagined.

The great business of the continent is agriculture. For one artisan, or merchant, I suppose, we have at least one hundred farmers, and by far the greatest part cultivators of their own fertile lands, from whence many of them draw not only food necessary for their subsistence, but the materials of their clothing, so as to need very few foreign supplies; while they have a surplus of productions to dispose of, whereby wealth is gradually accumulated. Such has been the goodness of Divine Providence to these regions, and so favourable the climate, that, since the three or four years of hardship in the first settlement of our fathers here, a famine or scarcity has never been heard amongst us; on the contrary, though some years may have been more, and others less plentiful, there has always been provision enough for ourselves, and a quantity to spare for exportation. And although the crops of last year were generally good, never was the farmer better paid for the part he can spare. commerce, as the published price currents abundantly testify. The lands he possesses are alsocontinually rising in value with the increase of population; and on the whole, he is enabled to give such good wages to those who work for him, that all who are acquainted with the old world must agree, that in no part of it are the labouring poor so generally well fed, well clothed,

well lodged, and well paid, as in the United States of America.

If we enter the cities, we find that, since the revolution, the owners of houses and lots of ground have had their interest vastly augmented in value; rents have risen to an astonishing height, and thence encouragement to increase building, which gives employment to an abundance of workmen, as does also the increased luxury and splendour of living of the inhabitants thus made richer. These workmen all demand and obtain much higher wages than any other part of the world could 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 considerable part of the city inhabitants.

At the distance I live from our American fisheries, I cannot speak of them with any degree of certainty; but I have not heard that the valuable race of men employed in them is worse paid, or that they meet with less success than before the revolution. The whalemen indeed have been deprived of one market for their oil; but another, I hear, is opening for them, which it is hoped. may be equally advantageous; and the demand is constantly increasing for their spermaciti candles, which there bear a much higher price than formerly.

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There remain the merchants and shop keepOf these, though they make but a small part of the whole nation, the number is considerable, too great indeed for the business they are

employed in; for the consumption of goods in every country has its limits; the faculties of the people, that is, their ability to buy and pay, is equal only to a certain quantity of merchandize. If merchants calculate amiss on this proportion, and import too much, they will of course find the sale dull for the overplus, and some of them will say that trade languishes. They should, and doubtless will, grow wiser by experience, and import less. If too many artificers in town, and farmers from the country, flattering themselves with the idea of leading easier lives, turn shop-keepers, the whole natural quantity of that business divided among them all may afford too sinall a share for each, and occa ion complaints that trading is dead; these may also suppose that it is owing to scarcity of money, while in fact, it is not so much from the fewness of buyers, as from the excessive number of sellers, that the mischief arises; and, if every shop keeping. farmer and mechanic would return to the use of his plough and working tools, there would remain of widows, and other women, shop-keepers sufficient for the business, which might then afford them a comfortable maintenance.

Whoever has travelled through the various parts of Europe, and observed how small is the proportion of people in affluence or easy circumstances there, compared with those in poverty and misery; the few rich and haughty landlords, the multitude of poor, abject, rack-rented, tythepaying tenants, and half-paid, and half-starved ragged labourers; and views here the happy

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