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PHILADELPHIA 1726-1757
by Benjamin Franklin
_Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion_
IN TWO PARTS.
Here will I hold ------ If there is a Pow'r above us
(And that there is, all Nature cries aloud,
Thro' all her Works), He must delight in Virtue
And that which he delights in must be Happy. Cato.
PART I.
Philada.
Nov. 20 1728.
First Principles
I believe there is one Supreme most perfect Being, Author and
Father of the Gods themselves.
For I believe that Man is not the most perfect Being but One,
rather that as there are many Degrees of Beings his Inferiors, so
there are many Degrees of Beings superior to him.
Also, when I stretch my Imagination thro' and beyond our System
of Planets, beyond the visible fix'd Stars themselves, into that
Space that is every Way infinite, and conceive it fill'd with Suns
like ours, each with a Chorus of Worlds for ever moving round him,
then this little Ball on which we move, seems, even in my narrow
Imagination, to be almost Nothing, and my self less than nothing, and
of no sort of Consequence.
When I think thus, I imagine it great Vanity in me to suppose,
that the _Supremely Perfect_, does in the least regard such an
inconsiderable Nothing as Man. More especially, since it is
impossible for me to have any positive clear Idea of that which is
infinite and incomprehensible, I cannot conceive otherwise, than that
He, _the Infinite Father_, expects or requires no Worship or Praise
from us, but that he is even INFINITELY ABOVE IT.
But since there is in all Men something like a natural
Principle which enclines them to DEVOTION or the Worship of some
unseen Power;
And since Men are endued with Reason superior to all other
Animals that we are in our World acquainted with;
Therefore I think it seems required of me, and my Duty, as a
Man, to pay Divine Regards to SOMETHING.
I CONCEIVE then, that the INFINITE has created many Beings or
Gods, vastly superior to Man, who can better conceive his Perfections
than we, and return him a more rational and glorious Praise. As
among Men, the Praise of the Ignorant or of Children, is not regarded
by the ingenious Painter or Architect, who is rather honour'd and
pleas'd with the Approbation of Wise men and Artists.
It may be that these created Gods, are immortal, or it may be
that after many Ages, they are changed, and Others supply their
Places.
Howbeit, I conceive that each of these is exceeding wise, and
good, and very powerful; and that Each has made for himself, one
glorious Sun, attended with a beautiful and admirable System of
Planets.
It is that particular wise and good God, who is the Author and
Owner of our System, that I propose for the Object of my Praise and
Adoration.
For I conceive that he has in himself some of those Passions he
has planted in us, and that, since he has given us Reason whereby we
are capable of observing his Wisdom in the Creation, he is not above
caring for us, being pleas'd with our Praise, and offended when we
slight Him, or neglect his Glory.
I conceive for many Reasons that he is a _good Being_, and as I
should be happy to have so wise, good and powerful a Being my Friend,
let me consider in what Manner I shall make myself most acceptable to
him.
Next to the Praise due, to his Wisdom, I believe he is pleased
and delights in the Happiness of those he has created; and since
without Virtue Man (*) can have no Happiness in this World, I firmly
believe he delights to see me Virtuous, because he is pleas'd when he
sees me Happy.
(*) See Junto Paper of Good and Evil, &c.
And since he has created many Things which seem purely design'd
for the Delight of Man, I believe he is not offended when he sees his
Children solace themselves in any manner of pleasant Exercises and
innocent Delights, and I think no Pleasure innocent that is to Man
hurtful.
I _love_ him therefore for his Goodness and I _adore_ him for
his Wisdom.
Let me then not fail to praise my God continually, for it is
his Due, and it is all I can return for his many Favours and great
Goodness to me; and let me resolve to be virtuous, that I may be
happy, that I may please Him, who is delighted to see me happy.
Amen.
1. Adoration. 2. Petition. 3. Thanks.
Prel.
Being mindful that before I address the DEITY, my Soul ought to
be calm and Serene, free from Passion and Perturbation, or otherwise
elevated with Rational Joy and Pleasure, I ought to use a Countenance
that expresses a filial Respect, mixt with a kind of Smiling, that
signifies inward Joy, and Satisfaction, and Admiration.
O wise God,
My good Father,
Thou beholdest the Sincerity of my Heart,
And of my Devotion;
Grant me a Continuance of thy Favour!
(1)
Powerful Goodness, &c.
O Creator, O Father, I believe that thou art Good, and that
thou art _pleas'd with the Pleasure_ of thy Children.
Praised be thy Name for Ever.
(2)
By thy Power hast thou made the glorious Sun, with his
attending Worlds; from the Energy of thy mighty Will they first
received their prodigious Motion, and by thy Wisdom hast thou
prescribed the wondrous Laws by which they move.
Praised be thy Name for ever.
(3)
By thy Wisdom hast thou formed all Things, Thou hast created
Man, bestowing Life and Reason, and plac'd him in Dignity superior to
thy other earthly Creatures.
Praised be thy Name for ever.
(4)
Thy Wisdom, thy Power, and thy GOODNESS are every where clearly
seen; in the Air and in the Water, in the Heavens and on the Earth;
Thou providest for the various winged Fowl, and the innumerable
Inhabitants of the Water; Thou givest Cold and Heat, Rain and
Sunshine in their Season, and to the Fruits of the Earth Increase.
Praised be thy Name for ever.
(5)
I believe thou hast given Life to thy Creatures that they might
Live, and art not delighted with violent Death and bloody Sacrifices.
Praised be thy Name for Ever.
(6)
Thou abhorrest in thy Creatures Treachery and Deceit, Malice,
Revenge, Intemperance and every other hurtful Vice; but Thou art a
Lover of Justice and Sincerity, of Friendship, Benevolence and every
Virtue. Thou art my Friend, my Father, and my Benefactor.
Praised be thy Name, O God, for Ever.
Amen.
After this, it will not be improper to read part of some such
Book as Ray's Wisdom of God in the Creation or Blacmore on the
Creation, or the Archbishop of Cambray's Demonstration of the Being
of a God; &c. or else spend some Minutes in a serious Silence,
contemplating on those Subjects.
Then Sing
Milton's Hymn to the Creator
These are thy Glorious Works, Parent of Good!
Almighty: Thine this Universal Frame,
Thus wondrous fair! Thy self how wondrous then!
Speak ye who best can tell, Ye Sons of Light,
Angels, for ye behold him, and with Songs,
And Choral Symphonies , Day without Night
Circle his Throne rejoicing. You in Heav'n,
On Earth, join all Ye Creatures to extol
Him first, him last, him midst and without End.
Fairest of Stars, last in the Train of Night,
If rather thou belongst not to the Dawn,
Sure Pledge of Day! That crown'st the smiling Morn
With thy bright Circlet; Praise him in thy Sphere
While Day arises, that sweet Hour of Prime.
Thou Sun, of this Great World both Eye and Soul
Acknowledge Him thy Greater, Sound his Praise
In thy Eternal Course; both when thou climb'st,
And when high Noon hast gain'd, and when thou fall'st.
Moon! that now meet'st the orient Sun, now fly'st
With the fix'd Stars, fix'd in their Orb that flies,
And ye five other Wandring Fires, that move
In mystic Dance, not without Song, resound
His Praise, that out of Darkness call'd up Light.
Air! and ye Elements! the Eldest Birth
Of Nature's Womb, that in Quaternion run
Perpetual Circle, multiform; and mix
And nourish all Things, let your ceaseless Change
Vary to our great Maker still new Praise.
Ye Mists and Exhalations! that now rise
From Hill or steaming Lake, dusky or grey,
Till the Sun paint your fleecy Skirts with Gold,
In Honour to the World's Great Author rise.
Whether to deck with Clouds th' uncolour'd Sky
Or wet the thirsty Earth with falling Show'rs,
Rising or falling still advance his Praise.
His Praise, ye Winds! that from 4 Quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your Tops ye Pines!
With every Plant, in Sign of Worship wave.
Fountains! and ye that warble as ye flow
Melodious Murmurs, warbling tune his Praise.
Join Voices all ye living Souls, ye Birds!
That singing, up to Heav'n's high Gate ascend,
Bear on your Wings, and in your Notes his Praise.
Ye that in Waters glide! and ye that walk
The Earth! and stately Tread, or lowly Creep;
Witness _if I be silent_, Ev'n orain or Fresh Shade,
Made Vocal by my Song, and taught his Praise.
Here follows the Reading of some Book or part of a Book
Discoursing on and exciting to MORAL VIRTUR
Petition.
Prel.
In as much as by Reason of our Ignorance We cannot be Certain
that many Things Which we often hear mentioned in the Petitions of
Men to the Deity, would prove REAL GOODS if they were in our
Possession, and as I have Reason to hope and believe that the
Goodness of my Heavenly Father will not withold from me a suitable
Share of Temporal Blessings, if by a VIRTUOUS and HOLY Life I merit
his Favour and Kindness, Therefore I presume not to ask such Things,
but rather Humbly, and with a sincere Heart express my earnest
Desires that he would graciously assist my Continual Endeavours and
Resolutions of eschewing Vice and embracing Virtue; Which kind of
Supplications will at least be thus far beneficial, as they remind me
in a solemn manner of my Extensive DUTY.
That I may be preserved from Atheism and Infidelity, Impiety
and Profaneness, and in my Addresses to Thee carefully avoid
Irreverence and Ostentation, Formality and odious Hypocrisy,
Help me, O Father
That I may be loyal to my Prince, and faithful to my Country,
careful for its Good, valiant in its Defence, and obedient to its
Laws, abhorring Treason as much as Tyranny,
Help me, O Father
That I may to those above me be dutiful, humble, and
submissive, avoiding Pride, Disrespect and Contumacy,
Help me, O Father
That I may to those below me, be gracious, Condescending and
Forgiving, using Clemency, protecting _Innocent Distress_, avoiding
Cruelty, Harshness and Oppression, Insolence and unreasonable
Severity,
Help me, O Father
That I may refrain from Calumny and Detraction; that I may
avoid and abhor Deceit and Envy, Fraud, Flattery and Hatred, Malice,
Lying and Ingratitude,
Help me, O Father
That I may be sincere in Friendship, faithful in Trust, and
impartial in Judgment, watchful against Pride, and against Anger
(that momentary Madness),
Help me, O Father
That I may be just in all my Dealings and temperate in my
Pleasures, full of Candour and Ingenuity, Humanity and Benevolence,
Help me, O Father
That I may be grateful to my Benefactors and generous to my
Friends, exerting Charity and Liberality to the Poor, and Pity to the
Miserable,
Help me, O Father
That I may avoid Avarice, Ambition, and Intemperance, Luxury
and Lasciviousness,
Help me, O Father
That I may possess Integrity and Evenness of Mind, Resolution
in Difficulties, and Fortitude under Affliction; that I may be
punctual in performing my Promises, peaceable and prudent in my
Behaviour,
Help me, O Father
That I may have Tenderness for the Weak, and a reverent Respect
for the Ancient; That I may be kind to my Neighbours, good-natured to
my Companions, and hospitable to Strangers,
Help me, O Father
That I may be averse to Craft and Overreaching, abhor
Extortion, Perjury, and every kind of Wickedness,
Help me, O Father
That I may be honest and Openhearted, gentle, merciful and
Good, chearful in Spirit, rejoicing in the Good of Others,
Help me, O Father
That I may have a constant Regard to Honour and Probity; That I
may possess a perfect Innocence and a good Conscience, and at length
become Truly Virtuous and Magnanimous, Help me, Good God,
Help me, O Father
And forasmuch as Ingratitude is one of the most odious of
Vices, let me not be unmindful gratefully to acknoledge the Favours I
receive from Heaven.
Thanks.
For Peace and Liberty, for Food and Raiment, for Corn and Wine,
and Milk, and every kind of Healthful Nourishment, _Good God, I Thank
thee._
For the Common Benefits of Air and Light, for useful Fire and
delicious Water, _Good God, I Thank thee._
For Knowledge and Literature and every useful Art; for my
Friends and their Prosperity, and for the fewness of my Enemies,
_Good God, I Thank thee._
For all thy innumerable Benefits; For Life and Reason, and the
Use of Speech, for Health and Joy and every Pleasant Hour, _my Good
God, I thank thee._
End of the first Part.
_Epitaph_
The Body of
B. Franklin,
Printer;
Like the Cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and amended
By the Author.
He was born Jan. 6. 1706.
Died 17
1728
_The Busy-Body, No. 1_
Mr. _Andrew Bradford_,
I design this to acquaint you, that I, who have long been one
of your _Courteous Readers_, have lately entertain'd some Thoughts of
setting up for an Author my Self; not out of the least Vanity, I
assure you, or Desire of showing my Parts, but purely for the Good of
my Country.
I have often observ'd with Concern, that your _Mercury_ is not
always equally entertaining. The Delay of Ships expected in, and
want of fresh Advices from _Europe_, make it frequently very Dull;
and I find the Freezing of our River has the same Effect on News as
on Trade. -- With more Concern have I continually observ'd the
growing Vices and Follies of my Country-folk. And tho' Reformation
is properly the concern of every Man; that is, _Every one ought to
mend One_; yet 'tis too true in this Case, that _what is every Body's
Business is no Body's Business_, and the Business is done
accordingly. I, therefore, upon mature Deliberation, think fit to
take _no Body's Business_ wholly into my own Hands; and, out of Zeal
for the Publick Good, design to erect my Self into a Kind of _Censor
Morum_; proposing with your Allowance, to make Use of the _Weekly
Mercury_ as a Vehicle in which my Remonstrances shall be convey'd to
the World.
I am sensible I have, in this Particular, undertaken a very
unthankful Office, and expect little besides my Labour for my Pains.
Nay, 'tis probable I may displease a great Number of your Readers,
who will not very well like to pay 10 s a Year for being told of
their Faults. But as most People delight in Censure when they
themselves are not the Objects of it, if any are offended at my
publickly exposing their private Vices, I promise they shall have the
Satisfaction, in a very little Time, of seeing their good Friends and
Neighbours in the same Circumstances.
However, let the Fair Sex be assur'd, that I shall always treat
them and their Affairs with the utmost _Decency_ and Respect. I
intend now and then to dedicate a Chapter wholly to their Service;
and if my Lectures any Way contribute to the Embellishment of their
Minds, and Brightning of their Understandings, without offending
their _Modesty_, I doubt not of having their Favour and
Encouragement.
'Tis certain, that no Country in the World produces naturally
finer Spirits than ours, Men of Genius for every kind of Science, and
capable of acquiring to Perfection every Qualification that is in
Esteem among Mankind. But as few here have the Advantage of good
Books, for want of which, good Conversation is still more scarce, it
would doubtless have been very acceptable to your Readers, if,
instead of an old out-of-date Article from _Muscovy_ or _Hungary_,
you had entertained them with some well-chosen Extract from a good
Author. This I shall sometimes do, _when I happen to have nothing of
my own to say that I think of more Consequence._ Sometimes, I propose
to deliver Lectures of Morality or Philosophy, and (because I am
naturally enclin'd to be meddling with Things that don't concern me)
perhaps I may sometimes talk Politicks. And if I can by any means
furnish out a Weekly Entertainment for the Publick, that will give a
rational Diversion, and at the same Time be instructive to the
Readers, I shall think my Leisure Hours well employ'd: And if you
publish this I hereby invite all ingenious Gentlemen and others,
(that approve of such an Undertaking) to my Assistance and
Correspondence.
'Tis like by this Time you have a Curiosity to be acquainted
with my Name and Character. As I do not aim at publick Praise I
design to remain concealed; and there are such Numbers of our Family
and Relations at this Time in the Country, that tho' I've sign'd my
Name at full Length, I am not under the least Apprehension of being
distinguish'd and discover'd by it. My Character indeed I would
favour you with, but that I am cautious of praising my Self, lest I
should be told _my Trumpeter's dead_: And I cannot find in my Heart,
at present, to say any Thing to my own Disadvantage.
It is very common with Authors in their First Performances to
talk to their Readers thus, _If this meets with a SUITABLE
_Reception_; Or, _If this should meet with DUE _Encouragement, I
shall hereafter publish, &c._ This only manifests the Value they put
on their own Writings, since they think to frighten the Publick into
their Applause, by threatning, that unless you approve what they have
already wrote, they intend never to write again; when perhaps, it
mayn't be a Pin Matter whether they ever do or no. As I have not
observ'd the Criticks to be more favourable on this Account, I shall
always avoid saying any Thing of the Kind; and conclude with telling
you, that if you send me a Bottle of Ink and a Quire of Paper by the
Bearer, you may depend on hearing further from
SIR,
Your most humble Servant
_The Busy Body._
_No 1_.
_The American Weekly Mercury_, February 4, 1728/9
_The Busy-Body, No. 2_
_All Fools have still an Itching to deride;
And fain would be upon the laughing Side._ Pope.
Monsieur _Rochefocaut_ tells us somewhere in his Memoirs, that
the Prince of _Conde_ delighted much in Ridicule; and us'd frequently
to shut himself up for Half a Day together in his Chamber with a
Gentleman that was his Favourite, purposely to divert himself with
examining what was the Foible or ridiculous side of every Noted
Person in the Court. That Gentleman said afterwards in some Company,
that he thought nothing was more ridiculous in any Body, than this
same Humour in the Prince; and I am somewhat inclin'd to be of his
Opinion. The General Tendency there is among us to this
Embellishment, (which I fear has too often been grossly imposed upon
my loving Countrymen instead of Wit) and the Applause it meets with
from a rising Generation, fill me with fearful Apprehensions for the
future Reputation of my Country: A young Man of Modesty (which is the
most certain Indication of large Capacities) is hereby discourag'd
from attempting to make any Figure in Life: His Apprehensions of
being out-laugh'd, will force him to continue in a restless
Obscurity, without having an Opportunity of knowing his own Merit
himself, or discovering it to the World, rather than venture to
expose himself in a Place where a Pun or a Sneer shall pass for Wit,
Noise for Reason, and the Strength of the Argument be judg'd by that
of the Lungs. Among these witty Gentlemen let us take a View of
_Ridentius_: What a contemptible Figure does he make with his Train
of paultry Admirers? This Wight shall give himself an Hours
Diversion with the Cock of a Man's Hat, the Heels of his Shoes, an
unguarded Expression in his Discourse, or even some Personal Defect;
and the Height of his low Ambition is to put some One of the Company
to the Blush, who perhaps must pay an equal Share of the Reckoning
with himself. If such a Fellow makes Laughing the sole End and
Purpose of his Life, if it is necessary to his Constitution, or if he
has a great Desire of growing suddenly fat, let him treat; let him
give publick Notice where any dull stupid Rogues may get a Quart of
Four-penny for being laugh'd at; but 'tis barbarously unhandsome,
when Friends meet for the Benefit of Conversation, and a proper
Relaxation from Business, that one should be the _Butt_ of the
Company, and Four Men made merry at the Cost of the Fifth.
How different from this Character is that of the good-natur'd
gay _Eugenius_? who never spoke yet but with a Design to divert and
please; and who was never yet baulk'd in his Intention. _Eugenius_
takes more Delight in applying the Wit of his Friends, than in being
admir'd himself: And if any one of the Company is so unfortunate as
to be touch'd a little too nearly, he will make Use of some ingenious
Artifice to turn the Edge of Ridicule another Way, chusing rather to
make even himself a publick Jest, than be at the Pain of seeing his
Friend in Confusion.
Among the Tribe of Laughers I reckon the _pretty Gentlemen_
that write _Satyrs_, and carry them about in their Pockets, reading
them themselves in all Company they happen into; taking an Advantage
of the ill Taste of the Town, to make themselves famous for a Pack of
paultry low Nonsence, for which they deserve to be kick'd, rather
than admir'd, by all who have the least Tincture of Politeness.
These I take to be the most incorrigible of all my Readers; nay I
expect they will be squibbing at the _BUSY-BODY_ himself: However the
only Favour he begs of them is this; that if they cannot controul
their over-bearing Itch of _Scribbling_, let him be attack'd in down
right _BITING LYRICKS_; for there is no _Satyr_ he Dreads half so
much as an Attempt towards a Panegyrick.
_The American Weekly Mercury_, February 11, 1728/9
_The Busy-Body, No. 3_
_Non vultus instantis Tyranni
Mente quatit solida -- neque Auster
Dux inquieti turbidus Adriae,
Nec fulminantis magna Jovis manus._ Hor.
It is said that the _Persians_ in their ancient Constitution,
had publick Schools in which Virtue was taught as a Liberal Art or
Science; and it is certainly of more Consequence to a Man that he has
learnt to govern his Passions; in spite of Temptation to be just in
his Dealings, to be Temperate in his Pleasures, to support himself
with Fortitude under his Misfortunes, to behave with Prudence in all
Affairs and in every Circumstance of Life; I say, it is of much more
real Advantage to him to be thus qualified, than to be a Master of
all the Arts and Sciences in the World beside.
_Virtue alone is sufficient to make a Man Great, Glorious and
Happy._ -- He that is acquainted with _CATO_, as I am, cannot help
thinking as I do now, and will acknowledge he deserves the Name
without being honour'd by it. _Cato_ is a Man whom Fortune has
plac'd in the most obscure Part of the Country. His Circumstances
are such as only put him above Necessity, without affording him many
Superfluities; Yet who is greater than _Cato_? -- I happened but the
other Day to be at a House in Town, where among others were met Men
of the most Note in this Place: _Cato_ had Business with some of
them, and knock'd at the Door. The most trifling Actions of a Man,
in my Opinion, as well as the smallest Features and Lineaments of the
Face, give a nice Observer some Notion of his Mind. Methought he
rapp'd in such a peculiar Manner, as seem'd of itself to express,
there was One who deserv'd as well as desir'd Admission. He appear'd
in the plainest Country Garb; his Great Coat was coarse and looked
old and thread-bare; his Linnen was homespun; his Beard perhaps of
Seven Days Growth, his Shoes thick and heavy, and every Part of his
Dress corresponding. Why was this Man receiv'd with such concurring
Respect from every Person in the Room, even from those who had never
known him or seen him before? It was not an exquisite Form of
Person, or Grandeur of Dress that struck us with Admiration. I
believe long Habits of Virtue have a sensible Effect on the
Countenance: There was something in the Air of his Face that
manifested the true Greatness of his Mind; which likewise appear'd in
all he said, and in every Part of his Behaviour, obliging us to
regard him with a Kind of Veneration. His Aspect is sweetned with
Humanity and Benevolence, and at the same Time emboldned with
Resolution, equally free from a diffident Bashfulness and an
unbecoming Assurance. The Consciousness of his own innate Worth and
unshaken Integrity renders him calm and undaunted in the Presence of
the most Great and Powerful, and upon the most extraordinary
Occasions. His strict Justice and known Impartiality make him the
Arbitrator and Decider of all Differences that arise for many Miles
around him, without putting his Neighbours to the Charge, Perplexity
and Uncertainty of Law-Suits. He always speaks the Thing he means,
which he is never afraid or asham'd to do, because he knows he always
means well; and therefore is never oblig'd to blush and feel the
Confusion of finding himself detected in the Meanness of a Falshood.
He never contrives Ill against his Neighbour, and therefore is never
seen with a lowring suspicious Aspect. A mixture of Innocence and
Wisdom makes him ever seriously chearful. His generous Hospitality
to Strangers according to his Ability, his Goodness, his Charity, his
Courage in the Cause of the Oppressed, his Fidelity in Friendship,
his Humility, his Honesty and Sincerity, his Moderation and his
Loyalty to the Government, his Piety, his Temperance, his Love to
Mankind, his Magnanimity, his Publick-spiritedness, and in fine, his
_Consummate Virtue_, make him justly deserve to be esteem'd the Glory
of his Country.
------ _The Brave do never shun the Light,
Just are their Thoughts and open are their Tempers;
Freely without Disguise they love and hate;
Still are they found in the fair Face of Day,
And Heaven and Men are Judges of their Actions._
Rowe.
Who would not rather chuse, if it were in his Choice, to merit
the above Character, than be the richest, the most learned, or the
most powerful Man in the Province without it?
Almost every Man has a strong natural Desire of being valu'd
and esteem'd by the rest of his Species; but I am concern'd and
griev'd to see how few fall into the Right and only infallible Method
of becoming so. That laudable Ambition is too commonly misapply'd
and often ill employ'd. Some to make themselves considerable pursue
Learning, others grasp at Wealth, some aim at being thought witty,
and others are only careful to make the most of an handsome Person;
But what is Wit, or Wealth, or Form, or Learning when compar'd with
Virtue? 'Tis true, we love the handsome, we applaud the Learned, and
we fear the Rich and Powerful; but we even Worship and adore the
Virtuous. -- Nor is it strange; since Men of Virtue, are so rare, so
very rare to be found. If we were as industrious to become Good, as
to make ourselves Great, we should become really Great by being Good,
and the Number of valuable Men would be much increased; but it is a
Grand Mistake to think of being Great without Goodness; and I
pronounce it as certain, _that there was never yet a truly Great Man
that was not at the same Time truly Virtuous._
O _Cretico_! Thou sowre Philosopher! Thou cunning States-man!
Thou art crafty, but far from being Wise. When wilt thou be
esteem'd, regarded and belov'd like _Cato_? When wilt thou, among
thy Creatures meet with that unfeign'd Respect and warm Good-will
that all Men have for him? Wilt thou never understand that the
cringing, mean, submissive Deportment of thy Dependants, is (like the
Worship paid by _Indians_ to the Devil) rather thro' Fear of the Harm
thou may'st do to them, than out of Gratitude for the Favours they
have receiv'd of thee? -- Thou art not wholly void of Virtue; there
are many good Things in thee, and many good Actions reported of thee.
Be advised by thy Friend: Neglect those musty Authors; let them be
cover'd with Dust, and moulder on their proper Shelves; and do thou
apply thy self to a Study much more profitable, The Knowledge of
Mankind, and of thy Self.
_This is to give Notice that the BUSY-BODY strictly forbids all
Persons, from this Time forward, of what Age, Sex, Rank, Quality,
Degree or Denomination soever, on any Pretence to enquire who is the
Author of this Paper, on Pain of his Displeasure, (his own near and
Dear Relations only excepted)._
_'Tis to be observ'd that if any bad Characters happen to be
drawn in the Course of these Papers, they mean no particular Person,
if they are not particularly apply'd._
_Likewise that the Author is no Partyman, but a general
Meddler._
N. B. Cretico _lives in a neighbouring Province_.
_The American Weekly Mercury_, February 18, 1728/9
_The Busy-Body, No. 4_
_Nequid nimis._
In my first Paper I invited the Learned and the Ingenious to
join with me in this Undertaking; and I now repeat that Invitation.
I would have such Gentlemen take this Opportunity, (by trying their
Talent in Writing) of diverting themselves and their Friends, and
improving the Taste of the Town. And because I would encourage all
Wit of our own Growth and Produce, I hereby promise, that whoever
shall send me a little Essay on some moral or other Subject, that is
fit for publick View in this Manner (and not basely borrow'd from any
other Author) I shall receive it with Candour, and take Care to place
it to the best Advantage. It will be hard if we cannot muster up in
the whole Country, a sufficient Stock of Sense to supply the
_Busy-Body_ at least for a Twelvemonth. For my own Part, I have
already profess'd that I have the Good of my Country wholly at Heart
in this Design, without the least sinister View; my chief Purpose
being to inculcate the noble Principles of Virtue, and depreciate
Vice of every kind. But as I know the Mob hate Instruction, and the
Generality would never read beyond the first Line of my Lectures, if
they were usually fill'd with nothing but wholesome Precepts and
Advice; I must therefore sometimes humour them in their own Way.
There are a Set of Great Names in the Province, who are the common
Objects of Popular Dislike. If I can now and then overcome my
Reluctance, and prevail with my self to Satyrize a little, one of
these Gentlemen, the Expectation of meeting with such a
Gratification, will induce many to read me through, who would
otherwise proceed immediately to the Foreign News. As I am very well
assured that the greatest Men among us have a sincere Love for their
Country, notwithstanding its Ingratitude, and the Insinuations of the
Envious and Malicious to the contrary, so I doubt not but they will
chearfully tolerate me in the Liberty I design to take for the End
above mentioned.
As yet I have but few Correspondents, tho' they begin now to
increase. The following Letter, left for me at the Printers, is one
of the first I have receiv'd, which I regard the more for that it
comes from one of the Fair Sex, and because I have my self oftentimes
suffer'd under the Grievance therein complain'd of.
_To the Busy-Body._
_Sir,_
`You having set your self up for a _Censuror Morum_ (as I think
you call it) which is said to mean a _Reformer of Manners_, I know no
Person more proper to be apply'd to for Redress in all the Grievances
we suffer from _Want of Manners_ in some People. You must know I am
a single Woman, and keep a Shop in this Town for a Livelyhood. There
is a certain Neighbour of mine, who is really agreeable Company
enough, and with whom I have had an Intimacy of some Time standing;
But of late she makes her Visits so excessively often, and stays so
very long every Visit, that I am tir'd out of all Patience. I have
no Manner of Time at all to my self; and you, who seem to be a wise
Man, must needs be sensible that every Person has little Secrets and
Privacies that are not proper to be expos'd even to the nearest
Friend. Now I cannot do the least Thing in the World, but she must
know all about it; and it is a Wonder I have found an Opportunity to
write you this Letter. My Misfortune is, that I respect her very
well, and know not how to disoblige her so much as to tell her I
should be glad to have less of her Company; for if I should once hint
such a Thing, I am afraid she would resent it so as never to darken
my Door again. -- But, alas, Sir, I have not yet told you half my
Afflictions. She has two Children that are just big enough to run
about and do pretty Mischief: These are continually along with
_Mamma_, either in my Room or Shop, if I have never so many Customers
or People with me about Business. Sometimes they pull the Goods off
my low Shelves down to the Ground, and perhaps where one of them has
just been making Water; My Friend takes up the Stuff, and cries, _Eh!
thou little wicked mischievous Rogue! -- But however, it has done no
great Damage; 'tis only wet a little_; and so puts it up upon the
Shelf again. Sometimes they get to my Cask of Nails behind the
Counter, and divert themselves, to my great Vexation, with mixing my
Ten-penny and Eight-penny and Four-penny together. I Endeavour to
conceal my Uneasiness as much as possible, and with a grave Look go
to Sorting them out. She cries, _Don't thee trouble thy self,
Neighbour: Let them play a little; I'll put all to rights my self
before I go._ But Things are never so put to rights but that I find a
great deal of Work to do after they are gone. Thus, Sir, I have all
the Trouble and Pesterment of Children, without the Pleasure of --
calling them my own; and they are now so us'd to being here that they
will be content no where else. If she would have been so kind as to
have moderated her Visits to ten times a Day, and stay'd but half an
hour at a Time, I should have been contented, and I believe never
have given you this Trouble: But this very Morning they have so
tormented me that I could bear no longer; For while the Mother was
asking me twenty impertinent Questions, the youngest got to my Nails,
and with great Delight rattled them by handfuls all over the Floor;
and the other at the same Time made such a terrible Din upon my
Counter with a Hammer, that I grew half distracted. I was just then
about to make my self a new Suit of Pinners, but in the Fret and
Confusion I cut it quite out of all Manner of Shape, and utterly
spoil'd a Piece of the first Muslin. Pray, Sir, tell me what I shall
do. And talk a little against such unreasonable Visiting in your
next Paper: Tho' I would not have her affronted with me for a great
Deal, for sincerely I love her and her Children as well I think, as a
Neighbour can, and she buys a great many Things in a Year at my Shop.
But I would beg her to consider that she uses me unmercifully; Tho' I
believe it is only for want of Thought. -- But I have twenty Things
more to tell you besides all this; There is a handsome Gentleman that
has a Mind (I don't question) to make love to me, but he can't get
the least Opportunity to -- : O dear, here she comes again; -- I must
conclude
Yours, &c.
Patience.'
Indeed, 'tis well enough, as it happens, that _she is come_, to
shorten this Complaint which I think is full long enough already, and
probably would otherwise have been as long again. However, I must
confess I cannot help pitying my Correspondent's Case, and in her
Behalf exhort the Visitor to remember and consider the Words of the
Wise Man, _Withdraw thy Foot from the House of thy Neighbour least he
grow weary of thee, and so hate thee._ It is, I believe, a nice thing
and very difficult, to regulate our Visits in such a Manner, as never
to give Offence by coming too seldom, or too often, or departing too
abruptly, or staying too long. However, in my Opinion, it is safest
for most People, in a general way, who are unwilling to disoblige, to
visit seldom, and tarry but a little while in a Place;
notwithstanding pressing Invitations, which are many times insincere.
And tho' more of your Company should be really desir'd; yet in this
Case, too much Reservedness is a Fault more easily excus'd than the
Contrary.
Men are subjected to various Inconveniences meerly through lack
of a small Share of Courage, which is a Quality very necessary in the
common Occurences of Life, as well as in a Battle. How many
Impertinences do we daily suffer with great Uneasiness, because we
have not Courage enough to discover our Dislike? And why may not a
Man use the Boldness and Freedom of telling his Friends that their
long Visits sometimes incommode him? -- On this Occasion, it may be
entertaining to some of my Readers, if I acquaint them with the
_Turkish_ Manner of entertaining Visitors, which I have from an
Author of unquestionable Veracity; who assures us, that even the
Turks are not so ignorant of Civility, and the Arts of Endearment,
but that they can practice them with as much Exactness as any other
Nation, whenever they have a Mind to shew themselves obliging.
`When you visit a Person of Quality, (says he) and have talk'd
over your Business, or the Complements, or whatever Concern brought
you thither, he makes a Sign to have Things serv'd in for the
Entertainment, which is generally, a little Sweetmeat, a Dish of
Sherbet, and another of Coffee; all which are immediately brought in
by the Servants, and tender'd to all the Guests in Order, with the
greatest Care and Awfulness imaginable. At last comes the finishing
Part of your Entertainment, which is, Perfuming the Beards of the
Company; a Ceremony which is perform'd in this Manner. They have for
the Purpose a small Silver Chaffing-Dish, cover'd with a Lid full of
Holes, and fixed upon a handsome Plate. In this they put some fresh
Coals, and upon them a piece of _Lignum Aloes_, and shutting it up,
the Smoak immediately ascends with a grateful Odour thro' the Holes
of the Cover. This Smoak is held under every one's Chin, and offer'd
as it were a Sacrifice to his Beard. The bristly Idol soon receives
the Reverence done to it, and so greedily takes in and incorporates
the gummy Steam, that it retains the Savour of it, and may serve for
a Nosegay a good while after.
`This Ceremony may perhaps seem ridiculous at first hearing;
but it passes among the _Turks_ for an high Gratification. And I
will say this in its Vindication, that it's Design is very wise and
useful. For it is understood to give a civil Dismission to the
Visitants; intimating to them, that the Master of the House has
Business to do, or some other Avocation, that permits them to go away
as soon as they please; and the sooner after this Ceremony the
better. By this Means you may, at any Time, without Offence, deliver
your self from being detain'd from your Affairs by tedious and
unseasonable Visits; and from being constrain'd to use that Piece of
Hypocrisy so common in the World, of pressing those to stay longer
with you, whom perhaps in your Heart you wish a great Way off for
having troubled you so long already.'
Thus far my Author. For my own Part, I have taken such a Fancy
to this Turkish Custom, that for the future I shall put something
like it in Practice. I have provided a Bottle of right French Brandy
for the Men, and Citron-Water for the Ladies. After I have treated
with a Dram, and presented a Pinch of my best Snuff, I expect all
Company will retire, and leave me to pursue my Studies for the Good
of the Publick.
Advertisement.
_I give Notice that I am now actually compiling, and design to
publish in a short Time, the true History of the Rise, Growth and
Progress of the renowned_ Tiff-Club. _All Persons who are acquainted
with any Facts, Circumstances, Characters, Transactions,_ &c. _which
will be requisite to the Perfecting and Embellishment of the said
Work, are desired to communicate the same to the Author, and direct
their Letters to be left with the Printer hereof._
The Letter sign'd _Would-be-something_ is come to hand.
_The American Weekly Mercury_, February 25, 1728/9
_The Busy-Body, No. 5_
_Vos, O Patricius sanguis, quos vivere fas est
Occipiti caeco, posticae occurrite sannae_. Persius.
This Paper being design'd for a Terror to Evil-Doers, as well
as a Praise to them that do well, I am lifted up with secret Joy to
find that my Undertaking is approved, and encourag'd by the Just and
Good, and that few are against me but those who have Reason to fear
me.
There are little Follies in the Behaviour of most Men, which
their best Friends are too tender to acquaint them with: There are
little Vices and small Crimes which the Law has no Regard to, or
Remedy for: There are likewise great Pieces of Villany sometimes so
craftily accomplish'd, and so circumspectly guarded, that the Law can
take no Hold of the Actors. All these Things, and all Things of this
Nature, come within my Province as _CENSOR_, and I am determined not
to be negligent of the Trust I have reposed in my self, but resolve
to execute my Office diligently and Faithfully.
And that all the World may judge with how much Humanity as well
as Justice I shall behave in this Office; and that even my Enemies
may be convinc'd I take no Delight to rake into the Dunghill Lives of
vicious Men; and to the End that certain Persons may be a little
eas'd of their Fears, and reliev'd from the terrible Palpitations
they have lately felt and suffer'd, and do still suffer; I hereby
graciously pass an Act of general Oblivion, for all Offences, Crimes
and Misdemeanors of what Kind soever, committed from the Beginning of
Year sixteen hundred and eighty one, until the Day of the Date of my
first Paper; and promise only to concern my self with such as have
been since and shall hereafter be committed. I shall take no Notice
who has, (heretofore) rais'd a Fortune by Fraud and Oppression, nor
who by Deceit and Hypocrisy: What Woman has been false to her good
Husband's Bed; nor what Man has, by barbarous Usage or Neglect, broke
the Heart of a faithful Wife, and wasted his Health and Substance in
Debauchery: What base Wretch has betray'd his Friend, and sold his
Honesty for Gold, nor what yet baser Wretch, first corrupted him and
then bought the Bargain: All this, and much more of the same Kind I
shall forget and pass over in Silence; -- but then it is to be
observed that I expect and require a sudden and general Amendment.
These Threatnings of mine I hope will have a good Effect, and,
if regarded, may prevent abundance of Folly and Wickedness in others,
and at the same Time save me abundance of Trouble. And that People
may not flatter themselves with the Hopes of concealing their
Misdemeanours from my Knowledge, and in that View persist in
Evil-doing, I must acquaint them, that I have lately enter'd into an
Intimacy with the extraordinary Person who some Time since wrote me
the following Letter; and who, having a Wonderful Faculty that
enables him to discover the most secret Iniquity, is capable of
giving me great Assistance in my designed Work of Reformation.
_Mr. Busy-Body_.
`I rejoice Sir, at the Opportunity you have given me to be
serviceable to you, and by your Means to this Province. You must
know, that such have been the Circumstances of my Life, and such were
the marvellous Concurrences of my Birth, that I have not only a
Faculty of discovering the Actions of Persons that are absent or
asleep; but even of the Devil himself in many of his secret Workings,
in the various Shapes, Habits and Names of Men and Women. And having
travel'd and conversed much and met but with a very few of the same
Perceptions and Qualifications, I can recommend my Self to you as the
most useful Man you can correspond with. My Father's Father's Father
(for we had no Grandfathers in our Family) was the same _John Bunyan_
that writ that memorable Book _The Pilgrim's Progress_, who had in
some Degree a natural Faculty of _Second Sight_. This Faculty (how
derived to him, our Family Memoirs are not very clear) was enjoy'd by
all his Descendants, but not by equal Talents -- 'Twas very dim in
several of my first Cousins, and probably had been nearly extinct in
our particular Branch, had not my Father been a Traveller -- He lived
in his youthful Days in _New-England_. There he married, and there
was born my elder Brother, who had so much of this Faculty, as to
discover Witches in some of their occult Performances. My Parents
transporting themselves to _Great Britain_ my second Brother's Birth
was in that Kingdom -- He shared but a small Portion of this Virtue,
being only able to discern Transactions about the Time, and for the
most Part after their happening. My good Father, who delighted in
the _Pilgrim's Progress_, and mountainous Places, took Shipping with
his Wife for _Scotland_, and inhabited in the Highlands, where my
Self was born; and whether the Soil, Climate or Astral Influences, of
which are preserved divers Prognosticks, restored our Ancestors
Natural Faculty of _Second Sight_, in a greater Lustre to me than it
had shined in thro' several Generations, I will not here discuss.
But so it is, that I am possess'd largely of it, and design if you
encourage the Proposal, to take this Opportunity of doing good with
it, which I question not will be accepted of in a grateful Way, by
many of your honest Readers, Tho' the Discovery of my Extraction
bodes me no Deference from your great Scholars and modern
Philosophers. This my Father was long ago aware of, and lest the
Name alone should hurt the Fortunes of his Children; he in his
Shiftings from one Country to another wisely changed it.
`Sir, I have only this further to say, how I may be useful to
you & as a Reason for my not making my Self more known in the World:
By Virtue of this Great Gift of Nature _Second-Sightedness_. I do
continually see Numbers of Men, Women and Children of all Ranks, and
what they are doing, while I am sitting in my Closet; which is too
great a Burthen for the Mind, and makes me also conceit even against
Reason, that all this Host of People can see and observe me, which
strongly inclines me to Solitude and an obscure Living; and on the
other Hand, it will be an Ease to me to disburthen my Thoughts and
Observations in the Way proposed to you by, Sir, your Friend, and
humble Servant. ------ '
I conceal this Correspondent's Name in my Care for his Life and
Safety, and cannot but approve his Prudence in chusing to live
obscurely. I remember the Fate of my poor Monkey: He had an
ill-natur'd Trick of grinning and chattering at every Thing he saw in
Pettycoats. My ignorant Country Neighbours got a Notion that _Pugg_
snarl'd by instinct at every Female who had lost her Virginity. This
was no sooner generally believ'd than he was condemn'd to Death; By
whom I could never learn, but he was assassinated in the Night,
barbarously stabb'd and mangled in a Thousand Places, and left
hanging dead on one of my Gate posts, where I found him the next
Morning.
_The_ Censor _observing that the_ Itch of Scribbling _begins to
spread exceedingly, and being carefully tender of the Reputation of
his Country in Point of_ Wit _and_ Good Sense, _has determined to
take all manner of Writings, in Verse or Prose, that pretend to
either, under his immediate Cognizance; and accordingly hereby
prohibits the Publishing any such for the future, 'till they have
first pass'd his Examination, and receiv'd his_ Imprimatur. _For
which he demands as a Fee only 6_ d. _per Sheet_.
N. B. _He nevertheless permits to be published all Satyrical
Remarks on the_ Busy-Body, _the above Prohibition notwithstanding,
and without Examination, or requiring the said Fees: which Indulgence
the small Wits in and about this City are advised gratefully to
accept and acknowledge.
_The Gentleman who calls himself_ Sirronio, _is directed, on
the Receipt of this, to burn his great Book of_ Crudities.
P. S. _In Compassion to that young Man on Account of the great
Pains he has taken; in Consideration of the Character I have just
receiv'd of him, that he is really_ _Good-natured; _and on Condition
he shows it to no Foreigner or Stranger of Sense, I have thought fit
to reprieve his said_ _great Book of Crudities _from the Flames,
'till further Order_.
_Noli me tangere_.
I had resolved when I first commenc'd this Design, on no
Account to enter into a publick Dispute with any Man; for I judg'd it
would be equally unpleasant to me and my Readers, to see this Paper
fill'd with contentious Wrangling, Answers, Replies, _&c_. which is a
Way of Writing that is Endless, and at the same time seldom contains
any Thing that is either edifying or entertaining. Yet when such a
considerable Man as Mr. ------ finds himself concern'd so warmly to
accuse and condemn me, as he has done in _Keimer_'s last
_Instructor_, I cannot forbear endeavouring to say something in my
own Defence, from one of the worst of Characters that could be given
of me by a Man of Worth. But as I have many Things of more
Consequence to offer the Publick, I declare that I will never, after
this Time, take Notice of any Accusations not better supported with
Truth and Reason; much less may every little Scribbler, that shall
attack me, expect an Answer from the _Busy-Body_.
The Sum of the _Charge deliver'd_ against me, either directly
or indirectly in the said Paper, is this. Not to mention the first
weighty Sentence concerning _Vanity and Ill-Nature_, and the shrew'd
Intimation _that I am without Charity, and therefore can have no
Pretence to Religion_, I am represented as guilty of _Defamation and
Scandal, the Odiousness of which is apparent to every good Man, and
the Practice of it opposite to Christianity, Morality, and common
Justice, and in some Cases so far below all these as to be inhumane_.
As a _Blaster of Reputations_. As _attempting by a Pretence to
screen my Self from the Imputation of Malice and Prejudice_. As
_using a Weapon which the Wiser and better Part of Mankind hold in
Abhorrence_: And as _giving Treatment which the wiser and better Part
of Mankind dislike on the same Principles, and for the same Reason as
they do Assassination_. &c, And all this, is infer'd and concluded
from a Character I wrote in my Number 3.
In order to examine the Justice and Truth of this heavy Charge,
let us recur to that Character. -- And here we may be surpriz'd to
find what a Trifle has rais'd this mighty Clamour and Complaint, this
Grievous Accusation! -- The worst Thing said of the Person, in what
is called my gross Description, (be he who he will to whom my Accuser
has apply'd the Character of _Cretico_) is, that he is a _sower
Philosopher, crafty, but not wise_: Few Humane Characters can be
drawn that will not fit some body, in so large a Country as this; But
one would think, supposing I meant _Cretico_ a real Person, I had
sufficiently manifested my impartiality, when I said in that very
Paragraph, _That_ Cretico _is not without Virtue; that there are MANY
good Things in him, and MANY good Actions reported of him_; Which
must be allow'd in all Reason, very much to overballance in his
Favour those worst Words, _sowre Temper'd_ and _cunning_. Nay my
very Enemy and Accuser must have been sensible of this, when he
freely acknowledges, _that he has been seriously considering, and
cannot yet determine, which he would chuse to be, the_ Cato _or_
Cretico _of that Paper_: Since my _Cato_ is one of the best of
Characters.
Thus much in my own Vindication. As to the _only reasons_
there given why I ought not to continue drawing Characters, viz.
_Why should any Man's Picture be published which he never sat for; or
his good Name taken from him any more than his Money or Possessions
at the arbitrary Will of another,_ &c? I have but this to answer.
The Money or Possessions I presume are nothing to the Purpose, since
no Man can claim a Right either to those or a good Name, if he has
acted so as to forfeit them. And are not the Publick the only Judges
what Share of Reputation they think proper to allow any Man? --
Supposing I was capable, and had an Inclination to draw all the good
and bad Characters in _America_; Why should a good Man be offended
with me for drawing good Characters? And if I draw Ill Ones, can
they fit any but those that deserve them? And ought any _but such_
to be concern'd that they have their Deserts? I have as great an
Aversion and Abhorrence from Defamation and Scandal as any Man, and
would with the utmost Care avoid being guilty of such base Things:
Besides I am very sensible and certain, that if I should make use of
this Paper to defame any Person, my Reputation would be sooner hurt
by it than his, and the _Busy-Body_ would quickly become detestable;
because in such a Case, as is justly observ'd, _The Pleasure arising
from a Taste of Wit and Novelty soon dies away in generous and Honest
Minds, and is follow'd with a secret Grief to see their Neighbours
calumniated_. But if I my self was actually the worst Man in the
Province, and any one should draw my true Character, would it not be
ridiculous in me to say, _he had defam'd and scandaliz'd me_; unless
added, _in a Matter of Truth_? -- If any Thing is meant by asking,
_Why any Man's Picture should be publish'd which he never sate for?_
It must be, that we should give no Character without the Owner's
Consent. If I discern the Wolf disguis'd in harmless Wool, and
contriving the Destruction of my Neighbour's Sheep, must I have his
Permission before I am allow'd to discover and prevent him? If I
know a Man to be a designing Knave, must I ask his Consent to bid my
Friends beware of him? If so, Then by the same Rule, supposing the
_Busy-Body_ had really merited all his Enemy has charg'd him with,
his Consent likewise ought to have been obtain'd before so terrible
an Accusation was published against him.
I shall conclude with observing, that in the last Paragraph
save one of the Piece now examin'd, much _ILL-NATURE_ and some Good
Sense are _Co-inhabitants_, (as he expresses it.) The _Ill Nature_
appears, in his endeavouring to discover Satyr, where I intended no
such Thing, but quite the Reverse: The good Sense is this, _that
drawing too good a Character of any one, is a refined Manner of Satyr
that may be as injurious to him as the contrary, by bringing on an
Examination that undresses the Person, and in the Haste of doing it,
he may happen to be stript of what he really owns and deserves_. As
I am _Censor_, I might punish the first, but I forgive it. Yet I
will not leave the latter unrewarded; but assure my Adversary, that
in Consideration of the Merit of those four Lines, I am resolved to
forbear _injuring_ him on any Account in that _refined Manner_.
_I thank my Neighbour_ P -- w -- l _for his kind Letter_. The
Lions complain'd of shall be muzzled.
_The American Weekly Mercury_, March 4, 1728/9
_The Busy-Body, No. 8_
------ _Quid non mortalia Pectora cogis
Auri sacra Fames!_ Virgil.
One of the greatest Pleasures an Author can have is
certainly the Hearing his Works applauded. The hiding from the World
our Names while we publish our Thoughts, is so absolutely necessary
to this Self-Gratification, that I hope my Well-wishers will
congratulate me on my Escape from the many diligent, but fruitless
Enquires that have of late been made after me. Every Man will own,
That an Author, as such, ought to be try'd by the Merit of his
Productions only; but Pride, Party, and Prejudice at this Time run so
very high, that Experience shews we form our Notions of a Piece by
the Character of the Author. Nay there are some very humble
Politicians in and about this City, who will ask on which Side the
Writer is, before they presume to give their Opinion of the Thing
wrote. This ungenerous Way of Proceeding I was well aware of before
I publish'd my first Speculation; and therefore concealed my Name.
And I appeal to the more generous Part of the World, if I have since
I appear'd in the Character of the _Busy-Body_ given an Instance of
my siding with any Party more than another, in the unhappy Divisions
of my Country; and I have above all, this Satisfaction in my Self,
That neither Affection, Aversion or Interest, have byass'd me to use
any Partiality towards any Man, or Sett of Men; but whatsoever I find
nonsensically ridiculous, or immorally dishonest, I have, and shall
continue openly to attack with the Freedom of an honest Man, and a
Lover of my Country.
I profess I can hardly contain my Self, or preserve the Gravity
and Dignity that should attend the _Censorial-Office_, when I hear
the odd and unaccountable Expositions that are put upon some of my
Works, thro' the malicious Ignorance of some, and the vain Pride of
more than ordinary Penetration in others; one Instance of which many
of my Readers are acquainted with. A certain Gentleman has taken a
great Deal of Pains to write a _KEY_ to the Letter in my _No._ 4.
wherein he has ingeniously converted a gentle Satyr upon tedious and
impertinent Visitants into a Libel on some in the Government: This I
mention only as a Specimen of the Taste of the Gentlemen, I am
forsooth, bound to please in my Speculations, not that I suppose my
Impartiality will ever be called in Question upon that Account.
Injustices of this Nature I could complain of in many Instancies; but
I am at present diverted by the Reception of a Letter, which tho' it
regards me only in my Private Capacity, as an Adept, yet I venture to
publish it for the Entertainment of my Readers.
To CENSOR MORUM, _Esq_; _Busy-Body_ General of the Province of
_Pennsylvania_, and the Counties of _Newcastle_, _Kent_, and
_Sussex_, upon _Delaware_.
_Honourable Sir,_
`I judge by your Lucubrations, that you are not only a Lover of
Truth and Equity, but a Man of Parts and Learning, and a Master of
Science; as such I honour you. Know then, _Most profound Sir_, That
I have from my Youth up, been a very indefatigable Student in, and
Admirer of that Divine Science, _Astrology_. I have read over
_Scot_, _Albertus Magnus_, and _Cornelius Agrippa_ above 300 Times;
and was in hopes by my Knowledge and Industry, to gain enough to have
recompenced me for my Money expended, and Time lost in the Pursuit of
this Learning. You cannot be ignorant _Sir_, (for your intimate
_Second sighted_ Correspondent knows all Things) that there are large
Sums of Money hidden under Ground in divers Places about this Town,
and in many Parts of the Country; But alas, Sir, Notwithstanding I
have used all the Means laid down in the _immortal Authors_
before-mentioned, and when they fail'd, the ingenious Mr. _P -- d --
l_ with his _Mercurial Wand_ and _Magnet_, I have still fail'd in my
Purpose. This therefore I send to Propose and desire an Acquaintance
with you, and I do not doubt, notwithstanding my repeated
Ill-Fortune, but we may be exceedingly serviceable to each other in
our Discoveries; and that if we use our united Endeavours, the Time
will come when the _Busy-Body_, his _Second-sighted Correspondent_,
and _your very humble Servant_, will be Three of the richest Men in
the Province: And then Sir, what may not we do? _A Word to the Wise
is sufficient,_
I conclude with all demonstrable Respect,
Yours, and _Urania_'s Votary,
_Titan Pleiades_.'
In the Evening after I had received this Letter, I made a Visit
to my _Second-sighted_ Friend, and communicated to him the Proposal.
When he had read it, he assur'd me, that to his certain Knowledge
there is not at this Time so much as one Ounce of Silver or Gold hid
under Ground in any Part of this Province, For that the late and
present Scarcity of Money had obliged those who were living, and knew
where they had formerly hid any, to take it up, and use it in their
own necessary Affairs: And as to all the Rest which was buried by
Pyrates and others in old Times, who were never like to come for it,
he himself had long since dug it all up and applied it to charitable
Uses, And this he desired me to publish for general Good. For, as he
acquainted me, There are among us great Numbers of honest Artificers
and labouring People, who fed with a vain Hope of growing suddenly
rich, neglect their Business, almost to the ruining of themselves and
Families, and voluntarily endure abundance of Fatigue in a fruitless
Search after Imaginary hidden Treasure. They wander thro' the Woods
and Bushes by Day, to discover the Marks and Signs; at Midnight they
repair to the hopeful Spot with Spades and Pickaxes; full of
Expectation they labour violently, trembling at the same Time in
every Joint, thro' Fear of certain malicious Demons who are said to
haunt and guard such Places. At length a mighty hole is dug, and
perhaps several Cart-loads of Earth thrown out, but alas, no Cag or
Iron Pot is found! no Seaman's Chest cram'd with Spanish Pistoles, or
weighty Pieces of Eight! Then they conclude, that thro' some Mistake
in the Procedure, some rash Word spoke, or some Rule of Art
neglected, the Guardian Spirit had Power to sink it deeper into the
Earth and convey it out of their Reach. Yet when a Man is once thus
infatuated, he is so far from being discouraged by ill Success, that
he is rather animated to double his Industry, and will try again and
again in a Hundred Different Places, in Hopes at last of meeting with
some lucky Hit, that shall at once Sufficiently reward him for all
his Expence of Time and Labour.
This odd Humour of Digging for Money thro' a Belief that much
has been hid by Pirates formerly frequenting the River, has for
several Years been mighty prevalent among us; insomuch that you can
hardly walk half a Mile out of Town on any Side, without observing
several Pits dug with that Design, and perhaps some lately opened.
Men, otherwise of very good Sense, have been drawn into this Practice
thro' an over weening Desire of sudden Wealth, and an easy Credulity
of what they so earnestly wish'd might be true. While the rational
and almost certain Methods of acquiring Riches by Industry and
Frugality are neglected or forgotten. There seems to be some
peculiar Charm in the conceit of _finding_ Money; and if the Sands of
_Schuylkil_ were so much mixed with small Grains of Gold, that a Man
might in a Day's Time with Care and Application get together to the
Value of half a Crown, I make no Question but we should find several
People employ'd there, that can with Ease earn Five Shillings a Day
at their proper Trades.
Many are the idle Stories told of the private Success of some
People, by which others are encouraged to proceed; and the
Astrologers, with whom the Country swarms at this Time, are either in
the Belief of these things themselves, or find their Advantage in
persuading others to believe them; for they are often consulted about
the critical Times for Digging, the Methods of laying the Spirit, and
the like Whimseys, which renders them very necessary to and very much
caress'd by the poor deluded _Money-hunters_.
There is certainly something very bewitching in the Pursuit
after Mines of Gold and Silver, and other valuable Metals; And many
have been ruined by it. A Sea Captain of my Acquaintance used to
blame the _English_ for envying _Spain_ their Mines of Silver; and
too much despising or overlooking the Advantages of their own
Industry and Manufactures. For my Part, says he, I esteem the Banks
of _Newfoundland_ to be a more valuable Possession than the Mountains
of _Potosi_; and when I have been there on the Fishing Account, have
look'd upon every Cod puli'd up into the Vessel as a certain Quantity
of Silver Ore, which required only carrying to the next _Spanish_
Port to be coin'd into Pieces of Eight; not to mention the _National
Profit_ of fitting out and Employing such a Number of Ships and
Seamen. Let honest _Peter Buckrum_, who has long without Success
been a Searcher after hidden Money, reflect on this, and be reclaimed
from that unaccountable Folly. Let him consider that every Stitch he
takes when he is on his Shop-board, is picking up part of a Grain of
Gold that will in a few Days Time amount to a Pistole; And let
_Faber_ think the same of every Nail he drives, or every Stroke with
his Plain. Such Thoughts may make them industrious, and of
consequence in Time they may be Wealthy. But how absurd is it to
neglect a certain Profit for such a ridiculous Whimsey: To spend
whole Days at the _George_, in company with an idle Pretender to
Astrology, contriving Schemes to discover what was never hidden, and
forgetful how carelessly Business is managed at Home in their
Absence: To leave their Wives and a warm Bed at Midnight (no matter
if it rain, hail, snow or blow a Hurricane, provided that be the
critical Hour) and fatigue themselves with the Violent Exercise of
Digging for what they shall never find, and perhaps getting a Cold
that may cost their Lives, or at least disordering themselves so as
to be fit for no Business beside for some Days after. Surely this is
nothing less than the most egregious Folly and Madness.
I shall conclude with the Words of my discreet Friend
_Agricola_, of _Chester_-County, when he gave his Son a Good
Plantation, _My Son,_ says he, _I give thee now a Valuable Parcel of
Land; I assure thee I have found a considerable Quantity of Gold by
Digging there; -- Thee mayst do the same. -- But thee must carefully
observe this, Never to dig more than Plow-deep_.
_Monday Night, March_ 24.
I have received Letters lately from several considerable Men,
earnestly urging me to write on the Subject of _Paper-Money_; and
containing very severe Reflections on some Gentlemen, who are said to
be Opposers of that Currency. I must desire to be excus'd if I
decline publishing any Thing lent to me at this Juncture, that may
add Fuel to the Flame, or aggravate that Management that has already
sufficiently exasperated the Minds of the People. The Subject of
_Paper Currency_ is in it self very intricate, and I believe,
understood by Few; I mean as to its Consequences _in Futurum_: And
tho' much might be said on that Head, I apprehend it to be the less
necessary for me to handle it at this Time, because _EXPERIENCE_,
(more prevalent than all the _Logic_ in the World) has fully
convinced us all, that it has been, and is now of the greatest
Advantage to the Country: Not only those who were once doubtful are
intirely of this Opinion, but the very Gentlemen who were at first
most violent Enemies to that _Currency_, have lately, (particularly
about the Time of the last Election) declared, freely, both in
private Conversation, and publickly in Print, _That they now are
heartily for it; that they are sensible it has been a great Benefit
to the Country; and that it has not now one Opponent that they know
of._ They have likewise assured us, _That the Governour is a zealous
Friend to it_; and I do not understand that any material Reason is
given for the Additional Bill's not passing, but this. _That it is
contrary to the Constituents Orders from Home_. If this be the Case,
I see nothing further in it but this; that those Gentlemen who in
their Zeal for the Good of their Country, formerly oppos'd
_Paper-Money_, when they thought it would prove hurtful, and by their
powerful Representations procured those Orders from Home, but now
being better acquainted with its Usefulness, and sensible how much it
is to our Advantage to have such a Currency, are become hearty
Friends to it; I say, nothing remains, but that those Gentlemen join
as heartily with the Representative Body of the Country to endeavour,
by different Representations, a Revocation of those Orders: And in
the mean Time, as it is certain They would be pleased at Home to see
this Province in Prosperity, so without Doubt there is no Man so
unreasonable among them, supposing that Act should now pass, as to
imagine, that the whole Country united is entirely ignorant of its
own true Interest. And the Interest of the Country is the same, I
presume, with that of the Proprietary.
'Tis true indeed, I am not satisfied that it is for our
Advantage to rest contented with _Paper-Money_ for ever, without
endeavouring to recover our Silver and Gold; which may be done
without much Difficulty, (as I shall shew in some future Papers) if
those who have the Management of Publick Affairs should have no
Interests to pursue separate from those of their Country. Yet at
this Time it seems absolutely necessary to have a large Additional
Sum struck for the Relief of the People in their present miserable
Circumstances, and until such Methods of Trade are thought on, and
put in Practice, as will make that Currency needless; which I hope
the Legislature will as soon as possible take into their
Consideration. And in the mean Time I cannot but think it
commendable in every honest _Thinking_ Man, to publish his Sentiments
on this Head, to the End such Methods may be chose and fallen upon as
will appear most conducive.
Unhappy is the Case of that good Gentleman, our Governor, who
sees a flourishing Province sinking under his Administration into the
most wretched and deplorable Circumstances; and while no Good-will is
wanting in him to wards us and our Welfare, finds his Hands are tyed,
and that without deviating from his Instructions, it is not in his
Power to help us. The whole Country is at this Instant filled with
the greatest Heat and Animosity; and if there are yet among us any
Opposers of a _Paper-Currency_, it is probable the Resentments of the
People point at them; and tho' I must earnestly exhort my Countrymen
to Peace and Quietness, for that publick Disturbances are seldom
known to be attended with any good Consequence; yet I cannot but
think it would be highly prudent in those Gentlemen with all
Expedition to publish such Vindications of themselves and their
Actions, as will sufficiently clear them in the Eyes of all
reasonable Men, from the Imputation of having a Design to engross the
Property of the Country, and make themselves and their Posterity
Lords, and the Bulk of the Inhabitants their Tenants and Vassals;
which Design they are everywhere openly accused of. And such a
Vindication is the more necessary at this Time, because if the People
are once convinced there is no such Scheme on Foot, (and Truth
without Doubt will prevail) it may exceedingly tend to the Settlement
of their Minds, the Abatement of their Heats, and the Establishment
of Peace, Love, and Unity, and all the Social Virtues.
_The American Weekly Mercury_, March 27, 1729
_A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a
Paper-Currency_
------ _Quid asper
Utile Nummus habet; patriae, charisq; propinquis
Quantum elargiri deceat._ ------
Pers.
There is no Science, the Study of which is more useful and
commendable than the Knowledge of the true Interest of one's Country;
and perhaps there is no Kind of Learning more abstruse and intricate,
more difficult to acquire in any Degree of Perfection than This, and
therefore none more generally neglected. Hence it is, that we every
Day find Men in Conversation contending warmly on some Point in
Politicks, which, altho' it may nearly concern them both, neither of
them understand any more than they do each other.
Thus much by way of Apology for this present _Enquiry into the
Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency_. And if any Thing I shall
say, may be a Means of fixing a Subject that is now the chief Concern
of my Countrymen, in a clearer Light, I shall have the Satisfaction
of thinking my Time and Pains well employed.
To proceed, then,
_There is a certain proportionate Quantity of Money requisite
to carry on the Trade of a Country freely and currently; More than
which would be of no Advantage in Trade, and Less, if much less,
exceedingly detrimental to it._
This leads us to the following general Considerations.
First, _A great Want of Money in any Trading Country, occasions
Interest to be at a very high Rate_. And here it may be observed,
that it is impossible by any Laws to restrain Men from giving and
receiving exorbitant Interest, where Money is suitably scarce: For he
that wants Money will find out Ways to give 10 _per Cent_. when he
cannot have it for less, altho' the Law forbids to take more than 6
_per Cent._ Now the Interest of Money being high is prejudicial to a
Country several Ways: It makes Land bear a low Price, because few Men
will lay out their Money in Land, when they can make a much greater
Profit by lending it out upon Interest: And much less will Men be
inclined to venture their Money at Sea, when they can, without Risque
or Hazard, have a great and certain Profit by keeping it at home;
thus Trade is discouraged. And if in two Neigbouring Countries the
Traders of one, by Reason of a greater Plenty of Money, can borrow it
to trade with at a lower Rate than the Traders of the other, they
will infallibly have the Advantage, and get the greatest Part of that
Trade into their own Hands; For he that trades with Money he hath
borrowed at 8 or 10 _per Cent._ cannot hold Market with him that
borrows his Money at 6 or 4. -- On the contrary, _A plentiful
Currency will occasion Interest to be low:_ And this will be an
Inducement to many to lay out their Money in Lands, rather than put
it out to Use, by which means Land will begin to rise in Value and
bear a better Price: And at the same Time it will tend to enliven
Trade exceedingly, because People will find more Profit in employing
their Money that Way than in Usury; and many that understand Business
very well, but have not a Stock sufficient of their own, will be
encouraged to borrow Money to trade with, when they can have it at
moderate Interest.
Secondly, _Want of Money in a Country reduces the Price of that
Part of its Produce which is used in Trade:_ Because Trade being
discouraged by it as above, there is a much less Demand for that
Produce. And this is another Reason why Land in such a Case will be
low, especially where the Staple Commodity of the Country is the
immediate Produce of the Land, because that Produce being low, fewer
People find an Advantage in Husbandry, or the Improvement of Land. --
On the contrary, _A Plentiful Currency will occasion the Trading
Produce to bear a good Price:_ Because Trade being encouraged and
advanced by it, there will be a much greater Demand for that Produce;
which will be a great Encouragement of Husbandry and Tillage, and
consequently make Land more valuable, for that many People would
apply themselves to Husbandry, who probably might otherwise have
sought some more profitable Employment.
As we have already experienced how much the Increase of our
Currency by what Paper Money has been made, has encouraged our Trade;
particularly to instance only in one Article, _Ship-Building_; it may
not be amiss to observe under this Head, what a great Advantage it
must be to us as a Trading Country, that has Workmen and all the
Materials proper for that Business within itself, to have
_Ship-Building_ as much as possible advanced: For every Ship that is
built here for the _English_ Merchants, gains the Province her clear
Value in Gold and Silver, which must otherwise have been sent Home
for Returns in her Stead; and likewise, every Ship built in and
belonging to the Province, not only saves the Province her first
Cost, but all the Freight, Wages and Provisions she ever makes or
requires as long as she lasts; provided Care is taken to make This
her _Pay Port_, and that she always takes Provisions with her for the
whole Voyage, which may easily be done. And how considerable an
Article this is yearly in our Favour, every one, the least acquainted
with mercantile Affairs, must needs be sensible; for if we could not
Build our selves, we must either purchase so many Vessels as we want
from other Countries, or else Hire them to carry our Produce to
Market, which would be more expensive than Purchasing, and on many
other Accounts exceedingly to our Loss. Now as Trade in general will
decline where there is not a plentiful Currency, so _Ship-Building_
must certainly of Consequence decline where Trade is declining.
Thirdly, _Want of Money in a Country discourages Labouring and
Handicrafts Men (which are the chief Strength and Support of a
People) from coming to settle in it, and induces many that were
settled to leave the Country, and seek Entertainment and Employment
in other Places, where they can be better paid_. For what can be
more disheartning to an industrious labouring Man, than this, that
after he hath earned his Bread with the Sweat of his Brows, he must
spend as much Time, and have near as much Fatigue in getting it, as
he had to earn it. _And nothing makes more bad Paymasters than a
general Scarcity of Money_. And here again is a Third Reason for
Land's bearing a low Price in such a Country, because Land always
increases in Value in Proportion with the Increase of the People
settling on it, there being so many more Buyers; and its Value will
infallibly be diminished, if the Number of its Inhabitants diminish.
-- On the contrary, _A Plentiful Currency will encourage great
Numbers of Labouring and Handicrafts Men to come and Settle in the
Country_, by the same Reason that a Want of it will discourage and
drive them out. Now the more Inhabitants, the greater Demand for
Land (as is said above) upon which it must necessarily rise in Value,
and bear a better Price. The same may be said of the Value of
House-Rent, which will be advanced for the same Reasons; and by the
Increase of Trade and Riches People will be enabled to pay greater
Rents. Now the Value of House-Rent rising, and Interest becoming
low, many that in a Scarcity of Money practised Usury, will probably
be more inclined to Building; which will likewise sensibly enliven
Business in any Place; it being an Advantage not only to
_Brickmakers_, _Bricklayers_, _Masons_, _Carpenters_, _Joiners_,
_Glaziers_, and several other Trades immediately employ'd by
Building, but likewise to _Farmers_, _Brewers_, _Bakers_, _Taylors_,
_Shoemakers_, _Shop-keepers_, and in short to every one that they lay
their Money out with.
Fourthly, _Want of Money in such a Country as ours, occasions a
greater Consumption of_ English _and_ European _Goods, in Proportion
to the Number of the People, than there would otherwise be._ Because
Merchants and Traders, by whom abundance of Artificers and labouring
Men are employed, finding their other Affairs require what Money they
can get into their hands, oblige those who work for them to take one
half, or perhaps two thirds Goods in Pay. By this Means a greater
Quantity of Goods are disposed of, and to a greater Value; because
Working Men and their Families are thereby induced to be more profuse
and extravagant in fine Apparel and the like, than they would be if
they were obliged to pay ready Money for such Things after they had
earn'd and received it, or if such Goods were not imposed upon them,
of which they can make no other Use: For such People cannot send the
Goods they are paid with to a Foreign Market, without losing
considerably by having them sold for less than they stand 'em in
here; neither can they easily dispose of them at Home, because their
Neighbours are generally supplied in the same Manner; But how
unreasonable would it be, if some of those very Men who _have been a
Means_ of thus forcing People into unnecessary Expence, should be the
first and most earnest in accusing them of _Pride and Prodigality._
Now tho' this extraordinary Consumption of Foreign Commodities may be
a Profit to particular Men, yet the Country in general grows poorer
by it apace. -- On the contrary, As _A plentiful Currency will
occasion a less Consumption of_ European _Goods, in Proportion to the
Number of the People,_ so it will be a means of making the Balance of
our Trade more equal than it now is, if it does not give it in our
Favour; because our own Produce will be encouraged at the same Time.
And it is to be observed, that tho' less Foreign Commodities are
consumed in Proportion to the Number of People, yet this will be no
Disadvantage to the Merchant, because the Number of People
increasing, will occasion an increasing Demand of more Foreign Goods
in the Whole.
Thus we have seen some of the many heavy Disadvantages a
Country (especially such a Country as ours) must labour under, when
it has not a sufficient Stock of running Cash to manage its Trade
currently. And we have likewise seen some of the Advantages which
accrue from having Money sufficient, or a Plentiful Currency.
The foregoing Paragraphs being well considered, we shall
naturally be led to draw the following Conclusions with Regard to
what Persons will probably be for or against Emitting a large
Additional Sum of Paper Bills in this Province.
1. Since Men will always be powerfully influenced in their
Opinions and Actions by what appears to be their particular Interest:
Therefore all those, who wanting Courage to venture in Trade, now
practise Lending Money on Security for exorbitant Interest, which in
a Scarcity of Money will be done notwithstanding the Law, I say all
such will probably be against a large Addition to our present Stock
of Paper-Money; because a plentiful Currency will lower Interest, and
make it common to lend on less Security.
2. All those who are Possessors of large Sums of Money, and are
disposed to purchase Land, which is attended with a great and sure
Advantage in a growing Country as this is; I say, the Interest of all
such Men will encline them to oppose a large Addition to our Money.
Because their Wealth is now continually increasing by the large
Interest they receive, which will enable them (if they can keep Land
from rising) to purchase More some time hence than they can at
present; and in the mean time all Trade being discouraged, not only
those who borrow of them, but the Common People in general will be
impoverished, and consequently obliged to sell More Land for less
Money than they will do at present. And yet, after such Men are
possessed of as much Land as they can purchase, it will then be their
Interest to have Money made Plentiful, because that will immediately
make Land rise in Value in _their_ Hands. Now it ought not to be
wonder'd at, if People from the Knowledge of a Man's Interest do
sometimes make a true Guess at his Designs; for, _Interest_, they
say, _will not Lie._
3. Lawyers, and others concerned in Court Business, will
probably many of them be against a plentiful Currency; because People
in that Case will have less Occasion to run in Debt, and consequently
less Occasion to go to Law and Sue one another for their Debts. Tho'
I know some even among these Gentlemen, that regard the Publick Good
before their own apparent private Interest.
4. All those who are any way Dependants on such Persons as are
above mentioned, whether as holding Offices, as Tenants, or as
Debtors, must at least _appear_ to be against a large Addition;
because if they do not, they must sensibly feel their present
Interest hurt. And besides these, there are, doubtless, many
well-meaning Gentlemen and Others, who, without any immediate private
Interest of their own in View, are against making such an Addition,
thro' an Opinion they may have of the Honesty and sound Judgment of
some of their Friends that oppose it, (perhaps for the Ends
aforesaid) without having given it any thorough Consideration
themselves. And thus it is no Wonder if there is a _powerful_ Party
on that Side.
On the other Hand, Those who are Lovers of Trade, and delight
to see Manufactures encouraged, will be for having a large Addition
to our Currency: For they very well know, that People will have
little Heart to advance Money in Trade, when what they can get is
scarce sufficient to purchase Necessaries, and supply their Families
with Provision. Much less will they lay it out in advancing new
Manufactures; nor is it possible new Manufactures should turn to any
Account, where there is not Money to pay the Workmen, who are
discouraged by being paid in Goods, because it is a great
Disadvantage to them.
Again, Those who are truly for the Proprietor's Interest (and
have no separate Views of their own that are predominant) will be
heartily for a large Addition: Because, as I have shewn above, Plenty
of Money will for several Reasons make Land rise in Value
exceedingly: And I appeal to those immediately concerned for the
Proprietor in the Sale of his Lands, whether Land has not risen very
much since the first Emission of what Paper Currency we now have, and
even by its Means. Now we all know the Proprietary has great
Quantities to sell.
And since a Plentiful Currency will be so great a Cause of
advancing this Province in Trade and Riches, and increasing the
Number of its People; which, tho' it will not sensibly lessen the
Inhabitants of _Great Britain_, will occasion a much greater Vent and
Demand for their Commodities here; and allowing that the Crown is the
more powerful for its Subjects increasing in Wealth and Number, I
cannot think it the Interest of _England_ to oppose us in making as
great a Sum of Paper Money here, as we, who are the best Judges of
our own Necessities, find convenient. And if I were not sensible
that the Gentlemen of Trade in _England_, to whom we have already
parted with our Silver and Gold, are misinformed of our
Circumstances, and therefore endeavour to have our Currency stinted
to what it now is, I should think the Government at Home had some
Reasons for discouraging and impoverishing this Province, which we
are not acquainted with.
It remains now that we enquire, _Whether a large Addition to
our Paper Currency will not make it sink in Value very much;_ And
here it will be requisite that we first form just Notions of the
Nature and Value of Money in general.
As Providence has so ordered it, that not only different
Countries, but even different Parts of the same Country, have their
peculiar most suitable Productions; and likewise that different Men
have Genius's adapted to Variety of different Arts and Manufactures,
Therefore _Commerce_, or the Exchange of one Commodity or Manufacture
for another, is highly convenient and beneficial to Mankind. As for
Instance, _A_ may be skilful in the Art of making Cloth, and _B_
understand the raising of Corn; _A_ wants Corn, and _B_ Cloth; upon
which they make an Exchange with each other for as much as each has
Occasion, to the mutual Advantage and Satisfaction of both.
But as it would be very tedious, if there were no other Way of
general Dealing, but by an immediate Exchange of Commodities; because
a Man that had Corn to dispose of, and wanted Cloth for it, might
perhaps in his Search for a Chapman to deal with, meet with twenty
People that had Cloth to dispose of, but wanted no Corn; and with
twenty others that wanted his Corn, but had no Cloth to suit him
with. To remedy such Inconveniences, and facilitate Exchange, Men
have invented MONEY, properly called a _Medium of Exchange_, because
through or by its Means Labour is exchanged for Labour, or one
Commodity for another. And whatever particular Thing Men have agreed
to make this Medium of, whether Gold, Silver, Copper, or Tobacco; it
is, to those who possess it (if they want any Thing) that very Thing
which they want, because it will immediately procure it for them. It
is Cloth to him that wants Cloth, and Corn to those that want Corn;
and so of all other Necessaries, it _is_ whatsoever it will procure.
Thus he who had Corn to dispose of, and wanted to purchase Cloth with
it, might sell his Corn for its Value in this general Medium, to one
who wanted Corn but had no Cloth; and with this Medium he might
purchase Cloth of him that wanted no Corn, but perhaps some other
Thing, as Iron it may be, which this Medium will immediately procure,
and so he may be said to have exchanged his Cloth for Iron; and thus
the general Exchange is soon performed, to the Satisfaction of all
Parties, with abundance of Facility.
For many Ages, those Parts of the World which are engaged in
Commerce, have fixed upon Gold and Silver as the chief and most
proper Materials for this Medium; they being in themselves valuable
Metals for their Fineness, Beauty, and Scarcity. By these,
particularly by Silver, it has been usual to value all Things else:
But as Silver it self is of no certain permanent Value, being worth
more or less according to its Scarcity or Plenty, therefore it seems
requisite to fix upon Something else, more proper to be made a
_Measure of Values_, and this I take to be _Labour._
By Labour may the Value of Silver be measured as well as other
Things. As, Suppose one Man employed to raise Corn, while another is
digging and refining Silver; at the Year's End, or at any other
Period of Time, the compleat Produce of Corn, and that of Silver, are
the natural Price of each other; and if one be twenty Bushels, and
the other twenty Ounces, then an Ounce of that Silver is worth the
Labour of raising a Bushel of that Corn. Now if by the Discovery of
some nearer, more easy or plentiful Mines, a Man may get Forty Ounces
of Silver as easily as formerly he did Twenty, and the same Labour is
still required to raise Twenty Bushels of Corn, then Two Ounces of
Silver will be worth no more than the same Labour of raising One
Bushel of Corn, and that Bushel of Corn will be as cheap at two
Ounces, as it was before at one; _caeteris paribus._
Thus the Riches of a Country are to be valued by the Quantity
of Labour its Inhabitants are able to purchase, and not by the
Quantity of Silver and Gold they possess; which will purchase more or
less Labour, and therefore is more or less valuable, as is said
before, according to its Scarcity or Plenty. As those Metals have
grown much more plentiful in _Europe_ since the Discovery of
_America_, so they have sunk in Value exceedingly; for, to instance
in _England_, formerly one Penny of Silver was worth a Days Labour,
but now it is hardly worth the sixth Part of a Days Labour; because
not less than Six-pence will purchase the Labour of a Man for a Day
in any Part of that Kingdom; which is wholly to be attributed to the
much greater Plenty of Money now in _England_ than formerly. And yet
perhaps _England_ is in Effect no richer now than at that Time;
because as much Labour might be purchas'd, or Work got done of almost
any kind, for 100 _l_. then, as will now require or is now worth 600
_l_.
In the next Place let us consider the Nature of _Banks_
emitting _Bills of Credit_, as they are at this Time used in
_Hamburgh_, _Amsterdam_, _London_ and _Venice_.
Those Places being Seats of vast Trade, and the Payment of
great Sums being for that Reason frequent, _Bills of Credit_ are
found very convenient in Business; because a great Sum is more easily
counted in Them, lighter in Carriage, concealed in less Room, and
therefore safer in Travelling or Laying up, and on many other
Accounts they are very much valued. The Banks are the general
Cashiers of all Gentlemen, Merchants and great Traders in and about
those Cities; there they deposite their Money, and may take out Bills
to the Value, for which they can be certain to have Money again at
the Bank at any Time: This gives the Bills a Credit; so that in
_England_ they are never less valuable than Money, and in _Venice_
and _Amsterdam_ they are generally worth more. And the Bankers
always reserving Money in hand to answer more than the common Run of
Demands (and some People constantly putting in while others are
taking out) are able besides to lend large Sums, on good Security, to
the Government or others, for a reasonable Interest, by which they
are paid for their Care and Trouble; and the Money which otherwise
would have lain dead in their Hands, is made to circulate again
thereby among the People: And thus the Running Cash of the Nation is
as it were doubled; for all great Payments being made in Bills, Money
in lower Trade becomes much more plentiful: And this is an exceeding
great Advantage to a Trading Country, that is not over-stock'd with
Gold and Silver.
As those who take Bills out of the Banks in _Europe_, put in
Money for Security; so here, and in some of the neighbouring
Provinces, we engage our Land. Which of these Methods will most
effectually secure the Bills from actually sinking in Value, comes
next to be considered.
Trade in general being nothing else but the Exchange of Labour
for Labour, the Value of all Things is, as I have said before, most
justly measured by Labour. Now suppose I put my Money into a Bank,
and take out a Bill for the Value; if this Bill at the Time of my
receiving it, would purchase me the Labour of one hundred Men for
twenty Days; but some time after will only purchase the Labour of the
same Number of Men for fifteen Days; it is plain the Bill has sunk in
Value one fourth Part. Now Silver and Gold being of no permanent
Value; and as this Bill is founded on Money, and therefore to be
esteemed as such, it may be that the Occasion of this Fall is the
increasing Plenty of Gold and Silver, by which Money is one fourth
Part less valuable than before, and therefore one fourth more is
given of it for the same Quantity of Labour; and if Land is not
become more plentiful by some proportionate Decrease of the People,
one fourth Part more of Money is given for the same Quantity of Land;
whereby it appears that it would have been more profitable to me to
have laid that Money out in Land which I put into the Bank, than to
place it there and take a Bill for it. And it is certain that the
Value of Money has been continually sinking in _England_ for several
Ages past, because it has been continually increasing in Quantity.
But if Bills could be taken out of a Bank in _Europe_ on a Land
Security, it is probable the Value of such Bills would be more
certain and steady, because the Number of Inhabitants continue to be
near the same in those Countries from Age to Age.
For as Bills issued upon Money Security are Money, so Bills
issued upon Land, are in Effect _Coined Land._
Therefore (to apply the Above to our own Circumstances) If Land
in this Province was falling, or any way likely to fall, it would
behove the Legislature most carefully to contrive how to prevent the
Bills issued upon Land from falling with it. But as our People
increase exceedingly, and will be further increased, as I have before
shewn, by the Help of a large Addition to our Currency; and as Land
in consequence is continually rising, So, in case no Bills are
emitted but what are upon Land Security, the Money-Acts in every Part
punctually enforced and executed, the Payments of Principal and
Interest being duly and strictly required, and the Principal _bona
fide_ sunk according to Law, it is absolutely impossible such Bills
should ever sink below their first Value, or below the Value of the
Land on which they are founded. In short, there is so little Danger
of their sinking, that they would certainly rise as the Land rises,
if they were not emitted in a proper Manner for preventing it; That
is, by providing in the Act _That Payment may be made, either in
those Bills, or in any other Bills made current by any Act of the
Legislature of this Province;_ and that the Interest, as it is
received, may be again emitted in Discharge of Publick Debts; whereby
circulating it returns again into the Hands of the Borrowers, and
becomes Part of their future Payments; and thus as it is likely there
will not be any Difficulty for want of Bills to pay the Office, they
are hereby kept from rising above their first Value: For else,
supposing there should be emitted upon mortgaged Land its full
present Value in Bills; as in the Banks in _Europe_ the full Value of
the Money deposited is given out in Bills; and supposing the Office
would take nothing but the same Sum in those Bills in Discharge of
the Land; as in the Banks aforesaid, the same Sum in their Bills must
be brought in, in order to receive out the Money: In such Case the
Bills would most surely rise in Value as the Land rises; as certainly
as the Bank Bills founded on Money would fall if that Money was
falling. Thus if I were to mortgage to a Loan-Office, or Bank, a
Parcel of Land now valued at 100 _l_. in Silver, and receive for it
the like Sum in Bills, to be paid in again at the Expiration of a
certain Term of Years; before which, my Land rising in Value, becomes
worth 150 _l_. in Silver: 'Tis plain, that if I have not these Bills
in Possession, and the Office will take nothing but these Bills, or
else what it is now become worth in Silver, in Discharge of my Land;
I say it appears plain, that those Bills will now be worth 150 _l_.
in Silver to the Possessor; and if I can purchase them for less, in
order to redeem my Land, I shall by so much be a Gainer.
I need not say any Thing to convince the Judicious that our
Bills have not yet sunk, tho' there is and has been some Difference
between them and Silver; because it is evident that that Difference
is occasioned by the Scarcity of the latter, which is now become a
Merchandize, rising and falling, like other Commodities, as there is
a greater or less Demand for it, or as it is more or less Plenty.
Yet farther, in order to make a true Estimate of the Value of
Money, we must distinguish between Money as it is Bullion, which is
Merchandize, and as by being coin'd it is made a Currency: For its
Value as a Merchandize, and its Value as a Currency, are two distinct
Things; and each may possibly rise and fall in some Degree
independent of the other. Thus if the Quantity of Bullion increases
in a Country, it will proportionably decrease in Value; but if at the
same Time the Quantity of current Coin should decrease, (supposing
Payments may not be made in Bullion) what Coin there is will rise in
Value as a Currency, _i. e._ People will give more Labour in
Manufactures for a certain Sum of ready Money.
In the same Manner must we consider a _Paper Currency_ founded
on Land; as it is Land, and as it is a Currency.
_Money as Bullion, or as Land, is valuable by so much Labour as
it costs to procure that Bullion or Land._
_Money, as a Currency, has an Additional Value by so much Time
and Labour as it saves in the Exchange of Commodities._
If, as a Currency, it saves one Fourth Part of the Time and
Labour of a Country; it has, on that Account, one Fourth added to its
original Value.
When there is no Money in a Country, all Commerce must be by
Exchange. Now if it takes one fourth Part of the Time and Labour of
a Country, to exchange or get their Commodities exchanged; then, in
computing their Value, that Labour of Exchanging must be added to the
Labour of manufacturing those Commodities: But if that Time or Labour
is saved by introducing Money sufficient, then the additional Value
on Account of the Labour of Exchanging may be abated, and Things sold
for only the Value of the Labour in making them; because the People
may now in the same Time make one Fourth more in Quantity of
Manufactures than they could before.
From these Considerations it may be gathered, that in all the
Degrees between having no Money in a Country, and Money sufficient
for the Trade, it will rise and fall in Value as a Currency, in
Proportion to the Decrease or Increase of its Quantity: And if there
may be at some Time more than enough, the Overplus will have no
Effect towards making the Currency, as a Currency, of less Value than
when there was but enough; because such Overplus will not be used in
Trade, but be some other way disposed of.
If we enquire, _How much_ per Cent. _Interest ought to be
required upon the Loan of these Bills;_ we must consider what is the
Natural Standard of Usury: And this appears to be, where the Security
is undoubted, at least the Rent of so much Land as the Money lent
will buy: For it cannot be expected that any Man will lend his Money
for less than it would fetch him in as Rent if he laid it out in
Land, which is the most secure Property in the World. But if the
Security is casual, then a kind of Ensurance must be enterwoven with
the simple natural Interest, which may advance the Usury very
conscionably to any height below the Principal it self. Now among
us, if the Value of Land is twenty Years Purchase, Five _per Cent._
is the just Rate of Interest for Money lent on undoubted Security.
Yet if Money grows scarce in a Country, it becomes more difficult for
People to make punctual Payments of what they borrow, Money being
hard to be raised; likewise Trade being discouraged, and Business
impeded for want of a Currency, abundance of People must be in
declining Circumstances, and by these Means Security is more
precarious than where Money is plenty. On such Accounts it is no
wonder if People ask a greater Interest for their Money than the
natural Interest; and what is above is to be look'd upon as a kind of
_Praemium_ for the Ensurance of those Uncertainties, as they are
greater or less. Thus we always see, that where Money is scarce,
Interest is high, and low where it is plenty. Now it is certainly
the Advantage of a Country to make Interest as low as possible, as I
have already shewn; and this can be done no other way than by making
Money plentiful. And since, in Emitting Paper Money among us, the
Office has the best of Security, the Titles to the Land being all
skilfully and strictly examined and ascertained; and as it is only
permitting the People by Law to coin their own Land, which costs the
Government nothing, the Interest being more than enough to pay the
Charges of Printing, Officers Fees, _&c._ I cannot see any good
Reason why Four _per Cent._ to the Loan-Office should not be thought
fully sufficient. As a low Interest may incline more to take Money
out, it will become more plentiful in Trade; and this may bring down
the common Usury, in which Security is more dubious, to the Pitch it
is determined at by Law.
If it should be objected, _That Emitting It at so low an
Interest, and on such easy Terms, will occasion more to be taken out
than the Trade of the Country really requires:_ It may be answered,
That, as has already been shewn, there can never be so much of it
emitted as to make it fall below the Land it is founded on; because
no Man in his Senses will mortgage his Estate for what is of no more
Value to him than That he has mortgaged, especially if the Possession
of what he receives is more precarious than of what he mortgages, as
that of Paper Money is when compared to Land: And if it should ever
become so plenty by indiscreet Persons continuing to take out a large
Overplus, above what is necessary in Trade, so as to make People
imagine it would become by that Means of less Value than their
mortgaged Lands, they would immediately of Course begin to pay it in
again to the Office to redeem their Land, and continue to do so till
there was no more left in Trade than was absolutely necessary. And
thus the Proportion would find it self, (tho' there were a Million
too much in the Office to be let out) without giving any one the
Trouble of Calculation.
It may perhaps be objected to what I have written concerning
the Advantages of a large Addition to our Currency, _That if the
People of this Province increase, and Husbandry is more followed, we
shall overstock the Markets with our Produce of Flower,_ &c. To this
it may be answered, that we can never have too many People (nor too
much Money) For when one Branch of Trade or Business is overstocked
with Hands, there are the more to spare to be employed in another.
So if raising Wheat proves dull, more may (if there is Money to
support and carry on new Manufactures) proceed to the raising and
manufacturing of _Hemp_, _Silk_, _Iron_, and many other Things the
Country is very capable of, for which we only want People to work,
and Money to pay them with.
Upon the Whole it may be observed, That it is the highest
Interest of a Trading Country in general to make Money plentiful; and
that it can be a Disadvantage to none that have honest Designs. It
cannot hurt even the Usurers, tho' it should sink what they receive
as Interest; because they will be proportionably more secure in what
they lend; or they will have an Opportunity of employing their Money
to greater Advantage, to themselves as well as to the Country.
Neither can it hurt those Merchants who have great Sums out-standing
in Debts in the Country, and seem on that Account to have the most
plausible Reason to fear it; _to wit_, because a large Addition being
made to our Currency, will increase the Demand of our Exporting
Produce, and by that Means raise the Price of it, so that they will
not be able to purchase so much Bread or Flower with 100 _l._ when
they shall receive it after such an Addition, as they now can, and
may if there is no Addition: I say it cannot hurt even such, because
they will get in their Debts just in exact Proportion so much the
easier and sooner as the Money becomes plentier; and therefore,
considering the Interest and Trouble saved, they will not be Losers;
because it only sinks in Value as a Currency, proportionally as it
becomes more plenty. It cannot hurt the Interest of _Great Britain_,
as has been shewn; and it will greatly advance the Interest of the
Proprietor. It will be an Advantage to every industrious Tradesman,
_&c._ because his Business will be carried on more freely, and Trade
be universally enlivened by it. And as more Business in all
Manufactures will be done, by so much as the Labour and Time spent in
Exchange is saved, the Country in general will grow so much the
richer.
It is nothing to the Purpose to object the wretched Fall of the
Bills in _New-England_ and _South-Carolina_, unless it might be made
evident that their Currency was emitted with the same Prudence, and
on such good Security as ours is; and it certainly was not.
As this Essay is wrote and published in Haste, and the Subject
in it self intricate, I hope I shall be censured with Candour, if,
for want of Time carefully to revise what I have written, in some
Places I should appear to have express'd my self too obscurely, and
in others am liable to Objections I did not foresee. I sincerely
desire to be acquainted with the Truth, and on that Account shall
think my self obliged to any one, who will take the Pains to shew me,
or the Publick, where I am mistaken in my Conclusions, And as we all
know there are among us several Gentlemen of acute Parts and profound
Learning, who are very much against any Addition to our Money, it
were to be wished that they would favour the Country with their
Sentiments on this Head in Print; which, supported with Truth and
good Reasoning, may probably be very convincing. And this is to be
desired the rather, because many People knowing the Abilities of
those Gentlemen to manage a good Cause, are apt to construe their
Silence in This, as an Argument of a bad One. Had any Thing of that
Kind ever yet appeared, perhaps I should not have given the Publick
this Trouble: But as those ingenious Gentlemen have not yet (and I
doubt never will) think it worth their Concern to enlighten the Minds
of their erring Countrymen in this Particular, I think it would be
highly commendable in every one of us, more fully to bend our Minds
to the Study of _What is the true Interest of PENNSYLVANIA;_ whereby
we may be enabled, not only to reason pertinently with one another;
but, if Occasion requires, to transmit Home such clear
Representations, as must inevitably convince our Superiors of the
Reasonableness and Integrity of our Designs.
_B. B._
_Philadelphia, April_ 3. 1729.
Philadelphia, New Printing-Office, 1729
_The Printer to the Reader_
The _Pennsylvania Gazette_ being now to be carry'd on by other
Hands, the Reader may expect some Account of the Method we design to
proceed in.
Upon a View of _Chambers_'s great Dictionaries, from whence
were taken the Materials of the _Universal Instructor in all Arts and
Sciences_, which usually made the First Part of this Paper, we find
that besides their containing many Things abstruse or insignificant
to us, it will probably be fifty Years before the Whole can be gone
thro' in this Manner of Publication. There are likewise in those
Books continual References from Things under one Letter of the
Alphabet to those under another, which relate to the same Subject,
and are necessary to explain and compleat it; these taken in their
Turn may perhaps be Ten Years distant; and since it is likely that
they who desire to acquaint themselves with any particular Art or
Science, would gladly have the whole before them in a much less Time,
we believe our Readers will not think such a Method of communicating
Knowledge to be a proper One.
However, tho' we do not intend to continue the Publication of
those Dictionaries in a regular Alphabetical Method, as has hitherto
been done; yet as several Things exhibited from them in the Course of
these Papers, have been entertaining to such of the Curious, who
never had and cannot have the Advantage of good Libraries; and as
there are many Things still behind, which being in this Manner made
generally known, may perhaps become of considerable Use, by giving
such Hints to the excellent natural Genius's of our Country, as may
contribute either to the Improvement of our present Manufactures, or
towards the Invention of new Ones; we propose from Time to Time to
communicate such particular Parts as appear to be of the most general
Consequence.
As to the _Religious Courtship_, Part of which has been retal'd
to the Publick in these Papers, the Reader may be inform'd, that the
whole Book will probably in a little Time be printed and bound up by
it self; and those who approve of it, will doubtless be better
pleas'd to have it entire, than in this broken interrupted Manner.
There are many who have long desired to see a good News-Paper
in _Pennsylvania_; and we hope those Gentlemen who are able, will
contribute towards the making This such. We ask Assistance, because
we are fully sensible, that to publish a good News-Paper is not so
easy an Undertaking as many People imagine it to be. The Author of a
_Gazette_ (in the Opinion of the Learned) ought to be qualified with
an extensive Acquaintance with Languages, a great Easiness and
Command of Writing and Relating Things cleanly and intelligibly, and
in few Words; he should be able to speak of War both by Land and Sea;
be well acquainted with Geography, with the History of the Time, with
the several Interests of Princes and States, the Secrets of Courts,
and the Manners and Customs of all Nations. Men thus accomplish'd
are very rare in this remote Part of the World; and it would be well
if the Writer of these Papers could make up among his Friends what is
wanting in himself.
Upon the Whole, we may assure the Publick, that as far as the
Encouragement we meet with will enable us, no Care and Pains shall be
omitted, that may make the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ as agreeable and
useful an Entertainment as the Nature of the Thing will allow.
_The Pennsylvania Gazette_, October 2, 1729
_"One Piles a Fidler"_
And sometime last Week, we are informed, that one Piles a
Fidler, with his Wife, were overset in a Canoo near Newtown Creek.
The good Man, 'tis said, prudently secur'd his Fiddle, and let his
Wife go to the Bottom.
_The Pennsylvania Gazette_, October 16,1729
_Fire and the Nature of Horses_
We hear from Trenton, that on Friday the 5th Instant, a good
new Stable belonging to Mr. John Severn, was burnt down to the
Ground, in which was consumed five Load of English Hay, and seven
Horses were burnt to Death; occasioned by the Carelessness of a
Servant, who let a Candle fall among the Hay.
About the same Time a Barn and Stable was burnt near
Allen's-Town: The Owner attempting to save a good Horse he had in the
Stable, very narrowly escap'd with his own Life; 'tis observed as
something unaccountable in the Nature of Horses, that they are so far
from endeavouring to avoid the Danger of Fire, as to stand
obstinately and suffer themselves to be burnt; nor will they be led
from it unless first made blindfold.
_The Pennsylvania Gazette_, December 16, 1729
_The Trial and Reprieve of Prouse and Mitchel_
Last Week at a Court of Oyer and Terminer held in this City,
two Servants, James Prouse and James Mitchel (the same who broke
Prison some time since, and were retaken at Amboy) were tried for
Burglary. It appeared by the King's Evidence, that _Prouse_ entred
the House of Mr. _Sheed_, Barber, in Front-street, (being admitted by
a Servant of the Family) and there broke open a Desk, from whence he
took _Seven Pounds Ten Shillings_ in Paper Money, and some Copper
Half-pence; and that _Mitchel_ in the mean time waited without to
watch. It was proved that the Money lost was found upon _Prouse_
when he was taken; who only said in his Defence at the Bar, that it
was given him by Mr. _Sheed_'s Man to keep. _Mitchel_ in his Defence
said, that tho' he had been in Company with _Prouse_ and other
Servants drinking _Rum_ out of Town in the Day Time, being Sunday,
yet that he heard nothing of any Contrivance to Rob, or the like; and
that he was in Bed when the Fact was committed, from whence _Prouse_
afterwards call'd him to go and drink, but did not acquaint with what
had been done. The Jury brought them both in Guilty; and _Prouse_
being asked what he had to say why Sentence of Death should not pass
against him, answered, that he had nothing to say in his own Behalf,
but declared that _Mitchel_ was wholly innocent, and knew nothing of
the Fact. The Court passed Sentence on them both, but directed
_Mitchel_ to apply to His Honour the Governour for Mercy.
Mr. _Sheed_'s Servant (who in the above Trial was Evidence for
the King) is hereafter to be tried for Robbery; the Law not making it
Burglary in a Servant to open a Door in the Night time, tho' it be to
admit Thieves, _&c_.
_The Pennsylvania Gazette_, December 23, 1729
We hear to Morrow is appointed for the Execution of _Prouse_
and _Mitchel_.
_The Pennsylvania Gazette_, January 13, 1729/30
_We think our Readers will not be displeased to have the
following remarkable Transaction related to them in this particular
Manner._
Wednesday the 14th Instant, being the Day appointed for the
Execution of _James Prouse_ and _James Mitchel_ for Burglary,
suitable Preparations were accordingly made. The tender Youth of one
of them (who was but about 19) and the supposed Innocence of the
other as to the Fact for which they were condemned, had induced the
Judges (upon the Application of some compassionate People) to
recommend them to His Honour's known Clemency: But several
Malefactors having been already pardoned, and every Body being
sensible, that, considering the great Increase of Vagrants and idle
Persons, by the late large Importation of such from several Parts of
_Europe_, it was become necessary for the common Good to make some
Examples, there was but little Reason to hope that either, and less
that both of them might escape the Punishment justly due to Crimes of
that enormous Nature. About 11 o'Clock the Bell began to Toll, and a
numerous Croud of People was gathered near the Prison, to see these
unhappy young Men brought forth to suffer. While their Irons were
taken off, and their Arms were binding, _Prouse_ cry'd immoderately;
but _Mitchel_ (who had himself all along behaved with unusual
Fortitude) endeavoured in a friendly tender Manner to comfort him:
_Do not cry, Jemmy;_ (says he) _In an Hour or two it will be over
with us, and we shall both be easy_. They were then placed in a
Cart, together with a Coffin for each of them, and led thro' the Town
to the Place of Execution: _Prouse_ appear'd extreamly dejected, but
_Mitchel_ seemed to support himself with a becoming manly Constancy:
When they arriv'd at the fatal Tree, they were told that it was
expected they should make some Confession of their Crimes, and say
something by Way of Exhortation to the People. _Prouse_ was at
length with some Difficulty prevailed on to speak; he said, his
Confession had been taken in Writing the Evening before; he
acknowledged the Fact for which he was to die, but said, That
_Greyer_ who had sworn against him was the Person that persuaded him
to it; and declared that he had never wronged any Man beside Mr.
_Sheed_, and his Master. _Mitchel_ being desired to speak, reply'd
with a sober compos'd Countenance, _What would you have me to say? I
am innocent of the Fact_. He was then told, that it did not appear
well in him to persist in asserting his Innocence; that he had had a
fair Trial, and was found guilty by twelve honest and good Men. He
only answer'd, _I am innocent; and it will appear so before God;_ and
sat down. Then they were both bid to stand up, and the Ropes were
order'd to be thrown over the Beam; when the Sheriff took a Paper out
of his Pocket and began to read. The poor Wretches, whose Souls were
at that Time fill'd with the immediate Terrors of approaching Death,
having nothing else before their Eyes, and being without the least
Apprehension or Hope of a Reprieve, took but little Notice of what
was read; or it seems imagined it to be some previous Matter of Form,
as a Warrant for their Execution or the like, 'till they heard the
Words PITY and MERCY [_And whereas the said_ James Prouse _and_ James
Mitchel _have been recommended to me as proper Objects of Pity and
Mercy._] Immediately _Mitchel_ fell into the most violent Agony; and
having only said, _God bless the Governor_, he swooned away in the
Cart. Suitable Means were used to recover him; and when he came a
little to himself, he added; _I have been a great Sinner; I have been
guilty of almost every Crime; Sabbath-breaking in particular, which
led me into ill Company; but Theft I never was guilty of. God bless
the Governor; and God Almighty's Name be praised;_ and then swooned
again. _Prouse_ likewise seemed to be overwhelmed with Joy, but did
not swoon. All the Way back to the Prison, _Mitchel_ lean'd on his
Coffin, being unable to support himself, and shed Tears in abundance.
He who went out to die with a large Share of Resolution and
Fortitude, returned in the most dispirited Manner imaginable; being
utterly over-power'd by the Force of that sudden Turn of excessive
Joy, for which he had been no Way prepared. The Concern that
appeared in every Face while these Criminals were leading to
Execution, and the Joy that diffused it self thro' the whole
Multitude, so visible in their Countenances upon the mention of a
Reprieve, seems to be a pleasing Instance, and no small Argument of
the general laudable Humanity even of our common People, who were
unanimous in their loud Acclamations of _God bless the Governor for
his Mercy_.
The following are Copies of the Papers delivered out by
_Prouse_ and _Mitchel_ the Evening before, with little or no
Alteration from their own Words.
"I _James Prouse_ was born in the Town of _Brentford_ in
_Middlesex_ County in _Old England_, of honest Parents, who gave me
but little Education. My Father was a Corporal in the late Lord
_Oxford_'s Regiment of Horse, (then named the said Lord's Blues) and
I was for some Time in the Care of an Uncle who lived at _Eling_ near
_Brentford_ aforesaid, and who would have given me good Learning; but
I being young would not take his good Counsel, and in the 12th Year
of my Age came into _Philadelphia_, where I was recommended to one of
the best of Masters, who never let me want for any Thing: But I
minding the evil Insinuations of wicked People, more than the good
Dictates of my Master, and having not the Fear of God before my Eyes,
am deservedly brought to this wretched and shameful End. I
acknowledge I justly merit Death for the Fact which condemns me; but
I never had the least Design or Thought of the like, until often
press'd, and at length seduced to it by _John Greyer_, who was the
only Person that ruined me. He often solicited me to be guilty of
other Crimes of the like Nature, but I never was guilty of any such,
neither with him or any one else; neither did I ever wrong any Man
before, save my too indulgent Master; from whom I now and then
pilfer'd a Yard or the like of Cloth, in order to make Money to spend
with the said _Greyer_. As for _James Mitchel_ who dies for the same
Fact with me, as I hope to receive Mercy at the great Tribunal, he
the said _James Mitchel_ is intirely innocent, (*) and knew nothing
of the Fact until apprehended and taken. I am about Nineteen Years
of Age and die a Protestant.
_JAMES PROUSE_."
(*) N. B. _He declared the same Thing at the Bar just before he
received Sentence_.
_The Speech or Declaration of_ James Mitchel _written with his
own Hand_.
"I _James Mitchel_, was born, at _Antrim_ in the Kingdom of
_Ireland_, of good and honest Parents, and brought up with them until
the Age of 13 Years, and had a suitable Education given me, such as
being taught to read and write _English_, with some _Latin_; and
might have been further instructed, but at my earnest Request was
bound Apprentice to a Book-binder, and served 4 Years to that Trade;
after which I left the Kingdom and went for _England_ in order to be
further improved in my Business; but there had the Misfortune to be
press'd on board the _Berwick_ Man of War, commanded by the Honorable
_George Gordon_, and having been at several Parts abroad, returned to
_England_ in _Octob_. 1728. where I was by Sickness reduced to a very
sad Condition, through which I came over to this Country a Servant;
here I was it seems unfortunately led into bad Company, and one
Evening by _James Prouse_ was raised out of my Bed to go and drink
with him and one _Greyer_, the which _Greyer_ after parting gave to
the said _James Prouse_ Six-pence, which was all the Money I saw that
Night and till next Morning, and then _James Prouse_ took out of his
Pocket a 15 Shilling Bill, and desired me to get it changed for him,
in order to spend some of it; but coming unto Town I was apprehended
for the robbing of Mr. _George Sheed_, and now am to die for the
same. I die a Protestant.
_JAMES MITCHEL_."
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