Part 7 (1/2)
We were seated together alone, on the lawn, in the cool of the evening, until ten o'clock, when Mr Laith a light in his hand, kindly conductedthese two hours we talked freely; first, on the state of England, which, he says, must fall in a few years ”With {455} such a debt, and soBritish manufactures, and with such a superabundant population, it is i exist in her present condition A famine must certainly sweep away superfluous ht about, first, by a scarce year, and secondly, by the want of specie to pay for foreign grain; for specie only will do, when rain Then the British people, instead of lying down and dying willingly like the Hindoos, a scene which I witnessed, will rise with an irresistible fury, sweeping all authorities before them” ”After such a storm, will they dispense with , lords, and commons, seem acceptable to the people The church and the debt only will be annihilated My friends and others in the funds see that this catastrophe is co They are therefore unhappy I see they are eaten up by anxiety; I am happier than any of them Many of the rich, and several of my friends and family, live on the European continent, to spend their money in ease and peace They are all unhappy in their prospects It is true that I have been unsuccessful in my speculations here, but ton to invest my ood speculation, and it would have been so but for the stupidity and blundering {456} ignorance of this govern the currency, has reduced our estates 50 or 60 per cent
and rendered all unsaleable There is no money for use It is icapital, which creates a fixed capital This government, however, will see the need of it and resort to it; for, if the capital once in circulation had remained so, the public lands would have doubled their present value, and the industrious have flourished instead of sinking into ruin The poor and industrious are the only proper objects of the care and protection of government” ”You knew Paley What think you of his philosophy, &c?” ”I knew hiood man, but his philosophy is false Utility isfurnish the best oodness” ”But, Sir,” said I, ”is not his philosophy in accordance with Christianity?” ”Perhaps it is” I rejoined that I could not help revering it, and that after reading it I thought myself both wiser and better ”That may be” ”You knew and esteemed Sir Wm Jones in India
Was he not a Christian?” ”Why sir, Lord Teignmouth has endeavoured to make him appear so; but he was a free thinker, and unusually vain
Instead of studying his duties and introducing good laws, he was a a finished antiquarian and poet He fell a victim to his intense {457} application He would never travel, except by night; the sun ht, and I accompanied him At sunset he would inquire: 'Is my enemy down?' If answered, 'Yes,' he would then start”
”Did you see M Volney,[154] during his tour in this country?” ”I did; he caton, and spent soe well, and was a very wise man”
_11th_--Mr Law and ed in writing soreat velocity
After breakfast we rode to the pleasant farm of Colonel Heb to dine, where, with his lady and fa and played for Mr Law on the piano, hich he seemed enraptured
We then viewed the Colonel's estate, consisting of 600 acres, of hill and dale, 90 of which are ated, and which produces 2,000 dollars in hay annually, while the tobacco[155] crop is {458} commonly worth from 100 to 150 dollars an acre Here is a marl bank, by which the Colonel has i its first cost, employs 20,000 dollars, and nets, froroes, who see merrily The Colonel thinks slaves are better off than free-men All slave-holders think so, especially those idleout, that theyof blacks Free blacks, in a slave state, are most of them unhappy
Mr Law thinks that Colonel Heb saves little or nothing fro the expenses of hospitality, education, and other out-goings Part of our dessert, at dinner, was strawberries, which, during the su a fresh supply We quitted this hospitable abode at seven, phome, resumed our conversation till bedtiland, he visited his brother, the now Bishop of Chester, then living on a shbourhood seemed dissenters ”My brother did all he could to please them, but they would not come to church My brother did not like it, and feared that his congregation would be reduced to the clerk and his own family Indeed it seldom was more
{459} What a nest,” said Mr Law, ”is the church for hypocrites All churches are evils, especially when they condemn a difference of opinion, and compel the dissenters therefroion is ht to think freely thereon
I wonder how ot preferment, when I knoas refractory, and could not subh”
”The convulsion in England,” says Mr Laill not last long, but it will be horrid; it will sweep away the drones I sawto the grave, sick of theood brother, the Irish Bishop, the most learned of our family, came from Ireland, purposely to see me He is now dead There is no independence about bishops They only seek preferment”
Mr Law repeated to ainst the”These lines his lordshi+p feared should be shown He ave up to ive up to Tom, or he will expose me to my brother lawyers, and I shall become their butt'” These lines represented theas the perfection of pride, and seeking to be Chancellor, being already one in insolence
{460} ”You have not, I suppose, at any tiovernment?” ”No, Sir, I would see them at the d--l first” ”Is Mr President Monroe a man of business?” ”Yes, Sir The Presidents are all slaves to their duties, scarcely able to breathe abroad or take air” On passing by the Capitol, I said, ”Does this sumptuous Capitol accord with the plainness of republicanis stones one upon another rarely injures any nation; and besides, republics are vain, and public buildings gratify their vanity, and attach theovernment has left unprotected theenerally, it has done all which an enemy to this or any country could do, or wish to see done” I asked Mr Law if it orth while to visit Mount Vernon He said, ”Mount Vernon is inviting, but Judge W knows nothing”
_12th_--In our ride to the city this hbours, overtook us, but being anxious to get on before us, apologized for leaving us ”Oh! gentlemen!” said Mr L, ”we do not want you to wait for us Go, I pray you, to the devil if you will!”
At parting with Mr Law this , he proht Rev Brother, the Bishop of Chester, and his distinguished cousin, J C Curwen, Esq M P which letters, together with the following curious observations, purposely written by him for the use of this journal, were soon after transmitted to me
_Observations by Mr Law_--”I have lately perused an address to the public froinia If, after repeated perusals, I had been convinced that the exclusion of such foreign islative h duties or prohibitions, would be injurious to agriculturists, I should i To oppose the opinions and arguments of such able men, and of such united members, exposes any one to the imputation of vanity, and to inevitable ridicule, should his reasoning prove inconclusive I have always been an advocate for perovernestions of their reason, and to seek future salvation according to the dictates of their conscience; and I have always been convinced that men will employ their capitals and industry in that business which produces most profit This is, indeed, an incontrovertible axiom in political economy; and the only question to detern manufactures be {462} not a salutary exception to the rule The delegation aboveto e in favour of an individual, or a certain class of men, in preference to all others, who are injured thereby Now to me it appears that the duties or prohibitions solicited, are solely for the encourageen ones; nay, in my opinion, it seems a request in the nan monopoly This observation will at first surprise you, but after my explanation it will, I trust, have ine Suppose a sovereign to say that in a certain county, or depart machinery, &c to those ould establish a certain manufacture Should any other of his subjects attempt rivalshi+p, with his, or their own funds, could not those, who had their capitals gratis, undersell the cos and machinery cost 100,000 dollars, and that 50,000 dollars, current capital, were required to pay workn, if they made ten per cent on their current capital, would receive 5,000 dollars per annum, but the latter, if he obtained only a {463} profit of 5,000 dollars on his 150,000 dollars laid out, would only receive three and a third per cent Now the foreign manufacturer has a capital from his father, which is useless to his, machinery, and 50,000 dollars current capital, produce hiners, who heretofore purchased froood policy in him to reduce his profits two thirds, to ruin his incipient rivals? Mr Broughae, when speaking of the loss to merchants by an excessive exportation of manufactures:--_it orth while to incur a loss, in order, by the glut, to stifle in the cradle those rising manufactures in the United States, which the war had forced into existence, contrary to the natural course of things_
”Would it not have been huress, to have prevented this ruinous glut, which contributed, with the order to resume specie payments, to crush our manufactures, merchants, and storekeepers, and to injure our farners obtained above 30,000,000 of our stocks, but by manufactures? The importation of manufactures is now , and the price of labour falling Will, however, any prudent lut? Our manufactures, till then, cannot prosper, and we ners If all eneral rule, before alluded to, would apply, and we ht be supplied by home-spun Were all patriots, the nation would prefer hon articles of a sieneral interest, the general governn coland obtains from 8_s_ to 10s a bushel for his wheat; our farland a; ours, to less than that amount in dollars
”The distress occasioned by the sudden reduction of our circulating medium from 100,000,000 dollars, to 45,000,000 dollars, has reduced all property far below its intrinsic value; the banks are prosecuting to recover sues are foreclosed, and landholders in debt are compelled to sell When an European purchases land in the western countries, he has to clear and fence, and to build house and barn and stable, at a great expense In the old states, as they are termed, the land is sold at so much per acre, and the house, barn, &c are thrown into the bargain Land, froed at twenty dollars an acre, ready to {465} be occupied
Navigation is near; the lishman as his breakfast, may be received three tiood; the expense of a long journey, and a thousand inconveniences experienced by new settlers, are avoided
Horses and oxen, I believe, can be bought cheaper in this neighbourhood