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J ., I? •f f- % ■ •Sf- iv V /• •• v >.-.^ V. ^ * •* ^^' J ':. y.tf-m- .v-^' Vj. • I*. ', ■ •> > ..,, \^ (3) ii I I LETTER, c. ^^ Dear Sir, I WAS down at my friend — — 's villa fpendingthe Chriftmas holidays^ when. I was favoured with your letter, re- quiring me to fend you an account of the moft prevailing opinions concerning the eccurrences in America^ as they have been happilycalled;— and it fell out, fortunate- ly enough for my purpofe, that there were four or five gentlemen in our company, who, having brought down all the late American prints, fcarcely talked of any thing elfe ; -^ whereupon, as I found they were all men of acute underftandings, tho of different opinions on the fubjedt, I con- trived without much difficulty to caft tliem ' if B inte It- I ( 4 ) into a convcrfation, or argumentative dif- cuflion of the feveral points in difpute ; which having fet down, as well as my me- mory would allow me, I here give you, as the befl anfwer I can make to your let- ter. The principal fpeakers were Mr. Lei- cester, Mr. Cornish, Mr. Fergus, Mr. Conner, and Mr. Penn -, and I fet them on the argument, by obferving to them, as they feemed all to have well confidered the matter that gave rife to thefe occur- rences, and each to be the mafter thereof in his own way, that it would be highjy entertaining, and perhaps alip ufefut to fome of us> if they woyld communicate ajnd compare their thoughts on the fubjedt at large j — when Mr. Leiceller began thus i 1 can pafs an hour or two, in fuch a con- vcrfation* with a great deal of pleafurc, though I muft obfcrve, that for the mod part, there*s no end anfwered, in difcour- fmg vaguely, as people ordinarily do, on points of this nature, without having any fixed principles; wherein being agr^ed» they may come to fome reafonablc conclu-* f?; n ( 9 ) no reprefentative either in Great -Britain, or any where elfe^ LEICESTER. What you fay, is certainly true, Co far as regards their property in the funds, which I conlider as a very great irregularity and an inconvenience in our fyftcm j and I look upon thefe 450,000 flock penfioners, as fo many idle by-flanders ; to maintain whom, the land labourers and manufadlurers mufl work fo much the harder, or muil put themfelves upon ihorter diet, in order to fpare fomewhat for thefe idle men of ima- ginary property 5— whence arifes this out- cry of dearnefs of provifions, and high price of labour : But as the funds are a very new and lingular kind of property, very diffe- rent indeed from our colonies, thefe being the ofF-fpring of frugality and induflry, and thofe of war and difUpation, I fuppofe, we have not had time to underfland the whole of their nature and effedl in our con- ftitution, fo as to make them thoroughly, fuitable therewith. ,) li PENN. m ■'! ( 10) PENN. Yet, thus far, the adminiflration have confidered juftly in regard to the proprie- tors of the funds, namely, that fince that part of Britidi property has no reprelenta- tive in P— t, they exempt it from pa)^jiig any taxes whatever. CORNISH. Well faid, Mr. Penn, tho adminiflra- tion are certainly much obliged to you, for finding fo equitable a reafon for that poli- cy, which, I'll venture to fay, they never thought of themfelves. CONNOR. There's no doubt, Mr. Cornifh, but your remark here is hiftorically juft, the exemption from taxes was calculated as an invitation extraordinary to foreigners, as well as natives; but fmce we muft allow that Mr. Penn*s reafon is an equitable one, we may as well indulge him in fuppofing that it did operate fomething thereto; for, I am of opinion, that if the political one had not already caufed the end to be ob- tained, the equitable one would have for- ced its way at laft. LEI- (II ) LEICESTER. I incline much to your opinion, Mr. Connor ; — the Roman hiftory furnifhes us with an inflance not very wide of the mark: —It is well known now to all the world, that notwithftanding the great increafe of dominion to that republic, their felfifli and contraded views prevented them from be- ftowing the freedom of their city, on even their mod antient and faithful allies j vain- ly hoping that poized on the fame narrow bafis on which their government had flood in the infancy of the republic, confined to the inhabitants of a fmall circle round RomCf they might ftill continue to lord it over their diflant and extended provinces. The firft effect of which felfifh policy, was, a civil war with their Italian allies and colo- nies (called the foci.il war,) to whom in the end, and after a great deal of blood fpilled, they were obliged to grant with an ill grace, what, a founder policy would have taught them to offer before it was demanded :— the fecond was, that continuing ftill under the fame error of afFedling to keep all the world under the government of z. fmall fe- C nate ^1 i ( 12 ) nate cliofen from a territory very narrow and difproportloried to the extent of their dominions, pofts, and offices of power and profit become more numerous than the Jenators themfelves; the wealth of the world centering in fo few hands, foon put an end to all order, and a daring fervant overturned this narrow-bottomed republic by the event of a fingic battle. CORNISH. What different pi(flurcs may be drawn from the fame original ! You feem to mark out in this botd fketch, that the Romans delayed too long to make their allies and colonijls citizens of Rome ; and Mr. Montefquiou, on the other hand, affigns their granting that privilege at all, to fuch vaft numbers, as one of the chief caufes of their ruin. p E N N. I can very well fee, that Mr. Leiceflcr had one eye on his original, the Roman flory, and the other on a fubjed much nearer his heart ;r--neither the Romans nor Mr. Montefquiou, it is probable, thought of, or confidered fully, the happy { 13 ) expedient Co well known in our condi- tion, and which, without doubt, Mr. Lei- cefler had in his mind, I mean that of a people cxercifmg their power by repre- fentatives ; for had the Romans known this moil: excellent contrivance, (or, if Mr. Montefquiou had fully confidered it, I think he would have found out that) there was, even in Caefar's time, both vir- tue and good fenfe enough remaining to have adopted it, and by that medium to have extended their citizenfhip and form of government to all their dominions.-— For, certainly they ruined their govern- ment by the abufe of two extremes, a Jenate too fmall, confidering the extent of their power and their duration, as they fat for life ; — —and an aflembly of com- mons (with power of delibering, ha- ranguing and raihly enadting) whofe num- bers were fo exceffive that it was almoft impoffible to meet without riot and con- fuiion. FERGUS. I do not fee that this method would al- together prevent that confufion ; for, if the teprefentatives be increafed in pro- C a portion r i ,t 11 2 ,) J ii I t ( 14) portion to the acceffion of dominion, their numbers may rife fo high as to make the maintenance of order utterly impoflible. PENN. Good orders will do a great deah wc know that the great council at Venice confifts now of about a thoufand members, it has been heretofore above three times as many, they both deliberate and vote, and they never run into confufion. CONNOR. But, fuppofing the danger of confufion out of the queftion, how could fuch a matter be effed^ed, how would it be pof- lible to fettle fuch a proportion of repre- Jentatives from the provincesy as fhould be thought on all hands to be neither too much, nor too little ? FERGUS. This would be a difficulty indeed, for, there are many people who do not think that colonies or conquered countries have any right to expcdt fuch a favour at all. CON. y. ( 15) CONNOR. Such people as thofe we fhould refer to hear another chapter of Mr. Leicefter's Roman hiftory -, but in fad we have no body of people, properly fpeaking, under that circumftance 5 for, admitting we have conquered lands in America, or elfe- where, if the conquered inhabitants con- form ftridly to the Britifh tefts of alle- giance and religion, their children become free-born fubjeds to all intents and pur- pofes, and may, by purchafing eflates in the mother-country, become members of the legillature % if they do not conform, they are treated as foreigners living under the protection of our laws, but incapable of enjoying pofts, or exercifmg any le- giilative or executive power whatever. On the other hand, when a native of the mother-country buys an eftate in a con- quered province, would it not be contrary to all reafon to fuppofe, that he has, there- by, forfeited his native rights, and fallen into a degree of flavery ? COR- ;t ( «6) I'H V CORNISH. No, no, we muft not fuppofe that.— However, I do not fee, that laying taxes on the Americans, fimilar to what we lay on ourfclves, and regulating their trade fo as it may not interfere with our own, can be confidered as fubjedting them to any thing like flavery. — 'For, when they left this country, it was for their own pleafure, on a profpedt of private advan- tage ; they did not put themfelves under foreign protcd:ion, they continued ftill under ours; they left the legiflative power, to which *hey were fulyedt, here behind them, and here it has remained ever fince, and here I hope it will ever re- main without diminution. — For here lies the point, the right, the right. Sir ; and if we give way now, therc*s an end of the dignity ™ . . FERGUS. It No ! no, Mr. Corni(h, I cannot join you there; for, in my opinion, neither an individual nor a community can de- rive any dignity, refped, or authority, from .V ( '7 ) from obftinately adhering to a meafurc jafter it is difcovered to be a wrong one ; '■ — the wifeit may be drawn into error by overfight, or through artful mifrepref'"n- tation ; but it is the part of folly or kna- very only, to continue wilfully therein, on any pretence whatever, after the dil^ covery is made j— therefore I hope we Oiall make ufe of no fuch arguments here among ourfelves, though I mufl own, with concern, I have heard them in the mouths of men of fome figure. I am more afraid of lofmg, than in hopes of gaining, by pufliing pundtilios too far; and am perfuaded that the fupremacy of the pope would have lafted entire to this day, or that epifcopacy would never have been baniflied from Scotland, if the hot- heads of thofe times had not urged their rights with too high a hand. \ LEICESTER. I entirely agree with you, Mr. Fergus, and therefore let us confider, of what ufe can it be to demonftrate a legal right (by the help of a parcel of abfurd JiSiions) if, after ft i;,' ill ( i8 ) after all we fhould want power to fupport that right ? — Or, what wife man would think of exerting his power, if the ex- ertion was more likely to hurt than to avail him ? — I may aflert, that I have a natural rjght to cut off one of my own limbs j and I may prove, that, taking a hatchet in my right hand, I have power to chop off the left ; — but what benefit (hall I derive from this manly exertion ? Our American provinces, as far as they are peopled, became fo, from the freedom that adventurers found they could enjoy there, and from the advantages which that freedom afforded to commerce ; — if that freedom and thofe advantages were taken away, by reflraints and taxations laid on, againfl the will of the inhabi- tants, that is, at the pleafure of an ex^ ternJil power, there can be no doubt, that fuch an operation would exadtly undo all that the contrary method had been doing ; and that the fwarms of people which fled thither, from the calamities of Britain, during the civil wars, and afterwards from IrelanJ, by reafon of the reflraints laid on their R! % M 7 ( 17 ) tJieif mlnufadlures and commerce, I fay, it could not be doubted, but thofe fwarms of people (or their defcendants) would fearch for fome new aflylum, and abandon the lands once more to their original favages. CORNISH. * Do you think, then, if we were to en- force fo jufl a law, as requiring a mode- fate aid from thefc people, that their high-fpiritednefs would carry them fo far, as to abandon their eftates and fuch im- menfe property as fome of them have got there, and to cxpofe themfelves to all the hardfhips and poverty of new adventurers ? •»# LEICESTER. I am clearly of that opinion, but will not take up our time now, in faying any thing farther in fupport of it, becaufe I do not fee how fuch a law could be enforced; —•for where people have immenfe pro- perty, they muft of courfe have immenfe power j and, with fuch a people, accord- ing to the principles of our conftitu- D tion. ['; ( 20 fon, nothing can be ddne, but by thck oWn confenf, fhat is, if we want their aid, or, in other words, if we want them to bear fome part of our burdens, we mud allow them alfo a (hare in our privileges; for, I can harrdly think there was ever any body vifionary enough to propofe, that^ in imitation of the Great Turk, we (hould fend a baflia, with a fleet and army, to dolled the tribute of the empire. CONNOR. No, furely; — that's an abfurdity fo gla- ring, that it needs only to be mentioned, the confutation arifcs inftantly- iii the mind of the hearer. — —But, as I was feying, Mr. Penn, (a little while agp) fup-^ poiing the number of reprcfentatives to be raifed to a thoufand, how could thftt ifiiimbcr be allotted and proportioned? . . . r • ■♦ ->.. . ■ -i i PENN. . , , , Nothing more eafy.— F*or wliy may w« not imitate what we fee fuccefsfully prac- tifed every day by private perfons, who affociafe themlclves to carry on projects cif trade or other lucrative adventures, which require the advance and rilk of a confi- derablc (2' ) fieratle capital, and the exrcife of fkill j^nd judgment in the condud thereof. — They ufually divide the fum tojal of the required capital injto 4 certain number of parts or fh,ares, to each of which parts they annex the right of one vote; the fubfcribers engage, according to their a- bilities or inclination ; and he who buys the greatell number of iliares, that is, he who runs the greateft rifk, and pays the greateft part of the expence, has alfo the greateft number of votes jn that cona- munity. CORNISH. ^ly good Sir, do you mean that, by ^his fine projedl, we (hould open a door for five or fix hundred Americans to conie in and vote us out of our own houfe ? ! P ' LEICESTER. I fee no reafon to apprehend that, uii-. lefs we can fuppofe the Americans able and willing to pay five or fix parts in ten of the public expence, that is, about five or fix millions per annun^ i-r-for in that nianner, if I underftand Mr. Peijri rijghtly, the defire, in any one part of the ><> I ! il (20 ) Aatc to over- rule the reil: by an undue majority of votes or reprefe ntatives, would be curbed by the exceflive price tlicy mud pay for them. PEN. • ' ■ ■■ ■' ' ' That is exadly my meaning. LEICESTER. And I think nothing can be more equi- table. , . CONNOR But hovi^cver equitable and p^eafing fuch a fchcme may appear at firll fight, might not feme of our provincial politicians re- jci^i TXT-i*' -'•> PENN. Sir, though I fay they fhould always be fitting (that is, there fhould be no diffo- lution, though they might have fome re- cefs by adjournments) it would not, how- ever,, be in the power of a minifter to practice much upon, themasi fliouldcontrive matters ; for after the firfl year, the fevc- ral provinces fhould be obliged to recall half their numbv^r, and fend new ones in their places, and every year following to do ( 27 ) do the fame thing; £o that every year one half of the council would be new men, and all thofe who went out fliould be in- capable of being re-eleded for the fpace of two years enfuing. CONNOR. Well, but might not fomething be done with the members of the four great com- mittees ? for two years (the time which each member may continue in the coun- cil) would be long enough to admit of jpradtices. PENN. That (liould be provided again/l in this manner. Let us fuppofe, that each of thefe four committees confifted of fix members, to be chofen by ballot in the Venetian manner, that each committee fhould, by the fame method, chufe a chairman, who fhould have power of firft Lord, or hrd Commifiioner, in the man- ner of the prefent boards, for the fpace of one month, at the expiration whereof he fhould leave the committee, and be inca- pable of being re-eledled therein for twelve fiionths enfuing. His place as a committee - +• • « * ■ I ( 28 ) tnan fhould be fupplied by ballot from and by the great council, and the vacancy of firfl Lord, or chairman, filled up in like manner bv the committee, and fo on fofies quoties, — And by thefe means, I think, very little room would be left for practices, 'CONNOR. Would you give this great Council power of impeachment and attainder ? PEN N. Certainly, in all matters that conceri)ed their own body, or the general welfare^ or that coi^ld n.ot be determined properly by any one province, they fliould have full parliamentary power. FERGUS. I obferve you draw a good deal from the Venetian model ; but is it not noto- rious, that their government is particularly deficient in the very point which we feem to want, namely, the government of diflant provinces, they having loll: rnofi: part of their dominions on the T^erra Fitma, and t!ieir diilant iflands ? PEN, * I ( 29 ) PENN. I have only imitated fome part of what 1 think they arc moft perfe(ft in, and have avoided their only error, that is, their felfifh principle^ which, by confining the whole of their power and freedom to the nobles only^ made it impoflible for fo fmall a number (being at mofl but 4000 families,' and now not above 1000) to keep the numerous inhabitants of diflant provinces (who were flill maflers of their own lands) in a flavifh obedience to the laws of a government, in which, having no manner of fhare, they of courfc. were neither interefted to fupport, nor willing to obey, any longer than they Were com- pelled vi & armis. Which violence, be- ing diredtly contrary to the genius of trade, will always be found ruinous, if not im- pradlicable, in a commercial flate. Theif great council never changes but as fome die and as young men grow up, becaufe in fadl it takes in the whole community of freemen, the reft of the inhabitants being only like fojourning ftrangers as to their pcrfonal rights, and as flaves with refped: E 2i ta .:,rl"j -^ <.* ■^. 4^ V •H * ~« ,.■-,«.■ *. ■ ,f ■ ^••-4 ♦* - *, $■■ * > h' ^^-, rv '« e- ,■». X-.. . ■* ■ " '•^ »;-•■, .. ,s- ** s**' ■■■■HSP ( 3« ) to their property. Whereas the great council here propofed, being only a reprefentative of millions of freemen, is half changed every year, and to- tally every two years ; and the intervals of tv7o years, during which old members are kept out, gives opportunity for fo many other able perfons to ftep into the fervice of their country, that the idea of being go- verned by a cabal, or junto, can never arife to give jealoufy or uneafinefs to the moil diftant provinces, who, on the con- trary, will all feel that they have an equi- table fhare in the adminiftration. CORNISH. But why do you propofe to revive the office 01 Lord Conftable, which, as we are told, was fupprefled for having had too much power annexed to it to be trufted rn the hand of any fubje(fl .? PENN. That might have been the cafe when it was -n the hands of an in lividual for life and hereditary -, but when exercifed by the joint judr ,.:nt of fix chofen men, the chairman ( 30 cliairman having only a caftli.'^ vote when neceiTary to prevent a flop in bufinels by an equality of voices ; thefe fix perfons changing every month, and as foon as they quit their committee, immediately accountable for any mal adminiftration ; I fay, fuch a pov^cr, fcJ lodged, runs very little riik of being abufed. Beiides, in truth, it is my opinion, that the conflitu- tion has never been perfedt fince the fup- preffion of this office ; w^hich, in order that the King fhould do no wrong, had provided officers in every branch of the executive, who were to a<5t under his name, but were accountable in their owrt , perfons. The power of interefted mini- . flers working on the weaknefs of former princes, in purfuit of reverjionary grants^ converted many temporary offices into he- reditary ones. Under fuch a change of order it would naturally happen fome-* times, that the office would be difgraced hy the hands it fell into; fuch incongrui- ties, I prefume, made this office odious both to King and people, when unfortu- nately they faw no middle way to redreft the evil, but fupprefled it altogether. Had their ( 32 ) dicrc been a conflable in the reign* 6t Charles the firft, that unhappy Prince could not have fallen into thofe errors which overturned the government and himfelf< But v^^hen the Prince can take the fword of war into his own hand, difmifs officersi and garble an arniy, as James the lid did, I think the maxim, that the Ki?ig can do no wrong, feems fomewhat problematical, and the Prince thereby left occafionally ex-* pofed, in his own perfon, to the refent- ment of his people, for want of an imme-» diate officer, on whom the blame of any mifdoing might juftly fall. , .:: FERGUS. Well, this is a very pretty fcbeme, Mr. Penn -, but, I doubt, if you were to pub- lifh it, it would fare no better than many other ingenious projcd:s of fpeculative men of the laft age ; all which fleep very quietly on the upper (lielves of our modern virtuoii j — for the grand difficulty (and which, I fear, is infurmountable) is, how V) perfuade any man, or fet of men, ttir. part with any portion of power which they ( 33 ) pow have, and think themfelves ftrong enough to keep. PEN. Why, really Sir, I (hould think myfelf i very fhallov^ politician indeed, if I had fuppofed men could be perfuaded to part -yvith any thing they liked, unlefs it were for a valuable confideration or •when forced thereto by neceffity. But as I am of opinion, that fuch pofitions do now and then occur in public affairs as neceffarily require material alterations, I have maturely confidered on this fubjedt from a perfuafion, that one time or other we fliall be under a neceflity of adopting fuch a fyftem, or one very like it, to fave us from fomething worfe. But I repeat, that I am fure we fhall never do it, till forced by neceffity. If you'll allow me to relate to you what I know to have happened in a private family, you may judge from thence what might alfo fall outin a larger focicty under fimilar circum- ^ances. LEI- " ,ii i ( 34) LEICESTER. We are all attentive ; pray go on^ PENN. A country gentleman, mafter of a well conditioned manor of a thoufand pounds a year, had half a fcore children portioned byfettlementwith about a thoufand pounds a piece -, he prudently confidered, though bred up in his youth to arms, that the moil certain and effecftual way of encrealing his fortune, and railing that of his children, was to apply himfelf to farming his own lands and bringing up his fons to merchan- dize ; by which means they foon became not only able to m; intain themfelves, by employing their little fortunes in merchant- venturing, but were alfo very ufeful to their fiither, in taking off all his produdls, even at his ovv'n price ; fuch was their filial af- fedlion towards him. — But unhappily the old gentleman increafed not in virtue, as he did in theprofpsrityof his circumftances, on the contrary, like Noah when he took to drinking, he turned out a very debauch- ed old fellow i fo that under the influence of his bad example and inattention to his affairs, his fervants plundered him at home, and ( 35 ) and his fteward, who went fiiacks with ihe lawyers, engaged him in broils and diT- putes with his neighbours, till he became fo involved in debt, that he was no longer able to pay his labourers wages, and llip- port his current expences^ in which diftrcis he conceived the rafli projedl of drawing bills of exchange on his fons, payable at fight without farther advice.— The fons, who had always pundlually paid their fa- ther for what they bought cf his goods, a;.d had never received of him any thini^ but their own fortunes, were alarmed at this innovation; and imputing it to the ill ad-» vice of his fervants, who had fo much the afcendant over him, that they (though his flefh and blood) were treated as ftran^ers in the fanfiily houfe ; I fay, his fons, akr-. med at this inno-'ation, wrote an humble remonftrance to their father, befecching * him not to take fuch an arbitrary courfe with them. — But he, fpirited up by his wicked fervants, who kept him conflantlv drunk,— flung their letter back withcut reading, and would hear nothing from them ', — fwore in a great paffion that as he was their father, whatever was their's, was his >■— that if they refufed to render quiet- ( 36 ) \y what he demanded, he would fend iwd take it by force, and punKh them corporally for their difobedience. — At this, the fons, (who were affectionate and loved their pa- rent, though they grieved for the weaknefs of his dotage,) were obliged to convince the eld gentleman that they were no lon- ger of an age to be treated as infants, fee- ing they were all married and had families of their own ; — they protefted his bills, and refufed to take anv more of his wool or corn i by which his diflrefles were doubled, for he had fo quarrelled with all his negh- bours that none of them cared to buy any thing of him. — However thefe laft diffi- culties foon brought him to a better under- ilanding, and inftead of going to law with his fons, as his roguifti ileward advifed, he was become fober enough to confider that the only iflue of fuch a conteft muft be, ei- ther to ruin them or be ruined himfelf, ei- ther cf which would be to lofe t!ie fruit he had been fo long labouring for, that of eftablifliing his family in wealth andprofpe- rity ; wherefore, continuing ftill fober, he defired an interview with them, ingenu- oufly acknowledged how he had been mif- led and abufcd by a pack of profligate fer- vants. ^ i ^ ( 37 ) vants, offered to take his Tons into part- nerHiip with him, and dcfired they would alfift him in reforming his houfe.— Which they, as they never wanted filial affeaion and a true fenfe of their duty, readily con- fcnted to ; and they now are the family of the greatcfl/^zc^^r cmd corifidcration in their country. At the end of this difcourfc we all fat flaring at one another, nobody, I bdieve, knowing well what to hy, when a fcrvant came in to tell us, fuppsr was on the tabic, which put an end to this conference. —And here alfo I beg leave to finifli my letter ; from your's ^q, Jan. 12, 1 66. POSTCRIPT. I had almofl forgot to tell you, that af- ter lupper, when fome remarks were made 0!i the foregoing fubjed, one of the com- \y^nY, who had taken no part in the argu- nic!>t before, obferved, that Mr. Pcnn was nut iii very fingular, nor new in his pro- pofitions as fome of the gentlemen feemcd to think, for, fays he, toifing a r.igged pa- ptM- on the table, " I have had that plan <' in my pocket for fcvcral months part, F 2 «^ and ( 38 ) " and the perfon from whom I received it^ *' f.iid it was handing about, and, as he *' fuppofed, was under fome fort of pub- ** lie confideration.'* With the gentle- man's leave I borrowed it till the next day, and the following is a copy of it. Scheme of reprefentatives to a general parliament, proportioned to the pmbable numbers of people in each pro- vince, and to the certain fums tc be con- tributed by each province to the general fund for public fervice, that is^ for the fupport Q^ comfnoji government in peace and war, (the p..rticuLu' fupport of each pro- vincial government being to be left to its own internal management) being after tiie rate of io,oco/. per annum, to be contribut.:d by each province for every member f.nt by them 5 (when 52I. per annum was tlic parliamentary allow- ?n.'c for a framan, viz, at 4/. per month.) The amount of the people fuppofed in e 1^11 province, is put fomewhat arbitrarily, in flich even numbers as will divide by 20,ocoi that being the number of people vvhic!^ b;' this fcheme, is fuppofed able t*') ':ontribute a fum fuflicient to intitle than to f.-nd one reprcfentative. But w w ( 39 ) moreover, as by this plan, property, ra^ tbf^r than barely the numbers of people, gives the title of fending reprefentatives, —each province having right to fend one member for every ib,oool. they contri- bute annually to the general fund; fo the provinces where, by their iituation, great part of their work is done by Haves, or where great n limbers of the people are difqualified, by being Papifls, may never- thelefs find among them a fuflicient number of qualified men to reprefent them, in proportion to their wealth and contribuiions. All prefent taxes, du- ties, &c. to be repealed. The probable number of perfons In the whole dominion, at this time, is 16,760,000, which being divided by 20,000, will make 838 parts, or fhares, in the whole ; and fuppofing the feveral provinces able and willing to fend, for each fuch fhare, one member, and in con- fideration thereof to contribute 10,000 1, to the general fund (more or lefs, accord- irg to the annual neceflity) the whole would make a revenue of 8,380,0001. which in detail may be flated in the fol- lowing manner : iii Names of Provinces. (40) SuppofedNo. of People \ ■ Canada, and it its De- pendencies Nova-Scotia, C.Breton and Nev^foundland Maffachufett's Ne»».' Hampftiire - - Conncfticutt - - • Rhode-Ifland - - - New York - - . Jerfeys - - - - . Pcnfylvania . - . Maryland - - - . Virginia - - - - N. Caroi.aa . . . S. Carolina - - - GeGi-»ia,E.&W.Flor. £ermuubS& Bahamas All North America } Barbadoes - - ■ Jamaica - - - Antigua - - - Nevis, St.Kitt's, Mont- y ferratt, Grenada, Sc. Vincent's, &c. I All the W. Ind. Iflan. England and Wales - - Scotland - - . - - Ireland - - - - G. Britain and Ireland Grand Total of the } BritJih. Dominion 5" 100,000 20,000 280,000 40,000 200,000 80,000 160,000 120,000 280,000 160,000 280,000 40,000 80,000 20,000 i,86o,oco 100,000 i8o,oco 60,000 6o,coo 400,000 10,000,000 i,i;oo,ooo 3,000,009 14,500,000 16,760,000 SLBtP H 2 10 4 8 6 H 8 2 4 I 93 20 500 75 150 725 838 6» as D 3 ff O I °- ® s S o " "f §■'3 S j{; 5 0,000 10,000 140,000 20,000 100,000 40,000 80,000 60,000 140,000 80,000 140,000 20,000 40,000 10,000 930,000 50,000 90,000 30,000 30,000 200,000 5,000,000 75o,oco 1,500,000 7,250,000 8,380,000 N. B. It is foppofed, that the incrcafe of people and weal'h in the nevf jnovir^ps wc'ild foon raile the number of fliwcs to a ihoufand, and th» piopoititmal revenue of courfc to ten millions. Thu^, en this plant the incieal'e of domi.iion, by extending our colonies, would neither be dang*?- rous Co out liberncs, nor an addition to our expences } but on the con- triry, lil