  HARTFORD, FEBRUARY, 1790. MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS on DIVIZIONS of PROPERTY, GUVERNMENT, EDUCATION, RELIGION, AGRICULTURE, SLAVERY, COMMERCE, CLIMATE and DISEEZES in the UNITED STATES. The laws which respect property, hav, in all civilized communities, formed the most important branch of municipal regulations. Of theze, the laws which direct the division and desent of lands, constitute the first class; for on theze, in a great mezure, depend the genius of guvernment and the complection of manners. Savages hav very few regulations respecting property; for there are but few things to which their desires or necessities prompt them to lay claim. Some very rude nations seem to hav no ideas of property, especially in lands; but the American tribes, even when first discuvered, claimed the lands on which they lived, and the hunting grounds of eech tribe were marked from thoze of its nabors, by rivers or other natural boundaries. The Mexican and Peruvian Indians had indeed advanced very far towards a state of civilization; and land with them had acquired almost an European valu; but the northern tribes, yet in the hunter state, would often barter millions of akers for a handful of trinkets and a few strings of wampum. In the progress of nations, land acquires a valu, proportioned to the degree of populousness; and other objects grow into estimation, by their utility, convenience, or some plezure they afford to the imagination. In despotic states, the subjects must not possess property in fee; for an exclusiv possession of lands inspires ideas of independence, fatal to despotism. To support such guvernments, it iz necessary that the laws should giv the prince a sovereign control over the property az wel az the lives of hiz subjects. There are however very few countries, where the guvernment iz so purely arbitrary, that the peeple can be deprived of life and estate, without some legal formalities. Even when the first possession waz the voluntary gift of the prince, grants or concessions, sanctioned by prescription, hav often established rights in the subject, of which he cannot be deprived without a judicial process. In Europe the feudal system of tenures haz given rise to a singular species of guvernment. Most of the countries are said to be guverned by monarkies; but many of the guvernments might, with propriety, be called aristocratic republics. The barons, who possess, the lands, hav most of the power in their own hands. Formerly the kings were but lords of a superior rank, primi inter pares; and they were originally electiv. This iz stil the case in Poland, which continues to be what other states in Europe were, an aristocratic republic. But from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, the princes, in many countries, were struggling to circumscribe the power of the barons, and their attempts, which often desolated their dominions, were attended with various success. What they could not accomplish by force, they sometimes obtained by stratagem. In some countries the commons were called in to support the royal prerogativs, and thus obtained a share in legislation, which haz since been augmented by vast accessions of power and influence, from a distribution and encreese of welth. This haz been the case in England. In other countries, the prince haz combined with But commerce haz been favorable to mankind. Az the rules of succession to estates, every where established in Europe, are calculated to aggrandize the few at the expense of the many, commerce, by creating and accumulating personal estate, haz introduced a new species of power to ballance the influence of the landed property. Commerce found its way from Italy and the eest, to Germany and England, diffusing in its progress freedom, knowlege and independence. Commerce iz favorable to freedom; it flurishes most in republics; indeed a free intercourse by trade iz almost fatal to despotism; for which reezon, some princes lay it under severe restrictions: In other countries it iz discuraged by public opinion, which renders trade disreputable. This iz more fatal to it, than the edicts of tyrants. The basis of a democratic and a republican form of government, iz, a fundamental law, favoring an equal or rather a general distribution of property. It iz not necessary nor possible that every citizen should hav exactly an equal portion of land and goods, but the laws of such a state should require an equal distribution of intestate estates, and bar all perpetuities. Such laws occasion constant revolutions of property, and thus hold out to all men equal motivs to vigilance and industry. They excite emulation, by giving every citizen an equal chance of being rich and respectable. In no one particular do the American states differ from European nations more widely, than in the rules which regulate the tenure and distribution of lands. This circumstance alone wil, for ages at leest, prezerve a government in the united states, very different from any which now exists or can arize in Europe. In consequence of theze laws, the peeple of New England enjoy an equality of condition, unknown in any other part of the world. To the same cause may be ascribed the rapid population of theze states; for estates by division are kept small, by which meens every man iz obliged to labor, and labor iz the direct cause of population. For the same reezon, the peeple of theze states, feel and exert the pride of independence. Their equality makes them mild and condesending, capable of being convinced and guverned by persuasion; but their independence renders them irritable and obstinate in resisting force and oppression. A man by associating familiarly with them, may eezily coax them into hiz views, but if he assumes any airs of superiority, he iz treeted with az little respect az a servant. The principal inconvenience arizing from theze dispositions iz, that a man who happens to be a little distinguished for hiz property or superior education iz ever exposed to their envy, and the tung of slander iz bizzy in backbiting him. In this manner, they oppoze distinctions of rank, with great success. This however iz a private inconvenience; but there iz an evil, arising from this jealousy, which deeply affects their guvernment. Averse to distinctions, and reddy to humble superiority, they become the dupes of a set The same equality of condition haz produced a singular manner of speeking among the peeple of New England.[153] But the inhabitants of all the large towns, wel bred citizens, are excepted from this remark. Altho the principle iz tru that a general distribution of lands iz the basis of a republican form of guvernment, yet there iz an evil arising out of this distribution, which the New England states now feel, and which wil increase with the population of the country. The tracts of land first taken up by the settlers, were not very considerable; and theze having been repeetedly divided among a number of heirs, hav left the present proprietors almost without subsistence for their families. By extending our views to futurity, we see considerable changes in the condition of theze republican states. The laws, by barring entailments, prevent the establishment of families in permanent affluence; we are therefore in little danger of a hereditary aristocracy. But the same laws, by dividing inheritances, tho their first effect iz to create equality, ultimately tend to impoverish a great number of citizens, and thus giv a few men, who commanded money, an advantage in procuring lands at less than their real valu. The evil iz increased in a state, where there iz a scarcity of cash, The causes which destroyed the ancient republics were numerous; but in Rome, one principal cause waz, the vast inequality of fortunes, occasioned partly by the stratagems of the patricians and partly by the spoils of their enemies, or the exactions of tribute in their conquered provinces. Rome, with the name of a republic, waz several ages loozing the spirit and principle. The Gracchi endevored to check the growing evil by an agrarian law; but were not successful. In Cesar's time, the Romans were ripened for a change of guvernment; the spirit of a commonwelth waz lost, and Cesar waz but an instrument of altering the form, when it could no longer exist. Cesar iz execrated az the tyrant of hiz country; and Brutus, who stabbed him, iz applauded az a Roman. But such waz the state of things in Rome, that Cesar waz a better ruler than Brutus would hav been; for when the spirit of a guvernment iz lost, the form must change. Brutus would hav been a tyrannical demagogue, or hiz zeel to restore the commonwelth would hav protracted the civil war and factions which raged in Rome and which finally must hav subsided in monarky. Cesar waz absolute, but hiz guvernment waz moderate, and hiz name waz sufficient to repress faction and prezerve tranquillity. The zeel of Brutus waz intemperate and rash; for when abuses hav acquired a certain degree of strength; when they are interwoven with every part of government, it iz prudence to suffer many evils, rather than risk the application of a violent remedy. How far the Roman history furnishes the data, on which the politicians of America may calculate the future New England waz originally settled by a religious sect, denominated puritans, who fled from the severe restraints imposed upon dissenters in the reign of king James I. Placed beyond the feer of control, they formed sistems of civil and ecclesiastical government, exactly suited to their rigid notions. All their institutions wear marks of an enthusiastic zeel for religion. Removed from the tyranny of one church, they vibrated to the other extreme, and with an ardor to bild up Christ's kingdom, in what they quaintly call, a howling wilderness, they established a tyranny of the severest kind over the consciences and rights of their own society, and by arbitrary decrees banished thoze who But candor requires some apology to be made for our ancestors. Bigotry waz not confined to the New England settlers; it waz the characteristic of the age. The first settlers in New Jersey, Virginia and Pensylvania, and indeed in most of the colonies, prohibited witchcraft under penalty of deth; tho the laws seem not to have been executed any where except in Massachusetts. But the fame gloomy superstition reigned in England. The statutes of Henry VIII. and James I. making witchcraft and sorcery felony without benefit of clergy, upon which many persons suffered deth, were not repeeled, till the ninth yeer of George II. or about 1736. Just before the restoration in 1660, no less than thirteen gypsies were condemned at one Suffolk assizes, and executed. But why should I go to former times and other states for apologies? Iz it not eezy to find superstition and prejudices among ourselves equally absurd and indefensible? Does not a law against playing with cards proceed from theze prejudices? What iz the difference between playing with spotted papers and spotted boards? Chequers, back-gammon and chess are not prohibited, and the games are az enticing az thoze which are prohibited. Again, are laws against witchcraft more absurd than laws against usury? Did not both originate in ages of monkish bigotry, and in the same religious scruples? Iz it not az illiberal a prejudice to say, that a man shall hav but six per cent. profit on money loaned, yet may make fifty per cent. if he can, on the same valu in goods, houses or lands; az it iz to say, that a man shal not be a fanatic, or a woman hav the hysterics? Haz not any man az good a right to be whimsical or superstitious, az a legislature to be inconsistent? Az to the right, I see no difference. A man who iz oppressed to an obvious degree by a rich creditor, wil find releef against the oppressor, in a court of equity. A fanatic, who should keep a naborhood in an uproar by hiz religious worship, would be punishable for a misdemeenor. But when two men can make a voluntary contract for eight per cent. interest, a contract which eech deems favorable for himself, that he should be punishable with a hevvy forfiture, iz a curosity in legislation, which ought to be placed on the catalog of papal bulls. Superstition appeers in all ages under different aspects. The sailor who repozes confidence in the horse-shoe on hiz mast, the Roman who counts hiz beeds, the judge who gravely sentences a witch to the gallows, and the legislator who thinks it a crime to receev great profits for the use of money, may be equally conscientious, and to posterity in some future time, wil appeer to be equally mistaken. But while we contemplate the censurable laws of the first New England settlers, let us not pass by many In the first place, our ancestors made provision for supporting preechers of the gospel in every village. Abating some rigid maxims, which were propagated and maintained for the first century, with too much zeel, the influence of the clergy, in New England, haz been productiv of the happiest effects. The clergy, being wel informed men, and scattered among the peeple at large, hav been instrumental in diffusing knowlege. Frends to order, and respected by their parishioners, they hav at times saved the states from turbulence and disorder. The advocates of liberty, they espoused the American revolution with firmness, and contributed to unite the peeple in a steddy opposition to British mezures; and since the establishment of peece, they hav had no small influence in oppozing mezures, fatal to good faith and the rights of freemen. The effects of their influence are the most generally vizible in Connecticut, where every town iz well settled and supports a clergyman. This state never experienced an insurrection; its opposition to the British power, during the war, waz steddy and unanimous; and tender laws and paper currency hav been uniformly reprobated since the revolution. The old settlements in Massachusetts may fall under the same character; but the western and northern counties are exceptions. In a great proportion of the townships, which hav been lately settled, there iz no clergyman or other person of superior information, to direct the popular councils and check a rizing opposition. It waz obzerved, during the late insurrections in thoze counties, that the towns which were destitute of any wel informed men, furnished the most numerous and most turbulent hosts of insurgents. The wel informed counties on the see coast furnished scarcely a man. In addition to this, it may be remarked, that the mildness of manners and the hospitality which prevail The State of Rhode Island furnishes full proofs of what iz here said in favor of the clergy. That state waz settled by refugees from Massachusetts, who were banished or persecuted by the first settlers, for their religious tenets. Roger Williams and hiz adherents imbibed an inveterate hatred against the colony of Massachusetts, and in particular against the clergy, whoze rigid zeel occasioned their expulsion from the colony. The prejudice continued among their desendants, and to this day the inhabitants boast of their liberality of sentiment and their freedom from the bigotry of clergymen, which, they say, enslaves the peeple of Massachusetts and Connecticut. This aversion to the clerical order haz however had a pernicious effect in the state. The body of the peeple, unaccustomed to the sobriety and decent deportment necessary in religious worship, and despizing the puritanical manners of their nabors, are educated in licentiousness and void of principle. To this source may be traced the most unjust and tyrannical laws that ever disgraced a popular assembly, and a perseverance in executing them, which can proceed only from obstinate ignorance and dishonest views. The large trading towns are excepted from this description; the inhabitants of which are well informed, polite, liberal, and firm supporters of good government; but they encourage schools and support a respectable clergy. In the second place, our ancestors discuvered their wizdom in establishing public schools and colleges. The law of Connecticut ordains, that every town, or parish containing seventy householders, shall keep an The state of Massachusetts haz also public schools on similar principles. The colleges and academies are too well known to need any description or remarks. The beneficial effects of theze institutions will be experienced for ages. Next to the establishments in favor of religion, they hav been the nurseries of wel-informed citizens, brave soldiers and wize legislators. A peeple thus informed are capable of understanding their rights and of discuvering the meens to secure them. In the next place, our forefathers took mezures to prezerve the reputation of skools and the morals of yuth, by making the business of teeching them an honorable employment. Every town or district haz a committee whoze duty iz to procure a master of talents Neerly connected with the establishment of skools, iz the circulation of newspapers in New England. This iz both a consequence and a cause of a general diffusion of letters. In Connecticut, almost every man reeds a paper every week. In the yeer 1785, I took some pains to ascertain the number of papers printed weekly in Connecticut, and in the suthern states. I found the number in Connecticut to be neerly eight thousand; which waz equal to that published in the whole territory, south of Pensylvania.[155] By meens of this general circulation of public papers, the peeple are informed of all political affairs; and their representativs are often prepared to deliberate on propositions, made to the legislature. Another institution favorable to knowlege, iz the establishment of parish libraries. Theze are procured by subscription, but they are numerous, the expense not being considerable, and the desire of reeding universal. Still further, the wisdom of the erly settlers in New England iz remarkable in the division of their territorial jurisdictions into townships, and incorporating them with certain powers of a subordinate nature. Every town iz a corporate body, with power to appoint, at an annual meeting, certain town magistrates, called selectmen, who hav the charge of providing for the poor, superintending the town property, dispozing of the monies &c. rendering an account to the town at the annual meeting. The towns also appoint constables, collectors of taxes,[156] surveyors of roads, tithing men, whoze business iz to prezerve order on Sundays, inspectors of various denominations, &c. The towns are obliged to bild and repair their own bridges, repair roads, and defray the expense by a tax impozed by themselves. They also support their own poor. This system of subordinate legislation haz the advantage of saving the legislature much trubble, and the corporations can hardly abuse powers, which are limited to their own territories; nor wil they probably neglect their duty, az it iz for their interest and convenience to perform it. In the general organization of guvernment, the New England states differ widely; thoze of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, being formed since the revolution, are wel known; thoze of Connecticut and Rhode Island are moddled upon the charters of Charles II, and have suffered but little alteration, since their first establishment. The towns soon began to send representativs to the court; but for several yeers in Boston, they sat in the same house with the assistants; in the same manner az the knights of shires, or representativs of the inferior barons, sat in parliament with the lords on their first introduction into the legislature. But az the towns multiplied, this practice waz found inconvenient, and the deputies were separated from the assistants. When this took place the assistants rezerved to themselves the judiciary powers, which at first were lodged in the whole assembly. In Connecticut, the assistants or upper house of assembly retained theze powers in effect, till the late revolution; only for the sake of convenience, five of their number were appointed by both houses, to the immediate exercize of the office and to ride the circuit. Still the assembly were a court of appeels in the last rezort, to all intents and purposes; for on petition, any judgement or decree might be heerd and reversed by the legislature. Since the revolution, a supreme court of errors iz constituted, but on an exceptionable plan, and the legislature continues to exercize supreme judicial power on petitions. This iz a remnant of the old administration, which was once harmless, if not necessary; but in a large community, may be considered az a faulty part of the guvernment. The whole legislature likewise acts az a court for the The constitution of Connecticut iz if possible, more defectiv in the trezury or finance department. The trezurer iz annually appointed by the freemen in the state at large. This makes him dependent on them. The collectors are scattered in every part of the state; and if the trezurer iz not agreeable to them, az he wil not be, if he iz rigorous in enforcing collections, they can render him unpopular and throw him out of office. This iz an evil; besides, the constables, who are collectors, are appointed by the towns; if they are rigorous in their duty, they are liable to looz their office; or what iz worse, they may set up az candidates for the legislature, and by an influence arizing from their power in exacting taxes with a greater or less degree of rigor, procure an election to an employment for which It would be endless to enumerate the evils arizing out of this mode of collection. If the trezurer was appointed by the legislature, with power to name his collectors and call them to account; and if collectors were obliged to giv bonds with sufficient security to save the state from loss, which security should be liable to distress immediately on failure of the collector, the taxes would be collected with promptitude and a great saving of expense. It may be obzerved, that the faults of the constitution are ascribeable to the ancient simplicity of the New England peeple, and the corruptions of the administration hav grown out of the long tranquillity of the state. While the peeple had perfect confidence in their rulers, they were not disposed to disobey the laws; and while there were few opportunities of corruptions, there might be no instance of maladministration, so obvious or atrocious az to alarm enquiry, and excite peeple to change laws and forms, to which they had been familiarized. The inconveniencies resulting from a union of the legislativ and judicial powers in the same hands, were not so great az to be sensibly felt by the public; and habits of respect for men in office, and submission to law, had rendered men credulous and unsuspecting. To this day, it iz difficult to make the inhabitants beleev that their rulers and magistrates can betray a public trust. Till within two yeers, the guvernor, deputy guvernor, judges of the superior court, or two justices Before the legislature could be persuaded to institute a controller's office az a check upon the trezury, it waz necessary to exhibit to them strong proofs of maladministration in that department; and the evils arizing from the prezent mode of collecting taxes, must be obvious and great, before they wil make any change in the system. Men are guverned by habit. The first laws of a country take their complection from the peculiar cast and circumstances of the peeple; and then the laws in turn contribute to form the manners of succeeding generations. The state of Connecticut iz an illustrious example of this truth. By its situation, it can never be expozed to sudden changes by an influx of foreigners. It haz no great capital, no general mart where all business centers; it haz very little intercourse with Europe; and the communication by water between New York and Rhode Island iz so direct, eezy and cheep, that for nine months in the yeer, few peeple travel thro Connecticut. For theze reezons, ancient manners and habits will be prezerved longer in this state than in most of the others. There iz one article in the constitution of this state that merits notice and imitation, because it iz equally singular and excellent. It iz the manner of electing the assistants or senators of their own legislature, and the members of congress. Theze are elected by the freemen at large in the whole state. The number of senators iz twelve, and chosen annually in this manner. In September, the freemen assemble in the towns and vote for twenty persons, by ballot; the votes are all returned to the legislature in October, and numbered; and the twenty names that hav the most votes are said to stand in nomination, and are published by order of assembly. The next April, the freemen assemble again, and vote by ballot for twelv of the twenty, and the twelv persons who hav the most votes, are elected. Representatives in congress are chozen in a similar manner. The great excellence of this mode of choozing It iz also a singular advantage that one branch of the legislature stands upon the suffrages of the whole. If a man's nabors take a dislike to hiz public or private conduct, they wil, if possible, dismiss him from office. This iz the great misfortune of small district elections, for it often happens that a man's integrity and independence in public mezures, are most likely to render him unpopular among hiz nabors; and sometimes small domestic occurrences may turn the tide of favor against him. But when a man iz elected by a large district, he iz not expozed to this evil; and nothing short of a general opposition to popular mezures will shake him from hiz elevation. Theze remarks hav been repeetedly verified in Connecticut. The independence of the senate, owing mostly to this article in the constitution, haz several times saved the state from the most disgraceful acts. The representativs are chozen twice a yeer, for there are two regular sessions of the legislature. This iz an inconvenience, but not so great, az it appears to our suthern nabors; for the freemen meet in towns, which are but about six miles square; so that they can go from home, make a choice, and return in three hours. The regularity of theze meetings iz incredible to strangers, accustomed to the tumultuous elections in England and the suthern states. No man dare solicit for the votes of hiz nabors, nor ever offers himself a candidate by advertizing. The freemen meet in some public bilding, uzually a church, seet themselves, heer the law red respecting elections, and proclamation iz made that they prepare their ballots for the officer to be chozen. The constables then carry a hat to every freeman and take the votes, which are counted by the civil authority, and the choice declared in the meeting. Thus the representativs are elected; but the ballots Religion in Connecticut haz the support of law. Contracts with clergymen are valid in law, and every man iz compelled to pay hiz proportion of taxes to pay the salary of the minister of the parish where he resides, unless he produces du proof that he attends worship with some dissenting congregation; in which case he iz excuzed. This iz considered by strangers az a hardship: But it produces few inconveniencies in a state where there are few dissenters from the common worship; and theze few are exempted, if they attend any religious worship. Every person iz indulged in worshiping az he pleezes; and whatever modern liberality may pretend, the regular preeching of the gospel, az a civil institution, iz az necessary and useful, az the establishment of skools or courts of justice. Without any regard to compulsion over consciences, or any reference to a future life, a legal provision for the moral instructors The state of New York waz settled with views, widely different from thoze which actuated the New England puritans. Some Dutch merchants first established factories at Albany and on Manhattans, now York Island, for the purpose of opening a fur trade. When the province came into the possession of the English, several gentlemen of property took up large tracts of lands, which, being regulated by the English laws of descent, continued unbroken, til the late revolution. But many of the proprietors of theze manors, espousing the royal cause in the late contest, left their estates, which were of course confiscated and sold by the state. This circumstance waz fatal to many large manors; and a law of the state, enacted about the yeer 1781, which breaks the present and bars all future entailments, wil in time divide the large estates which remain unbroken. The Dutch possess the most fertile parts of the old settlements; az Ulster and Claverak counties, part of Albany and Kings county, on Long Island. They are honest and economical, but indolent, and destitute of enterprize; so that the state wil be mostly indetted to emigrants from New England, for its future population and improvements. New York city iz the most favorable stand for a great commercial port on the united states. Men may indulge themselves in rapsodies, about the Potomack, the Ohio and the Missisippi; but no part of theze Before the revolution, the guvernment of New York waz under the influence of the crown of Great Britain, the guvernor and council being appointed by the king. It waz illiberal in the preference given to the episcopal church; no other denomination of Christians being able to obtain any corporate establishment. The same illiberal preference waz discuverable in the institution and guvernment of the college, now called Columbia college, in which dissenters of any description could not hav a share. The revolution haz effected a change in theze particulars. Dissenting churches, which are the most numerous in the state, are or may be incorporated; and education begins to be encuraged by the laws. A university iz established, with a power of superintending and regulating skools throughout the state; but provision iz not made for maintaining common skools in every quarter of the state. Ignorance stil prevails among the yemanry; and this enables certain designing karacters to exercise a pernicious influence in the guvernment. The territory of New Jersey originally belonged to two, and afterwards to many proprietors, who appointed the guvernors. But in the reign of queen Ann, the guvernment waz resigned to the crown, and for a number of yeers, the guvernor of New York waz also guvernor of the Jersies, altho eech province had a distinct The present constitution of New Jersey iz liable to few exceptions; but the state iz divided into two parties which often agitate the guvernment. Az the cause and effects of the controversy which began and stil continues theze parties, are little known to their nabors, I beg leev here to offer a concise state of the facts from unquestionable authority. James, duke of York, in June 1664, conveyed New Jersey to John, lord Berkeley, and Sir George Carteret, in fee. The bounds of the territory granted were, the main see and Hudson's river on the eest, Delaware bay or river on the west, Cape May on the south, and on the north the northernmost branch of Delaware bay, or river, which iz forty one degrees and forty minutes of latitude, crossing over thence in strait line to Hudson's river, in forty one degrees of latitude. Some intermediate conveyances of lord Berkeley's undivided half part were made, but need not be here recited. On the first of July, 1676, waz executed a quintipartite deed, between Sir George Carteret, and the grantees of lord Berkely, by which the territory waz divided; Sir George Carteret releesing all the western part to the grantees of Berkeley, and the latter releesing the eestern part to Sir George. The line of partition, which originated all the subsequent disputes, iz thus described in the deed: "Extending eestward and northward along the see coast and the said river, called Hudson's river, from the eest side of a certain place or A difficulty aroze about the northern point of partition; the duke of York's grant making the northernmost branch of Delaware bay or river to be in forty one degrees and forty minutes of latitude; and declaring a line from this point to the latitude of forty one on Hudson's river, to be the northern boundary of New Jersey. Disputes aroze, and the legislature of New Jersey, in 1719, passed an act, declaring that a partition line between Eest and West Jersey, shall be run from the most northerly point or boundary of the province, on the northernmost branch of Delaware river, to the most sutherly point of Little Egg Harbor. Commissioners were appointed for this purpose, and also for running the line between New York and New Jersey. They met with commissioners from New York, but could not agree, and left the business unfinished. In 1741, another attempt waz made by Mr. Alexander, surveyor general of both divisions, but obnoxious to the West Jersey proprietors. He began to run the line, but some errors he committed, or bad instruments, prevented the completion of the business; he stopped half way. Disputes ran high, and were attended with riots, till the yeers 1762 and 1764, when by a law of New York and another of New Jersey, it waz agreed the line between the provinces should be run by commissioners to be appointed by the crown. To this agreement the proprietors Both parties appeeled to the crown, but without success. Acts were afterwards passed, both by New York and New Jersey, confirming the line between the provinces, and theze acts receeved the approbation of the king in council. This waz an amicable settlement between the two provinces; and it waz expected that the northern limits of New Jersey and the station points on both rivers, being fixed by law, nothing waz necessary to quiet all parties, but to run the line from the north station point on Delaware to Little Egg Harbor. A correspondence for this purpose took place between the proprietors of Eest and West Jersey; but before the matter waz completed the war commenced. Since the war, the controversies hav been revived, and divided the state into violent parties. It seems the proprietors of Eest Jersey expected the north station point on Delaware would hav been fixed az high az forty one degrees forty minutes, the point described by the original grant from the duke of York. This would hav carried the limit of the state about eighteen miles further north on the Delaware side. Now there iz a bend in the Delaware, at the forks, so that the station point az now fixed, iz carried further eest than it would be, had it been fixed in forty one degrees forty minutes; so the decision of the commissioners waz in favor of the West Jersey proprietors. From the forks, the river bends its course westerly of north, and from a point eighteen miles north, a line to Little Egg Harbor, would leev an The commerce of New Jersey iz almost wholly carried on thro New York and Philadelphia. Its situation, between two large commercial towns, resembles that of Connecticut; but in one respect, the latter haz the advantage, viz. that of a butiful navigable river, penetrating the state and affording the best conveniences for a trade to the West Indies. The legislature of New Jersey hav attempted to call home the trade of the state, by holding out liberal encouragement for direct importations from abroad, and making free ports. Perth Amboy affords a fine harbor, but it iz difficult, perhaps impossible, to raize a rival in the naborhood of New York. New Jersey and Connecticut wil find their interest in encuraging manufactures. Pensylvania waz settled by a religious sect, remarkable for their sobriety, industry and pacific disposition. Mr. Penn, the first proprietor of the province, waz a man of superior talents. The free indulgence given to all religious denominations, invited settlers from England, Germany and Ireland, and the population of the province, with the consequential increese of the valu of lands, waz rapid beyond any thing known in the other colonies. The province however waz harrassed with disputes between the acting guvernors and the commons. The long and violent opposition to the influence of their proprietaries, who were abroad, and often considered az hostile to popular privileges, together with the beneficial effects of a paper currency, during the infant state of the province, may be the reezons why the constitution of Pensylvania, formed at the revolution, verged too much towards an extreme of democracy;[160] and why the legislature of that state waz the first to issue a paper currency, after the war. The old republican patriots, who had resisted, with success, the encroachments of arbitrary guvernors and kings, determined to frame a constitution, which should prevent the interference of a guvernor and council in acts of legislation; and men who had seen the good effects of paper currency, without its evils, would be the first to recommend it. It iz natural; men are guverned by habit. At the revolution in 1776, the representativs of the province, acting on the principle that public good transcends all considerations of individual right, assumed the reigns of government, formed a constitution for the purpose, and divested the proprietaries of both territory and jurisdiction. They gave them however, 130,000l. sterling in lieu of all quit-rents, and rezerved to them considerable tracts of land. The first constitution, like that of the Netherlands, waz framed upon The laws of Pensylvania, respecting inheritances, hav not barred entails; but az entails may be docked by the English finesse of common recoveries; az the divisions of lands favor equality, az wel az the genius of the peeple, there can be no apprehensions of an aristocratical influence from large possessions of real estate. A single man may hold real or personal estate to such an amount, az to hav an undu influence in politics and commerce. When a man haz become so powerful that hiz nabors are afraid to demand their rights of him in a legal way; or when a town or city iz so far under hiz control, that the citizens are generally afraid of offending him, he iz or may be a dangerous man in a free state, and a bad man in any state. A Clive and a Hastings are az dangerous in a state, az an Arnold or a Shays, if they hav the same evil propensities; for thoze who oppoze law, are generally punished; but thoze who are abuv law, may do injustice with impunity. The peeple in Pensylvania may be included under the three denominations of Frends, Germans, and Irish desendants. The Frends and Germans were the first settlers, and for the most part liv between the Delaware and Susquehanna. Theze are peeceable and industrious peeple. The Irish or their desendants, inhabit the western counties; they are industrious, but not so wel informed in general, az the inhabitants of some older counties, and at times hav been turbulent citizens. It waz the misfortune of this, az of all the suthern states, that no provision for public skools waz incorporated into the original fundamental laws. Without such a provision, it iz not possible that a body of freemen should hav the reeding necessary to form just notions of liberty and law. This defect wil probably be supplied by the new constitution and the Philadelphia iz a great commercial city; but it iz questioned whether commerce wil giv it a future growth equal to that of New York. The future population of the suthern part of New Jersey, and the peninsula between the Chesapeek and the Atlantic, wil not add much to the trade of Philadelphia. The naborhood of the city and most of the lands towards Lancaster and Bethlehem, are alreddy wel settled. About seventy three miles west of Philadelphia runs the Susquehanna; a river not indeed navigable at the mouth, but with some portages, capable of opening a communication by water from Wioming to the Chesapeek; and should canals be opened to avoid the falls and rapids, the trade of the state, quite to the bed of that river, wil center in Baltimore. At any rate Baltimore and Alexandria wil command most of the trade west of the Susquehanna; so that Philadelphia must depend mostly, for the increese of her business, on the population northward, about the hed of the Deleware. The commerce however wil always be considerable, and the spirit of the citizens in establishing manufactures, promises a great extension of the city. The state of Pensylvania waz, for many yeers, agitated by a territorial controversy with Connecticut; the history of which iz breefly this. King James I. in 1620, made a grant to a number of gentlemen, called the Plimouth Company, of all the lands in North America, included between the 40th and 48th degrees of latitude, throughout all the main land from see to see; except such lands az were then settled by some Christian prince or state. The only settlements at that time north of Virginia, were at New York and Albany, on the Hudson. In the yeer 1631, Robert, erl of Warwick, president of the Plimouth company, granted to lord Say and Seal, and lord Brook, all that part of New England, extending from Naraganset river, the space of forty leegs on a strait line, neer the see coast, north and south in latitude and bredth, and in length and longitude of and within all the aforesaid bredth, throughout all the main lands from the western Ocean to the South See. This grant waz confirmed by the charter of Charles II. dated April 23, 1662, with a similar description of the territory. In 1664, king Charles II. gave hiz brother a tract of land in America, the description of which iz not wholly consistent or intelligible; but one part of the grant interfered with the Connecticut patent, and disputes aroze, which were amicably settled by commissioners in 1683; the line between Connecticut and New York being fixed at Byram river, about twenty miles eest of the Hudson. In 1680, Sir William Penn obtained from the crown a tract of land, extending from twelv miles north of New Castle, on the Delaware, to the forty third degree of latitude, and from the Delaware westward five degrees of longitude. This grant interfered with the patent of Connecticut, provided the grant to the guvernor and company of Connecticut should be extended west of New York, according to the words of that and the other grants of New England. Mr. Penn took care to gain a just title to hiz patent by bona fide purchases of the Indians, who possessed the soil. But the question iz, whether he had a right of pre-emption to lands before granted to other men; and whether the king's grant to him could be valid, so far az it cuvered lands alredy conveyed by The Pensylvanians contended that, the geografy of this country being little known in England, az all the maps and charts at that time were imperfect and erroneous, it must hav been owing to an ignorance of the distance from the Atlantic to the South See, that the grants were made to run thro the continent: That Mr. Penn had acquired the best of titles to the lands in dispute by fair purchase from the nativ proprietors: And that Connecticut, by a settlement of her boundary with New York, had fixed her western limits, and relinquished all claim to lands west of New York. While any part of Connecticut, eest of New York, remained unlocated, the inhabitants suffered their claims westward to lie dormant. But about the yeer 1750, the whole of this territory waz located, and the peeple began to think of forming a settlement west of Delaware river. They however knew that the lands were claimed by Pensylvania, and to remoov all douts az to the validity of their own title, requested the opinions of the most eminent council in England, upon their right by charter to the lands in question. They receeved for answer, that the grant to the Plimouth company, did extend to the westward of New York: That the settlement of the boundary line between New York and Connecticut, did not affect their claims to lands in other parts: And that, the charter of Connecticut being of a prior date to that of Sir William Penn, there waz no ground to contend, that the crown could make an effectual grant to him of that country which had been so recently granted to others. This answer waz so decisiv and cleer in favor of their claim, that they proceeded to locate and settle the lands on the Susquehanna river, within the latitude of the Connecticut charter. It seems however that a few scattering settlements had been made within the same latitude, on the opposit side of the river, under Pensylvania locations. The settlers soon came to an open quarrel, and both states became interested in the controversy. The Dissatisfied with this decree, the settlers under Connecticut and individual claimants, determined to maintain their right to the soil, which they had possessed more than twenty five yeers; and to submit this also to a federal court. No court however waz ever held for the purpose; the claimants not finding any support from the guvernment of Connecticut. The settlers, amounting to many hundreds, remained upon the soil. Pensylvania, by a precipitancy arising out of an imperfect frame of guvernment, resolved to take possession of the lands, and sent an armed force for the purpose. This mezure waz rash, especially az the principal settlers had taken the oath of allegiance to that state, and were willing, if they could be quieted in their possessions, to becum good and peeceable citizens. Tumults followed; the history of which would be disagreeable to most reeders. At length, Pensylvania passed a law to quiet thoze who were actual settlers before the decree at Trenton, in the possession of their farms, amounting to about three hundred akers eech. The territory waz erected into a county, by the name of Luzerne, in honor of the French minister of that name. Colonel Pickering waz appointed Prothonotary[161] of the county. This gentleman haz suffered much in reconciling parties; but hiz integrity, zeel, prudence, and indefatigable industry, bid fair to meet with merited success in quieting disorders and establishing guvernment. In this controversy, several questions arize. First, What right had the crown of England to the lands in North America? I answer, the right of discuvery. This right, however the law of nations may hav considered it, does not in fact entitle a prince or state to the soil, even of Secondly, What right could the grantees derive from a royal grant of lands in America? I answer, merely a right of pre-emption, or a preference in purchasing the lands of the proprietors, the nativ Indians. Thirdly, The guvernor and company of Connecticut, by the prior date of their charter, having the right of pre-emption to all the lands cuvered by the charter, could Mr. Penn acquire a title to any of the same lands by pre-emption? On legal principles he certainly could not. The only substantial ground of title which Pensylvania could hav to the controverted lands, waz, that Connecticut, by neglecting to purchase of the Indians, might forfit their right of pre-emption, and leev the territory open to any purchaser whatever; so that Mr. Penn or hiz heirs might acquire a good title by first purchase. Whether Mr. Penn actually acquired such a title or not, I am not possessed of documents to decide. That the first grant of New England actually extended to the Western or Pacific Ocean, cannot be denied; and congress hav admitted the claim, by accepting from Connecticut a cession of lands west of Pensylvania. Connecticut however stil holds a tract of one hundred and twenty miles, west of that state, which iz now for sale. The state of Massachusetts haz a similar claim to lands west of New York state; and the line between the two states haz lately been settled by commissioners. At any rate, the controversy between Connecticut and Pensylvania waz finally terminated by the decree of Trenton, and it iz to be wished no future altercation may disturb the states or individual proprietors. Maryland waz settled by Roman Catholic emigrants, from England and Ireland, under lord Baltimore. Large grants of land were carved out to individuals, and slaves purchased from Africa to cultivate the soil. Some of the largest estates in America lie in Maryland. The guvernment waz formerly in the hands of the proprietary; but the peeple, at the revolution, assumed it. Mr. Harford, the natural son of lord Baltimore, inherited hiz property in Maryland; but being an absentee during the war, hiz estates were confiscated, and on petition, the legislature refuzed him even the arreerages of rent, du at the commencement of hostilities.[162] The present constitution iz in general excellent; and particularly in the establishment of an independent senate. In a popular state, nothing contributes so much to stability and safety, az an independency and firmness in one branch of the legislature. This state however, like its nabors, iz remarkable for tumultuous elections; a malpractice that haz existed from its first settlement; a practice which wil sooner or later proov fatal to the attempts of merit in obtaining offices, and sap the foundation of a free guvernment. The body of the peeple are ignorant. I once saw a copy of instructions given to a representativ by hiz constituents, with more than a hundred names subscribed; three fifths of which were marked with a cross, because the men could not write. Two or three colleges, and some academies and private skools, constitute the principal meens of instruction in this state, and most of theze are of a modern establishment. A few large towns only giv good encuragement to skools and the clergy. Maryland continues to receev multitudes of emigrants from Europe, and many of them are of the poorest class. From several months rezidence in Maryland, I am inclined to beleev, there are more vagabonds Virginia waz settled eight yeers before New York, and fourteen before New England. This circumstance haz given the state the quaint appellation of the ancient dominion. The divisions of property are large, and the lands cultivated by slaves. Entailments of land were barred before the revolution; but real estate iz not liable for det upon an execution. It appeers strange at first view, that men should exempt their lands from this liability, and at the same time, suffer their persons to be imprizoned for det: The singularity however iz eezily accounted for, by their karacteristic attachment to large estates, or rather to the name of possessing them. When a man's consequence and reputation depend principally on the quantity of land and number of negroes he iz said to possess, he will not risk both for the sake of hiz creditors. The passion for the name of a planter, absorbs all other considerations. I waz once present at an entertainment, given by a yung planter in Virginia, who had much land and many slaves. He aroze at two o'clock next morning, pawned hiz knee buckles and some other articles, gave hiz landlord a note for about sixty dollars, and rode off without paying hiz hair-dresser. But he waz said to be a man of property. Many of the planters are indeed nominally rich; but their dets are not paid. I waz told by wel informed planters, that some whole counties in Virginia would hardly sel for the valu of the dets du from the inhabitants. The Virginians, it iz tru, owe immense sums to British merchants, and the difficulty of paying them might be a principal reezon for suspending the collection by law, at the cloze of the war; but that the real estates of a whole county would not discharge the dets of it, iz not to be beleeved. A large part of the peeple in Virginia hav not the meens of education. The dispersed situation of the planters in the suthern states, renders it impossible for Religion fares worse in Virginia than education. Before the war, the episcopal waz the established religion of the province, and the churches were liberally endowed by law. A parish usually contained four churches, in eech of which a clergyman officiated in rotation, one Sunday in a month. But this greevous burthen waz remooved by the revolution, and great numbers of parishes hav no officiating minister. A motion waz brot forward in 1785, to make some legal provizion for supporting clergymen; but the proposition waz suspended til the next session of the legislature. In the meen time a pompous retorical memorial waz circulated and subscribed, in oppozition to the mezure. The arguments uzed against any ecclesiastical establishments were splendid, liberal and efficacious; and at the following session, the legislature passed a declaratory When men hav thrown off a restraint that iz disagreeable and unreezonable, it iz to be expected that they wil run into the extreme of licentiousness. Yet it iz one of the most difficult problems in the history of theze states, that the liberal and eminently lerned men, who conduct the guvernment of Virginia, (and many of their leeding karacters are of this description) should not view the ministers of religion, in America, az destitute of that odious and tremendous authority over human consciences, which waz assumed under the papal hierarky. I can hardly beleev a man of reeding and reflection to be serious, when he asserts that legislatures hav no right to compel the subject to contribute to the support of clergymen, because they hav no authority over men's consciences. Neether clergymen nor human laws hav the leest authority over the conscience; nor iz any such power implied in a law compelling every citizen to contribute annually to the support of a clergyman. But any sovereign authority may justly command the citizens to establish and attend religious assemblies, az wel az to meet for the choice of representativs, or send their children to a skool; powers which were never questioned. A man iz not bound in conscience to beleev all the instructions of hiz preceptor; nor are the citizens compellable to beleev the opinions and decisions of a court of justice; but the legislature haz a right to compel every citizen to pay hiz proportion of taxes to maintain preceptors and judges. This iz precisely the fact with respect to a legal support of clergymen. No man iz bound in law or conscience to beleev all a preecher says; but the whole question iz this; are clergymen, az moral instructors, a beneficial order of men? Haz their ministration a good effect upon society? If this should be admitted, there iz no more dout In the Carolinas and Georgia, we find the state of property, literature and religion, resembling that in Virginia and Maryland. Charleston iz remarkable for its hospitality and good order. But in the states south of Pensylvania and Delaware, the divisions of property, the habits of the peeple, and the dispersed In the agricultural improovments of the united states, there iz a remarkable difference, which must hav proceeded principally from the slavery of the suthern. In Virginia and Maryland, I should question whether a tenth of the land iz yet cultivated. In New England, more than half the whole iz cultivated, and in Connecticut, scarcely a tenth remains in a wild state. Yet Virginia haz been settled longer than New England. I once heerd the Prezident remark, "that from the northern to the suthern states, the agricultural improovments are in an inverse proportion to the number of slaves." This remark, like the actions of that illustrious karacter, dezerves to be engraven on monuments of marble. Slaves hav no motiv to labor; at leest, none but what iz common to horses and cattle. They want the only stimulus that unites industry with economy, viz. the prospect of a permanent advantage from their labor. It haz been obzerved in Europe, that land rented on long leeses, iz better cultivated, than that which iz farmed on short leeses. A man who holds lands in fee, will uze them to the best advantage, for he expects hiz children wil enjoy the benefit. A man who haz lands on very long leeses, haz neerly the same motivs This iz not the whole evil. Slaves not only produce less than freemen, but they waste more; every slave, az Dr. Franklin haz remarked in hiz Miscellaneous wurks, being, from the nature of situation, a theef. In addition to this, wherever slavery exists, a great proportion of inhabitants are rendered indolent, and indolence iz followed by vices and dissipation. Suppoze twenty thousand men to do no productiv business; what an immense difference wil this make in the cultivation of a state and in the annual income. In New England every man does some kind of business: In the suthern states, the proprietors of large plantations do little or no business. The reezon why the planters make such a profit on the labor of their slaves iz, that the subsistence of negroes iz not very expensiv. The northern yemanry not only require more clothing than the suthern, but they liv on expensiv food and drinks. Every man, even the poorest, makes use of tee, sugar, spirits, and a multitude of articles, which are not consumed by the laborers of any other country.[164] Slavery iz an evil of the worst kind; this iz generally acknowledged. But what remedy can be applied? To liberate the slaves at once would be madness; it would ruin both masters and slaves. To liberate them gradually, and suffer the freed men to liv with the whites, might giv rise to discord and tumults. Colonization, by a gradual exportation, iz an expedient that would be safe and effectual, but cannot be put in execution. The probability iz, that, in the lapse of time, the blacks wil all be blended with the whites; the mixed race wil acquire freedom, and be the predominant In the climate of the united states, there are several particulars that dezerv notice. In the first place, every circumstance in the local position of Atlantic America, concurs to render the wether variable. Theze states extend thro fifteen degrees of latitude, in the temperate zone; consequently must always experience the extremes of winter and summer. Every part of this territory experiences sudden changes of wether; but the most numerous and violent changes, are between the 36th and 43d degrees of latitude, on the Atlantic coast. Within this district, the most frequent variations seem to be in Pensylvania and Maryland. Four months in the winter season, the wether in Pensylvania, Maryland and Virginia, resembles the March wether in New England; almost every week exhibiting the varieties of cold, heet, frost, snow and rain. For two months in the spring, and one in autumn, New England iz expozed to eesterly winds and rain; except in theze months, the changes of wether, tho sometimes sudden and violent, are not very frequent. The eesterly winds, which uzually bring rain, ceese about the 20th of May. The variations of wether in the united states, arizing from the latitude of their situation, are multiplied by their position on the ocean. Water in an ocean iz of a very uniform temperature; whereas land iz eezily heeted and cooled. This circumstance creates an incessant contest between heet and cold, on an extensiv The south eest winds from the ocean, falling upon the continent at right angles with the shore, invariably produce rain; the opposit, or north west winds, proceeding from the high lands in the back country, invariably produce cold cleer wether. North eest winds, running parallel with the shore, produce storms of snow in winter, and long cold storms of rain in spring and autum. Our most violent gales blow from the north eest. A south westerly wind sometimes brings rain, and when it first blows in winter, iz chilly; but it soon moderates cold wether, and in summer it iz the gentle zepher of the poets. In speeking of winds, it iz necessary to correct a vulgar error. It iz commonly said, that north west winds contract their coldness from the vast lakes in the north west regions of the united states. This iz an unphilosophical opinion, for water always moderates the temperature of the air; and it iz a wel known fact that the large lakes do not freeze at all; so that if we were to feel the wind immediately after passing over them, we should find it always temperate. The truth iz, our westerly winds come from high mountains and high regions of the atmosphere, which are always cool. The top of the blu ridge, or first range of mountains in Virginia, iz about four thousand feet abuv its base. The top of the Allegany or middle ridge, which iz the height of land between the Atlantic and the Missisippi, tho not so far from its base, must be much higher in the atmosphere. How far the base of the blu ridge iz abuv the surface of the ocean, haz not been ascertained; but suppoze it five thousand feet, and the top of the Allegany, two thousand feet abuv the blu ridge, and the greatest elevation of land iz eleven thousand feet abuv the waters of the Atlantic. The air on the tops of theze mountains iz never heeted to the degree it iz in the low countries. The cold regions of the atmosphere are much neerer to such I would just remark here, that the climate of the trans-alleganean country, wil never be expozed to the frequent changes of air and violent tempests which harrass the inhabitants of the Atlantic shore. The force and disagreeable effects of eesterly winds from the ocean, are broken by the mountains; and the northerly winds wil be tempered by passing over the lakes; while the sutherly winds wil be az refreshing in summer az on this eestern coast. Theze remarks are now verified by facts; altho by being cleered from forests, the country wil become more expozed to variations of wind. In the second place, it iz obzervable that the climate of America grows more variable, in proportion to the cultivation of the land. Every person obzerves this effect of cleering the lands in the eestern and middle states. The heet in summer, and the cold in winter, are not so steddy az formerly, being interrupted by cool rains in summer, and moderate wether in winter. Our springs and autums are longer, the former extending into summer, and the latter into winter. The cause of this change iz obvious: By levelling the forests, we lay open the erth to the sun, and it becumes more impressible with heet and cold. This circumstance must multiply changes of wether. The cultivation necessary to produce this effect, haz proceeded about one hundred miles from the Atlantic, or perhaps a little farther. But in Vermont and other back settlements, the wether iz yet steddy; there being few violent storms, especially in winter. The snow falls gently, and lies til spring; whereas neer the Atlantic, moderate wether for three or four days, or a warm rain, often sweeps away the snow in January or February. Some parts of the suthern states can never be drained; the land iz so low that the freshes in the rivers, or the tides, are almost constantly cuvering it with water. Vegetable putrefaction may be considered az furnishing the miasmata in any country; and the greatest quantities of putrid effluvia are exhaled from lands constantly expozed to a flux and reflux of water. But all countries, except the very mountanous, when first cleered, are infested with intermittants. Peeple on the fronteers of New York and Vermont, are trubbled with it, especially in low flat tracts of land. The surface of a wilderness iz cuvered with leevs and rotten wood; at the same time, it iz moist, the rays of the sun being excluded by the trees. Therefore when peeple first settle in a wilderness, they are not immediately attacked with intermittents. They must lay open the surface of the erth to the action of heet and wind; the noxious effluvia then begin to rize, and wil infect the air, til the whole surface of the erth iz dry and sweetened by the heet of the sun. The amazing difference in the state of a cultivated and uncultivated surface of erth, iz demonstrated by the number of small streems of water, which are dried up by cleering away forests. The quantity of water, falling upon the surface, may be the same; but when land iz cuvered with trees and leevs, it retains the water; when it iz cleered, the water runs off suddenly into the large It iz vulgarly suppozed that the wether in summer iz hotter in the suthern states than in the northern. This opinion iz not accurate. The truth iz, at particular times, the northern states experience a greater degree of heet than iz ever known in the suthern. In the summer munths, the mercury in Farenheit often rizes, in the middle of the day, much higher at Boston, than at Charleston, in South Carolina. Thus in July, 1789, the mercury roze to 90° or upwards no less than six days, and once to 93°, in the vicinity of Boston; whereas at Charleston, it roze but once to 88° during the same munth, and but four days to 87°. Besides the meteorological obzervations I hav, were made at Boston, at one o'clock, P. M. and in Charleston, at two o'clock, when the heet iz usually the greatest. In August, the same yeer, the mercury roze at Boston[165] four days to 90, and once to 95°; but in Charleston, it roze but once to 89°. The remark then ought not to be, that the heet at the suthward iz greater; but that it continus longer; that iz, the aggregate quantity of heet in the suthern latitudes, exceeds that in the northern. I hav taken some pains to ascertain the difference, and omitting decimals, here giv the result of my enquiries. The meen degree of heet for the whole munth of July, 1789, in Charleston, South Carolina, by Farenheit's thermometer, waz az follows:
The meen degree of heet, at Spring-Mill, a few miles from Philadelphia, for July, waz 74. The meen degree of heet, at Boston, for July, waz
For AUGUST.
Theze facts, tho they cannot be the foundation of exact calculations, because the observations were not made at the same hour of the day, and perhaps the thermometers were not exactly alike or in the same situation az to heet, the facts I say may stil establish the following conclusion: That tho the middle of the days in summer may be az warm and even warmer in New England, than in Carolina, yet the nights are much cooler. In July, the meen temperature at Boston, at seven o'clock in the morning, waz seven degrees less than at Charleston at six o'clock. At one o'clock, P. M. the meen heet at Boston waz within three degrees of the heet in Charleston at two o'clock. At ten o'clock at night, the meen heet at Charleston, waz ten degrees abuv that at Boston at nine o'clock. The meen temperature for the whole month in Charleston, exceeded that in Boston, seven degrees. Similar remarks may be made of the munth of August. Meen heet at Charleston, for January, 1789.
Meen heet at Philadelphia, for January, 1789, 30°. Here we may remark, that altho the meen heet of New England, in the summer munths, approaches within seven, eight, or nine degrees of that in Charleston, yet in winter, it iz less than half the heet at Charleston; the meen degree in Boston being twenty five, and in Charleston, fifty two. The meen temperature in Charleston, for March, 1789, waz about sixty one; and in Boston, for the same munth, a little less than thirty five, which iz more than half. In Pensylvania, the same munth, the meen waz forty. So far az I am able to calculate on obzervations in my possession, I find the aggregate quantity of heet in South Carolina, for a whole yeer, iz to that in New England, az twenty to eleven; yet there are several days almost every yeer, when the mercury in New England rizes higher at noon than it ever does in Carolina at any time. This may be ascribed to the superior length of the days in the northern latitudes. The heet of the suthern latitude iz suppozed to produce fevers and other fatal disorders which prevail in the Carolinas and Georgia. But heet iz not very often pernicious, unless when operating upon a low, wet, marshy surface of earth. All hilly countries are helthy; and the air of the mountanous parts of Carolina, two or three hundred miles from the see, iz in general salubrious. But the marsh-effluvia iz not the only cause of diseese; bad water iz a cause that should be mentioned, and this abounds in a flat country; whereas the water on hills and mountains iz generally pure. In a great number of towns to the suthward of the Delaware, and in some to the northward, the want of good water iz a capital inconvenience. On the whole, the climate of America iz az salubrious, az that of any country in the same state of cultivation. I could wish to ascertain the difference in the weight of the atmosphere at Boston and Charleston; but hav no obzervations on the barometer from the latter place. The difference between the weight at Boston and Philadelphia, upon an average of thirty days, appeers to be very trifling, altho at any given day or hour, it may be considerable. There are some curious facts respecting the coast of North America, which dezerve notis. The Missisippi iz a river of great length, running from the high northern latitudes, in neerly a south direction. It iz deep and rapid. It resembles the Nile in Africa, particularly in making land where it iz discharged into the ocean. By the most accurate obzervations of Mr. Huchins and others, the distance from the Balize to New Orleans, iz something more than two hundred miles, the whole of which iz land formed by the discharge of the river. The Nile, in the time of Herodotus, had formed considerable ilands, which were then inhabited. Theze ilands stil exist, between the several channels by which that river iz discharged. It iz probable, that by an accurate calculation of the Perhaps it wil be found that the mountains and lands at the north west, are much higher in America than in the north of Europe. Iz not this probable from the hight of the Allegany, and the rapidity of the river Missisippi? And would not the fact, if prooved, in conjunction with other causes, which are wel known, fully account for the superior degree of cold in America under the same parallels? It iz wel known that there are no considerable mountains to the north eest of Great Britain, thro Denmark, Sweden and Russia. On the Atlantic shore of America, the Gulf Streem iz a curious phenomenon. It iz however wel accounted for, on the suppozition that the trade winds drive the waters of the ocean westward into the spacious gulf of Mexico, where meeting the continent, they are forced between the Bahama ilans and the coast of Florida, and take their direction along the shore of the united states. Such an immense body of waters, flowing at the rate of three miles an hour, must produce innumerable currents neer the shore; for every point of land wil occasion an eddy, which wil be in proportion to the extent of the point or cape from main coast. Hence the variety of currents, in all directions, between the streem and the American coast, which are obzerved by our seemen. Theze currents and eddies, at the same time produce and add to, the points of land shooting into the ocean. The cape of Florida iz probably produced between a vast eddy of waters in the Mexican gulf, and the streem which flows between the shore and Bahamas. For theory indicates that the principal body of water, carried along the Spanish main, or between that and the West India ilans, must be forced to bend its course on the Mexican shore, and by the coast of West Florida, be thrown into a circular motion, so az to form a vast It iz not improbable that Cape Roman, Cape Fear, Cape Hatteras, and Cape Cod, may be formed by similar currents, within the main Gulf Streem. A considerable extent of land on the coast of Carolina and Georgia, appeers to be made by the washing down of sand from the high country, and the washing up of sand by the Atlantic, whoze surges almost incessantly beet the shore. But this alone wil not account for the extension of points of sand, ten, fifteen or twenty leegs into the ocean. It iz a fact that capes and promontories are more frequently harrassed with tempests, lightning and thunder, than other parts of the shore or continent. This haz been remarked of New York and Cape Hatteras. Can a philosophical reezon be assigned for this phenomenon? Perhaps there may be some attractiv power in land thus situated; and perhaps tempests are generated by the agitation of the air, produced by a flux and reflux of water, or a variety of opposit currents. A storm hangs over Cape Hatteras, every day, for a considerable part of the yeer. I hav been witness to the fact, for a number of days in succession. This circumstance increeses the terror of navigating that coast; otherwize so formidable to seemen for shoals and breakers.[166] In examining the harbors of North America, we find most of them prezent a channel or entrance neerly at right angles with the shore. The entrance into most of them iz between the points of west and north. The entrance into Newport, iz the safest in America, and this iz almost the only harbor in the united states which can be made with a northwesterly wind. This circumstance iz highly favorable to ships coming upon the coast in winter. This harbor iz capacious enough to admit all the navees in Europe, and, if defensible, may be the proper Portsmouth of America. |
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