at night." Mr. Pitt is not yet arrived at the degree of a school-boy in this species of knowledge; his practice has been confined to the means of extorting revenue, and his boast has been-how much? Whereas, the boast of the system of Government that I am speaking of, is not how much, but how little.

The system of Government purely representative, unmixed with any thing of hereditary nonsense, began in America. I will now compare the effects of that system of Government with the system of Government in England, both during, and since the close of the war.

So powerful is the representative system, first, by combining and consolidating all the parts of a country together, however great the extent; and secondly, by admitting of none but men properly qualified into the Government, or dismissing them if they prove to be otherwise, that America was enabled thereby totally to defeat and overthrow all the schemes and projects of the hereditary Government of England against her. As the establishment of the Revolution and Independence of America is a proof of this fact, it is needless to enlarge upon it.

I now come to the comparative effect of the two systems since the close of the war, and I request Mr. Adam to attend to it.

America had internally sustained the ravage of upwards of seven years of war, which England had not. England sustained only the expence of the war; whereas America sustained, not only the expence, but the destruction of property committed by both armies. Not a house was built during that period, and many thousands were destroyed. The farms and plantations along the coast of the country, for more than a thousand miles, were laid waste. Her commerce was annihilated. Her ships were either taken, or had rotted within her own harbours. The credit of her funds had fallen upwards of ninety per cent. that is, an original hundred pounds would not sell for ten pounds. In fine, she was apparently put back an hundred years when the war closed, which was not the case with England.

But such was the event, that the same representative system of Government, though since better organized, which enabled her to conquer, enabled her also to recover, and she now presents a more flourishing condition, and a more happy and harmonized society, under that system of Government, than any country in the world can boast under any other. Her towns are rebuilt, much better than before; her farms

and plantations are in higher improvement than ever; her commerce is spread over the world, and her funds have risen from less than ten pounds the hundred to upwards of one hundred and twenty. Mr. Pitt, and his colleagues, talk of the things that have happened in his boyish administration, without knowing what greater things have happened elsewhere, and under other systems of Government.

I next come to state the expence of the two systems, as they now stand in each of the countries; but it may first be proper to observe, that Government in America is what it ought to be, a matter of honour and trust, and not made a trade for the purpose of lucre.

The whole amount of the nett taxes in England (exclusive of the expence of collection, of drawbacks, of seizures and condemnation, of fines and penalties, of fees of office, of litigations and informers, which are some of the blessed means of enforcing them) is, seventeen millions. Of this sum, about nine millions go for the payment of the interest of the national debt, and the remainder being about eight millions, is for the current annual expences. Thus much for one side of the case. I now come to the other.

The expence of all the several departments of the general Representative Government of the United States of America, extending over a space of country nearly ten times larger than England, is two hundred and ninety-four thousand, five hundred and fifty-eight dollars, which at 4s. 6d. per dollar, is £.66,275 118. sterling, and is thus apportioned.

Expence of the Executive Department.

The office of the Presidency, at which the Presi'dent receives nothing for himself.

£. S.

...... ......

5,625 0

Vice President...

1,125 0

Legislative Department.

Members of Congress, at six dollars (£1. 7s.) per day, their Secretaries, Clerks, Chaplains, Messengers, Door-keepers, &c. ......

25,515 0

Carried forward...... £. 43,976 5

Brought forward

Treasury Department.

..... £.43,976 5

Secretary Assistant, Comptroller, Auditor, Treasurer, Register, and Loan-office-keeper, in each State, together with all necessary Clerks, Office-keeper, &c.

12,825 0

Department of State, including Foreign Affairs. Secretary, Clerks, &c. &c. ........

Department of War.

Secretary, Clerks, Paymasters, Commissioners, &c. &c.

Commissioners for settling old Accounts.

The whole Board, Clerks, &c............

Incidental and Contingent Expences.

1,406 5

For Fire-wood, Stationary, Printing, &c. ...........

Total

On account of the incursions of the Indians on the back settlements, Congress is, at this time, obliged to keep six thousand militia in pay, in addition to a regiment of foot, and a battalion of artillery, which it always keeps; and this increases the expence of the War Department to 390,000 dollars, which is, £.87,795 sterling; but when peace shall be concluded with the Indians, the greatest part of this expence will cease, and the total amount of the expence of Government, including that of the army, will not amount to one hundred thousand pounds sterling, which, as has been already stated, is but an eightieth part of the expences of the English Government.

I request Mr. Adam and Mr. Dundas, and all those who are talking of Constitutions, and blessings, and Kings, and Lords, and the Lord knows what, to look at this statement. Here is a form and system of Government, that is better organized and better administered than any Government in the world, and that for less than one hundred thousand pounds per annum, and every member of Congress receives, as a

compensation for his time and attendance on public business, one pound seven shillings a day, which is at the rate of nearly five hundred pounds a year.

This is a Government that has nothing to fear. It needs no proclamations to deter people from writing and reading. It needs no political superstition to support it; it was by encouraging discussion, and rendering the press free upon all subjects of Government, that the principles of Government became understood in America, and the people àre now enjoying the present blessings under it. You hear of no riots, tumults, and disorders in that country; because there exists no cause to produce them. Those things are never the effect of freedom, but of restraint, oppression and excessive taxation.

In America there is not that class of poor and wretched people that are so numerously dispersed all over England, and who are to be told by a proclamation that they are happy; and this is in a great measure to be accounted for, not by the difference of proclamations, but by the difference of Governments and the difference of taxes between that

country and this. What the labouring people of that country earn they apply to their own use, and to the education of their children, and do not pay it away in taxes as fast as they earn it, to support court extravagance, and a long enormous list of place-men and pensioners; and besides this, they have learnt the manly doctrine of reverencing themselves, and consequently of respecting each other; and they laugh at those imaginary beings called Kings and Lords, and all the fraudulent trumpery of Courts.

When place-men, pensioners, or those who expect to be such, are lavish in praise of a Government, it is not a sign of its being a good one. The pension list, alone in England, (see Sir John Sinclair's History of the Revenue, page 6, of the Appendix) is one hundred and seven thousand four hundred and four pounds, which is more than the expences of the whole Government of America amount to. And I am now more convinced than before, that the offer that was made to me of a thousand pounds, for the copy-right of the Second Part of Rights of Man, together with the remaining copyright of the first part, was to have effected, by a quick suppression, what is now attempted to be done by a prosecution. The connection which the person, who made that offer, has with the King's Printing-Office, may furnish part of the means of enquiring into this affair, when

the Ministry shall please to bring their prosecution to an issue. But to return to my subject

I have said in the Second Part of Rights of Man, and I repeat it here, that the service of any man, whether called King, President, Senator, Legislator, or any thing else, cannot be worth more to any country, in the regular routine of office, than ten thousand pounds per annum. We have a better man in America, and more of a gentleman, than any king I ever knew of, who does not occasion even half the expence; for, though the salary is fixed at five thousand two hundred and sixty-five pounds, he does not accept it, and it is only the incidental expences that are paid out of it. The name by which a man is called is, of itself, but an empty thing. It is worth and character which can render him valuable, for without these, Kings and Lords, and Presidents, are but jingling names.

But without troubling myself about Constitutions of Government, I have shewn in the Second Part of Rights of Man, that an alliance may be formed between England, France and America, and that the expences of Government in England may be put back to one million and a half, viz.

And even this sum is fifteen times greater than the expences of Government are in America; and it is also greater than the whole peace establishment of England amounted to about an hundred years ago. So much has the weight and oppression of taxes increased since the Revolution, and especially since the year 1714.

To shew that the sum of £500,000 is sufficient to defray all the civil expences of Government, I have, in that work, annexed the following estimate for any country of the same extent as England.

In the first place, three hundred representatives, fairly elected, are sufficient for all the purposes to which legislation can apply, and preferable to a larger number.

If, then, an allowance, at the rate of five hundred pounds per annum be made to every representative, deducting for non-attendance, the expence, if the whole number attended six months each year, would be £75,000.