Public Men.-From the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 95, September 3, 1730. country, in their several branches, and entirely dissuades them from any attempt of that nature. There is also added, at the end, part of another dialogue, the same Socrates had with one Charmidas, a worthy man, but too modest, wherein he endeavours to persuade him to put himself forward and undertake public business, as being very capable of it. The whole is taken from Xenophon's Memorable Things of Socrates, lib. 3. were running about for shelter. The ground | England in 1703, by Mr. Thoresby or lastly heaved and swelled like a rolling sea, and those in New England in 1663, and 1670, by several houses still standing, were shuffled Dr. Mather. and moved some yards out of their places. A whole street is said to be twice as broad now as before; and in many places the earth would crack, and open, and shut, quick and fast. Of which openings, two or three hun- THE following is a dialogue between Socradred might be seen at a time: in some where- tes, the great Athenian philosopher, and one of, the people were swallowed up; others, the Glaucon a private man of mean abilities, but closing earth caught by the middle, and press- ambitious of being chosen a senator, and of goed to death; in others, the heads only ap- verning the republic; wherein Socrates, in a peared. The larger openings swallowed up pleasant manner, convinces him of his incahouses; and out of some would issue whole pacity for public affairs, by making him senrivers of waters, spouted up a great height in-sible of his ignorance of the interests of his to the air, and threatening a deluge to that part the earthquake spared. The whole was attended with stenches and offensive smells, the noise of falling mountains at a distance, &c. and the sky in a minute's time, was turned dull and reddish, like a glowing oven.Yet, as great a sufferer as Port Royal was, more houses were left standing therein, than on the whole island beside. Scarce a planting house, or sugar work was left standing in all Jamaica. A great part of them were A certain man, whose name was Glaucon, swallowed up, houses, people, trees, and all the son of Ariston, had so fixt it in his mind at one gap in lieu of which afterwards, ap- to govern the republic, that he frequently peared great pools of water, which when dri- presented himself before the people to disven up, left nothing but sand, without any course of the affairs of state, though all the mark that ever tree or plant had been there- world laughed at him for it; nor was it in on. Above twelve miles from the sea, the the power of his relations or friends to disearth gaped and spouted out, with a prodigi- suade him from that design. But Socrates ous force, vast quantities of water into the had a kindness for him, on account of Plato air: yet the greatest violences were among his brother, and he only it was who made him the mountains and rocks: and it is a general change his resolution; he met him, and acopinion, that the nearer the mountains, the costed him in so winning a manner, that he greater the shake; and that the cause there- first obliged him to hearken to his discourse. of lay there. Most of the rivers were stop- He began with him thus: You have a mind ped up for twenty-four hours, by the falling then to govern the republic? I have so, anof the mountains, till swelling up, they found swered Glaucon. You cannot, replied Socrathemselves new tracts and channels, tearing tes, have a more noble design; for if you can up in their passage trees, &c. After the accomplish it so as to become absolute, you great shake, those people who escaped, got will be able to serve your friends, you will on board ships in the harbour, where many raise your family, you will extend the bounds continued above two months; the shakes all of your country, you will be known, not only that time being so violent, and coming so in Athens, but through all Greece, and perthick, sometimes two or three in an hour ac-haps your renown will fly even to the barbacompanied with frightful noises like a ruffling wind, or a hollow rumbling thunder, with brimstone blasts, that they durst not come ashore. The consequences of the earthquake was a general sickness, from the noisome vapours belched forth, which swept away above 3000 persons. After the detail of these horrible convulsions, the reader will have but little curiosity left, for the less considerable phenomena of the earthquake at Lima, in 1687, described by Fa. Alvarez de Toledo, wherein above 5000 persons were destroyed; this being of the vibratory kind, so that the bells in the church rung of themselves: or that at Batavia in 1699, by Witzen: that in the north of rous nations, as did that of Themistocles. In If you be well to do so, said Glaucon. It comes into my mind, too, continued Socrates, that you have never been at the mines of silver, to examine why they bring not in so much now as they did formerly. You say true, I have never been there. Indeed they say the place is very unhealthy, and that may excuse you.You rally me now, said Glaucon. Socrates added; but I believe you have at least observed how much corn our lands produce, how long it will serve to supply our city, and how much more we shall want for the whole year; to the end you may not be surprised with a scarcity of bread, but may give timely orders for the necessary provisions. There is a deal to do, said Glaucon, if we must take care of all these things. There is so, replied Socrates, and it is even impossible to manage our own families well, unless we know all that is wanting, and take care to provide it. As you see, therefore, that our city is composed of above ten thousand families, and it being a difficult task to watch over them all at once, why did you not first try to retrieve your uncle's swered Glaucon. Socrates replied: would not the way to enrich the republic be to increase its revenue? It is very likely it would, said Glaucon. Tell me then in what consists the revenue of the state, and to how much it may amount? I presume you have particularly studied this matter, to the end that if any thing should be lost on one hand, you might know where to make it good on another, and that if a fund should fail on a sudden, you might immediately be able to settle another in its place? I protest, answered Glaucon, I have never thought of this. Tell me at least the expenses of the republic, for no doubt you intend to retrench the superfluous? I never thought of this neither, said Glaucon. You were best then to put off to another time your design of enriching the republic, which you can never be able to do, while you are ignorant both of its expenses and revenue. There is another way to enrich a state, said Glaucon, of which you take no notice, and that is by the ruin of its enemies. You are in the right, answered Socrates: but to this end, it is necessary to be stronger than they, other-affairs which are running to decay, and after wise we shall run the hazard of losing what having given that proof of your industry, you we have he therefore who talks of under- might have taken a greater trust upon you? taking a war, ought to know the strength on But now, when you find yourself incapable both sides, to the end that if his party be the of aiding a private man, how can you think stronger, he may boldly advise for war, and of behaving yourself so as to be useful to a that if it be the weaker, he may dissuade the whole people? ought a man who has not people from engaging themselves in so dan- strength enough to carry a hundred pound gerous an enterprise. All this is true. Tell weight, undertake to carry a heavier burden? I me then, continued Socrates, how strong our would have done good service to my uncle, forces are by sea and land, and how strong said Glaucon, if he would have taken my adare our enemies? Indeed, said Glaucon, I vice. How! replied Socrates, have you not cannot tell you on a sudden. If you have a hitherto been able to govern the mind of your list of them in writing, pray show it me, I uncle, and do you now believe yourself able should be glad to hear it read. I have it not to govern the minds of all the Athenians, and yet. I see then, said Socrates, that we shall not his among the rest? Take heed, my dear Glauengage in war so soon: for the greatness of con, take heed lest too great a desire of power the undertaking will hinder you from mature- should render you despised; consider how danly weighing all the consequences of it in the gerous it is to speak and entertain ourselves beginning of your government. But, continu- concerning things we do not understand: what ed he, you have thought of the defence of the a figure do those forward and rash people make country, you know what garrisons are neces- in the world, who do so; and judge yourself, sary, and what are not; you know what num- whether they acquire more esteem than blame, ber of troops is sufficient in one, and not suf- whether they are more admired than contemnficient in another: you will cause the neces-ed. Think, on the contrary, with how much sary garrisons to be reinforced, and will disband those that are useless? I should be of opinion said Glaucon, to leave none of them on foot, because they ruin a country, on pretence of defending it. But, Socrates objected if all the garrisons are taken away, there would be nothing to hinder the first comer from carrying off what he pleased: but how come you to know that the garrisons behave themselves so ill? Have you been upon the place, have you seen them? Not at all; but I suspect it to be so. When therefore we are certain of it, said Socrates, and can speak upon better grounds than simple conjectures, we will propose this advice to the senate. It may honour a man is regarded, who understands Thus Socrates put a stop to the disorderly ambition of this man: but on an occasion quite contrary, he in the following manner exhorted Charmidas to take an employment. He the sea-coast in a smuggling country, one had frequent opportunities of buying many of the expensive articles used in a family (such as tea, coffee, chocolate, brandy, wines, cambrics, Brussels laces, French silks, and all kinds of India goods, 20), 30, and in some articles 50 per cent. cheaper, than they could be had in the more interior parts, of traders that paid duty.-The other honest gentleman allowed this to be an advantage, but insisted, that the seller, in the advanced price he demanded on that account, rated the advantage much above its value. And neither of them seemed to think dealing with smugglers a practice, that an honest man (provided he got his goods cheap) had the least reason to be ashamed of. was a man of sense, and more deserving than | advantageous on this account, that, being on most others in the same post; but as he was of a modest disposition, he constantly declined and made great difficulties of engaging himself in public business. Socrates therefore addressed himself to him in this manner. If you knew any man that could gain the prizes in the public games, and by that means render himself illustrious, and acquire glory to his country, what would you say of him if he refused to offer himself to the contest? I would say, answered Charmidas, that he was a mean spirited effeminate fellow. And if a man were capable of governing a republic, of increasing its power by his advice, and of raising himself by this means to a high degree of honour, would you not brand him likewise with meanness of soul, if he would not present himself to be employed? Perhaps I might, said Charmidas; but why do you ask me this question; Socrates replied; because you are capable of managing the affairs of the republic, and nevertheless you avoid doing so, though in quality of a citizen you are obliged to take care of the commonwealth. Be no longer then thus negligent in this matter, consider your abilities and your duty with more attention, and let not slip the occasions of serving the republic, and of rendering it, if possible, more flourishing than it is. This will be a blessing, whose influence will descend not only on the other citizens, but on your best friends and yourself. On Smuggling, and its various species. Published in the London Chronicle, November 24, 1767. SIR,-There are many people that would be thought, and even think themselves, honest men, who fail nevertheless in particular points of honesty; deviating from that character sometimes by the prevalence of mode or custom, and sometimes through mere inattention; so that their honesty is partial only, and not general or universal. Thus one, who would scorn to overreach you in a bargain, shall make no scruple of tricking you a little now and then at cards: another, that plays with the utmost fairness, shall with great freedom cheat you in the sale of a horse. But there is no kind of dishonesty, into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall, than that of defrauding government of its revenues by smuggling when they have an opportunity, or encouraging smugglers by buying their goods. I fell into these reflections the other day, on hearing two gentlemen of reputation discoursing about a small estate, which one of them was inclined to sell, and the other to buy; when the seller, in recommending the place, remarked, that its situation was very At a time when the load of our public debt, and the heavy expense of maintaining our fleets and armies to be ready for our defence on occasion, makes it necessary, not only to continue old taxes, but often to look out for new ones, perhaps it may not be unuseful to state this matter in a light that few seem to have considered it in. The people of Great Britain, under the happy constitution of this country, have a privilege few other countries enjoy, that of choosing the third branch of the legislature, which branch has alone the power of regulating their taxes. Now whenever the government finds it necessary for the common benefit, advantage, and safety of the nation, for the security of our liberties, property, religion, tain sums shall be yearly raised by taxes, and every thing that is dear to us, that cerduties, &c. and paid into the public treasury, thence to be dispensed by government for those purposes; ought not every honest man freely and willingly to pay his just proportion of this necessary expense? Can he possibly preserve a right to that character, if, by fraud, stratagem, or contrivance, he avoids that payment in whole or in part. What should we think of a companion, who, having supped with his friends at a tavern, and partaken equally of the joys of the evening with the rest of us, would nevertheless contrive by some artifice to shift his share of the reckoning upon others, in order to go off scot-free? If a man who practised this, would, when detected, be deemed and called a scoundrel, what ought he to be called, who can enjoy all the inestimable benefits of public society, and yet by smuggling, or dealing with smugglers, contrive to evade paying his just share of the expense, as settled by his own representatives in parliament; and wrongfully throw it upon his honester and perhaps much poorer neighbours? He will perhaps be ready to tell me, that he does not wrong his neighbours; he scorns the imputation, he only cheats the king a little, who is very able to bear it. This, however, is a mistake. The public treasure is the treasure of the nation, to be applied to national purposes. And when a duty is laid for a particular public and necessary purpose, if, through smuggling, that duty falls short of raising the sum required, and other duties must therefore be laid to make up the deficiency, all the additional sum laid by the new duties and paid by other people, though it should amount to no more than a half-penny or a farthing per head, is so much actually picked out of the pockets of those other people by the smugglers and their abettors and encouragers. Are they then any better or other than pickpokets? and what mean, low, rascally pickpockets must those be, that can pick pockets for halfpence and for farthings? I would not however be supposed to allow in what I have just said, that cheating the king is a less offence against honesty than cheating the public. The king and the public in this case are different names for the same thing; but if we consider the king distinctly it will not lessen the crime: it is no justification of a robbery, that the person robbed was rich and able to bear it. The king has as much right to justice as the meanest of his subjects; and as he is truly the common father of his people, those that rob him fall under the Scripture wo, pronounced against the son that robbeth his father, and saith it is no sin. Mean as this practice is, do we not daily see people of character and fortune engaged in it for trifling advantages to themselves?Is any lady ashamed to request of a gentleman of her acquaintance, that when he returns from abroad he would smuggle her home a piece of silk or lace from France or Flanders? Is any gentleman ashamed to undertake and execute the commission?-Not in the least. They will talk of it freely, even before others whose pockets they are thus contriving to pick by this piece of knavery. complice in the crime, and assist in the perpetration. There are those who by these practices, take a great deal in a year out of the public purse, and put the money into their own private pockets. If, passing through a room where public treasure is deposited, a man takes the opportunity of clandestinely pocketing and carrying off a guinea, is he not truly and properly a thief? And if another evades paying into the treasury a guinea he ought to pay in, and applies it to his own use, when he knows it belongs to the public as much as that which has been paid in, what difference is there in the nature of the crime, or the baseness of committing it? Some laws make the receiving of stolen goods equally penal with stealing, and upon this principle, that if there were no receivers, there would be few thieves. Our proverb too says truly, that the receiver is as bad as the thief. By the same reasoning, as there would be few smugglers, if there were none who knowingly encouraged them by buying their goods, we may say, that the encouragers of smuggling are as bad as the smugglers; and that, as smugglers are a kind of thieves, both equally deserve the punishments of thievery. In this view of wronging the revenue, what must we think of those who can evade paying for their wheels* and their plate, in defiance of law and justice, and yet declaim against corruption and peculation, as if their own hands and hearts were pure and unsullied? The Americans offend us grievously, when, contrary to our laws, they smuggle goods into their own country: and yet they had no hand in making those laws. I do not however pretend from thence to justify them. But I think the offence much greater in those who either directly or indirectly have been concerned in making the very laws they break. And when I hear them exclaiming against the Americans, and for every little infringment of the acts of trade, or obstruction given by a petty mob to an officer of our customs in that country, calling for vengeance against the whole people as REBELS and traitors, I cannot help thinking there are still those in the world who can see a mote in their brother's eye, while they do not discern a beam in their own; and that the old saying is as true now as ever it was, one man may better steal a horse, than another look over the hedge. B. F. Among other branches of the revenue, that of the post-office is, by a late law, appropriated to the discharge of our public debt, to defray the expenses of the state. None but members of parliament, and a few public officers have now a right to avoid, by a frank, the payment of postage. When any letter, not written by them or on their business, is franked by any of them, it is a hurt to the revenue, an injury which they must now take the pains to conceal by writing the whole superscription themselves. And yet such is our insensibility to justice in this particular, that nothing is more common than to see, even in Plan for improving the Condition of the Free a reputable company, a very honest gentleman or lady declare his or her intention to cheat the nation of three pence by a frank, and without blushing apply to one of the very legislators themselves, with a modest request, that he would be pleased to become an ac be * Blacks. THE business relative to free blacks shall transacted by a committee of twenty-four Alluding to the British taxes on carriage wheels, and on plate. persons, annually elected by ballot, at the cert. Affairs of great importance shall be remeeting of this society, in the month called ferred to the whole committee. April; and in order to perform the different services with expedition, regularity, and energy, this committee shall resolve itself into the following sub-committees, viz: I. A committee of inspection shall superintend the morals, general conduct, and ordinary situation of the free negroes, and afford them advice and instruction, protection from wrongs, and other friendly offices. II. A committee of guardians, who shall place out children and young people with suitable persons, that they may (during a moderate time of apprenticeship, or servitude) learn some trade or other business of subsistence. The committee may effect this partly by a persuasive influence on parents and the persons concerned; and partly by co-operating with the laws, which are, or may be enacted for this, and similar purposes: in forming contracts on these occasions, the committee shall secure to the society, as far as may be practicable, the right of guardianship over the persons so bound. manumissions of all free blacks. The expense incurred by the prosecution of this plan, shall be defrayed by a fund, to be formed by donations, or subscriptions, for these particular purposes, and to be kept separate from the other funds of this society. The committee shall make a report of their proceedings, and of the state of their stock, to the society, at their quarterly meetings, in the months called April and October. Philadelphia, 26th October, 1789. An in III. A committee of education, who shall The Indian men, when young, are hunters superintend the school-instruction of the chil- and warriors; when old, counsellors; for all dren and youth of the free blacks; they may their government is by the council or advice either influence them to attend regularly the of the sages; there is no force, there are no schools already established in this city, or prisons, no officers to compel obedience, or form others with this view; they shall, in inflict punishment. Hence they generally either case, provide, that the pupils may re- study oratory, the best speaker having the ceive such learning as is necessary for their most influence. The Indian women till the future situation in life; and especially a deep ground, dress the food, nurse and bring up impression of the most important, and gene- the children, and preserve and hand down to rally acknowledged moral and religious princi- posterity the memory of public transactions. ples. They shall also procure and preserve a These employments of men and women are regular record of the marriages, births, and accounted natural and honourable. Having few artificial wants, they have abundance of leisure for improvement by conversation. Our laborious manner of life, compared with theirs, they esteem slavish and base; and the learning on which we value ourselves, they regard as frivolous and useless. stance of this occurred at the treaty of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, anno 1744, between the government of Virginia and the Six Nations. After the principal business was settled, the commissioners from Virginia acquainted the Indians by a speech, that there was at Williamsburg a college, with a fund, for educating Indian youth; and that if the chiefs of the Six Nations would send down half a dozen of their sons to that college, the government would take care that they should be well provided for, and instructed in all the learning of the white people. It is one of Whenever the committee of inspection shall the Indian rules of politeness, not to answer persons of any particular description re-a public proposition the same day that it is quiring attention, they shall immediately di- made; they think it would be treating it as rect them to the committee, of whose care they light matter, and that they show it respect are the proper objects. IV. A committee of employ, who shall endeavour to procure constant employment for those free negroes who are able to work: as the want of this would occasion poverty, idleness, and many vicious habits. This committee will, by sedulous inquiry, be enabled to find common labour for a great number; they will also provide, that such, as indicate proper talents, may learn various trades, which may be done by prevailing upon them to bind themselves for such a term of years, as shall compensate their masters for the expense and trouble of instruction and maintenance. The committee may attempt the institution of some useful and simple manufactures, which require but little skill, and also may assist, in commencing business, such as appear to be quali fied for it. find In matters of a mixed nature, the committees shall confer, and, if necessary, act in con a ed in separate pamphlets in England, in the year 1784 *This paper and the two next in order were publishand afterwards in 1787. |