To prevent in the mean time the farther Progress of the Depreciation, and give some kind of determinate Value to the Paper, it was ordain'd, that, for every sum of Forty Dollars payable by any Person as Tax, he might discharge himself by paying One Dollar in Silver. Whether this Expedient will produce the Effect intended or not, Experience and Time must discover.

The general Effect of the Depreciation among the Inhabitants of the States has been this, that it has operated as a gradual Tax upon them. Their Business has been done and paid for by the Paper Money, and every Man has paid his Share of the Tax according to the Time he retain'd any of the Money in his Hands, and to the Depreciation within that Time. Thus it has proved a Tax on Money, a kind of Property very difficult to be taxed in any other Mode; and it has fallen more equally than many other Taxes, as those People paid most, who, being richest, had most Money passing thro' their Hands.

With regard to the Paper Money or Bills borrowed by the Congress, it appears by the above Account to be under two different Descriptions.

First, the Quantity of Bills borrowed before the Depreciation, the Interest of which in Silver was to be and is paid in France. The Principal of this Sum is considered as equal in Value to so many Dollars of Silver as were borrowed in Paper, and will be paid in Silver accordingly.

Secondly, the Quantities of Bills borrowed in different Stages of the Depreciation down to the present time. These Sums are, by a Resolution of Congress, to be repaid in Silver according to the Value they were of in Silver at the Time they were lent; and the Interest is to be paid at the same Rate.

Thus those Lenders have their Property secured from the Loss by Depreciation subsequent to the Time of their Loan.

All the Inhabitants are satisfied and pleas'd with this Arrangement, their Public Debt being by this Means reduced to a small Sum. And the new Paper Money, which bears Interest, and for the Payment of which solid Funds are provided, is actually in Credit equal to real Silver.

If any Persons living in distant Countries have, thro' their Absence from their Property in America, suffered Loss by not having it timely fix'd in the several Loans above mentioned, it is not doubted but that, upon an Application to Congress stating the Case, they will meet with Redress.

The real Money us'd in the United States is French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English coins, Gold and Silver. The most common is Spanish mill'd dollars, worth 5 livres 5 sols tournois.

The nominal Money is generally Paper, reckoned in Pounds, Shillings, and Pence, of different Value in the different States when compar'd with real Money, and that Value often changing, so that nothing certain can be said of it. But everywhere the accounts are kept in the nominal Pounds, Shillings, and Pence, the Pound containing twenty Shillings, and the Shillings twelve Pence, whatever may be the real Value.

Bills of Exchange are frequently drawn on Europe; the Rate of Exchange differing in different States, and fluctuating in the same State, occasioned by the greater or less Plenty of Bills or of Demand for others; they are commonly drawn at 30 Days' Sight.

The Usages in Buying and Selling Merchandises, are much the same as in Europe, except that in Virginia the Planter

carries his Tobacco to Magazines, where it is inspected by Officers, who ascertain its Quality and give Receipts expressing the Quantity. The Merchants receive these Receipts in Payment for Goods, and afterwards draw the Tobacco out of the Magazines for Exportation. Weights and Measures are uniform in all the States, following the Standard of Great Britain.

Money is lent either upon Bond or on Mortgage, payable in a Year with Interest. The Interest differs in the different States from 5 to 7 per cent.

Goods are generally imported on 18 Months' Credit from Europe, sold in the Country at 12 Months' credit.

Billets or Promissory Notes, payable to the Creditor or Order, are in use, and demandable when due, as well as accepted Bills of Exchange, without any Days of Grace, but by particular Favour.

1515. TO THOMAS PERCIVAL

DEAR SIR,

(L. C.)

Passy, July 17th 1784.

I received yesterday, by Mr. White, your kind Letter of May 11th, with the most agreable Present of your new Book.1 I read it before I slept, which is a Proof of the good Effects your happy Manner has of drawing your Reader on, by mixing little Anecdotes and historical Facts with your Instructions. Be pleased to accept my thankful Acknowledgments for the Pleasure it has afforded me.

1 This letter is in A. P. S.

"The present" was a copy of Percival's "Moral and Literary Dissertations." Mr. White was a young gentleman of Manchester, a member of the society mentioned below. - ED.

It is astonishing that the murderous Practice of Duelling, which you so justly condemn, should continue so long in vogue. Formerly, when Duels were used to determine Lawsuits, from an Opinion that Providence would in every Instance favour Truth and Right with Victory, they were excusable. At present, they decide nothing. A Man says something, which another tells him is a Lie. They fight; but, whichever is killed, the Point in dispute remains unsettled. To this purpose they have a pleasant little Story here. A Gentleman in a Coffee-house desired another to sit farther from him. "Why so?" "Because, Sir, you stink." "That is an Affront, and you must fight me." "I will fight you, if you insist upon it; but I do not see how that will mend the Matter. For if you kill me, I shall stink too; and if I kill you, [you] will stink, if possible, worse than you do at present." How can such miserable Sinners as we are entertain so much Pride, as to conceit that every Offence against our imagined Honour merits Death? These petty Princes in their own Opinion would call that Sovereign a Tyrant, who should put one of them to death for a little uncivil Language, tho' pointed at his sacred Person; yet every one of them makes himself Judge in his own Cause, condemns the offender without a Jury, and undertakes himself to be the Executioner. With sincere and great Esteem, I have the honor to be, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

P. S. Our Friend, Mr. Vaughan, may perhaps communicate to you some Conjectures of mine relating to the Cold of last winter, which I sent to him in return for the Observations on Cold of Professor Wilson.

If he should, and you

1 Professor Patrick Wilson of Glasgow. - ED.

think them worthy so much notice, you may show them to your Philosophical Society,' to which I wish all imaginable success. Their Rules appear to me excellent.

1516. TO MASON WEEMS AND EDWARD GANT 2

GENTLEMEN,

(L. C.)

Passy, July 18, 1784.

On receipt of your Letter, acquainting me that the Archbishop [of Canterbury] would not permit you to be ordain'd, unless you took the Oath of Allegiance, I apply'd to a Clergyman of my Acquaintance for Information on the Subject of your obtaining Ordination here. His Opinion was, that it could not be done; and that, if it were done, you would be requir'd to vow Obedience to the Archbishop of Paris. I next inquired of the Pope's Nuncio, whether you might not be ordain'd by their Bishop in America, Powers being sent him for that purpose, if he has them not already. The answer was, "The Thing is impossible, unless the Gentlemen become Catholics."

This is an Affair of which I know very little, and therefore I may ask Questions and propose means that are im

1 The Philosophical Society of Manchester, of which Dr. Percival was one of the principal founders and ornaments.-W. T. F.

2 Mason Locke Weems (1760 ?-1825) was born in Virginia. He is the celebrated "Parson" Weems who resigned his clerical charge to become a book agent for Mathew Carey. His fertile fancy and easy conscience created the indestructible stories of the youth of Washington. He wrote also a "Life of Benjamin Franklin" (1817). Edward Gant (1746-1837), a native of Maryland, practised medicine before applying for holy orders. He became chaplain of the United States Senate. - ED.

8 Dated July 9, 1784, No. 170 Strand. In A. P. S. — ED.