HARTFORD, JULY, 1789.
EXPLANATIONof theREEZONS,whyMARRIAGEizPROHIBITEDbetweenNATURAL RELATIONS.
Much haz been said and written to ascertain between what relations marriage ought to be permitted. The civil, the canon, and the English laws, differ az to the degrees of consanguinity necessary to render this connection improper. A detail of the arguments on this subject, and even a recapitulation of the decrees of ecclesiastical councils, in the erly ages of the church, would be tedious and uninteresting. I shall only offer a few thoughts of my own on the question, with a view to illustrate a single point, which haz been agitated in modern times, and on which the different American states hav passed different decisions. The point iz, whether a man should be permitted to marry hiz former wife's sister. In some states this iz permitted; in others, prohibited.
Thoze who favor the prohibition, ground their reezon on the Levitical law, which says a man shall not marry hiz wife's sister, during the life of hiz wife, to vex her. This prohibition, while it restrains a man from having two sisters for wives at the same time, among a peeple where poligamy waz permitted, iz a negativ pregnant, and a strong argument that a man waz allowed, after the deth of a wife, to marry her sister.
The Jewish law, however divine, waz designed for a particular nation, and iz no farther binding upon other nations, than it respects the natural and social duties. In no one particular, hav men been more mistaken, than in explaining divine commands. It haz been sufficient for them to reseiv a law into the wil of God,withoutexamininginto the reezons for which the law waz revealed. They seem to hav inverted the foundation of moral obligation, in supposing the moral law to derive its propriety and fitness originally from the wil of Deity, rather than from the nature of things. They talk about the fitness and unfitness of things, independent, not only of society, but of God himself. Such wild notions, I presume, are not common. There could be no fitness nor unfitness of things, before things were made; nor could right and rong exist without social beings. The moral duties therefore are not right, merely because they are commanded by God; but they are commanded by him, because they are right. The propriety or fitness of them depends on the very nature of society; and this fitness, which waz coeval with creation, waz the ground of the divine command.[150]
The law of Moses, regulating marriages, waz founded on this propriety or fitness of things. A divine command givs a sanction to the law; but the propriety of it existed prior to the command. The reezons for prohibiting marriage between certain relations are important; yet they seem not to be understood. It haz been sufficient, in discussing this point, to say,such iz the law of God; and few attempts hav been made to find the reezons of it, by which alone its extent and authority can be ascertained.
There are two rules, furnished by the laws of nature, for regulating matrimonial connections. The first iz, that marriage, which iz a social and civil connection, should not interfere with a natural relation, so az to defeet or destroy its duties and rights. Thus it iz highly improper that an aunt should marry her nephew, or agrandfatherhiz grand daughter; because the dutiesand rights of the natural relation, would be superseded by the positiv duties and rights of the civil connection.
The other rule iz much more important. It iz a law of nature that vegetables should degenerate, if planted continually on the same soil. Hence the change of seeds among farmers. Animals degenerate on the same principle. The physical causes of this law of nature, are perhaps among the arcana of creation; but the effects are obvious; and it iz surprizing that modern writers on law and ethics should pass over almost the only reezons of prohibiting marriage between blood relations. Consanguinity, and not affinity, iz the ground of the prohibition.[151]
It iz no crime for brothers and sisters to intermarry, except the fatal consequences to society; for were it generally practised, men would soon become a race of pigmies. It iz no crime for brothers and sisters children to intermarry, and this iz often practised; but such near blood connections often produce imperfect children. The common peeple hav hence drawn an argument to proov such connections criminal; considering weakness, sickness and deformity in the offspring az judgements upon the parents. Superstition iz often awake, when reezon iz asleep. It iz just az criminal for a man to marry hiz cousin, az it iz to sow flax every year on the same ground; but when he does this, he must not complain, if he haz an indifferent crop.
Here then the question occurs, iz it proper for a man to marry hiz wife's sister? The answer iz plain. The practice does not interfere with any law of nature or society; and there iz not the smallest impropriety in a man's marrying ten sisters of hiz wife in succession. There iz no natural relation destroyed; there iz no relation by blood; andcessante ratione, cessat et ipsa Lex; the law ceeses when the reezon of it ceeses.
HARTFORD, FEBRUARY, 1790.
MISCELLANEOUS REMARKSonDIVIZIONSofPROPERTY, GUVERNMENT, EDUCATION, RELIGION, AGRICULTURE, SLAVERY, COMMERCE, CLIMATEandDISEEZESin theUNITED 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 attending to the principles of guvernment, the leeding idea that strikes the mind, iz, that political power depends mostly on property; consequently guvernment will take its complection from the divisions of property in the state.
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 bymonarkies; but many of the guvernments might, with propriety, be calledaristocratic 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, anaristocratic 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 withthe barons to depress the peeple. Where the prince holds the privilege of disposing of civil, military and ecclesiastical offices, it haz been eezy to attach the nobility to hiz interest, and by this coalition, peece haz often been secured in a kingdom; but the peeple hav been kept in vassalage. Thus by the laws of the feudal system, most of the commons in Europe are kept in a state of dependence on the great landholders.
But commerce haz been favorable to mankind. Az the rules of succession to estates, every where established in Europe, are calculated to aggrandize thefewat the expense of themany, 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 equalchanceof 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 New England, intestate estates desend to all the children or other heirs in equal portions, except to the oldest son, who haz two shares. This exception in favor of the oldest son, waz copied from the levitical code, which waz made the basis of the first New England institutions. The legislature of Massachusetts, at their May session, 1789, abolished that absurd exception; and nothing but inveterate habit keeps it alive in the other states.[152]
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 setof artful men, who, with small talents for business and no regard for the public interest, are always familiar with every class of peeple, slyly hinting something to the disadvantage of great and honest men, and pretending to be frends to the public welfare. The peeple are thus guverned at times by the most unqualified men among them. If a man wil shake hands with every one he meets, attend church constantly, and assume a goodly countenance; if he wil not swear or play cards, he may arrive to the first offices in the guvernment, without one single talent for the proper discharge of hiz duty; he may even defraud the public revenu and be accused of it on the most indubitable evidence, yet by laying hiz hand on hiz brest, casting hiz eyes to heaven, and calling God to witness hiz innocence, he may wipe away the popular suspicions, and be a fairer candidate for preferment than before hiz accusation. So far az the harts of the peeple are concerned, the disposition here mentioned iz a high recommendation, for it proves them mild, unsuspecting and humane: But guvernment suffers a material injury from this turn of mind; and were it not for a few men who are boldly honest, and indefatigable in detecting impositions on the public, the guvernment of theze states would always be, az it often iz, in the hands of the weekest, or wickedest of the citizens.
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.Vast numbers of men do not possess more than thirty or forty akers eech, and many not half the quantity. It iz with difficulty that such men can support families and pay taxes. Indeed most of them are unable to do it; they involve themselves in det; the creditors take the little land they possess, and the peeple are driven, poor and helpless, into an uncultivated wilderness. Such are the effects of an equal division of lands among heirs; and such the causes of emigration to the western territories. Emigration indeed iz a present remedy for the evil; but when settlements hav raized the valu of the western lands neerly to that on the Atlantic coast, emigrations wil mostly ceese. They wil not entirely ceese, until the continent iz peepled to the Pacific ocean; and that period iz distant; but whenever they ceese, our republican inhabitants, unable to subsist on the small portions of land, assigned them by the laws of division, must hav recourse to manufactures. The holders of land wil be fewer in number, because monied men wil hav the advantage of purchasing lands very low of the necessitous inhabitants, who wil be multiplied by the very laws of the state, respecting landed property. Other laws however could not be tolerated in theze states. In Europe, provision iz made for younger sons, in the army, the church, the navy, or in the numerous manufactures of the countries. But in America, such provision cannot be made; and therefore our laws eezely provide for all the children, where they are not provided for by the parents.
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,occasioned by the course of trade, or by laws limiting the interest on money loaned. Such iz the case in Connecticut. A man who haz money may purchase wel cultivated farms in that state for seventy, and sometimes for fifty per cent. of the real valu. Such a situation iz favorable to the accumulation of great estates, and the creation of distinctions; but while alienations of real estates are rendered necessary by the laws, the genius of the guvernment wil not be materially changed.
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 thenameof a republic, waz several ages loozing thespiritandprinciple. 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; thespiritof a commonwelth waz lost, and Cesar waz but an instrument of altering theform, when it could no longer exist. Cesar iz execrated az the tyrant of hiz country; and Brutus, who stabbed him, iz applauded az aRoman. 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 futurechanges in our form of guvernment, iz left to every man's own opinion. Our citizens now hold lands in fee; this renders them bold in independence: They all labor, and therefore make hardy soldiers; they all reed, and of course understand their rights; they rove uncontrolled in the forest; therefore they know the use of arms. But wil not poor peeple multiply, and the possessions of real estates be diminished in number, and increesed in size? Must not a great proportion of our citizens becum manufacturers and thus looz the bodies and the spirit of soldiers? While the mass of knowlege wil be increesed by discuveries and experience, wil it not be confined to fewer men? In short, wil not our forests be levelled, or confined to a few proprietors? and when our peeple ceese to hunt, will not the body of them neglect the use of arms? Theze are questions of magnitude; but the present generation can answer them only in prospect and speculation. At any rate, the genius of every guvernment must addapt itself to the peculiar state and spirit of the peeple who compose the state, and when the Americans looz theprinciplesof a free guvernment, it follows that they wil speedily looz theform. Such a change would, az in Rome, be ascribed tobadmen; but it is more rational to ascribe it to an imperceptible progress of corruption, or thoze insensible changes which steel into the best constitutions of government.
New England waz originally settled by a religious sect, denominatedpuritans, 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 wearmarksof 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 whodissented from them upon the most metaphisical points. It waz a law of the first settlers at Boston, that none could be free men and entitled to vote for civil rulers, who were not in full communion with the church; and none could be admitted to full communion, without the recommendation of a clergyman. Theze laws threw all the power of the state into the hands of the clergy.[154]It iz equally astonishing and ridiculous to the posterity of thoze godly peeple, to find the church and state, in the infancy of the settlement in America, rent with discord upon the simple question, whether "sanctification preceeds justification." Yet hundreds of councils were held upon this or similar points, and a dissent from the common opinion on such trifling questions, waz heresy, punishable with excommunication and banishment.
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. Thestatutesof 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 thirteengypsieswere 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 withspotted papers and spotted boards? Chequers, back-gammon and chess are not prohibited, and the games are az enticing az thoze which areprohibited.Are not such games az capable of conceelment az any domestic concerns? Wil laws ever reech them? Haz the legislature any right to control my family amuzements? In short, do laws ever suppress or restrain any species of game? By no meens; on the other hand, I can testify from actual observation, that prohibited games are practized az much az others, and in states where penalties against them are most severe, gaming iz the most frequent.
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 theoppressor, in a court of equity. Afanatic, 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 manyexcellent regulations which proceed from their religious zeel, and which hav been the basis of institutions the most favorable to morals, to freedom and happiness.
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 prevailamong the yemanry of New England, are ascribeable in a great meazure, to a general administration of religious ordinances. The distinction in this respect, iz so great between New England and some other parts of America, that in travelling among the settlers on the frontiers of Vermont, a man may ascertain where the settlers were born and educated, merely by their manner of receeving and treeting him. This iz asserted from actual obzervation.
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 anEnglish school, at leest eleven months in a yeer; and towns containing a less number, at leest six months in a yeer. Every town keeping a public skool iz entitled to draw from the trezury of the state, a certain sum of money, proportioned to its census in the list of property which furnishes the rule of taxation. This sum might hav been originally sufficient to support one skool in each town or parish; but in modern times, iz divided among a number, and the deficiency of money to support the skools iz raised upon the estates of the peeple, in the manner the public taxes are assessed. To extend the benefits of this establishment to all the inhabitants, large towns and parishes are divided into districts; eech of which iz supposed able to furnish a competent number of skolars for one skool. In eech district a house iz erected for the purpose by the inhabitants of that district; who hire a master, furnish wood, and tax themselves to pay all expenses, not provided for by the public money. The skool iz kept during the winter months, when every farmer can spare hiz sons. In this manner every child in the state haz access to a school. In the summer, a woman iz hired to teech small children, who are not fit for any kind of labor. In the large towns, skools, ether public or private, are kept the whole yeer; and in every county town, a grammar school iz established by law.
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 talentsand karacter; and the practice iz to procure a man of the best character in the town or naborhood. The welthy towns apply to yung gentlemen of liberal education, who, after taking the bachelor's degree, usually keep skool a yeer or two, before they enter upon a profession. One of the most unfortunate circumstances to education in the middle and suthern states, iz, an opinion that skool keeping iz a meen employment, fit only for persons of low karacter. The retches who keep the skools in thoze states, very frequently degrade the employment; but the misfortune iz, public opinion suppozes the employment degrades the man: Of course no gentleman will undertake to teech children, while, in popular estimation, he must forfit hiz rank and karacter by the employment. Until public opinion iz corrected by some great examples, the common schools, what few there are in thoze states, must continu in the hands of such vagabonds az wander about the country.
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.One hundred volums of books, selected from the best writers on ethics, divinity and history, and red by the principal inhabitants of a town or village, wil hav an amazing influence in spreding knowlege, correcting the morals and softening the manners of a nation. I am acquainted with parishes, where almost every housholder haz red the works of Addison, Sherlock, Atterbury, Watts, Young, and other similar writings; and wil converse handsomely on the subjects of which they treet.
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, calledselectmen, 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 New England colonies were originally guverned by a cheef magistrate or guvernor, a deputy, and a certain number of assistants, all chosen by the peeple. They were called the court of assistants, and for a considerable time, exercized all powers, legislativ and judicial. The clergy were uzually associated with them, and they seem to hav taken cognizance likewise of ecclesiastical matters. The rulers of peeple in small societies, in erly settlements, and in the simple state of nature, uzually hav discretionary powers to act for the common good. This waz the case with the ancient witena-gemote, and folk-motes or county meetings in England; and with the first legislatures in theze colonies.
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 thetrial of public delinquents. This iz an evil of unbounded magnitude. When charges are exhibited against any public officer, or any objections made to hiz re-appointment, he iz admitted to a hearing, council iz employed, the charges are red, witnesses examined, and the delinquent makes hiz defence in person or by attorney. This mode of impeachment and trial iz the worst that can be invented. It iz difficult or impossible for a large popular assembly to be good judges; they cannot perfectly understand a case; they are credulous; and their compassion eezily moved. A pathetic harang, especially from the accused himself, with teers in hiz eyes, and the misfortunes of hiz family painted in discription, wil skreen from punishment any knave, however numerous hiz crimes, or however convincing the proofs of hiz gilt. A popular assembly should not sit in judgement upon delinquents, for the same reezon that wimen would be improper judges, and for the same reezons that the mother and wife of Coriolanus were the only persons who could save Rome from his vengence.[157]
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 whichthey are wholly unqualified. When a considerable number of collectors hav obtained seets in the legislature, they are ever reddy to delay or suspend the collection of taxes. This iz not the worst part of the system. The method of obtaining the money in default of the collectors, iz tedious, expensiv, ineffectual, and in short ridiculous. When a collector iz in arreer, a distress issues from the trezury against hiz estate. Upon a return ofnon est, or in case of the collector's insolvency, execution issues against the selectmen of the town, whose estates are liable for the arreerages of taxes. The selectmen then levy a tax upon the inhabitants to indemnify themselves.
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 justicesof the peece, could draw upon the trezury of Connecticut, without their accounts being examined by any controller or auditor.
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, thefreemenassemble 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 innomination, and are published by order of assembly. The next April, the freemen assemble again, and vote by ballot fortwelvof thetwenty, and thetwelvpersons who hav the most votes, are elected. Representatives in congress are chozen in a similar manner. The great excellence of this mode of choozingiz, it holds up to public view, six months before election, the karacters who are candidates; peeple hav an opportunity of enquiring into their merits, that they may select from the whole thoze who are the leest exceptionable.
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 ballotsfor guvernor, deputy guvernor, senators, and delegates to congress, are seeled up, and sent to Hartford, where they are numbered at the annual election in May. The choice iz conducted with neerly the same sobriety az public worship on Sunday. How different the elections in the suthern states, where I hav seen candidates march at the hed of their adherents, armed with clubs, and force their way to the place of election, and by violence thrusting away their rivals! It is a misfortune in thoze states, that the freemen of awhole countyassemble at elections. This iz one principal cause, why the elections are attended with tumults, riots, quarrels, bloody nozes, and in a few instances, with deth. The laws of a republic should gard against all large collections of peeple either for good or bad purposes: They are always dangerous. Rome furnishes innumerable lessons on this subject; and if the suthern legislatures attend to facts, they wil doubtless divide their counties into small districts for the purpose of election, and hav the choice completed in one day; that the candidates might not be able to hed their frends in more places than one. It iz of infinit consequence that the pernicious influence of elections should be destroyed.
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 attendanyreligious worship. Every person iz indulged in worshiping az he pleezes; and whatever modern liberality may pretend, the regular preeching of the gospel, az acivilinstitution, 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 instructorsof men, iz az beneficial in society, az any civil or literary institution whatever; and a commonalty, who hav not the benefit of such instruction, wil, I presume to assert, always be ignorant, and of ruf uncivil manners. It iz an article of some constitutions in America, that clergymen shal hold no civil office. This exclusion iz founded on just az good reezons, az the old laws against witchcraft; a clergyman being no more dangerous in a civil office, than a witch in civil society. It iz said that the business of clergymen iz divine and spiritual, and that they should hav no concern with politics. The objection iz equally good against merchants, mechanics and farmers, who hav no immediate concern with legislation. The truth iz, every citizen haz a concern in the laws which guvern him; and a clergyman haz the same concern with civil laws, az other men. There hav been bad clergymen and tyrannical hierarkies in the world; but the error lies in separating the civil from the ecclesiastical government. When separated they become rivals; when united, they hav the same interest to pursu. A clergyman's business iz toinformhiz peeple, and to make themgood men. This iz the way to make themgood citizens. The clergymen in Boston take the right method to accomplish this business; they throw aside alldivine airsand imperious grave superiority; they mingle in the most familiar manner, with other peeple; they are social and facetious, and their parishoners delight to hav them at all entertainments and concerts. This conduct remoovs the awful distance between them and other descriptions of men; they are not only esteemed and respected, but luved; their decent deportment iz imitated; their churches are crowded, and their instructions listened to with plezure. Such men are blessings to society. That clergymen ought not to meddle with politics, iz so far from truth, that they ought to bewellacquainted with the subject, andbetterthan most classes of men, in proportion to their literary attainments. Religion and policy ought ever to go hand in hand; not to raize a system of despotism overthe consciences, but to enlighten the minds, soften the harts, correct the manners and restrain the vices of men. If men are to be fitted for heaven, itmustbe by theze meens; there iz no other way. The separation of religion and policy, of church and state, waz owing at first to the errors of a gloomy superstition, which exalted the ministers of Christ into Deities; who, like other men, under similar advantages, became tyrants. The way to check their ambition, and to giv full efficacy to their administrations, iz to consider them azmenandcitizens, entitled to all the benefits of guvernment, subject to law, and designed forcivilaz wel azspiritualinstructors.
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 thezestates, eest of the Allegany, wil ever rival New York, and it iz doutful whether the same conveniencies for business unite on any part of the Missisippi. New York iz the center of the commerce of all the territory, between the western boundary of Rhode Island and the middle of New Jersey, from the Atlantic neerly to the borders of Canada; a district of two hundred miles by two hundred and fifty. And the geography of the country tells us, that no part of Atlantic America can claim the same extensiv advantages. New York iz not eezily defended in time of war, and therefore, without a navy, iz not a safe place for an arsenal; but West Point, sixty miles abuv the city, on the Hudson, iz the most impregnable fortress in America.
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 adistinctassembly. The heirs of the original proprietors, or their purchasers, stil hold the soil. There are in this state many large estates, but an entailment iz good only to the first donee in tail; the estate, on hiz deth intestate, being divided equally among hiz heirs. In general the laws of New Jersey are highly republican; but they make no provision for a general diffusion of knowlege. Many of the yemanry are extremely ignorant. The college at Princeton iz a very valuable institution; but so little concern haz the legislature for the interest of lerning, that the funds of that college are taxed by law.
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 norththe 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 orharbor, lying on the suthern part of the same tract of land, and commonly called and known in amapof the same, by the name ofLittle Egg Harbor, to that part of the said Hudson's river, which iz in forty one degrees of latitude, being the furthermost part of said tract of land and premises, which iz bounded by the said river, and crossing over from thence in a strait line, extending from that part of Hudson's river aforesaid, to the northernmost part or branch of the before mentioned river, called Delaware river, and to the most northerly point or boundary of the said tract of land and premises, granted by hiz royal highness, James, duke of York, to lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret."
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 inforty one degrees and forty minutesof latitude; and declaring a line from this point to the latitude offorty oneon 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 runfrom 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 proprietorsof West Jersey az well az Eest, were parties. The commissioners met, fixed the two station points between New York and New Jersey, one at a rock on Hudson's river, in forty one degrees of latitude, the other at the forks of the Delaware, at the mouth of the river Makhakamak, in latitude 41°. 21'. 37". This point on Delaware izeighteen minutes twenty three seconds, to the suthward of thenorthern boundaryof New Jersey, az described in the duke of York's grant to the first proprietors; which waz, on thenorthernmost branch of Delaware river, which iz forty one degrees forty minutesof latitude.
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 thenorthern limits of New Jerseyand thestation pointson 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 thenorth station point on Delawarewould hav been fixed az high azforty 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 inforty 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 anangle containing several thousand akers of land, in Eest Jersey. This iz a short state of the origin and progress of a controversy, which stil agitates the state and disturbs the peece of their guvernment; the jealousies between Eest and West Jersey being almost az great az between the northern and suthern states, upon a question respecting the seet of guvernment, or any other matter of little consequence to the union. The contest however iz of magnitude to both parties in New Jersey, az the lands in dispute hav been settled upon doutful titles; and altho an act of the legislature may establish theze, yet the loozing party wil expect a compensation.[158]
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 proprietary, who waz the guvernor, usually rezided in England; appointing a deputy with a council, to act for him in the province. The proprietaries were often selfish, and made demands upon the peeple, which their sense of liberty and right would not permit them to grant. The quit-rents, paper currency, and some other matters, were constant subjects of altercation, whenever the assembly convened.[159]
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 thegoodeffects of paper currency, without itsevils, 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 uponthe ruins of oppression, and with a too jealous attention to popular rights. It waz defectiv in the most material articles, and a few yeers experience induced the peeple to adopt another form, more analagous to thoze by which her sister states are guverned.
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 abadman 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 ofFrends,Germans, andIrish desendants. TheFrendsandGermanswere 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 thefuture laws of the state. The number of colleges and academies alreddy founded and endowed, proov the disposition of the legislature to encurage science. The only difficulty iz to persuade an agricultural peeple to settle in villages orclans, for the purpose of maintaining a clergyman and skoolmaster; and thus to carry into effect the wise and benevolent designs of their rulers.
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 thePlimouth 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 1628, a number of gentlemen obtained from the company a grant of lands, bounded on the north, by a line three miles north of Merrimak river, and on the south, by a line three miles south of Charles river,throughout the main lands from the Atlantic on the eest, to the South See, on the west. This waz the first grant of Massachusetts.
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 bythe crown to a company, which had begun settlements upon the grant.
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. Thedispute however subsided a few yeers during the war, til finally both states submitted their claims to thejurisdiction of the territory, to a federal court, which waz held at Trenton, in November, 1782. The decision of this court waz in favor of Pensylvania, and Connecticut acquiesced.