Four tracts, on political and commercial subjects

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SUBJECTS. 124 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL‘ not to my own oldfalliioned Notions of the Parlimony of former Days, when ximcr z'm was a poor Country. Remember therefore the Or. ders given by him, and afterwards by you, to have your Alfortment of Goods made richer, and finer every Year. And are your Gold and Silver Laces ;---your rich Brocades, Silks and Velvets ;---your Plate, and China, and Jewel s;-.- your Coaches and Equipagesfnyour {umpt uoris Furniture, Prints, and Pictures. Are all thelc Things now laid alide? Have you no Conce rts, or Affernblies, no Play Houfes, or Gaming Houfes, now fubfifiing ? Have you put down your Horfe Races and other fuch like Sports and Diverfions? And is the Luxury of your Tables, and the Variety and Profulion of your Wines and Liquors quite banilhed from among you ?---Thefe are the Qief'tions, whic h you ought to anfwer, before an Efihnate can be made of your relative Poverty, or befor e any Judgment can beformed concerning the Excellivenels of the Tax. BUT l have not yet done with you on this Head. For even though you were poor (which you know, you are not, compared with what you were Thirty Years ago) it may never thelefs happen, that our relative Pove rty may be foun d to be greater than yours. And iffo, when a new Burden is to be laid on, the pr0per (yell i0" 15: which of thefe two Sorts of poor Peopl e, is the 125 the belt able, or, if you pleafe, the leal‘t unable to bear it?- efpecially if it be taken into the Account, that this additional load is an American Burthen, and not a Britt/Ii one. Be it therefore granted, according to what you fay, that you are Two Millions of Souls; be it alfo allowed, as it is commonly allerted, that the Public Debt of the lEVeral Provinces amounts to about 800,000]. Sterling; and in the next Place, be it fuppofed, for Argument's Sake, that were this general Debt equally divided among the Two Millions, each Individual would owe about the Value of Eight Shillings. Thus {lands the Account on one Side. Now we in Britain are reckoned to be about; Eight Millions of Souls; and we owe almol't One Hundred and Forty-four Millions of Money; which Debt, were it equally divided among us, would throw a Burthen upon each Perfon of about 181. Sterling. This then being the State of the Cafe on both Sides, would it be f0 capital an OlFence, would it be High-Treafon in us to demand of you, who owe fo little, to contribute equally with ourfelves, who owe f0 much, towards the public Expences;--and fuch ExPences too as you were the Cattle of creating? Would it be a Crime of a Nature 10 very heinous and diabolical, as to call forth the hottelt 0f YOUr Rage and Fury? Surely noz-And yet, my gentle Friend, we do not lo much as ‘ all; . "\"WNJ‘ M!