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Show 22 V I R G I N I A. part which the firll did, till fomebody cuts ~er. o.ut. T!1e genm<:> n perform in the fame manner. The VI~·gll:tan l~d1es, ~xcepting tb eCe amuicments chiefly fpend the1r t1me 111 fevnng and t~king care of their families: they feldom read, .or endeavour to imp rove their minds; hov,rever, they are In general nood houic \vi 'e ; and though they have not, I think, quite fo ~)Uch tend ern eCs and fenfibility as the Engli!h ladies; yet they mal-e as good wives, and as good mothers, as any in the world. It is hard to determine whether this colony can be called flouriiliing, or not : becaufc, though it produces great quantities of tobacco and grain, yet there feem to be very few improvements carrying on it. Great part of Virginia is a wildernefE, and as many of the gentlemen are in poffefiion of prodi_ gicus tracts of land, it is likely to continue fo. A fpirit of enterprize is by no means the turn of the colony, and therefore .few attempts h<tve been made to force a trade; which I think might eafily be done, both to the Well-Indies and the Ohio. They have every thing necefiary for f uch an undertaking, viz. lumber, provifions, grain, and every other commodity, which the other colonies, that fubfi a and grow rich by the!e means, make ufe of for exports; but, infl:ead of this, they have only a triAing communication with the Vvefl:-Indies; and as to the Ohio, they have fuffered themfelves, notwithll:anding the fu_ perior advantages they might enjoy from having a water-carriage almofl to the Yoghiogheny, to negleCt this valuable branch of commerce; while the indufl:rious Penfylvani ans (eize every opportunity, and fl:ruggle with innumerable diHl-culties, to fecure it to themfelves. The Virginians are content, if they can but live from hand to mouth; they confine themfclves almo11 intirely to the cultivation of tobacco; and if they have but enough ,of this to pay their merchants i.n London, and to provide for .their V 1 R G I N I A. 23 th ir pka(ures ; th ey are fatisfic:J , and defirc P.Otl1ing more. l ! S9· Some fe\v, ind eed, have been rather more ente rpriflng, and have e 1dcavoured to improve their eflates by raiflng indigo, and other fch cmes: but whether it has been owing to the cli-mate, to their inexperience in thefe matters, or their want of perfeveran ce, I am unable to determine, but their fuccefs has not anfwcred th eir cxpeB:ations. The taxes of this color.1y are conGderable, and the public debt amounts to at leafl 40o,ooo 1. currency; this they have been driven into by the war, having feld om had lefs th an a thoufand or fifteen hundred provinci:.ll troops in pay, exclufive of the expences of fome forts. The ways and means employed for raiflng the monev, have been generally the fame: they hJve firfl: made an emi{Tion of '[o much paper currency as the exigency required, and then bid a tax fer !inking it. This tax has been commonly upon lands and negroes, t\-vo lhillings for every ti heable; and a {hilling ,or eighteen pence upon every hundred acres of bnd. This mode of taxation has occafioned fome diviGons in the houfe; for the owners of large · tracts, being unable, I e1 h:\ps, to cultiv:Jte a tenth p:Ht of their poileffions, and ev ery man 's real income arifing from the number of his neg roes, h ave thought it very hard to pay a tax for what they pre tend is of no value to them : but much better arguments may be urged in fupport of the tax than againl1: it. The tax es for the pre fen t debt are laid till the year fixtynine, when the whole, if they add nothing more to it, will be d.ifcharged. The ufc of paper-currency in this colony has in~ tirely banifhccl from it gold and filver. Indeed the introduB:ion , of it wa cer tain in time .to produce this effeCt; but left it lhould not, the Vi rginians fell into a meafure, which ·complet· ed it at on ce : for by an act of affem bly they fixed the exchange between currency and t1erling debts at five and twenty per cent~ not· |