ſo, becauſe the timber of the country is every day diminiſhing.—Were the Continent crowded with inhabitants, her ſufferings under the preſent circumſtances would be intolerable. The more ſeaport towns we had, the more we ſhould have both to defend and to loſe. Our preſent numbers are ſo happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the neceſſities of an army creates a new trade.—Debts we have none: And whatever we may contract on this account will ſerve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave poſterity with a ſettled form of government, an independent conſtitution of its own, the purchaſe at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions for the ſake of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing the preſent miniſtry only, is unworthy the charge, and is uſing poſterity with the utmoſt cruelty; becauſe it is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs from which they derive no advantage. Such a thought is unworthy a man of honor, and is the true characteriſtic of a narrow heart, and a pedling politician.
The debt we may contract doth not deſerve our regard, if the work be but accompliſhed. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national debt is a national bond; and when it bears no intereſt, is in no caſe a grievance. Britain is oppreſſed with a debt of upwards of one hundred and forty millions ſterling, for which ſhe pays upwards of four millions intereſt. And as a compenſation for her debt, ſhe has a large navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; but for the twentieth part of the Engliſh national debt, could have a navy as large again. The navy of England is not worth at this time more than three millions and an half ſterling.—No country on the globe is ſo happily ſituated, or ſo internally capable of raiſing a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron and cordage, are her natural produce, We need go abroad for nothing; whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ſhips of war to the Spaniards and Portugueſe, are obliged to import moſt of the materials they uſe. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country. 'Tis the beſt money we can lay out. A navy when finiſhed is worth more than it coſt, and is that nice point in national policy, in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build; if we want them not, we can ſell; and by that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and ſilver.In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; it is not neceſſary that one fourth part ſhould be ſailors. The Terrible privateer, Capt. Death, ſtood the hotteſt engagement of any ſhip laſt war, yet had not 20 ſailors on board, though her complement of men was upward of 200. A few able and ſocial ſailors will ſoon inſtruct a ſufficient number of active landmen in the common work of a ſhip. Wherefore, we never can be more capable to begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is ſtanding, our fiſheries blocked up, and our ſailors and ſhipwrights out of employ. Men of war, of ſeventy and eighty guns, were built forty years ago in New-England; and why not the ſame now? Ship-building is America's greateſt pride, and in which ſhe will in time excel the whole world. The great empires of the eaſt are moſtly inland, and conſe-
