A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings
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That tho the middle of the days in summer may be az warm and even warmer in New England, than in Carolina, yet the nights are much cooler.
In July, the meen temperature at Boston, at seven o'clock in the morning, waz seven degrees less than at Charleston at six o'clock. At one o'clock, P. M. the meen heet at Boston waz within three degrees of the heet in Charleston at two o'clock. At ten o'clock at night, the meen heet at Charleston, waz ten degrees abuv that at Boston at nine o'clock. The meen temperature for the whole month in Charleston, exceeded that in Boston, seven degrees. Similar remarks may be made of the munth of August.
Meen heet at Charleston, for January, 1789.
At Boston, for the same munth.
Meen heet at Philadelphia, for January, 1789, 30°.
Here we may remark, that altho the meen heet of New England, in the summer munths, approaches within seven, eight, or nine degrees of that in Charleston, yet in winter, it iz less than half the heet at Charleston; the meen degree in Boston being twenty five, and in Charleston, fifty two.
The meen temperature in Charleston, for March, 1789, waz about sixty one; and in Boston, for the same munth, a little less than thirty five, which iz more than half. In Pensylvania, the same munth, the meen waz forty.
So far az I am able to calculate on obzervations in my possession, I find the aggregate quantity of heet in South Carolina, for a whole yeer, iz to that in New England, az twenty to eleven; yet there are several days almost every yeer, when the mercury in New England rizes higher at noon than it ever does in Carolina at any time. This may be ascribed to the superior length of the days in the northern latitudes.
The heet of the suthern latitude iz suppozed to produce fevers and other fatal disorders which prevail in the Carolinas and Georgia. But heet iz not very often pernicious, unless when operating upon a low, wet, marshy surface of earth. All hilly countries are helthy; and the air of the mountanous parts of Carolina, two or three hundred miles from the see, iz in general salubrious. But the marsh-effluvia iz not the only cause of diseese; bad water iz a cause that should be mentioned, and this abounds in a flat country; whereas the water on hills and mountains iz generally pure. In a great number of towns to the suthward of the Delaware, and in some to the northward, the want of good water iz a capital inconvenience.
On the whole, the climate of America iz az salubrious, az that of any country in the same state of cultivation. The European naturalists, with more spleen than knowlege, hav condemned the climate of America, az unfavorable to animal growth and perfection; but if their ideas are founded on facts, the facts must be taken from the naborhood of an Indigo plantation. America, like all new countries, haz been expozed to certain annual epidemic disorders; but wherever the surface of the erth haz been, for a few yeers, cultivated, theze disorders hav ceesed to rage. I am confident that Connecticut, the most cultivated state in the union, iz now az helthy az the south of France. I am confident that the inhabitants enjoy az general helth, and liv az long. Az to size, no part of the world can boast of larger and more robust men than the northern states. If I mistake not, the English estimate the meen hight of their men to be five feet, seven inches; but I am confident the average hight of the men in New England, iz not less than five feet nine, or ten inches.
I could wish to ascertain the difference in the weight of the atmosphere at Boston and Charleston; but hav no obzervations on the barometer from the latter place. The difference between the weight at Boston and Philadelphia, upon an average of thirty days, appeers to be very trifling, altho at any given day or hour, it may be considerable.
There are some curious facts respecting the coast of North America, which dezerve notis.
The Missisippi iz a river of great length, running from the high northern latitudes, in neerly a south direction. It iz deep and rapid. It resembles the Nile in Africa, particularly in making land where it iz discharged into the ocean. By the most accurate obzervations of Mr. Huchins and others, the distance from the Balize to New Orleans, iz something more than two hundred miles, the whole of which iz land formed by the discharge of the river. The Nile, in the time of Herodotus, had formed considerable ilands, which were then inhabited. Theze ilands stil exist, between the several channels by which that river iz discharged. It iz probable, that by an accurate calculation of the desent of the waters of the Missisippi, in certain places, taking into account the most rapid and most moderate flow, and ascertaining the distance of the mouth from the most northerly sources, we might find, to a tolerable degree of accuracy, the elevation of the land at the sources of that river, abuv the level of the ocean.
Perhaps it wil be found that the mountains and lands at the north west, are much higher in America than in the north of Europe. Iz not this probable from the hight of the Allegany, and the rapidity of the river Missisippi? And would not the fact, if prooved, in conjunction with other causes, which are wel known, fully account for the superior degree of cold in America under the same parallels? It iz wel known that there are no considerable mountains to the north eest of Great Britain, thro Denmark, Sweden and Russia.
On the Atlantic shore of America, the Gulf Streem iz a curious phenomenon. It iz however wel accounted for, on the suppozition that the trade winds drive the waters of the ocean westward into the spacious gulf of Mexico, where meeting the continent, they are forced between the Bahama ilans and the coast of Florida, and take their direction along the shore of the united states. Such an immense body of waters, flowing at the rate of three miles an hour, must produce innumerable currents neer the shore; for every point of land wil occasion an eddy, which wil be in proportion to the extent of the point or cape from main coast. Hence the variety of currents, in all directions, between the streem and the American coast, which are obzerved by our seemen.
Theze currents and eddies, at the same time produce and add to, the points of land shooting into the ocean. The cape of Florida iz probably produced between a vast eddy of waters in the Mexican gulf, and the streem which flows between the shore and Bahamas. For theory indicates that the principal body of water, carried along the Spanish main, or between that and the West India ilans, must be forced to bend its course on the Mexican shore, and by the coast of West Florida, be thrown into a circular motion, so az to form a vast eddy to the suthward and westward of Eest Florida. Where this iz met by the streem, a point of land must necessarily be formed.
It iz not improbable that Cape Roman, Cape Fear, Cape Hatteras, and Cape Cod, may be formed by similar currents, within the main Gulf Streem. A considerable extent of land on the coast of Carolina and Georgia, appeers to be made by the washing down of sand from the high country, and the washing up of sand by the Atlantic, whoze surges almost incessantly beet the shore. But this alone wil not account for the extension of points of sand, ten, fifteen or twenty leegs into the ocean.
It iz a fact that capes and promontories are more frequently harrassed with tempests, lightning and thunder, than other parts of the shore or continent. This haz been remarked of New York and Cape Hatteras. Can a philosophical reezon be assigned for this phenomenon? Perhaps there may be some attractiv power in land thus situated; and perhaps tempests are generated by the agitation of the air, produced by a flux and reflux of water, or a variety of opposit currents. A storm hangs over Cape Hatteras, every day, for a considerable part of the yeer. I hav been witness to the fact, for a number of days in succession. This circumstance increeses the terror of navigating that coast; otherwize so formidable to seemen for shoals and breakers.166
In examining the harbors of North America, we find most of them prezent a channel or entrance neerly at right angles with the shore. The entrance into most of them iz between the points of west and north. The entrance into Newport, iz the safest in America, and this iz almost the only harbor in the united states which can be made with a northwesterly wind. This circumstance iz highly favorable to ships coming upon the coast in winter. This harbor iz capacious enough to admit all the navees in Europe, and, if defensible, may be the proper Portsmouth of America.
No. XXVIII
The following iz part of an "Essay on the Dets of the United States," written in 1787, but never before published. The question haz been ably discussed in Congress, and the proposition for a discrimination between original and purchasing holders of certificates, which I had started, without the prospect of support, haz been maintained by very powerful arguments in our federal legislature. Az the question now appeers to my mind, I should vote against the proposition, yet merely on the ground that from the manner in which the certificates were issued, it iz impossible to discriminate, without multiplying the instances of hardship and injustice. But I hav no more dout, that legislatures hav a right to interfere, in certain extreme cases, and suspend or counteract the operation of legal principles, than I hav of any reveeled truth or intuitiv proposition; and were it possible to ascertain the original holders of certificates, I conceev our legislators could not hav neglected a provision for their losses, without violating their oaths, the constitution and public faith. The following extract iz published, because I am desirous my opinion on this subject should be known and recorded.
HARTFORD, MARCH, 1790.
On a DISCRIMINATION between the ORIGINAL HOLDERS and the PURCHASERS of the CERTIFICATES of the UNITED STATESObjection 1. It iz said that public faith requires the payment of the certificates, according to contract; that iz, to the bearers. Let me ask the men who contend for promise, what they meen by public faith? Did the public ever promise to do rong? The money waz du to men who erned it; the money waz not paid. The full valu expressed on the certificates waz du, and the certificates were worth but a fourth, or perhaps an eighth part of that valu. The public promised the creditors their full demands; but theze promises, at the time of issuing the certificates, were actually worth but a small part of that demand. Ought the creditors to be dismissed with this part of their money, and then compelled to pay the full valu of the certificates to their nabors, who purchased them at their current price? If this iz right, my ideas of justice are rong. Public faith iz suppozed to be founded on justice. The public engaged to do justice to its creditors; but this justice haz not been done; and it appeers to me az plain az the shining of the sun, that if the certificates should be paid to the bearers, justice wil not be done. The creditors at the time of contract, expected to receev gold and silver, or something equivalent; they hav receeved neether the one nor the other. They receeved articles which were worth but a fourth part of their demands; for the remainder of their money, the public iz stil their detor. Public faith therefore requires, that the full valu of the alienated certificates should not be paid to the bearer. It appeers to me that the principles of equity, rather than of law, should decide this important question. It iz the design of the contract, not the words, which should be pursued; for it must be remembered, that the design of the public haz been counteracted. The intention of the public, expressed on the certificates, haz been defeated by the public exigences; and to pursue the words of the engagement, wil now produce an effect which waz not designed, viz. extensiv injustice.
In this situation the public haz an undouted right to call in the evidences of the det, and form a system that shall be effectual in the distribution of justice. If the public suppoze that any arrangement for this purpoze can be made, they certainly hav a right to attempt it; for the object of the attempt would be public justice. The sticklers for paying the det to the present holders, hav the same object in view, national faith; but their ideas of this faith, seem to be derived from the practice of other nations, the situation of whoze dets bears very little analogy to that of ours. They therefore advance an argument against their own cauze; for the faith of the public iz prezerved by fulfilling the intention, rather than the words, of the contract.
Every dollar of old continental currency, promises a Spanish milled dollar. This promise waz founded on the supposition that the valu would be neerly the same, or waz designed to prezerve the valu. But the depreciation of that currency, by the enormous sums in circulation, rendered the fulfilment of the promise impracticable; and had it been attempted, it would hav thrown the united states into confusion. The redemption of the bills, at their nominal valu, would hav done justice to a few, whoze money had depreciated in their hands, but would hav ruined fifty times the number. Thoze who lost their property by continental bills, ought to be indemnified, if the persons and sums lost could be ascertained; but this iz impossible. The case of the certificates iz different. Theze are promissory notes, expressing the sums du, and the persons names to whom they were given. If in some instances the purchasers hav returned alienated certificates to the office, and taken out new ones in their own names, stil the public books may remedy this inconvenience.
2. But it iz said the creditors of the public parted with their certificates voluntarily. It waz at their own option, whether to keep them or not; and if they choze to alienate them at a discount, the public iz not responsible for the loss. A owes B 100l. he cannot make immediate payment, but haz property to secure B, who takes a promissory note. B wants the money, and rather than wait for A's ability to pay it, he assigns the note to C for 50l. In this case, A cannot refuse to pay the full sum of 100l. because C gave but fifty for the note. This reezoning iz applied to the case of the public det; and yet a skool boy ought to be ashamed of the application. The case iz not parrallel, and the reezoning iz defectiv and inapplicable in every particular.
In the first case, it iz not tru that the alienation of the certificates waz a voluntary act; but in most cases, waz an act of necessity. Most of the original creditors were ether rich men who loaned money, or poor men who did personal service. In many instances, thoze who loaned money, loaned all their estates; and when they found no provizion made for paying the interest, or when the interest waz paid in paper of less valu than specie, they were left destitute of the meens of subsistence. Some of theze hav been obliged to part with their certificates at a great loss. But a large number of creditors were poor peeple, who had little or no property, but their certificates, who had performed service, and were under a necessity of negociating them on az good terms az they could. Most of the alienations hav therefore been a necessary consequence of public delinquency. Many of the creditors hav experienced a degree of distress, which, in a court of chancery, would entitle them to a consideration and redress. When a number of losses iz so great az to effect the public, the legislature then becumes a court of equity, where the sufferers must seek reparation. The legal principle must be suspended, and special provision made for this particular case. Thoze creditors who were able to keep their certificates, hav generally done it, and on every principle are entitled to the full nominal valu.
In the second place, the case of an individual assignee of a bond wil not apply; for B, in the suppozition, takes the bond voluntarily. A, the dettor, haz property, and it iz optional with B, whether to bring a suit for the money, recover a judgement, and take A's property, or take a bond on interest. This iz generally the case with individuals, but not with the public creditors. Theze hav no alternativ; they must take promises, which the subject cannot compel the public to fulfil, when the money iz wanted. In another particular, the two cases are widely different. A, B, and C, are three distinct persons. A iz the dettor, and it iz indifferent whether he pays the det to B or C. But when B haz sold the note for half the valu, he cannot be called upon for the money, nor for any part of it. In the other case, the creditors and the public are, in some mezure, the same person. The same persons who looze their property by public delinquency, are afterwards taxed to pay their proportion to the purchasers. But I wil for a moment suppoze the two cases exactly similar; for I am willing to giv my antagonists the fairest field of argument; and what conclusion can be drawn in favor of paying the certificates to the bearers? Can that reezoning be just which draws general consequences from particular propozitions? Such bad logic ought not to impeech a man's heart; but it can do very little honor to hiz head.
Do men, who reezon in this manner, consider that a principle with respect to individuals, may be perfectly just, and yet pursued to a certain degree, it may become entirely false? That the same principle which may be good in a certain degree, may, in the extreme becume criminal, iz tru not only in politics, but in the natural and moral systems. Heet and water, prouduce vegetables; but too large portions of either, destroy plants. Every passion, natural to man, iz good in itself, and the wurk of a perfectly wise being; but any passion indulged to a certain degree, becumes criminal and destructiv to social happiness. Self-love, the spring of all action, and in the tru sense of the word, the most necessary principle in creation, when it becumes excessiv, iz az criminal and pernicious, az the most malignant passion. Eeting and sleeping are essential to helth; but beyond a certain degree, they are hurtful, and may be fatal to the human body.
In politices, the greatest possible good iz the end of guvernment. Any principle, which may be tru, in particular instances, but which, when extended to the public, does not produce the greatest good to society, iz certainly false in legislation. A law which may be good and necessary in a community, may stil bear hard upon individuals. This iz generally tru of all laws. If a man takes a note of another, and sells it for half its valu, he haz no remedy in law, nor ought the law to make provision for hiz case; for laws are, in their nature and use, general; they do not desend to particular cases. The reezon iz obvious. Were laws to notice every inconvenience, which may flow from their operation, they would produce confusion rather than order, and occasion greater injuries to the public, than would result from the losses of individuals. But when such particular losses becume general, the principle loozes its force. Sufferings, multiplied to a certain number, becume public, and then require the interference of the legislature. If a man iz in det, and cannot pay, he iz at the disposal of the law; the law cannot be suspended nor relaxed for hiz particular benefit. But when the body of a peeple becume involved, the public safety requires a suspension or relaxation of law. If an individual settles upon land of another man, he iz considered az a trespasser, and iz liable to an ejectment. But let thirty thousand men settle thus upon land that iz not their own, and a wize legislature wil confirm them in their possessions. Necessity or general good, in such cases, suspends the operation of legal right, or rather changes private rongs into public right. Or to express the idea differently; when evils are increesed and extended to a certain degree, it iz better to let them remain, than to risk the application of a violent remedy. Instances of this kind occur so frequently, that it iz needless to multiply examples. Nothing betrays greater weekness, than the reezoning of peeple, who say, if a principle iz just, it extends to all cases. I should however be very unhappy to hav such men for my legislators. It may be asked, where iz the line of distinction? I answer, it may be impossible to determin. Where the right ends, and the rong begins; where the legal principle should ceese to operate, and special legislativ interference becumes necessary, it may be difficult to discuver; but the extreme iz always obvious. Whenever the operation of a receeved maxim or principle givs general uneasiness, it iz a demonstrativ proof that it iz rong: that it produces public evil; and a wize legislator wil restrain the operation, or establish a different principle: On the suppozition therefore that the present holders of the public det, are precisely in the situation of the assignees of bonds, stil the principle wil not apply nor warrant the same conclusion in both cases; becauze we cannot reezon from particulars to generals, especially on political subjects.
Suppoze the original creditors to be five, and the present holders two; more than half the number of creditors hav lost the money which waz due to them; the loss affects them in the first instance, and the hevy taxes which are necessary to appreciate the certificates in other hands, double their injuries and complaints. Theze loozing creditors hav an idea that they are really cheeted, and their murmurs foment that popular jealousy which iz ever bizzy to check large and sudden revolutions of property. The certificates fall into the hands of rich men, at a great discount, and the body of the peeple say, "we wil not suffer our own losses to enrich our welthy nabors."
This outcry, it iz said, proceeds from a levelling principle, which aims to destroy all distinction of rank and property. But in the present case, the popular complaints proceed from equitable principles; nor do I know of any instance of public jelousy, excited by an acquizition of property in the course of honest industry. Fortunes may be suddenly raized in private business, by commercial speculations, and no notice taken of the event; but when public delinquency haz thrown numberless advantages into the hands of a particular class of men, which the peeple know are made at their own expense, it iz impossible that they should behold such a change of property, without questioning the propriety of it, and the justness of the principle by which it iz defended. When the common sense of mankind iz oppozed to such a change, it ought to be considered az a good proof that it iz not just.
Whatever conclusions therefore may be drawn from a principle, established in courts of law, or among nations in different circumstances, the public sense of justice must, after all, decide the question. A lawyer may wurk himself up to convictions, in wire-drawing principles; but hiz reezoning iz oppozed to the sense of mankind. Peeple may not be able to discuver the fallacy of the reezoning, but they can feel it. They may be silenced, but cannot be convinced.
One grain of common sense iz worth a thousand cobweb theories; and however peeple may be abuzed for refining upon justice, we rarely find them generally dispozed to do rong.
The domestic det of America furnishes a new era in the history of finance. We hav no examples to follow; we must pursu some practicable system, with our eyes invariably fixed on public justice. I know it iz said that the original creditors can purchase certificates now, at the same or a less price than they took for them. But this iz not strictly tru. Individuals might purchase at a low rate; but a general demand for them would raize their valu much abuv their current valu at any past period: For it should be considered that hitherto the sellers hav been numerous, and the purchasers, few; that iz, a full market, with little demand for the articles. Reverse the case. Let the sellers becume the purchasers; the demand would at once raize the valu of the certificates neerly to the face of them.