A just rebuke to a dialogue betwixt Simon and Timothy, shewing what's therein to be found. Namely levity, perversion, and detraction. All which are detected in this short examen. : And that short treatise, entituled Ways and means, &c. rescued from the dialogist's unjust charge of inconsistences and contradictions. : [One line in Latin]

A just rebuke to a dialogue betwixt Simon and Timothy, shewing what's therein to be found. Namely levity, perversion, and detraction. All which are detected in this short examen. : And that short treatise, entituled Ways and means, &c. rescued from the dialogist's unjust charge of inconsistences and contradictions. : [One line in Latin]

Table of contents

Title page

A Just Rebuke, &c.

[Page]

A Just Rebuke, &c.

IT is an approved Maxim, That every wise Man proposes an End in all his Designs and Actions. Hence it follows, That from the Design and End of such Actions they may be denominated Good or Ill.

It was given out here at Philadelphia, that there was a Piece in the Press, intended as an Answer to Ways and Means, &c. [a little Book which had been the Subject of Conversation some Time before.] At last it came out under the Title of A Dialogue shewing what's therein to be found. I confess I was at first at a Loss to find a Meaning to it; and after further Perusal, could find nothing to the Purpose; nor any Thing like Argument to disprove any Thing contain'd in Ways and Means; That being a Probationary Essay upon Trade, not dogmatically determining, but modestly submitted to the Judicious for Amendment, Probation, or Confutation, as better Judgments might see Cause. But this Performance, without shewing any reasonable Cause, makes the said Book, which was the Author's sincere Endeavours for a publick Good, to be only a Subject of Drollery, Derision and Contumely, and that in a very ungenteel Manner, [Page] all which I shall wipe off by the ensuing Lines.

But first I shall here remark the Occasion of my first setting Pen to Paper, viz. Some Years since, some ingenious Persons and Well-wishers to their Country's Happiness, when they saw the Province near the Brink of Ruin, occasion'd by the encouraging instead of clogging the injurious Parts of Trade, (Foreign Liquors especially) and disregarding our own Product and Manufactures, as Iron, Homp, Malt, &c. the chief Dependance of the Country being on the West-India Market, which was glutted with such great Quantities of Bread and Flour that often sold cheaper there than they were bought here; and the Price here so low, that the Husbandman could scarce live by his Labour, much less extricate himself from the Incumbrances which many lay under; Silver and Gold, (the Cash we had in the Country) continually drain'd by our Wine-Trade (and sometimes for Rum when it would purchase that Commodity better than Bread and Flour,) and making Remittances till the little we had left, was still decreasing, and serv'd rather to debase the Price of our Vendibles than help Trade.

Then it was that those Well-wishers to their Country, exerted themselves to make [Page] some Essays for its Relief, and to open the Eyes of the People. The first was, Some Remedies, then a Dialogue betwixt R. Rich and R. Plowman, and other Manuscripts, which were such clear Displays of the languishing State of the Country, that the People generally sensible thereof, and of the Exigencies and Straits they labour'd under, did by their Representations and Petitions to their Representatives in Assembly, obtain from the Legislature (according to the Practice of our Neighbouring Colonies of New-England and New-York) a Paper-Credit or Currency: How far it has answer'd the Ends proposed, is obvious to all judging Men, who do not wilfully shut their Eyes.

The Manner of Emission being by a publick Loan-Office, where every Man that had an Estate in Fee, free of Incumbrance, might by mortgaging the same to the said Office, be admitted to take out half the Value of such Estate, not exceeding the Sum restricted so long, as any Bills remained in the Office, without Preference to one above another.

Thus Numbers of Inhabitants whose Estates had lain dead, were furnish'd with Stock for Trade, or to lend to others whose Inclinations led them thereunto, which gave the quickest Push to Trade that has been known for [...] before.

[Page]But the Consideration of our West-India-Market, being over stockt with Bread and Flour, and for that Reason grown very low, as is before noted, put me on Thoughts of contributing to that Good, those benevolent Persons had so happily begun, and from like good Will to my Country, set Pen to Paper at some Spare-Hours.

This I did by an Essay stiled Ways and Means, &c. Humbly submitted to the Legislative Authority of the Governments on Delaware, wherein I demonstrated it to be the undoubted Interest of all those Colonies to preserve a good Understanding betwixt themselves in Matters of Trade, as most conducive to their mutual Benefit, hoping it might excite their Concurrence. And I have understood, than many are fully convinced from the Arguments these advanc'd, how much it will be their Interest to come into those Measures.

It was put out without a Name, and the Printer under an Obligation of Secresy: The Reason of such Injunction was, That as we are unhappily in Parties, the Prejudices too often arising from thence, might not frustrate the good Design and End thereof; which was not that minute Thing, the Name of an Author, as the Dialogist is so little and vain to suggest. Whence he takes his Measures, I know not, unless [Page] from himself. And as I have elsewhere said, so I now again sincerely aver, to have no other View but the publick Good and Interest of those Colonies in these Undertakings; maugre the Suggestion of Simon, or any other malevolent Person whatsoever. For what thinking Man can judge other-ways, but that it must be the Effect of Ill-will thus to jest, scoff and deride (instead of confute) the honest Intention of the Essayer, which, tho' it should not have effectually done the Good intended, or had not represented the State of those Colonies so exactly, or had not proposed so effectual Remedies for our Calamities, as some abler Hand might have done; yet might have excited such an one to do it better: Nor could it possibly be of ill Consequence to any, carrying with it no Manner of Reflection on the Conduct of any Man, either in a publick or private Capacity, keeping my self so within the Bounds of Modesty and Indifference, as might free me from the Byass of Party-Heat, and render what I did, least obnoxious to Cavil.

But notwithstanding all my Precaution, and without any Provocation or Reason that I know of, out comes the comical Dialogue, on purpose, no Doubt, to prevent its intended Service. Dialogue is a Way of writing most liable to Exceptions of any, [Page] especially in Controversy; for unless the Writer is a Man of great Integrity and Justice, he may make his Antagonist speak Nonsence, and put a Sense on his Words which he never meant; represent him inconsistent, contradictory, contemptible, or what else he pleases, as to Fact, or Opinion; and by that Art, form such monstrous Ideas of his Adversary, in the Minds of People, as may beget invincible Prejudice to the best of Persons and Things; represent his Adversary by a Man of Straw of his own making, and then fight with it.

How far the Dialogist is culpable in those or other Respects, is what I have to shew in these Examinations of his Performance, and shall accordingly denominate his Character as a Justice to my self, and my honest Intentions in that Essay.

In the Person of Simon, he says, He loves Dialogue, and makes that his Option which every one has a Right to do as well as to choose the Subject. And if he had kept to the just Rule of Dialogue, I should not fault him for That— He tells us next, 'Tis commended of old. To this I accede, for it is as ancient as Aristophanes the Comedian, who by his ludicrous Wit, rendred Socrates contemptible to the People, of whom he deserved much better Treatment, being esteemed one of the wisest and best of Men in that [Page] Age of the World. And tho' I have no Reason to think the Eight-penny B [...]ok will be less esteemed by any sober and judicious Reader for those repeated Scorfs and Reproaches from this merry Performance, any more than Socrates was for the Shower cast on him by Xantippe: Yet lest any should take Railery for Reasoning, and Jeer for Argument, I shall as briefly as may be, remark on the Vanity of the Dialogist. What I have thus far in general said, may serve for Remark on the Dialogue to Page 10, for I suppose no intelligent Person will judge it deserves a particular Discussion, being a continued Scene of Drollery, which may be cast on the most solemn Discourse, and is as much a Satyr on the best of Mankind, as on Ways and Means; "Vertue is her own Reward; with much more before and after; but this only as a Specimen of a great Part of the Work, which, I doubt not, but all sober Readers will censure; therefore shall say no more to that Part. But finding it difficult to trace the Dialogue under particular Heads, the same Thing being transperss [...]d in divers Parts of the Book without any Coherence; therefore I shall remark on several Pages together, unless the Case otherways requires.

Page 10. The Dialogist has a Passage, which being in a different Character, I take to be [Page] a Citation out of Ways and Means, which runs thus, That the Generality of People are so addicted to them (Rum and other Spirits) that neither Regard to publick Interest or private, Body or Soul, will divert them from the frequent Ʋse of it. To which he subjoins, ‘And yet those very Dictators miss very few Days in the Week, wherein they do not begin in the Morning with that ruinous new Invention of White Bitter, and compleat the Evening, &c.’

The sole Dictator of that Passage in Ways and Means, is the same Person and Reason that now dictates my Pen, and I disclaim and reject this Insinuation as a gross Calumny, and so far is it from Truth, That in a Series of above nine Septinaries of my Age, (nigh Forty Years whereof I have spent in this Country) I was never guilty thereof one Day; and I doubt not, but most Readers who know me, will be my Witnesses, so far as they have Knowledge of my Conduct.

Page 11. the Dialogist entertains his Reader with a Fable of a Steward, without giving the Moral, which he continues, to near the End of the 12th Page, where, in an Ironical Manner, he says, ‘Why put together a Parcel of clever Words, talk of Mediums, of Commerce, Ballance of Trade, Publick Good, Funds, Loans, Striking, Sinking, and such like, no Matter whether understood or not by our [Page]selves or others, or whether we reason well and clearly, so as we make a fine Gingle.’ He would do well to let us know whence he makes this Inference.

That these Terms are proper to the Subject then discours'd of, no Man of a common Understanding will deny: And if they had been unapplicable to the Occasion, impertinent or improperly apply'd to the Subject, it would very well become his Sagacity to detect its erroneous Application. But it's presum'd, That was too difficult a Task. And therefore passes it off with a Scoff, No Matter.

We have the like Quirks of Wit in other Places; for from the abundance of Science or Conceit, he will allow the rest of his Neighbours so small a Pittance of Understanding, as if, to use his own Words in another Case, he had monopolis'd a Character, &c.

The 14th Page is spent in Supposition, Conjecture, Imagination and Phantoms, concerning Paper-Money; no otherways intelligible (to that Scantling of Understanding he e'en now allow'd me) than a Scarecrow to frighten the Farmer and Tradesmen; for, says he, on those the Burthen, which at first seem'd to be thrown on others, will fall, meaning the Farmer, &c. But he may see, if hell please to open his Eyes, than Paper-Money will at this Time build Vessels, purchase [Page] Goods, and serve the other Uses of Money, as well as while the Project was young (as he terms it,) and the Planter and Tradesman in a concording Harmony will tell him, that Paper-Money reviv'd Trade, and freed them from great Difficulties. And I think I may place his Prediction of its Downfall amongst some others, that have not yet c [...]me to pass, and in all Probability never will.

Page 15. The Dialogist proceeds, I cannot but observe the many Inconsistences in the Opinions, not only of divers, but the same Persons. At first some were positive the Value of the Currency would not fall; Now they see it, &c. I am not accountable for the Opinion of those divers Persons: But where he saith, the same Person will tell us in one Place it was far short, in another, that Excess of it will inevitably debase the Value, to an ordinary Capacity will appear no Inconsistency; and to avoid dwelling the Discourse, I shall refer the Reader to Page 6, and 58 of Ways and Means, whence those Citations seem to be taken, and will sufficiently attest their Consistency with all Men, who will not be impos [...]d on with empty Sounds. His Words, At first some were positive, &c. is sufficiently answered in the foregoing Paragraph. But does he think, that crying out, Strange Position! &c. is sufficient to disprove so [Page] known a Truth; and that People will be halloo'd off, as he expresses it in Page 13. Was he not told in Ways and Means, Page 60. That the Exchange given for Gold, advanc'd on a certain Occasion to four times as much as was given a small Time before: I might have said, more than five Times, that is from 9 d. to 4 s. per Pound: And can he be ignorant that a short Time after it fell again to 2 s. 6 d. per Pound. This was manifestly the rising and falling of Gold, as People's Occasions were more or less pressing to purchase it to make Remittances. And it is as evident, that if Gold was imported faster than it is wanted to be exported, it would bear but little, if any Advance at all.

Page 16, 17, 18, 19. are spent all in Resentment and Anger at that Imaginary Stuff, as he calls it, Paper-Money. Not only the Thing, but Persons cannot escape his Passion, under the Epithets of Designing, Visor, &c. and leading well-intending honest Men Step by Step hoodwink [...]d to a Precipice, till a Nothing pays a Something; than starts back into Political Estimates of the Sum necessary; then back again, and retracts, I would not be understood to forward that Magical Contrivance. No, far from it; I am only cautioning su [...] [...] be mistaken, misled or decoy'd. To wha [...] [...] then, is so much Paper blotted, [...] spent? What Reason has he to think, [...] [Page] his Prejudice to so known a Benefit as our Paper-Currency is, should render his Cautions of any Force? Does he think that scandalous Insinuations with which the Dialogue is replete, can be convincing Arguments? It must certainly be Destitution of better Argument that puts him on such mean Ways of trifling: The Query, Is not this already done with a Witness? is answered in the Negative, and the contrary prov'd hereafter. In the 16th Page he allows, That what he had noted in the 15th Page, to be Inconsistences in Ways and Means. May not all be Inconsistences? But this may be designing; for unless the quantum sufficit be fix'd, and agreed, there MAY be room to couch the worst Consequences under a VISOR, &c.

These are meer Insinuations, abusively to scandalize the Legislature, who have taken all the Care and Circumspection imaginable, both in its Security, and to avoid striking more than was necessary. In his next Paragraph he says, They began with one Sum, and finding that not enough, doubled; and so PERHAPS will go on, &c.

Here he gives himself a brave Opportutunity to break out into an Admiration; How! In a Progressive Geometrical Proportion! &c. until a Nothing can pay a Something!

This is a very unjust Insinuation; for can any Man in his Senses, call that a Nothing, [Page] which a good Security has made valuable, and is at this very Time acknowledged to be in good Credit, by some who were great Opposers of it, and now own, that it will purchase even European Goods as well as Silver and Gold did, when we had it, to purchase Goods withal?

Page 20. is a continu'd Praise of the Dialogist, and of his Moderation to Debtors; to which I shall not be Negative; not knowing who he, or those others are. But to what Purpose is all this, unless to cast a Mist on his Reader? For here are three Things suggested,

1. That whosoever had Country-Produce, or any Thing else to buy Money with, might have it.

2. It is well known how forbearing and easy they were, and how few Law-Suits: And 3dly, how ready to take the Country-Produce.

I have before remark'd, that I have been at a Loss to understand the Dialogist; and here I can only guess what to understand by it; which may be suppos'd to be those Things, viz. the Non-necessity of Paper-Money; and a Contradiction to Ways and Means, Page 4, 5, 6. where the languishing State of the Country is shewn in many pregnant Instances; Trade and Credit sunk, private and publick, and Law-Suits continually growing on us. All which being [Page] urged to shew the Necessity of a Paper-Currency, it had become a fair Antagonist to have shewn the Falshood thereof, and have derected by clear Reasoning, and not by Drollery: And now by artful Insinuations, of what might, or might not be the Practice of a few to infer generally; for to say, Whoever of the Debtors had Country-Produce or any Thing else to buy Money, (meaning I suppose) Silver and Gold, it may perhaps be true of his Debtors, yet as generally understood, I deny to be true. He continues, How few Law-Suits? Nay, none but where there was apparent Danger, commenc'd by them. And what is that to the Purpose? Does that necessarily infer that few were commenc [...]d by others? So little of understanding as he will allow me, as not to understand Words of common Use; yet I shall adventure to tell him, it is very false Reasoning to make general Conclusions from particular Cases. And the contrary was notorious from the Numbers of Law-Suits commenc'd and encreas'd Quarterly; besides the Number of Prisoners, 'tis said beyond what was ever known in America, in any of the English Colonies. And Lastly, How ready and willing they were to take the Country-Produce. This may be a Truth of a great Number. For such was the Scarcity of Gold and Silver, that the Farmer not able [Page] to purchase it with his Crop, forc'd the Shops to take it, and they again impos'd the same on the Merchant till it became pretty current in Trade; but at so low a Price, the Farmer could not live by it. The Silver had been bought up for Merchandize, so that none pass'd in common Payments, and Gold so far exhausted, that little but Cut Pieces, and some Scraps passed, and That melting up for Remittances, before Paper-Money came out; and nothing else being a Legal Tender or Discharge to a Bond, the Law-Suits increased, and when an Attempt was made to pass a Bill for making some Species of Country-Produce a Legal Tender, it was rejected, which made a Paper-Currency of absolute Necessity.

Page 22 begins with a Strain of Politicks, and may be allow'd to be instructive, had those Quondam Patriots, when in Power, exemplified by Practice, what is so pathetically talk'd of. For Practice is more demonstrative than a Sound of Words barely, to use his own Words, in his Title-Page,

Experience 'tis by whose true Eyes, tho' slow.

We find, at last, what oft too late we know.

But 'tis our Happiness to see that Providence had not forsaken us, and that there[Page]were a Number of well-intending Men in some Degree of Power still as a Ballance, who not only rejoiced, but exerted themselves, preferring the publick Good to all Fear and Apprehension of private Damage, who having given sufficient Proof of their Ability and Probity, and as true and honest Patriots, in Spite of Floods of Obloquy and Contempt, have been and still are steady in their Pursuit for the publick Tranquility as far as human Prudence can give a Prospect, and I hope will continue so to be

Next he returns from his grave Politicks to charge Inconsistences with Spleen, Wonder and Smile, that Men are cry'd out against for taking Lawful Interest. The Book says nothing of it; nor do I know of any chargeable with it, except two honest (tho' I think in that erring) Men now in their Graves. And to what End this is brought here, I know not, unless to banter on the Government and criticise upon an imaginary Creature, a Phantom call [...]d a Casuist.

In the next Paragraph he renews his Efforts against our Paper-Credit, saying, I know how the Law would construct it, if I should sweeten another into an Obligation without a valuable Consideration, or demand Ʋse or Interest upon an Imaginary Principal, or what really cost me nothing, &c. The Vanity [Page] whereof will be shewn by a few Interrogatorie [...].

Is it an imaginary Principal which so many Freeholders have supported by engaging their Estates? and whereby others have freed theirs?

Is it an imaginary Principal which is generally accepted for Discharge of Bonds, and all Manner of Debts, and will again purchase Lands, Cargoes, and all manner of Vendibles, build Houses, Ships, &c. and answer all the necessary Uses of Money in Way of Trade, except to send out of the Country for Merchandize? Our Silver and Gold did serve that Purpose so long as there was any to be gotten: But when that was gone, and no Prospect, or indeed Possibility (as our Trade was then managed) of bringing more in, not so much as any Thing near to answer the Demand for carrying away, our Trade and Credit together had inevitably been rack'd, had we not been made sensible of our Danger, and had good Pilots at hand to bring us off from the Danger that was so near us, that we had in a great Degree suffer'd for Want of a Currency, which now being happily supply'd, the Want of Gold for Remittances, is in a great Measure supply'd also by building Ships, and encouraging Trade, which we have still a fair Prospect of improving, [Page] by the Exportation of Timber to Great Britain, and perhaps Hemp in Time, which will be a great Help to pay for European Goods; and if we can but discourage the extravagant Use of Foreign Liquors, by encouraging our own Product, we may in all Probability, have Silver and Gold in Returns for our Flour, as formerly we had. But why so angry at its being let out on Interest to defray the necessary Charges of the Office, &c? The Dialogist differs widely from all other Oppose [...]s of our Currency that I ever heard of, if he would have it let out without Interest; for the Charges of the Office, &c. then must be paid by a publick Tax. The Hint that there may come a Time when it will be no Crime to shew for what Ends and private Purposes Interest is taken, is a meer Insinuation of a pretended Something; for he who takes the Liberty to bespatter the who [...]e Power of Government with groundless Surmises might certainly use the Freedom of speaking what he knows is true.

Page 24. He begins with an Irony on an Expression in the Introduction to Ways and Means, viz. Well meaning Persons are employing their Pens, &c. For what Reason he goes so far back, I know not, unless for a repeated Scoff on the Writer of that Book; for I cannot find any Coherence it hath to [Page] any thing immediately preceding or following. Then like Saul amongst the Prophets, he falls into a religious Fit of pathetical Expressions, which simply consider [...]d, might be instructive, had he concluded there, or continu'd his Preaching to the End of his Performance. But instead of that, in the following Page he resumes his wonted Levity, so that I doubt his Preaching will be of little Benefit, for he falls to Drolling on the Word Negative, with which he is well pleased and diverted; and so perhaps may be the Sot, the Rambler, the Spendthrift and the Slip-Season, which he elsewhere inveighs against, but now is making Sport for them: But a Man of Sobriety will hardly thinks it deserves a Smile, as Comical as himself may imagine it to be.

Page 26. He casts his Javelin at Ways and Means; but only strikes a Man of Straw of his own making, thus; I was so simple as to imagine it intended that I should believe that laborious, industrious People (such as Palatines) are to make us rich without Extent of Land or its Fertility, or a great deal of its Produce; and even without People (simply) and that without all these, Wheat, Hemp, and all the enumerated, are to be raised and produced.

This I conceive is his Logical Inference on the Negatives, to which he adds an Irony [Page] on the Word (smith) which Word was happily added; for without it, he might have had some Ground for Cavil; for my plain Meaning was, That a great Number of idle and profligate Persons, of Convicts, and the Scum of Goals, &c. were not the Riches of a Country, and no judicious Person can suppose they are. But he continues from the same Logical Forge, I am offended that Palatines should be put in the Front, &c. If his Prejudice to Palatines had not sowred his Temper, he could never have made such Deductions from my Words in Ways and Means, pag. 11. as put in the Front, monopolize a Character; for 'tis plain to any unprejudiced Man, That industrious and laborious People, Palatines, and others, are there opposed to Convicts, or Scum of Goals, of which many have come of late, and in all Probability may do no more Good here, than in the Places from whence they came, But industrious, honest People are beneficial to the Publick, increase Trade and Manufacture, &c. tho' here is nothing of Preference given to Palatines, above prior Inhabitants; nor are they so much as brought in Competition with the first Settlers and Improvers of the Province. And if any of them are so impudent as (he says they are) to imagine they have a Right to the Properties [Page]and Labours of the prior Inhabitants, 'tis easy to convince them of the contrary.

I shall further observe on the Dialogist a Quibbles on the Word Negative, which are so often repeated with Banter and Ridicule, the only Weapons of a Sort or Men to laugh those out of Countenance whom they cannot refute. But I appeal to the Discussion of Reason for the Authority of those Examples I brought to support my Position, and add in Defence of the Formality of my Argument, in Ways and Means, That as every Man has Liberty to write in what Method he thinks may be most intelligible, I shall just fie that manner of Argument by Examples from sacred Writ, of much elder Date than the Dialogist's fashionable Sermons of the middle of the last Century. I shall begin with our Saviour [...]s Discourse with the Woman of Samaria, whose Question concerning the Place of Worship was answered by two Negatives, viz. Neither in this Mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, &c. and then affirmatively in Spirit and in Truth, in Opposition to the Superstition of the one, and Formality of the other. The next Example I cite is the first Psalm, which, by some is thought to be designed by the Penman, as a Preface to that Book, where the Beatitudes there mention'd are predicated by three Negatives, Walketh not [Page]in the Counsel of the Ʋngodly, nor standeth in the Way of Sinners; nor sitteth in the Seat of the Scornful. Then it's added in Contradistinction: But his Delight is in the Law of the Lord: And if the Dialogist had not sate in the Seat of the Scornful; but had delighted in that Law, whether Internal or External, I perswade my self he would not have found such Pleasure in his Performance; all the Examples of this Kind in the sacred Writings are too numerous to insert here.

But to recur to secular Matters, in relation to the Word Negative. Suppose one should ask me, which is the best Form of Government, I would answer negatively thus;

'Tis not a Tyranny.

'Tis not an Oligarchy.

'Tis not an Olocracy.

These being Names we borrow from the Greeks, who wrote of Politicks, I would next proceed to a Definition thus: A Tyranny is, when a single Person governs by an absolute Power, for his own private Good, as in France. But where a single Person governs for the publick Good, that is called a Monarchy, as in Great Britain.

An Oligarchy is, where a Number govern for their own private Good, as at Athens, under the thirty two Tyrants; and at Rome, [Page]First under the Decemviri, and next under the' two Triumvirates successively, which made Way for enslaving the freest People in the World, and such at this present are the Lords of Poland, where the Subjects are Vassals.

But where a Number govern for the Good of the whole, that is called an Aristocracy, as in Holland.

An Olocracy is the Mis-rule of a Multitude, or a Rabble, as at Naples, under Massanello. But where the Multitude rule well, and for a common Good, this is called a Democracy; but these are generally on the Brink of Confusion, and seldom of long Continuance.

Having thus display'd, Negatively and Positively, the Vices and Vertues of the several Forms of Government from as good Authors as any amongst us, who set up for Politicks, I conclude a Government happily constituted, as the Monarchy of Great Britain, consisting of a limited Monarchy, a noble Aristocracy, and a just and prudent Democracy, This, in Answer to the Question, I pronounce (with Ancestral Zeal,) the best Form of Government, where it is practicable.

From Page 27, to 33. is a long Digression on Oeconomy, which I like very well, for the most Part; and if it were generally [Page] put in Practice, it would very much contribute to the Design of Ways and M [...]ans; for the more diligent we are in raising of Country-Produce, and retrenching our Luxury, the better Condition we shall be in to BALLANCE in TRADE, if I [...]ay without Offence, pretend to understand these Words.

Page 23. I cannot omit to observe how ready he is to turn from his most serious Discourses to Jesting, as if Satyr was become habitual to him, he makes his Chimerical Jenny's Improvidences and Neglect (the Subject thereof,) to try his Skill, in undervaluing the wretched tatter'd Stuff call'd Money. But I suppose he will acknowledge, 'twas an untoward Blunder to make Jenny say, "If our wise Folk had done so, (that is, sav'd some Cash Yearly out of what she rais'd, besides balancing with every body) "they needed never have made Paper-Money. This Stroke does not fall, as I suppose, it was intended, on the Makers of Paper-Money, (when there was no other Way to support Trade and Credit;) but on our Quondam Patriots, who did not find it consist with their private Interest to clog the injurious Parts of Trade: But so much of our Produce was annually confounded on Foreign Liquors, that the Remainder would not ballance our other Trade. And instead of adding something Yearly to the Cash we [Page] had, we were still drawing out, as long as any was to be had. But not to dwell longer on his Trifling, I pass on to his melancholy Conclusion, which is but a few Lines after his Waggery with Jenny's Gingerbread. So mutable are his Passions!

Page 35. I have indeed been sunk in my Spirits, and ready to weep at the melancholy Prospect before us. There is certainly Cause of Complaint of Levity, Rudeness and Excess at many Times of Concourse, as at Fairs, &c. and too often in private Companies: But I would hope better of those others there mention'd. But the Dialogist seems to despair of a Reformation, leaving Things too indefinitely at the worst for mending. I acknowledge evil Customs and Manners grow worse for Indulgence, and with Care had been taken to prevent their Growth to what they now are, long ago, which might have more easily been done then, than now. However, I am not without Hopes of a Reformation in some Degree in our Morals, as we have happily seen in our Politicks; and that, as we persist in so laudable Undertakings, the one may be conducive to promote the other: A good Step was made towards it last November Fair, where a very corrupt Practice of Youth, was totally suppress'd at that Time by the present Mayor. One End of [Page] Government is the Reformation of Manners. This the Dialogist says, he could heartily wish it in their Power; and that Preventative or discouraging Measures, might or could be taken to Effect. But I perceive he likes not the Means which he apprehends is offer'd, that is, an Impost on Rum. I think an Impost on Rum and Wine is a Discouragement to the Importation, and every Discouragement on those Foreign Liquors is an Encouragement of our own Product, and nothing can deserve more to be tax'd for the publick Revenue, than so publick a Mischief, which not only devours a great Part of our Produce, that the West-India-Markets will, or can take of us; but also hinders the Consumption of abundance of Barley, &c. which might otherwise be raised for Malt, which would be in a Manner clear Gain; for so much less Flour might often sell for as much in the West-Indies as the whole Quantity now sent, which often gluts the Markets, to the great Loss of the Adventurers; two Casks of Bread or Flour not yielding at such a Time what one would do, when there is a reasonable Demand for it. What he says of making a Law, that none should drink a Dram, or to direct how many, &c. would be impracticable; I think none will deny; for I never heard of any one so wild as to propose [Page] such Absurdities; but it does not necessarily follow, that Dram-drinking may not be discouraged, and Beer and Cyder, &c. brought more into Use. In Hopes of which we ought to wait and see what else the Government may prudently fall upon, and every Well-wisher to the publick Good, will lend a Hand to promote it.

I thought to have concluded here; but on a Review of those last recited Pages of the Dialogist, I find him so much in Love with Rum (tho in Charity I believe not, for personal Excess, as private Interest) that he is averse to an Impost on it, as an Encouragement to our own Distillers, whom he represents as a Sort of Manslayers, by turning off the poor Creatures the sooner (meaning the Drinkers of their Spirits) and undertakes phisically to determine Rum the more wholsome, which is a Controversy remote from my Design, in writing Ways and Means, where I left the Decision of this Point to the Gentlemen of that Faculty. But why Rum distilled from Melasses here, may not be as wholesom as Rum distilled from Melasses in the West-Indies, is what he should have shewn while his Hand was in, and not have turn'd us off with his Ipse dixit. For in Ways and Means, pag. 39, &c. I endeavour'd to shew [Page] the great Detriment it was to the publick Interest of this Province, to lay out so great a Part of our Product on Rum, in the West-Indies, when far less might purchase Melasses enough there to make the same Quantity of Rum here. And the Remainder of what was usually laid out for Rum would return in Money, or European Goods, and encourage Manufactory, Trade, and Navigation, as most conducive to a publick Good. But these are Thoughts foreign to some Part of Mankind.

He says, Page 38. Besides, 'tis worth Consideration, whether to encourage Distilling would not encrease the pernicious Custom of Dram-Drinking. We see what Methods are taken by most of those already in the Occupation, to promote and tempt to the Ʋse. To which I answer, that the Method of Rum-selle [...]s has been, when a Person call'd for Beer, to answer, There was very good Rum, and if he or they had a Mind to Punch, there were the other Ingredients at Hand. But the Beer was not good. Now if the Distillers have any Methods more prevalent to promote and tempt to the Use, he should let the World know it, to prevent the Temptation.

He says, And it (meaning Rum) may be demonstrated is generally purchased with our own Produce cheaper and more advantagiously, by employing our Vessels, &c. The Word Demonstration, [Page] I confess, makes a fine Sound, and 'tis not uncommon to find some Men carried away with Sounds; but as every thinking Man will be willing to know where to find it; I have endeavoured by a narrow Scrutiny, and cannot find any Thing like Demonstration to the End of the Performance.

But it had become a fair Disputant, before he had asserted the Advantages to Naviga [...]ion, by the Importation of Rum, to have duly consider'd and refuted what is said in Ways and Means to the contrary, and particularly the Citation out of the Examination, page 43. But this he overlooks, and gives us only his own Magisterial Say-so.

FINIS.

[Page]

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

A Just Rebuke TO A DIALOGUE BETWIXT Simon and Timothy, SHEWING What's therein to be found.

Namely Levity, Perversion, and Detraction. All which are detected in this short Examen.

And that short Treatise, entituled Ways and Means, &c. rescued from the Dialogist [...]s unjust Charge of Inconsistences and Contradictions.

Ad decus & libertatem nati sumus.

Philadelphia: Printed by S. Keimer, in Market-street, MDCCXXVI.

Information about this book

Title statement

A just rebuke to a dialogue betwixt Simon and Timothy, shewing what's therein to be found. Namely levity, perversion, and detraction. All which are detected in this short examen. : And that short treatise, entituled Ways and means, &c. rescued from the dialogist's unjust charge of inconsistences and contradictions. : [One line in Latin]

Rawle, Francis, ca. 1662-1727.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N02365

ID [TCP]

N02365

ID [STC]

Evans 2807

ID [NOTIS]

APV7309

ID [IMAGE-SET]

2807

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99002834

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 2807.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N02365)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 2807)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 2807)

Source

— A just rebuke to a dialogue betwixt Simon and Timothy, shewing what's therein to be found. Namely levity, perversion, and detraction. All which are detected in this short examen. : And that short treatise, entituled Ways and means, &c. rescued from the dialogist's unjust charge of inconsistences and contradictions. : [One line in Latin], Rawle, Francis, ca. 1662-1727..

Extent

31, [1] p.

Printed by S. Keimer, in Market-Street,,. Philadelphia: :: MDCCXXVI. [1726]. (Attributed to Francis Rawle by Evans.)

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