[No. LX.j
THE TABLE T. No. LX.
" Among a people well-educated, the ladies have
more flattery bejlowed on them than the gentlemen t and
it begins sooner."
IT cannot be supposed that women have
naturally more prideof characteror more
personal vanity, than men. Both alike have
their paflions and propenlities in nature. The
different modes of male and female education
create a difference in opinions and manners, which
is merely artificial. Vanity, when it is well
managed, is perhaps one of the moit ufeful quali
ties, that either sex pollefles. It is so elastic a
lpringof action as generally stimulates very vi
goroully to the attainment of the object it has in
view. The hero glories in his martial achieve
ments ; the rich man in his riches ; the strong
man in the ftrengthof his arms. But the effeifts
ofvanity are no where foconfpicuoufly, orfo ufe
fully displayed as in regulating the female cha
racter and conduct. It is therefore peculiarly
elfential that it should be cultivated in women,
becaule the cuftomsof society cxpofe the actions
of a female to a scrutiny rigorously exact. She
must be restrained from error by motives Angu
larly strong and lively, or her deportment will
scarcely bear such rigor of inspection.
The flattery bestowed on the ladies by all civiliz
ed people operates upon their vanity, in such a
degree, as to guard them against the temptations,
ty which they are on all fides aflailed. Fondness
for personal decorations, andatafte for elegance
highly cultivated, form an almost impregnable
barrier against the allurements of vice, or the
art 9 of pernicious seduction. It must be confefled,
however, this paflion may be misapplied, and
through the address of artful men, may become a
snare rather than a protection to the unwary fe
male. But the usual efleet of it is different, and
it much oftener protects virtue than betrays it.
Those, who set the highest value upon charac
ter, will be the molt cautious to avoid those stains
that defile it. The complimentary language, in
which ladies are frequently addrelled, encreafes
the ardor of their pride. Of course, they are
less ealily beguiled in to actions that will expose
them to alofs of reputation, than they would be,
liad they less elevated ideas of the worth of cha
racter. The partaffigned to females, in the ma
nagement of domestic concerns, makes it requi
site that they should observe the ftriiteft purity
of manners. Thus it appears that flattery is at
tended with real utility, whatever may be the mo
tive thatgivesrife to it. Indeed when it becomes
a general custom to gratify ladies with polite and
flattering expreflions, men acquire habits of po
liteness as a matter of course, and use such a ci
vility, when they are prompted by no other mo
tives, than merely to appear civil and well-bred.
The mi (application of flattery, in some instances,
should not be urged as an argument against the
general advantages it produces. It saves fifty
characters, where it destroys one.
Pride is a paflion,that with proper management,
may controul many of the excefles of otlier pas
sions. A proud man will scarcely become akna
viih one, and he must lose part of his pride before
he can become a drunkard. With women it has
Hill greater efficacy. The felf-denials they so
cheerfully bear, in many instances, where men
give themselves indulgence, is owing very much
to those lively sentiments of pride, which become
a predominating motive of action. Those who
direct the education of females should give great
attention to the manner in which flattery is paid
to ihem. They should learn to prize such
'virtues and accomplishments as are in themselves
most valuable. The inconvenience, that some
women have derived fron. being too much flat
tered, proceeds from an improper choice of the
qualifications that have been made the ob»
jeets of commendation. When care is taken
to inspire them with just ot character,
their veneration for it can never be too much en
creased by complimentsandpralfes.
MR. ADAMS'S LETTERS.
LETTER IX.
Amsterdam, Oct. 16, 17S0.
S 7 R,
THE .ninth question is, " Hc-.u flrong the Eng
lijh land force is in A?nerica ? How Jlrong it
vas at the beginning ? And -whether it increafcs or
diminijhes ?
ACCORDING to the eftiroates laid before par
liament, the army under General Howe, General
Carlton, and General Burgoyne, amount to fifty
five thonfand men, besides volunteers, refugees,
tories, in lhort all the recruits raised in Canada,
«iul all other parts of America, under whatever
denomination. If wc suppose that all these, in
SATURDAY, November 7; 17^9.
Canada, and elsewhere, amounted to five thousand
men, the whole, according to this computation,
amounted to sixty tlioufand land forces.
This eltimate, however, mull have been made
from the number of regiments, and must have
supposed them all to be full.
General Howe, however, in his Narrative, page
4J, tells us, that his whole force, at the time when
he landed on Long-Island, in 1776, amounted to
twenty thousand one hundred and twenty one
rank and file—of which one thousand fix hundred
and seventy-seven were sick.
By a regular return of General Burgoyne's ar
my, after its captivity in 1777, it amounted, in
Canadian provincials, British and German troops,
to upwards of ten thousand men. We may sup
pose, that four thousand men were left in Cana
da for the garrison of Quebec, Montreal, and the
great number of other posts in that province. To
these numbers, if we add the oilicers, we may
fairly allow the whole land force at that time to
be forty tlioufand combatants.
Tliis is all the answer that I ain able to give,
from memory, to the quellion, " How ftrongthe
British army was }"
In order to give an answer to the other, " How
strong it is !" let us consider :
1. There has been no large reinforcement ever
feat to America since that time. They havefent
some troops every year—but these never amount
ed to more than recruits, and, probably, rather
fall short of filling up the vacancies which were
made in the cOurfeof the year, by desertion and
death, by sickness and the sword—Co that, upon
the whole, I think it may be fafely said, that the
army never has been greater than it was in 1 776.
But we mull: deduct from this ten thousand
men taken with Burgoyne,one thousand HeJlians
taken at Trenton and Princeton, and indeed,
many more, taken by two or three hundred at a
time, upon other occaiions.
In the next place, we must dedud:, I suppose,
about ten thousand more, sent, since the French
war, to Jamaica, St. Lucia, and the
other Weft-India iiiands.
So that, upon the whole, I think we make an
ample allowance, if we state the whole number
nowin New-York,Carolina, and Georgia,includ
ing all refugees,&c. at twenty thousand men, of
ficers included.
This is, in part, an answer to the question,—
" Whether their force increases or diminilhes ?"
But it fliould be farther considered, that there is
a constant and rapid consumption of their men.
Manydie of sickness, numbers desert, there have
been frequent fkirmiflies, in which they have ever
had more men killed and wounded than the A
mericans:—And now, so many of their troops are
in Carolina and Georgia, where the climate is so
unhealthy, that there is great reason to expecft
that thegreateft part of that army will die of dis
ease. And whoever considers the efforts the Eng
lish have made in Germany, Ireland, Scotland,
and England, as well as in America, for seven
years fucceifiTely, to raise men—the vast bounties
they have offered, and the few they have obtain
ed :—Whoever eonfiders the numbers they must
lose, this year, by the fevei ity of duty, and by
fickuefs, in New-York, Carolina, Georgia, and
theWeft-India islands—and the numbers that have
been taken going to Quebec, North-America, the
East and Weft-Indies, will be convinced, that all
the efforts they can make will not enable them
for the future to keep their numbers good.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.
MR. CALKOEN.
THE OBSERVER. No. 111.
The public debt of the union may be so managed as to
prove a great national benefit.
FEW evils are so great but wisdom and appli
cation may derive from them eventual ad
vantages, which -will more than balance the loss
at firft apprehended. Ot all the evils consequent
upon your late glorious war, the immense debt
incurred by the public hath been esteemed the
great-eft, and one for which a remedy was the
inoft difficult without doing such injufticeto indi
viduals, as must excite the abhorence of lioneft
men. That this hath as yet been a perplexed bu
(iuefs, all will allow—That this debt with its past
management, hath diftrefled both the people and
the creditors is undeniable—but we ought not to
impute those diftrettes to the debt itfelf, which
have arofealtnoft wholly from impolitic manage
ment. The people of this country were as new
in the arts of finance, as those of war—in the last
you have excelled and conquered ; and in the firft
may soon become eminent, iffome popular preju
dices donor prevent. It is not strange that your
finances were deranged, and the people and ere-
\Publijbid on IV edutjday and Saturday ,'j
ditors both in a state of fuff'eringunder an admi
liiltration without lyftem or energy, and which
was unable to bring any exertions to a point.
To load the people with enormous taxes would
be wicked and impolitic, and for this there is 110
need. In foine future numbers of this paper, I
shall endeavor to point out the means of doing
such jnftice to the public creditors, that if reason
able men, they will feel thenifelves contented,
without a burden on the people half as heavy as
they have borne. At present I will mention a
number of national benefits to be derived from the
public debt, if managed wifely. There are very
few instances in which an individual can be bene
fited by credit, beyond his present ability to pay ;
but Wvth a nation the cafe is different. Great Bri
tain lies under the lieavieft debt of any nation on
earth—and this very debt hath in a number of
instances been the means of Iter prefcrvation, by
interesting rich subjects to afford their aid, w'hen
110 other could be obtained—they advanced new
sums to preserve those national funds, in which
they had a great property already vested.
Tlii) we hope America will never have need to
profit by her debt in this way, there are other ad
vantages she may derive. A public debt is a band
of union, and interests a powerful and opulent
class of citizens tofupport the government under
which it is contracted. An increase of transfer
able property is another advantage which may be
derived from the national debt. Commerce, ma
nufactures, and the conveniencies of life, require
that a certain proportion of property be of such a
uature as may be easily negociated or transferee!
from man toman. Of this kind are articles of
barter, gold and silver coin, and bills of credit.—
TodeteVmins exactly how great a proportion of
:his kind of property would be a public advantage
is impossible. Many of the belt judges imagine
that the whole national debt, upon a proper estab
lishment, 'would not be too great for this extensive
and growing country. There has been a specieS
as transferal commonly called speculating in pub
lic securities, which is but a kind of gaming, and
is attended with 110 advantage to the State
:his hasarifen not as much from an undue quanti
ty, as from a distrust of public faich, and a want
offyftetfi in the finance of the Union, and of par
ticular States.—Let this debt be funded in honor
mdjuftice, and it will foonhave a regular value,
:lie transferal will no longer be the work of fpe
rulators, but take place between citizens of ano
ther character, the commercial and the induftri
sus, as their own interest may require, and thus
become an immense ftockfor the benefit of trade
md manufactures. The true interest of agricul
ture and commerce naturally embrace each other,
and in the state of this country cannot be fepera
ted. All clalfes of citizens have right to protec
tion for thenifelves and their property; but if
there be anyone which hath the best claim to be
regarded in public measures, it is the American
Farmers, as they constitute the most numerous
part of the people. The national debt may be so
funded as to produce great consequential advan
tages to the F artners—and prove the means of their
procuring a much better price for their produce
and raw materials, than can otherwise be expect
ed. So far as relates to the present question, a
landed property may be considered as fixed, and
not transferable. 111 anew country, and where
land is cheap as in the United. States, the inhabi
tants when they have power to do it, will reft their
property in solid foil. The produce of the Farm
ers land is loose and transferable property, and.
that it may bear a just price, it is neceflary there
should be an equal quantity of property within
the community, in such a situation that it may be
commanded to make pay to the farmer, for the
fruit of his toil.
The produce of the country and our raw ma
terials for manufactures, will always command a
just price in some part of the world ; and it is the
business of commerce to collect and tranfporc
them to the place in which they are wanted.
If foreigners are under the neceffityof coming
to us and collecting the articles they need, the
price received by the farmer will be limited as
they please. Make the supposition that one half
the property now in commerce within the UnitcJ
States, were to be annihilated ; tho' our produce
might bear the fame price in the markets of Eu»
rope, it would probably diminish the home price
one third. The purchasers would be few—the
markets would be over stocked—the produce of
your farms being in its nature perishable, must
be soon vended, and the remaining half of com
mercial property would command out of your
hands, nearly the fame quantity of produce, as
the whole would have done,if preserved. In this
cafe the loss would be as sensibly felt by the far
mers as by the merchant. It Ls always the cafe in
a new and agricultural country, that the trans*