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Page 10
The remark which the Abbe, in the conclusion of the passage, has made
respecting America contracting debts in the time of her prosperity (by
which he means, before the breaking out of hostilities), serves to
shew, though he has not yet made the application, the very great
commercial difference between a dependant and an independent country.
In a state of dependence, and with a fettered commerce, though with
all the advantages of peace, her trade could not balance herself, and
she annually run into debt. But now, in a state of independence,
though involved in war, she requires no credit; her stores are full of
merchandise, and gold and silver are become the currency of the
country. How these things have established themselves, it is difficult
to account for: but they are facts, and facts are more powerful than
arguments.
As it is probable this letter will undergo a republication in Europe,
the remarks here thrown together will serve to show the extreme folly
of Britain, in resting her hopes of success on the extinction of our
paper currency. The expectation is at once so childish and forlorn,
that it places her in the laughable condition of a famished lion
watching for prey at a spider's web.
From this account of the currency, the Abbe proceeds to state the
condition of America in the winter of 1777, and the spring following;
and closes his observations with mentioning the treaty of alliance,
which was signed in France, and the propositions of the British
ministry, which were rejected in America. But in the manner in which
the Abbe has arranged his facts, there is a very material error, that
not only he, but other European historians, have fallen into: none of
them having assigned the true cause why the British proposals were
rejected, and all of them have assigned a wrong one.
In the winter of 1777, and spring following, Congress were assembled
at York-Town, in Pennsylvania, the British were in possession of
Philadelphia, and General Washington with the army were encamped in
huts at the Valley-Forge, twenty-five miles distant therefrom. To all
who can remember, it was a season of hardship, but not of despair; and
the Abbe, speaking of this period and its inconveniences, says,
"A multitude of privations, added to so many other misfortunes, might
make the Americans regret their former tranquillity, and incline them
to an accommodation with England. In vain had the people been bound to
the new Government by the sacredness of oaths, and the influence of
religion. In vain had endeavors been used to convince them, that it
was impossible to treat safely with a country in which one parliament
might overturn what should have been established by another. In vain
had they been threatened with the eternal resentment of an exasperated
and vindictive enemy. It was possible that these distant troubles
might not be balanced by the weight of present evils.
"So thought the British ministry when they sent to the New World
public agents authorized to offer every thing except independence to
these very Americans, from whom they had two years before exacted an
unconditional submission. It is not improbable, but that by this plan
of conciliation, a few months sooner, some effect might have been
produced. But at the period at which it was proposed by the Court of
London, it was rejected with disdain, because this measure appeared
but as an argument of fear and weakness. The people were already
re-assured. The Congress, the Generals, the troops, the bold and
skilful men in each colony, had possessed themselves of the authority;
every thing had recovered its first spirit. _This was the effect of a
treaty of friendship and commerce between the United States and the
Court of Versailles, signed the 8th of February, 1778._"
On this passage of the Abbe's I cannot help remarking, that, to unite
time with circumstance, is a material nicety in history; the want of
which frequently throws it into endless confusion and mistake,
occasions a total separation between causes and consequences, and
connects them with others they are not immediately, and sometimes not
at all, related to.
The Abbe, in saying that the offers of the British ministry "were
rejected with disdain," is _right_ as to the _fact_, but _wrong_ as to
the _time_; and this error in the time, has occasioned him to be
mistaken in the cause.
The signing the treaty of Paris the 6th of February, 1778, could have
no effect on the mind or politics of America, until it was _known in
America_; and therefore, when the Abbe says, that the rejection of the
British offers was in consequence of the alliance, he must mean, that
it was in consequence of the alliance _being known_ in America; which
was not the case: and by this mistake he not only takes from her the
reputation, which her unshaken fortitude in that trying situation
deserves, but is likewise led very injuriously to suppose that had she
_not known_ of the treaty, the offers would probably have been
accepted; whereas she knew nothing of the treaty at the time of the
rejection, and consequently did not reject them on that ground.
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