the enemy. Nothing but our want of public virtue can induce a continuance of the war.

Let them once see, that, as it is in our power, so it is our inclination and intention, to overcome this difficulty; and the idea of conquest, or hope of bringing us back to a state of dependence, will vanish like the morning dew. They can no more encounter this kind of opposition, than the hoar-frost can withstand the rays of the all-cheering sun. The liberty and safety of this country depend upon it. The way is plain; the means are in our power. But it is virtue alone that can effect it.

1779.

To make and extort money, in every shape that can be devised, and at the same time to decry its value, seems to have become a mere business, and an epidemical disease, calling for the interposition of every good man and body of men.

1778.

GREAT DEPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY.

The depreciation has got to so alarming a point, that a wagon-load of money will scarcely purchase a wagon-load of provisions.

1779.

THE STATE OF THE CURRENCY, THE NATION'S GREAT

EVIL.

Nothing, I am convinced, but the depreciation of our currency, has fed the hopes of the enemy, and kept the British arms in America to this day. They do not scruple to declare this themselves; and add, that we shall be our own conquerors.

Cannot our common country, America, possess virtue enough to disappoint them? Is the paltry consideration of a little pelf to individuals, to be placed in competition with the essential rights and liberties of the present generation, and of millions yet unborn? Shall a few designing men, for their own aggrandizement, and to gratify their own avarice, overset the goodly fabric we have been rearing at the expense of so much time, blood, and treasure?

Shall we at last become the victims of our own lust of gain? Forbid it, Heaven! Forbid it, all and every State of the Union, by enacting and enforcing efficacious laws for checking the growth of these monstrous evils, and restoring matters, in some degree, to the state they were in at the commencement of the war!

1779.

SPECULATORS IN THE CURRENCY.

This tribe of black gentry work more effectually against us, than the enemy's arms.

They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties, and the great cause we are engaged in.

1779.

It is much to be lamented, that each State, long ere this, has not hunted them down, as pests to society, and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America.

I would to God, that some one of the most atrocious in each State, was hung upon a gallows, five times as high as the one prepared by Haman.

No punishment, in my opinion, is too great for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin.

1778.

Let vigorous measures be adopted; not to limit the prices of articles, for this, I believe, is inconsistent with the very nature of things, and impracticable in itself; but to punish Speculators, Forestallers, and Extortioners, and, above all, to sink the money by heavy taxes, to promote public and private economy, and encourage manufactures.

Measures of this sort, gone heartily into by the several States, would strike at once at the root of all our evils, and give the coup de grace to the British hope of subjugating this continent, either by their arms or their arts. The former, they acknowledge, are unequal to the task; the latter, I am sure, will be So, if we are not lost to every thing that is good and virtuous.

1779.

UNIFORMITY OF CURRENCY, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES.

Uniformity in the Currency, Weights, and Measures of the United States, is an object of great importance.

1790.

THE MINT.

The disorders in the existing Currency, and especially the scarcity of small change, (a scarcity, so peculiarly distressing to the poorer classes,) strongly recommend the carrying into immediate effect the resolution already entered into, concerning the establishment of a Mint.

1791.

COINAGE.

A coinage of gold, silver, and copper, is a measure which, in my opinion, has become indispensably necessary. Without a coinage, or lest some stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of money, our dollars, pistareens, &c., will be converted, as Teague says, into five quarters; and a man must travel with a pair of scales in his pocket, or run the risk of receiv-` ing gold, at one fourth less by weight than it counts.

1785.

The Mint of the United States has entered upon

the coinage of the precious metals, and considerable sums of defective coins and bullion have been lodged with the director, by individuals.

There is a pleasing prospect, that the institution will, at no remote day, realize the expectation which was originally formed of its utility.

6. THE JUDICIARY.

CIVIL MAGISTRATES.

The dispensation of justice belongs to the civil magistrate; and let it ever be our pride and our glory, to leave the sacred deposit there inviolate.

1794.

THE JUDICIARY SYSTEM.

I have always been persuaded, that the stability and success of the National Government, and consequently the happiness of the people of the United States, would depend, in a considerable degree, on the interpretation and execution of its laws.

In my opinion, it is important, that the Judiciary