How
disagreeable must the work of reformation be; how dreaded the
operation; for we hear of no amendment:
On the contrary, the great
number of European emigrants, yearly coming over here, informs us,
that the severity of taxes, the injustice of laws, the tyranny of
the rich, and the oppressive avarice of the church; are as
intolerable as ever. Will these calamities have no end? Are not the
great rulers of the earth afraid of losing, by degrees, their most
useful subjects? This country, providentially intended for the
general asylum of the world, will flourish by the oppression of
their people; they will every day become better acquainted with the
happiness we enjoy, and seek for the means of transporting
themselves here, in spite of all obstacles and laws. To what purpose
then have so many useful books and divine maxims been transmitted to
us from preceding ages? - Are they all vain, all useless? Must human
nature ever be the sport of the few, and its many wounds remain
unhealed? How happy are we here, in having fortunately escaped the
miseries which attended our fathers; how thankful ought we to be,
that they reared us in a land where sobriety and industry never fail
to meet with the most ample rewards! You have, no doubt, read
several histories of this continent, yet there are a thousand facts,
a thousand explanations overlooked. Authors will certainly convey to
you a geographical knowledge of this country; they will acquaint you
with the eras of the several settlements, the foundations of our
towns, the spirit of our different charters, etc., yet they do not
sufficiently disclose the genius of the people, their various
customs, their modes of agriculture, the innumerable resources which
the industrious have of raising themselves to a comfortable and easy
situation.
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