mated at about 30,000 & so would have made the whole 2,448,000 persons of every condition. But it is to be observed that tho Congress made this census the basis of their apportionment, yet they did not even give it a place on their journals; much less publish it to the world with their sanction. The way it got abroad was this. As the members declared from their seats the number of inhabitants which they conjectured to be in their state, the secretary of Congress wrote them on a piece of paper, calculated the portion of 2 millions of dollars accordingly & entered the sum only in the journals. The members however for their own satisfaction and the information of their states, took copies of this enumeration & sent them to their states. From thence they got into the public papers: and when the English newswriters found it answered their purpose to compare this with the numeration of 1783, as their principle is "to lie boldly that they may not be suspected of lying" they made it amount to 3,137,809 and ascribed it's publication to Congress itself.

In April 1785, Congress being to call on the states to raise a million & a half of dollars annually for 25 years, it was necessary to apportion this among them. The states had never furnished them with their exact numbers. It was agreed too that in this apportionment 5 slaves should be counted as 3 freemen only. The preparation of this business was in the hands of a Committee. They applied to the members for the best information they could give them of the numbers of their states. Some of the states had taken pains to discover their numbers. Others had done nothing in that way, & of course were now where they were in 1775 when their members were first called on to declare their numbers. Under these circumstances, & on the principle of counting threefifths only of the slaves, the Committee apportioned the money among the states & reported their work to Congress. In this they had assessed S. Carolina as having 170,000 inhabitants. The delegate for that state however prevailed on Congress to assess them on the footing of 150,000 only, in consideration of the state of total devastation in which the enemy had left their country. The difference was then laid on the other states, and the following was the result.

Still however Congress refused to give the numeration the sanction of a place on their journals, because it was not formed on such evidence as a strict attention to accuracy & truth required. They used it from necessity, because they could get no better rule, and they entered on their journals only the apportionment of money. The members, however, as before, took copies of the numeration which was the groundwork of the apportionment, sent them to their states, & thus this second numeration got into the public papers, & was by the English ascribed to Congress, as their declaration of the present numbers. To get at the real numbers which this numeration supposes, we must add 20.000 to the number on which S. Carolina was quoted; we must consider that 700.000 slaves are counted but as 420.000 persons, & add on that account 280.000. This will give us a total of 2.639.300 inhabitants of every condition in the 13 states, being 221.300 more than the numeration of 1775, instead of 798.509 loss, which the English papers asserted to be the diminution of numbers in the United States according to the confession of Congress itself.

millions."

"Comportera peut etre une population de thirty

The territories of the United States contain about a million of square miles, English. There is in them a greater proportion of fertile lands than in the British dominions in Europe. Suppose the territory of the U. S. then to attain an equal degree of

population with the British European dominions, they will have an hundred millions of inhabitants. Let us extend our views to what may be the population of the two continents of North & South America supposing them divided at the narrowest part of the isthmus of Panama. Between this line and that of 50° of north latitude the northern continent contains about 5 millions of square miles, and South of this line of division the Southern continent contains about 7 millions of square miles. I do not pass the 50th degree of northern latitude in my reckoning, because we must draw a line somewhere, & considering the soil & climate beyond that, I would only avail my calculation of it, as a make weight, to make good what the colder regions within that line may be supposed to fall short in their future population. Here are 12 millions of square miles then, which at the rate of population before assumed, will nourish 1200 millions of inhabitants, a number greater than the present population of the whole globe is supposed to amount to. If those who propose medals for the resolution of questions, about which nobody makes any question, those who have invited discussions on the pretended problem Whether the discovery of America was for the good of mankind? if they, I say, would have viewed it only as doubling the numbers of mankind, & of course the quantum of existence & happiness, they might have saved the money & the reputation which their proposition has cost them. The present population of the inhabited parts of the U. S. is of about 10. to the square mile; & experience has shown us, that wherever we reach that the inhabitants become uneasy, as too much compressed, and go off in great numbers to search for vacant country. Within 40 years the whole territory will be peopled at that rate. We may fix that then as the term beyond which the people of those states will not be restrained within their present limits; we may fix it too as the term of population, which they will not exceed till the whole of those two continents are filled up to that mark, that is to say, till they shall contain 120 millions of inhabitants. The soil of the country on the western side of the Mississippi, it's climate, & it's vicinity to the U. S. point it out as the first which will receive population from that The present occupiers will just have force enough to re

nest.

press & restrain the emigrations to a certain degree of consistence. We have seen lately a single person go & decide on a settlement in Kentucky, many hundred miles from any white inhabitant, remove thither with his family and a few neighbors, & though perpetually harassed by the Indians, that settlement in the course of 10 years has acquired 30.000 inhabitants, it's numbers are increasing while we are writing, and the state of which it formerly made a part has offered it independance.

Pa. 280, line five. "Huit des onze etats" &c. Say "there were 10 states present. 6. voted unanimously for it, 3 against it, and one was divided and seven votes being requisite to decide the proposition affirmatively, it was lost. The voice of a single individual of the state which was divided, or of one of those which were of the negative, would have prevented this abominable crime from spreading itself over the new country. Thus we see the fate of millions unborn hanging on the tongue of one man, & heaven was silent in that awful moment! But it is to be hoped it will not always be silent & that the friends to the rights of human nature will in the end prevail. On the 16th of March 1785 it was moved in Congress that the same proposition should be referred to a Committee, & it was referred by the votes of 8 states against 3. We do not hear that anything further is yet done on it."

Pa. 280. Note (a).
Note (a). I would wish this note to be omitted.

Pa. 281. "L'acte federatif lui donne le droit de prononcer sur tout ce qui a rapport, au bien general de l'union, & line 6 the word 'ainsi." It is better to omit these words, the passage stands right without them, & they would give a false idea not only of the principle on which Congress proceeded, but of their general powers.

Pa. 283. line 4. from bottom. "8 per cent, excepté en Virginie ou il etoit de 6 per cent" say "5 per cent in most, if not in all the states & still continues the same."

Pa. 286. "L'autorité du Congrés etoit necessaire." The substance of the passage alluded to in the Journ of Congr., May 26th. 1784, is, "that the authority of Congress to make requisitions of troops during peace is questioned, that such an authority would be dangerous, combined with the acknoledged one of emitting or

borrowing money, and that a few troops only being wanted to guard magazines & garrison the frontier posts, it would be more proper at present to recommend than to require."

Pa. 287. 'Nous n'osons nous permettre &c.—ce n'est pas tout' in the 4th line of the next page. I think all this passage had better be left out. It will alarm the states & damp their dispositions to strengthen the hands of Congress.

Pa. 291. 1. 8. from the bottom. 'Tous les terreins qui se trouvent en deça.' Say' toute la territoire de Kentucky qui est en deça.' Pa. 291. 1. 6 from bottom. After 'appartenoient' add 'au celle des Montagnes Alleghanies.'

Pa. 296. Consentement unanimé,' the words in the original are the 'joint consent of Congress & of the particular state' on the part of Congress the vote need not be unanimous. Seven states will suffice. This observation shews that the passage' on sera peutetre surpris '-to 'dont nous parlous' should be omitted. Pa. 301. Environ' the word 'probablement' might be better, because it is probable that the cessions of Georgia will be such as will make up the number of new states 16.

Pa. 301, 1. 3 from bottom. 'Huit ou dix ans.' It would be safer to say 'peu d'années.

Pa. 302.

40.000' should not this be 32.000'? Also pa. 304. Pa. 304. 'Canne à sucre' is a mistaken translation of the English word 'cane,' which means a reed i.e. canne, ou roseau. It is the Arundo phragmitis of the botanists. By 'Coffee tree' the author must mean some tree bearing berries which are used as coffee. There can certainly be no coffee tree in that latitude.

Pa. 307. Omit the note (a). It has been before observed that Virginia has consented to the independance of Kentucky, but the consent of Kentucky itself & of Congress are still wanting. Pa. 323. Between line 7. & 8. I can make a communication to M. de Meusnier which I dare say he will be glad to give an account of at this place.

150.000.' I am of opinion that the proportion of persons to warriors among the Indians may be generally estimated at about 10 to 3. Consequently we must not reckon that nations of Indians containing 25.000 warriors have more than about 80.000 persons.