Page:Letters of John Andrews.djvu/37

 LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 3]

have no just conception how sensibly I am affected in my business. If" you'll believe me (though 1 have gol near two thousand sterling out in debts and about as much more in stock) I have not received above eighty i>r ninety pounds Lawful money from both resources for above two months past ; though previous to the port's being shut. I thought il an ordinary day's work if I did not carry home from "JO to 10 dollars every evening. Consequently the burthen falls heaviest, it' not entirely, upon the middling people among us; for the poor (who always liv'd from hand to mouth, i.e. depended on one (lav's labour to supply the wants of another) will he supported by the beneficence of the colonics; and the rich, who liv'd upon their incomes either as land-holders or usurers, will still have the same benefit from their wealth, for if one tenant is incapacitated to pay the annual rent, there is always another ready, thai is able, to supply his- place, and some among the money- lenders will rather he benefitted by our calamities, for many among us, who have heretofore been good livers (will not he esteem'd as objects of charity while they preserve that appearance, whether they have anything left which they can call their own. or not) if our embarrass- ments should continue very long, must he necessitated to take upon what tittle interest they may have left under very great disadvantages to themselves, and perhaps to the emolument of' those who would be thought their benefactors. Such are the inevitable consequences result- ing from a Stoppage of trade ; for if you consider the branch of the distillery of rum alone, at the smallest computation. i< allow'd to he a loss of six thousand pounds Lawful money, a week to the town, as the expence attending the transportation of molasses 28 or •'!<> miles hy land, and the rum when made the same distance (to he ship'd for foreign market-) is equal to a prohibition — that the manufacturers of that article in Mistick, Watertown, Salem. Haverhill and Newbury engross the whole of the trade, and its a chance (after being long used to those channels tin- a supply) whether it will ever revert to us again. The constant intercourse of heavy loaded carriages passing between this and Salem has so worn the road, in addition to the many uphills and down, that those carriers and waggoners, who prided themselves in keeping their horses fat and in good case, are obliged to submit to the mortification of being able to count their ribs, without the assistance of artificial optics, or the sense of feeling, such is the fatigue they undergo! If so now. what will it he in the tall and winter, when every step will immerze 'em a foot or two deep in mud and mire. In one of your letters you give me to understand that you expected, or would

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