Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/252

238 equal to 48,208 guineas, the real coſt of the apparatus of government with us. This divided among the actual inhabitants of our country, comes to about two-fifths of a dollar, 21d. ſterling, or 42 ſols, the price which each pays annually for the protection of the reſidue of his property, and the other advantages of a free government. The public revenue of Great-Britain divided in like manner on its inhabitants would be 16 times greater. Deducting even the double of the expences of government, as before eſtimated, from the million and a half of dollars which we before ſuppoſed might be annually paid without diſtreſs, we may conclude that this ſtate can contribute one million of dollars annually towards ſupporting the federal army, paying the federal debt, building a federal navy, or opening roads, clearing rivers, forming ſafe ports, and other uſeful works.

To this eſtimate of our abilities, let me add a word as to the application of them. If when cleared of the preſent conteſt, and of the debts with which that will charge us, we come to meaſure force hereafter with any European power. Such events are devoutly to be deprecated. Young as we are, and with ſuch a country before us to fill with people and with happineſs, we ſhould point in that direction the whole generative force of nature, waſting none of it in efforts of mutual deſtruction. It ſhould be our endeavor to cultivate the peace and friendſhip of every nation, even of that which has injured us moſt, when we ſhall have carried our point againſt her. Our intereſt will be to throw open the doors of commerce, and to knock off all its ſhackles, giving perfect freedom to all perſons for the vent of whatever they may