Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/255

Rh which Virginia could annually ſpare without diſtreſs, to be applied to the creating a navy. A ſingle year's contribution would build, equip, man, and ſend to ſea a force which ſhould carry 300 guns. The reſt of the confederacy, exerting themſelves in the ſame proportion, would equip in the ſame time 1500 guns more. So that one year's contributions would ſet up a navy of 1800 guns. The Britiſh ſhips of the line average 76 guns; their frigates 38. 1800 guns then would form a fleet of 30 ſhips, 18 of which might be of the line, and 12 frigates. Allowing 8 men, the Britiſh average, for every gun, their annual expence, including ſubſiſtence, clothing, pay, and ordinary repairs, would be about 1280 dollars for every gun, or 2,304,000 dollars for the whole. I ſtate this only as one year's poſſible exertion, without deciding whether more or leſs than a year's exertion ſhould be thus applied.

The value of our lands and ſlaves, taken conjunctly, doubles in about twenty years. This ariſes from the multiplication of our ſlaves, from the extenſion of culture, and increaſed demand for lands. The amount of what may be raiſed will of courſe riſe in the ſame proportion.

 

HE hiſtories of the ſtate, the memorials publiſhed in its name in the time of its being a colony, and the pamphlets relating to its interior or exterior affairs preſent or ancient? 