Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/292

282 variety, ingenuity, and utility of his handiworks, than for the antiquity of his family. They are pleaſed with the obervation of a negro, and frequently mention it, that Boccarorra (meaning the white man) make de black man workee, make de horſe workee, make de ox workee, make ebery ting workee; only de hog. He de hog, no workee; he eat, he drink, he walk about, he go to ſleep when he pleaſe, he libb like a gentleman. According to theſe opinions of the Americans, one of them would think himſelf more obliged to a genealogiſt, who could prove for him that his anceſtors and relations for ten generations had been ploughmen, ſmiths, carpenters, turners, weavers, tanners, or even ſhoemakers, and conſequently that they were uſeful members of ſociety; than if he could only prove that they were gentlemen, doing nothing of value, but living idly on the labour of others, mere fruges conſumere nati, and other- wife good for nothing, till by their death their eſtates, like the carcaſe of the negro's gentleman-hog, come to be cut up.

With regard to encouragements for ſtrangers from government, they are really only what are derived from good laws and liberty. Strangers are welcome, becaufe there is room enough for them all, and therefore the old inhabitants are not jealous of them; the laws protect them ſufficiently, ſo that they have no need of the patronage of great men; and every one will enjoy ſecurely the profits of his induſtry. But if he does not bring a fortune with him, he muſt work and be induſtrious to live. One or two years reſidence give him all the rights of a citizen;