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by the General at five hundred dollars, 

 and sold for one hundred. The General 

 died as great a friend to his country 

 as he lived : such a will makes a great 

 rumour. I have heard it repeatedly said 

 that he died richer than any monarch upon 

 earth. When I have been saying in 

 company that there was no farming to any 

 advantage in America, it would be observ- 

 ed what a fortune General Washington 

 had acquired by farming. If land and 

 negroes make a man rich, he was so : but I 

 do not think them good property. Being 

 in company one day, it was said that Ge- 

 neral Ridgely and Mr. Carrol of Annapolis 

 were two of the richest men in Maryland. 

 There was a young gentleman in compa- 

 ny, an American, who made an observation 

 which I thought right : he asked what did 

 their riches consist in? land and ne- 

 groes ? he compared them to dust and 

 ashes. Now, from the planting tobacco, 

 there must be expected to be a numerous 

 progeny of negroes ; and in a series of / 



