352 WORK IN WAR-TIME CHAP. 



Quakers furnish a proof that oaths are not absolutely neces- 

 sary, and I know that to some of them the affirmation per- 

 mitted to them in England is considered a reproach, and 

 degrading to the dignity of human nature. What, says one 

 of them, have I done to give occasion to suppose that I do not 

 speak truth at all times ? Let it be declared, that though 

 such kind of formalities are dropped, yet it is expected that a 

 still greater reverence should be paid to truth, and that it 

 should be made a part of universal education : that a deviation 

 would be punished by consigning the transgressor to lasting 

 infamy ; and that if parents wished their children to avoid 

 such a sentence it must be their fixed resolution to keep to 

 truth inviolably. To suggest an idea conducive to support 

 good government on a principle consistent with the dignity 

 of human nature will not be deemed improper, when a plan of 

 government is under consideration of the most extensive and 

 it is hoped of the most durable nature. 



Would it not be consistent with sound policy to avoid as 

 much as possible enacting any laws for the recovery of debts, 

 and to encourage as much as possible what may be called a 

 ready-money trade ? There can be only a certain quantity 

 of commerce in the world : the more equally this commerce 

 is diffused, the more numerous are those who are benefited 

 by it. A man trusting to the laws for the recovery of his 

 property entrusts a person of reputed credit with a large 

 share of his property. The person so entrusted increases his 

 reputation by this very means, and carries on a share of 

 commerce which would have supported many families. He 

 grows negligent, vicious, extravagant, and squanders in 

 excess, or in injudicious projects, the substance of multitudes. 

 He falls into disgrace, and lives on a portion of his spoils, and 

 spreads ruin and distress even to the unborn. This is the 

 consequence of supposing there are laws by which we can 

 recover our substance, when we have entrusted them to the 

 end of that line, where the necessity of self preservation begins. 

 In cases of trust such laws should be provided. If A, who 

 has a numerous family of children, trusts B, whom he thinks 

 a man of inflexible integrity, with a part of his substance, and 

 dies, it is necessary that "the children of A should as far as 

 possible be secured from any loss that might arise from their 

 father's good opinion of B's honour and ability. If all the 

 laws of recovery and the bankruptcy laws were abolished it 

 would be a happiness to this country. Every man would 

 trade according to his real not reputed ability. 1 



1 MS. Letter, Amer. Philos. Soc. Ivi. i. 12. 



