49 



the small farms, was of more actual value than the pure 

 farinaceous crops of the more knowing farmers. 



The state is decidedly on my side of the question ; for 

 even were the value of the whole produce of each area only 

 equal, it would be enriched by the superior number of 

 inhabitants, the most important part of its wealth consisting 

 in its population. 



This topic is well illustrated in a pamphlet published in 

 Philadelphia during- the late war, and held in much 

 estimation in England : it says—** It is admitted by most 



writers on political arithmetic, that one thousand inha- 

 " bitants collected within a square league, will, when com- 

 " pared with five hundred spread over the same surface, 

 " sustain much more than doyble the amount of taxes, 

 " and cost much less trouble and expense in collecting 

 " them." And again: ** War as waged by Bonaparte is 

 " not now principally a question of finance, but of the 

 " resources of population. Ttie strength of a state 

 " opposed to France, must be estimated by the sum of 

 " its population, divided by the extent of its tenritory." 



We have been repeatedly advised to collect our manu- 

 facturers into towns, and to leave the country exclusively 

 to the agriculturists. We well know that we should not 

 improve the morals of our people by collecting them 

 together into such masses ; and recent experience proves 

 that the tranquillity of the country, and even of the state, 

 may be endangered by bringing numerous bodies together, 

 so as to be within the grasp of factious demagogues, 

 zealous to inflame them into outrage, sedition, and re- 

 bellion. 



When vast numbers, especially of very young persons, 

 E 



