the establishment of Manufactories in France. But the history of that Country shows us, that it is more founded in speculation than fact. France has become opulent and powerful in proportion as Manufactories have flourished in her; and if Agriculture has not kept pace with her Manu factories, it is owing entirely to that ill-judged policy which forbade the exportation of grain. I believe it will be found, upon inquiry, that a greater number of hands have been taken from the plough, and employed in importing, retailing, and transporting British woollens, cottons, and linens, than would be sufficient to manufacture as much of them as would clothe all the inhabitants of the Province. There is an endless variety in the geniuses of men; and it would be to preclude the exertion of the faculties of the mind to confine them entirely to the simple arts of agriculture. Besides, if these Manufactories were conducted as they ought to be, two-thirds of the labour of them will be carried on by those members of society who cannot be employed in agriculture, namely, by women and children.

A second objection is, that we cannot manufacture cloths so cheap here; as they can be imported from Britain. It has been the misfortune of most of the Manufactories which have been set up in this Country, to afford labour to journeymen only for six or nine months in the year, by which means their wages have necessarily been so high as to support them in the intervals of their labour. It will be found, upon inquiry, that those Manufactories which occupy journeymen the whole year, are carried on at as cheap a rate as they are in Britain. The expense of manufacturing cloth will be lessened from the great share women and children will have in them; and I have the pleasure of informing you that the machine lately brought into this City for lessening the expense of time and hands in spinning; is likely to meet with encouragement from the Legislature of our Province. In a word, the experiments which have been already made among us, convince us that woollens and linens of all kinds may be made and bought as cheap as those imported from Britain; and I believe every one who has tried the former, will acknowledge that they wear twice as well as the latter.

A third objection to Manufactories is, that they destroy health, and are hurtful to population. The same may be said of Navigation, and many other arts which are essential to the happiness and glory of a State. I believe that many of the diseases to which the manufacturers in Britain are subject, are brought on, not so much by the nature of their employment, but by their unwholesome diet, damp houses, and other had accommodations, each of which may be prevented in America.

A fourth objection to establishing Manufactories in this Country, is a political one. The liberties of America have been twice, and we hope will be a third time preserved by a non-importation of British manufactures. By manufacturing our own clothes we deprive ourselves of the only weapon by which we can hereafter effectually oppose Great Britain, Before we answer this objection, it becomes us to acknowledge the obligations we owe to our Merchants for consenting, so cheerfully, to a suspension of trade with Britain. From the benefits we have derived from their virtue, it would be unjust to insinuate that there ever will be the least danger of trusting the defence of our liberties to them; but I would wish to guard against placing one body of men only upon that forlorn hope to which a non-importation agreement must always expose them. For this purpose I would fill their stores with the manufactures of American looms, and thus establish their trade upon a foundation that cannot Be shaken. Here, then, we derive an answer to the last objection that was mentioned; for in proportion as manufactures flourish in America, they must decline in Britain, and it is well known that nothing but her Manufactories have rendered her formidable in all our contests with her. These are the foundations of all her riches and power. These have made her Merchants Nobles, and her Nobles Princes. These carried her so triumphantly through the late expensive war; and these are the support of a power more dangerous to the liberties of America than her Fleets and Armies—I mean the power of corruption. I am not one of those vindictive patriots who exult in the prospect of the decay of the Manufactories of Britain, I can forgive her late attempts to enslave us, in the memory of our once mutual freedom and happiness. And should her Liberty, her Arts, her Fleets and Armies, and her Empire, ever be interred in Britain, I hope they will all arise in British garments only in America.

JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK.

Committee Chamber, March 16, 1775.

The Committee met, by adjournment, this evening at the Exchange: Present,

Mr. Lewis, from the Sub-Committee appointed to state the case of Messrs. Robert Murray and John Murray respecting their having landed Goods from on board the Ship Beulah, reports a Letter from the Committee of Elizabethtown to this Committee, which Letter is in the words following, viz:

Elizabethtown, Friday, 12 o’clock P. M., March, 10, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: In consequence of the information received from Captain Sears relative to the suspicion that some part of the Cargo of the Ship Beulah had been unladed before she quitted this coast, the Committee of Observation of this Town met this evening, and made inquiry respecting the affair; and thereupon have to inform you, that it appears to them that a Boat belonging to this Town did, last Monday morning, sail from New-York to Sandy-Hook; that on Tuesday evening she returned here. Two of the witnesses examined were the boatmen, and the person who we suspect engaged the Boat, who refused to be sworn; but from their behaviour, and what they said on examination, and other circumstances, we believe that it was the Boat seen to be hovering about the Beulah, and took Mr. John Murray out of the Ship, and that Goods from said Ship were landed by the said Boat at Staten-Island. We are not able at present to furnish you with any further particulars. The Committee will make further inquiry into this matter, and if any thing further appears, will give you immediate information; in the mean time we thought proper to give the above early intelligence, to furnish you with a clue in all probability of making more important discoveries on Staten-Island, where we think the Goods were undoubtedly landed, at the East Ends, or in the Kills. Signed by order of the Committee:

JONATHAN HAMPTON, Chairman.

To the Committee of Observation of New-York.

The said Sub-Committee further report another Letter to this Committee, from the Committee of Elizabethtown, which is in the words following, viz:

Elizabethtown, March 11, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: The Committee of Observation of this Town have this day used their endeavours to make a further discovery relating to the unlading part of the Cargo of the Ship Beulah, but are not able to give you the information they desire. Samuel Lee, a boatman of this Town, employed and accompanied by Ichabod B. Barnet, Esq., (son-in-law to Robert Murray,) appear, from very strong circumstances, to have been the persons concerned in that affair, who went from New-York on Monday last to the Ship.

We have had Lee before us. He appears greatly perplexed, but cannot be persuaded to give any clear information of the matter, he being under an apprehension that he, by that means, may be the ruin of some particular persons in New-York. The said Barnet was also before us, but refused to answer the questions proposed to him; he only offered to swear (if it would be any satisfaction to us) that no Goods from the Beulah were landed at this Town,