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MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &c.

OF

NATIONS AND CLASSES OF PEOPLE.

DESCRIPTION OF A SERTANEJO.

I

(From Koster's Travels. MAY give some description of my friend, who turned back to shew me the well, and this may be taken as the usual appearance of a travelling Sertanejo. He rode a small horse with a long tail and mane; his saddle was rather raised before and behind; his stirrups were of rusty iron, and his bit was of the same; the reins were two very narrow thongs. its dress consisted of long pantakons or leggings, of tanned but undressed leather, of a rusty brown colour, which were tied tight round his waist, and under these are worn a pair of cotton drawers or trowsers, as the seat as left unprotected by the leather. He had a tanned goat-skin over his breast, which was tied behind by four strings, and a jacket also nude of leather, which is generaw thrown over one shoulder; his hat was of the same, with a very sivallow crown, and small bri; he hid slp-shod slippers of the saine colour, and iron spus

upon his naked heels,-the straps which go under the feet prevent the risk of losing the slippers. A long whip of twisted thongs hung from his right wrist; he had a sword by his side, hanging from a belt over one shoulder; his knife was in his girdle, and his short dirty pipe in his mouth. Fastened to his saddle behind, was a piece of red baize, roiled up in the form of a great coat, and this usually contains a hammock and a change of linen,-a shirt, and drawers, and perhaps a pair of nankeen pantaloons, his boroacas hung also on each side of the back of les saddle, and these generally contain farinha and dried meat on one side, and on the other a flint and steel, (dried leaves serve as tinder) tobacco, and a spare pipe. To tins equipaneat is sometimes a lded, a la Le pistol, thrust partly under the left thigh, and thas secured. The us al pace of the Sertarejo's horse is a walk, approaching to a short trot; so that the horses of these people often have acquired the hibit of dragging their hind legs, and throwing up

the

even absurd. All sects here, and we have a great variety, have experienced my good will in assist ing them with subscriptions for the building their new places of worship, and as I have never opposed any of their doctrines, I hope to go out of the world in peace with them all.

TO THE HONORABLE THOMAS CUSHING, Esa. Project to avoid repealing the American Tea Duty. Pretended Prussian Edict.

SIR,

London, Sept. 12, 1773. To avoid repealing the American tea duty, and yet find a vent for tea, a project is executing to send

in the power of the treasury. And it will seem hard, while their hands are tied, to see the profits of that article all engrossed by a few particulars.

Enclosed I take the liberty of sending you a small piece of mine, written to expose, in as striking a light as I could, to the nation, the absurdity of the measures towards America, and to spur the ministry, if possible, to a change of those

measures.

Please to present my duty to the House, and respects to the committee. I have the honour to be, with much esteem, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN,

it from this country on account of [Enclosed in the foregoing Letter.]

the East India Company, to be sold in America, agreeable to a late act empowering the Lords of the Treasury to grant licences to the company to export tea thither, under certain restrictions, duty free. Some friends of government, (as they are called) of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, &c. are to be favoured with the commission, who undertake by their interest to carry the measure through in the colonies. How the other merchants thus excluded from the tea trade will like this, I cannot foresee. Their agreement, if I remember right, was not to import tea, till the duty shall be repealed. Perhaps they will think themselves s'ill obliged by that agreement notwithstanding this temporary expedient; which is only to introduce the tea for the present, and may be dropped next year, and the duty again required; the granting or refusing such li cense from time to time remaining

A PRUSSIAN EDICT, &c.

Dantzic, Sept. 5, 1773.

We have long wondered here at the supineness of the English nation, under the Prussian impositions upon its trade entering our port. We did not, till lately, know the claims, ancient and modern, that hang over that nation; and therefore could not suspect that it might submit to those impressions from a sense of duty, or from. principles of equity. The following edict, just made public, may, if serious, throw some light upon this matter:

"Frederick, by the grace of God, King of Prussia, &c &c. &c. to all present and to come : health. The peace now enjoyed throughout our dominions, having afforded us leisure to apply ourselves to the regulation of commerce, the improvement of our finances, and at the same time the easing our domestic subjects in their taxes - for

these

these causes, and other good considerations us thereunto moving, we hereby make known, that after having deliberated these affairs in our council, present our dear brothers, and other great officers of the state, members of the same; we, of our certain knowledge, full power, and authority royal, have made and issued this present edict,

VIZ.

Whereas it is well known to all the world, that the first German settlements made in the island of Britain, were by colonies of people, subjects to our renowned ducal ancestors, and drawn from their dominions, under the conduct of Hengist, Horsa, Hella, Uda, Cerdicus, Ida, and others; and that the said colonies have flourished under the protection of our august house, for ages past; have never been emancipated therefrom; and yet have hitherto yield ed little profit to the same: and whereas we ourself have in the last war fought for and defended the said colonies, against the power of France, and thereby enabled them to make conquests from the said power in America; for which we have not yet received adequate compensation: and whereas it is Just and expedient that a revenue should be raised from the said coloties in Britain, towards our in demnificat on ; and that those who are descendants of our ancient subjects, and thence still owe us due obedience, should contribute to the replenishing of our royal cuffers, (as they must have done had their ancestors remained in the territories now to us appertaining): we do therefore hereby or dain and command, that, from and after the date of these presents,

there shall be levied, and paid to our officers of the customs, on all goods, wares, and merchandises, and on all grain and other produce of the earth, exported from the said island of Britain, and on all goods of whatever kind imported into the saine, a duty of four and a half per cent. ad valorem, for the use of us and our successors. And that the said duty may more effectually be collected, we do hereby ordain, that all ships or vessels bound from Great Britain to any other part of the world, or from any other part of the world to Great Britain, shall in their respective voyages touch at our port of Koningsberg, there to be unladen, searched, and charged with the said duties.

"And whereas there hath been from time to time discovered in the said i-land of Great Britain, by our colonists there, many mines or beds of iron-stone; and sundry subjects of our ancient dominion, skilful in converting the said stone into metal, have in time past transported themselves thither, cari ying with them and communicating that art; and the inhabitants of the said island, presuming that they had a natural right to make the best use they could of the natural productions of their country, for their own benefit, have not only built fornaces for smelting the said stone into iron, but have erected plating forges, slittingmills, and steel-furnaces, for the more convenient manufacturing of the same; thereby endangering a diminution of the said manufacture in our ancient dominion; we do therefore hereby farther ordain, That, from and after the date hereof, no mill or other engine for slitting

slitting or rolling of iron, or any plating-forge to work with a tilthammer, or any furnace for making steel, shall be erected or continued in the said island of Great Britain: and the Lord Lieutenant of every county in the said island is hereby commanded, on information of any such erection within his county, to order, and by force to cause the same to be abated and destroyed; as he shall answer the neglect thereof to us at his peril. But we are nevertheless graciou-ly pleased to permit the inhabitants of the said island to transport their iron into Prussia, there to be manufactured, and to them returned; they paying our Prussian subjects for the workmanship, with all the costs of commission, freight, and risk, coming and returning; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

We do not, however, think fit to extend this our indulgence to the article of wool; but meaning to encourage not only the manufacturing of woollen cloth, but also the raising of wool, in our ancient dominions; and to prevent both, as much as may be, in our said island, we do hereby absolutely forbid the transportation of wool thence even to the mother-country, Prussia;—and that those islanders may be farther and more effectual ly restrained in making any advantage of their own wool, in the way of manufacture, we command that none shall be carried out of one county into another; nor shall any worsted, bay, or woollen yarn, cloth, says, bays, kerseys, serres, frizes, druggets, clothserges, sh Moons or any other drapery stuffs, or woollen nanufactures whatsoever, made up or

mixed with wool in any of the said counties, be carried into any other county, or be water-borne even across the smallest river or creek; on penalty of forfeiture of the same, together with the boats, carriages, horses, &c. that shall be employed in removing thein. Nevertheless, our loving subjects there are hereby permitted (if they think proper) to use all their wool as manure for the improvement of their lands.

"And whereas the art and mystery of making hats hath arrived at great perfection in Prussia; and the making of hats by our remoter subjects ought to be as much as possible restrained: and forasmuch as the islanders before mentioned, being in possession of wool, beaver, and other furs, have presumptuously conceived they had a right to make some advantage thereof, by manufacturing the same into hats, to the prejudice of our domestic manufacture :— we do therefore hereby strictly command and ordain, that no hats or felts whatsoever, dyed or undyed, finished or unfinished, shall be la.len or put into or upon any vessel, cart, carriage or horse; to be transported or conveyed out of one county in the said island into any other county, or to any other place whatsoever, by any person or persons whatsoever; on pain of forfeiting the same, with a penalty of five hundred pounds sterling for every offence. Nor shall any hatmaker, in any of the said count.es, employ more than two apprentices, on penalty of five pounds sterling per month we intending hereby that such hat-makers, being so restrained, both in the production und sale of their commodity, may

find no advantage in continuing their business. But, lest the said islanders should suffer inconvemency by the want of hats, we are further graciously pleased to permit them to send their beaver furs to Prussia; and we also permit hats made thereof to be exported from Prussia to Britain; the people thus favoured to pay all costs and charges of manufacturing, interest, commission to our merchants, insurance and freight going and returning; as in the case of iron.

"And lastly, being willing farther to favour our said colonies in Britain, we do hereby also ordain and command, that all the thieves, highway and street robbers, housebreakers, forgerers, murderers, s-d-tes, and villains of every denomination, who have forfeited their lives to the law in Prussia; but whom we, in our great clemency, do not think fit here to hang, shall be emptied out of our gaols into the said island of Great Britain, for the better peopling of that country.

**We flatter ourselves that these our royal regulations and commands will be thought just and reasonable by our much favoured colonists in England; the said relations being copied from their statutes of 10 and 11 Will. HI e 10-5 Geo. II. c. 22.23 Gro. II. c. 29.—4 Geo. 1. c. 11 —and from other equitable laws Laule by their parlaments; or from_instructions given by their prices, or from resolutions of bot', bon es, entered into for the dgavernment of their own Jameson Ireland and America

And all persons in the d

island are hereby cautioned not to oppose in any wise the execution of this our edict, or any part thereof, such opposition being high-treason; of which all who are suspected shall be transported in fetters from Britain to Prussia, there to be tried and executed according to the Prussian law.

Such is Our pleasure.

Given at Potsdam, this twentyfifth day of the month of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, and in the thirty-third year of our reign.

By the King, in his council,
RECHTMÆSSIG, Sec."

Character of the late Robert Fulton, Esq. from Colden's Life of that celebrated Engineer, read before the Literary and Historical Society of New York.

We cannot think that it will be imputed to an undue partiality for our regretted associate, if we say that there cannot be found on the records of departed worth, the name of a person to whose individual exertions mankind are more indebted than they are to the late Robert Fulton. The combined efforts of philosophers and statesmen have improved the condition of man; but no individual has conferred more important benefits on his species than he whose memory now engages our attention.

When we have taken a view of what he has done, and bestowed some consideration on its effects, it will not appear that this praise is exagerated, and we shall be obliged to acknowledge that

though

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