necessary, yet, had the settler been guaranteed by any means
against loss, or could he have received any sufficient security
for his grain, every ship which had been in need, as well as
every one touching there in future, would have been, and might
be, amply provided for. The influx of American vessels, and ships
from the East Indies, has recently suffered a very considerable
diminution; the former, at one period, nearly supplied the colony
with articles of almost every description, at very reasonable
prices, but, from some cause or other, vessels from the United
States seldom now arrive at the settlement with merchandize for
sale; the Indian vessels have also ceased to arrive in the same
numbers as formerly, and the supplies have consequently fallen
off materially, which naturally injures all descriptions of
persons, not only by preventing an immediate intercourse between
those countries, but also by lessening very considerably the
consumption of stock, grain, etc. so that the settler, in
planting his land, has now no other views than to raise a
sufficiency of grain for the consumption of his own family, and
the liquidation of his debts. He has no longer a stimulus to
labour; he calculates that the time and toil are wasted which are
spent in raising an article for which he has no vent; his
industrious disposition is consequently cramped; his present
exertions are without hope of reward; and his prospects are
divested of the supporting promise of future comfort or
competence. Such a system as this evidently and rapidly tends to
ruin; these symptoms are the obvious marks of a diseased economy;
and, if decay appears in the present unripe state of the country,
with what propriety--with what hope--on what grounds, can the
mind calculate upon future prosperity?