He scarcely alluded to the corruption and peculation prevalent
in all high places, diluted in its downward percolation till sutlers and
horse-thieves would strive in vain to emulate the fraudulent audacity of
their superiors. It was well he spared me then, for soon after landing,
my eyes and ears grew weary with the repetition of all these ignoble
details. To illustrate how heavily the taxes were already beginning to
weigh on the non-militant part of the population, my informant proved to
me by very clear figures that, if he individually could secure permanent
exemption from such burdens by the absolute sacrifice of one-tenth of
his whole property, real and personal, the commutation, would be
decidedly advantageous to him. True, he represented a class whose
incomes exceeded a certain standard, and therefore suffered rather more
heavily; but the same calculation, with very slight alterations, applied
to all other subordinate ones.
Grave and mild of speech was the Philadelphian philosopher, without a
trace of dogmatism or self-assertion in his tone; nevertheless, I judged
him to be a man of mark somewhere, and I afterwards heard that, albeit
not a violent or prominent politician, he had great honor in his own
country.
Strong head-winds and a heavy sea baffled us till we had cleared the
longitude of Cape Race; then the weather softened, the breeze veered
round till it blew on our quarter, and we had clear sky above us all the
way in.
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