or Essays : know that in 1752 ten thousand hogsheads of flax- seed, each containing seven bushels, were exported from Philadelphia to Ireland. I suppose the quantity is greatly increased since that time, and it is under- stood that the exportation from New York is equal to that from Philadelphia. Q. What becomes of the flax that grows with that flax-seed ? A. They manufacture some into coarse, and some into middling kind of linen. Q. Are there any slitting-mills in America? A. I think there are three; but I believe only one at present employed. I suppose they will all be set to work if the interruption of the trade continues. Q. Are there any fulling-mills there? A. A great many. Q. Did you ever hear that a great quantity of stockings were contracted for, for the army, during the war, and manufactured in Philadelphia? A. I have heard so. Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, would not the Americans think they could oblige the Parlia- ment to repeal every external tax law now in force? A. It is hard to answer questions of what people at such a distance will think. Q. But what do you imagine they will think were the motives of repealing the act? A. I suppose they will think that it was repealed from a conviction of its inexpediency; and they will rely upon it, that, while the same inexpediency sub- sists, you will never attempt to make such another. Q. What do you mean by its inexpediency? 256] 103