1 Essays 
hence the weariness at public councils, and back- 
wardness in going to them, the constant unwilling- 
ness to engage in any measure that requires thought 
and consideration, and the readiness for postponing 
every new proposition; which postponing is, there- 
fore, the only part of business they come to be expert 
in, an expertness produced necessarily by so much 
daily practice. Whereas, in America, men bred to 
close employment in their private affairs attend with 
ease to those of the public when engaged in them, and 
nothing fails through negligence. 
3. Respecting frugality; the manner of living in 
America is more simple and less expensive than in 
England; plain tables, plain clothing, and plain fur- 
niture in houses prevail, with few carriages of pleas- 
ure. There an expensive appearance hurts credit, 
and is avoided; in England it is often assumed to 
gain credit, and continued to ruin. Respecting pub- 
lic affairs, the difference is still greater. In England 
the salaries of officers and emoluments of office are 
enormous. The king has a million sterling per an- 
num, and yet cannot maintain his family free of 
debt *; secretaries of state, lords of the treasury, 
admiralty, etc., have vast appointments; an auditor 
of the exchequer has sixpence in the pound, or a 
fortieth part of all the public money expended by 
* On the 13th of April of this year, Lord Worth had asked for and ob- 
tained from Parliament $3,000,000 to liquidate the pressing demands 
of his sovereign, and an addition of $500,000 to his yearly income. 
Many of the tradesmen who supplied the palace with common neces- 
saries had not been paid for years. The coal merchant’s bill had 
reached $30,000. Charles Knight says the annual expense for wax 
candles was $50,000. The menial servants were nearly two years 
in arrears. The king had received $4,000,000 annually ever since his 
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