very extraordinary cases. This dispute plunged
me deep into the philosophy of _crimes and punishments_; and I am
convinced, on mature reflection, that we, in America, are as much too
mild in our civil punishments, as the British are too severe. May not
our extreme lenity in punishing theft and murder, lead, in time, to
the adoption of the bloody code of England, with their horrid custom
of hanging girls and boys for petty thefts? Is it not a fact, that
several convicted murderers have escaped lately with their lives, from
a too tender mercy, which is cruelty? By what I have heard, I have
inferred, that the Hollanders have drawn a just line between both.

We used to have our stated, as well as occasional courts. Beside a
bench of judges, we had our orators, and expounders of our laws. It
was amusing and interesting, to see a sailor, in his round short
jacket, addressing the committee, or bench of judges, with a phiz as
serious, and with lies as specious as any of our common lawyers in
Connecticut.--They would argue, turn and twist, evade, retreat, back
out, renew the attack, and dispute every inch of the ground, or rather
the deck, with an address that astonished me. The surgeon of the ship
said to me, one day, after listening to some of our native salt water
pleaders, "these countrymen of yours are the most extraordinary men I
ever met with. While you have such fellows as these, your country will
never lose its liberty." I replied, that this turn for legislation
arose from our being all taught to read and write.--"That alone, did
not give them," said he, "this acuteness of understanding, and
promptness of speech. It arises," said he, with great justness, "from
fearless liberty."

I have already mentioned that we had Frenchmen in this prison-ship.
Instead of occupying themselves with forming a constitution, and
making a code of laws, and defining crimes, and adjusting punishments,
and holding courts, and pleading for, and against the person
arraigned, these Frenchmen had erected billiard tables, and
_rowletts_, or wheels of fortune, not merely for their own amusement,
but to allure the Americans to hazard their money, which these
Frenchmen seldom failed to win.

These Frenchmen exhibited a considerable portion of ingenuity,
industry and patience, in their little manufactories of bone, of
straw, and of hair. They would work incessantly, to get money, by
selling these trifling wares; but many of them had a much more
e