These
Americans came, like the rest of us, from Halifax; being weary,
fatigued, and half-starved, their dejected spirits and debilitated
bodies, then aptly disposed to imbibe the contagion. Accordingly soon
after they went on board, they were attacked with it. All the Danes
are sent out of her; and her upper deck is converted into an hospital;
and the surgeon has declared the ship to be infectious; and no one
communicates with her but such as supply the ship and attend the sick.

While "_sick and imprisoned_," Mr. Beasly "_visited us not_"; but sent
his clerk, a Mr. Williams, to supply the most needy with clothes; and
instead of applying to the committee, who could have informed him
correctly who most needed them, he adopted the mode most liable to
lead to deception and injustice. This Mr. B. seems, from the
beginning, to have considered his countrymen as a set of cheating,
lying, swindling rascals; and a mutual contempt has existed between
them. We wish all our officers and agents would bear in mind this
fact, that complacency begets complacency; and contempt begets
contempt.

We, Americans, have seen and severely felt the highly pernicious and
demoralizing tendency of _gambling_; and we have been long wishing to
break up the practice; and our selectmen, or committee, were
determined to effect it. We accordingly took a vote, agreeably to the
custom of our country, and it was found to be the will of the majority
to prohibit the practice of it. We began with the _roulette_ table, or
as our men called them, "wheels of fortune." After no small opposition
from the French officers, we succeeded in putting them down; but we
could not succeed so easily against the billiard tables. It was
contended by many that it was an exercise, and a trial of skill; and
if confined to a halfpenny, or one cent a game, it could not be
dangerous to the morals, or property of the community. On this a warm
and long dispute arose, in defining gambling. The playing of billiards
for a cent a game, was contended to be a muscular exercise, and not
gambling; whereas cards were denounced, as a studied, sedentary
contrivance, for the artful to draw money from the pockets of the
artless.

The owners of "the wheels of fortune" were, perhaps, envied. They made
money, and lived better than the rest; and the same remark was made of
the owners of the billiard tables. In the course of debate they were
tauntingly called the _privileged order_, and rising fro