The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1780-12-12 00:00:00, page 1

Observations on Paper Credit,
Trade and Finance.
(Continued from our last.)
TO obtain the Supplies for an army our legislatures
must determi? e how the individuals who fuinifh
them Shall be paid. This would be unnecessary if eve
ry man hd in puff ffion his proportion of the articles
wanted, and the whole amounted to no more than the
people could fp^re : In this case a fyecrfic tax would
answer every purpo>. If there were so much Specie a
mong the people, the vaue of which is understood and
acknowledged, as that each mtn could procure and
pay bis proportion of the sum necefUry to purchase those
supplies, it Is plain that a tax in specie woild precisely
answer the fame purpose as a tax in kind : And the
fame is equally true of a tax to be paid in paper money,
of any kind, whose value was understood and acknow
ledged.
A tax in kind is evidently impossible, and a t^x in
specie reqires the less consideration, item the little
probability of there being enouph or it o serve at a
circulating medium, and also, because any thing of
this kind would break in upon the plan which is lup
pofed most proper now to be carried into execution :
I mean that of the iß'.h of Mnrch. It is only necessary
to remark, that a tax in specie tends directly to deftioy
paper money. Taxes can only he paid in that money
which is received in exchange for property : If specie
is received for property taxes can be paid in specie ;
But if paper be rec eived for property the taxes must be
received in paper. This needs no reasoning upon.
To have the value of paper money understood and
acknowledged, we must f. rm a plan by which each man
Ihill redeem bis proportion of it : A phn so fimp'e in
its conftru&ion as to be comprehended by all ciaffes of
men among whom the money is to circulate. This,
expereince has taught America, is not d fficult; for it not
only has been done, but often repeated, and is become
familiar, and in some fort, habi ual to us. Hence con
tinental bills derived their credit.
Monarchies have never been able to make use of pa
per credit, because the redemption of it depended on
the will of the prince; while republics and mixed go
vernments wherein the people had a voice, have deriv
ed great benefits from paper credit, because the people
would not fuffer the public faith to he violated: A
breach of public faith being, in all cases, evidently a
gainst the interest of those governments, and even dan
gerous to their existence. It requires buta moment's
confederation to fee, that in republican governments
the preservation of public faith depends on the people
themselves, so long as they annually chufe their legisla
tures, and I lay it down as a truth to be relied upon,
that a free people will always do what is right, in all
cases, where they are well informed cf fads.
When a plan is formed and understood, by which
each man will redeem his proportion of the bills of cre
dit ; or, in other words, funds are established f or fink
ing those hills, there can f, no 'dcubt but that a wife
and virtuous people will give them a fr*e circulation.
The tender of the bills issued on such funds, would, in
effe&, contain in it, this question to the person to
whom it was rendered viz. Are you for foppertin^ the
liberty and independence of America ^ the jo nt' ex
pence of the people; or are you agaiofl.it.
Every man of sense and virtue among us will receive
it, and none but those who with to establish British ty
ranny ever America will refufe it, and all such ought,
on the refufal, to ba considered and treated as open 'and
avowed enemies to us. So very much depends on the
(keifion of this question, that I chufe to leave it on the
mind of the reader, and have no doubt but every friend
of liberty will give it a due confederation.
(To be Continued.)
Doctor Morgan's further remarks
on doctor Shippen's attempt
to vindicate himfelf.
To WILLIAM SHJPPEN, junior, esquire, &c.
BY a lingular concurrence of events you appear to
the world a political Paradox. Whilst indolence,
love of pleasure and diflipation were your cardinal quali
ties, and you were an entire novice in the management
of a military hospital, you were chosen to be chief phy
sician of that department, in a separate diftrid, that
required personal industry, capacity, humanity and
integrity, to govern it with success. With th^ single
talent of what is called Good Fellowship you have
ballanced the want of every other quality, and have
kept an army, and an infant republic, in eqvilibrio,
betwixt exalting you to the pinnacle of honour, and
consigning you to merited dfgrace. You have been
found guilty by a court martin of {peculating in hos-
O R IMI THE
GE NE RAL b3fc ADVERTISER.
TUESDAY,
[ Published every Tuesday and Saturday.]
pital stores, and escaped the final!,ft reprehension for
it; whil ft lesser offenders have for (mailer crimes, fuf
fered exemplary punishment. Of every other weighty,
public charge against you, a court-martial have given
you a partial, cold, difhonourable acquital- Congress
has refufed to ratify even that acquital; and yet, so
paradoxical is every thing that relates to you, that
you have again, by a tingle ballot, which was no bal
lot, been re eleded director general of the hospitals.
, You are certainly the wonder of the public and the
riddle of your department.
But I proceed to remark on your publications:
In the firfl paragraph of your piece of November
28th, you have exhausted a large flock of a certain
fpeci^s of eloquence, that, amongst a particular class
of toraitors, would richly entitle you to the palm of pre
heminence. Tn this, like Longinus, you soar and are
yourfelf, “ the great sublime you draw."
I leave it to your pen to rectify the inconsistency of
your assertions; that had you always used public wag
gons, and given no credit, the whole amount would
not exceed twenty pounds; and that, by not using
a baggage waggon for 18 months, you had saved to the
public above " seven hundred pounds" I aik what
use you had for a baggage waggon during that peri
od ? was it not when you made your Head-Quarters at
Manheim, or became stationary for near two years at
Philadelphia, and seldom even visited the camp but for
your amusement, or as it promoted your {peculati
ons ? This attempt to vindicate yourfelf, like the for
mer, flill rolls back upon you. I only request of you
to proceed as you have begun ; a few more such vin
dications will shorten my undertaking, and render the
pains I am at in producing teftirnony on oath to con
vict you of crimes in office, an aft of supererogation.
Your assertion, that the members of Congress, who
refufed to ratify your acquital, did so, leaf lyou should
be thought reprehensible, is a refinement in sophistry
worthy of yourfelf. Members of that honourable
body have purged themselves of that refleaion upon
them, by declaring Congress laid it down as a maxim,
that they have no power to add to the sentence of a
court-martial, or to inflid a heavier punishment than
the court inflict; but it is their undoubted prerogative
to remit the punishment, if they think fit to do so.
They deemed a simple reprehension for offences so at
trocious as yours, to be a meer burlefaue punishment,
so very inadequate was. it to your crimes ; therefore
chose to omit that; but immediately after refolded,
that felling hospital stores, &c. is a capital crime, and
made it punishable with death, or otherwise, accord
ing to the nature and circumstances of the offence ; a
resolution that reflects greater reproach and drfgrace
upon you, than any punishment whatever cduld have
done.
In your performance of the 25th of November, you
plunge into the ' mighty affair" of wine, as you,
fcoffing at the sentence of the court, are pleased to term
your peculation and (peculation in that article.
Here you are transfixed by the sentence of a court
martial, and every attempt to flounce through the
slough with this dart rivetting you to the.fpot, will
only fink you the deeper. The court affirm, th it you
did speculate in and fell hospital stores, that is stores
proper for an hospital ; by which is evidently meaned
stores of the hospitals, which the sick could not do with
out. The court do in no wife declare they did not be
long to N the public. On the contrary, by repeating
the word stores, instead of calling them articles of trade,
they mark them out as hospital property ; and declare
expreflly hospital stores,. and stores proper for an hos
pital to be one and the fame. How was it possible for
them to confider them in any other light than public
property ? I proved, and you have no where denied,
that just before you purchased the five pipes of Madei
ra from messieurs Conyngham and Nefbitt, you drew
no less a sum than 100,000 dollars from the treasury;
that the ten pipes and sixteen tierces of wine you fold
at Boflon was purchased with public money, for which
you were furnilhed with an order of the Unit'd States
on the loan office for sixty (even thousand dollars : and
that the twenty hogtheads of sugar and fix hundred
bushels of fait you afterwards purchased, was with the
proceeds thereof, as well as the wine you transferred
to your deputy, doftor Fofler, for twenty fix hundred
pounds, and allowed him three thousand pounds in re
turn, that he might tafle, with you, the sweets of (pe
culation. If these stores were not public property,
pray how came you to make use of your father's name
in advertising, on the Coffee-houfe books, for sale, a
bill for twenty thousand dollars, which you fold to a
mercantile house in this town; and another of five
thousand doll irs, being part of the profits you made
in that vry (peculation? Will you deny taat these
were hospital stores, or that they were public proper
ty ? Do you charge this to the prudence o' Mr. James,
or was it the result of your own prudence to cover a
fraud, or if you please, " to prevent the finpiciau of
impertinent enquirers"? It further appears, from the
THE
Number 688.
accompt of Messrs. Barrett, that the very medicines
purchased at Boston by your agent, John Brown Cut
ting, were procured from the board of war by doctor
Scott, amounting to two thousand five hundred and
five pounds, nine (hillings and (even pence; and paid
for with part of the above order of sixty-seven thous
and dollars; “ prompt payment."
When doßor Ruth had so recently remarked in the
Packet of November 21st, on the unblushing " man
“ ner in which many of your witnesses performed
“ the 'evolutions you had tduglt them," was it
simple effrontery, or downright flupidity, that in
duced you to put the matter beyond the reach of
doubt, by exhibitingrto the public so firiking a proof,
in the queflions and answers of the said Cutting? The
books of the treasury prove that previous to his set
ting out for Boston, on your errand, you drew a large
sum. from thence, besides the order for sixty seven
thousand dollars. How did he know the money you
gave him was not public money ? without choaking at
the oath he had taken, he glibly swallowed the whole
of a very complex quefiion, which it was impossible
for him, or any mortal but yourfelf to answer, with,
“ you did." Perhaps yog told him it was your own
money: but did that make it so. Compare this man's
teftirnony with the deposition of Michael Bright, a per
son of unblemished* character and spotless integrity,
who was no ways interested in your (peculations.
He affirms, that Cutting told him, the sugar you fold
to Mr. Biddle was public property, and belonged to
the general hospital; yet you lean upon such a wit
ness. I likewise find in messieurs Banett's account,
a charge against the United States, of calh paid Uriah
Gibbs for transporting two loads from Boston to Beth
lehem, one hundred and sixty-sour pounds Sixteen
Shillings. "
[To be continued.]
W>+ * +++§++*4+444+4++*
OF HIS EXCELLENCY,
George Washington, Esq;
A New Impression in Metzotinto;
From the original Pj&ure belonging to the State of
Pennsylvania ;
Poftcr size, i. e. 14 inches by 10 inches, exclusive of
the margin ;
Price Two Dollars, or the Value thereof in current
Money, or Six Pound per Dozen to Shop-keepers,
or P rfons going abroad.
Any Persons wanting the said Prints,
Will apply to CHARLES W. PEALE, at the corner
of Third and Lombard Sheets.
wYI-LIAM" 'NI CHOTS;
Has removed his STORE from Mr. Owen Jones's, to the
Store formerly occupied by Mr. Sitgreaves, on the
N nth file of Market ft:eet, opposite the Indian
King, where he tar to Sell, by Wholesale and Retail,
a large Q_ entity oi the ollowing Articles.
QUPIRFINE, second an.
Jcoarfe Broadcloths, 0
bh cdAuis,
Blue, brown and white
Knaps,
Thickets, Velvets and Vel
veiets of all colours,
Spotted and flowered Cor
duroys,
Ratticets, Shalloons, and
Tammie,
Duroys, Everlastings, Cam
blets and Corded Worst
ed,
Men's, women's and child
ren's Worried Ho'e,
Ctt n Cords and Tassels,
A quantity of Blanketing, ;
Fir Lnens,
R : ffij Sheetin s,
Coirfc anl hoe Hollands,
Cotton Che kt,
D iper arm Dimethies,
Dawoods,
Mnel Qilti^g,
A qu rntt, of the oeft Se^l
ing Silks,
Said NICHCLS takes this public Method of return
ing hi> heft Thinks to those who have been so obliging
as to lav mr him with their Custom at his let. Store,'and
lu res ? .Cc induce ot the r Friendship: He flatter#
!ur,fr;f, that fob willingreh to oblige, and the advant
froths Methos r- has of procuring his Supplies, will
n ke it the hrer ft of ±rv Perton, who wilh to pur
chate Guods, to ficquen his Store.
.DECEMBERS, 17801
Mohair and Twist,
White & coloured Threads,
Pins, Needles, Tapes and
Bobbirr,
Camoricks, Lawns, and
K?ntings,
T.ffaties, Persians, Padua
foys and Sa-hiets,
Bandana, Romal and Bar
celona Hand kerchiefs,
Crofh-barred, striped and
plain Mullins,
Britannian,
Ch:ck II ndke ichiefs,
A qu. ntity of Chintzes and
Calicoes,.
Gauzes of different kinds,
;A q entity of Lace,
Won? Paper,
Lnglifh Soo s and Boots,
ALS O,
Madeira & Claret Wine;
J^rica Spirit, and many
lArticles which are not
enumerated.