The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1780-03-14 00:00:00, page 2

Th? asperities and the truths contained in this letter,
created much uneasiness to Mr. Livingston, who intended
a visit to the Do&or in Faris, as soon as the convoy fail
ed ; but what has ensued in consequence of it, I am un
acquainted with. But as my inducement to publish at this
time, was to disprove tne firß certificate, and to Shew the
malignity of Mr Lee, introducing characters to prop his
own fluttered reputation, I do again moR solemnly de
clare that I never reeeivod a tetter, or any kind of inti
mation from Dr. Bancroft when the treaty would be sign
ed ; that I did not know of its being executed, till it was
publicly known in London ; that [ never was concerned
with Dr. Bancroft in the flocks, either on that account, or
any other, and that coofeq&ently I never could have
Ihewn or tent to Mr. Livin;fton a letter, which I had ne
ver received. With refpe& to Mr. Lloyd's letter to Mr.
Cilampion, I do not remember the particulars of it, only,
that it contained the Various intelligence he had received
from America, and the propable speedy junction of France
in support of the glorious firaggle the United States were
involved in for their essential liberty. Should it however
be expected that I declare whether I ever (peculated in
the funds, or had any concerns in policies on war, I
frankly confefs I have been concerned in both ; and what
has Mr. Lee or any other person to do with my bufinefs'
as I was not intruded with public money, nor was inver
ted with any public office. Ifh ill now take a view or Mr.
Thomas Digger's letter, signed Ludwell Lee. A letter,
whether I f/rutinize it as written by one whom I thought
a moR intimate friend, .or as the vile offering of a tool to
the (hrine of Arthur Lee, I am equally aftoniflied. He
fays,' • Dr. Bancroft was never visible but to the two bro
' thers, (meaning my brother and me) and one or two
' other confidants—that he came over on the Saratoga bu
' finefs a flock jobbing ; and it was evident to him Mr.
<Deane either had a hand in it, or gave his countenance
5 thereto.' To which I answer, that I did not fee Dr.
Bancroft for a day or two after he arrived in London;
tiiat he did not lodge with me, and that neither diredly
nor indirectly was I ever concerned with him in the funds.
And with rTpeft to Mr. Deane, I assert (and all 1 have
or may assert, I will, if necessary, take my affidavit of)
that I never corresponded with him during my residence
in England; never drew upon him, or received from, or
through his means, one single livre; nor ever was con
nected with him in any (peculation of Rocks, war policies,
or In any thing else whatever ; nor to my knowledge did
I ever fee him til l I returned to this city. lam obliged
however to Mr. Dirges for the character he has given me
of <c hondt." I with I could return the compliment.
Its an eulogium I am glad to receive at the hands of my
enemy. But what he means by “ careless,” lam at a
loss to conceive, and indeed tee careless to criticise upon
it. But when he fays lam “ ruined," he will give me
leave, as he Rrikes so mdicioufly at my credit, to give
him the lie direct That I was unfortunately deceived
by the house of Richard Ford and Comp, of London,
whom I placed so great a confidence in, as to export car
goes of wheat, &c.'for them, in the year 1774 to the a
mount of 250,0,061. RerE and that I (hall be a great (offer
er in confluence of it, is too true; but that unsolicited I
veiled on my departure to Europe in the hands of my
friends, real and personal estates, far beyond what I owe
in the world computed to hard money, (and equivalent
to which I mean to pay every man I do owe) besides hav
ing an attachment for near 9000 k fieri, is equally true :
and therefore how (hamefully, ctuel is this insolent re
flexion of Mr.Digges! and with what indignation ought
every honest man todefpife such an assassin! Welcome,
however, was this facrifice to Mr. Lee ; because he knew
I had exposed to the Commiflioners in France the im
propriety of his fending Thornton, his Secretary, to
London, with other matters which may appear hereafter.
Butthis Mr. Digger fays, “ I frequently wished him to
join me in flocks, &c." Wifely did Dr Franklin remark
in o^e of his former political papers, that part of a truth
is sometimes worse than the whole truth.—lts applicable
in this case ; for from the apparent propped at that time,
and out of my friendship to him, I did offer him a concern
jo some of my (peculations. Such, however, was Mr.
Digger's finances, that though willing to accept a share,
they would not permit it. My brother too! he aKomuft
come in as another victim to Mt. Lee, whose delight is
in the carnage of charaHtrs. Who then is fafe ? If my
brother and I who humbly (and unpaid for it) risked our
perfo?al fafet, in giving intelligence either directly to A
merica, or to Dr. Franklin in Paris, of the machinations
of the enemies agaioft the United States, are thus to be
calumniated ; what must we think of Mr. Digges ? A
young man pretendedly zealous in the cause, flees from
America, and during all this bloody conflid fhroud^ him
felf in the bosom of her enemy ! Why does he not return
if it was only to assist in protesting his estate in Mary
land? I believe th@ quefiion can be easily solved by any
gentleman m that State ; and as I do not wish to heap
coals of fire on his head, " let the ftrikew deergo weep."
That Dr. Bancroft should be thus wantonly and repeat
edly attack'd is no wonder, when we confider, that his a
bilities as a writer, and his real services to his country, are
fierce equalled in Europe; but Mr. Lee "can bear no
rival near the Throne," and hence, as these Services and
abilities entitled the Do&or to some public appointment
abroad, t squared with Lee's jealousy and ambition to
mangle his reputation, in order to prevent it. Before I
conclude, out of my refped to Mr. Jonathan Williams,
jun. of Nantz, I subjoin an extract of his letter to me,
dated December 12th, 1779. “ lam obliged to you for
" your kind offer about my accounts, but I have already
" furnifh'd them. The award of my arbitrators * I need
“ hardly tell you wrs in my favor, and in effect gave the
" lie to my accuser (A. Lee). I have transmitted the
« whole to Congress by Capt. Saunders in the last packet
" boat."
I have now given the public a candid narration of fads,
in opposition to the falfe infinuatiems of insidious friends,
and the more dangerous motives of Mr. Lee; confiding
that, the reputation I have hitherto maintained, as a mer
chant of some eminence in this city f&r twenty years, can
not be blasted by the unsubstantiated charges of the for
mer, nor the deep rooted malice ofthe latter. Jam, Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
JOSEPH WHARTON.
' Philadelphia, March 10th, 1780.
* One of whom was Mr. Joshua johnfon. who is appoint
ed by Congress, Auditor General of foreign accounts.
Scheme after scheme has been proposed in the news-pa
pers, yet all of them have paflod away without leaving so
much as an impreffon upon the mind. For my own part,
I have not yet proposed any, and that which I have now
to propose, is different from every other whioh has gone
before it. We appear to be in just the fame situation with
regard to finance, as we were in regard to independence,
on the firft day of January 1776, and the plan that must
put us right, must be as foreign to every temporizing ex
pedient, as independence was foreign to submission.
Strange as it may appear to some, yet I cannot but lay
it down as.a truth, not to be controverted, that the abili
ties of the United States to support a war of finance, are at
this very time, far superior to any and every ability which
Britain can exert. So far from our being conquered, we
cannot even be hurt by a war of this fort, if we will but
adopt and pursue right plans ; and the present condition
we are in, naturally affords this opening.
While there remained forty millions of dollars in the
Continental Treasury, it was confident with national poli
cy to limit the depreciation by bringing the prices of com
modities to some flandard,becaufe the increased value would
have rose as well on the money in the Treasury as on that
which was out. But as the Treasury is now empty the
case is widely different; and were jt practicable it would
now be the nioft iniquitous scheme imaginable to lay a
tax on the public to make them pay for what they never
received. A merchant asks $0 cr 40 pounds fora gallon
of rum, and a miller 90 or 100 pounds for a hundred weight
®f flour ; the real value of the firft is not above five or
fix (hillings Sterling, and of the other not above twenty
or twenty-five ; and the price they get will more than pur
chase that quantity of Sterling money ; consequently they
have all that is due to them and the public ewes them no
thing. Netiher have they any right to expeß the money
should be made better, .and as it cannot be made better but
by a tax on Somebody else, therefore a tax for this pur
pose would be to rob many to enrich a few, which I am
persuaded no honest man desires. There is a faith which
Government is bound under to the public, not to fee them
injured, and there is likewffe a justice due to the indivi
dual, that he has his right, and this makes up the line
which Government has now to fleer.
The value then of the present debt of America which is
contained in the currency, is just as much property as it
will purchase, and it is no more. The whole twohumdred
millions of dollars will not now purchase above three mil
lions and an half of hard dollars. This sum then and no
more is the value of the sum we owe and all that we have
now to pay. How we come to be so nearly out of debt I
fhdl now proceed to (how.
The depreciation, in whatever other light it may be view
ed, has operated, not asan artificial, but an actual difeharge
of one hundred and ninety fix millions and an half, out of
two hundred millions ; and surely we should not only be
exceedingly unwise, but cruelly unjufl to ourselves, to pay
a debt twice over. It is enough to pay once, and he who
does that does houefily. That some will get rich, and o
thers poor, is the natural revolution of things, as well is
peace as war, and is not to be placed to the depreciation.
I believe there are many who have been in public Rations
thst have robbed the country, and such wretches there
will always be, but perhaps they would have robbed it a
great deal more, had it net been for the depreciation,
which hourly dissolved away their ill gotten wealth. But
individual cases is not the question; for if we take people
generally, let their rank, their employments or their prin
ciples be what they may, and examine what their profits
have been for five years past, we (hall find they have made
no advance in property, compared with what was usually
made in the fame number of years at ary other time, or
with what will betheir profits the firft five years after the
war. For my own part, I have lived, and so have others,
but I have net gained a farthing, which I am sure I should
have done, had it not been for the depreciation. The de
preciation then became my tax, and this has been the case
more or less with every man in America. A while ago I
received two thousand three hundred dollars, and,by the
time I had kept it a few days, the three hundred i(i point
of value were melted away. Where, I aik, is it gefe to ?
No body had robbed me, I had the fame number as before.
The answer I think is very easy. It is gone towards get
ting the United States out of debt, and thank God she is so
near deliverance.
REMARKS on the CURRENCY, with a
FLAN for putting the REVENUE on a lasting
foundation.
Having Rated what the remaining part of the debt is,
I fliall now compare it generally with the property whish
the United States have te balance against it. For this three
million and a half of dollars, which grow less even while
I am writing it, she has all the Continental frigates, ves
sels of war or others, all the cannon, artillery, arms, am
munition, and what is more, all the army and sailors in
the navy that are now enlisted. This being truly the case, I
ask, whether at the beginning of the war we could have
raised such an army, built and manned the fame numberof
vessels, and procured all the naval and military property
we now possess, lor four times the sum we now owe ; and
whether we should not have thought ourselves the most
fortunate people upon earth, could the fame things have
come ready prepared to our hands for four times the price of
our prefentdebt. Why then do we Rand folding our arms
as if something was the matter. Are we sorry because we
are so nearly out of debt and the world frefh and fair be
fore us, I feel a heart as chearful as the morning at the
profpea of these things. For what wasdreaded as an evil
is become our deliverance. We are this day more able
than we ever were. Out of debt, all but the lafi chalk;
and thank God, out of danger.
I have often thought it would have been good policy to
have emitted the money on a depreciating scale at firft, so
that just as much should have gone out of use one year as
would make room for a new emiffiem fufficient for theex
pence of that year, and so on. For instance, suppose the
legal value of a dollar the firft year had been 7/6, the
next year 7/. the next 6/6. In this case, when the whole
sum (efficient fcr the calls of the country had been emit
BRITAIN, foiled in her attempts to conquer Ame
rica by force, is now carrying on a war of finance.
The field of battle is changed fcr the field of the budget ;
and the longest purse aided by the best schemes for railing
or creating a revenue, will in a great measure determine the
point. By force she cannot conquer. Her arts to cajole
has been tried in vain. The latt resource then is finance.
It is now the interest of the States, to take the currency
up just at the point it flands, and give to every man a se
curity on the funds of the State he lives in, for the real
value of the sum he holds. The exa& point of deprecia
tion is the just point. Per if you redeem it at 50, when
it is really 60, 70 cr so on, you materially injure those
who have debts to pay ; and if you make it higher than it
is, you, on the other hand, injure those who have debts
to receive.
, Before 1 proceed to the plan, I&all remark : That
the present currency has no funds to support it. It rests
on nothing substantial, and the only way to give perma
nent value to what appear# now to be its worth, is for each
: State to ingraft its quotaon its own funds. Thefecurity
of each State to its own inhabitants is far beyond any 0-
ther security that can be given, but as each State can
iikewife provide funds to fink or redeem it when and
how they please, each inhabitant feels himfelf at home
in hisown State, and l<nows who to look to. I would
therefore prefer one dollar funded at the real value of 7/6 in
the State I live in, to 90 of theforefent dollars,worth only
one penny each, and which arc hourly dimioifhing be
cause there are yet no funds provided. And when all
the currency throughout the feverai States Ria 1 becomefhtrs
funded, there will be an end ofthe jargon of 50, 60, 70
and 80 for one, and so many prices for this, and so many
prices for that, and Reeling value will become the rule of
trade.
PLAN for putting the REVENUE of the (everal
States arid of the United States on a lading foundation.
I make the calculation for this State, as it will mere
clearly shew the matter.
Suppose the quantity of dollars in this State be thirty
millions, which at sixty for one, gives five hundred thou
sand dollars, of the real value of 7/6 each.
Strike in State bills, five hundred thousand dollars, and
providea fund for exchanging them for gold and silver;
take all the present bills up at sixty for one, deducting
therefrom as much as each man's taxes shall amount to at
the time of such exchange. Let every thing be bought
and feld at sterling prices, and have totally done with the
Continental currency thro' all the States.
But this five hundred thousand dollars, thus emitted,
will not be a (efficient quantity as a medium for commerce-
Pennsylvania requires in its present Rate at leaf! a cur
rency equal to one million and an half of sterling dollars ;
and in time of full trade she would require two millions
and an half; because 30/; flerling per bead is but a very
moderate quantity as a medium.
From this it appears, that over and above the quantity
of money to be issued for the redemption of the Continent
al Currency, there will be a vacancy of one million dol
lars. Now it fortunately happens that this vacancy is the
very opening we ought to lay hold of/ The daily and
pressing demand for money which every man in tra le ex
periences, points out the necessity of a new fopply. There
is not money enough by two thirds to circulate trade by,
and, until something be done, matters must stand still.
But as it is good policy to keep the quantity below the
mark, I would propose to issue only fix hundred tbeufand
dollars this year : And as this emission cannot get out in
to trade, but by being inflaptly laid cut, I would imme
diately apply it towards purchasing the fuppiies ; and this
I presume, with some (mall addition from the taxes, will
befufficient for the purpose of this year.
There will then be four hundred thousand dollars to
strike, to compleat the sum of one million and an half,
which may be Rruck next year, er part next year and part
the year after, which with the taxes that will be ccHeßed
in each year, will render the expences of the war easily
gone through for three years, should Britain be so raad
to continue it so long.
I have now gone through so much of the system as pro
vides for the Stares severally, to enable them to furnifh
their quota of the fuppiies in kind to the United States.
But as Congress will require a medium that will circulate
with equal convenience in all the States, I further pro
pose that a part of the taxes in each State be collected in
gold and silver. It is frivolous to fay this cannot be done,
because the great number of hard money, bargains daily
made, ihows that it can be done. And as the colle^ing
it in taxes does not carry it out of the country, nor yet
leflen thequantity, but only awakens the hidden hoards,
and bring them into general circulation; the tax will be
come a public benefit as well as a support to government.
It is only in drops that we want to pick it up, and there
fore I propose,
That every person deeming himfelf a merchant, and
trading to foreign parts, shall pay 20 or 25 per cent, of
the taxes to be levied on him, in gold or silver, and the
remainder in Bills of this Commonwealth. And that one
(hilling fterl. for the term of seven years be levied on e
very hundred acres of land possessed by freeholders of this
Commonwealth and eighteen pence fterl. on every hun
dred acres possessed by persons who have not taken the
oath of allegiance. b .
I now come to the lafi point, namely, that of redeem
ing the Bills of Credit to beemitted by this State, in gold
and silver, at the rate of one for one.
At the expiration of the war the neceffty of remitting
hard money to Congress, will cease, and a diminution of
expences will eufue. The hard money tax may then be
applied towards taking up these Bills, and if any thing
further is wanted, a sale of land for hard money may be
made.
The system here proposed, Is truly on a national scale,
yet it will meet with opposition from several forts of
people. The monopolizer of whatever article he deals
in, who has a vast quantity of this money by him,
and finds himfelf able to trump hit neighbours out, - an^
ted, a large part would fihve disappeared iter, yeer, which
future emissions would have lupplied, and all taxation
would have been nee< less. Nobody would have hoarded
the money, but kept it moving as left as peffbie. But
the depreciation, unintended, have done the business
much more tffl&ually, fcr we have by an unanimous
concurrence, flruck off very nearly eighteen pence each
year for five years running, from every dollar in circu
lation. It Rented to he the ambition of the country wh@
should pay most and faftefl. The monopolizers paid a
way as if the Devil was in them,and as it was a pity to dif
orb them, 1 ha ¥3 never mentioned a word about the cur
rency for above these fevtn months past I saw it would
land us on a fortunate coast, and was perfectly easy about
the matter, for when an evii produces an advantage it r^
dresses itfelf.