The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1779-09-21 00:00:00, page 1

A CIRCULAR LETTER from the CON
GRESS of the United States of Ame
rica to their CONSTITUENTS.
Friends and Felloe Citizens !
IN governments railed on the generous principles
of equal liberty, where the rulers of the state
are the servants of the people, and not the
masters of those from whom they derive autho
rity; it is their duty to inform their fellow ci
tizens of the state of their affairs, and by evinc
ing the propriety of public measures, lead them to, ir
nite the influence of inclination to the force of legal
obligation in rendering them fuccefsful. This duty
ceases not, even in times of the most perfect peace, or
der and tranquility, when the fafety of the Common
wealth is neither endangered by force or feduftion from
abroad, or by faction, treachery, or misguided ambi
tion from within. At this season, therefore, we find
ourselves in a particular manner impressed with a sense
of it, and can no longer forbear calling your attention
to a fubjeft much misrepresented, and receding which
dangerous as well as erroneous opinions have been held
and propagated: we mean your finances.
The ungrateful despotism and inordinate lust of do
mination which marked the unnatural designs of the
British King and his venal Parliament to inflave the peo
ple of America, reduced you to the necessity of either
asserting your rights by arms, or ingloriously puffing
under the yoke. You nobly preferred war. Armies
were then to be railed, paid and supplied : Money be
came necessary for these purposes. Of your own there
was but little ; and of no nation in the world could you
then borrow. The little that was spread among you
could be collected only}by taxes, and to this end re
gular governments were essential ; of these you were al
so destitute. So circumstanced, you had no other re
source but the natural value and wealth of your fer
tile country. Bills were issued on the credit of this bank,
and your faith was pledged for their redemption. Af
ter a considerable number of these had circulated, loans
were solicited, and offices for the purpose established.
Thus a national debt was nnavoidabl, created, and the
amount of it is as follows :
Dollars.
Bills emitted and circuiting, 159,948,880
Monies borrowed before the ist)
of March 1778, the interest of } 7,545,196 67-90
which is payable in France, ]
Monies borrowed since theist of •)
March 1778, the interest of > 26,188,909
which is payable here,J
Money due abroad, not exactly -,
known---the balances not hav- I
ing been transmitted, supposed ( 4,000,000
to be about J
For your further fatisfaaion we shall order a particular
account of the several emissions, with the times limited
for their redemption, and also of the several loans, the
interest allowed on each, and the terms assigned for their
payment, to be prepared and published.
The taxes have as yet brought into the treasury no
more than 3,027,560, so that all the monies supplied to
Congress by the people of America, amount to no more
than 36,761,665 dollars and 67-goths, that being the sum
of the loans and taxes received. Judge then of the ne
cessity of emiAons, and learn from whom and from
whence that necessity arof@.
We are also to inform you, that on thp firft day of
September instant we resolved “ that we would on no
" account whatever emit more bills of credit than to
*' make the whole amount of such bills two hundred
" millions of dollars, and as the sum emitted and in
«' circulation amounted to 159,948,880 dollars, and the
" sum of 40,051,120 dollars remained to compleat the
“ two hundred millions above mentioned, we on the
" third day of September instant further resolved, that
" we would emit such part only of the said sum of
" 40,051,120 dollars as should be absolutely necessary
" for public exigencies before adequate supplies could
" otherwffe be obtained, relying for such supplies on
" the exertions of the several hates."
Exclusive of the great and ordinary expences incident
to the war, the depreciation of the currency has so
fivelled^he prices of every necessary article, and of conse
quence made such additions to the usual amount of ex
penditures, that very considerable supplies must be im
mediately provided by loans and taxes ; and we unani
moufiy declare it to be essential to the welfare of these
Rates that the taxes already called for be paid into the
continental treasury by the time recommended for that
purpose. It is also highly proper that you should extend
your views beyond that period, and prepare in season
as well for bringing your refpe&ive quotas of troops
into the field early the next campaign, as for providing
the supplies necessary in the course of it. We shall take
care to apprize you from time to time of the state of the
treasury, and to recommend the proper measures for
Supplying it. To keep your battalions full, to encou
rage loa,is and to assess your taxes with prudence, col-
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G ENERAL
T UESDAV,
[ Price 2s. 6d. single, 2S. by the quantity. Published every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. ]
O R
The ability of the United States must depend on two
things: First, the success of the present revolution, and
secondly, on the fufficiency of the natural wealth, value
and refou^ces of the country.
That the time has been when honest men might, with
out being chargeable with timidity, have doubted the
success of the present revolution, we admit; but that
period is paged. The independence of America is now
as fixed as fate, and the petulant efforts of Britain to
break it down are as vain and fruitlefs as the raging of
the waves which beat against their clifts. Let those
who are still afflided with these doubts confider the
character and condition of our enemies. Let them re
member that we are contending against a kingdom crum
bling into pieces ; a nation without public virtue; and
a people fold to and betrayed by their own repre'fent
atives ; against a Prince governed by his passions and
a Ministry without confidence or wisdom ; against ar
mies half paid and generals half trusted; against a go
vernment equal only to plans of plunder, conflagration
and murder---a government by the most impious viola
tions of the rights of religion, justice, humanity and
mankind, courting the vengeance of Heaven and re
volting from the protection of Providence. Against
the fury of these enemies you made fuccefsful resistance,
ween single, alone, and friendlefs, in the days of weak
ness and infancy,§before your hands had been taught to
war or your fingers to fight. And can there be any rea
son to apprehend that the Divine Disposer of human
events, after having separated us from the house of bon
dage, and led us fife through a sea of blood, towards
the land of liberty and promise, will leave the work of
our political redemption unfinifhed, and either permit
us to perish in a wilderness of difficulties, or fuffer us
to be carried back in chains to that country of op
pression, from whose tyranny he hath mercifully deliver
ed us with a stretched-out arm?
In close alliance with one of the most powerful nations
in Europe which has generously made our cause her own,
in amity with many others, and enjoying the good will
of all, what danger have we to fear from Britain? In
stead of acquiring accessions of territory by conquest, the
I limits of her empire daily contrast : her fleets no longer
rule the ocean, nor are her armies invincible by land.
How many of her standards, wrested from the hands of
her champions, are among your trophies, and have
graced the triumphs of your troops? and how great is
the number of those, who, sent to bind you in fetters,
have become your captives, and received their lives from
your hands? In short, whoever confiders that these states
are daily encreafing in power; that their armies have
become veteran ; that their governments, founded in
freedom, are established ; that their fertile country and
their affectionate ally furnifh them with ample ftipplies;
that the Spanjfh monarch, well prepared for war, with
fleets and armies ready for combat, and a treasury over
flowing with wealth, has entered the lifts against Britain ;
that the other European nations, often insulted by her
pride, and alarmed by the strides of her ambition, have
left her to her fate ; that Ireland, wearied with her op
pressions, is panting for liberty, and even Scotland dif
plea fed>and uneasy at her edicts:- Whoever confiders
these things, instead of doubting the issue of the war, will
rejoice in the glorious, the sure and certain profpeft of
success.
left them with firmnefs, and pay them with punctuality,
is all that will be requisite on yovr part. Further ways
and means of providing for tho public exigencies are
now under consideration, and will soon be laid before
you.
Having thus given you a Ihort and plain state of
your debt, and pointed out the necessity of punctuali
ty in furnifhing the supplies already required, we shall
proceed to make a few remarks on the depreciation of the
currency, to which we entreat your attention.
The depreciation of bills of credit is always either
natural or artificial, or both. The latter is our case.
The moment the sum in circulation exceeded what was
necessary as a medium in commerce, it began and con
tinued to depreciate in proportion as the amount of the
surplus encreafed ; and that proportion would hold good
until the sum emitted should become so great as nearly
to equal the value of the capital or stock, on the credit
of which the bills were iflued. Supposing, therefore,
that 30,000,000 was necessary for a circulating medium,
and that 160,000,000 had ifiued, the natural deprecia
tion is but little more than as five to one: But the ac
tual depreciation exceeds that proportion, and that ex
cels is artificial. The natural depreciation is to be re
moved only by lessening the quantity of money in cir
culation. It will regain its primitive value whenever it
shall be reduced to the sum necessary for a medium of
commerce. This is only to be effected by loans and taxes.
The artificial depreciation is a more serious fubjeft,
and merits minute investigation. A distrust (however oc
casioned) entertained by the mass of the people either in
the ability or inclination of the United States to redeem
their bills is the cause of it. Let us enquire how far
reason will juftify a distrust in the ability of the United
States.
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ADVERTISER
SEPTEMBER a 177 g
twenty years time ?---probably double the number. This
observation applies with proportionable force to the
emigrants of every successive year. Thus you fee great
part of your debt will be payable not meerly by the
present number of inhabitants, but by that number
swelled and encreafed by the natural population of the
present inhabitants, by multitudes of emigrants daily
arriving from other countries, and by the natural po
pulation of those successive emigrants, so that every
person's share of the debt will be constantly diminishing
by others coming in to pay a proportion of it.
These are advantages which none but young countries;
enjoy. The number of inhabitants ip every country in
Europe remains nearly the fame from one century to
another. No country will produce more people than it
can subsist, and every country, if free and cultivated,
will produce as many as it can maintain Hence we
may form some idea of the future population of these
states. Extensive wildernesses, now scarcely known or
explored, r main yet to be cultivated, and vaf. lakes and
rivers, whose waters have for ages rolled in silence and
obfeurity to the ocean, are yet to hear the din of indus
try, become subservient to commerce, and boast delight
ful villas, gilded spires, and spacious cities rising on their
banks.
Thus much for the number of persons to pay the debt.
The next point is their ability. They who enquire how
many millions of acres are contained only in the fettled
part of North-America, and how much each acre is
worth, will acquire very enlarged and yet very inade
quate ideas of the value of this country. But those who
will carry their enquiries further, and lern that we
heretofore paid an annual tax to Britain of three milli
ons sterling in the way of trade, and still grew rich;
that our commerce was then confined to her ; that we
were obliged to carry our commodities to her market,
and consequently to fell them at her price ; that we were
compelled to purchase foreign commodities at her ftores,l
and on her terms, and were forbid to establish any ma
nufadories incompatible with her views of gain; that in
future the whole world will be open to us, and we shall
be at liberty to purchase from those who will fell on the
best terms, and to fell to those who will give the best
prices ; that as the country encreafes in number of inha
bitants and cultivation, the productions of the earth
will be proportionably encreafed, and the riches of the
whole proportionably greater : Whoever examines the.
force of these and similar observations, must smile at the
ignorance of those who doubt the ability of the United
States to redeem their bills.
Let it also be remembered that paper money is the on
ly kind of money which cannot “ make unto itfe f wings
and fly away." It remains with us, it will not forfake
us, it is always ready and at hand for the purpose of
commerce or taxes, and every industrious man can find
it. On the contrary, should Britain like Ninevah (and
for the fame reason) yet find mercy, and escape the
storm ready to burst upon her, file will find her na
tional debt in a very different situation. Her territory
diminished, her people wafted, her commerce ruined,
her monopolies gone, she must provide for the difeharge
of her immense debt by taxes to be paid in specie, in
gold or silver, perhaps now buried in the mines of Mex
ico or Peru, or still concealed in the brooks and rivu
lets of Africa or Indoftan.
Having shewn that there is no reason to doubt the
ability of the United States to pay their debt, let us
next enquire whether as much can be said for their in
clination.
This point being established, the next question is whe
ther the natural wealth, value and resource of tne country
will be equal to the payment of the debt?
Let us suppose for the fake of argument, that at the
conclusion of the war, the emissions Should amount to
200,000,000, that exelufive of supplies from taxes, which
will not be inconsiderable, the loans should amount to
100,000,000, then the whole national debt of the United
States would be 300,000,000. There are at prefect
3,000,000 of inhabitants in the thirteen states: three
hundred million of dollars divided among three million
of people would give to each person one hundred dollars ;
and is there an individual in' America unable in the
course of eighteen or twenty years to pay it again ?
Suppose the whole debt assessed, as it ought to be, on the
inhabitants in proportion to their refpedive estates, what
would then be the share of the poorer people? Perhaps
not ten dollars. Besides, as this debt will not be payable
immediately, but probably twenty years allotted for it,
the number of inhabitants by that time in America will
be far more than double their present amount. It is
well known, that the inhabitants of this country encreafed
almeft in the ratio of compound interest. By natural
population they doubled every twenty years, and how
great may be the hole of emigrants from other countries
cannot be afeertained. We have tie highef ireafon to
believe the number will be immense. Suppose that only
ten thousand should arrive the £rft year after the war,
what will those ten thousand with their families count in
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