The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1781-07-05 00:00:00, page 3

which he hath supported the honour of the American
flag ; for his bold and fuccefsful enterprizes to redeem
from captivity the citizens of these Rates who had
fallen under the power of the enemy ; and in general,
for the good conduct and eminent Cervices by which
he has added lufire to his character and to the Ameri
can arms:
That the thanks of the United States in Congress
a ffembled be alto given to the officers and men, who
have faithfully served under him, from t me to time,
for their heady affection to the cause of thrir country,
and the bravery and perseverance they have manifeft
ed therein.
JUNE 26, 1781.
Congress proceeded to the appointment of a captain
to command the (hip America, and the ballots being
taken,
John Paul Jones, esquire, was unanimously eleded.
Extract from the Minutes
CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.
Mr. P R I NTE R.
TT ''ON comparing the afls of assembly, passed by
t e pre ent house, with fprne of their resolves,
^I. :re ; upon their journals just before their last recess,
X. < r%e a ciafh in point of authority, that may pof-
Kh: cause deputes in time to come. A few words on
ly I be necessary to state this matter.
<he aA of D cember the 23d, 1780, for making
11 1 dr d toufand pounds pape< money of April
o'c e fame year, legal tender, the president and
< - p re authorised to adjust monthly, the ex
ten te old congress bids of credit, com
rv d continental money, and this new Rate
7at no other ; the papr to be issued to the
2: of 1, 50,000 dollars, pursuant to the resolves
c ' grefs of the 18th of March, 1780, not being in
< ! within this regulation!. The council regularly
t rrifed this power till the beginning of May. In the
i^i : tim , videlicet on the 7th of April, another law
vas p lied, enabling, " That from and after the firt
day of une next, no other mony than gold and fil
ter or bills o, credit by law, equivalent thereto,
sh uld be taken for taxes or other public dues," by
which, payment of public debs, in old depreciated
pp F r, of whatever kind, was forbidden from and af
ter the d.y here na^ed. But by the fame paragraph,
the treasurer is dirked to exchange this reprobated
money, according to such exchange, as should be de
clared by the pr< fident and council, agreeably to the
powers veiled in them, as aforefaid. *
Cn the rath of June following, the house, t'en
about to rife, made two resolves on this fubje& ;
which bear evident marks of hurry ; one, " That the
old continental money, the resolve and the common
wealth money, should be received in the public trea
sury of the state, at the rate of 175 dollars for one
Bate dollar"
*Aa for emitting five hundred thousand pounds;
fe&ion the last. It may perhaps be doubted, whether
from these worm's: " bills of credit by law, equiva
lent to gold and silver," any other payment than real
money, can now be made for taxes in arrear, before
the oru of March last, as the tender laws have been
since repealed But in that repeal, the legislature have
not 'aref? y omradiaed their former declarations con
cerning cert in state piper ; videlicet, that it bedeem
.ed equivalent to gold and silver. Besides, the words
recited above, are conveniently loose, as our late
laws gener by are. It is not said, “ which shall then
be by law equivalent but, "by law equivalent,"
which may as wH b taken thus, " which are now by
law equivalent."
What ! shall the old depreciated bills of credit be
taken at the treasury, at a rate set by a resolve of the
assembly, when by a formal ad of assembly, yet
unrepealed, this paper ought to be taken in according to
an exchange, to be declared by the executive branch.
However, this contradiction may be helped by the in
tervention of council, if made within the firft weeks
of July, August, &c. For the council are, by law, as
we have seen, properly authorifed. It might be que
ried, what is here meant by " commonwealth money ?"
Whether the bills of March 1777, of April 1780, and
of April 1781, be not equally intitled to this denomi
nation I Are not they all state money ? Certainly,
precision would have required, that in a law, more
diferiminating characters should be used, than the
vague term old ; which besides is here carefully limit
ed to the continental money, by repealing the article
the, before the words resolve and commonwealth, in
the sentence under consideration. So that the mean
ing of this vote, as to state money, may be, that one
kind of it may be received at the difference of 175 for
one of another kind ; but which these are, seems to
be undecided.
The house further resolve, " that the arrearges on
continental taxes and militia fines should be paid at the
rate of one flare dollar for 75 dollars of the old conti
nental money." Here the uncertainty of the phrase
Rate dollar, rises higher than before ; for under these
words, a person in arrear for militia fines, might dis
charge with seven (hillings and fit pence of the state
bills of 1777, feventy-five times as much, as he may be
indebted in, in old congress bills ; the suspension of the
tender of this state paper, notwithstanding, which
would be abferd. But pray, what taxes are these
which are here termed “ continental ?" No former
mention of any such has occurred. We often hear of
slate taxes, as contra distinguished from city, county,
and township assessments. The five per cent, impofl,
asked by Congress of all the states in union, when
established, will come the nighest to it. The post of
fice duties, by a drain, might possibly be thus deno
minated. Yet the term, if applied to the affairs of
the sovereignty of the United States, s wholly im-
X Thus limited, the authority of council rested,
till April the 7th, when it was exte ded to the bi Is
emitted by resolves of assembly before the revolution
and the paper of March, 1777, on the one hand,
and the new emission of five hundred thousand pounds,
then directed to be made and issued, on the other.
How militia fines can be fatisfied, by virtue of this
resolve, I do not fee, whilst the aft of April 7 express
ly forbids the taking of it for taxes or other public
:duel, after the firft of June ; for certainly, a vote of
the house, can not affeft, alter, or repeal a solemn le
gislative a&. Whenever, therefore, as here, these
• hasty votes, come in competition with the law of the
land, it is easy to fee which must fail. This bitter re
solve, of consequence, is a meer nullity. But if it
were otherwise, yet it wants precision 0 give it a rea
sonable meaning, and by no confiruflion whatever in
cludes the paper issued by the resolves of the last as
sembly of the province of Pennsylvania, before the
revolution, nor that of March 1777, which are equal
ly debased with rhe old continent I In short, it is
flatly contrary to law, as well ds deficient and unintel
ligible.
Strange ! that otir representatives ih assembly have
not yet learned, that their ftrengtb lies in proceeding
in a parliamentary way by bill, and publifliing their
designs for the consideration of their con flituents.
They ought at least to know, that bound by law, as
much as the people at large, they cannot repeal any
law, with less solemnity than it was enabled The ex
ample of the committees, and councils of fafey, and
of congress, (which is a body partly legislative, part
ly executive), are not to the purpose. The constituti
on, reason and experience, reprobate this praUice of
proceeding by resolves. It ought, it mul lbe re
nounced.
The monthly Rate tax for April last, militia fines,
after the firft of March 1781; and other fixed penal
ties and public duees, since accrued to the state; such
as bounty and township taxes, incurred or lay-d in
continental money, seem to come within the 13th fed
tion of the aft for repealing the ' tender laws, which
ordains, that all debts, contrasted since the firft of
March la% in old continental money, shall b° liqui
dated at specie value, to be afeertained by a iußice of
the peace, if of the value of five pounds or less : by
the justices of the court of common pleas, if above
that sum.
I ask, why were not all ffiefe points clearly fettled
by alt 0. assembly ?
A BYE-STANDER.-
Fiom the LONDON COURANT. F^ruarv, 17^1.
, MIDST the many alarms*nd distress a M he king
dom, the loft of the colonies, th- in ft' anal one
rations of the army, the decline (not to fay disgrace) of
the navy, the devaluations of cities, town's <n pro
vinces by the late dredul hurricane, the rpid decay
of commerce, the multiplication of bankruptcies, 2nd
the surprising increase of foreign enemies, it is much to
be lamented, that the person who has the greater stake
should be deceived into an apparent indifference to
the present melancholy filiation. For his magnanimity
(if it can be so called) has never once forfiken him ;
he fees the diversions of the theatre with equal delight,
and laughs as heartily as ever.
His countenance, so fir from betra,ing anxi ty a;d
1 distress, is as serene iti thedr^uing room as uiuH. He
purines his favourite diversion of stag-hunting ^ith the
fame unremitted ardour; nay, it is f^id, that so far from
entertaining any anxious fears for the lucre's of a war,
in which he has the greatest powers of Europe to en.
counter, that with a peculiar nonchalance, he treats
those events with indifference which wcu'd greatly af
fed potentates of inferiour courage, but better inform
ed! ——.■..., .- .
proper, whilst we allow the Spaniards, &c. to share
America with us.
I have always uriderftood there was ore sovereign of
the word, of the whole earth we inhabit, to whom all
nations pay homage. But here, in Britain, we have
long claimed the dominion of the seas, and leave Hea
ven only sovereign of the land. Indeed, of late years,
we have diluted the right of Divine Providence to this
moiety of government over the terraqueous globe, and
at this hour are not only combating against God and
Nature, by an dfutpation- over the common rights of
mankind, on the great road of all nations, the high
seas, but are wickedly and presumptuously stretching
the hand of power from the east to the weft—grafpihg
at the absolute sovereignty of America, at the great
kingdoms of Asia—The little Queen of the Channel,
not content with stealing territory and rev nue, where
file was only permitted to fettle and traffic, under the
h^sand government of the country, is now extending
her arbitral y conquifts, ereaing her oppressive tribunals,
and seizing the huts of industry and labour, by every
mode of rapacity, fraud and violence: so that it ap
pears, as if the Wbter-fovereign were really at war
with the Land-sovereign, and labouring to wrest the
government of the wo Id out of his hands. The Giant
Rebellion of @ur mad ambition seems equally levelled
against Heaven and earth ; against the decrees of the
one, and the rightsof the other. Whither this mock
sovereignty will lead us, or what punishment the just
Ruler of all nations has referred for our public roo
beries, on rages and murders, which are desolating the
earth for the fpoih of it, a short time will discover.
The combinations of the powers of Europe against our
tyranny and impiety, is baftening on the catafrephe
due to the enormity of our crimes, when the self
created sovereign of the seas mult fail from her
proud elevation, and, like a blazing meteor that a.
latmed the nations, be extinguished, for ever, in
the boisterous element that furroocis he>!
A PLAIN DEALER.
7' H E sovereignty of the seas is a claim as hoffile to
A the law of nature, aril the righ sos mankind, as
that of univerfa! monarchy, against which the people
of England have so long exprtff^d their jealcuf, and
fears.
WANTED, Four or Five MINERS, t o work on
a regular vrin of oie, to whom good Wages
will be given. Enquire of the RuTcriber t Durham
Furnace RICHARD BACKHOUSE.
MINER S.
STRAYED or itolen, out of a pasture
ne^r thu ^ t y, about thefoft infant (JQ a
iorreihorfe, between 13 and 14 hands high b an 1
on the near hip, with the letter O. Whoever t b
up the fame, and returns him (or can give certain in'
formation where he is detained) to Rohm . , "°
in Second ft^et, a hub below the m
ceive Four hard Dollars reward. ' re ~
Pnilrde phia, June 25, 1781.
U AVING removed to this city, begs leave to inform
1 ' the Public, that (he p;a& ces MID WIFERY;
and has been favoured with great Success in thirty
years Experience in Albany, in the state of New York.
She will, with alacrity, attend the Calls of those who
please to favour her with their Custom, and is to be
seen at her house, on the south fide of Race-street, be
tween Front and Second streets, opposite Christian Sni
d^''^ July 4.
Just Published, and to be Sold, By
Robert Aitken,
PRINTER And BOOKSELLER
In Market Greet, time doors above the C^ff.e hcu'fe
OBSERVATIONS'
On the Nature and Use of Paper Credit ,
And the peculiar Advantages to be derived frem it'
in North-America—From which are inferred, The'
Means of Fftablilhing and Supporting it ;
Inclining Proposals
For Founding a National Bank.
Likewise PUBLISHED,
In a beautiful and convenient Pocket Volume
A Father's Legacy to his Daughters' f
By the late Dr. Gregor y, of Edinburgh.
V The above judicious Perft rmancr is written on
the tolling Heads On Rd gion-Condua and
Behaviour — Amufements-Fricnerfhip — Lore —
riage, &c. " r °
The fubferiber informs the Pub^
lie in genera', and his Friends in puricular that
will take tn HORSES and CARRIAGES to stand
Livery, as ufuL, at "be Sign of the Indian 01^
Philadelphia. FRANCIS LEE. Jun&'
Just PUBLISHED and to be SOLD, B,
JOHN DUNLAP,
At his Printing-Office, in Market-street, a few doors
from the corner of Second ftrett,
All the LAWS
Ena&ed in the Thiid Sitting, of the Fifth General AfL
fembly, of the Commonwealth of Pennf Ivania,
Which Commenced at Philadelphia, on Thursday
the 24th day of May, in the Year of Our Lord, 1781.
Haym Solomons, Broker,
Sells Bills on Holland, France, Spain,
England, St. Croix, &c.
TT E likewie fells, on commission, Loan-office Certi
' ficates, and all other Kindt 0! Merchandize He
will take in pa, ment, for bills of exchar ge, fem^ part
state money, of this fat. He gives conttant attend
ance at his Office in F -on?-Preet, between Market and.
Arch-ft cd; from 9 to 12 in the forenoon; likewise
attends at the Coffee house from 12 to 2.
To be Sold by Private Sale,
136 Acres of Land,
In Chater county, Gofhen townffilp, with a good
DwH ing Houle and Barn, and a good Spring-house
therein, with good Meadowing; Likewise two Brick
HOUSES, in Sxth-fireet, the corner of Cherry alley ;
one or fnd Houses has good Bake-hou'e belonging to it ;
Like rife, a two story Brick HOUSE in Race street,
between Fith and Sixthtftreets; it is a good stand for
any pu ; lie bufriefs. For particulars apply to JACOB
SU LGUE B ktr, in Race-fleet. To be Sold only for
ready Cath
TO BE LE T,
For the Season or a Term of Years,
About Eighteen ACRES of very good
Pasture Ground,
Adjoining the South-ftre^t of the Citv. Enquire of
SAMUEL BOWEL.
I —to — _—. — ——& ; — ^
Humble's -Town, July 3', 1781.
Eight Hard Dollars Rewards
STOLEN or strayed, ou* of the pasture ot Hie sub/
scriber, 1-v:r.g in Horn Jt^-town, D rry tewnfhip,
Loncade coon:,, on the n /ht of the 20 h of June last,
A dzk, chefnU' coloured HORSE, half blooded, 5
year, old, about 13 hend.hi.h, neither brand or mark,
but has a lew ^hne hairs between his ears and on his
flank, trots and canters well, arid has a good carriage.
Whoever t.k'es up the said Horse and brings him to
the fubferiber, or Iccur s him so tlrt the owner may
get him again, shall have Four Hurd Debars Reward
for the Dorff, er for the Horie and Thief the above
Reward and reasonable Charges paid, by me,
JAMES CLUNIE.
Mary Armbrufler,