The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1786-08-28 00:00:00, page 1

" To give the greater weight and authority to his ar
guments, he had put them into the mouth of Lselius
and Scipio Africanus. These two illustrious friends,
Lullus and Scipio, who were the admiration of their
own age, and may well be proposed to ours as the mo
dels of great generals and great statesmen, lay down
this maxim as an indisputable principle in point of go
vernment, That there is nothing more pernicious to a
state than injuflice, and that no republics can ever be
well governed, or even subsist, without justice.
" Such were the rules and maxims of the Roman peo
ple, in the prosperous days of which we have been
Ipeaking, and this idea their allies and the conquered
rations had of them. Livy observes, that the loss of
the three firft battles gained by Hannibal, which spread
such unive fa! terror and consternation, did not how
ever flhake the fidelity of the allies. The reason he
brings for it is very glorious to the Roman people, and
gives us, in a few words, the idea of a perfect govern
ment. For the allies, fays he, finding they were un
der a just and moderate government, without difficul
ty obeyed a people that was far superior to them in
merit, which is the only bond of fidelity. The con
quered nations were of the fame opinion, and com
paring the Roman dominion with that under which
they had formerly lived, and the Roman generals with
their ancient matters, they looked upon the former as
men sent down from Heaven, such justice, goodness,
and humanity, did they shew towards them ; and they
blessed themselves for having fallen under the power of
a people, who flrove to engage mankind to obey them
more by kindness than fear, and took pains to deserve
the love and confidence of foreign nations, by a mild
and just government, inttead of making them bear the
yoke of a forrowful servitude. '°
" But perhaps ir might be the int^eft of a Roman
senate, to behave thus towards their allies, and the
conquered nations which lay at a distance, and they
shewed less regard to their citizens and natural fubjeds,
who, for this reason, were less attached to the repub-,
lick, and bore it the less affection. On the contrary,
it is in this particular the Roman people is most to be
admired ; and what I am about to fay, will clearly
shew, that the greatest resource of a state is the affecti
on of the people, their love to the government, and
the confidence they have in the publick faith ; and that
to give the lead blow to it, is, in point of politicks,
the most capital, pernicious, and irreparable fault.
" After the battle of Cannas, all seemed absolutely
desperate. The fidelity of the greatest part of the al
lies was overwhelmed by so terrible a blow. The state
had neither generals, troops nor money, and yet new
raifed troops and freih recruits were indispensably ne
ceffary# They were obliged to fit out fleets, to furnifh
provisions, arms and clothes. But though the state
was in want of every thing, it did not want credit,
and found ready and sure supplies in the affection of
the citizens.
" The consul urged, that the magistrates ought to
fit the example to the senate, and the senate to the
people, of assisting the republick in the extremity toI
which they were reduced ; that the way to engage the
lower people to contribute of their substance to the
support of the state, was to begin with doing it them
selves ; that thus they ought all to bring them gold and
silver into the publick treasury. This was immediately
gone, and with so much zeal, that the receivers and
Mr. Collins,
IT was an opinion very anciently established
among many perlons, and, if we take a review
of the proceedings of the governing powers of
the American states for the last ten years, I
should be ready to conclude it had been also
adopted by them, to wit, ' That juflice and po
' li r y are scarcely capable of being allied together ; that
6 a man designed for administration should not make
' himfelf a Dave to the laws ; that exadprobity, and a
' scrupulous adherence to their word and solemn engage
' ments, would often lay a prince, a minister, or a go
' verament, under great difficulties; and that it is
' impossible to manage publick bujinefs without commit
' ting some injufice.' —To combat this opinion, I fend
you the following extract from Rollin's Belles Lettres,
which I with you to publish in your ufeful and enter
taining Gazette. Atticus.
" Tully, in his books de republica, which is an extract
from Plato's admirable work upon the fame fubjedt,
has fully refuted this opinion. It is not only, according
to him, a falfe and contradictory notion, to believe
that no one can succeed in the administration of pub
lick affairs, without sometimes acting unjustly; but he
looks upon the opposite principle as an inconteftible
truth, and as the balls and foundation of all the rules
that can be laid down in matters of politicks, namely,
that A STATE CANNOT BE GOVERNED WELL, WITH
OUT A STRICT OBSERVANCE OF JUSTICE IN ALL
THINGS.
NEW-JERSEYGAZETTE.
Vol. IX.]
TRENTON: Printed by ISAAC COLLINS, Printer to the State.
MO N D A Y, August 28, 1786.
notaries were scarce fufficient to answer the eagerness
of the publick, every one striving for the honour of
subscribing firft : The order pt feuators, and then the
people, did the lame, without requiring for all this
any publick edift.
" Of the thirty colonies in Italy, eighteen sent de
puties to Rome, to declare they were ready to furnifh
the troops required of them, and even more, if it was
judged necessary; that, thanks to the Gods, they
wanted neither means nor courage to do it. These
deputies were received, both by the senate and people,
with loud acclamations, and extraordinary marks of
joy and honour. Livy has thought proper to preserve
the names of these colonies in his hiltory, that they
might not, fays he, want the honour so many ages
after, which is so justly their due. For the other
twelve colonies, who refufed to raise the levies requir
ed, the senate thought it most suitable to the dignity
of the Roman people, to punish them only by taking
no notice of them.
" They received at the fame time letters from the
two Scipios, who commanded in Spain, by which,
though they undertook to supply the soldiers pay of
themselves, they required clothes and provisions to be
sent them immediately, or otherwise it would be im
possible to preserve the province. The republick were
unable to supply them in the condition it then was.
The praetor called an assembly, and laid before the
people the necessities of the publick, and the impossi
bility the state was in of supplying them, if it wanted
credit as well as money. He exhorted those who in
times past had increased their estates by farming the
revenues of the Roman people, now to lend the re
publick a part of the substance they had gained by it ;
and to make advances for Spain, with a promise, that
these sums should be exactly re-paid them, as soon as the
state should be in a condition to do it. Three pow
erful companies offered their assistance, and the armies
in Sp'ain were as plentifully supplied, as in the times
of the greatest opulence.
" This noble disinterestedness and ardent zeal reign
ed equally in all the orders and bodies of the state.
" The Beet was in want of seamen and provisions.
It was agreed to lay a general tax upon every member
of the state, in proportion to the rank and revenue of
every private man; and the thing, was executed with
out delay or murmur.
“ The publick buildings were fallen to decay, for
want of a proper fund for the repairing of them. The
undertakers cheerfully went about it, without requir
ing any money for their work, till the war should be
ended.
" In this common emulation and general disposition
of the state, to aid and support the publick treasury,
they firft brought in the orphans' money, and then the
widows'; those who had it in possession, judging they
could not deposit it in a more secure and sacred asylum,
than in that of the publick credit.
" This generosity passed from the city into the camp.
Every horseman, centurion, and officer refufed their
pay, and whoever took it, was looked upon as a mer
cenary wretch.
" The event shewed, that they had reason to rely
upon the republick. Ever, debt, every Jum of money
advanced, with every obligation, WAS DISCHARGED
with the utmost EXACTNESS. They would have
even paid off some of them before the teim agreed on ;
and, notwithstanding the scarcity of money, they of
fered the masters of the llaves that were restored to
their liberty, to pay the full price for them; but all
declared that they would not receive it till the war
was terminated.
" It is from such fads as th^fe we must form a just
idea of the Roman government. That single expressi
on which I have quoted, and which might deserve to
be engraven in letters of gold, That they found no asy
lum more secure or more sacred, therein to deposit the
money of orphans and oui/oms, than that of the publick
faith: This single expreflion, 1 fay, is the highest en
comium that can be imagined of the Roman character.
We learn from thence, that, according to the constant
maxim of all the great men of antiquity, the most
famous legislators, and wisest politicians, the design
and supreme rule of government is the good of the
publick, and the fafety of the people. Salus populi
fuprema lex eflo; the affection of the people also, and
their confidence in the justice and integrity of those
who govern them, are the firmeft support, and some
times the fafety and foie resource of states."
To the PRI NT E RS.
The Philadelphia Society, for promoting agriculture,
desire you to publish the following rimmunication
relative to the culture of potatoes.
Timothy Picketing, Sec'ry.
Philadelphia, July 4, 1786.
ff T'HE true knowledge of husbandry, upon philofo
l phioal principles, and a practice of that art con
THE
Foreign Intelligence.
LONDO N, May 20---26.
n^HE recovery in France of debts contrast'd in
I this country being finally flopped, will in a short
time become one of the most unpopular ads that any
administration in this country have ever been charged
with. The fCis notorious at Pai is, and this story
in every man's mouth, that England has been obliged
to the measure, in order to encourage emigrations,
and in order to prevent many hundreds of thousand
pounds from being transmitted to this country, which
now will circulate in the French dominions. This is
no speculative mattcr---it is founder in several remark
able cases lately tried before the Parliament of Paris,
wherein England so far interfered as to admit that all
claims of British debts should be set aside in future,
in the dominion of his most Christian Majesty; but
that every debt contrasted in France shall be recover
able from the parties, if they seek Great-Britain as the
feat of liberty. This matter, no doubt, v ill be brought
For this crop, the earth should be well ploughed
and kept clear of weeds, and not shaded, as in an
orchard, &c. But the principal error n tending a
field of potatoes is enormous*. I have found, by
many years experience, that if potatoes are planted in a
mellow foil, they need scarcely any hilling : They vill
bed themselves at that distance from the furl-.c- of the
ground, which gives them the greatest advantage to
procure nourishment. This depth, 1 have observed, is
generally about four inches: And this depth the plant
finds by something which I will venture to call infant.
If the earth in which you plant potatoes, should be
hard, and not yield to the pressure of the roots, it will
then be necessary to hill them ; but great care should
be taken not to hill them too much; never let them
be covered above four inches. And this hilling must
be given with diferetion; for if they have bedded
themselves (as they will in mellow land, four inches,
and you add four inches more of earth) you fuffocate
the fruit. Take an example; potatoes, just before
they begin to blollom, begin to form their bulbs. If
you leave them now, the fruit will grow rapidly; but
if you should add earth to the hill, the young bulbs,
for want of that air which can pervade four inches of
earth, will cease to grow, and others will be the pro
gress of nature, so long as you continue to burden
them with earth. Therefore, to procure an early crop
of potatoes, be sure to give them your last earth as
soon as the plant is big enough to receive it. When
they know (excuse the expreflion) that you have left
your earning, they will begin to vegetate, and increase
with great rapidity, but will make no progress while
you keep burdening and ftifling them.
Thus much as to the culture. A word relative to
the time of gathering this crop, must conclude this
essay.
Every production of the earth has its time of matu
rity. If you harvest potatoes before they are ripe, the
juice will be crude, they will be Unpleasant to the taste,
and will not keep so well as if fuffcred to grow longer.
The sign of ripeness in this fruit is the fading of the
leaf and Shrinking of the stalk. 'Tis remarkable in
almost all bulbous roots, especially the onion and po
tatoes, that they receive their firft nourishment from
the root, and finifh their growth by what they receive
from the top.
AGRICOLA.
* In New-England, potatoes are usually planted'
not in continual rows, but in fauares, like Indian corn,
the plants being set from three to four feet asunder, so
as to admit of cross ploughing; after which the dress
ing is completed by the hoe, with which the earth is
drawn up round the plants; which being repeated at
each ploughing, at last forms the hills here objected
to.
I heartily wish that some benevolent pen, equal to
the talk, would take up the theme, and for the good
of this young world, amuse the learned, and inftruft
the common people in this most important art. I mean
to throw my mite into the publick treasury ; but, with
out attempting the sublime parts, (ball fay something
only of those merely practicable.
As the feed is committed to the earth for the present
season, I will make some remarks on the erroneous
mode of culture among us. I have now spare-time
only to mention that very ufeful root the potatoe.
This root delights most in a rich loam, but not too
moist. Wet land produces too much top, and watery
fruit, which will not keep through the winter, and is
always strong and unpleasant to the ifti: Very dry
land produces a final! crop, and knotty fruit: Land
that is apt to bake (as we commonly phrase it) thould
also be avoided.
fonant to fucli principles, in every part of the United
States of America, would make them eminently inde
pendent.
[Numb & 433.]