The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1786-01-30 00:00:00, page 2

< defraud the creditor. Is it riot better to leave a
< few individuals to the mercy of their creditors,
' than to set all property afloat; and to make the mutu
' al faith and confidence we have in each other, re
-6 fpeding trust and credit, little as it is, still infinite
'ly less ? The object of legislation, is the general
6 good of the community. What right, upon this
' principle, has any assembly to devise expedients for
' fuccouring a few at the expence of thousands? In
' deed, Mr. Whig, I have often doubted the confti
' tutionality of those kind of laws. It is true, indeed,
' that in a certain sense, the legislature is omnipotent.
' Their laws, except in those instances in which our
' charter has given them no right to legislate at all,
' and in which our courts of justice would consequent
-6 ly decide their ads to be null and void (tho' I re
' member an instance in which some members of our
' assembly took even this in high dudgeon) must be
' confideredas obligatory ; and not only from a sense of
' duty, but in consideration of the facility to procure
6 the repeal of any law that is found inconvenient
' (a facility peculiar to the American constitutions,
' in which all authority is declared to be derived from
' the people) 1 am too good a fubjeCt not to inculcate
' an implicit obedience to every legislative ad while
6 subsisting and unrepealed. But atthe fame time, be the
' conftru&ion of law what it will, I know that in e
'quity and honour and good conscience, these fame
4 legislators may so exceed the true limits of their de
' ftination, and the confidence reposed in them by
6 their constituents, as to pass laws diredly contrary
' to the nature of that destination and trust; and such
' as no man of equity and honour and good confidence,
' could ever prevail upon himfelf to pass. These gentle
' men are undoubtedly delegated to enad laws for the
' security of our lives and properties. If therefore
' they Should pass any laws that, in dead of securing,
' rendered either of those objects (for the protection
* of which, it is to be presumed that men surrendered
' the greater liberties of a state of nature, and enter
' ed into die facial compact) more precarious than in
' that date they were, would they not exceed the ne
' cefTarily implied circumfeription of their duty ? As
' to life, I do not indeed recollect any case in which
' our legislatures have passed a law to hang one man
6 for a crime committed by another: but as to pro
‘ perty, there are nuihberlefs instances in which they
'have said that the estate of A, Should in future be
' long to B. How, and in what manner, you will afl< ?
' Why, not indeed in express terms, and so many
' words, because that would rather have looked a lit
' tie unlegiflative; but in substance and virtually,
' they have said it, and that amounts to the fame thing.
' I will give you two instances. First, some of our
6 legislatures have passed what they called ads for
' the relief of insolvent debtors, but what others very
' properly termed ads conducing to the encourage
'ment of villany. Had none of those ads been made
' ex poJi faflo, that is to fay, operating as to debts
' contracted previous to their passing, but only affed
' ing all debts in future to be contrasted, I could not
' have proved my proposition; tho' even in such case
'(where-ever they are extended beyond the British
6 ads of bankruptcy, which were originally intended
6 to be rettrided to merchants liable to peculiar acci
' dents on the ocean, and by giving credit) they will
6 ever be found ruinous to a country that is to subsist by
' agriculture. But to alter, by a subsequent ad, the
' nature of a man's security from what it was at the
6 time of his lending the money; and for a legislature
< to fay the year after, that if the debtor will now
< swear that he has nothing to pay, he Shall be dif
< charged from paying, is it not furnishing mankind
<with a violent temptation so to swear ? Is every legifla
< ture totally exempt from members, who, by so
<fwearing, want to annihilate their own debts? And
< is it not a demonstration of my proposition that such
claw transfers the property of one man to another?
< Secondly, every legislature that can be prevailed up
con to emit a paper currency which they have ration
< al grounds to believe will depreciate, and make such
< currency a legal tender after, and notwithstanding
<its depreciation, does transfer the property of Ato
<B, quod erat demonftrandum: But that every such
< legislature is a collection of Primitive Whigs, and
< incorruptible patriots, I do not beleive that either
<fir Isaac Newton or mr. Locke, had fufficient abili
< ties to demonstrate. Probus.'
N UM B E R. IL ~
A paper currency ivitb a tender is inexpedient in Neau
°Jerfey at present.
I. THE firft head continued. A paper currency
J- with a tender is inexpedient in New-Jersey at
present. The firft number Stated some objections
against emitting paper with a tender; this second num
ber is a continuation of further objections. To draw
bills to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds,
and by them to take one hundred thousand pounds,
gold or silver money, out of the hands of the good
people of New-Jersey, is a weighty matter, which
ought not hastily to be adopted, nor to pass without
a satisfactory solution of some very important questi
ons. What security will individuals have that these
bills will bear that value or half that value ? The right
of private property is a natural right, and is every
man's right, and it is not a flight reason that will au
thorize its violation. The publick is treating with in
dividuals for the exchange of their coin into bills.
What infurance-office does the government open to se
cure the value of these bills? A paper currency on
loan is by virtue of an aft of the legislature to be re
deemed by mortgage on lands, on real property, on
solid acres, which we know to be of substantial va
lue. Well, let us examine this security. The lands
are mortgaged to government for the redemption of
the bills, but not to the holder. The holder has not
any power to detain the lands till he receives value for
his bill. The lands are entirely out of his power;
he has neither right of title nor right of possession to
them; he can neither use nor rent them. If he fuf
pefts the validity or the price of his bill he cannot re
sort to the lands and convert them into value for its
exchange. What security of the value then are the
lands to the holder of the bills? Not the lead. If the
nominal sum of that paper be paid to government, the
government cancels the mortgage and difeharges the
land whether the holder has received value or not.
If the nominal sum be infufficient in value, the govern
ment cannot by sale of the lands raise the deficiency
to compensate the holder. The government cannot
on the demand of the holder, fell the land for coin and
exchange his bill. There is not any privity between
the holder and the mortgagor. If the bills are carri
ed by the mortgagors into the office at fix-pence in the
pound, the holders are no party to the tranfaCtion.
There is not any necessary connection between the
bills and the lands; they are as fevered as the two
poles. What security of the value then are the lands
to the holders? Not the least. If the holders can have
no well-grounded security of the value in the lands,
what buoy can they have for their hopes? They may
expert, that at the end of fifteen years the mortgagors to
prevent the sale of their lands, or the government af
ter their sale will purchase the bills of them with gold
and silver. Vain expectation, imaginary hope, mere
supposition ! The repeal of the aft, the suspension of
the sales, the admission of another paper currency in its
lieu, and a variety of other different casualties may de
ftioy these bills, blast the expectation of the holder,
and leave him to fuffer without redress. If by electi
ons and petitions this castle of paper can be erected, by
the very fame means it can be demolished. The loan
office paper of 1774 was placed out by mortgage on
lands. How came it that this real property did not
secure the value of the bills? They in less than fifteen
years perished, notwithstanding the substantial value of
solid acres. If mortgaged lands could ensure the va
lue of a currency, the paper of 1774 might have been
effectually secured. What good effe& had this boasted
security? Did it prevent depreciation? Did it secure
justice to the holders? By no means- Under all those
casualties, which did take place and which may again take
place in less than five years, the lands had no more abso
lute and immediate effect to secure the value of the bills to
the holders than the landsin Otaheite had. The holder
cannot wait till the end of fifteen years, he must fell his
bill to day. He hawks it all round the market to finda
buyer. The buyer gives him a fifth, a tenth, a twentieth
or a hundredth part of its nominal value according as
the opinion refpeCting this paper is favourable or unfa
vourable. The currency depreciates, finks, defrauds
and disappears, notwithstanding this mighty boast of
solid acres. Are the lands then any security of the
value to the holders? Not the least. The bills are per
fectly as good without as with the mortgages; nay,
better in the present situation of New-Jersey. Bills to
be redeemed by taxes upon the general property of the
community are more likely to retain their value than
bills to be redeemed by particular lands. If they are
to be redeemed by the community, so small is the
proportion of an individual, that it is not worth while
for any one to attempt to depreciate them or attempt
to defeat their redemption ; but, if they are to be re
deemed by a small part of the community, it becomes
highly the interest and a capital object, and probably
the fortune of that part, after the bills have answered
a particular purpose, to depreciate them to the lowest
degree, and finally to defeat entirely their redemption.
What security of the value are then these lands to the
holders? Not the least. Whatever security they may
be to the government for the redemption of the bills,
they molt certainly arc not the least security of the
value to the holders. They cannot ensure the bills
from the lowest depreciation. This examination of
the security of the value of the bills does not promise
much comfort to the holders. This view of our fub
jeCt shows us, that it is fafer to trust to the precious
metals than to this loan-office paper with a tender.
These observations convince us, that it is more advis
able to confide in intrinsic and substantial value in our
possession than in these promiffary bills with a tender,
which are to be paid to the holders the Lord knows
when and how or whether ever. One bird in the hand
is worth two on the bush. The original and only de
sign of government in loaning on lands, has always
been by compelling the payment of the nominal sum into
the treasury by their sales, to prevent the necessity of rais
ing by taxes on the people the emitted currency. The
prevention of a levy of taxes on the people, not
value to the holders, has always been the immediate
object of government in loaning on lands. The va
lue of a paper currency always has been and still must
be secured by other very different ways and means.
Those causes, which secured the value of paper for
merly, do not exist at this day.
The faith of government sacred and inviolate; an
unshaken confidence and good opinion of the holders
in the money; a secure fund; and more especially in the
government the means of instant realization at value;
or, in other words, the means of exchange of the bill
on demand into coin at value, are the four essential
requisites for the emission and support of a paper cur
rency of government. The want of any one of the
four would necessarily occasion the failure of the cui
rency of any paper whatsoever, notwithstanding a
the edicts and statutes of the most potent and abfc
lute empire on earth. The firft has been so repeated!
and so wantonly violated, that it does not now de
serve to be deemed, if we may judge from the past,
security for a single (hilling. The second effentia
the good opinion of people in paper, has long ag
been entirely expunged out of the articles of politics
faith, has long ago been exploded and hissed off th
Rage by all the world, and has long ago abdicated
New-Jersey. The good opinion of people in paper
that is, the credit of paper, is eradicated and torn u]
by the very roots from the mind of every man, wo
man and child in the date. A good opinion of pape
neither is now, nor poflibly can be for years to come,;
sentiment of the human mind in New-Jersey. The doc
trine of transubstantiation, the hypothesis of the trans
migration of fouls, the system of Descartes, th<
power of the pope to forgive fins, knight errantry anc
any other greater absurdity and foolery, if any great
er there can be, are not io effectually obliterated, ex
punged, exploded and eradicated from the minds of the
people of New-Jersey, as the sentiment of good opi
nion in paper credit. Now, can an aft of assembly re
store and revive in people a good opinion of paper
credit? Not in the least. No more than it can
remove hunger or third or the pain of the gout. No
more than it can cure deafnefs or blindness. No more
than a cork can peck a millstone, or a feather hammer
iron. It is not possible in the nature of things. An
aft of assembly may operate upon a man's person,
his liberty of locomotion, and his property, but can
not upon his opinion. A man's opinion cannot be the
object of legislation. To suppose the contrary is the
grossest ignorance of government, of society and of the
human mind. To apply an aft of assembly to change
the opinion of people is as improper as to use a wheel
barrow for a pen. Laws ought always to follow the
opinion of people, not to attempt to lead their opini
on, much lets to attempt to force their opinion. In
this situation can New-Jeifey issue a paper currency
with a tender, which will circulate generally and free
ly in the market as well as elsewhere, and retain a
value equal with coin ? At present it is not possible.
Nor will it ever be possible until government, by a
benign, an equitable, a persuasive and an extensive in
fluence, procured by a steady and a just administration,
has previously removed the well-grounded apprehen
sions of the people against paper, and revived their
entire confidence in every measure which government
can adopt. This loan-office paper with a tender mult
necessarily depreciate, injure and fail. The third essen
tial, a secure fund, has in the end been as often want
ing, 01 as otten diverted as the faith of government
has been violated. A fund proposed to be applied at
the end of fifteen or of five years, may at present
tantalize the holder, but deserves, if we may judge
from the past, no confidence, nor can it be deemed a
security. The fourth requisite, the most essential of
all by far, to wit, instant realization or an immediate
exchange into coin, is, I am sorry to fay it, entirely
impracticable at present. Instant realization or imme
diate exchange of paper into coin at value was for
merly practicable every moment. It is true that go
vernment did not raise a sum of coin and deposit the
fame in the treasury to exchange the bills on demand;
but the faith of the government, the opinion of the
people, and the security of the fund formerly by a
well-timed and steady policy, went so hand in hand,
and so concurred to support each other, that the peo
ple voluntarily and without the least compulsion threw
all their gold and silver, not locking up a (hilling,
into circulation concurrently with the bills; whereby
the whole coin of the government became forthwith,
upon an emission of paper, a bank of deposit at every
man's door for the instant realization or immediate
exchange of this bill into gold or silver. This had a
benign and equitable, a persuasive, a fatisfadory and
an extensive influence. If any one doubted the vali
dity or price of his bill, his neighbour immediately
removed his doubts by exchanging it without loss in
to gold or silver. If any one for a particular purpose
needed the precious metals, his bill procured them
at the next door, without a moment's delay or a pen
ny's diminution. So high was the opinion of the
people raised, that often an advance was given for paper
on account of the convenience of carriage. In the mar
ket as well as in the payment of debts, the paper
and the coin possessed a voluntary, equal and concur
rent circulation, and no special contrast was made
which should be paid or whether they should be re
ceived at a difference. By this instant realization and
immediate exchange, the government had all the gold
and silver in the community as effectually in their
hands as if those precious metals had all been locked
up in their treasury. By this realization and exchange
they could extend credit to any degree it was re
quired. The people could not be induced to enter
tain a doubt of their paper, because the government
had never failed them in a single instance, either in
war or in peace. This realization and exchange gave
every man's eyes and every man's hands sensible and
daily evidence of the security and of the value of his pa
per : his faith was not stretched on tenders, the length of
fifteen years by bare promissory acts without any evi
dence, or rather in direct contradiction to plain, positive
and full evidence. Experience has fully proved in
stant realization or immediate exchange to be the
grand secret in emitting paper. This is the foie rea
son of the current circulation at value of the bills of
the bank of Philadelphia. This is the standard mea
sure of all papers in Europe. What they will bring
in a moment is their value, and not what is promised
at the end of long periods. This exchangeable quali
ty without a tender is the sole reason that the reve
nue-paper of New-Jersey has circulated and retained