The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1779-09-22 00:00:00, page 1

STATE of NEW-JERSEY.
An Afi: for calling out of circulation, and
for finking all bids of credit heretofore
emitted in this State, whilf the fame was
a Colony. Pafed June 8, 1779.
WHEREAS, from the scarcity cf
specie, and the want of a proper
medium of trade, bills of credit
have heretofore, at divers times,
been emitted in this state, whilfc.
the fame was a colony, some of
which are yet in circulation . • And whereas it appears
highly expedient that all such bills of credit should be
now called in, the quantity of continental currency
rendering them no longer necessary:
I. Be it therefore enacted by the Council and General
Assembly of this state, and it is hereby enabled by the
authority of the fame, That all bills of credit emitted
by law, and like wife all thofc emitted by an ordinance
of the late Provincial Congress of this state, shall be
and are hereby required to be brought into the trea
sury on or before the firft day of January next, to be
funic and destroyed in the manner herein after directed.
11. And be it enabled by the authority aforefaid, That
the said bills of credit shall pass current, and continue
to be a legal tender, and shall be received as such in
all payments, under the, penalties and forfeitures de
scribed in the several acts made for that purpose, un
til the firft day of September next, and no longer, ex
cept in the payment of taxes; and all clauses i^any
former law declaring the fame to be a legal tender,
from and after the above date, is and are hereby re
pealed and made void.
111. And be it enabled by the authority aforefaid, That
it shall and may be lawful for the Collectors in the
several townships, precinds and wards of this fiate,
and they are hereby refpedivejy awthorifed, required
and commanded, to receive the laid bills of credit at
any time before thefifteenth day of November next,
in the payment of any taxes levied or to be levied for
the use of this state.
IV. And be it enabled by the authority aforefaid, That
it shall and may be lawful for the Collectors of the se
veral counties in this state, and they are hereby re
fpedively authorifed, required and commanded to
receive the said bills of credit, at any time beforethe
25th day of November next, in the payment of any
taxes levied or to be levied for the use of or debts due
to the state: But in case the said County Collectors,
or either of them, should not happen to receive such
bills in payments of the said debts or taxes, but on
the contrary should receive other money in lieu there
of, then and in such case they, the said County Col
lectors refpedively, on application to them made at
any time before the said 25th day of November, are
hereby required and commanded to exchange such o
ther money by them so received for the bills of credit
aforefaid.
V. And be it enabled by the authority aforefaid, That
it shall and may be lawful for the Treasurer of this
state, and he is hereby authorifed, required and com
manded to receive the said bills of credit, at any time
on or before the firft day of December next, in dis
charge of debts due to or taxes raised in the Hate ; and
the said Treasurer is hereby required and commanded,
on application to him made at any time on or before
the said firft day of January next, to exchange for the
said bills of credit any monies which may be in his
hands belonging to the state : And the said Treasurer
is hereby required to lay all the bills of credit by him
received before any two Justices and three chosen
freeholders of the county of Hunterdon, which the
said Treasurer is to notify to meet at some convenient
place within ten days after the said firft day of Janu
ary next, which Justices and freeholders are hereby
required to meet agreeably to such notice, and when
met to infoeft, cancel and bundle up all the bills laid
before them by the said Treasurer, which he may
have received purfnant to this aft, and shall also leal
said bundles, and give a certificate of the refpedive
quantities so fealcd, which bundle of bills so cancelled,
with the aforefaid certificate, the said Treasurer shall
lay before the Legislature at their next fitting there
after, in order that the laid bills may be inf'pe&ed,
burned and destroyed.
VI. And be it enabled by the authority aforefaid, That
all such bills of credit, which shall not be brought into
the treasury of this state on or before the said firft day
of January next, shall be forever after irredeemable.
VII. And be it further enacted by the authority afore
faid, That the aft entitled " an act to fettle the quotas
of the several counties in this Colony for levying taxes,"
" palled the lixth day of December, 1769, and like
wise" An-ordinance us the late Provincial Congress of
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. IL]
W ED NE S DA Y, September 22, 1779.
this state, for striking the sum of fifty thousand pounds
five shillings, in bills of credit, for the purposes there
in mentioned, and directing the manner of linking the
fame," puffed the 28th day of February, 1776, shall
be and they hereby are repealed.
Caleb Camp, Speaker.
From the Pennsylvania Packet, September 4, 1779.
To the P ÜBLI C.
"DERUSING the General Advcitizer of Saturday,
A August the 14th, I observe the author of a piece
in it, signed a Citizen of Philadelphia, speaking of
the crown's unappropriated lands, lays, " the brave
citizens of these States were lid to believe, that if they
rifqued their lives and gave their present services, no
thing more was ever to be required of them" mean
ing, I suppose, as he fays afterwards, that, " these
lands and the King's quit-rents, would render unnc
ceffary any tax which might be laid, and prove a fink
ing fund of itfelf, fufficient to wipe off every pubic
debt." Without making any Rritturcs on the injus
tice of some of the States appropriating to themfelvcs
all these lands, contrary to the spirit of the confede
ration; to the prejudice of the others, who have
equally fought and bled for them ; on the danger that
will hereafter arise from the great superiority they will
derive from the fettlcment of such immenle trads of
territory; the evils that will accrue liom opening a
Land-Office at this time, —or without censuring those
Servants of the public who signed away the unaliena
ble rights of their constituents, without rtflecßior. or
reserve. I will give the inhabitants of the Thirteen
United States of America, a, calculation of the num
ber of acres, and the value of the Crown Lands which
Virginia alone claims, westward of the Alleghany
mountains ; for the fide of a part of which, an office
is to be opened by that State, in October next, at
Williamlburg. From this calculation they will be
able to judge, whether er not the author was mista
ken, when he fays, " These lands, and the King's
quit rents would render ^erdlary any tax," &c. —
or whether it is not an object to them of consequence
fufficient to give inftruCiions to their Delegates in
Congress, to insist on the King's unappropriated
Lands being fold or reserved for the benefit of the
States at large? The lands Virginia claims upon the
south-east fide of the Ohio river, (for the sale of the
greater part of which they propofc to open an office
next October) is contained within the following boun
daries, to wit: Beginning at the Weft end of the
Southern boundary line ol the State of Pennsylvania,
thence along the Western boundary line of the said
State, to where it interfeds the 40th degree ofNorth
latitude, thence along the said 40th degree to the ri
ver Ohio, thence down the said river Ohio to where
it empties itfelf into the river Miffifippi, thence down
the said river Miffilippi to where the Northern boun
dary line of North-Carolina strikes the said river, and
extends Eastward from said rivers as far as the lands
were purchased from the Indians, before the treaty
of Fort Stanwix, and contains 40 millions of acres.
Now 40 millions of acres at 401. per hundred Virgi
nia money (the price set on the lands by that Allcm
bly) amounts to 16,000,000 pounds, or 53,333,353
1-3 dollars. Besides which, the new county of Illinois,
bounded by the rivers Ohio and Miffilippi, and by a
Weft line from that part of the river Ohio, where the
40th degree of North latitude erodes it, until it strikes
the said river Miffilippi, —contains upon a moderate
computation 72 millions of acres, which, at 40
pounds per hundred, amounts to 28,800,000 pounds
Virginia currency, or 96,000,000 dollars; so that the
lands they claim and hold up for sale, without run
ning a North ICyl course, (as some gentlemen of that
State fay they have a right to do) as soon as they get
beyond the Weft bounds of Pennsylvania, at lcaft
equals the enormous sum of 44,cc0,c00 of pounds,
Virginia money, or 149,333,333 1-3 dollars. What,
my countrymen and fellow-citizens, have twelve of
the United States done, that they should be excluded
an equal participation of the lands in that inuneufe
Western country ? and what extraordinary effort has
the thirteenth (or Virginia) State made, that she
should at once grasp and rapaciously ftize on one hun
dred and twelve millions cf acres to the annihilation
of her national debt, and the creating an enormous
fund for purposes yet unknown? Whilftall the other
States of America, who have bled at every pore, and
their very uttermost penny taxed for the exigencies of
the general good, are deprived of their unqucftionable
and unalienable right. Look well into it! It does net
require much gonfideration. But if it is urged in fa
vor of Virginia, that her charter gives theie lands to
her, do not be amused by the machinations of inte
rested men. I deny that they have such a charter, and
I contend against their futile pre-emption. At present,
T II E
however, it's enough that I state the enormity of their
claim, and your cffential injury, to route you to an
enquiry, and manfully vindicate your rights and
property. An AMERICAN.
The following " Circular Letter from the Congress of
the United States of America to their Conflituents,
has been banded to us for' publication.
Friends and Fellow Citizens,
TN governments raised on the generous principles
1 of equal liberty, where the rulers of the state are
the lervants of the people, and not the matters of
those from whom they derive authority; it is their
duty to inform their fellow citizens of the Rate of
their affairs, and by evincing the propriety of pub
lick measures, lead them to unite the influence of
inclination to the force of legal obligation in render
ing them fucccfsful. This duty crates not even in
times of the molt perfect peace, order and tranqui
lity, when the fafety of the commonwealth is neither
endangered by force or fedudtion from abroad, or
by faction, treachery, or misguided ambition from
within. At this season, therefore, we find ourfelvcs
in a particular manner impressed with a sense of it
and can no longer forbear calling your attention to a
fubjeft much mifrepreftnted, and refolding which
dangerous as well as erroneous opinions have been
helu and propagated : we mean your finances.
The ungrateful despotism and inordinate lust of
domination which marked the unnatural designs of
the British king and his venal parliament to enslave
the people of America, reduced you to the necessity
of cither asserting your rights by aims, or inglori
ously passing under the yoke. You nobly preferred
war.---Armies were then to be raised, paid and sup
plied: money became 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 fyread among you could be collected only by
taxes, and to this end regular governments were ef
fential —of these you were also destitute. So circum-
Ranced, you had no other resource but the natural
value and wealth of your fertile country. Bills were
iflued on the credit of this bank, and your faith was
pledged for their redemption. After a considerable
number of these had circulated, loans were solicited,
and offices for the purpose established. Thusanati
onal debt was unavoidably created, and the amount
of it is as follows:
Dollars.
Bills emitted and circulating, 159,948,880
Monies borrowed before the )
id of March 1778, the in-(
tereft of which is payable ^ 7,545,196 67-90
in France, . . )
Monies borrov^d since the )
iftof March 1778, the in- ( ,
tereft of which is payable ^ 26,100,909
here, . . . )
Money due abroad, not ex- )
adly known--the balances (
not having been transmit- 2,000,000
ed, supposed to be about )
For your further fatisfadiop we shall order a par
ticular 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 afligned 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 necessity of emissions, and learn fiom
whom and from whence that necefifty arose.
\\ e are also to inform you, that on the firft day of
September infant we relolved " that we would on
" no account whatever emit more bills of credit than
'' to „l' e the whole amount of such bills two hundred
'' millions cf dollars, and as the sum emitted and in
" circulation amounted to 159,948,380 dollars, and
" the sum of 40,05i,i20d011ars remained to complete
''the two hundred million above mentioned, we on
the third day of September instant further rcfolvcd,
" that we would emit such part only of the said sum
" of 40,051,120 dollars as ihould be absolutely ne
'' ceffary tor publick exigencies before adequate fup
'' plies could otherwiie be obtained, relying for such
" supplies on the exertions of the several Rates."
Exclusive of the great and ordinary expences inci
dent to the war, the depreciation of the currency
has to levelled the prices of every necessary article,
and of consequence made such additions to the usual
amount of expenditures, that very confiderablc fnp
plics must be immediately provided by loans and tax-
[Numb. 91.]