The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1780-11-01 00:00:00, page 1

The CRISIS
EXTRAORDINARY.
(Continued from our last.)
IDO not imagine that an instance can be pro
duced in the world, of a country putting her
felf to such an amazing charge to conquer.and
enslave another as Britain "has dons. The sum
is too great for her to think of with any tolerable
degree of temper; and when we confider the burden
4he sustains as well as the disposition ihe has shewn,
it would he the height of folly in us to suppose that
the would not reimburse herfelf by the most rapid
means, had foe once more America within her power.
With such an oppreflion of expence, what would an
empty conquest be to her ? What relief under such
circumstances could Die derive from a victory with
out a prize ? It was money, it was revenue, ihe firft
went to war for, and nothing but that would fatisfy
her. It is not the nature of avarice to be fatisfied
with any thing else. Every passion that ads upon
mankind has a peculiar mode of operation. Many
of them are temporary and fluctuating ; they admit
of cessation and variety: But avarice is a fixed uni
form passion. It neither abates of its vigour nor
changes its object ; and the reason why it does not
is founded in the nature of things, for wealth has
not a rival where avarice is a ruling passion. One
beauty may excel another, and extinguish from the
mind of a man the pictured remembrance of a for
mer one : But wealth is the pheenix of avarice, and
therefore cannot feeka new object, because there is
not another in the world.
I now pass on to Ihew the value of the present
taxes, and compare them with the annual expence ;
but this J Ihall preface with a few explanatory re
marks.
There are two diftinCt things which make the pay
ment of taxes difficult ; the one is the large and real
value of the sum to be paid, and the other is the
scarcity of the thing in which the payment is to be
made ; and although these appear to be one and the
fame, they are in several instances not only different,
but the difficulty springs from different causes.
Suppose a tax was to be laid equal to one half of
what every man's yearly income is, such a tax could
not be paid because the property could not be spared;
and on the other hand, suppose a very trifling tax
was laid to be collected in pearls, such a tax likewise
could not be paid, because it could not be had.—
Now any person may fee that these are diftinCt cases,
and the latter of them is a representation of ours.
That the difficulty cannot proceed from the for-
mer, that is, from the real value or weight of the
tax, is evident at firft view to any person who will
confider it.
( The amount of the quota of taxes for this state for
the present year, 1780 (and so in proportion for
every other state) is twenty millions of dollars, which
at seventy for one is but sixty-sour thousand two hun
dred and eighty pounds three shillings sterling, and
on an average is no more than three shillings and five
pence sterling per head per annum, men, women and
children, or five pence per head per month. Now
here is a clear positive fact, that cannot be contra
dicted, and which proves that the difficulty cannot
be in the weight of the tax, for in itfelf it is a trifle
and far from being adequate to our quota of the
expence of the war. The quit rents of one penny
sterling per acre on only one half the state, come to
upwards of fifty thousand pounds, which is almolt
as much as all the taxes of the present year, and as
those quit rente made no part of the taxes then paid,
and are now difeontinued, the quantity of money
drawn for pyblick service this year, exclusive of the
militia fines, which I shall take notice of in the pro
cess of this work, is lets than what was paid and pay
able in any year preceding the revolution, and since
the last war ; what I mean is that the quit rents and
taxes taken together came to a larger sum then than
the present taxes without the quit rents do now.
My intention by these arguments and calculations
is to place the difficulty to the right cause, and ihew
that it does not proceed from the weight or worth of
the tax, but from the scarcity of the medium in
which it is paid ; and to illustrate this point Rill
farther, I shall now Ihew, that if the tax of twenty
millions of dollars was of four times the real value
it now is or nearly so, which would be about two
hundred aud fifty thousand pounds sterling, and
would be our full quota, that this sum would have
been raised with more ease, and less felt, than the
present sum of only sixty-sour thousand two hundred
and eighty pounds.
The convenience or inconvenience of paying a tax
N EW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. lII.]
WEDNESDAY, November I, 1780.
I have placed before the reader, the average tax
per head paid by the people in England; which is
forty shillings sterling.
And I have shewn the rate on an average per head,
which will defray all the expence of the ^ur to us,
and support the several governments without running
the country into debt, which is thirteen ihiliings and
four-pence.
I have shewn what the peace establishment may be
conducted for, viz. an eighth part of what it would
be, if under the government of Britain.
And I have likewise shewn what the average per
head of the present taxes are, namely, three {hillings
and five-pence sterling, or five-pence per month;
and that their whole yearly value in sterling is only
sixty-sour thousand two hundred and eighty pounds.
Whereas our quota to keep the payments equal with
the expences, is two hundred and fitly thousand
pounds. Consequently there is a deficiency of one
hundred and eignty-five thousand seven hundred and
twenty pounds, and the fame proportion of defeat,
according to the several quotas, happens in every
other Rate. And this defeat is the cause why the
army has been so indifferently fed, eloathed and paid.
It is the cause, likewise, of the nervclefs state of the
campaign, and the insecurity of the country. Now
if a tax equal to thirteen ahd four-pence per head, will
remove all these difficulties, make people secure in
'their homes, leave them to follow the bulinefs of
their stores and farms unmolested, and not only keep
out, but drive out the enemy from the country ; and
if the needed of railing this sum will let them in,
and produce the evils which might be prevented, on
which fide, I alk, does the wisdom, interest and
policy lie ? Or rather would it not be an insult to
reason to put the question ? The sum when portioned
out according to the several abilities of the people,
can hurt no one, but an inroad from the enemy ruins
hundreds of families.
Look at the deftrudion done in this city. The
many'houfes totally destroyed, and others damaged ;
the watte of fences in the country round it, besides
in money arises from the quantity of money that can
be spared out of trade.
When the emissions ftopt, the continent was left
in potfellion of two hundred millions of dollars, per
haps as equally dispersed as it was pollible for trade
to do it. And as no more was to be ilfued, the rife
or fall of prices could neither increase nor diminilh
the quantity. It thereforce remained the fame thro'
all the fluctuations of trade and exchange.
Now had the exchange hood at twenty for one,
which was the rate Cougrefs calculated upon when
they quoted the Rates the latter'end of last year, trade
would have been carried on for nearly four times less
money than it is now, and comequcntly the twenty
millions would have been spared with much greater
ease, and when collected would have been of almolt
four times the value they now are. And on the other
hand, was the depreciation to be at ninety or one
hundred for one, the quantity required for trade
would be more than at sixty or {evenly for one, and
though the value or the tax would be less, the diffi
culty of sparing the money out of trade would be
greater. And on these tacts and arguments I rest
the matter, to prove, that it is not the want of pro
perty, but the scarcity of the medium by which the
proportion of property for taxation is to be measured
out, that makes the e/nbairallmciit we lie under. —
There is net money enough, and what is equally as
true, the people will not let there be money enough.
While I am on the fubjedt of the currency, I shall
offer one remark which will appear true to every body,
and can be accounted for, by ne body, which is, that
the better the times were, the u orle the money grew ;
and the worse the times were, the better the money
stood. It never depreciated by any advantage ob
tained by the enemy. The troubles of seventy-six,
and the loss of Philadelphia in seventy-seven, made
no sensible impression on it, and every one knows
that the surrender of Charleftown did not produce
the least alteration in the rate of exchange, which
for long before, and for more than three months
after, stood at lixty for one. It seems as if the cer
tainty of its being our own made us careless of its
value, and that the molt diltaiit thoughts of losing it
made us hug it the closer, like something we were
loth to part with ; or that we depreciate it for our
pastime, which, when called to seriousness by the
enemy, we leave off to renew again at our leisure.—
In short our good luck seem to break us, and our bad
make us whole.
Passing on from this digression, I shall now endea
vor to bring into one view the several parts I have
already Rated, and form thereon home proportions,
and conclude.
THE
1 the plunder of furniture, forage and provision. Ido
not suppose that half a million sterling would rein-
Rate the fufferers, and does this, I alk, bear
any proportion to the expence that would make us
secure. The damage 011 an average is at least ten
pounds sterling per head, which is as much as thir
teen Ihillings and four-pence per head comes to for
fifteen years. The fame has happened_on the fron
tiers, and in the Jerfies, New-York, and other places
where the enemy has been, Carolina and Georgia is
likewise fuffering the fame fate.
That the people generally do not understand the
inefficiency of the taxes to carry on the war, is evi
dent, not only from common observation, but from
the conftruCtion of several petitions, which were pre
sented to the assembly of this Rate, against the re
commendation of Congress of the 18th of March
last, for taking up and funding the present currency
at forty for one, and issuing new money in its Read.
The prayer of the petition was, That the currency
might be appreciated bf taxes (meaning the present
taxes) and that part of the taxes be applied to the
support of the arm,, if the army could not be otber<wife
supported. Now it could not have been possible for
such a petition to have been presented, had the peti
tioners known, that so far from part of the taxes
being fufficient for the support of the army, the cubole
of them falls three-fourths short of the year's ex
pences.
Before I proceed to propose methods by which a
fufficiency of money may be railed, I shall take a
short review of the general state of the country.
Notwithßanding the weight of the war, the ravages
of the enemy, and the obstructions Ihe has thrown
in the way of trade and commerce, so soon does a
young country outgrow misfortune, that America has
already surmounted many that once heavily oppressed
her. For the firft year or two of the war, we were
shut up within our ports, scarce venturing to look
towards the ocean. Now our rivers are beautified
with large and valuable vessels, our stores filled with
merchandize, and the produce of ihe country has a
ready market, and an advantageous price. Gold and
silver, that for a while seemed to have retreated again
within the bowels of the earth, is once more risen
into circulation, and every day adds new strength to
trade, commerce, and agriculture. In a pamphlet
written by Sir John Dalrymple, and dispersed in Ame
rica in the year 1775, he asserted, that, tovo twenty
gun Jbips, nay, fays he, the tenders ts t b o f e Jbips,
fattened between Albermarle found, a nd Gbeafapeak
bay, (would shut up the trade' oj America, for 600
toiles. How little did Sir John Dalrymple know of
the abilities of America !
While under the government of Britain, the trade
of this country was loaded with reftridions. It was
only a few foreign ports she was allowed to fail to.
Nowit is otherwise ; and allowing that the quantity
of trade is but half what it was before the war, the
case must shew the vast advantage of an open trade
because the present quantity under her restrictions
could not support itfelf; from which I infer, that if
half the quantity without the reftridions can bear
itfelf up nearly, if not quite, as well as the whole
when fubjeCt to them, how prosperous must the con
dition of America be when the whole shall return
open with all the world. By trade I do not mean
the employment of a merchant only, but the whole
interest and hufinefs of the country taken collectively.
It is not so much my intention, by this publica
tion, to propose particular plans for raising money,
as it is to ihew the necessity and the advantages to
be derived from it. My principal design is to form
the disposition of the people to such measures which
I am fully persuaded is their interest and duty to a
dopt, and which needs no other force to accomplish
them than the force of being felt. But as every hint
may be ufeful, I shall throw out a sketch, and leave
others to make such improvements upon it as to
them may appear reasonable.
The annual sum wanted is two millions, and the
average rate in which it falls is thirteen shillings and
four-pence per head.
Suppose then that we raise half the film and sixty
thousand pounds over. The average rate thereof
will be seven {hillings per head.
In this case we shall have half the supply we want,
and an annual fund of sixty thousand pounds whereon
to borrow the other million ; because sixty thousand
pounds is the interest of a million at fix per cent, and
if at the end of another year we should be obliged,
by the continuance of the war, to borrow another
million, the taxes will be inercafed to seven shillings
and fix-pence ; and thus for every million borrowed,
an additional tax equal to fix-pence per head must be
levied.
[Numb. 149]