The Freeman's journal, or, New-Hampshire gazette — Portsmouth, N.H., 1777-08-16 00:00:00, page 1

THE complaints that have been made
of the scarcity of many of the necef
faries of life, and the difficulty of ob
gaining those that are among us, have given
me no small uneasiness ; and 1 have long
wished force person would attempt to point
but a remedy for this great evil ; and to quiet
the murmers of the People, more disagree
able to an ingenuous mind than eGen want
Itfelf. The peculiar situation of this State
the last fealoh, in having the militia call
ed into service, at a time when they should
have been putting their feed into the
ground ; added to the blast upon the last
crop, has filled many minds with the appre
hension of a famine. A calamity truly terri
ble. Altho' I am far from thinking that the
scarcity, or even the total want of wheat
and rye would make a famine, yet I should
wish to have them in abundance ; and the
thought of having contributed the least
mite towards it would give me geat facis
fa&r^^ ^^^^.n^^ in afair ^^V Of Op
posing the invasions of our enemies with
out those extraordinary exertions, which were
necessary last summer. We have an army
railing, which, when compleat, will, we trust
with the smiles of Providence, be able to
defeat all their projects. , Cur Militia will,
in all probability, be fuffered to remain in
quiet at home. If therefore every Farmer
will, as is most certainly his duty, and I am
persuaded every Farmer, who has the least
spark ofPatriortifm, & love for his Country
will, exert himfelf to raise not only a com
potency for his own family, but as much
more for the benefit of the public, and the
support of our brethren who are gone forth
in our defence, as in his power ; and sow as
much summer grain as possible to help out
the coming harieft, we may in all probabi
lity avoid the so much dreaded calamity.
But should those efforts prove ineffectual,
there is one resource that can never fail us,
that is our own Virtue. Is there any, one
who will presume to call himfelf a Son of
Liberty, or a friend to his country, and can
not live one year without wheat or rye,
when we have an abundance of the other
necessaries of life ? We had a plentiful crop
Of Indian corn the last (eafon, and we can
raise as much the ensuing summer as we
please : and I cannot but think that if we
make a proper use of our Indian, it will am
ply supply the deficiency in wheat and rye.
Bread made of two thirds Indian and one
third rye, is exceeding good ; and the best
and most polite families need not think it a
disgrace, but rather an honour, to bring
such bread upon their tables, as it will be a
mark of their patriotism. There are many
families live almost altogether upon Indian,
yet are healthy, have a numerious family of
From a late Connecticut Paper.
[Vol. IL]
N '
'New-Hampfhte Gazette.
robust children, and enjoy more realh^p ,
nefs and fatisfaflion than many in high life
And shall we, who are engaged ipso noble
a struggle, who have such flattering prof
pe&s before us if we succeed, and shall be
reduced to such a deplorable situation if
conquered, not be able to retrench a part of
our luxury, live upon indian bread, or even
endure hunger and want, fora short time,
without continual murmurs and complaints ?
Hpthat cannot do it, is unworthy the ho
nourable appellation of a Patriots We must,
or might have known, before we engaged
in the war, that we could not live in so great
case and affi ience as in times of peace ; and
that many of the foperfluities of life would
not be to be obtained, and that the price of
every Article would rife in proportion to its
scarcity, and the difficulty of obtaining it.
How great the folly then of engaging, un
less we were determined chearfujiy to sub
mit to all these inconveniences ? It not on
ly becomes the farmer, but every true patri
ot, in this difficult day, to use his utmoff en
deavours to bee iiio cdui.;y bv % ; -, 'lt
greatest of calamities, by exerting himfelf to
increase all the nectaries of life, rind to
lessen the demand for them by the greatest
frugality, which will unavoidably lower their
price. No one ough to think;that because
he has a plenty of money, therefore ,he has
a right to confute as much as he pleases. He
must remember he lives in a community
where every individual must be supplied. If
there is but just bread corn enough for rhe
whole, every kernal the rich man needlessly
consumes, is taken out of the mouth of
some poor person or family.
Our luxury is our great misfortune, and
to that may we justly impute all the difor
ders, murmurs and complaints, which have
arisen emong us. We have, as a people,
been the most luxurious of any upon the face
of the earth ; and we find curfelves very a
verse to retrench in any one particular,
RUM is an article that has made as much
noise among us as any one whatever ; and
there is no one more fuperfluous & unnecef
fary. The only design of meat and drink,
is to nourilh the body, and keep it healthy
and strong. How does rum contribute in
the least to this ? The only way of forming
a right determination is to fee what has been
its effea,where it has,& where it has not been
used. And every candid mind must adjudge
it to be necessary or fuperfluous according to
the effed it has had upon the human conftitu
tion. The aborigines of America were entire
ly destitute, and knew not of such a thing •,
& where shall we find more robust & healthy
race of men than they were ? But no sooner
they were introduced to the use tfthis arti
cleflhan it (wept them away in great num
bers, Gur forefathers for many years after
SATURDAY, A gust 16, 1777.
THE
O R
the fe^!e^n L >fthis ~ crry,had liu'e to If
with "m, and yet they &oty<d -:
maintained (harp and bloody wars, were
more healthy and virtuous than their dege
nerate sons. To intemperence may we charge
the growing iniquities of our land, and hap
py had it been for the country, if RUM, thq
great source of intemperance, had always
been pref&ibed within the fame narrow
limits, which it was as its firft settlement;
that is, to the apothecaries (hops, to be dealt
out as a medicine. How ought every A=
merican to blush to have it said, that this is
the article about which we make so great a
bluffer, and are for making it the standard
of all other commodities ! One won't fell
his wood, unless he can have rum. One
must have ten (hillings for his Wheat, ano
ther twenty for his wood, because the price
of rum is double. For shame my fellow
countrymen, never more let it be said w 6
have a&ed so unworthy our noble ancestors.
It is by our own folly and injustice we
have raised the price of every necessary and
CfrYrntence of life so high. By endeavor
ing to take advantage of the times, and to
engross those articles we imagined would be
scarce, we put every one upon the ftrife to,
obtain them. Whereas if we had exercised.
a little moderation, and so much virtue and
felfdenial as not to have given an exorbi,
tant price for any one article, we should
have had just as much of those articles a
mong us, and at a much cheaper rate. Ano
ther great error we have fallen into, is esti
mating the value of our country produce,
according to the price of foreign com modi,
ties ; whereas we ought to have considered
the difference of the times, that it is much
more difficult and hazardous to procure
those commodities than formerly : But there,'
is little more difficulty in railing the produce
of the country now, than there was three
years ago.,
Let us my fellow-countrymen, for once
resolve to be generous, honest, and disinter
ested : Let every one supply his neighbour/
and the public with whatever is not abso
lutely necessary for the fubfiftance of his
own family, at the cheapest rate, he can af{
ford: let every one attend diligently to his!
own business, and we 4 shall soon fee peace
and plenty reign through our land, and be
able to repulse the attacks of our enemies
with facility. But if we go on persecuting
one another, negle&ing our own bufinefs,to
watch over the public weal, each one tak
ing upon himfelf the legHbtive and execu
tive powers, complaining that the Congref§;
Assembly, and all lawful authority are too
dilatory and leniant in their determinations
at the fame time striving to take every ad-,
vantage of one another, and feeding every
^ mre fa last%%
[ No. 10.]