The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1781-02-07 00:00:00, page 1

From the PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE.
The Oeconomy, Policy and Resources of the
Thirteen States examined, and the Means of
their Preservation coffered.
By a Citizen ts Philadelphia.
gr-w ^H E exhausted Rate of the publick treasury,
g and the universal disorder of our finances,
| the pressing demand for Supplies for every
R department of thepublick tervices, the con
vulhons which begin to appear, and the general con
fufion that threatens us, are become very serious and
alarming, are become matters of very anxious con
'xern, and even painful despondency in the minds of
many very wife and good men ; and the publick ne
cessities are thence arisen to such a pitch of urgency,
as must convince every thinking man that a speedy
^remedy or ruin must be the consequence. In this
dreadful crisis, I will venture to lay before the pub
lick some thoughts on the present Rate of our affairs,
and the ways and means of deliverance, which ap
pear to me most wife, natural and practicable ; and
this I propose to do with the fame openness and free
dom of mind and expression, which I have heretofore
lifted, and hope for the fame candour and indulgence
•from the publick which I have heretofore experienced.
ill. Our country is not exhausted, it is fall ofJup
plies of every kind, which are needed for publick fer
roice. We have men enough who would with to serve
in the army, if they could be praptrly fupforted and
paid. We have provisions and all other supplies e
nough in the hands of our own people, who with to
fell them to any body who would pavfor them.
2d. We have unanimity and general zeal for the
great cause of liberty, for which we are contending.
Neither our publick councils nor movements are ofc
ftruded or weakened by strong oppolite factions,
wafting our wisdom or force in counter-working each
other. The most dangerous and alarming commoti
ons among us ffiew such firmnefs, zeal and uidhaken
attachment to the great American cause, as plainly
deraonftrate that they do not at all arise from difaffec
tion, but froth real distressing chafes.
3d. We want nothing but wisdom, to draw into use
the force and supplies of which the country has fufficient
plenty. Like the foolifh prodigal, we are feeding and
starving on hufles, while there is bread enough and
to spare within our reach; and if we fall at laftun
der the power of our enemies, we shall fall a sacri
fice to bur own foil), not to their wisdom or power ;
to the weakness of our councils, not to the want of
fufficient strength ; if we fall at laR, no nation or
people ever fell more despised, or lets pitied. Onr
.absurdities of council will be topicks of ridicule and
'.bye-words of feorn, whilst our posterity are noticed
groaning under the iron tod of opprefßon, and /alli
ed into that effort for the benefit of their mafeers,
which would now be fufficient to secure their and our
liberty, but which we have not now wisdom and vir
tue enough to call into use. How will the by-Rand
ers laugh, and our poor posterity groan, at the ab
surdity of our plans of appreciating our currency
.month by month, whilß every cause of depreciation
continues and increases ; ---of learning the number
of buyers, in order to increase the fellers ; —of limit
ing, forcing and reducing the market, in order to in
crease the quantity of goods brought for sale ; -of
forcing credit, value and dchrablcnefs into ou,r cur
rency by tender afts and penal laws ; and of pro
curing the vast supplies for the publick service, by
staking away every inducement of industry, and throw
ing every branch of our trade, mechanic arts and hus
bandry into Stagnation, and which caps all the rest,
the sacred scheme ok Supporting our government, and
securing all the bleilings of liberty by a Jbamelefs de
parture from every principle of honesty and justice,
which are essential to the very exigence of civil soci
ety. These are but few of the absurdities in politicks
which we have seen adopted, and forced into prac
tice by every application of compuifivc methods, and
with a perseverance incredible. Nothing but the ab
solute impossibility of the practice could compel the
chimerical zealots to discontinue their mad career ;
b&t, however laughable to our enemies, and dijlref
fing to our posterity, and incredible to both, these
things may appear, they may be of use to us, as the
dreadful and deftru&ive consequences, the Ihame,
disgrace and ruin, which we have seen refusing from
them, and which now threaten us in a manner that
makes every considerate face gather paleness, these,
I fay, all tend to work an universal conviction in the
minds of all men, of their total inutility and the-ab
solute necessity of an immediate reformation; and as
a necessary means of it, to reject for ever from our
publick councils, those weak unprincipled men of
wild projection and madness of design, who have in
fatuated the land with their extravagant chimeras,
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. IV.]
WEDNESDAY, February 7, 1781.
and drawn many of the honest, unthinking, but too
easy people into their methods of ihame and ruin. A
man will not kill his own child, tho' ever so mon
ftrou« ; nor is it to be supposed that these authors of
our present distress will ever heartily concur in the
rejection and publick censure of their own darling
Schemes, or that they are capable of that wisdom ne
ceflary to bring about a total reformation. And here
I mull stop a little, and observe that the thing which
makes our nation excel another in glory, political pru
dence and happiness, is mbit commonly this, viz.
That men of genius, abilities, integrity and industry,
are placed at the head of their publick departments.
The publick will ever receive its tone, in refpeCt of
its dignity, fame, good order and happiness, from the
men who are inftru&ed with the management of the
publick affairs. This observation is so manifcftly
true, that every man in the final! circle of his own
domefticks or neighbours can judge well how any bu-
Jinefs will be done, if he knows who is to do it. We
cannot hope for reformation and good management
of our publick affairs, unless we fee judicious, upright
and fleady men in the several departments of the Rate ;
men adequate to the offices they fill, and indufrieus
and persevering in attending thereto. But to return,
I will suppose for once that every publick depart
ment was filled with the bell: and most Suitable men,
and that every individual was willing to adopt and
pursue the best methods of fafety and deliverance
which our case admits, what then can and ought to
be done > I answer,
ift. Every man is to be called on for the debt which
he owes the publick. Every man Rands indebted to the
publick for his Share or proportion of all the money
or supplies necessary to the publick fafety, and this
debt must be paid, or the publick fafety mlift be in
secure, must be in danger. ' The publick Safety can
not be put off, as some people serve their maker,
with empty prayers and good wifbes. This payment
can ruin nobody. 'Tis manifest that if any indivi
dual, even the least able to pay, Should by some
accident lose as much money or other estate as his
Share of this debt amounts to, it would not ruin him,
it would not greatly distress him ; for the truth of
this I appeal to every man's knowledge of his own
and his neighbour's circumstances ; but on the other
hand, how many thousands of individuals are ruined
for want of this payment. Dreadful and fwift witnef
fea of this are ail those, who have fuffered by the vi
olations of our publick faith, by the depreciation of
our currency ; all those who are not paid for the pro
duce of their lands, or personal Services, or any other
fruits of their labour, with which the publick has
been furnished. The people of the Thirteen States
are almost in the fame condition which they would
have been in, if they had fold their principal produce
to bankrupts or broken merchants, who could not pay
them. They, by this means^have not money to pay
their debts, to trade with, to buy of the merchant,
to lay in their Rock for the ensuing year, tp encreafe
their Scale of business, &c. &c. One disappointment
• creates another; an universal stagnation of bufineVs is
the consequence; and all industry is checked even in
its firft principle, as well as in practice, and of course
the produce of the lands and the fabricks of the
tradesman are daily lessened, and of course the great
Rock for home consumption, and the great Staples of
trade, arc daily dwindling away. These are fa&s no
torious to every body, and arise directly from this,
viz. that there is not pubtick moneye nough to pay
the publick creditors. Whereas, if every man was
called on for his Share of the publick debt, there would
be money enough to pay every body, and all this dread
ful deluge of calamity would be remedied at once,
and every individual would be a gainer by the tax he
would pay, because he loses more every year by the
confulions and disappointments arising from this
want of publick monies than his tax would amount
to. This is all mighty well in Theory, but impof-
Jible enough in Practice. Do you fay this in car
nest? I do most seriously contend, that it is ve„ pos
sible in practice ; it is poßible, 'tis practicable, 'tis
necessary.
2d. To make out a true efimate of the publick debts
and demands, and ifoe a monthly tux for the amount,
in which every one Shall be called on for his Share and
no more than his jharc. The money which is col
lected in the firft month's tak will go out again among
the people, and help them to pay the next month's
tax; that will go out again, to be again called in by
the third tax, and so on; and the quickness of cir
culation hereby excited will Supply the want of me
dium ; for 'tis plain to every man, that a guinea,
which pages from hand to hand thirty times in one
month, pays as much, and of course goes as far as thir
ty guineas which are paid but once in a month ; 'U® fqr-
THE
ther manifeft, that such an universal demand for mo
, iiey will give it value, will make it an object of uni
versal desire, because it will become an object of uni
versal necessity ; this will give spring to industry, mo
tion to every method of obtaining money, and fecuri
tj to every man who has obtained it, 'Tis necessary
for us to know the worjl of the matter, let that worst
be as bud as it will. Let us know how much it will
' €O/1 to save our country, to restore our morality, our
industry, our fafety and happiness. The profts of the
year at most will do it, because no more is or can be
Spent in the year than is raised or produced in the
year ; for we loan abroad enough to pay fir all we
import from abroad tpr the publick use. 'Tis impos
sible indeed to increase our bufbandr, or manufactures
without a free, open and fufficient market. Shut or di
minifli the market, and the supplies of it will soon
lefi'en; open and increase the demand of the market,
and all supplies of it will soon increase. All this is top
manifeft to need proof; therefore 'tis necessary to r^
move wholly ail objiruaions of our market, all fetter:
and refoaiats, and difcouragments of business, fur 1
as embargoes, tender ads, limitations, regulations,
&c. &c. Let every body be at liberty to get money
as faft as they can, and be put binder every natural ad
vantage for doing it. lam of opinion that our peo
ple would receive ar. enfranchifment of this fort with
as much joy, as the inhabitants of Giecce received the
declaration of their liberties from the n^uth of tft,
Roman Ambassador. If premiums had bit r .ffert4
for stupid plans and wild projections, I think .?rfc
could not have been offered than such as we have ,cen,
viz. laying embargoes on the exports to increase thepro^
dace of the country for the army; forcing people to fell
their goods below the market price, in order to ,induce
them to bring more to market; offering more, with hor
rid penalties, in order to make folks love and efceem it ;
emburraffing all bufmefs to get the more of it done, &c.
&c. It is such wild, stupid, horrible and unnatural
projects, with the effeCts of them, which difeourage
our people, and render the wheels of government
heavy, and destroy all confidence of the people in the
publick council's, much more than the real weight
and burdens of the war. These bear no fort of pro
portion to the dißreffes which are produced by the
madness of our councils, and unnatural way of do
ing every thing. Laws ought to be conformed to the
natural course of things; but we have been absurdly
endeavouring to controul the natural course of things,
and bend it to our laws. I think it impossible that
further arguments should be necessary to prove the
expediency, yea, the strong propriety and urgent rea
son of dismissing at once all these most unnatural and
deßruCtive measures, these absurd fa^a/s of human
reason and American policy, that so our minds may be
open to impressions from the true Rate of our case,
the real difficulties we are under, and the proper mea
fufes which will, by their natural operation, afford
us relief. We ought to Rudy hard for this. Perhaps^
we may in this way, by close attention and the bles
sing of God, be able to find out, that means must be
adequate to their ends ; that the way to reflore our cre
dit is to pay our debts ; that the way to pay our debts
is to get money to pay them with ; that any burthen laid
on the whole community is fafer far the whole, than
when the fame burden is laid on a part only; that t'y
only way to keep the members strong and in health is'"''
keep the belly full offub/lantial food, "not of bujks, &>
But the absurdity of our measures is not all the du«
jedions I have to them. They are inadequate to their
own purposes. What can it fignify to plauge the cor,.
tinent, and exhauß all the patience of our people with
difficult intricate plans of raising money, when all the
plans put together, and fully executed, would not
produce half, perhaps not a quarter, of the sum neces
sary to our preservation. This is like bailing a leaky
ship with a spoon, when buckets are necessary to keep
her free. I think it would be far more natural and
fatisfactory to our people, to make out our flimates
and demands equal to our necessities, which will give
this strong inducement to the efforts of each indivi
dual, viz. that it will be adequate to the purpose ;
that the mea% however difficult, will be fufficient to
produce the great ends designed. When the great de
mand is made known, the firft question will be, Is
this enough? Will this be fufficient to the purpose? An
allured affirmative answer will inspire great courage
and effort, when the objed is the great wijh, the paf
fonate desire of almost every individual, as is most ma
nifeftly the case with our people. 'Tis a falfe delica
cy, a fhameful timidity, a dangerous injury to a na
tion, to keep them ignorant of their true circumfan
ces and real danger, and not give them an opportunity
to put the means of their fafety in practice, lam clear
ly of opinion, scarce a man of any weight could be
found in the Thirteen States, who would not readi-
[Numb. 163.]