The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1780-10-25 00:00:00, page 1

IT is impossible to fit down and think seriously on
the affairs of America, but the original princi
ples on which Ilie refilled, and the glow and
ardor They inspired, will occur like the unde
faced remembrance of a lovely scene. To trace over
in imagination the purity of the cause, the voluntary
facrifices made to support it, and all the various
turnings of the war in its defence, is at once both
paying and receiving refped. The principles deserve
to be remembered, and to remember them rightly
is repossessing them. In this indulgence of generous
recollection we become gainers by what we seem to
give, and the more we give the richer we become.
So extensively right was the ground on which Ame
rica proceeded, that it not only took in ever, just
and liberal sentiment which could impress the heart,
but made it the direct interest of every class and order
of men to defend the country. The war, on the
part of Britain, was originally a war of covetoutnefs.
The sordid and not the splendid passions gave it
being. The fertile fields and prosperous infancy of
America appeared to her as mines tor tributary
wealth. She viewed the hive, and disregarding the
industry that had enriched it, third d for the honey.
, But in the present stage of her affairs, the violence of
temper is added to the rage of avarice ; and there
fore, that which, at our firft setting out, proceeded
from purity of principle and public intcrelt, is now
heightened by all the obligations of necessity; for it
requires but little knowledge of human nature to
difeern what would be the cdnfequence, were Ame
rica again reduced to the fubjedion of Britain. Uu
controuled power, in the hands of an incensed, im
perious and rapacious conqueror, is an engine of
dreadful execution ; and woe be to that country over
which it can be exercised. The names of Whig and
Tory would then be funk in the general term of
Rebel, and the oppression, whatever it might be,
would, with very few instances of exception, light
equally on all.
Britain did not go to war with America for the
fake of dominion, because the was then in poffeliion ;
neither was it rfor the extension of trade and com
merce, because the had monopolized the whole and
the country had yielded to it ; neither was it to ex
tinguish what Jbe might call rebellion, because before
the began no refiftence cxifted. It couldthen be from
no other motive than avarice, or a deiign of cftablifli-
ing, in the firft instance, the fame taxes in America
as are paid in England (which, as I shall presently
show, are above eleven times heavier than the taxes
we now pay for the present year 1780) or, in the
second instance, to confifcate the whole property of
America, in case of resistance and conquett, of the
latter of which the had then no doubt.
I shall now proceed to show what the taxes in Eng
land are, and what the yearly expence of the present
war is to her —What the taxes of this country a
mount to, and what the annual expence of defending
it effectually will be to us ; and shall endeavour con
cisely to point out the cause of our difficulties, and
the advantages on one fide, or the consequences on
the other, in case we do, or do not, put ourselves
in an effectual state of defence. I mean to be open,
candid and sincere. I fee a universal wish to expel
the enemy from the country, a murmuring because
the war is not carried on with more vigour, and my
intention is to show as Shortly as pofiible both the
reason and the remedy.
The number of fouls in England (exclusive of
Scotland and Ireland) is seven millions,* and the
number of fouls in America is three millions#
The amount of the taxes in England (exclusive of
Scotland and Ireland) was, before the present war
commenced, eleven millions fix hundred and forty
two thousand fix hundred and fifty-three pounds her
ling, which ,on an average is no less a sum than one
pound thirteen Shillings and threc-pence Iterling per
head per annum, men, women, and children ; be
sides county taxes, taxes for the support of the poor,
and a tenth of all the produce of the earth for the
support of the biShops and clergy.f Nearly five
* This is taking the highest number that the peo
ple of England have been or can be rated at.
t The following is taken from Dr. Price's state of
the taxes of England, pages 96, 97, 98.
“ An account of the money drawn from the pub
4ick by taxes annually, being the medium of three
years before the year 1776.
Amount of customs in England, £. 2,528,275
Amount of the excise in England, 4,649,892
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
The C R I S I S
EXTRAORDINARY.
[Vol. lII.]
WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1780.
I have already dated the number of fouls in Ame
rica to be three millions, and by a calculation I have
made, which I have every reason to believe is fuffi
ciently right, the whole expence of the war, and the
support of the several governments, may be defrayed
for two million pouids sterling, annually ; which,
on an average, is thirteen shillings and four-pence
per head, men, women and children, and the peace
eftabli hment at the end of the war, will be but three
quarters of a million, or five shillings sterling per
head. Now throwing out of the question every thing
of honor, principle, happiness, freedom, and repu
tation in the world, and taking it up on the simple
ground of interest, I put the following case.
Suppose Britain was to conquer America, and as
conquerors was to lay her under no other conditions
than to pay the fame proportion toward her annual
revenue which the people of England pay ; our share,
in that case, would be fix million pounds sterling,
yearly ; can it then be a question, whether it is belt
to raise two millions to defend the country, and go
vern it ourselves, and only three quarters of a million
afterwards, or pay fix millions to have it conquered,
and let the enemy govern it.
Can it be supposed that conquerors would chufe to
put themselves in a worse condition than ^hat they
granted to the conquered. In England, the tax on
rum is five shillings and one penny iterling per gal
lon, which is one silver dollar and fourteen coppers.
Now would it not be laughable to imagine, that after
the expence they have been at, they would let either
Whig or Tory in America drink it cheaper than
themselves. Coffee which is so considerable an article
of consumption and support here, is there loaded
with a duty, which makes the price between five
millions of this sum went annually to pay the interest
of the national debt contrasted by former wars, and
the remaining sum of fix millions fix hundred and
forty-two thousand fix hundred pounds was applied
to defray the yearly expence of government, the
peace establishment of the army and navy, placemen,
pensioners, &c. contequently the whole of; her enor
mous taxes being thus appropriated, She had nothing
to spare out of them towards defraying the cxpences
of the present war or any other. Yet had the not
been in debt at the beginning of the war, as we were
not, and like us had only a land and not a naval war
to carry on, her then revenue of eleven millions and
a half pounds sterling would defray all her annual
cxpences of war and government within each year.
But this not being the case with her, She is obliged
to borrow about ten million pounds sterling, yearly,
to prosecute the war the is now engaged in (this
year the borrowed twelve) and lay on new taxes to
discharge the interest ; and allowing that the present
war has colt her only fifty millions sterling, the inte
rest thereon at five per cent, will be two millions and
an half, therefore the amount of her taxes now must
be fourteen millions, which on an average is no less
than forty Shillings per head, men, women and chil
dren throughout the nation. Now as this expence of
fift^ millions was borrowed on the hopes of conquer
ing America, and as it was avarice which firft induced
her to commence the war, how truly wretched and
deplorable would the condition of this country be,
were She, by her own remiflhefs, to Suffer an enemy of
such a difpofirion, and so circumstanced, to reduce
her to subjection.
I now proceed to the revenues of America.
Land tax at 3s. - - - 1,300,000
Land tax at is. in the pound, - - 450,000
Salt duties, - - - - - 218,739
Duties on stamps, cards, dice, advertise
ments, bonds, leases, indentures, news
papers, almanacks, &c. - - 280,788
Duties of houses and windows, - - 385,369
Pod-office, seizures, wine licences, hack
ney coaches, &c. - - - 250,000
Annual profit from lotteries, - - 150,000
Expence of collecting the excises in Eng
land, - - - - 297,887
Ex^ice of collecting the customs in Eng
land, . 468,703
I^ereft of loans on the land tax at 43. ex
fences of collection, militia, &c. - 250,000
Perquisites, &c. to custom-house officers,
&c. supposed . . . - 250,000
Expence of collecting the (alt duties in
England, rod. 1-2 per cent. - - 27,000
Bounties on fifh exported, - - 18,coo
Expence of collecting the duties on
stamps, cards, advertisements, &c. 5
and 1-4 per cent. .... 18,000
Total, £. 11,642,653
THE
and fix shillings sterling a pound, and a penalty of
fifty pounds sterling on any person detected in roasting
it in his own # houfe. There is scarce an article of
life you can eat, drink, wear, or enjoy, that is not
there loaded with a tax ; even the light from heaven
is only permitted to shine into their dwellings by
paying eighteen pence sterling per window annually ;
and the humblest drink of life, small beer, cannot
there be purchased without a tax of nearly two cop
pers a gallon, betides a heavy tax upon the malt, and
another on the hops before it is brewed, exclusive of
a land tax on the earth which produces them. In
short, the condition of that country in point of tax
ation is so oppreflive, the number of her poor so
great, and the extravagance and rapaciousness of the
..court so enormous, that were they to effect a conquest:
of America, it is then only that the distresses of Ame
rica would begin. Neither would it fignify any
thing to a man whether he be what we call a Whig
or a Tory. The people of England and the ministry
of that country know us by no such distinctions.—
What they want is clear solid revenue, and the modes
they would take to procure it, would operate alike
on all. Their manner of reafening would be short,
because they would naturally infer that if we were
able to carry on a war, of five or fix years against
them, we are able to pay the fame taxes which they do.
I have already stated that the expence of conducting
the present war, and the government of the several
states, may be done for two millions sterling, and the
establishment in time of peace, for three quarters of
a million.^
As to navy matters, they flourifh so well, and are
so well attended to, in the hands of individuals, that
I think it confident on every principle of real use and
ceconomy, to turn the navy into hard money (keep
ing only three or four packets) and apply it to pro
mote the service of the army. We shall not have a
fllip the less ; the use of them, and the benefit from
them, will be greatly increased, and their expences
saved. We are now allied with a formidable naval
power, from whom we derive the assistance of a navy.
And the line in which we can prosecute the war, so
as to reduce the common enemy and benefit the al
liance most effectually, will be by attending clofel,
to the land service.
I estimate the charge of keeping up and maintain
ing an army, officering them, and all expences in
cluded, fufficient for the defence of the country, to
be equal to the expence of forty thousand men at
thirty pounds sterling per head, which is one million
two hundred thousand pounds.
I likewise allow four hundred thousand pounds for
Continental expences at home and abroad.
And four hundred thousand pounds for the support
of the several state governments, the amount then
will be, For the army, - -, 1,200,000
Continental expences at home )
and abroad, ) 400,000
Government of the several states, 400,000
Total, 2,000,000
I take the proportion of this state, Pennsylvania,
to be an eighth part of the Thirteen United States,
the quota then for us to raise will be two hundred
and fifty thousand pounds sterling; two hundred
thousand of which will be our share for the support
and pay of the army and Continental expences at
home and abroad, and fifty thousand pounds for the
support of state government.
In order to gain an idea of the proportion in which
the raising such a sum will fall, I make the following
calculation:
Pennsylvania contains three hundred and Seventy
five thousand inhabitants, men, women and children,
which is likewise an eighth part of the whole inhabi
tants of the United States: therefore .two hundred
and fifty thousand pounds sterling to be raised among
three hundred and feventy-five thousand persons, is,
on an average, thirteen shillings and four-pence ster
ling per head per annum, or something more than
one shilling sterling per month. And our proportion
of three quarters of a million for the government
of the country, in time of peace, will be ninety-three
thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling, fifty
thousand of which will be for the government ex
pences of the state, and forty-three thousand seven
hundred and fifty pounds for Continental expences
at home and abroad,
t I have made the calculations in sterling, because
it is a rate generally known in all the states, and be
cause likewise it admits of an easy comparison be
tween our expences to support the war and those of
the enemy. Four silver dollars and one half is one
pound sterling and three-pence over.
[Numb. 148.]