The South-Carolina & American general gazette — Charlestown [S.C.], 1777-06-05 00:00:00, page 4

The AMERICAN CRISIS, N° 111.
By the Author as COMMON SENSE.
[Concluded from our laft.]
THE most cavilling fedarian cannot accuse the forego
ing with containing the least ingredient of perse
cution. The free spirit on which the American
cause is founded, disdains to mix with such an impurity,
and leave it a rubbilh fit only for narrow and suspicious
minds to grovel in: Suspicion and persecution are weeds of
the fame dunghill, and flourifh best together. Had the
Quakers minded their religion and their business, they
anight have lived through this dispute in enviable ease, and
mone would have moefted them. Tie common phrase
with thele people is, " Our principles are peace." To which
imay be replied and, our practices are the reverse ; for never
did the conduct of men oppose their own dodrine more
notoriously than the present race of the Quakers. They
have artfufly changed hemfelves into a different fort of
people to what they used to be, and yet have the address to
persuade each other they arc not altered ; like antiquated
virgins they fee not the hatock deformity hath made upon
them, but pleasantly mistaking wrink'es for dimples, con
ceit themselves yet lovely, and wonder atthe stupid world
for not admiring then!.
Did no injury arise to the publick by this apoftacy of the
Quakers from themselves, the publick would have nothing
to do with it; but as both the design >nd consequences are
-pointed against a cause in which the whole community ate
interested, it is therefore no longer a fubjeft confined to
the cognizance of the meeting only, but comes as a matter
of criminality before either the authority of the particular
State in <whicb it is aded, or of the Continent again <wbich
it operates. Every attempt now to support the authority
of the king or parliament of Great- Britain over America, is
treason against ever, State; therefore it is impossible that
any one can pardon or screen from punilhment an offender
against all.
But to proceed: While the infatuated Tories of this
and other States were last spring talking of Commissioners,
accommodation, making the matter up, and the Lord
knows what ftuff and nonsense, theirgood king and ministry
were glutting themselves with the revenge of reducing Ame
rica to an unconditional submission, and solacing each other
with the certainty of conquering it in one campaign. The
following quotations are from the Parliamentary Register
of the debates of the House of Lords, March sth 1776.
“ The Americans," fays lord tlbot*, " have been
" obstinate, undutiful and ungovernable from the very be
" ginning, from their firft early and infant fettlemen+s; and
" I am every day more and more conv reed that this peo
" ple will never be brought back to their duty, and the
" subordinate relation they stand in to this country, till
" reduced to an unconditional eff &ualfuhmfen ; no coneeffon
“ OTourpart, no lenity, no endurance, will have any other
" effed but that o encreafing their nfolcnce."
'• The ftrUggle," fays Lord Tbaunfand ~ " is now a
" ftrUggle for power ;the die is cast, and the only Point
“ which now remains to be determined, is, in what man
" ner the war can be most effectually prosecuted and
" speedily finifhed, in order to procure that unconditional
" fabmfion, which has been so ably stated by the noble
" Earl with the White stars (meaning Lord Talbot) f and
" I have no reason to doubt that the measures now pUr
" suing will put an end to the war in the course of a
'" single campaign. Should it linger longer, we
" shall then have reason to expert that some foreign power
*' will interfere, and take advantage of our domeftick
" troubles and civil diftraftions."
Lord Lyttelton. " My sentiments are pretty well known.
" I shall only observe now. that lenient mea ures have had
“ no other effect than to produce insult after infall; that
*' the more we conceded, the higher America rose in her
•' demands, and the more insolent she has grown. It is
" for this reaon that I am now for the most effective and
" decisive measures ; and am of opinion, that no alternative
*' is left us, but to relinquish America for ever, or finally
" determine to compel her to acknowledge the legislative
" authority of this country; and it is the principle of an
" unconditional submission I would be for maintaining."
Can words be more expressive than these? Surely the
Tories will believe the Tory Lords ! The truth is, they
do believe them, and know as fully as any Whig on the Con
tinent knows, that the king and ministry,never had the least
design of an accommodation with America, but an absolute
unconditional conquest. And the part which the Tories
were to a&, was, by downright lying, to endeavour to
put the Continent off its guard, and to divide and few dis
content in the minds of such Whigs as they might gain an
influence over. In Short, to keep up a diffraction here,
that the force sent from England might be able to conquer
in " one campaign." They and the ministry were, by a
different game, playing into each other's hands. The cry
of the Tories in England was, " No reconciliation, no ac
commodation," in order to obtain the greater military force;
while those in America were crying nothing but " recon
ciliation and accommodation," that the force sent might con
quer with the less refinance.
But tbit “Jingle campaign" is over, and America not
Conquered. The whole work is yet to do, and the force
much less to do it with. Their condition is both despica
ble and deplorable : Out of cash—out of heart—and out of
hope. A country furnifhed with arms and ammunition,
is America now is, with three millions of inhabitants, and
three thousand miles distant from the nearest enemy that
can approach her, is able to look and laugh them in the
face.
Howe appears to have two objects in view, either to go
up the North river, or come to Philadelphia.
By going up the North river, he fecurcs a retreat for his
army through Canada, but the Ships mull: return, if they
return at all, the fame way they went; and as our army
would be in the rear, the fafety of their passage down is a
doubtful matter. By such a motion be Shuts himfelf from
all fopplies from Enrope but through Canada, and exposes
his army and navy to the danger of perilling. The idea
of his cutting off the communication between the eastern
and southern States, by means of the North river, is
merely visionary. He cannot do it by his shipping; be
cause no ship can lay long at anchor in any river within
reach of the shore; a Angle gun would drive a firft rate
from such a station : This was fully proved last October at
forts Washington and Lee, where one gun only, on each
fide the river, obliged two frigates to cut and be towed
off in an hour's time. Neither can he cut it off by his
army ; because the several posts they must occupy, would
divide them almost to nothing, and expose them to be pick
ed up by ours like pebbles on a river's bank ; but admitting
he could, where is the injury ? Because while his whole
* Steward of the king's houfhold. , Formerly General Town
/head at Quebfekj and late Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
force is cantoned out, as centries over the water, they will
be very innocently employed, and the moment they march
into the country, the communication opens.
The most probable object is Philadelphia, and the rea
sons are many. Howe's bnfinefs in America is to conquer
it, and in proportion as he finds himfelf unable to the talk,
he will employ h s fttength to distress women and weak
minds, in order to accomplish though their fears what he
cannot effect by his own force. His coming or attempting
to come to Philadelphia is a eircumftancc that proves his
weakness: For no general, that felt himfelf able to take
the field and attack his antagonist, would think of bringing
his army into a city in the summer time; and this mere
Shifting the feene from place to place, without effecting any
thing, has feeblenefs and cowardice on the face of it, and
holds him up in a contemptible light to any one who can
reason justly and firmly. By several informations from
New-York, it appears that their army in general, both
officers and men, have given up the expectation of con
quering America; their eye, npw, is fixt upon the spoil.
They suppose Philadelphia to be rich with stores, and as
they think to get more by robbing a town than by attack
ing an army, their movement towards this city is proba
ble. We are not now contending against an army of
soldiers, but against a band of thieves, who had rather
plunder than fight, and have no other hope of conquest
than by cruelty.
They expect to get a mighty booty and Strike another
general panick by making a fa Men movement and getting
possession of this city, but unless they can march out as well
as in, or get the entire command of the river, to remove
off their plunder, they may probably be Itopt with the
ft Jen goods upon them. They have never yet Succeeded
wherever they have been opposed but at fort Washington.
At Charleftown their defeat was effectual. At Ticonderoga
they ran away. In every SkirmiSh at Kingsbridge and the
White Plains they were obliged to retreat, and the instant
our arms were turned upon them in the Jerfies, they turn
ed likewise, and those that turned not were taken.
The necessity ot always fitting our internal police to the
circumstances of the times we live in, is something so
Strikingly obvious that no fufficient objection can be made
against it The fafety of all societies depends upon it; and
where this point is not attended to, the consequence will
either be a general languor or a tumult. The encourage
ment and protection of the good futyeCts of any State, and
the suppression and punishment of bad ones, are the princi
pal objects for which ail authority is instituted, and the
line in which it ought to operate. We have in this city a
Strange variety of men and characters, and the circumstan
ces of the times require they Should be publickly known ;
it is not the number of Tories that hurt us, so much, as
the not finding out who they are ; men must now take one
fide or the other, and abide by the consequences: The
Quakers trusting to their Short sighted sagacity, have,
molt unluckily for them, made their declaration in their
last testimony, and we ought now to take them at their
word. They have voluntarily read themselves out of the
Continental meeting, and cannot hope to be restored to it
again, but by payment and penitence. Men whose politi
cal pnncip es are founded on avarice, are beyond the reach
Of reason, and the only cure for Toryifm of this cast, is to
tax it. A substantial good drawn from a real evil, is of the
fame benefit to society, as if drawn from a virtue ; and where
men have not publick spirit to render themselves servicea
ble, it ought to be the study of government to draw the
best use poffib.c from their vices. When the governing
passion of any man or set of men is once known, the me
thod of managing them is easy; for even misers, whom no
publick Virtue can impress would become generous, could
a heavy tax be laid upon covetousness.
The Tories have endeavoured to inftire their property
with the enemy, by forfeiting their reputation with us;
from which may be justly inferred, that their governing
passion is avarice, Make them as much afraid of losing on
one fide as the other, and you Stagger their Toryifm ; make
them more so, and you reclaim them; for their principle
is to worship any power they are most afraid of.
This method of considering men and things together,
opens into a large field for Speculation, and affords me op
portunity of offering some observations on the State of our
currency, to as to make the support of it go hand in hand,
with the fuppreffon of difaffedion and the encouragement
of publick spirit.
The thing which firft presents itfelf in infpeding th^
state of the currency, is, that we have too much of it, and
that there is a necessity of reducing the quantity, in order
to encreafe the value. Men are daily growing poor by the
very means they take to get rich, for in the fame proportion
that the prices of all goods on hand are raised, the value
of all money laid by is reduced. A simple case will make
this clear: Let a man have one hundred pounds cash, and
as many goods on hand as will to day fell so 201. but not
content with the present market-price, he laifes them to
40, arid by so doing, obliges others in their own defence
to raise cent per cent likewise; in this case, it is evident
that his hundred pound laid by is reduced fifty pounds in
value; whereas, had the markets dropt cent per cent, his
goods would have fold but for ten, but his hundred pounds
would have risen in value to two hundred; because it
would then purchase as many goods again, or support his
family as long again as before. And strange as it may seem,
he is one hundred and fifty pounds the poorer for railing
his goods, to what he would have been had he lowered
them ; because the forty pounds Lis goods fold for, is by
the general rife of the markets, cent per cent, rendered of
no more value than the ten pounds would be, had the mar
ket fallen in the fame proportion ; and consequently the
whole difference of gain or lob is on the different values of
the hundred pounds laid by, viz. from fifty to two hun
dred. This rage for railing foods is for several reasons
much more the fault of the Tories than the Whigs; and
yet the Tories (to their Ihame and confufion ought they to
be told of it) are by far the Ooft noisy and discontented.
The greatest part of the Whigs, by being now either in the
army or employed in some publick service, are buyers only
and not fellers, and as this etil has its origin in trade, it
cannot be charged on th&fe who are out of it.
But the grievance is now become too general to be re
medied by partial methods,- and the only effectual cure is
to reduce the quantity of money ; with half the quantity
we Ihould be richer than we are now, because the value of
it would be doubled, and consequently our attachment to if
increased ; for it is not the number of dollars a man has, but
how far they will go, that makes him either rich or poor.
These two points being admitted, viz, that the quantity
of money is too great, and that the prices of goods can be
only effectually reduced by reducing the quantity of the
money, the next point to be considered is, The method
how to reduce it ?
The circumstances of the times, as before obferved,'re
quire that the public characters of all men ihould naw be
fully understood, and the only general method of afcertaifl^-
ing it is by an oath or affirmation, renouncing all allegi
ance to the king of Great Britain, and to support the Inde
pendency of the United States as declared by Congress.
Let, at the fame time, a tax of ten, fifteen or twenty per
cent per annum, to be collected quarterly, be levied oil
all property. These alternatives, by being perfectly volun
tary, will take in all forts of people. Here is the test ; here
is the tax. He who takes the former, confeientioufly prove#
his affection to the cause, and binds himfelf to pay his
quota by the best services in bis power, and is thereby justly
exempt from the latter; and those who ehufe the latter,
pay their quota in money, to be excused from taking the
former, or rather 'tis the price paid to us lor their sup
posed, though mistaken, insurance with the enemy.
But this is on y a part of the advantage which would
arise by knowing the different characters of men. The
Whigs stake every thing on the issue of their arms, while
the Tories, by their difaffeCtion, are sapping and under
mining their strength, and, o f confequencc, the property
of the Whigs is the more exposed thereby ; and whatever
injury their estates may sustain by the movements of the
enemy, must either be borne by themselves, who have done
every thing which have vet been done, or by the Tories,
who have not only done nothing, but have by their difaf
feCtion, invited the enemy on.
In the present crisis we ought to know square by square,
and house by house, wloae in real allegiance with the
United Independent States and who^re not. Let but the
line be made clear and diftinCt, and all men will then know
what they are to trust to. It would not only be good
policy, but ftriCt justice, to raite fi ty or an hundred thou
sand pounds, or more, if it is neceflary, out of the eftate#
and property of the king of England's votaries, resident in
Philadelphia, to be distributed, as a reward to those in
habitants of the city and State who ihould turn out and
repulse the enemy, ihould they attempt their march this
way; and likewise, to bind the p operty of all such pcr
fons to m ke good the damage which that of the Whigs
might sustain. In the undiftinguifhable mode of conduct
ing a war, we frequently make reprisals at sea on the ves
sels o # persons in England, who are friends to our cause
compared with the residentiary Tories among us.
In every former publication of mine, from Common
Sense own to the last Crisis, I have generally gone on the
charitable supposition, that the Tories were rather a mis
taken than a criminal people, and have applied argument
after argument with all the candour and temper I was
capable of, in order to set every part of the cate clearly and
fairly before them, and if possible to reclaim them from
ruin to leafon. I have done my duty by them, amd have
now done with that doftrine taking it for granted, that
those who yet hold their dilaffeCtion, are, either a set of
avaritious m fcreants, who would faerfice the Continent
to save themselves, or a banditti of hungry traitors, who
are hoping tor a division of the spoil. To which may be
added, a lift of Crown or Proprietary dependents, who,
rather than go without a portion ot power, would be con
tent to Glare it with the devil. Of inch men there is no
hope; and their obedience will only be according to the
danger that is set before them, and the power that is ex
erc fed over them.
A time will shortly arrive, in which, by afeertaining the
characters of persons now, we shall be guarded against
their mifehiefs then; for in proportion as the enemy de
spair of conquest, they will be trying the arts of felu&ion,
and the force of fear by all the mifehie' sthey can infill.
But in war we may be certain of these two things, viz.
that cruelty in an enemy, and motions mac e with more
than usual parade, are always signs of weakness He that
can conquer, finds his mind too free and pfeafant to be
brutish ; and he that intends to Conquer, never makes too
much show of his strength.
We now know the enemy we have to do with. While
drunk with the certainty of victory they dflained to be
civil; and in proportion as disappointment makes them
sober, and thei apprehenfiona of an Europe n war alarm
them, they will become cringing and artful ; honest they
cannot be. But our answer to them, n either condition
they may be in, is short and full, " As Free and Indepeu
“ den States we are willing to make peace with you to
“ mon ow, but we can neither hear nor reply in any other
" character.”
If Britain cannot conquer ns, it proves, that she is nei
ther able to govern or protect us, and our particular situa
tion now is such, that any connection with her would be
unwise y exchanging a half defeated enemy for two power
ful ones. Europe, by every appearance and information,
is now on the eve, nay, on the morning twilight o' a war,
arid any. alliance with George the Third brings France and
Spain upon our backs; a separation from him attach them
to our fide; therefore, the only road to Peace Honour and
Commerce is Independence. COMMON SENSE.
Philadelphia, April 19 1777.
And in the Fourth year of the Union, <whicb GoDpreferve!
^^w^^^
WHEREAS Numbers of People have for several Years
past accustomed themselves to go to the Edifto Saw-
Mills a fifhing and hunting, by which the Proprietors have
been very great Sufferers by the Negroes belonging to the
Mills being employed from their Master's Duty, as well as
by the Provision and Pasture being destroyed by the great
Number of Horses frequently there. These are therefore
to forewarn all Persons whatever, from going to said
Mills, either to fifh or hunt after the 15th instant; and as
several People have frequented the said Mis under Pre
tence of having Corn ground, or getting Work done by the
Blacksmith, Ptblick Notice is hereby given, that no Work
is to be done by the said Blacksmith, nor any Corn ground at
said Mills for any Person whatever, without an Order from
one of the Proprietors.
Ma, 14, 1777. $ EDWARD BLAKE.
WANTED, A WET NURSE without a Child.
Apply to the Printer.^
THE Bond Creditors of the late Robert Hawie, are de
sired to fend in a State of their several Demands by
the firft Day of July next : Those who do not, will be ex
cluded from a Dividend, which will then be made, of the
Money received ; and in the mean Time, those indebted
are for the last Time desired to make Payment to
*6x. SUSANNA HAWIE, Administratrix.
THE Subscriber gives this timely Notice to all Persons
having any Demands against the Estate of Mr. Wil
liam Hull, late of Prince George's Parish, to meet him at
Mr. Holliday's Tavern in Charleftown, on Tuesday the 1513
Day of July ; and the. Heirs of the said Estate are desired
to meet on the fame Day at eleven o Clock.
*6x. GEORGE EVANS, Executor.