The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1778-03-18 00:00:00, page 1

"WF" ™"^r "*▼ HEREAS this State, ever ready
, to Support the common cause of
/ American Liberty, and to exert
its m °" Rrenuous efforts against
W the unnatural enemies thereof, has
made ample provision for furnish
ing the army^of the United States, in a legal and
reasonable manner, with all the necessaries it is able
to spare, and for imprcßing carriages and horses for
transporting the baggage, provisions and warlike Rores
of the troops : And whereas it has been represented
to me that divers persons a&in§ as deputies in,the
several departments of Quarter-Matter and Commis
sary for the said army, have been guilty of manifold
oppressions, and frequently Seized by violence and in
derogation of all government, what they might have
peaceably procured either by the voluntary consent
of the proprietors, or in the mode prescribed by
law ; and many of the inhabitants, labouring under
the laid oppressions, are unacquainted with the ex
tent of the authority under colour of which they are
exercised as well as with the proper means for obtain
ing redress, and may by the continuation thereof abate
their zeal for the glorious cause in which they have hi
therto exhibited the most laudable ardor. And where
as it is the glory and felicity of this State to preserve
its laws inviolate, to restrain all illicit exertions of pow
ermpt warranted by inevitable necessity, and to pro
test the perfonsand property of its loyal citizens from all
arbitrary insult and violence, under whatever pretence
offered or attempted : And whereas the authority of
all persons employed as aforefaid to impreis carriages,
horses, cattle and drivers, and to purehafe provisions
for the army in this State, is regulated and circum
scribed by twocertain arts of aflembly, one of which
is infitled, " An Art to explain the law agd confti
" tution of the State of New-Jersey as to 'the quar
'' tering of, and furnilhing of carriages far the army
" in the service qf the United States of North-Ame
" rica, and for making some further provision for the
" fame," palled the eleventh day of October lafi ;
and the other intitled, " An Art for regulating and
" limiting the prices of fandry articles of produce,
" manufacture and trade,' and to prevent forestalling
" regrating and engrofling, paged the eleventh day
of December daft : By the former of which arts any #
constable, by order' of a justice of the peace, upon
the application of awg commanding officer of any of
the troops of the United States, may impress such
carriages, draught horses, cattle and drivers as are
needed for the transporting the baggage, provision or
warlike stores of such troops, or any stores or pro
vifons belonging to the continental army, provided
such carriages, horses, cattle and drivers are not de
tained in the service longer than three days at any
one time, unless with the consent of the owners :
And by the latter of which arts the persons so em
ployed as aforefaid, are obliged, before they are
authorifed to Seize the articles wanted, to obtain ^
warrant from a justice of the peace, which is not to'
be granted till the person refusing to fell them' has
been Summoned to appear before him, and either re
fufes to appear, or, on appearing, it Shall be evident
to the justice that he is possessed ofa greater quantity
of the articles Wanted by the applicant than is neces
sary for his family's annual consumption. I HAVE
therefore THOUGHT FIT, by and with the advice
and consent of the privy council, to issue this pro
clamation ip order to render it the more notorious,
both to the good people of this State and to the 'de
puties and agents aforefaid, that the iipreffihg of
carriages, draughtrhorfes, cattle and drivers, and the
Seizure of any private property by any of the said
deputies not authorifed by either of the recited arts,
is altogether lawless and arbitrary, and that all per
sons guilty thereof ought to be apprehended and pro
ceed against in a due course of law. And I do
hereby ftridly charge all justices of the peace and
other officers whom it may concern, to be diligent
in the execution of the said arts, and to prevent as
far as possible the violation thereof, as well by an,
disaffected inhabitants who shall withhold from the
army what they ought, agreeably to the true intent
and meaning thereof, to spare and furnifh, as by any
illegal exactions upon the citizens of this Rate. by
any the said deputies and agents ; and all persons
[Vol. I.] r THE [Numb. 16.]
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
BY HIS EXCELLENCY
WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, Esq.
Governor, Captain-General and Commander in Chief
in and over the State of Nezv-jerfy, and the Terri
tories thereunto belonging. Chancellor and Ordinary
in the fame;
A PROCLAMATION. #
W EDNESD A Y, March xB, 1778.
The Second objection is, that the measure is im
practicable. This is the only objection I ever heard
on this fubjert, that deserves serious attention, or
that can any way impede the legislature. Our ob
jector rank: bonds among things invifible —and I re
ally believe.the good man is under the influence of
these invisible things. But let us rub our eyes—True,
they are not as big as a hoife or a cow; but our Af
fcmbly will hardly appoint men to offices who are so
blind that they cannot by the help of fpertacles be
able to fee a bond. Aye, but they are locked up in
drawers, and who would be a pimp, especially a legal
pimp—and my horse is locked up in my stable ; and
I think the business as low and dirty to Search a stable
asadefk. Few afleffors either count a man's Rock,
or measure his land ; and why not take a man's word
for his bonds ? becaufc, you fay, the neighbours know
how much land, &c, a man has. And I believe
neighbours will generally guess as near the amount of
a man's money upon interest, as the acres of his im
proved land, or number of his stock. Let money, not
Returned, be forfeited, and the assessor will have as ho
nest a lift of bonds as other articles. But the objertor
himfelf has ptopofed a plan for rendering practicable
this impracticable business, and one too which he calls
just and equitable—let the borrower pay the tax out of
the interest: due to the- lender.
As his fears in the firft objection arise wholly from
his ignorance, they will be removed by informing him,
that by the Confederation of the United States, Art. 8,
the quota of each ftatc is to be "in proportion to the
value of all land within each Rate, granted to, or Sur
veyed for, any person, as such land and the building
and improvements thereon shall be estimated accor
ding to such mode ^ the United States in Congress as
sembled shall from time to time direct and appoint."
Consequently the quota of this State will not be avert
ed by a law which will drag to the light from the
dark delks of usurers, a lift of their wealth.
The usurer has gone so far in his reasonings upon
this head, as to afford strong grounds to fulpert he
had lomething more in view than to save his bonds
from being taxed. What can be his views in magni
fying the experience and wisdom of Britain for legisla
tion ! Can Americans fay amen to this? Why does
he intimate his wish, that we Should imitate, ©Speci
ally in taxation, that band of bought Slaves! Why
wiih for bearing the burden upon the fame Shoulder !
Alas! poor foul, the revolution and independency of
these Rates flicks in his weak stomach! Let him vo
mit or choak.
Under this head also we hear of the novelty of the
proposed Scheme for taxing bonds. Can a monied
American be so unacquainted with the police of the
several states ? In this provincehe may call it new, be
cause heretofore those monied gentry have had in
terest and integrity enough to cast the burden off
aggrieved by such exartions, and not obtaining re
dress upon due application for that purpose to the
magistrates, are hereby directed to transmit affidavits
of the grievances Suffered, and of the delay or refu
sal of justice, to me or to the president and council
of Safety, in order that the delinquents may be
brought to speedy and condign punishment.
AND WHEREAS by a resolution of the honour
able the Congress of the ninth day of February Taft,
the Supreme Executive Powers of every State are
authorifed to suspend from pay and employment,
for misbehaviour or neglert of duty within their re
fpertive States, any officer of the Raff, or civil con
tinental officer, not immediately appointed by Con
gress, and to make a temporary appointment in his
place if necessary, I have further thought fit hereby
to request all the citizens of this State, zealous for
the weal of America, and abhorrent of all publick
mismanagement, peculation, misbehaviour or neglect
of duty in any civil continental officer, and able to
prove such perpetration or neglect within the fame,
to transmit the proofs thereof to me, that the fame
may be duly considered, and the party offending
dealt wi^h as the case shall appear to require.
G IVEN under my hand and seal at arms at
Trenton, the ninth day of March, in the year of
our Lord one thoufund fevea hundred and Je
venty-eight.
''cha"^^^ LIVINGSTON.
Mr. Collins,
FR pM the easy Surrender of your correspondent
T. W. No. 13. I Should not fear retaking him, if
I did not fufpert: he had in his drawers Wronger troops
than those Pigmies brought against him by his poeti
cal friend. With your leave, however, I will venture
to attack.
themselves upon their poorer neighbours. But this
. was dot the case in the other provinces. In South-
Carolina the measure now talked of and wished for by
the inhabitants of thi^ Rate in general, was carried to
its fuffeft extent ; and I never heard even the monied
men complain of it as impracticable or unjust, al
though I have talked with them very particularly on
that head ; they were more generous and just.
The honest usurer objects against the measure, in
the third place, as unjujl. A charge so heavy must
call our attention. The maxim of all writers, favour
able to liberty, is, that property must pay the taxes, be
cause property is defended. Tlie demand of govern
ment then must be upon the owners of property.
And if common sense and common honeffy does not
require that each one pays in proportion to his pro,
perty, we have loft the use of words and rules of pro
-Iportion. The question now is, not how we shall come
to the knowledge of mens property, and whether
villains may not elude our Scrutiny. We are enquiring
what isjuji. For however strange it is, to this bar the
miser hath appealed. And is not this equitable and
just, to pay in proportion to property owned ? And
does the monied man 6« n property ? If he does, why
not pay for its defence ? Having his property in money,
rather than land or any tiling clfe, is his own choice.
If lie thought he should be a gainer by turning it info
land, he would undoubtedly do it. His property in
money is as much defended as another man's property
in land ; yet it is unjust to fax his property, because he
can hide it in his deik, and will not be honest enough to
tell of it—nay, will swear falfe to prevent the know
ledge of it, and will call a man a pimp if he looks for it.
Suppose we should try the usurer's illustration,
perhaps it may help us to fee to which fide the scale
cf justice inclines. B purchases a farm- from A for
ioooZ. and gives his bond and a mortgage upon the
land for the money. When Bmade the purchase, h^
was worth nothing. He gave as much for the land as
it was worth. Has he by this bargain acquired any
property ? But B is taxed—the justice of this is not
ferupled. By and by A, the real owner, for he has a
bond and mortgage, by a fait at law dispossesses poor
B, recovers the land, and strips his family into the
bargain. Yet monjed A all this time pays no tax for
/^'property. Is this your idea of justice, Mr. Usurer ?
Kind heaven ! deliver my country, now efeaped the
fuare, from such legislators.
But our miser is turned penitent. The plea of
justice failed him, and instead of merit he supplicates
for mercy. He is poor. He who at one time Teems
vain enough of the epithet, a monied man, now begs
publick alms. His money is depreciated, and will not
bear a tax. Miser like, to save a penny, will tell you
long stories about lobes and hard times. Poor crea
ture I if he would keep upon his knees, I would Ring
him a copper to be quit of him ; but like the Phari
see, his heart betrays him, and he Rill seems disposed
te make a plea of . right. This is his intention, when,
under the fourth head, he asserts that money is always
taxed in the hands of the borrower. He Should have
iaid, when the borrower is pleased to lay the money
out in articles that are taxed —for farther than this his
assertion can not be true. One who was a stranger to
the fubjert would suppose usurers had no securities
for their property. But it was solely in the poffeffiow
of the borrower, and not in the power, nor for the
emolument of the lender. Let these humane mere
alone for that. Delolated families and long impri
sonments have taught many otherwise.
It cannot be the duty of any Rate, especially these in
America, which so greatly need the,e^^a/ service of
every member, to encourage usurers. The'mhn who
by industry and frugality acquires more than his an
nual consumption, and lends that upon interest, with
out relaxing in industry, is a ufeful member in the
community ; but the man who lives upon the interest
of his money, what advantage is he to the Rate?
When he dies, what injury hath the ftatc Suffered ?
He is, if we listen to our author, to pay no taxes.
He docs no labour. Is the state then by his death
cither poorer or weaker ? He cannot carry with him
his bonds or caih. He was a meer con Sumer. Rats
and mice will answer the fame purpose, with this in
their favour, that they do not take up the room, nor
Rand in the way of industrious inhabitants.
I believe, Mr. Collins, you need not lament I had
not more time to have written more largely upon
this fubjert. I with I could have Spared time to
Shorten your labour ; but I was under the neceffur
of fending this by the return of the pest who brought
me your paper, and through the day so crouded and
interrupted by other business, that I could not corrert;
Your inserting it as it is, will probably oblige other
of your customers, besides your friend and humble
Servant, ,EQUAL TAXER.