The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1780-09-06 00:00:00, page 1

pointment, disgrace and ruin. Under the experience
we have had can it be supposed that this country will
lose, or even injure so good a cause rather than rifque
or expend a little property? Will the meritorious
citizen relax his activity because his neighbour does
not shew equal zeal or make a proportioned facri
fice ? How mean, how hopeless, how contemptible
in the eyes of all flefh would our condition have
been, had we held such language and aded upon
such maxims at any time since the commencement
of the war ! There are conjunctures in every go
vernment for which legal forms cannot fully pro
vide, and happy is that country where the patrio
tick dispositions of the people, guided by temper and
wisdom, supply the unavoidable defects of the law.
These remarks are stated to shew that should the
propositions mentioned in the course of this paper
be thought to involve some uncertainty, they ought
not, on that account, to be rejected, if any thing
they suggest may lead to the advancement of the
publick good.
It has often been said, that if the interest of the
bills of credit, about to be issued in pursuance of the
resolutions of Congress of the ißth of March last,
were assured to be paid annually in filter and gold
instead of bills of exchange, this would provide a
gainst all danger of instability. That bills of ex
change are not understood by all, nor are they, in
many other refpeds, so convenient. Ido not doubt
the truth of these observations, yet they may not be
essential ; and neither justice nor policy would have
admitted such a stipulation under the least rifque of
a disappointment. If however such assurance should
be deemed indifpenfible, and the general confidence
would be thereby fixed, the following hints, im
proved upon by thole who are more capable, may
not be without their use.
The firft year's interest of the quota of New-Jersey
is eleven thousand two hundred and fifty pounds,
or thirty thousand dollars. For the purpose of col
lecting a sum in specie adequate to the discharge of
this, let it be propcfed that men of good heart and
ability throughout the Rate institute a fubfeription
on terms of the following purport :
I. The payments to be made in Silver or gold to
the Commissioner, for the time being, of the conti
nental loan-office of the Rate, to the sole use of an
fweting the said interest.
2. The payments to be made in such proportion
as may be requisite at the expiration of eleven months
from the time the bills begin to be ifiued, and con
tinued, as necessary, until the subscriptions are
paid off.
The reason of making the subscriptions payable
to the loan-officer for the Rate, is obvious from the
Ad of the Legislature under which the bills are e
niitted; and the period of eleven months is menti
oned that the money may come in seasonably, and
that no delay or disappointment may be buffered.
None of us are unacquainted with the rife and
progress of the present revolution. The good and
brave, the liberal and well principled, voluntary and
without profpe& of other reward than that of shar
ing in the happiness to be derived from the establish
ment of civil and religious liberty, have undertaken
and carried it on, refilled by the opposition of some,
and retarded by the languor and neutrality of others.
Such is human nature, and we cannot alter it; such
will ever be the case in contests of this kind. To
To the WORTHY CITIZENS of
NEW-JERSEY.
Friends and Countrymen,
IN the exertions necessary to prosecute a war,
or to carry into practice any national measure,
it is hardly to be expected, though highly just
and reasonable, that each individual will con
tribute proportionately to his abilities of mind,
body and estate. So different are the degrees of
virtue and publick spirit in different men, that one
will do more from the motive of love to his coun
try, than another can be brought to do even by the
controul of the laws.
wait for the proportionate exertions of all, is difap-
NE W-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. TH.]
WEDNESDAY, September 6,178 c.
4. As taxes must be paid to answer the publick
exigencies, as well as to redeem the bills, and as
part of the former may be paid in specie, a fund may
by this means come into the hands of the Legdla
ture to answer the subscriptions in whole or in part.
5. The con fifcated eilates which remain unfold,
may, if the government think fit, be appropriated to
this use; or, if it should be thought more advife
able, to the payment of the interest in the firft in
stance.
If it should be objected to the ideas above-stated,
that a provision of this kind would extend only to
the payment of the firll year's interest, and leave the
lublequent on the present ground; it is readily to
be aniwered. that, on the bell arguments, more will
not be necessary: But if, contrary to expectation,
this opinion should be wrong, the measure may be
repeated under a double advantage, a greater pro
poi tion of filter and gold, and a diminution of the
quantity of paper currency.
Should a measure of this nature, be wholly rejec
Should the bills be some months in issuing, the
whole of each fubfeription need not be paid in at
once. This will be an accommodation to the sub
scribers, and be productive of no inconvenience, as
the remainder can be called for as the issues of the
bills shall require.
On the practicability of accumulating the fund
proposed to be fubferibed, it may not be amiss to
observe, that the sum appears large no longer than
till we come to parcel and distribute it . Suppose
that the thirteen counties of the Rate produce, one
with another, fifty subscriptions for each, the ave
rage of these will be about fix and forty dollars ;
double the number of fubferibers, and it is reduced
to a little more than three and twenty. An incon
siderable sum when compared with the importance
of eßablilhing a currency so efl'entidl at this time,
and of avoiding the suspicion and therefore the dan
ger of a fluctuation similar to that which, in a recent
instance, has spread abroad so many mifchiefs ! But
we may go farther, and note, that as a sixth part of
the whole quota is to be funk in the course of the
next year, the sum calculated as necessary to fatisfy
the interest may be lelfened in that proportion ; and
an average fubfeription, taking the number last a
bovementioned, would be about nineteen dollars.
Here, however, no notice is taken of the probability
that part of the redeeming tax may be paid in the
bills of other Rates. Ihe thought may be deemed
nugatory, but I cannot help obierving, that the lil
ver ihoe-buckles in New-Jersey would, if fold, pro
duce more than the whole sum, and replace them
selves with Reel or brass into the bargain.
As to the indemnification and repayment to fub
feribers, a thing which ought not to be forgotten,
the following remarks are Submitted :
1. by the resolutions of Congress bills of exchange
for the interest are payable annually at the loan-of
fice. At all events therefore, nothing can be rifqued
but the difeount at which they may possibly fell be
low par. Of the probable rate a judgment can be
formed from that of the bills now paid for the inte
rest of money in the funds ; recollecting that they
have continued to approach nearer and nearer to an
equality with specie from the time they began firll
to be paid out.
2. When the bills of credit about to be issued are
found to have a currency at the fame rate with silver
and gold, individuals will prefer them as more con
venient than bills of exchange, and the publick may
as well pay them. This will secure lubfcribers ;
and besides, the receipt of interest at the office will
be an object of less consequence, as the trouble,
however imall, will be something, and the difference
between holding the interest in a bill, or separately
from it, none at all.
3. As the prejudices against foreign loans are, in
a gieat measure corrected, and as it is known these
are attainable, it may, at the term of a year, be
practicable to pay this interest in coin, though, as
was before observed, it might not have been expe
dient to make Rich a stipulation under the least un
certainty.
THE
PARIS, January 4.
WE hear from Marseilles, of the /Bth ult. that
the Marie-Fortunee, a Tartan commanded
by Captain Anthony Gay, of Bendol, a village near
'I oulon, coming from Corsica, laden with sundry
merchandize, and having only eight men, compre
hending a boy and a soldier, a passenger, was attack
ed within about a league and a half of Marseilles by
an English privateer of 18 guns, and 160 men, who
gave chace to him, and got very near; Capt. Gay,
feeing no other means of escaping the privateer, run,
ashore near the island of Rion, on a bank called the
Lourde-Chaux, and there made as readily as poflible
to engage ; when feeing the privateer's boat with 2;
or 30 men, armed with cutlasses and mufquets, com
ing to board him, made so uninterrupted a fire at the
boat, with two small cannon, which were all he had,
that he forced them to retire; but soon after the
boat returning, he could not avoid being boarded,
when an engagement began that lasted an hour and
an half, which, notwithlfanding the superiority of
numbers on the fide of the English, terminated in
favour of Capt. Gay; and he beheld his enemy re
tire a second time, leaving ten men killed and wound
ed. It is remarkable that the soldier, passenger,
having broke his sword on the head of an English
man, tore a billet of wood from the ship, and struck
down several of the privateer's men, who attacked
him. This fcldicr, brave as the rest of the little
2. In addition to the above, and with the fame
object, let the bills now current be brought in and
exchanged, agreeably to the option given in the aCt
for redeeming them.
With refperfto the firft of these, it is no farther
eligible than as it may give fuller operation to the
law, and remove the niifgivings and confirm the
minds of the suspicious and less informed. Exam
ples of this are before us, and there is no doubt the
effect may be beneficial under prudent management.
It is the general consent which gives a currency to
any money, and this consent is formed and regulat
ed by the leading and monied part of the community.
On the second it is almost unnecessary to remark
how much the withdrawing of the present currency
from circulation must tend to establish the just value
of the new bills; and, it may be added in palling,
how much the establishment of these will induce the
holders to exchange the present for them. The ef
fect is reciprocal; and little penetration is required
to distinguish that although taxation is a good means
to bring about this end, because it is certain arid in
fallible, a more rapid and immediate would be great
ly preferable.
ft will be rccolle&ed that proposals of this nature
rest much upon the remarks Rated in the beginning.
As they contain no project of exclusive gain to in
dividuals, they are not addressed to such as make
this the pole-llar of their actions. Patriotism and
not private interest mull have the higher influence.
But as little loss can be incurred, and the publick
benefit must be great; and as that which is advan
tageous to the community must be so to a majority
of the individuals, they do not come wholly unre
comniended to any one.
If these hints have no other merit, they have
however this, that they are offered with every de
ference, and with hopes of at least calling the atten
tion of better judges to a fubjeft, the importance of
which is felt and acknowledged by all. Reflection
and difeuffion are the inlets of knowledge; and pub
lications on matters of this kind, as well as of any
other, may be rendered ufeful rather than injurious,
if, inßead of building up new fyßems or taking down
the old, they are employed in Rating information
and giving aid to the execution of publick measures.
SPERANDO.
ted as unnecessary, improper, or difficult of executi
on, the following will probably be less objectionable:
J. Let an engagement or association be formed
by the officers of government, and men of business,
influence, trade and property throughout the Rate
for receiving the bills to be issued as specie in all
payments.
[Numb. 141.]