The Pennsylvania ledger, or, The Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, & New-Jersey weekly advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-03-30 00:00:00, page 4

proportion the value of our eßates in America will
encreafe, so as to defray the necessary charges of
government, taking for granted, that an is. 6d.
tax in the pound, on all taxable efates in America,
does now yield 533,333 dollars, being rather more
than half a million; which is caculated thus;
Pennsylvania is rated by the Congress to pay about
one eighth of all the expences of the United Colonies;
and as a tax of is. 6d. in the pound in the said pro
vince, neats about £.25,000 —we may suppose, an
is. 6d tax upon the United Colonies, will yieldjuft
eight times as much, which is £.200,000 our cur
rency or 533,333 dollars per annum. Lastly you
are to confider after all things are candidly Rated,
whether the sums annually railed on the one hand
to protest ourselves, and the ablolute gain in trade
(over and above what we tiled to make) on the other
1^ nd, do or do not render it moll for our interest to
separate from Britain.
On the part of thole who contend for a Re-union,
they mull shew what are the advantages that result
from tuch a connexion; what were the cußomary
expences of government in America, before the pre
sent rupture; what are the exclulive privileges, we
derive from exporting goods to Great-Britain ; whe
ther there are ads of Parliament in favour of the
Colonies, to the prejudice of other nations, and
which we reap the sole advantage of—and whether
these are equivalent to any loss we may sustain, by
having our trade confined to them; whether our
trade is not limited to our great disadvantage; you
are to particularile the ports we may trade to, un
der the old regulations; and the different articles
of America, which we may carry direXly to foreign
ports; you mull allo Ihew that the principal part of
the goods we import from England and Ireland,
could not be supplied us upon as good terms, from
any other country, and that those nations, with
whom we might incline to trade, would not grant
us bounties upon navalfores, and sundry other ar
ticles, in the fame manner as England does, the
amount of which, annually paid to the Colonists,
you should sum up. You mull also fliew cause (if
you can) why America ought not to take credit to
herfelf, for all the taxes paid by the English manu
facturers, before they fend their goods to the Colo
nies; it being generally granted, that the consumer
ultimately pays all charges; you muff also shew,
whether taxes on goods imported into America from
Holland, France, or Spain (where impoils are very
heavy) are or are not added to the cost of the said
goods, in the fame manner as we reckon them on
English goods. Allo whether the long established
credit, our American Merchants have obtained in
England, in the interior part of the kingdom, with
the original manufacturers, cannot he as well ac
complilhed in the new countries we may go to; 01
whether we mull take their goods, from merchants
at the several cut-ports, with all the middle men's,
or intervening dealer's profit added to them; and if
we should obtain credit at such places for twelve
months as in England, what will be the advance
which a Frenchman, a Dutchman, or a Spaniard,
will choose to put on his goods, as an equivalent,
for the rife which he will suppose himfelf to run, by
trusting Jirangers. Whether it is not a general ef
tablilhed custom with all trading nations, to trust
foreigners, with whom they have no legal or politi
cal constitutional connexion, as freely as their own
fubjeXs in dillant parts of the world; if this is not
generally the case, you should shew, why America
can't make treaties with such powers, in order to ob
tain credit, either by pledging to them the efates
of the Community at large, to make good deficien
cies, that might happen by individuals failing, or
negleXing to pay such foreign debts, or by such
other means as the American States might think
fit to offer. You should also shew, 'whether the low
price of goods, for many years past, was owing to
the fmallnels of the demand, or to the great quanti
tybrought to market, or to the reajonablenefs and
moderation of the importing merchants; and whe
ther if France, Spain and Holland, should refufe
to give credit, to every young merchant going out
for a cargo, with a tolerable recommendation, as
the traders in England have been accustomed to do,
I 'ay, if this should be the case, and the importati
ons should fall wholly into the hands of a few rich
merchants, why might not some mode of reftriXion
be entered into, for preventing the exorbitant ex
aXions, they might be guilty of, to the great inju
ry of the consumers? You mull also convince the
farmer, if he bought his goods as low as formerly,
occasioned by a Re-union with Great Britain, that
he would also have the fame advantages of shipping
off his produce, which he has been used to, with
out any reftriXion being laid on our trade, that
might lower the price when he brought his crops to
market. You mull also point out, what advantage
it would be to England to have tobacco, once more
exported to them; and whether this among other
considerations, would be any inducement for them
to offer us better terms. Some might possibly think
that, nationally speaking, the being deprived of an
expensive luxury, would be rather again than a loss;
for though the tax on this article may be rated at
£.400,000 per annum, yet it is wholly paid by them
selves as well as the neat coll of the tobacco. The
public funds would indeed be losers, but the peo
ple would be gainers, in a sum, just equal to the
neat amount paid to the American planter; there
fore you mult shew other reasons, why England
would give up any points, for the fake of reconcili
ation; and before this point is fettled, you mus t con
vince us, that the people of England, are not gain
ers by our witholding trade, to the Weft-Indies; for
as the large quantities of rum and sugar, which we
formerly imported from the islands, will now be
sent to England, the price to the consumer there will
be considerably abated; of course, the quantity
used by the lower class of people, will be encreafed;
and as those articles pay very high duties, the re
venue will be capitally enlarged; and it may be
supposed to have this further effed; the great tracts
of ground hitherto occupied in England, for raising
grain, purely to dillil jfariff, will in a great mea
sure be deprived of their objeX, by the plenty of
rum carried in from the Well-Indies; and as a to
tal flop is put to the exportation of tea, it may pro
bably fall so low in England, as, together with the
low price of sugar, to make it a very general diet,
morning and night, for the lower class of people;
thus drinking foreign Spirit, and making part of
their meal of foreign produce, the land which was
before employed in those services may be spared for
raising provisions to foip to the Weft-Indies, where
they will be sure to come to a good market, as long
as we withold our trade thither ; —therefore, you
must shew some substantial reason, for your opini
on, that it is the interest of England to wish our
trade with the Weft-Indies restored to its old Rate;
for if England can now buy her Jugar and rum
cheaper, and fell her grain higher than formerly,
why should she wilh to reunite with us on this
Score? A full reply to this suggestion, is expeXed.
You mull also prove, that England, on a reunion,
would grant us such a protection as would secure
our property in any part of the world; and that on
our complaining to their court, of seizures or de
tainer of our vessels, by the Ruffians, Normans,
Sweeds, Danes, Hamburghers, Dutch, French,
Portugueze, Spaniards, the states of Medina, Tus
cany, Venice, Rome, Geneva, Courland, Grecian,
Turkish, or Piratical States, &c. &c. that they
>would demand dnilant Tatisfaion and restitution
for us, as is usual with their own ships, and all this
without bringing us in for any Share of the expences.
tßufinefs of this kind took up a great deal of the at
tention of the Common Wealth of England; their ves
sels being frequently detained and insulted, but by
the spirited conduct of the Protestor, justice was al
ways obtained:—it is therefore your part to shew,
that, on a reunion, the King of Gieat-Britaia
would take as ample care of the Americans, in :uch
cases, as Cromwell did of British property; or if a
reunion should not take place, you are to point out
Sufficient reasons, to juftify you in the supposition,
that America has not, or may not, have a naval
power competent to the talk, of doing herfelfjuf
tice. You mull also shew, in case of a reunion,
that England would not call on us for a share of
the expences attending a compact with Russia or
mother European Princes, in order to keep up the
ballance of the Protettant Power, against the Ro
man Catholic States, thereby preventing popery
from over-running the world. And you must last
ly shew, that by a reconciliation on constitutional
principles, we shall return to the free money-getting
trade we formerly enjoyed, and that we Shall have
it enlarged to us upon a grand national scale, with
out any regard to the private emolument of this or
that party; but upon principles of the general in
terest of the whole empire, without our paying any
taxes for the support of government, more than
what we have been used to (the debt arising from
the present dispute only excepted.) That the ad
minillration of jullice, and lecurity of property,
will be as upright and fafe as heretofore; and that
the present happiness and future liberty of America,
would be as well maintained, in a reunion as by a
separation.
These are heads, which I would wish to fee se
parately, and largely, dilcuffed; and I intreat you,
gentlemen, to pursue the fubjeX with calmness and
temper.—Stick to the matter, and negleX the man;
it imports not, who is the writer, but all are even
tually concerned in the cause I shall read your
controversy with great attention, and so will thou
sands beside me; and if, upon an impartial hearing,
it shall appear to be for the real interest of America,
to cut the Gordian Knot and eßablilh Indepen
dence—l declare, with the uimoftf„ceri„ and /i
---lemnity, that I will give it my hearty concurrence.
.Should curiosity (agreeable to the falhion of the
times) tempt some readers to desire a knowledge of
the writer of this essay, they may be informed, that,
his fortune, his connexions, and every thing he
holds dear, give him a deep interest in the happiness
of America; that his abilities to serve his country,
rife no higher than to occupy the Ration of an ho
nest man and quiet citizen, and most happily for
him, he has never been prompted by ambition to
quit his post; being limply and truly
A Common Man.
A few more of the
Search after Happiness,
A Pastoral Drama, by Miss H. MOR E, with
Armine and Elvira, a Legendary Tale.
PHILADELPHIA.
In CONGRES S, March 20, 1776.
WHEREAS, in the execution of the rcfolve of Congress
of the fourteenth of March refpeßing the disarming dif
affeded persons, many fire arms may be taken which may
not be fit for ule, to arm any of the troops mentioned therein,
therefore Revived, That all the fire arms so taken, being appraised
according to said resolve, none of them shall be paid for but those
that are fit for the use of such troops, or that may conveniently
be so made, and the remainder shall be fafely kept by the Assemblies
Conventions, Councils, or Committees of Safety for the owners
to be delivered to them when the Congress shall direst.
March 21, 1776.
Refotved, That it be recommended to the several Assemblies
Conventions and Councils, or Committees of Safety, and Com
mittees of Correspondence and Infpe£tion, that they exert theic
utmost endeavours to promote the culture of HEMP, FLAX
and COTTON, and the growth of WOOL, in these United
Colonies.
Refilled That it be recommended to the said Assemblies, Con
venewns and Councils, or Committees of Safety, that they take the
earlier mealures for creating and establishing, in each and every
c Sony, a Society for the improvement of agricuturc, arts, manu
feftures and commerce ; and to maintain a correspondence between
such Societies, that the rich and numerous natural advantages of
this country, for supporting its inhabitants, may not be neglected.
Refilled, That it be recommended to the said Assemblies, Con
ventions and Councils, or Committees of Safety, that they forth
with confider of ways and means of introducing the manufactures
of DUCK and SAIL CLOTH, and STEEL, into such colonies
where they are not now understood ; and of encouraging, increasing
and improving them where they are,
Extract from the minutes,
CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.
_ F .^..«. G . r f -0...^.,.....,....,,.....,..^
Just Printed and Published,
Ai the Desire of some of the Members of the Ho
nourable the American Continental Congress,
and some of the Military Officers of the ASTo
ciation, and is now SELLING by James Hum
phreys, junr. at the Corner of Black-horse Al
ley, in Front-Rreet; Robert Aitken, opposite
the London Coffee-houfe, in Front-street • also
by Robert Bell, in Third-Rreet.
(Two Volumes, in neat Bindings.)
THE
MILITARY GUIDE
FOR
YOUNG OFFICER S.
By THOMAS SIMES, Esquire.
This Work is a large and valuable Compilation
from the most celebrated Military Writers
Marfhdl Saxe—General Bland—King of Prussia,
Prince Ferdinand—&c. &c. Containing the Expe
rience of many brave Heroes in critical Situati
ons, for the Use of young Warriors; including
an excellent Military, Historical and Explanatory
DICTIONARY.
To which is now added,
Extrads from a Military Essay, containing Re
flexions on the Raising, Arming, Cloathing, and
Discipline of the British Infantry and Cavalry.
By Campbell Dalrymple, Esquire, Lieutenant
Colonel to the King's own Regiment of Dragoons.
The whole is illußrated with Eleven Copper
plates.
N. B. The Subferibers are requeued to call or
fend for their Books.
THIS is to give notice to the public that WIL
LIAM REDMAN, of the township of Mil
ford in Cumberland County, and Mary his wife,
hath divided their estate, and this is to forwarn all
persons from trusting her upon my account, for I
will pay no debts of her contrading after this date.
WILLIAM REDMAN.
T O BE S OL D, '
On Saturday the 6th day of April, at one o'clock in
the afternoon, at the house of Andrew Haith, in
Germantown.
A VALUABLE LOT of Land adjoining the
houle of the said Andrew Haith, containing
near forty acres of land; there are some buildings
on the lot, it is pleasantly situated, and would suit
a Gentleman to build a country feat, as there is a
Rone quarry upon the fame; there is a good bear
ing orchard of the best grafted fruit, five acres of
meadow through which runs three never-failing
streams of water, there are twelve acres of wood
land, the remainder good plough land.
At the fame time and place will be fold, one other
Lot, lying within half a mile of the main road,
containing ten acres and a half of wood land well
timbered. Any person inclining to view the Lots
before the day of sale, by applying to Abraham
Paforius living in Germantown, may fee the fame
§ ABRAHAM PASTORIUS.
TO BE L E T,
And may be entered upon the 17th day of April
next.
THE HOUSES, WHARVES and STORES,
now in the tenure of George Meade. For
terms apply to SAMUEL POWEL.
WHEREAS MOLLY FEIT, wife to the
subscriber, living in the Northern Liberties,
has left me without any just cause. These are to
forewarn all persons from trusting her on my ac
count, as I will pay no debt of her contraXing after
this date.
* March 6. ,0 ST FEIT.