The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1778-12-15 00:00:00, page 2

: cannot be difeuffed in the narrow limits of a page
in a common news paper. A narrow fuperficial
view ofit can answer no purpose. The writer there
fore must aik the favour of a page or two in your
ufeful paper for a few weeks to insert the several
numbers necessary for its investigation. The fubjed
is es such great and general importance that ever,
inhabitant in the United States is interefled in # it>
The writer has taken up his pen with no other view
then to serve the pubiiL He wishes to communi
cate light which way soever the argument shall
turn, d^erfaines to Rear hiscourfe invariably, so far
as his abilities will serve him, whether the cause of
public faith, justice, honor and fafety, the great
principles of morality, liberty and found policy
{hall dire& him. He therefore hopes for the candid,
patient and close attention of the public on so great
a point. It will be the business of this number to
furnifh a reply to the firft question which will serve
as the ground work of an answer to the rest.
The old man firft enquires, " Do the possessors of
Continental Bills expert ever to receive their nomi
nal value in Giver according to reflations of Con
gress." The reply mu 4 be they ombt fully to expe&
and depend upon it*. The c'earHt reason, the
founded policy and mod urgent neceffiry plead for
} The faith and honor of Congress and of the Con
tinent is pledged for it. The faith and honor of
S'atefmen and of a pto de who have been Ready, firm
and persevering in the feVereft ttm, gles and fhaipetl
trials. This fives good assurance that they will re
main so, and ptefc.-Ve faith and honor inviolate.
Upon any other fuppofcion the public faith must be
violated : So univerfdly so shockingly violated as,
perhaps can find no parallel in the history of man.
The public fafety and the sacred cause of liberty,
after ail our exertions, must be facr:ficed, or at
lead be brought int^a slate of extreme peril. Great
and general injustice will be done, even to the re
ducing of great numbers of our ufeful inhabitants
from comfortable livings to a state of poverty. This
injustice will generally fall with the greatest severity
on the warmest friends to the country, and would
therefore be a flagrant breach of all the sacred ties of
friendfhip, honor and gratitude, as well as of justice.
It would he the greatest impolicy, the prostitution
of all public honor, and the deftruAion of all public
confidence. It would not fail to transmit the names
of the great actions of the present day, and even of
these Rates, with the strongest marks of detestation
and infamy to the most diflant ages.
That these are not bare assertions, I hope, fully
to evince. The members of Congress have in the
strongest manner by their resolutions plighted their
faith and the faith of the Continent for the payment
oftheir bills in gold or silver according to their express
value. The legislature of the several States have
obligated themselves, and their constituents by ap
proving and giving their consent to these engage
ments in their several Assemblies, and by the ena&-
ingoflaws obligingthe people to received in all pay
ments as being equal in value with the fame number
of dollars expressed on the face of the bill.' These
laws have been inforced with severe penalties from
year to year, obliging them to receive it even where
gold and silver was due, in confidence that they
Should receive the nominal value of each bill in hard
money according to the several resolutions ofCongrefs.
This has been the language of all public a&s in Con
gress, and in the refpe&ive legislatures of these
States, and of all public measures refpe&ing it for
near four years successively. The members of Con
gress and of the several legislatures have personally
and repeatedly bound themselves for the payment of
these bills in solid coin according to their nominal
value. The people are all obligated by the a&s of
their representatives in Congress, and in their several
General Assemblies, and by their own personal con
sent for years. Never was public faith more strongly,
more repeatedly, or more universally engaged. The
public have had remarkable credit on these engage
ments, and have received great and essential services.
In conficleration of them, soldiers and seamen have
chearfully engaged in their service, encountered all
dangers, endured all hardships, by land and sea, in
the field of battle, and in cruel captivity. Men of
all characters have used the greatest exertions to fur
nifh our armies and the country with all necessaries
in the late exigencies. By the currency for which
the public faith has been engaged, the provisions,
eloathing, horses, cattle and personal services of
the country have been commanded on all emergen
cies. Liberty and fafety, the great objefls injview;
• The writer means only for such bills, of the
several emissions, as shall not be funk by taxes or
otherwise before the time fixed by Congress for their
redemption.
have been fecuted. After all this not to fulfil the
engagements must be the most egregious violation of
the public faith, and cruel abuse of the confidence of
the good people of these States. It would be a kind
of universal perfidy and prostitution of all truth and
honor. Were an individual to be guilty of such a
breach of engagements would he not stand in the light
of an arch villain ? Would he not forfeit all claim
to be esteemed as a man of any truth or honor ? How
then shall we view rulers Who are so faithlefs and
hardy as to be guilty of it I Gross falfhood and per
fidy, in individuals are ranked among the chief of
crimes. In rulers they have a deeper guilt and
criminality. Their obligations are greater, and the
mifehief they do by it is far more extensive. By
their breach of faith they put a fandion upon perfidy
and publ cly teach whole communities treachery
and corruption. The vitiation of public faith is
most dangerous as well as Wicked. Princes have
loft their kingdoms, and states have been razed to
their foundations by transgressing the great laws of
public trull, faith and ri^reoufuefs. It is of the
highest imp rtance o the public fafety that the
Continent fulfil their engagements. Were the pub
lie faith once to be violated refpe&ing the currency
would it not deflroy all public confidence? Who
uould, for the future, give credit to any resolutions
cf Congress cr of the States refpe&i'ng it 1 Whocan
rationally trull a man that has once broken public,
fUenin and repeated entrapments ? What assurance
can be given that a. perlon of such a charaßer will
not deceive and d (appoint in every instance ? How
then could any currency ever obtain or be supported
hereafter were the public confidence to be disappoint
ed with regard to this ? Money is the very sinews
of war. Withoutthis and public confidence no peo
plc can prosecute it to any effea. Without these
we could not maintain the war another month. What
then would become of your armies were public faith
to be prostituted I Will men fight, can provisions,
eloathing and all the supplies of war be obtained
without money or public credit ? What then would
become of liberty and fafety ? Must not the grand
cause be given up at once, and the country, after
all our struggles reach out her impotent hands to
the galling chains of perpetual slavery ? The infracti
on of public faith in Rates like these in which we
have no solid medium, whose very existence depends
on public credit is state-suicide. It is cutting the
thread of political exigence ;---making a thrust to
the heart and shedding the vital current. Shall we
in a fit of madness give the fatal flab!
(To be continued.)
By his Excellency
GEORGE CLINTO N, Esq;
Governor of the State of New-York, General and
Commander in Chief of all the Militia, and Ad
miral of the Navy of the fame, .
PROCLAMATIO N.
_YTT HEREAS the Senate and Affem
°° VV bly of this State, did by concurrent
resolutions, passed the 21st day of February last, pro
pose certain overtures with refpe& to the controvert
ed lands, in the north eastern parts of the county of
Albany, and certain parts of the counties of Cum
berland Charlotte and Gloucester, in order to quiet
the disorders prevailing in that part of the State:
And whereas the said resolutions have been mis
represented by feme, and raifunderftood by others,
and are deemed not to apply to the cases of many
persons entitled to relief; by reason whereofappreheh
fions still remain on the minds of many of the inha
bitants in that part of the State, and they have not
in consequence thereof, returned to their allegiance
to this state, within the time, for that purpose in
the said refolation, limited. And whereas the
Senate and Assembly, in order more effectually to
remove such apprehensions, and more fully to ex
plain the said resolutions, and manifeft the equitable
intentions of the Legislature, have by concurrent re
solutions passed this present feffiort,
Resolved, That with refpe& to all such lands,
which have heretofore been granted by the govern
ments of New Hamplhire or Massachusetts-Bay, and
have not been since granted by the Government of
New-York ; that all such grants, under New Hamp
shire orMaffachufetts Bay, shall be confirmed and
declared good, valid and effectual, to all intents and
purposes, as if the fame had been made by the Go
vernment of New-York ; and shall not be deemed
null or void, by reason ofthe non performance of a
ny condition contained in the fame.
And whereas it is impossible to establish any ge:
neral principle for the determination of all disputes,
that may arise between persons claiming under New-
Hampshire or Maffachufettl-Bay on the one, and
New-Vork oh the othe? p^rt, but each case must h
determined according to its particular merits.
Resolved therefore, That in all cases of dis
putes, arising between persons claiming under NeW-
Hampshire or Massachusetts Bay on the one, and
New- York on the other part for the fame lands (be
sides confirming such possessions as Were made under
New Hampshire er Maffachuftytts-Bay, prior to any
grants for the fame under NetoTork) the Legislature
will submit the determination thereof, to futh per
sons as the Congress of the United Srates, shall ele&
or appoint for that purpose, to be determined accord
ing to equity and justice, without adhering to th^
stria rules of law: Provided always, That no
thing in these overturn- contained, shall deprive any
persons actually possessing lands under New York, of
the lands so by them severally aAually poffeßed {
but such persons shall be confirmed in their refpec;-
tive possessions.
Resolved, That nothing contained, either in
the above mentioned or these resolutions, shall be
construed to affed any disputes, that may arise be
tween any person independent of a claim und^r
New Hairpthire or MatfacLufetts Bay, on the one,
and New York on the othei part.
Resolved, That all persons shall be entitled to
the benefit of the abevementioned, and those refo/u
tions, notwitbftahding they may have withheld therf
allegiance from, and been in oppofitjon to the ro
vernment of this State fir ce tl firft day of May lass,
Provided, That no peifon shall be entitled to such
benefit, who shall have committed treason against
the State by adhering to the K ; ng of Great-Britain,
And whereas the said Senate and Assembly of
this State, by their concurrent resolution, passed
also in this prefect feflion of the Legislature, have
requeued me to issue my proclamation, containing
.the substance of their concurrent refolutionsaforefaid,
and have thereby also authorifed me in such procla
mation, to pledge the faith of the Legislature of thi^
State, for the faithful performance of the several mat
ters contained in their said concurrent resolutions ,
NOW THEREFORE, I do dy these pre
sents, publish and proclaim the concurrent re
solutions of the Senate and Assembly aforefaid, a
bove particularly recited, hereby pledging the faith of
the Legislature of this S ate, for the faithful perfor
mance of the several matters therein contained ; and
I do hereby require all persons concerned, to take
notice thereof, and govern themselves accordingly,
Given under my Hand and the Privy Seal of the
said Sta.e, at Poughkeepsie on the Thirfy-
First Day of October, in the Third Year ofthe
Independence of the said State, and in the Year
of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and
Seventy-Eight.
GEO. CLINTON.
By his Excellency's Command,
Stephen Lush P. Sec'ry.
GOD savethe PEOPLE
■ - — ^- —
TO be fold, or exchanged for Wood, a GOOD
HORSE, fit for a farm. Enquire of
THOMAS HILDRUP.
Hartford, Dec. 1, 1 778.
CASH or good BUCKSKIN BREECHES,
will be given for live Geese Feathers, by Jonn
Hill, in Hartford.
Dec. 9, 1778.
INDIGO, by the Tun or fmalier Quantity,
to be fold by Thomas Sheldon.
Litchfield, Dec. 10, 1778.
ALL Persons having any demands on the efiate
" of Elias Birchard late of Stafford, deceased, are
desired to exhibit their accounts for settlement : And
those indebted to said estate, are desired to make
speedy payment, to
ROGER BIRCHARD,] Adminiflrator.
SARAH BIRCHARD.] Administratrix.
Stafford, Decjjffi.
TQ be SOLD at PUBLIC VENDUE,
on Thursday the 17th instant, at one o'clock
afternoon, at the house of Mr. Amasa Jones in
Hartford, One or Two Hundred Bushels of Choice
Home-made SALT.
Dec. 15, 1778.
^CQCCCTCBttJt—tttffitodCTSßtWt^ra^^
CHEAP for CAS H,
MADEIRA, Lisbon and Teneriffe Wines;
by the calk or gallon, a few rods south east
of the Court house, Hartford, by Ebenezer Ber
nard, jun.
OOD LIVER OIL, to be Sold by the
calk or smaller quantity, by David Bissell;
of East-Windsor.