The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1779-01-19 00:00:00, page 1

To tie P . tier of the Pennsylvania. Packet.
SIR
^ /if R. Deane mod refpeftfully presents
JVJ himfeir before his countrymen, the
f ee and virtuous Citizens of America, and
informs them, that the Honorable the Con
gress did, on Saturday morning the sth
niftant, assign Monday evening (th^n fol
lowing) to hear him ; and on that evening
“ Refolv^d, That he report to Congrels
6: in writing, as soon as may be, his agency
“ of their affairs in Europe, together with
“ any intelligence refpeding their foreign
“ affairs which he mayjudge proper." He
therefore conceives he cannot with propri
ety continue his narrative at present : In
the mean time he submits it to their good
sense, whether he ought to take any no
tice of a publication signed Francis Light
foot Lee, opposed to stubborn and undeni
able f^s.
From the CONNRCTICU r JOURNAL.
HONE ST U S.
Number 111.
(Continued from our la^)
WHEN the whole produce of a country be
comes immediately nece/Tary to preserve life
and liberty, it puts a high value upo^ it indeed.
Bread,fl sh and water are far more precious in them-,
feives inninficaHy/ than the fine gold of Ophir.
Were they equally scarce they would be efleemed so.
A man may be in c'rcumflanctf, in which he would
cheerfully part with many pounds of gold for one
pound of bread or fhfh ; and with a quart of half
joes, only for one pint of water. Hence when
these things become scarce, or,the demand is great,
it exceedingly increafeth the price. The uncom
mon demand, in the siege of Samaria, advanced the
price of an afi's head from a mere nothing, to that
of four ft.ore piece, of silver. So long ago as the
reign of K Charles 1. about the year 1630, when
money was much more valuable than at present the
uncommon demand for provisions advanced the
price of a bushel of peas to lot. Sterling ; better than
20*. of the fame money at this day ; and the price of
a bushel of wheat flour to 14s. Gerling, better than
309. Gerling at the present value *. In the year
1633, Indian corn fold in Boston, at the rate of 10?.
Serling per bushel ; t equal to more than 205. her
ling, at this time ; equal to about 2 7s. lawful money:
81. 25. in present currency. These flubborn faCTs
and observations, therefore, combining these two
circumrta ces, the prodigious quantity of money in
circulation, and the uncommon demand for all the
necefTartta oflife, afford a complete answer to the
questions u^der consideration. I find no reason to
believe that commodities would bear a lower price
than they do wereour money all gold and fifyer.
Let the piper bills be inflantly annihilated, and the
fame number of hard dollars thrown into circulation
and the e£& would be the fame, not immediately,
but very soon. The fame catrfes have produced the
fame effe&s, and to as great a degree, in New-York
and on Long-Island. In theft places they are under
military law, and every method is taken to keep
down the price, yet eatables bear a higher price there,
in hard dollars, than they do in these States in square
ones. Some pains have been taken to get informati
on of the price of various articles in those places ;
and frem the bed intelligence I have been able to
obtain, catt'e have been fold at the rate, of r iol. per
yoke. Beef fells at 2<. per pound potatoes at two
dolors ,CT bushel, and flour and various other arti
cles muchin the fame proportion. The uncommon
* Prince's Chrori. part IT. ~ to..
1 Pduct'sC. pit 11. p 85,
TUESDAY, January fy, 1779, THE (NUMBER 7 jd. #
CONNECTICUT COURANT,
ANDTHE
WEEKLY I NTELLIGENCE R.
M i K. T FORD: Prated by W ATSON and GOODWIN, near the Great B^iogu
demand for rum, has within about a year doubled the
•price of it in some of the Weft India inlands. These
Lets and observations, I think, are fufficient to give
any perlon, who will allow hinifelf to think cooly
and critically on the fubje&, entire fatisfadion.
Several useful observations so naturally present
themselves from these commercial principles, that I
cannot conclude this number without mentioning
feme of them. On these principles we are enabled
to fee in a true point of light, the shallow policy and
injustice of regulating afts, fixing the various prices
of commodities. Te double or treble the quantity
of currency in circulation' and yet oblige the vender
to fell at the fame price which obtained before such
an increase of it, is to defraud him of one half or two
thirds of the value of all he fells, and this injury in
creases every day as the money increases, if the de
mand continues unvaried ; if that is doubled the in
juflice is still more sensible and distressing. Were
merchants obliged to take the fame price now for
their commodities, which was current in England
three centuries ago, whenone ffiilling sterling was as
good or better than thirty of the fame money at pre
sent; it is easy to fee, that twenty nine thirtieths of
thevalueof all commodities would be fraudulently ta
ken fom them. Whenever the quantity of money
; j circulation, or the demand f?r articles are fluctuat
ing the fixingaprice is uhjufi. When they are in
variable .here is no need of it ; for the price will
then be as regular and fixed as the laws of nature.
The result therefore is, that it is always either unjust
or unnecessary.
In This view of things the futility of what is said,
by many w th a view tojufldy the States in lotting
ti e currency fink or run out, appears in an equal clear
light. They fay, with a vie./ to vindicate them
front, the imputation of violating the laws of faith,
justice. and°honour, that it is not the Congress, nor
the legislatures of the Spates which violate faith and
honour, but the people who will not give them cre
dit, and will destroy the money. Than this asserti
on nothing can be-farther from truth. It appears
from the principles and arguments here exhibited
that they have given them the most full and abfolate
credit : they have put a fort of unlimited unparrellel
ed confidence in them. It does not appear that they
have demanded more for provisions or labour than
they would have done had they been paid in gold
and silver provided it had been as plenty. The
States have bought things as cheap with their square
dollars as their enemies have for round ones. For
the two firft years of the war there was but little ad
vance in the price of commodities. They ne
ver were so cheap perhaps in time of war, as
they were the firfl year. Though the States
were then like ships far from port, in a stormy
sea, and no one could determine whether they would
ever make a fafe harbour, yet the people treated them
as though they had madea fafe arrival, and their trea
fares were all secured on fhbre. Though long peri
ods were fixed for the calling in and redemption of
the bills, yet they received them as gold in hand.
Notwithstanding all the attempts of our enemies to
fill the country with counterfeits, and to dedroy all
public confidence ; and notwithffanding all the im
pertinence and imprudence of men friendly to the
country, and in eminent stations giving out that the
money would not be redeemed, and-that it was tin
just it ffiould be, it is fill received. Nay, I dare
challenge any man to shew, on the genuine princi
ples of commerce that it is not received at as high a.
value as gold and silver would be. were there the
fame number of dollars in circulation, and the de
mand were the fame. So far then is the coudu& of
the people from being an argument that th'e money
fhouid not be supported, that it furnishes a strong
plea in favour of its fopport; that their marvellous
confidence may not be disappointed. Betides were
it even true that the public confidence had in some
measure daggered and been shaken, is it not an absurd
fippofition, that this should dance Ithe engagements . cf
our common father! so flrongly and repeatedly made ?
Is not this a Grange preposition indeed, that ifaman
does not give fall credit to the solemn engagements
of his neighbour, to pronrifes and jhftruments well
signed and executed by him, that this d fchar es the
obli^eefrem all obliag ions to fulfil them < Can the
father of a family be d,fch,urged from obli at;ons to
make +ood his promises anithreatnirgs because his
children have not fully credited them, and behaved
unworthily ? By no means. 'The common father of *
all, the UDivsifal governor, wl cm it becomes the
little god* of this world to imitate in their admini
strations, fulfils and will fulfiXmbhis engagements,
though hjs revolted fubje&s are very far from giving
that credit to them which they deserve. How
much soever. therefore, f memiy infid on this abfur
ddy r while I make any kind of pre euces to common
sense, I would blush even to advance, much mne to
insist on a pou ion so dangerous and unreafouable.
Further, on the principles before us, the policy
and immediate neceffry of large finking funds, to
'diminish the quantity of money in circulation, ap
pears in the fulled point of view. This; is one of
the great and principal things to be done to ease us
of the present difficulties. In this measure it becomes'
all wife and good men. all friends to themfelyes and
their country, vigorously to unite.
On the whole, let us not difyfe our currency.
We have been enabled by it admirably to^ca-ny on
a war against a most potent nation ; we feel 110 incon
veniences from it, but what our enemies equally fuf
fer from theirs, under like ciicumflances ; if we are
wife, and persevere in duty to our couniry, with that
firm and manly spirit which we have generally ex
hibited, since the commencement of the present trou
bles our money will in a little time appreciate, and
the difficulties which seem now to attend it will
, vanish. We fuffer far fefa to defend the fair inheri
tance handed down to us, by our venerable ancef
torsjhan they did, in fettling the country, in ob
taining and defending its ample immunities civ I aad
religious, and in tranfmittimg them to their poferity.
Our enemies fi ffer more in Going aifehief, andeenp
mittiag the mos ihorrid outrages, than we have done
in fupporfing the sacred cauie of liberty, and the im
portant rights of human nature. It will then be in
glorious indeed, to mike any grert consideration of
our present troubles. Let us have patience, be firm,
and persevere, and that mighty and ever watchful
Providence, which has do^ so many marvellous
things for us and our fathers, will, doubtleft, crown
our exertions with success, to the utmost of our rea
sonable expectations
Connecticut/ Nov. 12th, 1778.
EXTRACT from the Trial of Major General LEE.
Major General Lord Sterling. President.
Brigadier-Generals, Smallwood, Poor Woodford,
and Huntington. Colonels, Irvine, Shepherd.
Swift, Wigglefworth, Angel, Clarke Williams.
Febiger, Members.
JOHN LAWRENCE, Jad.e Advocate.
Bruufwick, July 4 1778.
T>HE Judge Advocate produces rhe General's
orders, (Wafhin^oo) for the Court to fit.
Th 4 President, Members, and Judge Advocate be
ing sworn the Judge Advocate prosecuting in the
name of the United States of America, the Court
proceeded to the trial of Major G;ne a) Lee. who
appears before the Court, and the following charges
are exhibited a^aioft him : First, For disobedience
of orders, in not attacking the enemy on the 38th of
June agreeable !o repeated ipfhu&ions. Secondly,
For mifbehavicur before the enemy on the feme day,
by making an unnecessary, diforderiy, and (hateful
retreat. Thirdly, For difrelped to the Commander
in Chief in two let ers, daied theist of July, and
the 28. h of June.
Major Ge neral Lee pleads, not guilty.
[The letters on which the third charge is founded,
arc as follow :]
SI R. Camp English Town/ift Jufy, r 778.
T^ROM the kno vledgel have ofyonfExcellency's
JP character, I mull conclude, that .nothing but
the rrrfinfOTmtion of f.?me very %pid or misrepre
sentation of some very wicked person, could have oc
casioned your making use of so v^ry Angular expre'-