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IkTURDAy, June 30, 1787.
VB A
leorgia state gazette
H OR 5k
| INDEPENDENT REGISTER.
FREEDOM of the PRESS, and TRIAL by JUR Y, to remain inviolate forever. Constitution of Georgia.
IUGU ST A: Printed by JOHN E. SMITH, Printer to the States F£ays t Articles of Intelligence ,
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from the- NEW-YORK GAZETTEER.
1 the Fretmen Inhabitants of the United States .
Friends and Fellow Citizens,
tN every part of these Hates the great fear city of
money is become a common fubjed of complaint,
his does not seem to be an imaginary grievance,
ke that of hard timesi of which men have com
bined in all ages of the world ; the misfortune is
cneral, and in many cases severely felt. The
;arcity of money is so great, or the difficulty of
aying debts has been so common, that riots and
ombinations have been formed in many places,
nd the operations of civil government have beeii
jfpended ; this is the more remarkable, because
iiree years have not palled since money was very
lenty. A calamity of such magnitude has de-
Tvcdly drawn the attention of every legillature in
ie union. Ih some of the Hates paper mouey has
een jnade as the beR or the moR convenient re
medy by which the fuHerings of the people can be
elieved. The General-Aflembly of the Hate of
tforth-Carolina has already had recourse to two
miflions of paper, Certainly when any article
» scarce the general remedy is, to make more ; arid
Fit should be found, when money is scarce, that
rivate and public debts can be honeflly diicharged
y a new coinage of paper, the expedient is admi
able, for it is the moR easy process by which debts
me efcer paid. This, however, is a fub.ieCt on
vhich many doubts have arisen. It is not
ueßioned whether there are means by which
ve may be enabled to difeharge our debts and
ecome opulent and powerful, but there are
nany who believe that our debts cannot be fairly
lifeharged, nor our citizens relieved, much less
an they become rich by the manufacture of paper
noney. It has also been my lot to entertain some
loubts, .whether the laR regulations have hithero
ieen adopted for prefen ing juflice, for relieving
he oppreHed, and for securing the profperityof
he Rate ; —thefe doubts have given rife to the pre
ent address.
This is a quefiion, my fellow citizens, that claims
'out 1 utmoA attention, for no fubjeft of equal im
lortance has been presented to your view since the
leclaration of independence. We are going to
:onfider whether the adminiflration of government,
u these infant Rates, is to be a fyflem of patch.
vork, and a series of expedients—Whether a
toothful empire is to be supported, like the walls
if a tottering ancient palace, by flioars and tem
lorary props, or by measures which may prove
:ffedual and lafling—meafures which may im
ircrve by use, and Rrengthen by age. We are
toing to confider whether we Riail deserve to be
t branch of the moll poor, dilhoneß and con
emptiblc, or of the mofl Rourißiing, indepen
lent and happy nation on the face of the earth.
The reader is not interefled in knowing who
he writer ot this letter may bp ; a bad argument
is not mended by the supposed abilities of its au
thor, and a good argument does not require pa
rental support. In the mean time he counts it
his duty to declare, and he does it with humble
gratitude, that his complaints are not occasioned
jy personal misfortunes; but he finds himfelf a
member of a great family; he interefis himfelf
as a brother in the happiness ctf his fellow citi*
tens, and he fufiers when they are grieved.
The more I confider the progress of credit, mid
[he increase of wealth in foieign nations, me
more fully am I convinced that paper money mufl
prove hurtful to this country ; that we cannot be
t elieved from our debts except by promoting do
tneßic manufaftures, and that during the prevail
♦ « • •
ing scarcity of money* the burdens of the poor
may be relieved by altering the mode if taxation.
Here are three separate and diftinft piopofitions;
they (hall be considered apart, in order that each
of them may fall or Hand by its own weakness or
ltrength.
In public measures, as in the conduft of pri
vate life, it will constantly be found, that “ htnejiy
it the i'tjlpilicy ” this maxim is fomewbat become
old, but it has not become useless. A paper cur
rency, which is a legal tender, even when it may
have depreciated to 20 or 30 per cent, is not gene
rally considered as an honest tender, and there are
many reasons for believing that such a currency
will not finally prove ufeful to the states. I fay it
has not generally been oonfidered an beneji tender.
Theieaiemany people who fay the money ought
not to have depreciated j they fay that neceflity
juftified the measure, and that we are bound to
receive such payment as the law piefcribesr but I
never have heard any man fay that it would be
perfect justice to pass a law, by which every cre
ditor fliould be compelled to receive three fourths
. or two thirds of his debt instead of the whole debt 5
*nd yet such a law would be perfeflly similar to
the tender of depreciated paper, except that it
would be a proof of more frugality and plain
dealing; for it would be calling tilings by the
right name, and would save the expcncc of pa
per coinage.
However convenient ntprtciartd paper may
appear to those who use it in the difeharge of debts,
we have already difeovered that the credit and
finances of these states are injured by paper cur
rency, and we (hall certainly continue to fuffer,
unless we can be relieved from it. There ha 6
ever been found much difficulty in (baking off the
prejudices of education. We have been accus
tomed to the use of paper money while we con
tinued a depending province ; such a currency was
properly calculated to prevent the growth of ma
nufactures, and to continue our dependence and
poverty. Surely under a change of measures we
ought now to consult our own prosperity, and not
the emolument of Great-Britain, or any other
kingdom. If we are willing to take a lesson
from other governments, we (hall find that money
is not to be made out of paper, for there is not
an empire, kingdom or date, under the fun where
debts may be legally difeharged by paper money,
except in some of the United States of America.
It is admitted that a paper medium, under the
ferm of bank notes or governments ferurities, is
circulated in France, England, Holland, and mod
other commercial countries ; but ncLody is com
pelled by law to receive the payment of any debt
in such money ; hence it is, that the paper of
those countries bears no refemblancc to curs ex
cept in name. Every man lec eives a bank note or
refufes it at pleasure ; when he receives it, he knows
that on the next hour he may hare it changed for
gold or silver, as the bank is obliged to make such
payments on demand. For this rcafon bank notes
being portable, are frequently prcfei red to coin of
the weighty metals. But it never was found that
bank notes could be circulated at par, unless when
it was believed that they might be exchanged for
solid money ; nor could they be circulated, if
they were declared to be a legal tender. The
reason is obvious—the whole value- of paper is
•imaginary, and me* do not believe by conpulfion.
# fcvery attempt to;)force a mdfl to believe that pa
per is egual in value to silver, implies a tonfeiouf
nefs that it is not equal. It injures that which it
was intended to faTC. Though the paper money
which had been eraittecPin North-C'arolina in the
year 1783, had depredated 20 per cent. ai£u
* . • « • i.
THE
ments were invented on the lalt year for making
moie money. It was allcdged that under the le
gal government a gieater sum of money had been
circulated without much depreciation, and con
sequently a second coinage might take place; it
would not depreciate. This argument was not
plaufiblc, but not solid ; for the value of paper is
never found to depend on the quantity in circulation,
but oh thefecurity that appears lor its redemption.
The bank of England, which belongs to a com
pany of private fubjefts, circulates notes to the
amount of thirty-two millions of dollars, though
it is not believed that they have above fourteen
millions in specie at any time on hands ; but every
man can get money for his note when he demands
it. In the year 1716, soon after tbe death of
Lewis the XiVth, the celebrated John Law, in
company with some other gentlemen, obtained a
patent for a banking house at Paris. They illued
notes in which they promised to pay tht bearer, on
J&ht t a certain sum, m gold and filler of the
•vuitgbt ana JitmntjS then ejlabltjj.ea by la*w- As
the late King had altered the weight or quality of
the current coin ten times during his reign, and
the fame thing might be done again, Law’s notes,
which were not so fubjeft to depieciation, were
preferred to specie at one per cent. Such were the
effefts of a general confluence in good payment*
Within the space of four years, notes were ifiued
by Law and company to the amount of 225 mil
lions of dollars, which was near twice as much
as all the specie in France; but the notes retained
their credit, because the company wete thought
to be boneft and able to pay. Cn the 21 ft of May,
1721, the Duke of Orleans, Regent of prance,
illued a proclamation, by whhh he reduced the
value of bank notes to half the nominal sum.
They were depreciated fifty per cent. This was
a proof of the want of integrity; and it operated
accordingly ; it deflroyed public confidence. It
did not merely diminilh the value of the notes —
it annihilated them, and, on the 22d of May, one
guinea in gold could not have been purebafed in
Paris for one thousand guineas in notes. The hif
tory of paper money in all ages is uniform. Its
value depends on the confidence of the public.
Let government give a Angle proof that they ought
not to be truted—-Confidence van'flies, and “ like
the baseless fabric of a vision, leaves not a trace
behind.” Let us compare this with the hiflory
of the paper in some of our dates, and confider
whether it ought to have retained its value The
fit ft emidion of the slate of North-Carolina in
1783, was to have been redeemed by the sale of
forfeited estates. That foundation was soon re
moved, and those estates were converted to ano
ther use. The money depreciated, and recourse
was had to another coinage. This second ftrufture
was raised, if poflible, on a worse foundation,
for it had not even the appearance of liability ;
taxes ate laid for calling in the money, and it is
immediately refiored to circulation. Was itex
petled that such money ftiould pass as gold and sil
ver ? No, certainly. The Legifla'rre themselves
do not seem to have expefled that it ftiould be con
fdered of equal value. Tobacco, a staple of
North-Carolina, has been purchased by the public
for two pi ices in »hi§ new money, and creditors
at the fame time are compelled to receive it as
specie, in the payment of debts. Is \Y\\t jujlice ? \
. Strangers will call it by a different name.
. I have attempted to lhew, according to the
fate of paper in other countries, that it was not
to have been expefted th*t our money Ihould pafs**’
as gold or*filver. Everybody knows that it is
more or less depreciated in all the liates who have
emitted it. It is tketefoie nyt a good payment,
r <
[No. XL.I