USA > New Jersey > Documents relating to the revolutionary history of the state of New Jersey, Vol. IV > Part 6
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To be SOLD,
By JOHN DIXON,
At BOTTLE-HILL,1
AFFETY, Peelong, Persians,
Coarse and fine salt,
Bohea tea,
Alum,
Check silk handkerchiefs
Indigo,
Silk gauze,
Snuff,
Black ditto,
Pins,
Irish linens,
Needles,
Mens gloves,
Best pocket books,
Womens ditto,
Cutteau knives,
Check linens,
Barlow ditto,
Oznaburgs,
Shears,
Bath coating,
Horn combs,
Sewing silk,
Writing paper,
Fine thread,
Beeds,
Mohair,
Garnets,
Buttons,
Jets,
Sleeve buttons,
Whale oil,
Dutch lace, Nov. 29, 1779.
Stone ware.
1 Now Madison, Morris county.
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1779
TO BE SOLD,
By MATTHIAS DENMAN,
B EST LEATHER BREECHES, for cash or country produce. Springfield, Nov. 26, 1779.
SETH GREGORY,
At BOTTLE-HILL, has for SALE,
G 1 OOD flax, cheese, best liver oil by the gallon or barrel, shore and rock salt, wool cards, &c.
The above articles are likewise to be had at Capt. William Green's, living on the place lately occupied by Daniel Tichenor, four miles from Bottle-Hill, on the direct road that leads to Baskenridge.
For SALE,
Three elegant blooded MARES.
0 NE got by the famous horse Wildair, the other by Americus, and the other by Bold Britain, and all with foal by Capt. Blanchard's full blooded horse. Also for sale, a yearling filley, got by Golden Farmer, and out of the above Wildair mare. Enquire of the printer.
Nov. 29, 1779.
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NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
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To be sold at public VENDUE,
On Friday the third day of December, at the house of the subscriber, near Mr. Brandt's tavern ;
THREE or four good milch cows, hogs, a variety of household goods, amongst which are, a very neat case of drawers, a large elegant looking glass. The vendue to begin at twelve o'clock on said day, when the conditions of sale will be made known, and attendance given by
JOHN RUSSELL.
Nov. 29, 1779.
N. B. Was taken from the subscriber's door, about six days ago, a large ditching spade, very heavy and strong. Whoever will return the same, shall receive five dollars reward, and no questions asked, by J. R.
C IAME to the plantation of the subscriber, on Thurs- day the 25th instant, living near Whatnung Moun- tains, Morris County, two horses, one a red roan, with a star in his forehead, shod all round, trots and can- ters well, about fifteen hands high, seven years old ;- the other a black horse, with a bald face, about fourteen hands and a half high, trots and canters well, shod all round. The owner of said horses are desired to come, prove their property, pay charges, and take them away.
ABRAHAM MULFORD.
Nov. 29, 1779.
R UN-AWAY from the subscriber, living in Somerset County, two miles above the Landing on Rariton River, a negro man named CUDGE, about 28 years of age, short and thick set; had with him when he went away, a yellowish brown linsey woolsey coat, a black plus !!
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1779
waistcoat, two pair of tow trowsers, two tow shirts, and one woolen ditto, old stockings and good shoes; can speak good English and some Dutch. Whoever takes up and secures said negro, so that his master may have him again, shall have Sixty Dollars reward, and all necessary charges, paid by
Somerset County. FRANCIS BRASIER.1 Nov. 29, 1779.
F OUND, on the road between Scotch Plains and Bound-Brook, a number of Continental Dollars. Any person describing said money can have it again by applying to Isaac Freeman, at Newark Moun- tains.
Nov. 29, 1779.
TOLEN out of the pasture of the subscriber, at New- ark Mountains, the 21st instant, a brown horse 14
hands high, 6 years old, has a star in his forehead, trots and paces, has one white hind foot. Any person that takes up said horse and thief, shall receive One Hundred Dollars reward, or Fifty Dollars for the horse, from
WILLIAM EGBERSON.
Nov. 29, 1779.
C AME to the plantation of John Simpson, in New- Providence, a brown mare about fourteen hands high, has a star in her forehead, natural pacer, about 14 years old. Whoever owns said mare are desired to come, prove their property, pay charges, and take her away.
JOHN SIMPSON.
Nov. 29, 1779.
1 For a note on Francis Brasier, see New Jersey Archives, XX. : 151. An excellent account of the earliest generations of the Brasier family in Amer- ica will be found in the N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Record, 27 : 37-42.
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S
Y TRAYED or stolen from the subscriber, living in Chatham, the 12th inst. a black MARE about four- teen hands high, seven or eight years old, one white hind foot, stout built, supposed to be with foal, a natural trotter, and low carriage .- Whoever takes up said mare, so that the owner may have her again, shall have fifty dol- lars reward, and all reasonable charges, paid by
ELIHU LINLEY.
Nov. 29, 1779.
S TRAYED or stolen from the subscriber, the 11th instant, a brown HORSE with a saddle on him; is five years old, 14 hands high, has a star in his forehead, one white hind foot, branded with P on the left thigh, trots and canters well, has a meley nose. Whoever takes up said horse, and returns him to the owner, shall have 100 dollars reward, paid by
JOSEPH BEACH.
Morris Town, Nov. 29, 1779.
One Hundred Dollars Reward.
S TOLEN from John Martin's, tavern-keeper, at the Short Hills, last Friday night, a black roan horse, with a saddle and bridle. The horse was three years old last spring, trots and canters, with little or no mane. Whoever secures the horse and thief, so that the owner gets his horse, and the thief brought to justice, shall be entitled to the above reward, or fifty dollars for the horse, and all reasonable charges, paid by
WILLIAM MARSH, jun.
Nov. 29, 1779.
5
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1779
One hundred and thirty dollars reward.
S TRAYED or stolen out of the pasture of the sub- scriber, a dark bay mare, coming three years old, a natural pacer, has a bad mane, is very cross, and has been docked; she is about thirteen and a half hands high .- Whoever takes up and delivers me said mare, or lets me know where she may be had, shall receive Thirty Dollars and reasonable charges; and for securing the thief, if she be stolen, so that he may be brought to justice, the sum of One Hundred Dollars.
DANIEL TURNER.
Springfield, Nov. 29, 1779.
FIFTY DOLLARS Reward.
S TOLEN from the subscriber, in Morris Town, on the night of the 16th instant, a likely black mare, three years old past, with a small blaze in her face, and one hind leg white, about 14 hands high, a natural trotter. Whoever will return said mare, or give information, so that she may be had again, shall receive the above reward, and all reasonable charges, paid by
PETER DICKERSON.1 Nov. 29, 1779.
C AME to the plantation of the subscriber, on the 23d inst, a large red pied ox, with the ends of his horns sawed off. The owner is desired to come, prove his property, pay charges, and take him away.
SETH GREGORY. Bottle-Hill, Nov. 29, 1779.
1 For a note on Peter Dickerson, see New Jersey Archives, 2d Series, 1:123.
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NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
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JUST PUBLISHED, And to be SOLD by
FOSTER HORTON, In CHATHAM,
-
(By the GROSS, HUNDRED, DOZEN or SINGLE, )
The UNITED STATES ALMANACK,
For the YEAR of our LORD, 1780.
CONTAINING,
T HE motions of the sun and moon ;- the true places and aspects of the planets ;- the rising and setting of the sun ;- the rising, setting, and southing of the moon ; the lunations, conjunctions, eclipses ;- rising, set- ting and southing of the planets ;- length of days ;- judg- ment of the weather ;- festivals and other remarkable days ;- chronology of the most remarkable battles, sieges, retreats, &c. in the present war ;- a table shewing the value of any number of dollars ;- courts, roads, &c. To- gether with a variety of instructing and entertaining mat- ter, both in prose and verse.
The astronomical part of the above-mentioned al- manack, was calculated by the ingenious DAVID RITTEN- HOUSE, Esq; of Philadelphia.1
1 This almanack was printed for several years by Shepard Kollock, at Chatham.
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1779
Said HORTON has for sale,
A quantity of mohair and buttons, a few pounds of tea, snuff by the bladder or less quantity, and a few bushels of shore salt.
To be LET for a term of years, by GARRET RAPALJE, At SQUIRE'S POINT,
A Valuable FORGE, with four fires, and two hammers, all in good order, and never wants water in the dryest season; lying at the head of Muskenycunck river, about eight miles from Hanover furnace, where the best pigs can be had for making steel; there are seventy acres of very good meadow land.
C AME to the plantation of John Smalley, in Piscata- way, in the year 1777, when the enemy were in this state, a dark brindle COW. Any person who can prove her to be their property, may have her, paying all expences, by applying to Catherine Welch at the above place.
B EST imported rock and blown salt and bohea tea, to be exchanged for country produce; and an as- sor [t]ment of earthen ware, to be sold for cash or country produce, by
ROBERT HUNT. N. B. A large young horse to be sold at the same place. Elizabeth Town, Nov. 22, 1779.
.
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NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1779]
FIFTY DOLLARS Reward.
D ESERTED from the first Jersey regiment, one NATHAN HALL, a soldier in the Lieutenant Col- onel's company ; it is generally supposed that he is at or near Horse-Pond forge: He is an elderly man, and is about five feet ten or eleven inches high. He had leave of absence for ten days last January, and has never, as yet, returned .- Likewise one BENJAMIN LISK, a soldier in the same company, a blacksmith by trade, about five feet ten inches high. Whoever takes up said deserters, and brings them to the first Jersey regiment, shall receive the above reward for either of them, and for the two, One Hundred Dollars, from Lieut. Bouroughes, commanding said com- pany, or Lieut. Samuel Seely.
-The New-Jersey Journal, Vol. I., Numb. XLII., No- vember 30, 1779.
October 26, 1779.
Mr. COLLINS,
Y OUR 93d Number has brought the Performance of your Cor- respondent the True Patriot, who has embellished his mon- strous production with ornaments of Billingsgate eloquence and Grubstreet rhetoric, in which polite improvements he appears to have made no inconsiderable proficiency : I shall therefore not pre- sume to approach his immensity, with the first attempt of a young genius in that way, being no way ambitious of distinguishing myself in that most noble art, the art of calumny .-
His writings, however, must convince the world, that he has made a convert of himself, and that he is willing to part with his money according to his own plan, that is, to retain one fifteenth or one twentieth of the nominal sum as original value, which sufficiently proves that he received his money so, long before a majority of his more virtuous countrymen did ; and if he has no money, he is a very improper person to dispose of other peoples: he says my charge against him is, that he recommended an unjust and impolitic plan that depreciated the currency ; and as his powerful motive to trouble the press is, that he perceived I had borrowed this charge from the general talk of persons too much actuated by self-interest, sinister views, and prejudicing the community against his favourite plan, which he calls the most just, equitable and salutary.
.
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION.
[1779
First. As to the depreciation of the currency, the more virtuous part of the community sold at a much lower rate than twenty for one, which he imprudently was at so much pains to prove in the publick papers, was about the standard at that time; this being premised, if his writings answered any purpose, it effectually answered the purpose of bringing them all up to it, others refused to sell at any price, and if the engrosser and forestaller were actuated by self-interest, his plan would naturally cause them to ask twenty times as much as they sold at before, otherwise their expectations could not be answered. In a word, to go about to prove his writings to have a tendency to depreciate our money, is like holding a candle to the sun; and as to his plan being most just, equitable and salutary, the contrary of which is self-evident .- Does the Patriot know, that a large majority of the people, who have opposed the enemy in the field, sold their property to support our army, and received their pay in continental money when as good as specie? No : he appears a stranger to this: I pre- sume he is none of those kind of patriots, who oppose the enemy in the field. Does the Patriot know, that there are still among us a number, who ought to be denominated Tories, who never opposed the enemy in the field, and have sold none of their property to support our army, or otherwise, because they would take none of our money? who, by his plan, would remain as rich as they used to be; and the others, on whom the temporal salvation of the United States in a great measure, under God, depends, doomed to beggary. Behold the most just, equita- ble and salutary plan, recommended by that piddling politician ! Is it a secret to him alone, that the bills of credit, through the recom- mendation of Congress, have been made a lawful tender in payment of money, equal to silver and gold, by the several Legislatures in union ; and that there are thousands, who have paid their debts with it, who had received silver and gold? Is it most just, equitable and salutary, that such should retain only a twentieth part thereof? I do not hesi- tate to pronounce his plan a recommendation of abominable robbery, notwithstanding his being possessed of so much incoherence and self- sufficiency, as to grace it with the specious name of a tax : and as the money has been made a lawful tender by the several Legislatures in union, as I have before observed, and whereas the True Patriot has recommended it to the different Legislatures to pass seasonable laws, (in his 6th Number, as published in your Gazette Number 74) that no one of the citizens shall be obliged to receive payment for debts contracted before the year 1777, in this depreciated currency, Quere, Does he mean that they are to be paid in gold or silver? or that they are to receive twenty times the sum in this same depreciated cur- rency ? the latter of which, I suppose to be what he intends. Previous to such a law, I should be glad if the True Patriot would also, for the preservation of equity and justice, recommend to the different States other seasonable laws, having regard to all those, who received the money before such seasonable laws were passed, and all those who sold their lands at moderate prices, disposed of their property for the use of the army, or otherwise confiding in the publick faith, and received their money when as good as specie; in short, all those who
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possess their estates in cash at original value, (not forgetting those whose original value itself is melting, and melted away) and do not come within the classes of his exempts: this indeed appears some- thing difficult, but make no doubt his fruitful invention, fondness for novelty, superior abilities, great wisdom, and above all his love of justice, will enable him to fix a plan to do equal justice to every person.
It seems to me, if he had recommended a plan in favour of such innocent sufferers, instead of the seasonable laws for debts contracted before the year 1777, and now unpaid, it would have been more just, equitable and salutary ; it would have sufficiently served the purpose of those, who had their money yet to receive, if he had recommended a repeal of those laws by which the money was made a legal tender, which would finish the whole at once, and no doubt finally would have answered the design of our True Patriot: but as I mean not to inflame or exaggerate matters, but try them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies, to have said nothing against a plan which justice and reason forbids, and my affections, wounded through a thousand pores, instruct me to detest, is madness and folly ; a plan big with mischief, a burlesque to the name of Patriot, that recom- mends not only the most flagrant and wanton violation of the publick faith, but is destructive to the primary obligations of nature and society.
From henceforth I mean not to take any notice of the performance of that banditti, who, I presume, compose the iniquitous writings of the True Patriot, who profess such a disregard to equity, such con- tempt of order, such stupid blindness to future consequences, as must immediately have the most tragical conclusion, and must terminate in the destruction of the greater number, and in a total dissolution of society to the rest.
And, finally, to put an end to the evils his or their writings have or may occasion, I beg my fellow-citizens and farmers to read with the attention it deserves the address from Congress to their constituents, part of which is as follows :
"It is with great regret and reluctance, that we can prevail upon "ourselves to take the least notice of a question, which involves in it a . "doubt so injurious to the honour and dignity of America. The enemy, "aware that the strength of America lay in the union of her citizens, "and the wisdom and integrity of those to whom they committed the "directions of their affairs, have taken unwearied pains to disunite and "alarm the people, to depreciate the abilities and virtue of their rulers, "and to impair the confidence reposed in them by their constituents. "To this end, repeated attacks have been made to draw an absurd and "fanciful line of distinction between the Congress and the people, and "to create an opinion and a belief, that their interest and views were "different and opposed. Hence the ridiculous tales, the invidious "insinuations, and the whimsical suspicions that have been forged and "propagated by disguised emissaries, and traitors in the garb of "patriots. Hence has proceeded that notable discovery, that as the "Congress made the money, they also can destroy it; and that it will
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"exist no longer than they find it convenient to permit it. It is not "surprising that, in a free country, where the tongues and pens of "such people are and must be licensed, such political heresies should "be inculcated and diffused; but it is really astonishing that the "mind of a single virtuous citizen in America should be influenced "by them."
Hence then, my brave fellow-citizens and farmers, let us rely on the virtue of our rulers ; let us cheerfully comply with the requisitions of Congress ; let us no longer heighten our calamity by furnishing the means by which we suffer; the exorbitant prices of the necessaries of life, &c. my delicacy prevents me to mention : these matters I leave to the wisdom of Congress and the Legislatures, hoping they will see the necessity of laws to regulate speedily our trade, and that the most equitable mode of taxation may be adopted. It is well known that numbers who have immense sums of money, are paying no tax at all ; to catch these runaways, will require the attention of the Legislature ; and in lieu of the more virtuous part of the community's indemnifying the Tories estates, I would recommend the mode of Virginia, where persons who breathe the air of liberty, and do not deserve pay for it.
That the Congress and Legislatures will interfere to bring about a happy change in our affairs, is the cordial prayer of the publick's sin- cere, well-wishing friend.
A FARMER.
Mr. COLLINS,
IF any of the thoughts in the following essay should be deemed worthy the attention of the publick, you
are welcome to communicate them through the channel of your paper.
HONESTUS.
T THE disorders in our finances have given birth to an innumerable multitude of essays. Every one has a favourite scheme of his own to propose ; the adoption of which will infallibly effect a cure. Encouraged by the example of others, I shall venture to throw out to the consideration of the publick, a few observations on this momentous subject ; trusting, that should my notions prove erroneous, I shall experience the same indulgence, that has been so liberally granted to the mistakes of others.
Much has been said in favour of regulation-and indeed the advo- cates for it appear so numerous, and promise such good effects from it, that it is with the utmost diffidence I oppose it; was it not that, placing too great confidence for relief on this remedy, we might pos- sibly be diverted from pursuing other means, with that earnestness and assiduity, which the present exigency requires-was it not, I say, for this consideration, I should have remained silent on the subject.
It is allowed on all hands that the value of a circulating medium is merely relative. Were it possible, for instance, to convey, by some
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NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
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magic trick, into the pockets of every individual, throughout these United States, a sum of money equal to what he before possessed, would any one, I would ask, be one whit the richer for it ?- Certainly not. It is a fact confirmed by woeful experience, that the value of money will always be proportionate to the quantity in circulation.
Let us suppose that, at the commencement of the war, the whole sum in circulation amounted to thirty millions of dollars, and that a regulation had been established at the then current prices of commodi- ties. By a computation from the tables, I find that the annual ex- penditure requires nearly the whole sum in circulation. In four years therefore it would have been necessary to have emitted nearly four times that sum, that is one hundred and twenty millions; but, to obviate all objections, let us say sixty millions. If the principles above laid down are well founded, the money would then be reduced to two thirds of its former value, that is, a dollar would be really worth but half a crown.
The money thus circumstanced, I say in the first place, that it would be impossible to enforce a regulation, where it was so manifestly the interest of every one to break it; and in the next place, that every attempt at enforcing it, would necessarily tend to depreciate it: for when people found they could not obtain a just value in money for their commodities, they would naturally have recourse to barter-and in proportion as the money ceased to circulate, its value would be diminished. And though we might still be able to extort for the use of the army at the regulated prices, yet as these prices would be so disproportionate to the real value of commodities, the obtaining sup- plies in this mode would be neither more nor less than a tax upon those who furnished them. A tax, in every point of view, the most odious that could be invented. From this exposition of the matter, it appears evident to me, that regulation, instead of fixing the value of the money, has a direct tendency to accelerate the depreciation of it by causing it to stagnate.
To go into a regulation, at this time, with a view to prevent the farther depreciation of the money, would, in my apprehension of the matter, be madness in extreme. Not a proposition in all Euclid's ele- ments is more clearly demonstrable, than that the value of a circu- lating medium must ever be in a direct ratio to the quantity of trade or goods bought and sold. Now there are but four possible ways, by which this ratio can be affected.
First-Increasing the quantity of trade.
Secondly-Decreasing the quantity of medium.
Thirdly-Decreasing the quantity of trade.
Fourthly-Increasing the quantity of medium.
By the two first the medium is said to be appreciated: by the two latter it is said to be depreciated. But there is another way, you will say, of causing the medium to depreciate, and that is, when, through a want of confidence, the circulation of it becomes cramped ; and a part of the trade is carried on by barter, or some other means. But this, with respect to the medium, is undoubtedly decreasing the quan- tity of trade.
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION.
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Let us now try, by the test of these principles, how regulation would operate towards appreciating or fixing the value of our paper money. There are, as I have just now said, but two possible ways of doing this. First, decreasing the quantity of medium: or, secondly, encreas- ing the quantity or objects of trade. But regulation, so far from affecting either, has a direct contrary tendency.
The money at present, let us say, is depreciated forty prices of what it was in 1774; and a regulating law passes, fixing it at twenty. "Bravo!" say your advocates for regulation, "here is an immediate appreciation of the money to double its value."
This way of gaining property by creation, is to be sure a most charming invention. I have 4000 dollars, which, at the present rate of money, will purchase me 100 bushels of wheat. But by the magic power of regulation, I am enabled in an instant, with my 4000 dollars, to purchase 200 bushels of wheat .- Now, unless this additional 100 bushels of wheat have been created for me, by the almighty power of regulation, I certainly put a trick upon my neighbour, and defraud him of so much of his property. But the truth is, that my neighbour, if he has any sense, will not suffer himself to become the dupe of this legerdemain. "No," he would say, "you shall have the wheat, but give me the value of it."
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