USA > Rhode Island > The correspondence of the colonial governors of Rhode Island, 1723-1775, Vol. II > Part 9
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1 See Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 162.
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consequently prevented in a great Measure from annoying and disturbing the Frontier Towns, which has been frequently done, and the Inhabitants put in great Fear and Terror: But in as much as the said Colony did very early Comply with the Instructions from the Crown and were by no means faulty therein nor accessory to the disapointment of the said Ex- pedition, but that it was laid aside entirely by the Government here, as appears by a Letter wrote by Governor Shirley and Commode Knowles of the 28th Octob! 1747. to the Governor of New Jersey in these words, Viz! " His Grace the D. of Newcastle " having in his Letter to Gov. Shirley signified, that " his Majesty finding it necessary to employ the "greatest part of his Forces to assist his Allies and " defend the libertys of Europe, had thought proper, " for the Present, to lay aside the prosecution of the "intended Expedition against Canada &ca"
It is therefore humbly prayed and for the Reasons afores! that the Objections of Gov! Shirleys to the Acco's of the sª Colony of Rhode Island, may be set aside, or at least so much of them as you in your wisdom Shall See meet.
all which is humbly Submitted.
R. P.
LONDON 9b: 14th 1749
N. B The Total amount of the said Colonys Ex- pence on this occasion was £76083.11.4 Currency of the Old Tenour, which at 750 per C: as per Exca in 1746 made £10144.9.6 Sterl: and the same has been paid by the Lords of the Treasury to the said Agent accordingly.
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To the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.1
The further Representation of the Colony of Rhode Islands Agent in addition to his former of the 14th of Novemb! relating to the 5th and 9th Articles of Gov! Shirleys against the said Colonys account : Viz: 5th That by the 5th Article the Sum of £12674.13.6 Currency the said Governor says ought to be wholly disallowed for the Reasons set forth in his Objections.
In Reply to which, the said Agent further Alledges, that the Colony Sloop of War by Virtue of an Act Passed there, had been employed during the time of War, to Cruise in Conjunction with the Connecticutt Sloop in the Summer Season, for the safe guard of their Coast; but that afterwards when order came for the Canada Expedition, it was by the General Assembly of the said Colony of the 12th of June 1746 : voted and resolved, that the said Act, should be repealed,2 which was done accordingly, and the said Sloop of War kept in Constant readiness in the Harbour at home, waiting Soley to Convoy the Transports on the said Expedition ; and afterwards when Orders came for Transporting the Colonys Forces to Annapolis Royal, they embarked and Sailed the 2.ª of Nov! and Continued great part of the Winter before their Return : That the Custom of the Colonys employing their Sloop of War ordinarily for guarding their Coast, was only in the Summer, and to discharge their Men and lay up all the Winter and then fit out again in the Spring but here she was actually employed in the Kings Service both in Summer and Winter as aforesaid.
9th And as to the said Gov's Remarks on the 9th Article re- lating to additional Cloathing.
The said Agent Reply's, the Governor of Rhode Island wrote him, that when the Forces were ordered to Embark for Annapolis Royal, As they had been Several Months in the Service without pay, and their Cloathing being not Sufficient for them to go into Garrison in the Winter Season ; the Government thought it abso- lutely necessary tho' they had no orders from the King to ad-
1 Enclosed with letter of August 10, 1750.
2 See Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 176.
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vance them some part of their pay, and to furnish them with some more Cloaths on his Majestys account.1
Which is humbly Submitted
RP PARTRIDGE
LONDON December 16th 1749.
Treasury Receipt.2
Whereas by his Majestys Letters of Privy Seal bearing date the 7th day of June 1750 : it is recited that the Expences in Rhode Island for the intended Canada Expedition did amount to £7507.4.3₺ and the Money advanced to Gideon Wanton late Governour there, for those Services did amount to £10144.9.6. So that there is to be repaid by him the Sum of £2637.5.22 upon repayment whereof to the PayMaster of the Forces, his Majesty thereby directs the said Gideon Wanton shall be discharged from any further acco! for the said £10144.9.6;
And Whereas by a Warrant Signed by the Lords Justices the 28th of June 1750: the Lords of the Treasury are required to take care that the said Sum of £2637.5.2} be repaid by Richard Partridge as Agent for Rhode Island accordingly, and that proper Memorandums be made thereof with the Auditor of the Imprests. Now I do hereby Accknowledge to have recª of the said Rich.ª Partridge the said Sum of Two thousand Six hundred Thirty seven Pounds, five Shillings and two Pence halfpenny which I promise to repay in the Name of the said Gideon Wan- ton to the PayMaster General of his Majestys Forces and make proper Memorandums thereof in the Office of the Auditor of his Majestys Imprests according to the Orders of the Lords Comm's of his Majestys Treasury in that behalf
PETER LEHEUP
WHITEHALL TREASURY CHAMBERS
the 6th day of July 1750.
1 Rhode Island was eventually allowed but £7,507.4.4 for the expenses of the ex- pedition to Annapolis Royal. The over-payment of £2,637.5.2 was deducted from the allowance of £6,322.12.10, for the expenses of the Cape Breton affair.
2 Enclosed with letter of August 10, 1750.
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GOVERNOR GREENE TO THE HOUSE OF DEPUTIES.1
To the Honble House of Deputies. Gentlemen,
The Currency of a Government is a Matter of very great Importance and of general Concern, every Member of the Community being interested therein, and as it is the Measure by which the Prices of all Things bought and sold are estimated, it most cer- tainly ought to be of a fixed and invariable Value, for if it is not, it must necessarily occasion great Injury and Injustice.
That the Paper Currency of this and the neigh- bouring Governments is not an invariable Measure is indisputable, and that it has sunk above one half in its Value, within the Compass of a few Years last past, is a Fact that cannot be denied, consequently it doth not answer the true End of a Medium of Commerce, and all Creditors in New England have been greatly injured thereby.
1 On August 24 (the date of this message) the Lower House passed a resolution to draught a law to emit £50,000 in bills of credit. This was done, but the law never was passed. See Rider's Historical Tract No. 8, on Colonial Paper Currency, pages 81, 82. Upon this attempt, sixty-nine merchants of Newport petitioned the King " that the legislature or authority of this government may be prevented and effectually restrained from making or emitting any more bills of public credit upon loan, without your Majesty's royal permission, and be commanded to stop and recall this intended emission of August last." See Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 311. In the following March an emission of £25,000 was made. This was the last, for an act to regulate and restrain the emission of colonial paper money was passed by Parliament, and by this act all issue of such bills subsequent to September, 1751, was absolutely prohibited. Provi- sion was then made for such issues in case of emergency, and under careful regulation respecting their redemption. See for the act of March, 1751, Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 321. A detailed account of the paper money epidemic in Rhode Island and of the action of the home government may be found in Rider's Historical Tract No. 8, referred to above. A letter to Partridge concerning the petition of the Newport mer. chants, and the measures to be taken to neutralize its effect, is in Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 315.
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To what Causes the continual depreciation of this Currency has been owing, may perhaps admit of some Dispute, but it can admit of none, that it ought not to be disregarded, and suffered to pass without Animadversion, for surely a depreciating Currency ought not to be countenanced or tolerated in any Government, for this plain Reason, because it en- riches one Part of the Community at the Expence of the other.
That this has been the Case hitherto with regard to our Paper Currency is notorious, and therefore let unthinking or selfish Men be ever so loud and clam- orous for a New Emission of Bills, and let them pre- sent ever so many Petitions for it, I hope this Honble House will not be influenced thereby, or gratify them in a Desire so unjust and unreasonable.
That the Demand of a new Emission of Bills is really and in truth unreasonable and unjust, will most evidently appear, by duely inquiring whether such an Emission at this Conjuncture be necessary, expedient and just, and whether it can be made without endangering the invaluable Privileges granted us by the Royal Charter.
In Order to set this Matter in a clear Light, it is necessary that it should be known, what Sum we have now outstanding: This has been lately ascer- tained, and by the Report made to the General As- sembly of this Colony in February past,1 an Extract of which I have now in my Hands and recommend to this Honble House, as deserving their serious Con- sideration, it appears that there was then outstanding
1 In Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 283.
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Five Hundred and twenty five Thousand, three Hun- dred and thirty five Pounds. That this prodigious Sum is abundantly sufficient to carry on the Trade and Business of the Colony; is the unanimous Sentiment of our principal Merchants and Shopkeepers, who are the only competent Judges in this Affair, and to say that they are not Competent Judges is as absurd and groundless, as it would be to say, that a skilful Arti- ficer or Tradesman is not a proper Judge, whether he has Materials and Tools sufficient to carry on his Trade, or that an experienced thriving Farmer knows not when his Farm is sufficiently stocked.
It is, then, manifest and undeniable, that there is no Necessity of a new Emission of Bills to carry on the Trade and Business of the Colony, and that such an Emission would be inexpedient and preju- dicial also is highly probable: Our Trade is now very large, and seems to be in a pretty flourishing Condition, and an Addition to our Paper Currency with regard to Trade only, exclusive of all other Considerations, would in all probability be of as little Service, and of as bad Consequence to the Merchant, as it would be to an Artificer, to oblige him to ex- pend his Substance in procuring a great Number of unnecessary Tools, for which he had no Use, and could do much better without, or to a Farmer to be compelled to purchase a larger Stock of Cattle than his Farm could possibly keep and maintain.
For besides the vast Sum now extant in our own Bills and some Bills of the Colony of Connecticut, it is well known, that within a few Months past such a Flood of New Hampshire Bills has been poured in
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upon us from Boston, that many are greatly alarmed at it, and I dare appeal to every Member of this House that there are, in most Payments of late, at least as many New Hampshire Bills passing among us, as of our own. And as none of all these Bills, ours, Connecticut or New Hampshire, have now any Currency in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, they are all confined to narrow Limits, and are far, very far, from being of that Use and Service in car- rying on our Trade, that they were before the late Act of that Province took Place. And though our Bills are now current in the Colony of Connecticut, yet that they will be so, in case a new Emission should be now made, is more than we can promise our selves. I have good Authority to say this, hav- ing been informed by Persons of Credit, that the Legislature of that Colony had agreed, in case we made a new Emission of Bills, to enact a Law against receiving them in that Government.
To suppose, then, that our Trade must thrive and increase in proportion to the quantity of Bills we emit, when those Bills are of no Value, and will have, 'tis probable, no Currency, but within the narrow Limits of this Colony, appears to be a mere Delusion and groundless Fancy. And besides Experience hath shewn, that a new Emission of Bills makes little or no Addition to the Medium of Trade, and that it ought to be looked upon only as a political device to defraud Creditors. This brings me to the next Enquiry, namely,
Whether a new Emission be consistent with Jus- tice. That it will not, can, I think, be easily proved
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beyond the Possibility of a Denial, for the undoubted and never failing Consequence of a large new Emis- sion of Bills, hath ever been the depreciating all those that were extant before, this so manifestly appears from the above mentioned Report as to admit of no Contradiction. The Reports begins A. D., 1728, in that Year we emitted Forty Thousand Pounds in Bills, then equal to Twelve Thousand eight Hundred Pounds Sterling, of that Emission there are outstand- ing Two Tenths or Eight Thousand Pounds, the Value of which when first emitted was Two Thou- sand five Hundred and Sixty Pounds Sterling, and the Sterling Value is now but Seven Hundred and twenty seven Pounds, five Shillings and six Pence.
I need not go through all our Emissions severally, because they may be seen at one View in the before mentioned Extract, which I pray may be examined by the Clerk of this House and compared with the Report. In the whole it appears that we have out- standing upon Loan Three Hundred and Ninety Thousand Pounds, the Sterling Value thereof at the Times of Emission Seventy eight Thousand, one hundred and eleven Pounds, and the Value now sunk to Thirty five Thousand, four hundred and forty five Pounds Sterling, omitting the odd Shillings and Pence in the two last Sums.
The Depreciation of the Paper Currency in New England is really amazing, and it may be justly ques- tioned whether the History of all past Times and Countries can afford a parallel instance. It would take up a great deal of Time to enter into a particu- lar Detail of this Affair, and it is not necessary to
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the Enquiry I am now upon, I will therefore confine my self to the aforesaid Report and Extract. The Difference between the two last mentioned Sums, being Forty two Thousand, six Hundred and sixty six Pounds Sterling, an equivalent to at least Four hundred and sixty nine Thousand, three Hundred and twenty six Pounds, Old Tenor, is what Creditors have already lost by the aforesaid Bills upon Loans exclusive of the Loss upon the Bills that have been called in and sunk, and thus plainly doth it appear that they have been robbed of great Part of their personal Estates by the Depreciation of the Cur- rency, and if a new Emission of Bills upon the old Footing should now be made, they would most cer- tainly be still further injured. And if this be not Injustice, it would be difficult to say what is, and whatever may or can possibly be said to palliate so great a Grievance, surely to persist in such a ruinous Practice must be wholly inexcusable.
Many of these Creditors, which makes the Case still more hard and grievous, are Widows and Or- phans, who, as they are the least capable to take Care of themselves and their Estates, have the best Right to the Care and Protection of the Government, and such is their Situation and Circumstances, that they, some of them at least; as having no other Way of improving their personal Estate, which as to many of them is their All, then by letting Money at Inter- est, must in the Course of a few Years, unless there is a Stop put to the Depreciation, be unavoidably reduced to the sad Necessity of begging their Bread or Starving.
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How unjust, cruel and inhumane it would be, to treat poor, innocent, fatherless Children, and discon- solate helpless Widows, in such a Manner, Strip them of their whole Estate and Support, the bare mentioning of it is sufficient to shew, and cannot, I think, fail to excite the Compassion of this Honble House, and make them utterly detest any Measure that has so barbarous a Tendency, and that would produce such doleful Effects.
But that it will be the unhappy Case of many such Widows and Orphans, if a large new Emission of Bills should be now made, there is just Ground to fear, for no Reason can be assigned, why the Cur- rency should not depreciate as much in the next six Years, as it has done in the six last past, if large new Emissions are made upon the same Footing as here- tofore, it being impossible that Bills, emitted for so long Periods, and upon such easy Terms, should keep their Value. There is no Man in his Senses that would take a Note or Bond of the richest Man that ever breathed for an Hundred Pounds payable in ten Years at ten equal annual Payments, as an Equivalent for an Hundred Pounds in Hand, for such a Note or Bond is not really worth much above half that Sum, consequently Public Bills emitted in the like Manner will never hold their Value, and as with us the Bills of every new Emission pass at Par in all Payments, with those of the former Emissions, a new Emission must necessarily lessen the Value of all the Bills, that were extant before, and appears, I think, very plainly to be, not an Addition to, or In- crease of the Currency in Value, but a political Con-
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trivance to defraud Creditors of their Estates, Three hundred thousand Pounds of our Currency being now less in Value, than One hundred thousand Pounds twenty Years ago.
The neighbouring Governments, especially the Province of the Massachusetts, have been culpable in this Respect, as well as we, and perhaps 'till Ex- perience had determined the Matter, it could not have been foreseen, that large Emissions of Paper Currency would have such pernicious Effects. If any Person in the beginning of the Year 1744 should have said, that the Paper Currency in Consequence of such Emissions, would sink in six Years one Half of its then Value, or in other Words, that Silver which was then worth about thirty Shillings per Ounce, would in six Years rise to above sixty Shil- lings per Ounce, it is highly probable, he would have been told by the Advocates for a new Bank1 then, that his Assertion was groundless and incredible, and that they would have treated it with as great Con- tempt, as the Petitioners for a new Emission now will or can treat this Speech, but Experience hath demonstrated, that the aforesaid Assertion would have been strictly true. And indeed the Effects and Consequences, that have in Fact attended the Paper Currency in New England, have been so apparently unjust, and so utterly indefensible, that the aforesaid Province, to atone in some Degree for their past Misconduct, and to prevent such Consequences for the future, have refused to give a Currency to any of the Bills of their neighbouring Governments, and
1 " Bank " signified an issue of bills.
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made Provision for the speedy calling in and destroy- ing of all their own.
Perhaps they have been too precipitate therein, such a Sudden and total Destruction of all Paper Currency being likely to occasion some bad Effects, and therefore I am far from desiring that this Gov- ernment should imitate them in that Respect : but on the other hand, as we have really a sufficient Number of Bills already, and the creating more is rather a Contrivance to defraud Creditors, than an Addition to the Medium of Trade, and as neither Connecticut or New Hampshire seem to be in any Disposition to make a new Emission of their Bills, we shall be alone, if we venture upon such an Emis- sion, and must therefore take upon our selves the whole Load of Infamy, and the Danger, that will be occasioned thereby. I say Infamy, for can it be called by any Softer Name, to make a new Emission of Bills, when it is foreseen, that such an Emission will deprive Numbers of innocent People of great Part of their Estates ? Ought not personal Property to be safe and secure as well as real? Is it just or reasonable to take money out of the Pockets of the honest, the industrious and the frugal, and bestow it upon the fraudulent, the idle and the extravagant ? Is it allowable to do any thing, which must accord- ing to the common Course of Things inevitably pro- duce such an Effect ? Will it be a whit better, or more excusable than downright Robbery, or manifest Cheeting ? In short the taking such a Measure ap- pears to be so manifestly unjust, that it would be lost Time to say a Word more upon this Head. But
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Whether it will be attended with Danger, I mean with Danger of forfeiting our Charter Privileges, remains yet to be considered.
Some pretend to be of the Opinion, that we have by Charter the Liberty to emit what Sums we please in Paper Currency, and when they produce a Para- graph or Clause of the Charter to that Purpose, no doubt, but that this Honble House will be of that Opinion too, but it is most certain, that there is not, throughout the whole Charter, one Word about the emitting any Paper Currency at all. It is true we and all the neighbouring Governments have taken the Liberty of making such Emissions, but that we and they had a Right so to do, is not so clear a Point, and 'tis certain, that his present Majesty, our most gracious Sovereign, and the Parliament of Great Britain, our Mother Country, have at times signified their Disapprobation of that Practice.
Thus, to confine my self to this Colony, in the Year 1740, the Parliament having agreed to certain Resolutions concerning the Paper Currency, in His Majesty's Plantations in America, the Lords Justices of Great Britain (the King being then in his German Dominions) sent to this Government, in pursuance of those Resolutions, certain Instructions,1 to which the General Assembly of the Colony paid so much Deference, that after they had, in September that Year passed an Act for emitting Twenty Thousand Pounds in Bills equivalent to Silver at nine Shillings per Ounce, they thought themselves obliged, upon
1 See Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 7; and also Governor Ward's Report to the Lords of Trade, Ibid., V. 8.
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receiving said Instructions, to amend the Act afore- said in December following, and then stated the Bills to be emitted, equivalent to Silver at six shillings and nine Pence per Ounce, as by the Act passed in December 1740 doth fully appear.1 It is then unde- niable that the General Assembly were of Opinion, that no other Kind of Bills, but the last mentioned, would after the said Instructions were sent to us, be agreeable to, or allowed of by the Court of Great Britain. The said Twenty thousand Pounds emitted by the Act passed in December aforesaid, the whole Sum being yet outstanding, was then in Value Fif- teen Thousand, eight Hundred and two Pounds, eight Shillings Sterling, and is now worth only Seven Thousand, two hundred and seventy two Pounds, fourteen Shillings and six Pence Sterling. How this surprising Affair will be taken at Home is yet uncer- tain, but as we are not alone accountable for this astonishing Depreciation, and as our Neighbours, the Massachusetts in particular, on Account of their extravagant Emissions of Bills, to carry on the Ex- pedition against Louisbourg, and that lately intended against Canada, ought to be principally charged therewith, we have good Grounds to hope it will not be imputed to us, or deemed a Contempt of the aforesaid Instructions.
And no longer ago than the last Year, His Ma- jesty was pleased to transmit to us by his Grace the Duke of Bedford, one of His principal Secretaries of State, His Commands relating to our Currency, in obedience to which we have very lately sent Home
1 These Acts are in the Digest for 1744, pp. 226 et seq.
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an Account or State thereof,1 the Sum we have out- standing, the Sterling Value it was of when emitted, and the Sterling Value it was of when the Account was made out. What Reception it will have is yet unknown, but as it is a most extraordinary and sur- prising Thing, that the Public Currency of any Gov- ernment should, in the Course of so few Years de- preciate to such a Degree as ours has done, we are certainly obliged by all the Rules of Prudence to wait the Event, and not involve our selves in further and greater Difficulties and Dangers.
It is well known that a Bill for Regulating the Paper Currency in all His Majesty's Plantations in America has been preferred to the Parliament of Great Britain, and our Agent M: Partridge hath informed us, that it was in consequence of some Reso- lutions of the present Parliament, that His Majesty injoined this Government to send Home the afore- mentioned Account of our Currency in order to be laid before them, and this also appears, unless my Memory fails me, by his Grace the Duke of Bed- ford's Letter, which I pray may be read. If then the General Assembly of this Colony should, before the Matter is determined by the Parliament, take the Liberty to emit another Bank of Bills of any Sort or kind whatever, it might be deemed a daring Pre- sumption, and be the incurring His Majesty's and the Parliament's highest Displeasure. And if that should prove to be the Case, as in all Probability it will, if we now venture upon a new Emission of Bills, whether we should have any Reason in the
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