Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
When we see self love, that first principle planted in the human breast by the Alwise Creator for their our benefit & preservation, thrô misapplication & corruption perverted to their our destruction, we feel the necessity of correcting so pernicious an Error, & of directing the operation of it in such a manner as that our self & social love may be the same: the Application of this remark to the present state of our public Affairs is obvious.
The freeborn Inhabitants of America, oppressed by the Tyranny of G Britain, found it necessary for the support of their Liberties to declare themselves independant: to support that Independancy it was necessary to raise & mantain an expensive Army & to issue large emissions of paper bills to defray the expences: upon the support & success of this Army, under God, depends the whole we are contending for, & on the credit of our Currency depends immediately the support of our Army: when therefore the principle of self love impells the individuals of a community to exact & 7 recieve for their services or merchandizes comodities such prices as exceed that proportion of price, at which the Army was raised & established, & to set no other bounds to their demand than what the necessities of the times will allow suffer than to recieve, & to withold & conceal their necessary comodities unless their demand are complied with, they gave evident proof is it not evident that their self love & attention to their supposed self Interest have exceeded their true bounds, & tend not only to the destruction of the welfare of the Community, but also of the individual.
Can a man in any reasonable view, be considered as a freind to the American cause, who continually practices & with all his efforts supports such conduct, as which if adopted by the Community in general must work the destruction of that cause? can the officers & Soldiers support themselves by their pay at the present high prices of the necessaries of life? can the Community possibly afford to encreace that pay, seeing the bills with which they are paid must hereafter be redeemed in silver & Gold at their full expressed value? can all the other Expences of the War, be supported at so high a rate? must not therefore the rate of all Expences be reduced to their original standard? & do not therefore those persons who by their Clamors, oppositions & engrossings, labour to obstruct the reducing of prices, give evident proof that they are in fact Enemies to the very cause they otherwise pretend to support? do they such Persons well consider what is always said of the man, who zealously professing Christianity, lives in continual practice of the breach of its principles precepts?
Impelled Induced by such like reflections & feeling their obligation to superintend the welfare of the American States, the honble. the American Congress, by their Resolves of Novr. 22d. last. premising the necessity of reducing the quantity of Circulating medium in order to support its value have recommended to the several states in the strongest Terms to raise the sum of 5,000,000. Dollars by taxes & to refrain from the further emission of bills of credit, to cancell the bills emitted by perticular States, to support the war by Taxes & loans, & for an immediate remedy of the exorbitant evils complained of, have recommend to the States of America in three Divisions to appoint Commissioners “to regulate & ascertain the price of Labour, manufacture, internal produce & comodities imported from foreign parts, military stores excepted, & also to regulate the charges of Innholders.
The Commissioners therefore of New Hampshire, M.B.: Rh:I: &c Connect. N:York, New Jersy, & Pensylvania: have met in Convention met at
8 at New Haven on the fifteenth day of January in persuance of said requisition of Congress & while attending to the injunctions of their Commissions, have not been insensible of the principles upon wch. an Opposition to the regulating prices by Law is founded & tho this measure is executed by them in Compliance with the requisitions of the honble. Congress, yet as the Goverment of America is not only founded on the good Will of the People, but by the Wisdom & Sincerity of its Administration recommends itself to their Understanding & approbation they thought it not amiss to explain address this measure to the feelings & apprehension of the Inhabitants.
It is evident that those principles on which such an opposition is founded, were fully considered by the grand Council of America, that they considered viewed the reducing the quantity of circulating medium, by stopping the currency of the bill of the particular States, & Supporting future expences by taxation & Loaning, as the radical cure
essential Remedy & as what in time must work the desired Effect, especially among a virtuous people; but that our present Exigencies require an immediate reduction of prices, which 'tho by those who are actuated by no better principle then contracted Self Love may be considered as infringing the principles of Trade & liberty, is nevertheless a salutary measure in connection with the others, & practiced by all the states. To the several legislators of the American States therefore is now sounded the Loudest call, which the voice of Nature true self Love & self defence can utter, immediately to exert themselves to care relieve the Inhabitants of that plea for high prices, the undue
undue quantity of money by stopping the circulation of their States money by levying Large taxes & assessing them with such equality as to admit of the highest taxes possible practicable.
To the Inhabitants of these States this Voice clearly announces announces the necessity of the above measure & of a regulation of prices by Law: why do we complain of a partial infringment of Liberty, manifestly tending to the preservation of the whole? must the Lunatic, run uncontrold to the destruction of himself & neighbours, meerly because he is under the operation of medicines which may in time work his cure? & indeed without the use of those medicines will the confinement Cure him? must we be suffered to continue the exactions of such high prices, to the destruction of the Common Cause & ourselves with it, meerly because the reduction of the quantity of our Currency may in time redress the evil, & because any other method may be complained of as an infringement 9 of Liberty? is there any Alternative, but the existence & Increase of those evils before recited on the one hand or the regulation of prices by law on the other, till they become regulated by the reduction of the quantity of the currency? will the present Inhabitants of this Earth; or Generations yet unborn, by any representation, be persuaded to believe, that a person or people are duly penetrated with the importance of their liberties, who will not comply with, & exert themselves to support such a System of Expedients as are required by Congress?
The said Commisioners therefore being deeply impressed with the importance & wisdom of the said Resolves of Cong. as taken collectively & cooperating together, of their Efficacy to produce the desired End, & having the firmest confidence in the several Legislatures represented in this Convention, that they will forthwith; without delays or pretensions whatsoever, stop the currency of all the bills of credit by them emitted, (small change under a Dollar only excepted) & call them in by loans or taxes & emitting no more bills on their own Credit Such change only excepted, exert themselves to support the War by Taxes & Loans, And that the Good People the Inhabitants of those States, will remember their first love for Liberty & their solemn fervent & voluntary engagements to support the same with life & fortune, & that they will exert themselves that this whole System of Regulation shall be effectually carried into execution to the support of the Cause, we have agreed to the following Rates of Prices to the Articles hereafter mentioned. The Commissioners, very desirous of accomodating this Regulation to the convenience as much as may be to the conveniency of immediate practice, have stated these prices much higher than any one will suppose they ought to be, they have endeavoured to avoid too great a revulsion. Expecting that when the judicious & spirited exertions of the several Legislators shall have reduced the quantity of the circulating medium, that there not only will be no occasion for this Regulation but that the prices will naturally fall from the high price Rates at which we have stated them to their original standard.
The Articles excepted
From this regulation certain Articles of foreign production are excepted, being in the opinion of the Commissioners equally necessary for the Army & Inhabitants of these States as military Stores & the charge & risque of Importing them being so great various & uncertain, hoping their prices will be so far governed by the prices Estimate of other Articles as to preserve a due proportion.
Should any one object, that nothwithstanding this apparent necessity for Regulating Prices, yet that the Experience of the New England States within the twelve months past has taught them that no good Effort is to be expected from such a measure & that in vain shall we attempt it again, to such Objectors it may truly be observed that the essential Causes of the failure of that measure be abundantly provided against by this System of Regulation, as a breif stating of which will sufficiently evince. No measures were then taken to reduce the undue quantity of Currency, but it was continually encreasing—those Regulations did not extend beyond New England, by means of wch. limited restriction, there was the strongest temptation to transport their merchandice &c beyond The Line to Musketts where the price was unlimited & extravagantly high, besides this Numbers of merchts. from the other States brought vast Sums of money to purchase prize Goods brought into N England & for wch. they offered prices really beyond the said Regulation.1
Roger Sherman of Connecticut, RTP of Massachusetts, Nathaniel Peabody of New Hampshire, and Benjamin Huntington of Connecticut were a committee appointed “to prepare and report a proper draught of the proceedings of this Convention.” This is a draft of the final version, which is printed in full in Baldwin, “The New Haven Convention of 1778,” 49–54.
I am at this place with Mr. Cushing & Col. Porter as Commissioners from Massa. to regulate the prices &c in obedience to the requisition of Congress, & really an embarrassed Jobb we have of it, & such anxious doubts, whether we are doing good or hurt, as reduces us to a state of distressing perplexity; we are sufficiently affected with the overwhelming expence of supporting our Army at the present unbounded prices of necessaries, & on the other hand we are very fearful whether our regulations will be obeyed, whether they will not throw the Community into discords Jealosies & Convulsions, & in fact whether they will not in the first Instance produce an artificial scarcity & finally end in a real one: such are the Apprehensions of the Convention on these matters, that I don't 11 know whether we should have agreed upon a regulation were it not that we considered the requisition of Congress as being peremptory, & part of an extensive plan, the defeating of which by the defection of any Convention, might be attended with disagreable circumstances; tho' at the same time I must observe we were not able to point out a more satisfactory method to relieve the evil so speedily as we desire. We are now Suffering the Evils wch. I prophesyed to Congress, when they first emitted their money, would come to pass, if taxation did not take place soon after the emission of it; but it was then thought, the people would not bear it, Goverments were not then settled, & the people thrô the States had not come to their feelings & due apprehensions of this matter, but I flatter myself, that tho' we have suffered & must suffer exceedingly by this neglect, yet that those sufferings will work their own cure by arrouzing the people to exert their faculties, & carry the system of Regulations into execution.
Feby. 1st. We have with great labour & Consultation finished our rates of Prices, in wch. you will observe we have deviated from the strict letter of the requisition & have excepted Woolen Goods & a number of other articles imported from Europe: I trust this exception will not be viewed in a disagreable light; the true grounds of our Conduct was this; We made a Calculation of the expences & charges of importing Goods from Europe, & from the best & most favourable estimate we found they could not be afforded here, under such a price as it would not answer our purpose to regulate them at; if we had sat them at a price below what they could be afforded at, there would either be manifest injustice in obliging the mercht. to be a looser, or it would amount to a prohibition, for no body would import with a sure prospect of Loss, or, what is most likely, the importers by joining their Efforts would break thrô the regulation; if we had sat them at such a price as not to operate as a prohibition, this evil would have hapned, that those Goods would not have been sold below that price, even tho' by the lowring of Insurance (wch. is the grand Article of Insurance charge that runs them up so high) & the unexpected lessning of other charges the mercht. might be disposed to lower the price: (it is said that goods are falling fast in Boston, partly from taking our states money, amounting to 430,000£ out of Circulation from the 1st. of Decr. last in compliance with the Report of the Springfeild Convention, & partly from large quantities of money being sent to Virginia & South Carolina to make remittance to France) upon all which it appeared to us, that by regulating their prices, we should either prohibit their importation, or cause them to be dearer when imported than they naturally would, if left to the 12 course of things: there are undoubtedly circumstances of charge attending the importing European Goods, which are different from the produce of our own Country; vizt. the prodiguous Insurance of 75 pr. ct. to cover which a man must pay a premium of three times the sum insur'd. I need not illustrate this to you; also the expence of freight, Portledge bill, victualling &c &c all six times as high as usual, & these are in their nature various & therefore no standard can be fixed for them, & as the grand object of Congress was to have these Goods cheaper than they now are, we were of opinion this was the readiest method; & we should have sent to Congress for further directions, but the distance & Season forbad, & after great consultation we thought it best to persue that method wch. would best answer the purpose of Congress. Requisitions of Congress, especially when they relate to the executing a System by all the States at the same time, are very sacred, & should not be departed from witht. obvious reasons, but I think this departure is of such a nature as will not affect the other two Conventions, & if they should have regulated the price of those Articles we have excepted, Congress can, if they think our Conduct judicious, recomend a relaxation of it.
If it be asked why we regulated W. India produce, seing there are the same charges on the Importation of it? the Answer is, that the bulk of them are brought in by capture, & there is no danger of a prohibition.
Thus we have a fine System of Regulation, the Essential part of which is the lessning the quantity of Currency, & the grand object now is to carry it into Execution, to help in this matter, the Convention have prefaced their doings with an Introductory Address, & by their Letter to Congress you will see what dependance they place upon the other States to carry the whole into Execution: tho' the Report of the Springfeild Convention has been so highly approved for the solidity of its principles, yet no state has fully comply’d but ours; Connecticut has not stopped the Currency of their States money, by means of which prices are higher here than with us: I hope Congress will consider these matters as objects of continual attention, for if this System fails, it were better we had not meddled with it: Regulation of prices is really a very unnatural measure, & nothing but Extremity can justify or execute it; the reducing the quantity of Currency is the grand Object & Remedy, to effect which every Engine must be set to work: the Requisition of Congress to raise five million, gave general satisfaction & the extra proportion upon N. England in consideration of a larger proportion of money being there is well accepted, but upon this subject I wish to observe, that money being designed for circulation is 13 not always to be found in the same place, & it is said that the Merchants with us begin to complain that they are put to it to make large payments, & really are offering & urging the sale of all kinds of Goods wch. have been hoarded up: if this be the Case a very close Eye should be kept on the progress of the money, & wheresoever it is found to accumulate, let suitable requisitions, upon the late plan of giving Credit, be sent after it: Money always comes easiest from those places where they have the most of it, I am really afraid that if this matter is not attended to, that the Currency of Virginia So. Carolina &c thrô their surplusage of money in the course of trade will be depreciated as much as it was this way; as we can but see clearly how this Evil hapned to us, we shall be unpardonable if we dont prevent its taking place in the other states; That great Engine Taxation must be studied & practiced, the essential part of which is the assessing the taxes in the most equitable mode. We have made a new tax Bill, by wch. every one is to pay in proportion to the amount of his whole estate Real & personal, this makes larger taxes sit higher & every one is willing to pay to his utmost provided it be no more than his proportion.
PS: my best respects to Messrs. Lovel & Dana, pray show this letter & to the members of Congress if you think proper