STRONG BEER AND PORTER at 18d. and ALE at 1s. the gallon,
_Virginia_ currency, in cask, equal in goodness to any that can be
imported from any part of the world, as nothing but the genuine
best MALT and HOPS will be used, without any mixture or substitute
whatsoever; which, if the many treaties of brewing published in
_Great Britain_ did not mention to be frequently used there, the
experience of those who have drunk those liquors imported from
thence would point out to be the case, from their pernicious
effects.
The severe treatment we have lately received from our Mother
Country, would, I should think, be sufficient to recommend my
undertaking (though I should not be able to come up to the English
standard, which I do not question constantly to do) yet, as I am
satisfied that the goodness of every commodity is its best
recommendation, I principally rely upon that for my success; and my
own interest, having expended near 8000 l. to bring my brewery to
its present state, is the best security I can give the publick to
assure them of the best usage, without which such an undertaking
cannot be supported with credit.
The casks to be paid for at the rate of 4s. for barrels, 5s. for
those between 40 and 50 gallons, and a penny the gallon for all
above 50 gallons; but if they are returned in good order, and
sweet, by having been well scalded as soon as emptied, the price of
them shall be returned or discounted.
Any person who sends bottles and corks may have them carefully
filled and corked with beer or porter at 6s. or with ale at 4s. the
dozen. I expect, in a little time, to have constant supply of
bottles and corks; and if I meet the encouragement I hope for,
propose setting up a glasshouse for making bottles, and to provide
proper vessels to deliver to such customers as favour me with their
orders such liquors as they direct, at the several landings they
desire, being determined to give all the satisfaction in the power
of
Their most humble servant,
JOHN MERCER
Foolhardy though the brewery was, a glass factory would have been the
pinnacle of folly. Yet it was seriously on Mercer's mind. In his letter
to George he wrote:
A Glass house to be built here must I am satisfied turn to great
profit, they have some in New England & New York or the Jerseys &
find by some resolves the New England men are determined to
increase their number.
Despite his manifest failure, Mercer confidently attempted to persuade
George of the possibilities of the brewery and even the glasshouse.
Shifting from one proposal to another, he suggested that he could "rent
out all my houses and conveniences at a reasonable rate," or take in a
partner, although "I have so great a dislike for all partnerships,
nothing but my inability to carry it on my self could induce me to enter
into one."
In spite of these desperate thrashings about in a struggle to survive,
Mercer's empire was collapsing. When Monroe arrived as overseer, he
found [according to Mercer] but 8 barrels of corn upon my
plantation, not enough at any of my quarters to maintain my people,
a great part of my Stock dead (among them some of my English colts
& horses in the 2 last years to the am^t of £ 375. 10. --) & the
rest of them dying, which would have infallibly have been their
fate if it had not been for the straw of 1000 bushels of barley &
the grains from the brewhouse.... Convinced of his [Monroe's]
integrity, I have been forced to submit the entire management of
all the plantation to him.
The following passage from the letter summarizes Mercer's financial
predicament:
"I reced in 1764 £1548 ... 4 ... 3-1/2 & in 1765 £961 ... 5 ...
4-1/2 but since I quitted my practice I reced in 1766 no more than
£108 ... 16 ... 1 of which I borrowed £24.10.--& 7 ... 1 ... 6 was
re'ced for the Governor's fees. £20 ... 8 ... 4 I got for Opinions
&c and from the brewery £28 ... 3 ... the remaining £28 ... 16 is
all I received out of several thousands due for all my old & new
debts. In 1767 I reced £159 ... 9 ... 3 of which borrowed £5 ... 15
...--the governor's fees £10 ... 7 ... 6 reced for opinions &c £49
... 6 ...--from the brewhouse £66 ... 14 ... of which £94 ... 14
... 3 was from the brewery & 9 in 1766 I gave a collector £20
besides his board ferrage & expences & finding him horses & his
whole collection during the year turned out to be £27 ... 2 ... 10.
In the two years my taxes levied and quitrents amounted to £199 ...
8 ... 1 which would have left a ballance of £1 . 13 . 3 in my
favour in that time from the brewery & my practice (if it could be
so called) & all my debts, in great part of which you and your
brother are jointly & equally interested. What then remained to
support me & a family consisting of about 26 white people & 122
negroes? Nothing but my crops, after that I had expended above
£100, for corn only to support them, besides rice & pork to near
that value & the impending charge of £125 for rent, of £140 to
overseers yearly, remained, & £94 ... 14 ... 3 out of those crops,
as I have already mentioned, proceeding from the brewery, was
swallowed up in taxes (tho the people in England say we pay none,
but I can fatally prove that my estate from which I did not receive
sixpence has, since the commencement of the war, paid near a
thousand pounds in taxes only)."
On December 25, 1766, Mercer made public his situation in Rind's
_Virginia Gazette_:
The great Number of Debts due to me for the last seven Years of my
Practice, and the Backwardness of my Clients (in attending whose
Business, I unhappily neglected my own) to make me Satisfaction,
would of itself, if I had had no other Reason, have obliged me to
quit my Practice. And when I found that by such partial Payments as
I chanced to receive I was able to keep up my Credit, I can appeal
to the Public, whether any Person, who had so many outstanding
Debts, was less importunate, or troublesome, to his Debtors, But
when I found, upon my quitting the Bar, all Payments cease, and
that I would not personally wait upon my Clients, I could not
approve of the Method of Demand, by the Sheriff, too commonly in
Practice, without Necessity. I therefore employed a Receiver, who,
ever since the first day of _January_ last, has been riding through
the _Northern Neck_, and even as far as _Williamsburg_, and who to
this Time has not been able, out of near ten thousand Pounds, to
collect as much as will pay his own Wages, and discharge my public
taxes (for Proof of which I will produce my Books to any Gentleman
concerned or desirous to see them). This too, at a Time when my own
Debts contracted by the large Expences I have been at for some
Years past for establishing a Brewery, has disabled me by any other
Means from discharging them, (except when they would take lands,
Assignments of Debts, or any thing I can spare, without Detriment
to my Plantations or Brewery). Selling Lands avail nothing, I have
bonds for some sold four or five Years ago but I can't get the
Money for them. I therefore cannot be thought too unreasonable to
give this public Notice (which the Circumstances of the Country
make most disagreeable to me) that I shall be against my
inclination obliged to bring Suits, immediately after next _April_
General Court, against all persons indebted to me who do not before
that Time, discharge their Debts to me or my Son _James Mercer_,
who will have my Books during the said Court to settle with every
Person applying to him. And as some Persons have since my quitting
the Practice, sent to me for Opinions and to settle Accounts
without sending my Fees, to prevent any more Applications of that
Sort, I give this Public Notice, that tho' I shall always be ready
to do any Thing of that Kind (which can be done at my own House)
upon receiving an adequate Satisfaction for it, it will be in vain
to expect it be any Messenger they may send without they send the
Money. There are some Gentlemen who must know that nothing in this
Advertisement can relate to them but that any of their Commands
will at any Time, be readily complied with by their
and the Public's
humble Servant
JOHN MERCER
Dec. 8, 1766
[Illustration: Figure 16.--ADVERTISEMENT of the services of Mercer's
stallion Ranter. Andrew Monroe, grandfather of the President, was
Mercer's overseer. (Purdie's _Virginia Gazette_, April 18, 1766.)]
Andrew Monroe, as manager of the plantation, advertised over his own
name in Purdie & Dixon's _Virginia Gazette_, of April 18, 1766, the
services of "The well known Horse RANTER," an English stallion imported
by Mercer in 1762 (fig. 16). One senses that without Monroe, Marlborough
would have collapsed completely. In spite of his ministrations,
however, there were difficulties with the staff. Purdie & Dixon's
_Gazette_ carried the following on June 6, 1766:
MARLBOROUGH, STAFFORD county, May 26, 1766.
Run away from the subscriber, some time last _February_, a Negro
man named TEMPLE, about 35 years old, well set, about 5 feet 6
inches high, has a high forehead, and thick bush beard; he took a
gun with him, and wore a blue double breasted jacket with horn
buttons. I suspect he is harboured about _Bull Run_, in _Fauquier_
county, where he formerly lived. I bought him, with his mother and
sister, from Mr. _Barradall's_ executors in _Williamsburg_ above 20
years ago, and expected he would have returned home; but as he has
been so long gone, I am doubtful he may endeavour to get out of the
country by water, of which he may understand something, as he was
two years on board the _Wolf_ sloop of war in the _West Indies_,
and carries the marks of the discipline he underwent on board.
Likewise run away last Whitsun holydays two indented servants,
imported from LONDON last September, viz. JOSEPH WAIN of Bucknell,
in the county of Oxford, aged 22 years, about 5 feet 4 inches high,
round shouldered, stoops pretty much in his walk, has a down look,
and understands ploughing. WILLIAM CANTRELL of Warwickshire, aged
19, about the same height, and stoops a little, but not so much as
WAIN, has a scar under one of his eyes, but which is uncertain, has
some marks of the smallpox, his hair is of a dark brown and short,
but Wain's is cut off, he pretends to understand ploughing and
country business, and has drove a waggon since he has been in my
service; they both have fresh look. The clothes they left home in
were jackets of red plaids, brown linen shirts, _Russia_ drill
breeches with white metal buttons, and thread stockings; _Cantrell_
with an old hat and new shoes, and _Wain_ with a new hat and old
shoes; But as it is supposed that they were persuaded to elope with
four _Scotch_ servants belonging to the widow _Strother_, on
_Potowmack_ run in this county, whom they went to see, and who went
off at the same time, it is probable that they may exchange their
clothes, or have provided some other. It is supposed that they will
make for _Carolina_, where it is said an uncle of one of Mr.
_Strother's_ servants lives; and as several horses are missing
about the same time in these parts, it is very probable they did
not choose to make such a journey on foot. Whoever secures my
servants and Negro, or any of them shall, besides the reward
allowed by law, be paid any reasonable satisfaction, in proportion
to the distance and extraordinary trouble they may be put to.