account to be taken by officers under oath. By it there appears to be
in this colony at this time 35,939 white persons, and 4697 blacks,
chiefly negroes.
In the year 1730, by order of the then lords commissioners of trade
and plantations, an account was taken of the number of people in this
colony, and then there appeared to be 15,302 white persons, and 2633
blacks.
Again in the year 1748, by like order, an account was taken of the
number of people in this colony, by which it appears there were at
that time 29,755 white persons, and 4373 blacks.
_Colony of Rhode Island, Dec. 24, 1755._
STEPHEN HOPKINS.
[46] _An Account of the Value of the Exports from England to
Pensylvania, in one Year, taken at different Periods, viz._
In 1723 they amounted only to £. 15,992 19 4
1730 they were 48,592 7 5
1737 56,690 6 7
1742 75,295 3 4
1747 82,404 17 7
1752 201,666 19 11
1757 268,426 6 6
N. B. The accounts for 1758 and 1759, are not yet completed; but
those acquainted with the North American trade know, that the
increase in those two years has been in a still greater proportion;
the last year being supposed to exceed any former year by a third;
and this owing to the increased ability of the people to spend, from
the greater quantities of money circulating among them by the war.
[47] The _aid_ Dr. Franklin alludes to must probably have consisted
in early and full supplies of arms, officers, intelligence, and trade
of export and of import, through the river St. Lawrence, on risques
both public and private; in the encouragement of splendid promises
and a great ally; in the passage from Canada to the back settlements,
being _shut_ to the British _forces_; in the quiet of the _great
body_ of Indians; in the support of emissaries and discontented
citizens; in loans and subsidies to congress, in ways _profitable to
France_; in a refuge to be granted them in case of defeat, in vacant
lands, as settlers; in the probability of war commencing earlier
between England and France, at the gulph of St. Lawrence (when the
shipping taken, were _rightfully_ addressed to Frenchmen) than in
the present case. All this might have happened, as soon as America's
distaste of the sovereign had exceeded the fear of the foreigner;
a circumstance frequently seen possible in history, and which our
ministers took care should not be wanting.
This explanation would have required apology for its insertion, were
not the opinion pretty common in England, that _had not the French
been removed from Canada, the revolt of America never would have
taken place_. Why then were the French _not left_ in Canada, at the
peace of 1763? Or, since they _were not_ left there, why was the
American dispute begun? Yet in one sense, perhaps this opinion is
true; for _had_ the French been left in Canada, ministers would not
only have _sooner_ felt, but _sooner_ have seen, the strange fatality
of their plans. B. V.
[48] Remarks, p. 50, 51.
[49] And Pharoah said unto his people, behold the people of the
children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come on, let us
deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that
when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies and
fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. And the king
spake to the Hebrew midwives, &c. Exodus, chap. 1.
[50] In fact, there have not gone from Britain [itself] to our
colonies these twenty years past to settle there, so many as ten
families a year; the new settlers are either the offspring of the
old, or emigrants from Germany, or the north of Ireland.
[51] Remarks, p. 30, 34.
[52] It is often said we have plenty of sugar-land still unemployed
in Jamaica: but those who are well acquainted with that island know,
that the remaining vacant land in it is generally situated among
mountains, rocks, and gullies, that make carriage impracticable, so
that no profitable use can be made of it; unless the price of sugars
should so greatly increase, as to enable the planter to make very
expensive roads, by blowing up rocks, erecting bridges, &c. every two
or three hundred yards. [Our author was somewhat misinformed here. B.
V.]
[53] Remarks, p. 47.
[54] Dr. Franklin has often been heard to say, that in writing this
pamphlet he received considerable assistance from a learned friend,
who was not willing to be named. B. V.
_Remarks and Facts relative to the American Paper-money._[55]
In the Report of the Board of Trade, dated Feb. 9, 1764, the
following reasons are given for _restraining the emission_ of
paper-bills of credit in America, as _a legal tender_.
1. "That it _carries the gold and silver out_ of the province, and so
ruins the country; as _experience has shewn_, in every colony where
it has been practised in any great degree.
2. "That the _merchants_ trading to America _have suffered_ and lost
by it.
3. "That the restriction [of it] _has had a beneficial effect_ in New
England.
4. "That every _medium of trade should have an intrinsic value_,
which paper-money has not. Gold and silver are therefore the fittest
for this medium, as they are an equivalent; which paper never can be.
5. "That _debtors_ in the assemblies make paper-money with
_fraudulent views_.
6. "That in the middle colonies, where the credit of the paper-money
has been best supported, the bills have _never kept to their nominal
value_ in circulation; but have constantly depreciated to a certain
degree, whenever the quantity has been increased."
To consider these reasons in their order; the first is,
1. "_That paper-money_ carries the gold and silver out _of the
province, and so ruins the country; as_ experience has shewn, _in
every colony where it has been practised in any great degree_."--This
opinion, of its ruining the country, seems to be merely speculative,
or not otherwise founded than upon misinformation in the matter of
fact. The truth is, that the balance of their trade with Britain
being greatly against them, the gold and silver are drawn out to
pay that balance; and then the necessity of some medium of trade
has induced the making of paper-money, which could _not_ be carried
away. Thus, if carrying out all the gold and silver ruins a country,
every colony was ruined before it made paper-money.--But, far from
being ruined by it, the colonies that have made use of paper-money
have been, and are all, in a thriving condition. The debt indeed to
Britain has increased, because their numbers, and of course their
trade, have increased; for all trade having always a proportion
of debt outstanding, which is paid in its turn, while fresh debt
is contracted, the proportion of debt naturally increases as the
trade increases; but the improvement and increase of estates in
the colonies have been in a greater proportion than their debt.
New England, particularly in 1696 (about the time they began the
use of paper-money) had in all its four provinces but 180 churches
or congregations; in 1760 they were 530. The number of farms and
buildings there is increased in proportion to the numbers of people;
and the goods exported to them from England in 1750, before the
restraint took place, were near five times as much as before they
had paper-money. Pensylvania, before it made any paper-money, was
totally stript of its gold and silver; though they had from time to
time, like the neighbouring colonies, agreed to take gold and silver
coins at higher nominal values, in hopes of drawing money into, and
retaining it, for the internal uses of the province. During that
weak practice, silver got up by degrees to 8s. 9d. per ounce, and
English crowns were called six, seven, and eight-shilling pieces,
long before paper-money was made. But this practice of increasing
the denomination was found not to answer the end. The balance of
trade carried out the gold and silver as fast as they were brought
in; the merchants raising the price of their goods in proportion
to the increased denomination of the money. The difficulties for
want of cash were accordingly very great, the chief part of the
trade being carried on by the extremely inconvenient method of
barter; when in 1723 paper-money was first made there; which gave
new life to business, promoted greatly the settlement of new lands
(by lending small sums to beginners on easy interest, to be repaid
by instalments) whereby the province has so greatly increased in
inhabitants, that the export from hence thither is now more than
tenfold what it then was; and by their trade with foreign colonies,
they have been able to obtain great quantities of gold and silver to
remit hither in return for the manufactures of this country. New York
and New Jersey have also increased greatly during the same period,
with the use of paper-money; so that it does not appear to be of
the ruinous nature ascribed to it. And if the inhabitants of those
countries are glad to have the use of paper among themselves, that
they may thereby be enabled to spare, for remittances hither, the
gold and silver they obtain by their commerce with foreigners; one
would expect, that no objection against their parting with it could
arise here, in the country that receives it.
The 2d reason is, "_That the_ merchants _trading to America have_
suffered _and lost by the paper-money_."--This may have been the case
in particular instances, at particular times and places: as in South
Carolina, about 58 years since; when the colony was thought in danger
of being destroyed by the Indians and Spaniards; and the British
merchants, in fear of losing their whole effects there, called
precipitately for remittances; and the inhabitants, to get something
lodged in safe countries, gave any price in paper-money for bills of
exchange; whereby the paper, as compared with bills, or with produce,
or other effects fit for exportation, was suddenly and greatly
depreciated. The unsettled state of government for a long time in
that province had also its share in depreciating its bills. But
since that danger blew over, and the colony has been in the hands of
the crown; their currency became fixed, and has so remained to this
day. Also in New England, when much greater quantities were issued
than were necessary for a medium of trade, to defray the expedition
against Louisbourg; and, during the last war in Virginia and North
Carolina, when great sums were issued to pay the colony troops, and
the war made tobacco a poorer remittance, from the higher price of
freight and insurance: in these cases, the merchants trading to those
colonies may sometimes have suffered by the sudden and unforeseen
rise of exchange. By slow and gradual rises, they seldom suffer;
the goods being sold at proportionable prices. But war is a common
calamity in all countries, and the merchants that deal with them
cannot expect to avoid a share of the losses it sometimes occasions,
by affecting public credit. It is hoped, however, that the profits of
their subsequent commerce with those colonies may have made them some
reparation. And the merchants trading to the middle colonies (New
York, New Jersey, and Pensylvania) have never suffered by any rise
of exchange; it having ever been a constant rule there, to consider
British debts as payable in Britain, and not to be discharged but
by as much paper (whatever might be the rate of exchange) as would
purchase a bill for the full sterling sum. On the contrary, the
merchants have been great gainers by the use of paper-money in
those colonies; as it enabled them to send much greater quantities
of goods, and the purchasers to pay more punctually for them. And
the people there make no complaint of any injury done them by
paper-money, with a legal tender; they are sensible of its benefits;
and petition to have it so allowed.
The 3d reason is, "_That the_ restriction _has had a_ beneficial
effect _in New England_." Particular circumstances in the New England
colonies made paper-money less necessary and less convenient to them.
They have great and valuable fisheries of whale and cod, by which
large remittances can be made. They are four distinct governments;
but having much mutual intercourse of dealings, the money of each
used to pass current in all: but the whole of this common currency
not being under one common direction, was not so easily kept within
due bounds; the prudent reserve of one colony in its emissions being
rendered useless by excess in another. The Massachusets, therefore,
were not dissatisfied with the restraint, as it restrained their
neighbours as well as themselves; and perhaps _they_ do not desire to
have the act repealed. They have not yet felt much inconvenience from
it; as they were enabled to abolish their paper-currency, by a large
sum in silver from Britain to reimburse their expences in taking
Louisbourg, which, with the gold brought from Portugal, by means of
their fish, kept them supplied with a currency; till the late war
furnished them and all America with bills of exchange; so that little
cash was needed for remittance. Their fisheries too furnish them
with remittance through Spain and Portugal to England; which enables
them the more easily to retain gold and silver in their country. The
middle colonies have not this advantage; nor have they tobacco; which
in Virginia and Maryland answers the same purpose. When colonies
are so different in their circumstances, a regulation, that is not
inconvenient to one or a few, may be very much so to the rest. But
the pay is now become so indifferent in New England, at least in
some of its provinces, through the want of currency, that the trade
thither is at present under great discouragement.
The 4th reason is, "_That every_ medium of trade _should have an_
intrinsic value; _which paper-money has not_. _Gold and silver are
therefore the fittest for this medium, as they are an equivalent;
which paper never can be."_ However fit a particular thing may be
for a particular purpose; wherever that thing is not to be had,
or not to be had in sufficient quantity; it becomes necessary to
use something else, the fittest that can be got, in lieu of it.
Gold and silver are not the produce of North America, which has no
mines; and that which is brought thither cannot be kept there in
sufficient quantity for a currency. Britain, an independent great
state, when its inhabitants grow too fond of the expensive luxuries
of foreign countries, that draw away its money, can, and frequently
does, make laws to discourage or prohibit such importations; and
by that means can retain its cash. The _colonies_ are dependent
governments; and their people having naturally great respect for
the sovereign country, and being thence immoderately fond of its
modes, manufactures, and superfluities, cannot be restrained from
purchasing them by any province law; because such law, if made,
would immediately be repealed here, as prejudicial to the trade and
interest of Britain. It seems hard therefore, to draw all, their
real money from them, and then refuse them the poor privilege of
using paper instead of it. Bank bills and bankers notes are daily
used _here_ as a medium of trade, and in large dealings perhaps the
greater part is transacted by their means; and yet _they_ have no
intrinsic value, but rest on the credit of those that issue them;
as paper-bills in the colonies do on the credit of the respective
governments there. Their being payable in cash upon sight by the
drawer is indeed a circumstance that cannot attend the colony bills;
for the reasons just above-mentioned; their cash being drawn from
them by the British trade; but the legal tender being substituted in
its place is rather a greater advantage to the possessor; since he
need not be at the trouble of going to a _particular bank_ or banker
to demand the money, finding (wherever he has occasion to lay out
money in the province) a person that is obliged to take the bills.
So that even out of the province, the knowledge, that every man
within that province is obliged to take its money, gives the bills a
credit among its neighbours, nearly equal to what they have at home.
And were it not for the laws _here_, that restrain or prohibit as
much as possible all losing trades, the cash of _this_ country would
soon be exported: every merchant, who had occasion to remit it,
would run to the bank with all its bills, that came into his hands,
and take out his part of its treasure for that purpose; so that in
a short time, it would be no more able to pay bills in money upon
sight, than it is now in the power of a colony treasury so to do. And
if government afterwards should have occasion for the credit of the
bank, it must of necessity make its bills a legal tender; funding
them however on taxes by which they may in time be paid off; as
has been the general practice in the colonies.--At this very time,
even the silver-money in England is obliged to the legal tender for
part of its value; that part which is the difference between its
real weight and its denomination. Great part of the shillings and
sixpences now current are, by wearing, become five, ten, twenty,
and some of the sixpences even fifty per cent. too light. For
this difference between the _real_ and the _nominal_, you have no
_intrinsic_ value; you have not so much as paper, you have nothing.
It is the legal tender, with the knowledge that it can easily be
repassed for the same value, that makes three-pennyworth of silver
pass for sixpence. Gold and silver have undoubtedly _some_ properties
that give them a fitness above paper, as a medium of exchange;
particularly their _universal estimation_; especially in cases where
a country has occasion to carry its money abroad, either as a stock
to trade with, or to purchase _allies_ and _foreign succours_.
Otherwise, that very universal estimation is an inconvenience, which
paper-money is free from; since it tends to deprive a country of
even the quantity of currency that should be retained as a necessary
instrument of its internal commerce, and obliges it to be continually
on its guard in making and executing, at a great expence, the
laws that are to prevent the trade which exports it. Paper-money
well funded has another great advantage over gold and silver; its
lightness of carriage, and the little room that is occupied by a
great sum; whereby it is capable of being more easily, and more
safely, because more privately, conveyed from place to place. Gold
and silver are not _intrinsically_ of equal value with iron, a metal
in itself capable of many more beneficial uses to mankind. Their
value rests chiefly in the estimation they happen to be in among the
generality of nations, and the credit given to the opinion, that that
estimation will continue. Otherwise a pound of gold would not be a
real equivalent for even a bushel of wheat. Any other well-founded
credit, is as much an equivalent as gold and silver; and in some
cases more so, or it would not be preferred by commercial people
in different countries. Not to mention again our own bank bills;
Holland, which understands the value of cash as well as any people in
the world, would never part with gold and silver for credit (as they
do when they put it into their bank, from whence little of it is ever
afterwards drawn out) if they did not think and find the credit a
full equivalent.
The 5th reason is, "_That_ debtors _in the assemblies make
paper-money_ with fraudulent views." This is often said by the
adversaries of paper-money, and if it has been the case in any
particular colony, that colony should, on proof of the fact, be duly
punished. This, however, would be no reason for punishing other
colonies, who have _not_ so abused their legislative powers. To
deprive all the colonies of the convenience of paper-money, because
it has been charged on some of them, that they have made it an
instrument of fraud, is as if all the India, Bank, and other stocks
and trading companies were to be abolished, because there have been,
once in an age, Mississippi and South-Sea schemes and bubbles.
The 6th and last reason is, "_That in the middle colonies, where the
paper-money has been best supported, the bills have_ never kept to
their nominal value _in circulation; but have constantly depreciated
to a certain degree, whenever the quantity has been increased_."
If the rising of the value of any particular commodity wanted for
exportation, is to be considered as a depreciation of the values of
_whatever remains_ in the country; then the rising of silver above
paper to that height of additional value, which its capability of
exportation only gave it, may be called a depreciation of the paper.
Even here, as bullion has been wanted or not wanted for exportation,
its price has varied from 5_s._ 2_d._ to 5_s._ 8_d._ per ounce. This
is near 10 per cent. But was it ever said or thought on such an
occasion, that all the bank bills, and all the coined silver, and
all the gold in the kingdom, were depreciated 10 per cent? Coined
silver is now wanted here for change, and 1 per cent is given for
it by some bankers: are gold and bank notes therefore depreciated 1
per cent.? The fact in the middle colonies is really this: on the
emission of the first paper-money, a difference soon arose between
that and silver; the latter having a property the former had not,
a property always in demand in the colonies; to wit, its being fit
for a remittance. This property having soon found its value, by
the merchants bidding on one another for it, and a dollar thereby
coming to be rated at 8_s._ in paper-money of New York, and 7_s._
6_d._ in paper of Pensylvania, it has continued uniformly at those
rates in both provinces now near forty years, without any variation
upon new emissions; though, in Pensylvania, the paper-currency has
at times increased from 15,000_l._ the first sum, to 600,000_l._ or
near it. Nor has any alteration been occasioned by the paper-money,
in the price of the necessaries of life, when compared with silver:
they have been for the greatest part of the time no higher than
before it was emitted; varying only by plenty and scarcity, or by a
less or greater foreign demand. It has indeed been usual with the
adversaries of a paper-currency, to call every rise of exchange with
London, a depreciation of the paper: but this notion appears to be by
no means just: for if the paper purchases every thing but bills of
exchange, at the former rate, and these bills are not above one-tenth
of what is employed in purchases; then it may be more properly and
truly said, that the exchange has risen, than that the paper has
depreciated. And as a proof of this, it is a certain fact, that
whenever in those colonies bills of exchange have been dearer, the
purchaser has been constantly obliged to give more in silver, as well
as in paper, for them; the silver having gone hand in hand with the
paper at the rate above-mentioned; and therefore it might as well
have been said, that the silver was depreciated.
There have been several different schemes for furnishing the
colonies with paper-money, that should _not_ be a legal tender, viz.
1. _To form a bank, in imitation of the bank of England, with a
sufficient stock of cash_ to pay the bills on sight.
This has been often proposed, but appears impracticable, under the
present circumstances of the colony-trade; which, as is said above,
draws all the cash to Britain, and would soon strip the bank.
2. _To raise a fund by some yearly tax, securely lodged in the bank
of England as it arises, which should_ (during the term of years
_for which the paper-bills are to be current_) _accumulate to a sum
sufficient to discharge them all at their_ original value.