No government has preserved more general and uninterrupted tranquillity
for a long period, than that of Connecticut. This is a strong proof of
the force of habit, and the danger that ever attends great alterations
of government or a suspension of law. Every system of civil policy must
take its complexion from the spirit and manners of the people.
Whatever political constitutions may be formed on paper, or in the
philosopher's closet, those only can be permanent which arise out of the
genius of the people.
A jealous uneasy temper has sometimes appeared, among the people of this
State; but as this has always proceeded from restless, ambitious men,
whose designs have been reprobated as soon as detected, this uneasiness
has always subsided without any violence to the Constitution. We do not
advert to the time when the course of law has been forcibly obstructed
in Connecticut.
In the middle and southern States the corrupt English mode of elections
has been adopted: We see men meanly stoop to advertise for an office, or
beg the votes of their countrymen. In those States elections are often
mere riots; almost always attended with disputes and bloody noses, and
sometimes with greater violence. In Connecticut, a man never advertises
for an office, nor do we know that a man ever solicited a vote for
himself. We cannot name the election that produced a dispute, even in
words.
It belongs to the unprincipled of other States and countries to deride
religion and its preachers. It belongs to the coxcombs of courts, the
productions of dancing schools and playhouses, to ridicule our bashful
deportment and simplicity of manners. We revere the ancient institutions
of schools and churches in this State. We revere the discipline which
has given such a mild complexion to the manners of its inhabitants, and
secured private satisfaction and public tranquillity.
_Paper money_ is the present hobby horse of the States, and every State
has more or less of the _paper madness_. What a pity it is mankind will
not discern their right hands from their left. _Cash is scarce_, is the
general cry. Well, this proves nothing more than that the balance of
trade is against us, and that we eat, drink, and wear more foreign
commodities than we can pay for in produce: That is, we spend more than
we earn; or in other words, _we are poor_.
But nothing shows the folly of people more, than their attempts to
remedy the evil by a _paper currency_. This is _ignorance_, it is
_absurdity_ in the extreme. Do not people know that the addition of
millions and millions of money does not increase the value of a
circulating medium one farthing. Do they not know that the value of a
medium ought not to be increased beyond a certain ratio, even if it
could be? and that to increase the circulating cash of one State beyond
the circulating cash of other States, is a material injury to it. These
propositions are as demonstrable as any problem in Euclid. Ten millions
of dollars in specie were supposed to be the medium in America before
the war. Congress issued at first five millions in bills. As these came
_into_ circulation, specie went _out_; consequently they held their
nominal and real value on par, for the nominal value of the medium was
not much increased. Congress sent out another sum in bills; the nominal
value of the medium was doubled, the bills sunk one half, and the real
value of the medium remained the same. This was the subsequent progress;
every emission sunk the real value of bills, and two hundred millions of
dollars were, in the end, worth just ten millions in specie, and no
more. Towards the close of the war, the specie in America was more than
doubled; it sunk to less than half its former value, and the paper
bills sunk in the same proportion; from forty to eighty for one, nearly.
We had too much specie in the country, in the years 1782 and 1783; it
ruined hundreds of merchants, and injured the community.
But it is said, we want a circulating medium. This is not true; we have
too much in circulation. The specie and paper now circulating in
America, amounts to fifty or sixty millions of dollars; whereas we want
not more than ten or fifteen millions. The paper is therefore sunk in
real value, so as to reduce the real value of the whole medium to that
sum which is wanted. We may make millions of paper if we please; but we
shall not add one farthing to the property of the State. Money is not
wealth in a State, but the representativ of wealth. A paper currency may
answer a temporary purpose of enabling people to pay debts; but it is
not an advantage even to the debtor, unless it is depreciated; and in
this case it is an injury to the creditor. If the paper retains its
value, the debtor must sooner or later purchase it with the produce of
his labor; and if it depreciates, it is the tool of knaves while it
circulates; it ruins thousands of honest unsuspecting people; it gives
the game to the idle speculator, who is a nuisance to the State; it
stabs public credit and private confidence; and what is worse than all,
it unhinges the obligations which unite mankind. A fluctuation of medium
in a State makes more fatal ravages among the morals of people, than a
pestilence among their lives. O America! happy would it have been for
thy peace, thy morals, thy industry, if, instead of a depreciation of
paper bills and securities, stamped with public faith, millions of
infernal spirits had been let loose among thy inhabitants! Never, never
wilt thou experience the return of industry, economy, private confidence
and public content, till every species of depreciated and fluctuating
medium shall be annihilated; till Legislatures learn to revere justice,
and dread a breach of faith more than the vengeance of vindictiv
heaven!
Americans! you talk of a scarcity of cash. Well, the only remedy is, to
enable Congress to place our commerce on a footing with the trade of
other nations. Foreign States have nothing to do with Massachusetts or
New York. They must make treaties with _United America_, or not make
them at all. And while we boast of the independence of particular
States, we lose all the benefits of independence. For fear that Congress
would abuse their powers and enrich themselves, we, like the dog in the
manger, will not even enrich ourselves. We complain of poverty, and yet
_giv_ the profits of our trade to foreign nations. Infatuated men! We
have one truth to learn--_That nothing but the absolute power of
regulating our commerce, vested in some federal head_, can ever restore
to us cash, or turn the balance of trade in our favor. New York alone,
by its advantageous situation, is growing rich upon the spoils of her
neighbors, and impoverishing the continent to fill her own treasury.
Lawyers, you say, O deluded Americans! are an evil. Will you always be
fools? Why lawyers are as good men as others: I venture to say further,
that lawyers in this country have devised and brought about the wisest
public measures that any State has adopted. My countrymen, the expense
of supporting a hundred lawyers is a very great and a very needless
expense. You pay to lawyers and courts every year thirty or forty
thousand pounds. A great expense, indeed! But courts and lawyers are not
to be blamed. The people are the cause of the evil, and they alone, as
individuals, are able to remedy it. And yet the remedy is very simple.
_Cease to run in debt_, or _pay your debts punctually_; then lawyers
will cease to exist, and court houses will be shut. If you wish or
expect any other remedy than this, you certainly will be disappointed. A
man, who purposely rushes down a precipice and breaks his arm, has no
right to say, that surgeons are an evil in society. A Legislature may
unjustly limit the surgeon's fee; but the broken arm must be healed, and
a surgeon is the only man to do it.
My friends, learn wisdom. You are peaceable yet, and let the
distractions of your neighbors teach you to preserve your tranquillity.
Spend less money than you earn, and you will every day grow richer.
Never run in debt, and lawyers will become farmers. Never make paper
money, and you will not cheat your citizens, nor have it to redeem.
Above all, pay your public debts, for independence and the confederation
require it.
No. XII.