per
cent., rendered of no more value than the ten pounds would be had
the market fallen in the same proportion; and, consequently, the whole
difference of gain or loss is on the difference in value of the
hundred pounds laid by, viz. from fifty to two hundred. This rage
for raising goods is for several reasons much more the fault of the
Tories than the Whigs; and yet the Tories (to their shame and
confusion ought they to be told of it) are by far the most noisy and
discontented. The greatest part of the Whigs, by being now either in
the army or employed in some public service, are buyers only and not
sellers, and as this evil has its origin in trade, it cannot be
charged on those who are out of it.
But the grievance has now become too general to be remedied by
partial methods, and the only effectual cure is to reduce the quantity
of money: with half the quantity we should be richer than we are
now, because the value of it would be doubled, and consequently our
attachment to it increased; for it is not the number of dollars that a
man has, but how far they will go, that makes him either rich or poor.
These two points being admitted, viz. that the quantity of money
is too great, and that the prices of goods can only be effectually
reduced by, reducing the quantity of the money, the next point to be
considered is, the method how to reduce it.
The circumstances of the times, as before observed, require that the
public characters of all men should now be fully understood, and the
only general method of ascertaining it is by an oath or affirmation,
renouncing all allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and to support
the independence of the United States, as declared by Congress.
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