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A Second LETTER TO Merchant in LONDON, Concerning a late Combination in the Massachusetts-Bay in New-Eng­land, to impose or force a private Currency, called LAND BANK MONEY.

SIR,

ABove you have a Copy of mine, February 21st per Skinner. I am ex­treamly glad, that I can send you so soon, the Answer of the Board, as the Directors of this Combination, or Bubble, call them­selves, to that Letter.

I imagine, that when you have perused what they have printed in our News-Papers, and in their inclosed Answer, you may be apt to think, that without any Interposition of the Government, this Bubble would have died a natural Death: The Managers appearing too weak, and too little ac­quainted with the World, to carry on an Affair, la­bouring under so many Difficulties and Disadvanta­ges.

[Page 2] The Substance of the following Lines, is in it self obvious to a Gentleman of your Discern­ment; but for the Benefit of the blinded and deluded Multitude, I am obliged to be plain and particular.

Nothing is more popular than a pretended Pa­triotism, to cover the most iniquitous Schemes. It grieves good People to find some who have no­thing, less at Heart than the publick Good of the Province, to set up for Patriots, by hypocri­tical Harangues to the Multitude upon all Oc­casions; such who have formerly been very ob­noxious: Witness, the mischievous and chargeable Differences, between Governour Shute, and our Assemblies; Governour Shute's Six Complaints against the Province, and a consequential Ex­planatory curtailing Charter: Such who at present, as if resolute, in provinciae perniciem are perswa­ding the good People, (naturally and ever Loyal but when debauch'd by evil-minded Men) to run counter to Resolves of Parliament, to Reports of the proper Boards, to King's Instructions, and to repeated Proclamations of our Provincial Government: Such, who in expectation of a little ill acquired Self-Interest, are willing to forfeit the Remains of our Charter, and all other Priviledges; having little or nothing to lose.

Can it be imagined, by any impartial sober thinking Man, if such Schemes were for the general Good of the Country, that Gentlemen whose larges Interests here oblige them to study & pro­mote the Good of the Country, should so vigo­rously oppose it: This in not a Difference from Humour, Caprice, or blind civil or ecclesiastick party Rage: It is Self Preservation; that We may not be defrauded of our Properties, by a Combination or Band of—. In short, the Struggle is generally [Page 3] between the Creditor and Debtor part of the Pro­vince. The Debtors say, in effect, We have had a Meeting, and are combined and resolved, to pay only so much in the Pound, at a long For­bearance, by a bare-faced, fraudulent Contrivance; The Creditors to prevent this, are laudably con­triving to dissolve this Combination.

How undutifully, and unnaturally, do they expose this Country, by straining a Point in their own Favour. Thus, the lower House of As­sembly acted not against it, therefore their Al­lowance of it is necessarily implied, and conse­quently the Combination is just and legal; not­withstanding the most explicit Resolves and Re­ports in Great Britain, and Proclamations here against it. They give a long and particular De­tail of a Transaction, which the real Well-wishers to the Province wish buried in Oblivion. The Members of all Bodies Politick, as well as Na­tural, are subject to flight Indispositions, without any Danger to the Constitution. It is true, say they, the Governor and Council deemed the Combi­nation irregular and issued their Proclamations against the Currency of their sham Money; but some thought otherwise, and took it: In short, they seem to intimate, that since they have put their Hands to the Plough, &c—. They give out that the Governor and Council are no Go­vernment, properly so called; are we in a State of Nature, or Anarchy, when the General As­sembly is not sitting?

I beg Leave to produce some authentick Instances of our Provincial Governments Vigilancy, in this Af­fair of the greatest Consequence: The late Gene­ral Assembly in their Sessions March last, resolved, ‘That these Notes are upon so slender a Founda­tion, that the Circulation of them, among the [Page 4] People of this Province, may have a great Ten­dency to depreciate the Bills of Credit already circulating, and consequently to endamage his Majesty's good Subjects as to their Properties.—The Governor and Council, by a Proclama­tion, 17th July last, ‘Tending to defraud Men of their Substance, and to disturb the Peace and good Order of the People, and to give great Interruption, and bring much Confusion into their Business.’—The Governor in his Speech to our Assembly, 22d November last, ‘This Scheme appears, to the Governor and Coun­cil, big with so many Mischiefs to the People—to take Notes for Money, which have no honest or solid Foundation—and in the End ruinous to the Possessors.—Mr. Belcher in his late Speech to the Assembly of his other Government, New Hampshire, ‘A Combination of Persons to e­mit a large Quantity of STAMPT PAPER, (an Expression of good Propriety) to pass in Lieu of Money, upon a base and fraudulent Founda­tion.

People may, by the by, observe, that the Scur­rilities, as they call them, of our Letter, are only the same Epithets used by the Government here, and by the Boards at Home. The Board of Trade by way of Complaint, say, "That the Governor had sent a Message to the House of Representa­tives, and they refused to pay any Regard there­to—The Illegality of the Scheme, and the great Confusion that must attend it—a pernicious Scheme of dangerous Tendency, and must create great In­terruption and Confusion in Business.

Truth is the only Author or Authority which we own. Because the Peice sent you was wrote in an epistolary Manner, they ascribe to one Person, the joint Sentiments of many of the most considerable [Page 5] Gentlemen, Merchants, and others, of this Province, studious of its Welfare; and do in a most unmannerly, vulgar, mean and false Way calum­niate a Gentleman of his Majesty's Council here: Their Expressions are too gross to bear a Repe­tition.

I.These Directors, in their Answer, cannot help ex­posing the Bubble. The proper Attributes or Marks of a Bubble, are to be found in every Page.

1 In the Title Page, they call it the Manufac­tory Undertaking. They have set up no Manu­factory of any Kind, they have not so much as projected any, except the manufacturing of base Bills, or Money, from Plates, Paper and Ink. In all Nations, and their Provinces, there are three Branches of Business, viz. Trade, the most profi­table; Manufactures; and Produce; the least lu­crative, but the most necessary.

They first set out upon the Footing of Pro­duce or Land, and called themselves the Land Bank. Afterwards upon more mature Delibera­tion, they called it the Manufactory Undertaking, (the Words of the Title Page) as being a better bubbling Name: And lately having sent some small Ventures, BILKT from the Graziers, and Hog Drivers, to Sea, upon the Partners Risque. The Directors may now call themselves, a Board of Trade and Navigation: Or rather the Combination may assume this Name, The Grand Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England for Land, for Manufacture, and for Trade and Navigation, with a Power of setting & fixing the Rate of Interest; and letting Money at said Interest.

This is a short History of the Farce, which of it self is ridiculous and contemptible; but their [Page 6] Numbers require the Circumspection of the Govern­ment, to prevent Mutiny, Sedition and Riots.

If we could suppose their Bills to obtain a Cur­rency, the Consequence would be ruinous.

Their Bills are founded, as they say, upon the best Security, viz. Land Security: But by their Articles, this Security lessens five per Cent. per Ann. and after 20 Years entirely vanishes; the 600,000 in Bills being still current, (for by their fraudu­lent, tho' weakly contrived Scheme, their Bills are never to be cancelled) hath lost its Land Secu­rity, and is no more a Land Bank, but a Bank of insolvent Directors: that is, a Bankruptcy ensues, and the poor Possessors of their Bills will be the inextricable Sufferers; for the Rich, and Men of Experience in Business, are in no Danger of be­ing cheated, where the Fraud is so obvious.

The 8 per Cent. per Ann. including the 3 per Cent. at Interest, if it could be supposed, paid in punc­tually by the Subscribers; the Directors in the Space of 12 or 13 Years, would have the whole or full Value of the 600,000 l. in their own Hands, to be improved, if they please, for their own sole Benefit; because in the Nature of the Scheme no Part of it is ever to be cancelled, but to be im­proved in Trade, or by Bonds at Interest.

They frankly acknowledge their Incapacity, as to Trade, and that Banks, legally constituted, ought not to Trade; but they being under no legal Restrictions, the Directors think that by in­volving the Partnership in Trade, they will have a greater Latitude of Ch—

N. B. These initial Letters are no designed Pun, upon the Name of One of the Directors.

2dly, All Notes, publick or private, which are not a ready-money Tender in Law, ought to be, and are, according to the Custom of Merchants [Page 7] and Tradesmen, received in pay, at a Discount, according to the Distance of Payment, or effec­tual Demand in Law. These Notes are for 20 Years, therefore they are so many Years Interest at 6 per Cent. worse than ready Money; but the In­terest, exceeding the Principal, these Land Bank Notes or Bills are in ready Money worth no­thing, with an additional Cheat. The Infatuation of receiving, and paying away such Notes, may obtain among the Deluded for a short time; but in the Nature of Things cannot subsist long: And the Possessors will suffer the entire Loss, except­ting what may be recovered from the small Estates of the Signers: Then the Projectors and Mana­gers, who at this Time excite the Populace a­gainst their Well-wishers and best Friends, will themselves become the Objects of the popular Rage.

The Signers are not capable to make good to the Possessors but a very small Part of the Value. As to the main pretended Security of Covenants and JUGGLES among the Partnership and Directors, they may indulge or release one another at Pleasure: Actions of Covenant broken, can only be among the GANG, without Regard to the Possessor. There is nothing, in the Face of the Bill, ascer­tain'd to the Possessor, but Goods of an arbitrary Assortment and Price; not effectually demandable till after Twenty Years.

We have a fresh and publickly well vouched Instance in Mr. Samuel Allen of Manchester, a Part­ner, refusing to accept in Payment their own Bank Bills. The Directors, by a publick Advertisement, do not deny the Fact; but with a Quibble or Eva­sion do affirm, That a few of the Partners refu­sing it, is not properly the Partnership refusing it. Every Individual of them being under Co­venant [Page 8] to receive it, and their not publishing at the same time their Intention of suing him for Covenant broken, is a notorious Instance of their indulging or releasing one another at Pleasure. In these Times of a Scarcity of Medium, good Money is readily embraced by every Body. Where a Person by Quibbles refuses Money, say­ing, I chuse not to receive it now, but at another Time; I will not receive it by the Hands of such a one, but by the Hands of such a one; tho' both equally authentick: I will not receive it in such a Manner, but after some other Manner, &c. Such Triflings in the common Way of Dealing would necessarily infer, that the Money, or this Sort of Pay, was not agreeable or good. Not only private Persons of the Partnership, but their Board of Directors refuse their own Bills. The most essential Clause in the Face of their Bills, to pro­cure them a current Credit is, That they shall be received for any Stock in their Treasury. There are to be found there at present, a few Things EN­VEIGLED from some weak, unthinking Persons. When People bring their own Bank Bills to pur­chase any of these Commodities, they refuse these Bills by sundry flat, bare-faced Evasions: Such as, We are not at Leisure, We have no such Goods. If Provisions, for Instance, are called for, their Answer is, that they are to be ship'd off, but not to be sold here: Deal Boards being demanded, they say, that they are to be sold for Rum, Mo­lasses, Sugar, &c. as having Occasion for such Things; but not for Land Bank Money, not ha­ving Occasion for any Money at present, &c, &c, &c.

3. The Partners to expect Dividends of 3 per Cent. per Aun. on the Principal; whereas the Charge of Management will sink 2 per Cent. of this, the [Page 9] Directors giving 1 per Cent more than the Mar­ket Price, for Produce and Manufactures, and selling 1 per Cent under the Market Price, is in all 4 per Cent. that is, instead of a Dividend there must be a Call or Loss of one per Cent amongst the Partners.

4. Having chalkt out a Phantom, or built a Castle in the Air, they endeavour to perswade the Credulous, that the Scheme is real, good, and in every Respect will finished. The first Year there will be a vast Stock of 46,000 l, in their Treasury. If they expected their Bubble to live longer than one Year, they should have carried so gross a Deception further forward. Of the Principal 5 per Cent. paid in is 30,000 l. one Years Interest of 600,000 l. at 3 per Cent. is 18,000 l. in all 48,000 l out of this 4 per Cent. on the Principal of 600,000 l. is sunk, as above, remains 24,000 l. from this deduct Deficiencies of a generally in­solvent Partnership ( if they pay their former Debts) there will remain a very small Stock to circulate a large Sum of 600,000 l. a slender Foun­dation for so large a Structure; but Castles in the Air require no Foundation.

We shall encrease our Produce (this would have been Banter from any but themselves) in a short Time, so as to Ballance all Accompts with Europe, consequently there will be no demand for Silver; Silver, that irreconcilable Enemy to Pa­per Money and Bubbles. When poor People can have present Money (tho' only nominal) on so easy Terms, and not effectually payable until after 20 Years, can it be supposed that they will be as­siduous in Labour to increase our Produce and Manufacture? No, they will become Idlers and Extravagant, that is, they will increase our Im­ports, (it is the Consumers finally, not the Venders [Page 10] or Merchants who increase our Imposts; and in fact, where sumptuary Laws take Place, they are levelled against the Consumers or Wearers) and entail their Debts upon Posterity.

5. In their Treasury will be Choice of Variety of Goods; therefore their Bills are better than Cash Notes or Bonds, which are restricted to one Specie, viz Sil­ver. This is an Argument scarce to be used with a Fool or a Child; it is in favour of Shop Notes, which Tradesmen & Artificers well know to their Sorrow to be 25 to 50 per Cent. worse than Cash; and at present their Bills suffer a greater Dis­count than do Shop Notes. The Nova Scotia Wheat, the beginning of January last; and the Di­rectors Logwood, the beginning of this current March, bought and sold by the Directors, at a great Discount upon their Land Bank Bills, is noto­rious.

6. They value themselves upon their Bills being a Currency which will not be hoarded up. This Argument holds also good in the Case of Counterfeits and refuse Bills; if a worse or less valuable Cur­rency could be contrived, they also would be hoarded; but in this Respect they are safe. Where there are several concomitant Currencies, that which is generally commercial, viz. Silver, will be shipt off; and of the local, or provincial Currencies, the most valuable will be hoarded up; and the baser only, if in sufficient Quantities, will be SHUFFLED from Hand to Hand, as a com­mon Currency. Thus if this bubbling Money should take place, publick Bills will be hoarded,

7. In General they say, It has many good Effects of a Currency, and particularly mention, only its paying off small Debts, in an Instance of ten Actions in all to the Value of 20 l prevented thereby. No Per­son ventures to take it for large Debts, a few In­stances [Page 11] of Collusion excepted. A parallel Case happened in the Province of Main, about two Years since, some Thousands of Pounds, in Webb's Counterfeit five Pound Rhode-Island Bills, were paid away and received for a considerable Time, not­withstanding they were generally known to be Counterfeits.

I cannot avoid, by the by, mentioning their Indiscretion in bringing the late New-Hampshire Paper Money Bubble upon the Stage, which tho upon a better Footing, died a natural Death in its In­fancy; the Signers and Undertakers refusing to take it in Payments. Our present Bubble lan­guishes in the same Malady, some of the Direc­tors, and others of the Partnership, refusing it, as may be seen in our News Papers.

8. To prevent the apprehended Confusions, they modestly propose, that Authority should give this Undertaking a Sanction. An Act of Indemnity is more than they may expect. This would be giving a Sanction to Confusion, to prevent Con­fusion; to establish Robbery to prevent the Crime of Robbery; to establish Iniquity by Law, for the Benefit of a few evil-minded Men, to the great Damage of this Country, and of the British Merchants trading to New England, and to entail Misery upon our Posterity.

The most odious and obnoxious Qualification of a Combination, is the Formidableness of their Number: Instead of using any Policy to palliate their Numbers, they boldly assert, that they are ten times more than we imagine, with a vast Number of Military Officers, and Gospel Mini­sters. The Directors, perhaps little acquainted with the Propriety of Words, and Decency of Things, assume the Stile of the King in Council, and other Boards in Great Britain, viz. At a Board, &c. Present, R. A. &c.

[Page 12] II. Their specifick Answers to sundry Particulars in our Letter, are silly, weak Quibbles, Subterfuges Evasions, or designed (I shall not use the gross vulgar Word Fal­sities) Mistakes.

They say, 1st, Our various Paper Currencies occasion no more Confusion here, than Variety of Coins do in Eu­rope; not considering, that the various expressed Va­lues in the Faces of the Bills, differ by various fluctua­ting Discounts, from their actual current Values. As to the new Projections of private Currencies, if every Person were to be in a State of Nature as to Currencies, to receive and pay away at what Rate he pleases, and should have no Reason to complain, because it is his own free Act; what inexpressible Confusion would this make in a Community.

If our Townships are such independent lawless Corpo­rations, to vote Land-Bank Bubbles, Tobacco-Papers, or any Thing they please for Town-Rates; an Act of As­sembly would be very seasonable for their better Regu­lation.

2dly, It was not the Merchants, but the Officers and Servants of the Government, who gave the publick Treasu­ry Notes a Currency. It was the Merchants, Tradesmen, and Ar [...]cers, who received them from the Servants of the Government, made them current. The Partners in this Combination, receiving their Quotas of Land-Bank Bills from the Directors, is not giving them a Cur­rency, (for thus there would be no Doubt of their Cur­rency) It is the People who receive them from the Partners that give them a Currency.

3dly, Too great a Proportion of our Land▪ Men going to Sea, is the Reason why our Country is so poor. In Great Britain and Holland, many going to Sea, is the Reason of these Countries being so rich: Hands in Trade earn more than by common Labour. It is one of their Pa­radoxes, That too many Hands are employed at Sea: Trade in all Countries is more profitable than Produce: Moreover, a Nursery of Seamen is what the British Go­vernment are obliged to have always at Heart.

4thly, Regiments of veteran Officers resigning rather than obey the Governour's Proclamations, is a publick Ca­lamity. Where Officers, civil or military, deny the Or­ders [Page 13] of their Constituents, their Superiors in discharge of their Duty, and Trust, cannot avoid suspending or dismissing of them. I shall not play the Pedant, by ob­serving, That Veteran is applicable to Troops, not to Officers; the proper Expression is, old experienced Of­ficers, which is never applied to militia Officers. Their whole Piece is full of Improprieties in Diction.

The Managers spiriting the People to Mutiny, Sedi­tion and Riots; they call some Strokes on the Merchant, by Abuse extorted.

5thly, In answer to the Vastness of the unlimited Sum of their Bills, They say, All Statesmen agree, That Money can never be too plenty, while it does not rent under Six per Cent. per Annum; but we have made a Rule, not to let it under Six per Cent. therefore we can never make too much of it. This from a visionary Bed­lamite would deserve Compassion, but from a BARE-FA­CED CHEAT, the highest Indignation: As if they could procure an Act of Assembly, that no Money shall be let at Interest but by this Combination, and with the above imaginary engrossing of Produce, Manufactures, Trade and Navigation; would perswade the Populace, That they have also engrossed the Affair of letting Money at Interest.

6thly, The large Quantity of their Land-Bank Bills cannot depreciate our Province Bills, because after one Year there will be none of these existant. This is an un­pardonable Evasion in some of the Directors, who must know that there are considerably more than 100,000l. of Province Bills extant, not assessed in the Emission Acts, and may, as formerly be postponed at Pleasure.

They (tho' inconsistently with themselves) well ob­serve in another Place, That the large and frequent E­missions of Paper Money, sick their own Credit, and in­crease the Necessity of making more, by continued increasing Quantities to make good the continued depreci­ating Qualities of the same: And thus by a continued Progression, render the Quantity vastly great, and the Quality or Value contemptibly small; This is the un­answerable Argument against increasing Paper Cur­rencies.

[Page 14] 7thly, The Objection of their emitting any enor­mous Quantity of these Bills, and of more MONEY­MAKING Companies setting up, so as to render them too plenty, and consequently a Drug, or too cheap; they say that a Law may be made to prevent this Licentious­ness. This Answer implies, a Condemnation from their own Mouths, viz. That until such a Law is made, their Combination is irregular and mischievous.

8thly, The wicked corrupt Principle alledged, must be in the Projectors, J. C. and Others, but not in the pre­sent Managers, the Directors, the Constitution being setled before their Management commenced. A bad Memory is of bad Implication: In another Place they tell us, It is not the same Scheme with the first projected, which was found Fault with by the former General Assembly; but a new Model contrived by the present Directors, with­out any general Meeting.

9thly, The Managers had not given proper Security for their good Management and Quota of Bills, because very busy: They cannot be more particular in an Answer to the alledged Irregularities and other Difficulties in their Scheme, because their Leisure does not permit. This feigned Hurry of Mind, is no good Symptom in their Favour. It is a most flagrant, ABANDON'D Imposition, to tell the World, that Securities for most of the Quotas of the Directors, are to be found upon Record, 21st Fe­bruary last, the Date of our Letter. In the County of Suffolk are Five of the Nine Directors: Upon Enquiry, None of their Mortgages were then upon P [...]ord; but being alarm'd, Samuel Watts enters his Mortgages 23d February, Peter Chardon 5th of March, and Samuel Adams 7th of March; the others, viz. Judge Auchmuty's (CHAIRMAN) and William Stoddard's not yet entered.

10thly, The Directors are not in Pepetuity, because removable for Misdemeanor: And when thus turned out, they have no Part in the Negative; therefore the Direc­tors have no Negative in Resolves of a general Meeting. Such silly Quibbles are an Argument against the Un­dertaking with Men of Sense. A Patentee in Office, tho' liable to be turned out for Misdemeanour, is not­withstanding called a Patentee for Life. Can the Go­vernour of a Province be said to have no Negative in [Page 15] their General Assemblies, because he may be supersed or dismiss'd? Such childish Quibbles are unbecoming a BOARD.

11thly, That the Bills bear no Interest to the Posses­sors is notoriously false; because the Mortgagers pay to the Partnership, that is, to themselves, 3 per Cent. per Ann. This is trifling to an unpardonable Degree. The Pos­sessors of the Bills have no Benefit from this: The Partnership itself, notwithstanding of this 3 per Cent, run yearly One per Cent. in Debt, as is before demonstrated.

12thly, The Partners have received a valuable Con­sideration for their Mortgages, because the Signers, as I said, may perhaps be able to pay Two Shillings in the Pound, which they, in their blundering Manner, call Two per Cent; they mean, that in an Acquittance, these Words, Five Shillings in full of all Accounts, is as good as Five hundred Pounds, or Five thousand Pounds, in Ballance of all Accompts: such silly Evasions require no serious Answer.

Of a Piece with this is their Assertion, That the origi­nal South-Sea Allowance of one twelfth of one per Cent. of their principal Stock, is proportionably four Times as much as two per Cent. per Annum of the Principal of this Bubble. By adducing such Blunders, they sufficient­ly expose themselves, without any further Notice of ours.

13thly, As for the Oppulency of the Signers of the Sil­ver-Money Notes, and of the Signers of the Land-Bank Notes; they dare venture the Issue of the Case upon it. A particular Answer would give room to expose the mean Circumstances of most of the Signers or Directors; but this we chuse to avoid.

I shall conclude with this Observation, concerning the Cause of Paper-Money, publick, or private, depreciating from Time to Time. It is a received, but artful Pre­judice, instill'd by designing Men, into the Minds of the Vulgar; That Merchants, and money'd Men, giving an advanced Price for Silver is the Occasion of it: If we reflect seriously, Can it be supposed, that these Men in general would thus depreciate their own outstanding Book-Debts and Bonds, which at all Times are of vastly greater Sums than the Silver they may purchase from Time to Time: This would also rise the Price of all other Returns upon themselves.

[Page 16] Merchants Notes equal to Silver, at a determined Value, paid away, received, or bonded, they call Usury. I am no Friend to private Currencies of any Kind; but upon this Occasion, must remind the Land-Bank A­bettors, that to serve their Cause, they allow of Incon­sistencies in themselves, viz. not long since they told us, that seeing Specialties, are not forbid in the Law; private People must blame themselves, Orphans must blame their Guardians, and Widows their Advisers, if they lose by Contracts made in depreciating Bills.

Writing upon this Subject, Sir, by setting the Affair in a clear Light, may be of some Use to the proper Per­sons at Home; I wish it could have the same good Ef­fect upon the deluded Multitude in this Province who receive it for no other Reason, but that they can pass it again. People of clear Estates and who value themselves upon the Character of honest Men, despise and abhor it as a barefaced popular Fraud. Insolvent Debtors catch hold of any Thing for a present Reprieve. Some Sol­vents, void of Honesty readily embrace Bubbles to de­coy and make a Prey of the weak unthinking Multitude, such will no more hearken to Reason than an incorrigi­ble Thief will to the eighth Commandment.

I am, Your most humble Servant.

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