Classic Poem

To General Howe, Commissioner in chief
To grant all injured Subjects sure Relief ,
We, the Subscribers, beg leave to present
This State of Facts, by way of — Compliment :

That long before the date of Whig and Tory
The Paper-Money was this Country's Glory;
In all our Dealings did its Value hold
In fix'd Proportion to the Coins of Gold: —

That when the British Troops first took Possession
It pass'd as formerly by your Concession: —
That with the Fleet came up the Merchant-Stranger ,
Who, by refusing, brought it into danger:
(Inform'd perhaps that still in Rebel's hands
Lay all the mortgage-Deeds and mortgag'd Lands,
And reas'ning thence have so mistook the Case
They hold the Money's tottering as its base )
And certain Citizens , we must confess it t'ye,
Have brought their Brethren into sad necessity.
That if supprest, it may be mildly said
We have no Medium adequate to Trade;
And if the Army sell their Bills at all
Th' Exchange they sell at must be very small.
That it received the Sanction of the Crown:
And many Friends of Government in Town,
Sold each Half-Foe for Twelve Pounds , Congress Trash,
Which purchas'd Six Pounds of this Legal Cash;
Whereby they have, if you will bar the bubble,
Instead of losing, made their Money double:
Then pity them, the widow and the orphan —
Nor heed the partial Tale from Price or Coffin.
That in the Year (the famous) Fifty-Nine —
A Year which must in Britain's Annals shine —
The Army wanting Cash obtain'd the Loan
Of Paper Money, Fifty Thousand Pounds:
By which their Bills, that scarce a Man would buy,
Advanc'd Fourteen per Cent immediately,
Its true the Army now has Cash enough;
And therefore should support our Paper Stuff,
That a large Sum , collected with dispatch,
Lays in the Treas'rers hands to pay the Watch ,
Who will not take it , unless in the Shops
And Market it will buy them Food and Slops.
Our Patrole therefore will have Guns and Swords ,
Instead of Lanthorns, Staves, and empty Words.
That if you will assume our Load of Ills ,
Our Paper's ready to exchange for Bills ,
To pay our Friends in England with your Gold ,
And leave your Officers our Rags to hold.
These and more cogent Reasons might be told
Why Paper Money should be par with Gold.

We pray the General in a general Way
Would grant Redress, and that without Delay,
And Value give the Paper we possess: —
And then — We'll sign the long-since penn'd Address .