The New Hampshire Gazette Newspaper, December 25, 1761, Page 1

“ RIDAY, Decemser 25 1761 ‘New-Hampfhire &£ Containing the Frefbef} Advices, To the PRINTER. S 3 welwither to the Commu- nity,of which I am a Member, ‘Tam willing to contribute any thing within my power, that ‘may have a tendericy to enhance or per- petuate the public Good. - For 1 efteemit a duty incumbent on every Individual of any Society, to point out any thing_ that may beof public yility and general Good : And it ought to be the Care of every Man as well as of the Politician to ‘confider and enforce, whatever may have any remote influence on its profperity ; mayadd to its Beauty at home, or Refpetability abroad. I have had it long in my thoughts, to propofe to the Public the laying an Excife on Nonfenfe, on Impropriety and bad Englith. Py Inftances of the improper ufe of words and ungrammatical Englifh are fo com- mon, that, I fancy, 2 confiderable Révenue might be rais’d by an Excife on them. They are undoubtedly unneceflary Articles, and tend greatly to the Damage and Dif- honour of any Community. Anditisa Policy pratis’d by moft wife Nations, to make the Luxuriance, and Carelefnefs of its Members in a great meafure fupport the Government. Whether Taxation by Ex- cife is founded in right Reafon, is a Quef- tion difficult to be difcufs’d, and would require a long train of Reafoning to ‘in- veftigate to generalSatisfattion : But, I'm fure, no Perfon can have any Objection to this particular Excife. For there are none but the Carelefs, and fuch as have a perti- naciousOpinion of their own {elf-fufficiency, that will be liable to'incur the Penalty. The lower Order] of People never appear in Print ; {o that the Duty, I have men- tioned, will fall chiefly on oppulentScriblers and Advertifers. R Allowing thatPerfons for every Violation of the Rules of Grammar, were to pay oné Penny, then,in the year paft, it would have cof. them £.1500, which the Government had reccived and beer enrich’d by. Add to this, the additional Income arifing from wrong Spelling,Impropriety of Language, Norsfenfe -and Impertinence 3° I canoor, upon the whole, think,that theAdvantages, the Provinces on this Continent will re- ceive, can be eftimated at lefs than go or 100 thoufand Founds. Ihave, with great Labour, computed the annual Profit, two or three neighbouring Provinces wou’d reap from fuch an Excife ; and according to0 a very moderate Eftimation, I find,it will amount to 8 or g thoufand Pounds. But by fome hints,that were collected privately from the Printing Houfes, it appears, that this Revenue wou’d be nearly 500 times greater per annum, were it not for the Printers Influence and Diretion. When [ confider what a predigious Alleviation fuch an Excife would make in our provincial Taxes, I am furpriz’d it has aft fo long without being notic’d. The Abufe of Language is a thing fo prejudicial to Society, that,if it were pofii- ‘ble, it ought by all meads to be remov’d or prevented. By Nonfenfe, Laws, Com- patts,Notes,&c. are rendered unintelligible :md of confequence-not binding : And "Nuwms. 273 { Weeks fince this Parik { was firft Pubiik’d, * - {GAZETTE Foreign and Domeflick. Impropfiéty, bad Spclflfig or falfe Gram- now perceive the pernicious Confequente mar may change, disfigure or mutilate the Senfe and Intention of any Writing. Lan- guage therefore may be efteem’d the very Bafis, on which odr focial Connexions and commercial Interefts are originally founded. Becaufe it depends on the Agree- ment and fitnefs of Speech eftablifh’d by Cuftom, that Bargaigs,. Eremiles, and, in fhort, 2i! Dealings of one Man with another of what kind foever muft beafcertain’d and render’d coercive. = Whatever therefore weakens the authority of Language, and renders the Interpretation of it vague and unfetled, does at the fame time weaken the Ties of Society injures Commerce, and renders Obligations lefs certain and detet- minate. : Now if we wou’d avoid the general Confequences of aCorruption of Language, the Derifion of Foreigners, or clandeftine Difgrace, we muft make ufe of fome means to prevent the growing Evil. And Ican think of nene better, upon the whole, than that | have bhinted at. Tho’ in Truth it is impofiible abfolutely to hinder the vary- ing Courfe of Language by obviating Antiquenefs or excluding Innovation : Yet it may be rendered much more fixe and immutable than it now is. And Deviations from the Genius of our Lan- guage or the Practice of Polite Writers; grofs Blunders in Spelling and Errors of Conftrution tmay be avoided intirely. I do not doubr therefore but that fome fuch Scheme as has been propos’d forrectifying thefe Enormites may be very beneficial to the public, and 1 would earneltly recom- mend it to the Confideration of Legiflators as a2 Point worthy of their Attention. Portfmouth, December 8th. w.w. AT e s L O N D O N, September 22. A letter from on beard the -Medway man of war off Pondicherry, Feb. 6. fays, “ The fortifications of Pondicherry, which were builtagreeable to the modern rules of military architeQure, were iofinitely the ftrongeft in all Afia, and might have vied with any of thofe famous ones in Flanders. They will now be foon .rafed. The buil- dings, which are by right the Nabob’s of Arcott, will by his dire€tion be demolifhed; and has declared his inviolable refolution rot to fuffer the French to haveany furure fettlement in his country:—Thus by the reduction of this place, weare likely to make peace in India for remote pofterity. The Armies of France being now in fuchDiftrefs for Provifions, by the Dexte- rity of the Allies,; who have deftroyed fo many of their Magazines, that they are ob- liged to retireinftead of advancing, isit not wonderful that fome of the famous alimen- tary Powder, the Virtues of which Monf. Maubers lately fo much trumpeted abread, is not fent to them now to fupply thisLefs, but perhaps this alimentry Powder never exifted any where but in the Imagination of that Arch Fibber, and was compofed of no other Ingredient than his common’ Duft, which he might hope to throw -into the Eyes of fome of our great Men, by Way of terrifying them at theMenac of an Invafion : which having had no Effect, we of Mocking, that it is catching. and thae now their Armies are really in Want of fhit very Powder whicll they before only Jefted wich ; and thus it always ifares with Fools and Knaves, who attempt to be wit- ty or deceive, that Ridicule ora Lath turns on themfelves, ; A Gentlemar wha came over from France loft week, and has. travelled tbrough that kingdom from ltaly to the Netberland fays, that 1be feenes of poverty be met with, par- . ticularly in the willages and country towns, much exceeded bis expetiations :—Their com- merce is ruin’d, their manufallories languifh, and money is [0 _fcarce, that the produce of the land is fold at the firft band much below a living price.—Good Burgundy be could bave bought on the [pot for frve or fix livres a cajk, containing 36 gallons. There was & Projpeét of a plentiful barvef and vintage, but there feemed a'want of bands to get it in. In fbort, their German war bas exbausted the nation ; becaufe they bave no trade fufficient to fupport the large remittance they make 10 Ruffia, &e. ; Yefterday a poor iman, who bad been feized by a very firong prefs gang vffered 10 lay *em a wager, that if they would leave bim but one band at liberty, they would not be able to bold bim for threc minutes. The challenge being accepted, the Facks all got round bim, expelting to fee bim attempt an efcape, in or- der to prevent which, fome beld bim by the collar, others by the arm, otbers by the [houl- der, and all by fome part, "keeping bim fixed among them, as faft &s if be bad been in @ vice: when the poor man-very calmly put- ting bis hand into bis pocket,drew out a pro- teftion,at the fight of which they marched off confeffing be bad won the wager, and lefe bim to purfue bis own bufinsfs. : Lonnan, Oflober We are informed that Mr. Weddington, who ac~ companied the Rev. Mr. Mafkelyne, F. R. S. to Std Helena, in the Prince Hencry Indiaman, is returned in the Oxiord Indiaman, and relates as follows: That they arrived at St. H:leca the 6th of April, with their inftruments in good condition ; they had an obfervatory made upon a hill sbout half a mile higher than the furface of the fea, wherein they had their inftruments for oblerving the traafit of Venus cver the Sun ; that they made faveral obfer- vations of the tranfiting of Venus over the Sun’s difk, but could notfee the contalls, thedsy being very rainy aad cloudy. Their oblervations of fundry kinds will be laid before the Royal Saciety at their next meeting ; allo the refults of their obfervations made on cheir voysge of finding the longitude of the thip at fes, and when made, the ifland ; like= wife of the obfervations made on his returnin the Oxlord; which longitude obfervations of the ecliptic dillc of the fun snd moon, or moon snd ftars, did not differ more than 2o miles with the longitude of portand point in the Britifh channel. * They depar< ted from St. Helensthe 30th of June, and made no Jand before they artived in the Britilh channel the 8th of September laft. The example of the King of Denmaik has engag ed a piivate gentleman of Copenhagen to devote the fum of 100 rixdollars, for four prizes of 5o rixdols " Jars each, for the beft anfwers to the following queft- ions, to be delivered before the feaft of St. John 1761, viz. : .9 Why have we abfolute jn¢ed of & divine & Redeemer ¢ 2. ¢¢ What are the advantage and defells of the ¢ Dynith language, compared with the German and ¢ French langusges? 2 3. © To what point fathérs without prejudice to ¢ the ftate, may and ought toinfpire their children s 'with love for the public weal ? ; 4 “ Which. countrys haye becn the moft happy, o ) thgle