The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1783-05-31 00:00:00, page 1

PAPERS referred to in the Address and
Recommendations of Congress to the ref
peftive States, (inferred in our lad.)
[PAPER No. I. ]
An Estimate of the National Debt, viz.
Livres. Dollars.
Due to the Farmers General)
of France, ) 1,000,000
To Individuals in France<
on unliquidated ac- ) 3,000,000
counts, efiimated'
To the Crown of France,^
- including a Loan off
10,000,000 borrowed 1 o
in Holland, and for( 28 >°° o >°°°
which France is Gua- 1
ran'ee, J
To Ditto, a Loan for),
1783. ) 6,000,00 0
38,000,000
at 5 livres 8 sous per dol. 7,037,037
To Lenders in Holland, received inl
part of the Loan contracted for by ) 671,200
Mr. J. Adams, 1,673,000 florins,'
Borrowed in Spain by Mr. Jay, 150,000
One year's Interest of Dutch Loan of\ <0 Q
ia,000,000 Livres, ) 26 ^48
Foreign Debt, ift January, 1783, 7,885,085
DOMESTIC DEBT.
On Loan-Office Certificates) , R
reduced to Specie value, ) ll# 4 3, 02
Interest unpaid for 1781, 190,000
Ditto, 1782, 687,828
Credit to Sundries in Treafu-) ~
ry Books, ) 6 3 8 > 0 42
Army Debt to gift December, ) 6
1782, / 5# 35>
Unliquidated Debt, eflimated) o
at ) 8,c00,000
Commutation to the Army,<
agreeable to the Aft of 22d, ) 5,000,000
March last,/
Bounty due to Privates, 500,000
Deficiencies in 1783, suppose 2,000,000
Total Debt, 42,000,375
Annual Interest of the Debt of the United
States.
On the Foreign Debt, part at 4 and part) ,
at 5 per cent. ) 369,0386
On the Domestic Debt, at 6 per cent. '2 046,917 4
2,415,956
[PAPER No. II ]
By the United Stares in Congress as
sembled.
DECEMBER 16, 1782.
The committee, confiding of Mr. Hamilton, Mr.
MadifoQ, and Mr. Fitzfimmons, to whom was refer
red the letter of 30th November, from the honor
able William Bradford, speaker of the lower house of
assembly of the state of Rhode Island, containing un
der three heads, the reasons of that state for refufing
their compliance with the recommendation of Con
gress lor a duty on imports and prize goods- re-
P°<G
" That they flatter themselves the state, on a re
consideration of the objections they have offered,
with a candid attention to the arguments which stand
in opposition to them, will be induced to retract their
dissent, convinced that the measure is supported on
the most solid grounds of equal justice, policy and ge
neral utility. The following observations, contrasted
with each head of the objections, successively, will fur.
nifh a fatisfaHory answer to the whole.
First objection: " That the proposed duty would
be unequal in its operation, bearing hardest upon the
mos }commercial slates, and so would press peculiarly
hard upon that state, which draws it chief support
from commerce."
The most common experience, joined to the con
current opinions of the ablest commercial and politi
cal observers, have established beyond controversy
this general principle, “ that every duty on imports
is incorporated with the price of the commodity, and
^^"lP^
VOL. XII.I Published every TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY.—Price Six-Pence.
SATURDAY,
GENERAL ADVERTISER.
It is not to be presumed that the confutation of any
state could mean to define and fix the precise numbers
and deftriptions of all officers to be permitted in the
state, excluding the creation of any new ones, whate
ver might be the necessity derived from 'that va
riety of circumflances incident to all political infli
turions. The legislature must always have a diferetj.
onary power of appointing officers, not expreffiy
known to the constitution, and this power will include
that of authorifing the feederal government to make
the appointments in cases where the general welfare
may require it. The denial of this would prove too
much ; to wit, that the power given by the confedera
tion to Congress to appoint HI officers in the poll of
fice, was illegal and unconstitutional.
The do&rtne advanced by Rhode-Ifland would per
haps prove also 'hat the fcederal government ought to
have the appointment of no internal officers whatever ;
a position that would defeat all the provisions of the
confederation, and all the purposes of the union.
The truth is, that no fcederal confutation can exist
without powers that in their exercise affect the inter
nal police of the component members. It is equally
true, that no government can exist without a right to
appoint officers for those purposes which proceed from
and concenter in itfelf ; and therefore the confederation
has expressly declared, that Congress Shall have authority
to appoint all such " civil officers as may be nee ffary
for managing the general affairs of the United States
under their direaion.'' All that can be required is,
ultimately paid by the consumer, with a profit on
the duty itlelf, as a compensation to the merchant
for the advance of his money.''
The merchant confiders the duty demanded by the
state on the imported article, in the fame light with
freight or any similar charge, and adding it to the
original cost, calculates his profit on the aggregate
sum. It may happen that at particular conjunctures,
where the markets are overflocked, and there is a
competition among the fellers, this may not be practi
cable; but in the general course of trade, the de
mand for consumption preponderates, and the mer
chant can with ease indemnify himfelf, and even ob
tain a profit on the advance. As a consumer, he pays
his share of the duty, but it is no further a burthen
upon him. The consequence of the principle laid
down is, that every class of the community bears its
lhare of the duty in proportion to its consumption,
which last is regulated by the comparative wealth of
the refpedive classes, in conjunction with their habits
of expence or frugality; The rich and luxurious pay
in proportion to their riches and luxury; the poor
and parsimonious, in proportion to their poverty and
parsimony. A chief excellence of this mode of reve
nue is, that it prefetves a just measure to the abili
ties of individuals, promotes frugality, and taxes ex
travagance. The fame reasoning in our Situation ap
plies to the intercourse between two slates ; if one
imports and the other does not, the latter must be
supplied by the former. The duty being transferred
to the price of the commodity, is no more a charge
on the importing state for what is consumed in the
other, than it is a charge on the merchant for what
is consumed by the farmer or artificer. Either state
will only feel the burthen in a ratio to its confump
tion, and this will be in a ratio to its population and
wealth. What happens between the different classes
of the fame community internally happens between
the two states; and as the merchant, in rhe firft case,
so far from losing the duty himfelf, has a profit on
the money he advances for that purpose ; so the im
porting state, which in the second case is 'the merchant
with refpea to the other, is not only reimbursed by
the non-importing state, but has a like benefit on the
duty advanced It is therefore the reverie of a just
position, that theduty proposed will bear hardest on
the most commercial slates ; it will, if any thing,
have a contrary effect, though not in a fufficient de
gree to juftify an objedion on the part of the non
importing states. For it is as reasonable they should
allow an advance on the duty paid as on the firftcoft,
freight or any incidental charge. They have also o
ther advantages io the measure fully equivalent to this
disadvantage. Over nice and minute calculations,
in matters of this nature, are inconsistent with nation
al measures, and in the imperfeft state of human af
fairs, would stagnate all the operations of govern
ment. Absolute equality is not to be attained: to
aim at it, is pursuing a shadow at the expence of the
fubflance, and in the event we should find owrfelves
wider of the mark, than if in the firft instance we
were content to approach it with moderation.
Second objedion: " That the recommendation pro
poses to introduce into that and the other Hates, offi
cers unknown and unaccountable to them, and so is
against the confutation of the state."
O R, THE
fHE
that the federal government confine its appointment#
to such as it is empowered to make by the original aft
of union, or by the subsequent consent of the parties -
unless there Should be express words of exclofion in the
Conftitu tioß of a state, there can be no reason to doubt
that it is within the compass of legislative diferetion to
communicate that authority.
Tie propriety of doing it upon the present occaflon,
is founded on fubflantial reasons.
The measure proposed is a measure of necessity.
Repeated experiments have Shewn, that the revenue to
be railed within these slates is altogether inadequate
Public wan's. The deficiency can only be Sup
plied by loans. Our applications to the foreign pow
er', on whole friendship we depend, have had a suc
cess far Short of our peceffities. The next resource is
to borrow from individuals, These will neither be ac
tuated by generosity nor reasons of state. 'Tis to
their interest alone we must appeal. To conciliate
this, we mus snotf not only ftipulatea proper compensation
for what they lend, but we must give security for tlie
performance. We must pledge an ascertained fund ; Sim
ple and productive in its natur : general in its prin
ciple, and at the disposal of a single will. There can
belittle confidence in a security un< er the constant re
vifal of thirteen different deli beratives. It must, once
for all, be defined and eflablifhed on the faith of the
slates solemnly pledged to each other, and not revo
cable by any without a breach of the general com
pact.
'Tis by such expedients that nations, whole resources
are underflood, whole reputations and governments
are erected on the foundation of ages, are enabled to
obtain a solid and exrenfive credit. Would it be rea
sonable in us to hope for more easy terms, who have
so recently assumed our rank among the nations? Is it
not to be expected, that individuals will be cautious in
lending their money to a people in our circumstances,
and that they will at leaf! require the best security we
can give?
We have an enemy vigilant, intriguing, well ac
quainted with our defects and embarrassments. We
may exped that he will make every effort to infill
diffidences into individuals, and in the present poflure
of our internal affairs, he will have too plausible ground
on which to tread. Our necessities have obliged us to
embrace measures, with reaped to our public credit,
calculated to inspire diftrufl. The prepoffeffons on
this article must naturally be against us, and it is there
fote indifptnfible we should endeavour to remove them,
by such means as will be the most obvious and strik
ing. 1
It was with these views Congress determined on a
general fund; and the one they have recommended
must, upon a thorough examination, appear to have
fewer inconveniencies than any other.
It has been remarked as an essential part of the plan,
that the fund should depend on a single will, This wj 1
not be the ca fe, unless the colle^ion, as well as the ap
propriat on, is under the controul of the United
States ; for it is evident, that after the duty is agreed
upon, it may, in a great measure, be defeated by an
in-ffraual modeof levying it. The United Stateshave
a common interest in an uniform and equally energetic
colle^ion ; and not only policy, but justice to all the
parts of the union, designates the utility of lodging the
power of making it where the interest is common.
Without this it might, in reality, operate as a very
UNEQUAL TAX.
Third objection : « That by granting to Congress a
power to colleß monies from the commerce of these
slates indefinitely as to time and quantity, and for the
expenditure of which they are not to be accountable
to the states, they would become independent of their
conQit 11ents, and so the proposed impost is repugnant
to the liberty of the United States."
Admitting the principle of this objection to be true,
flill it ought to have no weight in the present case, be
cause there is no analogy between the principle and
the fad.
Firfl. The fund proposed is fufficiently definite as to
time, because it is only co-ektenfive with the exist.
ence of the debt contra Bed and to be contraaed in tl e
course of the war. Congress are persuaded, t-hat it is
as remote from the intention of their constituents te
perpetuate that debt, as to extinguilh it at once by a
faithlefs negiea of providing the meaos to fulfil the
public engagements Their ability to difeharge it in
a moderate time, can as little be doubted as their in
clination, and the moment that debt ce^fes, rhe duty,
so far as relpeds the present provision, ceases with it.
The refolotion recommending the duty, specifies the
objeA of it to be the difeharge of the principal and in
terest of the debts already contraaed, or whi<b may
be contracted on the faith of the United States for sup
porting the present war.
MAY 31, 178$
(NUMB. 1048.