The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1782-04-17 00:00:00, page 2

verfation to attend to the progress of the expences
of an army, because it will enable us to fee on what
part any deficiency will fall.
The firft thing is, to feed them and provide for
the sick.
Secondly, to clothe them.
Thirdly, to arm and furniffi them.
Fourthly, to provide means for removing them
from place to place. And
Fifthly, to pay.them.
The firft and second are absolutely necessary to
them as men. The third and fourth arc equally as
necessary to them as an army. And the fifth is
their just due. Now if the sum which flhall be rais
ed should fall short, either by the several ads of the
states for railing it, or by the manner of collecting
it, the deficiency will fall on the fifth head, the sol
diers pay, which would be defrauding them, and
eternally disgracing ourselves. It would be a blot
on the councils, the country, and the revolution of
America, and a man would hereafter be afharaed to
own he had any hand in it.
But if the dificiency should be still shorter, it
would next fall on the fourth head, the means of re
moving the army from place to place ; and in this
case, the army must either stand still where it can
be of no use, or seize on horses, carts, waggons, or
any means of transportation it dan lay hold of; and
in this instance the country fuffers. In short, every
attempt to do a thing for less than it can be done
for, is fare to become at last both a loss and a dis-
honour.
But the country cannot bear it fay some. This
has been the most expensive do&rine that ever was
held out, and cost America millions of money for
nothing. Can the country bear to be overrun, ra
vaged and ruined by an enemy, which will immedi
ately follow where defence is wanting, and defence
will ever be wanting where fufficient revenues are
not provided. But this is only one part of the fol
ly. The fecund is, that when the danger comes,
invited in part by our not preparing against it, we
have been obliged, in a number of instances, to ex
pend double the sums, to do that which at firft
might have been done for half the money. But
this is not all. A third mifehief has been, that
grain of all forts, flour, beef, fodder, horses, carts,
waggons, or whatever was absolutely or immediate
ly wanted, have been taken without pay. Now, I
a&, why was all this done, but from that extremely
weak and expensive doctrine, that the country could
rot bear it ? that is, that (he could not bear, in the
firft instance, that which could have saved her twice as
much at last; or, in proverbial language, that she
could not bear to pay a penny to save a pound ; the
consequence of which has been, that die has paid a
pound for a penny. Why are there so many unpaid
certificates in almost every man's hands, but from
the parsimony of not providing fufficient revenues?
Besides, the dodrine contradicts itfelf; because if
the whole country cannot bear it, how is it possible
that a part should; and yet this has been the case:
For those things have been had, and they must be
had; but the misfortune is, they have been had in a
very unequal manner and upon expensive credit,
whereas with ready money they might have been
purchased for half the price, and no body diftreiTed.
But there is another thought which ought to strike
us, which is,—-How is the armyto bear the want of
food, clothing and other necessaries? The man who
is at home can turn h nf -If a thousand ways, and
find as many means of^afe, convenience or relief:
But a soldier's life admits of none of those: Their
wants cannot be supplied from themselves: For an
army, theugh it is the defence of a state, is at the
fame time the child of a country, and must be pro
vided for in every thing.
.4nd lastly, The do&rine is falfe. There are
not three millions of people, in any part of the uni
verse, who live so well, or have such a fund of abi
lity as in America. The income of a common la
bourer, who is industrious, is equal to that of the
generality of tradesmen in England. In the mer
cantile line, I have not heard of one who could be
said to be a bankrupt since the war begin, and in
England they have been without number. In Ame
rica almost every farmer lives on his own lands, and
in England not one in a hundred does. In short, it
seems as if the poverty of that country had made
them furious, and they were determined to rifle all
to recover all.
Yet, notwithstanding those advantages on the
part of America, true it is, that had it not been for
the operation of taxes for our necessary defence,
we had funk into a state of Doth and poverty: For
there was more wealth loft by neglecting to till the
earth in the years 1776, 77 and 78, than the quota
of the tax amounts to. That which is loft by ne
this movement upon one centre, that our existence
as a nation, our happiness as a people, and our fafe
ty as individuals, depend.
It may happen that some state or ether may be
somewhat over or under rated, but this cannot be
much. The experience which has been had upon
the matter has nearly afeertained their several abili
ties. But even in this case, it can only admit of
an appeal to the United States, but cannot authorize
any state to make the alteration itfelf, any more
than our internal government can admit an indivi
dual to do so in the case of an act of afTembly; for
if one state can do it, then may another do the fame,
and the instant this is done the whole is undone.
Neither is it supposable that any single state can
be a judge of all the comparative reasons which
may influence the collective body in quotaing out
the continent. The circumstances of the several
states are frequently varying, occasioned by the ac-
whole, at least for a time.
Thus the several states have sent Repi efentatives
to assemble together in Congress, and they have em
powered that body, which thus becomes their centre,
and are no other than themselves in representation,
to conduct and manage the war, while their consti
tuents at home attend to the domeftick cares of the
country, their internal legislation, their farms, pro
feffions or employments: For it is only by reducing
complicated things to method and orderly connecti
on that they can be understood with advantage, and
pursued with success—Congress, by virtue of this
delegation, estimates the expence, and apportions it
out to the several parts of the empire according to
their several abilities ; and here the debate must
end, because each state has already had its voice,
and the matter has undergone its whole portion of
argument, and can no more be altered by any par
ticular state, than a law of any state, after it has
passed, can be altered by an individual. For with
refped to those things which immediately concern
the union, and for which the union was purposely
established and is intended to secure, each state is
to the United States what each individual is to the
state he lives in. And it is on this grand point,
gle& of this kind, is loft for ever; whereas that
which is paid, and continues in the country, returns
to us again; and at the fame time that it provides
us with defence, it operates not only as a spur but
as a premium to our industry.
I shall now proceed to the second head, viz. ON'
THE SEVERAL QUOTAS, AND THE NATURE OF A
UNION.
There was a time when America had no ether
bond of union, than that of common interest and
affeCtion. The whole country flew to the relief of
Boston, and, making her cause their own, participat
ed her cares, and administered to her wants. The
fate of war, since that day, has car ried the calamity
in a ten fold proportion to the southward; but in
the mean time the union has been strengthened by
a legal compact of the states, jointly and severally
ratified, and that which before was choice, or the
duty of affection, is now likewise the duty of legal
obligation.
The union of America is the foundation-ftone of
her independence; the rock on which it is built;
and is something so sacred in her constitution, that
we ought to watch every word we speak, and every
thought we think, that weinjure it not, even by mil
take. When a multitude, extended, or rather scat
tered, over a continent, in the manner we are, mutu
ally agree to form one common centre whereon the
whole shall move, to accomplish a particular purpose,
all parts must ad together and alike, or aft not at
all, and a stoppage in any one is a Iloppage of the
cidents of war and commerce, and it will often fall
upon some to help others, rather beyond what their
exact proportion at another time might be; but even
this assistance is as naturally and politically included
in the idea of a union, as that of any particular as
signed proportion; because we know not whose turn
it may be next to want assistance ; for which reason,
that is the wisest state which sets the best example.
Though in matters of bounden duty and recipro
cal affection, it is rather a degeneracy from the ho
nesty and ardour of the heart to admit any thing
felfilh to partake in the government °f our conduct,
yet in cases where our duty, our affections, and our
interests all coincide, it may be of fume use to ob
serve their union. The United States will become
heir to an extensive quantity of vacant land, and
their several titles to shares and quotas thereof will
naturally be adjusted according to their relative
quotas during the war, exclusive of that inability
which may unfortunately arise to any state by the
enemy holding possession of a part; but as this is a
cold matter of interest, I pass it by, and proceed to
my third head, viz.
It is an agreeable thing to fee a spirit of order
and ceconomy taking place, after such a series of er
rors and difficulties. A government or an admini
stration, who means and ads honestly, has nothing
to fear, and consequently nothing to conceal; and
it would be of use if a monthly or quarterly account
was to be ptblifhed, as well of the expenditures as
of the receipts. Eight Millions of Dollars must be
husbanded with an exceeding deal of care to make
it do, and therefore, as the management must be
reputable, the publication would be serviceable.
I have heard of petitions which have been pre
sented to the Assembly of this state (and probably
the fame may have happened in other states) pray
ing to have the taxes lowered. Now the only way
to keep taxes low is, for the United States to have
ready money to go to market with;and though the
On THE MANNER OF COLLECTION AND EX
PENDITURE —It hath been our error as well as ct
misfortune, to blend the affairs of each state, especi
ally in money matters, with those of the United
States ; whereas it is to our ease, convenience and
interest to keep them separate. The expences of
the United States for carrying on the war, and the
expences of each state for its own domeflick govern
ment are diftind things, and to involve them is a
source of perplexity and a cloak for fraud. I lov
method because 1 fee and am convinced of its beau
ty and advantage. It is that which makes all bus.-
nefs easy and anderft^fy and ^itlwut&hich ever;
thing becom&WnibatMlHte a n'd rtyty
There are certain powers which the people of
each state have delegated to their legislative and ex
ecutive bodies, and there are other powers which
the people of every state have delegated to Congress,
among which is that of conducting the war, and,
consequently, of managing the expences attending
it; for how else can that be managed, which con
cerns every state, but by a delegation from each.
When a state has furnifhed its quota, it has an un
doubted right to know how it has been applied, and
it is as much the duty of Congress to inform the
state of the one, as it is the duty of the state to pro
vide the other.
In the resolution of Congress already recited, it
is recommended to the feveial states to lay taxes for
raising their quotas of money for the United States)
separate from those laid for their o^n particular
use.
This is a most necessary point to be observed,
and the diftin&ion should follow all the way through.
They should be levied, paid and collected separate
ly, and kept separate in every instance. Neither
have the civil officers of any state, or the govern
ment of that state, the least right to touch that mo
ney which the people pay for the support of their
army and the war, any more than Congress has to
touch that which each state raises for its own use.
This diftindion will naturally be followed by
another. It will occasion every state to examine
nicely into the expences of its civil-lift, and to re
gulate, reduce and bring it into better order than it
has hitherto been: because the money for that pyr
pofe must be raised apart, and accounted for to th.
publick separately. But while the monies of both
were blended, the necessary nicety was observed,
and the poor soldier, who ought to have been the
firft, was the last who was thought of.
Another convenience will be, that the people by
paying the taxes separately, will know what they
are for; and will likewise know that those which
are for the defence of the country will cease with
the war, or soon after. For although, as I have
before observed, the war is their own and for the
support of their own rights and the protection of
their own property, yet they have the fame tight to
know what they have to pay, and it is the want of
not knowing that is often the cause of diffatisfadi-
on.
This regulation of keeping the taxes separate has
given rife to a regulation in the office of finance, by
which it is direded,
" That the receivers shall, at the end of every
month, make out an exad account of the monies
received by them refpedively, during such month,
fpecifying therein the names of the persons froni
whom the fame shall have been received, the. dates
and the sums, which account they shall refpedively
cause to be published in one of the news-papers of
the state; to the end that every citizen may know
how much of the monies collected from him, in
taxes, is transmitted to the treasury of the United
States for the support of the war; and also, that it
may be known what monies have been at the order
of the Superintendant of Finance. It being proper
and necessary, that in a free country the people
should be as fully informed of the administration of
affairs as the nature of things will admit."