National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1793-02-23 00:00:00, page 2

irmfffc cf living, ind a love of equality, a
contempt of baubles and titles which mon
archs and aristocrats make their glory to
conlift of ; 110 danger may be apprehended
—On the contrary, when they become in
fected with the vice; of royalty, and aflume
the fa(hion; of monarchical governments,
we (hould watch them with the eyes ol
Argus, and as soon as in our power (trip
them of a 1 atithorty, left the contigior:
ihouid spread. Sufpxion, tho' by no mean
amiable in private life, yet in politics is es
sentially necessary. Tnet mple of Liberty
like that ot Velta. should never be withou:
a centinel. Far be it from me, to incul
cate a fpir't of licentioufnef. among the
people. I love order and. good govern
ment ; at the fame time, I profefs an ab
horrence of the customs and manners o
courts, as conducing to corrupt the mind
of the people, and to dellroy that equalit;
which is the basis of a republic. For in
flance—were I to fee public servants en
co'. raging levees, making expenlive enter
ta: nnents, setting up magnificent equipa
ge ■-, cloathing themfe'ves in majelteria
■ ibes, (hutting the doors of the le.iflature
upon the people, and excluding private ci
tizens from their tables ; I {hould not heli
tate to found the alarm, and freely declare
flich pra&ices to be dangerous to liberty
and entirely inconsistent with the princi
ples of a free government. If, however
those features of royalty (hould take place
here, I trull my countrymen will not be
dazzled at the light, nor will they bellou
adoration upon mere empty (how, bu
make virtue and patriotism, only, the ob
je£ts of their approbation.
VALERIUS.
Feb. 19, 1793.
Forth: National Gazette.
Number 111.
THF. climax of evidence, adducible te
evince the inimical impreflion toward
the constitution, which actuates and impel:
the Secretary of the Treasury, atfords se
veral important fa£ts for conlideration anc
application. Nor can it be forefeen where
the evidence will end. His ftrugglings pro
duce frelh entanglements, and fur
ther to nullify the matters he is striving tc
conceal.
On the firft days of June, July, August
and September, 1792, respectively, the fun
of 100,000 dollars was borrowed ot the
bankoft'ie United States, making in the
whole the sum of 400, oop dollars, foi
which this bank has been ever liuce, and i
How receiving interest.
It appears that this and other banks
were on each day polfefled of a much largei
sum, than the sum on each day borrowed
of public monies, entered in the account o:
the treasurer.
But waving this fact, for the fake o
viewing the Secretary's conduit with al
poifible favor, it must be admitted as re
sulting from his own fiiewing, that more
than the sum borrowed, of the monie:
drawn by him from Holland, was in some
of these banks, before the loans were ne
gotiated, and are flill there.
For thus I prove it. Above 1,265,44!
dollars were drawn hither from Hollane
previous to June 1792, and moftofitir
the two preceding years. Deelu£t the fun
of 445,263 dollars, 83 cents, paid for the
relief of St. Domingo, and there remain:
820,184 dollars, 17 cents. This money
the Secretary slates, enabled him by it:
mftrumentality, to proceed in the purcha
ses of the public debt. He endeavours tc
imprefsan idea that he aflually used it foi
that purpose, but cautiously avoids such ai
aflertion : recollecting, that he had in hi:
report of January the 3d, given an accoun
of the whole money drawn from Holland
incompatible with fuih an idea. And thi
reduced him to the dilemma of inventing £
new term, 111 order to account for the ap
plication of money. But this idea (hali be
further illullrated in my next.
The order of January the 19th, 1792,
calling for information respecting the itate
of the finances, mull have been for the pur
pose of enabling Congress to judge, whe
ther taxes or loans were necefl'ary to sup
ply the expenditures of the Indian war ;
and t' report which followed it, compi
led in the boasted offices of" check, anc
signed by the Secretary, concealed frou
Congress, that above 1,027,068 dollars hac
been drawn for previous to November the
ill, 1791- If Congress had known thi:
important fact, would they have fandtion
ed the loan from the bank in 1792 ?
From this concealment resulted the ne
cefiity, exhibited by the report, for the law
enabling the Secretary to borrow of the
bank, and he executed the power with a
knowledge, that either in this, or in other
paper institutions, a much larger sum ol
public money was lying unemployed, alias,
working by the new rule of inflrumental
ity-
In this tranfa&ioi* is displayed thefyflem
ofoeconomy and finance, by which the Se
cretary is directed. The payment of in
terest for the fame money, both to Hol
land and the bank, for the purpose ofinftru
■mentality only, may comport with his sys
tem, tho' it cannot conlilt with the com
mon ideas of husbanding public funds.
If the motive for this management had
been only private gain, or official pecula
tion, altho 1 it would have been )i:ghly re
prehenlible in the emcer, yet to the public
the misfortune would have been limited
by tile number o. dollars attuaily'loft.
But this ameliorating motive does'fiot
appear, nor can it be for a inoiix iit attri
buted to a politician of boatifd talents,
gre it ambition," and expanded \ .evvs
No alternative remains but to consider
this a. a political tranfaflion. In tin
view it resolves itfelf into the following
purposes.
To provide a fund ready to be employed
for political objects.
To acquire the powerful support of all
the puper institutions, by distributing a
mong thein the inftruuientality of a great
sum of public money.
To be prepared for accommodations to
individuals, that the legillature may be
more manageable.
In short, for the purpose of introducing
and establishing the Britilli idea of govern
ng by a mode; to convey an idea of which,
:he courtly term " influence" is reforteS
:o.
This design is truly alarming. Balance
he loss of 100,000 dollars, (imply, again ft
:he introduction of such a political fyllem.
is your constitution, at which this fyllem
s levelled, only worth a few dollars?
Of all aflailants, those who poflefs the art
jf Tapping, are the mofc dangerous; con
.caled from their unfufpefting victims, 1111-
: 1 the mine, is in readiness for the explo
ion, inevitable defh uftion ensues. What
:ompar son can be drawn, between the ma
ignancy of public and private immoral
ly ?
In these observations, to avoid all cavil
ing concerning facts, the argument has
aeen confined to a small portion of the
2,304,769 dollars 13 cents, drawn from
Holland, nor has any notice been taken of
near a million of the money, borrowed
:here, applied to the payment of the inter
est of the public debt, contrary to law,
ivhilft funds were provided here for the
lurpole, and the legillature are kept unin
formed as to this misapplication.
As rhe laws require the fanclion of the
President, before the Secretary could take
i step in this hufinefs of loans, an inspection
as the instructions given by a man, whose
political and private integrity is founded
on a rock, would be a public gratifica
tion.
Then it would appear, how far these in
ftruitions would jultify the Secretary—and
then, if no such juftification should result
from them, instead of being limited to an
article or two in these animadversions, the
fubjert would expand itfelf; and a field of
political evolution?, extenfiveindeed, would
emerge from its present obfeurity.
Perhaps it might even be inferred- that a
leading motive inducing the latter drafts
from Holland, through the medium of the
bank of the United States, was gratuitously
to subjoin to their other chartered privi
leges, at the public expence, a right to go
vern the rate of exchange.
It might appear that this monopoly of the
rate of exchange, would, by enabling the
bank to govern its fluctuations, enable it
also to filch from individuals, confulerable
unearned gains.
Nay, it might poflibly appear, that this
money was devoted by the President to the
payment of the French debt, and that he
had been ignorant of this vast train of tif
qal manoeuvring;
111 drawing money from Holland hi
ther, for the pretence of pa)'.ig officers in
France :
In the pretence of relieving a French
island :
And for the pretence of discharging the
public debt, whilst this increment of the
fund, is not divulged to the President, to
Congress, or to the Commissioners appoint
ed by law to invert it.
Such facts- as these would explode the
whole system at once. A difintetefletl man
would no longer doubt. The admimftra
tion of a republican government, upon mo
narchical principles, would then be obvi
ous to the molt cursory observer. And
then the people might consider, whether
they would fuffer a system, which is making
proselytes at their expence, which engen
ders influence by the means of influence—
and corrupt.on by the help of corruption—
ought longer to exist.
Oil Catullus ! Catullus! is thy patriot
'fin extin£t ? Thou, who couldeft with mi
croscopic eye, pick out a fpeculativc moat,
and depiflita mountain ! wilt thou lilert
ly fuffer the demon of influence to infufe
itfelf into our political system so entirely,
as that no chyniical art shall be able to de
compose the mass ; and that nothing short
of a political explosion, can reduce it to its
firft principles? But thou art dead—thy
immaculate foul, tortured as it was with
the most minute official spec. could not bear
the killing fight of our couftitution sapped,
undermined, and influenced into 1 uin.
FRANKLIN-
Feb. 20, 1793.
For the Nationai, Gazette,
Mr. Freneau,
A S the senate of this state has at length
yielded to a joint vote for a federal se
nator, and an election will soon take place,
it may not be mal-apropos, confident)" the
prefer.t condition of things, to give a few
hints refpefting the character who ought
to receive tne appointment.
i ft. He ought to he a man of decided and
tried republican pi inciples, and an enemy
to inequality ill every lorm or manner.
2d. Ke ought to be a man \»h<>conhders
himfelf as one of the people, and as their
agent, and therefore not above injfiruttioli;
for the agent who considers himfelf as the
superior of his employer, and treats his in
structions with contempt, is unfit lor any
trust.
3d. He ought not to he a /peculator t
bank diredorstockholder or certificate mon
ger of any kind, left the agricultural and
commercial interests of the United States
fliould be loft in his individual concerns,
and the Secretary of the Treaftiry become
his conscience keeper.
4th. He ought not to be a slavish imita
tor of moriarcnical systems or monarchical
parade, but he ought to consider simplicity
of every fort as congenial with our govern
ment, and neceflary topreftrveit Irom de
generacy.
jth. He ought to be well informed oi
the interests of the United States, and com
petent to the exposition of certain heretical
politico-metapHyficalJubtilties which have
sprung up among us, calculated to perplex,
if not to delude us.
6th. He ought to have firnmefs enougl
to be above being taken by the teeth; foi
when the understanding is impregnable ti
direct attack, it sometimes yields to the
mining qualities of good dinners.
7th. He ought to be firm and indepen
dent in his sentiments, and ahove being
fettered by names or station—truth anc
reason ought to be the firft articles of hi;
creed.
Bth. He ought to be a man who wil
give a decided opposition to every thing
which can lefi'en the dignity and impor
tance of lepublicanifm, such as titles, anc
every species of royal baubles J and whe
will proscribe every folly which can impair
the vigor of our republican character.
Such ought to be the man who is to fill
one of the moll important stations among
freemen, and such I trust he will be. A
riflocracy is at present in convulsions, anc
will 'ere long breathe its last : the fuccef
of repnblicanifin in France, and the dille
initiation of her principles among us, have
operated as a poison upon it, that has pro
duced this conHift of diiiblution ; and I'enn
fylvania, who has hitherto been among th<
foremolt in the glorious career of repub
licaiiifm, will renew the fatal potion 'til
death (hall dose the scene. May even
Pennfylvanian contribute to the dellructioi
of this hydra.
PHILADELPHIENoIS.
Philad. Feb. 21.
For the National Gazette.
Number 11.
To ALEXANDER. HAMILTON, Secre
tary of the Ireufi.ry of the United States.
■-pHE intended difcuflion of the two ini
portant quellions, slated in my firfl let
ter as the ground of charge against you foi
a misapplication of the public monies, wil
be deferred until the whole of those month
ly lucubrations, which compose the niotle;
defenceyou have set up, are fully and com
pletely before the public. In the meat
time, that you may be turnifhed in due fen
Jon, with fufHcient matter for a fupplemen
to those elaborate treatifes'you have com
piled, and are preparing to circulate ii
thousands throughout the United States
and moreover that you may pollefs mate
rials for another and farther conjedum.
Jlatement. I (hall now proceed to exhibii
to the public view, a charge against
arising out of a circumstance glanced at ir
my late letter, and which places the cor
rupt principles of your fifcal administrati
on in too strong a point of view, to be de
nied, evaded, or explained away.
The charge is this, that you influenced the
paflage of the act of the second of May
1792, " for railing a sum of money for the
protection of the frontiers"—which is bet
ter known to the merchants by the name
of the additional duty ait, thro' the oper
ation of politive causes produced by your
felf under circumstances of wilful decep
tion, concealment, and misrepresentation
of the then atlual ftateand condition of the
public-funds and resources, and that from
the operation of these causes, and of that
preifing artificial necefiity which you had
thus created, the two Houses of Congref;
were, it is believed,induced to pass the act.
and the President to approve of it, when,
had the true and real Hate of the public
resources been faithfully exhibited by you.
the presumption fairly is,that neither Con
gress or the President would have given a
fanftion to the measure.—My proofs are
stubborn, fir, and fortunately those only,
which have been prodr. Ed by yourfelf.
Previous, however, to a recital of the
fails, it will allilt the public mind in a righl
application of them, to offer a few prelim
inary remarks on some of the considera
tions detailed at large in your letter of the
13th of February, and which have imme
diate and particular relation to thisfubjeft.
Amidst that profufion of felf-adulation on
the measures of your own administration,
and of those comprehensive views of policy
which ftitrulatcil ycu to iratefrchgip.rr.-
tic exertions to fsvecur totttrir.g empire,
you fay that feelingly alive to tie public
intercit, you difmifltd from your n.ii.d all
inferior confederations of the J', rill propri
ety of what you was doirg. as t qually
weak and pusillanimous, confidently rely
ing, I prefuine, that th? purity oi your mo
tives would always cniure a juMification.
In this paramount fpiritof patriotjm, you
saw with eagle's eye the firft approach of
danger from Indian warfare and tell us of
General St.Clair's letter of the23d of Au
gust 1790, announcing its appearance. which
came to hand exactly eleven days after the
adjournment of Congress—This, fir, cal
led for all your vigilance, and yon assign it
as a principal cause, if not the basis, of that
Jecret iyitcm of bill-drawing, which you
prefer.tly after commenced v.ithout the pri
vity or knowledge of any of the depart
ments of government, so far as the public
are yet apprifeel, and continued until the
28th of December 1792, at which date you
had completed the drawing over 2.304,769-'
dollars of the public money from Holland
into this country.
1 fey nothing, fir, of the incongruity of
that spirit of patriotism so feelingly alive
to the public fafety when clanger was re
mote and distant, and of the contrary
operation of the Jame J pit it, when de'eat
and misfortune having closed the campaign
of 1791, you were solemnly called upon
by Congrcfs. at that time infeffion, for your
financial aid and resources, to enable them
to augnijaiii%nd recruit the aimy for the
purpftle'of another campaign. You will
not aflign this as a farther evidence that
until the 23d nf last month " no call had
before been madei'pon you which rendered
it proper to exhibit -a general view of the
public monies and funds, or to (hew the
amount & situation of futh as were i//.ap
plied"—if you fiiot.ld let fa&s speak in
that review ot the cafe, which I now pre
sent to the public in lupport of my charge
against you-
St. Clair's defeat happened the 4th of
November 1791; it was announced to Con
gress by the Prelident some time in Decem
ber, I believe :—Congrefs immediately
took up the fubjeft, and having soon decid
ed as to the neceffitv of another campaign
and the confee ( uent augmentation of thr
army, they called upon you by an order of
the 19th of January 1792, to report to them
" J'ui h a -view of the ptiblic finances at
wot/Id enable them t« jt.dge whether any,
and what, additional Jnpplies were requi
site for the Jervice of the current year.'' 1 —
Von accoi dingly reported on the 23d of
the fame month, anil to that report fubioin
a {latement marked A, ihewi: g the expen
ditures made and to be made under all
the exiftigg eftahlifhrnents of the govern
ment from the beginning of the year 1791,
to the end of the year 1792, amounting to
7,082,197 dollars and frventy-four cents.
— You also subjoin to the fame report a
statement marked B, exhibiting a view of
ali the resources of the government dur
ing the aforefaid years 1791, and 1:92,
compelled of the following items, viz.
Dols. Cts.
Amount of import duties fer
the four quarters of 1791, 3,t~9,755 26
Duties on home made spirits
from the firft of July to
the lalt of December 150,000
Duties on imports lor the
year eltimated at 3,300,000
Duties on home made spirits
for the fame year estimat
ed at - - - 400. oco
Making a total netr revenue
for the year 1791, ami
1-92 of - - 7,029,755 26
And leaving the revenue in
arrear at the end ot 1792
the sum of - 52,441 74
7,082,197
In the body of your report, referring to
these statements, is the follow ing sentence,
" From tkeje statements will re/ult Jub
flanti ally the information which is d?fired
by the Honje of Reprejenlatives, as far as
it is now in the power of the Secretary to
gin! it."
It is farther worthy of observation that
in the cftiinate A, /hewing the expendi
tures of government, during the above pe
riod, you charge the full amount of inter
est which was payable both on the freign&c
domestic debt for the laid years of 1791
and 1792, amounting to 4,910,056 dollars
and 13 cents; precluding all apology of
having withheld a demand on government
for the payment of interest 011 the foreign
debt.
I fcavebeen thus particular in traringthe
foregoing circumstances, as well that the
public might fee for themselves that on
this solemn call and occalion, you wilfully
concealed From the view and knowledge
of the legiilature all information refpefting
the monies anting from the foreign loans,
deliberately alluring Congress that in the
llatements you had furnifhed, " would re
fill!ftbftar.tially all the information desired,
or which it was then in your power to
give"—as to contrafl them with the fol
lowing circumstances, which were extort
ed from you, and for thefirftiime brought
to light and to the knowledge of Congress
in your report on foreign'loans, made