The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-03-20

lhoSe who complain OF the present state
LOT the Treasury, call upon you to decide this
lquestion: is-it or is it not the true policy oil
the federal government to lay taxes upon us
beyond what is necessary for the support o!
government, and the payment of our debts,
IN order TO froOfde beforehand a .fitnd for
Tv0r ? Hear how Mr. Jefferson answers
this question : quote his first message-
There is a reasonable ground of conf.
dence that we may now safely dispense w, h
all the internal taxes, Sc; and that the re-
naming sources of revenue will be suftic
tnt to provide TO: the support of government,
to pay the interest of the public debts ard
10 discharge the principals in shorter peri
DDS than the law, or the general expectati-
on had contemplated. War, indeed, and
nhfo7ydra eUents may change this f,roshect
Of things and cali far eIheners zvhich the
IMPORTS could NOT mee1. BIZ sound hrin-
riflies 4piHnot justin our taxing he ndus-
try of our .feNovv citizens 10 accumulate
| Treasures far avars IL hahfen 7ve k,ioqy
nor avhcn, and which might nor. herhahS,
hafhen. 6ns from rae teuhtations oGered
by thar Treasure"
In these few words we see the whole
scheme of republican iinanciering. Ii is
bottomed on the idea that state Of peace
Is the natural state Of a simile and yirtu-
Gus republic this scheme, therefore, pro
Woes Tor state OF peace--to supper: tile
government topay the interest OF tie pub
lie debt and extinguish the principal faster
even than the laws or general expectation
contemplated. And these purposes have
been completely answered by il. but this
scheme was expressly NOT intendcd either
Tor state OF war. or for uutoward events
short of war: "those events" saws the Pre-
| sident," may cali for expenses which the
| imports Gould not meet" Those events
nave OCCURRED, and, as was frankly declared
to the nation. do call for expenccs which the
| imports could not meet: such, simply, is the
state OF things presented by the last report
OF the Secretary of the Treasury and
where, ask, is the ground of rational com.
plant
Is it any ground of complaint that the re-
PUBLICAN system of fnanciering has not
made provision for events which it was ex
pressiy declared beforehand, it was not i'm
tended 20 provide for . Is it any ground of
complaint, that a gar Of piracy ON our
commerce, or Gf the federalsts will not al
low 1T that nancy - nnfogvord eyents'
| short of war, call for other expenses than
the imports /; whenit was expressly foretod
at the time when our scheme was adopted,
that such events would cal! for such other
expenses Is 1T any ground of complaint
that the people. after having been permit
TED by the republican administration to use
and ENJOY without interruption, the fruits Of
their own industry for nine years, do not,
now, lind those fruits in The public Treasn.
ry, In the shape of fund for war2 Or do
these federal Gentlemen, new and old, ex
Pect OF may indulge in one OF Mr.. Ran
dolph's liberties) TO eat their bread and
butter, and have it too !'' Is ii any ground
of complaint that those fruits of their indus
try, were not taken from them, year after
year, In the shape of taxes, and locked mp
IN the public vaults in order to form g fund
for war /! -
| Those who complain that we have now
no such fund to meet the emergencies of
war, are, by necessary consequence, the adj
Vocates OF heavy previous taxation, or of the
nom payment of the public debt because
without the one or the other. it is madness
or ioiiy, to expect a war fund to be ever
ready in the Treasury.
but am opposed TO any such previous
FORMATION OF war fund, for the plain and
satisfactory reasons given by Mr.. Jefferson
20 Wit l. Because it is wrong to burthen The
citIzens with taxes beforehand to meet an
event to happen, We know not when. 2.
because the existence of such fund in the
reasury may be, itself, a temptation to 10
reign war, or 7oorse enierflrises at home
70 winch L add third, suggested by Mr.
Gaiatin's report, that such an eme rgercv
as war, happen when it will, can never find
us unProyIded /; because nation which
pays hef debts with the punctuaIity and
honor that ours has done, has living fund
IN her own credit which she can call into
play at moments warning The inAividu
aus Oh our own natioa, enrich ed by the for.
oearance to Cypress them with taxes, are
able and ready 10 loan to their Country any
sum Tor which she has occasion, until our
revenues can be adapted to this new state Of
things' or until the return of peace and tran
quiney, enables the revenue, without anu
additional tax, to reimburse the loan For
SO lar rs 1T from being true--as this fede.
raiIst OF the new school insnuates, that the
public Treasury is political barometer
with which the wealth of the nation rises
and tails, that exactly the reverse of it, is
the iact': IL q young republic like this, e.
feass, the nation is TO the Treasury, what
the reservoir which holds the mercury is to
the tube otthe barometer: for in the saroe pro-
portion as the mercury rises In the tube il
SINKS I'm the reservoir; and such is exactly
the case between the treasury and the natl
on.
So, had the federalists been permitted to
| go On with their system of taxation aud bad
not squandered i on executive dependents,
| they would probably have had "A full treasury
At this time; but what would have become
ct the nation Overwhelmed with debt,
Impoverished and bankrupt And as soon
as the stock on hand was exhausted by a
war, no credit, no source of supply at home
nor abroad, nppower Of renovation here, nor
! elsewhere.
% ~ 4.