Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1814-11-28
MR.. OAKLEY'S SPEECH
ON THE TAXES.


the purpofe of moving to amend the
amendment which had been offered to
the refolution under coniid ration by the
chairman of the committee of ways aad
means. The refolution, as originally re-
ported by that committee, propoied to
continue the exiting direa tax, and to
add fifty per cent to the amount. The
= Tecretary of the trea(ury had recomn,en-
ded an iucseafe of 100 per cent, and, III
purfuancc OF thar recommendation, the
comr,ittee had directed their chairman
TO make the motion he had juIt lubmit-
ted /; the ef,a of which, if fuccessful.
would be to raife by the direct tax, fix
millions of dollars His Object, Mr.. O..
faid, was to 60 fill further, and to raifc
from that fourcs leyen millions and
half. AS he was member of the CON-
mittee Of ways and means, it might be
proper for HIM here 10 fate, LEFT he
1hould be conGdered as oppoGng the re
port of the committee, to which he nigh;
be prefumcd to have agreed-that they
were much divided in opinion as to the
point now in queaion, as well as 70 feve,
raj others embraced in the report.
The hon. chairman (Mr. o faid) had
correctly Aated that the plan of finance
adopted at the commencement Of the
war was, to raife by cuftoms, aud dire9
and internal taxes, fun futiicien TO
defray the 'expences of the peace etab.
lilhment, and to pay the inseref Of the
old debt, together with the interc.t on
fuch new debts as may be incurred from
year to year BY the war. This Mr.. o.
faid, he prefumed, was to be conlidered
as the war-plan Of finance, which the
administration had deemed competent to
carry the coun,ry;fafely thro' the contelt
1t was to the errors and infuficiency Of
this plan, that the prelent financial en-,
barrafments of the government, were fair
" to be attributed. The principal fra>
trre, and grea. defect of the plan was that
reliance was placed, to ufr the language
Of the iecresary of the treafury, on the
national faith. and not the national
wealth." 1t was .imply, the plan of al
ways borrowing and never paying-a
plan which would neceflarily lead to
bankruptcy either in an individual or a
nation. Its authors feemed to have for
gotten or difregarded the 6rtt rudiments
in any correct fyRem of finance which
would have 'aught them never to con
trad debt without creating revenue
fathcient to pay the interelt, and gradu-
aiiv "A, II harre rho <rsu~.Oal
Gentlemen had been warned Of the
iaadequacy of this plan Of fpance in the
outfer they had been told that there was
nothing miraculous in this thing called
"public faith !" that it was no better,
and Frequently not 10 good, as the faith
Of an individual and thar the public cred
itor would look not only to the honeay of
the government, but to the means provis
ded by it to meet its engagements in
deed, a pledge Of the public faith by law
for the redemption of a debt, MIR. O.
faid, appeared to him fuperAuous in.
simuch as it was always pledged by the
very act Of mourning the debt. Gentle
1rso had been frequently urged to refort 20
At~e P'euseS VI paris Vi un0 SAuiHb
revenue to fecure the payments Of the
loans, with view to obtain them on more
favourable terms. They had, however,
conddered fuch pledges unimportant, and
had sone on relying upon public credit
alone, without taking any fteps to fupport
II, until the nation was literally bankrupt.
They had, indeed, fueceeded in making
lone loans at hrlf on very favourable
terms our their fyfem had at length en-
'lrely exploded 1t was admitted that
their lait attempts had failed, notwi,hftan-
ding the government had been prepared
to accept terms of the mott extravagant
and ruinous character. The letter of the
Secretary Of the lreafury, fhewed that
there was deficit in the ways and
means provided for the pssent year of nea,
$4,000, 900 of dollars. This fam it
was neceiiary to raise Immediately 70
meet the expenditures of the Preient
quarter of the year In this deficit was
not included the valt amount of unat
csrtaneG debt which had ariien from ex.
pendi'ures not eompriied in the general
Climate, and for which no specific ap-