Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 14 February 1783 (second)
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Baltimore Feb. 14. 1783
Yours of the 11th. came to hand last night. from what you mention in yr.
letter I suppose the newspapers must be wrong when they say that Mr. Adams
had taken up his
abode with
Dr. Fr——.
I am nearly at a loss to judge how he will act in the nego——n   He hates Fr——   he hates Jay   he hates the French   he hates the English   to whom will he adhere?
his vanity is a liniament in his character wch. had entirely
escaped me   his want of taste I had observed   notwithstandg all this he has a sound head on substantial points and I think he has integrity. I am glad therefore that he is of the commission & expect he will be useful in it. his dislike of all parties, and all men, by balancing his prejudices, may give the same fair play to his reason as would
a general benevolence of temper   at any rate honesty may be extracted even from poisonous weeds
My
stay here has given me opportunities of making some experiments on my ama[nu]ensis F—s,
perhaps better than I may have in France he appears to have a good eno’ heart an understang somewhat better than common but too little guard over his lips, I have marked him particularly
in the company of women
where he loses all power over himself and becomes
almost [a] fright
his temperature would not be proof agst. their alluremts,
were
such to be employed as engines agst. him This is in some measure the vice of his age but it seems to be increased also by his peculiar constitution
I wrote to the Chevalier de VilleBrun proposing his falling down to York or Hampton which was one of the measures I suggested in my letter to you, & was the most eligible except that of the flag, in my own opinion. his answer, dated Feb. 12. is in these words. ‘Je serois bien de l’avis proposé a votre Excellence d’aller mouiller a York ou Hampton pour etre a portee de profiter des premiers vents de Nord Ouest qui me mettroient loin de la côte dans la nuit, surtout si je n’avois pas de convoy a conserver. mais des batiments entrès aujourd’hui raportent avoir eté chassés par quatre fregates jusque sur la Cap Charles et avoir vu au mouillage de Linhaven bay un vaisseau et un fregate qui ont appareillés et pris un Brig qui navigoit avec eux. de plus York et Hampton n’ont pas un canon monté, si l’ennemi, tres superieur, entreprenoit de venir nous y forcer, il y auroit peu de sureté.
Peut etre conviendroit-il autant d’attendre, comme le propose M. de la Luzerne, jusqu’au Mois prochain, des nouvelles d’Europe, ou l’arrivée d’une division des Antilles promise par M. de Vaudreuil, ou bien encore quel’ennemi fatigué ne fut obligé de rentrer a New-York.’
The last basket is relish
and furnishes matter
for doubt how far the departure of the Romulus
is a decided measure   it seems not unlucky
  so for a purpose wherein time is the most
pressing circumstance The idea of going
in her is to be abandoned. to go to Boston would be the most œconomical plan. but it would be five weeks from my leaving this place before I could expect to sail from thence. of course I may from here be in France by the time I should be sailing from Boston   five weeks, in a crisis of negotiation may be much. should I accept of the Guadeloupe and she should be lost, it would under present circumstances draw censure. moreover in this or the former case, besides losing the vessel, what will be my situation? that of a prisoner certainly. from what has been done in Laurence’s case they would not release me; in expectation of a high exchange; or if they did, it would only be on parole, in which case I could neither act nor communicate. This plan would have in it’s favour œconomy and a possibility (a bare one) of dispatch. that of the flag still appears best. it is favoured by the circumstances of dispatch, safety, & the preservation of my papers, but when I think of the expence I feel myself annihilated in comparison with it. A vessel may be got here, but I question if for less than *a thousand or two thousand pounds. besides can a passport be obtained from New York without naming the vessel, the crew &c? if not it would take long to furnish these circumstances from hence. the Delaware would be more eligible in that case. otherwise this place is. if this should be adopted, what would be the extent of the protection of the flag to the papers I should carry? these, so far as this question would affect them, would be of three descriptions. 1. my own commission, instructions & other documents relative to my mission. 2. public letters to the Consuls, ministers & others on other business. 3. private letters. I have no means of satisfying myself on these points here. if therefore this measure should be adopted I should thank you for your opinion on them, as you can, where you are doubtful, make enquiry of others. I am exceedingly fatigued with this place, as indeed I should with any other where I had neither occupation nor amusement. I am very particularly indebted here to the politeness & hospitality of Genl. La Vallette who obliges me to take refuge in his quarters from the tedium of my own, the latter half of every day. you are indebted to him too as I should make my long letters much longer & plague you with more cypher were I confined at home all day. I beg you to be assured of my warmest wishes for your happiness.
Th: Jefferson
Feb. 15. 9 o’clock P.M. after sealing up this letter I received yours of yesterday inclosing the King’s speech, for which I thank you much. the essential information conveyed to us by that is that the preliminary for our independence (which we before knew to have been agreed between the plenipos) has been provisionally ratified by him. I have thought it my duty to write the inclosed letter which after reading you will be so good as to stick a wafer in & deliver. I wish no supposed inclination of mine to stand in the way of a free change of measure if Congress should think the public interest required it. the argument of œconomy is much strengthened by the impossibility (now certain) of going but in an express vessel. the principal matters confided to me were. 1. the new instruction; which perhaps may have been sent by Count Rochambeau, or may yet be sent. 2. the details of the financier’s department which mr Morri[s] not chusing to trust to paper had communicated verbally. these in the event of peace or truce may safely go in paper. 3. the topics which supp[ort] our right to the fisheries, to the Western country, & the navigation of the Mis[sis]sipi. the first of these is probably settled: the two latter should only come into discussion in the Spanish negociation, and therefore would on[ly] have been the subject of private conversation with mr Jay, whose good sense & knolege of the subject will hardly need any suggestions.
I forgot to mention to you in my letter that mr Nash arrived her[e] the day before yesterday on his way to N. Carolina, and that mr Blunt is not yet arrived, but is weekly expected. I am yours affectionately,

Th: Jefferson.


Title: Benjamin Harrison to Virginia Delegates, 15 February 1783
From: Harrison, Benjamin
To: Virginia Delegates

Gentlemen
In Council February 15th. 1783.
You will receive herewith an Authenticated Copy of the Certificate of Gen: Clarke and Col: Todd which was omitted by a Mistake of the Clerk when Nathans other Papers were forwarded to you. I hope they will get in Time to prevent his obtaining an Award in his favor which appears to me manifestly unjust. surely the Arbitrators will never proceed to a final Settlement without a Paper of such Consequence which they are assured is in being and will soon be sent them. A Baltimore hand Bill gives some people an Expectation that Peace is certainly proclaimed in Europe. I am not so sanguine, tho’ I wish it as much as they do, but think the whole report originates from Townsends Letter to the directors of the Bank.
You were formerly so obliging as to favor me with the News Paper, if it is not inconvenient I wish a renewal of the favor, and that you would frank your Letters.
I am Gentlemen Yours &c.
B. H.


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 15 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
Philada. Feby. 15th. 1783.
The Committee, to whom was referred your letter to Secretary Livingston, reported to Congress yesterday that they had conferred with Mr. Morris who was of opinion that no vessel would sail from american ports after the arrival of the British King’s speech until the suspence produced by it should be removed, and that if your immediate embarkation was still wished by Congress it would be proper to obtain for that purpose a Frigate from the Chevr. de la Luzerne. He informed the Committee that there was a fit vessel in this river which wd. have sailed for France but for the prospect of peace afforded by the Speech; and which I suppose will still proceed if that prospect should fail. The effect of this information to Congress and of a request from the Committee to be instructed on the subject was, a resolution directing the Secy. of F. A. to acquaint you that it was the pleasure of Congress, considering the present situation of things, that you should suspend your voyage until their further instruction. This resolution will I suppose be forwarded by the post which conveys this. I do not undertake to give any advice as to the steps which may now be proper for you; but I indulge with much pleasure the hope that a return to this place for the present may be the result of your own deliberations.
I am Dear Sir with sincerity Yr friend & servt.
J. Madison Jr.


Title: To James Madison from Mark Lynch, 15 February 1783
From: Lynch, Mark
To: Madison, James

Sir
Nantes 15. february 1783
I had the honor to write you the 20. January 1781 under the Sanction of our mutual friend Philip Mazzei Esqr. and to make you a tender of my best Service here. I have not Since been favord with any of yours. As we are now thank God Blessed with the return of a happy & general peace, and that by it we Shall have in future an open & free trade between America & this Country, it is in Consequence that I take the liberty of reiterating to you my offers of Service, for the Execution of whatever commands you may happen to have this way. if a Sincere resolution to fulfill them with equal punctuality & integrity, be a Sufficient title to deserve the prefference of your Business, I beg leave to assure you that no one has a better right to put in for it. I Sincerely wish for frequent occasions to Convince you thereof.
Tobacco, which before the peace, sold here to good advantage, is at present without any Current price. this article must now nec[e]ssarily look down a good deal in Europe. But you may depend it will at all times Sell at least as well here, as at any other Market of this Kingdome, or perhaps of Europe, and the order that prevails in the Commerce of this place, makes it known to be one of the Safest in Europe for the Solidity of the Buyers. Besides, every article necessary in America, can be procured & Shipped here on reasonable terms, which I dare Say you will Experience here after. In Expectation of being favord with your Commands, I have the honor to remain very Respectfully
Sir, Your most Obt. humble Servt.
M: Lynch
P.S.
Mr. Mazzei is now at Paris, and intends coming here in the next or following month to Embark for America.


Title: To James Madison from Edmund Randolph, 15 February 1783
From: Randolph, Edmund
To: Madison, James

My dear sir
Richmond Feby. 15. 1783
I had resolved before the receipt of your favor of the 2d. instant to change our cypher [to] a form less abstruse and more comprehensive.
A hand bill from Baltimore has revived [and encouraged] expectation of peace. It has, no doubt, reached you, and will appear to want every mark of authenticity. Yet I cannot persuade those, with whom I converse, that peace is too much intangled by opposite pretentions and hopes, to be adjusted in a short time, even after the European congress shall have entered seriously into the business.
Speculation itself is at rest, and not a breath moves the political surface. So that news is of all things, except specie, the most scarce.
Among the records of 1710, I find an instruction from Queen Anne to her governor here to grant lands according to the charter. This extension plainly alludes, from the context to that of 1609, not of 1676.

The acts of assembly in 1753 & 1754, concerning settlements on the Mississippi afford no mean argument in support of our title: they having been confirmed by the king. And a standing instruction to the governors farther shews, that every act was sent over for the royal inspection. Therefore every act referring to similar points with these may be considered, as having equal force.
I perceive, that the boundaries between Penn & Lord Baltimore have been discussed before the british chancellor. The argument is to be found in Vezey’s reports 1. Vol. p. [444] and contains much in support of my idea of our charter, and as much against it. Do borrow the book, read the case, and suggest your thoughts.


Title: Notes on Debates, 17 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Monday Feby. 17.
The report respecting a valuation of land being lost as appears from the Journal, it was revived by the motion of Mr. Dyer seconded by Mr. Mercer as it stands, the appointment of Commissrs. by Congress for adjusting the quotas, being changed for a grand Committee consisting of a delegate present from each State for that purpose.
A motion was made to strike out the clause requiring the concurrence of nine voices in the report to Congress; and on the question shall the words stand? the States being equally divided the clause was expunged. It was thereafter reconsidered & reinserted.
The whole report was agreed to with great reluctance by almost all, by many from a spirit of accomodation only, & the necessity of doing something on the subject. Some of those who were in the negative particularly Mr. Madison thought the plan not within the spirit of the Confederation, that it would be ineffectual, and that the States would be dissatisfied with it.
A motion was made by Mr Hamilton 2ded. by Mr Fitzimmons to renew the recommendation of  Feby 1782 for vesting Congress with power to make abatements in favor of States part of which had been in possession of the Enemy. It was referred to a committee.


Title: To James Madison from Edmund Pendleton, 17 and 24 February 1783—Missing Letters
From: Pendleton, Edmund
To: Madison, James

Editorial Note
17 and 24 February 1783. About 1850 a clerk of Peter Force, engaged in copying letters of Edmund Pendleton, wrote:

“MSS. McGuire’s.
Edmund Pendleton
}
Edmundsbury, Feby 17. 1783

to James Madison

“(This letter is much stained, & some of it illegible)
“Another letter dated ‘E[d]mundsbury Feb. 24, 1783,’ is in the same condition.
“There does not seem to be anything of much public importance in either of the above letters.”


Title: Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, 18 February 1783
From: Virginia Delegates
To: Harrison, Benjamin

Sir,
Philadelphia Feby. 18th. 1783
We had the honor of receiving your Excellency’s letter of the 7th. & shall communicate what it contains relative to the supply of the Post at Winchester to the Financier, & transmit you his answer. We have reason to believe that he intends renewing the Contract.
On the 14th. we dispatchd a messenger, with the King’s Speech, to your Excellency. This is the only authentic information that has yet reachd us relative to Peace. The reports from N. York are, that the Preliminaries were signd the 13th. of Decr. between the American & british Commissioners; but not by those of France & Spain. It can hardly be long, before we are better informed on this subject.
We enclose the Resolutions of Congress on the Tobacco shippd in the Flags, & on the Settlement of the State Accounts.
With sentiments [of] respect & consideration we have the honor to be yr Excellency’s Servts.
J. Madison Jr.Jos. Jones     A. LeeJohn F. MercerTheok. Bland jr.


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 18 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
Philada. Feby. 18th. 1783.
Your two favors of the 14th. one of them inclosing a letter to Miss Floyd were recd. by yesterday’s mail.
The last paper from N.Y. as the inclosed will shew you has brought us another token of the approach of peace. It is somewhat mysterious nevertheless that the preliminaries with America should be represented by Secy. Townsend as actually signed and those with France as to be signed, as also that the signing of the latter would constitute a general peace. I have never been without my apprehensions that some tricks would be tried by the British Court notwithstanding their exterior fairness, of late, and these apprehensions have been rendered much more serious by the tenor of some letters which you have seen and particularly by the intimation of minister of France to Mister Livingston. These considerations have made me peculiarly solicitous that your mission should be pursued as long as a possibility remained of your sharing in the object of it.
Your portrait of your amanuensis is I conceive drawn to the life. For all unconfidential services he is a convenient instrument. For any thing farther ne sutor ultra crepidam.
The turn which your case has for the present taken makes it unnecessary to answer particularly the parts of your letter which relate to the expediency of a flag—and the extent of its protection. on the first point, I am inclined to think that the greatest objection with Congress would have been drawn from the risk of a denial. on the second I have no precise knowledge, but the principle would seem to extend to every thing appertaining to the mission as well as to the person of the Minister. Nor can I conceive a motive to the latter indulgence which would admit of a refusal of the former.
I am impatient to hear of the plan which is to dispose of you during the suspense in which you are placed. If Philada. as I flatter myself, is to be your abode, your former quarters will await you.
I am Dear Sir Yr. Affecte. friend,
J. Madison Jr.
An answer to Miss Patsy’s letter is in the same mail with this.


Title: Notes on Debates, 19 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

No. IX
Wednesday February 19.
The motion made yesterday by Mr. Hamilton for opening the doors of Congress when the subject of finances should be under debate was negatived, Penna. alone being ay.
A motion was made by Mr. Hamilton seconded by Mr. Bland to postpone the clause of the report made by Come. of the whole for altering the Impost, viz, the clause limiting its duration to 25 years, in order to substitute a proposition declaring it to be inexpedient to limit the period of its duration: first because it ought to be commensurate to the duration of the debt. 2dly. because it was improper in the present stage of the business, and all the limitation of which it wd. admit had been defined in the Resolutions of  1782.
Mr. Hamilton said in support of his motion that it was in vain to attempt to gain the concurrence of the States by removing the objections publickly assigned by them against the Impost, that these were the ostensible & not the true objections: that the true objection on the part of R. I. was the interference of the impost with the opportunity afforded by their situation of levying contributions on Cont. &c which rcd. foreign supplies through the ports of R. I: that the true objection on the part of Va. was her having little share in the debts due from the U. S. to which the impost would be applied; that a removal of the avowed objections would not therefore, remove the obstructions whilst it would admit on the part of Congs. that their first recommendation went beyond the absolute exigences of the public; that Congs. having taken a proper ground at first, ought to maintain it till time should convince the States of the propriety of the measure.
Mr. Bland said that as the debt had been contracted by Congress with the concurrence of the States, and Congs was looked to for payment by the public creditors, it was justifiable & requisite in them to pursue such means as would be adequate to the discharge of the debt: & that the means would not be adequate if limited in duration to a period within which no calculations had shewn that the debt wd. be discharged.
on the motion the States were N. Hamshire divided—Masts. no. R. Island ay Cont. divd. N. York. ay. N. Jersey ay. Pena. ay. Virga. no [Mr. Bland ay] N. Carolina ay. S. Carolina ay. Mr. Rutlidge said he voted for postponing not in order to agree to Mr. Hamiltons motion but to move & he accordingly renewed the motion, made in the Come. of the whole; viz that the Impost should be appropriated exclusively to the army. This motion was seconded by Mr. Lee
Mr. Hamilton opposed the motion strenuously, declared that as a friend to the army as well as to the other Creditors & to the public at large he could never assent to such a partial dispensation of Justice; that the different States being differently attached to different branches of the public debt would never concur in establishg a fund wch. was not extended to every branch; that it was impolitic to divide the interests of the civil & military Creditors, whose joint efforts in the States would be necessary to prevail on them to adopt a general revenue.
Mr. Mercer favored the measure as necessary to satisfy the army & to avert the consequences which would result from their disappointment on this subject: he pronounced that the Army would not disband until satisfactory provision should be made, & that this was the only attainable provision; But he reprobated the doctrine of a permanent debt supported by a general & permanent revenue & said that it would be good policy to separate instead of cementing the interest of the Army & the other public creditors, insinuating that the claims of the latter were not supported by justice & that the loan office certificates ought to be revised.
Mr. Fitzimmons observed that it was unnecessary to make a separate appropriation of the Impost to one particular debt, since if other funds sd. be superadded, there would be more simplicity & equal propriety in an aggregate fund for the aggregate debt funded: and that if no other funds should be superadded it wd. be unjust & impolitic: that the States whose Citizens were the chief creditors of the U. S. wd. never concur in such measure; that the mercantile interest which comprehended the chief Creditors of Pena. had by their influence obtained the prompt & full concurrence of that State in the Impost; and if that influence were excluded the State wd. repeal its law: He concurred with those who hoped the army wd. not disband unless provision sd. be made for doing them justice
Mr. Lee contended that as eve[r]ybody felt and acknowledged the force of the demands of the army, an appropriation of the Impost to them wd. recommend it to all the States: that distinct & specific appropriations of distinct revenues was the only true System of finance, and was the practice of all other nations who were enlightened on this subject; that the army had not only more merit than the mercantile creditors; but that the latter would be more able on a return of peace to return to the business which would support them.
Mr Madison said that if other funds were to be superadded as the gentleman [Mr. Rutledge] who made the motion admitted, it was at least premature to make the appropriation in question; that it wd. be best to wait till all the funds were agreed upon & then appropriate them respectively to those debts to which they sd. be best fitted; that it was probable the impost would be judged best adapted to the foreign debt; as the foreign Creditors could not like the domestic ever recur to particular States for separate payments, and that as this wd. be a revenue little felt, it would be prudent to assign it to those for whom the States wd. care least, leaving more obnoxious revenues for those Creditors who wd. excite the sympathy of their Countrymen and cd stimulate them to do justice.
Mr. Williamson was agst. the motion; said he did not wish the army to disband untill proper provision should be made for them; that if force sd. be necessary to excite justice, the sooner force were applied the better.
Mr. Wilson was against the motion of Mr. Rutlidge, observed that no instance occured in the British history of finance in which distinct appropriations had been made to distinct debts already contracted; that a consolidation of funds had been the result of experience; that an aggregate fund was more simple & would be most convenient: that the interest of the whole funded debt ought to be paid before the principal of any part of it; and therefore in case of surplus of the impost beyond the interest of the army debt, it ought at any rate to be applied to the interest of the other debts, and not, as the motion proposed, to the principal of the army debt. He was fully of opinion that such a motion wd. defeat itself, that by dividing the interest of the civil from that of the military Creditors provision for the latter would be frustrated.
on the question on Mr. Rutledge’s motion the States were N.H. no Mas: no. Cont. no. N.J. no. Virga. no. [Mr. Lee & Mr. Mercer ay]. N.C. no. S. Carolina ay
On the clause reported by the Come: of the whole in favor of limiting the impost to 25. years the States were N.H. ay Mas: ay Cont. divd.

   Cont. [Mr. Dyer ay, Mr. Wolcot no].

 N.Y. no. N.J. no. Pa. ay

   Pa. [Mr. Wilson & Fitzsimmons no.]

 Va. ay [Mr. Bland no] N. Carolina ay. S. Carolina ay. So the question was lost
On the question whether the appointment of Collectors of the Impost shall be left to the States, the Collectors to be under the controul of & amenable to Congs. there were 7 ays—N.Y. & Pena. being no & N.J. divided.


Title: Notes on Debates, 21 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Friday Feby. 21.
Mr. Mercer made some remarks tending to a reconsideration of the act declaring general funds to be necessary, which revived the discussion of that subject.
Mr Madison said that he had observed throughout the proceedings of Congress relative to the establishment of such funds that the power delegated to Congress by the confederation had been very differently construed by different members & that this difference of construction had materially affected their reasonings & opinions on the several propositions which had been made; that in particular it had been represented by sundry members that Congress was merely an Executive body; and therefore that it was inconsistent with the principles of liberty & the spirit of the Constitution, to submit to them a permanent revenue which wd. be placing the purse & the sword in the same hands; that he wished the true doctrine of the confederation to be ascertained as it might perhaps remove some embarrassments; and towards that end would offer his ideas on the subject.
He said that he did not conceive in the first place that the opinion was sound that the power of Congress in cases of revenue was in no respect Legislative, but merely Executive: and in the second place that admitting the power to be Executive a permanent revenue collected & dispensed by them in the discharge of the debts to wch. it sd. be appropriated, would be inconsistent with the nature of an Executive body, or dangerous to the liberties of the republic.
As to the first opinion he observed that by the articles of Confederation Congs. had clearly & expressly the right to fix the quantum of revenue necessary for the public exigences, & to require the same from the States respectively in proportion to the value of their land; that the requisitions thus made were a law to the States, as much as the acts of the latter for complying with them were a law to their individual members: that the fœderal constitution was as sacred & obligatory as the internal constitutions of the several States; and that nothing could justify the States in disobeying acts warranted by it, but some previous abuse or infraction on the part of Congs.; that as a proof that the power of fixing the quantum & making requisitions of money, was considered as a legislative power over the purse, he would appeal to the proposition made by the British Minister of giving this power to the B. Parliamt. & leaving to the American assemblies the privilege of complying in their own modes; & to the reasonings of Congress & the several States on that proposition. He observed further that by the articles of Confederation was delegated to Congs. a right to borrow money indefinitely, and emit bills of Credit which was a species of borrowing, for repayment & redemption of which the faith of the States was pledged & their legislatures constitutionally bound. He asked whether these powers were reconcileable with the idea that Congress was a body merely Executive? He asked what would be thought in G. B. from whose constitution our Political reasonings were so much drawn, of an attempt to prove that a power of making requisitions of money on the Parliament, & of borrowing money for discharge of which the Parlt sd. be bound, might be annexed to the Crown without changing its quality of an Executive branch; and that the leaving to the Parliamt. the mode only of complying with the requisitions of the Crown, would be leaving to it its supreme & exclusive power of Legislation?
As to the second point he referred again to the British Constitution & the mode in which provision was made for the public debts; observing that although the Executive had no authority to contract a debt; yet that when a debt had been authorized or admitted by the parliament a permanent & irrevocable revenue was granted by the Legislature, to be collected & dispensed by the Executive; and that this practice had never been deemed a subversion of the Constitution or a dangerous association of a power over the purse with the power of the Sword.
If these observations were just as he concieved them to be, the establishment of a permanent revenue not by any assumed authority of Congress, but by the authority of the States at the recommendation of Congs: to be collected & applied by the latter to the discharge of the public debts, could not be deemed inconsistent with the spirit of the fœderal constitution, or subversive of the principles of liberty; and that all objections drawn from such a supposition ought [to] be withdrawn. Whether other objections of sufficient weight might not lie agst. such an establishmt. was another question. For his part altho’ for various reasons

   Among other reasons privately weighing with him, he had observed that many of the most respectable people of America supposed the preservation of the Confederacy, essential to secure the blessings of the revolution; and permant funds for discharging debts essential to the preservation of Union. A disappointmt to this class wd. certainly abate their ardor & in a critical emergence might incline them to prefer some political connection with G. B. as a necessary cure for our internal instability, again Without permanent & general funds he did not concieve that the danger of convulsions from the army could be effectually obviated, lastly he did not think that any thing wd. be so likely to prevent disputes among the States with the calamities consequent on them. The States were jealous of each other, each supposing itself to be on the whole a creditor to the others: The Eastern States in particular thought themselves so with regard to the S. States (see Mr. Ghorum in the debates of this day). If general funds were not introduced it was not likely the balances wd. be ever be discharged, even if they sd. be liquidated. The consequence wd. be a rupture of the confederacy. The E. States wd. at sea be powerful & rapacious, the S. opulent & weak. This wd. be a temptation. the demands on the S. Sts would be an occasion. Reprisals wd. be instituted. Foreign aid would be called in by first the weaker, then the stronger side; & finally both be made subservient to the wars & politics of Europe. he had wished for such a plan as most eligible,

 he had never been sanguine that it was practicable & the discussions which had taken place had finally satisfied him that it would be necessary to limit the call for a general revenue to duties on commerce & to call for the deficiency in the most permanent way that could be reconciled with a revenue established within each State separately & appropriated to the Common Treasury. He said the rule which he had laid down to himself in this business was to concur in every arrangemt. that sd. appear necessary for an honorable & just fulfilment of the public engagements; & in no measure tending to augment the power of Congress which sd appear to be unnecessary; and particularly disclaimed the idea of perpetuating a public debt.
Mr. Lee in answer to Mr. Madison said the doctrine maintained by him was pregnant with dangerous consequences to the liberties of the confederated States; that notwithstanding the specious arguments that had been employed it was an established truth that the purse ought not to be put into the same hands with the Sword; that like arguments had been used in favor of Ship money in the reign of Charles I it being then represented as essential to the support of the Govt., that the Executive should be assured of the means of fulfilling its engagements for the public service: He said it had been urged by several in behalf of such an establishment for public credit that without it Congress was nothing more than a rope of sand. on this head he would be explicit; he had rather see Congress a rope of sand than a rod of Iron. He urged finally as a reason why some States would not & ought not to concur in granting to Congress a permanent revenue, that some States as Virga, would receive back a small part by paymt. from the U. S. to its Citizens; whilst others as Pena. wd. receive a vast surplus; & consequently be enriched by draining the former of its wealth.
Mr. Mercer said if he conceived the fœderal compact to be such as it had been represented he would immediately withdraw from Congress & do every thing in his power to destroy its existence: that if Congs. had a right to borrow money as they pleased and to make requisitions on the States that wd. be binding on them, the liberties of the States were ideal; that requisitions ought to be consonant to the Spirit of liberty; that they should go frequently & accompanied with full information. that the States must be left to judge of the nature of them, of their abilities to comply with them & to regulate their compliance accordingly; he laid great stress on the omission of Congs. to transmit half yearly to the States an acct. of the monies borrowed by them &c. and even insinuated that this omission had absolved the States in some degree from the engagements. He repeated his remarks on the injustice of the rule by which loan office certificates had been settled, & his opinion that some defalcations would be necessary.
Mr. Holten was opposed to all permanent funds, and to every arrangement not within the limits of the Confederation.
Mr. Hamilton enlarged on the general utility of permanent funds to the fœderal interests of this Country, & pointed out the difference between the nature of the Constitution of the British Executive, & that of the U. S. in answer to Mr. Lee’s reasoning from the case of Ship money.
Mr. Ghorum adverted with some warmth to the doctrines advanced by Mr. Lee & Mercer concerning the loan office Creditors. He said the Union could never be maintained on any other ground than that of Justice; that some States had suffered greatly from the deficiencies of others already; that if Justice was not to be obtained through the fœderal system & this system was to fail as would necessarily follow, it was time this should be known that some of the States might be forming other confederacies adequate to the purposes of their safety.
This debate was succeeded by a discharge of the Committee from the business of devising the means requisite for restoring public credit &c &c, and the business referred to a Come. consisting of Mr. Ghorum Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Madison, Mr. Fitzimmons & Mr. Rutlidge.


Title: Benjamin Harrison to Virginia Delegates, 21 February 1783
From: Harrison, Benjamin
To: Virginia Delegates

Gentlemen
Richmond February 21th. 1783.
Your favor of the 11th. Instant came to Hand by the Post, as did the missing Letter by the Post before which makes it probable that the delay proceeded from it’s not geting to the Post master before the Mail was closed. I enclose you a Paper sent to me by the Commissioners of our Navy at Portsmouth which they received by a Flag from the Lyon Man of War then in Linhaven Bay. the Captain of the Lyon obtain’d it from a french Brig from France which he took within the Capes going to Baltimore. I think you may depend on it’s being the Substance of the King of Great Britains Speach tho’ it has suffered greatly in the translations both by the french man who turned it into french and by the translator on board the Lyon, the Letter to Townsend bears evident Marks of authenticity. I am led to give more Credit to them from a report which was circulated here some Days ago that the Speach was actually in North Carolina brought by a Vessel from Nantes that left it the 26 of December and that it contain’d in Substance what you may collect from this. I can not help congratulating you on the Occasion tho’ I have some trifling fears that I may be a little premature. The necessary Certificate for the Settlement of Nathans Accounts was forwarded you by the last Post and hope will get to hand in Time to save the State from the payment of a sum of Money it does not owe and that Nathan never paid.
I am Gentlemen &c.
B.H.


Title: Notes on Debates, 25 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

No Congress till Teusday 25.
In favor of the motion of Mr. Gilman [see Journal of this date] to refer the officers of the army for their half pay to their respective States it was urged that this plan alone would secure to the officers any advantage from that engagement: since Congress had no independent fund out of which it could be fulfilled, and the States of Cont. & R. I. in particular would not comply with any recommendation of Cong. nor even requisition for that purpose. It was also said that it would be satisfactory to the officers; and that it would apportion on the States that part of the public burden with sufficient equality. Mr. Dyer said that the original promise of Congress on that subject was considered by some of the States as a fetch upon them, and not within the spirit of the authority delegated to Congress. Mr. Wolcot said the States wd. give Congs. nothing whatever unless they were gratified in this particular. Mr. Collins said R. I. had expressly instructed her delegates to oppose every measure tending to an execution of the promise, out of monies under the disposition of Congress.
On the other side it was urged that the half pay was a debt as solemnly contracted as any other debt; and was consequently as binding under the 12th article of Confederation on the States, & that they could not refuse a requisition made for that purpose; that it would be improper to countenance a spirit of that sort by yielding to it; that such concessions on the part of Congs. wd. produce compliances on the part of the States, in other instances, clogged with favorite conditions; that a reference of the officers to the particular States to whose lines they belong, would not be satisfactory to the officers of those States who objected to half pay, and would increase the present irritation of the army; that to do it without their unanimous consent would be a breach of the contract by which the U. S. collectively were bound to them; and above all that the proposed plan, which discharged any particular State which should settle with its officers on this subject, altho’ other States might reject the plan, from its proportion of that part of the public burden, was a direct and palpable departure from the law of the Confederation. According to this instrument the whole public burden of debt must be apportioned according to a valuation of land, nor cd. any thing but a unanimous concurrence of the States dispense with this law. According to the plan proposed so much of the public burden as the 1/2 pay sd. amount to, was to be apportioned according to the number of officers belonging to each line; the plan to take effect as to all those States which should adopt it, without waiting for the unanimous adoption of the States, and that if Congress had authority to make the number of officers the rule of apportioning one part of the public debt on the States, they might extend the rule to any other part or the whole, or might substitute any other arbitrary rule which they should think fit. The motion of Mr. Gilman was negatived see the ays & noes on the Journal


Title: From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 25 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To: Randolph, Edmund

My dear Sir
Philada. Feby. 25th. 1783.
Congress are still engaged on the subject of providing adequate revenues for the public debts, particularly that due to the army. The recommendation of the Impost will be renewed with perhaps some little variation, to which will be superadded probably a duty on a few enumerated art[i]cles. Master Mercer altho’ he continues to be adverse to the measure declares now that he will not carry his opposition out of Congress. Whether any other general revenues will be recommended is very uncertain. A poll tax seems to be the only one sufficiently simple & equal for the purpose, and besides other objections to which even that is liable, the Constitution of Maryland which interdicts such a tax is an insuperable bar. The plan talked of by some for supplying the deficiency is to call on the States to provide each its proportion of a permanent revenue within itself, and, to appropriate it to the continental debt. The objections against this plan are that as the execution of it will depend on a unanimous & continued punctuality in the 13 States; it is a precarious basis for public credit—that the precariousness will be increased by mutual jealousies among the States that others may be sparing themselves exertions which they are submitting to; and that these jealousies will be still more increased by the mutual opinion which prevails that they are comparatively in advance to the U. States; an opinion which cannot be corrected without closing the accounts between all of them & the U. States; prerequisites to which are a valuation of the land, and a final discrimination of such parts of the separate expenditures of the States as ought to be transferred to the common mass, from such parts as ought in justice to fall on the particular States themselves. Some States also will contend and it would seem neither agst. the principles of justice nor the spirit of the Confederation, for a retrospective abatement of their share of the past debt according to their respective disabilities from year to year throughout the war. What will be the end of this complication of embarrassments time only can disclose. But a greater embarrassment than any is s[t]ill behind. The discontents and designs of the army are every day takeing a more solemn form It is now whispered that they have not only resolved not to lay down their arms ti[l]l justice shall be done them [but] that to prev[en]t surprize a public declaration will be made to that effect It is added and I fear with too much certainty, that the influence of General [Washington] is rapidly decreaseing in the army insomuch that it is even in contemplation to substitute some less scrupulous guardian of their interests
There are a variety of rumours concerning peace but none of them of sufficient authority to be particularized. The Speech of the King of G B. to his parliament and the letter to the Lord Mayor of London from Secy. Townsend as it is stated are the only respectable evidence yet recd. There are also rumours on the adverse side which have still less the complection of authenticity.
A quantity of cloathing on its passage through this State to the British prisoners of war under a passport of Genl Washington was lately siezed and condemned under a law of this State agst. the importation of British goods. After several fruitless experiments to prevail on the siezors to relinquish their appeal to the law, the Legislature have I am told cut the business short by declaring the law as far as it interfered with the authority of the passport to be unconstitutional & void ab initio.
You will suffer me to renew my exhortations to an exchange of your office under the State for a seat in the Legislature. It depends much in my opinion on the measures which may be pursued by Congress & the several States within the ensuing period of 6 months whether prosperity & tranquility, or confusion and disunion are to be the fruits of the Revolution. The seeds of the latter are so thickly sown that nothing but the most enlightened and liberal policy will be able to stifle them. The easetern states particularly Massachussetts conceiv[e] that compared with the Southern they are greatly in advance in the general account
A respectable delegate from Massachussetts a few days ago being a little chafed by some expressions of Masters Lee and Mercer unfavorable to loan office creditors said that if justice was not to be obtained thro the general confederacy, the sooner it was known the better [so] that some states might be forming other confederacys adequate to the purpose[,] adding that some had suffered immensely from the want of a proportional compliance with deman[ds] for men & mon[ey] by others
However erroneous these ideas may be, do they not merit serious attenttion? Unless some amicable & adequate arrangements be speedily taken for adjusting all the subsisting accounts and discharging the public engagements, a dissolution of the union will be inevitable Will not in that event the S[outhern] S[tates] which at sea will be opulent and weak, be an easey prey to the easetern which will be powerful and rapacious? and particularly if supposed c[l]aims of justice are on the side of the latter will they not be a ready prete[x]t for reprisals? The consequence of such a situation would probably be that at alliances would be soug[h]t first by the weaker and then by the stronger party and this country be made subservi[ent] to the wars and politics of Europe
I inclose you the residue of the Extract from Mr. J——s remarks, according to my promise. I could have wished for another conveyance than the post, but preferred the latter to the uncertainty of finding such an one. The badness of the roads or something else has prevented the arrival of the post as yet, so that I must suspend acknowledgmt. of your favor by him till the next week.
Adieu


Title: Motion on Outrages by Enemy, 26 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Wednesday Feby 26. 1783.
Resolved That it be recommendd. to the Executives of the several States, whenever any outrages, unauthorised by the laws of war shall be committed on the persons or properties of their respective Citizens by any persons in the service of the Enemy, to transmit immediate information thereof to the Commander in chief or the Commanding officer of a separate army, in order that the measures may be pursued which are pointed out in the Resolution of the  day 1782.


Title: Notes on Debates, 26 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Wednesday Feby. 26.
Mr. Lee observed to Congress that it appeared from the Newspapers of the day that sundry enormities had been committed by the Refugees within the State of Delaware, as it was known that like enormities had been committed on the shores of the Chesapeak, notwithstanding the pacific professions of the Enemy; that it was probable however that if complaint were to be made to the British commander at N. York the practice would be restrained, He accordingly moved that a Committee might be appointed to take into consideration the means of restraining such practices. The motion was 2ded. by Mr. Peters. By Mr. Fitzimmons the motion was viewed as tending to a request of favors from Sr. Guy Carlton. It was apprehended by others that as Genl Washington & the Commanders of separate armies had been explicitly informed of the sense of Congress on this point, any fresh measures thereon might appear to be a censure on them; and that Congress cd. not ground any measure on the case in question; having no official information relative to it. The motion of Mr. Lee was negatived. But it appearing from the vote to be the desire of many members that some step might be taken by Congress, The motion of Mr. Madison & Mr. Mercer as it stands on the Journal was proposed and agreed to, as free from all objections.
A motion was made by Mr. Hamilton to give a brevet Comm[issi]on to Majr. Burnet aid to Genl. Greene & messenger of the evacuation of Charleston, of L. Colonel: There being six ays only the motion was lost. N. H. no. Mr. Lee & Mercer no.
No. X
1783. Feby. 26. Wednesday—(continued)—
The Committee consisting of Mr. Lee &c. to whom had been referred a motion of Mr. Hamilton recommending to the States to authorize Congress to make abatements in the retrospective apportionment by a valuation of land, in favor of States whose ability from year to year had been most impaired by the war: reported that it was inexpedient to agree to such motion because one State (Virga.) having disagreed to such a measure on a former recommendation of Congress, it was not probable that another recommendation would produce any effect; and because the difficulties of making such abatements were greater than the advantages expected from them.
Mr. Lee argued in favor of the report & the reasons on which it was grounded. The Eastern delegates were for leaving the matter open for future determination when an apportionment should be in question.
Mr. Madison said he thought that the principle of the motion was conformable to justice & within the spirit of the Confederation: according to which apportionmts ought [to] have been made from time to time throughout the war according to the existing wealth of each State. But that it would be improper to take up this case separately from other claims of equity which would be put in by other States: that the most likely mode of obtaining the concurrence of the States in any plan wd. be to comprehend in it the equitable interests of all of them; a comprehensive plan of that sort would be the only one that would cut off all sources of future controversy among the States: That as soon as the plan of revenue sd. be prepared for recommendation to the States it would be proper for Congs. to take into consideration & combine with it every object which might facilitate its progress, & form a complete provision for the tranquility of the U. States. The Question on Mr. Hamilton’s motion was postponed.
The letter from Mr. Morris requesting that the injunction of secresy might be withdrawn from his preceding letter signifying to Congress his purpose of resigning was committed to.


Title: Notes on Debates, 27 February 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Thursday Feby. 27.
On the report of the Come. on Mr. Morris’s letter the injunction of secresy was taken off without dissent or observation.
The attention of Congress was recalled to the subject of half pay by Messrs. Dyer & Wolcot, in order to introduce a reconsideration of the mode of referring it separately to the States to provide for their own lines.
Mr. Mercer favored the reconsideration, representing the commutation proposed, as tending in common with the funding of other debts, to establish & perpetuate a monied interest in the U. S.[,] that this monied interest would gain the ascendance of the landed interest, would resort to places of luxury & splendor, and by their example & influence, become dangerous to our republican constitutions. He said however that the variances of opinion & indecision of Congress were alarming & required that something should be done; that it wd be better to newmodel the Confederation, or attempt any thing rather than do nothing.
Mr. Madison reminded Congs. that the commutation proposed was introduced as a compromise with those to whom the idea of pensions was obnoxious & observed that those whose scruples had been relieved by it had rendered it no less obnoxious than pensions by stigmatizing it with the name of a perpetuity. He said the public situation was truly deplorable. If the payment of the capital of the public debts was suggested, it was said & truly said to be impossible; if funding them & paying the interest was proposed, it was exclaimed agst. as establishing a dangerous monied interest, as corrupting the public manners, as administering poison to our republican constitutions. He said he wished the revenue to be established to be such as would extinguish the capital as well as pay the interest within the shortest possible period; and was as much opposed to perpetuating the public burdens as any one. But that the discharge of them in some form or other was essential, and that the consequences predicted therefrom could not be more heterogeneous to our republican character & constitutions, than a violation of the maxims of good faith and common honesty. It was agreed that the report for commuting ½ pay, should lie on the table till tomorrow, in order to give an opportunity to the Delegates of Connecticut to make any proposition relative thereto which they should judge proper.
The report of the Comme. consisting of Mr. Ghorum Mr. Hamilton Mr. Madison Mr. Rutlidge & Mr. Fitzimmons was taken up. It proposed that in addition to the impost of 5 PerCt. ad valorem, the States be requested to enable Congs. to collect a duty of ⅛ of a dollar perbushel on salt imported, of 6/90 per Gallon on all wines do. and of 3/90 per Gallon on all rum & brandy do.
On the first article it was observed on the part of the East: States, that this would press peculiarly hard on them on acct. of the salt consumed in the fisheries, and that it would besides be injurious to the national interest by adding to the cost of fish, and a draw back was suggested.
On the other side it was observed that the warmer climate & more dispersed settlements of the Southern States, required a greater consumption of salt for their provisions, that salt might & would be conveyed to the fisheries without previous importation, that the effect of the duty was too inconsiderable to be felt in the cost of fish & that as the rum used in the N. E. States being in a great degree manufactured at home, they would have a greater advantage in this respect, than the other States could have in the article of Salt, that a drawback could not be executed in our complicated governmt. with ease or certainty
Mr. Mercer on this occasion declared that altho’ he thought those who opposed a general revenue right in their principles, yet as they appeared to have formed no plan adequate to the public exigences, and he was convinced of the necessity of doing something, he should depart from his first resolutions and strike in with those who were pursuing the plan of a general revenue.
Mr. Holten said that he had come lately into Congress with a predetermination against any measures for discharging the public engagements other than those pointed out in the confederation, & that he had hitherto acted accordingly. But that he saw now so clearly the necessity of making provision for that object, and the inadequacy of the confederation thereto, that he should concur in recommending to the States a plan of a general revenue.
A question being proposed on the duty on salt there were 9 ays. N. H. alone being no. R. I. not prest.
It was urged by some that the duty on wine should be augmented, but it appeared on discussion & some calculations, that the temptation to smuggling wd. be rendered too strong & the revenue be thereby diminished. Mr. Bland proposed that instead of a duty on the gallon an advalorem duty should be laid on wine, and this idea after some loose discussions, was agreed to; few of the members interesting themselves therein, and some of them havg. previously retired from Congress.


Title: To James Madison from Edmund Randolph, 1 March 1783
From: Randolph, Edmund
To: Madison, James

My dear friend
Richmond. March 1. 1783.
Being here on business, I can not inspect your figures of feby. 18. The drift of them is, however, seen, and I have already met the sentiments half way, by an adherence to my opinion of the necessity of reviving the impost.
A dangerous combination has been formed for counterfeiting tobacco notes and Morris’s notes. It extends, like the mountains of America, from south to North. We may hope, that this mint, which has been already been opened with success, will soon be suppressed by the activity of a zealous whig, of genuine honesty. The executive have patronized the measures, which he had adopted for a complete detection.
What renders this scheme of villainy, more perilous, is that it is probable, some of the inspectors have been associated in it; and they, by furnishing marks, weights numbers and names, can always with truth inform the holders of these counterfeits, that such tobacco is to be found in the Warehouses; & yet refuse to deliver the tobacco, when the exporter demands it on these bad notes.
I am told, that the executive have taken a definitive step with respect to the recruiting money. All sums, which have been collected beyond the mountains, are to be retained for the purpose of inlisting; which General Muhlenberg expects may be carried on rapidly. What has been collected below that line, is to be paid into the treasury and from thence distributed into the hands of the different recruiting officers.
My letter of last week miscarried in its journey from my house to the post office, and will therefore go by this post.


Title: Notes on Debates, 4–5 March 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Teusday March 4: & Wednesday March 5.
The motion of Mr. Hamilton on the Journal relative to abatement of the quotas of distressed States was rejected, partly because the principle was disapproved by some, and partly because, it was thought improper to be separated from other objects to be recommended to the States. The latter motive produced the motion for postponing which was lost.
The Committee to whom had been referred the letters of resignation of Mr. Morris reported as their opinion that it was not necessary for Congs. immediately to take any steps thereon. They considered the resignation as conditional, and that if it sd. eventually take place at the time designated, there was no necessity for immediate provision to be made.
Mr. Bland moved that &c (See Journal of Mar: 5)
This motion produced on these two days lengthy & warm debates. Mr. Lee & Mr. Bland on one side disparaging the administration of Mr. Morris’, and throwing oblique censure on his character. They considered his letters as an insult to Congs. & Mr. Lee de[c]lared that the man who had published to all the world such a picture of our national character & finances was unfit to be a minister of the latter. On the other side Mr. Wilson & Mr. Hamilton went into a copious defence & Panegyric of Mr. Morris, the ruin in which his resignation if it sd. take effect wd. involve public credit and all the operations dependent on it; and the decency altho’ firmness of his letters. The former observed that the declaration of Mr. Morris that he wd. not be the minister of Injustice cd. not be meant to reflect on Congs. because they had declared the funds desired by Mr. Morris to be necessary; and that the friends of the latter could not wish for a more honorable occasion for his retreat from public life, if they did not prefer the public interest to considerations of friendship. Other members were divided as to the propriety of the letters in question. In general however they were thought reprehensible, as in general also a conviction prevailed of the personal merit & public importance of Mr. Morris. All impartial members foresaw the most alarming consequences from his resignation. The prevailing objection to Mr Bland’s motion was that its avowed object & tendency was to re-establish a board in place of a single minister of finance. Those who apprehended that ultimately this might be unavoidable, thought it so objectionable that nothing but the last necessity would justify it. The motion of Mr. Bland was lost: and a Comme appointed generally on the letters of Mr. Morris.


Title: Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, 4 March 1783
From: Virginia Delegates
To: Harrison, Benjamin

Sir
Phila. March 4th. 1783
We have receiv’d your Excellency’s Letter of the 26th. Ult, enclosing a copy of the King of Great Britain’s speech, wch tho’ much mutilated, is in substance, the same with the genuine one transmitted you by Express.
That, & the two Letters of Lord Townshend are the only pecies of intelligence, that bear the marks of authenticity respecting the final adjustment of Peace in Europe.
To this moment Congress are without official information of the formal signing of any Treaty by the belligerent Powers either partially or generally. the Minister of France, is we apprehend, without intelligence on the important head, & we have no reason to suppose that they are in a state of less uncertainty at N York.
Fluctuating reports respecting this subject, as various in their nature, as the interested sources from whence ’tis probable they spring, prevail here. for them we refer to the papers enclosed, &
with much respect, are Yr. Excellency’s most obedient & humble servants
A. LeeTheok: Bland Jr.Jos: Jones.John F. MercerJ Madison Jr.
We fear the certificate respecting Nathan’s account has arriv’d too late, to influence the determination of the arbitrators.


Title: From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 4 March 1783
From: Madison, James
To: Randolph, Edmund

My dear Sir
Philada. March 4. 1783
The past week has not added a syllable of evidence to our preceding calculations of peace. The inferences from the suspence are as various as the fancies & interests of those who make them. Your letter by last post which came to hand the day after the usual time adopts I conceive the most rational solution, namely, the difficulties & delays incident to so complicated a negociation.
Provision for the public debts continues to be the wearisome topic of congressional discussion. Mercer declared that although he deems the opponents of a general revenue right in principle, yet as they had no plan and it was essential that some thing should be done he should strike in with the other side
A letter from Genl. Knox is in Town which I under stand places the temper and affairs of army in a less alarming view than some preceding accounts
The resignation of the Superintendt. of finance with his motives are contained in paper inclosed. It is as you may well suppose a subject of general and anxious conversation. The effect on public credit will be fully anticipated by your knowledge of our affairs. Yesterday’s Mail brought me no letter from you. Adieu
Mr. Jefferson is here awaiting further instructions of Congs. which w[ill?] be adapted to the first authorita[tive] advices from Europe.


Title: Memorandum on a Revenue Plan, [ca. 6 March] 1783
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Editorial Note
Ca. 6 March 1783. The contents of this memorandum, except as indicated below, are repetitive of JM’s long footnote in his notes on debates for 26 February 1783 (q.v., and nn. 15–44). For this reason, only the variations of information or opinion between the two documents are here indicated. The memorandum was given to Jefferson, who had been in Baltimore during much of the debate, on or about 6 March 1783, so that he might understand some of the conflicts of interests which necessarily shaped the recommendations of the committee.
JM entitled the memorandum:
“Plan proposed consists of 1st. permanent revenue. 2. abatements in favor of the States distressed by the war—3. common mass of all reasonable expences incurred by the States without sanction of Congress—4. territorial cessions.
Manner in which the interests of the several States will be affected by these objects.”
In this memorandum, except for one instance, JM used the expression “permanent revenue” as a replacement of the term “general revenue” employed in his note. He probably viewed these designations as synonymous, even though the one stresses the duration and the other the scope of the income recommended for the use of Congress.
In his footnote JM stated that “it is presumed in most instances, she [Rhode Island] would be opposed to making a common mass of expences.” In the memorandum, on the other hand, JM recorded that Rhode Island would not be “agst. a common mass.” This contrast in opinion and the other differences noted in the next two paragraphs suggest that debates or conferences subsequent to 26 February had convinced JM of the need to modify what he had written in his footnote about these particular matters as viewed by Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
In the footnote JM wrote that Connecticut’s “interest is opposed to abatements, and to a common mass of expences.” In the memorandum he noted that Connecticut was “strenous agst. abatements—in favor of common, having often employed militia without sanction of Congss.”
Instead of Pennsylvania being “interested against abatements; and against a common mass,” as stated in his footnote, JM’s memorandum points out that Pennsylvania is “not interested in abatemts. nor common mass, but has espoused both.”
JM remarked in his footnote that Virginia was “interested in abatements, and essentially so in a common mass, not only her excentric expenditures being enormous; but many of her necessary ones havg. rcd. no previous or subsequent sanction.” The corresponding statement in the memorandum reads: “It is uncertain how the credits of her Citizens may stand in a liquidation of their claims vs U. S—interested somewhat perhaps in abatements—particularly so in a common mass—not only her excentric expenditures being enormous but many of them which have been similar to those allowed to other States, having recd. no sanction of Congs.”
Referring in his memorandum to the citizens of North Carolina, JM remarked that “their claims for supplies must be great.” In his footnote he had implied rather than explicitly stated this belief.
In the footnote, immediately preceding “a state of the loan office debt,” which JM omitted in the present memorandum, he wrote: “it may be proper to include in it [‘this plan’] a recommendation to the States to rescind the rule of apportioning pecuniary burdens according to the value of land, & to substitute that of numbers, reckoning two slaves as equal to one free man.” The parallel passage at the close of the memorandum reads: “a recommendation is to be included for substituting numbers in place of the value of land as the rule of apportionment. In this all the States are interested if proper deductions be made from the number of Slaves.”
The shift from “may be” to “is to be,” together with the other factual differences noted above, indicates that JM wrote his memorandum for Jefferson shortly before the report on restoring public credit was delivered to Congress on 6 March. By then JM obviously could inform his friend what the recommendation ‘is to be.” That report, drafted by JM on behalf of a committee, included a proposal to allocate the financial quotas among the states “in proportion to the number of inhabitants of every age, sex and condition,” excepting Indians not taxed and slaves “between the ages of .” See Report on Restoring Public Credit, 6 Mar. 1783.


Title: Report on Restoring Public Credit, [6 March] 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

[6 March 1783]
Resolved that it be recommended to the several States as indispensably necessary to the restoration of public credit and the punctual & honorable discharge of the public debts, to vest in the U. S. in Congress assd. a power to levy for the use of the U. S., a duty of 5 PerCt. ad valorem, at the time & place of importation, upon all goods wares and merchandizes of foreign growth and manufactures, which may be imported into any of the said States, from any foreign port, island or plantation, except arms, ammunition, cloathing & other articles imported on account of the United States or any of them, except wool cards, cotton cards & wire for making them, and also except salt during the war:
Also a like duty of 5 PerCt. ad valorem on all prizes & prize goods condemned in the Court of Admiralty of any of these States as lawful prize:
Also to levy a duty of ⅛ of a dollar per Bushel on all Salt imported as aforesaid after the war. 1/15 of a dollar per Gallon on all wines 1/30 of a dollar per Gallon on all rum & brandy 2/3 of a dollar per 112 lbs. on all brown sugars, 1 dollar per 112 lbs. on all powdered, lump & clayed sugars other than loaf sugars, 1⅓ dollar on all loaf sugars 1/30 of a dollar Per lb. on all Bohea Tea and 1/15 of a dollar per lb on all finer India Teas, imported as aforesaid, after , in addition to the five per cent above mentioned
Provided that none of the said duties shall be applied to any other purpose than the discharge of the interest or principals of the debts which shall have been contracted on the faith of the U. S. for supporting the present war, nor be continued for a longer term than 25 years; and provided that the collectors of the said duties shall be appointed by the States within which their offices are to be respectively exercised; but when so appointed shall be amenable to, and removeable by the U. S. in Congs. assd. alone and in case any State shall not make such appt. within  after notice given for that purpose, the appointmt may then be made by the U. S. in Congs. assd.
That it be further recommended to the several States to establish for a like term not exceeding 25 years, and to appropriate to the discharge of the Interest & principal of the debts which shall have been contracted on the faith of the U.S. for supporting the present war, substantial & effectual revenues of such nature as they may respectively judge most convenient to the amount of  and in the proportions following, viz.
That an annual account of the proceeds and application of the aforementioned revenues shall be made out & transmitted to the several states distinguishing the proceeds of each of the specified articles, & the amount of the whole revenue received from each State.
the said revenues to be collected by persons appointed as aforesaid; but to be carried to the separate credit of the States within wch. they shall be collected, and be liquidated & adjusted among the States according to the quotas which may from time to time be allotted to them:
That none of the preceding resolutions shall take effect untill all of them shall be acceded to by every State, after Which unanimous accession, however, they shall be considered as forming a mutual compact among all the States, and shall be irrevocable, by any one or more of them without the concurrence of the whole, or of a majority of the U. S. in Congs. assembd.; provided that after the unanimous accession to all the said preceding resolutions, the proposed alteration in the 8th. of the Articles of Confederation shall not hereafter be revoked or varied otherwise than as is pointed out in the 13th. of the Said articles.
That as a further mean[s] as well of hastening the extinguishment of the debts, as of establishing the harmony of the U. States it be recommended to the States which have passed no acts towards complying with the Resolutions of Congs. of the 6 of Sepr. & 10 of Ocr. 1780, relative to territorial cessions, to make the liberal cessions therein recommended, and to the States wch. may have passed acts complying with the said resolutions in part only, to revise and complete such compliances.
That in order to remove all objections agst. a retrospective application of the constitutional rule of proportioning to the Several States the charges & expences which shall have been supplied for the common defence or general welfare, it be recommended to them to enable Congress to make such equitable exceptions and abatements as the particular circumstances of the States from time to time during the war may be found to require.
That conformably to the liberal principles on which these recommendations are founded, and with a view to a more amicable & complete adjustment of all accounts between the U. S. & individual States, all reasonable expences which shall have been incurred by the States, without the sanction of Congress, in their defence agst. or attacks upon British or Savage Enemies, either by sea or by land, and which shall be supported by satisfactory proofs, shall be considered as part of the common charges incident to the present war, and be allowed as such;
That as a more convenient and certain rule of ascertaining the proportions to be supplied by the States respectively to the common Treasury, the following alteration in the articles of confederation & perpetual Union between these States, be & the same is hereby agreed to in Congress, & the several States are advised to authorize their respective Delegates to subscribe & ratify the same as part of the said instrument of Union, in the words following to wit:
“So much of the 8th. of the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the 13 States of America, as is contained in the words following to wit., ‘all charges of war &c. [to the end of the paragraph’] is hereby revoked and made void; and in place thereof it is declared & concluded, the same having been agreed to in a Congress of the U. States; ‘that all charges of war & all other expences that shall be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled shall be Defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states in proportion to the number of inhabitants of every age, sex and condition, except Indians not paying taxes in each State; which number shall be triennially taken & transmitted to the U. S. Congs. assd. in such mode as they shall direct and appoint; provided always, that in such numeration no persons shall be included who are bound to servitude for life according to the laws of the State to which they belong, other than such as may be between the ages of  [’”]


Title: Notes on Debates, 6 March 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Thursday March 6.
The come. on Revenue made a report which was ordered to be printed for each member, and to be taken up on monday next.


Title: Notes on Debates, 7 March 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Editorial Note
Except for its first sentence and the footnote, JM’s entry for this day is limited to a reproduction of the Report on Restoring Public Credit, 6 March 1783 (q.v.), drawn from the printed version of that report distributed the next day to each delegate in Congress. Three copies of this broadside are in NA: PCC, No. 26, fols. 411–13. For the purpose of recording the outcome of the prolonged debates on the report, Charles Thomson or members of his clerical staff marginated each of these copies differently and marked within their text.
To have a convenient means of referring to the particular subject at issue during these debates, JM numbered the paragraphs sequentially from “(1)” to “(12)” in the report copied in his notes for 7 March. See text of notes and nn. 2 and 3, below; also, for example, JM Notes, 21 Mar.; 27 Mar. 1783, and nn. 1, 2. This numbering, the variation mentioned in footnotes 3, 6, 9, 13, and 18 of the Report on Restoring Public Credit, 6 March 1783, and many unimportant differences of abbreviations, capitalization, and punctuation make each of the four versions contrast in minor respects with the other three, even though they almost never differ in their factual contents.

Friday March 7.
Printed copies of the rept. abovementioned were delivered to each member as follows, viz.

   In the draught as laid before the Come. by the (7) paragraph was placed last of all, so as to render the plan indivisible. In the (10) paragraph the word “reasonable” before the word “expences,” was not inserted; but to the paragraph were added “provided that this allowance shall not be extended to any expences which shall be declared by nine votes in Congress to be manifestly unreasonable.” In other respects the original draught was unaltered; except that a former resolution of Congress in the words of the (6) paragraph was incorporated by the Secy. before it went to the press.


Title: Notes on Debates, 10 March 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Monday. March 10.
See the Journal. much debate passed relative to the proposed commutation of half pay; some wishing it to take place on condition only that a majority of the whole army should concur[;] others preferring the plan expressed on the journal, and not agreed to.


Title: Notes on Debates, 11 March 1783
From: Madison, James
To:

Teusday. March 11.
The report entered on Friday the 7 of March was taken into consideration. It had been sent by order of Congs. to the Supt. of Finance for his remarks which were also on the table. These remarks were in substance; that it wd. be better to turn the 5 perCt. ad valorem into a Tariff founded on an enumeration of the several classes of imports; to which ought to [be] added a few articles of exports; that instead of an apportionment of the residue on the States, other general revenues, from a land tax, reduced to 1/4 of a dollar per Hundred acres, with a house tax regulated by the number of windows, and an excise on all spirituous liquors to be collected at the place of distillery ought to be substituted and as well as the duties on trade made coexistent with the public debts; the whole to be collected by persons appd. by Congs. alone, and that an alternative ought to [be] held out to the States, either to establish these permanent revenues for the interest, or to comply with a constitutional demand of the principal within a very short period.
In order to ascertain the sense of Congs. on these ideas it was proposed that the following short questions sd. be taken:
1. Shall any taxes to operate generally throughout the States be recommended by Congs., other than duties on foreign commerce?
2. Shall the 5 perCt. advalorem be exchanged for a tariff?

3. Shall the alternative be adopted as proposed by the Superintendt. of Finance?
On the 1st question the States were N. H. no Mas: no. Cont. no. N. J. no. Maryd. no Virga. no 6 noes & 5 ays.
On the 2d. question there were 7 ays.
The 3d. question was not put, its impropriety being generally proclaimed.
In consequence of the 2d. vote in favor of a tariff the 3 first paragraphs of the Rept. were recommitted together with the Letter from the Superintendt. of Finance.
On the 4 par: on motion of Mr. Dyer, after the word “war” in “line 5” were inserted “agreeably to the resolution of the 16. of decemr. last.”
A motion was made by Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Wilson to strike out the limitation of 25 years and to make the revenue coexistent with the debts. This question was lost, the States being N. H. no Mas: no. Cont. divd. N.Y. ay. N.J. ay. Pa. ay Del: ay. Maryd. ay. Va. no. N. C. ay. S. C. no.
A motion was made by Mr. Hamilton & Mr. Wilson to strike out the clauses relative to the appointment of Collectors, and to provide that the Collectors shd be inhabitants of the States within which they sd. collect; should be nominated by Congs. and appointed by the States, and in case such nomination should not be accepted or rejected within  days it should stand good. On this question there were 5 ays & 6 noes.


Title: Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, 11 March 1783
From: Virginia Delegates
To: Harrison, Benjamin

Sir
In Congress. March 11th. 1783
Yr. Excellency’s Letter of 24th. Feby. is receiv’d & we are sorry that we are not yet enabled by official communications to relieve you from your anxiety on the subject of Peace, whenever they shall arrive, you may be assured that they shall be transmitted to you by express agreably to yr. wish.
We have to remark to your Excellency, that no remittances have been made for sometime [to] the Delegates. it would be superfluous for us to add to yr. Excellency the consequences which arise from the little punctua[lity] we have experienced, in the payment of the appointd [sum?] allowed, besides being exposed to the extortion which is practised here invariably whenever necessity obliges us [to] borrow money, it is not always that money may be had on any terms.
With much respect We have the honor to be Yr. Excellcy’s. mo: obedt. & very hble Servants
John F. MercerTheok. Bland Jr.A. LeeJos. Jones.J. Madison Jr.


Title: From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 11 March 1783
From: Madison, James
To: Randolph, Edmund

My dear Sir
Philada. March 11th. 1783
Your favor of the 1st. inst: came to hand yesterday but unaccompanied by that of the preceding week referred to in it.
Another week has passed without affording the least relief from our suspence as to the progress of peace. At New York they are so much in the dark that their curiosity has recourse to the gleanings of the Philada. gazettes. The length of the negociation may be explained, but the delay of all parties to notify its progress is really astonishing. Our last official information is nearly 5 months old & that derived from the royal speech upwards of three months.
The peremptory style & publication of Mr. M’s letters have given offense to many without & to some within Congress. His enemys of both descriptions are industrious in displayin[g] their impropriety. I wish they had les[s] handle for the purpose.
The plan before Congress for the arrangemt. of our affairs is to ask from the States a power to levy for a term not exceeding 25. years the 5 perCt. impost, with an additional impost on salt, wine, spirituous liquors, sugars & teas. to recommend to them to establish & appropriate perman[en]t revenues for a like term for the deficiency; the proceeds to be carried to their credit; the whole to be collected by persons amenable to Congs. but appd. by the States; to complete the territorial cessions; to enable Congs. to make abatements in favor of suffering States; Congs. on their part declaring that all reasonable military expences separately incurred by the States without their sanction either by sea or land shall be part of the common mass; and proposing to the States a substitution of numbers in place of a valuation of land;  Slaves to be equal to 1 free man. The fate of this plan in Congs. is uncertain, & still more so among the States. It makes a decent provision for the public debts & seems to comprehend the most dangerous sources of future contests among ourselves. If the substance of it is rejected, and nothing better introduced in its place, I shall consider it as a melancholy proof that narrow & local views prevail over that liberal policy & those mutual concessions which our future tranquility and present reputation call for.
Mr. J.son is still here, agitated as you may suppose with the suspense in which he is kept. He is as anxious as myself for your going into the Legislature. Let me know your final determination on this point.


Title: Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, 12 March 1783
From: Virginia Delegates
To: Harrison, Benjamin

Sir
Phila. March 12th. 1783.
We have judged it most advisable to communicate to your Excelly. by Express the purport of the dispat[c]hes from our Ministers at Paris, which have this day arrived by Capt. Barney, who left l’Orient the 17th of Jany. protected by a passport under the signature of his Brittanick Majesty, after having been long detained for the purpose of forwarding advices relative to the negociations for Peace.
These will be found important, altho’ not decisive, & we consequently think it our duty, to furnish yr Excelly. with the information requisite to form your own judgement respecting the prospect we have of a speedy Peace, not doubting that you will so far diffuse communications (as may appear necessary) on a subject that must influence the measures of the Public & of individuals.
The preliminary Articles of Peace were signed by Mr. Ozwald, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, & Messrs. Adams, Franklin, Jay & Adams, our Ministers—provisionally, that is to say, to be effective when the definitive treaty may be concluded between France & Great Britain. they are forwarded to us & contain 8 Articles, substantially of the following import
an ample recognition of the independence of the United States & relinquishment on the part of his Brittanick Majesty, for himself[,] heirs & successors, of all claim to right of sovereignty, property or jurisdiction within the limits of the territory of the States, which are fully settled & described in the second Article.
They are affixed much on the principle of the treaty of Paris, but to give you a more accurate idea without a minute detail, the line established, is from the mouth of the River St. Croix to the source, thence north along those mountains which divide the waters that fall on each side into the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Ocean, thence to the head of Connecticut River, thence down the middle of that River to the 45th. degree of Latitude, thence west to the River Iroquois or Cataroquy, thence along the middle of the said River to the Lake Ontario, thence thro’ the middle of that Lake & the Lakes Erie, Huron, Superior & the lake of the woods, pursuing the middle of their water communications, thence due west to the Mississippi, thence along the middle of that River to the 31. degree of North latitude, and thence from that intersection nearly an East course to the source of St. Mary’s River, thence down the middle of that River to the Atlantic Ocean, together with all Islands in sd. Ocean within 20 Leagues of the Continent.
The great Fisheries to remain free to both nations, with liberty, to cure on the shores subject to either power, & we are also admitted to fish & cure on the shores of Labrador untill they may become settled. Debts due on both sides are to be recovered—no farther confiscations to take place & Congress are earnestly to recommend to the different States to revise those Laws, w[hi]ch forfeit the property of British subjects who have never born Arms against the United States, and all those refugees who have born Arms are to be permitted to make personal application to the different Legislatures to be reinvested, in their Estates on repaying any Sums w[hi]ch may have been bona fide paid by the present possessors.
The subjects of either Power are reciprocally to enjoy in every commercial intercourse all advantages that the subjects of each respective Power enjoy within their own dominions, saving the exclusive rights of the chartered Companies of Brittain, from an interference with which all other British subjects are precluded.
All posts within the territorial limits of the United States at present held by the British troops, are to be evacuated, without carrying any property which may have been seized from the Americans. All Posts taken since the signing of these Preliminaries to be immediately relinquished. These together with a general amnesty on both sides for all offences, & a ceasing of all criminal prosecutions arising on such offences, constitute the ground work of the agreement w[hi]ch has been thus reciprocally signed.
On the 24th. Doctr. Franklin writes that difficulties had intervened between that date & the 15th. of Decr. when his last was dated accompanying the above, in the prosecution of the Negociations between France & Great Britain.
It appears from the Journals of these negociations & the Letters of our Ministers previous to that date that the chief difficulty arose from Gibraltar. France had offered to give G. B. the Island of Guadaloupe for that post & to receive in return from Spain the half of St. Domingo, which belongs now to Spain but Britain obstinately contended for Porto Rico. However to give your Excellency a just idea of the present information of Congress on this subject We transcribe to you quotations from a Letter from the C[o]mte de Vergennes to Doctor Franklin, dated the 24th. transmitted by him to Us. “Our Negociations (i.e. between France & G. B.) are at the same point with yours; but yet far from an end[”], then again “Our facility has occasioned difficulty[”] and again, “I do not despair; I rather hope, yet every thing is uncertain[”] On the whole I believe the preliminaries between France & Britain are agreed on tho’ not signed (an account of them such as we have will be communicated in our next) & that Spain & Holland have made but little progress in their business.
Thus far go the dispatches w[hi]ch we have already perused. matters of importance may yet be behind, & communications of very consequential import are expected from the Minister of France. if from these sources any intelligence may spring, yet unknown, Yr. Excellency may expect it in our next, which will follow this by an Opportunity that will give it a speedy & safe conveyance.
A Copy of the Commission of his Swedish Majesty, to his Minister in France, empowering him to conclude a treaty with the United States, is now transmitted us. the terms in w[hi]ch it is conceived are not only ample but honorary & flattering &c we are happy to assure Yr. Excellency that some progress has been made in a treaty with that Power.
We are assured that a deputation from the refugees at N York are sent to the legislature of that State requesting to know what terms they are to expect & every thing there portends a very speedy evacuation.
With high respect We have the honor to be Yr. Excellency’s most ob: & very humble Servants.
Jos. JonesJames MaddisonTheodorick BlandArthur LeeJohn F. Mercer
P. S. I find that the Article respecting Commerce altho’ adjusted as above, yet was excluded by Mr. O. when about to sign, as several Acts of Parliament stand in the way. The Express who brings you this will apply to yr. Excellency for 24 £ which was the price stipulated. one third however will be repaid us by the Maryland Delegates.


Title: From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 12 March 1783
From: Madison, James
To: Randolph, Edmund

My dear Sir,
Philada. March 12. 1783
Capt. Barney commanding the American packet boat which has been long expected with official intelligences from our Ministers in Europe arrived here this morning. He brings a supply of money the sum of which I cannot as yet specify & comes under a passport from the King of G. B. The despatches from our Ministers are dated the 5. 14 & 24 of Decr. Those of the 14th inclose a copy of the preliminary articles provisionally signed between the American & British Plenipotentiaries. The tenor of them is that the U.S. shall be acknowledged & treated with as free, sovereign & independt., that our boundaries shall begin at the mouth of St. Croix, run thence to the ridge dividing the waters of the Atlantic from those of St. Laurence, thence to the head of Cont. river, thence down to 45.° N. L. thence to Cadaraqui, thence thro’ the middle of Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron & Superior to Long Lake, to the lake of the woods & thence due W to the Missi[ssip]pi, thence down the middle of the river to L: 31. thence to Apalichicola, to flint river, to St. Mary’s & down the same to the Atlantic, that the fisheries shall be exercised nearly as formerly; that Congress shall earnestly recommend to the States a restitution of Confiscated property a permission to the refugees to come & remain for 1 year within the States to solicit restitution, and that in the most obnoxious cases restitution may be demanded of purchasers on reimbursing them the price of the property, that debts contracted prior to 1775 shall be mutually paid according to sterling value; that all prisoners shall be mutually set at liberty; troops withdrawn & all records & papers restored; that the navigation of the Mississippi from the source to the mouth shall be mutually free for the subjects of G. B. & the Citizens of America, a proposition comprehending the W. I. was offered on the subject of Commerce, but not admitted on the part of G. B.
In the course of the negociation G. B. contended for not only the limits marked out in the Quebec Act, but all ungranted soil, for a contraction of the fisheries, and for absolute stipulations in favr. of the loyalists.
The despatches of the 14th. Speak also of the principal preliminaries between F. & G. B. being settled; but of little progress being made in those between Hold. & Spn. & the latter; & of none between Spn. & U.S.
A letter of the 24. Decr. from Dr. Franklin varies the scene somewhat. It says that uncertainties were arising from the unsettled state of minds in England & incloses a letter from Ct. de Vergennes observing that difficulties had arisen from the very facilities yielded on the part of France; & concluding with these words as well as I can recollect, “Je ne desespere pas. J’espire plutôt; mais tout est incertain.”
Franklin’s correspondence on this occasion denotes a vigor of intellect, which is astonishing at his age. a letter to the British Minister on the case of the Tories in particular is remarkable for strength of reasoning, of sentiment & of expression. He concludes his letter to Congs. with observing that he is now entering on his 78th. year, 50 of wh[ich] have been spent in the public Service; and that having lived to see like Simeon of old the salvation of his Country, his prayer is that he may be permitted to retire from public life. Mr. Adams has also transmitted a resignation.
The arrival of this intelligence will probably procure from Congs. some final decision with respect to Mr. Jefferson.
Having given you all the facts which hurry wd. admit I leave you to your own conclusion as to the object of them.
Farewell.
J Ma[dison Jr.]


Title: Robert R. Livingston to Virginia Delegates, 15 March 1783
From: Livingston, Robert R.
To: Virginia Delegates

Gentlemen
Office for Foreign Affairs15th: March 1783
I have the honor to enclose a translation of a Memorial from Lewis Auby transmitted to me by Dr. Franklin with a letter from the Count De Vergennes accompanying it; which I pray you to submit to your Common Wealth in such way as will most probably procure him the releif he requires, if the State of their accounts with Mr. Pennet will afford them the means
I have the honor to be Gentlemen with great Respect your most obed humble servt
Robt R Livingston


Title: To James Madison from Edmund Pendleton, 15 March 1783
From: Pendleton, Edmund
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Virga. March 15th. 1783
Yr. favr. of the 25th. contains a great many Serious truths very well worth Attention by every friend to America and Particularly those who are concerned in the Public Councils; may the importance of the crisis produce in our approaching Elections men of Abilities to discover, and fortitude to Apply radical Remedies to impending evils, and forsake the horid Quackism of temporary expedients, calculated rather to smother by a kind of Stupor, the disease for the present moment, that it may break out with irresistable violence, than to remove the cause. As you do not mention the Plan agreed on by Congress for making the valuation of lands, which I take to be the great difficulty which formed an objection to that mode of fixing the Quota of each State, I cannot judge of it. That under the Statical influence against the fedral Interest, there will be great partiality in taking it must be supposed, and the only remedie appears to me to be for Congress to refer the Valuation, when returned, to a Committee of one sensible & liberal member from each State; who upon a little enquiry may easily discover the scale wch directs the Value of each, and either raise or lower them, as upon a comparitive view of the whole shall appear just. This method taken by our last Assembly has, I am persuaded, reduced the value of our Lands to equality, much nearer than any of the Various methods theretofore tried. The contentn for an abatement on Account of the unequal pressure of the War, applys strongly in favr of South Carolina & Georgia—perhaps I might Add Virga who suffer’d in 1781 to the full amount of her Quota, I think in Negroes alone, tho’ I confess as an Individual I should not think it worth while to claim the exoneration. Those other States from an Infinity of circumstances, were peculiarly distinguishable from all others, and as to the Northern States, who had the most of the War, it appears to me (perhaps wrongly) that the inconveniencys of the War have been over ballanced by the circulation of the money expended amongst them, & other advantages. The Subject of Finance, & how to provide for paying the Public debt and preserving National Credit, is a necessary, Arduous & Important Task, the difficulties of which, will I fear be rather increased than diminished by the Published resignation of the Financier. I have little acquaintance with that Gentln., & less knowledge of his Conduct in office, but from his supposed abilities in that way I can’t but fear that his resignation will give an impression of something wrong in our Public Conduct or funds. Should we have Peace, I think our Debts would be immediately liquidated & funded, and funds provided in some mode or other for paying the Annual Interest (wch I think should then be reduced to 5 p ct) & certain Portions of the principal, so as to sink the whole in a reasonable time. I still hope for a confirmation of that desirable Intelligence, notwithstanding the late Marcantile Publication from Baltimore. I feel the necessity & utility, & will not fail to add my mite to the weight of yr exhortation to Mr Randolph to throw off that incumbrance wch deprives us of his great abilities in the Legislature, thrown upon him by a great mistake in forming our Constitution, perhaps we may receive Aid in it by the death of his Aunt, wch has given him a considerable Accession of fortune.
I am now going on a Visit wch will prevent my writing for two succeeding Posts. If not inconvenient I will thank you and Mr Jones to continue your Letters that I may have the pleasure of seeing them on my return. I hope you are at length repd the 12 dollars you advanced for
Dr Sr Yr very affe friend
Edmd Pendleton