The National Intelligencer And Washington Advertiser

The following is the substance of the remarks made by Mr. Elliot on offering the resolution stated in our last paper.

Mr. Elliot said that in making this motion he had two objects, which he would distinctly state to the House ; one of which he deemed of considerable importance, and the other of minor consideration. The first and great object was to obtain an analysis of that part of the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the 5th of December last, which presents a general statement of the payments on account of the principal of the public debt, from the 1st of April, 1801, to the 30th September, 1806, referring to a statement in the appendix to that report, marked D. and of that statement itself, to resolve, as it were, these important documents into their original elements, and present to the public eye one concise and comprehensive view of the whole of the payments that have been made on account of the national debt since April 1, 1801. It is well known that the voluminous reports of the Secretary of the Treasury on financial subjects are not generally read, or if cursorily perused, are not studied and understood by the people at large. Few possess sufficient time which they are able to devote to this purpose ; and dry mathematical calculations possess few charms to attract the attention of those who glance over the periodical publications of the day, for the purposes either of amusement or general political information. It is in vain to attempt to conceal the fact, that upon the great subjects of the national debt, and of the revenues and finances of the country generally, a degree of ignorance prevails which cannot but be the subject of great regret, to all who wish for the general diffusion of correct information on all matters of national concern. It must be remarked also, that the annual reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, prepared in obedience to the act, entitled "An act to establish the Treasury Department," although extremely useful for the purposes of legislation, are ill calculated for the purposes of universal information. To common readers, the simple lustre of a statement of the debt and revenue at a particular period, is lost in the splendor of retrospective and prospective calculations by which it is surrounded. It becomes desirable, therefore, to obtain a general statement of the public debt, and of the payments which have been made which, may be comprised in a half sheet of paper, and will require no new calculations, as it will in fact be but a mere abstract of the voluminous documents now in existence.

The secondary object to which he had alluded, Mr. E. said, was the acquisition of information to enable the House to correct a considerable, though undoubtedly accidental error into which the Secretary of the Treasury appears to have fallen in his last annual report. And it is to this object that I wish to apply the information contemplated in the closing member of the resolution, which requires quarterly as well as annual statements of payments, so far as the same may be practicable.

We have two distinct statements of the amount of the public debt at a certain period, which appear to vary from each other. In the statement marked F. in the appendix to the report, which is the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury to the chairman of the committee of Ways and Means, of January 20, 1806, on the subject of a conversion of the old 6 per cent. deferred, and 3 per cent. stock, into a new 6 per cent. stock, the total amount of the public debt on 1st January, 1806, is stated at 72,744,700 dollars. It is true that the unredeemed amount of the old six per cent. and deferred stocks, and the nominal amount of the 3 per cent. stock, are stated "in round numbers." What is meant by these round numbers is one of those things which I wish to ascertain ; they may possibly account for the variance which I am about to state, but I suspect they will not.

In the present report, page 4, the Secretary states the payments to be made during 1807 and 1808 (principal and interest) at 16,756,153 dollars and 58 cents : and the debt which will remain unpaid on the 1st January 1809, at 57,491,838 dollars, 77 cents. By statement D. it appears that the amount of principal of the debt, redeemed from 1st October, 1805 to 30 September, 1806, was

Dollars: 3,249,113 06

And the further payments to be made during the last quarter of 1806, (see page 3 of the report) 2,840,889 19

Making 6,090,002 25

The amount of payments of principal for the five quarters from 1 Oct. 1805, to 31 Dec. 1806.

We have at present no means of ascertaining what proportion of this sum of six millions of dollars was redeemed in the last quarter of 1806 If we take the average of the four quarters ending Sept.30, 1806, as the base of a calculation, we shall have the following general result.

Dollars.

Amount of debt 1 Jan. 1806, as above, 72,744,700

Principal paid in 1806, 5,280,002 25

Balance, 67,464,697 75

Principal to be paid in 1807 and 1808, 9,714,358 25

57,750,339 50

From which deduct the sum stated by the Secretary as the amount of the debt which will remain unpaid on the 1st January, 1809, 57,491,838 77

The difference is 258,500 73

It is possible, indeed, that this variance may not amount to 150,000 dollars : and it is possible, also, that it may amount to 6 or 700,000 dollars. If the information aimed at by the proposed resolution be obtained, we shall be able to estimate it with perfect accuracy.