Gazette Of The United States

An ESSAY on FREE TRADE and FINANCES.

(Continued from No. LIII.)

THE scheme of issuing any more continental money, I take for granted, no body will think of, and therefore I conclude, that all the ways and means which have hitherto been tried, have proved utterly insufficient for the purpose: And I further conceive, that it will be allowed, that the mode I propose, if put into practice, would be sufficient. I further contend, that no other mode within our reach, is or can be equally easy to the people, and equally productive of sufficient money for the various purposes of our union; this is then the only practicable way our union can be supported, and of course the union depends on it, and without it, must inevitably fall to pieces. To say all this, may be thought very great presumption in an individual; be it so, till I am safe, for no man can contradict me, who is not able to find and explain some other way of supply, equally easy to the people, and equally productive of all the money which the support of the union requires: But in as much as the eagerness of enquiry for several years past has not been able to discover any such other mode, I conclude there is no such, and of course, the one I have proposed is the only one that can be adopted, to save our union from dissolution; and under the impression of this full persuasion, may I be permitted to address our public administration, not only in Congress, but in all the states, in the strong language of Lord Chatham; set me down as an idiot, if you do not adopt it, or rue your neglect; and 'tis not certain that, our posterity in the next age, and all our neighbours in the present, will not set you down for idiots, if you don't adopt it soon, before the mischiefs it is designed to obviate, shall grow up to such degree of magnitude and strength, as to become incapable of remedy; for what can they think, when they shall see that you suffer our union, which is committed to your care, to fall to pieces under your hands, because you will not attempt to give it that support, which to say the least of it, is in its nature practicable, and the due practice of which would produce the great remedy required. But you will say perhaps, we admit your principle to be just and good, but we cannot raise our ideas up to your height of scale or degree of importance; your tax is too high, it grasps too much, and is thereby in danger of losing all, it will scare our people out of their wits. I don't think much of this, if the wits which the people now have, are not sufficient for their salvation, it matters little how soon they are scared out of them; but 'tis not certain that their wits are so volatile, theirs is at least a possibility, a chance that they may have wit enough to adopt the remedy, that will prevent those calamities, which (if not prevented) will soon drive them out of their security— their property—their national honor—their country and wits too; at least I think it needless for you to loose your wits, for fear the people will loose theirs. But I would ask you seriously, do you think that a less scale of tax than that which I propose, would be sufficiently productive for the public service, or the support of the union? I think you must probably say no, on the bare presumption, (for the produce of an untried tax, can't be reduced to a certainty) to what purpose then, I further ask, would it be to set on foot so expensive and troublesome an operation, which when computed, would be utterly inadequate to its purposes; or what funds have you, out of which you expect to draw the deficiency? If there is any wisdom or effort in our councils and plans, they must reach through; they must connect the means with the end, and make the one adequate to the other. Would you not laugh at a sailor, who should moor a ship with an inch rope, and so loose the ship, for fear his owners should find fault with him for wetting a cable. Where means are inadequate to their end, they become ridiculous, especially when adopted in matters of consequence, people lose all confidence in their effects, and therefore lose all courage and inducement to use strong efforts to make them operate. I am clearly of opinion, if our people have lost their confidence in our public councils, and are backward in pushing them into practice, the reason is, not because they are stupid and blind to their interests, or wanting in zeal to promote them, but because their courage is all worn out and their patience exhausted, by a seven years course of visionary, ineffectual, ill contrived and half digested plans, which promised little in theory, but constantly in practice, proved the baseless fabricks of a vision, and vanished at last, not only without use, but with consequences very detrimental to our national character of integrity and wisdom, as well as to the interests and morals of our people; not the least discouraging of all which, was this constant effect which they all had, viz. that those states or individuals, which promoted them with most zeal, ardor and effort, always lost most by them.

(To be continued.)