1801 Examination 3 · Founding Made Plain

1THE EXAMINATION.

2Number III.

3[New York, December 24, 1801]

4Had our laws been less provident

5 than they have been,

6 yet must it give us

7 a very humble idea

8 of the talents of our President

9 as a statesman,

10 to find him embarrassed

11 between an absolute abandonment

12 of revenue,

13 and an inconvenient accumulation

14 of treasure.

15Pursuing the doctrine

16 professed by his sect,

17 that our public debt

18 is a national curse

19 which cannot too promptly

20 be removed,

21 and adhering to the assurance

22 which he has virtually given,*

23 that a sponge,

24 the favorite instrument,

25 shall not be employed

26 for the purpose,

27 how has it happened

28 that he should have overlooked

29 the simple and obvious expedient

30 of using the supposed excess

31 of income

32 as a remedy

33 for so great a mischief?

34After all we have heard

35 in times past,

36 it would ill become

37 either the head,

38 or any member,

39 of the orthodox sect

40 to contend,

41 that a too rapid reimbursement

42 of the debt

43 might be attended with evils.

44In courtesy, however,

45 this shall be supposed to be urged

46 by some new convert,

47 who has not entirely shaken off

48 the prejudices

49 of former modes of thinking;

50 and it shall be examined,

51 whether this argument

52 will afford a justification

53 of the measure recommended.

54It shall not be denied,

55 that the immediate payment

56 of our whole debt,

57 if practicable,

58 would be likely to be injurious

59 in various ways.

60It would, in the first instance,

61 produce a money-plethora

62 (if the phrase may be allowed),

63 which experience has shown

64 to be inauspicious to the energies,

65 and especially

66 to the morality and industry

67 of a nation.

68The quick efflux of this money

69 to pay a considerable part

70 of the debt

71 in the hands of foreigners,

72 and to procure from abroad

73 the means of gratifying

74 an increased extravagance,

75 would, after some time,

76 substitute a too great vacuity

77 to a too great fulness;

78 leaving us to struggle

79 with the bad habits

80 incident to the latter state,

81 and with the embarrassments

82 of a defective circulation.

83To these, other reasons

84 might be added,

85 which, though equally just and solid,

86 are omitted

87 as being more liable to dispute.

88Though an extreme case

89 is here presented,

90 the immediate reimbursement

91 of the entire debt;

92 yet it must be admitted,

93 that the same considerations

94 are applicable in a less degree

95 to a summary,

96 or very rapid repayment

97 by large instalments.

98But the answer to all this is,

99 that it would have been full time

100 to adopt precautionary measures

101 against evils from such a source,

102 when experience had realized

103 the danger.

104Till such time

105 it is certainly the highest wisdom

106 to continue the employment

107 of a fund

108 which is already provided,

109 and without overburdening the people,

110 for the all-important purpose

111 of exonerating our nation from debt,

112 and of placing it in a condition,

113 with competent resources

114 to meet future contingencies

115 which may threaten its safety.

116On the other hand,

117 is it not a mark

118 of the highest improvidence and folly,

119 to throw away an important part

120 of this fund,

121 on the mere speculation

122 that it may possibly be superfluous?

123But admitting it

124 to be clearly ascertained,

125 that the fund is greater

126 than is requisite

127 to extinguish the debt,

128 with convenient celerity;

129 does it follow

130 that the excess, if retained,

131 must be suffered to accumulate,

132 and that no different method

133 could have been found

134 to employ it

135 which would have been productive

136 of adequate utility?

137Whatever diversity of opinion

138 there may be

139 with regard to military

140 and naval preparations,

141 for the defence and security

142 of the country,

143 there are some things

144 in which all well-informed

145 and reflecting men unite.

146In order that

147 upon the breaking out of a war

148 there may be a sufficient supply

149 of warlike implements,

150 together with the means

151 of speedily creating a navy;—

152 arsenals, foundries, dock-yards,

153 magazines

154 (especially of materials

155 for the construction and equipment

156 of ships),

157 are by all deemed

158 eligible objects of public care.

159To provide for these objects

160 upon a competent,

161 though moderate scale,

162 will be attended with expense

163 so considerable,

164 as to leave nothing to spare

165 from the amount

166 of our present income.

167To persons unacquainted

168 with the subject,

169 the quantities of several articles

170 on hand

171 may appear ample;

172 but to good judges

173 there is hardly any one class

174 of supplies,

175 which will not be thought

176 to require much augmentation.

177As far as a navy is concerned,

178 the deficiency is palpable.

179If dock-yards are to be established

180 in earnest,

181 they ought certainly

182 to be well protected.

183For this purpose,

184 fortifications

185 of a substantial and durable nature,

186 very different

187 from the temporary shifts

188 hitherto adopted,

189 ought to be erected.

190And if the President will inquire

191 into the cost of even these

192 trifling constructions,

193 in the instances

194 where they have been managed

195 with all practicable economy,

196 he will become convinced

197 that the erection of proper works

198 would call for an expenditure

199 forbidding the supposition

200 of a superfluity of revenue.

201In addition

202 to objects of national security,

203 there are many purposes

204 of great public utility

205 to which the revenues in question

206 might be applied.

207The improvement

208 of the communications

209 between the different parts

210 of our country

211 is an object well worthy

212 of the national purse,

213 and one which would abundantly repay

214 to labor the portion of its earnings,

215 which may have been borrowed

216 for that purpose.

217To provide roads and bridges

218 is within the direct purview

219 of the Constitution.

220In many parts of the country,

221 especially in the Western Territory,

222 a matter in which

223 the Atlantic States

224 are equally interested,

225 aqueducts and canals

226 would also be fit subjects

227 of pecuniary aid,

228 from the general government.

229In France, England,

230 and other parts of Europe,

231 institutions exist

232 supported by public contributions,

233 which eminently promote

234 agriculture and the arts;

235 such institutions merit imitation

236 by our government;

237 they are of the number of those

238 which directly and sensibly recompense

239 labor for what it lends

240 to their agency.

241To suggestions of the last kind,

242 the adepts of the new school

243 have a ready answer:

244 Industry will succeed and prosper

245 in proportion as it is left

246 to the exertions

247 of individual enterprise.

248This favorite dogma,

249 when taken as a general rule,

250 is true;

251 but as an exclusive one,

252 it is false,

253 and leads to error

254 in the administration

255 of public affairs.

256In matters of industry,

257 human enterprise ought, doubtless,

258 to be left free in the main;

259 not fettered

260 by too much regulation;

261 but practical politicians know

262 that it may be beneficially stimulated

263 by prudent aids and encouragements

264 on the part of the government.

265This is proved

266 by numerous examples

267 too tedious to be cited;

268 examples which will be neglected only

269 by indolent and temporizing rulers,

270 who love to loll

271 in the lap of epicurean ease,

272 and seem to imagine

273 that to govern well,

274 is to amuse the wondering multitude

275 with sagacious aphorisms

276 and oracular sayings.

277What has been observed,

278 is sufficient to render it manifest,

279 that, independent

280 of the extinguishment of the debt,

281 the revenues proposed to be yielded up,

282 would find ample

283 and very useful employment

284 for a variety of public purposes.

285Already in possession

286 of so valuable a resource;

287 having surmounted the difficulties,

288 which, from the opinions and habits

289 of our citizens,

290 obstruct, in this,

291 more than in any other country,

292 every new provision

293 for adding to our public income;

294 certainly without a colorable pretence

295 of their being a grievous

296 or undue pressure

297 on the community—

298 how foolish will it be

299 to resign the boon,

300 perhaps in a short time

301 to be compelled again

302 to resort to it;

303 and for that purpose

304 to hazard a repetition

305 of the obstacles

306 which have been before

307 encountered and overcome;

308 obstacles which gave birth

309 to one insurrection,

310 and may give birth to another!

311Infatuated must be the councils

312 from which so injurious a project

313 has proceeded!

314But admitting the position,

315 that there is an excess of income

316 which ought to be relinquished,

317 still the proposal

318 to surrender the internal revenue

319 is impolitic.

320It ought to be carefully preserved,

321 as not being exposed

322 to the casualties,

323 incident to our intercourse

324 with foreign nations,

325 and therefore the most certain.

326It ought to be preserved,

327 as reaching to descriptions of persons

328 who are not proportionably affected

329 by the impost,

330 and as tending, for this reason,

331 to distribute the public burden

332 more equitably.

333It ought to be preserved,

334 because if revenue can really be spared,

335 it is best to do it

336 in such a manner

337 as will conduce to the relief

338 or advancement

339 of our navigation and commerce.

340Rather let the tonnage duty

341 on American vessels be abolished,

342 and let the duties be lessened

343 on some particular articles

344 on which they may press

345 with inconvenient weight.

346Let not the merchant be provoked

347 to attempt to evade the duties,

348 by the sentiment

349 that his ease or interest

350 is disregarded,

351 and that his capital alone

352 is to be clogged and incumbered

353 by the demands of the Treasury.

354But who and what are the merchants,

355 when compared

356 with the patriotic votaries

357 of whiskey

358 in Pennsylvania and Virginia?

359Lucius Crassus.

360New-York Evening Post, December 24, 1801.

361* One of the essential principles

362 of government is,

363 "the honest payment of our debts

364 and the sacred preservation

365 of the public faith"

366 —INAUGURAL SPEECH.