408 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



traded in relation to the public 

 debt. These engagements amount 

 during that period to 10,500,000 

 dollars, which, with near one mil- 

 lion for the civil, miscellaneous, 

 and diplomatic expenses, both fo- 

 reign and domestic, and 17,800,000 

 for the military and naval expendi- 

 tures, including the ships of war 

 building, and to be built, will leave 

 a sum in the Treasury, at the end 

 of the present year, equal to that of 

 the 1st of April last. A part of this 

 sum may be considered as a resource 

 for defraying any extraordinary 

 expenses.alreadyauthorizedbylaw, 

 beyond the sum above mentioned ; 

 and a further resource for any 

 emergency may be found in the 

 sum of 1,000,000 of dollars, the 

 loan of which to the United States 

 has been authorized by the State 

 of Pennsylvania, but which has not 

 yet been brought into effect. 



" This view of our finances, 

 whilst it shows that due provision 

 has been made for the expenses of 

 the current year, shows, at the 

 same time, by the limited amount 

 of the actual revenue, and the de- 

 pendence on loans, the necessity 

 of providing more adequately for 

 the future supplies of the Treasury. 

 This can best be done by a well- 

 digested system of internal revenue, 

 in aid of existing sources ; which 

 will have the effect both of abridg- 

 ing the amount of necessary loans, 

 and on that account, as well as by 

 placing the public credit on a more 

 satisfactory basis, of improving the 

 terms on which loans may be ob- 

 tained. 



" The loan of sixteen millions 

 •was not contracted for at a less 

 interest than about seven and an 

 half per cent and although other 

 causes may h^ve had ao agency, 



it cannot be doubted, that with 

 the advantage of a more extended 

 and less precarious revenue, a 

 lower rate of interest might have 

 sufficed. A longer postponement 

 of the advantage could not fail to 

 have a still greater influence on 

 future loans. 



" In recommending to the Na- 

 tional Legislature this resort to ad- 

 ditional taxes, I feel great satis- 

 faction in the assurance, that our 

 constituents, who have already dis- 

 played so much zeal and firmness 

 in the cause of their country, will 

 cheerfully give other proofs of their 

 patriotism which it calls for. Hap- 

 pily no people, with local and ter- 

 ritorial exceptions, never to be 

 wholly avoided, are more able than 

 the people of tlie United States to 

 spare for the public wants a portion 

 of their private means, whether re- 

 gard be had to the ordinary profits 

 of industry, or the ordinary price 

 of subsistence in our country, 

 compared with those in any other. 

 And in no case could stronger rea- 

 sons be felt for the yielding the re- 

 quisite contributions. 



" By rendering the public re- 

 sources certain, and commensurate 

 to the public exigencies, the consti- 

 tuted authorities will be able to 

 prosecute the war more rapidly to 

 its proper issue : every hostile hope 

 founded on a calculated failure of 

 our resources, will be cut off; and 

 by adding to the evidence of bra- 

 very and skill, in combats on the 

 ocean and on the land, and an ala- 

 crity in supplying the Treasury, ne- 

 cessary to give them their fullest ef- 

 fect, and thus demonstrating to the 

 world the public energy which our 

 political institutions combine, with 

 the personal liberty distinguishing 

 them, the best security will be pro- 



