250 



bills had fallen too low to be forced upon the public at the scale fixed 

 by congress ; it was, therefore, ordered by that body, on the 8th of 

 October, 1778, " That all limitation of prices of silver and gold be 

 taken off." 



The appeal by congress, on asking for taxes, is clothed in stirring 

 language. They think the redemption of the bills no difficult mat- 

 ter; and, upon this conviction, send forth fifty millions, giving this 

 time an assurance to pay the whole, on or before the 1st of January, 

 1797. 



During the following year, 1779, sixty-three millions were emit- 

 ted ; and now the amount abroad having reached the enormous sum 

 of one hundred and sixty millions, congress resolved to stop the press, 

 whenever the increase should extend to two hundred millions. This 

 sum, with others due elsewhere, would swell the grand total at the 

 end of the war, they supposed, to three hundred millions. Stupendous, 

 says Mr. Breck, as this debt was for a community in its infancy, they 

 thought the resources of the country equal to the payment of the whole. 

 " There are at present," they say, " three millions of inhabitants in 

 the thirteen states; and this sum divided, per head, would give but 

 one hundred dollars for each to pay, in eighteen or twenty years; 

 and if the debt be assessed in proportion to the wealth of the inhabi- 

 tants, the poor man's share would not be more than ten dollars ; and 

 if twenty years be taken to pay the debt, our population will be nearly 

 double, and our ability to pay increased more than two-fold." Again, 

 they say : " This paper money has been eminently serviceable, and 

 cannot ' make unto itself wings and fly away.' It remains with us ; 

 it will not forsake us ; it is always ready for purposes of commerce 

 or taxes; and every industrious man can find it. Having pledged 

 our lives, fortunes and sacred honour for our independence, the same 

 pledge is given for the redemption of these bills." " A bankrupt, faith- 

 less republic," adds this congressional address, " would be a novelty 

 in the political world, and appear like a common prostitute among 

 chaste and respectable matrons. It is impossible that America should 

 think, without horror, of such an execrable deed." 



The hopes of that patriotic body were not realized. These bills, 

 which have never been paid, defrayed the chief expense of five 

 years of active warfare, in which specie bore so small a share, that 

 the official accounts of the years 1778 and 1779 show only one hun- 

 dred and fifty-six thousand dollars, paid out of the treasury in hard 

 money during those two years, against one hundred and thirty 



