Part 26
It remains for me to give you an explicit opinion of what it is practicable for this State to do. Even with a judicious plan of taxation, I do not think the State can afford, or the people will bear to pay, more than seventy or eighty thousand pounds a year. In its entire and flourishing state, according to my mode of calculating, it could not have exceeded two hundred and thirty or forty thousand pounds; and, reduced as it is, with the wheels of circulation so exceedingly clogged for want of commerce and a sufficient medium, more than I have said cannot be expected. Passed experience will not authorize a more flattering conclusion.
Out of this is to be deducted the expense of the interior administration of Government, and the money necessary for the levies of men. The first amounts to about twelve thousand pounds, as you will perceive by the inclosed statement; but I suppose the Legislature would choose to retain fifteen thousand pounds. The money hitherto yearly expended in recruits, has amounted to between twenty and thirty thousand pounds; but, on a proper plan, ten thousand pounds might suffice. There would then remain forty thousand pounds for your department.
But this is on the supposition of a change of system; for, with the present, I doubt there being paid into the Continental treasury one-third the sum.
I am endeavoring to collect materials for greater certainty upon this subject; but the business of supplies has been so diversified, lodged in such a variety of independent hands, and so carelessly transacted, that it is hardly possible to get any tolerable idea of the gross and net product. With the help of these materials I shall strive to convince the committee, when they meet, that a change of measures is essential. If they enter cordially into right views, we may succeed: but I confess I fear more than I hope.
I have taken every step in my power to procure the information you have desired in your letter of July ’81; the most material part of it, an account of the supplies furnished since March seventeen hundred and eighty, has been committed to Colonel Hay. I have written to him, in pressing terms, to accelerate the preparation.
You will perceive, sir, I have neither flattered the State, nor encouraged high expectations. I thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be. I shall be sorry if it give an ill opinion of the State, for want of equal candor in the representation of others; for, however disagreeable the reflection, I have too much reason to believe, that the true picture of other States would be, in proportion to their circumstances, equally unpromising. All my inquiries, and all that appears, induces this opinion. I intend this letter _in confidence_ to yourself, and therefore I endorse it private.
Before I conclude, I will say a word on a point that possibly you would wish to be informed about. The contract up this way is executed generously to the satisfaction of officers and soldiers; which is the more meritorious in the contractor, as, in all probability, it will be to him a losing undertaking.
I have the honor to be, With sentiments of unfeigned respect, Sir, your most ob’t and humble serv’t, A. Hamilton.
To the Hon. Robert Morris, Esq.
GOVERNOR CLINTON TO HAMILTON.
Poughkeepsie, August 18, 1782.
Sir:
I have received your letter of the third instant. I am not authorized to direct the printer to deliver any of the laws, except a certain number of sets which are by law directed for particular purposes. I have, however, mentioned your desire to the gentlemen of the committee appointed to superintend the printing and distribution of them, and requested them to furnish you with a set, which I doubt not will be complied with.
Some short time before the appointment of a Superintendent of Finance, I transmitted to Congress the most perfect information I was able to collect, of many of the matters mentioned in your letter; and it was my intention, from time to time, to have continued these communications to Mr. Morris; but our laws remaining so long unprinted, the dispersed situation of the different public officers, and the difficulty, from this circumstance, as well as the want of authority, in some instances, to command the necessary returns, rendered it a business, if not impracticable, requiring more time and attention than the indispensable duties of my office afforded leisure to bestow. I shall, however, be happy to give you every aid in my power to facilitate it. The laws, with the returns which have lately been made by the different public officers, and may be found on the files of the Legislature, and in the treasurer’s office, will answer most of the questions stated. The answers to the others, appear to me to depend, in some measure, on matter of opinion; and, as the operation of our laws is often obstructed, and the intended consequences defeated, by unforeseen events arising from our embarrassed situation, they cannot be given with any great degree of precision.
You will readily perceive, sir, that the treasurer, from the nature of his office, is not, except in cases provided for by law, subject to my control. I am persuaded, however, that he, as well as the clerks of the Legislature, will readily give you every information and assistance consistent with the duties of their respective offices.
I am, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient servant, Geo. Clinton.
To Col. Alexander Hamilton.
PICKERING TO HAMILTON.
New-Windsor, August 20, 1782.
Dear Sir:
I have some Bills of Exchange, drawn by Mr. Morris on John Swanwick, which I am authorized to exchange with the receivers of the Continental Taxes in any of the States eastward of Pennsylvania. Mr. Morris informed me, that he had advised the Receivers of this measure, and directed their taking up the bills whenever they were in cash. By taxes or by loan, I expect this State will shortly furnish you with money. I am indebted to the subjects of it by many special engagements, which I am anxious to fulfil. You will therefore greatly oblige me, by giving me, from time to time, information of the money you shall receive; and in order to secure the earliest supply, I would lodge, if you please, some of the bills in your hands. Bank notes or Mr. Morris’s notes will be useful to me, though not so beneficial as cash.
I am, dear Sir, With respect and esteem, Your most obedient servant, Tim. Pickering, _Q. M. G._
Col. Alex. Hamilton.
HAMILTON TO MORRIS.
Albany, August 25, 1782.
Sir:
This letter serves only to transmit the two last papers. I wish the measures I have taken to satisfy you on the points you desire to be informed of, had been attended with so much success as to enable me now to transmit the result. But I find a singular confusion in the accounts kept by the public officers from whom I must necessarily derive my information, and a singular dilatoriness in complying with my application, partly from indolence, and partly from jealousy of the office. I hope, by the next post, to transmit you information on some
## particulars.
I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, A. Hamilton.
To Robert Morris, Esq.
HAMILTON TO MEADE.
Albany, August 27, 1782.
I thank you, my dear Meade, for your letter of the first of this month, which you will perceive has travelled much faster than has been usual with our letters. Our correspondence, hitherto, has been unfortunate; nor, in fact, can either of us compliment himself on his punctuality; but you were right in concluding, that however indolence, or accident, may interrupt our intercourse, nothing will interrupt our friendship. Mine for you is built on the solid basis of a full conviction that you deserve it, and that it is reciprocal; and it is the more firmly fixed because you have few competitors. Experience is a continual comment on the worthlessness of the human race; and the few exceptions we find have the greater right to be valued in proportion as they are rare. I know few men estimable, fewer amiable; and when I meet with one of the last description, it is not in my power to withhold my affection.
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As to myself, I shall sit down in New-York when it opens; and this period, we are told, approaches. No man looks forward to a peace with more pleasure than I do; though no man would sacrifice less to it than myself, if I were not convinced the people sigh for peace.
I have been studying the law for some months, and have lately been licensed as an attorney. I wish to prepare myself by October for examination as a counsellor; but some public avocation may possibly prevent me.
I had almost forgotten to tell you, that I have been pretty unanimously elected, by the Legislature of this State, a member of Congress, to begin to serve in November. I do not hope to reform the State, although I shall endeavor to do all the good I
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God bless you, A. Hamilton.
To Colonel Meade.
MORRIS TO HAMILTON.
Office of Finance, August 28, 1782.
Sir:
I have duly received your several favors of the twenty-second and twenty-seventh of July, and tenth and thirteenth of August. My not answering them is owing to causes which you will easily conceive, because you will easily conceive the multiplicity of objects to which I must turn my attention. I am very sorry to learn that you can no longer continue in the office of Receiver. It would have given me great pleasure that you should have done so, because I am sure that you would have rendered very signal service to the public cause: this you will now do in another line, more important, as it is more extensive: and the justness of your sentiments on public affairs, induces my warm wish, that you may find a place in Congress so agreeable as that you may be induced to continue in it.
I should readily have complied with your wish, as to a successor, but there are many reasons which have called my attention to, and fixed my choice upon, Doctor Tillotson. We will converse on this subject when we meet. I am, however, very far from being unmindful of your recommendations; and although I cannot name the citizen of any State to settle the accounts of that particular State, consistently with the general line of conduct I have laid down for myself; yet I shall do, in other respects, what is in my power. I have not hitherto been able to fix on a proper Commissioner for the State of New-York. The office is vacant for New Hampshire and Rhode Island. I inclose you a copy of the Ordinance on the subject, that you may know the powers, duties, and emoluments; and I have to request that you offer these places to Colonel Malcolm and Mr. Lawrence. You will make the first offer, including the choice, as your own judgment may direct. Should the gentlemen, or either of them, accept, you will be so kind as to give me early notice. I will then immediately recommend them to the States respectively; and on receiving their approbation, the proper instructions, etc., can be expedited.
I am sorry to learn that any letter of mine should have given offence; but I conclude that this effect must follow from many parts of my writings and conduct; because the steady pursuit of what appears to be the true line of duty, will necessarily cross the various oblique views of interest and opinion. To offend is sometimes a fault, always a misfortune. The letter in question is, I suppose, under the date of the eleventh of December, of which I inclose you a copy. Let me, at the same time, assure you, that in all your excellent letter of the thirteenth instant, I most esteem the clause now in question; because it contains that useful information which is least common. I will make no apologies for the letter to any one, because apologies are rarely useful; and where the intention has been good, they are, to candid minds, unnecessary. Possessed of the facts, you can guard against misrepresentation; and I have ever found that to be the most hostile weapon which either my personal or political enemies have been able to wield against me.
I have not, _even yet_, seen the Resolutions of your Legislature relative to an extension of the powers of Congress. I had supposed the same reason for them which you have expressed. Indeed, power is generally such a darling object with weak minds, that they must feel extreme reluctance to bid it farewell; neither do I believe that any thing will induce a general consent to part with it, but a perfect sense of absolute necessity. This may arise from two sources; the one of reason, and the other of feeling: the former more safe and more uncertain; the latter always severe and often dangerous. It is, my dear sir, in circumstances like this, that a patriot mind, seeking the great good of the whole, on enlightened principles, can best be distinguished from those vulgar souls whose narrow optics can see but the little circle of selfish concerns. Unhappily, such souls are but too common, and but too often fill the seats of dignity and authority. A firm, wise, manly system of federal government is what I once wished, what I now hope, what I dare not expect, but what I will not despair of. Your description of the mode of collecting taxes, contains an epitome of the follies which prevail from one end of the continent to the other. There is no end to the absurdity of human nature. Mankind seem to delight in contrast and paradox; for surely nothing else could sanctify (during a contest on the precise point of being taxed by our own consent) the arbitrary policy which, on this subject, almost universally prevails. God grant you success in your views to amend it. Your ideas on the subject are perfectly correspondent to my own. As to your doubt on the mode of collecting it, I would wish to obviate it by the observation, that the farther off we can remove the appointment of Collectors from popular influence, the more effectual will be their operations; and the more they conform to the views of Congress, the more effectually will they enable that body to provide for general defence. In political life, the creature will generally pay some deference to both. The having a double set of officers is indeed an evil; but a good thing is not always to be rejected because of that necessary portion of evil which, in the course of things, must be attached to it. Neither is this a necessary evil; for, with a proper Federal Government, Army, Navy, and Revenue, the Civil Administration might well be provided for by a Stamp Act, Roads by Turnpikes, and Navigations by Tolls.
The account you give of the State is by no means flattering: and the more true it appears, the more concern it gives me. The loan, I hope, will be completed; and I wish the _whole_ amount of the tax may be collected. The Forage plan I have disagreed to; and inclose, for your information, the copy of my letter, on that subject, to the Quartermaster General. I believe your State is exhausted: but perhaps even you consider it as being more so than it is. The Certificates, which now form a useless load, will (if the United States adopt, and the several States agree to, a plan now before Congress) become valuable property. This will afford great relief. The scarcity of money, also, may be immediately relieved, if the love of popular favor would so far give way to the love of public good, as to enforce plentiful taxation. The necessity of having money will always produce money. The desire of having it, produces, you see, so much as is necessary to gratify the desire of enjoying foreign luxuries. Turn the stream, which now flows in the channels of Commerce, to those of Revenue, and the business is completed. Unfortunately for us, this is an operation which requires fortitude, perseverance, virtue; and which cannot be effected by the weak or wicked minds who have only partial, private, or interested views.
When I consider the exertions which the country you possess has already made, under striking disadvantages, and with astonishing prodigality of national wealth, by pernicious modes of applying it; I persuade myself, that regular, consistent efforts, would produce much more than you suppose.
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I am, with perfect respect, Your most obedient And humble servant, Robert Morris.
To Alexander Hamilton, Esq.
HAMILTON TO ROBERT MORRIS.
Albany, August 31, 1782.
Sir:
I send you herewith all the acts of the Legislature of this State since the Government has been organized; on the margin of which I have numbered all the acts relative to the matters you mention in your letter of July, ’81, to the States agreeable to the within list. I inclose you the papers of the last week.
The indolence of some, and the repugnancy of others, make every trifle lag so much in the execution, that I am not able at this time to give you any further information. I wish to hear from you on the subject of my former letters previous to the meeting of the Committee--the 15th of the ensuing month.
I have the honor to be very truly, Sir, your most obedient servant, A. H.
To the Honorable Superintendent of Finance.
GOVERNOR CLINTON TO HAMILTON.
Poughkeepsie, September 2, 1782.
Sir:
I am favored with your letter of the 25th instant, previous to which, with a view of accelerating the collection of the last Tax, I had prepared, and have since dispatched a circular letter to the several County Treasurers, urging them and the other officers concerned, to a prompt execution of their duty, or that in case of neglect the penalty of the law will without favor be put into execution.
I have not received information from all the Counties, but in this and some others, I know the business is in good train, and am led to hope that the taxes will be speedily collected and paid in.
My agents employed to procure moneys on loan had some time since transmitted me a small sum, but not sufficient to answer the orders of the Legislature in favor of the Delegates and some other public matters. As the channel through which this money is procured is subject to interruption and disappointment, I cannot at present inform you of any sum to be depended on, but I expect soon to see or hear from the gentlemen, and you may rest assured of being informed of the result without delay.
I am, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient servant, Geo. Clinton.
Col. Hamilton.
HAMILTON TO THE COUNTY TREASURERS.
Albany, September 7, 1782.
Sir:
The fifteenth of this month is the period fixed for the payment of the tax imposed at the last meeting of the Legislature for the use of the United States. The public exigencies, and the reputation of the State, require that every exertion should be made to collect this tax with punctuality and dispatch; and it is, therefore, my duty to urge you, that you employ the powers vested in you, and all your personal influence, to induce the collectors to expedite the collection with all the zeal and vigor in their power. While the other States are all doing something, as a citizen of this, I shall feel a sensible mortification in being obliged to continue publishing to the others, that this State pays nothing in support of the war, as I have been under the necessity of doing the last two months. Besides this, and other still more weighty considerations, a regard to the subjects of the State itself demands every exertion in our power. They have parted with their property on the public faith, and it is impossible for the public to fulfil its engagements to individuals, unless it is enabled to do it by the equal and just contributions of the community at large.
I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, A. Hamilton.
HAMILTON TO MORRIS.
Albany, September 7, 1782.
Sir:
I have had the inclosed ready for some time; but in hopes of receiving the returns of the certificates mentioned in memorandum B, I delayed sending the present sketch. Having even received no answers from some of the parties, who live at a distance from me, I suspect they have done their business in so disorderly a manner (to say nothing worse of it) that they are at a loss how to render the accounts; and I have, therefore, concluded not to detain any longer what I have procured.
I do not take the step mentioned in memorandum A, because I doubted its propriety. It might raise expectations about the old money, which, possibly, it may not enter into your plans to raise: and, besides this, by knowing what has been called in, in each State (which from the sketch I send you, will appear as to this), you can determine the balance of emissions remaining out, except what may have worn out and been accidentally destroyed. If you desire this step to be taken, I will obey your commands.
I have said nothing of the rates of depreciation, because I imagine your letter, written in July, ’80, had reference to the rates at which the money was then actually circulating, and the circulation has now totally ceased. The laws I sent you by the last post, will inform you of the rates fixed at different periods by the Legislature: forty, seventy-five, and lastly, one hundred and twenty-eight. I am obliged to infer there is a studied backwardness in the officers of the State, who ought to give me the information you require respecting the supplies of different kinds which have been furnished to the use of the United States. Indeed, I find, on inquiry, that their joint information will not be so full as to satisfy your intentions; and that this cannot be done till you have appointed a commissioner of accounts, authorized to enter into all the details, aided by some legislative arrangement which may be obtained the next session.
I have the honor to be, With great respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient servant, A. Hamilton.
To Robert Morris, Esq.
HAMILTON TO TIMOTHY PICKERING.
Albany, September 7, 1782.
Dear Sir:
I this day received your letter of the 20th August. Mr. Morris has advised me of the bills you describe, and directed my purchasing them, together with his notes, and the bank notes; with what money shall come into my hands on public account. They are now beginning to collect the tax imposed for the use of the United States, though I can as yet form no judgment with what success or expedition. I shall with pleasure give you the information you ask, but I would rather wish to be excused from anticipation by previous deposits in my hands, as that will in some measure pledge me to give a preference to the bills deposited, and may hereafter expose me to a charge of partiality. There have been several applications to me for a similar anticipation which I have avoided; reserving to myself the power of paying the bills as they shall be presented, and in proportion to the nearness or remoteness of the periods of payments.