Sir:
I have received your Excellency’s letters of the thirty-first of March, and fourth of April; the last to-day. The one to Colonel Bland, as member of the committee, has been read in committee confidentially, and gave great satisfaction. The idea of not attempting to separate the army before the settlement of accounts, corresponds with my proposition. That of endeavoring to let them have some pay, had also appeared to me indispensable. The expectations of the army, as represented by your Excellency, are moderation itself. To-morrow we confer with the Superintendent of Finance on the subject of money. There will be difficulty, but not, we hope, insurmountable.
I thank your Excellency for the hints you are so obliging as to give me in your private letter. I do not wonder at the suspicions that have been infused; nor should I be surprised to hear, that I have been pointed out as one of the persons concerned in playing the game described. But facts must speak for themselves. The gentlemen who were here from the army, General McDougal, who is still here, will be able to give a true account of those who have supported the just claims of the army, and of those who have endeavored to elude them.
There are two classes of men, sir, in Congress, of very different views: one attached to State, the other to Continental politics. The last have been strenuous advocates for funding the public debt upon solid securities; the former have given every opposition in their power; and have only been dragged into the measures which are now near being adopted, by the clamors of the army and other public creditors.
The advocates for Continental funds, have blended the interests of the army with other creditors, from a conviction, that no funds, for partial purposes, will go through those States to whose citizens the United States are largely indebted; or if they should be carried through, from impressions of the moment, would have the necessary stability: for the influence of those unprovided for, would always militate against a provision for others, in exclusion of them. It is in vain to tell men, who have parted with a large part of their property on the public faith, that the services of the army are entitled to a preference: they would reason from their interest and their feelings: these would tell them, that they had as great a title as any other class of the community to public justice; and that while this was denied to them, it would be unreasonable to make them bear their part of a burthen for the benefit of others. This is the way they would reason; and as their influence in some of the States was considerable, they would have been able to prevent any partial provision.
But the question was not merely how to do justice to the creditors, but how to restore public credit. Taxation, in this country, it was found, would not supply a sixth part of the public necessities. The loans in Europe were far short of the balance, and the prospect every day diminishing; the Court of France telling us, in plain terms, she could not even do as much as she had done; individuals in Holland, and every where else, refusing to part with their money, on the precarious tenure of the mere faith of this country, without any pledge for the payment either of principal or interest.
In this situation what was to be done? It was essential to our cause, that vigorous efforts should be made to restore public credit; it was necessary to combine all the motives to this end, that could operate upon different descriptions of persons in the different States: the necessities and discontents of the army presented themselves as a powerful engine.
But, sir, these gentlemen would be puzzled to support their insinuations by a single fact. It was, indeed, proposed to appropriate the intended impost on trade to the army debt; and, what was extraordinary, by gentlemen who had expressed their dislike to the principle of the fund. I acknowledge I was one that opposed this, for the reasons already assigned, and for these additional ones: That was the fund on which we most counted; to obtain further loans in Europe, it was necessary we should have a fund sufficient to pay the interest of what had been borrowed, and what was to be borrowed. The truth was, these people, in this instance, wanted to play off the army against the funding system.
As to Mr. Morris, I will give your Excellency a true explanation of his conduct. He had been for some time pressing Congress to endeavor to obtain funds, and had found a great backwardness in the business. He found the taxes unproductive in the different States; he found the loans, in Europe, making a very slow progress; he found himself pressed on all hands for supplies; he found himself, in short, reduced to this alternative, either of making engagements which he could not fulfil, or declaring his resignation in case funds were not established by a given time. Had he followed the first course, the bubble must soon have burst; he must have sacrificed his credit and his character: and public credit, already in a ruinous condition, would have lost its last support.
He wisely judged it better to resign: this might increase the embarrassments of the moment; but the necessity of the case, it was to be hoped, would produce the proper measures; and he might then resume the direction of the machine with advantage and success.