The trade of 1796, Mr. S. said, would give nearly a million of dollars; of course there could be no apprehensions upon the minds of gentlemen that the receipts of 1797 would not be equal to the wants of Government. The tax upon sugar would produce 300,000 dollars. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gallatin) was correct on this subject.
The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. W. Smith) had said, it was not wise to calculate upon the highest returns; but Mr. S. Smith said it was right to calculate upon a preceding year, and when they knew that there would be received in this year from 700,000 dollars to one million, there could be no doubt of the year 1798 falling far short of that sum. For he was not one of those who thought the revenue arising from this year would be much inferior to that arising from the last.
The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Harper) had supposed that the British spoliations had not affected our revenue, but that those of the French would be severely felt. He saw no difference between them, and believed they would be felt alike in proportion to their extent. [Mr. Harper explained.] He believed the United States would only consume a certain portion of the goods imported; the rest would be re-exported, and the drawback received upon them; and, as he did not believe the consumption of the United States had been lessened, it would follow that it had been the re-exportation which had been diminished, and, of course, that it would not be the duties which would be decreased, but the drawbacks. This being the case, little was to be apprehended from a defalcation of the revenue this year.
Indeed, he was of opinion, that the revenue arising from the present year, would be equal to any preceding year. The expenses of 1797 would be as follows:
ESTIMATE FOR THE YEAR 1797.
| Instalment due on part of the Dutch debt, with interest | |
| on the whole debt, together about | $ 992,000 |
| Annual 8 per cent. and 6 per cent. stock, | 2,324,175 |
| Annual interest on 3 per cent. do. | 587,926 |
| Ditto on 5-1/2 per cent. do. | 101,689 |
| Ditto on 4-1/2 per cent. do. | 7,920 |
| Ditto on supposed unfunded debt, | 78,261 |
| Ditto on Bank loans, | 372,200 |
| ————— | |
| 4,463,971 | |
| Internal expenditures (as below) | 2,255,255 |
| ————— | |
| $6,719,226 | |
| =========== | |
| Civil List, Mint, and Diplomatic, (agreeably to the | |
| Secretary's report, estimated on the session of six | |
| months,) | $564,753 |
| Deduct savings arising on the session of | |
| four months only, | 52,800 |
| ————— | |
| 511,953 | |
| Bill for foreign intercourse, | 40,000 |
| Light-houses, | 45,647 |
| Miscellaneous claims, | 12,000 |
| ————— | |
| $609,600 | |
| =========== |
MILITARY DEPARTMENT.
| Pay of four regiments and artillery corps, | $256,450 |
| Subsistence, | 236,900 |
| Clothing, | 75,000 |
| Bounties, | 16,000 |
| Hospital Department, | 25,000 |
| Ordnance | 40,000 |
| ————— | |
| 649,350 | |
| Amount brought forward, | $649,350 |
| Two instructors, | 1,450 |
| Quartermaster's Department, | 150,000 |
| Defensive protection, | 60,000 |
| Indian Department, | 90,000 |
| Contingencies of War Department, | 15,000 |
| Repairing fortifications, | 20,000 |
| Military Pensions, | 93,350 |
| Naval Department, | 190,000 |
| Balance due on Algerine business, | 376,505 |
| ————— | |
| Internal expenses of 1797, | $2,255,255 |
The expenses of the Quartermaster's Department would in future be considerably lessened; for, said Mr. S., heretofore great expense had been incurred by land carriage, which in future would be avoided, as the forage would all be conveyed by water. Indeed it had not been an unusual thing for the horses employed in conveying forage from one post to another, to eat the whole of it in their journey to and from their destination, and some horses had been known to die from want on the road. The conveyance being now by water, a great destruction of horses would be prevented, and he doubted not that one hundred thousand dollars would be saved under this head.