tions (except permanent appropriations for the in-,, With these remarks, it will be useful, for the purposes of general information, to exhibit the gross amount of the balances of appropriations for the year 1814 transferred to the year 1815, without entering into a comparative detail of the appropriations, and of he revenues, during the particular year, in which the appropriations were made by law. Thu, The gross amount of appropriations for 1814, including the aggregate of the balances of appropri 38,028,230 32 tions for the year 1813, amounted to the sum of 55,978,464 20 -33,620,540 31 Leaving as a general balance of the appropriations 3,080,656 22 5,618,790 41 5,233,022 3,560,000 For the public debt, to wit, the interest -13,932,463 06 And of appropriations and demands 32,703,948 06 Of the ways and means of the treasury for the year 1815. These may be considered in a two-fold aspect: 1. as to the 2. Of the outstanding revenue, which accrued prior 3. Of the revenue accruing in the year 1815, estim- Customs Public lands Postage and incidental receipts 25,000,000 5,400,000 7,000,000 1,000,000 450,000 1,526,998 63 4,600,000 -38,850,000 This great apparent surplus of ways and me ins within the power of the treasury, arose in part, from the great increase in the amount of the customs, accruing in the year 1815; which instead of 4,000,000, the amount estimated prior to the peace, will probably in consequence of that event, amount to the sum of 25,000,000 as here stated. A great portion also of the sums authorised to be borrowed, or raised, upon treasury notes, it was evident, could not be obtained or raised within the year; and the several successive acts, by which the authority was given, although they were nominally accumulative, were actually the results of attempts to vary or modity this authority in such a way as to render it more easy or more effectual in its execution. The second view of the ways and means for the 2. Receipts from revenue,including that which was For the interest on the funded debt created since the war, estimated on a capital of 70,000,000 of dollars For the balance of principal and interest on treasury notes of every denomination, now due or payable in 1815 and 1816, or estimated to be paid in those years by being received for duties and taxes, as set forth in the annexed table, marked L For the amount of temporary loans, due to the state bank of Boston [500,000 dollars] and the Mechanics' bank of New-York [200.000 dollars.] 3,460,000 4,200,000 15,458,513 700,000 23,818,513 1,000,000 ditures for 1816. In the consideration of this subject it is proper to premise, that the revenue of 1816 must be charged with the payment of a considerable amount of the unliquidated debts incurred during the war: and consequently, that the proportions of revenue and spenditure for that year, cannot be reduced by the scale of a face establishment. The arrearages in the war and navy departments, and generally the outstanding balance of the floating Publie debt, including treasury notes and temporary loans, must be satisfied, before a permanent and uniformn arrangement of the finances can be effected; but it is believed that the period of a single year will be sufficient for that purpose. It is, also, proper to premise, that although the estimates of the demands on the treasury for 1816 may be satisfactorily made, there is po settled ground on which estimates of the ways and means can be confidently formed. The entire system of the external and internal taxation must necessarily be revised, during the present session of congress; and the sources as well as the product of the public revenue, can only be ascertained from the result of the legislative deliberations. In order, however, to obviate this difficulty, as far as it is practicable, distinct statements will be presented for 1816; 1st, of the probable demands on the treasury; 2ndly, of the revenue estimated according to laws now in force; and thirdly, of the revenue estimated according to the modifications, which will be respectfully submitted. 1. Of the probable demands on the Treasury. The amount of the civil, diplomatic and miscellaneous expences is estimated at the sun of The amount of the military expences is estimated at 1,800,000 There will remain, as the probable annual expenditure of the peace stablishment, independent of any addition to the sinking fund, the sum of 17,288,669 2. Of the revenue for 1816 estimated according to the laws now in force. By the laws now in force, the revenue arising from customs, during the year 1816, will be affected in the following manner: the present rates of duties continue until the 18th of February, 1816, when the duty on salt imported will cease, and the rates of duties on merchandise of every description, imported in American vessels will fall to one half of the existing amount, with the exception of certain manufactured articles, being of the same kinds as the manufactured articles on which internal duties have been imposed; the duties on the imported articles continuing at the existing rates, so long as the existing internal duties shall be continued upon the corresponding articles of domestic manufacture. On the 18th of February the extra duty on merchandise imported in foreign vessels, which is now 15 1-2 per cent, on the amount of the duty in American vessels, will fall to 10 per cent on that amount, and the tonnage duty on fo reign vessels, which is now two dollars per ton, will fall to fifty cents per ton. The extra duty is also able to be affected by the operation of the act abolishing all discriminating duties upon a basis of national reciprocity. By the laws now in force, the revenue arising from internal duties will be effected in the following manner: - The duties on bank notes, on notes discounted by banks, and bills of exchange, (commonly called the stamp duties,) and the duty on refined sugar, will cease on the 18th day of February, 1816. All the other internal duties, together with the direct tax and the increased rates of postage, will continue. Under these circumstances, the revenue which will accrue to the U. States during the year 1816, is estimated as follows: From customs Internal duties Direct tax, net produce to the treasury, Sales of public lands Postage and incidental receipts 13,000,000 7,000,000 5,600,000 1,000,00 400,000 27,000,000 The sums actually receivable into the treasury during the year, are estimated as follows: From customs, Internal duties, Direct tax, including the arrears of 1815 If to this be added the probable amount of money in the treasury at the commencement of the year 1816 which may be estimated, exclusively of treasury notes paid in previously to that time, on account of revenue and of loans, at the sum of 20,000,000 6,500,000 8,500,000 1,000,000 400,000 3,000,000 The effective ways and means of 1816 will produce in the whole the sum of 39,400,000 For the military establishment of 1816 For the arrearages of 1815, beyond the a mount of the appropriations 5,112,159 But as the demands upon the treasury for the same year will amount, as above stated, to 42,884,269 9,437,087 lers and continuance of the stamp duties and duties on refined sugar, the annual suin of 1,500,000 dollars; 2d, from the continuance of the duty on imported salt, the ammual sum of 500,000 dollars; and 3rdly, from an increase upon the permanent rates of duties on the importation of foreign merchandize, the annual sum of 5,000,000 of dollars. The full effect of the alterations which have been stated, will not be developed until some time af er the year 1816; but if they be adopted, the state of the revenue for that year in the two views of which it is susceptible; 1st, of revenue accruing during the year; and 2d, of money receivable into the trea sury during the year; may be estimated as follows: 1. The revenue which will accrue in 1816, may be estimated, From customs Internal duties Direct tax-net product of the treasury, Postage and incidental receipts 17,000,000 4,500,000 2,700,000 1,000,000 400,000 25 600,000 2. The money which will be actually receivable into the treasury, from the revenues, in 1815, may be estimated, From customs Internal duties Direct tax, including arrears of 1815, Postage and incidental receipts 21,000,000 5,000,000 6,000.000 1,000,000 400,000 33,400,000 If to the sum, thus estimated to be receivable in the The aggregate will be the sum of customs, or duties on importations, and the increa- || The subtraction from the revenue by these charges 3,000,000 36,400,000 42,884,269 6,484,269 It is here, however, to be recollected, that the estimate of the demands on the treasury compre hends the gross amount of the arrearages of the war department, and a provision for the whole of the floating public debt: and although for the purposes of legislative appropriation, the aggregate of the expenditures to be authorised for the year 1816, is necessarily made the basis of the official estimates, yet the uniform experience of the treasury evinces, that the demands for a considerable portion of the annual appropriation will not be || made during the year. It may also be observed, that to raise a revenue by the imposition, or even by the continuance of taxes adequate to the immediate discharge of every unliquidated demand upon the treasury at the close of an expensive war, seems hardly to be necessary, under the present circumstances of the country. The product of the revenue arranged in the manner which has been stated, may be estimated, after the year 1816, at an annual amount of nearly four millions greater than the sum required for the interest on the public debt, and for the probable expences of the peace establishment. If the public debt, therefore, were increased in the year 1816, by a sum equal to the whole amount of the deficit as above stated, an equivalent reduction could be effected in less than two years. The unexecuted authority to borrow money and issue treasury notes, already provided by the acts of congress, is sufficient to enable the treasury to meet the deficit in either of these modes, and, consequently, no further legislative aid, (except perhaps in the modification of the issues of treasury notes,) appears at this time to be required. III. Propositions for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of public credit. The propositions which are now to be respect 1 fully submitted, relate, 1st, to the revenue; 2d, to the sinking fund; and 3d, to the national circulating medium. 1. Propo ilion relating to revenue. The changes contemplated in the revenue on the estimate of the peace establishment, having been already stated as the intended objects of recommendation, it is now only necessary to submit to the consideration of congress, the measures requiring their sanction for carrying the plan into effect. First. It is respectfully proposed, that the act of the 1st July, 1812, imposing an additional duty of 100 per cent. upon the permanent duties on goods, wares and merchandise, imported into the United States from any foreign port or place, and the act of the 29th July, 1813, imposing a duty upon imported salt, be continued in force until the 30th day of June, 1816. Seront, It is respectfully proposed, that the act of the 24th of July, 1813, imposing a duty on sugar refined within the United States, and the act of the d of August, 1813, imposing a duty on bank notes, notes discounted, and bilis of exchange, be continued by law, in force without limitation, hut with proper amendments, to render the collection of the duties more equat and more certain: And that the act of the 15th of December 1814, imposing duties on carriages and the harness therefor, and that so much of the act of the 23d of Dec. 1814, as relates to the duties on sales at auction, and to the increasing of the rates of postage, be allowed to remain in force. appropriation of 8,000,000, should be taken from any funds in the reasury no. otherwise appropriated, as should be necessary to meet and satisfy the demands. The temporary loans and treasury no es will therefore probably be paid or absorbed in 1817; and it is deemed unnecessary, for the present purpose, to include them in the consideration of the form and extent which it is proposed to give to the sinking fund in that year. In 1803, when the sinking fund was established on its present footing, the principal of the public debt was about 86,000,000 of dollars, and the interest annually payable upon it, about 4,500,000 At that time there was assigned to the sinking fund out of the public revenue, 8,000,000 of dollars; of which about 3,500,000 dollars were annually applicable to the reduction of the principel of At the commencement of 86,000,000 of dollars. the year 1817, it is estima ed that the principal of the funded debt will'amo nt to 110,000,000 of dol Third. It is respectfully proposed, that there be a reduction lars, requiring the sum of 6,150,000 dollars for the or modification in the following taxes and duties: 1. That the direct tax be reduced from six millions to three millions of dollars, for the year 1816, and for each succeeding year. 2. That the duties on distilled spirits be discontinued after the Soth day of June, 1816; and that the duty or licenses to distillers be raised on that day to double the amount fixed by the act of the 24th of July, 1813. 3. That the duties on license to retailers of wines, spirituous liquors, and foreign merchandise, be reduced to the rates of the year 1813, with proper regard to the periods when licenses commence and expire. payment of its annual interest. If a sum appiicable to the reduction of the principal of the deb were now to be assigned, bearing the same propor tion to that principal which the sum assigned in 1814 then bore in the principal, it would amount to When i is added, thereabout 4,350,000 dollars. fore, to the sum of 6,150,000 dollars which is ne cessary for the paymen or the interest, there would be required for the amount now to be set apart to constitute the sinking fund, the sum of 10,500,000 dollars per annum. It is proposed, however, to Fourth, It is respectfully proposed, that the act of the 18th of January, 1815, and the act of the 27th of February, 1815 imposing duties on various articles manufactured or made for sale within the United States, and the act of the 18th January, 1815, imposing duties on household furniture and watches, be abso-carry the amount only to the sum of 10,000,000 of lutely and entirely repealed. Fifth, It is respectfully proposed, that the act of the 3d of dollars, which will allow about 3,850,000 dollars, as applicable to the reduction of the principal of the debt; a sum sufficient is strictly and regularly applied without interruption, on a compound principle, to pay off the whole of the funded debt in a period less than eighteen years. March, 1815, further to provide for the collection of the duties on imposts and tonnage; and the act of the 3d of March, 185, to fix the compensation and increase the responsibility of the collectors of the direct tax and internal duties, and for other purposes connected with the collection thereof and as far as relates to the compensation of the collectors of the direct tax and internal duties, be continued in force without limitation. 2. Propo itim relating to the inking fund. The sinking fund, as it is at present constituted, a mounts to the annual sum of It is charged in the first instance with the payment of the interest and the annual reimbursement of the principal of the old funded debt, which will require, for 1816 and each of the two ensuing years, the sum of And it is charged with the payment of the interest and the eventual reimbursement of the principal of the new funded debt. The interest computed on a capital of 70.000.000 of dollars, will require for the year 1916, and each subsequent year, the sum of 8,000,000 3,460,000 4,200,000 Upon these grounds, then, the secretary of the treasury respectfully submits the following PROPOSITION. That in the year 1817, and annually in every subsequent year, there be appropriated the sum of 200,000 dollars in addition to the sum of 8,000,000 of dollars now annually appropriated for the payment of the interest and principal of the public debt; that the payment of this additional sum be made out of the proceeds of the revenue derived from the customs, the sales of public lands, and the internal duties, or from either of them; available after the payment of the sums for which they are now respectively pledged or appropriated; and that the said additional sum of 2,000,000 of dollars annually, be payable to the commissioners of the sinking fund, to be applied by them in the same manner as the moneys which they are now entitled by law to receive; that is to say: first, To the paymen of the interest on the public funded debt; 2d, to the reimbursement of the principal, from time to time, as the same, or any portion of it, shall become reimbursable, according to the terms of the contracts by which it has been created; 3dly, after having answered these purposes, if The sinking find is also, at present, charged with there shall remain a surplus at their disposal, to the payment of the principal and interest of the the purchase of such parts of the funded public treasury notes issued under the act of the 4th of debt as shall appear to them to be most for the March, 1814, and prior acts, and of certain tempo- advantage of the United States, in the manner prerary loans obtained under the loan acts of 1812, scribed by law & at a ratenot exceeding the par value. and of subsequent years. The several acts charg-3dly. Propositions relating to the national circulating ing these payments on the sinking fund have directed that such sums, in addition to the annual The total present charge on the sinking fund, on ac- medium. The delicacy of this subject is only equalled by its importance. In presenting it, therefore, to the constitutionally emit bills of credit, corporations consideration of congress, there is occasion for an erected by the several states have been enabled to implicit reliance upon the legislative indulgence. circulate a paper medium subject to many of the By the constitution of the United States, con-practici inconveniences of the prohibited bills of gress is expressly vested with the power to coin credit. money, to regulate the value of the domestic and It is not intended, upon this occasion, to con foreign coins in circulation, and (as a necessary im-demn, generally the suspension of specie payments, plication from positive provisions) to emit bills of for appearances indicated an approaching crisis credit; while it is declared by the same instrument, which would probably have imposed it as a meathat "no state shall coin money or emit bills of cre- sure of necessity, if it had not been adopte as a dit." Under this constitutional authority, the money measure of precaution. But the danger which oriof the United States has been established by law,ginally induced and perhaps justified the conduct consisting of coins made with gold, silver, and cop. of the banks, has passed away; and the continuance per. All foreign gold and silver coins, at specified of the suspension of specie payments must be rates, were placed, in the first instance, upon the ascribed to a new series of causes. The public same footing with the coins of the United States, credit and resources are no longer impaired by the but they ceased, (with the exception of Spanish doubts and agitations excited during the war; by milled dollars, and parts of such dollars,) to be a the practices of the enemy; or by the inroads of legal tender for the payment of debts and demands, an illicit commerce: yet the resumption of specie in the year 1809. payments is still prevented, either by the reduced The constitutional authority to emit bills of cre- s'ate of the national stock of the precious metals; dit, has also been exercised in a qualified and li-or by the apprehension of a further reduction to mited manner. During the existence of the bank of the United States, the bills or notes of the corporation were declared, by law, to be receivable in all payments to the United States; and the treasury notes which have been since issued for the services of the late war, have been endowed with the same quality. But congress has never recognised by law the notes of any other corporation; nor has it ever authorised an issue of bills of credit to serve as a legal currency. The acceptance of the notes of banks which are not established by the federal authority, in payments to the United States, has been properly left to the vigilance and discretion of the executive department; while the circulation of the treasury notes employed either to borrow money or to discharge debts, depends entirely (as it ought to depend) upon the option of the lenders and creditors to receive them. meet the balances of a foreign trade; or by the redundant issues of bank paper. The probable direction and duration of the latter causes constitute, therefore, the existing subject for deliberation. While they continue to operate singly or combined, the authority of the states individually, or the agents of the state institutions, cannot afford a remedy commensurate with the evil; and a recur rence to the national authority is indispensable, for the restora ion of a national currency. And In the selection of the means for the accomplish. ment of this important object, it may be asked1st. Whether it be practicable to renew the circulation of the gold and silver coins? 2dly. Whether the state banks can be successfully employed to furnish an uniform currency? 3dly. Whether a national bank can be employed more advantageously than the state banks for the same purpose? The constitutional and legal foundation of the 4thly. Whether the government can itself supply monetary system of the United States is thus dis- and maintain a proper medium of exchange, of pertinctly seen; and the power of the federal govern-manent and uniform value, throughout the U. States. ment to institute and regulate it, whether the cir- 1st. As the United States do not possess mines of culating medium consists of coin or of bills of cre- gold or silver, the supplies of those materials must, dit, must in its general policy, as well as the terms in a time of scarcity, be derived from foreign comof its investment, be deemed an exclusive power. merce. If the balance of foreign commerce be unIt is true that a system depending upon the agency favorable the supply will not be obtained incidenof the precious metals, will be affected by the vari- tally, as in the case of the returns for a surplus of ous circumstances which diminish their quantity || American exports, but must be the object of a dior deteriorate their quality. The coin of a state rect purchase. The purchase of bullion, is howsometimes vanishes under the influence of political ever, a common operation of commerce, and dealarms; sometimes in consequence of the explosion pends like other operations, upon the inducement of mercantile speculations, and sometimes by the to import the article. drain of an unfavorable course of trade. But whenever the emergency occurs that demands a change of system, it seems necessarily to follow, that the authority which was alone competent to establish the national coin, is alone competent to create a national substitute. It has happened, however, that the coin of the United States has ceased to be the circulating medium of exchange; and that no substitute has hitherto been provided by the national authority. During the last year, the principal banks established south and west of New-EngJand, resolved that they would no longer issue coin in payment of their notes, or of the drafts of their || customers, for money received upon deposit. In this act, the government of the United States had no participation; and yet the immediate effect of the act was to supercede the only legal currency of the nation. By this act, although no state cauff The inducements to import bullion arise, as in other cases, from its being cheap abroad, or from its being dear at home. Notwithstanding the commotions in South America, as well as in Europe, there is no reason to believe, that the quantity of the precious metals is now, more than at any former period, insufficient for the demand throughout the commercial and civilized world. The price may be higher in some countries than in others; and it may be different in the same country at different times; but generally the European stock of gold & silver has been abundant, even during the protracted war which has afflicted the nations of Europe. The purchase of bullion, in foreign markets upon reasonable terms, is then deemed practicable; nor can its importation into the United States fail eventually to be profitable. The actual price of gold and silver in the American market would in itself |