would not have occurred, if so large a portion of the public stocks which constituted part of the original capital of the bank, had not been exchanged for the depreciated paper in the United States treasury. We have seen that, when the reduction of private loans on private security was greatest, it did not equal the amount of public stock, which the bank was obliged to transfer to the government in six months after it began business. There is no intention here of casting a personal censure on the men with whom the financial policy of 1812-14 originated. But in the reprobation of the principles of that policy, all must unite, when they see it was that which led to the suspension of specie payments, to the inordinate multiplication of bank-paper, to the reaction of 1818, and the commercial difficulties of subsequent years. At the close of the year 1818, the balance in the treasury was reduced to $1,478,526, a great part of which was in paper, which no fiscal ingenuity could transmute into gold and silver. Appearances were at times very discouraging, but the receipts of the treasury in the whole of 1819 were sufficient to defray the current expenses of the year, and discharge upwards of $4,000,000 of the public debt. In 1820 the revenue from the customs was reduced to $15,000,000, and the public lands yielded but half as much as they had yielded in 1819. The bank of the United States paid 1,000,000, being the second and third instalments of its bonus: and a small amount was received for arrears of internal and direct taxes. The clear revenue of the year, independent of loans, was 17,800,000, which was sufficient, after paying current expenses, to reduce the national debt in the extent of 1,000,000. The payment of the last instalment of the Louisiana loan, and the reimbursement of a portion of the old six per cent and deferred stocks, rendered it necessary to borrow 3,000,000 dollars: but this was merely changing the form of debt, not increasing it. The total of the debt was actually reduced, as has already been stated, by the revenue exceeding the current expenses, in the amount of 1,000,000. In 1821 the customs yielded 13,000,000, being one half as much as they had yielded in 1817. The whole revenue of the government, from all sources except loans, was 14,500,000 equal to one-fourth of the net revenue of 1816. It became necessary to negotiate a loan of 5,000,000, which, owing to the want of profitable employment for capital in business, was obtained on very favourable terms. The money was borrowed at five per cent, and the lenders gave a premium on the average of nearly five dollars fifty-nine one-hundredths per cent. This rendered it necessary to issue new stock to the amount of only 4,735,296 dollars 20 cents. A portion of the old six per cent and deferred stock having been reimbursed during the year, the net increase of debt was less than 4,000,000. Through the system of granting a credit on duties, events which diminish or increase the import trade, have not their complete effect on the revenue from the customs till some time after they have begun to operate on commerce. The demands on the treasury in 1819 were met, to a great extent, by the re ceipt of duties which had accrued during the preceding year. The revenue in 1819 was further increased by speculations in the public lands, which the previous abundance of money had in part occasioned. In 1819 the receipts at the treasury on account of the public lands amounted to 3,270,000 dollars, a greater sum than has been received in any one year, either before or since. In 1820 the effect of the commercial reaction, which began in 1818, was felt in a very sensible degree by government in the reduction of the revenue both from customs and from the public lands. In the first quarter of 1821 the customs reached their lowest point of depression: and the utter inability of many of the purchasers of public lands to comply with their engagements, induced Congress to pass a law to relieve them from a part of their obligations. In the second quarter of 1821 the import trade began to revive. The violent effects of the reaction were over in those parts of the union where the greatest portion of the public revenue is collected. In 1822, owing to the revival of the import trade, the revenue from the customs was increased to 17,000,000, and the balance in the treasury at the end of the year was upwards of 4,000,000. The greater part of this balance consisted of money of a kind which could be applied to any purposes the public service might require; and from this time we may date the regular and rapid reduction of the national debt. In 1823 the revenue from the customs increased to 19,000,000, and the published accounts showed a reduction in the public debt of between two and three millions, and a balance in the treasury at the end of the year of nearly 9,500,000. An unsuccessful attempt was made under authority of an act passed in April 1822, to exchange twenty-six millions of the six and seven per cents, which were reimbursable in 1825, 26, 27 and 28, for a five per cent stock, reimbursable at a later period. The holders of stock to the amount of only 56,704 dollars, accepted the terms offered by Congress. Efforts of this kind were repeated in 1824 and 1825, and were then more successful, though not to the extent anticipated. In 1824 nearly four millions and a half, and in 1825 upwards of one million and a half of the six per cent war-stocks were exchanged for stocks bearing an interest of four and a half per cent. In 1824 a loan of five millions at four and a half per cent was negotiated with the United States bank, to satisfy the claimants under the Florida treaty. The surplus of moneys in the treasury was applied to the reimbursement of the seven per cent stock, to the reimbursement of the last remains of the old six per cent and deferred stocks, and of all but a very small part of the six per cent exchanged stock of 1812. The published accounts showed a reduction in the total amount of public debt, in the course of the year, of between six and seven millions. In 1825 the sum of five million dollars was borrowed from the United States bank at four and a half per cent, to facilitate the payment of the six per cent stock of 1812: and upwards of a million and a half of six per cent stocks of other years were, as mentioned above, exchanged for stock bearing an interest of four and a half per cent. Since that time the operations of the treasury department have been conducted without incurring any new, or changing the form of any old debts: and, owing to the prosperous state of the revenue, the public debt has been reduced with a rapidity which the experience of other years gave the people no reason to expect. From the 1st of January 1824 to the 1st of January 1828, the principal of the debt was reduced nearly twenty-three millions of dollars. From the first of January 1828 to the first of January 1832, the reduction was upwards of forty-three millions. In the tables annexed to this article, the reader will find a view of the receipts and expenditures of government from the 4th of March 1789 to the ist of December 1791, and from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, for each year, from 1792 to 1829, both inclusive. We give these tables in the form in which they were presented to the chairman of the committee on retrenchment in April 1830: and add a statement of the receipts and expenditures in 1830 and 1831, with an estimate for 1832, taken from subsequent reports of the treasury department. The balance in the treasury on 6,752,688 66 3,239,428 63 11,355,748 22 $24,585,281 55 the 1st of January 1831 was, $6,014,539 75 The secretary of the treasury in his report at the commencement of the session of Congress of 1831-2, from the returns of three-quarters, and a calculation of the probable returns of the fourth quarter, estimated the total revenue of the year 1831 at 28,000,412 dollars 87 cents: the expenditures at 30,967,201 dollars 25 cents, (of which 16,189,289 dollars 67 cents were in payment of principal and interest of the public debt,) and the balance in the treasury on the 1st of January 1832 at 3,047,751 dollars 37 cents. Of this last amount 1,400,000 consist of funds which are not effective, being bank-notes received during the suspension of specie payments, and debts due from broken banks in which the public money was deposited. This statement of the receipts and expenditures of 1831, is liable to the corrections which the secreVOL. XVIII.-PART II. Three per cent stock created by act of August 1790, redeemable at the pleasure of government, 13,296,626 21 4,725,296 30 Five per cents of March 1821, redeemable after first of January 1835, Five per cents (exchanged) of April 20, 1822, one-third redeemable annually after the 31st of December 1830, 31, and 32, Four and a half per cents of May 24th, 1824, redeemable after the first of January 1832, Four and a half per cents (exchanged) of May 26th, 1824, one half redeemable after the 31st of December 1832, the residue after the 31st of December 1833, Total of funded debt, 2. Unfunded Debt. Registered debt, being claims registered prior to the year 1798, for services and supplies during the revolutionary war, Treasury Notes, Mississippi stock, 56,704 77 1,739,524 01 4,454,727 95 $24,282,879 24 27,919 85 7,116 00 4,320 09 $39,355 94 Total of unfunded debt, Making the whole amount of the public debt of the United States, $24,322,235 48 By the 2d of January 1835, the whole debt may be discharged, 3 S* The revenues of the state governments are derived, for the most part, from bank dividends, taxes on banks, taxes on auctions, licenses to retailers and tavern-keepers, in some instances a direct tax on property, and from sales of land. The principal expenditures of the state governments are in payments of the expenses of the legislature, the salaries of the chief officers of the state, and in the extension of roads and canals. The funds for the last mentioned object are usually obtained by borrowing. The county, city, town, and township expenses, including the support of the poor, are in the aggregate very considerable: but the amount we have not the means of ascertaining. These include many of the expenses of the administration of justice, and of keeping the common roads in order. Many of the expenses of litigation are defrayed by fees paid by the parties. Of the amount of these fees, no general statement is ever rendered. An estimate was made a few years since, that the people of the city and county of Philadelphia paid annually between three and four millions of dollars for the support of government. In this estimate were included the duties paid to the United States government on foreign commodities consumed within the city and county, the taxes paid to the state government, all the various municipal expenses, including the support of the poor, and the diversified fees paid to public officers. The inhabitants of the interior consuming a less amount of foreign commodities, pay fewer taxes: and the municipal expenses of but few districts are as great as those of Philadelphia. In European governments, many of the items of our state and county disbursements, enter into the general statement of national expenditures. From not attending to this fact, some writers have given very incorrect views of the relative amount of taxes paid by the people of Europe and America: and have contrasted the amount expended by us principally in providing means of external defence, and in regulating foreign intercourse, with the expenses of general government in other countries. A correct estimate of the relative expenses of government in different countries is a desideratum, which it is not easy to supply. All our expenditures, national, state, and municipal, may be esteemed moderate when compared with those of England: but perhaps it would be possible to reduce the total amount without diminishing the protection afforded to persons and property. The art of governing well, is, not to govern too much, an art in which some advances have been made, but which is not yet brought to perfection. In proportion as this art advances the expenses of government will be lessened, without its efficiency for good being in any degree diminished. TABLE LXI. A Table showing the amount of the public debt of the United States on the 1st of January of each year, from 1791 to 1832, both inclusive. General Washington's administration began March 4th, 1789, and ended March 3d, 1797. The debt was increased after the 1st of January 1791, by funding additional amounts of the revolutionary claims: by the Indian war, the western insurrection, the transactions with the Barbary powers, and other events which occasioned a great expenditure. Mr. John Adams's administration commenced March 4th, 1797, and ended March 3d, 1801. The debt was increased by the warlike preparations made in consequence of the dispute with France. 1810. 53,156,532 1811. 47,855,070 Mr. Jefferson's administration began March 4th, 1801, and ended March 3d, 1809. The debt was increased in 1804 by the purchase of Louisiana, for the sum of 15,000,000 dollars. Reduced in the subsequent years by the abundant revenue derived from commerce. Mr. Madison's administration commenced March 4th, 1809, and ended 1812. 45,035,123 March 3d, 1817. War was declared in July 1812. The ratifications of peace 1813. 55,907,452 were exchanged in February 1815. The debt greatly increased by the events of 1814. 80,986,291 the war. The Mississippi stock, which had been issued under an act of 1814, 1815. 99,824,410 and the amount of which exceeded four millions of dollars, first included in the 1816. 123,016,375 general statement in 1817. 1817. 123,491,965 1818. 103,466,633 1819. 95,529,648 Mr. Monroe's administration began March 4th, 1817, and ended March 3d, 1820. 91,015,566 1825. The debt diminished in the first years of his first term by the abun1821. 89,987,427 dance of paper-money revenue. Increased afterwards by the diminution of the 1822. 93,546,676 revenue, occasioned by the resumption of specie payments. An addition of 90,875,877 | nearly five millions made to the debt in 1824, by the purchase of Florida: 1824. 90,269,777 but the total amount reduced by the abundance of the revenue. 83,788,432 1823. 1825. 1826. 81,054,059 Mr. John Quincy Adams's administration began March 4th, 1825, and ended 1827. 73,987,357 March 3d, 1829. The debt diminished through the causes which began to be effective in the last year of Mr. Monroe's second term. 1828. 67,475,622 1829. 58,362,135 1830. 48,565,405 1831. 39,082,451 1832. 24,322,235 The General Andrew Jackson's administration began March 4th, 1829. debt diminished through the continued operation of the causes which began to be effective in the last year of Mr. Monroe's second term. TABLE LXII. Receipts of the United States from March 4, 1789, to December 21, 1829; as stated in a Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Chairman of the Committee on Retrenchment, April 9, 1830. Loans and Treasury Notes, &c. $5,791,112 56 5,070,806 46| 1,067,701 14 Dividends and $8,028 00 38,500 00 9,918 65 10,390 37 8,740,766 77 5,720,624 28| 66 1794 4,801,065 28 274,089 62 29,478 49 4,609,196 78 303,472 00 23,799 48 10,041,101 65 66 1795 5,588,461 26 337,755 36 22,400 00 3,305,268 20 160,000 00 5,917 97 9,419,802 79 66 1796 6,567,987 94 475,289 60| 72,909 84 $4,836 13 362,800 00 1,240,000 00 16,506 14 8,740,329 65 66 1797 7,549,649 65 575,491 45 64,500 00 83,540 60 66 1798 7,106,061 93] 644,357 05 39,500 00 11,963 11 70,135 41 308,574 27 385,220 00 30,379 29 8,758,916 40 79,920 00 18,692 81 8,209,070 07 66 1799 6,610,449 31 779,136 44 41,000 00 5,074,646 53 71,040 00 45,187 56 12,621,459 84 66 1800 9,080,932 73 809,396 53 8734,223 97 78,000 00 443 75 1,602,435 04 71,040 00 74,712 10 12,451,184 14 66 1801 10,750,778 93 1,048,033 43 534,343 38 79,500 00 167,726 06 10,125 00 88,800 00 266,149 15 12,945,455 95 66 1802 12,438,235 74 621,898 89 206,565 44 35,000 00 188,628 02 5,597 36 1,327,560 00 177,905 86 15,001,391 31 66 1803 10,479,417 61 215,179 69 71,879 20 16,427 26 165,675 69 115,518 18 11,064,097 63 66 1804 11,098,565 33 50,941 29 50,198 44 26,500 00 487,526 79 9,532 64 112,575 53 11,835,840 02 21,342 50 540,193 80 128,814 94 19,039 80 13,689,508 14 55,763 86| 41,117 67 765,245 73 48,897 71 10,004 19 15,608,823 78 34,732 56 3,614 73 466,163 27 34,935 69 16,398,019 26 647,939 06 1,822 16 21,802 35 17,062,544 09 66 1809 7,296,020 58 4,044 39 7,517 31 442,252 33 23,638 51 7,773,473 12 66 1810 8,583,309 31 7,430 63 12,448 68 696,548 82 2,759,992 251 84,476 84 1,040,237 53 4,903 06 4,755 04 37 70 85,039 70 710,427 78 12,837,900 00 35,000 00 835,685 14 26,184,435 00 45,000 00 1,135,971 09 23,377,911 79 135,000 10 1,287,959 28 35,264,320 78 149,787 74 1,717,985 03 9,494,436 16 29,371 91 1,991,226 06 734,542 59 20,070 00 2,606,564 77 8,309 05 60,068 52 41,125 47 236,571 00 119,399 81 8,765 62 525,000 00 37,547 71 21,593,936 66 229,593 63 66 1820 15,005,612 15 106,260 53 31,586 82 71 32 3,274,422 78 6,465 95 1,635,871 61| 516 91 1,212,966 46 602 04 1,803,581 54| 110 69 916,523 10 2,291 00 675,000 00 57,027 10 24,605,665 37 66 1824 17,878,325 71 34,663 37 6,201 96 984,418 15 5,000,000 00 350,000 00 127,603 60 24,381,212 79 66 1825 20,098,713 45 25,771 35 2,330 85 469 56 1,216,090 56 5,000,000 00 367,500 00 129,982 25 26,840,858 02 66 1826 23,341,331 77 21,589 93 6,638 76 300 14 1,393,785 09 402,500 00 94,288 52 25,260,434 21 101 00 1,495,845 26 20 15 1,018,308 75 1,457,004 66 520,296,996 89 22.204,438 0312,702,597 11 1,090,275 9132,403,527 80156,181,578 57 9,413,506 30 |