[NO. XCIII.]
(p- For the TABLETfee thiripage.
From ths AMERICAN MERCURY
The APOLOGIZER No. 11.
AS my enquiries are extended into the nature 1
of anti-federalifm, and of the motives which
acftuate such people, I become more convinced,
that my design of a general apology for them is
very meritorious, and ought to have been made
long ago ; and 1 cannot conceive the reason why it
hath never been publicly attempted, unless it be
the excreme difficulty of an investigation. In all
other political fubje&s a writer may deduce his ar
guments and leading principles, from public utili
ty, and from a number of moral maxims, which
the couitefy of the world hath for many ages al
lowed to be sacred ; but on attempting 1 find these
sources fail me ; to supply the want, I niuft have
recourse, in my own meditations, to the situation,
abilities, particular interefls, and paflions of cer
tain characters ; this method of acftual experi
ment, I conceive to be a sure way of coming to
the truth, but the progress is flow, and the public
patience may be exhausted before the completion
of this undertaking.
The last anti-federal fubjecft, which I have had
under inspeCtion, furnifhed me some curious in
formation in what philofopliers have called, the
scale of being, or a series of exiflencies with in
creasing sense and reason, from an oyiter up to
those genii <>f the air, which can play with moun
tains and hurricanes as a child doth with a rattle
hox. To niy great fuprize I found this gentle
man, under a natural necessity, of being anti
federal or difhonell, and I can now allure my rea
ders upon the strength of this experiment, that
the popular opinion of at least a small degree of
roguery, being at the bottom of anti-federalifm,
is not true in all cases, for I have found one hofieft
man in this class of people, and whenever 1 find
another, notice (hall be given of the difcoveiy.
In this examination nothing appeared different
from what is found in other men, except a strange
limitation of all the feeing and judging faculties
within very narrow dimensions.
The mind atfted and judged vigorously on small
objects, but was utterly incapable of extending
its views to the policy of a nation, or the benefit
of so wrest a number of people as inhabit the
Unites States ; neither could he conceive any kind
of advantage from a communication between peo
ple so distant in situation. He feared much the
fame consequences from the union, as might hap
pen from building a bridge to the moon, which
would only serve as a pass way for lunatics and
Other dangerous enemies. After attempting a
whole day to enlarge his understanding, I found
my work in vain, and that no man can fee fur
ther than nature has enabled him. From this I
have taken the hint to form a scale of minds,
which I have thrown into four grand divifious, viz.
Parish intellects,
Countj intellects,
State intellects, and
Federal intellects.
The sub-divisions in each of these clafles, must
be formed from future experiments, and when the
scale is compleated, 1 thiuk it will be an infalli
ble guide to all honest electors.
I would humbly propose to the respectable pub
lic, that when the scale is completed, the party
terms of whig and tory, federal and anti-federal,
republican and democrat, fliould be thrown a
side, and every man's political opinions be def
cribed by the scale of his intellects. Names of
men's invention cause much offence in the world ;
but I think no man can be offended, when we de
scribe him by the standard of nature itfelf.
Where there is no reason for blame there ought
not to be any odium. Nature has made monfcies,
men and angels—still we know that a monkey is
not a man, nor a man an angel—each of these
grades are made to fee, move and be happy in
the communion of their own order ; and fliould
we describe to a monkey the community of an
gels, with their constitution and laws, Pug would
very honestly be anti-federal, and declare off
from the union.
A PERSON folicitinga citizen to bcfecurity to
a friend of his for SQOI. mentioned amongst
other circumltauces as testimonials of his credit,
&c. that he had been twice round the world with
Capt. Cook. If that is the cafe, replied the for
mer, I would not be fecui itv for so many farthings
for him ! For he that would submit, for a trifling
conlideration, to be penned up in a compass of a
,few yards, twice three years together, would not
value lying in goal all his life time for jool.
PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENNO, No. g, MAIDEN-LANE, NEW-YORK
BON MOT.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH, 3, 1790.
CONGRESS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, FEB. 18, 1790.
IN Committee of the whole, on the Report of the Secretary of
the Tieafury. Mr. Madison's motion for a difcriinination, still
under consideration.
MR. MADISON next rofc,and observed, that thcopponcnts ol
his proportion had imposed on its friends not only a heavy talk,
by the number of their objettions, but a delicate one by the nature
of some of them. It had been arraigned as embarrafling measures
which ought to be facilitated, and producing difcufiions which
might end in disagreeable consequences. However painful 11
might be to contradiftthe wiihes of gentlemen, whom he refpeft
ed, he could promise nothing more, in the present cafe, than his
endeavors to disappoint their apprehensions. When his judgment
could not yield to the proportions of others, the right to make
and support his own was a right which he could never fuffer to be
conteiled. In exercising it, he had ftudicd to maintain that mo
deration and liberality which were due to the greatness of jhe fub
jeft before the committee. He felt pleafute in acknowledging,
that the like Ipirit had in general dire&ed the arguments on the
other fide. Free difcuflions, thus conduced, were not only favor- !
able to a right decision, but to a cheerful acquiescence of the mis
taken opponents of it. They might have the further advantage of
recommending the re(ult to the public, by fully explaining the
grounds of it. If the pretensions of a numerous and meritorious
class of citizens be not well founded, or cannot be complied with,
let them fee that this is the cafe—and be soothed, under their dis
appointment, with the proof that they have not been overlooked
by their country.
He proceeded to review the grounds on which the proportion
had been combated ; which, he said, he (hould do without either
following those who had wandered from the field of fair argument,
or avoiding those who had kept within its limits.
It could not have escaped the committee, that the gentlemen to
whom he was opposed, had reasoned on this momentous question,
as on an ordinary cafe in a court of law ; that they had equally
llrained all the maxims that could favor the purchasing, or be ad
verse to the original holder ; and that they had dwelt with equal
pleafurtf on every circumstance which could brighten the preten
sions of the former, or discredit those. of the latter. He had not
himfelf atiempted, nor did he mean to undervalue the pretensions
of the a&ual holdert: In stating them he had even used as ftro'ng
terms as they themselves could have di&ated ; but beyond a cer
tain point he could not go. He must renounce everv sentiment
which he had hitherto cherished, before his complaisance could
admit that America oughtto ere&the monuments of her gratitude,
not to those who saved her liberties, but to those who had enrich
ed themselves in her funds.
All that he wished was, that the claims of the original holders,
not less thanthofe of the actual holders, (hould be fairly examined
and justly decided. They had been invalidated by nothing yet
urged. A debt was fairly contrasted : according to justice and
good faith, it ought to have been paid in gold or silver : A piece
of paper only was substituted. Was this paper equal in value to
gold or silver ? No : It was worth in the market, which the argu
ment for the purchafmgholders make* the criterion, no more than
one-eighth, or one-seventh of that value. Was this depreciated pa
per freely accepted ? No : The government offered that or noth
ing. The relation of the individual to the government, and cir
cumstances of the offer, rendered the acceptance a forced, not a
free one. The fame degree of constraint would viciate a transac
tion between man and man, before any court of equity oil the face
of the earth. There are even cales where consent cannot be pre
tended ; where the property of the planter or farmer has been
taken at the point of the bayonet, and a certificate presented in the
fame manner. But why did the creditors part with their ack
nowledgment of the debt ? In some instances from necessity—in
others from a well-founded distrust ofthe public. Whether from
one or the other, they had been injured ; they had fuffered loss
through the default of the debtor, and the debtor cannot, in justice
or honor, take advantage of the default.
Here then was a debt acknowledged to have been once due, and
Which was never discharged, because the payment was forced and
defective. The balance consequently is still due, and is of as fa
rred a nature as the claims of the purchafmg holder can be; and if
both are riot to be p-aidinthe whole, is equally entitled to payment
in part.
He begged gentlemen would not yield too readily to the artifi
cial niceties of forenfic reasoning; that they would consider not j
the form, but the substance ; not the letter, but the equity ; not
the bark, but the pith of the business. It was a great and an ex
traordintrycafe. It ought to be decided on the great and funda
mental principles of justice: He had been animadverted upon, for
appealing to the heart as well as the head : He would be bold,
neverthelcfs, to repeat, thaf, in great and unusual questions of mo
rality, the heart is the best casuist.
It had been said, by a Member from Massachusetts, that the pro
portion was founded on a new principle in Congress. If the pre
sent Congress be meant, that is not strange, tor Congress itfelf is
new : If the former Congress be meant, it is not true, for the prin
ciple is found in an a£l which had been already cited. Alter the
pay of the army had, during the war, been nominally and legally
discharged in depreciated paper, the loss was made up to the fuf
ferers.
It had been said, by a member from New-York, that the cafe
was not parallel, there being no third party like the present hold
er of certificates. This objettion could not be valid. Ihe go
vernment paid ten dollars, worth in fa£l but one, to a soldier :
the soldier was the original holder. The soldier afligned it to a
citizen : the citizen then became the a£tual holder. What was
the event ? The loss of the original holder was repaired, after the
actual holder had been fettled with according to the highest mar
ket value of this paper.
He did not mean, however, to decide on the whole merits of
this last tranfaftion, or to contend for a similitude, in all icfpe&s,
between the two kinds of paper. One material difference was
Chat the bills of ciedit, by more frequent transfers, and by divi
ding the change of value among a great number of hands, render
ed the effe6t of less consequence to individuals, and less sensible to
the public mind. But this difference, whatever force it might give
to the claims of the purchafmg holder of certificates, could dimi
nish nothing from the claims of the original holders who had as
signed them.
It had been said by another member, from Maflachufetts, that
the old government did everything in its power. It made requifi
t ons, ufcd exhortations, and in every refpett difchargfd its duly ;
but it was to be remembered, that the debt was not due from the
government, but the United States. An attorney with full pow
ers to form, without the means to fufil engagements, could never
by his incfffftual, though honest offorts, exonerate his principal.
£>uus.
PRICE THREE DOLLARS PR. ANN.
He had been repeatedly reminded of the address of Congress in
1 which rejected a discrimination between original and pur
chaling holders. At that period, the certificates to the army, and
citizens at4arge, had not been issued. The transfers weie con
fined to loan-office certificates, were not numerous, and had been
in great part made with little loss to the original creditor. At
present the transfers extend to a vast proportion of the whole debr,
and the loss to the original holders has been immense. The injus
tice which has taken place has been enormous and flagrant, anci
makes redress a great national object. This change of circumftan
ccs destroys the argument from the ast of Congress referred to ;
but if implicit regard is to be paid to the doftriries of that ast, 3-
ny modification of she interest of the debt will be as inadmifliblc
as a modification of the principal.
It had been said, that if the lodes of the original creditors arc;
entitled to reparation, Congress ought to repair those whorfuffered
from paper money, from the ravages of the war, and from the ast
barring claims not produced within a limited time. As to the
paper money, cither the cafe is applicablc.or it is not : if not ap
plicable, the argument falls ; if applicable, either the depreciated
certificates ought to be liquidated by a like scale, as was applied
to the depreciated money, or the money* even if the whole mas*
of it was still in circulation, ought now to be literally redeemed
like the certificates. Leaving the gentleman to make his own
choice out of tbefe dilemmas, he would only add, himfelf, that it
there were no other difference between the cases, the manifeft im
poflibility of redreflingthe one, and the practicability of redrcfling
the other, was a fufficient aniwer to the objection. With refpeft
to the towns burnt, and other devastations of war, it was taught by
the writers on the law of nations, that they were to be numbered
among the inevitable calamities of mankind. Still, however, a
government owed thefn every alleviation which it could conveni
ently afford : but no authority could be found that puts on the
fame footing with those calamities* such as proceed from a failure
to fulfil the direst and express obligations of the public. The just
claims barred by the ast of limitation were, in his opinion, clcari
ly entitled to redreis. That acl was highly obje&ionable. The
public which was interested in shortening the term, undertook to
decide that no claim, however just, (hould be admitted, if not pre
sented within nine months. made none of the exceptions
ufnal in such a£ls, nor even in favor of the moll diiiant parts of the
union. In many instances it had been absolutely :mpoflible for
the persons injured to know of the regulation. Some of these in
stances were within his own knowledge. To limit the duratiorl
of a law to a period within which it could not poflibly be pro
mulged, and then take advantage of the impoflibility, would be
imitating the Roman tyrant, who posted up his editts io high
that they could not be read, and then punished the people for not
obeying them.
It had been r aid, that if the purchased certificates were funded
at the rate proposed, they would fall in the market, and the hol
ders be jnjurcd. It was pretty certain that \he greater part, dt
least, would be gainers. He believed that the highest market rate*
especially with the arrears of interest incorporated, well funded
at 6 per cent, would prevent every loss that could juftify com
plaint.
But foreigners had become purchasers, and ou?ht to be parti
j cularly rcfpefled. Foreigners, he remarked, had themfcives
| made a difference between the value of the foreign and domestic
debt : they would therefore the less complain of a difference by
the government here. It was his opinion that the terms stated iti
the proposition, would yield a greater profit to the foreign pur
chasers than they could have got for their money advanced by
them in aoy of the funds of Europe.
The propofitiou had been charged with robbing one set of njen
to pay another. If there were robbery in the cafe, it had been
committed on the original creditors. But, to speak more accu
rately, as well as more moderately, the proposition would do no
more than withold a part from each of two creditors, whete both
were not to be paid the whole.
A member from New-York, had aflted whether an original cre
ditor, who had assigned his certificates could in conscience ac
cept a re-imburfement in the manner proposed ? He would not
deny that assignments might have been made with such explana
tions, or under such circumstances, as would have that effe£h But
in general the aflignments had been made with reference merely
to the maiket value, and the uncertainty of the steps that might
be taken by the government. The bulk of the creditors had afi.
signed under circumstances from which no fcniplcs arise.
In all cases where a scruple exiftcd, the benefit of the provision
might be renounced. He would in turn alk the gentleman, whe
ther theie was not more room to apprehend that the present hol
der, who had got his certificate of a distressed and meritorious
fellow-citizen, for one-eighth or one-tenth of its ultimate value,
might not feel some remorse in retaining so unconscionable an
advantage ?
Similar propositions, it was said, had been made and rejected.
in the (late legislatures. This was not fact. The propositions
made in the state legislatures were not intended to do justice to the
injured, but to seize a profit to the public.
But no petitions for redress had come from the fufferers. Was
merit then to be the less regarded, because it was modest ? Per
haps, however, another explanation ought to be given. Many
of the fufferers were poor and uninformed. Those of another
description were so dispersed, that their interests and efforts could
not be brought together. The cafe of the purchasing holders was
very different.
The constitutionality of the proposition had been "drawn into
question. He asked whether words could be devised that Would
place the new government more precisely in the fame relation to
the real creditors with the old ? The power was the fame; the
obje&ion was the iame : the means only were varied.
An objettion had been drawn from the article prohibiting ex
poji/adolaws. Butt* pojl faflo laws relate to criminal, not civil
cases. The constitution ltfelf requires this definition, by adding
to a likereftri&ion on the states, an express one against retrospec
tive laws of a civil nature.
It had been said that foreigners had been led to purchase, by
their f-ith in the article of the constitution relating to the public
debts. He would answer this obje&ion by a single fact : foreign
ers had shewn by the market price in Europe, that they trusted the
nature of the foreign debt more under the old government, than
the nature of the domestic debt under the new government.
Obje&ions to the measure had been drawn from its supposed
tendency to impede public credit. He thought it, on the con
trary, perfefrly confident with the eftablilhment of public credit.
It was in vain to fay that government ought nev£r to revise mea
sures once decided. Great caution on this head ought, no doubt,
to be observed : but there were situations in which, without feme
legifiative interposition, the firft principles of justice, and the very
ends of civil society, would be fruftrated. The gentlemen them
selves bad been compelled to make exceptions to the general doc
trine : they would probaWy make more before the business was
at ap end