TREASURY DEPARTMENT,")
December j;, 1790. J
111 obedience to the order of the House of Re
rRE sent ATI VF.S of the 9th Day of August last,
requiring tlie Secretary of the Treasury
to prepare and report, on this Day, such fur
ther Provision as may, in his opinion, be ne
ceflary for establishing the PUBLIC CREDIT
—the said Secretary further
Respectfully reports,
(continued from our last.)
THE fuppoit of industry is probably in ♦-Very cafe, of more
consequence towards corre6ling a wrong balance of trade,
than any pra&icable retrenchments in the expences of families or
individuals : and the stagnation of it would be likely to have
more effedfc in prolonging, than any such savings in ftiortening its
coutinuance. That stagnation is a natural consequence of an in
adequate medium, which, without the aid of bank circulation,
"would in the cases supposed, be severely felt.
It also defervcs notice, that as the circulation of a bank is al-
in a compound ratio to the fund upon which it depends,
and to the demand for ir, and as that fund is itfelf affe&ed by the
exportation of the metals, there is no danger of its being over
flocked , as in the cafe of paper iflued at the pleasure of the go
vernment ; or of its preventing the consequences of any unfavor
able balance from being fufficiently felt to produce the reforms
alluded to, as far as circumstances may require and admit.
Nothing can be more fallible than the comparisons which have
been made between different countries, to illustrate the truth of
the position under confederation. The comparative quantity of
gold and silver, in different countries, depends upon an infinite
variety of fa&s and combinations, all of which ought to be
known in order to judge whether the existence or non-existence
of paper currencies has any (hare in the relative proportions they
contain. The majs and value of the productions of thfe labour and
industry of each, compared with its wants ; thenaturcof its es
tablishments abroad : the kind of wars in which it is usually en
gaged : the relations it bears to the countries, which are the ori
ginal pofTeffors of those metals ; the* privileges it enjoys in their
trade; these and a number of other circumstances are all to be ta
ken into the account, and render the investigation too complex to
juftify any reliance on the vague and general surmises, which have
been hitherto hazarded on the point.
In the foregoing difcuflion, theobjeflion has been conftdered as
applying to the permanent expulsion and diminution of the metals.
Their temporary exportation, for particular purposes, has not
been contemplated. This, it mud be confeffed is facilitated by
banks, from the faculty they poftefs of fupplyirigtheir place. But
their utility is in nothing more conspicuous, than in these very
cases. They enable the government to pay its foreign debts, and
to anfwerany exigencies which the external concerns of the com
munity may have produced. They enable the merchant to sup
port his credit (on which the prosperity of trade depends) when
special circumstances prevent remittances iri other moc!~es. They
enable him also to profecutc enterprizes, which ultimately tend to
an augmentation of the fpecics of wealth in question. It is evi
dent, that gold and silver may often be employed in procuring
commodities abroad ; which, in a circuitous commerce, replace
the original fund, with considerable addition. But it is not to
be inferred from this facility given to temporary exportation,
that banks which are so si iendly to tradeand industry, are in their
general tendency, inimical to the encreafe of the precious metals.
These several views of the subjeCt appear fufficient to impress a
fuil conviction of the utility of banks, and to demonstrate that
they are of great importance, not only in relation to the admini
stration of the finances, but in the general system of the political
economy.
The judgment of many concerning them has no doubt been per
plexed, by the misinterpretation of appearance s, which were to be
ascribed to other causes. The general devastation of personal
property, occasioned by the late war, naturally produced on the
one hand, a great demand for mojiey? and on the other a great de
ficiency of it to answer the demand. Some injudicious laws,
■which grew out of the public diftrcflcs, by impairing confidcnce
and causing a part of the inadequate sum in the country to be lock
ed up, aggravated the evil : The diflipated habits, contra&ed by
many individuals, during the war, which after the peace plunged
them into expences beyond their incomes: The number of ad-
venturers without capital, and in many instances without irifor
mation, who at that epoch rushed into trade, and were obliged to
make any facrificcs tofupport a transient credit : The employment
of confidcrable sums in speculations upon the public debt, which
from its unsettled state was incapable of becoming itfelf a fubfti
tutc : All these circumstances concurring, necefiarily led to usuri
ous borrowing, pioduccd most of the inconveniences, and were
the true causes of most of the appearances ; which, where banks
were established, have been by some erroneously placed to their
account; a mistake which they might eaftly have avoided by turn
ing their eyes towards places where there were none, and where,
nevertheless, the fame evils would have been perceived to exist,
even in a greater degree than where those institutions had ob
tained. .
I hcfe evils have either ceased, or been greatly mitigated. Their
more complete cxtin&ion may be looked for from that additional
security to property, which the constitution of the United States
happily gives (a circumstance of prodigious moment in the scale
both of public and private prosperity) from the of fo
reign capital, under the aufpiccs of that security, to be employed
upon objects and in cnterprifes, for which the state of this country
opens a wide and inviting field, from the consistency and stability,
which the public debt is fact acquiring, as well in the public opi
nion at home and abroad, as in fa 61; from the augmentation of
capital, which that circumstance and the quarter-yearly payment
of in*ereft will afford; and from the niore copious circulation,
"which will be likely to be created by a weil-conftituted national
bank.
The establishment of banks in this country seems to be recom
mended by reasons of a peculiar nature. Previously to the revo
lution, circulation was in a great measure carried on by paper emit
ted by the fevpal local governments. In Pcnnfylvania alone, the
quantity of it was near a million and a half of dollars. This aux
iliary may be said to be now at an end. And it is generally sup
posed, that there has been for some trme pad, a deficiency of cir
culating medium. How far that deficiency is to be confidcred as
real or imaginary, is not susceptible of dcmonflratiori ; but there
are circumstances and appearances, which, in relation to the coun
try at large, countenance the supposition of its reality.
The circumstances.are, besides faftjuft mentioned refpeft
mgpaper emissions, the vast traflsof waste land, and the little ad
vanced slate of manufactures. The progrefßve fettlcmcnt of the
former, while it promifesample retribution, in the generation of
future rcfourccs, diminishes or obftrufls, in the mean time, the
aSire wealth of the country. It not only draws off a part o'f the
circulating money, and places it in a more paflive ftatr, but it di
verts into us own channels a portion of that fpec'es of labour and
mduftry, which would otherwise be employed in fumifhirig ma
terials lor foreign trade, and which by contributing to a favorable
balance, would a {fill the introduftidn of fpccie. In the early
periods of new fettlemcnts, the fcttlers not only furnifh no sur
plus for exportation, but they confumea part of that which is
produced by the labour of oLhers. The Curie thing is a cause,
that manufactures do not advance, or advance/lowly. And not
withstanding foroe hypotheses to the contrary, there are many
k in a u^P: cion, that the precious metals will not
.iQotind in any country which has not mines, or variety of ma
nufactures. Tncy have been sometimes acquired by the sword ;
.>ut the modern fyftern of war has expelled this resource ; and it
ii one upon which the United States will never be inclined to
rely.
I he appearances alluded 10, arc, greater prevalcncy of direst
ja.ttr, in the more interior dillri&s of the country, which how
jTo; V ec,i or OI^ c time pad gradually lessening ; and greater
C '' C n^' S^ ne [ ' n the advantageous alienation of improved
rea ritaie, which also have of late diminilhed, but is still feri
ouilyle.t in different parts of the Union. The difficulty of get
ing money, which has been a general complaint, is not added to
the number; because it is the complaint of all times, and one in
appeal'to •f" >atlon mUst cv " have too gf«t scope to permit an
If the fuppofitionof such a deficiency be in any degree founded,
and lome aid to circulation be desirable, it remains lo inquire
what ought to be the nature of that aid.
Remitting °f paper money by the authority of government
i c y prohibited to the individual States, by the national con
u ion. And the spirit of that prohibition ought not to bedif
"garded by ihe government of the United States. Though pa-
Lm!" 1 10nSL ' n ? er , a B cneral authority, might have some ad
j2pes l,ot a PPbcable to the like emifiions by the States fepa
w.C ir ' ct . l r L '' are a nature so liable to abule, and it may even
l, rn,tafo «"a,n of being abused, that the wisdom of the
Ifj W ', j bc mewn ln ncvcr trusting itfelf with the use nf
oleduemg and dangerous an expedient. In times of tranquil.
"J'S " no consequence, it might even perhaps be
° C , m 3 > to , Pfodu&ive of good ; but in great and
y S emergencies, there is almost a moral certainty of its be
"", n ® mifch'evous. The stamping of paper is an operation so
nf' laying of taxes, that a government, in the
' , P j P ? r C ."J. >ns > would rarely fail in any such cmer
g -y> indulge itfelf too far, in the employment of that re
to avoid as much as possible, one less a u r P icious to prr
len: popularity. If „ (hould not even be carried so far as to be
' , td . an absolute bubble-it would at least be likely to be
extended to a degree, which would occaf.on an inflated and ar
tificial itate of things, incompatible with the regular and prof
peronscourfeof political economy.
, Ol ' lcr mate 'ial differences between a paper currency,
Hlued by the mere authority of government, and one issued by a
bank, payable in coin, i, this: That in the firft cafe, there is no
Uandard t <, whlch an appcjl can (q t;
which will only fatisly, or which will surcharge the circulation :
ru 1 1j I s an 4 "Cults from the demand. If more
ould be issued than is necessary, it will returu upon the bank,
tsemiihons, as clfewhere intimated, must always be in a com
pound ratio to the fund and to the demand : Whence it is evi
tkj r therC ' S a in the natureof the thing : While
the discretion of the government is the only meafurc of the ex
tent or the cm i ill oris, by its own authority.
This confederation further illuftratcs the danger of emifiions of
that iort. and the preference which is due to bank paper,
(To be continual.)
VROPO S A L S,
BY JOHN TRUMBULL,
For Publishing by Subscription,
TWO PRINTS,
from original PiSures painted byhimjelf;
One representing the Death of General WARREN
at the Battle of Bunker's-HM. '
The other, tht Death of General MONTGOMERY
in the JlUuk of -£*r£rr. '
IN the batile of Bunker's-Hill, the following Portraits are intro
duced —
American. Britijh.
Major General Warren, Gen. Sir William Howe,
Putnam. Sir Henry Clinton,
Lieut. Col. John Small,
Major Pitcai r n, and
Lieut. Pitcairn.
In the Attack of Quebec, are seen
General Montgomery, ~ Colonel Thompson
Major Macpherson, and Capt. Chessman. '
CONDITIONS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
The prints will be engraved by two of the moll eminent artists
in Europe. The sue will be 30 inches by 20. The price to fub
llcribers, Three Guineas for each print; one half to be paid at the
time of fubfenbing, the remainder on the delivery of the prints
wni'ch will be as ioon as the woik (which is already confiderablv'
advartced) can poflibly be completed.
Subscriptions are received in this city by 7ofebh Anthony
juii. Goldsmith and jeweller, No. 76, Market-drceL
Thcf.- prints are the firft of a fencs, in which it is proposed to
reprclcjit the molt important events of the American Revolution
No period of thehiftory of man, is more interelline than that
in which we havq lived. The memory of fccnes in which were
laid the foundations of that free government, which secures our
national and individual happiness, mull cvei remain dear to us
and to poltcrily ; and if national pride be in any cafe iuftifiable'
Americans have a right to glory in having given to the world an
example, whose influence is rapidly spreading the love of free
dom through other nations, and every where ameliorating the
condition ol men. 0
To a'ffift m preserving the memory of the illustrious events which
nave marked this period of our country's glory, as well as of the
men who have been the molt important actors in them, is the ob-
J ol l " ls undertaking Hiltory will do justice to an icra so im
portant ; but to be read, tile language in which it is written mutt
tie understood— the language of painting is universal, and intelli
gible in all nations, and every age.
As several years of his time, and a very confidence expcnce
are necelur'y to accomplilh this undertaking, it would bean im
prudent licrihce to the mere hope of reputation to go more deeply
into it, without a probability of ultimate success That he mav
judge of the degree of this probability, Mr. Trumbull, by the ad
vice of his friends, proposes this fubfeription, and flatters himfelf
whi h Tn i T eUng r hal P atrona S e his countrymen,
which will juftify his purfu.ng the objea with ardor; and withl
dnued % ' 1S lmpofrible that so ex P f nfive a work fhoald be con
_ lhe fubjefts proposed to be represented, in addition to the two
foregoing, of Bunker's-Hit/ and Quebec, are—
I he Declaration of Independence,
Battle at Trenton,
Battle of Prikcetown,
Surrender of General Bur coy n e,
Treaty with France,
Battle ofEuTAW Springs,
* Surrender of York-Town,
Treaty of Peace,
Evacuation of New-York,
Resignation of General Washington,
The Arch at Trenton,
Inauguration of the Presid.nt of the Unitm Sta-es
Each picture will contain portraits of the principal characters'
who were prefen: at the scene represented. Those marked with
«ar S , are considerably advanced i and the print, f, om the whw , e
gravers.^ 0 and by .lie most eminent en-
Decembcr 14.
704
This iiy is puihjhti.
By Carey, Stewart, and Co.
No. 22, in Front-Street,
The American Museum
For. DECEMBER, i 79 0.
CON TENTS.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
"JVyTETEOROLOGICAL tabic, November, 1790.
iVX Obfcrvations on the weather and disease* in Phil. f or d n
Sketch ofthe natureand causes ofdifeafe., (cientificaliy
Cursory view oi the advantages of the science of geograohv
Observation. on the fuppoit of the clergy. By the late' ro'v Liv
itigfton, *»
Thc famefubjeft continued.
An 'inj' delivered at the eommancemcnt in the collet 0 f
hiladelphia, Dec. 15, tygo. By dr. Rush. 6
Oulervatiens refpefting the proposed national bank.
txtraft from the fccond lecture of the hon. James Wilson, ef*
poetry. '
Address to the red breast.
SELECTED ARTICLES
Essay on population.
Anecdote of an Indian.
Select maxims.
Essay on the influence of religion in civil society.
Reflections on the custom of burying the dead, and the danger of
precipitate interment. *
Julia—or the penitent daughter.
Description of a North Carolina ordinary.
.Remarks refpe&ing the isthmus or Darien.
lurther remarks on the fame fubjeft.
Observations on female honor. By the rev. Joseph Lathrop
Kemarks on elections, and on voting by ballot and viva voce.
1 noughts on the progrefsof manufactures.
A hint to chemists.
A ufeful hint to apothecaries.
Of the enormous hones found in America. *
Plan for liberating the negroes within the United States.
rerdinando Fairfax.
Thoughts on propriety of reading.
AncHote of a barbarian.
Anecdote of a Bofloni an captain,
Anecdote of a Cbinefe tailor,
q , , POETRY.
•btanzas addrefledjfo the ladies.
An elegy to the memory of the American volunteers, who Tctt
April 19, 1777.
Epilogue spoken by Mrs. Henry.
Prologue fpoien by Mr. Hallam.
A By thC J ' Latbr ° P ' ° f S f rin^ld -
' January 1, 1791.
Henry Kuhl,
At No. 143, Second-Strut, near Race-Street,
B Y o nrn^°'ffi Sf f rien u Sin Ncw -Y°rk and Philadelphia, has
miir,™ ?!, !ff ?* lhe P ur P° fe of buying and fell.nsj, on com
m ffion, ihe d.fferent fpec.es of Stock, and of ur.liaui
dated paper in the market. »»"?«<
He Will obtain such Certificates as are required by the funditt
from and 7 unll< l, Securities ; and trans/a -(lock
from and to the Treasury and the Offices of the Commifiioner. of
■Loans, on moderate terms.
"rrs/r '"T' yei " ! P a(l heen cwployed in the Treasury of
o ms' Ind Z S> V S TVr u 3C^a "" ed ** its operation,Td
. and , fla " c " h "" fc ' f lha ' on that score he has a decided-ad
he trmh ofVh g ufinef j.,. here - He is fully impressed with
the troth of the adage that " dispatch is the foul of business" and
the,mcrcftofhisem P io^s •» °>* a
Philadelphia, December zgth, 1790.
IMPERIAL, HYSON, SOUCHONG, andBOHEA
TEAS;
REFINED SUGARS, COFFEE, and SPICES, &c.
Of the firft Quality—by Retail,
No. 17,
Third-Street, between Chefnut and Market-Streets.
"T? W ! LUAM <»'Salem County,
V V State of Ncw-Jerfey, has two nine nound notes of hand!
fiead \ ' ]Un - 3nd certa in information, it
appears that my name as a fecunty tor the fame is added to those
from tak 1 "Jr™' 1 lle r rCby iorb ' d a " V P erson or P ersons
mi^inorr ny f affig T n r ntoftl,Cm fori am deter
know not ,i fT e ,"° tCS ' ° r 3ny afli ? nment of them, a s I
know nothing of their dealings, nor will I answer for the fame
!r 1 ! jn . REUBEN ROBINSON.
Cumberland County, Nov. 30, 1790.
J >HILAD 2i-rHiA, January 1, 1791.
T h E i»«tner(hip°f John Dunlap and DavidC.Clay-
The Mail,
New Daily Advertiser.
(To i c continued every Evening, Sundays excepted.)
fha " , be P with an elegant new Type, pr.-
ot J.r'M r purpofc ' t 0n Pa P cr ' c< ) ual inf,ze s and qua-
Wcrih/e„ K W paI T/ ° f Eur °P e or America-And the
Mai 1 anHno Means lhall be spared to render the
o'l » W Daily Advertiser in other refpeas worthy
Th/p 1 i al ; 0 " age ' Whldl henow refpeftfully foHcits.
P.M W1 " bC sigh'f igh ' D0 " a " P r - annum - to he
paid at the end of he Year: And Advertifcments will be re
ceived on such moderate Terms as to prove fatisfaftory to those
UiaTlme* P t0 faV ° r lhC P " ntCr with thc ' r Commands
.r, Th , e c MA "; wi " be publifiied at the House No. 2, Lower
(honlv rl rCet(n ° W °u CUp i edbyMr -J- D " Bla '":hard, who will
Wr . ? adjoining House, No. 4.) and at present
BSCRiPTioNsare thankfully received at No. 48, Market-Street,
' DC. CLAYPOOLE.
XT' BENEZER HAZARD and JONAS ADDOMShave entered
»~i into parinerlh.p, and opened an OFFICE, at No. 17*, in
Market-Street, a few doors above Fourth-Street, where, under the
r irm 01
Hazard and Addoms,
„ They purchase and fell all kinds of
CERTIFICATES—PAPER MO.VEY, and BANK
STOCK.
n, N i' B ' T™ s / Cr » made at ,he Publ 'c Cff-ccs, and Business in ge
nenl trifled on Commission. Dtctmicr *g. *
PROSE
By Mr.