[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
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