PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENh'O, No. 41, BROAD-STREET, NEAR THE EXCHANGE, NEW-YORK
[No. 21, cf Vol. 11. j
FOR THE GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES.
On the MEANS of PRESERVING the UNION of
the AMERICAN STATES.
THE present Constitution of the United States
appears to be excellent in contemplation ;
and if the harmony of the States ftiould not be
disturbed by groundless jealoulies, it bids fair to
bedurableand efficient in pra<ftice. It ishowever
■very doubtful whether several jurisdi&ions with
in a jurisdiction, wheels within a wheel, will not
produce fonie jarring in their movements. The
experiment is curious, and much wisdom and
pt udence may render it fuccefsful.
What then are the probable means of perpe
tuating our present eltablifhments ? Patriotism
and the (wont are not the means. I conceive
the means to confilt folelyin a union ofinterejls
I.—All debts contracted during the late war,
and in the common cause, mult be made a common
charge against the Union, and the creditors must
all look to the fame authority for payment, must
de >end on the fame rej'ources ,and have the offer of
equal compensation. Divide the debts, divide the
resources, leave the different State legillatures to
make various unequal provisions for payment, and
a hostility will immediately commence between
the gene 1 aland particular governments, and be
tween the different descriptions of creditors.—
To fever our Union forever, nothing is wantod,
kut to set three or four States contending with
Congress about the sources of revenue ; and un
lets the debts ftiould be affumedand made a com
mon charge, nothing but infinite power could
prevent fach a contention.
II There ftiould be no exclusion of persons
■who hold feats in the national government from
a capacity to hold, at the fame time, offices under
the state governments. However diflinH the pow
ers of the governments may be, their inttreJls are
♦V.; fame- °Both are designed to promote the wel
fare and happiness of the fame citizens. If two
offices a' C incompatible, whether under state go
vprnmpnft or the national government, common
Jenfe will di<st\^ e they ftiould not be lodged
in the fame hands. But a proportion for a total
•xcluftoii of member. < Congress and federal of
ficere from any feat or "» a tatc , S ove, »-
ment, indicates a jealoufyotouT national govern
ment, toa high decree alarming. s " ch apiopo
lition, like the exclusion of Clergymen front ci
vil offices, supposes an enmity between i'ue two go
vernments or two orders of men, which i
each to fortify againlt the other, by erecting an
impaflable barrier. It is a declaration of hoftNi
lies between parties whole very exiilence depenu*
on peace and union. The federal government
stands on the State governments, as on pillars ;
and without thenational government's guaranty,
the independence of a State could not be '.eCuie
for a year. What madness thus to wage war
with the national government! Whatinfatuation
to create fparate interefls, when the whole buli
nefs of this generation is, UNION !
Consolidation, that bug b-ar of ant ifederalilm,
has spread terrific apprehenftons, and made ho
nest men dread the influence of the national go
vernment. But in the name of common fenle,
let tne ask, was ever a nation too firmly confotidated
for the purposes of good government ? Never, it
may be answered, never was a political lociety
too clofcly united for ftrengtli, harmony, and
happiness. Ancient Greece and all modern Eu
rope can teftify, that half the calamities of man_
kind have frown out of the rivalfhips, pride, and
discordant views of petty sovereignties ; nay,
■we ourselves fliould bless God for a tedeial con
stitution, which, by abridging the independence
of the States, extinguiflied the sparks of civil
war, that, in 1755, lay Mattered through the
States, just ready to be blown into a flame. 1 hei e
is no physical certainty that the state govern
merits will ever be melted down into the general
government ; centuries at least must escape, be
fore this event can take place, in the ordinary
proo-refs of political changes. If it ever lhould,
it will probably be the effert of pre-difpofing
causes which will render it neceflary for. public
happiness. But by dividing the interests of the
States, and detaching the officers of the liationa
government from their interest in the State go
vernments, the most effectual bonds of union
will be diflblved, our national laws will be with
out energy, and America may expect to be
icourged with fatfiions, war and conquest. It is
a feiititnent most deeply imprett'ed on my mind,
that the whole business of the present age is,
UNION'- N - W -
Hartford* jfun 12, 1790.
WEDNESDAY* JUNE 23, J 79°-
DISCOURSES ON DAVILA No. XL
Ilvroas procacrl! What bounds your pride fliall hold ?
What check, veftram your thitft of power and gold ?
'"IT* HE arifwer to the questions in the motto, can
A be none other than this, that as nature has
established in the bofoins of heroes no limits to
those paifions ; and as the world, instead of re
straining, encourages them, the check inuft be,
in the form of government.
The world encourages ambition and avarice,
by taking the moll decidcd part in their tavor.
The Roman world approved of the ambition ot
Caesar ; and, notwithstanding all the pains that
have been taken with so much reason, by moral
and political writers to disgrace it, the world has
approved it these 17 hundred years ; and still es
teems his name an honor to the firft empire in
Europe.' Consider the (lory of the ambition and
the fall ofCardinal Wolfey and Archbishop Laud ;
the indignation of the world against their tyran
ny has been very faint ; the sympathy with their
fall has been very Itrong. Consider all the ex
amples in hillory of fuccefsful ambition, you will
find none generally condemned by mankind ;
on the other hand, think of the instances of am
bition unfuccefsful and disappointed ; or ot falls
from great heights, you find the sympathy ofthe
world uuiverfally affected. Cruelty and tyranny
of the blackest kind must accompany the Itory,
to destroy or sensibly diminish this That
world, for the regulation ot whose prejudices,
paifions, imaginations and interests, governments
are instituted, is so unjust, that neither religion,
natural nor revealed, nor any thing, but a well
ordered and well balanced government has ever
been able to correcft it, and that but imperfectly.
It is as true in modern London, as it was in anci
enL Rome, that the sympathy of the worlu is less
excited by the deftrmition ot the lioofe ot a man
of hum it, in obfeurity, or even in middle life,
though it be by the unjust violence of men, than
by Ihe fame (alamity befalling • rich man, by the
righteou? imlignation of heavgii-
Nil habuit Corfius : (juts enir»> negai ? ft illud
Pc' 1 iW.it iufclix totucn nihil, ulumus au cm
cumulus, qnod nudjm ct frutlra rogintem
Nrmo ciboj*nemo hofpilio tutoque juvab.t,
Si magna Ariuii efcidid domus, horrida mater,
Pjlk u proceres, ditfert vadimonia Praetor.
T'inc r.emimus cafws urbis, tunc odimus ignem.
Aiditudliuc, ct iam accurrit qui marmora nonet,
Conlerat impcnlas. Hie nuda et Candida liqna;
Hie aliquid pracclarum Euphranoi iset Polycleti,
J lie pharcafianoruro vctcra ornamenta Deorum.
Hie libros dabit et forulos, ipeJiamquc Minervam ;
Hie modium Argenti : mcliora et p'ura reponit
Perticus orborum lautiflimus, ut merito jam
Sufpethis, tanquam ipfe fuas incenderit xdes.
But hark ! th' affrighted crowd's tuinultuotis cries
Roll through the streets, and thunder to the (lues :
it.us'd from some pleasing dream of wealth and power,
Some pompous palace, or some blifsful bower,
Aghast you start, and scarce with aching fight,
Sustain the approaching fire's tremendous light;
Swift from pursuing horrors take your way,
And leave your little all to fhmcs a prey ;
Then thro'the world a wretched vagrant roam,
For where can starving merit find a home ?
In vain your mournful narrative disclose,
While all neglctt, and mod insult your woes.
But
Should heaven's iuft bolts >'s wealth confound,
And fpre«d his flaming palace on the ground,
Swift o'er the land the dismal rumor flies,
And public mournings pacify the skies ;
The laureat'tribe in venal verft relate,
How virtue wars with persecuting fate ;
With well-feign'd gratitude the pcnfion'd band .
Refund the plunder of the beggar'd land.
See ! while he builds, the gaudy vaflals come,
And crowd withfudden wealth the rising dome ;
The price of boroughs and ot fouls reflore ;
And raise his treafurcs higher than bctore :
Now blefs'd with all the baubles of the great,
The polifh'd marble and the shining plate,
lees the golden pile aspire
And hopes from angry heav'n another fire.
Although the verse, both of the Roman and
the Briton, is satire, its keenest severity conhfts
in its truth. — _____
FROM THOMAS') MASSACHUSETTS SPY.
eulogium,
Bv Dr. Albicinci Waldo,
Delivered at the gratis of the late General ISRAEL |
PUTNAM.
THOSE venerable relics ! once delighted in
the endearing domeltic virtues, which con
stitute the excellent neighbor—husband—-parent
and worthy brother !—Liberal md substantial
in his friendfliip*—tnifufpicious—open— and ge
nerous—iulV and sincere in dealing a benevo
lent citizen of the world He c o»
hisbofom, the noble qualities of an HONES 1
a HERO-whom nature taught,and cherilh
ed in the lap of innumerable toils and dangers
497
c
he was terrible in battle !—lint- from the na
tive amiablenefs of his heart—.when carnage ce-<-
fed—his humanity spread over tile field, like the
zephyrs of a fumuier's evening \-rr
The prisoner wounded—the sick—the
forlorn—experienced the delica'e sympathy of
this SOLDIER'S PILLAR. !—The poor and the
needy, of every defcripiion, received thechai;
table bounties of this CHRISTIAN SOLDIhR !
He pitied littleness—loved goodness—admired
greatness—and ever aspired to its glorious sum
mit !—The friend, the servant, and almo(t uil
parralleled lover of his country :—Worn with
honorable age, and the former toils of 'jsar<,
PUTNAM—" rests from his labors !'*
11 Till mouldering worlds, and tumbling systems burst !
When the last Trump, (hall renovate his dust • —
Still by the mandate of ETERNAL TRUTH,
His SOUL will " liourith in immortal Youth !"
« This, all who item him, know—this, alt who lov'd
him, tell"
CONGRESS.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTA riVES.
TUESDAY, MAY as.
Mr. GfcK r \'s motion on the tifjumption oj the State debts, which was
inserted in thii paper i J tin 26th, under conjideration
MR. BOUDINOT then rose and said—l am oile of those, Mr-
Chairman, whoconfider t'.je fubjeft now before you of as
much importance as any that has yet required the attention of Con
gress. When it was firft brought forward, it was new to me ; I
therefore determined in my own mind, patient!) to hear both
fides of the question, and to weigh every argument before 1 drew
any positive conclusion : being also a State creditor (tho' in the ha
bit ot receiving interest from the State) my fears were excited,
lead felfintereft might miftead my judgment.—On the(e account*
the committee have hitherto not received any trouble in the com
munication of my fentimcnts on this important question. I have
contented myfclf with a silent vote, and fttould havp dill continu
ed in the fame disposition, had not the gentleman who spoke ort
this fubjeft* whfn it was last under consideration, advanced fomc
arguments and diew certain conclusions from them, that fttuck
me as neither founded in fa6l or reason. He appeared to me to
involve the fubjett in unnecessary perplexity, and tho' Ample in
itfelf, became obfeurefrom the terms by which h was diftinguilfc
ed and the manner in which live argument was handled. It has
been generally denominated " the assumption of the State debts;"
from whence a bxcJtander might suppose that the States, or fomc
individual State, had called upon us to aflume a debt or debts that
we owed to them ; but nothing is further from the truth. What
is the fubjtft before us ? It is an application of our creditors, qn
which a question arises, whether a Certain species of debt, eviden
ced by certificates from an individual State, is pau of the do
mestic debt of the United States, or whether it is the private debt
I of the individual State 7
Let us then fimplify the question and ronfider it abflra&ly on its
true principles ; for if it lho«ld turn out to be the fuft, no man
can aftign a good reason why a disci iininatiofi should be made a
mong our creditors. If the fact, it will be as difficult to assign a
reason why we iiould now aiTume them. The honorable gentle
man who spoke last against the afTurnptioo of these debts put the
question on proper principles, but his arguments appeared to be
exceedingly fallacious. He alledged, •• that it had been contend
ed that the State debts are in their nature debtsof the United States,
and that the individual creditors can of right claim payment of the
fame from the general government. lie denied the principle, and
said that if these debts be nothing more than the debts of the U
nited States, under another denomination, and if we are bound
to provide for them as for the debts of the United States, let gen
tlemen conflder whether they arc not bound to view them in thiA
light whe fever they may be found, meaning in the State treasuries."
This state of the question neccfTarily leads to an investigation
of the nature of the debts ptopofed to be funded by the amend
ment now moved t® ihe bill for funding the domestic debt of the
United States.
These debts consists of certificates given by the individual States
for—pay to the army —depreciation of pay—militia fervices—fupplits
found, and —services rendered. As these arc all on one tooting, to
avoid pcplexity, I will take the army debt for an example. This
debt was contra&ed by the United States in Congress assembled.
When our common Country was threatened with an invasion by a
very powerful enemy* the necessary defence tequired the railing
of an army. —A union of the States was formed, and a confedera
tion entered into, that the expcnces for the common defence
flmuld be paid out of a public trealury, to be supplied by the rcf
pefchve States according to their fevcral abilities. Troops were
accordingly brought into the field, un ier certain ftipnlations of pay
andfupport. Several years pad away, and the soldiers not only
bravely fought your battles, but in the end fecurcd your liberties,
and cftabliCned your independence.
The States having failed in supplying your treasury, the stipulat
ed payments were ncgle&ed, large atrears accruea, and after a
fencs of fufferings (unknown to any other troops) a mutiny took
place, and the deftruttiofi of your army was well nigh accom
plilhed—By the exertions of your commander in chief, and the
most judicious management on his part, this serious disturbance
i-nded in commiflioners being sent to Congress with requifuions on
the part of the whole army, requesting redress in a number of in
llauces.
Suffer me to read the report of the grand Committee of Con
gefsand their subsequent refolutiom in anfwertothisapplication.
" Saturday, January 25, 1783 —The grand committor, cmfifting of
t member from each. State, report, That they have considered the con
tents oj a memorial presented by the army, and find they comprehendjive
different articles.— Ift. Prefentpay. id. A settlement of accounts of
the arrearages of pay and fecurlty for what is due. 3d. A commutation
of half pay. 4(6 (elUement of accounts for deficiencies of rations and
compensation. $th. Settlement of accounts of deficiencies of (loathing
and compeifation. Whereupon, Refolvtd, as to the firjl, that the fupcr
intendant cf the finances make payment, &c. Refolvcd, with refpeCl to
the feconiarticle, so far as relates to the fettkment of accounts, that
the several States be called Upon to complete, without delay, the
futlemcnts with their refpeftive lines ol the army, up to the ill
day of Anguft, 1780, and that the Superintendant of Finance be di
reßed to take such mcafures as/hall appear to him mofl properfor effefl
ing thefcttlcmcnt from that period. As to what relatet to providing
[Whole NO. 125-^