A NATIONAL PAPER, PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENNO, No. 69, HIGH-STREET, PHILADELPHIA
[No. 29, of Vol. IV.]
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715 100
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New- Jersey, July 12, 1792.
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REFLECTIONS on the STATE of the UNION
Concerning the Foreign Debts of the United Slates.
AT the commencement of the present go
vernment, in 1789, the United States
were indebted to France, Holland, and Spain,
and to the foreign officers ol the late army, in a
sum amounting to near twelve millions ot dol
lars. Near a million and two-thirds of this sum
was due for arrears of interest, inattention to
which, would have been too difgraceful to have
admitted of a hope ot public credit, until inea
-1 fures were taken for its discharge. Above a
million and one-third of the principal sum had
become due, and the time ot other installments
was coming round. The resources of the coun
try had been examined and considered, but not:
tried. The claims of thefc foreign creditors,
were,originally,the most delicate in themselves;
and in the cafe of France, the ft&te ol her revo
lution in the summer of i79-> placed her de
mand in a situation peculiarly interesting. It
was perceived that the adoption of the Federal
Constitution and the measures taken to restore
public credit, had made strong and favorable
impreflions on the European money-lenders :
and it was not doubted, that the arrears of in
terest and the principal due, might be discharg
ed by loans, upon terms which would produce
very little loss. The requisite authorities were
given by the Legislature, which resulted in the
borrowing of a sum equal to the discharge of all
the exigible debts. But as the occasions of the
French were likely to be emergent, and there
was reason to confide, that a firm and steady
pursuit of the financial system, which had by
that time been adopted, and an adherence to
the upright spirit of the Constitution, would ra
pidly meliorate the credit of the United States,
it was deemed expedient to extend the autho
rities to borrow, to a sum equal to the whole of
the foreign debt, provided the installments not
due could be discharged by means of loans ad
vantageous to the United States. The interest
of above seven millions of the foreign debt, be
ing at the rate of five per cent. per annum, it
was not doubted that the money might be ob
tained so as to render the discharge of the part,
not exigible, really advantageous. It has ac
cordingly happened, that a sum adequate to the
principal and interest due, has been borrowed
' within the terms of the law, so as to support
the credit and good faith of the United States,
1 and critically to accommodate the people of
France. The further expe<stations of Congress
have also been fulfilled ; a considerable loan at
four and one-half, and two loans at four per
cent, having been effected, so as to realize an
advantage in the discharge of a large part of
the principal, which was at an interest of five
per cent. The United States having thus com
: muted their foreign debt, further than is due,
: with honor, and, on a medium of the whole,
, with advantage, are relieved by these operati
ons from any possibility of preflure to perform
the remainder of their European engagements.
The friends of our public credit, of our national
1 fafety and refpe&ability, and of the revolution
of France, among the citizens of the United
States, will reflect upon this actual course of
' events with cordial fatisfaftion.
I The condufion : being mifcellaneowi thoughts on the
government.
The people of the United States enjoy a pe
culiar felicity in the ppifeffion of principles of
government and of civil and religious liberty,
more found, more accurately defined, and more
extensively reduced to practice, than any pre
ceding republicans. There is not one iota of
delegating or delegated power, which is not
poiTelfed, or may not be acquired by every citi
zen. It is true, that there are in practice, se
veral deviations in the distribution of powers
to the various sub-divisions of the country, and
to the proprietors of cei taindefcriptions of pro
perty ; but these are acknowledged departures
from principle, and are known to have risen out
of the antecedent state of things. They could
not be immediately corre&ed without violent
struggles and disorders, and without injury to
the property of descriptions of citizen*, too
great for the country at any former period to
, compensate. Mild remedies are,however, dai
ly applied to these partial diseases; and it is
manifeft, that the course of time is diminishing,
and will finally remove them. The right of le
gislative interposition, on the part of the chief
magistrate, which, in the practice of another
country, has been commuted for an unlawful
and injurious influence, is here wrought into
the essence of the constitution, and is not only
exercised in the independent and uncontrouled
consideration of every resolution and bill, but
by the practical application of the negative.
The execution of the office of the chief ma
gistrate has been attended through a term of
almost four Jyears with a circumstance, which
to this nation and to the surrounding world re
quires no commentary—a native citizen of the
United States, elevated from private life to
that station, has not, during so long a term, ap
pointed a single relation to any office of honor
or emolument.
The senatorial branch of the government has
been created and continued in a mode prefera-
I ble to that which i-. purfucd in any other nation.
1 4 6
° 12 9
JOSEPH LEWIS.
(lawyw)
Piice a dol
Price four-fi/ths of a
(epim & xaruiin)
Saturday, September 8, 1792.
FROM TIIE AMERICAN MUSEUM,
113
Tne representative branch of the govern
ment is equally well constituted.
The military code for the government of
such troops as are occaiionally raised and em
ployed, is well calculated to produce discipline
and efficiency, when time is allowed for the I
purpose, and consequently to render the United
States refpeftable in the eyes of foreign nations.
All christian churches are so truly upon an e
qual footing, as well in practice as in theory,
that there are and have been in the legiilative,
executive, and judicial branches ot the general
government, persons of the following denomi
nations :—epifcopalians, pve{byteriaii, indepen
dent or congregational, quaker, Lutheran, re
formed Roman, and probably others, which do
not occur. There have been, and indeed yet
are, a few ecclesiastical distinctions in the state
governments, which reason and time are rapid
ly destroying. It is easy to 'perceive that reli
gious liberty supported by the National Conlli
tution, and a great majority of the ftatc con
stitutions, cannot but attain, in a very fliort
time, the fame theoretical and practical perfec
tion in the remainder, which it has acquired in
them.
(To be concluded in our next.)
FOR THE GAZETTE OF TIIE UN IT E D STATES
REPRESENTATIVES in CONGRESS.
IN a despotic government the slaves and tools o
power affctt to treat the people with contempt
for though a sovereign without fubje&s, impliei
an abfurditv—and the multitude of the people
rcallv constitutes the glory of a Prince, yet so in.
confident and besotted have the tyrants of the
earth beeru, that the people by whom they reign
and from whom they derive all their support, arc
too often considered in no better a light thar
beasts of burden: hence their obedience to the
laws is a blind spontaneous fubmiflion, withoui
sentiment, and consequently never to be depended
on.—ln a free government the cafe is far other
wise; a wife and virtuous people, in refpe&ing
their rulers, honor their o*n chara&er—and the
magistrates, while executing the laws, confidei
themselves as agents of the people and organs of
the public will.—The name of citizen is the high
est political appellation—and the approbation of
the virtuous majority, the highest reward of an
honest ambition. There are various currents in
the tide of human affairs, ro precipitate nations to
ruin. History and experience afford abundant
teflimony to prove, that free States as well as in
dividuals, have been carried down the smooth
dream of flattery to thegulph of slavery and des
potism : we need only refer to that notable in
stance, Julius Csfar ; if the Roman people had
been invulnerable to the flattery, adulation and
largefles of that nfurprr, they would not have fallen
;he vi£Hms of his artifices, the Haves of absolute
luthority. The duties of governors and of the
governed, are reciprocal ; when all impreflions of
efpeft fiom one to the other are obliterated—on
he one hand government becomes contemptible,
ind is inevitably considered as tyrannical—on the
)ther, the people become supine and invite mif
ule and oppreflion ; fa&ions fuccccd, and thefc
)verturning the free government, open the door
o anarchy, confufion and dcfpotifni.
There is a public magnanimity of character
vhich ?1 ways accompanies a superior ftatc of civil
ibertv; the loss of this ma'gnanimity generally
>recedes the loss of freedom. This noble fenti
nent should inform, enlighten and animate the
reat public will ; it is this alone which can
nake a people superior to the adulation of those
»afe minds, who flatter, to deceive and betray—
nd at the fame time equal to sustaining the ele&ri
ying power of truth. For it may fafely be af
erted, that truth and freedom are so intimately
Hied, that whenever the former is found to offend,
he latter very Toon takes its departure.
In fele£ling their civil rulers, a wife people will
iot be deluded by the syren song of unprincipled
latterers ; of all attainments, a proficiency in the
rts of adulation is the easiest of acquisition ; at
he present day the world abounds with models
,n which perfonsof themoft slender abilities may
orm their chara&ers ; and it is too much to be
amented that those who never had honesty enouon
o piopofe an unpalatable truth to the public con
ideration, are considered as patriots. How dif
erently mankind condutt in matters of religious
oncern, from those of a political nature ! The
>opular preacher is he who draws the mod dr
eading picture of our species ; —in politics some
nodern patriots apply a certain do&rine to the
><rO/>/e, which republicans justly reprobate as ap
>licd by the people of England to their chief ma
[iftrate, viz. That the King can do no wrong;
his is daubing wi<h untempered mortar, uniefs it
an be demonftratcd that the popuhr opinion,
lowever variable, is always right. We have fern
n our country a variety of changes in the fenti
nenls of the people—amidst them all, truth has
lever fhifted fides ; and the inflexible patriot
a, ho makes her d £tates his fupteme monitor, will
icver be found enrolled under the banners ot
farfy.
" Uubrib'd, unazu'd, he dares impart,
" The hovejl didates of his heart —
14 No party fmile'iy or frowns he Jears,
44 ?77 An virtue perjeveres
Such are the charo£lers to whom the public at
tention ought to he drawn — persons of this dc
fcription will make the public good their objc& ;
their prescriptions and advice may be sometimes
unpalatable, but their judgment will save the body
politic—the laws and the liberties of their coun.
UUso
[Whole No. 551.]
.—When the people are folicitou* to eltft only
those •« who prop.heiy Smooth things, 1 ' theirtiu®
glory may be fa id to be oh the eve ofits departure;
but so long as they can bear the discipline which
truth and freedom pre Scribe, their happineSs will
be secure.
It is Sometimes fafbionable to Speak favorably
of public credit ; to extol the virtues of temper
ance ; to Support the cause of the mechanic and
manufacturer, &c> Then again, it is discovered
that public credit is a bubble, that public debts
aie public curSes, and ought to be annihilated —
that taxes on ardent spirits are oppreflive—and
that a land tax, which never can be laid, ought to
be substituted ; or in other words, that no pro
vision should be made for the public debt ; that
prote&ing duties ought not to be laid—that the
manufa&ures of our country ought to be left to
fhift for them Selves, See. &c. On these topics,
the candidates for the Suffrages of the people hav#
often given their opinions ; and while those who
appear to have formed competent and confident
ideas, and have uniformly Supported their fyflems,
ought to meet with the approbation of the people :
those who have whiffled and veered to every dif
ferent point, that appeared to suit their personal
■ntereft and the company thev were in, should be
marked with neglefl bv every f»ee eleftnr. This
advice is freely given ; for it will found on ex
amination, that the real friends of the constitution
of the United States are those, who have uniform
ly Supported the united and inSeparable interests
of the farmer, the manufa&urer, the mechanic,
and the merchant. C.
No. VI.
FOR THE GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES,
Mr. Fenno*
IJ yourfelf and your brother Printers through the Con
tinent, who have published certain flriflvres on the
conduSl of Mr. Jefferfon, which appeared in your
Gazettes of the \th and 11 th of lafl month, under
the [tgnature of" An American," will now
publfk the it will evidence your impar
tiality and regard to jujlice,
Philadelphia, September 4, 1792
Mr. Fenno,
IN your Gazettes of the 4th and nth of last
month, there appeared two publications un
der the signature of " An American," replete
with the most virulent abuse of Mr. Jefferfon }
and containing charge 1 ; against him, founded in
the basest calumny and falfhood. The intem
perance of this writer, and his utter difreg&nf
of truth and candor, will be readily perceived
by an impartial public, when they refer to one
of his concluding suggestions in the firft publi
cation, to wit—that Mr. Jefferfon is the patron
and promoter of national di/uviun, national infig
nificanct, public difordcr and discredit ;-*-a fuggeP
tion, made on no better foundation, than
being oppsfed to some of the principles of the'
funding system, of the national bank, and of
certain other measures of the Secretary of the
Treafurv ; an offence, which, I fear, if crimi
nal, will involve a great majority of the inde
pendent yeomanry of our country in equal
Tuilt. How long Mr. Jefferfon has been diftin
riufhed as the Cataline of the day, or as the
imbitious incendiary, who Would light a torch
:o the ruin of his country, may be matter of
lfeful speculation; and whether he is now, for
:he firft time, thus distinguished, because of the
nanly freedom with which he declares his ab
lorrence of some of the leading principles of
Vlr. Hamilton's fifcal administration ; or, that
iccaufe of his known attachment to republic
:anifm, he is feared, as the decided opponent ot
riftocracy, monarchy, hereditary fuceeffion, a
itled order of nobility, and all the other mock-*
ia<*eantry of kingly government, will be the
übjedt of future enquiry; in which it will be
:onfidered, how far the distinguishing traits I
lave glanced at, form the appropriate and pro
ninent features in the character of another po
itical luminary, and of the measures of his ad
niniftration. An enquiry like this may be use-
Ul, has been invited by the writer I' refer to,
ind, as the invitation will not be refufed, may,
n the test of comparative merit, disclose fa&s
ind principles in relation to public men, which,
lowever important for the public to know,
low concealed in the arcana of a certain con
"ention, or remain involved in all the obfeurity
if political mystery and deception. At present
nv sole purpose is, by a reference to certain
'aft',, of which I have been pofTeffed by a gen*
leman in this city, to exonerate Mr. Jefferfon
"rom the two principal charges made -against
lim, and, in so doing, to prove the malignity
ind falfhood of them.—The firft charge is,
• that Mr. Jefferfon was opposed to the present
:onftitution of the United States"—and the
ither is, " that Mr. Jefferfon, when Minister
:o the Court of France, advised Congress to
icgociate a transfer of its debt due to thtt>
"Tench nation to the hands of individuals in 1
Holland, upon the idea, that if the United States
hould fail in making a provision for the debt,
he discontents, to be expected from the omif
ion, may honesty be transferred from a govern
nent able to vindicate its rights, to the breasts
if individuals, who may firft be encouraged to
lecome the substitutes to the original creditors,
ARISTIDES.