Huntingdon Gazette

              HUNTINGDON GAZETTE.
t::"
Volume 14.]
Huntingdon, (Pa.) Thursday Mor nil ic^, March 23,  1815.
[Number 52.
PUINTKI)   r.y PUBLISHED
(Everij Thursday MorUing.J
y nv  JOHN   M<CAHAK,
Jf g 2 per annuin, payable half yearly in advance.
Important Iieport,
rnOM  THE  TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
Letferfrom the Secretary of tlie Treasury to the committee of Ways Sf Means.
Treasury Department, Feb. 20,1815.
Sir—1 have the honpr to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, dated the 15th instant, whicli, in consequence ofthe ter¬ mination of the war, requests, in behalf of the committee of Ways and Means, 'a view ofthe probable receipts from imports and tonnage, duringthe year 1815, and any other inforination that may enable the committee to decide on the nieasures ne¬ cessary to meet the unexpected and for¬ tunate'change, which peace must pioduce, in the resources ofthe United States.' It has hitherto been my arduous and painful employment, to suggest to your cousider¬ atiun measures for relieving the embar¬ rassments of the treasury, with a view to the expenditures of a protracted vvar. And you will readily believe, that, on e- very account, personal as weil as public, 1 join you most sincerely, in rejoicing at an event", which brings with it an imme¬ diate alleviation of the pressure upon this department, as well as a general assu¬ rance of national honor & prosperity.
The objects wliich claimed the atten¬ tion ofthe committee, in my former com¬ munications, were, 1st, the state ofthe public credit; 2d, the stateof the circu¬ lating medium ; and, Sd, the ways and ineans to defray the various expences of the government.
1. The public credit wus depressed du¬ ring the war, owing to several causes, that must now cease to operate. All the cir¬ cumstances, internal and external, which were calculated to excite doui>t as to the duration, or asto tlie issue, of rhe contest, in the minds of tlie cautious and the tim¬ id, have passed awav; and, in their place, the proofs of confidence begin alreadv to appear, witli practical advantage. AV hilc itwas doubtless to what extent the pub¬ lic exigencies would requiie the aid of loans, those persons who rehiined tlio ineans of lending, either feared, or affcct-
'¦^edto fear, the eventual security of the go¬ vernment ; and even the exemplary dis¬ play ofthe national resources, which has been made during the piesent session of congress, for the henefit oftlie public cre¬ ilitors, was curtailed ofits natural effect, in the resuscitation of public credit, by the countervailing influence of causes whicb,it is unnecessary to specify. But when the whole ainount ofthe public debt incurred duiing the war, is fixed and as¬ certained ; when it is kuown, that ample provision is made for the punctual pay¬ ment of t!ie interest, and for the gradual extinguishment of the principal of the debt; and when, above all, it is seen, that congress is inflexible in its, adherence to the faith and policy of the legislative pledges; the public credit ofthe U. States will stand upon a basis the most durable and the most honorable.
2. The difliculties of the national cir¬ culating medium remain, however, to be encountered, under circumstances which the government cannot control.    The ef¬ fects of the peace will certainly restore a metallic medium ; but until that result be pecuniaiy transactions of the treasury, as well as oV individuals,  will be the issues of treasury notes, and  the notes of tiie state banks.    If, indeed, the state banks were soon to  resume their  payments in specie; or iftliey were again to givc credit and circulation to the notes ofeach otliet:, throughout the United States; aiul if they were, moreover, able and  willing  to ac¬ commodate the fiscal views of tha govern¬ ment, (which 1 do not permit  myself for a moment to douht) a total   dependence upon those institutions, however impolitic in the abstract, would be practically safe and beneficial. Butif, ou thc other hand, the notes ofthe state banks shall continue limited; in circulation and use, to the ci¬ ty, the town, or the state, in which t'ney are issued, it must be  obvious, tiiat tbey cannot answer the purposes of a national medium ; & that the receipt of sucii notes, in pavments for duties ot   import,  or in¬ ternal duties, will convert   the public re- voime, wliich is destined for general uses abroad, as well as at home, into u  local jjiid tliat may not bc wanted  wiiere it ex¬ ists,   and   cannot be   ajiplied wiiere it i:i wr.nted.    It is, nevertiieless, in the power '•I congriv s lo obviate, in   a consideralile Hcuiee, t'.ii> difficulty, by authorising tlie paymoiu. ui' ¦jl reasonaiile rate uf e>.<:!iange, 'ipon the transfer of its iPviMi;e, from tii*»
places of collection and deposit, to the places of demand and cm])loyinent; and I respectfully recommend the expedient to the consideration of the committee of Ways and Means.
llie alternative, or concurrent resource of treasuiy notes, for a nationai circulat¬ ing medium, has, on other occasions, heen considered. The security ofthe govern¬ ment must always, upon every reasona¬ ble and cnndid estimate, be deemed su¬ perior to the security of any private cor¬ poration; and so far as tieasury notes bear an interest and are ree kable in the pay¬ ment of duties and taxes, they are evi¬ dently more vaiuahle than bank notes, which do not possess those chanicteris- tics. But the machinery ofa bank is cal¬ culated to give an impulse and direction to its issues of paper, which cannot be imparted by the forms ofthe treasury, or any merely oflicial institution, to the pa¬ per of the government. In the operations ofa bank, too, the facilities of bank cre¬ dits apply the place, in a very iinportant degree, of the issues ot notes ; so that a bank loan of 30 millions of dollars, for in¬ stance, would, prohably, require no great¬ er issue, than six millions of dollars in notes. On the contrary, the whole a- mount of whatever sum is to be raised by an issue of tieasury notes, must be ac¬ tually sent, in the form of treasury notes^ into the market, through the various chan¬ nels of credit or demand. It is, however, to be admitted, that an issue of treasury notes not greatly exceeding, in amount, the deniar J created for them by the du¬ ties and taxes, for which they are receiva¬ ble, can be annually sustained ; butif the amount exceeds, or even equals, tiie "a- mount of that demand, the revenue will generally be absorbed by tlie notes, before it reaches the treasury ; the holder ofthe treasury notos being thus paid, in pre¬ ference, and often to the exclusion of eve¬ ry other public creditor ; and the other branches ofthe public service being thus deprived of the contemplated ineans for their support.
It is proper here to observe, that the actual issue of treasury notes onthis day (including those due and unpaid, those which are daily becoming due, and tliose v/hich have been ordered, but are not yet signed) amounts to the sum of S18j()3r,- 4SG 80 cents, and the amount will be constantly augmenting. If, therefore, the revenue toi' the year 1815, enriched by the duty on imports, and by the other beneficial effects ofthe peace, should a- niount to S£0,000,000, it is still evident, that the vvhole of the revenue might be expended in the single purpose of paying the treasury note debt; leaving every o- ther ohject ofthe government to be pro¬ vided for by loans, or by new issues of treasury notes.
Having suggested the diflieulty and the danger, I cannot presume to dwell upon any expedient for relief, which congress has already refused toadopt; but I take the liberty, with deference and respect, to renew the recommendation ofthe plan that was submitted to your consideration, in my letter of the 1 Tth January last, un¬ der a belief, that, considering the out¬ standing amount of treasury notes, any new issue should be made to rest upon a basis, that will enable the government to employ it, both as a circulating medium, and as the ineans of raising money, in aid of the revenue. How iar a power given to fund the treasury notes, upon* an ad¬ vanced interest, orto pass them inpay¬ ment of taxes and duties, will be sufii- c'ent for the purposes contemplated, with¬ out providing other means of payment by regular instalments, I must subinit to the judgnient ofthe coiamittee.
3. The ways and ineans to defray the various expenses of the government, for 1815, will consist ofthe revenue which will be actually received atthe treasury duiing that year. It is not intended on the one hand, to take into view the ba¬ lances due upou the appropriations of pre¬ ceding years; nor, on the other hand, to tuke into vie^v ihe revenue which will ac- crua ill llic present year, hut wiiich will not lie payable until tin; year 1816,
Tlie direct amelioration of the resour¬ ces ofthc country, in consequence ofthe peace, applies [principally to the item of tlie duties on imports and tonnage. The effect, however, must be ciiiiiined, wltli immaterial exceptions, for ISIJ, to two thirds, or the oii;lit concludinu; months, of the vear. The West India trade will proiluce lillle, and the iMiropean trade IUltl.i.13;, 1 y way of revenue, befire tlie 1st of May ne>it. Some mU->t;iiiilin:f a;iven- ture-^ beyond lhe Cape of (i'Mxl Hope, will hardlv lie brouiilit hoiiK', upon the intel- li;;eiic'.' ofpeace, before tiie presi'iit year has e>pired. Consid-rini^, t'lerefore, rhat a credit ofol'.;ht. tcn, and twelve montlis, in ailov. C'd Jjr t!ic duties or; incrchaudiiie
imported from Europe ; and that a credit of three and six montlis is allowed for th.e duties on merchandise imported from the West Indies ; it is evident that whatever may be the amount accruing on merchan- di/.e insported from Europe for the year ly 15, the actual receipts at the treasury cannot be great; that tiie whole of tho duties accruing on merchandise imported from the West Indies before the 1st of .luly, will be actually received at tlie trea¬ sury in the year 1815: and that one moie¬ ty of thc amount of ti'.e dulies on mer¬ chandise imported from the West Indies, between the 1st of July and the Istof Oc¬ tober, will, also, he received at the trea¬ sury in theyear 1815.
The avera;i,e of the net revenue cfthe customs which accrued for the three vears. 180G, 1107, and 1808, was more than 14, 000,000 of dollais, for each year ; and a similar averaj^e for tlie three succeeding years, 180P. 1810, and 1811, was about 9,000,000 ofdollars, for each year. But the first period was one of uncommon com¬ mercial property, wlien the United Sates were the only neutral luition, and cannot be taken as the basis of an estimate for thc present time, vvhen the other nations ofthe world are also, at peace. The se¬ cond period vvas emliarrassed hy ccmmer¬ cial restrictions ; but, probably, the effect of those embarrassnieiits upon the reve¬ nue vveie counterbalanced by the advan¬ tages of our neutrality. It is thought, therefore, upon the whole, that in a state of general peace, tiie customs operating upon the single duties, vvould not have produced, befoic the American war,more than a sum betvveen nine and ten millions of dollais annually, liut the compara¬ tively small quantity of foreipjn mercban- ilise, at present in the Ameiican market, vvould, probably, give rise to an extraor¬ dinary amount of importations during the first) ear ofpeace, equal at least to tiie sujiply of tvvo years : if the fiict, that the double duties aie limited in their contin¬ uance to a year alter tlie termination of the war, did not oy-oratc as a check upon inipoi tations, I evond what may be requi¬ site for the consumption of the current year. Thef>e counteracting causes may, theiefore, be reasonably supposed to neu¬ tralize the force ofeacli other, and, con¬ sequently, to refer and confine any esti¬ mate of the double duties upon merchan¬ dise, imported in the year 1815, to the a- mount of the importations for the con¬ sumption of a single year.
Under theso views it is estimated, that the produce of the customs, during the first twelve monlls ofpeace, will amount, vvith double duties, to a sum between eighteen and twenty miiiions ofdollars— Ot that period, ten months occur in the year 1815 ; but as the importations can only partially commence, for the space of two months, and cannot reach their ave¬ rage extent for three or four months, the fair proportion oftime, to form the ground of an estimate, will be (as already sug¬ gested) eight months ofthe year 1815. Upon this scale of computation the pro¬ duce of the customs, wbich will accrue from the 1st of May to the Slst of Dec. 1815, will, probably, be 13,500,000 dol¬ lars ; but there must be added to that sum, the estimated amount of customs accru¬ ing, independent of the eftects produced by the peace, from the first of January to the first of May, to wit, 1,500,000 dolkirs; making the aggregate of the revenue of the customs, accruing in the year 1815, about 15,000,000 of dollars.
It remains, however, to present an es¬ timate ofthe amountof the customs, vvhich will not only accrue, but which will bc actually received at the Treasury, in thc year 1815. The extent ofthe commerce, which is expected to be opened, and the effect ofthe credits which are allovved for the payment of duties, for the year, 1815, have been already explained. The* estiinate, therefore, assumes thefollowing form : 1.  The total revenue of the
customs, accruing in the
vear 1815, being as above
stated S 15,000,000
It is estimated, that of that sum there vvill become pay able, and vvill actually be received into the treasury, in thc year 1815,  in the nianner exhibited inthe an nexed schedule marked A, about 2. That on account of custom- house-b(mds outstanding at the end of the year  1814, vvhich, in   the   letter from this department, dated the irth 01 January, 1815, vvas reserved to meet the unsa¬ tisfied   appropriations    oi" that year, there wiil be r**-
ceived daring the year 1815
near 3,000,000
Making thc totail amount of ' the actual receipts into thc treasuiy, from the customs; for thc year 1815 8 C,5CO,000
The ways and means of the Tieasury for 181^, provided and payable duringthe year, ina3' novv bc presented in a view es- sentially'diflerent from that vvhich wae necessarily taken in the letter from this depaitment, dated the 17th of January last, while contemplating a continuailce of thf. war.
1. The duties on imports and tonnage vvill, probaiily, pro- (hice asum, inclusive ofthat receivable for duties vvhich accrued prior to the present
year, of about g 6,500,006
2. Thedirecttax, instead of a sum of 2,000,000 of dollars, will probaiily give to the treasury, in*^the year 1815, in consequence of the facili¬ ties of the peace,  a sum of
ahout 2,50a,000.
3. The internal duties, old & nevv, & postage, instead of a sum ot r,0.)0,000 dollars, will probably give to the treasury, in the year 1815, in consequence of the faci¬ lities of the peace, a sum of
about 8,000,000
4. The sg,les of thc public lands will, piobably, pro¬ duce in theyear 1815, 1,000,000
5. The amount of incidental receipts, from miscella¬ neous sources, will, proba¬ bly-, be about 200,000
S 18,200,000
Wbile the revenue is thus materially auf-mented, the charges upon the treasury will be considerahly reduced. It is not in the power of tliis department, at the pre¬ sent time, to advert to the estimates of the expenses of the peace establishment for the war and navy departments, but vvith the aid of thc public credit, and the legislative sam-.tion fisr the measures vvhich vv ill bo proposed, it is believed that the treasury vvill be competent in that respect to meet the most liberal vievvs of the go¬ vernment. Independent:,therefore, ofthe estimates of tiie war and navy depart¬ ments, the charges on the treasury for the year 1815, will consist of the follovving items:
1. Civil, diplomatic and miscellaneous ex¬ penses, as stated in the general esti¬ mates tor one thousand eight hundred aad fifteen- S l,9795':i89 39
2. The public debt will call for a sum of §14,723,808 58 to ansvver the following claims:
For interest and reimburse¬ ment of the funded debt created before the war, (the amount of principal unre¬ deemed on tlie Slst of De¬ cember, 1^14, being about 39,905,183 dolls. 60 cents.)
8 3,352,775 46—-	
For interest of the funded debt created since the vvar (tbe aniount of prin¬ cipal on Decem¬ ber Slst 1814, being 48,580,. 812 26 to which little has been since added,) about §3,000,000 00
' J-or the princi- pal and interest of tieasury notes falling   due in 1815 & the  1st of Jan. 1816, in eluding 620,000 dollars of notes issued underthe act of Februarv 25tli, 1813, fall¬ ing due  within this period,   88,271,033 12
— 14,723,808 58
5,-900,000
§16,703,097 97
It is to Lc observed, however, thatthe preciiding esti unite does not include a sum of 2,799^200 dollars, being the primipal ofthc treasur}' notes, which became due in 1814, and remain unpaid ; because the unexecuted authority to raise money by loan for that year, is suffuiciit to cover thc amount, ifa loan cau now he obtain¬ ed. iudopeiid<<ut ufthe custom house dcbi,