and in place thereof it is declared and concluded, the same having been agreed to in a Congress of the United States, that all charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states in proportion to the number of inhabitants, of every age, sex, and condition, except Indians not paying taxes in each state; which number shall be triennially taken and transmitted to the United States, in Congress assembled, in such mode as they shall direct and appoint: provided, always, that in such numeration no persons shall be included who are bound to servitude for life, according to the laws of the state to which they belong, other than such as may be between the ages of ——— years.'"[1]
The committee, consisting of Mr. Carroll, Mr. Dyer, and Mr. Mifflin, to whom was referred the report of the committee on two paragraphs of a report of the grand committee, brought in a report; and the report of the committee being taken into consideration, and amended, so as to read as follows,—
"That such officers as are now in service, and shall continue therein to the end of the war, shall be entitled to receive the sum of five years' full pay, in money or securities, on interest at six per cent. per annum, at the option of Congress, instead of the half-pay promised for life by the resolution of the twenty-first of October, 1780; the said securities to be such as shall be given to the other creditors of the United States; provided that it be at the option of the lines of the respective states, and not of officers individually in those lines, to accept or refuse the same; that all officers who have retired from service upon the promise of half-pay for life shall be entitled to the benefits of the above resolution; provided that those of the line of each state collectively shall agree thereto; that the same commutation shall extend to the corps not belonging to the lines of particular states, the acceptance or refusal to be determined by corps; that all officers entitled to half-pay for life, not included in the above resolution, may, collectively, agree to accept or refuse the commutation,"—
much debate passed relative to the proposed commutation of half-pay; some wishing it to take place on condition only that a majority of the whole army should concur; others preferring the plan above expressed, and not agreed to.
The report entered on Friday, the 7th of March, was taken into consideration. It had been sent, by order of Congress, to the superintendent of finance for his remarks, which were also on the table. These remarks were, in substance, that it would be better to turn the five per cent., ad valorem, into a tariff", founded on an enumeration of the several classes of imports, to which ought to be added a few articles of exports; that, instead of an apportionment of the residue on the states, other general revenues—from a land-tax, reduced to one fourth of a dollar per hundred acres, with a house-tax, regulated by the numbers of windows, and an excise on all spirituous liquors, to be collected at the place of distillery—ought to be substituted, and, as well as the duties on trade, made coëxistent with the public debts; the whole to be collected by persons appointed by Congress alone. And that an alternative ought to be held out to the states, either to establish the permanent revenues for the interest, or to comply with a constitutional demand of the principal within a very short period.
In order to ascertain the sense of Congress on these ideas, it was proposed that the following short questions should be taken:—
1. Shall any taxes, to operate generally throughout the states, be recommended by Congress, other than duties on foreign commerce?
2. Shall the five per cent., ad valorem, be exchanged for a tariff?
3. Shall the alternative be adopted, as proposed by the superintendent of finance?
On the first question the states were—New Hampshire, no; Connecticut, no; New Jersey, no; Maryland, no; Virginia, no; six noes and five ayes—lost.
On the second question there were seven ayes.
The third question was not put, its impropriety being generally proclaimed.
- ↑ In the draft, as laid before the committee by ——— ———, in the tenth paragraph, the word "reasonable" before the word "expenses" was not inserted; but to the paragraph was added, "provided that this allowance shall not be extended to any expenses which shall be declared, by nine votes in Congress, to be manifestly unreasonable." In other respects the original draft was unaltered, except that a former resolution of Congress, in the words of the ninth paragraph, was incorporated by the secretary before it wont to the press.
