See the Journals.
In the evening, the grand committee had the assigned conference with Mr. Morris, who informed them explicitly that it was impossible to make any advance of pay, in the present state of the finances, to the army, and imprudent to give any assurances with respect to future pay, until certain funds should be previously established. He observed, that even if an advance could be made, it would be unhappy that it should appear to be the effect of demands from the army, as this precedent could not fail to. inspire a distrust of the spontaneous justice of Congress, and to produce repetitions of the expedient. He said that he had taken some measures with a view to a payment for the army, which depended on events not within our command; that he had communicated these measures to General Washington under an injunction of secrecy; that he could not yet disclose them without endangering their success; that the situation of our affairs within his department was so alarming that he had thoughts of asking Congress to appoint a confidential committee to receive communications on that subject, and to sanctify, by their advice, such steps as ought to be taken. Much loose conversation passed on the critical state of things, the defect of a permanent revenue, and the consequences to be apprehended from a disappointment of the mission from the army; which ended in the appointment of Friday evening next for an audience to General M'Dougall, Colonel Brooks, and Colonel Ogden, the deputies on the subject of the memorial, the superintendent to be present.
Wednesday, January 8, Thursday, January 9, and Friday, January 10.
On the report
[1] for valuing the land conformably to the rule laid down in the Federal Articles, the delegates from Connecticut contended for postponing the subject during the war, alleging the impediments arising from the possession of New York, &c., by the enemy, but apprehending, as was supposed, that the flourishing state of Connecticut, compared with the Southern States, would render a valuation, at this crisis, unfavorable to the former. Others, particularly Mr. HAMILTON and Mr. MADISON, were of opinion that the rule of the Confederation was a chimerical one, since, if the intervention of the individual states were employed, their interests would give a bias to their judgments, or that at least suspicions of such bias would prevail; and without their intervention, it could not be executed but at an expense, delay, and uncertainty, which were inadmissible; that it would perhaps be, therefore, preferable to represent these difficulties to the states, and recommend an exchange of this rule of dividing the public burdens for one more simple, easy, and equal. The delegates from South Carolina generally, and particularly Mr. RUTLEDGE, advocated the propriety of the constitutional rule, and of an adherence to it, and of the safety of the mode in question arising from the honor of the states. The debates on the subject were interrupted by a letter from the superintendent of finance, informing Congress that the situation of his department required that a committee should be appointed, with power to advise him on the steps proper to be taken; and suggesting an appointment of one, consisting of a member from each state, with authority to give their advice on the subject. This expedient was objected to as improper, since Congress would thereby delegate an incommunicable power, perhaps, and would, at any rate, lend a sanction to a measure without even knowing what it was, not to mention the distrust which it manifested of their own prudence and fidelity. It was, at length, proposed and agreed to, that a special committee, consisting of Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Osgood, and Mr. Madison, should confer with the superintendent of finance on the subject of his letter, and make report to Congress. After the adjournment of Congress, this committee conferred with the superintendent; who, after being apprized of the difficulties which had arisen in Congress, stated to them that the last account of our money affairs in Europe showed that, contrary to his expectations and estimates, there were three and a half millions of livres short of the bills actually drawn; that further drafts were indispensable to prevent a stop to the public service; that, to make good this deficiency, there Wiis only the further success of Mr. Adams's loan, and the friendship of France, to depend on; that it was necessary for him to decide on the expediency of his staking the public credit on those contingent funds by further drafts; and that, in making this decision, he wished for the sanction of a committee of Congress; that this sanction was preferable to that of Congress
- ↑ This proposed to require the states to value the land, and return the valuations to Congress.
