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fiderable exertions in extinguifliitig the debts of this description ; or had, in aid of the general government, during its want of resources, poflefled themfelvcs of so much of the domestic claims, as would raise a productive fund for theii discharge. The« western lands, and the probable surplus of ; the import, which mult increase with the increase of our population, oflered a com petent fund for the two years arrears of j interest on the domestic debt, and what j might, on the final settlement, appear due to creditor states; which, however, ought to have been balanced by requiiitrons. If j this natural order of things had been pur- 1 sued, neither excise, nor direst taxes would have been neceflary. But the Secretary, not contented with taking up this business in the way it natur-! ally presented itfelf, augmented the domes tic debt, probably between a third and a fourth ofthe whole amount, by reviving that portion of it which had been legally provided for by the requiiitions of Con- j grefs ; and proje&ed an aflumption of the aggregate of the state debts. To the sur prize of the citizens, Congress eventually ratified his system, with very few alterati ons. It is true that it was agreed to, with great difficulty, by a small majority ; and, it is now known, by a very unequal repre sentation of the union,: but such a fyltem would probably never have been proposed, and fut ely would not have been adopted, if the legislature had originated the business. Along with the aflumption of the state debts, the excise was proposed and enact ed ; a tax, which, as it atfefts home pro duce, was hateful to the citizens, and molt disapproved in those states that had made the greatest exertions to discharge their debts, and whose greatest dependence was on agriculture. This excise law, however, thus intro duced, having been found, in a great de gree, unproductive and impracticable, and being again brought by the people before Congress, has received a vindication in that report of the Secretary which it is my in tention to invefligate, and to which I fliall now return. In the firft page of the report, the Secre tary observes that the objections have a re ference to a supposed tendency in the a£t, i ft, To contravene the principles of liberty, sdly. To injure morals. 3dly, To oppress by heavy and excessive penalties, injure industry and interfere with the bulinefs of distilling. 1 am aware, with ref peft to the third particular, the heavy and excessive-penalties, that before the excise becomes-pract icable, the penalties mult be more excessive than they ye;, are ; for I ad mit, that, if an excise upon home-produce is neceflary, heavy penalties and arbitrary powers are its natural and neceflary con comitants. If therefore the tax Hands the test of examination, or the questions ref pefting morality, industry, and good policy, it would be wrong to arfeft much nicety about the penalties or powers, by which its coUeflion is guarded and lecured. On the quertion of liberty, the Secretary presumes greatly upon the conviction, which originally dictated the law : But, 1 will make free to afiert that it was not the convi&ion of the people. Nay, is it not a matter recorded and underitood that the aflumption of the state debts, which alone created the necessity of the Excise, was carried by a very small majori ty of that representation ; and uncler such circumstances, too, of management and inducement, as were not very honorable ? To pass over these collateral considera tions, however, I believe that an Excise is a tax of such a nature, as cannot, in any possible mode of conducting it, be rendered consistent with the liberty of the citizens. In support of this opinion, I lhall aflign lodic of the reasons on which it is founded. In the firft place, then. It is not possible for the people to understand the Excise so well as other direct taxes. It is paid with out feeling so sensibly, or knowing so well the amount that is paid ; and consequently it is, in a degree, taxing the people blind folded. I know there are persons, and par ticularly some, who have a voice in the af fairs of government, to whom this very in cident is a recommendation of the Excise ; because, as they alledge, the people pay it cheerfully in swallowing their draught of grog. This remark may, indeed, apply in countries where the fubjefts do not give their money to are robbed of it by tyrants; and where there is no check set to the exactions, but merely the interest of the rulers, to preserve the people in a capacity of providing for future taxes. Every robber, upon this maxim, will take the eaiieft method of procuring his booty, and consequently, prefer artifice to a direct attack. The argument, however, must appear in a more striking point of view, when taken in connexion with my subse quent remarks. Secondly, Another objection arises from the extent to which the Excise may be car ried. By the mere a£t of the legislature, it may be made to embrace every thing that is ufeful and comfortable to mankind. What neceflary, what comfort of life has, in European nations, escaped the insatiable maw of Excise-Laws ! This species of tax nation may well be denominated the politi cal horse-leech, the barren womb ' that : never has enough. If we look across the < Atlantic to Britain, we shall perceive that : although the Excise plausibly began its ope ration there, as it has with us, on supposed : j luxuries, yet that with inconceivable rapi ' jdityit seized upon everything ufeful and j comfortable in life. The shoes which the ,people wear are excised with the tanner and the currier ; the soap with which they Jwafh their linnen, the starch with which : they clear it; the glass which admits the , light by day, and the caudle which supplies fit by night; the beer that is drank, and the j butchers'meat that is eaten, make but a j small portion of the cxcifeable enjoyments of that country, whose boalted freedom is tarnilhed with corruption, and whose ve nality and extravagance are in agrent rnea fure produced and foflered by these odious ' Excises, the horror of all free states. —But , were I to enumerate the excifeable articles i in the Britilh book of rates, it would fill more p.tges than I design to write upon this subject. When we contemplate the state of France, we behold a generous nation la bouring under an increased load of excises, until the burthen became so intolerable, that the most loyal people in the world, who had hitherto blindly idolized their grand monarch, and for his fake gloried in their chains, were compelled at last to spurn the dire oppression ; and thus roused from the lethargy .of prejudice and servility, they overturned the pyramid of rapacious and insatiable profufion, which had endur ed for ages. To detail the variety and ex orbitance of the Excises in France, would in itfelf require an exteniive volume ; I will therefore only mention the article of fait, which in some provinces had been raifeil to 8 dollars a bufliel ; and of tobacco, which had been raised to half a dollar a pound. It will add to the extravagance of these impositions when we recollect that fait is in France an article of home produce, and in such great abundance that even the marflies teem with it; and that in some privileged provinces, tobacco is likewise cultivated in plenty ; altho' in other provinces, fitter for tiie growth of the plant, it is baniflied, by rigid prohibitions, from their foil. But still it has become, in the use, a neceflary. I might, in short, traverse all the nations of Europe in which Excises have been intro duced, and, whatever ideas of taxing arti cles of luxury were suggested as the lure, when they were originally proposed for adoption, it would be uniformly found that, in the iffiie, they have fallen heaviest on the necelfaries of life. This principle is, in deed, invariably pursued by financiers, let their pretences be what they may ; for ne ceflary articles are generally the least con venient for fmuggliiig purpose. and being, at the fame time, of unavoidable consump tion, they mult always be the most produc tive, and afford the most certain fubjeits for official estimates. Even in our own impost, the duty on fait, an .article which enters moll largely into the daily food of the poor; and which, in parts distant from the sea, is neceflary also in the food of beasts, has been raised by every revifton of the law, until the'contribution levied by government from a bufliel of coarse fait exceeds, -jrifaSt, the amount of the firft cost and freight.—No article of luxury pays so high. Salt ought to be as free as the water we drink, as it is of as general and equal ufefulnefs. I thank God, that the purling stream is not in the povfer of exciiing financiers; if it were, the fatigued labourer, or the thirsty horse, would have to contribute to government before they couldquaff the cooling draught! —I cail upon the contrivers and promoters of the system to mention that nation, which has at any time introduced Excises on its domestic produce, or manufactures, with out extending the fatal grasp to the neces saries of life, which, as I have already ob served, must ever be the most productive sources of that species of revenue. To luxuries, indeed, the instrument may firft be artfully applied ; but it uniformly adts as the opening wedge, to make way for the whole system, with all its enormities and oppressions. Can we then promise ourselves to be an exception to the experience of all other nations ! Let the present excise be once in full operation, and occasions will annually arise for its extension. Cider and beer will be convenient and productive subjeCts to supply the wants occasioned, perhaps, for the very purpose of apparently juftify ing an amplification of the excise tyranny. Those who already pay for their home made spirits, will not only agree to the additional imposition, but give it counte- j nance upon the principle of promoting an equality of contribution ; and the second } class will facilitate its extension, with fimi- I lar views, to still more neceflary and more j numerous objeCts, Let the present excise, 1 repeat, be once fully eflablifhed, and I will engage that it will not be long on spi rits aloue. It is not reasonable that it should. When one part of the people of any nation loses its liberty, past the hope of recovery, it becomes the ready instru ment of enslaving the reft : and thus it is with respect to revenues raised by excise upon one part of our home produce ; the original imposition promotes, or rather en sures a gradual extension to the other p.,rts. It is to be conficlered, likewHe, tliat there are no natural bounds or limits to the rite that ifiay be laid on what is necefiary for life. The ufe'of the articles merely luxu rious depends upon the habits and appetites ofthe people, which, as they may be di verted or restrained, are subject to fame limitation; but the consumption of neces saries depends upon life itfelf ; for, who can live without fait, candles, Stc. or who, thinking himfelf free, will live with out enjoying the lawful comforts which arise from the culture of his farm. All other direst taxes are limited in their own nature. A tax upon improved land must be within what it would rent for, or else none would cultivate it ; a tax upon un cultivated land must be less than its proba ble increasing value, or none would own'it. But the excise which the Roman Emperor imposed upon urine, could not be evaded, for it was founded on a call of nature which must b;: obeyed. Many instances of the extravagant rate of excises upon ne ceifary articles in modern times might be given ; but those which I have before men tioned on fait and tobacco in France, where the articles are produced, and where the price of labor is very low, are fufficient ex amples for my present purpose. A third objection so the excise proceeds from the coniideration that luxuries are, comparatively, used by few : Hence, an excise upon articles of that description would not be fufficiently productive for the uses and exigences of government. To render it productive it must be laid on those articles, which, from the manners or cir cumstances of the people, are become ne cessaries, and are in general use. This o pinion isfupported by the examples of eve ry foreign country, which has imposed an excise ; and even by our own excise on spirits made from home produce. By the habits of the country this liquor was be come necefiary to laboring people, and pre paring it had become part ofthe business of the farmer, as much as preparing his cider, or any other fiipply, which his farm will; produce. The object in laying the excise j is not to promote health, as the canting ad-1 dress of the college of physicians advises, nor to prevent drunkenness, as the Secreta ry hints. The Secretary well knew that the habits and circumltances of new settle ments in particular, rendered the use of! spirits in some degree necessary ; and the rsafons that operate in favour of the pre- i sent excise will necefl'arily extend to every 1 thing in a similar situation. To prove that it is not inconsistent with liberty, the report (page 2) asserts, that, "it has not the features of other excise laws --that there is not the summary and discre tionary jurifdiCVion in the excise officers, contrary to the course of common law, and in the abridgment of the right of trial bv jury—that there is not a genera! power in the fame officers to search and inspect in discriminately all thelioufes and buildings] ofthe persons engaged in the business to which the tax relates." This I readily admit; but I hope the| Secretary will also admit, that the law, as it Hands, is not effectual. The truth is, that many people, in a great part of seve ral ftateo disregard it altogether ; some ap parently submit to it, but while they keep two Hills employed, enter only one of; them; and others acquiesce for the present, j iu confident expectation tiiat the law will: be soon repealed. I may venture to assert that the executi on of the act will for ever be impracticable, until those very powers are veiled in the! officers, the want of which is the boast ofj the report. No excise law in the .world.has been effectual without them ; and no people in the worldhave agreater averlionto excise laws than the citizens or' the U.. States. If then those powers are neccil'ary to render excise laws practicable, as 1 firmly believe they are ; and 1 have reason and ail experi ence on my fide ; I expeCt the fccretary will no longer contend that excise lawsare con fident with iiberty. Any law that increases crimes, punilhmeats, fines, seizures, and confifcations, is injurious to the liberty and 1 eisfh.iring to the hsppinefs of the people. lln all countries, where the excise has pre- j vailed, it has ureated new crimes and punishments, it has accumulated tines, fei- Izures, and confifcations; and, by inevitable jconfequence, these evils, which it cngen jders, have proved injurious to the liberty, I and ensnaring to the morals of the citizens. I What instrument. indeed, can more effec tually prepare a people for slavery, than I that, which lets their interest in opposition to their honesty, and which must either jdeftroy their virtue or ruin their fortune 1 with its preflure. ? Philad-. April 21. SIDNEY. PRJ C E or STOCKS. Si* per cents, per £. - - '20/. Three ditto - - ji/6 to ;tf. referred .ix ditto, - j if- ix/ 6 Final settlements, &c. 15 -i£ Indents - - 11/3 Half iliare Eank Stock 15 per cent advance. PHILADELPHIA. ■ April 23, 1792. By a veflel arrived here' ,on Friday last, ■ from the Cape, we learn that the remain der of the 6coo troops, expeded for there-, lief of St. Domingo, have reached that • illand. On Thursday laPr died at His lodgings in ' this city, Bigtree, one of the Indian Chiefs of the live nations, that arrived here about fix weeks since. His illness was not of more than 20 hours continuance- —Hit corpse was interred on Saturday. On Wednesday evening last, a number of disorderly persons aflembied round the Jail in New-Ydrk, behaving in a riotous man ner, breaking the lamps, &c.— Fortunately the friends of legal restraint and good or der, with the exertions of the police, pre vented any dangerous excefles being com mitted. Mr. lJuer, it seems, was their ■ object. A New-York paper of Thursday inform?, I that the Barbers of that city have raifcd the price for {having from fix pence to eight pence, on account of the extraordinary and uniyerfal addition to the length of the chin, that has taken place there since the late failures. Accounts from Pittsburgh, to the 14th instant, mention several murders and de predations, in addition to thofeftated in our last, committed by some fculking parties of Indians along the waters of the Ohio. The extraordinary swell of the Sufque hanna, during theprefent lpring, has affor ded many large boats an opportunity of coming full loaded down that river, having all palled the various falls, rapids, &c. in fafety.— One of these boats is 80 feet in length, 14 wide, & had on board 1950 bush els of wheat, a large quantity of hemp, &c. We cgree with Camden (in the General Ad- J vettifer of Saturday) that humanity is better plcsf jed wiih the conduift of the judges of the Eiftern I Circuit : but Cainden mud allow, that they too ; have, though in a delicate, manner, palled fen i tcnce of unconftilutionality on the invalid law.— jWe deny Camden's affection ; and afiert that the | word " impeachment*, was several times men tioned in the H. of R. although no motion was t made on the fubjeft. We do not mean to muf . fie up the judges any more than Congress, in the | cloak of infallibility ■ we wish to fee l\cth parties , amply clad, that it to fay, with the gaib of wif [ dom and righteousness.The old cloak being worn to rags (of which there is a great scarcity at pre j sent) may be sent to the mills ; and when manu factured into foolfcap paper, may be lifed for print | ing panegyricks on the measures of government. He mull be a venal wretch, indeed, who thinks that becauft a man holds a lawful officc under government, therefore he « obliged to approve | and flatter the mod arbitrary m afures of that • government. j There are who praise without measure ; because they probably conceive their inter - | e ft_ might fuffer by a contrary conduct. With an eye to the man, they approve kii ! work without attention to itsiutrinfic mer rit. Were such believed, it might appear that every thing is going for the bpft, and that there is no room for amendment. That there is wisdom displayed in our.pub ■ lie councils, no one can deny—that ween | joy a considerable share of prosperity is evi dent: But that some meafnres have pro duced evils, experience teftifies, —that a change of measures might bring about- a change of circumstances is clear. —Then i while there is room for improvement, Why ,be fatisfied with our present progress to wards political prosperity ? [Gen. Adv.] The Speaker of the Irish House of Com mons w<rs infultedby a number of perfoijs, who were irritated at being turned out of the galleries of thru House—This piece of intelligence was once only men tioned in an American paper, entitled, the j National Gazette —Ergo, it includes an ad ! monition to the citizens of the U. States,, that they should, on a similar occafton, act in the fame manner—excellent logic, truly i * The Printing Office of the Na'ional Ga zette is removed from No. 239, to '.09, High (or Market) Street, aboveJiftk Street. T)AN aivay on fVednefday night lafl y a Negro Man, about twenty-three years old j bad on a Tght coloured Jhort coat : took'with him a pair cf gather breeches and a pair of green fluff do. a bee- vtr hat half worn, narrow brim and deep crown j a pair of boots j ftripeel cotton and Jilk fiockivgs-- • he is flitn made—reads and writes a legible hand—- has. I am informed) procured a fajs and certificate of his being a free man. It is probtible he ivill endewvor to get on board some I'rjjtl, either at this place crNew-J ork. lie has a small fearr under his rhin uecafior.ed by cutting out a wen. 1 will give Forty Doha'? reward to any person who iviU deliver htm to ire at this place, and pay all reafonn • ble ixper.ces.' ANDREW MOORE. No. 11§ Sprace-Strtet, April 23.