IV. to the reduction of the public debt. As the extinction CHAPTER of that debt ought to be a leading object, he was decidedly opposed to increasing it by a loan. Perhaps Hamil. 1792. ton had in his eye the charges urged against him in Freneau's Gazette, that it was part of his policy to saddle the nation with a debt never intended to be discharged, and that the limitations as to redemption had been inserted into the Funding Act with that very object. Taxation remaining as the only resource, an increase in the duties on imports was considered the kind of tax best adapted to the present occasion. Such constant additions to the burdens of commerce, and such frequent changes in the rate of duties, were indeed to be regretted; but he consoled himself with the reflection that the improved state of public credit gave increased facilities to the merchants, and by the hope that the additional duties might give a new impulse to the spirit of manufacturing already extensively prevalent, and thus essentially serve to promote the industry, wealth, and substantial independence of the country. In conformity with a resolution of the preceding Congress, Hamilton had already, earlier in the session, presented an elaborate report on the policy of. protecting domestic manufactures, with an answer to the objections made against it—a summary of the argument on that side of the question to which subsequent discussions have added but little. In substantial conformity to Hamilton's recommendations, a new tariff act fixed the rate of duty on Canary, Port, Lisbon, St. Lucar, Sherry, and Madeira wines at from twenty to fifty-six cents per gallon, all other wines to pay forty per cent. on the value. Spirits distilled from grain were to pay from twenty-eight to fifty cents, and all other distilled spirits from twenty-five to forty-six cents, according to proof; beer, ale, and porter, eight cents IV. CHAPTER per gallon; cocoa, two cents per pound; chocolate, three cents; hemp and steel, one dollar per hundred weight; ca1792. bles and tarred cordage, one dollar and eighty cents; untarred cordage, two dollars and twenty-five cents; twine and pack-thread, four dollars; Glauber's salts, two dollars the hundred weight; coal, four cents and a half per bushel; playing-cards, twenty-five cents per pack; shoes and slippers, from seven to twenty cents per pair. The following were added to the list of articles paying fifteen per cent. on the value: China-ware, glass of all kinds, except black quart bottles; muskets, pistols, and other firearms; swords, cutlasses, and other side-arms; hair-powder, glue, wafers, painters' colors, laces, tassels, and trimmings. To the list of articles paying ten per cent. on the value were added, cast, slit, and rolled iron, and all manufactures of iron, steel, copper, tin, brass, and pewter, except wire; cabinet-wares, leather, and all manufactures of leather; drugs, except dye-stuffs; carpetings, mats, and floor-cloths; hats, caps, bonnets, gloves, stockings, millinery, artificial flowers, feathers, and other ornaments for female dresses; fans, toys, dolls, buttons, powders, pastes, balsams, ointments, perfumes, and cosmetics. All articles charged in the former tariff with five per cent. on the value, were to pay for two years an additional duty of two and a half per cent. To the list of free articles were added, copper in pigs and bars, unmanufactured wool, woad, and sulphur. Salt was hereafter to be reckoned at fifty-six pounds to the bushel, and the credit on the duty was extended to nine months. On all articles except West India goods, wines, and teas, as to which the previous provisions remained in force, the duties might be paid in four installments, one half the amount in six months, one quarter in nine, and the other quarter in twelve months. The president was authorized to anticipate the receipt of the new duties by CHAPTER a temporary loan from the bank. IV. The great object of this new tariff was revenue; 1792. yet, in selecting the particular subjects for increased taxation, an eye was evidently had throughout to the protection of American industry. The increased duties on hemp and cordage, opposed by some of the mercantile representatives as injurious to the navigating interest, were defended by Madison and others as affording protection at once to manufactures and to agriculture. In the bill as originally reported, cotton had been added to the list of free articles, a provision supported by Ames and some of the Pennsylvania members on the ground. that this article was needed by the manufacturers, and could only be obtained from abroad. But the old duty of three cents a pound was retained on the representations of Macon, Page, and others, as to the abundant produce and excellent quality of the Southern cotton, for which, as they alleged, no market could be found. At the same time with the increase of duties on imported spirits, alterations were made, at Hamilton's suggestion, in hopes of rendering the Excise Act more acceptable to those upon whom its first operation bore. The duties were diminished from one to seven cents per gallon, according to the strength and material-the highest duty being fixed at twenty-five cents, and the lowest at seven cents per gallon. Additional facilities were also allowed to the small country distillers, who were permitted to pay a monthly instead of a yearly rate upon the capacity of their stills, and to take out licenses for any periods they chose. Another bill, introduced into the Senate by Cabot, re-established the old system of bounties, to which the fishermen had been accustomed under the British gov CHAPTER ernment. All vessels employed for the term of four IV. months, at least, in each year in the Bank and other cod1792. fisheries, were entitled to a bounty varying from one dol lar to two dollars and a half per ton, according to their size, three eighths to go to the owners, and five eighths to the fishermen. This provision did not impose any new burden on the treasury, being only a substitute for the drawback of duties on the salt employed in curing the fish a change agreeable to the fishermen and their immediate employers, who flattered themselves that this drawback would now come to them instead of going into the pockets of the exporting merchants. In this there was, no doubt, much of deception, since the exporters would now pay so much less for the fish. The national benefit of the fisheries as a nursery for seamen was urged as the chief argument for adopting the system of bounties. The pressure of the Indian war forced Congress to undertake an organization of the militia-a very difficult subject, as well on account of the conflicting claims as to authority on the part of the states and the general government, as by reason of obstacles to be encountered in establishing any system that should produce an effective force. The act, as passed, still remains, in spite of numerous attempts to amend it, the basis of the militia system of the United States, though very much modified as to its local operation by state laws on the same subject. It provided for a geographical arrangement of the militia by the state Legislatures into companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, and divisions; each company to consist of sixty-four men, each battalion of five companies, each regiment of two battalions, and each brigade of four regiments. There were to be a captain, lieutenant, and ensign for each company, a major for each bat IV. talion, a lieutenant-colonel commandant for each regi- CHAPTER ment, a brigadier general for each brigade, and a major general for each division. The rank of lieutenant-colonel 1792. commandant, to the exclusion of colonels, had been introduced into the Revolutionary army for the avoidance of certain questions as to rank by which the exchange of prisoners had been embarrassed-a temporary arrangement long perpetuated, as well in the regular army as in the militia. In both services, however, the rank of colonel has been re-established. There was to be one company of light troops to each battalion, and at least one company of artillery and one of horse to each division, to be formed out of volunteers, and to be clad in uniform at their own expense. For the general superintendence of the whole system, each state was to appoint an adjutant general. Every able-bodied free white citizen within the ages of eighteen and forty-five, with certain exceptions, to which the states were at liberty to add, was to be enrolled in the militia by the captain of the company in whose bounds he might reside, and, on notice of his enrollment, was required to arm and equip himself, and to come forth so armed and equipped when called out to exercise or into service. As the amount of training to be required was left entirely at the discretion of the states, the efficiency of the whole system rested with them, and in different states was very different. This militia law, in fact, did nothing more than to adopt the system as it stood in each state, with some provisions merely for uniformity of organization. Another act authorized the president, in case of invasion by any foreign nation or Indian tribe, or imminent danger thereof, or in case of insurrection in any state, application being made by its Legislature or its execu |