ed the current expenses, including therein the interest paid on the debt, by a sum of more than five millions and a half of dollars. But the payments on account of interest, during the year ending on the 30th of September, 1811, have, from an unavoidable delay in making the usual remittances to Holland, fallen short of the amount due during the same period; and the real excess of receipts arising from revenue, beyond the current expenses, including therein the interest accrued on the debt, amounts only to near 5,100,000 dollars. The receipts for the last quarter of the year 1811, are estimated at 3,300,000 dollars; and the expenditures (including the payments of arrears of interest and near 2,160,000 dollars on account of the principal of the public debt) at 4,300,000 dollars, which will leave, at the end of the year, a balance in the Treasury of near three millions of dollars. It will not, therefore, be necessary to resort for the service of the present year, to the loan authorized by the act of the last session of Congress.

2. Year 1812.-It is ascertained that the nett revenue arising from duties on merchandise and tonnage, which has accrued during the three first quarters of the year 1811, exceeds six millions of dollars; and it may, for the whole year, be estimated at about 7,500,000 dollars.

The Custom-house bonds outstanding on the 1st day of January, 1812, and falling due in that year, are also estimated, after dedueting bad debts, at 7,500,000 dollars. This sum may therefore be assumed as the probable amount of receipts into the Treasury during the year 1812, on account of duties on merchandise and tonnage; the portion of the revenue arising from importations subsequent to the present year, which will be received in 1812, being considered sufficient to pay the debentures and expenses of collection of that year.

The payments made by purchasers of public lands, north of the river Ohio, having, during the two last years, after deducting the expenses and charges on that fund, amounted to near 600,000 dollars a year, that branch of revenue may, for the present, be estimated at that sum. Allowing one hundred thousand dollars for the other small items of revenue, which will consist principally of arrears and re-payments, the whole amount of actual receipts into the Treasury during the year 1812, may therefore be estimated at $8,200,000. The current expenses for the same year are estimated as followeth, viz: 1. Expenses of a civil nature, both domestic and foreign, 2. Military and Naval establishments, according to the estimates of those two departments, and including the additional permanent appropriations for the purchase of arms and forIndian annuities, viz:

Army (including 32,000 dollars for the Militia,) $2,581,000
Arsenals, arms, and ordnance,

Naval Department,

Indian Department,

3. Interest on the public debt

1,260,000

614,000

2,500,000

220,000

5,915,000

2,225,000

Amounting together to

$9,400,000

And exceeding, by 1,200,000 dollars, the probable amount of receipts.
This deficit may be paid out of the sum of three millions of dollars in the
Treasury. But, under existing circumstances, it does not seem eligible to
exhaust that fund; and the estimate of receipts being also liable to more than

usual uncertainty, the propriety of authorizing a loan sufficient to supply that difference, and to defray such other extraordinary expenses as may be incurred during the year, is respectfully submitted.

It must at the same time be observed, that the sum of 9,400,000 dollars, thus stated as the amount of current expenses for the year 1812, includes, in fact, a portion of extraordinary expenses arising from the present state of affairs For if the Military and Naval expenditure had been estimated at a sum not exceeding the amount actually expended for those objects during the year ending on the 30th of September, 1811, that is to say, at 4,400,000 instead of 5,900,000 dollars, the estimate of receipts would exceed that of current

expenses.

The disbursements on account of the Naval establishment have amounted, in the year ending on the 30th September, 1810, to And in the year ending on the 30th September, 1811, to They are estimated for the year 1812, at

1,675,000

2,136,000

2,500,000

The disbursements on account of the Military establishment have amounted, in the year ending on the 30th September, 1810, to

2,309,000

2,129,000

And in the year ending on the 30th September, 1811, to
They are estimated, for the year 1812, at

3,195,000

But the detailed annual estimates of the year 1812, will show that they are predicated on the employment of almost the whole Naval force, and of the whole Military establishment of the United States, as authorized by law; covering, besides several other items, all the expenses of more than seventeen thousand effective men in the land and sea service.

With respect to the payments on account of the principal of the debt, it is evident that an authority to borrow a sum equal to that which will be reimbursed during the year 1812, will be necessary. The payments, which, according to law, must be made during that year, on that account, consists of 1. Annual reimbursement of six per cent. and deferred

stocks,

2. Reimbursement of the residue of the converted stock

Amounting together, to

$1,570,000 00

565,318 41

$2,135,318 41

This sum, and that payable for interest, amounting together to 4,360,000 dollars, leave, in order to complete the annual appropriation of eight millions, a balance of 3,640,000 dollars, which can be applied in no other manner than in purchases of stock at the prices limited by law. amount which may be thus applied, is therefore uncertain.

PUBLIC DEBT,

The

It appears, by the statement (D.) that the payments on account of the principal of the public debt will, from the 1st of October, 1810, to the 31st December, 1811, have exceeded six millions four hundred thousand dollars. With the exception of the annual reimbursement of the six per cent. and deferred stocks, there will remain, at the end of the year 1811, no other portion of the public debt reimbursable at the will of the United States, than the residue of converted stock, amounting, as above stated, to 565,000

dollars, and which will be paid in the year 1812. There being nothing afterwards left, on which the laws passed subsequent to the year 1801, for the redemption of the debt, can operate, a general view of the result and effect of those laws will now be presented.

Exclusively of near three millions of unfunded debt since reimbursed, as detailed in the report of the 18th of April, 1808, the public debt of the United States amounted, on the 1st of April, 1801, to $79,926,999, as will appear by the statement (D d.) The whole amount of principal extinguished during the period of ten years and nine months, commencing on the 1st of April, 1801, and ending on the 31st of December, 1811, exceeds forty-six millions of dollars, viz:

Foreign debt, paid in full,

Eight per cent., five and a half per cent., four and a half per cent., and Navy six per cent. stocks; and temporary loans due on the 1st of April, 1801, to the Bank of the United States, all paid in full,

Six per cent. and deferred stocks, including the exchanged stock reimbursed,

$10,075,004

12,657,700

20,820,744

Three per cent. stock, including converted stock reimbursed,

2,379,269

90,093

Registered debt, and debt due to foreign offi

cers,

Leaving the amount of old debt unredeemed on the Ist of January, 1812,

and consisting of the following species, viz:

Six per cent. and deferred stocks, unredeemed

amount,

46,022,810

$ 33,904,189

17,067,096

And to which, adding the Louisiana six per cent. stock, being a new debt, contracted subsequent to the 1st of April, 1801

Makes the whole amount of public debt, on the 1st of January, 1812

The annual interest on the public debt, due on the 1st April, 1801, amounts to

The annual interest on the public debt, extinguished between the 1st April, 1801, and the 1st January, 1812, amounted to

Leaving, for the amount of annual interest, on the old debt unredeemed, on 1st January, 1812,

The annual interest on the Louisiana stock is

Making the annual interest on the whole debt, due on the 1st
January, 1812,

Which, subtracted from the annual interest on the debt due on 1st April, 1801

Leaves for the difference between the amounts of interest respectively, payable at those two dates,

4,180,463

$1,967.942

The disposable national revenue, or that portion which alone is applicable to defray the annual national expenses, consists only of the surplus of the gross amount of revenue collected, beyond the amount necessary for paying the interest on the public debt. A diminution of that interest is, with respect to the ability of defraying the other annual expenses, a positive increase of revenue, to the same amount. With an equal amount of gross revenue, the revenue applicable to defray the national expenses, is now, by the effect of the reduction of the debt, two millions six hundred thousand dollars greater than on the 1st day of April, 1801. Or, if another view of the subject be thought more correct, the laws for the reduction of the debt have, in ten years and nine months, enabled the United States to pay in full, the purchase money of Louisiana, and increased their revenue near two millions of dollars.

If the amount of annual payments, on account of both the principal and interest of the public debt, during the last eight years, be contrasted with the payments hereafter necessary for the same purpose, the difference will be still more striking. Eight millions of dollars have been annually paid, on that account, during those eight years. The whole amount payable after the year 1812, including the annual reimbursement on the six per cent. and deferred stocks, is 3,792,382 dollars; making an annual difference of more than four millions two hundred thousand dollars, which will be liberated from that appropriation. And this annual payment of about three millions eight hundred thousand dollars, would have been sufficient, with some small variations, to discharge, in ten years, the whole of the residue of the existing debt, with the exception of the three per cent. stock, the annual interest on which, amounts only to four hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars. The aspect of the foreign relations of the United States forbids, however, the hope of seeing the work completed within that short period. The redemption of principal has been effected without the aid of any internal taxes, either direct or indirect, without any addition during the last seven years to the rate of duties on importations, which, on the contrary, have been impaired by the repeal of that on salt, and notwithstanding the great diminution of commerce during the last four years. It therefore proves, decisively, the ability of the United States, with their ordinary revenue, to discharge, in ten years of peace, a debt of forty-two millions of dollars; a fact which considerably lessens the weight of the most formidable objection, to which that revenue, depending almost solely on commerce, appears to be liable. In time of peace, it is almost sufficient to defray the expenses of a war; in time of war, it is hardly competent to support the expenses of a peace establishment. Sinking, at once, under adverse circumstances, from fifteen to six or eight millions of dollars, it is only by a persevering application of the surplus, which it affords in years of prosperity, to the discharge of the debt, that a total change in the system of taxation, or a perpetual accumulation of debt can be avoided. But, if a similar application of such surplus be hereafter strictly adhered to, forty millions of debt, contracted during five or six years of war, may always, without any extraordinary exertions, be reimbursed in ten years of peace.

This view of the subject, has, at the present crisis, appeared necessary, for the purpose of distinctly pointing out one of the principal resources, within the reach of the United States. But to be placed on a solid foundation, it requires the aid of a revenue, "sufficient, at least, to defray the ordinary expenses of government, and to pay the interest on the public debt, including that on new loans which may be authorized."

PROVISION FOR THE ENSUING YEARS.

The revenue is derived from two sources-the duties on importations, and the sales of public lands.

The nett revenue, arising from duties on merchandise and tonnage, which accrued during the year 1809, amounted to $6,527,168. The nett revenue, arising from the same sources, which accrued during the year 1810, amounted, as will appear by the statements A. and B. to $12,513,490; the same revenue, for the year 1811, is estimated, as has already been stated, at $7,500,000. A portion of the revenue of this year, having been collected on British merchandise, imported before the prohibition took effect, the permanent revenue, arising from duties on tonnage and merchandise, will not probably, at their present rate, and under existing circumstances, ex$6,000,000 ceed

an estimate which is corroborated by the view of the subject exhibited in the statement (B 2.)

The sales of the public lands north of the river Ohio, have, during the year ending on the 30th September, 1811, amounted, as appears by the statement (C.) to 207,000 acres, and the payments by purchasers to 600,000 dollars. It has already been stated that those payments on the average of the two last years, amount, after deducting the expenses and charges on that fund, to the annual sum of 600,000 dollars.

The sales in the Mississippi Territory, being in the first instance appropriated to the payment of 1,250,000 dollars to the State of Georgia, are distinctly stated.

The permanent revenue or annual receipts, after the year 1812, calculated $6,600,000 on the existing state of affairs, may therefore be estimated at Which, deducted from the annual expenditures calculated on the same principle, and amounting by the preceding estimates for the year 1812, to

Leaves a deficiency to be provided for, of

9,200,000

$ 2,600,000

An addition of fifty per cent. to the present amount of duties, (together with a continuance of the temporary duties heretofore designated by the name of "Mediterranean Fund,") will be sufficient to supply that deficiency, and is respectfully submitted. This mode appears preferable for the present to any internal tax. With respect to the sales of public lands, besides affording a supplementary fund for the ultimate redemption of the public debt, they may, without any diminution of revenue, be usefully applied as a bounty to soldiers enlisting in the regular service, and in facilitating the terms of loans. But it does not appear that the actual receipts into the Treasury, arising from the sales, can be materially increased, without a reduction in the price, unless it be by an attempt to offer certain portions for sale in the large cities of the Union."