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abstract of the report of
the secretary of the
treasury.

The annual net proceeds of the
duties on merchandise and tonnage
had, in former reports, been esti-
mated at nine millions five hundred
thousand dollars. That revenue,
estimated on the importations of the
years immediately preceding the
late war, and on the ratio of in-
crease of the population of the U. S.
have been under-rated. The net
revenue from that source, which
accrued during the year 1802, ex-
ceeds ten millions one hundred
thousand dollars. The revenue
which has accrued during the two
first quarters of the present year,
appears to have been only fifty
thousand dollars less than that of
the two corresponding quarters of
the year 1802; and the receipts in
the Treasury, on account of the
same duties, during the year ending
on the 30th of Sept. last, have ex-
ceeded ten millions six hundred
thousand dollars.

These facts prove that the wealth
of the U. S. increases in a greater
ratio than their population, and
that this branch of the public re-
venue may now be rated at ten mil-
lions of dollars.

The same revenue for the two last
years of the late war, at the present
rate of duties, averaged 11,600,000
dollars a year; but though it might
be supposed that the renewal of hos-
tilities will produce a similar in-
crease, no inference from that
period is now drawn in relation to
the revenue of the ensuing years.

Although the sales of public lands
during the year ending on the 30th
Sept. last, were lessened by the
situation of the western country;
two hundred thousand acres have
been sold during that period; and

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independent of future sales, the
sums already paid to the receivers,
with those which, exclusive of in-
terest, fall due during the three en-
suing years, amount to 1,250,000
dollars, the annual revenue arising
from those sales, may be estimated
at four hundred thousand dollars.

The extension of post roads, and
the acceleration of the mail, while
diffusing and increasing the benefits
of the institution, have rendered it
less productive. The receipts have
amounted, during last year, to
27,000 dollars; but as neither these,
nor those arising from some other
incidental branches, effect any ge-
neral result, the whole revenue of
the U. S. will be only ten millions
four hundred thousand dollars.

                 

1. The appropriation of 7,300,000 dollars, for the payment of the principal and interest of the debt; of which about three millions and an half are at present applicable to to the discharge of the principal, and the residue in the payment of interest,	Dolls. 7,300,000
2. The expenses of government, according to the estimates for the year 1804, viz.
For the civil depart- ment and all domestic expenses of a civil na- ture,	791,000
For expenses attend- ing the intercourse with foreign nations, includ- ing Algiers, and all ex- penses relative to the Barbary powers,	1,34,000
For the military and Indian departments,	875,000
For the navy, sup- posing two frigates and four smaller vessels be in commission,	65,000
	9,800,000
And deducted from the pemanent revenue of	10,400,000
Leave	600,000

The extraordinary resources and
demands not permanent, to wit:

         

The specie in the Trea- sury, on the 30th of Sept. last,	Dollars. 5,860,000
The arrears of the direct tax,	250,000
The outstanding inter- nal duties, near	400,000
The sum to be repaid to the U. S. on account of advances made in England for the pro- secution of claims,	150,300
Total,	6,660,000

This sum, after reserving the
sum which it is necessary to keep
in the Treasury, will discharge the
demands on account of the conven-
tion with Great Britain, viz.

           

Dolls.	2,664,000
Extraordinary expenses in relation to the con- ventions with France and Great Britain,	100,000
The loan from Mary- land, for the city of Washington,	200,000
And also to pay	2,000,000
	4,964,000
of dollars on account of the pur- chase of Louisiana; being the sum reserved by the law of the last ses- sion, for extraordinary expenses at- tending the intercourse with foreign nations.

During the year ending on the
30th Sept. last, the payments on
account of the public debt, were

       

Dolls.	3,096,700
which, with the increase of specie in the Trea- sury during the same period,	1,320,000
	4,416,700
makes a difference in favour of the U. S. of more than four hun- dred thousand dollars during that year.

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The payments on account of the
principal of the public debt, from
the first day of Sept. 1803, were

                 

Dolls.	9,924,004
The specie in the Treasury, on the first of April, 1801, 1,794,000 And on the
30th of Sept.
1898, 5,860,000
Making an in- crease of	4,066,000
Those amount to	13,990,004
From which deducting, as arising from the sales of bank shares,	1,287,600
Leaves,	12,702,404
in favour of the U. S. for that pe- riod of two years and an half.

From that view of the present
situation of the U. S. the only ques-
tion is, whether any additional re-
venues are wanted to provide for
the new debt, which will result from
the purchase of Louisiana.

The U. S. may have to pay, by
virtue of that treaty, fifteen millions
of dollars. First, 11,250,000 dolls.
in a stock bearing an interest of
six per cent. payable in Europe,
and the principal of which will be
discharged at the Treasury of the
U. S. in four instalments, to com-
mence in the year 1818… 2dly, A
sum which cannot exceed 3,750,000
dollars, payable at the Treasury of
the U. S. during the ensuing year,
to citizens having certain claims on
France.

As two millions of dollars may be
paid from the specie now in the
Treasury, on account of the last
item; and the new debt cannot
exceed thirteen millions of dollars,
the interest of which is 780,000;
but on account of commissions, and
variations of exchange, will be eight
hundred thousand dollars.

The surplus revenue of the U. S.
will discharge six hundred thousand
dollars of that sum, and it is ex-
pected that the net revenue col-
lected at New-Orleans will be equal
to the remaining two hundred thou-
sand dollars.

That opinion rests on the sup-
position that Congress shall place
that port on the same footing as the
U. S. so that the same duties shall
be collected there, on the importa-
tion of foreign merchandise as are
now levied in the U. S. and that no
duties shall be collected on the ex-
portation of produce or merchan-
dise as are now levied in the U. S.
that no duties shall be collected on
the exportation of produce or mer-
chandise from N. O. to any other
place; nor on any articles import-
ed into the U. S. from the ceded
territories or into those territories
from the U. S.

The statement (G) shews that
the exportation from the Atlantic
States to those Colonies, of articles
not of the growth or manufacture
of the U. S. amounted for the years
1799, 1800, and 1801, to 6,622,189
dollars; making an average of more
than two millions two hundred thou-
sand dollars, of foreign articles,
liable to pay duty, annually export-
ed to Florida and Louisiana from
the U. S. alone.

The exportations from the U. S.
to Florida are so trifling that that
statement may be considered as ap-
plying solely to N. O.; it is also
known, that almost the whole of
those exportations were consumed
within that colony, and that during
the war the supplies from the U. S.
constituted by far the greater part
of its imports.

Thence it results that the annual
importations into the ceded terri-
tory, of articles destined for the
consumption of its own inhabitants,
and which will, under the laws of
the U. S. pay duty, may be esti-
mated at two millions five hundred
thousand dollars: which, at the
present rate of duties, will yield a
revenue of about 350,000 dollars.
From that revenue must be deduct-
ed 150,000 dollars, for the follow-
ing: viz.

1st. The duties on a quantity of
sugar and indigo equal to that which
shall be imported from N. O. into
the U. S.; as those articles being
imported free from duty, will dimi-
nish by so much revenue now col-

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lected in the seaports of the U. S.
The whole amount of sugar ex-
ported from N. O. is less than
4,000,000 of pounds, and that of in-
digo is about 30,000 pounds. Suppos-
ing that the whole of those articles
should hereafter be exported to the
U. S. the loss to the revenue will
be about 100,000 dollars.

2d. No increase of expense in
the military establishment of the
U. S. is expected on account of
the acquisition of territory; but
the expenses of the province and of
the intercourse with the Indians;
are estimated at 50,000 dollars,
leaving for the net revenue derived
from the province, and applicable
to the payment of the interest of
the new debt, 200,000 dolls.

The only provisions necessary,
are,

1. In relation to the stock of
11,250,000 dollars to be created in
favour of France;
That that debt be made a charge
on the sinking fund, directing the
commissioners to apply so much of
its proceeds as may be necessary
for the payment of interest and
principal, in the same manner as
they are directed to do in relation
to the debt now charged on that
fund.

That so much of the duties on
merchandise and tonnage as will be
equal to seven hundred thousand
dollars, being the sum wanted to
pay the interest of that new stock,
be added to the annual permanent
appropriation for the sinking fund;
making, with the existing appro-
priation, eight millions of dollars,
annually applicable to the payment
of the interest and principal of the
public debt;

And that the said annual sum of
eight millions of dollars remain in
trust for the said payments, till the
the whole of the existing debt of
the U. S. and of the new stock,
shall have been redeemed.

As a sum equal to the interest of
the new stock will thus be added to
the sinking fund, the operation of
that fund, as it relates to the ex-
tinguishment of debt, will remain

on the same footing as has been
heretofore provided by Congress.
The new debt will neither impede
nor retard the payment of the prin-
cipal of the old debt,; and the
fund will be sufficient, beside pay-
ing the interest on both, to discharge
the principal of the old debt, before
the year 1818, and that of the new,
within one year and an half after
that year.

11. In relation to the American
claims the payment of which is
assumed by the convention with
France:

That a sum not exceeding
3,750,000 dollars, inclusive of the
two millions appropriated by the
last session of Congress, be appro-
priated for the payment of those
claims, to be paid out of any monies
in the Treasury not otherwise ap-
propriated.

That for effecting the whole of
that payment, the President of the
U. S. be authorised to borrow a
sum not exceeding 1,750,000 dollars,
at an interest not exceeding six per
cent. a year.

And that so much of the proceeds
of the duties on merchandise and
tonnage as may be necessary, be
appropriated for the payment of
interest and principal of the loan
to be thus effected.

It is not proposed to charge that
loan on the sinking fund, because
its amount cannot at present be
ascertained; and because it may
perhaps be found more expedient
to pay out of the sinking fund, the
whole or part of the two last in-
stalments, payable by virtue of
conventions with Great-Britain.

The possibility of thus providing
for the payment of the interest of a
new debt of thirteen millions of
dollars, without recurring to new
taxes or interfering with the pro-
visions heretofore made for the
payment of the existing debt, de-
pends on the correctness of the
estimate of the public revenue which
has been submitted. It rests prin-
cipally on the expectation that the
revenue of the ensuing years shall
not be less than that of the year

―137―

1802. No part of it depends on the
probable increase which may result
from the neutrality of the U. S.
during the present war, nor even
on the progressive augmentation,
which, from past experience, may
naturally be expected to arise from
the gradual increase of population
and wealth. Nor has that effect
been taken into consideration which
the uninterupted navigation of the
Missisippi, and the acquisition of
New-Orleans may have, either on
the sales of the public lands, or on
the resources of the inhabitants of
the western states.