Whereas our quota, to keep the payments equal with the expenses, is
two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Consequently, there is a
deficiency of one hundred and eighty-five thousand seven hundred and
twenty pounds, and the same proportion of defect, according to the
several quotas, happens in every other state. And this defect is the
cause why the army has been so indifferently fed, clothed and paid. It
is the cause, likewise, of the nerveless state of the campaign, and
the insecurity of the country. Now, if a tax equal to thirteen and
fourpence per head, will remove all these difficulties, and make
people secure in their homes, leave them to follow the business of
their stores and farms unmolested, and not only drive out but keep out
the enemy from the country; and if the neglect of raising this sum
will let them in, and produce the evils which might be prevented- on
which side, I ask, does the wisdom, interest and policy lie? Or,
rather, would it not be an insult to reason, to put the question?
The sum, when proportioned out according to the several abilities of
the people, can hurt no one, but an inroad from the enemy ruins
hundreds of families.
Look at the destruction done in this city [Philadelphia]. The many
houses totally destroyed, and others damaged; the waste of fences in
the country round it, besides the plunder of furniture, forage, and
provisions. I do not suppose that half a million sterling would
reinstate the sufferers; and, does this, I ask, bear any proportion to
the expense that would make us secure? The damage, on an average, is
at least ten pounds sterling per head, which is as much as thirteen
shillings and fourpence per head comes to for fifteen years.
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