They ought to have studied and calculated the expenses
of the war, the quota of each state, and the consequent proportion
that would fall on each man's property for his defence; and this
must have easily shown to them, that a tax of one hundred pounds could
not be paid by a bushel of apples or an hundred of flour, which was
often the case two or three years ago. But instead of this, which
would have been plain and upright dealing, the little line of
temporary popularity, the feather of an hour's duration, was too
much pursued; and in this involved condition of things, every state,
for the want of a little thinking, or a little information, supposed
that it supported the whole expenses of the war, when in fact it fell,
by the time the tax was levied and collected, above three-fourths
short of its own quota.
Impressed with a sense of the danger to which the country was
exposed by this lax method of doing business, and the prevailing
errors of the day, I published, last October was a twelvemonth, the
Crisis Extraordinary, on the revenues of America, and the yearly
expense of carrying on the war. My estimation of the latter,
together with the civil list of Congress, and the civil list of the
several states, was two million pounds sterling, which is very
nearly nine millions of dollars.
Since that time, Congress have gone into a calculation, and have
estimated the expenses of the War Department and the civil list of
Congress (exclusive of the civil list of the several governments) at
eight millions of dollars; and as the remaining million will be
fully sufficient for the civil list of the several states, the two
calculations are exceedingly near each other.
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