State of the Finances. For foreign intercourse, including the diplo- But the appropriation only amounts to matic fund; For the maintenance of prisoners of war; and For the support of American seamen in foreign countries. Leaving a deficit of 250,000 $19,000 Upon this statement it is proposed to suspend the purchase at Baltimore until an additional ap4. Of the miscellaneous business of the Depart-propriation can be obtained; but to complete the ment. The several important objects confided to the Department, independent of its merely fiscal duties, have received attention. Without entering into a minute enumeration of them, the following are proper to be selected for notice: 1. The survey of the coast.-The necessary instruments having been secured, Mr. Hassler has been employed as the superintendent of the work, upon the principle and terms stated in his letter of instructions, dated the 3d of August, 1816. purchase of the establishments in New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, upon an enlarged scale, and more adequate to the growing commerce of those cities. 4. The Legislative calls for information.Several resolutions were passed, during the last session of Congress, requiring information at the next session upon various subjects; and arrangements have been made to enable the Department to report. The resolutions and correspondence on file will furnish you the particulars. 5. The case of Hoyt vs. Gelston et al.—In con2. The road from Cumberland to Ohio.-The sequence of instructions issued from the Treasury course of the road having been confirmed by the Department, by authority of the President, the President, from Cumberland to Uniontown, thence collector and surveyor of the port of New York to Brownsville, thence through Washington and seized the ship called the "American Eagle," unAlexandria to Wheeling, Colonel Eli Williams der the charge of being illegally armed and equiphas been employed to survey and locate the road ped within the United States, for the purpose from Brownsville to Wheeling, as well as to ex- of waging hostilities against a friendly foreign amine the deviations which have been made by Power. Upon a trial in the district court of New Mr. Shriver, from the route originally proposed York the vessel was ordered to be restored, and by the Commissioners. Several plans have also the judge refused to grant a certificate that there been suggested for dividing the road into sections, was a probable cause of seizure. The owner and for expediting the work. But the difficulties brought an action of trespass against the seizing which have arisen require immediate care and officers in the State courts, and recovered damaattention, and may be traced in the correspond-ges to the amount of $107,369 43. The cause ence between this Department and Colonel Williams and Mr. Shriver. has been transferred by order of the President from the court of errors in New York to the Su3. The Custom-house establishment.-The 8th preme Court of the United States, where it is section of the act of the 30th of April, 1816, has now depending for a final judgment, and, probaappropriated $250,000 for custom-house estab- bly, the judgment will be rendered at February lishments, upon a suggestion from this Depart-term next. As the collector and surveyor acted ment to the Committee of Ways and Means, with in obedience to their orders, they appear to be ena view to the accommodation of the five principal titled to an indemnity from the Government; the commercial cities, to wit: Boston, New York, subject was, therefore, submitted to the CommitPhiladelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston. The tee of Ways and Means at the last session, and a only establishment previously owned by the Gov- report was made by the committee in favor of ernment was the custom-house at New Orleans. the proposed indemnity. It is important that the From the correspondence with the respective report should be taken up and decided early in collectors, and reports which have been made to the next session. All the facts and proceedings the President, it will appear that the purchase of in the case may be traced in the report of this a custom-house at Boston has cost $29,000 Department to the Senate, during the session endThat a purchase has been authorized at ing in 1816, and in the report to the Committee New York, at a price not exceeding of Ways and Means during the session. That a purchase has been authorized at Philadelphia, at a price for the site, and the buildings to be erected, which will probably amount to That a negotiation has taken place with the trustees for building an Exchange at Baltimore, who offer to erect and convey to the Government a suitable establishment, being part of the Exchange, for And that a site and buildings may be purchased at Charleston for the sum of - 55,000 6. The direct tax of Georgia.-The Legisla ture of Georgia assumed the quota of the direct tax imposed upon that State for 1816; but the 65,000 Governor did not give notice of the assumption, within the period prescribed by law, although the amount of the tax was remitted to the Treasurer in certain drafts, before the day fixed for paying it, in order to entitle the State to the abatement of fifteen per cent. Under these circumstances the 70,000 gross amount of the quota has been paid into the Treasury, subject to the relief which Congress may hereafter provide. 50,000 $269.000 All which is respectfully submitted. TREASURY DEP'T, Sept. 20,1816. State of the Finances. POSTCRIPT. The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to add, that certain occurrences, happening since the foregoing report was presented, merit observation. 1. The situation of the public credit and resources at Boston has enabled the Treasury to discharge the loan of $500,000, long due to the State bank, in the following manner: By a draft for cash, amounting to By a draft for Treasury notes of the new emission, bearing interest at their par value $130,000 370,000 $500,000 2. The situation of the Treasury has authorized an additional notice for the payment of Trea sury notes, payable in New York. 3. The existing prospect justifies an expectation that the Treasury will be able to pay all its engagements in the Eastern States with the local currency, before the expiration of the present year. A. J. DALLAS. TREASURY DEP'T, Sept. 30, 1816. [Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 20, 1816.] In obedience to the directions of the act supplementary to the act, entitled "An act to establish the Treasury Department," the Secretary of the Treasury respectfully submits the following report and estimates: REVENUE. The net revenue arising from duties on merchandise and tonnage, internal duties, direct tax, public lands, postage, and incidental receipts which accrued during the year eighteen hundred and fourteen, (1814,) amounted to And that which accrued from the same sources during the year 1815, amounted to $11,500,606 25 49,893,219 02 The revenue which has accrued from the same sources during the first three quarters of the year eighteen hundred and sixteen, (1816,) and that which will accrue during the remaining quarter, is estimated to amount to $38,650,000 00 VIZ: Customs Internal duties Direct tax (net proceeds) $30,000,000 00 Public lands (exclusive of the receipts in the Mississippi Territory) 1,500,000 00 Postage and incidental receipts 300,000 00 38,650,000 00 The receipts in the Treasury from the same sources during the year eighteen hundred and sixteen, (1816,) are estimated at Customs Direct tax Internal duties Public lands Postage and incidental receipts VIZ: Treasury notes: amount issued prior to the 1st of October, 1816, un der the act of 24th February, 1815. Notes bearing interest per statement L 4,274,800 00 Small Treasury notes not bearing interest, amount issued and reissued 712,586 91 5,773,168 00 -10,047,968 00 -10,760,554 91 57,660,554 91 13,106,592 88 Making the total amount estimated to be actually received in the Treasury during the year 1816 Cash in the Treasury at the commencement of the year (including an item of $6,361,125 43 in Treasury notes,) which had been paid for duties and taxes Making the amount estimated to be actually received into the Treasury during the year, including the sum in the Treasury on the first day of January last The application of the moneys actually received into the Treasury during the year 1816, will be as follows: To the 30th of September the payments have amounted to the following sums nearly, (the accounts being not yet made up, the precise number cannot be given.) For civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous expenses Military service, (including an arrearage of $11,212,560 00) 2,359,404 99 14,079,009 27 2,707,009 27 70,667,147 79 $32,762,416 84 During the fourth quarter of the year the payments are estimated to amount to For civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous expenses Naval service Public debt, viz: interest and reimbursement to the 1st of January, 1816, inclusive Reimbursement of Treasury notes 2,100,000 00 13,000,000 00 -15,100,000 00 19,500,000 00 52,262,416 84 The receipts into the Treasury during the year have been estimated at 57,660,564 91 Leaving in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1817, the sum of Of which sum it is estimated that $10,000,000 will be in cash, and the remainder in Treasury notes, principally issued under the act of the 24th of February, 1815, which cannot be reimbursed without an appropriation for that purpose. Notwithstanding the favorable situation of the Treasury, the disordered state of the currency still continues to embarrass the fiscal operations of the Government. The expectation which had been formed, that the demands upon the Treasury, in the Eastern section of the Union, might be paid in the local currency by the end of the year, has not been realized. To discharge the claims in that quarter, arising from the interest and reimbursement of the public debt, which will be payable on the 1st of January next, small Treasury notes must he issued, or a temporary loan must be obtained from the Bank of the United States, to the amount of those demands. The latter alternative has been embraced, and a proposition for that purpose has been made to the bank, and has been favorably received by it. When those claims are satisfied there will be no further embarrassment until the next quarterly payment of interest. To prevent the necessity of resorting again to loans for that object, the reissue of Treasury notes of all descriptions should be discontinued. When this course is adopted, and State of the Finances. persevered in, the revenue in that quarter will be collected in current money, and will be more than sufficient to satisfy all the claims of the public creditors. The more certainly to effect that object, it is respectfully recommended that an appropriation be made, during the present session of Congress, for the reimbursement of the whole of the Treasury notes, issued under the act of the 24th of February, 1815. The Treasury notes issued under the preceding laws have either been reimbursed or provision made for that object during the last quarter of the year. The acts under which they issued having, by appropriations, provided for their reimbursement, no further appropriations are necessary for that purpose. OF THE PUBLIC DEBT. The funded debt contracted before the late war, which was unredeemed on the 1st of January, 1816, amounted, as per statement B, to By the same statement, it appears that the funded debt contracted on account of the late war, amounted, on that day, to Making the whole funded debt, on the 1st of January, 1816, amount to Due the State bank, Boston Cumberland bank, Maine Banks in the District of Columbia State of New York Making an aggregate amount, on that day, of $38,340,906 77 65,944,434 29 105,350,341 06 To this amount there has been added, between the 1st day of January, 1816, and the 30th of September, the following sums, viz: 6 per cent. stock of 1814 6 per cent. stock of 1815 6 per cent. Treasury note stock 7 per cent. Treasury note stock $229,801 31 58,245 78 - 4,570,621 00 5,257,116 99 From which deduct temporary loans paid offReimbursement of old six per cent, stock and deferred stock $1,025,000 00 846,639 76 Making the whole public debt, on the 30th of September, 1816, as appears by statement C, amount to Add the amount of seven per cent. stock, which it is estimated will be created Makes the estimated amount of the public debt, on the 1st of January, 1817 And the compromise with the Yazoo claimants has created stock to the amount of 109,266,223 29 7,000,000 00 4,098,615 29 But as the first is only an exchange for the same amount of bank capital, which will, probably, produce an excess of dividends beyond the interest payable on the stock, equal to the reimbursement of the principal, before the expiration of the charter, and the second bears no interest, and will, probably, be reimbursed by the sales of the public lands in the Mississippi Territory, during the three succeeding years, no further provision for their ultimate redemption appears to be necessary. SINKING FUND. According to the existing laws, the Sinking Fund consists of a permanent appropriation, $8,000,000 per annum, which is vested in the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, to be by them applied to the payment of the interest of the public debt, and to the redemption of the principal. Of this sum there will be required, during the year 1817, for the payment of interest, $6,084,415 93; leaving the sum of $1,915,584 07 to be applied to the redemption of the principal of the debt. This sum, State of the Finances. operating upon the principle of compound interest, will not redeem the whole amount of the funded debt before the year 1842. An attentive examination of the rise and progress of public debts in other countries cannot fail to impress the American Republic with the necessity of making suitable exertions, in periods of peace, to release the national revenue from so heavy an encumbrance. Although, from our happy form of Government, and from our fortunate geographical position, we may reasonably calculate upon being less frequently subjected to the calamities of war than has hitherto fallen to the lot of other civilized nations, yet reason and experience forbid the expectation that we shall be exempted from its evils until the redemption of the public debt shall be effected by the operation of the existing Sinking Fund. By referring to the laws authorizing the several loans, which, during the late war, have swelled the public debt to its present amount, Congress has uniformly pledged the faith of the nation to provide sufficient funds for the payment of the interest, and the redemption of the principal of the debt so created. The time has now arrived when that pledge ought to be redeemed. It is, therefore, respectfully proposed, that there be annually appropriated the sum of $2,000,000, in addition to the sum of $8,000,000, now applicable to the payment of the interest, and the redemption of the public debt; and that that sum be vested in the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, to be applied in the same manner as the existing Sinking Fund. It is also proposed that when the six per cent. stock can be purchased at par, or the seven per cent. stock can be purchased at six per cent. premium, or when a greater amount can be redeemed, according to the conditions attached to the different loans, of which the funded debt is composed, than the amount of the Sinking Fund applicable to the redemption of the principal of the funded debt within any one year, there be paid to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund the further sum of $1,000,000 out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, if such payment can be made; leaving a balance in the Treasury, at the end of the year, of $2,000,000; which additional sum shall be applied to the redemption or purchase of the principal of the debt. As the funded stock which may be subscribed by individuals to the Bank of the United States is redeemable at the will of the Government, and as the Louisiana stock is to be reimbursed in four annual instalments, commencing in the year 1818, the effect of the provision will be an annual addition of $1,000,000 for the succeeding six years, if the state of the Treasury will admit of its execution. By the operation of the Sinking Fund, thus enlarged, the whole funded debt will be extinguished within the term of fourteen years. In the present unsettled state of the revenue, arising from the excessive importations of foreign merchandise during the previous and present year; from the change in the rate of duties imposed upon merchandise; and from changes made in the various branches of internal revenue, it would be unsafe to vest the whole of the surplus revenue of the present year in the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, as there is strong reason to believe that the revenue which will accrue during the year 1817, will fall considerably below the permanent annual expenditure, inclusive of the addition proposed to be made to the Sinking Fund. That deficiency, as well as any other which may occur in the two succeeding years, will be covered by the balances which it is estimated will be in the Treasury on the 1st day of January, 1817 and 1818. Of the estimate of the Public Revenue and Expenditures for the year 1816. The probable authorized demands upon the Treasury, during the year 1817, are estimated to amount to Viz:-Civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous expenses Public debt $21,751,797 57 $1,765,513 03 3,986,658 75 8,000,000 00 21,751,797 57 1,540,000 00 Deduct war arrearage Add for annual incidental expenses, not embraced in the estimate Making the permanent annual expenditure 20,211,797 57 288,202 43 To which add the sum proposed to the Sinking Fund Making, in the whole, an aggregate amount for the permanent annual expenditure, until the public debt is redeemed, of The annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, for the year 1815, estimated the revenue which would accrue during the year 1816, under the modifications proposed by that report to the existing laws for raising revenue, at $25,600,000 00 |