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direct and appoint; provided, always, that in such numeration no persons shall be included who are bound to servitude for life, according to the laws of the State to which they belong, other than such as may be between the ages of* years.'

MONDAY, MARCH 10TH.

The Committee, consisting of Mr. CARROLL, Mr. DYER, and Mr. MIFFLIN, to whom was referred the Report of the Committee on two paragraphs of a report of the Grand Committee, brought in a report; and the Report of the Committee being taken into consideration, and amended, so as to read as follows: "That such officers as are now in service, and shall continue therein to the end of the war, shall be entitled to receive the sum of five years' full pay, in money or securities, on interest at six per cent. per annum, at the option of Congress, instead of the half-pay promised for life, by the resolution of the twentyfirst of October, 1780; the said securities to be such as shall be given to the other creditors of the United States; provided that it be at the option of the lines of the respective States, and not of officers individually in those lines, to accept or refuse the same; that all officers who have retired from service upon

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In the draft, as laid before the Committee by tenth paragraph, the word "reasonable" before the word "expenses" was not inserted; but to the paragraph was added, “provided that this allowance shall not be extended to any expenses which shall be declared, by nine votes in Congress, to be manifestly unreasonable." In other respects the original draft was unaltered, except that a former resolution of Congress, in the words of the ninth paragraph, was incorporated by the secretary before it went to the press.

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the promise of half-pay for life, shall be entitled to the benefits of the above resolution; provided that those of the line of each State, collectively, shall agree thereto; that the same commutation shall extend to the corps not belonging to the lines of particular States, the acceptance or refusal to be determined by corps; that all officers entitled to half-pay for life, not included in the above resolution, may, collectively, agree to accept or refuse the commutation."

Much debate passed relative to the proposed commutation of half-pay; some wishing it to take place on condition only that a majority of the whole army should concur; others preferring the plan above expressed, and not agreed to.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11TH.

The Report entered on Friday, the seventh of March, was taken into consideration. It had been sent, by order of Congress, to the Superintendent of Finance for his remarks, which were also on the table. These remarks were, in substance: that it would be better to turn the five per cent., ad valorem, into a tariff, founded on an enumeration of the several classes of imports, to which ought to be added a few articles of exports; that, instead of an apportionment of the residue on the States, other general revenues-from a land tax, reduced to onefourth of a dollar per hundred acres, with a house tax, regulated by the numbers of windows, and an

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excise on all spirituous liquors, to be collected at the place of distillery-ought to be substituted, and, as well as the duties on trade, made co-existent with the public debts; the whole to be collected by persons appointed by Congress alone. And that an alternative ought to be held out to the States, either to establish the permanent revenues for the interest, or to comply with a constitutional demand of the principal within a very short period.

In order to ascertain the sense of Congress on these ideas, it was proposed that the following short questions should be taken:

1. Shall any taxes, to operate generally throughout the States, be recommended by Congress, other than duties on foreign commerce?

2. Shall the five per cent., ad valorem, be exchanged for a tariff?

3. Shall the alternative be adopted, as proposed by the Superintendent of Finance?

On the first question the States were, New Hampshire, no; Connecticut, no; New Jersey, no; Maryland, no; Virginia, no; six noes and five ayes-lost.

On the second question there were seven ayes. The third question was not put, its impropriety being generally proclaimed.

In consequence of the second vote in favor of a tariff, the three first paragraphs of the Report were recommitted, together with the letter from the Superintendent of Finance.

On the fourth paragraph, on motion of Mr. DYER, after the word "war," in the fifth line, was inserted agreeably to the resolution of the sixteenth of December last."

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A motion was made by Mr. HAMILTON and Mr. WILSON to strike out the limitation of twenty-five years, and to make the revenue co-existent with the debts. This question was lost, the States being New Hampshire, no; Massachusetts, no; Connecticut, divided; New York, aye; New Jersey, aye; Pennsylvania, aye; Delaware, aye; Maryland, aye; Virginia, no; North Carolina, aye; South Carolina, no.

A motion was made by Mr. HAMILTON and Mr. WILSON to strike out the clauses relative to the appointment of collectors, and to provide that the collectors should be inhabitants of the States within which they should collect; should be nominated by Congress, and appointed by the States; and in case such nomination should not be accepted or rejected within days, it should stand good. On this question there were five ayes and six noes.

WEDNESDAY, 12TH, THURSDAY, 13TH, FRIDAY, 14TH, and SATURDAY, 15TH of MARCH.

These days were employed in reading the despatches brought on Wednesday morning by Captain Barney, commanding the Washington packet. They were dated from December the fourth to the twenty-fourth, from the Ministers Plenipotentiary for peace, with journals of preceding transactions; and were accompanied by the preliminary articles signed on the thirtieth of November, between the said Ministers and Mr. Oswald, the British Minister.

The terms granted to America appeared to Congress, on the whole, extremely liberal. It was observed by several, however, that the stipulation obliging Congress to recommend to the States a restitution of confiscated property, although it could scarcely be understood that the States would comply, had the appearance of sacrificing the dignity of Congress to the pride of the British King.

The separate and secret manner in which our Ministers had proceeded with respect to France, and the confidential manner with respect to the British Ministers, affected different members of Congress differently. Many of the most judicious members thought they had all been, in some measure, ensnared by the dexterity of the British Minister; and particularly disapproved of the conduct of Mr. Jay, in submitting to the enemy his jealousy of the French, without even the knowledge of Dr. Franklin, and of the unguarded manner in which he, Mr. Adams, and Dr. Franklin, had given, in writing, sentiments unfriendly to our Ally, and serving as weapons for the insidious policy of the enemy. The separate

article was most offensive, being considered as obtained by Great Britain, not for the sake of the territory ceded to her, but as a means of disuniting the United States and France, as inconsistent with the spirit of the alliance, and a dishonorable departure from the candor, rectitude and plain dealing professed by Congress. The dilemma in which Congress were placed was sorely felt. If If they should communicate to the French Minister every thing, they exposed their own Ministers, destroyed all confidence in them on the part of France, and

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