the like reservation of a right to substitute other duties or taxes of equal value. There is a further appropriation, which will be noticed hereafter.

7th. "An act for raising a further sum of money for the pro- . tection of the frontiers, and for other purposes therein mentioned," passed May 2, 1792.

This act repeals, after June, 1792, the former duties on a number of imported articles, and establishes higher duties in their stead.

It extends, among other things, the duties on foreign distilled spirits, laying on those made from grain 28 to 50 cents per gallon; on others, 25 to 46 cents per gallon. The appropriation and duration of these new duties are conformable and co-extensive with those repealed. There is, likewise, an addition of 21 per cent. to that class of duties ad valorem, which, before, was rated at 5 per cent.; but this additional duty is limited to the term of two years.

Out of the surplus of these duties, after satisfying the permanent appropriations, certain gross sums are appropriated for the service of the War Department.

8th. "An act concerning the duties on spirits distilled within the United States," passed May 8, 1792.

This act repeals, after the last day of June, 1792, the former duties on spirits distilled within the United States, and on stills, and, instead of them, establishes lower duties, namely, on those made of foreign materials, from 10 to 25 cents per gallon, according to proof; on those made of domestic materials, if in cities, towns, or villages, or at distilleries, where the stills, singly or together, are of the capacity of 400 gallons, or upwards, from 7 to 18 cents per gallon, of the spirits distilled, according to proof; if made in other places, or at distilleries where the stills are of inferior capacity, the yearly rate of 54 cents per gallon, of the capacity of each still. A new option is given to the distiller, which is, instead of paying the yearly rate, to take out licenses for the monthly employment of his stills, paying, each time, 10 cents per gallon of the capacity of each still.

These new duties are appropriated in the same manner, and for

the same purposes, and are to continue for the same time, as those for which they are substitutes; and to make good any deficiency which may accrue from lowering the rates, the surplus of the duties imposed by the act of the second of the same month, is appropriated.

"An act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose," passed February 21, 1793.

This act ordains certain fees to be paid, by persons to whom patents are granted, for inventions, discoveries, or improvements, and appropriates them to the purpose of defraying clerk hire in the Department of State. Its duration is indefinite.

9th. "An act to establish the Post Office and post roads, within the United States," passed May 8, 1794.

This act establishes, to commence on the first of June following, various rates of postage on letters, and directs that the Postmaster shall render to the Treasury Department, a quarterly account of receipts and expenditures, and shall pay, quarterly, into the treasury, the balance in his hands.

The duration of this act is, also, indefinite. It contains no appropriation of the sums paid into the treasury.

10th. "An act laying duties upon carriages, for the convey. ance of persons," passed June 5, 1794.

This act lays different rates of duty, from ten dollars down to one dollar, upon carriages for the conveyance of persons, kept by or for any person, for his or her own use, or to be let to hire, or for the conveying of passengers; and to guard against misapprehension, declares, that the duties shall not be construed to extend to any carriage actually and chiefly employed in husbandry, or for the transporting or carrying of goods, wares, merchandise, produce, or commodities.

The duration of the duties is limited to the end of the session of Congress which shall be next after the term of two years, from the time of passing the act. It contains no appropriation.

11th. "An act laying duties on licenses for selling wines and foreign distilled spirituous liquors, by retail," passed June 5, 1794. This act requires, that every retail dealer in wines, shall take

out a yearly license, and shall pay for it a duty of five dollars; and that every retail dealer in foreign distilled spirituous liquors, shall also take out a yearly license, and pay for it a duty of five dollars. It defines a retail dealer in wines, to be a person who deals in the selling of wines, to be carried or sent out of the house, building, or place of his or her dwelling, in less quantities at one time than thirty gallons, except in the original cask, case, box, or package, in which it is imported. A retail dealer of spirituous liquors to be a person who shall deal in the selling of foreign distilled spirituous liquors, to be carried or sent out of the house, building, or place of his or her dwelling, in less quantities than twenty gallons, at one time. No difference is made between the dealer in several kinds of wines, or several kinds of foreign distilled liquors, and the dealer in one kind.

The same duration is assigned to this act, as to the one last cited. It is equally without an appropriation.

12th. "An act laying certain duties upon snuff and refined sugar," passed June 5, 1794.

This act lays a duty of eight cents per pound on all snuff which, after the 30th of September, 1794, should be manufactured within the United States, and of two cents per pound on all sugar which, after that day, should be refined within the United States. The remark made upon the two last recited acts, is applicable to this, as to the duration of the duties, and the appropriation of their proceeds.

13th. "An act laying additional duties on goods, wares, and merchandises, imported into the United States," passed June 7, 1794.

This act lays upon sundry enumerated articles, on their im portation from foreign countries, certain specific and ad valorem rates of duty, in addition to those before charged upon them, and adds generally, a duty of two and a half per centum on all that class of articles which were before chargeable with seven and a half per centum ad valorem. It also prolongs the temporary two and a half per centum, laid by the act of May 2, 1792, till the first of January, 1797, to which period the other duties laid by it are to continue. It contains no appropriation.

1-4th. "An act laying duties on property sold at auction, passed June 9, 1794.

This act lays a duty on sales at auction, by persons licensed according to the laws of a State, or this act, prohibiting others from selling at auction, of one-quarter per cent. of the purchase money arising from the sale of any right, interest, or estate, in lands, tenements, or hereditaments, utensils in husbandry, farming stock, or ships and vessels, of one-half per cent. of the purchase money, arising from the sales of any other goods, chattels, rights, or credits.

The term of these duties is limited to the end of the session next after the expiration of two years from the time of passing the act, which also is without an appropriation.

But, by an act entitled "An act making appropriations for certain purposes therein expressed," passed the same 9th of June, 1794, certain specific sums, amounting together to 1,292,137 dollars 38 cents, are charged upon the proceeds of the revenues which are created by the five last mentioned acts, and there is a reservation made out of them of a sum sufficient to pay the interest of whatever moneys may be borrowed pursuant to the act, entitled "An act making further provision for the expenses attending the intercourse of the United States with foreign nations," &c., passed the 20th of March, 1794, which sum is pledged for the payment of that interest.

These acts comprehend all the current revenues of the United States. Their product will appear hereafter.

In addition to them, a fund will be derived from the sale of the public lands in the Western territory. And there likewise occur, from time to time, payments into the treasury on account of old debts; but these are too casual, and of too little magnitude, to be more than cursorily mentioned.

The lands in the Western territory, of which the Government of the United States has acquired the right of soil, are estimated, in a report of the late Secretary of State, to amount to 21,000,000 of acres. This quantity, at twenty cents per acre, the price upon former occasions contemplated, would yield a sum of $4,200,000. But it is believed that it would be unsafe to count

upon so large a sum. Besides the uncertainty as to the proportion which may be of a saleable quality, and as to the price which may be obtained for it, the boundary line between the United States and the Indians is understood to be unsettled with regard to a large part of the tract on which the computation is made. If it ultimately yields three millions of dollars, it will probably equal every reasonable expectation.

II. The provisions for funding the debt, and for payment of interest upon it, are comprised in the following acts:

1st. "An act making provision for the debt of the United States," passed August 4, 1790.

This act, commonly called the funding act, contains these several provisions, viz.:

1. It reserves out of the proceeds of the duties on imports and tonnage, for the support of the Government of the United States, and their common defence, the yearly sum of 600,000 dollars.

2. It appropriates so much of the same proceeds as should be necessary, to the payment of interest on foreign loans, before that time contracted, or which should afterwards be contracted, for discharging the arrears of interest, and the principal of antecedent foreign loans, to continue so appropriated, till the debt created by those loans should be fully discharged.

3. It authorizes the President to borrow any sum or sums, not exceeding $12,000,000, to discharge the arrears of interest upon, and the instalments of the principal of the foreign debt, due and to grow due; and if to be effected on advantageous terms, to pay off the whole of that debt; and further authorizes him to make such other contracts respecting it as should be found for the interest of the United States, so that no engagement or contract should preclude from reimbursing the sums borrowed, within fifteen years after they should be borrowed.

4. In order to adapt the form of the domestic debt to the then circumstances of the United States, as far as should be found practicable, “consistently with good faith and the rights of the