h he published in November, 1796. It
presents under three sections the revenues, the expenses, and the debts
of the United States, each subdivided into special heads. The arguments
are supported by elaborate tabular statements. No such exhaustive
examination had been made of the state of the American finances. The one
cardinal principle which he laid down was the extinguishment of debt. He
severely criticised Hamilton's methods of funding, and outlined those
which he himself later applied. He charged upon Hamilton direct
violations of law in the application of money, borrowed as principal, to
the payment of interest on that principal. The public funds he regarded
as three in number: 1st, the sinking fund; 2d, the surplus fund; 3d, the
general fund.

In July, 1800, Mr. Gallatin published a second pamphlet, "Views of the
Public Debt, Receipts, and Expenditures of the United States," the
object of the inquiry being to ascertain the result of the fiscal
operations of the government under the Constitution. The entire field of
American finance is examined from its beginning. He severely condemns
the mode of assumption of the state debts in Hamilton's original plan,
and no doubt his strictures are technically correct. The debts assumed
for debtor States were not due by the United States, nor was there any
moral reason for their assumption. But the assumption was sound
financial policy, and all the cost to the nation was amply repaid by the
order which their assumption drew out of chaos, and the vigor given to
the general credit by the strengthening of that of its parts. The course
of the Federalists and Republicans on this question shows that the
former had at heart the welfare of all the States, while the latter
confined their interest to their own body politic.

Had Mr. Gallatin never penned another line on finance, these two
remarkable papers would place him in the first rank of economists and
statisticians. There are no errors in his figures, no flaws in his
reasoning, no faults in his deductions. In construction and detail, as
parts of a complete financial system of administration, they are beyond
criticism. Opinions may differ as to the ends sought, but not as to the
means to those ends.

For a long period Mr. Gallatin found no more time for essays; he was
now to apply his methods. These may be traced in his printed treasury
reports, which are lucid and instructive. He was appointed to the
Treasury on May 14, 1801, as