the necessities or luxuries of the people. The West Indies and Europe
furnish a ready market for all we raise beyond what is necessary for
our own consumption. The embargoes and restrictions, which were once
thought necessary to enable us to obtain a scanty supply for our army,
have been unknown among us for three years past; and yet a most ample
provision has been made both for our troops and those of our allies.
Our trade with the Havana has furnished considerable sums in specie;
paper is entirely out of circulation, if we except the bank paper,
which, being payable at sight in specie, is equal to it in value. So
extensive has this circulation been, that the managers, not long
since, published a distribution of the first _half year's_ dividend at
four and a half per cent, notwithstanding a variety of expenses to
which they had been put, in the first organization of the bank. So
that the profit upon bank stock, is generally estimated at about ten
per cent per annum, which will, I should conceive, when known in
Europe, be a strong inducement with many people, those particularly
who have thoughts of coming to this country, to lodge their money
here.

I would not, however, have you think the flourishing state of the
bank (which is the property of a private company, under the protection
of government) a certain indication of the happy situation of our own
finances. This is by no means the case. The demand for money to
replace the property, which the enemy have destroyed, to repair
buildings, and the profits which commerce yields, together with the
difficulty of forming new systems of taxation in a country, which has
hitherto scarce known a tax, beyond what was necessary for the support
of its own frugal governments, renders the collection of a direct tax
extremely difficult. Duties and excises must be levied upon some
general system, so as to prevent one State from depending on another.
This has been attempted by a five per cent duty on all imports, but it
has hitherto been defeated by the refusal of Rhode Island to come into
the plan. Congress are about to send down a committee of their own
body to urge them to a compliance with this measure. Should it be
attended with success, a very considerable revenue will arise from
that source. Public credit, which has so frequently tottered during
the revolution, will be established upon a firm and lasting basis.

The evacuation of the southern States, which we have reason to be