455
PAPERS OF :M1RABEAU Buo APARTE Lin1AR
from whence our chief upplie of munition were to be obtained, and a more direct supervision of its naval and other maritime concerns. Such removal wa accordingly effected within a fe,v days after the government was created. ., . At thi gloomy period the financial affairs of the country were m a condition more deplorable than its military equipments. The com- missioners, :Messrs. Austin, Archer, and Wha1i.on, appointed by the late P1:ovisional Government, had negociflted a loan for two hundred thousand dollars, and another for fifty thou.sand, with undry in<li- vidnals in the city of Kew Orleans. It was doubtles the best arrange- ment that could be made at that period. l\Ir. Robert 'l'riplett, a prin- cipal ubseriber to each of the above loan , pre ented himself to the government at ITarrisbnrg. 'l'wenty thousand dollars had been paid in on the first loan, and the whole of the second was advanced. ';I'he rati-6cation of those loans had been . ubmitted to the onvent10n, and by them wa referred to the Execntive Government. On inspecting the terms of the loans; ome of the conditions were considered inad- ini sible. The e:xclu ive right to an immediate location of the scrip, wa a privilen-e, which it wa believed would cause infinite dissatisfac~ tion in the country, and be e pecially obnoxious to the volunteers of the army; the nature of whose ervices, would seem to preclude any right of priority of location, in other.. For no pecie of public ervice is con. i lcred mor onerou , or more entitled to recompencc, than that which is rendered in the field of battle. nder these impre sion , we propo ed to l\Ir. Triplett a mqdification of the loan , and agreed to reduce the price of the land, or rather to make a donation of thirty- two leagues of land, to be distributed rwo mfa among the . tockholder , in consideration of a relinqui bmcnt of the rin-ht of priority of location, conceded to them, by the erms of the ori 0 'inal contract. T11e modi- fication was accepte<:} by lr. Triplett for himself. He was not ve ted with authority to bind his co-lender ; but he expres ed an opinion that they also would accede to it. From the first loan, the government confidently anticipated a fiscal aid of some importance, in the. then pres ing cme1·gency; but a the . equel will disclose, they were un- happily di appointed. :Mr. Triplett, on his return to the nited States, pre cnted hi modi•fied contract to his a sociate tockholders, and to our . urpri. e they unanimou ly voted again t it rec~ption, and declined advancing the residuum of the loan. Some disappointment re ulted from this decision of t11e lenders; and the n-overnment felt the inconvenience of an illusory anticipation. A new propo ition ha. been made to the lenders, to adjust the amounts advanced, on the principles of the modified contract; but no definite an wer has been had to that overture. The preseumption is ,that it will not be accepted, and tlrnt the settlement of the whole transaction, will devolve on Con"'ress, for I have lonrr since determined to submit the whcle matter to your deci ion. · The result of this negociation afforded conclusive evidence of the impracticability of anticipatinn- the wants of the country, by ordinary loans. Some other cour e wa necessary, and \he government resolved to i ne scrip for land, considering the public domain as the most available and the least objectionable source of public revenue. Accord-
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