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A memorial respecting these bills was presented to the House of Representatives in the month of March, 1798, by Ball and the others concerned.... a committee was appointed to examine their claims. This committee, in their report, quotes the above clause, and then adds the following observations: "The interest accruing on them (viz. the bills) was to have been paid by the United States annually, if called for, in bills of exchange on Europe, and the amount charged to the States respectively. It does not appear, however, that any such payments were made." The interest was several times called for, but never paid; so that in the beginning Congress broke their bargain.

The report then remarks, that the greater part of those bills had been redeemed by the States which stood indebted for them, and adds, that "the bills for which payment is now demanded, are chiefly of those issued by the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode-Island. This species of paper has never been considered as forming any part of the debt of the United States; in the various arrangements which have been made since the establishment of the present government relative to the debt of the United States, no provision has ever been made for those bills." This appears a strange assertion, for the indorsement upon each of them stood thus: "The United States ensure the payment of the within bill, and will draw bills of exchange for the interest, annually, if demanded."

At the end of eighteen years this interest is demanded; and the committee report, that the endorsers are not obliged to pay it although the endorsement is not denied.

The committee next observe, that on January 16th, 1795, Mr. Wolcott reported to Congress upon these bills, which the holders had lodged for payment at the Treasury office. The total amount of the principal sums was ninety thousand five hundred and seventy-five dollars The Secretary's plan of redemption I shall give in his own words, viz. that these bills "should be provided for by taking the principal sum of them, without interest, on loan, at five per cent. payable quarter-yearly, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States, and payable in thirty years."

As Mr. Wolcott admits the claim was just, the interest certainly became as much due as the principal sum. At the same time when the committee made their report, the simple interest amounted to nearly the original sum. In 1798, the money had been owing for eighteen years, and the bills were to bear an interest, according to the original terms of agreement, at five per cent. The interest, therefore, came to eighty-one thousand, five hundred and nine dollars and sixty cents....if it had been paid annually, as in justice it ought to have been, it would have amounted vastly higher; for the creditors would then have reaped the advantage of compound interest. Supposing this to have been the case, the account will stand thus:

Gg

Principal Sum

Dollars.

90,574

Compound Interest for fourteen years
and an hundred and five days, at

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If this collective sum be divided into five equal parts, the interest will make exactly three out of these five parts. In other words, if Mr. Wolcott's plan had been adopted, the creditors would have been practically and in substance, defrauded out of three fifths of their money. They would have been just in the situation of a man who receives a bankrupt composition of eight shillings per pound.

Upon this scheme of the Secretary, Mr. Ball and the other bill-holders would have made a most pitiful bargain. It would have been singular in any other man but Mr. Wolcott to have proposed such a heavy reduction, after acknowledging in the strongest and fullest terms, the justice of the whole debt. But the nefarious inconsistencies of the cidevant Secretary of the Treasury are notorious. The committee then proceed thus: "Good faith demands that the United States should supply the omissions of the States which issued the bills, by providing themselves at the least for the interest upon them; but it is not easy to pronounce on

what terms they ought to be provided for"....it is granted, however, by the committee, that Congress were bound to provide for the interest on some terms or other. "It is a well known fact,"

continues the report," that these bills sunk in the same vortex of depreciation with the old continental bills, and while they continued to circulate, were generally in the ratio of forty of the old for one of the new. This unfortunate depreciation, which operated upon all the paper money notes and certificates, issued during the war, necessitated the United States to adopt principles relative to them, which cannot apply in case of ordinary contract. The States, individually, have assumed sim ilar privileges, and in making provision for the bills in question, in some instances have considered them as depreciated currency. The committee are informed, that all the States who issued bills of this description, have already made provision for their redemption either at their nominal amount, or a certain ratio of depreciation, except the State of Rhode-Island; and they think, it is fairly to be presumed, that the States have made as liberal a provision as the nature of the case demanded. The United States have once made allowances to the several States, in settlements of their accounts for the supplies for which those bills were issued ; should they make any further provision, they must consider the several States as indebted to them for. the amount of such provision..

"From an attentive consideration of all the circumstances of this case, which the committee have endeavored fully to examine and present to the view of the House, they are of opinion, that it will not be expedient for Congress to make any provision for the payment of the said bills, or any interest thereon; they therefore recommend, that the petitioners respectfully have leave to withdraw their petitions."

The House of Representatives agreed to the report, and Ball and his fellow sufferers were obliged to submit to the fraud.

CHAPTER VIII.

Meeting of Congress....Speech of the President.... Remarks....Impeachment of Blount....Gerry's dispatches....Story of the female spy and her tubs of seditious papers....Acts passed by Congress.

ON Monday, the 3d of December, the third session of the fifth Congress commenced; but eight members being absent from the Senate of the number necessary to form a quorum, the President did not meet them until the 8th. A melancholy gloom was diffused over the countenances both of the Senators and the Representatives. They had assembled at the close of the greatest pestilence America had yet experienced, and there were few of them who had not to lament the loss of some par

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