IV. CHAPTER any number which did not operate unequally on some states. At the end of that period the former decision on 1792. the constitutional point was set aside, and the policy was adopted of allowing representatives to the larger fractions. In providing for the census of 1850, by fixing beforehand the number of the House, an obvious and simple expedient was hit upon for preventing a repetition of tedious and unprofitable contests as to the exact ratio to be adopted. The news of the defeat of St. Clair by the Indians produced so much alarm on the western frontier, that the Legislatures of Pennsylvania and Virginia made provision for raising state troops for immediate defense. A detailed report from the War Department on the state of the frontier, and the origin and progress of the Indian hostilities, having been laid before Congress, a bill was Jan. 21. introduced in accordance with its recommendations, and presently passed (though not without serious opposition from several Northern members, who generally supported the views of the administration), for completing the two existing regiments to nine hundred and sixty men each, and adding three others of equal strength—the additional regiments to be disbanded, however, at the conclusion of the Indian war. The battalion of artillery was to be recruited to its full establishment, and one of the new regiments was to include a battalion of dragoons, the president being authorized to call into temporary service such additional cavalry as might be found necessary. This would give an army of five thousand men and more, to be commanded by a major general and four brigadier generals, provision being made by the bill for three additional brigadiers. St. Clair having resigned, Washington was disposed to give the chief command to Henry Lee, distinguished as a parti IV. san officer in the Southern campaigns under Greene, CHAPTER and lately elected governor of Virginia. But as there threatened to be difficulty in persuading some of those 1792. destined for inferior commands to serve under one who had been their junior in the Revolutionary army, Washington finally selected as major general, Wayne, just ousted from his seat in the House. This appointment, like most other acts of the government, was very unpopular in Virginia, but, as in many other things which Virginia disapproved, the result proved the soundness of Washington's judgment. While he yet retained his seat, Wayne had succeeded in getting through Congress a bill for the relief of Greene's family from the pecuniary responsibilities to which that general had subjected himself through his anxiety to uphold the commissary's department of the Southern army-a bill which did not pass without strong objections from Sumter, who took great offense at some extracts from Greene's letters, contained in Gordon's recently published History of the American War, not quite complimentary enough, as Sumter thought, to the South Carolina militia. The places of first and second brigadiers, declined by Morgan and Willett, were given to Otho H. Williams and Rufus Putnam, among the junior brigadiers of the Revolutionary army. Willett seemed to have scruples about the justice of the war. "The intercourse I have had with these people," he wrote, "and the treatment which I have myself received from them, and which I have known others to receive, makes me an advocate for them. The honor of fighting and beating Indians is what I do not aspire after." The other two brigadiers were Brooks, of Massachusetts, who had commanded a regiment during the late war, and Wilkinson, late commandant of the second regiment. As this last appoint IV. CHAPTER ment was made with a full knowledge of the imputations against Wilkinson, of having been concerned in 1792. intrigues with the Spanish at New Orleans for the separation of Kentucky from the Union, those imputations, it is probable, could not have made much impression on Washington's mind. The subject of St. Clair's defeat was referred, toward the end of the session, to a special committee, with pow er to send for persons and papers. A call by this committee upon the War Department for all the papers relating to the expedition first raised the question of the extent of the authority of the House in such matters. It was unanimously agreed by the cabinet that the House had no power to call on the head of any department for any public paper, except through the president, in whose discretion it rested to furnish such papers as the public good might seem to require and admit; and that all such calls must be made by special resolution of the House, the power to make them being an authority which could not be delegated to any committee. Such was the origin of the form of proceeding, ever since in use, in calling upon the president for public papers. To support the increased army, an additional revenue would be needed to the amount of $673,500. The resistance encountered by a motion to call upon the Secretary of the Treasury to report the ways and means of meeting this additional expense made it sufficiently evident that the distrust of that officer felt by Jefferson was shared by a considerable party in the House. Hamilton's report suggested three ways of raising the money: a sale of the bank stock belonging to the government, a loan, or additional taxes. He objected to the sale of the bank stock, especially as it was every day rising in value, and if sold at all, he thought the proceeds should be applied IV. to the reduction of the public debt. As the extinction CHAPTER of that debt ought to be a leading object, he was decid-. edly opposed to increasing it by a loan. Perhaps Hamil- 1792. ton had in his eye the charges urged against him in Freneau's Gazette, that it was part of his policy to saddle the nation with a debt never intended to be discharged, and that the limitations as to redemption had been inserted into the Funding Act with that very object. Taxation remaining as the only resource, an increase in the duties on imports was considered the kind of tax best adapted to the present occasion. Such constant additions to the burdens of commerce, and such frequent changes in the rate of duties, were indeed to be regretted; but he consoled himself with the reflection that the improved state of public credit gave increased facilities to the merchants, and by the hope that the additional duties might give a new impulse to the spirit of manufacturing already extensively prevalent, and thus essentially serve to promote the industry, wealth, and substantial independence of the country. In conformity with a resolution of the preceding Congress, Hamilton had already, earlier in the session, presented an elaborate report on the policy of protecting domestic manufactures, with an answer to the objections made against it—a summary of the argument on that side of the question to which subsequent discussions have added but little. In substantial conformity to Hamilton's recommendations, a new tariff act fixed the rate of duty on Canary, Port, Lisbon, St. Lucar, Sherry, and Madeira wines at from twenty to fifty-six cents per gallon, all other wines to pay forty per cent. on the value. Spirits distilled from grain were to pay from twenty-eight to fifty cents, and all other distilled spirits from twenty-five to forty-six cents, according to proof; beer, ale, and porter, eight cents CHAPTER per gallon; cocoa, two cents per pound; chocolate, three IV. cents; hemp and steel, one dollar per hundred weight; ca1792. bles and tarred cordage, one dollar and eighty cents; untarred cordage, two dollars and twenty-five cents; twine and pack-thread, four dollars; Glauber's salts, two dollars the hundred weight; coal, four cents and a half per bushel; playing-cards, twenty-five cents per pack; shoes and slippers, from seven to twenty cents per pair. The following were added to the list of articles paying fifteen per cent. on the value: China-ware, glass of all kinds, except black quart bottles; muskets, pistols, and other firearms; swords, cutlasses, and other side-arms; hair-powder, glue, wafers, painters' colors, laces, tassels, and trimmings. To the list of articles paying ten per cent. on the value were added, cast, slit, and rolled iron, and all manufactures of iron, steel, copper, tin, brass, and pewter, except wire; cabinet-wares, leather, and all manufactures of leather; drugs, except dye-stuffs; carpetings, mats, and floor-cloths; hats, caps, bonnets, gloves, stockings, millinery, artificial flowers, feathers, and other ornaments for female dresses; fans, toys, dolls, buttons, powders, pastes, balsams, ointments, perfumes, and cosmetics. All articles charged in the former tariff with five per cent. on the value, were to pay for two years an additional duty of two and a half per cent. To the list of free articles were added, copper in pigs and bars, unmanufactured wool, woad, and sulphur. Salt was hereafter to be reckoned at fifty-six pounds to the bushel, and the credit on the duty was extended to nine months. On all articles except West India goods, wines, and teas, as to which the previous provisions remained in force, the duties might be paid in four installments, one half the amount in six months, one quarter in nine, and the other quarter in twelve months. The president was |