and
domestic loans the war could never have been carried to a successful
conclusion; but in 1783 even that source was drained. In sheer
desperation Congress authorized the Superintendent of Finance to draw
bills of exchange, at his discretion, upon the credit of loans _which
were to be procured_ in Europe. In vain Morris warned Congress that no
more loans could be secured. "Our public credit is gone," he declared.

The obvious remedy for the financial ills of the Confederation was to
give Congress the power to levy taxes. Early in 1781, indeed, before the
Articles of Confederation had been ratified by Maryland, the proposal
had been made that Congress should be vested with power to levy a five
per cent duty on imports; but the obstinate opposition of Rhode Island
effectually blocked the amendment. "She considered it the most precious
jewel of sovereignty that no State be called upon to open its purse but
by the authority of the State and by her own officers." Again, in 1783,
Congress submitted to the States an amendment which would confer upon it
the power to place specific duties for a term of twenty-five years upon
certain classes of imported commodities. The tardy response of the
States to this proposal left little hope that it would be adopted.

In fact, the Confederation and its woes hardly occupied the thoughts of
the people at all, except as a subject for jest and ridicule. The
newspapers made merry over the peregrinations of Congress. Frightened
away from Philadelphia by the riotous conduct of some troops of the
Pennsylvania line, who had imbibed too freely, the delegates had
withdrawn first to Princeton and then to Annapolis. Thither Washington
repaired to resign his commission; but even so notable an occasion as
this brought together delegates from only seven of the States. The best
talent in America was drafted into the service of the several States.
Men had ceased to think continentally. "A selfish habitude of thinking
and reasoning," wrote one who styled himself Yorick, in the _New York
Packet_, "leads us into a fatal error the moment we begin to talk of the
interests of America. The fact is, by the interests of America we mean
only the interests of that State to which property or accident has
attached us." "Of the affairs of Georgia," Madison confessed in 1786, "I
know as little as those of Kamskatska."

On all sides intelligent men agreed that the return of prosperity
depended upon the opening-up of for