had been
made to this measure, because they went to the certain destruction of
the system itself; but in points where the alterations demanded,
though mischievous, were not fatal to the plan, it was thought
adviseable to accommodate the recommendations of the government to the
prejudices which had been disclosed. It had been insisted that the
power of appointing persons to collect the duties, would enable
congress to introduce into a state, officers unknown and unaccountable
to the government thereof; and that a power to collect an indefinite
sum for an indefinite time, for the expenditure of which that body
could not be accountable to the states, would render it independent of
its constituents, and would be dangerous to liberty. To obviate these
objections, the proposition now made was so modified, that the grant
was to be limited to twenty-five years; was to be strictly
appropriated to the debt contracted on account of the war; and was to
be collected by persons to be appointed by the respective states.

After a debate, which the tedious mode of conducting business
protracted for several weeks, the report was adopted; and a committee,
consisting of Mr. Madison, Mr. Hamilton, and Mr. Ellsworth, was
appointed to prepare an address, which should accompany the
recommendation to the several states.

After a full explanation of the principles on which the system had
been framed, this address proceeds:--"The plan thus communicated and
explained by congress, must now receive its fate from their
constituents. All the objects comprised in it are conceived to be of
great importance to the happiness of this confederated republic, are
necessary to render the fruits of the revolution a full reward for the
blood, the toils, the cares and the calamities which have purchased
it. But the object of which the necessity will be peculiarly felt, and
which it is peculiarly the duty of congress to inculcate, is the
provision recommended for the national debt. Although this debt is
greater than could have been wished, it is still less on the whole
than could have been expected; and when referred to the cause in which
it has been incurred, and compared with the burthens which wars of
ambition and of vain glory have entailed on other nations, ought to be
borne not only with cheerfulness but with pride. But the magnitude of
the debt makes no part of the question. It is sufficient that the debt
has been fairly contracted, and that justice and