Notes on the State of Virginia (1802)/Query 22
QUERY XXII.
THE public income and expences?
The nominal amount of theſe varying conſtantly and rapidly, with the conſtant and rapid depreciation of our paper-money, it becomes impracticable to ſay what they are. We find ourſelves cheated in every eſſay by the depreciation intervening between the declaration of the tax and its actual receipt. It will therefore be more ſatisfactory to confider what our income may be when we ſhall find means of collecting what our people may ſpare. I ſhould not eſtimate the whole taxable property of this ſtate at an hundred millions of dollars, or thirty millions of pounds our money. One per cent. on this, compared with any thing we ever yet paid, would be deemed a very heavy tax. Yet I think thoſe who manage well, and uſe reaſonable economy, could pay one and a half per cent. and maintain their houſehold comfortably in the mean time, without aliening any part of their principle, and that the people would ſubmit to this willingly for the purpoſe of ſupporting their preſent conteſt. We may ſay then, that we could raiſe, and ought to raiſe, from one million to one million and a half of dollars annually, that is from three hundred to four hundred and fifty thouſand pounds, Virginia money.
Of our expences it is equally difficult to give an exact ſtate, and for the ſame reaſon. They are moſtly ſtated in paper-money, which varying continually, the legiſlature endeavors at every ſeſſion, by new corrections, to adapt the nominal ſums to the value it is wiſhed they would bear. I will ſtate them therefore in real coin, at the point at which they endeavor to keep them.
| Dollars. | |
| The annual expences of the general aſſembly are about | 20,000 |
| The governor | 3,333⅓ |
| The council of ſtate | 10,666⅔ |
| Their clerks | 1,166⅔ |
| Eleven judges | 11,000 |
| The clerk of the chancery | 666⅔ |
| The attorney general | 1,000 |
| Three auditors and a ſolicitor | 5,333⅓ |
| Their clerks | 2,000 |
| The treaſurer | 2,000 |
| His clerks | 2,000 |
| The keeper of the public jail | 1,000 |
| The public printer | 1,666⅔ |
| Clerks of the inferior courts | 43,333⅓ |
| Public levy: this is chiefly for the expences of criminal juſtice | 40,000 |
| County levy, for bridges, court-houſes, prisons, &c. | 40,000 |
| Members of congreſs | 7,000 |
| Quota of the federal civil liſt, ſuppoſed one-ſixth of about 78,000 dollars | 13,000 |
| Expences of collection ſix per cent. on the above | 12,310 |
| The clergy receive only voluntary contributions: | |
| ſuppose them on an average one-eighth of a dollar a tythe on 200,000 tythes | 25,000 |
| Contingencies, to make round numbers not far from truth | 7,523⅓ |
| 250,000 |
Dollars, or 53,571 guineas. This eſtimate is excluſive of the military expence. That varies with the force actually employed, and in time of peace will probably be little or nothing. It is excluſive alſo of the public debts, which are growing while I am writing, and cannot therefore be now fixed. So it is of the maintenance of the poor, which being merely a matter of charity, cannot be deemed expended in the adminiſtration of government. And if we ſtrike out the 25,000 dollars for the ſervices of the clergy, which neither makes part of that adminiſtration, more than what is paid to phyſicians, or lawyers, and being voluntary, is either much or nothing as every one pleaſes, it leaves 225,000 dollars, equal to 48,208 guineas, the real coſt of the apparatus of government with us. This divided among the actual inhabitants of our country, comes to about two-fifths of a dollar, 21d. ſterling, or 42 ſols, the price which each pays annually for the protection of the reſidue of his property, and the other advantages of a free government. The public revenue of Great-Britain divided in like manner on its inhabitants would be 16 times greater. Deducting even the double of the expences of government, as before eſtimated, from the million and a half of dollars which we before ſuppoſed might be annually paid without diſtreſs, we may conclude that this ſtate can contribute one million of dollars annually towards ſupporting the federal army, paying the federal debt, building a federal navy, or opening roads, clearing rivers, forming ſafe ports, and other uſeful works.
To this eſtimate of our abilities, let me add a word as to the application of them. If when cleared of the preſent conteſt, and of the debts with which that will charge us, we come to meaſure force hereafter with any European power. Such events are devoutly to be deprecated. Young as we are, and with ſuch a country before us to fill with people and with happineſs, we ſhould point in that direction the whole generative force of nature, waſting none of it in efforts of mutual deſtruction. It ſhould be our endeavor to cultivate the peace and friendſhip of every nation, even of that which has injured us moſt, when we ſhall have carried our point againſt her. Our intereſt will be to throw open the doors of commerce, and to knock off all its ſhackles, giving perfect freedom to all perſons for the vent of whatever they may chuſe to bring into our ports, and aſking the ſame in theirs. Never was ſo much falſe arithmetic employed on any ſubject, as that which has been employed to perſuade nations that it is their intereſt to go to war. Where the money which it has coſt to gain, at the cloſe of a long war, a little town, or a little territory, the right to cut wood here, or catch fiſh there, expended in improving what they already poſſeſs, in making roads, opening rivers, building ports, improving the arts, and finding employment for their idle poor, it would render them much ſtronger, much wealthier and happier. This I hope will be our wiſdom. And, perhaps, to remove as much as poſſible the occaſions of making war. It might be better for us to abondon the ocean altogether, that being the element whereon we ſhall be principally expoſed to joſtle with other nations; to leave to others to bring what we ſhall want, and to carry what we can ſpare. This would make us invulnerable to Europe, by offering none of our property to their prize, and would turn all our citizens to the cultivation of the earth; and, I repeat it again, cultivators of the earth are the moſt virtuous and independent citizens. It might be time enough to ſeek employment for them at ſea, when the land no longer offers it. But the actual habits of our countrymen attach them to commerce. They will exerciſe it for themſelves. Wars then muſt ſometimes be our lot; and all the wiſe can do, will be to avoid that half of them which would be produced by our own follies and our own acts of injuſtices; and to make for the other half the beſt preparations we can. Of what nature ſhould theſe be? A land army would be uſeleſs for offence, and not the beſt nor ſafeſt inſtrument of defence. For either of theſe purpoſes, the ſea is the field on which we ſhould meet an European enemy. On that element it is neceſſary we ſhould poſſeſs ſome power. To aim at ſuch a navy as the greater nations of Europe poſſeſs, would be a fooliſh and wicked waſte of the energies of our countrymen. It would be to pull on our heads that load of military expence which makes the European laborer go ſupperleſs to bed, and moiſtens his bed with the ſweat of his brows. It will be enough if we enable ourſelves to prevent inſults from thoſe nations of Europe which are weak on the ſea, becauſe circumſtances exiſt, which render even the ſtronger ones weak as to us. Providence has placed their richeſt and moſt defenceleſs poſſeſſions at our door; has obliged their moſt precious commerce to paſs as it were in review before us. To protect this, or to aſſail, a ſmall part only of their naval force will even be riſqued acroſs the Atlantic. The dangers to which the elements expoſe them here are too well known, and the greater dangers to which they would be expoſed at home were any general calamity to involve their whole fleet. They can attack us by detachment only; and it will ſuffice to make ourſelves equal to what they may detach. Even a ſmaller force than they may detach will be rendered equal or ſuperior by the quickneſs with which any check may be repaired with us, while loſſes with them will be irreparable till too late. A ſmall naval force then is ſufficient for us, and a ſmall one is neceſſary. What this ſhould be, I will not undertake to ſay. I will only ſay it ſhould by no means be ſo great as we are able to make it. Suppoſe the million of dollars, or 300,000 pounds, which Virginia could annually ſpare without diſtreſs, to be applied to the creating a navy. A ſingle year's contribution would build, equip, man, and ſend to ſea a force which ſhould carry 300 guns. The reſt of the confederacy, exerting themſelves in the ſame proportion, would equip in the ſame time 1500 guns more. So that one year's contributions would ſet up a navy of 1800 guns. The Britiſh ſhips of the line average 76 guns; their frigates 38. 1800 guns then would form a fleet of 30 ſhips, 18 of which might be of the line, and 12 frigates. Allowing 8 men, the Britiſh average, for every gun, their annual expence, including ſubſiſtence, clothing, pay, and ordinary repairs, would be about 1280 dollars for every gun, or 2,304,000 dollars for the whole. I ſtate this only as one year's poſſible exertion, without deciding whether more or leſs than a year's exertion ſhould be thus applied.
The value of our lands and ſlaves, taken conjunctly, doubles in about twenty years. This ariſes from the multiplication of our ſlaves, from the extenſion of culture, and increaſed demand for lands. The amount of what may be raiſed will of courſe riſe in the ſame proportion.