of receiving, opening, and counting the votes for prefident; and that, after he fhall be chofen, the congrefs, together with the prefident, fhould, without delay, proceed to execute this Conftitution By the unanimous order of the convention, GEORGE WASHINGTON, Prefident.

William Jackfon, Secretary.

Remonftrance of the Parliament of Paris, prefented to his Moft Chriftian Majefty, against the Declaration of a Stamp Duty, on July 24, 1787.

Moft refpectful addrefs, Sire, together with the juft alarms of the nation, has been humbly laid at the foot of the throne, by your majesty's moft dutiful and faithful parliament. The bare propofal of a duty on paper has alarmed every individual. After a glorious peace of five years, and a progreffive increase of at least 130 millions of livres in thirteen years, it seems as if the name of impoft were never to come out of a beneficent monarch's mouth, except in rendering it lefs onerous, or diminishing the number of thofe already exifting. What was our furprise then, Sire, when we were told that new taxes were projecting by the notables; and that a new one, of a moft diftreffing kind, was to be offered for the approbation of parliament !

The first reflection that naturally occurs at the very mention of a new duty, is to enquire into the actual ftate of the finances. What an administration muft the last have been, if the evils that refulted from it require fuch a desperate remedy!

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Your majefty must remember how we ftrove, in 1784 and 1785, to give you a faithful picture of the real fituation of the ftate, which feemed then (or your miniftry endeavoured to make it appear fo) as if inclined to take a turn for the beft; but the truth was, that the ftate was more involved in difficulties than ever. Your parliament then, Sire, did every thing in their power, but in vain, to fet truth in its cleareft light; fome of your minifters had too great intereft to conceal it from your majefty; all our humble remonftrances proved ufelefs; and there were fome of your council who went fo far as to make you fufpe&t the purity of our patriotic intentions: the terrible situation of affairs, however, requir ed a speedy and efficacious remedy. The notables, affembled by your majefty's orders, have withdrawn the veil that covered that undermining adminiftration: a dreadful fpectacle prefented itself to the eye of the aftonished nation; an immenfe deficiency was very vifible in the treafury; and every body haftened to propofe the means of filling it up, and affording a speedy remedy. How grievous to your majefty's paternal heart muft fuch a difcovery have been! How muft your aftonishment and forrow have increased, when you reflected on the fatal errors, in which your minifters had long and purposely kept you!

Such is the confequence, Sire, when the choice of minifters falls on perfons that are obnoxious to the nation in general: fuch is the great, but fad example, that teaches monarchs how far they must refpe&t the public opinion, feldom fufcep tible of error, because men united

together

together rarely give or receive an impreffion contrary to truth. In point of adminiftration, Sire, the pureft hands are hardly pure enough. A firft condefcenfion, or rather a firft wrong ftep, leads to a fecond: no bounds can circumfcribe the imprudent minifter when once he fwerves from his duty; fucceffive abufes produce an utter confufion, and a fatal disorder; the deep wounds fixed in the conftitution demand a remedy; and this, even when certain, will effect but a flow cure.

O let your majefty deign to paufe awhile on one of thefe falutary reflections, the importance of which has been acknowledged by all good monarchs. Evil may happen in a fingle inftant, but whole years are fearce fufficient to repair the mifchief it caufes. The vices of an administration, or, which is the inevitable effect of them, the involuntary error of a juft monarch, will forely diftrefs whole genera

tions.

It is not your parliament's intention, Sire, to grieve your majefty's moft fenfible heart by expatiating at prefent on fo affecting a fubject, and recalling fo unpleafant a thought; but they take the liberty of humbly intreating your majefty to weigh often these important reflections, in fome of thofe moments when you are meditating in filence on the welfare and happiness of your fubjects. It behoves now your parliament to enter, with a noble freedom, upon a fubject propofed by your majefty yourfelf; we mean the projected retrenchments and œconomical schemes. We earnestly entreat you, Sire, to be on your guard against the emotions and propenfities of your tender heart, in order that the economy already be

gun may continue, and those reforms adopted and fettled be of conftant duration. When a pure and enlightened adminiftration endeavours to establish certain principles of economy, it generally meets with fome ancient cuftoms that seem to have been long attached to the conftitution, and to enjoy the right of prefcription. If the minifter acts with firmnefs, he is immediately blamed for his imprudence; if with precaution, the world will cenfure his weakness: what difficulties will not then in fuch a cafe furround the monarch, and be inceffantly multiplying about him! Courtiers will publicly approve of, nay applaud, the projected reforms; but in fecret they will try to weaken, and even prevent their effect; all means will be employed to deceive him; it is then that art, addrefs, and fineffe, appear in a thousand different forms, actuated by the most imperious of all motives, personal interest: the fovereign, thus befet, and attacked on every fide by claims, fuits, petitions, &c. is forced to liften to importunate clamours, and, through the goodness of his heart, often grants what could never be obtained through his juftice.

The moment the word economy is mentioned, it echoes through the room; the cunning courtier apparently adopts the plan, and withes to be numbered among the great characters of the nation, whofe example he affects to imitate; but he calculates at the fame time how long the economical reform may fubfift, and how he may render abortive the retrenchments that diminith either his credit or his revenues: all expences but his own feem fufceptible of diminution: in a vaft adminiftration, the weakest

pretexts

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pretexts are easily tinged with the colouring of reason; and that œconomy which has been so often courted, and always expected, appears and disappears in an inftant, leaving a black cloud over the beautiful countenance of truth, which fome faint rays had begun to render confpicuous.

These reflections, Sire, written in the annals of every nation, are the faithful hiftory of the human heart: never could the meditation on them be more interefting to your majefty than at prefent, for the application fuits exactly to the urgent circumftances of the times. The more vigour and firmness your majefty will fhew for the intended reforms, and falutary refolutions, the more difficulties and obftacles will certainly impede the way: and experience may perhaps have already proved, that the perfons interested in these œconomical views begin to hint as if the propofed fums were equivocal and precarious, and the deductions agreed upon incompatible with old cuftoms, and unlikely to last a long time.

It is in your majefty's power to enforce, with a laudable perfeverance, the order that must establish with permanency this indifpenfable reform. Every thing fhould undergo the ftri&teft enquiry. Your majefty's juftice, which is to us the fureft and moft facred pledge, emboldens your parliament to lay before you, withont danger of incurring your royal displeasure, fome of those remarks and obfervations that must naturally have occurred to you. Had you known, Sire, the real state of your finances, no doubt

you would not have undertaken thofe immenfe edifices that are now building, nor made fo many acqui fitions onerous to the ftate; you would not have permitted fo many exchanges of the crown-lands, nor granted thofe exceffive liberalities that the importunate and intriguing are always fure of obtaining. The facility of obtaining money from the treasury (the fatal bane of all adminiftrations) would never have been fuffered to increase, for it exposes every moment the fovereign to fome dangerous furprise; it fquanders fecretly the public revenue, and can never overbalance, with its pretended utility, the great inconveniences always attending it. Your majefty would certainly never have confented to have Paris furrounded by fuch a magnificent wall; to fee palaces* erected for your excife-officers at an exorbi-, tant expence, in order to coincide with the views of the farmers-general, who, in expectation of a precarious and diftant gain, expend annually thofe fums that should be appropriated to wants of more real neceflity.

All these objects, Sire, and many others, the enumeration of which would aftonifh, are fufceptible of amendment; fome require a confiderable diminution; others an entire fuppreffion. But it is not the total only of each department that fhould be properly diminished; every part of it should be scrupulously examined, and divefted of all its fuperfluous charges; it fhould be reduced to the simple and abfolutely neceffary expence: in fo doing, your majefty might eafily double

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the

The French never confult any intereft infeparable from the throne; they are always biaffed by their fincere attachment to their monarch; in their fervent zeal and enthufiaftic emotions for the royal caufe, they have been capable of the greateft facrifices; and they may fancy the ways and means of the nation as unbounded as their affection. These ways and means, therefore, must be carefully managed and ufed at proper times. It fhould be likewife confidered, that the contributions proceeding from the impofts granted to the monarch are only intended as fubfidies to the ftate, and that the fovereign is but the diftributor of whatever is not employed for the public weal, which naturally belongs to those who cooperate in levying the contributions; and, if they are diverted from their chief and primitive intent, their fertile fource will foon become infufficient, and, in a fhort time, exhaufted; particularly if the expences increase in proportion to the receipt.

Thefe diminutions, fuppreffions, reforms, and œconomies, fo often folicited by your parliaments, demanded by the notables, and promised to their spirited and juft perfeverance, are wifhed for and expected every day by the unhappy hufbandman, whofe tears bedew the very field that contributes to fo many useless expences before it has furnished the neceffary fubfiftence to the perfon who fowed it, for the fubfiftence of himself and family, and who, deprived of the common neceffaries, is forced to take from his poverty itself, wherewith to furnish to the exigences of the ftate.

Thefe unhappy beings, Sire, Frenchmen by birth, and MEN, have a double right to enjoy their facred property even in the bofom of indigence; but as they cannot claim it themselves at your majefty's feet, let their claims and their rights be ever prefent before you; let their plaints find their way to the throne, and reach your royal perfon; let them hear your gracious anfwer, and let them know that your majefty's goodness and juftice are the fureft fupporters they can hope to find near the throne.

All kinds of impofts fhould be proportioned to the neceffary wants of the nation, and end with them. Each citizen contributes part of his property, for the fake of maintaining public fafety and private tranquillity. The people, on fuch principles, founded on the rights of mankind, and confirmed by reason, fhould never increase their contributions but when the expences of the ftate have undergone all the favings, alterations, and retrenchments, they are capable of. It is for this reafon, therefore, that your parliament, Sire, look upon the duty on ftamped paper as entirely oppofite to these primitive notions. It would affect the private tranquil

quity,

lity,

lity, by neceffarily opening a way to errors, and thereby would prove far more dangerous than the gabelle [duty on falt, a kind of excife], which was, as has been seen, liable to open frauds. The moft exact and habitual attention could hardly be fufficient to diftinguish the numberlefs ftamped papers that are to ferve for each refpective act of juftice or common tranfaction.

What mistakes will not the greateft part of your fubjects be liable to, by interchanging these papers, and making ufe of the one for the other! Many writings, by such involuntary faults, may appear counterfeited in the eye of juftice; and the unwary individual will find himself daily exposed to pay exorbitant fines, or to encounter difagreeable and heavy fuits at law.

Such a duty, Sire, is likewife incompatible with public fafety, as it would deeply wound mutual confidence, which is the fure foundation of it. Individuals would be afraid of producing unftamped bills or notes before a tribunal; and in this age, where there are fuch frequent inftances of perfons taking all forts of advantages, and commencing or prolonging vexatious and never-ending fuits, a wife legiflator fhould be very careful not to introduce new fyftems of chicanery. But both our public truft, Sire, and our national dignity, abfolutely forbid the introduction of fuch a dangerous duty.

The moment a declaration is iffued, which is generally vicious in almoft all its difpofitions, a feducing facility of extending its meaning or duration offers itfelf, and pretences are not wanting for impofing plaufibly on the public. Experience furnifhes us with too many exam

ples. The two fous and the eight fous per livre for inftance, the fecond warrant for the poll-tax, and fo many other inventions, which the fertile genius of financiers has imagined, and is never at a loss to find to overcharge the subjects, are but a continuation and extenfion of a duty, fimple in its origin; and fuch an extenfion, Sire, is often divested of any legal authority, and only collected in virtue of the minifter's mandate. Without mentioning, Sire, the multiplicity of marks, precautions, and fines, annexed to and attending the duty on stamped paper, it is certain that it would cause a delay in public and private bufinefs, and obstruct the common daily transactions. All delay is dangerous, and all obftruction muft produce a delay. A bill of exchange, improperly ftamped, would be liable to a fine; the fine muft be paid immediately by the poffeffor of the bill; he therefore would be obliged to advance the fum for the fine, pay inftead of receive, and be out of his money till the expiration of his unlucky bill. He would be a fufferer for other perfons faults, and such faults might be renewed feveral times in one and the fame day, in the very fame hour; his payments must be affected by it, and his credit called in queftion. Thence miftruft and doubts will neceffarily arife; and you know, Sire, that there fufibfts a kind of chain in the course of exchanges, that ftrongly binds all the commercial parts of mankind in the known world. Our trading towns would lofe, in the eyes of a foreigner, that level or advantage they were wont to enjoy. In short, were not fuch a duty extremely onerous in itself, its unlimited dura