Book Description

Excerpt from The Works of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. 7: Comprising His Correspondence, and His Political and Official Writings, Exclusive of the Federalist, Civil and Military What right had mercator to suppose, that any thing more was intended, than simply to inform the public that besides a punctual payment of the interest on the debt, from the period at which measures were matured to begin that payment, a considerable sum of the Capital of the Debt has been extinguished, and that a further sum will be extinguished by a provision already made leaving them to this very natural inference, which will be drawn by every candid mind, that the government has been as attentive as circumstances would permit, at so early a period, to the extinguishment of the debt. But admitting mercator to be right in his suggestion of the object, it is presumed that a liberal construction of all circum stances Will justify the position, that the present government has reduced the debt of the former government, to the extent ex pressed in the documents which have been published. This will result, if it shall appear that provision was made for the interest, as early as was reasonably practicable. To have paid the interest from that period, and to have sunk so much of the capital in addition, is, in fair construction, to have reduced the debt to the extent of the capital sunk. When Mercator undertook to suppose an object, which was not declared, he ought to have taken care to be better informed and more accurate. When he undertook to state an account with the Treasury Department, he ought not only to have selected just items, to have adverted to dates, times and possibilities, but he ought to have stated the whole account. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.