XXXVI.

And this is all-at least that I shall tell

Of this sage colloquy; but it's sufficient, So I apply it to my story well;

So if the reader will find fault-that he shan't Have any reason to complain, but that

All this is quite appropriate and pat.

XXXVIII.

Now all this means, that as I in my next,
Shall lay some matters narrative before ye,
You must take the plain reading of my text,
Nor put malicious readings on my story,
Nor dream, in any thing I shall convey,
I mean a whit more than the thing I say.

XXXVIII.

I shall discourse of folks and things in general; And no one must presume it's my intention, Because I faithfully describe, as men are all, Each person it shall be my will to mention That I particularly do refer

To any special person, him or her.

XXXIX.

I mentioned stanza No. XXVIII,
That I had chosen a young man to be
The hero of my tale, and bade you wait
A month or two until I should agree
Upon the proper name and designation,
Christian and patronymic appellation.

XL.

Ralph the unlucky, I shall call the wight,

For those who know his history call him so,

Ralph by his sire in baptism was he hight,
How he was named the unlucky you may know
By listening patiently a while, while I
Shall tell you of his luckless destiny.

XLI.

This stanza furnishes my number second,
And yet my tale not fairly opened is,
But never mind-I beg it may be reckoned
That I am only flourishing in this,
That in my next I shall be very wise,

Compendious, narrative and quite concise.

The Memorial of the Subscribers, Merchants, Traders and other Citizens of New-York, to Congress, petitioning for a Tax on all Sales by Auction, except on certain Articles therein specified.

This Memorial was presented to Congress at their last session, and referred for consideration to the committee on manufactures, who reported a bill favorable to the views of the petitioners. The memorialists set forth in their petition that the purpose of their application for this tax is to extinguish sales by auction; and there is no doubt that if the bill passes, the end will be effected, and auctions virtually prohibited.

The acting upon this bill by Congress is, we will venture to say, one of the most extraordinary proceedings which has been attempted by that body since the adoption of the federal constitution; and one which imperatively calls for notice and reprehension.*

We assert, and we are prepared to show, that the Congress of the United States have no constitutional powers to legislate upon this bill for the purposes above-mentioned. We do not ask our readers to accept assertions for facts, or declamation for demonstration; but we do ask and invite the attention of all of those who are interested (and all are interested.) while we proceed to lay before them the most incontestible evidence of the truth of our assertions.

As the several states which compose the union were originally sovereign and independent of each other, it followed that on entering into any compact whatever, they reserved to themselves all those rights and privileges which were not expressly surrendered by the terms of the compact; and this reservation formed one of the articles in the original confederation between the colonies in 1781. The federal constitution, which superseded

*To avoid any misapprehension, we may as well state, at once, that we arc decidedly opposed to the present vicious system of monopoly, license and tax of auctions. As a monopoly, the system is unjust; as a source of revenue, it is inequitable and oppressive. No reason can be assigned why this particular branch of trade should be subject to monopoly, while other branches are unshackled; nor why commodities, which are confessedly sold lower in the auction rooms than elsewhere, should be subject to a farther deduction of a state tax. A large proportion of the sales, which are effected by means of auctions, except those mentioned in the memorial, consists of property disposed of from the necessities of the owners. Taxes, in these cases, are particularly distressing, being paid wholly by the person who can least afford it, namely, the seller. Having thus hinted at our opinions, we shall leave the discussion of the expediency of the present measure for some future occasion.

the Articles of Confederation, omitted the clause, but a judicious caution on the part of the states required it to be immediately replaced. Accordingly we find it there provided,

"That the powers not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Art. 10, Amend. Con.

Thus it appears that Congress have no authority whatever beyond that delegated to them by the constitution. If we inquire under what provision of that instrument the right is given to tax sales by auction, we shall be referred to the following clause of the eighth section of the first article.

"The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.*

The terms here used are so very obvious, plain and simple, that the first rules of construction must be violated to wrest them from their meaning; which evidently is, to invest Congress with the power to lay and collect taxes in order to provide, or make provision for the common defence and general welfare by such appropriation of the proceeds as their discretion may dictate. But as a very different construction has been lately countenanced in Congress, and one which, if true, gives to that body illimitable power, it is of the last importance that we ascertain the real intention of the people when they ratified the constitution. We say, of the last importance, for it is a maxim approved by the wisdom and experience of all ages, that the people are free, only when the powers of government are clearly defined in their operation, and limited in their extent. This article of the constitution then, may be construed to mean, that Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, for the purpose of applying the proceeds to

*By a most culpable negligence, this single sentence has been printed in different works, with every possible variety of punctuation. In the old edition of the laws of the United States, in the laws of Connecticut, in the Federalist, and in the journals of Congress, printed 1787, there is a comma after the word 'excises,' in the second line. In Ingersol's Digest, in the last edition of the laws of the United States, and in the laws of New-York, a semicolon is used, and in the Debates of the convention on the constitution, a colon is used, and the next words, "to pay the debts," actually begin a new paragraph with a capital. The above is an exact transcript of the original instrument on file in the Department of State at Washington.

provide for the common defence and general welfare of the people of the United States.

Or it may mean, that Congress shall have power to lay (and collect) such taxes, duties, imposts and excises as they shall believe to be for the general advantage, although such taxes of necessity extinguish themselves; because, being equivalent to a prohibition of the source whence they are derived, they obviously can never be paid into the treasury.

Or, finally, it may mean that congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises at their own will and pleasure, without any restriction--that congress also shall have the power to pay the debts, &c.

If the first of these constructions is correct, congress have no power granted to them to pass any laws but such as are necessary to procure funds to meet the expenses of the union; consequently they cannot pass a prohibitory law, at least, under this clause of the constitution. If either of the other constructions is the true one, congress may have this power.

To decide this point satisfactorily, it will be proper to refer to the state of the nation, and of its financial concerns, during the existence of the Articles of confederation, to the debates of congress, and, in a word, to a full history of this portion of our constitution. And we are satisfied that no unprejudiced person will rise from the perusal of these facts, but with the fullest conviction that the states never intended to delegate, and never, in fact, did delegate to congress the power of imposing taxes for any other purpose than that of revenue, which revenue must be applied to the purpose of defraying expenses incurred for the general welfare.

By the articles of confederation proposed in 1777, and finally adopted in 1781, the colonies bound themselves together for their common defence; and congress was not, by this instrument, intrusted with the powers of taxation at all. The state legislatures charged themselves with providing for the national expenses, as appears by the eighth article which follows.

"All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence, or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states in proportion to the value of all land within each state, granted to, or surveyed for, any person as such land and buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated, according to such mode as the United States in congress assembled shall, from time to time, direct and appoint. The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the

authority and direction of the legislatures of the several states within the time agreed upon by the United States in congress assembled." 8th article of confederation.

By this article, the states pointedly and clearly reserved to themselves the right of taxation; and although congress were invested with the power of emitting bills of credit, and borrowing money, they had no means of meeting their engagements but through the states.

The apportionment of their quotas to the different states was a constant and fruitful source of vexation. Some of them were unwilling, and some unable to meet the national demands, until public faith became, at last, a butt of ridicule. A reference to the journals of congress and archives of the department of state will show the real and excessive distresses of the nation. In February, 1781, congress passed a resolution de. claring it indispensably necessary that they should be invested with the power of levying, for the use of the United States, a duty of five per cent. ad valorem, upon all goods, wares and merchandise of foreign growth and manufacture which may be imported into the said United States; to which resolution was added the following :

"That the moneys arising from the said duties be appropriated to the discharge of the principal and interest of the debts already contracted, on the faith of the United States for supporting the present war."

"That the said duties be continued until the said debts shall be fully and finally discharged." Deb. Cong. Feb. 5th, 1781.

Several of the states passed acts allowing the above duties to be imposed; but Rhode Island made such cogent objections to the proposition, that a committee consisting of Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Madison and Mr. Fitzsimmons, was appointed to draft an answer to that state. This answer bears internal evidence of being the production of Hamilton's powerful pen. In justification of the proposition for granting to the United States the power of levying an impost, it was urged to be a matter of necessity, and that repeated experiments had shown that the revenue to be raised within the states was altogether inadequate to the public wants. A deputation of three of the members was sent to Rhode Island for the purpose of making farther efforts to procure the compliance of that state. Notwithstanding all this, either Rhode Island was not convinced, or opposition started up elsewhere, and most of the other states which had passed acts favorable to the views of congress, took