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 IIPE or ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
Entered awordlng lo act of Congress, in the year 1834 bv 
 Mt:tS.Z'f' '" "- Clerk's Offic-e of the D-LltStn^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Young and middle aged men, of considerable 
 general information, sometimes have occasion, when 
 the name of Robert Morris is mentioned, to in- 
 quire who he was. This ought not so to be. With 
 the military history of Washington, of Gates, Greene, 
 La Fayette, and others, they may consider them- 
 selves sufficiently acquainted. They may know 
 something of Adams, Franklin, Jefferson and oth- 
 ers, whose names have been conspicuous in the 
 civil history of the United States, but, unfortunately 
 for the fame of Morris, at the time of his death, his 
 setting sun was clouded by pecuniary misfortune. 
 The memory of his name appears to be already 
 passing out of the recollection of Americans. But 
 it cannot be forgotten, Ramsey, the historian of 
 South Carolina, and the biographer of Washington 
 has given him no more than a just eulogium. 
 
 "When future ages," says that distinguished 
 writer, " celebrate the names of Washington and 
 Franklin, they will add that of Morris. The silent 
 operations of his system of finance, and his personal 
 
 1* 
 
^* PREFACE. 
 
 credit, though less visible to the public eye, were 
 in the confused state of American affairs at the' 
 commencement of the year 1781, no less essential 
 to the success of the revolution than the splendid 
 military achievements of the one, or the successful 
 negociations of the other." 
 
 A shoit narrative is offered to the public, that it 
 may cost but little money to buy it, and little time to 
 read it. A few extracts from his speeches, on a 
 subject of general interest, especially at this time 
 are added, that the public may see the intellectual 
 portrait of the man himself. From matters of his- 
 tory, impartially given, it may be hoped, even the- 
 political partisan will not turn away with indiffer- 
 
 pnPA 
 
 ence. 
 
 Let the young merchant learn from the biogra- 
 phy of Morris, the value of a character for industry 
 and integrity. 
 
 Let the politician learn not to undervalue the tal- 
 ents or the services of those who buy and sell the 
 productions of the earth. It is a much more honor- 
 able occupation than that of trafficking in offices, 
 and consciences. 
 
 Let those to whose custody and guardianship the 
 public treasures may be committed, learn to emulate 
 the ability and integrity of the first superintendent 
 of finance. By this means they will gain a reputa- 
 tion far more valuable than all the property which, 
 may be committed to their charge. 
 
^^ 
 
 
 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 It has sometimes been thought to have been 
 ■the intention of providence in bestowing upon 
 the citizens of the United States the civil privi- 
 leges which we so highly prize, to give the 
 world an example of the advantages of a just 
 government, emanating from the people, and 
 directed by their will. At least we have had 
 an opportunity to do this, and if we fail the 
 fault will be our own. 
 
 For this purpose the people themselves were 
 prepared, under the dominion of a foreign pow- 
 er, by suffering the evils which in all future time 
 were to be avoided. When the people were 
 prepared, the yoke of subjugation was to be 
 broken, that they might take a rank among the 
 nations of the earth. Our fathers were aroused 
 
8 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 to resist the claim of uncontrolled and unlimited 
 power. 
 
 But in vain, without a miracle, would the sin- 
 ewy arms of our fathers have been raised in 
 resistance to that oppression which threatened 
 to crush them to the dust, and in vain would 
 even the prayers of the sons of the pilgrims 
 have ascended to Heaven, if a Washington had 
 not been found, prepared to lead the forlorn 
 hope of freedom to victory ; and in the end to 
 content himself with beholding the prosperity 
 of his country. 
 
 Not less indispensible was the assistance of 
 that band of patriots, his coadjutors in the 
 great work, whose arduous labors were as free- 
 ly and incessantly employed in the field, in the 
 councils of the nation, or in the courts of for- 
 eign powers. Almost all who ever engaged in 
 the work, seemed to have been expressly fitted 
 for the stations they were called to fill ; and they 
 filled them with integrity and honor. There 
 was indeed a traitor once among them, but he 
 went out from them because he was not of them. 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 9 
 
 If their names go down to posterity with less 
 renown than that of Washington, tliey will still 
 be honored. Many of them deserve to stand 
 with him in the front rank among the benefac- 
 tors of their country. 
 
 There was one amoncr the sio-ners of the dec- 
 laration of independence whose services in the 
 cause of his country, in her hour of peril, were 
 scarcely less important than those of Washing- 
 ton. Many of our young men may not remem- 
 ber his name ; it will probably occupy much 
 less space in history, and thrill with less inte- 
 rest on the public ear than that of him we call 
 the father of his country. The simple reason 
 is, his station was less conspicuous in the pub- 
 lic eye. 
 
 The commander of an army occupies a mucl 
 more prominent point of observation than an- 
 other who may have been the prime agent in 
 affording the means of collecting, feeding and 
 clothing the men who compose it. Yet without 
 the assistance of the latter the commander 
 might be powerless, and weak as another man. 
 
10 
 
 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 ^•^ 
 
 If our country, in the war of the revolution, 
 was as much indebted to any other man as she 
 was to her Washington, that man was Robert 
 Morris of Philadelphia. 
 
 If it be an honor to a country to have been 
 the birth-place of such a man, that honor be- 
 longs to the county of Lancashire in Eno-land. 
 His father was a merchant of Liverpool, and the 
 birth-place of the son was in the vicinity. If 
 it be a greater honor to have matured and 
 fixed the lineaments of character which dis- 
 tinguish a man of superior mind, of integrity 
 equal in purity to the finest gold, and of patriot- 
 ism devoting all to the benefit of an adopted 
 country, that honor belongs to the city of Phil- 
 adelphia. 
 
 r In 1747, a boy 13 years of age, crossed the 
 Atlantic from Liverpool, whom Providence de- 
 signed to be, thirty years afterwards, one of the 
 most efficient supporters of American Indepen- 
 dence. His father had preceded him and estab- 
 lished himself at Oxford on the Eastern shore 
 of the Chesapeake bay. 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 11 
 
 After his arrival in this country, the son was 
 put under the care of a schoolmaster named 
 Anan. At the close of his attendance his fa- 
 ther expressed some dissatisfaction at the small 
 progress he had made ; to which he promptly 
 replied that he had learned all his master could 
 teach him. His father soon after placed him in 
 the counting-room of Mr. Charles Willing, then 
 a merchant in extensive business in Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 At the age of fifteen he was left an orphan 
 by the death of his father, occasioned by his ^ 
 being struck by the wadding of a gun which 
 was fired to do him honor. , 
 
 Little is now known of the character of the 
 young clerk during the time of his apprentice- 
 ship except what may be inferred from its sub- 
 sequent development in public life. There is 
 however enough to mark its consistency with 
 that of his riper years. We have one instance 
 of decision. It is related that on one occasion, 
 private information was brought him, from some 
 of the correspondents of his principal, of an ad- 
 
12 LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 vance in the price of flour in Europe. Mr. 
 Willing was absent, but Mr. Morris, conceiv- 
 ing himself authorized by the confidence placed 
 in him, and by the circumstances of the case^ 
 immediately purchased all the flour he could 
 find in the market, on Mr. Willing's account. 
 When he was complained of by his neighbors 
 for raising the price of flour, Mr. Willino- to 
 justify him, disclosed the circumstances, and 
 requested them to make the case their own and ' 
 judge accordingly. 
 
 Mr. Willing, in his last illness sent for Mr. 
 Morris to give him his parting advice. 
 
 ''Robert," said the dying man, ''continue 
 always to act as you have done." This was all 
 the advice he thought it necessary to give, and 
 afl he could say to recommend his young friend 
 to the confidence of others. 
 
 It is stated that in 1754, though by the date 
 of his birth he was but 20 years of age, he ac- 
 cepted the invitation of Mr. Thomas Willing, 
 the son of his former master, to become the 
 active partner in the new firm of Willing & 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 13 
 
 Morris. This firm continued for the almost un- 
 precedented length of time of thirty-nine years, 
 being dissolved no earlier than 1793. 
 
 He was married on the 2nd of March 1769, 
 to Miss Mary, sister of the present Reverend and 
 venerable bishop White. She w^as a lady of ex- 
 emplary virtue, to whom he was much attached. 
 She survived him many years. 
 
 Previous to the commencement of the strug- 
 gle of the then colonies, first for the common 
 privileges of British subjects, and afterwards 
 for independence, the house of Willing &l Mor- 
 ris were extensively and successfully engaged 
 in commercial pursuits. It was during this 
 period that Mr. Morris, by his close application 
 and his extensive commercial dealings laid the 
 foundation of his future public usefulness. 
 
 His commercial experience and his knowl- 
 edge of business enabled him to give sound ad- 
 vice on questions of vital importance to the in- 
 terests of his country, where theoretical opinions 
 would have been not merely useless but danger- 
 ous. His personal credit, was in some critical 
 
 2 
 
14 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 emergencies, the only apparent financial support 
 of the tottering fabric of his country's freedom. 
 On the immediate prospect that the struggle 
 between the colonies and the crown would be a 
 violent and bloody one, many Americans, who 
 afterwards evinced sufficient patriotism, were 
 undecided. It was not so with Mr. Morris. 
 He had before him the certain prospect that 
 war would deprive him of the opportunity of 
 prosecuting his accustomed business success- 
 fully, and oblige him either to abandon commer- 
 cial pursuits altogether, or seek out new, more 
 hazardous, and even dangerous channels of en- 
 terprize. It would not have been a matter of 
 wonder, if, in such circumstances, he had fa- 
 vored the country of his birth in preference to 
 that of his adoption. The state of the public 
 mind in Philadelphia, was indicated by the cir- 
 cumstance that at the time of the reception of 
 the stamp act, only three members of the Phil- 
 adelphia bar were found who thought it expedi- 
 ent to encounter the consequences of a refusal 
 to comply with its requisitions. 
 
LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 15 
 
 On the 23d of April 1775, an association met 
 on the occasion of an accustomed annual festi- 
 val. During their festivities the news was re- 
 ceived that four days before, the British troops 
 had commenced the work of shedding Ameri- 
 can blood in the vicinity of Boston. The bat- 
 tle of Lexington had been fought. 
 
 The tables of festivity were immediately de- 
 serted. The citizens saw before them the alter- 
 native of a contest, fierce, violent, bloody, vin- 
 dictive, and of uncertain issue, or unqualified 
 submission. For the former they were unpre- 
 pared. Mr. Morris, the President of the associ- 
 ation, and Judge Peters, with a very few oth- 
 ers, remained to consider what course was to 
 be adopted. The last hope of reconciliation, 
 like the expiring flame of a feeble lamp, had 
 disappeared. Then and there Mr. Morris 
 avowed his unalterable determination, to sup- 
 port the cause of his adopted country, with all 
 his strentgh and influence. 
 
 During the subsequent uncertain and eventful 
 struggle, his talents were put in requisition, and 
 
16 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS, 
 
 were often employed in the public councils, his 
 personal credit was almost constantly pledged 
 to a great extent, and his labors on various com- 
 mittees were almost unceasing. As superin- 
 tendent of Finance his exertions were so im- 
 portant as to appear to have been almost indis- 
 pensible, to the successful termination of the 
 contest. 
 
 Previous to the war, his business gave him an 
 -extensive intercourse with England, of which 
 he availed himself for the advantage of his 
 country as well as for his own benefit. All the 
 important information thus obtained, and which 
 it might have been unsafe to publish more 
 extensively, he was in the habit of communi- 
 catinor to a few select friends whom he was ac- 
 customed to meet for the purpose in the insur- 
 ance room of the Merchants Coffee-house, By 
 this means it became known, and produced an 
 important effect on the community at large. 
 
 After the commencement of the war, the direct 
 intercourse between him and his former corres- 
 pondents was interrupted. But much impor- 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 17 
 
 tant information still reached him throufjh the 
 medium of friends on the continent. The free 
 expression of his sentiments, and his tone of 
 confidence in the success of the American 
 cause did much to arouse the luke-warm, fix 
 the determination of the wavering, and confirm 
 the resolutions of those who had already es- 
 poused the cause of their country. Just such 
 a man as Mr. Morris, was wanted in the coun- 
 cils of the nation; such a man was prepared for 
 the station, and on the 3rd of November 1775, 
 was chosen to represent the colony of Penn- 
 sylvania in Congress. Soon after, he was made 
 chairman of a committee which had been pre- 
 viously raised for the purpose of contracting for 
 the supply of arms and ammunition. The mo- 
 ney which the records of Congress show to have 
 been granted to him to pay for such articles, 
 proves that he did not neglect the duties of this 
 appointment. 
 
 On the 11th of December, 1775, he was ap- 
 pointed a member of a committee to devise 
 
 ways and means to furnish a naval armament 
 
 2* 
 
IS LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 for the use of the colonies. This committee 
 recommended the building of five ships of 22, 
 five of 28, and three of 24 guns, and a commit- 
 tee, of which Mr. Morris was one, was chosen 
 to carry the plan into execution. Of the doings 
 of this committee, we are not fully informed. , 
 
 One resolution of Congress directs a guard 
 to -be placed over the ships and stores of the 
 United States at or on the wharves of Messrs. 
 Willing &/ Morris, from which it is inferred that 
 the firm employed their capital in part in fur- 
 nishing the naval force of the United States. 
 
 This committee were authorized to appoint 
 naval officers, and were directed to give in- 
 structions to the commander of the fleet, touch- 
 ing the operations of the ships under his com- 
 mand, and appear to have had the general super- 
 intendence of marine affairs till the establish- 
 ment of a board of admiralty in December, 1779, 
 when the ardous duties of this committee were 
 transferred to that board. 
 
 Of the services of Mr. Morris in particular 
 as a member of this committee, we have no 
 
LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 19 
 
 means of obtaininor full information. But from 
 his subsequent appointment in 1781, as agent 
 of marine, to supercede the board of admiralty, 
 the duties of that board being added to those of 
 his other appointment as superintendent of Fi- 
 nance, we may consider ourselves authorized to 
 infer, that as a member of the marine committee, 
 as in every other situation, he vt^as active and 
 useful. As oneproof of this, it is stated that on 
 the day before Congress adjourned from Phila- 
 delphia to Baltimore in 1776, Mr. Morris, be- 
 ing still confident of ultimate success, notvi^ith- 
 standing the gloomy prospects of the country, 
 borrowed $10,000 for their use. 
 
 It appears from the journals of Congress 
 that the naval committee on the 19th of Sep- 
 tember, 1776, presented an account of 134,331, 
 
 27-90 dollars for building eight armed vessels? 
 Such appears to have been the commencement 
 
 of a national establishment of a navy. It has 
 since borne the American flag to the remotest 
 parts of the globe. If our rulers and our diplo- 
 matists shall perform their duties with careful 
 
20 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 attention to the honor and good faith of the 
 nation, we trust it will see that the flag of the 
 union is respected, in all parts of the earth, as 
 loncf as an American mariner shall wish to look 
 at the stars. 
 
 Mr. Morris was present, and an actor in the 
 ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the tem- 
 ple of Liberty, on the fourth of July A. D. 1776. 
 We are not informed precisely what part he 
 took in the proceedings which resulted in the 
 declaration of independence, but we know that 
 this measure was in perfect accordance with his 
 decision of character, and with his ardent attach- 
 ment to the cause of his country. We know 
 also, that though that band of patriots who then 
 and there pledged their lives, their for- 
 tunes, AND THEIR SACRED HONOR, to maintain 
 the liberty and Independence of the United 
 States, every one of them, most nobly redeemed 
 the pledge, there was not one among them who 
 had the good fortune and the honor of contribut- 
 ing so much, either of their property or their 
 labors for that purpose, as Robert Morris. 
 
LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 21 
 
 In the debates on the subject of commerce 
 in 1776, Mr. Morris took what we may fairly 
 presume to have been no unimportant part. 
 
 On the 15th of April he was appointed to nego- 
 tiate bills of exchange to the amount of 3,000,£, 
 for the supply of the troops employed in the 
 operations in Canada. This appointment will 
 appear in its true light when it is recollected 
 that its particular object was to give the coun- 
 try the advantage of his personal credit as a 
 merchant, in order to sustain the credit of 
 the bills he might negotiate to others on pub- 
 lic account. This circumstance will explain 
 the resolution of Congress to indemnify him 
 for any losses he might sustain in the perform- 
 ance of the business entrusted to his care. 
 
 On the 20th of July he was re-elected to 
 Congress. The most gloomy period during the 
 whole of the revolutionary war was in the fall of 
 1776, while Washington was retreating through 
 New Jersey followed by the British army, then 
 on their way to Philadelphia. Many of the 
 hearty friends of the American cause began 
 
22 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 to lose their confidence ; and in such cases, it 
 is well known, the loss of confidence is the loss 
 of strength. A dissolution of Congress, which 
 had been feared, was prevented by their ad- 
 journment to Baltimore, leaving Mr. Morris, 
 Mr. Clymer and Mr. Walton, a committee to 
 transact any necessary business for the Union. 
 
 Philadelphia was to be re-animated, and if pos- 
 sible preserved from falling into the hands of 
 the enemy. Mr. Morris removed his family, 
 but remained himself with a friend. 
 
 At this time he received a letter from Gen. 
 Washington, in which it was stated that while 
 the enemy were immediately informed of all his 
 movements, he was compelled, for want of specie, 
 to remain in complete ignorance of their de- 
 signs ; and that a certain sum in hard money, 
 was absolutely necessary to enable him to obtain 
 such intelligence of the movements and precise 
 situation of the enemy on the opposite shore, as 
 would enable him to act offensively. This letter, 
 sent by express, found Mr. Morris without the 
 means of affording the requisite supply, and was 
 
^s 
 
 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 23 
 
 received at a time when the consternation, and 
 general flight of the citizens, and the removal of 
 their most valuable effects rendered a compli- 
 ance with the request it contained not only dif- 
 ficult, but almost hopeless. He afterward often 
 adverted to the depression of mind which he 
 then experienced, and to the means by which he 
 was enabled to relieve Gen. Washington from 
 this cause of embarrassment. From the time of 
 receiving the letter till evening, he revolved 
 gloomily in his mind, the possibility of his being 
 able to realize the expectations which had been 
 formed from his patriotism and influence. At 
 his usual hour of retiring from his counting roc ' 
 he was proceeding mournfully home, when I:: 
 met a gentleman of the society of friend's, wilL 
 whom he was intimate. He enquired of Mr. 
 Morris the news, which was th .n a matter of im- 
 portance. Mr. Morris replied, " The most im- 
 portant news is that I am required to procure 
 five-hundred pounds in specie, and you must let 
 me have the money.'' The friendly but cautious 
 Q-uaker hesitated — " Your security" continued 
 
24 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Mr. Morris, is to be my note and my honor. 
 *' Robert, thou shalt have it," replied his friend. 
 The requisite sum was immediately transmitted 
 to General Washington and enabled him to j 
 procure the information which, with his skill i 
 and the courage and confidence of his troops, 
 sained the battle of Trenton. The head of 
 Morris was not crowned with the laurels of 
 the victory, but he had the grateful recollec- 
 tion, that he had contributed to the salvation 
 of his country. 
 
 On the 10th of March, he was a third time 
 elected to Congress. On the 28th of November, 
 he was appointed with Mr. Gerry and Mr. Jones, 
 tQ^ concert with Gen. Washington, the most 
 practic'ible means for a winter campaign. 
 
 On the 5th of July, 1777, he was appointed 
 a member of a br^^nmittee of commerce to suc- 
 ceed to the secret coitvrnittee. One part of the 
 duties of this committee, well as those of the 
 secret committee which preceded them, ap- 
 pears to have been to make shipments of mer- 
 chandize on public account to the West Indies 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 25 
 
 and Other places for the purpose of procuring 
 in return, such supplies of specie and military 
 stores as could not be obtained at home. 
 
 The commercial house of which Mr. Morris 
 was a partner, had been employed in this busi- 
 ness under the directions of the secret commit- 
 tee and probably continued it under the new 
 arrangement. 
 
 On the 27th of August 1778, he was appoint- 
 ed on the standing committee of finance. 
 
 His commercial credit was always very high, 
 and this credit he devoted to the public service 
 whenever necessity required. The Hon. Rich- 
 ard Peters testifies that he frequently procured 
 pecuniary and other supplies, when from the 
 known state of the public treasury, they could 
 not have been procured by government. 
 
 On one occasion, Mr. Peters, who was on a 
 committee for procuring supplies for the army, 
 received a letter from Gen. Washington giving 
 a most alarming account of the state of the 
 military stores, and enjoining immediate exer- 
 tions to procure a supply. 
 
26 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 There were no musket cartridges but those 
 in the boxes of the soldiers, and they were wet. 
 The lead was exhausted. There was none 
 known to be in the city. 
 
 In the evening, he attended an entertainment 
 given by Don Mirailles, the Spanish minister ; 
 and endeavored to disguise his anxiety, as it 
 was necessary to do at that period, in order to 
 inspire confidence, and thereby as much as pos- 
 sible insure success. Mr. Morris however per- 
 ceived that all was not right, and in a familiar 
 manner observed, 
 
 " I see some clouds passing over that sunny 
 countenance you assume — what is the matter?" 
 
 After some hesitation the general's letter was 
 shown. After a short delay during which Mr. 
 Peters says Morris played with his anxiety, but 
 which was probably employed in the considera- 
 tion of the pecuniary bearing of the subject, he 
 called Mr. Peters aside and told him the Holkar 
 privateer, a ship in which he was interested, 
 had just arrived at his wharf with ninety tons 
 of lead. " You shall have my half," said he, 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 27 
 
 " and, there are the owners of the other half," 
 pointing to gentlemen in the room. 
 
 " Yes," replied Peters, " but I am already 
 under heavy personal engagements as guaranty 
 for the department to these and other gentle- 
 men." "Well," said Mr. Morris, "they will 
 take your assumption with my guaranty." The 
 lead was immediately secured, more than a 
 hundred people were set to work during the 
 night, and before morning a supply of cartridges 
 was prepared and sent off to the army. 
 
 The firm of Willing, Morris & Co. were 
 once suspected of mingling their private trans- 
 actions with the public business committed to 
 his care, with a view to their own benefit. A 
 report of such charges against Mr. Morris, was 
 brought to the notice of Congress by Mr. Lau- 
 rens. Mr. Morris requested a committee of 
 investigation, to examine the whole affair. 
 
 It appeared that the name of the firm had 
 been used, by an arrangement with the secret 
 committee, in some purchases made on public 
 account, to prevent the increase of price which 
 
28 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 generally took place when it was known that 
 contracts were makincr for the union. 
 
 On the report of the facts by the committee 
 of investigation, Congress resolved that in the 
 execution of the powers committed to him by 
 the secret committee he had acted with fidelity 
 and integrity, and an honorable zeal for the 
 welfare of his country. His vindication was 
 complete. Mr. Laurens himself, having discov- 
 ered a clue to explain the transactions, which 
 at first appeared doubtful, voluntarily came for- 
 ward to give his testimony in favor of his vin- 
 dication. 
 
 In the year 1780, the reverses in the south 
 had produced a general depression, and the 
 wants of the army were such as to threaten its 
 dissolution. The credit of the continental pa- 
 per money had failed. The treasury of Con- 
 gress was empty. In these circumstances Mr. 
 Morris projected the plan of a bank, for the 
 purpose of supplying the immediate wants of 
 the army on the credit of individuals, trusting 
 to the resources of the country for their final 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 29 
 
 reimbursement. Mr. Morris headed a subscrip- 
 tion list, the amount of which was to be paid 
 in gold and silver if it should become necessary 
 to sustain the credit of the bank, with the sum 
 of $10,000. He was followed by ninety-five 
 others, raising the amount of the subscription 
 to the sum of 315,000^, Pennsylvania currency. 
 Mr. Thomas Willing, Mr. Morris' partner, was 
 appointed President, and Tench Francis, Cash- 
 ier. Directors were appointed, who were au- 
 thorized to borrow money on the credit of the 
 bank, and to grant special notes bearing interest 
 at six per cent. No emoluments whatever were 
 to be derived from the institution. Congress, 
 by a resolution, expressed their high satisfaction 
 in the assistance thus afforded the country in a 
 time of great necessity, and pledged the faith 
 of the United States effectually to indemnify 
 the members of this voluntary and patriotic 
 association. It does not appear that this com- 
 pany was incorporated, but it effected the ob- 
 ject of supplying the army with three millions 
 
 of rations, and we must add, with regret that 
 
 3* 
 
30 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 it should at that time, have been thought neces- 
 sary, with three hundred, hogsheads of rum. 
 
 This association continued till the next year, 
 when the more regular plan of the Bank of 
 North America was adopted. 
 
 On the 20th of February 1781, Robert Morris 
 was unanimously elected to the office, then 
 newly created, of superintendent of Finance. 
 The duties of that office were analagous to 
 those of the present Secretary of the Treasury. 
 A part of them were to examine into the state 
 of the public debt, expenditures and revenue, 
 to digest and report plans for improving and 
 regulating the finances, and for establishing 
 order and economy in the expenditure of the 
 public money, to direct the execution of all 
 plans adopted by Congress respecting revenue 
 and expenditure, to superintend and control all 
 persons concerned in procuring supplies for the 
 public service, to obtain accounts of all specific 
 supplies furnished by the several states, and in 
 his official capacity to prosecute in behalf of 
 those States for all delinquencies respecting the 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 31 
 
 public revenue and expenditure, and to report 
 to Congress the officers necessary for conduct- 
 ing the various branches of this department of 
 the government. 
 
 The amount of labor devolving on the head 
 of a department of so much importance, in a 
 time of war, no man would estimate lightly. 
 
 But this circumstance was of but trifling im- 
 portance, compared with those arising from the 
 situation of the finances of the country. Ac- 
 cording to a representation of Gen. Washing- 
 ton, there was but a scanty pittance of provis- 
 ions for the army scattered through the several 
 states; the arsenals were poorly provided with 
 military stores, and the workmen all leaving 
 them ; the various articles of field equipage the 
 quarter-master general was, as a last resort, en- 
 deavoring to procure from the states ; there was 
 no regular system of transportation, nor any 
 funds in the hands of the quarter-master to 
 enable him to establish one; and a great part 
 of that business was done by military impress- 
 ment ; daily and hourly oppressing the people, 
 
32 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 souring their tempers, and alienating their affec- 
 tions. The credit of the continental paper 
 money had entirely ceased ; a debt of more 
 than two millions, of such a nature that it 
 could neither be avoided nor delayed, without 
 utterly ruining the credit of Congress in Europe, 
 had absorbed the supplies from Holland, on 
 which some dependence had been placed ; 
 public and private distress every where existed ; 
 many public officers to whom arrears of pay 
 were due from the public treasury were expos- 
 ed to imprisonment, for debts contracted for the 
 means of living ; some of the members of the 
 board of the treasury, declared to Mr. Morris, 
 that they had not the means even of sending 
 an express to the army ; starvation threatened 
 the troops, and nothing appeared more probable 
 than their dissolution. 
 
 In these circumstances New England made 
 strenuous exertions for the supply of such arti- 
 cles as her soil produced. But a supply of flour 
 was to be obtained principally in Pennsylvania, 
 and for this purpose funds or credit were indis- 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 33 
 
 pensible ; neither of which did the public pos- 
 sess. Robert Morris however had credit, and 
 by means of this the wants of the army were 
 supplied. In writing to Thomas Lowrey, Esq., 
 May 29th 1781, requesting him to purchase a 
 thousand barrels of flour, he says, " To obtain 
 this flour readily on good terms, I know you must 
 pledge your private credit, and as I have not the 
 money ready, although the means of raising it 
 are in my power, I must pledge myself to you, 
 which I do most solemnly as an officer of the 
 public, — but lest you should, like some others, 
 believe more in private than in public credit, I 
 hereby pledge myself to pay you the cost and 
 charges of this flour in hard money. I will en- 
 able you most honorably to fulfil your engage- 
 ments." 
 
 A similar request was made, on a similar 
 pledge given to Gen. Schuyler. In his letter to 
 the latter, he represents the office to which he 
 had just been appointed as a station which made 
 him tremble when he thought of it; and which, 
 nothing could have tempted him to accept but a 
 
34 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 gleam of hope that his exertions '' might possibly 
 relieve this poor distressed country from the ruin 
 with which it was then threatened, merely for 
 want of system and economy in expending, and 
 vigor in raising the public money." 
 
 In advising General Washington of these pro- 
 ceedings, he says, *' I shall make it a point to 
 provide the money, being determined never to 
 make an engagement which cannot be fulfilled ; 
 for if by any means I should fail in this respect, 
 I will quit my office from that moment." 
 
 The provisions thus procured were sufficient 
 only for the immediate wants of the army. In 
 order to procure further supplies in season, Mr. 
 Morris, in his private capacity, made a contract 
 with the state of Pennsylvania, to furnish the 
 quota of specific supplies apportioned to that 
 state for the current year ,• receiving as a reim- 
 bursement the taxes, for raising which, laws had 
 been recently enacted. 
 
 This negociation involved in the aggregate a 
 sum exceeding $1,120,000. The supplies were 
 thus furnished for the army, before the money 
 
LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 35 
 
 could be obtained from the treasury of the state ; 
 and in such a manner as to raise the credit of the 
 obligations of the state, from a depreciation of 
 six for one, to two for one. 
 
 All the public resources were consumed as fast 
 as they could be obtained, leaving no funds for 
 any unexpected emergencies. 
 
 In the early part of the campaign of 1781, a 
 plan had been agreed on for the capture of New 
 York, then in the possession of the British forces 
 under Gen. Clinton ; in which the combined 
 American and French armies were to be assist- 
 ed by the French fleet. The Hon. Richard Pe- 
 ters, and Mr. Morris, by order of Congress re- 
 paired to the head-quarters of Gen. Washington, 
 early in August, to consult with him on the ar- 
 rangements and supplies necessary to carry the 
 plan into execution. While there, information 
 was received from Count De Grasse, of his in- 
 tention to sail for the Chesapeake. This failure 
 in the fulfilment of an engagement so confident- 
 ly relied on, occasioned for once, a violent agi- 
 tation in the mind of Gen. Washington-w The 
 
36 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 information was communicated to Messrs. Peters 
 and Morris at beat of reveille. The hour of 
 breakfast found Gen. Washington calmly mak- 
 ing his estimates for a southern campaign against 
 Cornwallis. 
 
 He inquired of the commissioners from Con- 
 gress what they could do to assist him under 
 such an unexpected disappointment. Mr. Pe- 
 ters on whom devolved the duty of furnishing 
 the supplies, replied, '' every thing, with money, 
 without it, nothing," looking significantly at 
 Mr. Morris. 
 
 " I understand you," said the latter, " but I 
 must know the amount." This was soon ascer- 
 tained. Mr. Morris then found himself under the 
 necessity of informing the General that he had 
 no money at his command nor any means of rais- 
 ing any immediately. He was however willing to 
 make use of his personal credit if that could be 
 made effectual. He submitted it therefore to 
 the General to determine how far it might be 
 prudent to rely upon this resource, the efficacy 
 of which it would be necessary for him to risk. 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 37 
 
 Gen. Washington replied, " The measure is in- 
 evitable and therefore resolved on ; I must pur- 
 sue it at all hazards." 
 
 Messrs. Morris and Peters, being enjoined to 
 keep the enterprize secret, returned to Philadel- 
 phia, but so cautious were they in their proceed- 
 ings preparatory to the grand trial of skill and 
 strength which determined the result of the war, 
 that Congress were not apprized of the change 
 of the plan, till the troops marched through the 
 city. 
 
 Mr. Peters was active in making the requisite 
 preparations. In three or four weeks, from sev- 
 enty to eighty peices of battering cannon, and a 
 hundred pieces of field artillery with suitable 
 ammunition were prepared and sent forward. 
 
 All this expense, together with that of the 
 
 subsistence and pay of the troops was incurred 
 
 on the personal credit of Robert Morris who 
 
 issued his notes to the amount of $1,400,000, 
 
 which were finally all paid. Yet with all these 
 
 exertions the cattle destined for the use of the 
 
 army were arrested on the road for want of 
 
 4 
 
38 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 funds to procure pasturage. For the supply of 
 the most unavoidable requisitions, Mr. Morris 
 negociated a loan of specie with Count Ro- 
 chambeau, which being put into the hands of 
 Gen. Washington, enabled him, with the assist- 
 ance received from Virginia and the other states, 
 to act efficiently in the prosecution of the enter- 
 prize. It resulted in the capture of Cornwallis, 
 and reduced the British forces in America to the 
 necessity of acting chiefly on the defensive, 
 and thus determined the event of the war. 
 
 At the time of these immense exertions, Mr. 
 Morris was severely censured for not affording 
 sufficient assistance to the southern army under 
 Gen. Greene. This charge has been reiterated 
 recently by Judge Johnson, in his biography of 
 Greene. Besides the assistance publicly given, 
 a secret agent, acting as a volunteer in the army 
 with Greene, was directed in case of the most 
 indispensible necessity, to supply him with small 
 sums in specie. 
 
 That he was not more liberally supplied was 
 obviously owing to the impossibility of doing so. 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 39 
 
 That there was much suffering in the southern 
 army, both for want of clothes, and other neces- 
 saries, was undoubtedly true. Gen. Greene him- 
 self never complained. In 1783 he writes to 
 Governeur Morris, " I have the highest respect 
 for Mr. Morris, minister of finance — I venerate 
 his character, and the more for his engaging in 
 so difficult an office under such unfavorable ap- 
 pearances." 
 
 The difficulty and almost impossibility of pro- 
 curing supplies from the several states, were the 
 source of immense trouble to the financier. 
 
 Congress had no power to levy taxes. The 
 states were extremely dilatory in making any 
 provision bylaw, to meet the requisitions of Con- 
 gress ; and after provision had been made by the 
 several letjislatures, such was the condition of 
 the country that it was difficult to realize the 
 avails, in consequence of the want of efficient 
 means of making collections. 
 
 The public creditors were sufficiently clam- 
 orous, but their complaints could not be made 
 directly to the delinquent states ; and most of the 
 
40 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 leaders of the several states seem to have sup- 
 posed that their own state had done their share 
 in making provision for the public w^ants. 
 
 A fear that the accounts of the states with 
 the union would not be adjusted increased the 
 disposition to delay. The efforts of Mr. Morris 
 were directed to counteract these sentiments, 
 and to induce the several states to rouse them- 
 selves and make strenuous exertions for the 
 country. In a circular to the governors of the 
 several states he says, after giving the assurance 
 that his efforts should be unceasing to effect a 
 liquidation of the accounts of the states with 
 the union, " I make this assurance in the most 
 solemn manner, and I entreat that the conse- 
 quences of a contrary assertion may be most sol- 
 emnly weighed and considered before it is made 
 or believed." " It is by being just to individu- 
 als, to each other, to the union, to all, — by gen- 
 erous grants of solid revenue, — and by adopting 
 energetic methods of collecting that revenue ; 
 and not by complainings, vauntings and recrim- 
 inations that these states must expect to estab- 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 41 
 
 lish their independence and rise into power, 
 consequence and grandeur." 
 
 The establishment of a national bank was 
 one of the early financial measures of Mr. Mor- 
 ris. He had given his attention to the subject 
 as a means of facilitating commercial operations 
 before the war, and had taken some steps to 
 establish a bank. Soon after his appointment 
 to the office of superintendent of finance, he re- 
 ceived a letter from Mr. Hamilton, recommend- 
 ing this measure as one calculated to be useful 
 to the common cause in the low state of public 
 credit; and suggesting a plan of operations. In 
 reply, Mr. Morris expressed his satisfaction to 
 find their views coincident on this subject, and 
 ffave him the assurance that he would soon see 
 a proposition for a bank, differing from the plan 
 proposed by him principally in the exclusion of 
 real estate as part of the capital, which Mr. 
 Morris thought inexpedient. It was not ex- 
 pected however that funds for the prosecution 
 of the war, would be created by the establish- 
 ment of the bank. " Anticipation of taxes and 
 
 4* 
 
 f) 
 
42 LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 funds," he remarks on presenting the subject 
 to the consideration of Congress, '^ is all that 
 ought to be expected from any system of pa- 
 per credit; this seems as likely to rise into a 
 fabric equal to the weight, as any I have yet 
 thought of" The plan received the approba- 
 tion of Congress by resolution on the 26th of 
 May 1781, Massachusetts alone dissenting. But 
 it could not be carried into immediate execu- 
 tion. On the 31st of Dec. 1781, a charter of 
 incorporation was granted by Congress which 
 was subsequently confirmed by an additional 
 charter from the state of Pennsylvania, and on 
 the 7th of January 1782, it was opened for the 
 transaction of business. 
 
 In the preamble to the act of incorporation 
 by Congress it is recited that the exigencies of 
 the United States required that such an act 
 should be immediately passed. They had pre- 
 viously recommended the grant, by the several 
 states, of an express power to Congress to pass 
 such an act of incorporation, but this not hav- 
 ing been done, they assumed the power, to do 
 
LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 43 
 
 it on the ground of the necessity of the case. 
 The act, however, contained a proviso that it 
 should not be construed to authorize the ex- 
 ercise of any powers in any of the states repug- 
 nant to the laws or constitution of such state. 
 
 The capital of the bank was to be |400,000, 
 in shares of four hundred dollars each, in gold 
 and silver. 
 
 It was to be under the management of twelve 
 directors chosen from the stock-holders, each of 
 whom was to be entitled to a vote for every 
 share of the stock belonging to him; the direct- 
 ors to choose the President. 
 
 The bank was under obligation to present a 
 statement of their cash account and of the 
 notes issued and received, to the superintend- 
 ent of finace every day, and was besides liable 
 to be examined by that officer in relation to the 
 management of their affairs, and for that pur- 
 pose he was to have access to all the books and 
 papers. 
 
 " The use of the bank," says Mr. Morris in 
 an address to the public, " is to aid the govern- 
 
44 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 ment by their moneys and credit, for which they 
 will have every proper reward and security ; to 
 gain from individuals that credit which property, 
 abilities and integrity never fail to command ; to 
 supply the loss of that paper money which, be- 
 coming more and more useless, calls every day 
 more loudly for its redemption ; — and to give a 
 new spring to commerce in the moment when 
 by the removal of all restrictions, the citizens of 
 America shall enjoy and possess that freedom, 
 for which they contend." 
 
 One object, avowed by Mr. Morris, was *'to 
 unite the several states more closely together in 
 one general money connection, and indissolubly 
 to attach many powerful individuals to the cause 
 of our country by the strong principle of self- 
 interest." 
 
 Whatever dangers the champions of nullifi- 
 cation might apprehend to their schemes of self- 
 aoTffrandizement, from the effect of such a meas- 
 ure, in attaching men of property to the inter-, 
 ests of the union, there can be no doubt but in 
 Robert Morris, this expectation was a patriotic 
 
 \ 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS, 45 
 
 motive. Divide and conquer, was the plan 
 of the common enemy, but it never was, and 
 never will be adopted by the friends of the best 
 interests of any part of the union. 
 
 The aid afforded by the bank to support the 
 cause of the country, considering its limited 
 amount of capital, was very considerable. In 
 the course of the first six months it had ad- 
 vanced to the United States a sum equal to its 
 whole capital, besides $80,000 on an account 
 of the state of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Considerable facilities were also obtained by 
 the public, by discounts on the notes of individ- 
 uals and by credit furnished to contractors for 
 the army. Great numbers availed themselves 
 of the vaults of the bank as a place of deposit 
 for money, which for want of opportunities of 
 advantageous investments had been long con- 
 cealed. By this means the bank was enabled 
 to extend its business to a great amount, and to 
 afford assistance not only to the United States, 
 and the state of Pennsylvania, but to the city 
 
46 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 of Philadelphia and to great numbers of private 
 citizens. 
 
 " It may then," says Mr. Morris, in an ad- 
 dress to the public, " be not only asserted, but 
 demonstrated that without the establishment of 
 the national bank, the business of the depart- 
 ment of finace could not have been performed." 
 " The establishment of the national bank," he 
 observes in a letter, (March 25, 1782,) " an- 
 swers all the purposes expected from it, and 
 even exceeds the most sanguine hopes that 
 were formed by its warmest advocates. As the 
 operations of the bank become extended, the 
 benefits of the institution will be felt in the 
 extreme parts of the United States. Their notes 
 acquire every day a greater extent of circula- 
 tion, and they have obtained the most perfect 
 confidence hereabouts." 
 
 Mr. Morris on first entering on the duties of 
 his office endeavored to introduce a system of 
 regularity in the economy of the public finan- 
 ces, and this with the invariable punctuality 
 with which he fulfilled not only his own private 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 47 
 
 contracts, but the engagements made by him 
 on account of the public, produced the most 
 beneficial results. General Washington said 
 ''the abilities of the present financier have done 
 wonders." This too was the sentiment of all 
 who had the means of judging, or of tracing 
 effects to their causes. But notwithstandinfif 
 the temporary assistance derived from the per- 
 sonal credit of Mr. Morris, and from the bank, 
 the difficulty of raising supplies from the states 
 was the source of great embarrassment. The 
 issue of private notes and the loans obtained 
 from the bank could be useful only as tempo- 
 rary expedients in the anticpation of funds. 
 Having been unsuccessful in their most impor- 
 tant manoeuvres, and reduced to the necessity of 
 acting on the defensive, the enemies of American 
 freedom still cherished strong expectations that 
 the derangement of our finances, the dissen- 
 tions among the states, and the discontent of the 
 unpaid officers and soldiers in the army would 
 finally reduce the country to the necessity of 
 relinquishing the advantages obtained by the 
 
48 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 sacrifices which had already been made. Nor 
 were such expectations so absurd as upon a 
 superficial view would now appear. It was with 
 the hope of disappointing them that Mr. Morris 
 continued to discharge the duties of his office, 
 under circumstances of great embarrassment 
 and perplexity. 
 
 His exertions to induce the states to furnish 
 the means of paying the expenses and sustain- 
 ing the credit of the union, were constant, vigor- 
 ous, urgent, and dignified, but unfortunately in 
 a great measure, though not entirely, unsuccess- 
 ful. The just claims of individuals which he 
 was incessantly called upon to satisfy in behalf 
 of the country, and the impossibility of relieving 
 their distresses, was a source of a most unpleas- 
 ant state of feeling. The call for an impost 
 of five per cent, which Congress had recom- 
 mended for the purpose of providing, among 
 other things, for the interest of the just claims 
 against the United States, was not responded to. 
 The means of meeting the current expenses of 
 war, could not be diverted to any other purpose. 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 49 
 
 *'As to making advances from my own private 
 fortune," said Mr. Morris, " I have already 
 before the acceptance of the office I now hold, 
 expended much more in that way, than ought 
 to have fallen to any private citizen." It was 
 also obvious, that some public emergency might 
 happen before the final termination of the contest 
 in which, as a last resort, Mr. Morris could apply 
 his own means to better purpose for the salvation 
 of the country, than in the payment of debts not 
 contracted upon his credit. We are authorized 
 to believe that in such a case, his country would 
 have had the same proofs he had previously 
 given, of his devotion to her cause. 
 
 The complaints, the malicious insinuations, 
 and open calumnies, which were heaped upon 
 Mr. Morris during his continuance in office, by 
 the discontented or the designing, have now lost 
 their force. They were numerous and bitter, 
 but after what we have seen of the man, none 
 of them having, at any time, been substantiated 
 by evidence, they need no refutation, and there- 
 fore require no repetition. 
 
 5 
 
50 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 By a resolution of Congress, August 29, 1781, 
 it was determined that, for the time being, there 
 should be appointed an agent of marine with 
 authority to direct, fit out, equip and employ the 
 ships and vessels of war, belonging to the Unit- 
 ed States, according to such instructions as he 
 should, from time to time, receive from Con- 
 gress ; — that all prizes belonging to the United 
 States, should be sold under his direction ; and 
 that all accounts and demands for pay, and for 
 all disbursements and expenses respecting said 
 marine, should be transmitted to said agent for 
 settlement and payment : and that he should 
 cause regular entries to be made and kept. 
 
 By another resolution, on the 7th of Septem- 
 ber following, it was ordered that until an agent 
 of marine should be appointed, all the duties, 
 powers and authority, assigned to the agent 
 of marine, should be devolved upon, and ex- 
 ecuted by the superintendent of finance ; and 
 that as soon as he should take upon him the 
 execution of those duties, powers and authority, 
 the functions and appointments of the board of 
 
LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 51 
 
 admiralty, the several navy boards, agents, and 
 all civil officers under them, should cease. 
 
 Mr. Morris accepted the office of an agent of 
 marine with great reluctance ; but the same un- 
 tiring zeal and patriotism, which had already 
 caused him to promise that the American Con- 
 gress might command him, and every thing he 
 had, except his integrity, induced him to wave 
 his objections. No other agent being appointed 
 by Congress, he therefore continued to perform 
 the important and responsible duties of an agent 
 of marine, till the time of his resignation of the 
 office of superintendent of finance. 
 
 On the 24th of January 1783, the prospect of 
 peace being favorable, and that of a permanent 
 provision for the just demands against the union, 
 having been deferred to an uncertain future, 
 Mr. Morris announced his intention to resign 
 his offices in the succeeding May. To prevent 
 the apprehended consequences of the loss of 
 confidence in the government which it was 
 expected would follow from this announcement. 
 
52 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 an injunction of secrecy was immediately laid 
 on this communication. 
 
 A committee, afterwards appointed to devise 
 the most proper steps to be taken in consequence 
 of this resolution, solicited and obtained his con- 
 sent to continue in office till arranorements could 
 be made for the reduction of the armv, and the 
 engagements that should be made by him in 
 consequence, and those already entered into by 
 him, should be completed. 
 
 On the 17th of June 1783, a committee ap- 
 pointed to examine into the transactions of the 
 office of finance reported, 
 
 " That the business of the office had been 
 conducted with great ability and assiduity, in 
 a manner highly advantageous to the United 
 States, and in conformity with the system laid 
 down by Congress ; — that the public accounts of 
 receipts and expenditures had been regularly, 
 and punctually kept, that many of the accounts 
 which preceded that institution had been already 
 settled, and most of the others put in a train of 
 adjustment ; — that those who had been entrusted 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 53 
 
 with public money after the institution of that 
 office, had been regularly called on for their 
 accounts, which had been furnished except in 
 the case of two officers under the quarter-mas- 
 ter general, who had given their reasons for 
 delay ; — that the states had also been called on 
 for their accounts of specific supplies furnished 
 for the union, which however had not been 
 rendered ; — that in the cases of several persons 
 who had before been intrusted with public mo- 
 ney the defect of the law in the several states 
 deprived the superintendent of the power to 
 compel them to a proper settlement ; — that im- 
 portant reforms had been introduced, in the 
 management of the public expenditures, and that 
 the order and economy which had been mani- 
 fested had been attended with great savings 
 of public money, as well as many other bene- 
 ficial consequences; — that in the commissary 
 department alone a saving had been made in 
 the pay of 250 persons discharged from public 
 service, amounting to 126,300 dollars, besides 
 rations for themselves and horses ; — that in one 
 
 5* 
 
54 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 instance, at the post of Philadelphia, a new ar- 
 rangement had been made, effecting a saving 
 in the article of forage only, of 990 tons of 
 hay, one thousand tons having been demanded 
 and only ten tons found necessary ; — that from 
 the 14th of May, 1781, to the 1st of January, 
 1783, the whole amount brought into the treas- 
 ury was 82,726,334 ; and the expenditure was 
 $3,131,046; — that the expenditures of the year 
 1782, exceeded the receipts by the sum of 8404, 
 713, which had been supplied by a circulation in 
 notes of the financier; — that the accounts had 
 been fairly stated to Congress ; — that the busi- 
 ness of the office of the treasury had been con- 
 ducted with great diligence and accuracy, and 
 in conformity with the rules laid down by Con- 
 gress ; — and in relation to foreign money trans- 
 actions, that the bills of exchange which the 
 superintendent had drawn, had been duly cred- 
 ited at the treasury ; this being the only thing 
 in those transactions which respected the super- 
 intendent. 
 
LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 55 
 
 At the opening of Congress, on the 1st of 
 November, 1784, Mr. Morris finally resigned 
 the office of superintendent of finance. On 
 this occasion, a grand committee of eleven 
 reported that they were of opinion that " the 
 United States had derived very great advantages 
 from the arrangement and management of their 
 finances, under the administration of the Hon. 
 Robert Morris, as superintendent thereof." On 
 this committee were Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. 
 Gerry, who were afterwards prominent leaders 
 of the party opposed to that of which Mr. 
 Morris was considered a strong supporter. 
 
 On this occasion also, Mr. Morris submitted 
 to Congress an account of the finances during 
 the time of his administration, prefixed to which 
 is an address to the inhabitants of the United 
 States. In closing some remarks upon the 
 facilities furnished by the bank, he acknowl- 
 edges his obligations, as a public officer, to that 
 institution, and adds the assurance that their 
 confidence in him as the head of the department 
 of finance, was as extensive as prudence could 
 
56 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 possibly admit ; and only confined by their duty 
 and their means. 
 
 In this address, he urges, from his own sad 
 experience of the mischiefs of a contrary policy, 
 the necessity of making due provision for the 
 public debts, and establishing a more powerful 
 and energetic general government. 
 
 " The payment of debts," he observes, "may 
 indeed be expensive, but it is infinitely more ex- 
 pensive to withhold the payment. The former 
 is an expense of money when it may be com- 
 manded to defray it ; but the latter involves the 
 destruction of that source from whence money 
 may be commanded when all other sources fail. 
 That source, abundant, nay, almost inexhausti- 
 able, is public credit. The country in which it 
 may be preserved with the greatest ease, is 
 America. And America is the country which 
 stands most in need of it, whether we consider 
 her moral or political situation ; or whether we 
 advert to her husbandry, commerce or manu- 
 factures." 
 
 " We are just emerging from a long and ex- 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 57 
 
 pensive war; a war more expensive than it ought 
 to have been, because the needy can never 
 economise, and because no degree of talents 
 can compensate for the want of experience. 
 How soon we may be plunged into another, is 
 known only to him from whom no secrets are 
 hidden. But he has enabled us by reasoning 
 on past events, to conclude that the only moral 
 surety for peace, is a state of constant prepara- 
 tion for hostilities." 
 
 "If a rupture should happen within the com- 
 ing year, to whom are we to look for succor ? 
 And from whom shall we ask their treasure, or 
 their blood? — Shall we apply to those veterans 
 who lately bore our banners in triumph ? Will 
 they not show their scars, and point to the re- 
 cord of their wrongs ? Our prospects, in case of 
 war, are far from flattering ; and unless our 
 union be more strongly cemented, they will be- 
 come gloomy indeed. The inhabitants of a 
 little hamlet may feel pride in the sense of scj)- 
 arate independence. But if there be not one gov- 
 ernment which can draw forth and direct the 
 
58 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 combined efforts of United America, our inde- 
 pendence is but a name, our freedom a shadow, 
 our dignity a dream. To you. Fellow-citizens, 
 these sentiments are addressed, by one who has 
 felt their force. In descending from that emi- 
 nence on which your representatives had placed 
 him, he avoids the shafts which calumny had 
 aimed. He has no longer any personal interest 
 in those jealousies and distrusts, which have 
 embarrassed his administration, and may prove 
 your ruin. lie no longer asks for confidence 
 in himself But it is his duty to declare his sin- 
 cere opinion, that if you will not repose in the 
 members of that general federal government, 
 which you yourselves have chosen ; that confi- 
 dence and those powers which are necessary, 
 you must, and you will, in no very distant pe- 
 riod, become the dupes of European politics." 
 " What may be the final event, time only can 
 discover ; but the probability is, that first divid- 
 ed, then governed, our children may lament in 
 chains, the folly of their fathers. May Heaven 
 avert these evils, and endow us with wisdom 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 59 
 
 SO to act, as may best promote the present and 
 future peace, prosperity and happiness of the 
 country." 
 
 The accounts presented with this address 
 were a plain statement of the results of the 
 financial operations of government, during the 
 time of his continuance in office, in the form of 
 a merchant's ledger. The inspection of these 
 accounts will show that he was master of his 
 business, a perfect accountant, an able financi- 
 er, and an honest man. 
 
 It is said to have been stated by two members 
 of Congress from Massachusetts, that the expen- 
 ses of prosecuting the war, were reduced after 
 the appointment of Mr. Morris to the office of 
 superintendent of finance, from eighteen mill- 
 ions of hard dollars, to about four millions ! 
 
 At the close of the war, the spirit of partisan 
 jealousy was directed, amongst other things, to 
 the bank. In 1785, on petition, and a report of 
 a committee, assuming the statements of the pe- 
 tition as true, without making any inquiry into 
 the proceedings of the bank, the legislature 
 
60 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 of Pennsylvania passed an act purporting to 
 repeal the charter granted by the state. The 
 operations of the bank were continued under 
 the charter of Congress, and on the ground that 
 the repeal was illegal ; but it was considered 
 an object of great importance to procure a 
 renewal of the charter from the state. For 
 this purpose Mr. Morris consented to be a 
 candidate for the legislature ; and being chosen, 
 he exerted himself in an eloquent and powerful 
 argument, in favor of the renewal of the charter. 
 The debate was a subject of great interest, was 
 published at length by M. Carey, and is probably 
 the best specimen of the talents of Mr. Morris, 
 that can now be found. At this time, the 
 opposite party were too strong. The idea of 
 a bank for the benefit of merchants, found but 
 little faVor in the other portions of the communi- 
 ty. It was supposed that the bank absorbed the 
 funds, which otherwise might, by means of loan 
 offices, be lent to farmers and others, on the 
 security of real estate, for longer terms than the 
 bank was accustomed to grant on discounts 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 61 
 
 to merchants. The question of renewal was 
 lost at this time, by a majority of thirteen votes ; 
 but the friends of the bank were successful in 
 the succeeding legislature. 
 * In 17S7, Mr. Morris was elected a member of 
 the convention, which framed the constitution 
 of the United States. J In the form of government 
 to be adopted, those who had seen the weakness 
 and inefficiency of the confederation of inde- 
 pendent states, furnishing or withholding sup- 
 plies for the union, as each one thought its own 
 individual interest required, were desirous to 
 render the operations of the general government 
 independent of the states. Among those who 
 had most sensibly felt the necessity of such a 
 course, was Mr. Morris. 
 
 d In that body, Mr. Morris made a speech in 
 which he advocated the choice of senators for 
 life. He also advocated the opinion, that they 
 ought to be " men of great and established prop- 
 erty — an aristocracy J^ 
 
 He went on to add, " History proves, I ad- 
 mit, that men of large property will uniformly 
 
 6 
 
G2 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 endeavor to establish tyrranny. How shall we 
 ward off these evils? Give them the second 
 branch, [the senate,] and you secure their weight 
 for the public good. They are responsible for 
 their conduct, and this lust of power will ever 
 be checked by the democratic branch, and thus 
 form the stability of your government. But if 
 we continue changing our measures by the 
 breath of democracy, who will confide in our 
 engagements ? Who will trust us ? Ask any 
 person whether he has any confidence in the 
 government of Congress, [under the confedera- 
 tion,] or that of the state of Pennsylvania, — he 
 will readily answer you, no. Ask him the rea- 
 son, and he will tell you, it is because he has 
 no confidence in their stability."* v 
 
 Such a feature in the senate would probabl|r 
 then have found little favor with the people, and 
 would now find much less. The sentiment is 
 easily accounted for in Mr. Morris from the ex- 
 perience he had Iiad of the difficulty of dealing 
 with the legislatures of the States, from his ob- 
 * Reported by Chief Justice Yates. 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. (y?> 
 
 servation of the effects of frequent changes in 
 the old Congress, and from his probable opinion 
 of the excellence of the British constitution, as 
 a model. Yet with his admission of the prob- 
 ability that rich men would endeavor to estab- 
 lish tyranny, it is not to be supposed he would 
 have favored the principle without what he con- 
 sidered a sufficient check, in the house of rep- 
 resentatives. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the people of the United 
 States will never grant to any class of men any 
 other exclusive favors than such voluntary hom- 
 age as may be rendered to public and private 
 virtue, combined with talents devoted to the 
 public good. Yet it is easy to believe tliat the 
 sentiments of Mr. Morris, respecting the form- 
 ation of the senate, were honestly formed as the 
 result of his observation and reflections, from 
 the most pure and patriotic motives. In the ab- 
 sence of all evidence of the contrary, common 
 charity and justice require this. In the consti- 
 tution which finally received the approbation of 
 Mr. Morris, the power of making a change in 
 
64 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 the character of the senate, not suddenly, but 
 gradually, is, with great propriety, retained by 
 the people. 
 
 In October, 1788, he was appointed by the 
 legislature of Pennsylvania, as one of the sen- 
 ators to represent that state under the new con- 
 stitution. He had once declared, that '^ a firm, 
 wise, manly system of federal government, was 
 what he had once wished, what he then hoped, 
 what he dared not expect ; but what he would 
 not despair of." Such a government, however, 
 he saw, with Washington at its head; and he 
 gave it his ardent and firm support. 
 / At the close of the war, he had engaged in 
 the East India and China trade, and in the 
 spring of 1784, despatched the first American 
 vessel that ever appeared in the port of Canton. 
 
 In 1787, on the 20th of June, he despatched 
 the Alliance, to make what was then called an 
 ''out of season" passage, by avoiding some of 
 the periodical winds which prevail in the south 
 seas. This was eflfected by a passage around 
 the south cape of New Holland ; and the appear- 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 65 
 
 ance of the ship at Canton, the 22d of Decem- 
 ber, created great astonishment, / It has how- 
 ever been since found, that American enterprise 
 could do other things, which had never been 
 done before, and the wonder that they should 
 be found, out of the common track, has ceased. 
 
 The British lords of admiralty applied to Mr. 
 Morris for information respecting the course of 
 the Alliance, which is said to have been marked 
 out by him and Governeur Morris, previous to 
 her departure. 
 
 Some time after the close of the revolutionary 
 war, Mr. Morris engaged extensively in landed 
 speculations. ; 
 
 In the expectation of speedy and profitable 
 sales, he made large purchases, and incurred / 
 great expenses in procuring settlements. He 
 was not the only man who indulged the expec- 
 tation of great profits from speculations of this 
 nature. It seems to have been a very prevalent 
 opinion, that upon the establishment of our in- 
 dependence, Europe would be ready to send, 
 
 not laborers only, but men of property and influ- 
 
 6* 
 
66 LIFE OP ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 ence, to settle our extensive and unpeopled 
 domains. The birth-place of liberty and the 
 asylum for the oppressed, it was thought, would 
 have irresistible charms for those who could not 
 . enjoy the privileges to which they were justly 
 entitled in their native land. 
 
 But peace did not immediately bring with it 
 all the advantages that were expected. Our 
 government was unstable. Our commerce was 
 unprotected. The open, or half concealed dis- 
 sentions among the states gave fearful augury of 
 an eventual dissolution of the confederation. 
 Till the adoption of the federal constitution, we 
 were not a nation. Instead of offering a sure 
 pledge of great advantages to those who could 
 overcome their predilection for home, and dis- 
 pose of their property, our own liberties appear- 
 ed to be held by a feeble and precarious tenure. 
 
 Few wealthy emigrants were willing to incur 
 the risk of exchanging the limited advantages 
 enjoyed in the old world for uncertain prospects 
 in the new. 
 
 Mr. Morris, in his landed speculations, was 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 67 
 
 unfortunate. Thousjh in earlier life he had sus- 
 tained the credit of the country, he now found 
 it impossible to prevent himself from falling un- 
 der the weight of his own private embarrass- 
 ments. There has been a time, which some 
 men now living will not forget, when even hon- 
 est men might be imprisoned for debt, at the 
 will of a creditor. If we knew the names of 
 the creditors of Robert Morris, who so rigor- 
 ously enforced the penalty of laws made for 
 dishonesty and fraud, we would, in charity, 
 throw over them the mantle of oblivion.i, Rob-i 
 ert Morris, in his old age, was imprisoned for 
 
 debt! Whenever Washino-ton came to Phila-. 
 
 I 
 
 delphia, his first visit was to the man who had/ 
 done every thing which could be done for the 
 liberty of his country, but by the laws of that 
 country, was, for his misfortunes, condemned to* 
 imprisonment. Mr. Morris himself however, ^ 
 made no complaint, but submitted, without re- 1 
 pining, to the laws. 
 
 In connection, however, with his speculations 
 in lands, he became interested in the policy of 
 
68 T-TFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 internal improvements. His influence, as pres- 
 ident of the Pennsylvanian Society for the Im- 
 provement of Roads and Inland Navigation, and 
 of the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation 
 Company, and his calculations and writings, 
 are believed to have given the strongest impulse 
 to the liberal course of the state of Pennsyl- 
 vania on the subject of internal improvements. 
 How far he may have been instrumental in pro- 
 voking the public men of New York and other 
 states to emulation, and how much the country 
 at large may owe him on this score, will proba- 
 bly never be known. But among the friends 
 of these important means of enriching and ce- 
 menting the interests of different portions of the 
 country, as we hope they will be enriched and 
 cemented before our union is finally broken, the 
 name of Robert Morris should occupy a high 
 and honorable place. 
 
 Mr. Morris, as a private citizen, commanded 
 the respect and confidence of those who were 
 most bitterly opposed to him in politics. To 
 every candid reader of the history of the revolu- 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 69 
 
 tion, and of the no less hazardous politicial tri- 
 als of the country which succeeded it, it will be 
 obvious that any other general course of politics, 
 than that which he pursued, would have been, 
 in him, a dereliction of those principles of in- 
 tegrity and patriotism by which he had always 
 been guided. 
 
 Faction and calumny found employment in 
 censuring his public administration. But not- 
 withstanding the thousand insinuations, which 
 were continually thrown out against him, by pub- 
 lic creditors whom the resources of the country 
 could not satisfy, or by concealed enemies of 
 American independence, his integrity and his 
 honor was, and will remain forever untarnished. 
 
 In 1785, a resolution was passed by Congress, 
 to appoint a committee to enquire into the ad- 
 ministration of Mr. Morris as superintendent 
 of finance, but no committee was appointed. 
 That he might not appear to court those marks 
 of approbation which had, on former occasions, 
 been voluntarily given, he forebore to press the 
 subject, though he was extremely solicitious 
 
70 
 
 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 to clear himself from the suspicion which the 
 passage of the resolution was calculated to throw 
 upon him. In 17S8, and 1789, he exerted him- 
 self to procure an adjustment of his accounts, 
 but was unable to brincr them to a close. On 
 the adoption of the new constitution, the officers 
 of the treasury declined to proceed in the adjust- 
 ment without special authority. 
 
 In 1790, Mr. Morris presented to the Senate, 
 of which he was a member, a dignified memo- 
 rial, complaining of the neglect of Congress to 
 carry their former resolution into effect, by 
 which his reputation was injuriously effected ; 
 and soliciting the appointment of commissioners 
 to make a final adjustment of all unsettled ac- 
 counts. In this memorial, he speaks of injuri- 
 ous imputations on his official conduct, as " the 
 only fruits of services, which, at the time they 
 were rendered, he trusts he may without incur- 
 ring the charge of presumption, affirm, were 
 generally esteemed, both important and merito- 
 rous, and were at least rendered with ardor and 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 71 
 
 zeal, with unremitted attention and unwearied 
 application." 
 
 The senate passed resolutions for appointing 
 and paying commissioners to make the investi- 
 gation requested, and report to the president. 
 If the public records, which have been pub- 
 lished, contain the result of the investigation, 
 it is not easy to find it. Happily, to sustain 
 the reputation of Mr. Morris, it is by no means 
 necessary. 
 
 His abilities were never questioned. His pa- 
 triotism was more severely tried than that of 
 any other man, during the revolution. The pro- 
 ceedings of the commander in chief were open 
 to the observation and applause of all. But the 
 operations of the superintendent of finance be- 
 came known, rather by means of the embarrass- 
 ments which it was impossible for him to relieve, 
 than by the advantages received. 
 
 A foreign historian* has recorded the opinion 
 that " the Americans oiocd, and still owe as much 
 ((cknuwledgmenf to the Jinan cial opcrcdions of 
 
 * BoUa's War of Independence, vol. 3, p 343. 
 
72 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Robert Morris, as to the negociations of Benjamin 
 Franklin, or even to the arms of Washington. ^^ 
 
 Doct. Ramsey says that Mr. Morris arranged 
 the accounts and affans of the treasury " with 
 so much judgment, tliat economy, method and 
 system, soon took the place of extravagance 
 confusion and irregularity. The personal and 
 unsullied credit of the superintendent of Fi- 
 nance was a powerful auxiliary to the govern- 
 ment, — it facilitated contracts in behalf of the 
 army, and lessened the evils which otherwise 
 would have resulted from the arrested circulation 
 of the paper currency." 
 
 " In this crisis of affairs, the services of the 
 superintendent of finance, were as beneficial to 
 the union, as were, at any period of the war, the 
 great abilites of the illustrious commander in 
 chief of the armies of the United States." 
 
 In private life, he was noted for his cheerful- 
 ness and benevolence, which attracted the es- 
 teem of a numerous circle of friends and ac- 
 quaintances, as well as the grateful veneration 
 of the people at large. 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 73 
 
 His manners were those of one who thought 
 that the best way to appear to be a gentleman, 
 was, to be one in reality. Hence there was no 
 appearance of affectation. His fine, open and 
 benevolent countenance, often lighted up with 
 a smile of pleasantry, but never tinged with mo- 
 roseness or melancholy, though his features were 
 strongly marked, manifested a cordial good will ; 
 such as would rather stimulate to the perform- 
 ance of a kind action, than to claim the merit 
 of it. 
 
 Mr. Morris was no less esteemed, in private 
 life, than he was honored in public, by all 
 who had opportunity to know his worth. It is 
 said that no one was more ready than he, to as- 
 sist in the promotion of objects of local improve- 
 ment, in the encouracrement of meritorious fel- 
 low-citizens, or of a faithful commercial agent. 
 For almost half a century, his house was open as 
 the seat of elegant and generous, but not osten- 
 tatious hospitality, to all strangers in good soci- 
 ety, who had occasion to visit Philadelphia : and 
 
 the numerous friends of American independence 
 
 7 
 
74 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 found, in the hearty welcome they received, and 
 in the manly and dignified friendship of their host, 
 a new motive to perseverance in her cause. 
 
 He was invited by General Washington to 
 take the office of secretary of the treasury, under 
 the constitution ; but the object for which he had 
 performed the duties of a similar office, under 
 the most disheartening embarrassments, had 
 been achieved, and the station offered no induce 
 ments to him, to subject himself again to the 
 clamors of a host of public creditors, and inter- 
 ested partisans. He hnwevec recommended Al- 
 
 I exander Hamilton to the attention of General 
 Washington, as the man most fit for such a 
 
 ' station ; and though there had for some time, 
 been a coldness between those two distinguished 
 men, and though General Washington seems 
 not to have been aware of Hamilton's peculiar, 
 and appropriate qualifications for this office, he 
 was appointed ; and the appointment proved Mr. 
 
 I Morris to be as good a judge of financial talents 
 
 ' in another, as he was able himself in that de- 
 partment. 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 75 
 
 He was for a lono^ time afflicted with the asth- 
 ma to which it was thought he had a constitu- 
 tional tendency. Exercise at the pump, some- 
 times as violent, as if he was laboring to save a 
 sinking ship, was the remedy to which, while 
 his strength continued, he resorted for relief. 
 But at length, worn down by public cares, and 
 private embarrassments and misfortunes, he 
 drew near the close of life. Once, one of the 
 firmest pillars of American independence, but 
 now broken, and about to be removed from the 
 edifice, America seems for a moment to have 
 forgotten the debt of gratitude she owed him. 
 ^His death, which was merely announced in the\ 
 public papers as that of a man whose exertions 
 in the cause of American independence were 
 well known, took place on the 8th of May 1806, 
 in the 73d year of his age. It was the result 
 of a long and painful illness. No public eulogi-, 
 um appearsito have pointed the young men of our 
 country to his virtues, and his patriotic services 
 in the cause of liberty and his country, as wor- 
 thy of imitation. But history will record them, 
 
 / 
 
76 LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 and wherever, in future ages, the name of 
 Washington shall be known, that of Robert 
 Morris, his bosom friend, shall also be honored. 
 
 A biographical notice of Mr. Morris was giv- 
 en in the Political Register, published at Phil- 
 adelphia, about the time of his death. Some of 
 the facts mentioned in the preceding memoir, 
 are given at greater length in the biography of 
 Morris, by Robert Wain, Jr., published with 
 that of the other signers of the declaration of 
 Independence, in nine volumes. To this we 
 would refer such of our readers as may have ac- 
 cess to it, for a more extended history of the 
 man to whom our country is so much indebted. 
 There have been several other brief notices of 
 the life of Mr. Morris, given as parts of larger 
 works. It is believed, however, that no separate 
 account of his life has been given, till the pres- 
 ent time. How far our attempt may supply a 
 desideratum, it is for the public to determine. 
 
EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 SPEECHES OF ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM THE SPEECHES OF ROBERT MORRIS, ESQ., ON 
 THE QUESTION OF RE-CHARTERING THE BANK OF 
 NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 In 1785, the legislature ef Pennsylvania passed 
 an act purporting to repeal the charter of the bank 
 of North America, which had been established in 
 1781, principally by the influence of Robert Morris, 
 for national purposes, and had been conducted, till 
 that time, as a national institution. The act appears 
 to have been a party measure, not previously anti- 
 cipated by the friends of the bank. In 1786, Mr. 
 Morris was elected to a seat in the legislature, for 
 the purpose of advocating a renewal of the charter. 
 The corporation had determined not to acknowledge 
 the validity of the repealing act. But individuals 
 petitioned for a renewal of the charter, and on a 
 report of a committee in favor of the measure the 
 debate arose. 
 
 The extracts are offered to the public, not for the 
 purpose of supporting the cause of the banking sys- 
 tem in the United States, but principally as speci- 
 
80 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 mens of the style and talents of Mr. Morris in de- 
 bate ; and as illustrations of the history of the Uni- 
 ted States during the war of the revolution, and the 
 period immediately succeeding. Every thing of a 
 merely local nature is omitted ; but most of those 
 passages vi^hich throw light on the history of the 
 times, or the biography of Mr. Morris, or on his 
 views of commerce, banking and finance, are retain- 
 ed. It is conceived that the sentiments of a man 
 of so much eminence, and of so much practical ac- 
 quaintance with these subjects, expressed likewise, 
 in a style which every body can easily understand, 
 though uttered in debate, and without premedita- 
 tion, will be considered worthy of respectful atten- 
 tion and consideration, though they may not carry 
 conviction to every mind. 
 
 ***** 
 The gentleman, (Mr. Lollar from Montgom- 
 ery County,) tells us, he has a strong objection 
 to the bank, because it facilitates commerce. 
 From this, I presume he is an enemy to all 
 commerce, and thinks we would be better with- 
 out it. I wish the gentleman had favored us 
 with an explanation of what he meant by facili- 
 tating commerce. From what he has said, I 
 imagine that explanation would be, that the 
 bank enables people to bring more goods into 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 81 
 
 this country, than they otherwise could do, 
 which is disadvantajreous. 
 
 As to the theory of commerce, I do not pre- 
 tend to be deeply versed in it : but I have had 
 some experience in the practical part, and there- 
 fore I shall go into a short investigation of the 
 state of our trade since the peace of 1783. At 
 that period, the people of Europe, whose atten- 
 
 •j tion had been drawn toward us by the arduous 
 struggle we had been engaged in, conceived the 
 
 l| most flattering golden dreams respecting this 
 country. After so long a war, they imagined, 
 we could have no manufactures and that we 
 vi^ere in want of everything. 
 
 He that could send here the quickest, it was 
 thought, would the most effectually reap the 
 golden harvest. This occasioned the immense 
 importation of goods which were poured into 
 this country from all quarters. Goods so im- 
 ported have been sold at such a great loss that 
 the trade has undergone change and regula- 
 tion from its own nature ; and we shall have no 
 more of these wild adventurers coming amongst 
 
82 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 US. How the bank facilitated those gentlemen 
 in the manacrement of their business I cannot 
 ascertain. When they sold their goods they 
 received for them either money or produce. If 
 they received money, they could certainly ship it 
 off without the assistance of the bank, and if 
 they received produce they could have no re- 
 course whatever to the bank. Perhaps the 
 gentleman means that if the bank had not 
 afforded the facility of procuring cash for ex- 
 portation they would have been glad to take 
 produce. But admitting this for argument 
 sake it would make no difference, unless he 
 can show that any of our produce has perished 
 for want of being taken out of our hands. 
 
 * * The gentleman from Montgomery 
 has told us, that under the old government, 
 when there were men in the management of 
 affairs as wise as any since, they had no idea of 
 a bank — and that they subsisted without it. 
 The old government had no idea of an alliance 
 with France ; but this observation affords no 
 argument against either the one or the other. 
 
OP NORTH AMERICA. 83 
 
 However, though the old frovernment had no 
 idea of a bank, the commercial men of the pro- 
 vince had : and I, as a merchant laid the foun- 
 dation of one ; and established a credit in Eu- 
 rope for that purpose. From the execution of 
 this design I was prevented only by the revolu- 
 tion. This assertion therefore, like many others 
 is unfounded. 
 
 It has been argued that the bank is preju- 
 dicial to agriculture and improvements ; that it 
 has been the cause of the high rate of interest ; 
 and that usury was unknown before its establish- 
 ment. These are heavy charges indeed — but 
 they are not founded in fact. By what means 
 can the bank injure agriculture? If discounts 
 are injurious to it, then indeed, the bank may be 
 arraigned. But how are discounts injurious to 
 agriculture? I say they are used, on many occa- 
 sions, for the express purpose of encouraging, 
 agriculture, if alTording to those who want to 
 purchase the produce of the country, the means 
 of making such purchases, when they would not 
 otherwise accomplish them, be an encourage- 
 
84 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 ment. Let us suppose a ship arrives here from 
 the West Indies with a cargo of rum and su- 
 gars, belonging or consigned to some one of our 
 merchants, who has not an oppurtunity to dis- 
 pose of those articles immediately. It is preju- 
 dicial to have the vessel detained ; yet though 
 he has value in his stores he cannot procure 
 money to purchase flour to load her. In this 
 situation if there be no bank there is no re- 
 dress. This is by no means ideal : I have fre- 
 quently experienced it myself. The house with 
 which I was connected have often had abun- 
 dance of goods in their stores and magazines, 
 and been unable to procure specie to lade their 
 vessels. At this crisis, the bank steps forward, 
 and if the merchant has evidence of property 
 in his possession, he procures credit — purchases 
 produce — and sends off his vessel. This is the 
 facility the bank gives to commerce. Without 
 it the farmer and merchant would be equally 
 distressed ; the former would have his wagons 
 waiting in Market-street and no sale ; while the 
 latter would have abundance of rum, mahogany, 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 85 
 
 logwood, dry goods, &c. in his stores, none of 
 which perhaps the other would have occasion 
 for ; but by means of the bank the merchant is 
 enabled to purchase, and the farmer to return 
 home. * * * * 
 
 The high rate of interest has entirely arisen 
 from the distresses of persons in want of money, 
 who either had no credit at the bank or run 
 through what they had. They were then oblig- 
 ed to make application to usurers, whose enor- 
 mous demands rose in proportion to the distress- 
 es of their victims. Thus interest has mounted 
 from J to 2, and 5 per cent per month. But 
 did the bank take this interest? No. Did it 
 encourage those who took it ? No. As fast as 
 they became known, they were refused dis- 
 counts. Why then charge the institution with 
 that which it has a direct tendency to prevent? 
 
 * *i^ ^}^ ^^ 'ii^ 
 
 TV* -A* •«* -TV" 
 
 In further prosecution of his argument, Mr. Morris 
 canvassed the report of the committee on whose re- 
 commendation the charter of the bank had been 
 repealed. 
 
 * * Did that committee take a view of the 
 
 8 
 
66 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 services which the bank had rendered to the Uni- 
 ted States? I believe they did not, and yet that 
 was one of the points of view in which they 
 ought to have considered it ; for when chartered 
 rights are to be destroyed, the matter should re- 
 ally be considered in every point of view. As 
 the committee did not choose to make mention 
 of these services, many of which must have 
 been known to them, I shall, I trust, be ex- 
 cused for giving some little account of them. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1781, the money 
 and credit of the United States were at so low 
 an ebb, that some members of the board of war 
 declared to me that they had not the means of 
 sending an express to the army. I mention 
 this, only as one instance to show that distressful 
 state of our finances which induced Congress to 
 appoint a superintendent which was done in the 
 month of February in that year ; and a still 
 stronger proof of our distress will be shown by 
 the bare mention, that a motion was, about the 
 time of that appointment, made in Congress, by 
 an honorable delegate from the State of Vir- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 87 
 
 ginia, to authorize Gen. Washington to seize all 
 the provisions that could be found within a circle 
 of twenty miles around his camp. This motion 
 having been submitted to me as superintendent 
 elect, I requested that it might be withdrawn, 
 and pledged myself to procure upon my private 
 credit, a supply of four or five thousand barrels 
 of flour, in a short time, for the use of the army ; 
 and I was happy enough to succeed in the at- 
 tempt. The various scenes of distress, and the 
 extreme difficulties which presented themselves 
 to my view at that time, were sufficient to have 
 deterred any man from the acceptance of such 
 an appointment ; but however unequal to the sta- 
 tion, the attempt was indispensable. I found it 
 absolutely necessary previous to the acceptance, 
 to make certain stipulations as leading to the 
 only possible chance of success. Among these 
 was that of not being liable to make good the 
 previous engagements taken on account of the 
 United States, well knowing that such demands 
 must soon have run me down. Another stipula- 
 tion was made with the minister of France, for 
 
88 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 a credit upon the king's treasury which was 
 granted in a very limited degree. That minister 
 did not want inclination to go greater lengths; 
 but I have reason to believe that he was limited 
 by instructions, both as to the sum and terms of 
 a loan, terms which it would be improper for me 
 to mention here, although they would add anoth- 
 er proof of our then miserable situation. 
 
 This credit however, and the confidence re- 
 posed in me by the then legislature of the state 
 of Pennsylvania, laid the foundation for appreci- 
 ating the paper money of this state, and enabled 
 me to feed and move the army during the re- 
 mainder of the year 1781. 
 
 I was happy enough to find that assembly dis- 
 posed to give every possible aid to those designs 
 which were then formed for promoting the pub- 
 lic service. The executive branch of govern- 
 ment was equally well disposed. 
 
 Under the pressure of those difficulties I have 
 mentioned, the idea of a public, national bank 
 suggested itself as a measure that might be ex- 
 tremely useful in my attempt to regain, for the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 89 
 
 United States, that credit which had been lost. 
 I made the proposal for establishing it to Con- 
 gress, which met their approbation. Every one 
 knows the terms on which it was offered to the 
 public; and yet from the month of May, when 
 the proposals were published, until the month of 
 September or October following, there were not 
 more subscriptions in the whole than amounted 
 to about seventy thousand dollars. 
 
 During this time one of his most Christian 
 majesty's frigates arrived at Boston, and brought 
 a remittance in specie of about 470,000 dollars. 
 This sum was brought to Philadelphia and de- 
 posited in the vaults of the bank. I determined, 
 from the moment of its arrival, to subscribe on 
 behalf of the United States, for those shares in 
 the bank which remained vacant ; but such was 
 the amount of the public expenditures, that 
 notwithstanding the utmost care and caution to 
 keep this money, nearly half the sum was ex- 
 hausted before the institution could be organ- 
 ized. In November 1781, the President and 
 
 Directors of the bank were elected. They 
 
 8* 
 
00 MORRIS ON THE RANK 
 
 obtained a charter of incorporation from Con- 
 gress, and opened the bank for transacting busi- 
 ness in January 1782. I subscribed the sum 
 then remaining in the treasury, being about 
 254,000 dollars, into the bank stock, for ac- 
 count of the United States, which became there- 
 by the principal stock-holders. 
 
 On the 1st of April 1782, the United States 
 possessed stock to the amount of 252,918 28-90 
 dollars, and they were then indebted for money 
 borrowed of the bank 300,000, dollars by which 
 it appears that if this institution had not taken 
 place, the treasury would have been nearly 50, 
 000 dollars worse than nothing. 
 
 The requisitions of Congress for 8,000,000 of 
 dollars, which were passed the preceding No- 
 vember, required no payment from the states un- 
 til May : and it is well known that long after that 
 time they produced no effect. At that period 
 public credit was gone to wreck, and the enemy 
 built their most sanguine hopes of overcoming 
 us upon this circumstance, but at that crisis our 
 credit was restored by the bank. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 91 
 
 On the 1st of July 1782, the United States 
 held to the amount of 253,000 28-90 dollars in 
 bank stock and were then indebted to the bank 
 400,000 dollars, which is nearly 150,000 dollars 
 more than the amount of their said stock. I 
 am sensible that by mentioning these transac- 
 tions, I expose the President and Directors to 
 the only censure which can affect them. The 
 then stock-holders might with some appearance 
 of reason, have complained that they had ex- 
 tended their credit to the United States too far 
 beyond the bounds of discretion : but let it be 
 considered that they were told, and truly told by 
 him who presided over the finances, that the 
 fate of their country depended very much upon 
 the assistance required from time to time at their 
 hands. Their desire to render public service, 
 and their confidence in the assurances given 
 repeatedly by that officer, of faithful repayment, 
 will surely justify them for having risked a part 
 of the property confided to them for the secur- 
 ity of the whole; but even supposing any cen- 
 sure to lie, how far such censure will justify the 
 
93 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 present opposition of those concerned in the at- 
 tack on the bank, I leave for the consideration 
 of every gentleman present. 
 
 In October 1782 the United States continued, 
 as before possessed of bank Stock for 253,394 
 58-90 dollars and indebted 400,000. Before 
 January 1783, the President and Directors 
 growing rather uneasy at this heavy loan, and 
 fearing censure, called upon me for relief, and 
 I sold out stock of the United States to the 
 amount of 200,000 dollars, and paid 300,000 
 dollars in part of the debt ; so that on the first 
 of January 1783, the United States held stock 
 for 53,394 58-90 dollars, and owed the bank 
 100,000 dollars. On the 1st of April, the situ- 
 ation remained the same. By the first of July, 
 I had sold the whole of the bank stock belong- 
 ing to the United States, and they remained in 
 debt to the bank, 129,800 dollars. On the first 
 of October 1783, this debt was increased to 
 164,000 dollars, but by the 1st of January 1784, 
 the United States were discharo^ed of that debt. 
 
 The President and directors of the bank had 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 93 
 
 no pledge after the sale of the stock, for the debt 
 of the United States, other than the public faith 
 given in proper writings by their officer. During 
 these times of distress and want, the utility of 
 the bank was not confined to the advances 
 made to the superintendent for public service. 
 
 It was eminently beneficial by extending dis- 
 counts to contractors who supplied the army with 
 provisions, and others concerned in trusting ar- 
 ticles necessary for the supplies of the various 
 public departments. Sometimes the notes were 
 discounted on public, and sometimes on private 
 credit. I have frequently been obliged to take 
 the contractor's notes to me for the sums due to 
 them, and endorse such notes in my private ca- 
 pacity, so that they might obtain discounts on 
 those notes to themselves. By these and such 
 other means as could be devised anticipations 
 were effected until public money could be col- 
 lected to discharge the notes. 
 
 From the aids given by this institution the 
 United States were enabled to keep up, feed and 
 clothe an army consisting of a larger number 
 
94 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 of men than they had had in the field before, 
 or than they could have maintained without 
 these aids. This army was, in every point, on a 
 much more respectable footing than formerly 
 and they kept the enemy at bay. 
 
 The report says, the bank has a direct ten- 
 dency to banish a great part of the specie from 
 this country. From what information the com- 
 mittee derived this knowledge, or whether it was 
 instructive I cannot pretend to decide. But I 
 maintain that it has a direct contrary tendency. 
 The money of the stock-holders and depositors 
 is drawn into its vortex, and how is it to be got 
 out of their cellars ? The directors will not cer- 
 tainly give it away. They lend it but for short 
 periods,* and kw of those borrowers would risk 
 a shipment of money which must so soon be re- 
 paid. Formerly when a ship was put up for Lon- 
 don, the remitters who w^ished to ship specie were 
 obliged, if they had not the money to cast about 
 for ways and means of obtaining it, either by 
 borrowing or buying of their neighbors and ac- 
 
 * The usual period was forty-five days. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 95 
 
 quaintances, and away it went if they succeed- 
 ed. At present, under similar circumstances 
 the remitters are obliged to make application to 
 the bank for discounts : but the directors, being 
 interested to obstruct the shipments of money, 
 and knowing those who want discounts for that 
 purpose, they watch them as closely as a cat 
 does a mouse and refuse the discounts until the 
 ship is gone. Such refusals may possibly have 
 given rise in part to the charge of partiality. 
 The directors, knowing how injurious the expor- 
 tation of specie is to the operations of the bank 
 will not lend money for exportation. No con- 
 siderable sums can be sought after, or obtained 
 for this purpose without their being aware of it. 
 The experience and habits they have acquired 
 in the course of their management enable them 
 to perceive the approaching evil ; and they en- 
 deavor to counteract and obstruct it as soon as 
 discovered. Thus, although they cannot pre- 
 vent the exportation of specie, they render it 
 far more difficult than it otherwise would be : 
 and consequently the bank has no tendency to 
 
96 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 banish specie. The report last year, therefore, 
 so far as it is grounded on this charge, is ground- 
 ed on a falsehood. 
 
 This report proceeds to tell us, that the bank, 
 after banishing a great part of the specie of the 
 country, collects nearly the whole of the re- 
 mainder into the hands of the stock-holders. 
 How this can come to pass it is not easy to as- 
 certain. Every six months a dividend is made 
 of the profits of the bank : and if we reflect 
 who are the stock-holders, we shall find it most 
 probable that the dividends are devoted to their 
 current expenses, for the support of themselves 
 and families, and by that means circulated again 
 amongst the community. At any rate, by means 
 of the profits, the stock cannot increase, unles^^ 
 new shares are purchased which cannot now be 
 done. And if it were to be done the number of 
 stock-holders would increase with the number 
 of shares sold : consequently the charge of ac- 
 cumulating the wealth of the state into the 
 hands of a few individuals falls to the ground. 
 
 The report goes on to state "That the accu- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 97 
 
 mulation of enormous wealth in the hands of a 
 society who claim perpetual duration, will neces- 
 sarily produce a degree of power and influence 
 which cannot be entrusted in the hands of any 
 set of men whatsoever, without endangering 
 the public safety." 
 
 How is this accumulation of enormous wealth 
 to take place ? If an individual possesses one 
 share in the bank stock, it cannot accumulate ; 
 it will always remain one share ; for the profits 
 are divided and drawn out half yearly. An 
 increase of the number of stock-holders, increas- 
 es the number of shares ; and by experience 
 has been found to reduce those profits. What 
 then is meant by this accumulation ? this influ- 
 ence? They are mere bugbears held out to 
 terrify the ignorant and unsuspecting members 
 of the community. # * # * 
 
 Has any of this much dreaded influence shown 
 
 itself in the legislature? I answer, no. If any 
 
 member will say yes, let him show me when ; — 
 
 let him show how — let him produce evidence of 
 
 the fact. But if such influence did exist, is it 
 
 9 
 
98 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 possible it would extend beyond the bounds of 
 the city? One of my worthy colleagues and 
 myself are stock-holders, and gentlemen affect 
 to suppose we are under this influence. This 
 is considering the matter in the worst point of 
 view. But for the sake of an aro;ument, if we 
 admit it for a moment, how far does our influ- 
 ence 2.0 1 We offer our sentiments on various 
 occasions : we urge reasons and arguments which 
 we at least think ought to have weight and carry 
 conviction. But if these arguments are oflTered 
 against a certain system of measures, there are 
 certain gentlemen from the country, who possess 
 a kind of magic which produces a much greater 
 effect than our reasoning. We carry but very 
 few points against this magic charm, and with 
 a vote on the question our influence is ended. 
 
 The report goes on to say that " the bank 
 is not dependent on government." I am very 
 glad it is not, and hope it never will be. The 
 moment it becomes dependent on government, 
 that moment it is destroyed. The confidence of 
 the public is necessary to its existence ; and that 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 99 
 
 confidence has been acquired by the punctual 
 compliance with its engagements. Were it 
 under the control of government, the people 
 would withdraw their confidence, and neither 
 stock-holders nor depositors would be found to 
 trust their money under such control. Gentle- 
 men may say what they please of the credit of 
 government; but the fact is, such credit is not 
 obtained. Government ought to have credit, 
 and no man wishes more than I do, to see it 
 established, but not through this channel. If 
 government, in the present state of things, could 
 control the funds of the bank, and were to apply 
 them to the use of the state, how should an 
 individual whose money was taken by such 
 authority obtain satisfaction ? Should he go to 
 law with the state? No; the government has 
 too much power, and he must submit to what it 
 should dictate. ' But if the President and Direct- 
 ors of the bank abuse their trust, and misapply 
 the money, the law is stronger than they are, 
 and the law will give him relief 
 
 The report continues, '' the great profits of 
 
100 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 the blink will daily increase as money grows 
 scarcer, and which already far exceed the prof- 
 its of European banks, have tempted foreigners 
 to invest their money in this bank, and thus to 
 draw from us large sums for interest." The com- 
 mittee might as well have stated that the profits 
 of a mill increase in proportion to the scarcity of 
 corn, by which it loses the toll, as that the prof- 
 its of the bank will increase as money grows 
 scarcer : for money is the life and soul of the 
 bank, and as necessary as plenty of corn is to 
 the mill. The first part of this clause has there- 
 fore no foundation in truth. And as to that 
 part relative to foreigners taking away our spe- 
 cie in payment of the interest or dividends 
 which will arise on their stock, I am glad of 
 the opportunity of entering into the considera- 
 tion of it ; having heard it frequently urged by 
 sensible men, as a grievance, that this country 
 should pay dividends to foreigners; which they 
 consider as a kind of tribute. 
 
 I shall remark by the way that when foreign- 
 ers place money in the bank for the purchase of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 101 
 
 stock, it proves that instead of facilitating the ex- 
 port of spiece, the institution has a tendency to 
 draw it into this country. I assert that it is the in- 
 terest of the country to borrow money abroad, 
 and either pay interest or bank dividends for the 
 use of it. Did the first settlers of America brinor 
 capitals with them ? Some few individuals 
 might, but the generality did not : if they could 
 accomplish the bringing the necessary imple- 
 ments of husbandry, it was doing a great deal. 
 The settlers that have continued to follow, from 
 that time to this, were in the same way. Very 
 few have brought capitals, and yet nearly all 
 have grown rich. How did this happen? It 
 has happened by the use of European capitals. 
 How were these obtained for that use ? Not by 
 borrowing money, for they could not, it is true, 
 obtain such loans. If they could, the country 
 would have grown rich much faster. But they 
 borrowed goods. America has risen to opulence 
 by means of the credit she obtained in Europe. 
 The goods so borrowed, or in other words 
 
 bought on credit, were not procured upon the 
 
 9* 
 
102 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 same easy terms on which money is usually lent. 
 It would have been much better for the traders 
 in America to borrow money at six, eight, ten, 
 per cent, or at any rate of dividend, made by 
 the bank j and to have purchased their goods 
 with ready money so borrowed ; for with ready 
 money, those purchases might have been made, 
 ten, fifteen, twenty, and perhaps in some articles, 
 thirty per cent cheaper than on credit. 
 
 It is true, the merchants of England usually 
 shipped goods on one year's credit without 
 charging interest for that year. But it has 
 always been said, and in some instances proved 
 in trials in the courts of law that the year's in- 
 terest is amply compensated by the advances 
 put on the real cost of goods, besides other ben- 
 efices derived by the English merchant, by 
 means of drawbacks, discounts, &c. &/C. And 
 if the American importer cannot pay at the ex- 
 piration of the twelve months, an interest ac- 
 count commences, and is continued in such a 
 manner that he pays at the rate of compound 
 interest until the debt is discharged. Under 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 103 
 
 these disadvantaofes the credit obtained in Eu- 
 
 3 
 
 rope at a rate equal to fifteen, twenty or perhaps 
 thirty per cent, has been the foundation of that 
 prosperity which we behold in America. That 
 credit has been extended by the importer to the 
 country shop-keeper, and through him to the 
 farmer and mechanic, who being thereby ena- 
 bled to pursue their labors, have drawn produce 
 from the surface and bowels of the earth, which 
 has not only defrayed the whole of the cost and 
 charges, but enriched the industrious. Must 
 not then an institution which draws money from 
 Europe for the use of our citizens at the rate of 
 7 3-4 or 8 per cent be extremely beneficial? 
 Could America by means of such institutions, 
 or by any other means, obtain loans suflicient to 
 purchase all the goods wanted from Europe^ 
 with ready money, she would find a vast and 
 lastinor advantao-e in it. 
 
 The plan and utility of a loan office is very 
 well understood. — A farmer borrows at that of- 
 fice at the rate of six per cent per annum inter- 
 est. This enables him to improve his land to the 
 
104 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 best advantage: and by well directed industry, 
 he raises annually, from that land, an income 
 exceeding the rate of interest ; which soon en- 
 ables him to discharge the debt. In like man- 
 ner if we can create a credit in Europe, and 
 borrow at the rate of six, eight, or ten per cent, 
 so long as such loans can be employed to raise 
 an income exceeding the interest paid, we en- 
 rich ourselves by the difference. The establish- 
 ment of the bank has created that credit in some 
 degree : and Pennsylvania, so long as her citi- 
 zens can derive a better income from the capi- 
 tals of Europeans, vested in our bank stock, 
 than those Europeans derive from the dividends, 
 ought to hold out encouragement for an increase 
 of such stockholders, rather than pursue meas- 
 ures for diminishinor their shares. 
 
 The report proceeds, " foreigners will be more 
 and more induced to become stock-holders, un- 
 til the time may arrive when this engine of pow- 
 er may become subject to foreign influence. 
 This country may be agitated with the politics 
 of European courts ; and the good people of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 105 
 
 America reduced once more to a state of subor- 
 dination and dependence on some one or other 
 of the European powers." 
 
 This conveys a most extraordinary position ; 
 that foreigners by depositing their money with 
 us, should become our enemies, and seek our de- 
 struction ; and that those who place confidence 
 in us, shall endeavor to ruin us. I hardly im- 
 agine that it can require a serious answer. The 
 contrary proposition is self-evident. Had we at 
 every court in Europe, persons so warmly inter- 
 ested in our favor as those stock-holders must 
 be, we should have supporters in case any of the 
 courts should form hostile designs against us. 
 Nothing can make such stock-holders our ene- 
 mies but breaking our contracts with them. 
 
 •?r TV* TP TV" 
 
 Mr. Whitehill and Mr. Finlay spoke in opposi- 
 tion. — Mr. Morris replied. 
 
 ***** 
 
 The gentlemen opposed to the bank constant- 
 ly hold out the idea that the persons interested 
 in it are always the same, and that it is a mo- 
 nopoly confined to a few. Now it is certain, that 
 
106 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 on the contrary, the property in the bank is 
 constantly changing hands. Where then is 
 this permanent interest which should indtice us 
 to sacrifice the" good of the country to the good 
 of that establishment? The market is constantly 
 open for the sale and purchase of this bank 
 stock, and if the gentlemen in opposition seri- 
 ously believe the advantages which the}" say are 
 derived from that stock, why do they not invest 
 some part of their property in it, for property 
 they have, and there are always shares to be sold. 
 The holders of that stock differ as widely, I 
 presume, in their political principles, views, 
 pursuits and desires, as the holders of lands, 
 houses and other property. These gntlemen 
 may, when they please, be of the number. 
 How then is this cry of monopoly supported 1 
 
 In the notes which I have taken of the 
 speeches of my opponents, I so frequently meet 
 with paper money — paper money — paper mo- 
 ney — that it will be impracticable for me to fol- 
 low them throughout that topic, and speak upon 
 U as often as they have done. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 107 
 
 I find however that this is the great sore, and 
 cannot help expressing my astonishment at the 
 constant cry for paper money — [bills of credit 
 issued on the faith of the government of the 
 State,] by the country gentlemen when it is 
 notorious that they will not sell the produce of 
 their farms for it. No merchant with ever so 
 much paper money at command, can purchase 
 the produce of the country for exportation. 
 Therefore I cannot ascribe this constant cry 
 for paper money to any other cause than a 
 desire to pay debts with less than their just 
 amount, or to purchase lands at less than their 
 value. I insist that there is no necessity for 
 paper money. No industrious man in his indi- 
 vidual capacity can feel the want of it, and 
 wherever it is emitted it will be more likely to 
 produce public mischief than public good. 
 
 The getleman asks, shall the state give way 
 to the bank, or the bank to the state ? and adds 
 the bank should not interfere with the state. 
 By the state I suppose he means a party in the 
 state. I wish the state had not interfered with 
 
108 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 the bank, and the bank would not interfere with 
 the state. * * * * 
 
 The gentleman has told us, they had no banks 
 in Rome during the republic. The Romans 
 were a very different sort of people from the Phil- 
 adelphians. They did in their days what they 
 thought right and proper for them to do ; but 
 their conduct in this respect can never serve 
 for a rule for ours. 
 
 The gentleman frequently gives us little scraps 
 from history ; and I give him credit for his 
 reading, which I am always ready to hear and 
 pay proper attention to, when it bears any anal- 
 ogy to, or runs parallel with the subject in de- 
 bate. He has brought us an extract from the 
 journals of the Irish house of commons, to prove 
 that another people had strong objections to the 
 establishment of a bank. I wish I were deep- 
 er read, — perhaps had there been revolution I 
 should have been so, — I have read some history 
 — but I will not trust my memory. On this 
 occasion, however, I will observe that in 1721, 
 the period in which the question of the bank 
 
OF NORTH AaiERICA. 109 
 
 was agitated in Ireland, the people of that coun- 
 try were in a situation very different from that 
 of Pennsylvania at present. They were under 
 the government of Great Britain which held 
 their commerce in trammels. They could hard- 
 ly pretend to the enjoyment of liberty. This 
 was moreover a time when the public mind was 
 agitated by bubbles of government which were 
 brought forth and burst in different parts of 
 Europe. The people therefore were afraid of 
 every new scheme. 
 
 But if the Irish could have established a 
 bank, and had the manaixement of it themselves 
 they would have had no objection. After their 
 late successful struggles for the recovery of their 
 freedom, I am sure they either have already, or 
 soon will establish a bank amoni; them. But 
 Ireland is a country which does not boast of 
 its wealth or commerce. It is a very good coun- 
 try for importing people, linen, and potatoes 
 from — but I should not have looked to Ireland 
 to import from thence commercial establish- 
 ments or precedents. 
 
 10 
 
110 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 In reply to some observations on this part of his 
 speech, Mr. Morris subsequently said he did not in- 
 tend in these remarks to say any thing disrespectful 
 of the Irish people, and hoped he had not injured 
 the feelings of any one ; that he had himself been 
 in Ireland, and experienced the hospitality of the 
 inhabitants ; that many of his intimate friends were 
 Irish, and that he had not then to learn that large 
 quantities of beef, butter and pork, and some manu- 
 factures were exported from Ireland ; but still her 
 trade was confined, and she was not the most proper 
 place to look to for commercial precedents. 
 
 The gentleman has spoken of the low ebb of 
 our commerce, and says it is almost entirely 
 confined to importation. 
 
 The commerce of America is really, as the 
 gentleman says, at a low ebb. It was on a 
 ' much more respectable footing before the late 
 war than it is at present. We then exported 
 large quantities of wheat, flour, Indian corn, 
 beef, butter, pork, iron, lumber and other arti- 
 cles, from this port. The neighboring provinces 
 made the like exports. New-England exported 
 fish, oil, whale-bone, &c. North Carolina, na- 
 val stores; South Carolina and Georgia, rice. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. Ill 
 
 indigo, peltries, &lc.; and every part of the con- 
 tinent had staple commodities suited to the con- 
 sumption of foreign markets, which enabled us 
 to pay for the things we had occasion to import. 
 Certain it is that our exports are now much less 
 than they were then, which is somewhat sur- 
 prising as every article of produce commands a 
 good price, and nothing remains on hand to 
 perish for want of purchasers. Whether this 
 decrease of exports is the consequence of less 
 culture of the country, or of an increased home 
 consumption, I cannot decide. But this is cer- 
 tain, that the returning habits of industry, with 
 the daily progress of population, must give an 
 amazing increase of produce for exportation ; 
 and I should not be surprized were this to hap- 
 pen much sooner than even the most sanguine 
 expectations point out. If the position be true 
 that we are in a miserable situation so long as 
 our imports exceed our exports, I hope it will be 
 admitted, and soon experienced that the reverse 
 of that position will place us in a flourishing 
 state. 
 
112 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 But that tlie bank facilitates those importa- 
 tions, I have already denied, and have in some 
 degree proved the contrary : and were it neces- 
 sary, further proof might be adduced, though it 
 seems improper to prove a negative. * * ^ 
 
 In reply to my observations respecting the 
 difficulty of selling inward and purchasing out- 
 ward cargoes for shipping, he asks, how were 
 our ships loaded before the revolution ? I an- 
 swer, and the fact is well known, that delays 
 frequently, I may say constantly, occurred for 
 want of facilities in raising money, and the 
 merchant had it not always in his power to pur- 
 chase the produce brought to market by the 
 farmer. 
 
 The bank has remedied this inconvenience to 
 both : destroy the bank, and I have no doubt the 
 case will again become familiar to the most re- 
 spectable traders. 
 
 The bank is said to be of no use to the farm- 
 er. I beg leave to ask whether it is not useful 
 to the farmer to meet a ready sale for his pro- 
 d uce ? If it be, I insist the bank in its opera- 
 
OF NORTH AMERTCA. 113 
 
 tions, is useful to the farmer. I have heretofore 
 experienced the inconvenience arising from the 
 want of a bank. When produce has been in 
 plenty at market, and I have been eagerly bent on 
 the purchase of it, although possessed of prop- 
 erty sufficient, I could not command money for 
 the purpose, and the farmer could not sell upon 
 credit. Thus both have suffered distress which 
 could have been relieved by a bank. The ex- 
 ports in those days were very considerable. The 
 house of which I was then a member, have ship- 
 ped in one year from forty to fifty thousand bar- 
 rels of flour, and other articles in proportion. 
 Such purchases require large sums of money, 
 and these were extremely difficult to raise. 
 
 The quantity of produce for exportation will 
 now be increased every year, and the demand 
 for money will also increase. If the bank be 
 destroyed, the merchants of these days will ex- 
 perience the difficulties I have mentioned. The 
 farmers and millers, bringing their produce to 
 market, must wait for the sale, until money can 
 
 be raised. They will be frequently compelled 
 
 10* 
 
114 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 to sell at reduced prices, such as a chance moni- 
 ed man may please to offer ; or they must place 
 their goods in the hands of fiictors, who must 
 derive their advantage by way of commission, 
 storage and charges, which the farmer must 
 pay. Whereas if the bank be suffered to exist, 
 in full force, the merchant's occasional necessi- 
 ties can be relieved by discounts, and the farm- 
 er meet with ready sale for his produce. This 
 I conceive to be the greatest use the farmer can 
 wish to derive from the bank. 
 
 The first attack upon the bank gave a check 
 to the price of produce, which has continued to 
 be felt ever since : and if the bank be destroy- 
 ed, those farmers who raise more than they 
 consume, will be sensible of the consequences. 
 
 To obviate the objection that the bank absorbed the 
 money which otherwise might be let for long terms, 
 on bond and mortgage, which was a favorite plan 
 with the farmers, Mr. Morris gave an analysis of the 
 interests in the stock of the bank ; in which he stat- 
 ed the amount of stock to be, at that time, 870,400 
 dollars, consisting of 2176 shares, of which 285 
 shares, belonged to foreigners, most of which were 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 115 
 
 owned in Holland. From that country, notwith- 
 standing the best landed security had been oiFered, 
 no loans on bond and mortgage had ever been ob- 
 tained. Six hundred and six shares were. owned in 
 New-England, New- York, Delaware, New-Jersey 
 and Virginia, subscribed for during the war, from 
 patriotic motives. The funds thus invested, if not 
 continued in the bank, would be withdrawn from 
 the state. About fifty shares, amounting to 20,000 
 dollars only, were obtained in the state, out of the 
 city. Of this, he thought it possible that a small part 
 might be loaned on mortgage. The remaining 1,235 
 shares belonged to citizens of Philadelphia, princi- 
 pally commercial men, whose inducement was, to 
 support an institution which afforded them accom- 
 modation and convenience by means of discounts. 
 He then proceeded. 
 
 * # ^? With very few exceptions, we 
 may say that not one dollar of this money would 
 ever be lent out on bond and mort^ao-e. There 
 are very few of this class of stock-holders who do 
 not stand in need of the whole of their money in 
 the course of business ; and when in need, they 
 borrow occasionally, perhaps the whole [amount 
 of their stock,] or more. It is upon these prin- 
 ciples the merchants generally remain stock-hold- 
 
1 16 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 ers : — when one does not want his monej it is 
 earning his sliare of the dividend from another; 
 and by thus clubbing a capital together, as it 
 were, the occasional wants of all are supplied. 
 But 1 am perfectly satisfied that none of these 
 shares can be lent on bond and mortoraQre. Does 
 it not therefore appear that this charge is as 
 groundless as the others ? 
 
 Before the war, moneyed men were fond of 
 lending upon bond and mortgage : it was a fa- 
 vorite practice ; was thought perfectly safe ; and 
 enabled those who were advanced in years, to 
 receive an income, so as to live at ease and 
 quiet; and I doubt not this practice might have 
 been revived, had not the lenders suffered se- 
 verely, — some in the whole, others in part ; and 
 even those who have escaped loss arc deterred 
 from lending again, by the dread of paper mo- 
 ney, and tender laws ; and so long as this dread 
 continues, all hopes must be relinquished of 
 borrowing upon bond and mortgage. 
 
 While the practice of lending upon bond and 
 mortgage existed, there was another practice 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 117 
 
 which existed with it. The lenders were chiefly 
 citizens, [inhabitants of the city ;] and for the 
 convenience of collecting the interest on the 
 day it fell due, they preferred lending to those 
 citizens of Philadelphia who wanted to borrow; 
 so that the farmers, even in those days, could 
 Hot obtain loans until the citizens were satisfied. 
 Now, should the days of loaning return, the 
 bank will prove useful to the country in that 
 respect ; for by the temporary discounts which 
 citizens obtain at the bank it is probable their 
 wants will be supplied, and thereby their com- 
 petition with the farmers prevented. I have 
 known many a man formerly obliged to borrow 
 money for twelve months, although he wanted 
 it but for three, four, or six; but the practice was 
 to lend for twelve ; and the capitalists thought 
 il too troublesome to lend for a shorter time. A 
 certain rich citizen of Philadelphia, inimical to 
 the bank, now taken and hugged to the bosoms 
 of those who so warmly advocate the interests 
 of the farmers, declares publicly, that he is an 
 enemy to the institution, because he could pur- 
 
118 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 chase flour cheaper were it destroyed. From 
 this declaration the farmers may form some 
 judgment how far the bank is useless or injuri- 
 ous to them. 
 
 In effect the utility of the bank is experienced 
 by every man in the state at some period or 
 other. I have shown clearly it is useful to the 
 farmer and miller. The mechanic also, derives 
 his share of benefit from this institution. Punc^ 
 tuality in paying his workmen is of the greatest 
 importance to the master, and absolutely ne- 
 cessary to the comfortable subsistence of the 
 journeymen. The employer must have it in 
 his power to make regular payments to the mas- 
 ter mechanic, or he in his turn cannot be punc- 
 tual. It has heretofore happened that those whe 
 built houses, or gave employment to various 
 trades, have not had it in their power to pay- 
 punctually, according to their engagements. 
 But in all such cases, on future occasions, relief 
 may be found at the bank. The employer, giv- 
 ing his note to the master, their joint credit, if 
 they are entitled to credit, will procure the sum 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 119 
 
 wanted by a discount at the bank. This obser- 
 vation must strike every mechanic at the first 
 glance; and if he turns his attention to the sub- 
 ject, his own thoughts will point out various 
 modes in which he may draw resources and 
 conveniences from this institution. In short, the 
 same reasoning will apply to every description 
 of men that have any thing to do with money. 
 Is it possible then that we shall pursue meas- 
 ures for the destruction of an institution so use- 
 ful 1 One would think that the first thing which 
 offers itself to our consideration in the nature of 
 a bank, would be sufficient to prevent the pur- 
 suit of such a measure. It is that a number of 
 persons have placed in the care of the president 
 and directors of the bank a sum of money for the 
 express purpose of lending to those that want to 
 borrow; and that this sum, those persons can- 
 not draw out again, but it must remain for 
 that use. Besides this, there is also a further 
 sum constantly in the power of the direct- 
 ors which enables them to extend their loans 
 beyond the capital or stock, and on which, part 
 
120 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 of the profits of the bank arise. The integrity, 
 punctuality and prudence of the president and 
 directors have obtained such credit with the 
 citizens of Philadelphia, that numbers of them 
 deposit their money in the bank for safety and 
 convenience. It is received and paid at their 
 pleasure without expense or risk on the part of 
 the depositor. And the sums so collected to a 
 point, being considerable, the bank is enabled 
 always to lend a part of the money so placed, 
 as it is not in the nature of things that the de- 
 positors should all call for their money at one 
 and the same time — consequently a part of the 
 sum will answer the demands of the whole : and 
 by this means, it must be seen, that sums of 
 money are continually brought into circulation 
 and use, that would otherwise be mouldering in 
 the chests of those who would neither lend, nor 
 use them, and that the bank by this credit, is 
 enabled to extend its utility amongst those whose 
 necessities, disappointments, interest or conve- 
 nience incline them to borrow. 
 
 I have been told, out of doors, although it 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 121 
 
 has not been mentioned here — that the opposi- 
 tion to the bank is in part levelled at me person- 
 ally. If any oppose it in that view, and suppose 
 my interest would suffer from the annihilation 
 of the bank, they are grossly mistaken. I am 
 not stimulated by the consideration of private 
 interest to stand forth in defence of the bank ; 
 for be assured, Sir, that if this be destroyed 
 another shall arise out of its ashes, one that will 
 be of great advantage to my interest and the 
 interest of those who may join me in establish- 
 ing it; nay — should I be disappointed in pro- 
 curing such associates as I would choose in the 
 undertaking, I will establish a bank, on my own 
 capital, credit, and resources; and so far from 
 doubting its success, I do not hesitate to pro- 
 nounce that even my enemies, (and God knows I 
 seem to have enough of them — at least political 
 enemies — for I know of no other cause of their 
 being so,) will deal with me and trust me, not 
 that I expect they may like me better than nov/, 
 hut they have confidence in mc^ and for the sake 
 
122 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 of their own interest and convenience they will 
 deal with me. ***** 
 
 A member, in opposition to the renewal of the 
 charter, had objected that information could not be 
 obtained at the bank, on account of the " secrecy of 
 the institution." Mr. Morris, in reply, observed ; 
 
 Herein he is much deceived : this secrecy re- 
 lates to the state of accounts depending between 
 individuals and the bank: and the necessity of 
 this secrecy every one must see. I appeal to 
 the feelings of all who hear me, whether they 
 would choose the state of their accounts should 
 become known to any but the officers of the 
 bank, to whom they are confided? 
 
 •^ TV* tt ^f 
 
 As superintendent of finance, I was entitled to 
 receive daily a state of the accounts of the bank ; 
 but neither the directors, nor myself, ever con- 
 sidered this as extending to the accounts of in- 
 dividuals ; and I never was made acquainted 
 with any such matter. This is the only kind of 
 secrecy, I apprehend, that it could be necessary 
 for the president and directors to observe ; for 
 
OP NORTH AMERICA. 123 
 
 as to the state of their own affairs, that is, the 
 affairs of the bank generally, I take it they 
 would, whenever needful, or proper, explain 
 them without hesitation. * # * 
 
 The member from Fayette, seems to charge 
 me with claiming the merit of brino-incr about 
 the revolution. In this, however, no part of my 
 conduct will justify him. It is not my practice 
 to claim merits which do not belong to me. It 
 is true in defending myself from attacks which 
 have been made, I have been obliged sometimes 
 to mention services performed, and by so doing 
 they are submitted to public investigation, and 
 would be corrected if not truly stated. When 
 I mentioned supplies of flour sent to Gen. Wash- 
 ington's camp, it was introduced to show the 
 distresses of the times; however, I did not, as 
 this gentleman was pleased to express himself, 
 say it was sent at my expense, but that it was 
 obtained upon my credit : neither has my vanity 
 or folly prompted me to pretend that I established 
 the independence of America. It is my glory 
 to have had a share in it, and I am not ashamed 
 
124 MORRIS ON THE BANK 
 
 of the share whicli has fallen to my lot; I hope 
 it will ever do me honor. * * * 
 
 The eleventh and thirteenth articles of the 
 proposals for establishing the bank, published 
 with my name thereto, are brought forward, by 
 the member from Fayette to show that my sen- 
 timents are changed respecting the control of 
 government over this institution. The clause 
 subjecting the state of the bank accounts to 
 the inspection of the superintendent of finance, 
 was then excellent, because I was superintend- 
 ent — but now, he remarks, I thank God, it is 
 not under the control of government. I am 
 still of opinion that the clause was excellent, 
 and that it was useful. 
 
 The institution was framed under an expec- 
 tation that the public moneys were to be placed 
 there from time to time, and that it would de- 
 rive advantage from the public funds passing 
 through that channel. It was therefore judged 
 proper for the bank to submit to such inspec- 
 tion, and necessary to create public confidence, 
 — first because the public money being deposit- 
 
LIFE OF ROBERT MORRIS. 125 
 
 ed there, the United States would by their offi- 
 cer know it was secure : and secondly, individ- 
 uals having transactions with the bank, would 
 think themselves safe, and believe in its stability 
 while it enjoyed the confidence of government, 
 and its proceedings were subject to such a check 
 as the inspection of them by a public officer of 
 high trust. These are the considerations that 
 induced my approbation of those clauses then. 
 But what is the case now. The United States 
 have no longer a superintendent, and although 
 they have a board of the treasury with the same 
 powers, they have no funds in the bank ; there- 
 fore no necessity exists for any examination into 
 the state of that institution on their part ; and 
 with respect to individuals, it has fully acquired 
 the necessary confidence ; so that in neither 
 case is this inspection necessary. 
 
 If indeed the state of Pennsylvania had 
 thought of depositing money in the bank, the 
 government might talk of control ; and would 
 have a right to make terms. 
 
 They might stipulate as a condition that the 
 
126 MORRIS ON THE BANK. &yC 
 
 treasurer of the State, or some other of their 
 officers, should so far have inspection of the 
 bank, as to know, before the treasurer, the col- 
 lector of taxes, of imposts, of duties, of excise, 
 should deposit public moneys there, that such 
 deposits would be perfectly secure. * * 
 * * This kind of connection between the 
 government and the bank, would be very prop- 
 er ; but any subjection or dependence of the 
 bank on government, would be inconsistent 
 with its nature. The attempt then to prove any 
 inconsistency in my opinion fails, — my present 
 being perfectly consistent with my former opin- 
 ions on this subject. 
 
 *^U ^ .'J. .jf, 4f. 4/^ 
 
 W TV •Js' W TP TT 
 
 At the close of the debate, the house refused by 
 a vote of forty-one to twenty-eight, to adopt the res- 
 olution recommended by the committee, in favor of 
 the recharter of the bank. It was, however, rechar- 
 tered for the term of fourteen years, by the next le- 
 gislature, in 1787, restricting the capital to two mill- 
 ions. By successive renewals it has been continued 
 to the present time. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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