The  necessity  of  making  the  two.  foregoing  provisions ,  one
indivisible  and  irrevocable  act,  is  apparent;  Without  the  first
quality,  partial  provision  only  might  be  made  where  ,  complete
provision  is.  essential;  nay,  as  some  states  might  prefer  and
adbjpt  one  of  the  funds  only,  and  the  other  states  the  other  fund
only,  it  might  happeathat  no  provision  at  all  would  be  made:
without  the  second,  a  single  state,  out  of  the  thirteen,  might  at
any  time  involve  thenatioa  in  bankruptcy,  the  mere  practicar


26  APPENDIX.  •

bility  of  which  would  be  a  fatal  bar  to  the  establishment  of
national  credit.  Instead  of  enlarging  on  these  topics,  two
observations  are  submitted  to  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  the
legislatures.  First,  the  present  creditors,  or  rather  the  domestic
part  of  them,  having  either  made  their  loans  for  a  period  which
has  expired,  or  having  become  creditors,  in  the  first  instance,
involuntarily,  are  entitled,  on  the  clear  principles  of  justice  and
good  faith,  to  demand  the  principal  of  their  credits,  instead  of
accepting  the  annual  interest.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  as  the
principal  cannot  be  paid  to  them  on  demand,  that  the  interest
should  be  so  efiectually  and  satisfactorily  secured,  as  to  enable
them,  if  they  incline,  to  transfer  their  stock  at  its  full  value.
Secondly,  if  the  funds  be  so  firmly  constituted  as  to  inspire  a
thorough  and  universal  confidence,  may  it  not  be  hoped  that
the  capital  of  the  domestic  debt,  which  bears  the  high  interest
of  six  per  cent,  may  be  canceled  by  other  loans  obtained  at  a  '
more  moderate  interest  ?  The  saving  by  such  an  operation
would  be  a  clear  one,  and  might  be  a  considerable  one.
