will be found in a table annexed to this chapter. The fol- BOOK lowing statement is taken from the Estimates for 1824. Customs, Public lands, Bank dividends, REVENUE, 1824. Pounds Dollars. Sterling. 16,500,000 3,630,000 1,600,000 350,000 LXXXII. Arrears and repayments, EXPENDITURE. Civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous, Military department, including fortifications, ordnance, 1,814,057 399,000 5,122,268 1,127,000 15,224,252 3,349,000 The average produce of the customs may be estimated at from 16,000,000 to 18,000,000 dollars, and the sum derived from the sale of public lands at 1,600,000. The bank dividends consist of the interest of 7,000,000 dollars of capital, vested by the government in the national bank. The Post Office yields about a million of dollars a-year; but it is wholly consumed in supporting the establishment. The entire revenue of the United States may be estimated on an average at four millions, or four millions and a quarter Sterling; and the annual expense of the government, under the three heads of civil, military, and naval, at 10,000,000 dollars, (£2,200,000.) This is at the rate of one dollar per annum for each inhabitant. If we add one dollar more for the sums levied by the state governments, the whole expense of the American government will be at the rate of two dollars for each inhabitant. The debt of the United States consists of sums borrowed Debt. during the revolutionary war, and at various subsequent periods. The debt due by the federal government, at the close of the war in 1783, was 42,000,875 dollars. No proper provision being made for payment of the interest, and the public revenue often falling short of the expenditure, the debt continued to increase, and in 1790 it amounted to BOOK LXXXII. Army. 79,124,464 dollars.* Various measures were taken for its liquidation, but with little effect, till about the middle of Mr. Jefferson's administration in 1805. From that period a gradual reduction took place, till it was stopped by the war with England in 1812. In 1812 the amount of the public debt was In consequence of the loans made during the war, it amounted Dollars. 45,035,123 123,016,375 90,177,962 Considerable progress has since been made in paying off the The duties of customs are levied on foreign articles imported, and are partly ad valorem, and partly according to fixed rates. The duties on manufactured goods, of iron, cotton, and woollen, were from 20 to 30 per cent., but have been increased from a fifth to a fourth, by a new tariff established in 1824. A standing army is necessarily an object of jealousy in a republican state; and as the North Americans have no formidable enemy in their vicinity, and are at the same time extremely studious of economy in all the branches of their government, their military force has always been kept on a very low scale. By an act of Congress of 3d March, 1815, the strength of the regular army was fixed at 9980 men, viz. eight battalions of artillery, 3200 men; one regiment light artillery, 660; eight regiments of infantry, 5440; and one regiment of riflemen, 680. In 1821 it was reduced to 6442 men, whose pay, clothing, &c. cost the state 1,927,179 dollars, or 299 dollars (£66) for each individual, officers and privates. And in March, 1822, its strength, as reported to Congress, was as follows: Seybert's Statistical Annals, p. 720. ↑ Seybert, p. 752. American Papers, March 1824. Warden, III. 402. Niles' Register, 30th March, 1822. The militia, which constitutes the principal military force Militia. of the United States, consists of all the males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. According to a return made in the end of 1823, it amounted to 993,281 men. The American militia, as we have already stated, elect their own officers. When called into the field for actual service, they have the same pay and allowances as the regular army, but are only bound to serve for six months. The navy of the United States is small in point of nu- Navy. merical strength, but is perhaps the best organized and most effective in the world. The unexpected and astonishing success of their frigates in combats with British vessels of the same class during the late war, established at once the reputation of the American navy for skill and prowess in the eyes of Europe; and the United States, with a very few ships, already rank high as a naval power. From 1816 to 1821 one million of dollars was expended annually in building ships of war. Since 1821 the sum thus appropriated has been reduced one half. A few ships are always kept in commission, and stationed partly in the West Indies, partly in the Mediterranean to keep in check the Barbary powers, and partly in the Pacific. In November, 1823, the strength of the American navy was as follows: This is exclusive of the vessels on the lakes, which consist of two of 74 guns, one of 44, one of 36, one of 32, one of 26, two of 24, eleven smaller vessels, and fourteen gunboatssome being unfinished, and others considerably decayed. A table of the population of the several states will be BOOK found annexed to this book. That of the principal towns LXXXII. in 1820 was as follows: Religion. It was reserved for the lawgivers of the United States to make the bold experiment of dispensing with a state religion. In New Hampshire the legislature is empowered to authorise, and in Massachusetts the legislature is enjoined to require the several towns and parishes to make adequate provision at their own expense, for the support of Protestant ministers. But in all the other twenty-two states the support of religion is left entirely to the voluntary zeal of its professors. The result has shown that Christianity has a firm hold in the nature of man, and is rather injured than served by those costly establishments, which so often abridge or extinguish free inquiry and liberty of conscience, engender fierce animosities among rival sects, perpetuate the errors and dogmas of unenlightened times, and degrade religion into an engine of civil tyranny, or the ally of ignorance and imposture. In the large towns and populous places of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, religious instruction is more faithfully and abundantly dispensed, and religious ordinances are more strictly and universally observed than in any other country in the world. To this advantage, we may add, that of the peace and harmony which reigns among the different religious communities, and the entire absence of those jealousies, bickerings, and heart-burnings, which the exaltation of a single sect so invariably creates. In the newly settled districts, where a small population is spread over a wide surface, the means of religious instruction are often deficient, and must be so, even were the wealth of an establishment expended in providing them. The same rule held in Connecticut till it was abolished by the new Constitution in 1818. + See the triumphant reply of Dwight to an English writer, on the supposed ruinous state of religion in New England. Dwight's Travels, IV. 430. Sects. The most numerous sects are the Congregationalists, Bap- BOOK tists, and Methodists. The Congregationalists, or Inde- LXXXII. pendents, abound chiefly in New England, and have about 1200 congregations, some of which use organs in their public worship. The Baptists, who are most numerous in the middle, southern, and western states, had 2727 churches in 1817, and have now about 3000; but as their congregations in New England are estimated by Dr. Morse only at 250 persons each, while those of the Congregationalists average about 1000,* the latter are probably more numerous upon the whole. The Methodists, who abound most in the southern and western states, have about 2000 congregations, and display a very active proselyting spirit. The Presbyterians, whose principal strength lies in the middle states, have about 900 congregations, which are classed into presbyteries and synods. The Associate Reformed, or American Burghers, have about 100 churches, and the Associate Synod, or Antiburghers, about 50; but there is a tendency in both these sects to coalesce with the Presbyterians. The Dutch Reformed Church, confined to New York and New Jersey, has about 200 churches. The Episcopalians had 600 churches, and 346 clergymen, in 1822,† chiefly in the middle and southern states. They are governed by a convocation, consisting of two houses. The Catholics, who are not numerous any where but in Maryland, are estimated by Dr. Morse to amount to 75,000. The Quakers have about 190 congregations, chiefly in the middle states. The Moravians, Universalists, Mennonists, Cameronians, and other sects, have each a few churches; and the Jews have synagogues at New York, Newport, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Savannah. The whole number of churches, or religious societies, in the United States, is probably not under 9000, or one for each 1100 inhabitants. The duties of a clergyman in the United States, are laborious and incessant; the pay arises from (a) pew rents, and *Morse, I. 368. + Niles' Register, 1822. (a) [In cities and large towns a common mode of paying the salary of a regular clergyman is by pew rents; but in country parishes the more usual mode is by subscription or by a tax in proportion to property.]—AM. ED. |