From the day he assumed the high charge of superintendent of finance, his duties were onerous and multifarious. It was some time after the strong solicitations of Congress were urged upon him before he consented to undertake the delicate and difficult task of managing this department, to which he was elected on the 20th of February, 1781, a dark and dismal period of the revolution. A deep sense of public duty finally induced him to undertake the gigantic work, and in a masterly manner did he execute it. He immediately instituted an examination of the public debts, revenue, and expenditures; he reduced to an economical system the mode of regulating the finances, and of disbursing the public funds; he executed the plans of Congress relating to all monetary matters; he superintended the action of all persons employed in obtaining and distributing supplies for the army; he attended to the collection of all monies due to the United States, either by loans from Europe, from the states, or otherwise; he held a supervision over all the contractors for military supplies; he provided for the civil list; he corresponded with the executive of each state, and with the ministers of the United States, then in Europe for the purpose of obtaining aid, urging upon them the necessity of raising money, and necessarily transacted much business with every department of the government. At the same time he was an active member of the legislature of Pennsylvania. The effects of his powerful financial mind soon invigorated the desponding cause of liberty. Through the agency of the bank of North America, united with his personal responsibility, he improved the national credit, and introduced a rigid economy through all the avenues of public operations. He found himself in an Augean stable, but was the Hercules that could effectually cleanse it. Corrupt agents and corrupting speculators fled before his searching scrutiny, hissing like serpents retiring to their dens. In all things he acquitted himself nobly, and stood approved by Congress, by his country, his conscience and his God. It is a lasting eulogium upon his name, that he reduced all his transactions to so perfect a system, committing them all to writing, that he was able to produce a satisfactory voucher for each and every public act during is whole career—a circumstance worthy of remark and of imitation. System is the helm, ballast, and mainmast of business.