The other general objects, which it is necessary for you to be acquainted with, are the commerce, the finances, and the government of this country. The first suffered considerably in the beginning of this year, by the great vigilance of the British cruisers, but has since been very flourishing and successful. None of those wants are known, which prevailed at the beginning of this controversy. Our stores and warehouses are amply supplied with everything, that can administer to the necessities or luxuries of the people. The West Indies and Europe furnish a ready market for all we raise beyond what is necessary for our own consumption. The embargoes and restrictions, which were once thought necessary to enable us to obtain a scanty supply for our army, have been unknown among us for three years past; and yet a most ample provision has been made both for our troops and those of our allies. Our trade with the Havana has furnished considerable sums in specie; paper is entirely out of circulation, if we except the bank paper, which, being payable at sight in specie, is equal to it in value. So extensive has this circulation been, that the managers, not long since, published a distribution of the first _half year's_ dividend at four and a half per cent, notwithstanding a variety of expenses to which they had been put, in the first organization of the bank. So that the profit upon bank stock, is generally estimated at about ten per cent per annum, which will, I should conceive, when known in Europe, be a strong inducement with many people, those particularly who have thoughts of coming to this country, to lodge their money here. I would not, however, have you think the flourishing state of the bank (which is the property of a private company, under the protection of government) a certain indication of the happy situation of our own finances. This is by no means the case. The demand for money to replace the property, which the enemy have destroyed, to repair buildings, and the profits which commerce yields, together with the difficulty of forming new systems of taxation in a country, which has hitherto scarce known a tax, beyond what was necessary for the support of its own frugal governments, renders the collection of a direct tax extremely difficult. Duties and excises must be levied upon some general system, so as to prevent one State from depending on another. This has been attempted by a five per cent duty on all imports, but it has hitherto been defeated by the refusal of Rhode Island to come into the plan. Congress are about to send down a committee of their own body to urge them to a compliance with this measure. Should it be attended with success, a very considerable revenue will arise from that source. Public credit, which has so frequently tottered during the revolution, will be established upon a firm and lasting basis.