Those gentlemen who object to making a tax bill the preliminary to any issues of the notes, have proposed as an expedient, a law, promising the payment of the notes when taxation shall become practicable, compelling the receipt of them in payment as specie, and limiting the prices of those articles, which the army may want. This is done to obviate two objections, which are supposed to be against taxation, that the state of the country will not admit of the collection, and that those who have no property left but lands, cannot pay the taxes without extreme distress. Before I go into any detailed observations on these subjects, I beg leave to state one general reason why I must insist on the tax law, even if in other respects I should have no material objections to the expedient proposed. As Superintendent of the Finances of the United States, it is my duty to urge a compliance with the requisitions of Congress, and, therefore, to facilitate that compliance; but I should betray the trust reposed in me, if by any expedient whatever, I assisted in eluding those requisitions. With me, therefore, the propriety of passing the tax bill can admit of no question; and in consequence, my orders are precise, to prevent the issue of a single note, until such bills shall have been enacted, and effectual provision made for the collection. I shall now take the liberty of trespassing on your patience, with some observations as to the two laws proposed. And first, as to the expediency of taxing, and the weight of the objections against it. When it is considered, that the expenditures of the army, (supposing the war to be carried on in the Southern States, must greatly exceed the amount of the sums called for from those States,) one position is clear, that by complying with the requisitions of Congress, a balance of money must necessarily be brought in from the other States, to supply the deficiency of the whole revenue in those particular States, when compared with the amount of the whole expenditure. But by neglecting to comply with the requisitions of Congress, (as it will be impossible to supply the army in the same regular manner, which prevails elsewhere,) the whole cost of the expenditure will fall in the first instance on those who are near the seat of war, subject to a future settlement of accounts. Besides which, it is demonstrable, that this latter mode of supply, which is at present practised, is very wasteful and expensive. Nor is this the only objection, though certainly a very strong one. We must further consider, that according to the present mode of taking supplies, the burden falls very unequally on the inhabitants, and of course, very unjustly. I fear that, with truth, it may added, that in some instances, it is attended with strong circumstances of distress.