GLC00148
Thomas Jefferson to John Eppes
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 21 January 1799.
Autograph letter signed, 2 pages + address leaf.
My dear Sir
Philadelphia Jan. 21. 99
I wrote to my dear Maria on the 1
st
. inst. and covered it in one to yourself on the 3
d
. I
have not yet recieved any letters either from you or Monticello since I left home, now five
weeks. you will have seen the debates on Logan's law, as it is called. The forged paper they
endeavored to palm on the H. of R. as [inserted: if] written & presented by Logan to the French
directory, being made appear to have been written by a mr Codman of Paris a friend and
correspondent of His, who pressed Logan to present it, but was refused, begins now to be
thought a contrivance from this side the water to ensnare Logan. yet they had the audacity to
send the paper here and to bring it forward as genuine. they were however completely
discomfited & disgraced by the detection. still they brazened the law through by their majority,
& it will probably pass the Senate as fast as forms will admit. on the Reports from the Secretary
of the navy, purging the statement of revenue & expence from articles not permanent, the regular
revenue appears to be (in round numbers) Impost 7 ½ Millions of dollars, Excise, auctions
licenses & carriages ½ million, residuary taxes about 1/8 of a million, making 8 1/8 million. the
stamp act will probably bring in enough to pay the expence of collecting the direct tax, so that
we may state these two at two millions, it making in the whole 10 1/8 millions. The expences
are as follows, annually
the
civil
list
- - - 3/4
million
foreign
intercourse
- - ½
million
interest on the public debt
4 millions
the
existing
navy - - 2
½
millions
the existing army (5000 men)
1 ½ millions
9
1/4
so that there is a surplus of near a million. but the additional army to be raised (about 9000 men)
will add 2 ½ millions, & the additional navy proposed by the Secretary 3. millions, so that when
they are complete these will be wanting for annual expences 4 ½ millions of dollars to be raised
