Resources that
are derived from extraordinary virtues, as such virtues are rare, so
they must be unproductive. It is a good thing for a moneyed man to
pledge his property on the welfare of his country: he shows that he
places his treasure where his heart is; and revolving in this circle, we
know, that, "wherever a man's treasure is, there his heart will be
also." For these reasons, and on these principles, I have been sorry to
see the attempts which have been made, with more good meaning than
foresight and consideration, towards raising the annual interest of this
loan by private contributions. Wherever a regular revenue is
established, there voluntary contribution can answer no purpose but to
disorder and disturb it in its course. To recur to such aids is, for so
much, to dissolve the community, and to return to a state of unconnected
Nature. And even if such a supply should be productive in a degree
commensurate to its object, it must also be productive of much vexation
and much oppression. Either the citizens by the proposed duties pay
their proportion according to some rate made by public authority, or
they do not. If the law be well made, and the contributions founded on
just proportions, everything superadded by something that is not as
regular as law, and as uniform in its operation, will become more or
less out of proportion. If, on the contrary, the law be not made upon
proper calculation, it is a disgrace to the public; wisdom, which fails
in skill to assess the citizen in just measure and according to his
means.
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