Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/277

 CH. IV.], and enjoy the essential benefits of civil society under a form of government so free and uncorrupted, so happily guarded against the danger of oppression, as has been devised by the articles <>f confederation, it will be a subject of regret, that so much blood and treasure have been lavished for no purpose; that so many sufferings have been encountered without compensation; and that so many sacrifices have been made in vain." § 257. Notwithstanding the warmth of this appeal; and the urgency of the occasion, the measure was never ratified. A jealousy began to exist between the state and general governments; and the state interests, as might naturally be presumed, predominated. Some of the states adopted the resolution, as to the imposts, with promptitude; others gave a slow and lingering assent; and others held it under advisement. In the mean time, congress was obliged to rely, for the immediate supply of the treasury, upon requisitions annually made, and annually neglected. The requisitions for the payment of the interest upon the domestic debt, from 1782 to 1786, amounted to more than six millions of dollars; and of this sum up to March, 1787, about a million only was paid; and from November, 1784, to January, 1786, 483,000 dollars only had been received at the national treasury. But for a temporary loan negotiated in Holland, there would have been an utter prostration of the government. In this state of things the