594 THE CHANCELLOR'S CASE.—1 BLAND.

made to support the same, insomuch, that they are now passed by

common consent, in most parts of these United States, at least

thirty-nine fortieths below their nominal value, and still remain in

633 a state * of depreciation, whereby the community suffers

great injustice, the public finances are deranged, and the
necessary dispositions for the defence of the country are much im-
peded and perplexed." Such was the declaration of Congress in
March, 1780, the correctness of which was solemnly acknowledged
by the Maryland Legislature in the June following. The Journals
of Congress of the 18th of March, 1780; and the Act of June,
1780, ch. 8.

But, even as early as February, 1777, the General Assembly of
Maryland had declared, that the quantity of paper then in circula-
tion greatly exceeded the medium of commerce. In the early part
of the year 1779, wheat sold for fifteen to twenty pounds per
bushel; and in the year following it sold as high as thirty pounds
ten shillings per bushel, in the then currency of the State. At the
close of the year 1779, a committee of the delegates stated, "that
every necessary of life had risen to forty prices at least." Paper
money continued to depreciate so rapidly, that in March of the
year 1781, it passed at one hundred and thirty for one, and soon
after, some kinds of it, ceased to circulate at all.

At the close of the year 1781, the pecuniary resources of Mary-
land appear to have sunk to their lowest point of depression.
Every effort had been made to prevent a total bankruptcy, but
without effect. The State seems to have been forced into an open
and solemn acknowledgment of its utter inability to pay its debts
for some time to come. The money of the country, under the
various denominations of provincial bills, continental bills, con-
vention bills, State continental money, State money, black money,
and red money, which had, from time to time, been issued—and
had, so far, been one of the most potent means of sustaining the
cause of our independence, had so sunk in value, as it increased
in quantity, as to have become at length absolutely worthless, and
no longer to be respected, in any shape, as money. It was esti-
mated, that the whole amount of coin, then in this State, did not
exceed one hundred thousand pounds; and that it would be im-
possible to collect by taxation a sufficiency to answer the demands
upon the Government. A committee of the delegates, in Decem-
ber, 1784, stated, that the great fluctuation, and inequality in the
valuation, from 1778 to 1782, inclusive, of the property in the State,
especially of land, rendered it impossible for the Legislature to
ascertain the sum that any tax would produce.

* Finding it impossible to bring money into the treasury,
634 of sufficient value to meet the exigencies of the times, the
General Assembly, at their first session in the year 1780, author-
ized and required the payment of taxes in wheat, flour, beef upon