An extract from his memorandum of his three years' service gives the best account of this incident.

In it appear the carefully matured convictions which he inflexibly maintained.
"The report of the Committee of Ways and Means of the session 1790-1791 (presented by Gurney, chairman) was entirely prepared by me, known to be so, and laid the foundation of my reputation.

I was quite astonished at the general encomiums bestowed upon it, and was not at all aware that I had done so well.

It was perspicuous and comprehensive; but I am confident that its true merit, and that which gained me the general confidence, was its being founded in strict justice without the slightest regard to party feelings or popular prejudices.

The principles assumed, and which were carried into effect, were the immediate reimbursement and extinction of the state paper money, the immediate payment in specie of all the current expenses or warrants on the Treasury (the postponement and uncertainty of which had given rise to shameful and corrupt speculations), and provision for discharging, without defalcation, every debt and engagement previously recognized by the State.