Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1806-10-22

From Co55et'a Political Register Of 18th Aug
SUMMARY OF POLITICS.
NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.
icoNcLUDED.}

marquis OF DuCkiuSuAN o"y Az
receive, from my sinccure place, about
$4,000 pounds 4 year; but, what harm
does that produce to the people ? Il adds,
indeed. so much to their taxss but, 1t Is
spent every year, aud 10 il returns TO them
again" SO will lord Grenvillc and lord
Melville; SO will the jobbers and contract
ors say. 1t is all spent again amongst the
people, and therefore, it is as broad as tbs
long. Why, then, it is mistake, all this
while, to suppose, tina. the national debt
is an lsiury 10 the people; fer, although 1t
be true, that this debt causes 20 millions
year 10 be raised from the people IN taxes,
vet, those who receive the 20 millions spend
il again. The same may be said OF the
civil list, and of oil the grants at which We
have lately beee 60 Indignant. Nay, pecu-
sa,ion does, at last, no harm, and, 1t is
from sheer iguorance, if peculators consl'
der themselves as less moral than their
neighbors. Away we sweep all no,isnso OF
the weight of taxes. The talk about ECO
Monty becomes nonsense. We have been
in dream, and are now, for the fret time
in our lives, really awake. But, in ad.
dressing myself to this writer, | would, ter
reasons too evident TO sHate, endeavor TO
render my refusation efhis position SO sim.
pie as to be perfectly Ineligible to the low.
est capacity. You tell me, would say,
shat the taxes, being expended IN the coun.
try, returning again amongst the people,
dminishes thz weight OF the burihen; for
that, nothing being, by means of the taxes,
taken out Of the country, the country must
upon the whole, remain exactly the same
as if no taxss at all had ever been imposed.
This is the natural aud even the necessary
drift OF your argument; and this it is that
/ deny. Suppose, for simplicity's sake,
there be an island consisting of ten farms
of equal size suppose the island to DC
inhabited By ten men, each Of them the
owner aud cuttivator of ore Of the farms,
and each having an equal number of chi,
dren. Supposecne of the rnen, from what
ever cause, TO obtain an ascendsncv ooer
the rest Suppose him to have bleed h9aal ,ds
or wolves; TO o'dipppose him, 10 matter how,
10 be possessed of the power Of taking from
his nine neighbors, just as much of the
producs of their labor as he pleases TO take.
Suppose him TO take from each SO pounds
year, would not esch Of the cine be POOR.
Err by so pounds year? Would not each
of them LOSE that SO pounds a year, 10
consequence of having such powerful
neighbor or, would they not, at any rate,
be compelled to work much harder in con-
sequence of The tax? But, the powerful
man would lay the sol, year out with
them: so he would, but it, for instance, he
laid OUT sol. il wheat with one of them,
would he not receive the wheat for the mo.
ney? Nothing would, Indeed, go out Of the
island; bun, would the people in il be AZ
happy as they were before Weud not the
powerful man cease to labor? Would ne
not throw his share of ,he labor Upon the
other nine? Would he not ear and drink of
the best, while they cat and drank Of The
worst? Would not some of the nine, from
misiortunes of various sorts, be reduced to
poverty? Would there DO, be begging ia
the island, or 1Uerkhome9 Would there
not be houses Of correction. aud j>iIs? Aud
is it not clear, thar, without any thing being
carried out Of the island, heavy taxation
must produce individual poverty and mise.
ry? And must not these produce diseon.
tent against The ruling power, or indiRer-
ence with respecs 70 the safety of the isl,
and And must not these, upon any emer.
gency, be, inevitably, the cause of weak.
ness in defending the island Tbs truth
is, that excessive taxation, bends down in.
dus,ry with one hand, while with the other
it creates iasolent idleness. II forms so.
ciety into two classes, the workers and the
devourers And, the maxim soon becomes