Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1815-04-18
From tho FORK Esenisg Post.
TAXES.

$50 f 49,
In place Of giving any observations Is ~ =
o,r own. this evening, on the taxes WIN
sSh;cb fhe country is to be cyerwheimea'
we recommend the following
Eyo,a the Connecticut Costrunt, ~
The creditor is come !-He IS come ~ IN
deed. and is stern and inexorable.s Inc
nlea Of poverty, Of widowhood, OF SICK I
hess hos Of absolute inability, or any other
,plea whatever, will not prevail on hlm TO
!s hate an ace, of his demands. He IS
not to be put off with entreaties or with
tears. IF the oil in the cruise be spent,
he will seize the cruise itself. Though
he cannot carry away our small children
and sell them, he can, and he will take
the, last clumb from their mouths, and
throw their fathers into prison, rather
than fail of being paid to the last farthng
What though we tell him we have no
money? What though we hltnbly en-
treat him, saying pray go, and come a.
gain, at another time we will pay T.
What though we try to move his COM
passion by the relation of our losses, our
misfortunes, our family sicknesses, our
Strengthened circumstances! lls all IN
vain. He requires the full tale OF brick,
whether there be straw to make them
with OF not. !.
The creditor IS come He has fast
hold of all our houses, and all our lands.
To him they are mortgaged, deeply mort
gagged; and if we are unable to redeem
them with money, they must be sold I'M
der the hammer. He holds us ali by the
skirts. Scarce an article of goodly RAJ
ment may we wear, without paying him
| for the privilege. From the crown OF the
head to the sole Of the foot, we feel the
grippe of his hand. Ourhats and our shoes
are alike held in fef from him and we
must go bare headed and shoeiess, ana
be saas caiottes to boot--of else pay nm
premium for permission to cover our ma
kedness. If we purchase for wife OF
daughter merely decent covering TOT
the head, or an umbrella Of parasol, TO
| shield her from burning sun or drlz-
| ,ly atmosphere, we must pay, over ana
| above the real purchase money, sum TO
him.
THE creditor is come!-he haunts us at
| our meals. For our sugar, tea and col
| fee, we must pay him large tribute. A
glass of wine, or even OF beer, we may
| not drink without giving him part. II,
| at night we light a candle, we are charge
able by him for the ligrt of it, as well as
| for the privilege of smoaking pipe OF to-
bacco, or taking pinch of snuff. We
cannot drive nail into the shingle or
clapboard of leaky tenement, but we
| must pay him somewhat for that nail
| We cannot write short billet to sick
| wife or child, but we must pay him a
tribute upon the slip Of paper, and ano-
ther and an excessive tribyte if 1t be sent
by mail. lie haunts us m our opt-ggo-
ings and in our in-comings-in all our
Journeys and travels. If we travel on
foot we quickly wear out cur taaed boots
! and shoes-doubly taxed, first in the lea
ther and then again in the manufacture.
If we make use of a convenient carrl-
| age, or Wagon, heavy duty lies up
on it. IF we ride on horseback, unless
we ride without saddle or kidle, we must
pay smart money.
Nor would it be near so bad, ii there
| were any hopes of cancelling the debt IN
the course of one generation; but that IS
impracticable and impossible. 1t must
be as a grinding milestone upon genera
tons yet unborn.
Now, if any ask ae3ty and hoac this
monstrous debt was made, we refer them
for an answer to the firm OF Mr.. James
Madison and Co. Again, il any enquire
what equivalent the people have got-we
advise the querists to peruse the trea-
ty, with an impartial eye, and then to
make answer themselves to the query.
The following was received some weeks
since from an old correspondent; man
of genius and letters. 1t is one OF those
things which as Sterne says, come hot
from the heart, and | will not suppress
| it.
A FRAGMENT.
thank God, for many mercies, and
| it is not among the least, that he has CIV
en- me the grace to be Federalist. You
smile, gentlemen, of the Loft and Fish
Society, and excialm, how little does the
man thank God for! People will differ
| respecting what is right and what IS
wrong, what great, what small, what
good, what bad-but if the party opposed
| to that now in power, is not generally
| more right, do not possess in a greater.