Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1829-10-30

and would be properly rejected in all free govern
III an awkward dilemma. Ifyou let him go, you los,
tiie anount'of the tax, and how can you punish for
lbs contupacy? VIII You punish him by psyins
peine fjr.e Ct dure because. hc will nor choose ~
submit 10 an nquisitoral power
Luiess property Is OF an enduring value. not TO be
onHcei a,nidt oil the moral and political CHANGES
hooht, must be frequently converted, and this
would cause snch frequent cxrens IS rs would alb
sorb Il all. This would be an unwise exnsdicnt-
iiis is not ull IL would at tho same time be ffuit-
M source Of mourning and discomfort. You could
Iciy on no man as so just and slSfi 10 be able
ID estimate all property to give an unqualified
sitisir1 ion. And il You value what YOU tax Al,
what time you 20 fix the value. II must be OF
rhcr before the tax law is p1st afterwards. 10
you value IT the moment You pass the. law, YOU
yourselves become the valuers: the eoisa,r,re must
NIX the cs innate, and thus play into their own hands
w nat then - To prevent these gentlemen from fixing
what value they please The mower ofuneouaI tay.
alton is given 10 the Legislature The m,ner, the
valuation Is lett TO be nadc by them. II is not
Hndc by them, 1t involves still further dif'iculty-
the law passes before the valuation is made, how
do yod TX the AK? You want certain revenue, if
you cannot ascertain the value the property, how
can YOU fix the ratio of iaxatin, You want to
raise half million. by nd saiores, tax. Tue
property - not valued upon what d1fn can Won
ac'' T,ke either hofn of the dilemma The tax
law has bcen passed, tire valuation has been made
then the difficulty arsrs as 10 the nroner VAL
nation. " belorc the law is passed, no man
can know what proportion OF his property is tay-
ed. rus T''T.ri taxation may extend even 70
his wItes wedding ring-wat Is 10 prevent the
most imp,rinen' ScrutIDy?-lIe would affirm hat this
act would raise up more than one Wat TYLER in every
county. The mkt guarantee was a check on the
power OF appropriation. lie did not believe This
would anonn' n any thiuS-and If Il would, he did
not desire 70 sec = The principle he contended for
was ths; when called upon 10 paw tax The pa or OIL, h
70 he allowed To say how much e had ability - paw
When the tax was paid God forbid that il should
not be applied 10 any part of The State where it was
most necessary-he wotd rcJoice that the tax which
nc paid on his slaves should b. sent actdss the noun
tains, where 1t would be expended most advantage
IT would not be Just IN Ills To this guarantee nor
in others 10 give il.
The conclusion to which lie arrived was thfs: if
the proposition is admitted be true that property
is emitted TO protection he wonld not disputes so that
the protection was On efficient one. No ru1r-
antee which had been offhred would suffice. There
can be none, but the concession of political power
Assuming that all were equally pa riDe pure ard
liberal. and disposed right, still political power vas
tho only security, and If would nc most safe in the
hands of those on this side Of the mountains We
have the same sort OF horses. carriages and other
property IN the east, which neighbours have in the,
vest and 1t is utterly impossible for the STAKEHOLDER
10 tax any property III the west, which will not i'm
pose an equal tax Upon himself. Lock at tho reverse
We give the power to the west. we have n
propsrty here of which they no share 10 prevent
them from thowlng all the burthrns of the State upon
! that description OF property. There was much in
this an experiment had ocen made, and ii was admit
ted that evil had resulted The cn,,em,u
from Frederick, had admitted that the power Tor nv,
Tour years had beCn with the slave population and that
there had not been the slightest abuse Vbv then
take the power from u>'-lf there has been no evil
why change? Are gentlemen In pursu, of some
speculative doctrines-are they disposed 20 give np
ri! the good they had. that they sy obtain piece OF
beautiful theoretic consistency in the Constitutions
Government was practical experiment for the rood
o! those who lived under IL. Those systems which
have been the aCmraion Of The scholar In the closet
from Plato down 10 Harrington and More md all
the French Philosophers, have not once been ADOPT ed
into human practice. We are not TO br mi led hv
the rlca that principle Is TO be enoratird on the
Constitution, merely for its theoretical beauty unless
:" are convinced TINT will be practically and uni-
versaltv beneficial. lie would again state that this
Constitution had been tried for fty-four years and
no cvll had been experienced. If those who had he
power bad not exercised il with liberality how han
pens 1t that our slaves have horuc the taxes so LONG,
Admitted as It was, that no evil had been experIen-
ced. why Is the system now 10 be cianrcdS
Dir. DODDRIDGE said that although he had
not intended tins morning to participate in the dis
cusSlon To day, he felt himself rrcsisblv invoked 10
make a few remarks III TO the gentleman from
Northampton and the gentleman from Cu!peper-
The remarks Of the gentleman from Norhampton
yesterday, were Of general character, and as ap-
peared TO HIM, had little claim to close aud critical
examination. lie had carried us back TO the oriei-
nal state of mnn, and tbencc deduced the elements
of social liie Phs morning. the gentleman had for
the first time, touched Virginia ground virginia his
ry ana 10 the researches OF TINS morning. i've should
chiefly direct the attention of the COMMITTEE He
7
gentleman from Northampton and the gentleman
from Culpcpcr, ia the order IN which they wcr,, made
lie felt himself relieved OF very con. iderabIe en-
barrassmcnt by the audable candIr which marked
the tone OF the gentlemen the other side; and he
had risen with more than ordinary pleasure, in con-
sequence ofthc amcnny exhibited by these gentle
mcn 10 those who must differ from thcmu can,lour
which had displayed itself with peculiar strength
The first ground where he could meet the gentle
man from Northampton. was when he touched tine
Constitution. II inan ever existed IN that savage
slate in which he was under no control of Govern
ment, we must GO back to find him there bore the
Bible Ia our wildernesscs, we find no such sayape
condition. Although our barbarnus tribes obey no
written code, they have their unwrten laws to which
;hcy yield submission, which they only permit to
exist, but assist to enforce. As was said by Judrc
Ashurst aud with still more effect Nv the gentleman
from Northampton, there is little acknowledgement he
drawn from forced state of society, except on the
subject ~ tho feeling ct property which existed in It,
ond which we are told induced men TO ieave that
state and impose themselves the restraints of So
/ cal government.