The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1841-09-03
The State Debt.m"NO. 1,

Having exposed the utter falsty of the statements
of the Udichmaa in relation to the State Debt
and the annual expenditures, it may be profitable
TO make some further remarks on this subject,
which so scnsihly effects the people, on whom falls
the burden Of dcInying the expenses oil the stale
Gen. Walton, in order to divert the public mind
from an inquiry into the condition of the finances
of the State, after clustering about Capt. Partridge
and heaping upon him the ylcst abuse, undertakes
TO blind and dazzle the vision OF his readers by the
cry of $50, 900 per annum for Vermont, from the
the division of the Public Lands. This Is wing
economy with vengeance. In the first place, IN
order to make good their ialschocd in relation to
the bankruptcy of the Treasury, they divert lhFeo
OF four millions of the revenue from ltspoper chan
mel, and then, under prelcncc of providing tor the
expenses of Government, create National pep'p
borrowing u millions, 10 pay the interest OH
which, il will require more than half million an
nually; aud this interest is to be paid in the very
manner at which Gen. Walton shudders so horrl-
bly,, to wit: by expressing the people with taf"-
iion," in the form of duties, on sugar, tea, coiec'
SALT, moussos. &c. as it were the neccsSarles OF
life. those very articles which are consumed most
ly by the poorer classes of community. This would
be the contamination of the p'ouS General most
ardent wishes n state DcJt-A NATIONAL
DEBT, AND TIE POOR OPPRESSED WiTIi
TAXl.S.
But rc does not stop here; he would have tho
School Fund dissipatcd and destroyed, that the
poor man moy not only be oppressed ~'h tdrc',
but his children deprived of the means of acquiring
an education What philantmoplc, piouS Gem
cral! Let the School Fund be diverted from its
channel and sacrificed to cover the MIsohoodS OF
l.. F. Walton, aud the three cent. School Tax IS
fixed upon us forever; but on the other hand, let
it accumulate few years longer under prudent
management, and the amount will be sufficient TO
dispense with the three cent. tax entirely. Cen
Walton chooses the former, because it answers the
double purpose Of pcrpeiuaiins taNalion' and OF
depriyng the poor ofthe means OF instruction, that
they may the more easily be made the dupes oil af
insolont, pursc-proud aris'ocracy.
This christian General would keep up the dGIu-
SION and deny the existence of State Debt, loI
YET another purpose, viz: TO elevate to the first Of
fee in the State, man who, of all others, should
be stunned and detested. Bcgotten in federalism
aud brought forth in aristocracy, he has nevc
proved recronnt TO the lessons of his childhood
Ills father. who in the Senate of the Nation, wa
the most efficient prop of the ''aen and scdiIion'
laws, in ~ and 49, has not been slow to lmbu'
the mind of his son with the beautiful visions o
ihc federalism of oldcn time. His political princl
yp!es then, do not recommend him to the suffrage
of the Frccmen and does his honesty and be
nevolcncc, Ask the oppressed farmer, who ha
been shorn not only Of the loccCs of his sheep, bu
of his own bread, by this Knight of irrcspoasibi
corporaiioas-ths Spectator in the sweat of oihe
mems brows; and let stubborn facts give the an
.s,yer SCRUTATOR.