Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-01-11

whole of 1t before our readers.
The report was gotten up by Mr..
Edmunds, chairman of the committee
on finance. @.e
In the report, the aggregate debt is
estimated at $780, $50 30; but af-
ter deducting the stock Of the state,
the actual outstanding debt against the
commonwealth is set down at SIS, $685.
S61 SO. The available resources are
$5,S30,1lS "a. The total funds and
resources Of the state are estimated at
$12, 589,971 46.
The report concludes with the fol-
lowing observations;
con revision of the tax bin of
1913, it is source of much grati6ca-
ton to learn, from the Auditors Re
port that "the additional taxes impo-
sed by the last Legislature have been
patiently acquiesced in, and that the
patriotic efforts of that body to sustain
the public credit, and preserve unsulli-
ed the honor of the State, have been
ratified and approved by the people at
large;' and from the Governors mes
sage ''that perhaps no law laying new
and augmented exactions upon a COM
munity which was struggling at the
time under severe and manifold burd-
ems, could have been more generally
acquiesced in" 1t is equally crafty
ing to know, that the augmented tax
es, in most remarkable manner, bore
in fair and just proportions on different
sections of the State. 1t was feared
they would oppressively upon the cap
ital of the towns and their concentra-
ted interests. Such has happily not
been the result. The aggregate in
crease oftaxes in the large towns does
not materially vary from the average
increase in the counties. The proper
ton is larger in Norfolk, near the same
in Petersburg, and less in Richmond
than in the country. On the mercan-
tile class, by the graduation license,
the aggregate increase has been less
in the towns than the increase on land,
or on the aggregate taxes Of the coun-
try. These facts show that the towns
have no just cause for complaint on the
score of increased taxation, and they
should remove the asperities of feelings
engendered by persuasion of its une-
quail operation before trial. And the
committee trusts that the towns espe-
cially will be satisfied with bill which
augmented their burdens fair proper
ton with the country, whilst it so pow
erfully contributed to raise the value of
their public stocks, to vivify trade, to
restore confidence both public and pri-
vate, and to enhance all other peculiar
interests and pursuits"
Now, we should like to know what
has become of the prediction of certain
Coon-whig editors of this State, that
the tax bill devised by the Democratic
Legislature Of last winter was so OBJ
noxious to censure and unequal IN the
distribution of its burdens upon the diff
ferent classes of our citizens, that it
would be resisted by the people. And
powerful appeals were made to the pas
sions of the people, to beget dissatis-
faction against the bill, and produce
the disgpaceful scene of people refu.
sing to sustain the honor and integrl-
ty of that government which they have
themselves created for their mutual
protection and welfare; rusult, we
presume, which would have gratitied
to the utmost extent, the desire of
those disinterested patriots. But,
thanks be to the good sense of the peo-
pie, they have most nobly vindicated
themselves from the foul reproach that
was sought to be cast upon them, and
which, had it been successful, would
have left an indellible stain upon the
fair escutcheon of their hitherto unsul-
lied integrity.
Those who opposed the tax bill of
last winter, must now see, that they
were not only mistaken in regard to
the manner in which it would operate
and the result which it would produce,
but that they vastly overrated their m
fuence with the people. The object
ofthese Wing gentlemen, in trying to
excite the people against that bill, was
to ruin the Democratic party. Had the
result they desired been produced, they
would have disclaimed all agency in
bringing it about, and would have at
H., hill 'EhQ