Mississippi Democrat. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1844-18??, 1845-01-29


sand dollars in each, and more than mil
lion Of dollars in all. Where can it all
come from, or be going tot
Conductor. SIR, is the amount
raised by tdreS erery year from the people
Of Louisiana to pay the foreign ond-hold
erS, and | am non taking al out Of the
Slate to Europe to settle nth them
The train moves on; the farmer stands
staring at il until it is lost in the distance.
He has made a discovery; he begins to
think. He finds that sixty-five thousand
mounds of specie is going out of the
Stute, never again TO return; that no.
thing is to be received back for it,; that 1t
IS raised from himself and his neighbour;
that this is TO continue for twenty or thirty
wears: and then there is to become due a
nrincipal of some twenty.one millions be-
sides. Could a scene like the above actu-
ally take place, the citizens would be
aroused to complete sense Of the griev
ance. lis equivalent, the same thing in
effect, must actually take place every
year, if what is called the State debt is to
be paid.
If we take the great staple of Lou
isiana, cotton, as q means of illustration,
we may place the subject in an equally
strong light.
The sum of one million fifty thousand
dollars, the annual amount of interest on
the State bonds, would pay, at the present
price of cotton, for about twenty-one mil
lion pounds, equal to about filty-two thou
sand bales, which must be nearly one.fifth
of the crop of the whole State. Should
we paw in cotton, then, we would have to
part with one-6fth of our whole product.
So much mystery and deluson has been
thrown by cunning around the corruptions
of paper stock and paper credit, that some
NAV be disposed to doubt the correctness
of our results; but let such reflect, that il
the annual interest is paid at all, it must
be paid out of the annual produce or labor
of the State, the money cannot be raised
by magic; and although the whole ma.
chinery of the system of extortlon can
not be seen by every eye, yet no obscu.
ration can blind us TO the fact, that labor
is the only source of value, and out of il
the debt must be paid at last.
TO protect individual property is the
legitimate purpose of government, to plum
der property under pretence Of govern
ment, is virtually revolution, and no acts
of such a nature can be morally binding
upon society, for Legislature was never
elected with the power to destroy, by in
direction, that which it is the object of all
governments TO render safe.
Should the Legislature of Louisiana
have passed an act, giving as donation
TO the Manchester or Lowell manufactu.
rers, one fifth of the cotton crop Of the
State, annually, the consequences would
be manifest. The manufacturers woulC
now insist that they had Uested rights un
der the act, which no succeeding assem-
bly, of the representatives of the people
could rightfully invade; that the act Of
the Legislature, giving them one.fifth Of
the cotton crop, was contract with Lou
Isiana, whose obligation must not be i'm
paired. The people of this State, how.
ever, would treat such ridiculous preten
sions with contempt, and reply, the sove'
reign power is in the people who constitu
ted the Legislature to protect and defend
not TO transfer and destroy it; were we &c
sanction such an act, we would be false tc
ourselves, to humanity, and to the future
1t must be manifest that there is no rea
difference between transferring one-filth o
our cotton crop to foreign manufacturers
and transferring its equivalent in money
TO foreign bond holders: the effect upor
the State is the same, the bond system
being the more dangerous, as it is les:
easily silted out.
1t would be needless for us to point on
to our readers that this power to transfe
property by law is entirely incompatible
with free government; property and pow
er are synonymous: take away from tht
mass of the people the former and you de
prive them of the latter. Whether thi
be accomplished openly or covertly, di
rectly or indirectly, is of no consequence
people who submit to it are not in reali
ty free; and, should such system be ex
tended and persevered in, it would, Xix
all unjust institutions, when too long cor
tinued, be terminated by vioulent revo
luton.