Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1852-10-02
THE ANTI-SLAVERY BUGLE.
Avaricc-.S .Slayey..DiretI Taxation.

once said to n Northern man, never trust
an avaricous man from your section; he viii
he bought up.p Is this not true? Are not
all the traitors men of this stump? Where
the NortiIerner who hns betrayed freedom
who has not been rewarded, paid in office,
or by the emouments of office, Tor whatever
service he has rendered ilie slave power p
Said the Virguian in the House OF Repre-
sentatives:-
"Avarce alone could have produced the
slnve-rrnde. Avarice alone can drive, as il
does this internal traffic. Ambition las its
cover.sluis ir the pride, pomp, mud circun-
| stance of glorious war;; hut where are the
trophies of nvarice The hund.ruff, the
mnnacle, aud the hlood-sianed cow-bide."
Avarice is in great measure the root of Sla-
very. 1t was master strokc Of policy in the
slave holders when they induced the govern
ment to abandon the principle Of direct taxation,
and to adopt tho system Of duties and imposts.
Not simply because it relieved the millions of
property in human sncws from all taxation
but also because it has enabled the cormorants
who fatten on the toll Of the people to riot fear
lcssly upon the spoils. As it is. escaping Greet
taxation, the slave holders escape almost all
taxation. Controlling the government, as they
do by the base subsorvicncy Of the North,
they so average the duties and imposts as to
screen themselves and throw the burden Of tax
alton on the labor Of the North. And as the
unsophisticated people pay their taxes without
knowing when they do it-without knowing
how much they pay or for what they pay-mil-
lions are paid and squandcTcd and the people
find no redress and hardly know they arc rob-
bed.
Was direct taxation again rcsortcd To-, and
were the people permitted to see in their tax
list, the items for which their money is cxpcnd-
cd--reprcscntativcs in congress would not give
their votes for appropriations ms now. The
people would not submit to present taxa
tion for such appropriations. An attempt to
enforce collections for such purposes would in
duco resistance and rebellion. The people
though unwilling to turn traitors for the sake
of colored slaves. would so turn for the sake of
their purses, did they understand how they
were trcnched upon. Knowing when and how
they did it, as they would have done by direct
taxation the people would never have paid their
nuHuICuS VI HnllllOnS INC Cl0llua ana tnc
Mexican wars. Never would they have paid
the Watson and other similar trumpt- up claims,
for fugitivcs killed or escaped. Never would
they have paid the bills for the return of fugi-
tives who have been rccapturcd under the law
of 1850. Never would they pay the millions
annually squandcred upon the army and navy
the greater part of which is requisite only to
protect and extend slavery. and to afford COM
Portable sinecurcs Cor the idle spend thrift sons
of Shareholders. Let U. S, collector demand
from our farmers and mechanics in one round
sum, the annual quota that is now cxtortcd
from them for these and similar purposes, let
them appear in his duplicate and We should have
one office, of which few men would be ambitious.
Whoever entered upon it, would receive more
insults than dimcs-"morc kicks than coppers."
Slavery would starve deprived OF these contri-
buttons And the corruptions of our govern
mcnt of which demagosues declaim so much
would be abated-the number of office SCI kers
and Office holders would be reduced by direct
taxation as by no other single measure.
Our people now pay some fifty millions per
annum for government. And the mass of them
can hardly be convinced they have paid cent
We hear indeed loud complaints against "high
taxes at the time of our annual State collec-
tions. But who ever hears complaint of high
taxes from farmer or mechanic against the gen.
eral government And yet they pay millions
almost for the one, where they do thousands
for the other. They suppose they have only
been buying tea and coffee. British cutlery and
crockory-silks and broadcloths, when they have
visited their merchants. Never dreaming that
every merchant and grocer is government col :
lector, who is iscompellcd to take from them what
the government has compelled him TO pay in
tho shape of duties. We need discussion on
this subject, the people should be made to un-
dcrstand that under the present arrangement
just as they multiply around them the clcgan-
cies and the luxuries of ile just IN that propor-
tion do they increase their contribution to the
direct support Of slavery and the corruptons OF
the government.
John Randolph was right. "The manacle,
the hand cuff and the blood stained cowhide arc
the trophies oil avarice." If we would obliter-
ate them, we must make our appeals to the av-
aricc of the nation as well as its justice. And
in this way of direct taxation the appeal may be
made to their avarice in perfect harmony with
the principles Of justice and a, mot to sag Me)
most efficient means for its support. Let the
antislavery politicians adopt this as measure
of theirs and it will strike terror to the hearts
of the brokers in human flesh as no other mca-
sure will. Free men free speech and free
soil (whethor in the anti.slavery or the land
reform scnsc) can hardly be hoped for without