Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1854-05-03

lives are exposed for the proLectiVil sS r oP
Who are sent forth to fight the battles of your coun-
try The fye hundred go forth to tight the batties
Of your country to vindcate its honor; TO NAM
tain its glory leaving their wives and little ones 70
struggle on in poverty and 80 bosst Of
the honor and glory of their country, the bravery,
the freedom and equality Of its PAVE Us
from such freedomsaye US from sucn equal . !.
tt is no freedom-it no equality. 1t Is doWnr1ghs
tyranny Tyranny in its most odious form. ne
few grinding into the dust the many, under the IRON
! heel of power-zpower under the pretence OIL pelpg
derived from $ the people only 81 $,
Under the OPERATION of this principe, tneIe aIe
! SON., startling facts. According to the census 81
1910, and the apportionmcnt OF Senators made I'M
der the provision of the Constitution by the Legs
lature of 1872 seventeen Western Senators repre-
| sent q majority of the white inhabitants of North
Carolina At the apportionment which viii be made
in 1852 still greater discrepancy VIII De founo TO
exist The improvements which nave heretofore
been made and still in progress IN North Caro-
lima tend to great increase of the value of proper
ty and of the subjects of taxation in Eastern
Carolina. The Wilmington Rail Road, to which the
State has contributed much, has added greatly 20
the value of property of every description near II,
and the amount of taxes is proportionably IN
creased. The Raleigh and Castor Road; the Cape
Fear improvements, the appropriations to Neuse
river, to Tar river, to the Weldon Railroad an nave
the same tendency And the immense money, there
fore expended heretofore in North Carolina, will
have the effect directly, under the present ConstItu
tion for the next twenty years. to cause us IN tue
people of the State to have in the Senate only fHIR
TEEN MEMBERS while the minority of the white peo-
pie will have THIRTY-sEvEN MEMBERS
We do not desire to be understood as opposing IN
the least proper system Of Internal improvements;
nor as making any complaints against what has
heretofore been done by our Legislature. Nor are
we to be regarded taking ground against the pro-
per protection OF property. we should be paneo
to see the day come in North Carolina when a sys-
tenn of Agrariansm would be pre-emincnt; when
people woul. be less observant of law; less re-
gardful of right. The true theory of free Govern
ment is the proper protection of it's citizens in the
enjoyment of life, liberty and property. The right
of property is right attached to the person OF
Citizen and he is to be protected in its enjoyment
Taxes are uniform; and he who possesses little is
deeply interested in its enjoyment as one possess
ing greater share; and equally, nay, more oppos
ed to the imposition of high taxes
Property has no rights independent of persons
You give it no rights, nor privileges nor immu-
mites which affect il alone 1t is matter and cannot
feel nor enjoy rights but in consequence of its pos
session, you may give its owner political power and
privileges. If then you protect citizens in the en-
joyment of property, is not the possessor OF hun
dreds equally entitled to protection the of
thousands? Is his enjoyment the less Do you
enjoyment by the quantity enjoyed? Suppose you
take from the rich man his thousandS-is only hisaH
If you take from the poor his hundredsit is his
all too. Which will cling to his all with the more per-
tinacity? Which will surround it with more guards;
use it more sparingly; and more carefully provide
that it shall not be consumed by profuse and lavish
the poor complain most of high taxes, and it is nat
ura; it is harder for them to pay them. 1t dimin-
ishes the aggregate of each more, although the
amount taken away is less, and every poor man
hopes and expects to improve his condition, and one
day to become rich. Hence it is in Western North
Carolina more interested in the preservation
of slave property; because, although may have
fewer slaves, have more slore o1oners; and, of
course greater number of persons to watch over
any aggressons upon it. The same is true of land.
We have more land owners, and owners of every
ether species of property; and fewer of that class
of persons who have nothing to enjoy, and nothing
to protect defend but their rights of person.
To connect together the people of the State in
common bond of interest," it is only necessary that
they should possess the same kind of property, and
that taxes should be direct and uniform. Indirect
taxes seldom representatives of the wealth of
the community where they collected. The
amount of public revenue collected in the City of
New York is test Of the wealth of that city
And many of our taxes indirect, and furnish no
index of the wealth of the Counties in which thew
are paid.
1t is idle then, to say you must give politi-
cal weight to the rich than the poor-the owner of
thousands than the owner of hundreds. A thousand
owners of any particular species of property will
afford it much more effectual protection than one
owner of the same amount and Species under any
form of government that would be tolerated for a |
moment in free country.
If the West has less capital fewer slaves and |
land less valuable; they will guard their little more
carefully than the East; and in guarding their own,
they will guard and protect that of their Eastern
brethren. We are one people, and God grant that |
the time may come when we may feel that we are |
not common enemies but that interests are the |
same. The struggle that has heretofore existed has
not resulted in the public good. |
Many of our citizens greatly opposed to the |
election of Judges by the Legislature required
by the Constitution. 1t cannot be disguised that |
our own Legislature has, in many instances, been |
the of intrgues entirely at war with our
IDEAS of the purity of the bench and in which it
was shown that neither character, nor qualifications
were made the tests for fitness for office but simply
party services. Legislatures small bodies; usu-
ally elected upon political party grounds and that
too frequently at the sacrifice of the best interests
Of the people.
Under these circumstances many believe that the
people would be the safest repositories of this pow
IF. The opportunity and facility for corruption and
intrigue would not exist, and the people, in acting
would not be influenced by the fear of denunciation
'r punishment of party men, The system has been
ried in many States of the Union and found to op-
rate so well that it is much to be doubted whether
will not, in time, be adopted in ALL
Others, too think that they ought to hold Office
or limited period There is no other officer
nown to our laws, but who is limited to short Pc
lod after which his power is laid down at the foot
i those from whom he received it; and in deter
mining whether they will again place him in power,
hey pass upon themanner in which his duties have
een discharged Many of these offices are of the
lghest character and Importance and equally rel
uiring in the incumbent purity and integrity of
haracter. No evils have resulted from giving the
lection OF these officers to the people, and certain
no corruption of the people, nor of the officer
las been the consequence. And it certainly is not
question of much difficulty whether, we should be
ursed with bad Judge during his life if in de-
pte OF all precautions, should unfo tunatey be
lccted In no other instance is such q curse in 4
icted. Can aIY other ryreotar .