The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1859-10-04

y
or three causes of the Inconvenience this country
is under, for the want of greater medium of
trade The distrcsses the public in general, and
many families in particular experience, proceed
in some measure, from the receivers of the public
taxes being frequently under an obligation to dis
train for the taxes levied in support of govern
ment. These effects put up to sale, cannot always
purchase money, from its scarcity, sufficient to
answer the taxes demanded; yet, perhaps by the
sale, the owner will be greatly distressed, if not
ruined"
The Stamp Act though oppressive in the number
and amount of its exactiOns, not unwise in prnc
ple 1t would have operated with comparative equa-
ty upon all classes of the community The maritime
and opulent districts would have yielded much
the larger proportion of the royal exchequer
The merchant the planter and the capitalist, would
have been taxed ratio corresponding with the
tent of their operations.
The provincial system of taxation was as unwise as
it oppressive, and it oppressive in a degree
ordinarily understood, because experienced
by the masses since the Revolution. 1t unequal in
its effect different sections of the country, and not
less unequal in its operation upon individuals in the
section.
The maritime districts were popuous and wealthy
as compared with the interior; the southwestern
pecially conrasted with the northwestern portion
of the province. With the exception of small
derived from imported liquors, the expenses of the
government were betrayed by poll tax. The poorest
man. not absolutely pauPer, contributed the same
times, the poor and those in moderate circumstances
constitute the great numerical majority.
The same inequality prevailed in relation to quit
rents Three shngs sterling Seventy five cts.) were
paid to the King in the SOUTHERN and to Lord Granville
in the northern of countless every hundred
of land without respect to improvements situation,
fertility.
1t will be easy to illustrate the oppression then en-
dured by the Regulator, by comparison of the Rela
tive amount of taxes paid by freeholder in 1869 and
1859. Take the of the head of family of six
persons, with freehold of 1000 acres, worth, what
few freehOlds worth at that day. dollar
All males then above the age of paid poll the
range is now narrowed to between Il and As. The
proportion of polls in family than to 6;
present. to g. On the 2lst of June, 1853, Gov.
Tryon wrote to committee of Regulators follows:
As you want to be satisfied what is the amount of the
tax for the public service, inform that it is
shngs taxable, besides the county and parish
taxes, the particulars of which will give Mr. Hun
ter" What the rates of county taxation at that
time have means Of ascertanng, and there
fore enter into no computation ofcomparatve amounts.
The quit rents 1000 of land in 1867, amounted
to 81 so; the public tax polls at S75 each,
ST IS; vestry polls 81; making the aggre-
gate amount ST. 25. At present, under the greatly
increased of taxation rendered necessary by
extended system of internal improvement, freehoder,
under similar circumstances would pay on land valued
at $1,000, S2-one and half polls, 81 2O-in all
So 20. For quarter of century previous to entering
upon the construction of railroads, the State tax of a
feehoder in like condition. would have been 60
on his land and 80 cents poll tax; in all about
thirteenth of the amount required of the Regulator
ninety years ago.
The statements of Governor Tryon with respect to
the scarcity of money, and the difficulty of obtaining
the requisite amount to taxes, will credence
for the following narratve
Joseph Mcpherson, who in 1919 resided near Salem
informed the late DR. Mitchell, of the University that
he removed from the neghborhood of Wilmington to
Chatham in 1868, fought with the Regulators at the
Battle of Alamance, and at the beginning of the Revo
luton removed the county of Stokes where he then
lived He stated that during the period of the ReguIa
ton, she went with his father Cross Greek,
Fayetteville, with load fwhea of 40 bushels. They
Hyoc h,,ch h,,tr
shilling was paid in money; or they could get buShe
of salt for bushel of wheat On their they had
40 shilingS cash and able pay their tax, which
more than any other in the settlement could do
Caruhers in his Life of CALDWELL appends the follow
ing averment to McPhersons statement: "Several old
men in this county have given similar of
the price of wheat well other articles and
they added that if they could 40 shlngs. FIVE
dollars i'll money for 40 bushels of wheat they thought
they were doing first rate business"
Ii the Provincial system of taxation unwse and
oppressive the Principle which regulated public expen
dture not less absurd and Ubiquitous. Salaries
were nOminally SMALL but, in almost every instance
fees of Indefinite and unknown amount connected
with salaries. The fees to which the Governor
lawfully entitled marriage licenses, and licenses
keepers of ordinares and tipping houses must in the
aggregate, greatly have exceeded the salary allowed
the Chief Magistrate at the present day Judges clerks
sherfs and all the officers connected with the admins
ralon OF justice compensated for their services
in whole or in part, by fees 1t is impossible in the
nature of things that every department of the govern
ment should not have become corrupt under such
tem and that all became so there is conclusive proof
The expenditure of the public money, moreover,
in inverse ratio to population and taxation Two-hrds
of the voters resided n and two-hrds of the taxes
proceeded from, the Granville Patent. The northern
tier of counties the minority in the provincial legis
ature nevertheless twothirds of the public patronage
were dispensed by the representatives of onethird of
the taxpayers.
Enfeebled by ll-health and advanced age Governor
Dobbs obtained permission in July, 1864 to visit the
mother country. On the 10th October Lieut. Col Will
liam Tryon arrived at Brunswick with commission
and instructions to assume the duties of the executive
department. during the absence of the Governor and
with the expectation of succeeding him early day
He found the province in unquet The extor-
ons practiced by clerks sherifS attornes and other
officers had the seeds of the Regulation broadcast
especially in Granville Orange Arson and Rowan
Governor Dobbs was engaged in unpleasant contro-
versy with the Provincial Legislature, in relation to
the prerogative right which he claimed appoint
public printer and the restrictions upon trade appre
hended as the natural result of the Stamp From
these troubles he relieved by death, the 2Sh
March, in the following in the SD of his age
1t is apparent that Col Tryon, from the first day of
his ARRIVAL had been awaiting the departure of Cover
nor DobbS with great mpatience; and the equanimty
with which he sustained himself on hearing Of his
death, is thinly yelled by the in which he an
nounced the event to the Earl of Halifax:
"WnNINGroN, April, 1865.
'kast Thursday Governor Dobbs retired from the
strife and cares of this world. Two days before his
death he was busiy employed in packing up his books
for his passage to England. His physician had 9TH
er means to prevent his tigung himself than by tell
ing him he had better prepare himself for much lon
ger voyage. have got into my possession the seal of
the province, and many public papers. The orders and