Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-11-30
Our Little Sister Portionea 6G

Y Our Little Sister PortioneS Ga
$ The New Yoek Herald, which has for SON
: tips past been blowing the secession bug
: fog merely political purposes, nS~r- that til
ferrible crisis of Lncolns election is passe,
thus intellgently portions off our-ittle siste
} the Palmetto State. Since she is bound {
: go out of the UnfoH,S Of course it must b
done in decency and in order There is
very pretty bit of sarcasm in the followin,
which appears in the Herald's money article o
I Friday last:
The announcement that the Federal officers
in South Carolina hare resigned their Offices
and that the Legislature has unanimously call
ed convention to provide for secession, will
take no one by surprise. The event was gen
!; orally anticipated, and whatever the views oil
lawyers may be with regard to the right of a
State to secede, public sentiment in this sec.
tion of the country would be decidedly oppos-
ed to the detention of any State in the I'm
ion. We presume that in the eteht of the
! 100000 free white people of South Caro-
lima declaring their determination to constitute
Il separate Fepdbiic, no serious objection would
be raised; and it therefore becomes interest
| ing to inquire into the financial condition of
the State. South Carolina owes over % ,000s
600, represented by three, five aad six per
cent State bonds, nearly all of which are
| held in England. The interest on the debt is
paid out of the profits of the State Bank, and
some railway stocks owned by the State. The
State revenue averages about 5000, 900 annu-
ally, about half of which is derived from a
tax of seyenty-fve cents head on slaves one
Of ba haIo ic 1,,
amounting to about six mills in the dollar on
the value Of the agricultural land under culti-
Tation through hout the State. The e4pendi-
ture, which generally falls short of the income
is economical, and is incurred for municipal
and local purposes. In the event of the Sc
cession of South Carolina, new issue of
bonds would be necessary to pay for the Uni
ted States property within the limits of the
State such as Fort Moultrie, on Sullivans
Island ; Fort Sumpter, Fort johnson, Fort
Pipekney, the Custom House, Post Offices,
&C., throughout the State, all of which the
new nation would have TO purchase. 1t
would be hard to value these buildings, as
forts have no actual market value, but they
cannot be worth less than several millions
A further issue of bonds would also be requ- |
site for the purchase or construction of such |
vessels of war and revenue cutters as the for
eign trade Of the eew nation would require
Lastly, in separating from the Union, South |
Carolina would be expcetetl-as Lombardy |
did when it separated from the Austrian En-
pire-to assume portion of the debt of the
United States, which has been incurred part
ly for her benefit. W hat proportion ought |
to be assumed, in this contingency, by South /
Carolina, we will not now undertake TO dis
cuss !; the United States would probably be /
disposed to deal hberally with their departing |
associate, and no one would desire to see the |
necessary difficulties of her position necdlessly |
complicated. Still, allowing that her share of !
the debt was set down at the lowest possible
figure, the total amount of bonds which the
new nation would probably have to issue, in
order to pay for United States property ac-
quired, to purchase the rudilnents of navy,
and to settle finally with this country, wouJ /
hardly be less than ten Or eleven millions of I
dollars which, added to the present debt,
would bring the total Indebtedness of the
new nation mp to something like $5l4 ,000, 900. I
Under the circumstances of the case, it seems
probable that the bonds of the new nation
might be had at a very reasonable rate
With regard to the expenditures of South
Carolina as an independent State, it is safe
to assume the revenue service along the in
land fronter-some 600 or 700 miles long
would be expensive.
Judging from the cost of our frontier Gus
toms service in the North ibis line could not
be guarded against smuggling for less than
$750000 to S! 100000 year. At least, as
much would have to be spent on an army and
navy TO begin with, and if the pew nation
had any foreign representatives, this service
would cost something more. With great G.
economy, perhaps an independent government
might be established and carried on at first for
about $4,000,000 year, which added to the
interest on the debt and losses for discount on
bonds, &C, world swell the annual budget to,
say FIVE millions of dollars This is compar-
atiTcly a small annual expenditure for az iN-
dependent nation-less than one-twellth the
expenditure of the United States and Great
Britain. 1t is possible, however, that it would
be felt with some severity by the 100000
white citizens of South Carolina who would
have to pay for it. Under our present govern
mcnt, every citizen contributes, directly and
about 50 per head for the support
of the federal government The citizens of
South Carolina contributes. as we have seen,
over and above these 81, 81 per head more
for the support of their State Government,
making their total taxation 81 per head
When they had established an independent {
naticn, they would find themselves taxed not
less than SIG Sc per head to carry on their
government.