Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1861-01-04
ROCKVILLE MARYLAND FRIDAY MORNING. JANUARY ! lee

I y
The Southern States now stand in the
same relation towards the Northern
States, in the vital matter Of taxation,
that our ancestors stood towards the PEG.
pie of Great Britain. They are in a mi
nority in Congress. Their representa-
ton in Congress is useless to protect
them against unjust taxation, and they
are taxed by the people of the North 70,
their benefit, exactly as the people Of
Great Britain. taxed our ancestors ia thc
British Parliament for their benefit. For
the last forty years the taxes laid by the
Congress of the United States have been
laid with view of subscribing the inter-
csts Of. the North Tho people of the
South have been taxed by duties on i'm
ports, not revenue, but for an object in
consistent with revenue-to promote, by
prohibitions, Northern interests in the pro-
auctions of their mines and manufactures.
There is another evil, in the condition
of The Southern towards the Northern
States, which our ancestors refused to
bear towards Great Britain. Our ances-
tors not only taxed themselves, but all
the taxes collected from them were ex-
pended amongst them. Had they sub
mitted to the pretensions OF the British
government, the taxes collected from them
would have been expended in other parts
OF the British empire They were fully
aware of the effect of such a policy in
impoverishing the people from whom
taxes are collected, and in enrichiug
those who receive the benefit of their ex.
penditure. To prevent the evils Of such
a policy, was one of the motives which
drove them on to revolution Yet this
British policy has been fully realized to-
wards the Southern States by the North
ern States. The people of the Southern
States are not only taxed for the benefit
Of the Northern States, but, after the
taxes are collected, three fourths of them
are expended at the North. This cause,
with others connected with the operation
of the General Government, has made
the cities Of the South provincial. Then
growth is paralyzed, whilst they arc mere
suburbs of Northern cities. The agri
cultural productions of the South are The
basis Of the foreign commerce of Tho
United States, yet Southern cities do no
carry it on. Our foreign trade is almos
annihilated. In 1740 there we're fiv,
ship-yards in South Carolina to build
ships to carry on our direct trade witt
Europe. Between 1740 and 1870, there
we're built in these yards twenty five
salare re- rj Ia oy,essels, besides great
..as.lis a ...d seh6oncfs. DO car.
ry on our coast a6d Wcsst issa liE Z kas -
In the half century Immediately preced-
ing the Revolution, from 1925 to 1875,
the population of South Carolina increas-
ed seven-fold.
No man can for a moment believe thai
our ancestors intended to establish ovel
their posterity exactly the san ,gorr q
government they had overthrown ~.
great object of the Constitution of The
United States, in its internal operation
was, doubtless, to secure the great enc
of the Reyolution--a limited free Go.
vernment-a G Government limited to those
matters only which were general and
common to all portions of the United
States. All sectional or local interests
we're to be left to the States. BY nc
other arrangement would they obtain
free Governmet by Constitution com.
mon to so vast Confederacy. Yet by
gradual and steady encroachments on the
part of the people Of the North, and ac.
quiesceDce on the part of the South, the
limitations in the Constitution have beer
swept away, and the Government OF the
United States has become consolidated
with claim of limitless powers in its ope.
rations.
1t is not at all surprising, whilst such
is the character Of the Government oil
the United States, that it should assume
to possess power over oil the institutions
of the country. The agitations on the
subject of slavery are the natural results
of the consolidation of the Government.
Responsibility follows power; and if the
people Of the North have the power by
Congress to promote the general well
fare of the United States by any means
they deem expedient, why should they
not assail and overthrow tho institution
of slavery in the South ? They are re-
| sponsible for its continuance or existence
in proportion to their power. A MAORI
~ IN Congress, according TO their inte-
rested and perverted views, is omnipotent.
The inducements to act upon the subject
OF slavery under such circumstances were
so imperious as 10 amount Utmost TO a
moral necessity. To make, however,
their numerical power available to rule
the Union the North must consolidate
their power. 1t would not be united on
any matter common to the whole Union,
in other words, on any constitutional sub
ject, for on such subjects divisions are as
likely to exist 10 the North as in the
South. Slavery was strictly sectional
interest. If this could be made the cr-
terion Of parties at the North, the North
could be united in its power, and thus
carry out its measures Of sectional ambi-
ton, encroachment, and aggrandizement.
To build up their sectional predominance
in the Union, the Constitution must be
first abolished by construction but that
being done, the consolidation Of the
North, to rule the South by the tariff
and slavery issues, was in the obvious
course Of things.
The Constitution Of the United States
was an experiment. The experiment
consisted 10 uniting under zone Govern
different peoples. living in different eli
mates, and having different pursuits Of
industry and institutions. II matters not
! how carefully the limitations Of such q