New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-04-10

selves in creditabe financial position One 'nlhg we
NAV observe of both that each OF them feemS W he
sslutary horror Of the really sale ana respec'ave
manner of raising money by aPPgIds 20 eSTsrco The
people TO supply the funds required 10 h9Vahce VIC
policy which we are told the people have deliberately
and INTERESTINGLY sanctioned. =,
OF the expedient to which the Nortn mas ,Au re-
course we have already spoken; it has imposed on our
manufactures and produce duty 70 high as to be al
most prol ibiory. The North has hitherto carried on
its Vaccinations with entire IMMUNITY, and the ven,
geance which should have been lanc ned al ,he heau
of Jefferson Davis aud his associates has fallen, as
not unusual upon England, the fiend and wel-wisher
of both parties The Souh is emulous Of 10 good an
example and seeks TO rival the North, which lays
heavy import duty on our manufactures, oy p1rting
both sides, agreeing in nothing else are quite uh'-
nous in two thngsrSt the avoidance OF direettax
upon themselves and, secondly, the desire TO TX upon
England tie expenses of their ingorious and unnatural
combat We console ourselves in the belief that this
narrow ard selfrh policy will intshbly overreseh IT,
self II is quite in the power OF the South 10 gay tnat
no duty shall be paid upon imports from England: IL
is not in the power Of the North 10 prevent goods from
being imported without paying duty: The competition
with them native industry viii remain butthe revenue
that might have been extracted from 1t will become
NE property of the smuGgler Instead OF the Govern
ment. The case OF the South Is very sfpiia. For
single year the consumers Of cotton msy be made TO
pay tribute in the shape OF export duty to the plant
err of Georgia and Alabama. We ourselves NJ India
have contrived TO levy such tribute upon the
Chinese, in the shape OF an export duty. on
OPIUM But the English arc not likely TO submit 10
this Kind Of treatment with much patience az the
Chinefe and the Southern States must make up their
minds 10 pay for whatever funds they may raise in tins
by the permanent destruction OF their principal
article of export. All the Abolitioniss Of the North
and West never dealt such blow at Slavery as she
viii suffer al the hands of her chosen champions from
the imposition of the tax upon the export OF cotton.
The manufacturers of this country are becoming
thoroughly alarmed az the precaIiOus tenure on when
they hold their supply OF material The imposi-
lion of an export duty will put end TO all hesitation
in the minds of those at whom it Is directly eveled,
and everything that British capital, skill, combination,
enterprise, and influence effect will be done, III
order to raiss up competing industry to that Of the
Southern States. FOr the frat time III tins queeion,
our interests likely 10 be rarged on the same side
as our feelings and shall be forced at last INTO tah
ing a part for which consistency and honor nave 20
long pleaded in vain. II Is but mel nchoy result OF
IA Constitution which, for the first time, incorporate
into itself tie principles of Free Trade TO he imne-
daiely succeeded by that most deporable OF oil eco
nomical absuriities, an export duty on an article Of
produce of which the State has no monopoly, but
which can be produced almost anywhere within 80
degrees north and south Of the Equator.
We cam indeed fully understand how, in the race
for popularity and the determination not TO be outbid
by a rival North and South have abandoned them
selves to these wTecAed eXpedents rather than have
recourse the only natural and sensible proceed
ing-the impOtitOn Of direct taxes. The institutions
of the country offer every facility for such proceed
ing. We have always been told with much pride by
Americans that they do not require to have recourse TO
the halandalf edlelt Of an ncome-tsX; that they
have done what we have not dared 10 do and applied
themselves not 10 the yielded by property, but
the uropety itself ont OF which that revenue springs
The Roman Census was a mild and tolerant nquisition
compared with that which in America scrutuizes q
furniture, weighs his plate, examines his WIies
Jewels and estimates al he is worth with as muehpre
cision as if the taXgatherer going to levy exc
uion on bis goods. To what end all this troublesome
and costly machinery IT, after the Stale has been at the
rains OF constructing IT, II Is not to Afford that benef
which nobody denies to income-aX-the benefit of
afordng at least a rougl-andready means of obtaining
IN increased when IL wanted for some imne
diate and pressing emergency very small per
cetage the assessed value OF property In the North
ern aud Southern Contederacies would rise the sum
thew require and them from the Illuminating and
dscre6able experiment Of leyyiDg revenue nominal
~ on foreign nation, but really on their own trade
and agriculture.
II may be said that all this is true, but that demo-
cratic form of government Is necessarily intoerant Of
direct taxation II So il is equivalent 10 the assertion
that Democratic Government can only exist under
the most favorable Of all possible conditions. SO long
as they united IL easy Tor the States OF The
North American Union to defray their local expenses
by direct taxation, and their Federal expenses by I'M
port duties which, though imprudently high, were |
not fatal TO commerce. America must not suppose |
that che can eojoy, when divided into two hostile /
lepublcs all the great and Unprecedented advantages
when she possessed while she was content 10 dwell
pnder the banner Of one. The high customs raised |
with 60 much facility long single Goyernue nt
WAS master of the Southern and Eastern seaboard can
now only be levied under the very improbable eondl-
tcn of an agreement between the North and South 10
adopt tariffs so nearly alike TO give no temptation
10 aInugglers Suppoiug the breach to continue, the
rival Sonfederacies have really 20 alternative but TO
raise their revenues by direct taxation We wish |
them to recognize this truth before they have ruined
their commerce and agriculture In the futile attempt 10
evade II.