The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1863-08-03
DR.. Holmes Grafton.
THE NORTH AND THE WAR.

national destruction. IL our borders are In
vaded, it is only as the spur that is driven iD-
to the courser's flank to rouse his surnbering
mettle. If our property is taxed, it is only
to teach us that liberty is worth paying for,
as well as worth fighting for. We are pour
ing out the most generous blood OF our youth
and manhood alas ! this is always the price
that must be paid for the redemption of PEG.
pie. What have we to complain of, whose
granaries are choking with plenty, whose
streets are gay with shining robes and glitter
ing equipages, whose industry is abundant
enough to reap all its overlooking harvest, yet
sure of employment and Of its just reward,
the soil of whose mighty valleys is an mex
haustibe mine Of fertility, whose mountains
cover up such stores Of heat and power, i'm
prisoned in their coal measures, as would
warm all the inhabitants and work all the ma
chinery of our planet for unnumbered ages,
whose rocks pour out rivers o.! oil, whose
streams run yellow over beds of golden sand
what have we to complain OF :?
Have we degenerated from our English ia
theirs, so that we can not do and bear fer our
national salvation what they have done and
borne, over and over again, for their form of
government ? Could England, in her wars with
Napoleon, bear an income tax of ten per cent,
and must we faint under the burden of an In
come tax of three per cent? Was she content
to negotiate loan at fifty three for the humid
red, and paid in deprecated paper, and can
we talk about financial ruin with our national
stocks ranging from one to eight or nine above
par, and the five-twenty war loan eagerly
taken by our own people to the amount of near
ly two hundred millions, without any check to
the flow of the current pressing against the
doors of the Treasury? Except in those por-
tons of the country which are the immediate
seats of war, or liable to be made So and which |
having the greatest interest not to become Dor.
der States Of hostile nations can best afford to
suffer now, the state of prosperity and comfort
is such as to astonish those who visit us from
other countries. What are war taxes to a na.
ton whlch,as we are assured on good authority |
has more men worth million now, than it had |
worth ten thousand dollars at the close of the |
Revoluton-whose whole property is hun |,
dred times, and whose commerce, inland and
foreign is five hundred times what it was then
But we need not study Mr.. Stilot's pamphlet
and Thompson's Bank Note Reporter, to show
IS what we know well enough-that so far
rom having occasion to tremble in fear of our
impending ruin, we must rather blush for our
material prosperity. For the multitudes who
ire unfortunate enough to be taxed for mil
ion or more, OF course We must feel deeply, at
he same time suggesting that the more largely
hey report their incomes to the tax-gatherer,t
he more consolation they will find in the feel. !
ne that they have served their country. But
let us say it painl VT will not hurt our
people to be taught that there are other
hiugs to be cared for besides money making
md money spending; that the time has come
when manhood must assert itself by brave
leeds and noble thoughts; when womanhood
must assume its most sacred Office, to warn.
o comfort, and, if need be, to command
hose whose services their country calls for.
his Northern section of the land has become
great variety-shop, of which the Atlantic
ities are the ong-extended center. We have
,rown rich for what To put gilt bands on
oachmen's hats =? To sweep the foul side ,
'alks with the heaviest silks that the toilipo ,
rtisans Of France can send us Z? To look ,
through plate-gass windows, and pity the ,
rown soldiers--or sheer at the black ones ,
reduce the speed Of trotting horses sec. ,
nd or two below its old maximum To color :
1eerschaums to faunt in aces, and sparkle
diamonds To dredge our maidens' hair ,
nth gold-dust-to float through life the pas .
i've sbuttlecocks Of fashion, from the avenues :
the beaches, and back again from the beach !;
to the avenues ? Was it for this that tho !,
road domain of the Western hemisphere was :