North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1865-12-20
VOL. 5 NO. 90

RANGES of g God will; and tits worthy Of
no te that special envoy has brought US
messages Of coincidence on the death Of
our late Chief Magistrate from the Bey of
Tunis, whose rule includes the old domin-
ions of Carthage, on the African coast -
Our debt is doubly secure first in the
actual wealth and still greater undeveloped
resources OF the cour,ry; and next in the
character ofour institutions The most
intelligent observers among political econ
orHists have not failed TO remark that the
public debt of q country is safe in proper
ton as Its people are free; that the debt
of a republic is the safest of all. Our his
tory confirms and establishes the theory,
and is, firmly believe, destined to give it
a still more signal illustration. The se-
cret of this superiority springs not merely
from the fact that in republic the nation
al obligations are distributed more widely
through countless numbers in all classes of
society; it has its root in the character of
our laws. Here all men contribute to the
public welfare, and bear their fair share of
the public burdens. During the war, un-
der the impulses Of patriotism, the men Of
the great body of the people, without re-
gard to their own comparative want Of
wealth, thronged to our armies and filed
our fleets of war, and held themselves ready
to offer their lives for the public good
Now, in their turn, the property and in-
come of the country should bear their just
proportion of the burden of taxation, while
in our impost system, through means of
which increased vitality is incidently i'm
parted to all the industrial interests of the
nation, the duties should be so adjusted as
to fall most heavily on articles of luxury,
leaving the necessaries of life as free from
taxation as the absolute wants of the GOV
ernment, economically administered, will
justify. No favored class should demand
freedom from assessment, and the taxes
should be SO distributed as not to fall un.
duly on the poor, but rather on the accumu.
lated wealth of the country. We should
look at the national debt just as it is-not
as national blessing, but as heavy bur-
den on the industry of the country, to be
discharged without unnecessary delay.
1t is estimated by the Secretary Of the
Treasury that the expenditures for the fs-
cal year ending the 30th of June, 1866,
will exceed the receipts sI12,l94, 947.
1t is gratifying, however, to state that it is
also estimated that the revenue forthe year
ending the 30th of June, 1867, will ex-
ceed the expenditures in the sum of $ll1.
6s2,8l9. This amount, or so much as
may be deemed sufficient for the purpose.
may be applied to the reduction of the
public debt which, on the 3lst day of
October, 1865, was s2,74o,s54, 75o-
Every reduction will diminish the total
amount of interest to be paid, and so en-
large the means of still further reductions,
until the Shole shall be liquidated, and
this, as will be seen from the estimates of
the Secretary of the Treasury, may be ac-
compshcd by annual payments even with
in aperiod not exceeding thirty years. I
have faith that we shall do all this within
a reasonable time; that, as we have an,az-
ed the world by the suppression ola civil
war which was thought to, be beyond the
control Of any government, SO we shall
equally show the superiority of our insti-
tutions by the prompt and faithful dis.
charge of our national obligations.
Il, Our domestic contest, now happily end.
ed, has left spme traces in our relations
with one at least of the great maritime
Powers. The formal accordance of bellig-
erent rights to the iusurgent States was
unprecedented, and has not been justified
by the issue. But in the systems ofneu-
trallty pursued by the powers that made
that concession, there was marked differ
encs The materials of war for the insur-
gent States were furnished, in great
measure, from the workshops of Great
Britain; and British ships, manned by
British subjects, and prepared for receiving
British armaments, sailed from the ports of
Great Britain to make war on American
commerce, under the shelter ofa commits
sion from the insurgent States. These ships
having once escaped from British ports, ev-
er afterward entered them in every part
of the world to reft, and so to renew their
depradations. The consequences of this
conduct were disastrous to the States then
in rebellion, increasing their desolation and