Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-07-25
5. Reputation is the watchward -

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From the following extract froma letter
to the N. Y. Day Book, dated Mount Pleas
ant, Iowa, it is evident that tho people Of the
great Northwest are growing restless under
be heavy taxes of the last few years, and are
determined to resist the same by striking
blow in favor of Reputation of the National
debt,-the only etfectual remedy for the e1-
cessive taxation exaeted from the people BY
the U. 8. Government.
"But there is going to be q new revenue
question raised during the coming season,
and there is on foot plan to test the valid.
ty of the law by which ne are ta1ed-not
merely the details of the law, not merely the
unfairness of the system which imposes q se-
we're tariff for the protection of everything
manufactured in the East, and the imposition
duoed in the West, but. stroke will be aimed
at the very root of the whole system. a
question will go before the Supreme Court
OF the United States, challenging the right
Of such q body as this disintegrated Con-
gress to levy taxes to bind anybody, aud
the consequent repudiation of the whole debt.
This question will be raised. 1t will not he
party question, but question which snail
shake all parties to their very foundatiou--a
bold stroke foremancipation. If twenty Stats
can legislate for the changing of laws and re.
modelling CT constitutions for thirty-four States
until the fourteen areout of the Union, and then
keep them out, then eleven Statesmay change
constitutions andlsws for the remaining twen-
ty, and serve them in like manner, and teIriiori.
alize the nine, SO may the remaining six ter
ritorialize che FIVE, then three exclude Lbe
two, and then two exclude the one, until lit
| tie Rhode Island and Massachusetts may give
laws to the country, and little Sprague and
Booby Sumner give word laws and dictate
revenues to all America. There is wide
spread feeling among western men, demo-
Gratis, radicals, conservatives, and negroes,
that this great debt ought not to have been
made at all-that taxation was the mode 10
carry on the war, and the measure of the peo.
ple's will to carry it on, and the war ought
not to have outlived the taxation which coii.d
support it, if he had been right in itself. n.
body believes that these bonds can be paid.
Now, the Secretary of the Treasury says that
nothing less than the most oppressive taxa
ton will satisfy the bondholders. Mr.. Secrs-
tary, verify, verify say unto you, that nota-
ing less than reputation will satisfy the la
borers of the country. No constitutional en-
actments can pay the debt. Legislation can't
pay the debt. The property Of the country
can't pay the debt. The mortgaged labor Of
the country for century can'tpay the debt
in any event. The silly, wicked policy of the
Secretary of the Treasury is increasing the
value of bonds, withdrawing capital from le-
gitimate business, weakening therevenue, and
parayzing industry, and fastening repudia-
ton by the worst Of all causes, because it
can't be paid. Test oaths may be enforced
for time, until Americana perjure them
selves with the same alacrity and indifler
ence shown by the Florentlnes to escape tor
ture. Military commissions may play the
tyrant by force, until the civil liberty Of the
country is lost in the labyrinths Of public de-
gradation but the debt never can be paid;
there is not property enough in the country
| to pay it, if fsold at auction to the capital OF
| the world.
"The spirit and purpose of the great body
of independent men in the West is for repu-
diation. Now, Messrs Editors, 1 propose, in
my next article, to give you general pan
for repadiation, and the organization Of Free
Trade, Anti Stamp, Anti-Tariff. State Rights
Societies, to be established openly everywhere.
On taking this bold course, let it be eutram.
meled by no party action, Democratic or
Republican, or that most yillainous of all the
trimmers, Conservative. The men who lead
these parties are, for the most part, q mon
strous combination of mercenary, Ignorant,
,:onceited men, aspiring to be great upon the
smallest capital that ever undertook to man
age civil government anywhere, of fs. less
ability than is represented On the stage. OF in
any other department of the business Of tho
country.
The leading speakers Of the Cooper lnsti'
tute for whole season, including Beecher,
John Van Buren,, with ali of the politicians,
do not represent more ability than can be
found among the auctioneers or hotel runners
of auy first class city in the country. These
are not the men to trust with our liberty. We
repeat, with broken spirits
"Our soul is beset With grief and dismay;
We owe q vast debt, and have nothing to pay.
We must 20 to prison, unless our dear Lurd,
Who huth died and hath risen, His pity afftrd."
"EVcry other debt OF the country ha: oeeu
repudiated by Congress, even to the soldiers;
| 90 must this one be repudisted. Lei tde
South be content. Let them vote f;l uo
amendments to the Constitution. Lee hem
raise only what cotton they need for ;hvrn-
| selves. Let them raise all they need c eve.
~ necessary Of life, and buy nothing except
what tLey need, and starve the North ior su-
gar and rice, as we have starved them by
burning up their country and despoiling them.
Let them commence sending the ncsraes
North among their friends, and get Irishn,en,
Poles, Hungaricns and other White mcn ior
such work as is absolutely necessary. iield
in nothing. I am frank to say that it is ret.
ter for the South that Congress do not admit
the wish washy, shilly-shally men who ara
now elected, simply because honest men did
not dare vote. Let them elect their Lees,
their Dayises, their Wiaes, men OF mind, men
| OF their own choice. which is the only thing
worth calling an ELECTION and until them Let
the South raise nothing for tribute; III the
meantime, let the people beduly enlightened
upon thesubject of reputation, North, South,
East and West. The history of all such debts
is the same; the subterfuges are the saule;
the winding up is the same. Six months be-
fore John Laws great bubble exploded. his
bonds were but slightly below par, but he
bubble burst. Robespierre and Miraoeau
were ADLER men than Stevens and Sumner,
but assignats and mardats failed. One rea.
son why we cannot trust our organization to
noI;tical parties is this: These parties are
made nm Of mon who want to go to Congress,
to the Senate-to be judges, constablea and
justices of tho peace. They don't want to
build up parties on principle; they want
rather to ride the parties down already built
mn. But we want to establish this as pre-
cedent: That debt contracted to destroy
/ q al hn