Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-08-03
TAXATION.
the County Tax On Merchanise ne
moved by shc commissioners.

| movc@ ~ sno So1mssssoncs'
In the Board Of County Commissioner
this morning. Commissioner White. from
the committee to whom the subject Of
county taxation on merchandise upon
which the State tax has previously been
paid, submitted = report sustaining the
ground taken by County Attorney Wood
ward. holding the tax as illegal and un'
Just. Nt
The report was received, adopted. and
the following order unanimously passed /:
Be IL ordered, That the County Clerk
cease from this date TO collect the county
tax heretofore levied by this Court upon
merchants for the sale Of merchandise.
A number Of merchants being present
| received the decision Of the Board with
manifest qualification, and passed reso-
luton thanking the Board for their re-
moval of the burthen from the mercan-
tile community.
FsMAsIsx Editors Ledger: Your
appropriate and honest remarks on
Fenianism. Friday, deserve well OF
Irishmen; for your sympathy with US,
| for the affection so cordially declared,
for the right hand of aid and Fellowship
so fully and heartily rendered, the writer
returns thanks in the name Of the Irish
people. Ruled for more than seven hun
bred years by the false principle that
"might is right" our ancestors have
been trampled in the dust, disinherited,
disgraced aud banished. Dissensions
we're fomented and cultivated by British
agents. Religious freedom was destroyed
by imprisonment, fine and death. Till
forty years ago fine and Imprisonment
awaited the Irishmsn daring 10 educate
his children at home. Britain, the home
of freedom THE most magnanimous OF
nations the synpathiser with Poles,
and Turks, and negroes promoted and
perpetuated that most diabolical of all
crimes, slavery of the soul with that Of
the body. Our ancestors did not always
submit tamely to British misrule and
intolerance; again and again they struck
for their rights and homes, and os often
we're they crushed to the earth, bleeding
and torn. Britain, that most religions Of
nations, who brings to heather China
the Bible in one hand and the deadly
opium in the other, had possession,
| and to every brave patriot and lover
of liberty who raised his voice or arm
for the freedom of his fatherland, she
gave the cell and the felon's grave. Our
commerce was destroyed by heavy i'm
port duties, and turned over to Britain;
our manufactures we're crushed by Brit
ish acts of Parliament, and our people
reduced to state bordering on starva-
ton by heavy rents to support absentee
land owners. And TO crown that degrada-
ton, devised with fiendish ingenuity, our
nation was sneered at and ridiculed by
Britain for her ignorance and poverty,
while our prosecutors year after year
poured forth to the world tale Of her
wondrous benevolence toward savage and
starving Irishmen. Wrung from Britain
| by the spirit of the sge-O' ConnelPs
genius and Irish secret societies-she &C.
tually doled out to Irishmen the per-
mission to worship God as their fore
| fathers did and told us ITO rest
and be thankful" Indignation almost
stops my theme, urging me to pour forth
q torrent of invectives against such bias
phemy. But, alas many Irishmen
agreed with the British Providence on the
matter, even agree still, and are more
than thankful, because from the million
pounds annually sent to England, she
spends few thousands on national sdu-
cation, although that is done to hush
the cry of shame of the civilized world.
To be brief, Ireland TO day is enslaved,
her sons are languishing in British pris-
ons, her lands are the property of stran-
gers, her people are living on corn
meal, without a change of food for
months, and limited even in quantity
of that itself, her population is half
! what it was ten years ago, famine and
| emigration having swept away the re-
\ mainder; and, worst feature of all, her
sons in America, possessed of sufficient
strength, prOmiStu iTccuOu duu ucoto"cu
chains, melted organization at home and
neglected it themselves. We, in ireland,
we're in earnest; those here were, for the
most part, playing game of war to
amuse their feelings or FL their pockets
But Fenianism has purged itself here |;
its resources are being developed, its
strength is increasing. The timid and
over cautions will ever cry out, Waiti"
The brave, the patriotic, see the injustice
and band together to remove it. Shall
we be last here, acknowledged Of
O'Neal, Sarsfeld, Fitzgerald, Emmett
and Brian the Brave? 1t is not when
the green flags are waving in the breeze
that we should be organizing. Begin it
now; and while our numbers shall cause
Erin's foes to tremble, they will be like
the dread hunderbolt-liable TO fall at
any moment. Where is the Irish patri-
otto regiment in Memphis, standing
shoulder to shoulder in the serried ranks2
Organize then, at once. To organize
does not mean to hurry matters, but it
means to "bide our time" Call an Irish
meeting for this purpose, countrymen;
and let our motto be: 1--WE shall triumph
yet" AN IRISH EXILE.