Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-07-15

defy the Press, and regard with a lofty
dlsdsin its invectives and its grave re-
uonstrauees alike. Touches Police, un-
der the Empire, were not more COM
pletely independent of and irresponsible
to the people II France, than Beau
monps Police are of the people of this
County; nor were they one whit more
regardless of the rights OF citizens the
sanctity of dwellings, the immunity
from arrest except by virtue Of legal
warrant and specific authority.
How the grievance of taxation With
out representation, OF which the Colonies
50 bitterly complained in 1774, shrinks
| into insignifesnce and dwarfs to con-
temptible proportions the sincerity and
honesty and disInterestedresso OF tie men
who clamored loudest against it, when
we compare it with the taxation without
representation of Shelby county and the
city of Hssapaisf The power of bur-
theuing sil estates with rulnous taxes,
and of fiescing men by unlawful exac-
lions Of fees for llcenses,--ths most inn
portant power that any Government pos
sesses the power of disbursing the mon
eys extorted from the people, that pow
er, the unlawful or arbitrary and excess
i've exercise whereof has so often reused
/ the people to revolution, Is lodged hsre
In the hands Of a few men who Ars set
over the community as Rome set her
I Proeonsuls ever her Provinces. What
was the levy OF ship-money, by Charles
I, compared 10 the levies Of exorbitant
taxes on the people of this county, by
men who rule ike the creatures of a
King, or the Satraps Of Darius7 What
If the State has a republican form of gov
eminent? There is a despotic
power of taxation and corrup-
ton over the people of this county,
that may with the same right De ex.
4 tended over the whole State, and estab-
! Iish every where, as it has established
here, the worst, most calling and most
| dangerous brerogstive of tyranny. In
/ what respect do these mfnions of sor-
did despOtiBm differ from the tax-gath-
/ erers sent by Great Britain to grind the
faces of their cOionists, or the subordi-
mates OF Hastings, who coined money
out of the blood aud agonies Of su5ju-
gated people? The aOTong is the same,
the nature of the poaOeT is the same, the
difference is only in the atrocity of Its
exercise and exeesses.
All this is not deprivation OF individ-
uals OF their political rights or privi-
leges. 1t is taking from an organized
community the most important powers
OF seli.government, those that are al-
ways most jealously guarded by every
free people, because they are intimately
connected with their rights OF property
and their pecuBiary interests. There is
nothing against which people SO soon
revoits, as illegal or excessive taxation /;
and the action of the Colonies and the
Declaration of Independence have estab-
lished it as principle, that any State
or community so governed has the right
to resist the tyranny by every means in
its power.
Edmund Burke said, of America, In
bis speech in the House Of Commons, in
IVA, on American taxation "She had,
except the commercial restraint, every
characteristic msrk of free people, ia
all her internal concerns. She had TIE
image Of the British Constitution. She
had the substance. She ,0a8 taxed 6y
her o1On representatives. She chose most
Of her o10a Magistrates. She paid than
aH. She had in effect the sOie disposal
of her own internal government"
No one will doubt that these are
characteristic marks of free people,
without which it is not free. The people
Of Memphis and Shelby county are not
taxed by their own representatives for
nine-teuths Of them are disfrRnchised,
and have no voice in either National or
State affairs, nor vote in the election of
Legislators OF either State or Nation.
For County purposes they are taxed by
body OF men not responsible TO, but
wholly Independent Of them, appointed
by partizau Governor, to serve the In
terests Of faction. Mr.. Barbour Lewis
and his colleagues are no representative
Of the people of Shelby county, ana
their patent of authority does not bear
the Great Seal of the Peoples sanction.
They are the agents Of q dsspotic cabsl,
and represent interests adverse to those
Of the people against whom they legis-
late. The people do not choose their
own Magsfrates. They are appointed
By power hostile to the people over
whom they srs-tO domineer, and whom
they pluuder to sustain the genteel pau
perism of the Radical Press.
MIR. Burke in the same speech asked.
what one character OF liberty the
Americans have, and what one brand of
slavery they are free from, if they are
bound IN their property and industry by
all the restraints you can imagine on
commerce, and at the same time are
made paek-horses of every tax you
choose TO impose, without the least share
in granting taem?D
The same great man very truly said,
in his speech on Cancellation with Amer
ics, that the great contests for freedom
in England were from the earliest
times chiefly upon the question Of tax
ing. "On this point of taxes" be said,
"the ablest pens and most eloquent
tongues have been exercised; the great
est spirits have acted aud suGered.D The
defenders of the British Constitution, be
said, "took infinite pains to incuIcate, as
g fundamental principle, that, in all
monarchies, the people must in effect
themselves mediateiy or Immediately
possess the power Of granting their own
money, or no shadow of liberty could
subsist. The colonies" he said, " draw
from you, as with their life-blood, these
ideas and principles. Their love of lib
erty is, as with you, fixed and attached
on this specific point OF taxing"
No sOphistry cen convince the people
of the South, that they are really repre-
sentsd in Congress. Only the few and
odious whom the people hate or despise,
and the freed negroes, are represented
there. The Helots legislste for the Spar
taus; and the people are taxed without