The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-03-22
NO TAXES FOR GRANT BAYONET
USURPTION IN LOUISIANA,
| From the New York World, llth.l

The wise decision of the legal State
| Government Of Louisiana not to come
i'll conflict with the Federal army,
leaves that oppressive commonwealth
| but one means Of successfully resisting
! the Kellogg usurpation, namely, by Il
united refusal to pay taxes levied for
its support. This is q justifiable meth
| od of opposition, and, if the people are
sufficiently united, it will prove efiec-
tuaf.
Withholding money supplies is not
new method of confronting tyranny.
1t is sanctioned by all the carly strun-
giles of the English people in defense
of their liberties. The power of the
people, through their representatives,
to grant or withhold supplies, has been
regarded for more than two centuries
as the bulwark of British freedom; and
this principle has been Incorporated
into our constitution by the provision
which requires all bills Tor raising revc-
n'e to originate in the lower house,
and the provision forbitiing appropria-
lions for supporting the army for Il
iars5"r period than two SrnrS--two wears
being the duration of the people The
people of Louisiana will be acting in
thespi:it OF this time-honored safeguard
against oppression, ii they steadily re-
fuse TO pay taxes foc the support of the
usurping Kellogg Government. The
li1ustrious iIampden, \ name scarcekN
less revcrcu than that of our own Wash.
ington, earned the gratitude of his coun-
try by his refusal to pay an illegal tax.
And resistance to unWarrantcd taxa
ton was the very essence of the revo-
luton by which Washington and his
compatr1o!s gained our Independence.
In refusing to pay taxes to tho Kel~
fsrS ant J,., "a
iana will have the law clearly on their
side. y Republican committee of the
United States Senate has declared, at
ter full investigation, that the KclfoaS
Government was never legally clcctedS
1T Is 4 necessary consequence that all
its acts are void. 1t has no more right
to levy 4 tax than Il State Confkncc
OF the African Methodist Episcopal
Church would have. Refusal to pay
taxes Tor the support of the Kellogg
usurpation will be no resistance to law,
but only refusal to recognize spurious
authority. Nor can Gen. Grant inter-
vcnc with Federal troops to force the
payment of taxes. The people OF Louis
lana may in I, few months starve out
the Kellogg Government ard force it
to surrender, as a garrison in fortified
town which cannot be carried by storm
may be brought to terms by Akercept-
ing its supplies.
The usnrpers cannot get over the
difficulty by borrowing; for capital is
cautious, and no man will risk his
money in Louisiana bonds issued by a
Government which the most eminent
lawyers i'll the United States Senate
! concur in declaring illegal, when their
party bias would incline thcls the other
! way. The Kellogg usurpation cannot
live by borrowing from capitalists, but
| only by taxing the people; and if the
people unite in :: resoIute refusal to pay
taxes, the train will have to stop on
the track because there will be no fuel
| for the locomotive.
| 1t may be asked why 4 bogus gov
crnmcnt, will, the Federal army to
back it cannot collect the taxes by dis
traint and sale Of property, as taxes are
collected elsewhere when people arc
slack and contumacioySr The reason
can be made perfectly ihtelligible. Or
dinarlly, the nOn-payerS of taxes form
but an insignificant fraction of the cont
| 1nunity. Their cases arc attended to
| last; and citizens WIrD have already
! paid give thcir moral support to the
taX-gathercrs from the interest they
have in seeing the public burdens equit-
ably distributed. And then the amount
| OF property Sold for taxes is small
enough to find purchasers. But if the
people of Louisiana come to an under
standing with one another that they
will pay no illegal taxes, they will be
masters Of the situation. Federal troops
cannot help the ,isSIpers because they
cannot furnish buyersfor the property
se31 se5zea <oton. an" offerer sale by4hc tax
There are several reasons why prop
erty cannot be sold in Louisiana for
taxes. In the first place, buyers know
that the spurious Government could
not give Il good title, and men would
be as shy OF such property as of bonds
offered by the same illegal Government.
In the next place, the deep sense of in
justice which pervades the State and
leads men to unite in this method OF
opposition, would prevent their bid.
ding on the property Of their fellow
, citizens. In the third place, the mar.
ket.would be so overstOcked and giuttcd
! by the greater part of the property O
the State being put up at auction a
once, that the few supporters of the
r Kellogg Government would be unable
to furnish enough purchase money tt