Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1874-05-19
To the People Of lie United States /:

|
islation in their own behalf, is open to the ewes
of the whole people of the United States in
the recent vote of Congress of bankers and
railroad stockholders in favor of currency
contraction, by which they will draw millions
from, the labor of the country for their own
pockets, and their opposition to railroad re-
form by which they strike hands with that
monopoly, and combine their forces to rob the
nation.
lay before the people of the country the
| following extract from work of John Tay-
lOr, of Caroline, published sixty years ago, in
order that they may see how accurately their
base conduct was anticipated, portrayed, and
Prophesied bythat great man, and friend of
the people and liberty, and enemy of aristoc-
racy and special class privileges He raised
his warning voice against that execrable class
| of men in the following words of his "In-
quiry," p. 315:
Patronage is an instrument by which gov.
ernments corrupt fiction to take part with
them against nations, and thus gradually ac>
quire more power than the people ever gave
If this instrument is obtained BY foreign con-
quest Cor, might add, by domestic trou5le),
as in the acquisition of Iudis by England,
the people still suffer bv the unconstitutional
power it c0nfers, it is infinitely more calam.
itous to nation when gotten by domestic op-
erations.
"Had the governments of the United States
bestowed on themselves and their partisans
offices to the value of five millions annually.
the patronage would have been the same with
that created by banking, which weds the cor
rOratiOn to the government, aud the govern
ment to the corporation, against the people,
like sinecure officers to the same amount
For this vast and boundless mode of acnuir-
ing power there is no allowance in the cnnsti.
tuition. 1t is great weight which was never
thrown into the scales by those who made
them can it he thrown in by law and leave
the division of power between a nation and
its government unaltered
''In another view, the patronage created nv
banking spreads out in the United States far
beyond any Influence capable of being pro-
duced bv creating of;ncs of the value inst
mentioned. The General Government may
influence the whole fabric, by means of a
power to regulate the places of deposit of tho
general taxes, and by regulations as to the
raper which may be received in pavmcnt-
This influence may reach State Legislatures as
stockholders. and convert the best barrier dc.
vised by the principle of division against
usurpation and consolidation into an insidious
and secret instrument for the ends it was in
tended to obstruct.
ga slight interest is bad mirror for re-
fecting justice, but great one is a camora
obscura IN inverting right and wrong
Through this medium stockhoding Legislators
will discover .nat it is inst to retain their an
nulties by any compiances for which the peo
pie, not themselves, suffer; and silent revo.
luton, which will secure or increase these an.
nuities, will appear to them to be necessary
for the public good.
Against this obvious danger we are con-
soler! by being told that the separate banking
interest is not titled order that if titles
were added to its wealth, our constitutions
like the walls of Jericho. would be overset bv
the noise. hut that, unless the aristocracy shall
discover its progress by its shouts, they arc
safe.
"On the contrary o separate interest is more
dangerous if it can create, sustain, and enrich
itself without being designated, than if it can
not; if it assais by mine aud sap, than if it
assals by the sound OF drums. If lords could
create aud enrich lords by law, the Govern
ment would soon become feuda aristocracy
If bishops could create and enrich bishops
by law, the Government would presently be-
come hierarchical arstocrscy. So if stock
holders can by law make and enrich stock
holders, the Government of course becomes
paper aristocracy. 1t was the title or badge
of the hierarchical and feudal orders in Eng
land which, by designating the members, af-
fOrded the means of limiting their progress,
and if either of these aristocracies could have
possessed itself unseen of Legislative power, it
would have legislsted itself into permanent
tyranny. If our constitutions required that
every stockholder should be clothed 10 sur
plice that he might be known and excluded
from legislative power, or only allowed por-
tion of it, as belonging to separate aristo-
cratical interest, he would, like the lord or
the bishop, be thereby rendered less danger.
Gus. Thus checked or balanced, these or
ders are considered by the republicans as a
bad political system; unchecked or unbal-
anced, even mouarchists allow them to be ex>
ecrable they admit of no control without a
title or badge. and the paper interest is des>
ignated by neither.
THAT a separate untitled interest is more
powerful and dangerous than separate titled
interest, is fact so notorious as to supersede
an occasion for argument. The untitled paper
interest in England has made prisoners of the
two titled orders, uses them sometimes as
clerks in its counting-house, at others as
jackals to hunt its prey, and at all times to
pronounce its will for law; this it has gradu-
ally effected, because it could act secretly; it
is warrior invisible to his adversary, or
conjurer invisible to the crowd he defrauds.
''In the history of our forefathers we recog-
nize three political beasts feeding at different
periods upon their lives. liberties. and pro-
perties. Those called hierarchical and feudal
aristocracy, to say the worst of them, are now
the instruments of the third. Protect US,
heaven ! we ezclaim, againstfhese monsters,
inert, eubdued. and far away from u.s. Oh
what beautiful creature is here We add,
upon behOidiug whelp of the third, SO strong
as to have swan into our country across the
Atlantic, and the infatuation concludes with
sincere commiseration of the people of Eng
land on account of the misery with which