Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1877-10-02

by request OF one OF our patrons, we copy
the following from the Clarksburg Necs, con-
tributed to that paper by the Hon. John J.
Davis: s.rE -i 80 .- .a..s-
Editor Ne,cs 1T may serve a useful pur-
pose to republish at this time, the report of
an interview, which is said to have taken
place between the late Senator Summer and
foreign Minister at Washington during the
late unpleasantness. The account is taken
from the Old and Nelo for the month of
January, 1875 s.E
"In the middle of the war Mr.. Charles
Summer received visit from one of the most
intelligent of the.foreigu Ministers at Wash>
ington. Mr.. Summer used to tell the story
of the interview, as marking, perhaps, an
epoch in American history.
After talking of the details of the history
of the movements, marches, seiges, and bat
ties, "For the rest" said this locker on, who
saw the game better than the players, "from
this time, your government and ours are the
same"
Mr. Summer asked if he were so blind as
to suppose that Mr.. Lincoln was to become
an emperor. .-.
"Not I indeed. 1t is not that which
makes government to be one thing or anoth-
er. What has mado America America, and
different from Europe, is this: You have
had no need of revenue your government
expenses have been nothing you have had
no army, no navy, no civil service of any
great magnitude SO you have lived without
cabals at the center, because you had no pow
erfull bureaus at the centre, having little
money to receive here, and little to disburse.
But now 'Uons avcz change tout cela.'
"Now you have a debt as large as the best
of US. You will have to raise taxes as enor-
nous as the worst of us. You must have es-
tablishments of officials as numerous, as we'll
disciplined, and as powerful as any of US.
These central establishments will govern your
country, as such establishments govern our
countries. You will choose your Presidents
in one way We choose ours in another. But
you will have just what we have, the in
trigue, the corruption, the overruling central
power which come in, and must come in,
where great deal of money is collected, is
handled, and is paid over. Your nation will
be governed then just as ours are governed.
we call ours empires, or Kingdoms, VOLTA la
difference"
And so indeed has it come to pass. A
great central government dazzling in its pa
tronage, and controlled by shoddy contractors
and bondholders, rises upon the ruins Of a SIM
pie republic
A republic debt, that hangs about the
necks of the people like milestone, sinking
them daily deeper and deeper into poverty
aud slavery, is the most potential influence
in the work of Capitalization. National debts
are a perpetual curse. They consume the
products of labor, breed corruption, entail
poverty and wrechedness, destroy individual
virtue, enslave the people, and subvert free
government. 1t is this government in these
United States, the people of which seom to
be handed over already as lawful prey to the
avaricious b0ndholders, and ss slaves to great
railroad corporations. What these last mean
is toreshadowed by railroad King, PIes't
Tom Scott in his article reviewing the re.
cent strikes. He wants the federal police
force organized, kept up, and maintained at
the exPence of the oppressed taxpayers of
the country, to protect the property of a pri-
vate corporation, and shoot down strikers
when driven by starvation to protest against a
reduction of wages He would have an abb
solutism without delay-a government brist
ling with cleaning bayonets, administered in
the interest of corporate monopoly. What
the people want is return to constitutional
government, and restoration of constitutional
methods in its administration. They want
no standing army, no further increase Of fed
eral powers, no more Capitalization, no class
legislation. And that freedom may be as
sured to them and their posterity, they want
no national debt to eat out their substance.
Every citizen must be permitted to enjoy the
fruits of his own labor, without their being
subject to coniscation in the shape of extra
ordinary taxes to satisfy the demands of av-
arice, and the selfish greed of corporate wealth.
s.Eternal vigilance" and "a recurrance to first
principles" are the price of Liberty to-day
~