Year: 1867

"
has been at the hands Of the rebel authorities.
During the I" Confederacy" most stringent
and cruel confscation law was passed and
put in operation, by which the property Of
citizens loyal to the United States was sold,
and the proceeds put in the Confederate
treasury. Debts due to Northern citizens
were forced from the debtors by this process
of con6scation, for if the party that owed
the debt concealed the fact he was liable to
heavy fine and imprisonment Hundreds OF
thousands of dollars of honest debts were
thus plundered from loyal citizens, and
though twoyears have elapsed since the close
of the rebellion, decision by the Chief
Justice himself was necessary to brand this
robbery as it deserved, and to settle the
principle that the debtor has not thereby
been discharged. In every case the money
will have to be paid again, and as there is
no Confederacy" to make good the loss to
the debtor, he must look for justice to the
estates of the officers of the so-called gov
ernment that committed this great wrong
We know there were cases of debts due
North that were successfully concealed and
have since been paid. The writer of this,
for example, owed a small debt North,
concealed the fact, and has paid it since the
close of the rebellion. He ran no small risk
in this, but he was determined to pay moth
ing, except on compulsion, into the Golfers of
the Davis despotism.


Who passed these confscation laws2 The
rebel leaders. Who are now raising the
greatest cry against confscation2 rhe rebel
leaders. 1t was all right when they did it,
but the bare idea that the government may do
thesame thing to any extent on principles of
| justice, throws them into spasms.


But we go further than this. We tell the
Congress Of the United States, soon to be in
session, that cofscation is still going on here at
the hands Of the rebel authorities. Our peo-
pie are very poor. They can not bear high
taxes. While they would pay taxes cheerful
ly to any reasonable extent to support schools
and for internal Improvements, and would
stint themselves to advance such noble OBJ
jects, yet they think livery hard that they are
taxed to the verge of con6scation, and in
many cases into confscation, to raise money
tosupport and pamper men who are enemies
to the national government, and who, if they
had supreme and permanent control, would
deprive them even of the rights of citizen
ship. The rebel State government now over
us is raising five hundred thousand dollars
the present year, when two hundred thousand
would have been ample for all purposes
What is to be done with this large amount
we know not. Many of the Counties, under
the control of Magistrates of the Worth
stripe, are taxing the people to pay in gold
the debts contracted by those Counties in
aid of the rebellion. The town governments
are generally in rebel hands, and the heaviest
taxes are imposed, collected and handled by
enemies to the United States. The people Of
the City of Raleigh, for example, are required
to pay toenty -se0en thousand dollars for State
purposes, and sixteen thousand dollars for
City purposes. The tax on real estate in Ra-
leigh has been doubled, and in many instances
the assessed value has been more than doubled
This applies alike to the rich and the poor
who own real estate. The poor man or the
poor widow, who may really need ra5ions
from the government, naturally clings to the
/" old place." but these high taxes will most
probably confiscate the old place." 1t will
pass into other hands, and well-to-do officials
of the rebel persuasion will live on the taxes
wrung from it. Fortycent on the hundred
dollars of the new assessment would have
been ample for all proper City purposes. The
people of this City would like to have some
explanation as to these high taxes. In for.
mer times there was always some member Of
the Board to raise his voice against extrava-
gance and profigacy in the administration Of
our City affairs, but, SO far as the people
know, the entire Board is committed to this
injustice and oppression.
| Thus it is that by high taxes, and by the
exclusion of the State from the Union by
these same rebel leaders, the little property
left to our people is wearing away by pro
cess of confscation as certain as that under
the Contederacy." If the Congress does
not itself intend to confscate the property oi
the rebel leaders, we pray that body not tc
let those leaders remain longer in power to
confscate the property of our people by op.
pressive taxation. Let US have military
rule pure and simple, and let us have it at
once. In no other way can we get rid Of
these heavy burdens, and in no other way
can the State be reconstructed.
lf65 Against a Convention


| We charge that Gov. Worth, Gov. Gra
ham, Gov. Vance, and their followers art
against Convention; and we believe that
all the patronage and power of our so-callei
State government will be brought to bear tt
defeat Convention.


We predict that the Raleigh Sentinel anl