Newspapers / The Durham Recorder (Durham, … / Dec. 21, 1864, edition 1 / Page 1
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'THE CONSTITUTION, ANl)HEA!ffS-THE OVARDIANS'dp OUR LIBERTY Tol. XLV. HILLSBOROUGH, N. C, DECEMBER 21, 1864. Ne. 2276 ' -- - - 1 1 4 ? , i t CORRESPONDENCE. - 4 Houw of Comment, Dec. 1, 1164. Dxaa Sin: Vnurlfriehds are anxious to see the substance of your speech to-day in , yrint, and the wholesome truths it contain cd disseminated among the people. . Pjeare furnish us with a full report of it at-a early a day as your convenience will allow. .Vrj rrspectfullj, '. Your brdient 8'rant, .D.M.CARTKU, ' . . A.C. COWXKS. ' EUGENfS GRISSOM, THOS. A. ALLISON, i R.8.D0NNKLL, UAN'L. G. FOWLE, M. McGEUKE. f Hue fComraoni, 6ih Dec, 1864. Cl. Carter and others. GtNYiEMP.N I will ceinpijr with ur rrnuett within a day r to. . Thaakio jrno for tht compliment voa haft paid me, and wishing the speech were tre worm? it, , , , f I am, verjr truir, Your friead and servant, S. F. PHILLIPS- ireecu or s. ruiLLirs. wq, .;: Or 0K4M0K, . i Hmt Ctmmont f JNVA Curelina, Tae. vttrmner im, 1854, on m Ma. SmKri:-Recet occaireRces in the ctuntr af Oraire hare au:;eited tu me the preprietjr of iatraitocia the rrsolatien wnjca Kife ait ben rem. I mo oat mean la aar that Vraaza ha safered mere lrm thttactiaa afareau far imaretsaenta than tie athcr caaBtiea of .the State, aat the re tmev af that'aetian imin nr caittitarnra readtrtd it.praper that 7, ahauld call the attentiea of the Lerisuture to it The preamale u those reselatiaaa aa- anta trathi which no intelLirent reatle- naa ifa this floor, whether lawer or net, will dcaj. I hal aat trouble the . lUaie with an argumentapna them. The ' airst of the reinlitins which follow, make ' ailrgatieiiA which, II tree, are p.liuule vio laiioat ! me rigun aterieu in tne pream ble. The onl question which arise upoa tht retalation ia as to its truth. .And, upot th e-utititn, I mijlit perhaps make a witneis of ettrj gentlenua upoa this , inor. Fur I can hardly doabt that everr . eie here has been'a far personally cajni raat ot fctt gniof to ewtablish this point that he tniht be caned as a witness to ea tablih it before a caurt and jury. Within ttie last two weeks n agent af the Confederate States has impressed in Ine couatjr of Oranje 160 Wsesand mules at an averse price, aa I was informed bj an officer of the toverntaeat engaged in the tranar.tion. of about 9700 each. 1 inquir od Hhessoie gentleman what was the av erg aurket value o. the animals thus ta ken, and .was answered "at least ii.lOO each." It appears, thea, that by thin sin gle tpe ratioa, the Confederate lutes' go verninetit has forcibljr seized for its awn use, more than $300,000 worth at property ; and left in the hands of its owners little scraps vf brown paper, promising to pay at w- indefinite period abojit 1100,000 ! In simple language, it i a , transacfion Uy which that government ha pieated it self of KQO.OQU worth of proper! without paving a single dollar of equivalent! It Stas, by it agents, acting under a regular 1 orant.etl sjstetn, robbed certain per sona w liom those ageiita hate selected with ia the county referred to, of 290,000. Tae coutitv which 1 have the honor, in pari, to represent ia this House, makes up a aieaatorial district, and contains about one ilUlh of the property in the State. : Da log these iaapresiuicpt agents the jnstice to suppose that they have been impartial in their Visits ta the various sections af the Stats, the House will see that they have ia the item af horses and motes rob bed the State of some 110,000,001 worth of property. I mean ta say that in the name and oadtr the saaehiiery of the Con federate gamaaasnt, Uiej hive otsrawsd certain citUeas of North Carolina into tie'- livertng to that government property .worth $15,009,000, at a nominal price af 05,000' 090. This action comes fully , up to my conecpuvn oi . me mea coniameu in ine word r$bbtryi .".; .v If . the action which has recently, taken place in Orange county .were, the conse quence of the presumption of a subordinate agent of the government, it were more ea sily tolerated than now. Or if it arose from the occasionally irregular working of the machinery of that government Untight be better borne, 'That it is part df the settled policy 'of the Confederate States, and the regular and intended effect of cer- . . e n ' .L i L'- ism acts oi congress is inai wni-n gives this action its peculiar unpleasantness, and makes it thu more imperative for.this Legislature to utter its remonstrance and protest. When wrong is done under the color of law, it becomes most dangerous. I hold in my hand a pamphlet containing the "General Orders" issued to the army from Richmond, from which it appears that this subject of impressment has occupied the attention f the government for several viurs. As early as the month of June. "l 862, an order was issued regulating this ubject. Some months afterwards it ap pears by another drder that great corn plaints had been made to the government in relation t it. The complaints com pelled Congress,' about the month of April, Ub3, to pass an act upon the subject, a great part of which is stilt in force That act provides that where officers impress nrnaerty.that is ia the hands of its produ cer two referees (with liberty to select an umpire) shall be chosen by the officer and th owner respectively, and they shall stitle the price to be pxid t where the pro perty is not in the hands of the. prlucer, but. of a man who holds it for sale, the price to be, paid by government shall be regulated by the schedule prices Hied by the Commissioners appointed for making the noeaule. I hisdinerf nee between the producer and the other classes was msin tained, however, for but a few days, as an other act, passed before the 1st of May, 1 853, prov ided that in all cases af i mpress meht the impressing officer might endorse upon the award of the references his dis approval, svhereupoa an appeal would lie tu the Commissioners upon schedule price. As these DtrsonV had already .aDpraiaed property of the sort in dispute. It is, clear that tht practical operation of these laws " - - .1 - - '-la in euuer case is to give ine owner on iy schedule prices. Fer instance, in the case of a horse, the owner may always be sure that if he choose to make ever so much opposition it will result in his getting only the price of one or another of the elates under the schedule. A paper new" in hand, being a warning to a gentleman in Orange thattho government agent wished to bur a horse, makes this evident, for the proposal made by him is expmtfy to buy it at schedule prices, the penalty bring an im pressment. Of coonesuch an officer would never approve an award by referees giving a greater price.' He would appeal ontil he brought it where it was certain that aone but schedule prices would be given. So well, indeed, is this understood, tha', a I was informed, the refereesat Hillsborough coniaed themselves to alsirninz the hor ses to one or anolher.ef the. cUss'es in the list schedule. And, as might well have been anticipated, in the whole assembly of irritated and outraged citizens, no one took m Appeal. ; In discussing this matter I am not ta be cheated with words. I press through them into the snbstance of this transaction; and I gather the iateatioa of government from the uniforsa action of its agents through a periad of years, and after its attention has confessedly again aid agaia keen called to the subject. What Was done in my awa county in November, 1864, has been done (aadeftca iaa mack mart galling reaaaer.) in other couatiei aad other States, ia the Spring aad Fall af l$2-ia the Spring aad Fall el US, and ia the Npring sad Fall of 1164; aid that which has dtan cited ii re gard to birita. has tuft daot titai aid again ia regard to wheat corn, cattle and many other articles of property. I am not then to be abused by havinjr pointed to my ! attention thac the acc of Congress provides in terms for a "just compensation.'.'. I reply that the act, alter using these smooth words, inaugurates a system ot proceedings which never, has giwen the citizens that compensation of which it speaks. It of purpose keeps the word of promise to the. ear, and breaks ic to the hope. Through ou. the whole state, and so far as I am in formed throughout the whole country, its operation has been uniform. It cannot be that such uniformity of action among many different persons who have jjo opportunity tar consultation, has not been dictated by the common source of their appointment . I mean the government. Mr. Memminger and Mr, Trenholm, who .have tried one wild experiment after another upon the. currency, make use of these commissioners of schedule prices in the Course of these experiments; and the instructions under which they act are to depress prices to a standard in accordance with some flighty notion these gentlemen entertain as to the value of Confederate Treasury notes. They are making their experiments at the ex pense of those persons whose property the impress; .Upon what show of propri ety is this done? If the currency have depreciated because it is too abundant, ex periments' to raise its value should be tried at the general expense of the whole coun try. The method by which: those experi ments ara to be mde js taxation. No constitutional principle can be more axio matic than this. The constitution prohi bits t all auch trifling with, private rights ander the head of impressments, aystipti lating on behalf of the citizens for a "just cemptniatioa.". What an outrage, then, upon that constitution, is it for the Con federate Government to suggest to its com missioners as part of their daty in fixing impressment prices, to Consult other in fluences than the general market value of an article ! What a mixture of absurdity n(k grilvoaa oppression is it to make pri vate persons whose property is taken by government, contribute far above their proportion towards establishing a state of things, the biaents or which belong to the public in general! Our indignation would rUelll the Vigher did we fully appreciate me. laocitumess anu uie eccentricity uis played in those experiments. The variety of. their plans, and .the solemn -ceusare which one phitosnpher passes upon the un successful experiments of his predecessor. carry the memory back to the age of the alchemists, and their marvellous endeavors to transmute the, baser metals into gold. But it is not necessary in this argument to insist upon that it is most plain that even if these experiments resulted in saccess, they should be made at the expense of the whole community. : 1 am not uaderstood as denying to the government the right to seize private pro-. perty wnentver neeueu tor us use. it nas a peifect right to do so. The point upon which I have insisted is that it must pay, just compensation therefor. It must pay for such property, ail that a private person would have to pay for it. The government has onlv oie advantage in such matter over the citizen who wishes t buy. It can compel a sale. Hut it cannot torceupnn the owner a less price than his neighbors would ha e given, had he been disposed to seii.: I insist that the Confederate States can net practice taxation under the name of tmpmtmtnt. This they have been, doinjt repea&dty ; and thereby have btoken their constitutional obligations not only upoa the subject of a just .compensation, but also upon thst which apportions taxation. In the case which I have referred to ia Or snga county, if the government had levied a taxipen tht owners of the property ta ken to the amount af $224,000, they conld have said the property that was impressed, paid the tag and upoa that retained in their pockets in cash the amount of meaty for i r . woica mey nave now. a government pro ssiis topiy whenever the Secretary ef the Treasury shall think it a foi' financial ex pedient to issue the notes required for the purpose. . issuing, men, inrpuga wtras it' things, we have before os a most aneen-- stitutioaaj and iagrantly oppressive -tar ievieu upon ceruin people in ine county of Orange an , unionttitutinal and' fla grantly oppressive lata! which has beta le vied, tune and again in regard , to various articles of property upsa citizens through out mast of the counties of the State. , It is not proper that the representatives of the people 6hall view these things In si lence, After more than two years ihave pissed since the inauguration of J the sys tem, surely it is. not tot soon for the Le' gislature of North Carolina to express its opiniun of it in plain and vigorous language. ants inauer of me security oi private pro perty from the touch of cevernment is a point tf honor in the peeuliar civil liberty wmcn we inneru.irtm our aocesttrt ia England aad upon this continiat ' Far back in English history, and from the very beginning of our own history, this has beei considered & peint af vital . importance We shall be recreant to ear treat pnblic privileges, if we do aot brand the assaalt which is aow making upon this, their vers point of honor, in that free language which it is our right and duty to employ. ,'Jtka Hampden resisted the whole power of the English government in the case of.' Ship Money, wheri the assessment was only a matter of twenty ehillinjs.and at that fesa than his ratable share of the tax, suppssine; that it were legal. For that be has be come immortal with us. la this State that government haj at yet met with Bt lawful resistance of these demands. Thisacqei escence Is not upoa the score of patriotism, for the people are iadigaaat at te oppres sion. I kaow in my own eotaty m el tlemea of most approved patriotism, whose) eyes flashed fire at the thought of wkiat had been done. . Ii is idle to t&Jkofafrec peo ple pomr a government which robs thea of their property. The Confederate go vernment has only to persist in this course towards Stuthera men, aad it will surely lose every vestige of their affection., They would be ua worthy ef their lintage and of their education If it were otherwise. They must forget many of the martyrs of their former liberty ; "they mast, become cold te many of the most touching incidents in the history ( their race, before they cease in stinctively to turn uposi any organization of power that trifles with their private pre perty. As tu the character of the remedy f si-. sessed by the people in cases of unconsti tutional impressments by government di rectly for itselj, I observe some diTerence of opinion between two of the ablest law yers this continent has produced. Chan cellor Kent regards it as the right and- tht duty of the citizen to enjoin ike'gevers meat; Chief Justice Rnma rezaH such injunction impracticable, am says that tht duty of Coogresstagive just compensation fer property impressed is ef that class tf E ewers which the judiciary cannot enforce, ut which must be "left" to thr under standing and conscience ef Congress, t submit to the House that whichever opin ion shall.be considered law, the Legisla ture is imperatively called upon for action, at least like that presented by the resoltv tions. , , ' If it be that a person whose prepe rt? haa been impressed has this remedy of iajanc tioa, lit us consider hsw significant a thtaj it is that in the midst of a spirited people, iadigaant at a notorious violation of their fights' a repeated violation in sab staa till respects no o .e has been found tt apptj for this remeir! To wha shell wt at tribute this inse'tiea I kaow of bat one explanation ; and that ist despair tf stccess full contending. with the gov era am t, or the apprehension that if they succeed they may draw down op n thtmitlvea tht saalieo of tht myriad af officials that swarm ia this land, and whose wraths weald preJite ef fect! greatly trerbataatitf thilr gain j tht liiigatitn. :, For the, rest, they remem ber that they have appealed tt the Oaafed- tratt gsTerxaeat tisst aid apia with oil I ll
The Durham Recorder (Durham, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 21, 1864, edition 1
1
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