Newspapers / The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, … / July 24, 1832, edition 1 / Page 2
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Communications, FOR THE FREE TRESS. To the freemen of Nash county. Friends and fellow citizens: as we live under a civil govern ment which guaranties (by con stitutional arrangement,) to eve ry citizen, the inalienable right to scrutinize the official conduct of every public servant or ruler, and if necessary, to seek redress in a inwiui way; surely 1 shall be excused for what I deem mv duty on the present occasion in calling your attention to the conduct of our old Senator Mr. BODDIE and his concur ring associates on the Bench, at a late Quarter Session for our county. His vote for the build ing an elegant and fire-prooj Court House, many of you dis approve; because in this in stance, he iias departed from that course of conduct which is in strict accordance with the genius and many of the maxims of republican government. Will Mr. Boddie, or his associates, or any well informed American patriot, say, that it is consistent with pure and unadulterated republicanism, to lax the people without their consent, in person or by representative! No man conversant with the history of our Revolution, can be igno rant, that it originated in an at tempt on the part of the British Parliament to tax the colonics without allowing them a repre sentation, and the oppressive exercise of this tyranny by a power-proud and bigotted min istry, that impelled to resistance those noble spirits, who would die freemen rather tlmn live slaves. I put the question to Mr. Boddie, to the worshipful Court, and to every friend of republican principles or true English whigism in this country or the world, to say, if a people can be free who are subject to taxes levied by a body of men in office for life!! and in which they have no representation? It is immaterial by what name such a body arc known, wheth er it be a County Court, a Uni ted States' Court, King's Court, or any other Court, it is still the same in principle and effect; names may express, but they do not, the cannot alter the nature of persons or things. You may call a Federalist a Republican if you choose, but he is a Fede ralist still; and you may call ex travagance, economy if you choose, but it is extravagance still. But the plea of Mr. Boddie and his associates, in justifica tion, is two-fold; first, necessity for the deed; and so did the British Parliament for oppress ing the Americans in '76, and so did the advocates of the Bri tish Government in its en croachment on our rights in 1812. But in what respect is it ne cessary to build this costly edi fice, called a fire-proof Court House! Is it necessary for the administration of justice to the good citizens of this county! You know it is not, because the administration of justice has not been obstructed in this county from the day of Mr. Boddie's birth until now, for want of a Court House. Is it necessary for the preser vation of records, bonds, and See the Bill of Rights in tution of N. C. section 16: "That the people of this Stale ought not to be i-u, or maue subject to the payment consent of themselves, or their repre-lyngtveVn-m nCral AsSembI ree- other important documents? You know it is not; because al though it may be possible to build a Court House which fire cannot burn, yet we know that the materials of which docu ments are at present composed are not capable of resisting the destructive energy of that ele ment: and it is possible that they may be burnt by accident or design. And besides it is evident that a fire-proof vault would be a cheaper and safer deposite for records, than so lofty and splendid an edifice as that now building. For what purpose then is it necessary to build it! 1 he an swer must be in accordance with that which now echoes from the circumference to the centre, (Cfthc indulgence oj County pride!! Alas! fel low citizens, have we come to this, and that too before the Spartan-like soldiers of the Re volution are all cold in their graves'! Has Persian pride found so cordial a reception where it ought not! Awake, citizens, or your wives and chil dren to the latest generation will curse your apathy, with all the anguish of afflicted Job. The fell destroyer of the peace of heaven and earth has entered your county, and hi - courtly airs lave so fascinated many of our would-be-great-folks, that our old and trusty friend Economy, who has stood by us in times that tried men's souls, is now evil spoken of nnd will soon be .ticked out of Nashville and 1 ear out of the county itself. Come forth, ye grey headed vet- ;rans and patriots of former days, and tell the young and in experienced, that pride, all pride, whether it be county, State, or individual pride is of the devil, and if it is not resisted in time will lead to a downfall in this world and in that which is to come. Tell them that pride is the friend of monarchy, aristocracy, high-toned federal ism, the tariff, and all the up start impertinence they ever saw in their lives: but the sworn and untiring enemy of econo my, liberty, peace and indepen dence of the many, and conse quently a deadly foe to republi canism of the old school. Tell them fromtheauthorityof scrip ture and experience, that "when pride corneth there cometh con tention." Tell them that but for this diabolical stimulus to pomp and parade, to extrava gance and show, we should now be in harmony and peace like a band of brothers. Tell them that pride is a stimulus more deleterious and powerful ly ruinous to the happiness of men than all the other stimuli in the whole catalogue that it is offensive to Deity and all good men, and hostile to the attributes of the one and the liberties of the other. But Mr. Boddio also pleads the law of his country and the obligation of his ollicial oath, in justification of this act of extra vagance now under considera tion. Gentlemen, we are bound to believe that Mr. Boddie has told us tiie truth, unless some gentleman profoundly learned in the law, will be so patriotic as to show that he is mistaken: For the laws of our State arc so numerous, and we have so many acts to repeal acts, amend acts and parts of acts, &c. that some times even village lawyers, to say nothing of our country jus tices, do inadvertently lead themselves and honest clients into difficulties on points of law. But if the law be such, that it did imperiously require of Mr. Boddie and his associates that they must cither build this splen did and costly fire-proof Court House, violate their oaths uf of fice, or resign; then every man of common sense must admit that the law is a bad one i say a bad one, because instead of protecting the people and tak ing no more of their money than what is "necessary and proper" for the good of the county, (and this is the only ob ligatory draught for taxation in, any government where rights are respected;) it authorises the taking their money to any am ount, which their worships may from time to time, choose ca priciously to extort in the shape of a tax for the gratification of county pride, whether it be to build fire-proof Court Houses, water-proof bridges, or "light houses of the skies," &c. with out regard to the injury of the county or the impoverishing its citizens. If the law be as Mr. Boddie says it is, no member of our Court is to blame for its present existence so much as Mr. Bod die and Mr. Arrington, because both being republicans and re presentatives for years, and members of the Court too, they have had time and opportunity to have c flee ted its amendment for their own county at least, for they are sent to the Legislature at our expence, to repeal or am end bad laws and make good ones whenever we need them. These gentlemen have not only suffered the taxing power to be exercised by a body of men in which you have no representa tion and who are in office for life, but they have assisted that body to do so without a blush. Their predecessors have erred and they have not corrected that error. Where then is that old dog in tins fable (to which Mr. Boddie compares himself,) who so faithfully did his duty in pro tecting his master's child, tho' in the violent contest the bed ding of the cradle in which the lovely babe reposed was turned upside down! Pardon this ref erence to the dog, tis but a repe tition of .Mr. Boddie's egotism. But, friends, I have heard once of another dog, the property of a man by the name of Clarke, which did not prove quite so faithful.' Clarke was a hard working, old fashioned man; for he went to work before break fast, and in all probability was a bachelor and did his own cooking, as the story seems to import. However, be that as it may, Clarke had but one John ny cake for his breakfast, and going out to work left his dog to guard his house and its con tents, nnd when he came in to breakfast himself, he found the dog had eaten up the cake, to the no small disappointment of his over-confiding master!!! so much for the dogs. But, fellow citizens, will not this newly adopted intruder, viz: county pride, ultimately rob you of your last Johnny cake, table, plate, house and all! He will, gentlemen, unless you put fortli directly all your energies to starve him out of your county by the cflbcttial means yet in your power: 1 mean the proper exercise of your elective fran chise at this election discard i hose old dogs (if I may so speak without ofience,) and adopt the best puppies you can get, and train them to your wish es as soon as possible and keep a more vigilant eye upon them than you have done on the old ones. We live in an evil time; for county pride is fostered within our own dominions and he is an artful fellow, and if he finds us asleep or reposing too confidently in others he will not fail to play us some trick to our injury: and while this state ly edifice is glittering in the sun, and like Solomon's temple rav ishing the eyes of passing stran gers, many of your enterprising sons will with Spartan contempt, turn their backs on INash coun ty forever. To avoid this sad state of our county, let us instruct our rep resentatives to do what they can, to have the law so amended, that none shall levy a tax upon us for county or any other pur ses but our representatives. To that end I would suggest the propriety of a law for the pur pose of taking from the Court the taxing power how exercised by them, and giving it to a cer tain number of representatives duly elected by the people from every district in the county, to assemble at the Court Jlouse, clothed with the same power to tax and appropriate as the Court now possess, with such restrictions as may be thought necessary to guard against the unbounded indulgence of coun ty pride and other extravagant and unprofitable expenditures. Thus harmony will be restored and mutual respect preserved; but if things remain as they are, ihe official pride of some and the devotion to liberty of others will kindle fires among us that will not be easily quen ched. A VOTER. FOR TIIE FREE TRESS. Mr. Editor: I beg leave to suggest to those who may find it necessary to have operations performed on their teeth, to em br ace the opportunity afforded them of employing Drs. Cum mings and Mobry, who are now practising in this town and vici nity. Having been an eye wit ness to many of their opera tions, and practically tested in my own mouth the salutary effi ciency of their operations, I venture to suggest the present as a proper occasion to have the ncccssa n operations performed. A Patient. TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1832. (J A majority of the Commission ers appointed to contract for building a new Court House, met in this place on Monday of last week for that pur pose. Several plans and proposals were .submitted to them, and they fi nally concluded to adopt, with asli sht improvement, the plan of Mr. Bragg, of Warrenton, submitted to the last Court, and contracted with Mr. Lynch, of Va. to build it for 86,000, he being the lowest bidder. We un derstand that Mr. Lynch purposes to attend at August Court, to perfect the contract he intends also to submit to the Court a plan of his own, which was preferred by the Commissioners, but which they did not feel authori sed to contract for, the proposal to build it, S8000, so far exceeding the contemplated expense. QCongress adjourned on Mon day, the 16th inst. after a session of 216 days, said to be the longest ever held, except that in which war was declared in 1812. The distinguish ing feature of this session, is unques tionably a wasteful and extravagant expenditure of the public funds In addition to the enormous sums re quired by the Internal Improvement bill, the Pension bill, &c. they passed the Harbor bill, mvolving an expen diture of upwards of aalfamiiionf and a bill to provide for the payment of interest on the advances made bv i the Slates to the U. Slates during ul( late war this bill was passed at al most the close of the session, by b vote of 75 to 35, notwithstanding j, Polk said the hill involved an appr0i priation of about three millions of dollars, and that he had learnt lha the aggregate amount of oppropria! lions for the present session exceeded the estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury between four and five mil lions of dollars. Fortunately for tle country, the President with his cha rcxteristic firmness, retained the two latter bills for further consideration. The next prominent characteristic of iiiij atoaiun n, nit; warn 01 mai digni ty, urbanity, and mutual forbearance which have hitherto prevailed arnon the members, in times' of the highest political excitement. In the Senate hitherto deemed the most dignified and respectable body in the world, se veral disgraceful wrangles have oc curred, but none to exceed that which took place between Messrs. Clay and Benton, in the discussion on the Veto message, which is represented as out rageous in the extreme. In the IJouse of Representatives, in addition to the almost daily altercations which occur red between the members, after some acrimonious sparring a vote of censure was passed on Mr. Stanberry, 03 to 44, for using language reflecting on the conduct of the Speaker and a motion was made by Mr. Drayton which was discussed but not finally acted upon, declaring Mr. Adams guilty-of a breach of the rules of the House, for refusing to vole on the censure question. But enough come good or come evil, from their sins of omission or commission, wet are truly glad that they have at length dispersed. Internal Improvements. ..The following iire the sums authori zed by the General Govern ment to be expended, under "An Act making appropriations for certain Internal Improve ments for the vear 1832"" for removing obstructions in rivers, creeks and harbors repairing beaches, piers, moles, dykes, and breakwaters for removing sand bars and olher obstruc tions in rivers and creeks for making roads, bridges, &c. ror Kennebeck river, Me. 62,600 Plymouth Beach, Mass. Provincetown Beach, Mass. Pass au Heron, Ala. Pascagoula river, Red River, Lou. Delaware Breakwater, 2,500 4,600 6,050 15,900 22,62$ 270,000 5,S6S 4,000 Cumberland Road, Military Road in Florida, do. do. do. Harbor and river of St. Marks, 2,500 in Florida, 4,500 Piers at Kennebunk river, Me. 1,700 Berwick branch of the Piscat- aqua river, 250 Deer Island, Boston harbor, 60,000 Breakwater at Hyannis har bor, Mass. Nantucket harb6, 7,600 6,000 Harbor of Mill river, Conn. 4,490 Pier and mole at Oswego, N. Y. 1 9,000 Big Sodus bay, N. Y. 17,000 Genesee river, N. Y. 16,000 Pier at BufTalo harbor, N.Y. 10,300 Black Rock harbor, N. Y. 5,100 Dunkirk harbor, N. Y. 10,200 Presque Isle harbor, Pa. 4,500 Harbors of New Castle, Mar cus Hook, Chester, and Port Penn, in the Delaware, 10,000 Ocracoke Inlet N. C. 22,000 Cape Fear river, N. C. 28,000 Ohio, Missouri, and Mississip pi rivers, 50,000 Arkansas river, 15,000 Conneaut creek, Ohio, 7,800 Ashtabula creek, Ohio, 3,800 Pier at Cunningham creek, O. 1,500 Grand river, Ohio, 2,600 Cleaveland harbor, Ohio, 6,600 Black river, Ohio, 8,000 Huron river, Ohio, 1,500 Piers at La Plaisance bay, Mich. 8,000 Cumberland river, 30,000 Savannah river, 25,000 Examinations and surveys, 30,000 Military road in M aine. 21,000 Cumberland road in Maryland and Pennsylvania, 150,000 Road from Detroit to Chicago, 15,000 Road from Detroit to Fort Gra tiot, 15,000 Road from Detroit loSaganau, 10,000 Little Rock & Memphis road, 20,000 Washington and Jackson road, 2,000 Cumberland road, in Ohio, 100,000 Cumberland road, in Indiana, 100,000 Cumbeiland road, in Illinois, 70,000 $1,256,0SS
The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 24, 1832, edition 1
2
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