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·rExAs STATE LIBRARY
I would show that the system of direct taxation is the fairest, the most equal and least onerous, on earth ; that it throws its burdens on those best calculated to bear them, and its minimum weight on those least able to sustain the former. · The system can be arranged so as to exclude all domiciliary inquisi- tion in a form of great simplicity, without vexation or hardship; and for about one-third of the taxes we now pay through the Custom House, we shall raise revenue enough to pay all the just expenses of the Government. The system itself will lead to moderation and econ- omy in the public expenditures, and arrest waste, corruption and ex- travagance. Indeed, the taxes may be so arranged as to be imposed and collected with the simplicity and facility with which the State taxes are collected and paid. It will, of course, arrest, the career of a Government of Oriental magnificence, and substitute a plain Repub- lican polity, full of high moral power, but not swollen and .debilitated by bloated corruption. The Public Lands might be reserved sacred as a fund for the purposes of education, and the support of the Army and Navy. But what would recommend such a system of finance to our fayor, will be that "Direct Taxation" will lead to "Direct Trade" - that great and long desired blessing of Southern aspiration, which, when accomplished, will be attended by a gush of prosperity the South has never known. I would show that we have submitted to these evils for nearly half a century, from a mistaken attachment to the Union of these States, which has at last, fortunately, ceased, from the conjoint operation of exaction and fanaticism, and is regarded now by all men of sense as nothing but as a degrading superstition, when it tolerates injustice,. spoliation and abuse. With these financial objects I would endeavor fo connect the con- summation of some effective guarantees in regard to our peculiar in- stitutions - at least, that the Hall of Congress should be exempt from the perpetual agitation of the Slave question, and that the members of the South, without resorting to the bludgeon, should be protected from vulgar insolence and unscrupulous slander. · In regard to Kansas, I think your Representative, whether Kansas: with a Pro-slavery Constitution is denied admission into this Union, or is cheated out of her right, should, in either event, be prepared for effective action suitable to either emergency. I ought now to say to you, in .perfect fairness and candor, that I have no idea that the resolutions providing for the several financial objects in this letter will be carried, but, discussed with ability and amplitude, they will diffuse so much information that the South will be prepared for action, if the North is not prepared for justice. After the vote has been rendered, in either House to which your Represent- ative may belong, he should, consequent on our defeat, endeavor, with untiring exertion, to unite the Southern Delegations in a. vigorous and' well concerted effort, to present fairly to the Northern States the fact, that it is impossible for us to live any longer under a Government which collects its revenues under a scheme of taxation so oppressively unequal as the imports at the Custom-house are, and would be, if con- tinued. If this demand is denied, respectfully, cordially, and fra-
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