ABSTRACT
By the introduction of free trade in England, the government has been compelled to persevere in an oppressive system of direct taxation, to obtain the means of support. That a like result would follow its introduction in the United States is perfectly evident, unless some method of carrying on the Government without taxation is discovered - which nobody proposes or anticipates. There are but two modes of taxation - direct and Indirect - and the power of Congress is the same over each. The only measure of Indirect taxation hitherto employed by the National Government, is by laying duties upon imports. The fact that the payment of direct taxes to the Government would be compulsory, instead of voluntary, as it now is, deserves serious consideration, in determining whether direct or indirect taxation shall prevail. The number of those who openly avow themselves the advocates of a system of direct taxation, has not yet become very large.
