The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-06 00:00:00

The Confederate state Debts.

The debts of the Confederate Government, contracted
for the purposes of war, and for all other purposes, were
swept away when the Confederacy fell. All its currency,
bills, bonds, treasury notes, and "promises to pay" of
every kind, became worthless to the holders, even though
those holders had given for them real property or services
of a positive value. After the fall of Richmond, hundred-
dollar bills, based on the faith and credit of the Confederacy,
were sold for a nickel cent a piece, and thousand-dollar
notes were exchanged evenly for three-cent shinplasters.
There is little if any talk in any part of the South about
assuming any part of this debt. Its magnitude is appall-
ing, and the States of the South did not become respon-
sible for it in their individual capacity. On its face it was
declared to be payable upon the establishment of the inde-
pendence of the Southern Confederacy—thus linking its
fortunes with that of the rebel government; and it was
but logical that the Confederacy's credit should cease to
have a value when the Confederacy itself ceased to have
an existence.

But there has appeared in many of the States, and still
appears in some of them, a strong party desirous of essum-
ing the payment of the debts contracted by the various
States individually, in aid of rebellion, and while members
of the Confederacy. It is the repudiation of these which
has been effected in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina,
and, in Georgia, at the suggestion of the President ; and
it is the failure to repudiate this debt by South Carolina
which has disappointed the intelligent supporters of the
President's policy of reconstruction. This debt has been
the subject of earnest debate in the Georgia State Conven-
tion.now in session at Milledgeville ; and it was in refei-
ence to this debate that the President sent a despatch to
the Provisional Governor of Georgia, in which was
pointedly and vigorously set forth the course that ought
to be followed by the convention. He remarked :

" The people of Georgia should not hesitate one single
moment in repudia.V.ng every single dollar of debt created
for the purpose of aiding the rebellion against the Govern-
ment of the United States. It will not do to levy and
collect taxes from a State and people that are loyal and in
the Union to pay a debt that was created to aid in taking
them out and subverting the Constitution of the United
States. Ido not believe the great mass of the people of
the State of Georgia, when left uninfluenced, will ever
submit to the payment of a debt which was the main
cause of bringing on their past and present suffering, the
result of the rebellion. Those who invested their capital
in the creation of this debt must meet their fate, and take
it as one of the inevitable results of the rebellion, though
it may seem hard to them. It should at once be made
known, at home and abroad, that no debt contracted for
the purpose of dissolving the Union can or ever will be
paid by taxes levied on the people for such purpose."
We have in the Georgia papers reports of the convention
debate on this topic. It originated in a resolution intro-
duced by a member on the 28th ult., in the following
terms :

Resolved—That the President of the Convention ap-
point a committee of five, who shall wait upon his Excel-
lency the Provisional Governor and inquire of him
whether he knows, from his official connection with the
authorities at Washington, that the repudiation of the
debt incurred by the State of Georgia during the late civil
war is essential to the resumption of amicable relations
with the United States Government.
Tho debate was one of great interest and not a little ex-
citement, but it covered very narrow ground. The argu-
ment; on one side, were simply protests against disgracing
the State by repudiation, and, on the other side, assevera-
tions of the absolute necessity of this action, if Georgia
were to be admitted to the Union as one of its loyal and
trusty members. One speaker got upon broader ground,
in putting forth the idea that the legitimate State Govern-
ment of Georgia being overthrown when this debt was
contracted, and an unlawful combination having usurped
the functions of the State, the debt had no legal basis what-
ever, and, without any action of the convention, was in
itself null and void.

Notwithstanding the warmth of the debate, Georgia has
prudently adopted the course previously pursued by Ala-
bama, Mississippi, and North Carolina. President John-
son said that " it should at once be made known, at home
and abroad, that no debt contracted for the purpose of dis-
solving the Union can or ever will be paid by taxes levied
on the people for such purpose ;" and the wisdom of this
view no doubt commended itself to the convention. The
entire amount of the debt contracted by the State during
the war was about eighteen millions of dollars ; and the
greater part of it was in the bands of a few holders, so that
the people of the State will be no losers by its being wiped
out.

It is a noteworthy fact that of the three or four great
subjects before the various State Conventions for their
action this has been the. only ono upon which there has
been any very marked division of opinion or any very
vigorous debates. The repeal or nullification of the ordi-
nances of secession has been effected in each State almost
without discussion, and by nearly unanimous consent.
The abolition of slavery in the respective States has been
recognised by each of them without contention or opposi-
tion. But in every State there has been a strong effort
made to secure the recognition and payment of the State
debts contracted during the rebellion.—New York Times.

A frightful attack of neuralgia in the face and
mouth cured by a few doses of MORISON'S PILLS, the vege-
table universal medicine of the British College of Health,
Euston-road, London, alter other means had failed. Sold
by the linseian agents and all medicine vendors.