Southern pioneer, and Carroll, Choctaw and Tallahatchie Counties advertiser. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1840-1842, 1842-02-19
From tie Nev York Express.
pFpT1DTATION AND ITS CONSEOITEN(


While the sovereigns in some of the sove-
reign States are promu eating the principles
of so called Reputation, it is as well for them
TO reflect upon the consequences OF such mag
nifcent operations as swindIing by sove eign
ties. This new idea, honored with this new
word, r,pudiaion, c"ntemplates acts so novel
as 10 introduce new consequences which but
| few of our repudiating sovereignS, we venture
to say. have pondered upon. If man repu-
dates his debts, the law takes him into its Gus
tody. 1t either incarcerates him in prison, or
it strips hin of his possessions. A corpora
ton too is Suea6le. Ii is amenabe to the laws
and the State. Swindlng, therefore, by men
the subjects Of law, or by interpretations, the
creatures of the law, is punishable in any
/ form.
Not so, though with States They are
above Law, for they are the Law, or make the
Law. As in monarchies, there is an axiom,
the King can do no wrong,-so in republics,
there is the axiom, the State can do no wrong
States are not sueable. Debts cannot be COL
lected of them. They can swindle in spite of
the Judges or the Courts A civil process falls
dead before their august power. The pre-
sumption of all mankind is, shat States will
never suffer theI 0irtue in such matters of
debt even TO be suspected. Hence, amid the
widest paroxysms of mankind in the very
bloody revelries of the French revolution, one
Government, no matter how much il detested
the other, nevertheless assumed its dpbts,-for
however horrid were. domestic feuds, the honor
I If the State was never to be suIlied by repu-
diation of its debts. True, States may not be
able TO pay. The interest on principal, as
we'll as the principal itself, may go undis-
charged. but never,--never--wthin scope of
our reading, have we known till the Mississippi
case, where State proclaimed. "we can pay,
but we won't" or it not thus, ''if we could paw,
would not"
And is there no remedy for the creditor
> against debtor-sovereignty acting thus!-
d, Are there no consequences resulting from such
a principle proclaimed as this? Let US see.
When this proclamation of dishonesty
reaches the foreign creditor, he will call upon
his government for redress. 1.-The be French
man, the Minister Plenipotentiary of France
in Washington, will in all probability speak in
his behalf So if he be a Hollander, or q
subject of Great Britain, the sympalhes o.
i his countrymen, and of his government will
: be enlisted in his behalf. Already, indeed, the
3 President of the United States, and the Secre-
> tary of State have been frequently solicited
/ by subjects of European monarchieS to HON
our States are in debt, 10 interfere their good
offices in their behalf. As the subjects have
had but sorry success, they will, unquestiona-
{ bly, use all their power at home. to induce their
governments 10 speak for them, whose voice
more plenlpotent must command at least Off
8 cial attention. Our Federal Government will
u answer these mouarchies, as It's officers have
. already informally answered their SUBJECTS
u "lt Is no debt OF ours.--what the States owe
: you, Is not the debt of the Federal Govern.
u ment, but foreign nations will never be con-
: tent with such answers, unless we leave them,
as mere lookerS-on to make their settlements
: with the repudiating States Themselves
: which we assuredly, under the constitution,
can never do. The debts of the States, there
lore, In certain sense interest us all. The
: whole Republic becomes liable for the con.
S sequences of State reputation.
1t is calculated that the States owe two hun.
: dred millions OF dollars, to the Capitalists OF
t, Europe. 1t must be remarked this debt is not
4 all owed to the Capitalists of Great Britain, nor
: all owed TO Capitalists any where. Much of
the stock is held in France; much in Holland:
4 some in Germany; some, indeed, the whole
civilized world over. 1t has passed too from
i the hands of the Capitalists into the hands of
$ men whose ,.lnual incomes are invested in il.
e The Widow has her mite invested there
The orphans bread depends upon it, The