New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-02-03
Public Debts-Their Moral Obligation.

Of advice to the true Republicans OF France as 20
the course they should pursue on the event OF
their coming into power. In that article III
sneakipg of the National Debt, you say, " DO NOT
repudiste it-pav it." l should like to know the
reasons which induced you to give such advice.
Were counseling the Republicans OF France
should advise them to take course exactly opPo-
site from that which you wish them to pursue.
Look at the circumstances of the case For the last
two hundred wears, excepting two short Intervals
! France has been governed by tyrants who nave
wrupg from the hard earnings OF her people, tue
! last cent that despOtic power could exact w men
! the sums thus extorted have been insufficient TO
support them in their wars of ambition, and the
| upbounded extravaganza OF their mode Oh me-
! thew have borrowed immense sums, promising 20
pay themselves, or that their successors IN power
| would To this contract the French feoPle were
not marty for their rulers exercised q usurped
| nower therefore they are not bound by its pro-
visions. What principle Of justice demands that
the French People, on recovering their liberty,
should tax themselves 20 pay the debt daily Piing
up there to pay the hirellng soldlery, by whose
arms they are kept enslavedl Let 1t not be said
that thew are governed by Republican rulers OF
their own choice every one knows that the Con.
stituton has been trampled in the dust and that
for the last two years despotsm has reigned tri-
umpbant in France. My position is this When
the tyrants of Nation contract debts the People
on recovering their liberty are not bound to pay
them.
hold il to be sefevident that one generation
ofmen have neither the right nor power TO borrow
money and bind another generation to pay it.
| That when this is sought to be done, 1t is the
| right of the succeeding generation to throw Oft
the burden thus unjustly placed upon 1t. Why
should the laborers of France burden themselves
with heavy taxes to pay the debts which have
beenhanded down by the despOts Ottwo centuries!
Or why should the people of the British Empire,
when they shall have succeeded in driving out the
Aristocrscy whose iron rule now brushes them to
the earth, vote to pay the immense sums borrowed
by the royal fool who wsged seven years war,
in endeavoring to enslave US?
Let me not be misunderstood detest Amerl-
can Reputation. When people rolers, elected
by Universal Suffrage, borrow money in legal
and constitutional manner; every consideration
ofhonor and Justice requires that the People should
pay it-pay it while ajority OF their Numbers
are living. The debt contracted by our Govern
ment in carrying on the war commenced by Polk,
Ia man who has done bis country greater injury
than any one American that has yet lived,l hope
TO see paid off within the next twelve years. L
will willingly pay my share Of the taxes which
must be imposed in order to do it. But II 1t is
handed down to the men of fifty years hence,
do earnestly hope that they will assert their IN
alienable rights and resist the imposition.
have said enough to make my meaning clear,
and will not lengthen this article. | should like
to know your opinion on the question | have
raised. Respectfully yG 0pTs, COLE
Reply.
We believe our correspondent cannot be
more thoroughly convinced than we are of
the injustice, the moral wrong, of one gen.
Grafton of rulers or people mourning debts
for the prosecution of offensive wars or any
other purpose not calculated essentially to
benefit their successors. But we dissent
altogether from his suggestion of a remedy.
The case in private life would be like this;
A. B. inherits a noble estate from his an
cestors, which, instead of transmitting un-
impaired and improved to his children, he,
to pamper his appetites and crafty his in
dolence, loads with debts and mort
cages. In due time, his son G. d. comes
into possession of the property, and says:
81 won't pay these debts, because my
father had no moral right to contract
them" We cannot see that the premises
Justify the deduction.
But one generation cannot (morally1
bind its successors. My friend you
learned that maxim in a bad school, and
cannot unlearn it too soon 1t won't do to
live by. The obligation of People to pay
the debts contracted by their ancestors is
enforced if not created by their receiving
and ENJOYING the fruits Of those ancestors
erertiOnS. The generation of to-day can
not rightfully repudiate the obligations i'm
posed by their ancestors without rejecting
along with them the property transmitted
to them by those ancestors. For example:
tho Erie Canal is worth at least Thirty
Millions of Dollars, while the entire Pub
lie Debt of our State is a little over TWEEN
ty Millions. Now, suppose that Debt
should remain undiminished through the
next century, the Erie Canal also remain
ing worth the same as now, surely no hon
est man needs an argument to convince
him that the People of New Y ork in 1850
could not rightfully repudiate the Debt
and yet continue to receive and enjoy the
income of the Canals.
Here is a specific good received from a
former generation burdened with specific
liability. No one, we think, will doubt
that the burden is to be taken with the
good. But the case is not materially alter
ed where the burden is not directly con-
nected with specific debt. We think the
People Of France, In order honestly to re-
pudiate their National Debt, would be in
honor bound not only to surenderV ersailles,
the Louvre, the Tuilleries, the Navy, the
Ordrnnno md ell other National Prnnart,r