Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1856-04-11

For the Er9"'r"r.
CIRCULAR TO THE CREDITORS OF THE
STATE Ut TEXAS.

'''S- - 800 ''Ns'N NyH' : LIN, .-
gemcy, | should scarcely venture &" inlnige III ~ ~ ~,
marks | am about TO make. for If l couid, l """
desire to despoil you oi one fartli!hE Oh ~ I hall
~ which YOU may respectively be elltitIra. ""m.
make these remarks in nu feeling nt h"s.'''f w o.. -,
Interests, and will! no ~ovcr-wceuihs
my own. ..l,,.,, ;s q,
"" W =, ~ E,i,unry 18th, 1879, by which
Tie Government of the United States agrees 10 pay
f,, iii. State of Texas about serehty-siN per cen'uIh
an II debt OH which, with principal ana interest, no'l
are indebted 10 us " Gas Wv -
cent.
r.ccivs seventy six cents on the dollar, and Il fraction,
make for yourselves a stupendously beneficial settle
mrmt, as the original securities you hold. except in a
few cases of speculation, since the passage q! the
Boundary act, cost you from five TO thirty cents on
The dollar. Nevertheless you have valid clam Tor
real par and interest, for the just interpretation 10 pc
put ON the 0MiS6ii0n of every promissory cerlihea'e'
ia what that certificate promises {" pay.
| have, therefore, no fault to find ~ Your endcaE"r
In get all ynu can, but have great fault 10 ma WIN
the Congress Of the United States IN passing Ill ACT
which pcrpeirates a monstrous wrong, III c"''"u'h'''a-
ting gross injnstice and la%raut rcpudlatioh.
Texas in fixing the amount and character OF her
Public Debt, classified it by the price M whi'h sue
had issued her certificates, and proposed paying her
various liabilities by this standard To those who
len, her par she euacted should receive par; aiu
those securities which were issued al twenty 'hrty,
fifty and seventy cents on the dollar, shonld W aud'-
ted at these rates. | do not defend, because l deem
understandable this scale of payment which subverts
the par obligations impressed oil the lace OF all her
issues. But | do complain that by TINS scheine o.
settlemen the Government OF the Unied otales
has enacted by the law Of Congress, OF 18th OF FEB
ruary, 1855, that | am compelled to sign my release,
with the penalty of forfeiture on IN audited cerlln-
cate, in which Texas has by a solemn obligation
agreed TO pay par on its settlement. The Act oil Con,
gresS says shall receive but seventy.siN per cent, ana
scales OF from the security twenty four per cent. to
make up a pro rata dividend of seventy-siS per cent;
that those creditors from whom it il not pretended
the Government of Texas received more than TWEEN
", thirty, forty and seventy cents on the dollar,
should be scaled up to an arbitrary pro rata OF seven-
ty-six cents, aud the par creditors scaled o To
this level.
1t is quite manifest, that the Government of the
United States has acknowledged her liability for the
public debt of Texas. II she is liable Tor half of that
debt, she is undrmiably responsible for The whole,
yet she has repudiaied one.ha!f Of the debt 10y co:
rrciDg a settlement altogether unworthy OF her good
faith and honor. She thus repudiates i'll The face OF
Inc iinmersa bonus, she is 10 receive during; the
whole duration Of the Union, by the surrender OH
the part of Texas, of crrercllc power, To The Gov
rrnlneut OF the Cninn, which alter the next census on
the consumption OF the people Of Texas for the next
fifty years, will be little short Of an average value
Of three millions of dollars annually. But here let
me stop. | refrain from going into a minute anaiy'
sis Of the act of Congress which would but more iul-
ly disclose its inequality and injustice. l come now
to what is vastly more material, than Needless com
plants and unavailiug recrimlnatiOn. The thing IL
done and it cannot be unGone. Bat much may be
done by Texas and ourselves, to give her public ere.
at, and we in the end full payment, according TO the
tenor of the respective obligations we hold.
| propose that we should, one aud all, meet in con-
veutiOn in the city OF Washington, Oh the lSt Mon
day in May next, 10 consider the following PROPOSE
lions IN be submitted tn the State OF Texas at the as
semb!y OF her Legislature, on the lst Monday in Jul
ly next.
LIST. That after receiving in person, fifty per cent.
on our respective securities in cash at the Treasury
OF the United States. we should authorize the Score.
.. r l. r---., - I-Il -. -Na.t 20 tIn I..a
sury of the United States, twenty-six per cent. of the
,eventy-six per cent. OF the pro rat0 provided by the
act of Congress on the following conditions, uses and
trusts. to wit: that the said twenty.six per cent.
should be transferred to the Comptroller vi Texas, to
be deposited in the Treasury OF Texas, provided the
State of Texas should agree To issue II land scrip al
one dollar per acre for the principal at par aud inter.
est in arresr 10 the date of. payment, on the original
securities issued by the late Republic OF Texas,
which we deposited with the Comptroller AT Austin,
in exchange for the audited certificates issued under
the authority OF tho State OF Texas, which we ROW
hold.
ii. That this twentv-six per cent. should be sub
ject TO the following Investment. That ench creditor
should have tho right to instruct the Comptroller of
Texas 10 invest his share of the said twenty-six per
cent. in some one OF the incorporated rail- roads tn
be constructed within the limits of the State CT
81. That the option of selecting in what rail road
subscription shall be made. shall reside with the
creditor without impeachment, aud be exclusively
his control.
!;h. The twenty.siN per cent. thus deposited IN tho
Treasury of Texas efail be on the responsibility ~ |
the State, which shnii continue until Mi the insta'-
lnenis OF the subscription made by each creditor are
paid, and lac receives al tie hands u: the Comptroller
the certificates oil stock 10 which he may be entitled.
18th. That each creditor should enter into Il written
agreement with the Secretary of the Treasury ct the
United States that his portion of the said twenty-six
per cent. shall remain in the Treasury OF the United
States until the lat Of November next. by which pc.
riod, If the Legislature OF Texas should not assent to
-.I r.. tIa .n;l tu..nkv |
six per cent. are to revert to the creditors and be alb
solutely and entirely under their control and subject
to their order.
This scheme of settlement is Recommended by the
following considerations, of value, both to Texas and
her creditors:
LIST. To Texas it dedicates not less than two mil
lions and ninety thousand dollars to ZONE one or all
her lines of Railroad, which are, or may be. i'll The
course of constructions, which would insure their im-
mediate aud successful completion. This fund, under
tue enlightened control of individual seii-interest, /
would insure its most beneficial investment by the
selection of some road or roads most likely to be Il
paying stock, which, in this selection, Texas
might be assured its interests would be Identical with
those OF its creditor, HIS the railroad most likely tn
prove profitable to him by It's early construction woI:id
be most beneficial to her. No opinion can be more
radically unsound than that railroads in Texas wall
not pay; they are destined to yield II higher profit
than the railroads Of any State i'll the Union, tor there
are neither n~avisable strearns, turnpi;cs, McAdain-
or plank. roads. to enter INTO competition WIN
them. To the State Of Texas the expenditure of the
two millions would he worth ten millions after the
ut the roads, nnd fifty millions IN twenty
years.
pirate to pay the entire baiauce Of principal and III
ierest due on her whole debt, would be M absolute
benefit to her. y tax-paying, industrious settler
is worth more to the State than n section OF lnnd,
whom the enlightened self interest OF 4 creditor
would place there III the shortest possible time
Besides what State cherishinS not alone a jea-
louS regard of her own reputation, but n wise sense
of her own interests, would place wild unsettled
lands in comparison with solid credit and sterling
honor! But the most valuable consideration of all
in this scheme Of settlement remains ye, to be dis.
cussed. II will clear the skirts Of the public repute
at the State of all faint OF reputation, for with hall
nf the public debt rrpudiaicd ut the Treasury OF the
United States, even after you have received your re-
spective payments, her public credit will BE- unre-
deemed. She will have parted with Il ton at money,
but not have got an ounce OF character III exchange
To yourselves, gentlemen, this project oi supple.
mentary settlement is Of incalculable vaIuc-y0u
will get a priucely domain nj the head waters of the
Brazos and Colorado, which il now open TO locttiuil,
compara,ivel worthless To Texas, over which the
Cnmanche, the panther and the wolf roam in uudls-
pu,ed sovereignty, which, in ten years, will be worth
10 you not only the twenty.six per cent. you con-
cedc for them, but treble the whole amonn; of debt
scaled and unscaled. which Texas originally owed
you. Besides ynu will be entitled Ia your snare III
sixteen sections al land in common with the other
stockholders in the stock Of the company in which
your subscription may be made. which Texas has
conceded for every mile ut IaI road constructed With
in her limits, which ] will venture To assert, will. III
the end, be worth three times the par value of the
stock.
| have thus, gentlemen, unfolded the advantages of
The supplementary settlement with Texas, which !
believe to he reciprocHlly beneficial TO her ns well az
TO ourselves, do not ask you TO make a donation OF
twcnty-six per cent. to her cor the construction oi
her rail roads, because your stock IN the respective
companies will he worth the money You contribute
10 ,heir construction, 10 say nothing OF the large in
rilputnl SOHUS YOU will GET IN the concession Oi laius