Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1862-02-21
REMARKS OF MR.. sHELLABARGER.

| Mr.. SHEII.ABARGER. Mr.. Chairman. I rise
to oppose the pending amendment. ! did de-
| sire to submit to the committee some views
| touching this measure when we were in general
debate, but omitted TO do 50 in Difference to the
more maturcd views which other members of
the committee desired to submit. l propose to
occupy the few mnmonls ! have, in making
some statements in relation to the charges Of
bad faith and injustice which have been so per-
si-ter;t Y, earncs ly, and, doub:lessy, sincerely
made by the opponents Of the bill.
Now, sir, ! think it must be plain, beyond
all C;lvil, that if these notes, proposed TO be l.
sued under this bill, are made of the value i'm
pressed upon them by law, SO that they will
be to the citizen the true aud real representa-
lives of that amount Of the intrinsic wealth
Of the country which is stamped by law upon
them as their nominal value, then there can be
no practical injury, injustice, Or bad faith in
the law which makes them pay debt precise
" equal to that real value or wealth of the
country, which that note, so made tender
represents. 1t is, Of course, not my purpose
now either to discuss or state those views hF1
which others see in this measure-.,s distin-
guished from those they advocate only iisas
ter, in the shape of destruction of all stan
dards Of valup;" in the imitation of the baS-
ness and the prices OF the country" in .disor
derng the operations of trade and commerce.;
and in the ultimate bankruptcy" of the Gov
ernment and the people. l have no dou0t this
cry is made sincerely by many, and perhaps Is
believed by all who make it. | do not discuss
the sources and reasOnablcness of this cry oil
alarm. but only wish to present Il parallel to
it, aud say that this csy is, to my mnd US un-
reasonable as that other TO which a!hule. ]
find that parallel in the history of the growth
Of the debt Of England; and in the light OF
that history, declare that this cry Of "bank
ruptcy" and national disaster and ruin is ur-
terry unreasonable, and just now most pcrn-
ciuus.
Sir, the history Of the growth of that debt
which one Of the great commoners OF England
calls ''!he greatest prodigy that ever perplcXed
the sagacity, anG cOnfoundcl the pride of states
men and philosophers" furnishes as conclusive
refutatiurs of the theories and predictions of
our alarmsis Of this House, as it did in the
past of other ParliamenIs. Sir, at the end 0
The war Of England with Louis XIV, in l7I3
the debt Of England was, in round numbers
S25O,000,u00. But, sir, at that period. moi
pot-huusc politicians merely, bat profound
thinkers declared the Government permanent
Iy crippled. But while these were engaged in
proving the nation ruined the nation WAS grow
ing richer and richer. Soon came that wal
which WAS ended 10y the peace of Aix-l- Cha
pel!e; and the national debt had come to be
$780, 100000 in l74S. Now, again, historians
statesmen. and economists. concurred in deciar-
ing that the case Of England was certainly now
desperate; !Iut now again the nation persisted
although demonstrated by the books 10 be Il
bankrupt. IN hacoming lar richer than in any
period of her history. Soon the nation became
again involved III the continental wars OF the
reign Of George | and ut the end of Chat
hams admins tration, at the period of 1860
the national debt came To be SS7OO,OOO, ,OOO.-i
Then again, it is declared that both men Of
theory and of business, uriicd in declaring that
now, at all events, the fatal day had Certainly
arrived. Adam Smith, the father of politico-
economical science, thouht the limit had been
reached, and an increase of the debt would be
fatal David Hume, the prulUundest nun oi
his age, declared it would have been better
that England had been conqurcd and crushed
10y Prussia and Austria, than by debts for
which all the revenues of the Kingdom north
of Trent and West Of Reading were mortgage
cd. lie said the madn"ss of England exceed
cd that of the crusaders. Richard Cue1r dr
Lion and ST. Louis bad not gone in the face OF
arithmetic. England had. You could moi
prove that the road TO Paradise was moi
through the Holy Land; but You could prove
that the road to national ruin was through a
4 I
and Smith, and even Burke, the nation would
live and grow richer, and pay the interest on
its public d,b.
Then came GrccEvllcS policy to tax the
colonies Of America 10 help pay the interest
on this debt, and that brought on our war OF
the Revolution, in that England lost the col
Or.its, and foun an addition 10 lrl pub ic deb
Of $500. O.0O0, 600 making the aggregate, at
the time Of the treaty Of peace, 81 POO, ,OOO.-
900. Again England was Pronounced hope
less; but again she continued to bc more pros
porous than ever before.
Then came the wars growing out of the
French Revolution; and the debt Of England
ran up TO S4,000,0OO,OO0. Again the cry of
despair and Of bankruptcy was louder thar
ever; but also again the cry was false as ever;
and the interest on the debt of England not
only continued TO b. paid to the day at the
bank, but such was her prosperity that at the
close Of the French wars her people ex-
pended for railroads in the Island, in few
years, more than 81 200, 900, 900!
Such is a sketch of the history of the debt
Of England, ard such the refltation furnished
by the logic of history to the logic of abstract
,easoning, however profound.
a great hisloIian and great commoner of
England declares that all these cries of bank
ruptcy and ruin were based on double falla-
cy. They who raised these cries imagined that
there was AN exact analogy between the case
Of individual who is in debt to another, and
the case Of society which is in debt 10 part
of itself; and they also forget that other things
grew as well as the debt.
| Sir. do not make this alluson to the debt
of England TO show that "a national debt is a
nat ona blessing" nor to Indicate that this
naion ought permanently to depart tr,m its
old and iradIionary policies of avoiding public
| ,lrbt and direct taxation. ] do not think we
e ther ought or will But. sir, this parallel
! tween the alarms Of this day and this u ltrv.
and those of the past in another country. is
only intr, ductd 10 Indicate the strange infrm-
tiles of vision in all these prophets of evil, and
to Indicate how unjust and cruel ii is TO weak
en-, by these refntcd cries Of ruin and bank
ruptcy, the faith Of the people in the Govern
ment, which now, in its day Of peril, so pre-
cminently rests upon the faith of her children.
Sir, all these obligations Of this Government
go ont TO the people bore up by all the faith
and all the property of the people; and they
have all the value which that faith un,arnsh-
ed, and that property incstimable, can give
them. 1t is not because they lack intrinsic