Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-06-04
4nE NATlOnAL DEBT.

NC Az l bUtA ~ ohA
able pursuance of the copperbead pro.
grAmms, which is BY every possible means
to d.moralizs the popular mind in respect
to the war the government, and the Union
cause, publishes II most infamous line Of
argument in its money article of the LIST
Instant, intended to overturn as far as pos
sible the public faith in the national debt
PreIeudedIy the WOrlTI article is die
tated from European stand point. 1t at
tacks Mr.. Cobden's idea of extending the
elective franchise 10 EugIaud, saying that
il be succeeds, the result will be the voting
down and the voting away of the taxes ne
cessary TO pay the interest on the British
debt. The English debt is held in a few
hAnds-Only about PTS, OOO-and the people
are oppressed to pay it. If they had a
chance they would repudiate it. And why
shouldn't they2r Their ancestors created
the debt for wars of conquest and other
purposes, and why should England of to
day be paying for the tOllies and extrava-
gAnces Of Eoglaud hundred years ago Z
This is the argument of the World.
After taking this position in reference
to the English debt, it proceeds to quote
from Thomas Jefferson to show that the
idea OF national debt is Inherently and
essentially at variance with right and jus.
tice; that no existing generation can bind
Its successors; that the earth. with all its
treasures, belongs to each generation as it
comes aud goes, and that the men of to-
day have simply life estate in it, and
nothing more. Wequote the Rorlfs quo
tation from Jefferson, as follows:
In regard to this question of national
debts, the illustriOus Thomas Jefferson,
President Of the United States, in letter
teu in the year 1918, about four years
after the close of his presidency, said,
"What is to binder the people from creating
perpetual debit l answer the ldV1 Of
nature. The earth belongs to the living,
not to the dead. The will and power Of
man expire with his life by natures law
Some societies give 1t an artificial conIin.
uauce tor the encouragement of industry.
Some refuse it, as our aboriginal neighbors
whom We call bsrbarians. The genera.
lions of men may be considered as bodies
or corporations. Zach generation has the
USylruet Of the earth during the period of
its continuance. When it ceaSes 70 exist,
that uSutTWet passes or to the succeeding
generation, free and IEHeHeu16ertd aud so
on, TO aud from one geGeraIion to another,
for ever. When We may consider each
generation as q distinct nation, with q
right, by the will of Q majority, to bind
hsmEsEvs5; but none to bind the succeeding
9GHeTGtioH, more than the Inhabitants of
another country. Or the case may be IL
kened TO the ordinary one of tenant for
life, who may hypoIhecars the land TOR his
oeots. during the continuance Of his usu-
frucI but at his death the reVersiouer
(whO Is tor life only) receives il generated
from all burdens. Suppose The
msjorIty, on the 6rSt day of J0ne, 1894,
had borrowed sum of money equal to
The fee simple Of Ihs state, aud to have
consumed it in eanug and drinking and
making merry in their day; or, II you
please, 10 quArreliog aud 6ghIiug with their
unUf=udlng ueignOors. Within eiohteen
yedTS and eight months, ono half Vt Ibs
adult citizens are dead. Till then, being
the mrjOrny. they might righIfuily levy
the annual Interest of their debt on them.
selves, and Iheie fellow reVelers. or fellow.
champions. But at that period, say at this
moment, urw majority have come into
place, IN their own right, and not under the
rights, the conditions. or the laws of their
predecessors. Are they bound to consider
the debt; TO consider the preceding gener
alton as having bad right to eat up the
whole Ut their country In the course OF q
lie; TO ALLEVIATE it trsu them(for it would
be an alienation to the crediLors;) and
would they think themselves either legally
or morally bound to give up their country
aud to emigrAIe to another for subsistence
Every one will say No!' The soil is the
gilt OF God to the living as it had been to
the Ge.sG ed generation, and The IatD Of
nature impulses no obligation on them 10
pay this debt. And, although, like some
other natural rights, this has not yet en-
tered into any declaration of rights it is
no less Law, and ought to be acted upon
by all ho5eSt governments. 1t iB, at the
same time, saluIary curb on the spirit OF
War aud Indictment; which, since the mod.
err theory of the perpetuation of debt, has
drenChed the earth with blood and crushed
its Inhabitants under burdens, ever accu
muIatirg. Had this principle been declar-
ed in the British Bill OF Rights England
would have been placed under the happy
disability of waging eternal tOGr, aud oil
contracting Thousand millions of public
debt.
The whole animus of the World in the
above quotation, as also in its preceding
argument in reference to England, is seen
in the following addendum which it ap.
ponds to the quotation.
Jeferson's opinion is uDequivocalIy and
distinctly on record that. mat TO the dspri-
patton Of life, deprivation of goods at hG
arbitrary tOitt Of rule or rulers sIGnds sec
Ond in the LiStof the different species Of ~
Fanny. Taxes imposed without natlonal
consent, obtained from a majority OF the
governed, are public robbery. tUniver
sal suffrage in Great Britain will develop
Practically this process of reasoning ou
their taxation and nGnonRl debt. Other
nations will follow their example, and the
theory of national debt will be exploded
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