Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-12-14
Southern Debts and Northern
Philosophy.

lhe doings oftho party in power in respect
TO the Confederate debt, is a very good cx.
ample OF its style Of thinking and its style
OF actlng: The first shallow, and the last
hasty and superficial. II may be the effect
of ASSOCIATION that the Republican party
reasons, foolishly and acts rashly. A man Is
not only known, but he is formed by tho
company he keeps he continually approx
imates TO the thing he admires. so many
years OF. mental and moral sympathy and
communion with the negro have not passed
without their assimilating effects and not
we alone but others have observed thatthe
writings fthose journalists, and the plans
OF those politicians are most acceptable TO
the masses of the great coorcd party, which
are most like what a negro would say or do
under the same circumstances.
The price Of Confederate securities az the
close Of the war-which was scarcely more
than nomnal-indicatcd the opinion of the
capitalists Of the world as TO the probability
OF their Redemption Such is the state of
prostratlon IN the South, that il the people
were really desirous to pay their public debt,
very many years must elapse before they
could begin TO meet even the ahnuallyaccru.
ing interest; and other generations must
have come upon the stage before any thing
could be done. BUTT is not probable that
the people expected TO pay unless they
should be successful in establishing sepa.
rate government; nor it probable that the
creditors expected to receive, except in that
contingency. To compel them, therefore, to
outlaw their debt Is, in one aspect, work
Of supererogation. 1t is simply pushing a
party who is utterly powerless, to promise
b not to do a thing which be knows is entire
E ly beyond bis ability.
The real object of the movement is to
humble the people Of the South ; and here
the negro style Of reasoning and the negro
style Of revenge comes in. Those exceed
.lngly short sighted people do not see that
! 1t Is not the moral character Of the South,
but of the North, that is being exhibited in
this performance. They do not understand
the difference between depressing another
and degrading him a man is not charge
able with that which he does under com
pulsion, either legally or morally it is the
party which cOmpels that is chargeable.-
/ The Government, by forcing the South to
repudate, becomes responsible for the debts
repudated; assumes the obligation which
it deprives the party in durance Of the power
10 perform. Ii there Is any collective in
fanny attending the act Of repudiation. that
lntamy attaches TO the Government and to
those who have sustained it in this enter
prise.
The Ethiopian will doubtless have his
answer ready: he cares nothing for the
moral obligation in that particular case-his
moral tenderness being invested in diff
terent quarter; and as he is under no legal
= obligation to pay the Southern debt, he
hopes the creditors will have good time
collectingit. He forrets that is this respect,
. the Southern debt will stand upon the same
ground with the Northern Legal obliga-
tions only exist where there are legal means
to enforce them. The obligations of the
General Government do not rest upon any
law under which their payment may be
compelled Their only security is the honor
of the Government which created them
Government which, in its dealings with the
South, takes pains TO show its want of con-
science in respect to the debts of others,
shows how little reliance there is upon it to
pav debts Of its own
Nobody but a negro or a negro-sympa-
thizer would ever take it into his head to
suppose that an obligation can be annihi-
lated by force; yet it is an essential part of
the philosophy Of the party in power, not
only that obligations, but that principles
may be annililated. The organs Of that
party treat political questions as if truth
could be voted out Of existence, and the ma
, tive rights Of man in government extin-
= guished by legislative acts and executive
proclamations: as if the laws of trade and
! the rules Of moral conduct were equally in
their power to alter or to reverse CMcin-
natl Enquirer.