The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-06-07


Meredith and Biddle administrators oi
Mrs. G. G. KeppeD Us. the Richmond and
Petersburg Railroad Company, filed a bill
to recover certain dividends from the said
company. General II. II. Wells, of Alexan-
dria, appeared for the plaintiffs, and Will
liam Green, ESQ.,, of Richmond, for the
defendants.
AS the question at issue in the suit is
really whether the Confederate was or was
not de facto government, we give con-
siderable space to statement Of the case.
Mrs. Catherine G. Keppel, resident of
Philadelphia, owned three hundred and
four shares Of the Richmond and Peters
burg Railroad Company's stock, the par
value Of which was s30,400. This stock
she held during the late war, and her ad-
ministrators now claim dividends amount
ing to one hundred and nine per cent,
which were declared from time to time be-
tween 1860 and 1865. The defendants urge
that under an order of the District Court
Of the Confederate States, the dividends in
question were paid lover to the agent of
the Confederate Government, and por-
tion Of the stock which was forfeited as
the property of an alien enemy was sold.
The company further insist that the earn
iDgs of the railroad were received in Con-
federate money, and that the plaintiffs, if
entitled to anything, should be paid in the
same currency.
General Wells, for the plaintiffSielivered
his argument yesterday, and the case was
continued. He argued,
"That the Confederate States authori-
ties $50 called), while regularly organized,
holding possession Of an extensive terri
tory, bringing large armies into the field
in defence of its claim of sovereignty,
having an actual existence, and maintaining
the attitude and semblance Of govern
ment was not government de fdcto, in the
sense referred to when we speak of a po-
htical pouer that has authority to confer
civil rights and limit obligations, or, as ap-
piled to this case, that it could not relieve
the defendant from debt due to the COM
plainant.
"That whether the Confederate States
$50 called) were to be regarded as polih-
cal po,cer, able to deal with civil and con-
stitutional rights and obligations, is po-
litical, and not a judicial question. 1t had
only such character as the Government of
the United States might concede to or re-
cognize it as possessing.
1T 10 not to bo Judged of nor moasurod
by the rules found in the Law Of Nations,
because that code or body Of unwritten
law is rule of conduct for, and applies
only between, Independent sovereign ma
tions. Nor is the civil statute of the Con-
federate States to be determined or affect
ed by the view which may have been ta-
ken or the recognition given by foreign ma
tions, for it is an internal question between
sovereign government and portion OF
its own people, with which other govern
meuts have no right to meddle.
"The United States has never recog-
nized the Confederate States as being such
political power, or as possessing the rights
and functions of q civi government. 1t did,
however, extend, from motives Of human
ity, perhaps from necessity, certain bel
ligerent rights; but at the same time
claimed to itself the full exercise Of SOre-
reiqn rights. And this granting to these
States of such limited belligerent rights
was not inconsistent with total denial of
civil rights, or of the validity Of the acts of
their organized legislatures.
"The Confederate States claimed that
they had right to exercise the powers
and functions of civil government as fully
as they had assumed the form of such a
government, and this as an independent
State or sovereignty. They appealed to
the wager of battle for settlement Of the
question. The decision was adverse to
their claim. And now, to give the effect
claimed by the defendant to the decree OF
the Confederate courts, is to claim for a
defeat what victory alone could achieve.
Gail American courts are bound to treat
each and all Of the insurrectionary States
as integral parts of the Union, subject at
all times to it's laws and Constitution, and
the United States statutes furnish this rule
of decision. From the foregoing PROPOSE
tions, abundantly sustained as they are by
authorities which have been cited, the fol-
lowing conclusions result:
"The ordinances Of secession are a
nullity, for the allegiance which every
citizen owed to the United States was so
absolute that no State or convention, de-
cree or ordinance, could relieve him
from it.
"The Confederate States, so-called,
were not separately or in the aggregate,
q body polite; therefore the Government
could not declare war against them; ii
could not recognize them, separately or
together, as capable of making a surren-
der, nor of legally performing any function
hostile to the United States.
"No general status of belligerency was
or could be conceded, and while carrying
on war the distinction was at all times pre-.
served between acts Of war and civl acts.
- = thfn / al
the Congress, and the courts of the Con
federate States, so called, were absolutely
null and uoid, abenitio, afIording no lega
right, authority, or protection to the de-
fendant. None of these proceedings, then
by their own force or authority, offer {
justification for the non-payment by thu
defendant.
"There are, however, class Of cases il
which persons are excused from thel
wrongful acts, induced or resulting from
state of war that is where they are no
voluntary, but compulsory. the result OF
vS MAJOR.
"This is not such case, for there wa
no actual force there was simply voit
order of an Meqal court. There is no pen
altv affixed to its disobedience, for a cor
poration cannot, like natural person, b.
seized and imprisoned. The only remed,
is ',crit of diStringas,' the purpose o
which is to distrain the corporation of it
goods and chattels. No such writ or othe
Compulsory process was issued.
"The only compulsion which, unde
such circumstances, would be a justitca
tion, is such actual overpowering force
present and exercised at the time tche'e tn
act ,ras done, as renders resistance impossi
ble.'
"The suggestion that the earnings {
the road were received in Contederat
notes. payable after six months after tn