Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-07-21
WHO II TO PAY THE "DEAD
STATES DEBT6P

STATES" DEBTST
The President in springing the qaes~
tion as 10 whether, under the complete
extinction Of the late insurgent States
made by the Reconstruction Act and its
supplements, the Federal government did
not incur responsibility for the indebted
ness Of those States, has impaled the
Radical leaders on the horns Of a ailem-
ma, and as they writhe, they rail denun-
Citations against their adroit tormentor
They have declared by law that no illegal
governments exist in those States, and
pronounced them "void For two years
they have held the theory that they were
conquered provinces, and that their peo-
pies were the subjects Of Congress
sional authority, stripped Of every civil
attribute and political right except such
as might be conferred-that the war
made virtual ta5ula rdSd Of their char
acteristics as States of the American
Union. They have now made practical
their theory by putting the machinery Of
these governments, the people, the land
the perishable property and everything
under absolute control Of military com"
manders, and abolished the States by
Congressional statute. There is now, in
contemplation Of Federal law, no Yir-
giniq, no Georgia, no Texas; and if not,
to whom are the creditors, foreign and
domestic, Of these extinct organizations
to look to for their claims? To the PEG.
pie inhabiting that territory They
have no power to re-establish their gov
ernments, and make provisions to fulfill
their financial obligations Suppose,
however, it is commended that they are
given the power under the law to do 50
and they refuse to call conventions, and
the military satraps are indefinitely con
tinued, what are State creditors to do I?
The fact of the matter is, that notwith-
standing the prompt and vigorous at
tempts to escape the logical consequences
Of the conquered province theory, by
Sumner, Wilson, Howard, Fessehden and
that sect who set it up, there is knotty
question in it The Federal government
as cOnquerer has taken possession of the
country Not the simplest civil act can
be performed except under its immediate
authority 1t has become the owner Of
the soil, its resources, and its debt as
we'll Not a tax can be levied but
through the General governments Off
cials or their agents
Under the principles of the laws Of
nations, the liabilities Of the conquered
government fall to the victors. They can
pay them or repujiate them; but in this
instance, neither of these courses will be
adopted When it becomes necessary, a
direct tax viii be levied by the Federal
government, and the substance Of the
conquered people will be used to liquidate
them. This will, in all probability, be
the practical disposition made of the
question; but it is interesting to see the
fright which seized the Radical chiefs at
the suggestion Of an increase of the
national debt and how it made them
scamper away from the theory Of dead
States" and conquered territory" The
thing Of the national debt is disturbing
the sleep Of the magnates of the party
that made it, and though bulky package
Of 1905 is good thing to have in the
house, some Of the shrewder ones begin
to fear that every bond aaoat is a political
death-warrant to them.