The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-07-10
Reputation.
SHREvEPoRT, june %, 1867.

no hy nnh;shinp the annexed letter from the pen Q
= Thomas Jefferson, that great apostle OF the peiho
Gratis This letter may be new to the younger poraoi
II Of vour readers but whether young or od, nov sa
renudiation IS begun to be talked about it will be IN
teresting and instructive as showing the reason ant
philosophy of reputation. 8 The Garth belongs y
usufrct to the living the dead have neither powers
nor rights over it, The whole war debt OF our Ole
revolution, except about fifty millions which wa
funded was utterly and absolutely repudlated, not
wfhstandine what Mr. r. says in tile concluding para
oraph OF his letter We do not owe shilling which
viii not be pain The truth is the country owed mill
ions which we're never paid, and it came to be say
ing that continental money, or any other thing lus'
as worthless was not worth a continental curse NO"
tell me- this was done ID the green tree, what shoulc
we meet to be done in the olds Was that les
sacred debt than the one which Expresses the ma
ton the one due to the poor soldier the other
the millionaire or rogue--that the one should not DC
paid, the other paid j? Heaven speed the time when
Reputation may come
+ A JEFFERSON DEMOCRAT.
/ PANS, september6 c, 1882
4 Dear SRI sit down to write to yon, without know
ing by what occasion shall send my letter | 40 IT
because subject comes into my head, winch Weuto
wish to develop little than is practicable IN the
hurry of the moment of making up general dispatches
The question, whether one generation OF men mas
right bind another, seems never to have been started
on this or our side of the water ct 1T IS question
of such consequences not only to merit put
place also among the fundamental principles OF every
government The course OF reflection IN which we are
immersed here on the elementary principles OF socl
ety. has presented this question to my nina ana at
no such obligation be SO transmitted think very
capable Of proof set out On th1s Mlun -
usuuct to the Icing that the dead have nelhef pow
ers nor rights over it. The portion occupied by any
individual ceases to be his when hmse ceases 70 ~;
aud reverts to the society II the society mas formed
no rules the appropriation OF its lands IN
it will be taken by the first occupants ana ese WIZ
generally be the wife and children or to some one OF
them, to the egatee of the deceased 80 they may
give it to his creditor But the child, the legatee or
creditor takes it not by natural right, but by law OF
the society which he is member and to winch ne
! is subject Then no can, by nata7at4lght, oblge
the lands he occupied the persons who succeed him
in that occupations to the payment OF debts CONTRACTED
by i'm. For if he could he might during his own HE,
eat up the usuruet of the lands for several generations
to come and then the lands would belong to the dead
and not to the living, which is the reverse OF our pf
/ cple. ,.-
What is true of every member of the society, indi-
vidually is true of them all colleetivey since the
rights of the whole can be no more than the sum OF me
rights OF the individuals 10 keep. ideas clear
when applying them to multitude, let us suppose
whole generation of men to be born on the same day.
to attain mature age on the same day, and to de on
the day. leaving succeeding generation IN the
moment of attaining their mature age all together
Let the ripe age be supposed of twenty years. and
their period Of life thirty -four years more that being
the average term given by the bills of mortality to per-
of twentyone years of age Each successive gen
Grafton would in this way, come and go OFT the stage
at fixed moment, as individuals do now. Then say,
the earth belongs to each of these generations during
its course fully and in its right The second gen.
Grafton receives it clear of the debts and membranes
of the first the third of the second and so on Forif
the first could charge it with debt then the earth
would belong to the dead and not to the living genera
ton. Then, generation contract debts greater
tence. Attwenty-one years of age, they may bind
themselves and ther lands for thirty years to
come; at twenty three for thirtytwo; and at fifty
four for year only because these the terms
of VIII lch m 10
But material difference must be noted, between the
succession of individual and that of whole genera
ton. Individuals parts only of society, subject
to the laws of the whole. These laws may appropri-
the portion of land occupied by decedent to his
creditor rather than to any other or to his child on
condition he satisfies the creditor But when whole
generation that is the whole society, dies, in the
we have supposed and another generation or So
ciety succeeds this forms whole and there is no su
perior who give their territory to third society,"
who may have lent money to their predecessors, be-
yond their faculties of paying.
What is true of generations succeeding one another
at fixed epochs as has been supposed for clearer con-
ception true for those renewed daily in the actual
of nature. AS majority of the contracting gen
Grafton will continue in being thirty -four years, and
majority will then come into possession, the tor
mer may extend their engagements to that term and
no longer The conclusion them is, that neither the
representatives of nation nor the whole nation itself
assembled validity engage debts beyond what they
may pay in their time that is to say within thirty
four years from the date of the engagement.
To render this conclusion palpable, suppose that
Louis the XIV. and XIV had contracted debts in the
of the French nation to the amount of ten thou
sand mlard and that the whole had been contracted
in Holland. The interest of this would be five
hundred mliards, which is the whole rentroll net
proceeds Of the territory of France. Must the present
generation of men have retired from the territory in
which nature produces them and coded it to the Dutch
creditors2 No; they have the same rights over the
soil on which they were produced, as the preceding
generations had They derive these rights not from
by nature clear of the debts of their predecessors To
present this in another point Of view, suppose Louis
XIV and his contemporary generation, had said to the
money lenders of Holland, give money, that may
eat, drink and be merry in day; and condition
you will demand interest till the end of thirty four
years. shall then, forever AFTER receive annual
interest of fifteen per cent The money is lent these
conditions, IS divided among the people, eaten, drunk
and squandered. Would the present generation be1
obliged to apply the produce Of the earth and of their
labor, to replace their designations? Not at all.
suppose that the received opinion, that the public
debts of one generation devoye the next has been
suggested by seeing habituay, in private e that
he who succeeds to lands is required to pay the debts
OF his predecessor; without considering that this
QUESTION is municipal only, not moral flowing from
the will of the society which has found it convenient
to appropriate the lands of decedent the condition
of payment of his debts: but that between society
and society or generation and generation there is
municipal obligation no umpire but the law of nature
The interest OF the national debt of France being in
fact but housandth part gifts rent-rol the pay
ment of it is practicable enough; and SO becomes
question merely OF honor OF expediency. But with
respect to future debts would it be wise and Just
for that nation to declare the constitution they are
forming that neither the legislature nor the nation it.
SELF can validly contract debt than they may pay
within their own age within the thirty four
years? And that all future contracts shall be deemed
void as to what shall remain unpaid at the end of
thirty -four years from their date2 This would put the
lenders and the borrowers also, on their guard By
reducing too the faculty of borrowing within its natu
raj limits, it would bride the spirit Of war; to which
too free has been procured by the nattenton
OF money lenders to this law Of nature that succeeding
generations are not responsible for the preceding
On similar ground it may be proved that no society
can make perpetual constitution, even perpetual
law The earth belongs Away to the living generation
they may manage it, then and what proceeds from it,
as they please, during their usufruct They are mas
ters too, OF their persons and consequently NAV
govern them as they please. But persons and prop
erty make the sum Of the objects of government The
constitution and the laws of their predecessors are
hngulshed then, in their natuaral course with those
whose will them being This could preserve that
being till it ceased to be itself and longer Every
constitution then and every law naturally expires at
the end of thirty -four years. If be enforced longer
IT IS an act OF force and not of right It may be said
that the succeeding generation exercising, fact the
power cfrepeal this leaves them free if the con
sttution or law had been expressly limited to thirty
tour years only In the first place, this objection ad
mlts the right, in proposing equivalent But the /
power OF repealis not equivalent 1t might be- in
deed, II every form of government were so perfectly
contrved that the will Of the majority could always be
obtained, fairly and without impeachment. But this is
true of no form. The people cannot assemble them
selves; their representation is unenlal vicious