Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-01-12

decisions, and until these departments had
/ recognized the existence Of a new govern
/ ment the courts Of this nation cannot. The
case was well considered We are salts
fed with the decision; it is fully sustained
/ by authority. 4th Cranch, 24l 3 Whea-
( ton, 324; 7 Wheaton, 325; 7 Howard, ]
/ IA Howard, So.
/ The political power Of the government
/ Of the United States, from the organization
/ Of the government of the so-called Con-
| federate States to its final overthrow, re-
/ fused to acknowledge its existence. The
| governments of Europe, acting upon a
! principle Of international law, withheld
| their recognition of it as an independent
nation. Lord Russell, the English Minis
ter, in reply to a note Of Mr.. Mason, the
Commissioner of the Confederate States
says: You state the Confederacy has a
population Of 1900, 000-that it has found
itself capable for eighteen months Of sue
cessial defense against every attempt to
subdGe or destroy it; that in the Judgment
Of the intelligence of all Europe the sep
aratiOn is final; that under no possible
circumstances can the late Federal Union
be restored. On the other hand, the Sec
rotary Of State Of the United States has
affirmed in an official dispatch that a
large portion of the once disaffected popu-
lation has been restored to the Union, and
now eyincss its loyalty and firm adherence
TO the government; that the white popu-
latiOn now in instruction is under
100000; that the Southern Confederacy
owes its main strength to the hope of as
sistance from Europe. In the face of the
tluctuating events Of war, the alterations
Of victories and defeats, the capture Of New
| Orleans, the advance of the Federals to
Corinth, to Memphis, and the banks of the
Mississippi as far as Vicksburg, contrasted
on the other hand with the failure Of the
attack On Charleston and the retreat before
Richmond, her Majesty's government is
still determined to wait. In order to be
entitled to place among the nations of
! the earth, State ought to have not only
strength and resources for q time. but
afford promises of stability and perma-
nence. Should the Confederate States of
America win that place among other
nations, it might be right for other ma
tons to acknowledge an independence
achieved by victory and maintained by a
successful resistance to all attempts to over
throw it that time, however, has not, in
the judgment of her Majesty's govern
ment, arrived"
The same policy was continued by the
governments Of Europe, until finally in
1865, the organization, the acts of which
we are now urged to recognize as q govern
ment de fdctO, sunk beneath the ruins of the
Contederacy, crimsoned with the best blood
of the nation, leaving a land desolated,
private fortunes wrecked, thousands Of
widows and orphans turned hOuseless and
penniless upon the world her chief in
| prison, her leaders in exile and a country
in ruins a sad but truthful lesson Of the
consequences resulting from violation of
! the constitution of our country. and of the
! instability Of all human affairs
1t is urged that it is against sound public
| policy, to repudiate the private transactions
| of citizens for years, as unfit for legal re-
dress, TO their great injury and pecuniary
ruin and it is insisted that the people re-
/ siding in the limits Of the late rebellion
! have the right to ask from the government
! that their private contracts made and enter
| ed into while the Rebel government was
! over them be enforced. This is a question
| over which the courts have no control. 1t
/ is our duty to declare the law as it exists,
We have no power TO alter or change it.
If the contracts were made in violation OF
| positive rules Of law, it is the duty of the
court 10 repel the parties and refuse its aid.
! The maxim "crteypi cOntructu non audifsY
| acti0' is a principle of the common Law, and
has been acted upon from the earliest period
| of English Jurisprudence.
The consideration of this note being
Confederate treasury notes, Issued in VIC.
lation of the highest law of the land, and
for the purpose Of levying war against the
government, is illegal and void. 1t is
against sound policy for the courts Of the
country to lend their active aid to enforce
such contracts; no principle of the law is
/ more clearly settled in the English and
| American jurisprudence.
The common law prohibits everything
that is unjust, illegal or contra 50n05 m0res.
The object is to suppress vice and promote
the general welfare Of society
The principle of public policy is this
''erd0lO mdIO non dudtor dcti0," no cour
will lend its aid 10 enforce a contract Will,
it is founded on an immoral or illegal act
Gritty on Con, G57 4th Pickering, 314
IA Mass. 800; Johnson, 327; 4th Hump.
1919, 1872, 259; Hump, l0S; Hump.
227; 1st Meigs, 431 2 Hump, 1871;
Head, 297, 3l9 723.
This court held, at the last term at Nash
vile, manuscript opinion, case of Wright
and Cantrell VS. Overall the court woulC
not lend its active aid to enforce an eKeCu
tory contract, the consideration Of which
was Confederate treasury notes. Also, il
a case decided at Jackson, (manuscrtp
opinion where the contract, the basis o
which was Confederate treasury notes. haC
been executed, and the rights of the partie
voluntarily settled, for the quiet and repost
of society, the court would not disturb it
The charge of his Honor, being in confic
with the opinion, was error. The judg
ment will be reversed and the cause re
handed.
SHACKELFoRD, Judge
A true copy. Test:
NJ. /. PATTERSON, Clerk.