Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1867-11-27
KNOxyILLE TENN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER q. l8ez

OF the State of Tennessee, that this bond is in eff
feet nothing more than q second mortgage and that
the lien created by It is secondary and subordinate
70 the prior lien and Superior equity Of the State Of
! Tennessee.
If this view of the law is correct. Of which few,
if any, lawyers will entertain doubt, how are the
/ rights Of the United States TO be protected? II
must be by enforcement Of the law by judicial pro-
cedure In the courts of the country. 1t cannot be
done by military order and by military force
Neither the President Of the United States nor the
! Secretary of War; nor the General Of the armies.
can rghtfully and lawfully come into the State of
Tennessee and seize and appropriate or remove the
/ property of the State of its citizens, in which
the State has an interest, by force of arms. In a
time OF peace when the remedy is complete through
the civil courts and the rights Of all parties can be
lmrartally adjusted by the courts of the United
Stases 1t Is hardly reasonable to apprehend that the
military viii attempt such violent summary pro-
ceeding in violation Of law and the rights of YOUR
State. If the aid of the Federal coiirs is involved
It is certain such violent summary proceeding would
be enjoined unless carried into execution in defiance
of law and of the courts.
If such lswless course were pursued, the hardship
OF would be greater from the fact that those rep
resenting the Government, refuse, without right to
recognize or allow the claims of the road in which
the State is interested after having superinduced
the belief on the part of the officers of the roads
that fair compensation for the use Of the roads would
be allowed by the Government. Some Of the roads
made large purchases under this impression. The
fifth paragraph of the General Order of the War
Department, dated Aug. s, 1865 provides for tabu-
lar statements of receipts of the roads 1t was no
doubt the impression of the representatives of the
roads, and also of the military authorities at the
time that the use of the roads would be offsetted
against the rolin stock purchased Of the Govern
ment Gen. Meigs, Quartermaster General of the
Army, in his testimony before the Congressional
Committee, says, when the order went into opera
ton, he thought it likely that if they made appli
cation TO Congress- they would be treated literally,
and might be eventually relieved from their bonds
l did moi" he says, "expect we would get much
money from them"
In the case of the Nashville and Chattanooga
Railroad the President of the company declares in
his testimony that he would not have made the
purchase to the amount he did, had he not believed
land he was encouraged in the belief by officers of
the Government that compensation would DO rem
dered for the use of the road. The Government
furnished tabular statement of the business Of the
Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, showing the
Indebtedness of the Government for the use of the
road, from August l, 1868, to September 10, 1866,
as follows
cory.
Statement of the business of the Nashville and
Chattanooga Line of the United States Military
Railroads, Division of the Tennessee, from August
/, 1853 to September 10, 1865.