Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-07-24
A New Bugbear.

President johnson, in a communication
sent to Congress last week, in answer to a
resolution Of inquiry, suggested the follow
ing novel proposition:
If the existing governments OF the ten states
of the Union are to be deposed and their en-
tire machinery is to be placed under the
exclusive control and authority Of the respec-
tive district commanders, all the expenditures
incident to the administration of such govern
ments must necessarily be incurred by the
federal government 1t Is believed that in
addition u the -, 100 900 already expended,
estimate for the which Will be
quircd for this purpose would not be less than
Sl4 900 .U0-the aggregate amount expend-
ed prior to the rebellion in the administration
of their respective governments by the ten
states embraced in the provisions of these
acts The sum expended would, no doubt
be considerably augmented if the machinery
of these states Is 10 be operated by the fede
raj government. and would be largely in
creased If the United States, by abOlishing
the existing state governments, should become
responsible for liabilities incurred by them
before the rebellion, in laudable efforts to de-
velOp their resources, and in nOwise created
for insurrectionary purposes. The debts of
these states thus legitimately incurred, when
accurately ascertained, will, it is believed.
approximate a hundred millions of dollars.
and they are held not only by own cti
zens, among whom residents of portions
of the country which have ever remained
loyal to the Union, but by persons who are
subjects of foreign governments. 1t il
worthy the consideration of Congress and
the country whether, if the federal govern
ment by action were to assume such obliga-
tiOns, 80 large an addition to our public
expenditure would not seriously impair the
credit of the nation. Or, on the other hand
whether the refusal of Congress to guaranty
the payment of the debts of those states
after having displaced or abolished their state
governments would not be viewed as viola
ton of good faith and reputation by the
national legislature of liabilities which these
states had justly and legally incurred
ANDREW JOHNSON.
If this opinion of Mr.. johnson was only
that of private individual it would deserve
notice, but being official utterance of
the chief magistrate, and welcomed, as it
Will be by the Democratic party North and
the rebels South as an excellent subject for
partisan clamor, it deserves more serious
attention.
This opinion rests,-if it has any founda-
tion-upOn the assumption that when one
government, either violently or otherwise,
displaces another and succeeds it, it becomes
equitably liable for all the legal debts of the
government displaced To certain extent,
this is, undoubtedly, sound doctrine. If the
United States should acquire Cuba by pur-
chase or treaty, We ought to that the
honest debts of Cuba were paid as we should
put it ont Of the power of the government
of Cuba to pay those debts, and the credi-
tors, not being in fault, should not be made
10 suffer by act.
\ case in which this principle does not
apply, is that of the so called confederate
states. English lawyers, however, have in
sisted that it covers this case even, and that
the United States, having conquered the rebel
confederacy and extinguished it, have become
liable for the debts of the traitor concern.
Ii is a sufficient answer to this claim, that
this obligation is only an equitable one at
best. and that debt incurred in the attempt
TO make rebellion successful, cannot be
equitably enforced against the government
which suppressed the rebellion.
The case of the Southern states does not
fall under either of these suppositions.
Legal state governments do not now exist
there but the United States has not inter-
fered and will not interfere in the matter,
except to set up republican state governments
in these states as they are required to do by
the constitution. Time, of course, will be
consumed in this work, and during that
time the federal machinery will be employed
in putting in operation the new governments.
The new governments, when organised, will
be the rightful successors of the old state
governments, and will be under the equita-
bic obligation to pay the just debts incurred
by the former governments. The federal
government assumes, and is under, liza