Council Bluffs bugle. [volume] (Council Bluffs, Iowa) 1860-1868, 1868-12-31
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REFUUxATxON.

- = 3 wssSeS us asF huss.aa rs rsfsss
3 D,.sssssss, sssssss { Essss ssz Esssisa.
REpUDrATToN does noe mean re-
t,ssGk 10 pay O DEBT.
IL moana the denial OF any obiiga-
tion, legal or moral. TO pay. de-
nies the ez istance OF debt. nAcdsts
oa7, and s'dlsoacyss7 0ssV Indebtedness.
When we rsptsdiate, we deny that
the claim against IA Is anything bet
,er than u pretended and fraudulent
NE. We ssrefuseo 10 pay it, not be-
Esuse we are dishonest and villain
ans. but because the claim against az
Is invalid, and puts upon us no OBJ
legation 10 pay.
When we refuse TO pay the enoT-
NOUS SUM which the bondholders
claim, we do what good citizens are
doing at every term OF Court in
every district In the country, ana
what upright Judges and honest Ju-
urs enable them 70 do, namely ne
resist The collection Of q etdias zoe doSsT
osee, made by dishonest persons,
whether by forgery, or perjury, or
deceit, or overreaching and uneon-
soionahle bargains, or by all together
matters not. We don't oacs disd s0s
GOAT pay. In word we REPUDI-
ATE-that Is we srefuse," "cast
off," and "disown."
There Is not a principal of law or
equity known to our Jurisprudence
there Is no moral incubation
known TO any system of Christian
ethies-whieh require the payment
of this pretended debt. On the con-
trary, they all strepudiate,n "cast
Off and ''disownn it.
This pretended debt grew out OF a
war made by the Federal govern
ment on the States
The Federal Government was
created by the States. The Federal
Government had not one power save
those given to 1t by the States. The
Gssstes meyer gave the Federal Gov
ernment power to wage war against
them TO burn their cities, and des-
0late their fields, and suhiugate and
efisiayH their people. II IL pFepos~
ferrous TO think that they ever con-
ferred such a power. 1t was muir
derpus usurpatien to exert such a
power.
The debt is invalid, because the
wax was usurpation.
This Is question between right
and might-between law and force.
The right and the law are on the
side OF those who ''diseIainI, disown,
and repudiate" any obligation 10
pay.
The Representatives OF this great
yillainiy rely exclusively upon force.
The force of invalid laws made by
an invalid Congress, The force oi
bayonets, directed by 3 President
chosen by minority Of the peo-
pie.
In any aspect that this pretended
dsht can be viewed, it Is the most
monstrous and iniquitous assump-
ton that was ever made upon such a
gigantic scale.
debSi ihe & R8Se5 ix 70 con. contract such .
could be a1n1is&~xA Rsx % s~sS@=azasai,
(which we will not do even for the
sake of an argument) those who it is
intended shall meet its crushing OBJ
legations, would still have the legal
and moral right to repudiate four
fifths Of the gross sum.
/. The Government never reeeiv-
ed but little more than one-half oi
the whole sum fnr which it has Is
sued iis obligations to pay. When
a greenback dollar was worth only
forty cents, 1t was received by the
Government, and "A promise made to
pay a whole dollar therefor. So
when greenbacks were worth fifty
and sixty cents on the dollar, they
were eagerly borrowed, and bonds
given TO pay one dollar In full.
czfftnnx In. Fo dan a
ing his money for the hour which he
knew would come, when the stern
exigencies of q war in which the
Government had most wrongfuIly
involved Itself would compel it to
make him wholly unconscionable
lsaEgaiR, could never find court OF
law or equity, in any land where the
common law prevails, that would
award him more than he actually
loaned. Nor would ii do even this
much, until master had made an
aeGSunt of the usuriOus interest al
ready paid, and deducted it from the
principal which Is still to pay This
would at uuc swoop, reduce the sum
of Indebtedness one half 1t would
sweep away two thousand millions
ofthe nominal sum which it il pre-
tended that the people owe.
2. In the second place, the debtors
nave the clear and indisputable right
to 'cast of, ''disown," and "repu.
diate" every dollar ofthis aggregate,
which represents fraud in any OF It's
multitudinous shapes.
"The thieves were all in Office dur
Ing Lincnln's administration, said
one leading Republical. 'AIore
money WAS stolen durilg the first
year of Lincoln's d'ninistration,
said Dawes, of Massachusetts, 'tthan
sufficed to pay the whole expenses of
the Government during the four
years of Mr. Buchanan" What ad-
missions TO be made by men Of high
standing In the Republican party
If the people will but remember,
with the view to assert their legal
and equitable rights, not only to cast
of and disown any obligation made
in their name and without their au.
thority, but also to repudiate every
dollar that Is representative Of fraud
1t will cause review of the history
of the last seven years. and better
appreciation Of the frauds aud viii
Iafnies with which the public ser
vice during that time has ranked
and festered.