Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-09-26

ehus conIrdcGeu was made In Europts
where the bonds were sold. These bonds
I'VE beg the Journal to mark the fact and
make note of it-both principal and inter
est, aoere TO BE PAID IN GOLD. That was
the contract, and because it was the con-
tract, @ v. SEYMOUR, as an honest man.
as patriot who deemed the dishonor OF
the State his own dishonor-ip sisted that
the contract, in letter and in spirit, should
be fulfilled, no.matter how great the sacri-
flee. rerrF,s evtsCgrF1-
But he was overruled. The Congress of
the United States, year or two before
the writing of this message, had issued
Greenbacks, and made them legal ten
der in payment of debts. The Judges
of the State of New York, of the Abb
olition persuasion, had decided, time
and again, in defiance of Constitutional
law, and of honest dealing and common
serse, that the legal tender act was
retroactive, and would affect contracts
made long before the present party in op-
position to the Democracy had an organ
ization or a name. In cases where gold
had been placed on special deposit in
banks, and a certificate taken for its re-
payment in kind, and in cases where con-
tracts made between man and man, the
consideration to be paid in gold-both the
deposit and the contract made before the
/ legal tender act was passed, these courts
held that tender of the amount in green
backs was a legal tender, and in nothing
4 but greenbacks could the plaintiff recover.
To sustain this decision OF these partisan
Judges, and because gold at the time COM
fnanded as commodity In market, two
or three dollars in greenbacks to one in
coin, the Radical Legislature of New York
repudiated the pledged faith of the State
creditors, who had loaned the State their
money when its Legislative counsels were
composed of honest men. "a. [uiI
Because of che fact that the bonds of the
State of New York, principal and
interest, were to be paid in gold-the
faith of the State irrevocably pledged SO to
do, Governor SEYMOUR, as forlorn hope,
sent the message we have copied to the
Legisla tors asking them to save the hither-
4 to untarnished honor of the great State of
New York, by doing that, which in honor.
in honesty, good faith was so solemnly
| pledged. But it was of no avail. Radi-
calism run riot in the Legislative councils
and this ,basest, meanest and most un-
| justifiable act of State Reputation was con-
summated, and New York, this day, in the
money markets of the United States stands
disgraced and dishonored as a State that
took advantage of her sovereignty, which
prevents her from being sued, and brought
into Court, to get rid of paying her just
debts according to the terms of her contract
All hail to Governor SEYMOUR for his ster-
ling honesty in thus urging the Legfsla-|
ture to do its duty by acting an honest
part. The Foreign and the Domestic credi-
tors were paid in greenbacks, worth. at
that time, even in the United States, but
from 80 to 40 cents on the dollar-in Eu-
rope, where most of the creditors reside,
worth no more than the soiled paper on
which they were printed.
But New York was not the only State
that did this disgraceful act. enlr aIiV
Ohio tollosoed suit and in like manner cheated
her credito,si .s.-..-s ~ -.e,2 .r,.r.
The State debt of Ohio was contracted In
like manner with that of New York. 1hel
money was borrowed in Europe, and the
principal and interest, at six per cent, was
to be paid in coin. OF this debt there is,
or was at the date of the last annual report
of the Auditor of State, 10493,52S OF of
the so-called Foreign Debt, because nego-
tiated in Europe. still unpaid. The interest
on this debt, although contracted to be paid
in gold, is now paid in greenbacks, by order
of Republican Legislature, and the men
who, under the solemnity of their official
oaths as Senators and Representatives voted
to thus make Ohio a repudiatiDg State, to
cover her, as New York is covered, with
70 ul dishonor because she refused to live
up to her contract, are now, with the
Journal of this city and the Herald of
Cleveland, yelping in full chorus in favor
of paying the Government bonds in gold, |
when the understanding was, and the let
ter and spirit of the law shows, that they
were contracted in greenbacks, and in |
greenbacks alone they were covenanted to
be paid. ,Esa=--ft c' 30 ~ +-'1'' a'i
Ohio had nogGovernor at that time like |
HoRATIo SEYMOUR, of New York. to warn
the majority that the action of the Legisla-l
ture was reputation, and to warn the Radi-
cil members of the consequences and the |
dishonor attending their action, and the
deed was eonsummated in Ohio without |
Executive interference.
o Before this, no Republic, no Empire. /
Principality OF Kingdom of the earth, in
the money market of Europe, stood higher
in the estimation of capitalists, than did
the States of New York and Ohio. And if |
the warning voice of HoRATIo SEYMOUR,
as contained in his message, had been heed
edit the protest of the Democratic mem
bers of the Legislatures of Ohio and of
New York had been of fruitful effect, this
day these States would have occupied their
rightful position. But American securities
of all kinds, in the English and the German
money markets are now down-the cap
italists fear to trust States of a Republic
where reputation of honest contracts is
not regarded as a crime by the party in
power, and where dishonesty in the lead
ing men of that party is the rule, and hon
esty, if 1t exists at all, the exception.
At the time Ohio thus repudiated her debt,
pledged to be paid, principal and interestin
gold, by paying the interest in deprecated
paper, she had gold and silver in: the vaults
Of her Treasury. These, by order of her
Republican Legislature was sold, and the
premium. rightfully belonging to the cred
itors the State had cheated, was used for
other and for different purposes.
The Herald, of Cleveland, and the Jour
nal, of this city, publish the message of
Gov. SEYMOUR as an argument in favor OF
paying the Government s. 20 bonds in gold,
and not in lepal-tender notes These obi