Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-23
CoNFElaERATE MONEY.
-Four Wears Ago and N0w-EFOSv the
People Have Suffered froEa Unjust

OoAAACA1AotS bASac0AJ --ce~-t -
much attention, and elected much COM
ment, though not as much as it deserves.
By that decision it is determined by the
Court virtually, if not in express terms,
1--WE have not the opinion before us, that
the Confederacy of the Southern States
was de .fdctO Government, and that a
contract made in it, payable in Confeder-
ste treasury notes was valid, and must be
met now by payment in legal-tender notes
of the United States, at The then compar-
alive value of the two currencies. This
decision, as the Philadelphia Age well
says, ''carries with it rebuke--a wither-.
inc rebuke-to those who denounced as
disloyal and traitors, every one who dared
to advance the opinion that there was
de fqctO government in the COnfederacy.
Men were openly branded as traitors and
some carried Dff without process, into the
dungeons and classmates of forts, for ut
tering the opinion identical with that
which the decision of the Supreme Court
of the United States has just made to be
the law of the land.
OF all the consequences that flow from
this decision, we care not now to write,
though they are many and important, and
present themselves wildly TO the mind. II
may be observed, however, that it is quite
certain that the allegiance OF the citizens
of State, which was one of the Conted-
eraie States, now adjudged to have been
dc fdctO national power, could not
have been treason, for such allegiance,
even in extreme cases, was eXacted
'l0lelaS, UOteas, waving all questions of
relative duties. In this view, how absurd
and unjust DO the thousands of ruinous
and mercileAs prosecutions for treason,
both against Che national and State gov
ernments, now appear! And with what
complacency must the Supreme Court of
Tennessee, (by courtesy, so-called) now
review its line of decisions for the last
four or five years, by which honest credi-
tors have been judicially defrauded out of
thousands unOn thousands of dollars!
1t can be hut poor consolation TO those
who have been repealed from the courts
of justice, 20 learn now that, by the
highest tribunal in Tennessee, they were
unjustly denied their rights. We say un-
justly, for never was there a more pal
pablo disregard of the long and well-estab-
lished law IN like cases of protracted
civil war, Chan was manifested by the
courts $50 called of Tennessee in refer
ence to Confederate money contracts.
Notwithstanding the fact-knoWn as a
part of the public history of the country
that for more than two years, under the
authority of the Confederate Government,
whose power was then supreme, the Con
federate Treasury notes constituted the
sole circulating medium for this section
of country that represented the property
0! the people-the lands, labor, grain,
horses, hogs, cattle, in fine everything the
people had TO sell; that il had, for great
portion of the time, property value equiva
lent to that OF greenbacks ofthe presentday,
and formed ,ihe basis of all commercial
operations; we say Notwithstanding all
this, these courts of Tennessee, with the
JUNCTION of 20 loyalty by most extra
ordinary and strained perversiOn of the
law of ages, affected to regard the inno-
cent paper which honest men handled in
their legitimate business, as the very es-
sence of treason, tainting aud vitiating
all contracts or operations in which il was
used or promised TO be paid. The effect
of these unprecedented and inequitaOle de-
cisions can never be told, though thousands
who have been impoverished by them,
can never forget them.
1t is probably well that the members of
the court now in session in this city, have
determined to postpone, till the next term,
the consideration of all causes involving
the question of the validity of contracts
predjcated upon Confederate money. We
have no doubt their successors, who will
be installed ere long, viii be able to dis
pose of these cases according to law and
the principles of equity which mderlie
all such transactions.
THE EX"EMPRESS CHARLOTTE.
We find in one of the Brussels journals
some interesting details regarding the con-
dition of the unfortunate widow of the
late Emperor Macmillan. She still re-
sides at the chateau of Tervueren, and is
closely watched in the long walks that she
is in the habit of taking in the park, as
she has several times endeavOred to de
ceiye the vigilance of her keepers. This
constant supervision annOys her greatly,
and she sometimes breaks out into violent
fits of passion. She passes a considerable
| portion of her time in the telegraph Office
at Tervueren, and is continually sending
kilograms 10 the various European soyCT-
| eigns to complain of the restraint in which
she is kept. These dispatches are sent
off in her presence to the court at Brussels,
and she Will not quit the Office until she
| receives the answer.
One of The most curious features OF
| the mental condition of the unfortunate
Princess i her popularity Of refusing tC
sit down at table to take her meals.
The officer on duty, who generally dimes
with her. is obliged to eat on the corner
of the chimney piece, and she herself vii
only eat from a dish when some one ha,
tasted it in her presence. Her fixed ide,
is that people are always trying to poison
her She passes agitated nights, and it i
only toward morning that she obtains few
hours peaceful sleep. But for the ener
gy of her organization she would never b.
able to resist the fatigue consequent upol
the feyerish excitement under which sh
| is ALWAYS labOrinG