The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-04-22
4nltnsond lispatth.
rprnAy APRIL %, 1870.
= nA0a Assssssss'"''' r. .a5s e
For the Dispatch.
The Relief Question.

CLOVER HILL, April IA, 1870.
tits with peculiar pleasure and with pro-
found thankfnlness that we see from the
columns Of your valuable paper that the
Committee on Courts Of Justice OF the
House Of Delegates Of Virginia have re, re,
ported against any law ''imrairlnS tne
obligation of contracts" MISUNDERSTANDING
the numerous "mcetings for the reilei o.
debtors" held i'm nearly every county III inc
State. B,,t let It be said to the honor OF oia
Sshester6eId that none such has been neld
vr;th;n her borders. Maugre the arguments
and persuasive eloquence of some our pub
Ec journals in favor of some measure OF
relief the Legislature has refused to pam
der to the wishes Of our misguided people
has refused, with Spartan flrnne>s. 10 saI ~.
ton their contemplated acts Of injustice py
interference in private concerns. The day
will come when returning reason once more
dawns upon us-when the sense OF justice,
e0,,ity. and right, which seems temporarily
IN have forsaken our people, once more gains
sway that they will look back with shame
and modification upon their efforts at rep1-
diation, and they win thank the legislative
body that saved them from Themselves
that kept them from plungins into the
dark abyss OF universal disgrace and the
mad vortex OF general intamy No
thing has filed the columns Of our pa
ceedings of relief meetings in favor of the
debtor class nothing has been urged in IA
vor Of tho creditor, who has waited patient
" for ten years for his money. When the
Legislature, in its misguided wisdom, passed
the stay law, and thus threw the protect-
ing .egls over the debtor, no petitions were
offered nor relief requested By the creditor
they quietly submitted; the debtors, not
one out of hundred, though they bought
property, loaned money out, and "dressed
In purple and fine linen and faired sumptu-
ously every day." never offered to pay one
cent during the existence of the stay law
even the interest was paid grudgingly and
only when compelled by law; and now, after
this great lapse of time-after this oppor-
tunity offered them by the Legislature to
settle their debts-but which most Of them
misconstrued and hoped and believed to be
the first step towards repudiation-they raise
the CRY Of Lord save us, or we perish"
Let this unmanly and unjust cry, which
has been SO fifty rebuked by our Legis-
lature, be hushed forever, and instead
Of petitioning and memorializing the
Legislature for relief, let the debtor 60, as
he should have done at first, to the creditor
and propose an honorable and fair adjust
ment of his obligations and, If 1t takes the
last dollar he has In the world, let him make
the sacrifce-lose all save honor. But, for
Gods sake, let us as individuals and as u
people preserve the only gem that has been
left us out Of our former wealth and great
ness. Virginia has always been proud of
her past, and Justly so !; let not her escutch-
con be soiled by reputation !; let not her
spotless robes be smeared with dishonor !;
let not her name be disgrace and by-word
amongst the people of the earth; let not
the finger of scorn be pointed at her, torn,
bleeding, poor and helpless, as she is;
Amidst all our troubles, our sutferinss, and
humiliations, let us maintain " our credit,
our integrity. and our HONOR PLUS.