The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-11

landing suct change, and consequently
Sa freatv Relating TO. national objects re-
Mains In force so long Us the nation exists
s an Independent state.'-Yattel, no. y
hap. -, S1sS. .,..o.o,
ssft will be seen, therefore, that all treaties
made for the State remain unchanged as
onp as such State retains Its independence
nienendence is the necessity for their con-
inuance for, without freedom OF action'
performance of its obligations may be I'M
oossible, and the law never binds nations
Or persons to perform impossioihtles. 49,,
saThe contracts which the sovereign IN tne
name of the State, forms with the private
Of foreign nation al unuet
he rules we have laid down Win respect
70 treaties. "-Vattel, lib. 2, ca. NV, li4.
Debts contracted by State, therefore, aIe
TO be considered as resting on Inc same
foundation of public faith on winch Urea
ties are based, and the reasons controi1ine
the obligations of the one equally affect
that Of the other. a treaty made by, a
State NAV be utterly annulled by the de-
strnction of that party, or by its conquest
ar division and the debts due by a. State
NAV equally be affected in like manner.
When one nation conquers another, ana
holds it's conquest, it destroys the obllga,,
tion of the conquered to pay its debt, ana
becomes itself liable for all the pecuniary
ohlioations to which its conquest was
bound and when two nations by treaty con"
solidate themselves into one, the new na-
tion is bound for all the debts of both.
"The King OF Prussia, in acquiring Silesla
by CONQUEST, and by the treaty oil BreslaW,
took upon himself the debts for which that
Province stood mortgaged to English mer-
chants. He could only take posses
sion of Silesia, such as he found 1t at the
time of the conquest, with all its rights and
all its burthens. For conqueror TO refuse
to nav the debts of the country be has sub
dued, would be robbing the creditors with
whom he is not at war."-Nattel, BIZ, c.
xiii, s 2O5.
And in 1918, when the Seven United Pro-
vinces were united with the Austrian low
countries under the Prince of Orange as
the rights and obligations of both continued
adhering to and binding on the new ma
tion.-W heat, Int. Law, 80.
We have thus seen that contracts Win
soyereigns, called treaties, and those Wild
individuals, called debts, remain ID lull
force as long as the State making them re-
mains an independent State but that when
it is conquered its debts become obligatory
on the coDqueror, and when it is ABSORBED
into another State they are thereby made
the debts of the entire new community
formed by the consolidation. In neither
case is the debt cancelled, but In both it is
transferred to the party which has absorbed
the debtor.
/" Hence, it is that when State is divided
all its obligations adhere in their proper;
equitable, and just ratio to each part, ana
each one is bound for them IN con1n1on."--l
Kent, %.
The obligation is in common, not joint
and several, whereby each is bound Tor all
the debt, but each is bound for its equitable
share of the burden. 1t is rated6ty bound
"If nation be divided into VARIOUS dls,
tinct societies, the obligations when nao
accrued to the Whole before the division
are. unless they have been made the sub
iect of special agreement, rateabty bind
ing upon the different parts" 1PhillImore,
Internal. Law, 15S.
And Grotius likewise statessthat "where
one State has been divided into many, as
was the Kingdom of Persia among the sue"
cessors of Alexander, then such obliga.
lions as are capable of being performed an
common ought so to be fulfilled, or they
ought to be diuided pro ratai-'Grotius,
lib. 2, chap. 8, s. 10. And the Supreme
Court of the United States, through Mr.
Justice Story, announces the same prlncl-
nle Of right and Justice in Tennett vs.. Tay-
for ct aI., 8 Crouch, 90: lit has been as
Serted" says he, Gas a principle of the
common law that the division of an empire
creates no forfeiture of previously vested
rights, and this principle is equally conso-
nant with the common sense OF mankind
and the maXims Of eternal justice"
The common sense of mankind, the max
inns of eternal justice, and the principles
and practice Of the law of nations as'ex-
modern times therefore all show that each
part of the divided State of Virginia is
bound rateably for its portion of the public
debt created by the original State: This
will be clearer if we suppose that, instead
of the nomenclature adopted at the time for
the two new communities, one had been
called Virginia, having its capital at Wheel
ing, and the other named East Virginia,
with its seat at Richmond, the powers OF
reasoning which now holds this portion OF
Virginia responsible for the whole debt
would, in that case, transfer the whole of it
to the Wheeling Virginia, and have left the
Richmond one releasedas to the public cred
itor, and liable only to the Virginia thus ar
bitrarily created and named. The whole
argument rests on name.
And to answer the argument we have
only to change our name. The dissolution
of the Union into thirty-siX sovereign States
certainly would not cancel the national
debt, as we have shown, but it would still
adhere to the separated parts. Surely no
one would claim that Delaware was equally
bound with New York for three thousand
millions of dollars, and that the public
creditors could demand from Rhode Island
or Florida their entire debt, leaving those
small States to make their reclamatlons on
their late co-States. The debt is to be paid
rdteably by all the constituent parts OF the
late State, and the creditor is not to be put
off by any accounting between the parts as
to who derived the greatest benefit from the
expenditure of the money borrowed. East
Virginia and West Virginia are bound at
once each to assume its proper share and
what is the proper share of each Is fair
subject of arbitration or agreement between
them.
But on this arbitration they have no
right to consider how the money was eX-
pended.
"When once debts have been contracted
by lawful authority the right Of the
creditor is indefeasibe. Whether the money
borrowed has been turned to the advantage
of the State or squandered in foolish eX.
penses is no concern Of the person who
lent it. He has entrusted the nation with
his property, and the nation is bound to re-
store it to HIM again. 1t is so much the
worse for her if she has committed the
management of her affairs to improper
hands. "-Vattel, B. 2, CHI. IA, sec. ZIG.
The creditor loaned his money on the
pledge Of the resources of the whole State.
By the division of it he has two debtors to
look to, his claim on each being ratable in
proportion to the resources each possesses,
(which were pledged to him. These two
have no right, by any arrangement between
themselves, to lessen his security by re.
leasing one security and increasing the bur
dep on the other.
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