The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-01-27

the imuoyerished States, and putting 10 iner
fundamental law inhibi:ions against mn
nroyidence ii, contracting future naniilties,t
why NAV we not hope to have American secu.
rites successfully competing in all tile money
markets of the world with any European Sc
curities? With this pledge Of fidelity 10 eA-
istent obligations, and Of providence III coii-
tracing others, and $685. GOO OF her lour
nor cent. bonds upon the money marked, Us
# unreasonable to believe that IN very re"
wears abe chi, retire all Of her 6's ana AEoVs
and consolidate her entire debt on lour pea ''1
cents?4 ,:,+o r.,;ef
To ALI the debtor States immediate rene,
frnm b11rtheng--with many OF tnel. ~
prieyous to be borne, There is O. isnis " ,, es
capacity of any Government ana ol dny Hon
ME to satisfy acknowledged oIna;lad
MANY heightened man has been c J: up ha
to confess himself bankrupt anu ~ hat! a,y
unless relief come speedily, ina, sun. s;t;ve to
States, whose people are keehly onn,naIlsd
the reproach, may feel tnenis sew. +Ienselvos
49,, W oT The charity of the world in pleading
h hpo in bar of the appeal OF Tue
creditor. dabtor stotes
=, the renewed life and increased capacity OIL
tho;r 1ess favored sisters to share the Dur
tbens of a common government, were thlS
ali there would seem to be abundant COIL
nonsotion. But this is not all. The crime Oh
Mississippi imposed burthens upon all her
sisters. and the misfortune Of the Carollna5
NAV be. and will be if reputation follow,
visited in every money market at home ana
abroad upon their prosperous sisters. Inc
money which is to build railroads and to de-
yelop the resources Of this great country
must come in great measure from ABROAD.
Ifrepudiation by one or more-and there De
one there may be dozen--States come now
to excite renewed distrust of all American
securities for aiiother generation, what STATE
in this Union, with any hope III the future,
will not be the sufferer? Let that state
which deems itself most secure from loss
make an honest calculation for the next
twenty years--debit her profit ana loss ac-
count with all reasonable estimate for her
proportionate' share of the Durthen Whlcn
the whole country must assume to avert the
catastrophe q State reputation, and credlt
if upon the other hai,d with any fair calcula-
ton Of the ANNUAL interest saved to her peo-
Dle wear by year upon loans which must be
contracted for the development OF her re,
sources-by State, cities, counties, raliroaa
and other corporations-and upon strlklng
the balance CIPHER out any result otncr tilah
one which demonstrates heavy pecunEIy 1883.
This idea of the assumption Of the debts OF
the State by the Federal Government IS noC
O novelty In our history. There are many
now upon the theatre of active LIE whose
memory will readily suggest the era OF
1874, In the fierce rSyulsions ana disas-
ters of those days Maryland and PennsylVa-
min, Illinois and Michigan, as We'll as many
other of their sister States, found themselves
involved in pecuniary embarrassnents which
cast over their immediate future the shadows
of bankruptcy. The eyes of very many
turned for relief to the United States, Whlcn
had only few years before relieved herseh
from debt entirely; and there were many
pronounced advocates Of assumption ID Con-
rress. prominent among whom was the lion.
William Carr johnson, of Maryland, one OF
the most influential leaders of the wing
party. While it never was acknowledged as
q distinctive measure of the policy proposed
by the Wing party on its accession TO
power, the controlling influences OF the
party were friendly to it, and had tnelr
ascendancy not been checked by the
disagreement between President Iylef
and the Whig Congress OF 1918, there
can be little doubt that the measGfc Wonld
have been consummatcd. The dlstnoutloh
of the proceeds of the sales OF the puDnc
lands, which was q leading feature III the
Wing programme, was avoWedly desiSneo 10
relieve the States from the burthen OF their
debts, and accepted and promoted by the ad-
yocates of assumption rs lnltiatory 10 the
adoption of their favorite policy. Inc o6-
iections urged at that day were suincsntI!
formidable to resist the appeals for relief. III
wac Irped with force Of truth which could
not he rcpcled that the embarraSsments OF
the States had originated in the normal adj
ministratIon of government from their own
imnroyidence, and it was rejected by the
strict constructionists Of that day; that the
Constitution of the United States did not all.
thorize the General Government to relieve
the States from burthens assumed under such
circumstances, and that if it did the precc-
dent would be frauSht with irreparable NILS
chief in encouraging and stimulating eXtrava-
oance and improyidence i'll the future adnln-
istrstion Of the States. If the want OF con-
stitutional power or the hazard OF the prece-
dent lie objected now, the objections may be
avoided by making as part and parcel OF the
proposed amendment to the Constitution an
EXPRESS delegation of power as to existent
debts and an express denial Of it as TO any
debts hereafter contracted. But in the widely
variant circumstances the most consistent and
tenacious statesman should feel relieved from
all restraint or embarrassment fOrbidding the
accordance of measures then rejected and re-
sisted.
But there was period in our history when
it was proposed, and successfully proposed,
that the United States should assume the
debts of the States, and that period affords
| prcccdent more suggestive because circlnn-
stances were more similar. The very first
| Congress which sat under the Constitution,
under the inspiration Of Washington and
Hamilton, in consummatinG construction.
established the precedent for all that we pro-
pose in concentrating reconstruction or the
Union. To the enlightened statesman who
looks to the future rather than to the past,
who works for results of good to his peo-
pie rather than evil to former enemies, 1t
matters little that the debts then assumed
were alleged to have been incurred in the
furtherance of the objects of common defences
and that the debts now proposed to be as
sumed are mainly those Of States which were
impoverished in the unsuccessful effort to
assert separate nationality. One would
have had poor idea of the craftsmanship OF
Bismarck who should have suspected him OF
willingness to entail upon Aisace and Lor-
raine any portion of the burden OF the III.
demnity he demanded Of FraDce--or cloud
their first experiences Of restoration to Ger
man associations with vindictiye discrimina.
tons against them, reviving at every step
bitter memories of the lately past. The EN-,
barrassments of the southern States have re
suited from the war and the policy which
the Government of the United States thought
proper to adopt in reconstructing the Union.
If those embarrassments must be prolonged