Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-19
SPEECH or JUDGB:HOUK.
Delivered I'm House Of Representa-
tives March 10, 1873, ON the-senate
Funding Bill.
p TCONCIUDED.l ....a

DeItveEeO AM AOuBD VI 8oREchoWsd-
tives March 10, 1873, ON the-senate
Funding Bill. ~
.,a [CoNcLUDED.] ..-....srraa
Our opponents have offered nothing ex-
cept the proposed charter for the Railroad
Ring. Referring to this subject again on
page 292, this same honored historian pro-
pounds this question: "How, indeed,
was it possible that debt should not have
been contracted, when one party was i'm
pelled by the strongest motives to borrow,
and the other was impelled by equally
strong motives to lenG - Indeed, are we
not In the precise condition here desN.1eoeeolf
Have we not the strongest possible motives |
to increase our debit Have we not every |
reason to do so, in order to take breath |
ing spell and be freed from the four and !
a-half or five millions now due? Again, |
right here listen to what the historian says, |
"a statesman might well think that some |
part of the wealth which was daily buried |
or squandered might, with advantage to |
the proprietor, to the ax.payer, and to the !
State, be attracted into the Treasury"
Much has been said upon this floor in ref |
erence to candidates for Congress, and the |
part certain gentlemen hoped to take In the |
future control and government of the |
country. / call the attention OF those who |
are aspiring, to the language of history that |
"a statesman might well think of this |
mode of relieving our State |
Treasury from its endorsements
just IS the statesmen of England did re-
lieve the treasury of that kingdom. Mem
bers of the House will bear in mind that
the history of England was appealed to in
this matter. "Unto Cesar the appeal has
been made, and unto Caesar let US co.,
history has been invoked, let rs take the
voice OF history And what is it? Listen,
/ beseech you, as the historian declares:
sit was often asserted, at a later period, by
Tories, who hated the national debt most
of all things, and Bishop Burnett most OF
all men, that Burnet was the person who
first advised the government to contract
national debt" Don't you see the same
spirit against public debt, then, that is
evinced here2 Don't you see that the same
angry utterances were rife tnen that we
hear now? It has been asserted since this
debate commenced that the funding policy
began with England, and proved disas-
trOus to the interests of the people. 1t
was the 18th day of December, 1892, that
the House of Commons. resolved Itself into
a Committee of Ways and Means, and pro-
position for loan was adopted. England
borrowed this policy from Italy, France,
and other countries. Aud it is recorded OF
Holland that she owed bonded debt, on
| which the interest was so promptly paid, and
| the bonds had become so popular, that
dwhen any part Of the principal was paid
the public creditor received his money
with tears, well knowing that he could fnd
no other investment equally secure" And,
here let me say, before proceed, that what
makes the credit of the individual, or the
State, is not so much the ability as the will
| lingness to pay, and especially is it true that
! the public creditor never expects nor de-
| sres the principal-if the interest Is paid,
that meets the object of his Investment
bis purpose is accomplished, he is satisfied.
| And, why is it that the men of money seek
to invest in public at lower rate Of inter-
est, rather than in private securities at a
higher rate? The answer is plain. An
individual may become bankrupt, he may
squander his fortune; he may lose it by ac-
cident of fire, or otherwise. He may die
| and leave an insolvent estate. But States
are immortal. They live forever. Nothing
but revolution, and overthrow impairs
/ .
and that is all the capitalist wants. | shall
refer to it again. To recur to the English
| debt but for moment, it is spoken of as
"the greatest prodigy that ever perplexed
the sagacity and COMPOUNDED the pride Of
statesmen and philosophers"
And says Macaulay, cat every stage 10
the growth Of that debt the nation has set
up the same cry of anguish and despsirl
AT every step in the growth of tn 1t debt it
has been seriously asserted by 1ciSe men that
bankruptcy and ruin were at hand" So
we have tCise men seriously asserting now
that bankruptcy and ruin are at hand. But
what encouragement does history give these
Projectors of evil that their sad proph-
ecy will come to pass? None whatever!
ldacaulay proceeds to say, "Yet still the
de0t went on growing, and still bankruptcy
and ruin were as remote as ever. When
the great contest with Louis the Four
teenth was finally terminated by the Peace
of Utrecht, the nation owed about fifty mil
lions, and that debt was considered not
merely by the rude multitude, not merely
by fox-huntiDg squires and cOfiee-house
orators, but by acute and professional
thinkers as an encumbrance that would per
manently cripple the body politic." KeeI
up with me, if you please, as l have only
time to read what is much better speech
than 1 can make, on this subject, although
written in foreign land, and without any
reference to the public debt of Tennessee
But says this historian, Nevertheless
trade f6urished." Yes, notwithstanding
the croakings INDUCED in by the wise and
ignorant alike, "wealth increased; the ma
ton became richer and richer"
Again, after the war of the Austrian sue
cession, the debt of England rose to eighty
millions. Then these same Ease prophet:
procIaimed-yes, pamphleteers, historians
and orators pronounced that now, at al
events, the case of England was desperate
sYet the signs of increasing prosperity
signs which could neither be counterfeiteC
nor concealed, ought to have satisfied OBJ
servant and refecIing men that debt o
eighty millions was less to the England thai
was governed by Pelham, than a debt o
fifty millions had heen to the Englant
which was governed by Oxford" AnC
here let me say, that in fifty years from to
day, the time the funded bond is PROPOSED
to run before maturity, when our iron bed
will be aug up, our coal banks opened, on
| zinc and copper brought into use, and Lh
mineral and other resources of the State de
| veloped, Tennessee will be better able Il
pay twenty millions than four at the pres
ent time.
And, to return for a moment, tn
debt of England, under her constan
use of the sword, 'rapidly swelle
to a hundred and forty millions.
Oh now, you croakers-ye prophet
imagined, like the enemies of this bill nov
! seem TO imagine, that the time had come a
last when they could see their prediction
: of evil fulfilled: "Men of theory and c
:, business almost unanimously pronounce
that the fatal day had now really arrived
The only statesman who did nc
: share in the general delusion was Edmun
,, Burke" Can we wonder that there ar
those now deluded in reference to simila
I proposition? Indeed, is it not strange tia
while nearly everybody labored under th
> delusion in England, here, in the State Q
3 Tennessee, it is but small minority of he
public men? Even the celebrated phllosC
{, pher, David Hume, was overwhelmed by
1 similar delusion to that which has enve
oped cur friends on the other side Of thi
question. He said sit was impossible
: prove by figures that the road to Paradis
i did not lie through the Holy Land, but
was possible to prove that the road to ma
tional ruin was through the public debt.
> I would remind the House that tue gentle
, man from Upton (Mr. Cummis4s) has tra7