The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-01-19

commodity to t1a,k and thwart our move
ments. Wehad before uB q tasksWhfch was
never set before any of our predecessors ID
the capitol.E know of nothing 70 which l
can more fitly compare the State Govern,
mept when itfellinto our hands than 10 an ola
.dismantled ,ship-ofthe-line, bereft OF masts,
rigging, aud sails, with one side torn on, JUST
deserted by lousy, piratical crew, ana am
which was to be naYigated by new motive
power consisting of il-adjnsted patch WORK
machinery picked up here and, there
amongst the cast-of rubbish Of northern po'
litieaf 1unk.shops, without oil to lubrlcateit,
and without fuel to raise steam. That any
crew could be found with skill enough 10
navigate such q craft should be matter o.!
no little wonder, perhaps, for some praise
from generous minds. Not the least difn.
cult Of the problems which the poiltlcai
Sphipx .prspounded for our immediate so
luton was the public debt: how best TO pro-
tecs the public creditors-many OF tnem our
own widows and orphans, and edueatlonai
institutions. against loss-and at the same
adjust the huge burden to the weary snoul-
ders which must bear it. If We were mex
perienced in public affairs, we had the teach.
ines of more than two hundred Genera
Assemblies of rVirginia's ablest, Wlsest, ano
tr,1est sons to tell US that she never pattereu
with her creditors, nor besitated at any sac,
ri6ce to preserve unsuliied her pllgoteo
faith. We had besides these Instructions
two other most potent monitors, whose
voice we were not at liberty TO disregard
and which Governor kemper and all VINO
agree with him conveniently overlook. L
mean
/ THE ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
- ar 1865. '.
This body was elected when the people OF
Virginia were in the enjoyment OF Their pc.
Utica autonomy--when there was no disfran-
easements 10 restrict their choice. Its mem
hers. at least. were no! Nori HomaneS. unused
to aublic affairs; and they legislated under
The protection of Constitution adopted by
the free white citizens of the COMMON
wealth, voting in open daylight by the living
voice, unawed by power and unbought by
f,yors. This General Assembly, the fair and
legitimate reflex Of the intelligent public
sentiment of the State, uninfluerced by party
ties or party spirit, were guilty, according to
Governor KempeI's logic, OF still more
8. annlllng mistake" than their successors
of 1871, With the smoke yet rising from
fine cbarred remains of devastating civil
war. all monetary institutions destroyed, the
circulating medium annihlated, and every
industrial enterprise crushed, they lad the
courage--perhaps you may call II the RASH
ness-to recognize and pledge the State TO
the payment of not only the whole dnte 'oet'
lu1, debt, with the accrued interest thereon
funded in new interest. bearing bonds, but
also the debt contracted during the war by
what vas called By facetlous paraphrase
"the restored Government of Virginia"
The whole of this huge pile, with all its ac-
cumulated interest, amounting then to over
SAC, 900, 600, was authorized to be funded in
new coupon bonds of the State, bearing dale
on the 1st January, 1867, carrying interest
from date, the payment OF interest to begin
On the 1st Of July, 1867. In the face OF re-
cognition so full and perfect, of pledge
so uneuuivocal, thus voluntarily given, what
plea can the people put up for release Will
thew plead fraud and imbecility of their
chosen legislators And if the Nora Hon1nes
of 1871 are to he reprmanded by Governor
Kemper for their "appalipg mistake" IN
recognizing and providing for two-thirds of
the public debt, what lurid rhetoric can he
find which shall fifty denounce the pdtreS
conscripti of 1866? He smoothly glidcs over
all this legislation of 1866 to tell the bond
holders "eyer since the close Of the war
there have been those in this State-and the
number embraces leading minds-Nho have
insisted that the new Commonwealth of Vir-
einia is not bound for the debts Of the
former Commonwealth. In this he borrows
his logic from the etfee ideas of despotic
Radical Congress. If it should be argued
that the "restored Government" of 1866
was repudated and disowned by the deSpot-
ism at Washington it is to be replied that
the acts of the General Assembly Of 1866
are vet on our statute book, recognized by
all our courts as baving the full force of laws
of the Commonwealth.
II. TUE CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT.
In addition to this legislation of 1866,
which had not only the force of law, but ac-
cording to well settled principles Of juris-
prudence was clothed with The sacred in
volatility of a contract with the bondholders,
binding on aIlsubsequent Legislatures, in 1869
the people of Virginia by an unprecedented
majority adopted the present constitution,
containing q provision which in etfect're.
counjzes and ratifies the legislation of 1866.
The 9Th section of article 10 provides as
follows: "The General Assembly shall pro-
vide by law @ sinking fund, 10 be applied
solely to the payment and extinguishment
of the principal of the State debt, which
sinking fund shall be continued Until the ex-
I,p,ont IF cpph State delhi"
This provision is mandatory, leaving no
discretion. 1t includes the whole State debt
as recognized by the Legislature Of 1866, for
there was none other to which it could refer,
and it excerpts no part of it. 1t commands
the Legislature to create sinking fund Ca
nable within some period not named of en-
tinouishing the public debt. Now, how can
YOU extinguish debt by means of sink
ing fund unless you keep down the interest:
Ii the interest is allowed to accumulate, OF
course the debt would increase more rapidly
than the sinking fund-unless you make the
sinking fund at the beginning larger than
the debt-and Of course eXtiDguishment is
impossible. The provision referred to-, then,
fairly construed, includes these three ideas !:
recognition and assumption of the State
debt as it then was understood ; the annual
payment of interest on 1t, and the ultimate
extinction of the whole by means of sink.
ing fund. Whether it was prudent or poll
tic for the Legislature and people of Virginia
in these solemn modes to pledge themselves
for the whole of the dnte-bellum debt may
be still discussed in debating societies-to all
others it is res adjudicata.
When, therefore, his EXcellency denounces
the novices of 1871 for having "pledged' y
the State for the unconditional payment OF
two-thirds of the public debt be forgets the
prominent facts of a very recent history.
and in bis angry haste makes them the vica'
rious sufferers for the offences OF the big boys