Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-01-12
SPEECH OF r.. p. FREERSON. OF
BEDFORD.
Delivered i'm the House of ReDre-
sentatives, Dec. Il, 1877.

SPEECH OF r.. p. FREERSON, O.
BEDFORD.
Delivered i'm the House of Repre
sentatives, Dec. IA, 1877.
MR.. SPEAKER THE question
under consideration, it is readil,
conceded, is one of vast importanc
not only to the holders of the bond
of Tennessee, but also to the peopl
J of the State. The occasion that ne
cessitated the proclamation of tn,
Governor convening this Genera
Assembly in Extraordinary Session
was never before known in the his
tory of this noble old common
wealth. With history dating
back to the closing years of the las
century, and coming on down
through the eventful years of the
present century to the year of our
Lord 1877, with a history of well
nigh eighty-0ne years, never before
in all that history, made glorious by
the unfaltering devotion of her sons
to her honor and fair name, has a
Legislature been called together for
which this one has been convened.
During the exciting and trying pc
riOds of the past, the representatives
of the people have been called to
their posts of duty to contract liza
bilities for the State, or to make
provision for pressing and honest
/ demands, but never before to com
promise a just and valid obligation.
| Why is it then, that we are to-day,
making the first chapter in Tennes-
see history that is to relate to poster
| ity the first hesitating, faltering step
towards the payment of her honest
debts? Why is it that such things
were never known before? Why
was this cup of humiliation reserved
for us? Surely not because our bur-
'dens have grown greater as the
years have increased, for greater
burdens have been heroically borne
in days gone by. For it will not be
forgotten that when the Democratic
party first came into power after the
war, the State debt was $43, 900, 900,
whereas it is only $23, 900, 900 to-day,
with proposition to make il only
$11 100000. Scarcely whisper then
in regard to compromise, and not
breath in regard to repltdidtiOn; but
alas how different now.
1t cannot be because it is new or
different debt, for our fathers, and
those who have gone before, con-
tracted it and we have inherited and
not created it. Then can there be
any stronger reason to-day why it
should not be paid than there has
been every day since its contraction
first begun? No, but the obligation
has only grown the stronger since
the first promise to pay, by the re-
peated assurances on the part of the |
State, in language emphatic and un-
equiVOcal, that that promise should |
be made good. Then why this rad
ical change in public sentiment? |
Why are we here to-day hesitating |
as to whether we will even accept a |
liberal compromise coming VOlun-
tarily from our creditors? Is it the
lCd11t Of ability or disposition to pdy?
/ think that it is time when every |
man ought to sail under his true |
colOrs, and not seek, while claiming |
to give expression to his views, to |
cloak the real motives that prompt |
his action, and acting upon that
suggestion myself, | unhesitatingly |
say, that if the two propositions
/ am now going to submit can be
truthfully in the affirma-
tive, | shall be found on the side of |
those who are favorable to the ac-
ceptance of the proposition tender
ed by the bOndhOlderS. Those prop
OsitiOns are:
1. Is it just and valid debt?
2. Has the State the ability to
pay?
To these two propositions l pro-
pose to address myself, believing
that if it is a just and valid debt
that, its payment can only be avoid
ed hOHOra6iy by the want of ability
to pay, and if the State has the abil-
ity, there can be no reason for its
except the want of
which in the every day
between man and man
would be stamped as diShO11OTd6ke;
and | have yet to learn that such
conduct on the part of great State
would be any the less so.
| propose first to consider the
which have been assigned
why it is not a just debt and hence
should not be paid, believing that
if these reasons are proven to be
no argument will be
necessary in support of the PROPOSE
ton.
1. 1t is said, and only l believe,
by the distinguished gentleman
from Warren, that the Legislature
never had the power or authority to
issue bonds for any purpose, and
hence the people are not legally
bound to pay.
,. 1t is said that the interest that
accumulated during the war upon
the bonds was funded after the war
and constitutes part of the present
and hence ought not
to be paid.
3. 1t is said that accumulated in
5erest was funded by the funding
bills of 1868 and 1873, and thereby
was compounded, and con-
stitutes part of the present indebt-
edness, and ought not to be paid.
4. 1t is said that the bonds were
Illegally and fraudu-
entIy issued during BrOwnlow'S
regime, and were sold for less than
par, and hence the people are under
no moral or legal obligation to pay
.hem.
5. 1t is said that the heavy losses
sustained by the people of Tennes-
see by reason of the war entities
hem to a large credit in the settle
nent of their Indebtedness.
These are all the objections raised
0y those who resist the payment of
he debt, and all the credits claimed s
Oy those who are unwilling to pay {
n full, and that there is force in {
some of them will not be denied.
AS to the first, the Supreme
Courts, State and Federal, have so
)ften decided the question contrary
% the views pressed with so much {
earnestness and ability by the gen
,leman from Warren, that / deem !
t unnecessary to do more than cite
he authorities, with the passing re-
mark that whenever that distingu- {
shed gentleman introduces and adj /
yOcates a bill to throw open our !
Courts to the holders of our bonds, !
md thereby give them an OppOrtu- |
lity to test the legality and consti- {
of their issuance, then it |
would seem that he was sincere.
As to the other objections, pro- I
pose to show, Mr.. Speaker, that