The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-08-01
uIl1l,olld isYlafh.II
-..aTr, q &, AUGUST 4, 1879,
1 CONQUERED state.

Z, sson ne nnbl;shed . few days ago OF the
= .s,,;ss,,.,ss, 81 parson MASSEY at the Warm
ssrsnas the statement that that itinerah..
,,snarorue had shown so little respect lot inc
,nte,liaence OF his bearers as to assert that tne
Tinted states Government was bound by tne
law OF nations to pay the public deb. q var
rinia. The assertion might be contradieted
fatty and without qualifications. IL y 3
falsehood. II merits as an argument no
other. notice than the simple declaration tnat
1t Is untrue. We had supposed that succn
/. foolish gable would be left to FAYE EFT
McMuILIS. However, Parson MASSEY, IKE
FAYETTs, is no lawyer; and when either OF
them begins to talk about constitutions and
the laws 81 nations, he at once begins to
utter mere nonsense. ~:
We have said that this assertion that the
Federal Government is responsible for the
debts OF Virginia because it conquered this
State in war merits no other notice than IAN a
fiat denial. We mean that in itself the ar,
pument-nay, not argument, but ground
less assumptions unworthy Of any other
notice. Nevertheless, the facts that there
are people who may be misled by IT. ana
that wrong construction has been put by
better men than Parson MASSEY upon the
words Of distinguished writer's upon the
law of nations, must be our excuse for en-
planning the true state of the case.
The word :. State as used by writers
upon the law Of nations means an entire
nation. Great Britain and Ireland consti-
tute such State. France Is such a State.
Russia is such State. Mexico Is
such a State. And the United States
is such State. Before the revolutionary
war Virginia, for instance, was called q
colony" After that war ended, she was
recognized as an independent State by the
Government OF Great Britain. So as to the
other colonies. They became estate" in
the sense in which the word IS used by
writers upon international law; and il
they had remained independent States, and
any one Of them had been conquered and
its territory been taken possession OF by the
conqueror, the conquering State would
have been bound for the debts OF the con-
auered State. But they did not continue
independent. When they combined to form
the Federal Government, they lost not, the
name but the character OF States" Chat
is, in the sense in which writers upon inter
national law use the word when they speak
OF q conquering " State" or conquered
"State,'') and the United States, all taken
together, became and has ever since con-
tinued to be the only 60 State" that foreign
Governments recognize or treat with. They
constitute nation; and State" and "na-
ton " are synonymous words in this dis
cussion.
Now, then, let us admit, what is indeed
true, that according to the law OF nations,
when one nation conquerS another, takes
possession of its territory, and extends Its
government over it, the conquering nation
becomes responsible for the debts OF the
conquered nation: does this statement de-
scribe the case OF Virginia and the Federal
Government Not at ull. Virginia is no
nation. Virginia was no nation before the
rebellion. She was merely small part OF
a nation. She was mere unit amongst
many others which went to make up
the nation. The United States are e pturt-
bus uaafn according to the national motto
that IS, they constitute the "one" which is
made out OF several, or many, or "more
than one" In word, Virginia was not a
nation that could be conqu cred. The United
States Government was and is bound to pre-
vent her from being conquered" TIE
United States Government is her protector.
But argument is useless. When the right
word is used every reader can see for him
self that tue principle of the law OF nations
which Mr., MASSEY relies upon to establish
bis position has no reference whatever to
such q case as that between Vir-
guia and the United States Government,
and cannot be made to apply to it. 1t would
he Just as sensible, Just as true, and just as
good law, to say that the Upited States
Government was bound to pay the debts Of
Jefferson county, Virginia, because that
Government sent General LEE to Harper's
resurrection; or to say that Pennsylvania
was bound to pay the debts OF those OF her
counties in which she crushed the famous
whiskey insurrectioD. But we repeat the
very language shows the true state Of the
case when the right word is used-nanely,
when one nation conquers another, takes
possession of its territory, and extends its
government over that other, the conquer
ing nation becomes bound for the debt OF
the conquered nation. No such thing has
occurred or can occur in this country.
There is but one nation here. We may. be
sdistinct as the billows," yet "we are one
as the sea-"
But if ParsoR MAssEY's doctrine were as
true as it is false. the people OF Virginia
would not and could not derive any benent
from transferring the responsibility Tor
their debt from the State Government TO
the General Government. When one ma
ton couquers another and becomes respon-
sible for its debt, the conqueror at the same
time acquires the right to levy upon the con-
auered people sufficient tax to pay regu'
larly the interest upon that debt and the
debt itself when it natures. In our case such
men as Parson MASSEY would at once he
slIenced. The United States Government
could levy upon US tax Of dollar on the
hundred IL it chose, and there would be no
possible way OF preventing its collection.
No other State could be called upon to pay
any part OF our debt. We would have
.t,,.n,, 81 ho onns;1oro,J a 90, n,apod, ,,oh 10