Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-08-16

New Hampshire 10 tie Esescue Og
the Fondhslders

important practical consequent Is,
which cannot fail TO have imp rtant
legal consequences. as the decisions
to which II viii give rise will settle
the construction to be placed upon
tile provisions of the Constitgt on of
the United States relating To suits
against state OF this. Union.
There are, as it is we'll known,
States mat will not or cannot, bat
as ai5s "a e do not, pay their bonded
debts. / ne amount OF these debts
Is said to aggregate about S250,000,-
600. In IA number al the States
there is a great struggle going on at
this lIlne--a large party beng in
favor o. scaling town the debts
taat IS, fepudiating certain pnrl .,ln
of the debt; Others are In faNdr of
compromising with the creditor for
lon5 tine and loF interest, M,fiie
there Is, we are sorry to say, only a
minority in favor OF paying q full.
A. Is well known, 4 state can only
be saed in its own courts by its own
permission. Many persons have
come 10 the conclusion that there is
10 tribunal in this country before
Which Il State which refuses to pay
its debts can be brought ASA defend
ant and made subject To the ptoeess
of the courts. This feeling OF inn
munity has had much TO 90 with
creating the feeling prevalent in
some of the States that if creditors
do not like What the .'adju5tcFs" or
.'scalers'' are willing to do for them,
they can take the loss of it. "What
we offer or nothing" is their ulti-
matum.
The second section of the third
article of the Constitution Of the
/ United States provides, among other
things, "tiiat the judicial power
| shall cXtenc. < to cuntrO-
versies between two or more States;
| between State and citizens of an
other State; between citizens of diff
| ferent States; between citizens of
the Same State claiming lands under
grants Of different States, and be-
tween Il State and the citizens there
of and foreign States, citizens or
subjects" The eleventh amend
nent to the Constitution is in these
words: "The judicial power of the
] United States shall not be construed
to extend to any suit in law or
equity commenced or prosecuted
against one of the United States by
citizens ofan0ther State or by citi-
ZenS or subjects Ofany foreign State"
1t is perfectly plain that the power
of State to suean0thcr State of the
Union in the Supreme Court of the
United States-fOr in cases where a
State is a party that court has origi-
nal iurisdiclion-is LEFT intact that
power is granted 10y the Constitution
as originally ratified, and il has not
| been taken away by the amend
ment. The only effect of The
amendment is 70 prevent a defend
ant State from being sued by citi-
zens of another state, or by citizens
or subjects of any foreign nation. A
State is still Liable to be sued by a
State. The judicial power still eX-
tends TO Controversies between two
or more States
A number of Representatives of the
defauIted hondh0lders If certain OF
the States, acting under legal adj
vice, applied to the Legislature OF
this State to pass an act for their
relief. This act, which passed the
. Legislature, but which Governor
Robinson declined to sign, instruct
ed the Acknowledgement to begin an
action in the name of the State, but
for the benefit of its citizens, against
States that had refused to pay to
those citizens their Just dues. Fail
ING i'm this State. the same parties
went to New Hampshire. There
they have been completely success
full. The act has been passed by
the Legislature and signed By the
Governor. The act provides that
any citizen of that State holding a
diShOnored claim against another
State may assign that claim to the
people of the State of New Flamp-
shire, and on his giving a bond to
indemnify the State for all costs
and expenses arising in the prOsecu-
ton of the legislation, and satisfying
the Attorney General that the claim
is a meritoriOus one, that officer is
empowered to bring an action in the
name of the Commonwealth against
the defaulting State. An attempt
will no doubt be made to draw the
distinction that such a "c0ntrOver-
sy" is not the one contemplated by
the Constitution. But it is very
doubtful if the Supreme Court will
Try the issue as to how the State OF
New Hampshire acquired a claim
against its sister State, but whether
the claim is or is not valid.
Doubtless the people Of the South
have lost heavily during and since
the war. But despite his losses a
person must pay his debts. A State
ought to do no less. Without being
atall hard upon the Southern States,
or throwing epithets at a whole Sec
ton, it is evident to us, and it ought
to be to them, that scrupulOus hon
esty is the best policy. 1t is by no
means clear that by economy they
cannot pay their debts dollar for
dollar, or, at least, make a perfectly
satisfactory compromise with their
creditors,
1t is claimed that some of these
debts were fraqdulent-that the
States never received value for
them. Many of them were issued
during the profigate earpet-bag
regime, and some were unqueStiOna-
bly, tainted. But of two innocent
persOns-One of whom must suffer
from Interpretation of a fraud-the
inVariable rule has been, and is, that
! he whose agent committed the fraud
must suffer the penalty. The owner
of defaulted State bonds had nothing
to do with electing State officers.
The people of the States in question
must be held responsible for them,
and in the line Of their duty those
officers can bind their States. OF
course, it may be urged that these
officers were the product of "bayo-
nht rule,n and that, therefore, the
United States government is really
responsible for what occurred. This
is a large question. But without
going deeply into it, it seems plain
that if the white people of the South
: had not at the beginning of the re-
construction measures abstained
from taking part in the election, the
carpet-bag regime in most of the
States weuld have been impossible.
But be this as 1t may, the honest
creditors of those States cannot be
called upon to decide purely polit-
zeal question. II they acted in good
faith they did all that was demanded
of them. If they did not it ought
to be easy for a State to set up and
prove the defense of fraud and thus
bar the claim. The wisest thing for
| q oo,,,,,,,,pity 70 do iC tO nav it9