The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-02-24
The Debt and Other Questions
The Roci;nqham Register has the fol

Inc DeDt diiu O'noi
The Rockingham Register has the fol-
lowing little paragraph;
"Tbe Lynchburg Advance and the hich-
,nond Dispatch are in favor OF ,ne I'm '
ocracy's closing out the Statc-uep, Iues-
ION and In future TO have nothing 10 40
r;,h n ITpon what terms do you propose
On closc ont. gentlemen? II we can get
.ast--wbich we fear will never be done
we say let her CO.
Upon Just such terms as the courts ma!
nrcscribe. The Democrats OF Virginia
have fought good fight upon the issue OF
having the public debt. They have been
over and over again defeated. Not in one
contest only, but repeatedly have they gone
down before the cohorts OF readiusimcnt.
They have done their duty. II Is no more
incumbent upon them to renew the battle
upon that issue than II was upon Generai
jog JOHNSTON to continue the late war be-
tween the States after the surrender at APP
pomattox Courthouse.
The case of the circuit judges now pend
ing before the present Legislature VIII he
mother contest Of the same sort II the Re
sciiustc-s should have the hardhood TO I'M
,lcrtake to lcgi-late those judges out OF OF
nee under the thin preteXt OF resrranging
the circuits. II will not be necessary at all
for the Democrats to take an appeal to the
rcople. The questions involved are purely
iudicial. II the Legislature has the power
70 lcgislatc the present circuit judges out
~ Office, and to deprive them OF salaries
which the Constitution says shall not be
increased nor diminished during their term
II eight wears, the courts will so decide.
And II the Legislature has no such power,
the courts will declare the fact. and, hav-
ing declared it, will DC sustained not only
by the Governor OF Virginia, but the United
States Government.
The debt question will be safe in the
hands OF the bondholders. The prices at
which tax-rccciyable coupons and conSol
bonds are selling furnish abundant evil
dcncc that the coupon-killer and the other
R,DpLEBERGER bills are regarded by Nir-
;inia's creditors a. unconstitutional and as
doomed to be pronounced null and void 10y
the United States Supreme Court. The utter
indifference Of the circuit judges rs TO the
action Of the Legislature in regard to ther
tenure Of Office shows that they, too, have
confidence in the courts. Again: we doubt
il the Legislature can find lawyer worthy
81 the name who will agree TO contest Judge
BURKs's right 10 hold his Office for full
term. At any rate, the debt question has
already hcen passed upon by the people ;
and as 10 the judgcships, the questions
which are likely 10 arise a. a result OF the
action Of the present Legislature are Qucs-
iions not proper to be submitted 10 the
people. They are questions which only
the courts can decide. When they ue
thus decided by the United States Supreme
Court, il is to be hoped that the ReadiuS. crs
viii be as ready TO acquicsce in the dcci-
>ions as the law-loyiDg Democrats will
surely be.
But can these questions he taken up to
The Supreme Court OF the United States !?
There is no reason at all for doubling that
the RIDDLEBERGER bills will have to I'M
dcrgo the ordeal of that court. As to the
circuit and other judges, they may be
safely entrusted with their own Gaze. We
have heard wclI-known lawyer not only
give his opinion that il can be got before
the Supreme Court OF the United States,
hut state how it might be done. At any
rate, az the questions involved can be de-
cidcd only by the courts, it is not for the
Democratic party to take those questions
before the people. II neither the state
courts nor the Federal courts will protect
the creditors Of Virginia, thirteen millions
Of the State debt must stand rcpudiatcd ;
and IL neither the statccourtS nor the Fed.
eral courts will protect the judiciary OF
Virginia, the Judges must be turned ont &c
craze. But there Is not much danger that
The United States Supreme Court will be
wanting in willingness to perform it, duty
"There is no wrong without remedy i
the motto OF that court.