Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-08-04
THE CONFEDERATE BONDS.
\ southern Senator's Opinion of the
New London Syndicate.

\ Southern Senator's Opinion of the
New London Syndicate.
Senator Morgan, Of Alabama. a MEM
Der OF the senate Committee on Foreign
Relations. being inquired Of bv a New
ork HefGid reporter as 10 the objects
ana arguments Of the Confederate bond
syndicate at London. said: ..As against
the opinions Of the Dutch and French
JurIsts we can afford 70 array the undi-
yided opinion Of the lawyers and states
men IN the nited States upon the mean
ing and effect Of our Constitution"
Nv hat effect will the opinion of these
foreign JurIsts have IN this country -
asked the reporter.
Nv ny, they can make no impression IN
this country on any sensible mind" re-
Piled senator Morgan. If, as they say,
the Fourteenth amendment is repuguant
70 some other part OF the Constitution of the
United states the new feature contained
IN this Fourteenth amendment will stand
IN this supposed case. and the old features
will 20 BY the board. We amended our
Constitution, and the Constitution now
stands as IL IS amended. This Fourteenth
amendment declares these bonds void.
ana also other debts contracted by the
seeding states in aid of the rebellion
We ratified this amendment in the Legis-
latures OF the Southern States. and under
II were restored TO our powers and duties
IN the Union. All these views were the
voluntary acts Of sovereign peoples. and
that must forever conclude all questions as
10 their ultimate authority and validity"
DID the southern people ever hope. at
Ter the iall OF the COnfederacy, that these
bonds would be paid:'
NO southern man was ever so insane
as to believe that these bonds would ever
be collected from the States or the United
states after the collapse of the Con-
lederacy Certainly our people had no
such nope while these bonds were in their
hands"
What, then, is the purpose of this syn
dicate:"
why, it now seems that adventurous
spectators. who have exhausted every
other gambling method Of making money.
nave gathered these bonds together some
where across the Atlantic and wish to I'M
load them upon credulOus people. Let
me say right here that the Southern peO-
pie nave ceased to have, if they ever had.
the slightest interest in this question Of
the payment Of Confederate bonds. This
attempt 10 arouse the former Jealousies
OF the people of this country will have a
cold reception in the South. This
attempt more resembles a fraud than
anything that is based on a claim that has
color Of honesty in il. | think il a
very unworthy thing in these men to at
tempt to make it appear that Southern
property and Southern men have lost. or
viii lose, credit in foreign countries
because they have not assumed TO nav
debts which the Government of the United
states declared to be unlawful / am not
aware that the Confederate Government
ever negotiated a dollar Of bonds in anv
foreign country. On the contrary. il is
alleged, and | suppose there is some truth
IN it, that there was at the time of the
surrender balance to the credit of the
Confederate Government in England.
''Ihe men who are now straining argu-
ments TO prove that these bonds have apv
pretext of legality or that they present
any case for equitable consideration ac-
quired them when they were objects Of
curiosity: WheE nobody pretended that
they had any legal or commercial value,
and after the government which had IS
sued them had lost all the power. military
and political. that il ever possessed. PeO-
plS who acquired such bonds under such
circumstances and claim that they are
valid securities are entitled TO no respect
in reference either TO their motives or
their intelligence
-'Will this movement on the part of the
European syndicate depreciate Southern
securities and cripple the development of
the resources OF that section OF the Union =
Not in the least, for the South is not
undertaking 10 mortgage its lands to for
eIgn capital, and hope the day will never
come when the South will have to undergo
that painful necessity. If the people of
the South are left-alOne the time will soon
come when our section will demonstrate
the value of its vast resources and the in
dustTy and frugality Of its people,"