The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-06-26
Attorneys General Blair.
He ANSWERS AND OyERwHELMs HIS AS
SAILANTS.
r STAuNToN, VA, June 10.

lie AM w Els AMI OVEKW HELMS LIS AZ
| SAILANTS.
Eih tNS STAUNTON, VA, June 10.
70 the Editor of the Richmond Wing:
sssSince my alliance with the Republical
party, and especially since my return from
| the Republican National Convention a
| Chicago, where | was a delegate -at-larg'
from the state, and rs such was honoret
by the Virginia delegation with the duty
! OF. Seconding the nomination of Genera
1 Logan as nominee for the. Vice resi
delicy, some of the newspapers of the State
have INDUCED in harsh criticisms of my.
lSelf, reyiying exploded ISLANDERS, and b,
Mlstatements OF official acts have done mi
the grossest injustice. ,
As to exploded ISLANDERS, personal to my
self, Ishall be content to treat them will
leolItempt, as / hatterl myself | have lived
them down in the estimation OF my fel
| 0W-citl2ens, and hence i shall not dignity
them with any reference whatever. III
/ the past few days, however, some of my
Official acts have been paraded before the
public in a style OF the grossest exaggera.
tion, and it is due alike to myself and
friends that should respond to them and
give true statement OF facts connected
Herewith. M f8Ft4g ~. M 4a4sbf
1T has been boldly published that in a
large number of coupon cases in the Cir
cult Court Of Richmond city L confessed
judgments against the Commonwealth
that 4 had no authority to dose in that
court and that, i was entitled to no fee
from the Commonwealth for services rem
deredi therein. Nc a plain statement of
Facts will show how utterly unjust such
charges are. "a ffaE 1}ifsf Gag Z
d First AS to my8lauthority to appear in
that Court. it, ought not to be the subject
OF serious dispute, for, from chapter ISL i,
section 2, page 1914, of Code OF 1873
(which has never been repeatedly, it will be
found that the Attorney-G General shall APP
pear in all eases an aclsch the Commonwealth
ss INTERESTED depending in the Circuit Court
of the city'of Richmond. Indeed, by chap
ter "A, Code, all suits in which the COM
m0awealth is interested must, of neces-,
Slty he brought in that Court. And again,
by chapter 161, section 2 of the Code (of
the State courts), the Attorney General
is required to represent the Common
wealth. only in the Supreme Court of the
State and the Circuit Court of the city of
Richmond.
> Second. The complaint that confessed
the judgments referred to is a mistate-
meritiof facts, as the following will show:
Coll Richard L. Maury, prominent and
highly respectable lawyer of Richmond,
had a number of coupon cases in the Cir
cult Court of that city; had appeared in
them, and, by demurrer and other OBJ
lections, defended, the same the court
had sustained my demurrer in some of the
cases. and an appeal had been taken by the
cOupOn-h0lder in one test case to the Court
of Appeals. While this case was pending
hn LOTT ~ IL 4I<nA
cases were awaiting the result, Col. Maury
and thela1ditor Of public accounts made
an arrangement as to these cases to the
effect that Judgment should go against the
Commonwealth in all of them (about
perhaps, in numberl upon the
condition that for every dollar for which
Judgment was taken against the State the
plaintiffs would fund a like amount of six
per cent. bonds of the state into three per
cent. Riddleberger bonds. This arrange
ment was submitted to me, and as l con-
sidefed it highly advantageous to the
State, / conquered in the prOpriety of the
settlement, did this more readily-first,
because the appeal would have delayed the
decision of the cases for considerable
time; and again, because the United States
Circuit Court, Judge Hughes presiding)
had decided short time before that even
license taxes could be paid in coupons. I
went, in company with Col. Maury, to the
courtroom arose and explained fully to
His Honor Judge Wexford, the presiding
Judge, the proposed settlement of the
cases; and His Honor promptly replied
that he thought it was aproper DISPOSE
ton of the cases ethat it was advantage
Gus to the State, would stimulate funding,
and that such disposition should be pur-
sued in all similar coupon cases. Under
these circumstances Judgments were ren-'
dered against the Commonwealth. In a
short time. : thereafter. Colonel Maury
wished to enlarge the consent order so as
to embrace other coupon cases of the same
character as the first lot named, and upon
same conditions. He had a
paper containing a list of these additional
cases, and / endorsed it along with Colonel
Maury. that Judgment should be entered
therein just as the first had been under the
agreement named. tIinotified the auditor,
byletter, that / was still carrying out the
original agreement, and it was not until
about The 10th OF 18th instant that II
learned from the auditor that there was a
misllnd erstanding and ;thats he did not
further Judgments taken under,
the agreement named. Thereupon, Col.
Maury and L. on account of the supposed
misunderstanding, proceeded itothe Cir
cult Courtroom, and,l by mutual consent,
thejpdgmentS were set aside that had not
beenpaid. In my opinion the arrange
ment was highly advantageous to the
State, and Il think should have been fol-,
lowed out in all such cases, for Col. Maury
acted in the utmost good faith in comply
ing with the conditions on his part. The
of the arrangement will be
seen from. the following: Col. Maury sur
rendered, say, $$35, 900 of bonds bearing six
per cent. interest, and received in ex-
change therefor, say, $2O 600 OF bonds
bearing only three per cent. interest, thus
releasing the State from, say, $l5, 900 Of
her six per cent. bonds !; he then sold his
$40, 900 of three per cent. bonds to the
Commissioner Of the Sinking Fund at the
lowest, / believe, at which they had ever
been sold for, say, $4,000 in round num-
bers, so that for the $4,000, by the ar
raneement named, the State was enabled
to, and actually did, retire and cancel
about 100000 six per cent. bonds. If
this mode of taking care of the public ill.,
terests, under all the circumstances, does
not commend itself to all fair-mlnded
men, I confess / am at a loss to know
Whatiis prudent administration of public
affairs. M ,setY Isl ts4f ps, =
The foregoing are the facts in regard to
the so-called confessions of Judgment i'm
puted to me.
Third. But it is said that the Attorney
General had no right to fees in said cases.
will answer this by the law OF the land.
1t is well known that not one cent of
money ever passes through the office of
the Attorney-G General. His account for
fees in cases in which he appears for the
State is certified by the clerk of the court
where his services are rendered to the
auditor of public accounts, and by him
to be paid by the State Treasurer, by a
warrant on thelatter, Such, has been done
in every account of fees ever paid me.
The authority for this is found in Code
1873, chapter 161, section 5, which declares
that Hon the final determination OF any
cause in aay court mentioned in the Sec
ond section Court of Appeals, Circuit
Court Of the city of Richmond, &C. in
which the Attorney appears for
the Estate, thesclerk thereof shall certify to
the auditor of public accounts the fee of
the Attorney General, aUhieh shall be paid
out of the public Treasury. His feesin the
Circuit Court on an appeal from the de-
cisi0n of the auditor shall be the same as
are taxable in the general COURT" The fee
taxedIin the general court was 49,, and
coupon cases are regarded as appeals from
the decision of the auditor because here
fuses to recognize the receiyability of
coupons for taxes, and hence puts the cOn-
non hn17ar tn hie Suit az nv annnaI from