Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-01-24
CITY AND DISTRICT.
q DEBT OWED BY THE COUNTRY.
HE NATIONAL Disgrace that IL i. Not
Paid.
To the Editor Of THE EVENING STAR:

To the Editor Of THE EVENING STAR:
Congress. as the representative Of the country
II large, seems to have been Influenced by be-
coming sense of what the American people has
long owed itself and its creditors when 1t recol-
iected the other day that though it had held in
possession the great states of Louisiana, Arkan-
sas and Missouri and whatever else might have
constituted the Louisiana purchase" for the
greater part OF a century 1t had never yet paid
The promised consideration forit. The omission
to pay what it had agreed in the contract with
Napoleon constituted marked instance of ma
tiOnal forgetfuness of plain duty and public
honor. But the late action of Congress in re-
gard to those French spolation" claims,
though very late indeed, was altogether just
and proper recognition, and must be held as
wiping out the stigma for once and for all.
Nevertheless, all has not been done that
should be- There is yet due by the nation a
debt Of some three or four millions. even more
sacred and obligatory than the debt due to the
sufferers by the French SpoiatiOns- 1t is more
sacred and obligatory in the proportion of the
whole nation to three or four states, for q
quote no less respectable testimony than that
OF the Father of His Country it IVES ''the price
OF American independence IL Is more than q
common debt: it is debt of honor; it can never
be considered pension or gratuity, nor can
celed until falrly discharged
Now, this debt has never been fairly dis
charged. though it has been enthusiastically
acknowledged by partial payment. Daniel
Webster said of it: disguise it, cover it, eyade
as we will, the truth still is that this plghted
faith has never been redeemed. Never was
public faith pledged more solemnly or for better
cause" Mr.. Madison said that the injustice
committed by the nation was enormous and
fragrant and makes redress great national
object"
Probably not one person in million Is aware
of the fact that the Army of the Revolution was
q quote the blunt but terse declaration of its
own quartermaster generaO .dsbanded and
cheated Is the proud rich, powerful American
people of this or any other age willing to con-
tinue year after year. age after age to live on
under such imFutations as the foregoing. made
not BY foes but by its trueSt and best friends?
The nation has erected monument to the
memory of its greatest name; il outtopS every
similar structure of man, as he whom it COM
memOrates surpassed all other heroes and
patriots. 1t is to be dedicated one month from
to-day. What would Washington himself say of
this great work if he could behold it in the
flesh? Let answer be made in the words of
another tried patriot whose every thought and
pulsatiOn was for his country. The late William
ID. Seward said in his place in the Senate, on
December 18th. 1856 (see Congressional Globe
page 229 and column 3D., when pleading for the
payment Of the yet remaining Gebt to the heirs
and representatives OF the Officers Of the RevO-
lutionary Army:
MIR. President we have framed statues of
brass and iron which present Washington to the
beholder a general. as a statesman as a
magistrate, and as a citizen We have pierced
the skies with monuments of marble and of
granite in honor of his name. We have imposed
it upon villages, towns, cities. state and a
capital that is becoming the glory OF a cOnti-
nent: but if | do not altogether mistake his
genius. the fulflment of his predictions and his
promises made when he was taking leave of the
companions of his labOrS and sufferings. that his
country would be Just and would ultimately
redeem the pledges it had given them, will be
more acceptable to his serene and awful shade
than all the tributes that have been paid and all
that are yet TO be paid by a redeemed nation
and a grateful world"
Let COngressfulfl the yet unfulfilled promises
which Washington made in behalf of the nation
he saved.
Mr. Editor, Washington and Seward, though
dead, are yet speaking TO the American people
In that solemn presence let every mean and
false thought and feeling be STILL so that in our
day and generation We may do our best to pro-
mote truth and JUSTICE
January 2l 1885,