Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-22
WED NESDAY.......JULY %, 1855
.,nries-The State Debt.

IL is a fortunate thing for the peopl
Of Virginia that the Constitution of tn
United States provides that in suits 8
common law where the value in contro
yersy shall exceed twenty dollars tn
right Of trial by jury shall be pre-
served. The bondholders, finding I
willing accomplice in Judge BOND, are
preparing to annoy the collecting officer.
Of this State. These officers are threat
ened with suits for damages if they
dare to obey the law Of Virginia and
levy upon the property Of parties
refusing to pay their taxes in
money. Already three or more
such suits have been brought. OF
course it is expected that the institu-
ton Of these suits in Judge BONDS
court will torrify the collecting officers,
and facilitate the passage of the cou-
pons into the State Treasury.
But let it be remembered that there
will be, first, a jury to stand between
each of the States officers and his
prosecutors, and, secondly, LegiSla-
ture to indemnify him and more than
indemnify him for any loss that he may
sustain in executing the law Of the
Commonwealth.
The conduct Of the bondholders in
thus resisting the law Of the State and
using the Federal courts to harass
loyal, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens
cannot but prejudice their case in the
minds Of the people. The voters Of
Virginia made up their minds several
years ago that they would pay Of the
State debt no more than the RIDDLE
BERGER bill had provided for paying.
They are in no mood now 10 submit to
indignities at the hands of men who
have no respect whatever for that
portion of the Federal Constitution
which Chief-Justice WAITE and
his associate dissenting justices
brought so prominently before the coun-
try in the Virginia coupon cases recently
decided in the Supreme Court of the
United States.
Judge LYBRoOK said in a letter Of
his which we published not long ago
that a majority of the people of Vir.
ginia were now ready for downright re-
quotation. We do not know that this
statement is literally true, but we do
know that the patience of the people is
well-nigh exhausted, and that no Fede-
raj court even claims the power to
prevent State from repudiating
her bonds. Already measures are
being devised for putting all the
taxpayers Of the Commonwealth
upon an equality So far a. concerns the
paying Of their taxes in money. The
Legislature will he in session a few
months hencs-less than five months
and will certainly " make it hot =" for all
persons who conspire with her persecu-
tors TO prosecute her in the Federal
courts, at the same time denying that
they are suing the State. They violate
the eleventh amendment, as shown in
Judge BRADLEY's dissenting opinion,
and then talk about "impairing the
obligation Of contracts"
Ne have several times referred TO
two or three available remedies to
which Virginia has not yet resorted.
She will yet show her citizens that it
is hers TO command and theirs to obey
when she tells them they must pay
their taxes in money.
What would bonds funded under
msndamus be worth in the market if |
the Legislature should brand them as
funded in violation Of the eleventh
amendment, and order them never to
be paids How many persons could |
pay in coupons if the taxes were made |
to fall due four times year instead of |
ones
There are measures other than these !
TO which the trueulent bondholders
may compel Virginia to resort in order
to protect her dignity and her SOW
ereignty and her rights under the Con-
stitution Of the United States.