Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-09-03
THE TRUE STATUS OF REIMBURSEMENT.
BRADY AND ROYAL.

The preamble to a bill is sup
posed To set forth the reasons why
the bill is presented and why it
should become a law. 1t is pre-
sumed that only facts will be re-
cited. In the Brady bill we have
yet to discover a "whereas' based
upon fact. The stralghts to which
the learned lawyer who drew it
was driven is seen in his quotation
from Justice Fields dissenting opin-
ion, in which no other Justice con-
CURED, out of which to manufac-
ture "a whereas The trio of
"whereases' alleging acts of nullif-
cation against all persons who per
sist in their endeavOrs to maintain
readiustment, notably the very
"sivigrous" one hurled at the Gov
eInor's proclamation, which simply
requested people to meet and re-
solve to pay money into the treas
ury, and to this extent hold up the
hands of the State government in
its struggle for existence against
the encroaching coupon, would BIO
extraordinarily patriotic If they
were not so ridiculously absurd
IL was United States Senator who
hired himself to assail the people
of Virginia by calling them nulli-
fiers of their sacred honor, their
sacred contract and the coIstitu-
ton, anc for this he was reminded
in another forum that he hbeled
superiOrs with his briefs and SIAN
dered them with his tongue. This
was considered dlsrespectful by
men incapable of approaching that
they were the words Of older
men than the practitioner, uttered
by a representative who will never,
we hope, fail to resent such impu.
tlOns By whomsOever and wherever
east upon their personal and pub
lie integrity.
Again, the preamble and bill as
sumo that the whole question Ofre-
adjustment was settled by the last
decisions Of the court. The Justice
who wrote the opinions in the last
eases was among the eight who de-
cided that Coupon Killer No. was
a constitutional remedy, because,
being adequate, it impaired no con-
tract obligation; and under this
rendering We we're rapidly funding
the debt into Riddleberger bonds.
Every man who bought coupons
bought a law suit, and it would
have been competent for the legis-
lature then to have gone further by
laying down certain rules of evil
dence by which the commences of
tue coupons was TO be established.
1t Is not too late yet. That an ade-
Quate remedy may be substituted
for any other in such cases is a
question clearly and definitely set
tied in our favor. Proper pleas
may be filed against any evidence Of
debt from the highest to the low
est-from the bond under seal to
the open account, and proof of gen
uineness of the paper may be re-
Quired and demanded.
In these last cases the court did
not reverse itself. The genuine
ness of the coupons was admitted
in tP pleas, aud to this the court
especially refers in its opinions
They were cases made up under
Coupon Killer No. 2, (Act of Janu-
airy &c, 'S2) aud the Act of March
-, 1884, which Justice Matthews
characterizes as an amendment to
the Act Of January 20, 'S4, and
they must, therefore, he says be
taken and considered together. lie
further says the court is passing
upon the very question which Chief
Justice Waite in terms reserved In
the concluding sentence of the opin-
ion he rendered in the Antoni case
carried up on Coupon Killer No. /,
(Act of January II, 'Sl). These
cases were tiled upon entirely diff
ferent pleadings based upon later
acts of assembly, and i'll nowise in
volved Coupon Killer No. /.
1t is not to be denied that every
suit brought, and the great number
now being instituted, is the work
of the last legislature. They ig-
n0red the Act of January IA, 'ol,
and passed one requiring treasurers
20 distrain for taxes where coupons
are presented. If this be repealed,
we will but 60 back to the law as
construed by all the courts in the
Antoni case, and resdiustment will
be again precisely where it was
when its real friends ceased to be
its guardians.