National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-04-22

upon inc recent reputation ana nulllHCH-
tlon attempted in Virginia by the Democrats
were not seriously meant, except in so far
as to attract and fix the attention OF the
country and the world upon these attempts;
for, obviously, IL is not conceivable that the
present House and Administration would
take any steps such as the resolutions call
for, especially upon Republican suggestion.
Still, the resolutions do serve well TO ar
raign the nullihers and regulators at the
bar Of public opinion, where, at any rato
their ofTenscs may be exposed and duly
reprobated.
For twelve years, from 1871 to 1888, these
Virginia Bourbons, in the name OF "honor
and honesty" had supported zealously the
funding bills which the people regarded
and denounced as fraudulent measures,
passed by bribery and corruption, and in-
tended to bind them for millions they had
either never owed or had long ago paid. 1t
was strictly the business Of the Virginia
people, and that is the way they looked at
II, as they stlll look at it-supporting their
view by official facts and figures which
have never been seriously disputed and
which have only been met by the Shylock
pleag that "it is nominated in the bond"
But the Bourbon fundors, as long as they
dared and could, openly contemnei and
revlled the masses Of their fellow.citizens
as repudiators, thieves, and highway rob.
bers for demanding readiustment. Two
successive defeats in state elections,
however, taught them that they
must assume some popular virtues,
though they had them not; and, accordingly,
in their platform for 1888 they professed to
"acquieseen in the settlement proposed by
the Riddleberger bill, together with its aux
Hilary acts. Selling power that year under
cover Of this profession, and not by force Of
it, they at once proceeded to make readjust-
ment the thing they had described It and
branded it-repudiatlon Protesting "ac.
quescence" in readjustment, they rushed
at once to the grossest violation OF that pro-
vision Of the federal constitution that no
state shall pass any law "lmpairing the OBJ
legation OF contracts" They enacted
statutes requiring all license taxes to be
prepaid in money, instructlng all collectors
to receive nothing but money In payment
Of any taxes, and repeating every available
action against collectors for damages for
refusing to accept coupons and proceeding
to levy.
All this monstrous legislation was as
much in violation of real readjustment as
OF the constitution of the United States;
and upon this It is that so many suits have
been successfully brought against the state
har nnf hat hn fa1-
eral court has adjudged the whole scheme
one Of rank Reputation and in breach Of
fundamental law. Unfortunately for read
justment, II was inevitably involved in the
judgment against repudiation, as part Of
"the scheme" Of which the Bourbon acts
referred 10 were held to be "the develop
ment." Nobody can blame the federal
Supreme Court for this holding, because In
legal and judicial contemplation they were
the acts Of the same legislative body, be-
hind which no court could properly 60 to
discriminate between the acts Of parties.
&etv pSYOgS tS this BQgESSSGn asyeloGH GGc
federal Supreme Court had recognized the
Riddleberger bill as an allowable propo.
sition to creditors, binding, however, alone
on those who accepted its terms and funded
under 1t; had directly sustained lin Antoni
VS.. Greenhow) the readluster act OF Jan
uary ii, 1882, requiring coupons to be ver-
flied before their reception for taxes, the
amount of the taxes to be paid in money
when the coupons were rendered, and had
indirectly, but just as plainly, indorsed the
readjuster act Of January 26, 1882, repeal
ing the writs of mandamus, supersedeas
injunction, &C., in all revenue cases, and
| providing an immediate remedy by which
all money for any reason adjudged to bC
wrongfully eXacted for taxes should be re
funded, leaving all recourse against the
collector personally precisely as 1t had al
ways stood. Those three acts constituted
readjustment, and, for all practical pur
poses, it was maintained and ratified by the
highest authority In the land.
But we have seen what the Bourbon re
pudlators did to vitiate and invalidate 1t b,
their enactments, not only duplicating law
iul readjustment in their unlawful repudi.
alton, but so directly amending the read
juster act of Jan. 26, 1882, by repeating al
recourse against collectors personally, as tc
bring II under the condemnation of thC
United States Supreme Court in the case oi
Poindexter VS.. Greenhow. There can be
no honest question that readjustment, al
originally designed, would have stood
every judicial test, had not the Bourbons
come upon the scene to incriminate 1t In
their outrageous proceedings;for In Tennes
see the same read justment had already
, triumphed over all assaults and assailants,
while even now the only legal barrier which
stands between the Virginia treasury and a
ruinous food of tax-coupons is the read
juster act Of Jan. IA, 1882 (for the verldcation
of coupons), which the federal courts still
uphold.
Yet, true only to the apparently lneradi
cable instincts Of their nature, the Virginia
Bourbons met In state convention last sum.
mer, not (as they should have done) to con.
fess their sins and amend their ways, but to
abuse the supreme tribunal of the country
as a set of unprincipled partisans-Repub.
llCan partisans-who had assaulted state
sovereignty by deciding Bourbon repudla.
tiOn to be null and void. Nay, In the same
platform INSPIRED by John w. Daniel)
which asserted this, 1t was truculeutly pro.
claimed that the debt issue had ceased to
be one of dollars and cents, and had become
one Of state rights against the usurpations
Of federal judges-all other states and peo-
pie thereof being invoked to aid Bourbon
ism in the war 1t declared upon the
supreme judiciary. It seemed an echo of
the flre-eating times of 1sG0,61l But what
better could we expect from men like
Daniel, who had been compelled by the
people to swallow his own school-house
torch2 What better, after this platform
audacity and bravado, could We expect
from the ensuing session Of the Bourbon
general assembly than that 1t should pass
an act requiring all collectors Of state rev.