Year: 1878

the second is mat1sr ssczea by the provt-
tsions OF the fundamental law, and by u put
as Of higher obligatie and that they both,
together with the Interest on the public
| debt, must be paid out of the taxes, at the
rate CT fifty cents on the one hundred dol.
lars' assessed value of property, reh and
personal, which is as much as can be in-
1 posed without .:5s sS,..
/ 0 RUINoUs RESULTS.


shall moi stop to inquire whether the
I first position be true or not by the simple
assertion OF the Legislath hre, and open ton0
i further inquiry. 1t certainly contains q
Iaw-snit. Nobody will denYsin The abstract
THAT unless the State can live it cannot do
anything that belongs to lie. That is q
I truism. =.


But the second proposition- hat the Lee
gislature ii bound to support the free
schoo! system, at the expense OF the States
creditors, either by the necessity Of fits life
! or by command ofsthe organfc law--I beg
i leave most respectfully todeny.
"a Education Is great blessing when Of the
! proper sort and properly gained. There is
no one who longs for it more than 4. There
/ is no one who sees in Il more Of everything
that goes to form the free citizen-the con-
igummate flower OF O nations growth. But
II q
youths than an individual his children at
the expense OF: creditors.
THE TlINT OF TIE SOURCE
will cling to the education; and instead OF
nurturing noble men there will grow up in
our midst those who will feel through life
how dark a shadow even their education
casts upon the States history. A'


Our fathers did not need free schools to
make them what they were. Happy this
/ generation could it rival them in those yir-
i tues that go to make up the glory OF Com
monwealthl They would not have tole.
rated them on the soil Of Virginia had they
to be established by the denial Of their hon
est debts. The friends Of free schools make
woful blunder if they think by such means
as this bill proposes to build them up or
spread their usefulness. They are striking
4 them. as well as the States fair fame, a most
fatal blow.


PUBLIC FREE SCHOOLS


. are, not a necessity. The world for hun.
| dreds OF wears grew in wealth, culture, and
refinement without them. They are lux.
ury, adding, when skiIfully conducted. II
may be, to the beauty and power Of State,
but to be paid for, like any other luxury, by
the people who wish their benefits.


I cannot, therefore, believe that the
trainers of the organic law meant anything
else when they provided for their creation
and support. They, did not mean that we
should deny the payment OF our debts, and
that with the, money drawn from such 8
source we should educate the children oi
the land. Whatever were their views OF
! the benefits of education, they did not think
they ought to be bought at such price.
They believed, as you and I believe, that
even the life Of the State, like that OF the
individual. saved by loss OF honor, is
not worth much. Education, blessing as il
is, won in such way, contains germ
i which will be sure to bloom into curse.
And believing this, they. in the same in-
strument most fully acknowledged the debt,
and in several clauses provided for its pay.
ment. $50


THAT DEBT WAS DUE


when the free schools were scarcely, II al
all, thought Of as a system in the State
Justly and honestly due for full considera'
ton. Since the war, and before the Constl.
tuition was adopted, it was four times &C.
knowledged, and, directly or indirectly,
promises made to pay it with interest, and
the charge of its reputation indignantly
spurned by an almost, II not quite, unani'
nous vote of a Legislature composed OF mer
OF the old regimc-among the ablest, best
and truest who ever grew upon Virgins
soil. And, whatever may be said of those
who framed the Constitution, it will not bt
denied that it was adopted by the people o.
the State. will not now cast stigma upor
those men by saying that they were guilty
deliberately OF


4 PIoU5 FRAUD,
by planting the seeds Of reputation in th'
organic law, the fruits OF which they pro
posed thereafter to gather.


Whatever value may be put upon th'
school system, however much we may hope
from its future growth. the Constitution
does not put it on any higher ground thar
the debt then owed. 1t could not Wthou
absolute qualification.


It's trainers and the people who adopted
it saw no virtue in an education Tor thefl
posterity of the means Of getting Which
thew would ever be ashamed. They looked
upon the debt as OF too high dignity thus
to be treated, because it Was an obligation
then in being, and recognized as havlns
both legal and moral force. And in thai
very instrument which the bill calls tht
fundamental law, and Of such binding
power, they acknowledge or provide for tht
pavment OF the then and now existing deb
in six separate clauses. That the whole Of al
instrument must be taken together to arrive
at the intention is a


CANON OF CONSTRUCTION


we learn in the horn-books. To save the
makers and endorsers, think that they
ought to have the benefit OF that canon.


But the friends OF the bill say that tht
amount OF tax is specified within certain
limits, which shall be laid for the suppor
al oI, 10
the Legislature. So much the worse fol
their argument. For the Constitution does
not limit the amount which shall be laid fol
the payment of the debt, and which is a
least none the less obligatory.


I cannot, therefore, see how the preamble
saves the bill, either upon the ground o.
necessity for the preservation OF the States
sovereignty and existence, or the obiga
ton Of the organic law. It is fiat denia
of the latter in its refusal to carry out it:
provisions for the payment OF the debt.


NOR CAN SEE


how the fifth clause brings any relief. 1r
my view am not aware Of any power IL
creditors "to compromise their leSa
rights" And il 1t had, would it be any
solace, after having used it, to say 1t wa:
not meant? Nor is it any more solace
after having in this very act taken away
those rights, to tell them it is only done
"with a purpose to secure an adjustment
Of the debt" Is there any better time thar
now to carry out that purpose?


This bill does not help to that end. [ an
sorry to say see no peace in it. 1t is 1
proclamation Of war against those to whom
we are in debt. It is an array OF the will
OF the Legislature against the rights Of thu