Year: 1879




man efhe Committee on Business, and


adopted unGnimOuSlU.


To the People Of Virginia :-Anima-
ted as you have always been by an earn
est desire for a defnitve settlement of
the public debt upon terms that would
forever put at rest all controversy con-
cerning it,-and anxious that these
terms should accord the utmost to the
creditors that your straitened circum-
stances could afford, having due care
that promise should not in any degree
surpass ability for fulflment, you ac-
cepted in good faith the declaration
made by the Convention Of August,
1877, that the obligations of the Com
monwealth should be re-adjusted upon
basis (which should bring The annual
interest upon the entire indebtedness
within the revenues of the State derived
from the present rate Of taxation, and
do equal justice to all classes of the
public creditors"


In conformity with this declaration of
basis which prohcred the creditor all
tha! he should expect TO receive, and all
that yeu would consent to pay, you
zealously SET about the selection of good
and true men to effect the great object
of the commen solicitude and in the
ensuing election ofNovember, 1877, you
sent to your seat of government men
who, you confidently expected, would
devise settlement within the circum-
scribed limits and upon the prescribed
terms announced by the August conven-
tien-limitations which plainly narrow.
ed the means for the annual payment
Of interest. after providing for the sup
port Of the Government and the due
maintenance of the public free schools,
to the balance ofrevenue derived from
the present rate Of taxation" which
was believed to be the highest that the
people would or could endure.


Obedient to your will, as formulated
by the Convention, and as further en-
phasized by your votes, your faithful
servants in the Legislature diligently
prepared and enacted measures to secure
the cohsummation so devoutly to be
wished. But the will of the people. and
he power Of thelaw-making department
Of the Government were alike thwarted.
Baflled in your just expectations from a
quarter whence you should have receiy-
ed cooperation, or, at least, forbear
ance RENTED to the evils from which
you sought relief-evlls aggravated by
disappointment and ever growing worse
by delay-the ordinary operations OF
your Government paralysed, ,your schools
closing and the rising generation thrust
forth to ignorance, with values dccreas-
ing and obligations accumulating, your
sovereignty at pawn and your State in
the thrall Of speculatiOn-in the midst
Of these multiplied and multiplying en-
barrassments, you suddenly find your
selves confronted by an organization
which, in its prospectus, intlmates a
purpose to take charge of the honor o?
Virginia, to educate you up to the point
of virtue from which you have back
sided, and cOnde,cendingly save you as
brand from the burning. At a time
less fraught with vital issues, the hcte-
roseneous elements Of the so.called
Debt-Paying Association might produce
a smile, the pretentOusness Of its style
might justify pause for ridicule, the
condesconding arrogance of its first les
son in honesty to people never yet
found wanting might call for just re-
buke; but in an hour like the present,
it Is meet that We should say to you
solemnly that its end Is to Illustrate
your expressed will by increasing taxes
to pay six per cent. on the whole debt
and subject an almost exhausted people
TO the most hateful of nominations.


The state of your fiscal affairs, as now
disclosed by Official exhibit, and the
more fslly ascertained condition Of citi-
zens Throughout. the Commonwealth,
but vindlcate the wisdom of the limit OF
your ability as declared by the August
Convention Of 1877, and certify your
inability to assume higher rate of in
terest than three per cent, either now
or at any future time that can be fixed
by a prudent forecast. Even at this
rate, and upon the present assessment
of aggregate values, the State will be
without the means to discharge her ar
rcars Of indebtedness to the public free
scheol. and to her literary and humane
institutions, amounting to s7G5, 4S0. So


In this view Of the case, when We
also take into account Gas we Eus) thC
reduction in values which must be ad-
mitted as certain to follow upon tht
re-assessment Of property IN the yeal
| 1880, and the consequent necessary in
crease IN the rate of taxation TO enable
us to maintain the payment Of interes
at three per cent, to attempt any set
tlement at a higher rate, no matter how
postponed, would be to aggravate the
wrongs and compound the blunders o
the past, and to invoke the just con
d.mna:ion OF the taxpayers and credl-
tors.


1t would be a cruel mistake to induce
the people to assent to any settlement
not carefully based upon the certain
means for full, prompt and regular pay
ment Of the interest assumed. 1t woulc
be fatal TO that repsse which by ever