Year: 1866

Southern Debts.- Memorial to Congress.
At a meeting of the New York Chamber
Of Commerce on Thursday, Mr. F. o. Conk-
ling, on behalf of a special committee, re-
ported the form of a memorial to Congress,
to extend the time fixed in the statutes of
limitation for the collection of debts, SO as
to exclude the period of the rebebellion.-
The following is the memorial which was
adopted:


To the honorable the Senate and House of Reprssen-


tatiues of the United States of America, IN Con-


gress assembled.


The memorial of the Chamber of Commerce of
the State of New York respectfully showeth:
That at the outbreak of the late civil war the
merchants of this city held claims tc large
amount against citizens OF the Southern States
for money loaned, and for goods sold and deliver
ed 1t is believed that the aggregate amount of
these claims did not at the date specified fall
short of one hundred and fifty millions of dol
lars; and it is hardly necessary to inform your
honorable bodies that only small portion of the
amount has since been liquidated; while on the
other hand a large proportion of the residue has
been or soon viii be, barred by the operation of
the statutes of limitation.


In the opinion of the memoralists statutes Of
limitation to suits or contracts are reconcilable
with Justice only on the suppOsition that the par





claims through the usual courts of law; and in
asmuch as during the late civil war it has been i'm
possible for loyal creditors to take measures to
collect their debts in the Southern States by any
civil proceedings whatever, justice requires that
all the period OF the rebellion should be excepted
from the time fixed for the limitations of actions
in those States


The memorialist further submit that the juris-
diction of the courts of thesUnited States over
cases between the citizens of different States was
cOntrived by the Constitution and arranged by
Congress to secure justice, where the courts of
the States might for any cause be considered as
possibly PARTIAL prejudicial or inaccessible, and
that the present time exhibits striking illustra-
ton of the wisdom of such provision, and at
the same time shows its Intellectual character if
by any statute of limitation the States can render
the jurisdiction practically nugatory. -


The memorasts, therefore, pray that your hon.
Orable bodies will pass q law eXemptng suitOrs
in the national courts of the Southern States for
the operation of State statues of limitation, for
period long enough to give loyal creditors an op-
portunity to enforce their, demands.


The City Of New York has been greatly
benefited for many years by Southern trade.
Vast fortunes have been made in that City
by handling Southern products. During the
war, it is true, there was no mode by which
the merchants in New York, Boston, Phila-
delphia, and Baltimore could collect their
debts; and not only this, but by law of
the so-called Confederate Congress, their
claims against Southern merchants were con-
fscated, and in many instances collected and
paid into the Confederate treasury. 1t is,
therefore, natural that Northern merchants
should feel anxious to secure tl'eir debts,
whether they collect them at once or not !;
but it must be borne in mind that the main
basis on which these debts were contracted,
slavery, has been swept away, and that the
people of the South are not now able to sus-
tain their merchants in meeting these obli-
cations. The South has lost, by the sudden
abolition of slavery, not less than two thou
sand millions of dollars in gold; while the
loss in life, and in personal property of all
kinds, is incalculable. As general thing
the North has grown rich by the war. Heavy
| expenditures by the government in prosecut-
ing the war, stimulated industry of all kinds;
and consequently, the enormous public debt
| of two thousand millions of dollars, of which
| the Southern people are bound to pay their
/ due proportion, has been earned apd is own
| ed by our Northern fellow-citizens The
South is very poor Our people hope, by
industry and economy, to repair their ex-
hausted fortunes; and their fixed purpose is
in the end, to pay every dollar due to North
en merchants whetherit has heretofore beer
| paid to the Confederate government or not
The fact that the debts were confiscated and
collected by usurping government, does
law Of course there are exceptions. There
are Southern merchants who did not intend
to pay when they bought their goods, and
who will never pay, if they can possibly
avoid it; but the number of such, we trust
is small in North Carolina


Under these circumstances it does seem tt
us the merchants of New York might be in
dulgent to their Southern debtors. Let then
not, like the creditor mentioned in Scripture
take their Southern brother by the throat
and say to him harshly, 'spay me that tho'
owest." We are gratifed to state that man.
of the Northern merchants have been yer.
kind and indulgent. In many instance
they have charged no interest on old debts
and they have sold literally on time to GU
merchants. We think we can confdentl


assure them that they will lose nothing b


this liberality and kindness. A grateful AM
reconciled South will more than make up, i
+ the end, to Northern merchants, all tina


they may lose by the rebellion.