Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

territory such notes are utterly worthless; and it is TREASON for any citizen of the United States, North or South, or any ALIEN resident there, to deal in them, or in Confederate bonds, or in the cotton pledged for their payment. No form of Confederate bonds, or notes, or stock, will ever be recognized by the Government of the United States, and the cotton pledged by slaveholding traitors for the payment of the Confederate bonds is all forfeited for treason, and confiscated to the Federal Government by Act of Congress. As our armies advance, this cotton is either burned by the retreating rebel troops, or seized by our forces, and shipped and sold from time to time, for the benefit of the Federal Government. By reference to the census of 1860, it will be seen, that three-fourths of the whole cotton crop was raised in States, (now held by the Federal army and navy,) touching the Mississippi and its tributaries, and all the other ports, are either actually held or blockaded by the Federal forces. The traitor pledge of this cotton is, then, wholly unavailing; the bonds are utterly worthless; they could not be sold at any price in the United States, and those who force them on the London Market, in the language of the Times, before quoted, will only accomplish "the ruin of "toil-worn men, of women, of widows, and of chil"dren."

But the advocacy of repudiation by Jefferson Davis has not been confined to his own State, as I shall proceed to demonstrate in my next letter.

R. J. WALKER.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

REPUDIATION

OF

ARKANSAS BONDS.

LETTER III.

OF

HON. ROBERT J. WALKER, M.A.

COUNSELLOR AT LAW IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, LÁTE LAW REP. MI., SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, COMMISSIONER TO CHINA, GOVERNOR OF KANSAS, ETC. ETC.

LONDON:

WILLIAM RIDGWAY, 169, PICCADILLY. W.

[ocr errors]

JEFFERSON DAVIS,

AND

REPUDIATION OF ARKANSAS BONDS.

London, 10, Half Moon Street, Piccadilly,

Jan. 28th, 1864.

In two pamphlets, published by me last summer, Mr. Jefferson Davis was clearly convicted of sustaining the repudiation of the Union Bank Bonds, and the Planters' Bank Bonds of the State of Mississippi. These pamphlets were most extensively circulated throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and upon the continent of Europe, and several Confederate writers have since referred to them; but no attempt ever has been made, either by Mr. Davis himself, or by any of his agents or friends, to refute any one of the facts or deductions contained in those pamphlets. Indeed, the facts, were founded upon authentic documents, official papers, and Mr. Davis's own two letters over his own signature, plainly and unequivocally sustaining the repudiation of Mississippi. It is true in the case of the Union Bank Bonds of Mississippi, that Mr. Davis justified their repudiation on the ground that the Bonds of the State were unconstitutional. But, the utter fallacy of this position was shown by two unanimous decisions, of the highest judicial tribunal of the State of Mississippi, before whom

this very question was brought directly for adjudication, affirming the constitutionality and validity of these Bonds. When it is recollected, also, that this was the Court designated by the constitution and laws of Mississippi, as the tribunal to which the ultimate decision of this question was referred, the wretched character of this pretext must be at once perceived. Mr. Davis's two repudiating letters, were published by him in the spring and summer of 1849, yet one of these decisions by the highest judicial tribunal of Mississippi, quoted by me, affirming the validity and constitutionality of these very Bonds, was made in 1842, and again unanimously re-affirmed in 1853. But, still, Mr. Davis adhered to the same position. As to the Planters' Bank Bonds, however, the repudiation of which was shown to have been justified by Mr. Davis, there never was, even a pretext, that they were illegal or unconstitutional Nor is there any force in the suggestion, that these questions were decided before Mr. Davis came into public life. They were continuous questions, constantly discussed in the press and before legislative and judi cial tribunals. And, we have seen, even as late as 1853, four years succeeding Mr. Davis's repudiating letters, the second decision was made by the highest judicial tribunal of Mississippi, re-affirming the validity and constitutionality of these Bonds.

.. But I will now cite another instance of the advocacy of repudiation by Mr. Jefferson Davis, still

[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »