be paid if they will never give the releases. So the stipulation is exactly the same thing as would have been a stipulation for paying the five millions, or so much as should be due directly to the creditors. The departure from the supposed theory, then, was made in 1850, and is not to be made in 1853. We must keep on in the course of 1850 till we reach the goal. The honorable senator objects further that this plan of the committee to pay $8,333,333 at three per cent., being less than the usual rate of interest on public stocks, is a scaling of the debts, so that creditors will not get dollar for dollar, and is therefore objectionable on the same ground that Texas is complaining of. Grant this to be true, still I reply that we scale less deeply than Texas. Secondly, that we are mediating between the proper parties; and thirdly, who can complain? Not Texas, for we take nothing from her, and do not divert any fund in which she has a claim. Not the creditors, for they assent. The honorable senator further objects that Texas will nevertheless come back for the five millions, and will be entitled to it. I reply that Texas has already declared, by an act of January 31, 1852, that $3,355,360 25 of this same five millions is justly due to these creditors, and shall be paid to them. At the very worst, Texas will not come back for that sum. Will Texas come back for the remaining $1,644,639 75? She must produce releases from the creditors for it. They will have already released, upon a just consideration paid, not by Texas but by the United States, and after Texas had had ample time to obtain releases, and had failed, because she exacted what the creditors were neither legally nor equitably bound to yield. The senator from Virginia objects further that the $8,333,333 at three per cent., will cost the treasury more than the five millions at five per cent. It will cost exactly $3,333,333 more. But that is no good objection, if, first, it is necessary to pay that sum to discharge these debts; and if, secondly, it is just, both of which points have been demonstrated. The senator at last falls back on his original ground, that the United States are not liable for the debt of Texas, according to the law of nature or of nations. It is quite too late to raise the question after the act of annexation of 1845, and the compromise of 1850. Nevertheless, I will briefly consider the senator's argument. VOL. III.-43 The United States derived advantages from the annexation of Texas, and creditors had aided Texas to rise to the condition in which her union was thus advantageous. They did not give her a dowry, but they enabled her to assume her own. The union of Texas with the United States and of her revenues was a division of her sovereignty, rendering her less fully and exclusively approachable by creditors. Was there not in these circumstances sufficient consideration to sustain the agreements between Texas and the United States for the benefit of the creditors? Bynkershock teaches us so (p. 191). Again, Texas by annexation became subject to the debts of the United States. How is it then that the United States could acquire Texas without coming under some moral obligation to guaranty the debts of Texas? It remains only to notice the argument of the honorable senator from Texas, Mr. Houston, which seems to result in this: that Texas had a right to ascertain and fix the amount of her liabilities, and she has fixed it at $3,355,360 25 and the United States and the creditors are concluded by that decision. I reply, that was not the agreement in the compromise. It was that the creditors should release their claims. If they will release for the $3,355,360 22 it is enough. But they have not released for that sum, and they will not. Then the senator insists that Texas is just and they unreasonable. I do not think so. The principle assumed by Texas is that she owes her creditors not what she agreed to pay, but the value of what she received from them. It needs only that this proposition should be stated to secure its rejection. It can be no more just in the case of Texas in regard to these debts than in any other case of public and even private indebtednesss. The argument, however, is attempted to be sustained by precedents. I reply, if sound it needs no aid from precedents. If unsound, then no precedents can make it sound. There is only one ground on which a government can justly scale its debts-that is the ground of absolute inability or bankruptcy, and then there must be a devotion of all its wealth. Neither Texas nor the United States can adopt that ground. Each of the parties is prosperous, each is rich, and they can neither assume the condition nor interpose the plea of insol vency. 117 Babcock, George R., Letter to. 584 490 223 Delavan, Edward C., Letter to...... 471 390 406 492 Discipline, Prison, Letters on....473, 503 476 518 Duties on Railroad Iron, Speech..... 656 375 (See, also, Letters.) 386 Credits, State, Letter on.. .472, 475 392 Croton Celebration, Address. 420 Cunard Steamers, Letter on 478 505 D. Continental Railroad, Speech, 1853.. 623 676 History of.. 306 Jubilee. 321 In Court. 281 117 Eulogy on John Q. Adams, at Albany 75 Jubilee of the New York and Rail- On David Berdan.. road, 1851 .... 321 Of the Western Railroad, Massa- "A. H. Buell, in Senate. 619 chusetts, 1842. 330 Henry Clay, in Senate. 104 Lafayette... 25 K. 44 At the Western Railroad Jubilee 330 Extradition of Fugitives from Justice 469 Lake, Jarvis N., Letter to Law Reform, Letter on. Fair, Agricultural, Albany, Address.. 164 LETTERS, GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Farms and Farmers, Improvement of 176 POLITICAL.. To Adonijah Moody. "O'Connell... "Daniel Webster, in Senate... 111 Kossuth, Letters on........504, 505, 506 Ewing, Thomas, Letter to.. EXECUTIVE SPEECHES... 477 Le Fort, Abraham, Address to 325 338 176 283 375 377 "H. C. W., 1840.. 378 148 Fowle, E. J., Letter to... 412 Freedom and Slavery, Position 246, 260, 286, 295, "B. S., 1840. 389 of the two Parties on, 303 "Hon. L. Bradish. 390 "John C. Clark.. 391 George R. Babcock. 392 Whigs of Orleans.. 394 Benjamin Squire. 396 Whigs of Michigan.. 899 "Calvin Townsley. 400 H. "George Ashmun. 401 "Jarvis N. Lake. 402 |