Will The Americans Honestly Wish To Pay The Bill; And If
They Do So Wish, Will They Have The Power To Pay It?
Again that
last question must be once more divided.
Will they have the power
to pay, as regards the actual possession of the means, and if
possessing them, will they have the power of access to those means?
The nation has obtained for itself an evil name for repudiation. We
all know that Pennsylvania behaved badly about her money affairs,
although she did at last pay her debts. We all know that
Mississippi has behaved very badly about her money affairs, and has
never paid her debts, nor does she intend to pay them. And, which
is worse than this, for it applies to the nation generally and not
to individual States, we all know that it was made a matter of boast
in the States that in the event of a war with England the enormous
amount of property held by Englishmen in the States should be
confiscated. That boast was especially made in the mercantile City
of New York; and when the matter was discussed it seemed as though
no American realized the iniquity of such a threat. It was not
apparently understood that such a confiscation on account of a war
would be an act of national robbery justified simply by the fact
that the power of committing it would be in the hands of the
robbers. Confiscation of so large an amount of wealth would be a
smart thing, and men did not seem to perceive that any disgrace
would attach to it in the eyes of the world at large.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 393 of 531
Words from 105059 to 105336
of 142339
