Davis's own words, 'The said State shall be
and is hereby declared to be _absolved from the promises_ on the face
of her bonds, by which the said State heretofore _pledged her faith_
for the due payment of the principal and interest of said bonds.'
Why should Congress release Arkansas from the payment of her State
obligations? Why thus justify the repudiation of her bonds? Can any
other reason be assigned than this, that Mr. Jefferson Davis was looking
to the repudiated bonds of Mississippi, and was endeavoring to establish
a precedent, by solemn act of the Congress, by which, if adopted as a
principle, Mississippi, and every other defaulting State, could be
justified in the repudiation of their bonds also. It is to the credit of
the Congress of the United States, that Mr. Davis's resolution was
rejected without a division, and without a count. When it is
recollected, that at this very time, I, as Secretary of the Treasury,
was appropriating the five per cent. found payable by the Government to
the State of Arkansas toward the liquidation of these bonds against the
protest of that State, the further meaning of these movements will be
clearly perceived.
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