the late Republic of Texas,' which act required the auditor and comptroller of the State to reduce all claims presented for liquidation to the actual par value which was realized by the Republic at the time of their issue. The evident meaning and contemplation of that act was, that the holders should be paid in accordance with that amount thus ascertained by the auditorial board, subject to the revision of the Legislature; and the amounts so ascertained were considered all that was actually due from the State to her several creditors.
"That the Legislature had the right to pass this law, there can be no question; and that individuals holding the bonds or other evidences against the late Republic were bound by it, there can be as little."
If these principles be true, they ought to be universally adopted; for what is right in Texas, cannot be wrong in Virginia, Pennsylvania, or Ohio.
If these principles be true, they will prove a great relief to necessitous governments; for, according to the doctrine above laid down, the stronger the necessity a State is under, in times of adversity, of entering into contracts for supplies of money, the stronger the reason for setting aside such contracts in the days of her prosperity. The greater the necessities of a government, the less favorable, of course, the terms on which it can borrow; but it will lose nothing in the long run by that, for neither "morality nor religion" requires it ever to pay more than it has received. More especially is this true, if the evidences of public debt pass into the hands of moneyed men; and as the great mass of the evidences of public debt always pass into such hands, the State is thereby relieved from its engagements. It is quite enough if it pays onehalf, one-quarter, or one-fifth of what it has promised to pay. That the Legislature has a right to pass such a law as this, there can be no question; and as little question that the creditors are bound by it!
Such are the principles of the authorities of Texas. If they be true, they ought, as already remarked, to be universally adopted. If they be not true, they ought to be promptly rejected. With nearly all our States and cities, and many of our counties, running into debt, it is of great importance that the nature of the obligation which public debt imposes should be correctly understood. Public opinion is, to a very great extent, the practical rule of morality; and if a wrong public opinion prevails in one State, it will be apt to spread into others. Ours is, moreover, a family of