Report of the
Committee.

to such disastrous results, at least, it is but just to
let facts be submitted to a candid world.
The 4th Section of the proposed Amendment
declares that the validity of the public debt of the
United States, authorized by law, shall not he
questioned.
Your Committee are not aware of any necessity
for this declaration, the authority of the Govern-
ment of the United States to create the debt, and
the purpose of the Government and people to keep
their faith inviolate; cannot be questioned; the
public debt cannot be made more secure by Con-
gressional declarations or Constitutional Amend-
ment, in truth your Committee are of opinion that
the agitation of such a question is calculated rather
to create apprehension than to prevent or allay
them. The best security in the world for the pub-
lic debt is the spirit of justice pervading the ad-
ministration of affairs in all the departments of
the Government; a strict regard to the limitations
of the Constitution; a due regard to economy in
the expenditures of the Government, and a scru-
pulous performance of every engagement and ful-
filment of every pledge. A Government, to com-
mand public confidence, must win the affections of
all its citizens by just conciliation and by a gene-
rous forbearance.
Your Committee regret to see coupled with the
declaration relating to the validity of the public
debt, a proposal, by Constitutional Amendment,
to declare that neither the United States nor any
State shall assume or pay any claim for the loss
or emancipation of any slave, but that all such
claims shall be held illegal and void.
Your Committee have already reported resolu-
tions reciting the acts and pledges of the Govern-
ment upon the subject of slaves taken into the
service of the United States or emancipated for the
benefit of the Government, during the civil war,
and asserting the claim of this State on behalf of
her citizens, upon the Government of the United
States for compensation. Of course this Legisla-
ture could not be expected to ratify a Constitutional
Amendment repudiating that claim,