The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-07 00:00:00

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MISSISSIPPI REPUDIATION.

[PRICE SD.

The New York Journal of Commerce contains the fal-
lowing article on the repudiation practised by the State
of Mississippi, which furnishes the latest information
regarding the position of her entire debt. One portion
of that debt, called the Planters' Bank bonds, was never
repudiated, but it has shared the fate of the res* re-
gards the non-payment of dividends ; and it now ppears
that a sum which had been derived from the prethium
obtained by the State on the original sale of these bonds,
and which had been set apart as a sinking fund, has
actually been used to the last dollar by the Government,
in defiance of a mandamus from their own High Court
of Errors that it should be paid over forthwith to the
English creditors :
" Some new phenomena have recently ocsurred in'the
history of Mississippi repudiation. Let us proniise, for the
information of persons not familiar with the facts, that in
1830 and 1833 the State of Mississppi issued bonds to the
amount of $2,009,000, and loaned them to the Planters'
Bank of that State, then recently established. Of this
amount $1,500,000 were issued with coupons attached,
and $500,000 without. Not long after, say in 1835 or 1836,
she issued bonds to the amount of $5,000,000 more, for
the establishment of the Mississippi Union Bank. The
bonds for the Planters' Bank sold at a considerable pre-
mium' Out of which a sinking fund was established,
which was eventually to redeem them. These Planters'
Bank bonds were never in form repudiated, but the in-
terest on them ceased to be paid in 1838, and not a
farthing has since been received from thbm by the un-
fortunate holders, most of whom reside in England.
" The bonds for the Union Bank were thrown upon
the market at too late a date to bring the highest prices.
Money was not so plenty, and a portion of them at least,
if not the whole, were sold for a trifle under par. The
act of the Legislature authorising, their issue contained
a proviso that they should not be sold under par ; and as
a pretext was not wanted to cover the odium of repudia-
tion, it was found in the neglect of this proviso, although
at the date of the repudiation most or all of the bonds had
passed into the hands of third parties, who knew nothing
of the restriction, and had no agency in disregarding
it. At best it was little more than:a technicality, on
which no stress was laid when the issue_olthe bonds was
authorised ; and the Governor's recommendation to re-
pudiate on that ground, or on any ground, was at first
resisted by the Legislature, who, on the other hand,
passed a resolution declaring that Mississippi would
preserve her faith inviolate,' and that any insinuation
to the contrary would be a calumny upon her justice,
honour, and dignity.' She, however, made no attempt
to pay either principal or interest, and in 1842 the in-
famy of a formal repudiation was consummated.
"We now go back to the Planters' Bank bonds. In
1848 there remained of the sinking ftinkiket apart for
their redemption, 94,000 dollars. The pigisiataring
that year passed an act requiring this •money to be
applied to the payment`of the first of the overdue
coupons of these bonds. As 500,000 dols. of the bonds
had no coupons, they were excluded by the wording
of the law from the bents of the appropriation ; al-
though no such discrimination was probably intended.
As yet, however, nothing has been gained o* lost
by either class of bondholders in consequence of the dis-
crimination, the State auditor having evaded the law
which required the payment to be made. Under these
circumstances Mr. Weiss, an agent of the English bond-
holders, being then in Mississippi, obtained a mandamus
against the auditor, commanding him to pay over the mo-
ney acccording to law. The latter thereupon appealed to
the 'High Court of Errors,' the highest tribunal in the
State, which, towards the close of last year, confirmed
the mandamus of the lower Court. The sinking fund
was by this time reduced to $45,000, the Legislature of
that year having appropriated it to defray the ordinary
expenses of Government ; and we infer from the recent
article in the Natchez Courier, that this $45,000 h s
since been expended in the same way, the auditor pro-
bably regarding the authority of the Lerislature
superior to that of the Court of Errors. However 'thi/3
may be, it is plain that there is a collision between the
Courts and the Legislature, and that the latter body has
trampled under foot the authority of the former.
" Nor, is this the only point of collision between the
Government of Mississippi and her Courts. For her
Court of Chancery has recently decided that she is
legally and constitutionally bound for the redemp-
tion and payment of the Union Bank bonds. This
case will go up to the highest Court, which, there
is reason to believe, will sustain the Chancellor's deci-
sion. The New Orleans Bulletin, anticipating this result,
says This will plitce the people of Mississippi in a
very awkward predicament—they voting that they will
not pay certain obligations, and the high tribunals of
their own creation, specially authorised to pronounce
up'on such subjects, declaring that they are legally and
constitutionally hound for their redemption and payment.
"All honour to the Mississippi Courts. They have
done what they could to vindicate outraged justice, and
blot out the infamy which must ever attend and follow
the repudiation of just debts. That those under consi-
deration are just debts nobody doubts but the debtors.
The country and the civilised world have pronounced
upon the case a unanimous verdict. Mississippi stands
before mankind a fraudulent debtor—able, but refusing
to pay. Being an independent State she has the power
either to pay or not to pay ; but this fact makes her re-
fusal still more discreditable to her, if possible, than it
otherwise would be.

" In thinking and speaking on this subject, we must
be careful to discriminate between the numerical majority
which has hitherto refused to make any effort to pay the
bonds in question, and that large and respectable mi-
nority who for years have !Awn struggling to redeem the
credit of the State. We said years ago, and we say
now, that Mississippi will yet regard it as a privilege to
pay her repudiated bonds, and all her bonds. Recent
demonstrations encourage us to hope that her regenera-
tion is near. Not only the decisions of her Courts, and
the increasing zeal of the party in favour of bond paying,
encourage us, but also the fruits of her dishonesty, which
she is beginning to reap. These are bitter, like the
apples of Sodom, and will become more so the longer
they are kept."