Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-06-05
RICHMOND, JUNE S.
For THE ENouIRER.


Tie Members aid Stockholders of fhe
Oncharted Associations or Banks, called
Faro Banks, II u c, X o, &c syc. TO
the Grand Juries offhe STATE Of Ynginia
GREETING.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES with feelings
OF gratitude and profound respect, the in
feresfed zeal, patriotism ard marked regard
for the Constitution of the country, maui
tested in many counties in the State, by
presenting as gross violation the late act
OF tile Virginia Leg Stature dssolving vari-
Gus banking institutions we indulge the
hope, that oar banks. which the same
usu'7iing Legislature have endeavoured to
put down by law equally unconstitutional,
will receive from you, not only that i'm
farfial attention which SYMPATHY in a cons
mon cause and common suffering ought to
excite. but an act decisive of the general
reprobation of the citizens whom you reh-
resent-You are the chosen guardians, not
only of the public, but individual liberty
the wat-htul warders on the tower /; and
whenever an attempt is made to sap either
under frefences OF eristing hu5ic eyHs,
which you are as competent to ascertain as
the men chosen by the people to represent
them in the Legislature, you ought not to
hesitate in challenging and denouucing the
act OF the latter when it is not in accord
auce with your own opnion.-For we ask
IN the name OF principle and every thing
sacred in Representative government, if
the sheriff by whom you are chosen is not
more capable of selecting respectable men
for the grand jury, than the annual mob
collected at our Court-houses, are, men to
represent them in the Assembly Let the
cavaliers object that the sheriff or the grand
| jury may be Interested, or if you will,
stockholders in either of OR unchartcred
Banks.-zWc would again ask if in some
Instances the people do not choose to re-
present them, Stockholders of the great
Chartered B1nks; who wish to hold fast
the monopoly which they have purchased,
| by excluding all of our nnchariered Associa-
tons from a participation in the profits
1t matters not that the Stockholders of the
Banks already chartered have purchased
and paid for, monopoly. the OWL
ers of Il g c, e o, Faro Banks. Equality,
| Ragg, &c. &c. and all the other unchart
cred Banks, are willing to do the same,
and the legislature not being competent to
| judge of the quantity of circulating medium
necessary in any community, much less to
regulate the same, if we are willing to buy
they cannot constitution0lly refuse to sell.
They have no discretion in this thing, and
| yet to the establishment of every one in the
least acquainted with constitutional law,
they have not only refused this right, but
denounced by law all our uncnsrtered In-
situtions as great public evils in inhicting
| imprisonment in the pententary on rs, and
| the common Jail OH others, for doing that
| on which is guaranteed blythe pianist con
| strnctlon of Federal Constitution Thus
striking at once at all limited harinershihs,
and dealings in bullion. notes, &c. giving
the law too an ex post facto operation on
partnerships already formed. and rights
| already vested.3 Our case, Gentlemen of
the Grand Jury, is not distingushable in a
single feature Except by the keen optics of
the legislature,) from that of the other un-
| chartered institutions unless indeed we
stand on better ground by reason of adding
| more to the circulating medium but since
we are embarked in the same common
cause and resisting the same usurpation !;
we will not forfeit good faah towards our
aIIes by claiming superior merit. Suffice
1t then to say, Gentlemen, like the other
| unchartered Banks, zve deal in bullion,
notes bonds, bills, and obligations--that our
banks are fTansitory, thus affording occo0ro-
daf'on to every part of the state, dispensing
| thousands among the community, which
but for the agency of our banks would have
silently slept in the Golfers of some nriserky
ancestor (and never have made part of tie
circulating medium,) or have been squan
cered abroad in foreign countries by young
| heiTs for want of amusement at home--that
! our fiartneTshihs are limited and were
| formed prior to the act intended to put
| them down, and therefore that act is &c
| fost facfo, and being contrary to th@ first
| article, sect: 10, of the United States Con-
| stitution, imfairsthe obligation of contracts.
| II then the States by reason of this article
are unauthorized to pass laws annuliing
| contracts made, " &c turfi causa" or
A" contra 6onos niorcs" or where more than
| legal interest is secured to be paid, it follows
| necessarily that they have no right to i'm
| fair, much less annuI contracts made by
| limited fortnershihs dealing in money,
| bullion, &c. especially when the estimate
| is that our banks are but three per cent in
| our favor uor can they Unfair the CONTRACTS
| of the other unchartered institutions, altho'
| it should appear that by shift, coUin, or
| deUice, they gain ten instead of SIX per
cent.-fThe language OK the constitution is
| that "no state shall pass any law impairing
the obligation of contracts" This embraces
every shecieS Of contract.-It is pretended
that the uncharterei b nks,by conspiracy
of individuals uniting their capitals and
issuing notes beyond the amount of such
| capital, monopoize large quantities OF
chartered bans ties safe and sufficient as
a circulating medium thereby withdraw
ing ali the security attached to such notes,
by reason of legal limit as to amount of
issues, and substituting their own without
such legal controul. aud without the means
too of compelling discovery of the Stock
s.