Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1817-01-18

| revision of the Superior Court of law for
the county, To he affirmed, reversed, or
altered, as should seem to them proper.]
On reading this amendment, Mr.. .Sest,
moved to refer il and the bill 10 Select
Commttee-This motion was advocated
by Mr.. J. Thompson (ofT.) aud opposed
by ,hlr. Banks-It was finally lost without
a division
An argnmen; then ensucd OF the merits
OF The proposed amendment, which oc-
caslonaliy verged into the merits Of
and Scott, In favor of the amendment
Messrs. Banks and Mallory against it.
The former contended, that the bill rs
II stood, not only varied the remedy of il,e
creditor, but impaired the contract itself,
being thus contrary TO the Constitution
OF tn u. Sand this view was present
cd OF 1t, that there were but two species
OF contracts, those for the payment ofnlo-
neg, and those for the delivery of any col
lateral subject. as tobacco, wheat, (banll
notes fall under the last description, as
they were not money J that as to the first
species of contract, where one man gave
his note TO pay another speeie at pari-
cular tins, this law slept in and COMPEL
ed him 10 receive, in lien of the coin, d
bank paper which might be 10 per cent.
or more below tile value ofspec;e, or risk
tue consequences OF his refusal was rot
this varying the terms, and impairing The
obligations of the contract Fiat as To
the other species Of contracts, where the
obligation was given, for instance, for
bank notes, If itwerc put in suit, the jury
could only savwiI hat the notes were worth
in specie and then assess the damages in
specie thus the very form OF the suit
u est I.
tract into specie contract, and this law
would then step in TO convert il again into
n baDk-note cOntract--in this way, for ex-
ample, note for $1,000 would first be cut
down in damages TO 900, and then bv the
operation oithis Execution-law, would
compel the plaintiff To receive this redu-
ced sum IN deprecated bank notes-Was
not this essentially 10 impair the obhga-
ton OF tire contract Pit was also denied,
| that the bill would furnish any subs,an-
| tial relief 10 the debtors through the
| Commonwealth that il would but in
duce them TO postpone The payment of
| their debts, and to give "a new bond, with
| security, tor new sum compounded Of
| the interest, and most generally double
costs, double commissions, &c. not less
| Gil ill average than 40 per cent OH the
! principal sum-tliat very often the poor
security was logged in TO pay the debt,
and principal and security both ruined +;
| that II was time 10 arrest this system of
securltysh'p, which was carried too far
| under the State and Federal governments
that this SYSTEM of repievy, &c. had been
adopted, indeed, as far back as the year
l745, beng found i'll the Revisal of that
day; that ii was proper enough in the in
fancy ofour country, when our population
| xg.tc CO g. A.
that IT was time, TO narrow this system OF
securtyship that it should be recolcct-
ed too, HAT the bill would operate against
many debtors, as many who were creditors
trusted TO the collection of their own debts
Tor the payment of those which they them
selves owed: that the bill had been re
presented as necessary from the present
scarcity of specie, but surely there was
no scarcity OF bank-HOies, and those who
were permitted TO pay their debts i'm thi.
medium, ought, as the amendment pro
posed to make them, to pay so much more
III these notes, as wonld compensate fo
their depreciation that no protection
was to be found in the idea that til,
notes of Marietta, or any of these depre
Grated notes were not current, as was sfipu
lated by the bill, because the worse the,
were, the more freely would they flow in
merchants would even find it their inter
est to import them, and then they woulc
cOntriye TO make them current by pass
ing from hand TO hand-And at what Z
time, If was asked, was this measure con
sldered necessary? At IA time, when i
appeared from the tax on law process, as
stated IN the Auditors Report, there were
never so few suits instituted in this State
and perhaps 10 country so free from
debt-at time, too, when -four, the grea
staple Of this State, was so high, and we
were even afraid the demand abroad wa.
so great as to raise the price at home, be
yond the capacities Of the consumer &c
pay when all sorts of breadstuffs bore a
price 100 per cent. higher than they haC
ever done when even the standing cror
of wheat might be sold at 50 bushell-
And is this the time to introduce such Z
provision as the present bill contempla
ted
1t was centended, on the other side
that a measure Of this description wa.
necessary, onaccount of the present stat,
of the circulating medium produced y,
the conduct Of the banks and the tempo
rising course which the Legislature hat
pursued in relation to these institutions
having at one time passed resolution ap
proving their suspension Of specie pay
ments; that as TO the principle disclosed
by the amendment, of compelling tht
debtor to pay as much more in banl
notes, as tlIeirvalue was below the precion
metals, it was not countenanced by tht
existing state ofcOntracts, and was there