Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-11-17
che Gatgtts:
M a @, " A.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER II, 1896.

coihclueS Win, anu supports the START
ling doctrines lately put forth in Penn
sylvania by George M. Dallas. The
following is an extract from his letter
The principle must be settled, that
Legislative body can grant a charter
or a privilege which any subsequent le-
gislature or the people in convention,
may not abrogate and recalr"
That there is a deer, settled, & ma
lignant feeling of hostility towards the
late United States Bank, existing "a
mong the leaders of the administration
party throughout the country, and the
officers of the government at Washing
ton, and that no means, however law
less and shameful, will be left untried
to ensure its destruction, is plainly ev-
idenced by what is daily transpiring
around us. Geo. NJ. Dallas, formerly
a senator in Congress from Pennsyl-
yania, lately, in a letter to the people
of that State, boldly proclaims the
doctrine, that a convention for altering
or amending a colstitu ton, is clothed
with power to annul and destroy all
existing contracts between legislatures
and corporations, not, we think, be-
cause he believed his doctrine SOUND,
or well founded, but because he belize
we'd, that, in the present state of affairs
in Pennsylvania, the overthrow of the
bank might be accomplished !; and IN
order to add strength to the doctrines
ofDallas, we find the Post Master &c.
neral, who may at the present time
be considered a fair ~expositor of the
views and sentiments of the administers
ton, sending, upon the eve of an impor.
tant election, his approval of the pow.
ers claimed for a convention by Dallas.
All this is done for the sole and only
purpose of bringing about that, which,
heretofore, they have been impotent to
accomplishments destruction of the
Bank. So far, however, as the letters
and sentiments of Dallas and Kendall
were intended to operate upon the bank,
and upon the elections, which, at their
respective dates were rapidly approa-
ching, they might be looked upon, did
they extend no farther, as the mere eb-
ullItlons OF party spirit, which would
subslde when the cause which threw
them to the surface of the political
cauldron, should have passed away
1t must be apparent, to any reflect
ing mind, that the strict observance and
faithful performance, on the part of a
government, of all its contracts with
the whole or a part gifts people, is the
only thing that can ever add to its
strength, or ensure its perpetuity.-
Charters are granted by legislaturs.tc
corporate bodies, for valuable cohside
ratlons-such as a large bonus to the
state, or increased public beneft pro.
missed by the corporation, or, more ge.
neralIy, both combined together,-for
a specified number of years, and, du.
ring that time, if they do not violate
the restrictions of those charters, the
state is bound, by all obligations, legal.
moral, and virtual, to protect them q.
galnst any and all attempts that nav
be made to violate their rights. Were il
Otherwise, what sort orconfdenco could
be placed in any contract into which
the Legislature ola state might enter .
Where could any number of c~itizens
be found who would be willing to ac.
cept of u charter for the establisbn,ont
OF a bank, the construction of a roil>
road, a canal, a turnpike, or the cree.
ton of a bridge across an imnassohlo
rlver' or for any other purpose, if #
were a settled principle that a succeed.
my legislature, or a convention of the
people might deprive them of their
sharfer' and the privileges it conferred,
Inc moment the construction Of the
"ofN 1t empowered them to make, was
completed The stockholders to a
stand upon the same ground
80 far as the plighted faith of the state
) concerned, as do the stockholders of
Dank-to both has the stata rloL.,