Columbus Democrat. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-18??, 1841-09-11

shall Isem with NY letters, AID the great and 10.
comparable rscuPsrE'irs sEsr-iss" Of your Slate
saa.i be ny constant add or'g ihemc."
We sniy suTpcs', hat tbs precise language
was bed though We iusir that the Thing u5s
d0Hs--tha' The bonds were sIued aud sold PIE.
ctssiy as here sci down.
ADD, nov, nay fellow citizens, can you--cGH
you lay your hands on your hearts and say. tina, 4
we, the people ofthe State uf Mississippi, are L.
gaIly cnnsu,uiionaI.y or notai.y bound to pay /
these bon5,, or we're so bound, at the consume. |
ton oi inns contact and can you believe, that |
Mr. Biddle viii ever have he haIdhood 10 come |
INTO a court Of equity 10 enforce their payment, |
knowing as be did, all the circumstances, under |
which, they we're ISSUED We bring hsme to hlm |
actual notice Of the peculiar provision IN our con.
stluIon. lie must have seen both statutes, az |
they we're made part OF the contract.
1.-THE State was no, bound at the time Of the
consumauon Of the contract, as you must admit,
then, jei me ask-ser.ousIy ask tehen AMI how wc
have become 50 bound Let our opponents tell
us, at what momsai and by what act, we have
SINCE Incurred this obi cation. Was It, at the
momcntihssc commissioners, with Bldd e's notes
IN their pockets; crossed the line INTO our State
No. Was ltWheB these notes wee TO z into the
office Of the Company, styling Itself the MI>s,s-
slpli Uuon Bank No. Was it when these
five millions were placed to the credit Of the State
on the books Of his Institution No. Was It
this act Of the manager. Of that concern, that made
her a S ockholder, and liable, as such,'o Nicholas
Bddiel No. The must rabrd whjg wiIl net
so contend. The question again comes up,wheE
and by what act, she became liable Our oppo'
ncnts, here, resort to 'ieHcs, and the doctrine Of
osoppe growing out of it, Silence Of ,rbom
o: the people or Of uoir legis'aiucI No, Of the
people, certainly for by the constitution, they
are presumsdto be silent, in cases Of this nature.
They never speak, but when called on, by their
Legislature they are not, therefore to be presun
ed 10 give assent, by refusing or ia ling to dissent.
In other states, the people speak, in such cases
through their legisIainre--a single legislature
and the silence Of one IS the silence Of the other,
and the failure or refusal of the one, 10 dissent,
may in certain cases, be rightly construed mo an
assent on the part of the otner--in o her words.
the doctrine OF esoppel may be brought TO bear
upon the people OF other sateSln cases Of this ma
turs, but not upon US. his doctrine Of estoppel,
IS o work wonders, in this State. 1t is 10 do, as
much, as two legislatures with the aid Of the peo'
PIE can do ana more than fIiy can DOLBY express
recosniton,wlthout -uch aid OF the people. 1t s
to repeal our combination, or render the most
valuable provision, in Il. u dead letter w have
seen that a SINGLE legislature can not bind US, IN
cases Of this natute under any circumstances
whatever. We have also seen, mat 10 number
of legislatures can bind US, in these eases, Gy any
legislative action whatever, without our assent
consutonaIlv Obtained. Yet our opponents
are coniendng that the silence Of one or two lcgs.
Iaiures with line ad OF this doctr ne of estoppeI, |
can bind us in all cases. In our cons tuition, We,
lbe PEOPLE SAID to each Of our future legislatures,
" When YOU choose to propose, IN certain cases,
we vii delga to speak-when YOU shall presume
to act, therein, without consulting us, you will
act, on your own responsibility, and we will not
be concluded by our sence.'
10 give you a notion, OF what this doctrine ofl
estoppeI is, will stae case, If stands by
while b Sc his (As) horse 10 & and m k,s no
ohs,ti". ~ dr-''rn~ al eSoLDe steps in and
saysto " lou are estopped-you shall not now
be permitted to come IN aud object 10 the
sale" But suppose A could moi see nor hear,
aud olcourse could not speak couId not object
could no' dissent, he would not IN that case be
estoppcd. Our state IS IN this slluatIon- she for
the same reasons can not speak-sle can not oh.
Jocl-she can not dissent, except she be specially
called on 80 10 do. she, repeat, is presumed
to be bind an dumb, until thus called on, and,
therefore, tbs doctrine can not be applicable TO
cases Of this nature, IN which She may be party.
Would it no. tie the height oiahsurdlly aud cruel.
" to gag n servant aud cham him fast to block,
and then fog him, because he did not run and,n
ineligible language, give his master notice otthe
approach Of thieves Paison Shaltuck's Dutch
Beck story would lose all its force, provided she
had been so tied and gagged that she could not
have kicked nor hoHered' In short, fellow ci,i.
zenS We the people Of the State Of Mississippi,
by our constitution, proclaimed 10 the world, in as
ucglble language as 1t was possible for Us to
use,lhot this doctrine ofesioppel should never be-
cited or brought to bear against us,or, be recogni
Zedin our codrts,n any case embraced by the 9th
sec. Of the It'll Art. so often alluded TO. We said.
Avaunt; Thou, wondcr.worker. lIarrass and
chain down the people Of other States but come
not INTO our borders enter not our courts.
As last resort, our opponents rely upon the
resolution Of the legislature in lell, which ie
clared that we owed the money and that we
shoHd be disgraced in the eyes ofthe world,if we
did not pay it. II we owed the money a, that time
this resolution was nugatory-an act of the mereSt
supererogalon. Ii the legislature intended to
pledge the faith Of the State for the redemption or
payment Of this loan Of five millions, raised as we
have seen, they should have submitted the pr.po.
stIon to the people, which subm sson would have
taken the seal from their lips and they could
have spoken; but no such proposition has been
submitted This legislature undertook to bind
the people without consulting them. Lei them be
rebrked for so doing and folied in their attempt.
The same arguments will apply to any other acts
Of recognition
To conclude Fellow .citizcns-appeas are daily
made, and will continue to be made, to your
fears, by the friends and advocates ofthe bond.
holders. Fail not on all such occasions, to tell
them, that the corard only, paysmoney,whlch he