Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1841-10-21

Treasurer Of the State has couHtersigned,
these presents, and caused the seal of the
State to be eEped thereto, al Jackson, this
.,i in the - year Of our Lord."-
Hore is a positive, absolute, promise or
Son,rac,-anIexpr power given to the
bank to sell and negotiate them " TO any
porson whatsoever, or to bearer" What
is tho legal construction Of this contract 7
In ascertaining this we must look TO its
phraseology and see what was the mean
ing and intention Of the contracting par
ties. We must cons,rue the words Of the
in their ordinary sense and &C.
cepta,ion. First, there is an unequivor
cal acknowledgment OF the indebtedness;
second aforementioned promise to pay;
third direct undertaking to pay the a
mount Of the bonds, with interest at tho
rate Of FIVE per cent. per annum and
fourth, these promises and undertakings
are witnessed by the most solemn attes'a
,ations. This bond is drawn up in pro-
per form and style, and as an instrument
detached from the charter Of the bank, is
thrown into market, regularly signed and
authenticated, bearing upon lis face the
States declaration, "Kao,o all men by these
presents, that the State Of Mississippi is in
debted," &c. The purchaser here then
was commanded by the State to know that
she was legally indebted 10 the Union
Bank, that she would pay tina. debt, and
her promise was the evidence that she
was bound and would pay. But suppose
that the purchasers Of the bonds had
looked beyond the face Of the bonds TO the
charter-ihe contract made and entered
into between the State and the stockhol.
ders-who are the parties to that contract
The contracting parties are the State and
stockholdcrS. The bond holders are no!
parties to the charter contract. They are
only parties to the bond contract. The con-
tract entered into between the State and
stockholders is n substantive and hides
pendent contract. The stockholders may
iail TO perform their engagements with
the State, but surely such failure cannot
form legal and homes! plea for the State
not TO perform hers,
Another objection which has been'rais.
ed against the payment OF the bonds is,
that the terms and conditions upon which
the State undertook TO execute them haze
been altered and changed by the supple-
mental charter Of the bank, which ,char.
ter was acted upon by one single Legis
lature, when 10 change or alter these
terms and conditions, It required the &C.
ton Of two distinct and independent Legis-
iatures. Let US for moment entertain
the idea that the supplement did under
take, change and alter the terms Wnd con.
ditions upon which the State contracted
with the stockholders to execute her bonds
for the purpose Of enabling the bank to
raise The contemplated loan, what will it
avail Can il affect the validity Of the
the execution OF the bondsl BY no
means. 1t would only prove that those
attempted changes and alterations were
illegal and void, and being so are no,
binding. They are, if unconstitutional
as q dead letter oil no efficacy whatever
There is no principle better settled, than
that one portion of law or charter MAJ
DO avoided and the rest good. The fac
that one section or provision Of law i.
unconstitutional, does not render the
Whole vold-one part may stand and the
Other not. So if the original charter in
cooperating the Union Bank, pledging the
faith Of the Stae, be constitutional, il ne.
cessarlly follows, that, if any single sub
sequent Leg. stature have undertaken t
alter and change the features of the orr
ginal charter, which they had no powe
and authority TO do, these alterations and
changes cannot affect the constitutional
~ Of the original charter or the validit,
Of the execution Of the bonds, becaus,
these alterations and changes if illegal
are utterly void, and OF course have n,
existence. But will notice one leatur,
in the supplemental charter, which is re
lied upon to show that the bonds are IN
lawful. 1t is this, that the first sectio
Of the supplement makes and constitutes
the State stakeholder in the bank, an
authorizes the Governor to subscribe 70
five millions Of stock in the name Of tn
State, to be paid for out Of tho proceed
arising from the sale of the bonds. Nov
it will be observed, that section does no
change or alter the original charter, bu
1t IS in fact a mere addition to that char
ter--a new and independent feature
But was it not entirely competent Tor III
legislature who passed the supplement t
make and constitute the State stockhol
der. No one at this late day, can sue
cessfully argue that thellegisIa ture ha
not perfect right to charter bank, an
make the State stakeholder in such bank
A bank or corporation then may be ere
atod by the act Of any single Legislature
No part Of the original charter require
the action or passage Of two legislatures
except that which proposed TO pledge tn
faith and credit Of the State consequent
ly the stockholders were as fully an,
completely incorporated as such at tn
first passage OF the original charter a
upon its second passage. Then if ON