Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1841-10-19

tuition of this State; an express ana ex-
plcit authority is conferred on the legls-
iature, TO create State debt, in the man
ner there pointed out,
The absurd idea that ;no power can be
conferred on legislature, to create a
debt, because it viii bind posterity, is
new theory; one which seems TO have
been the offspring Of visionary minds and
unhedged judgments. Without this pow
er no government could exist. Many
sudden emergencies arise, which cannot
| await the slow snd tardv collection OF the
revenue, and which necessarily requires
| loan. In fact it is power which eve.
nv government possesses as an incident TO
self preservation. Had it not been for
this power during the late war with Great
Britain, our Government would probably
not now be in existence.
Mr.. Vattell tells us, Laws of Nations,
p. $685. "that where lawful power con.
tracts in the name of the State, it lays an
obligation on the State itself, and conse.
| quentIy on all its future rulers"
The whole substratum of the objection
to the power is falacious. The principle
insisted on to support it, is ''that one ge-
neration of men cannot bind succeeding
generation. No such principles exist,
so far as succeeding generations claim
rights and privileges, personal and politi-
cal, from and through those which pre-
cede them. The debt of State binds
its citizens only in their corporate capaci-
ty. 1t is not the citizens of to day or to-
morrow that is bonnd, but the citizens of
the State so long as it exists as State
The citizens OF State may change by
death or removal, but still so long as the
Legislative, judicial and executive functions
ofthe government are exercised, and so
long as there is subject matter for them to
operate upon,the Estate exists as "moral
person." The debt of the State only
binds the property or persons within its
Jurisdiction. The citizen who parts with
his property and leaves the State, is not
bound to pay: any portion of the debt after
wards. But all who choose to hold pro-
petty, or reside in the State, and avail
themselves of the personal end political
privileges of its citizens, implicitly agree
to contribute their due proportion towards
the payment its debts and the support
ofthe government.
The right fthe legislature to contract
| this debt, for the State, unless restricted
by some Fundamental rule, superior to all
legislative power, being as think, clear
and undoubted, | will next impure ohether
The poaoer Of the legislature Of Mississip-
pii IS restricted, and, u so, to aohat er'
tent.
The restrictions imposed upon the States
must be contained either IN the constitu-
ton of the U.States or that of the individ-
ual States.
The only restriction to be found in the
constitution of the United States. is that
contained in the tenth section aud first
article, that ''no State shall have the pow.
er TO emit bills of credit"
In a general and enlarged sense, the
term bill Of credit may comprehend any
instrument by which a State engages to
pay money at future day." 1t would
IN such sense apply to all instruments,
bonds,bills of exchange. promissory notes,
or sother evidences Of Indebtedness. If
this were the sense or meaning of the term
as used in the constitution, it would clear
| ly prohibit the States from executing any
bond or other instruments as evidences OF
its Indebtedness. But such a meaning
never was thought Of by the trainers of
| that nstrunlent-~~Ea-es1s~ the vvy,TSiss
Their correct meaning we must look TO
the sense in which they were generally
used at and before the adoption of the
Federal Constitution in the legislative his
tory Of the colonies, and of the States pri.
or to that period. proves beyond dispute,
that the term ''JiHs Of credit aUds applied
ony 10 paper emitted aad intended TO cir
cuIate as money, and containing a pledge
ofthe faith of the Government which is
sued the paper. The States and colonies
at different periods issued large guam
titles Of these "biIls of credit and from
subsequent inability to pay them they
become much more deprecated and
entailed ruin and poverty on many
persons. The factsthat this kind of pa
per had alwaysbeen emitted by the state
and Colonial governments in times Of
commercial embarrassment, and that
in all probability. the States of the con-
federacy, if not restricted, would al
ways resort to it, at such periods as it
afforded a temporary remedy for the
evil, caused the prohibition to be in
serted in the Constitution Of the U. S.
And in making the prohibition, the
convention used the term ''bill of Gre
dit" because that was the rame by
which all paper emitted by the States
and designed to be used as money was
known.
The question as to what constituted
"bill of credit" came before The Su-
preme court Of the United Srates upon
two occasions. Once in the case oil
Craig VS.. the State Of Missouri, A Pc
ter's Rep. The other in the case ofI
Briscoe rs. Commonwealth Bank oil
Kentucky, II Peters 257.- On both
occasions it was examined with great
care, and after most elaborate inyes- |
tigation the court decided "that bonds |
issuedby State for money loaned or
advanced, or other Indebtedness, were
not "bills of credit" A bill of cred;t
says the court, Conveys to the mind |
the idea OF issuing paper intended to