Louisville messenger. (Louisville, Miss.) 1842-1843, 1843-09-02


: said lonn. The loan was ~ be 81,
Il lcelrd by means OF tho issuance and
4 sale Of bonds Ol the State lof y ! o,
, 100000, Tor the purpose Of rnlsing
TINT amount Of capital, for The bcblit
II the citizens Of the State exclusive
Is, 10 bunk upon, on condition, how
ever. that those citizens WHO might
tnbnfk IN Ibis banking adventure,
should subscribe for The stock, and
upon Subscribing, or when required
by the directory Of the Bank, should
I each pay down in cash ten per cent.
upon The amount OF his subscription /;
and further, execute bond for the
amount Of bis subscription, aud u
mortgage, TO secure the State against
her liability on her bonds. The
mortgage was 10 be OH unincumber.
ed property, Of an impershable ma
ture, equal in value TO the amount Of
his subscription. When those bonds
and mortgages should he executed,
and the directory of the bank, salts.
fled of their suilicpncy, "lhereupon,
the Governor of the Sate," was au-
thorized "to issue bonds of the State,
from time to time, equal in amount to
the stock subscribed, and secured"
(by bonds and mortgages as aioresaid)
ito the satisfaction of the directory"
The object ofthe loan, was to furnish
for the citizens of the State and for
them "onIy," l5,5o0,0oo dollars, to
bank upon for their individual benft,
upon condition that the State should
be first secured against liability; and
the issuance of bonds, and, conse-
quently, the making the loan, was
prohibited, except on this fundamen-
ia! condition, and others Of minor inn
portance. This proposition was SUBJ
mitted to the people and agreed to by |
them in view Of the object, and the
conditions of the loan.
Shortly after, at the same session
of the Legislature, another law was
passed which had never been passed
before, nor submitted to the people,
to obtain loan of five millions OF
dollars on the credit Of the State, the
object of which, was 10 enable the
State to take five millions of the stock
of the Mississippi Union Bank. TO
effect this loan, the Governor was,
Immediately on the opening of books
of subscription, TO subscribe five mil,
lions of dollars on the part Of the
State, to issue five millions Of bonds
of the State, and deliver them to the |
managers of the Bank, that they
might be Immediately put in market,
scld, and the loan obtained. BY this,
second law, loan was 10 be obtain
cd, not for individual citizens of the |
State as contemplated by the first
law, but for the State of Mississippi.
No cash was to be paid, or stock bonds
and mortgages to be given to secure
the Stale, but the loan was to be
made without these, on the naked
credit of the State, independent of
any of the precedent and prohibitory
conditions of the first law. AS this
loan Of five millions was authorized,
and actually obtained in opposition
to, and violative of the terms, upon
which the charter originally authori-
zed a loan, it follows, that so far as
the loan is concerned, it is distinct
and separate law from the original
law; and loan was obtained by
virtue Of its provisions. The people
had rgreed that a loan should be OBJ
tanned for citizens, on condition they
would first indemnify the State, but
they never had the proposition be-
fore them, to obtain a loan for the
State without any indemnity, and did
not, therefre, authorize the passage
of the law for that object. The con-
stltutIonal requirement., that, to OBJ
tain a loan on the credit of the State,
the law for that purpose must be en-
tered on the Journals, be referred to
the people, published in three news
papers Of the State before the next
election, and passed by a new Lee
giSlature again, was not complied
with, and unless these things are
done, the Constitution declares such
law shall not be passed. This, latter
law, is therefore clearly unconstitu-
tional, and the bonds having been
issued, and the loan obtained by vir.
tue of its provisions, were illegal and
void. am aware, that it is conten-
ded, that the 5th section of the origin
al law anthnrisnd tho ri