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

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all, upon a full indemnify, none buI
= mndmm would say, il,nt wn' 40
lhOrly 90 mako u lonn iof q different
indIiduaI without indemnity
Again, !, IL commended lli1l lht on,
section ol the original charter Is q
| law complete w i.ell, plcdgng TIC
| faith VI the State for sl5,600,O00
without any necessary depcndonce
upon, or connection With the Other
sections OF The ball, or what ! have
called precedent conditions to thai
pledge. suppose, then, Ibis section
had only been enacted, aud sent forth
TO the people, for their examination,
they would have understood. only,
that TO facilitate n bank, the Govern.
or WINS TO issue bond, of the State for
$l5,5oo,ooo and that the faith Of the
State was pledged for their rcdcmp.
lion. Could the people have been
able to judge Of the propriety Of the
measured They could not and they
would have concluded that none but a
set Of madmen or fools would ever
have passed such law. But if the
assumption that said section, is in
itself, law, be admitted, then, l
will prove that law 10 be unconslitu-
tional. The Constitution says:---
"The Legislative power Of the State
shall be vested in two distinct branch
es: the one styled the Senate, the
other the House Of Representatives,
and both together, the Legislature of
the State OF Mississippi, and the style
of their law shall be, BE il enacted
by the Legislature of the State of
Mississippi" The 9th section of
the 7th article declares, that in the
passage of claw TO obtain loan on
the credit of the State or to pledge
the faith Of the State" &C., "the yeas
and nays shall be taken thereon, and
entered on the Journals" If, then,
it be contended that the 9Th section
of the charter is a law, complete in
itself, I ask where is its enacting
clause, and where are the yeas and
nays taken thereon? They are not
TO be found. But these are positive
ly required by the Constitution. The
section not having them, if it be an
act complete in itself,i is uuconstitu,
tional.
Having shown that the 5th section
of the original charter is not a law,
except in connexion with the other
sections and conditions Of the law, /
will, here, state another objection to
the constitutionality of the original
charter, which might be made, if it
were necessary to my purpose. The
9th section of the 18th article OF the
Constitution requires law, author-
sing a loan, (of course a law, having
an enacting clause, and the yeas and
nays taken thereon) TO be referred to
the next session of the Legislature -
Only one section of this law was re-
ferred, as is shown by the act itself.
OF course it lacks this reference, as
required by the Constitution. This
being an error which appears in the
record, | suppose Mr.. Yerger's APP
pellate Court, even with its limited
powers. might, on this error set aside
the action of the court below.
Although | think the foregoing
facts, and arguments prove to the sat-
isfaction Of any candid mind that the
bonds sold OH account Of tie Missis-
sippi Union bank were unconstitu-
tionally issued, and invalid, yet so far
as Mr.. Yerger is concerned, all is
unnecessary labor; for nearly his
whole speech is an effort 10 prove
that an unconstitutional enactment
may be of binding effect in law!-
Although the Constitution declares
that an unconstitutional enactment
"shall be void,' and makes the de-
claration, as it avows, "to guard a
gainst transgressions of the high
powers herein granted,p Mr.. Yereer
employs all his ingenuity to convince
US that such enactment is not void.
but OF binding obligation! And this
he does, while in the same speech he
declares the design of the Constitu-
ton to be, Ga limitation upon the
people themselves, and to protect &
guard them against unwise and hastv
Legislation" Yet, if his position be |
rue. it is, after all no protection. The
Legislature may, in violation ofthat
plunge the people into
debt OF countless millions. the nonev