Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1843-09-30

as required by tho constitution would any
J. nno contend ihu, II The legislature aAer.
4 wards altered The penalty attached to any
7 crime specified ia tho original act, the
! bonds issued under tho section providing
u Tor tho pledge OF tho laith Of tho state
4 would thereby DO rendered yoidl Or
4 would any one contend that il would
I have been necessary TO havo referred the
D whole ponitcptiery code TO succeeding
. cgi stature to make the pledge otlccual 7
] II was only necessary TO refer the law
J. contained IN the lioh section oftho orig
f. nal charter to a succeeding Legislature.
$ That his competitor Gen. Brown was
. prccludod from denying this position, be.
7 cause by the 47th section of the original
= charter, for which he voted as u member
Of the legislature, tho fifth section alone
was referred to the succeeding legislature
So with the act to incorporate the Paul
ding and Ponto,oc Rail Road Company
for which Brown voted; that section
which proposed TO pledge the faith Of The
state, was alone referred TO the succee-
ding Legislature. Suppose, said he, the
legislature had thought proper to alter
the route of the rail road, or o terminate
it at point different from that con,empa.
ted in the original act, would the bonds
of the state be thereby vacatedi Many
other apt illustrations were adduced to
show the absurdity of the position, that
the supplement 10 the charter of the IN
ion bank, altering its details merely, could
invaldate the bond issued under the 9th
section of the original act. The object,
he said, Of the supplement was to give the
state a controlling influence in the man
agement OF the bank, and an interest in
the profits. That all the departments Of
our government had determined both the
original and supplementary acts constitu-
tional--tha, Gen. Brown was certainly
; precluded from aledging the unconstitu-
tionality of either the original or supple.
mantary act that in 1899 he was mem
Der of committee in the legislp lure,
(, that reported bill directing the Cover
nor to issue bonds for tho remaining ten
mi lion FIVE hundred thousand dollars oil
the capital of the bank, and voted for the
bill. That he (Gen. BROWN had excused
himself for voting for said bill, on the
" GROUND that mortgages had then been ex
ecuted by the stockholders, and the state
. was thereby secured. He then read Cron
Gov. M'Nuu's message, vetoing the bill
to show that mortgages had not then beer
executed-and still Gen. Brown voted fol
the bill against the veto. (ris pity tht
Generals recollection is so bad) He ther
Snol-o IF tho r,orol nbl,nottAn
the state TO pay the bonds. That Gen
: Brown had assumed the position tina,
there was no moral obligation where
there was no legal. Suppose, said he, a
Tennesseean was to brings negro into
this state for sale contrary to law, and
= = one OF your neighbours became the pur.
chaser on a credit, and when pay day
> came and the Tennesseean demanded his
money, your neigbor should reply to him
thus: 1.-The first duty Of citizen is tc
protect the constitution and laws of the
state. You brought this negro into the
state and sold him, contrary TO the con
stitution and laws Of the state, and there
fore will not pay you" What would
you say of your neighbor's moralty-oI
his honesty? Would you no. say that he
was morally bound 10 pay the debt, al
though he would not be bound legally
Such, according to the gentleman's own
argument, is the position of the state in
relation 10 these bonds.
The legislature met in 1889, at a time
when three millions of the proceeds of
these bonds had not been received by the
bank; why did not the legislature then
say to the purchasers of these bonds,
+ "they had been illegally issued--the state
is not bound to pay ihem-save yourselves
by retaining the three millions yet Gin
| your hands?" Why did not Gen. Brown,
who was then a member of the legisla-
ture, cry aloud as sentinel on the watch
tower, that the bondholders might have
been secured and the state saved from
this debt? Oh! no, they proclaimed that
all is well, and Gen. Brown is found vo.
ting for the issuance of bonds for ten mill
ions FIVE hundred thousand dollars more
j The ST ate is found borrowing large a.
mount Of this money from the bank to
pay for her public buildings, aud Gen
= Brown is found recognising it as legal
institution by borrowing largely from it
himself. Suppose, he said, | should go
into the storehouse of one Of your mer-
chants and find large quantity of valu-
able goods, spread upon the counter, and
was told that some individual had pro-.
duced an order, purporting to be from me,
authorizing him to purchase them on my
account, and should go away without de-
nying his authority, would moi be NOR
ally bound to pay for thema would you
not say as jurors that it was my duty tol
have informed tho merchant before the
goods were delivered, that | had given no
such authority, and that would not OeI