Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1857-12-02

the purpose OF common cIcQidtioh-D
He declared the doctrine upon this case as l
have read it, and the Court derided that the
issue of these q certificates" by the State Of
Missouri, was unconstitutional Three Of the
Judges d~issented from this decision, and / shall
probably have occasion hereafter to refer to
the reasons Of their dissent
Now, Mr.. President, here Is the case in
which Chief Justice MARSHALL himself gives
a definition Of the term, which is claimed to be
a correct definition by those who advocated
and supported the first section Of the report Of
the COMMITTEES on this subject.
No qualifications whatever are annexed to
this definition. Any paper money intended
to pass in the community, as a circulating me
dun, is a bill Of credit That is bis language
that is the language Of the majority OF the e0ur'
Ia that instanee-and one of The Judges Who dis
sentsd from hin in the delivery Of hat decision
comes out clearly and strongly with the dsclar-
alton that. if the opinion Of Chief Justice
MARSHALL be right, all the notes Of banks, d.
r.ctlv under the control Of StaJe, or establish
Cd by its authority, are within the prohibition
and unconstitutional. But / viii refer to that
hereafter.
The next case is that Of BRIsooE against the
Bank Of the Commonwealth Of Kentucky. The
! State Of Kentucky incorporated a bank, and il
is necessary to read one or two Of the prOvis-
ions Of that article Of incorporation, in order
that the case should be properly understood.
The first section Of the act declares:
IN ---4.LH.-L. - a..
name and behalf Of the State Of Kentucky, &C.
WThe second section enacts that the President
and Directors shall be q corporation, capable
Of saeing and being sued, &c
@The third section declares the bank to be
exclusively the property Of the Common
wealth
me fourth section authorizes the issuing Of
notes. The notes Of the bank were issued N
he common form Of bank notes, In which the
bank promised to pay the bearer on demand,
&c, &e.7
The question was whether these bank notes
were bills of credit within the prohibition, and,
if SO, whether, undo the state Of the case, the
act of incorporation to this extent was uncon-
stitutiOnal.
Here, Mr. President, ONE up a case upon a
State bank. In the case / have read in relation
to the State Of Missouri, it was not a bank-it
was a State BY its officers, the Auditor AID
Treasurer, undertaking to put forth " bills Of
credit as they were declared to be by Chief
Justice MARSHALL. Here, then, in the Ken
lucky case, we have a State bank and | beg
% call the attention Of the convention to the
decision, and to the language Of the judge who
expressed It, in regard to the cOnstitutiOnality
OF this institution.
Imay say, Mr.. President, in reference to
these cases, that they were argued by the most
able counsel. No stone was left unturned, no
avenue OF light and knowledge untraced, no
Iabyrinth UNEMPLOYED, in order that the meaning
and extent of this phrase might be exactly as
csrtained. We may look to sach cases with
peculiar confidence, in regard to such an inqui-
" as that we are now making-nsmely, what
is meant By a bill Of credit as it is used in the
Constitution Of the United States ?" / will
not refer to the language Of counsel in this case.
although there is much that is very interesting
in their arguments; but it would take toe
much tine, and / pass on to read the decision,
The case was decided by Mr.. Justice Nc
LEAN. Ian now, sir, upon the inquiry, " What
is a bin Of credit - and / beg leave to read a
portion of his decision. I read It, because
know it viii command more attention if read
from this volume, than if uttered by myself
without referring to the volume:
at would be difficult to classify the bills Of
credit which were issued in the early histo-
n o. the country. They were all designed 70
circulate as money, being Issued under the laws
OF The respective colonies but the forms were
various in the different colonies and often in tn
same colony.
" In some cases they were payable with in
terest, In others without interest. Funds aris-
ing from certain sources Of taxation were
pledged for their redemption in some instances
in others they were issaed without such a
pledge. TheV were sometimes made a legal
tender, at others not. They were sometimes
payable on demand at other times at some
future period. At al times the bills were re-
eeiyabie FOR taxes and in payment Of debts due
the public, except, perhaps, in some instances
whele they had become 30 appreciated as to be
OF iiIle or no value. The Court 20 on to say
"T0 constitute a bill Of credit within the
Constitution, II must be issued BY the State, on
the faith of the State, and be designed t. cir
culste as money. Il must be 2 paper which
circulates on the credit Of the State and is 50
received in the ordinary business Of iifs.o
According to this definition, to constitute q
bill Of credit, It must be ISSUED By a State on
the faith OF the State-eirculated on the credit
Of the State.
1 am free to say that Mr. Justice MCLEAN
takes issue with Chief Justice MARSHALL, and
seeks virtually to o~vsrturn the definition Of 2
bill Of credit, as laid down in The case of
TBnr~ .gsf,ge o.. CF,t. - RFF-a,--s .-1 ]
shall endeavor to show that it was only By that
effort they could avoid the conclusion that was
pressed upon them in this case-that is, that
the charter Of the Bank Of the State Of Ken
lucky was unconstitutional in this particular
and TO this extent. He says, in regard to the
definition Of this phrase given By Chief Justice
Marshall:
"~Adehaition 50 general as this THAT is Mar
shall's) would certainly embrace every des-
cription Of paper which circulates as money"
Sir, there is not a doubt about it, and all that
we have to ascertain is, is that definition right,
or is it wrong? II it be right, then every de-
s~cription Of paper that circulates as money is
embraced within it, and here is the controversy.
1t hangs upon the construction Of this consti-
t~utiOnaI phrase, I" Bills Of Credit.o wish it
to be observed, that wien this last decision
was made, Chief Justice MARSHALL had left
the bench, and Justice STORY remained. He
was upsa the bench, I believe, when the de-
eision was made in the former case, and ALEC
when it was made in this case, and be comes
forward as one of the Judges Of that Court
and gives his opinion. Mr.. Justice STORY dis
sents IL toto from Justice MoLEAE and those
who eoneurred with bin and it is to a part Of
his opinion, upon the phrase in dispute, that /
ask the attention Of this Convention. Here, I
repeat it, is the great contest, what is meant
by "Bnls Of Credit" Here is where the
Judges seem to pause and labor in their opin-
ions and as they determined this question they
appear to have decided upon the constitution
atty Of what was submitted to them in con-
nection with it. Justice SToRV, dissenting,
says;
- The first question naturally arising in the
case IL, what 10 the true Interpretation Of the
clause Of the Constitution that Z" no STAGE shall
emit bills OF credit.0 Ia other words, what is
a bill Of credit, in the sense Of the Consiitu-
ton? After the decision Of Craig Is. The
STATE OF Missouri, I bad not supposed that this
was a matter which could be brought into con-
testation 1t least, unless the authority Of the
case was 20 Be overturned, and the Court were
10 be set adnft from its former moor ngs. He
goes on 20 quote the definitions and what was
said In that csss and adde's One would sup
pose this language was sufficiently definite to
remove all possible doubt aPon the subject, and
It has the more weight, because It came from
one who Wss himself an actor in tie very times
when Bills Of credit constituted the currency OF
the whole country, and whose experience Justi-
fed bin in the eXposition.'"
Again be says:
IN we look into the meaning Of the phrase
as il is found ia the British laws, or in our own
laws. as applicable 10 the concerns Of private
individuals, OF private eorporatioss. we shall
md there is no mystery about the matter and
that when bills OF credit are spoken Of, the
words mean negotiable paper, intended to pass
as currency or money, By delivery or indorse-
rar+ II This sense all bank notes. or. as the