The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-09-01

pledglng the State to receive in pay
mert of taxes and other dues to the
State, the bills or notes of this bank.
whether the bank be, solvent OF in
solvent. Ii this construction be cor
rect, which / deny, and which the .
Court of Errors of this State depy.
then it is miserably weak device, o !,
disgraceful and nugatory Act to at
tempt to get rid of the obligation, by
repealing the section which made the
pledge. This, it seems to me, was
point submitted 70 AAfff. Chamberlain
by the House of Representatives
and he should have informed them
of their duty. The precise point has
been decided, however, by the Su-
preme Court of the United States,
and is not open to argument. The
Legislature of Arkansas did precisely
what (according to Mr.. Chamber-
lain's construction) the Legislature,Gt
South Carolina propose to do, and
the Supreme Conrt ef the United
States pronounced the repeal ssnulI
and void" and a mandamus issued
requiring the Treasurer to take the
notes of the Bank of -Arkansds in
payment of debt due the State.
See case of F:apnelI Us. Woodruff.
tenth Howard, FOG. 4i. 20 =,
MIR. Chamberlain pretermits all
notice of these, as of all other uues-
tions arising under the Constitntion
of the United States, having perhaps
adopted the idea of the great leader
of the radicals, that the reconstructed
States are "outside of the Constitu-
tion."
He Confines" himself, he says. to
two questions:
''First. The liability of the State
for the redemption of the bills issued
by the Bank Of the State.
Second. The legality Of the dis
position proposed to be made by the
pending bill of the assets and pro
perty of the Bank of the State. y
In the first question, my clients
are very indirectly interested. If
those undertaking to represent the
State, choose to assume q debt of
one million and quarter, if confined
to bills s.fled," or o million and three
quarters probably, If extended to the
whole issue prior 10 Decem6er 90,
1860, and three millions, if extended
to the whole issue, my clients have
no special interest, except as it may
impair the ability of the State to
make good its indebtedness to them.
Be that as it may, I have nothing
to say in reply to the first point con-
sidered by Mr.. Chamberlain. On
the contrary, I have always thought
that, if Sonth Carolina were. in, q
condition to pay in full all her clear,
acknowledged and unquestionable
obligations, and could, without TOO
far '.g,.inding the faces Of he poor" by
exorbitant taxation, provide for the
payment of these bills, her "honor
and good faith" would not be clear of
blemish if she failed to do SO.
have looked upon it as, in some de-
gree, an obligation, but, in the Ian
guage of the moralists, as an issipepe,--
feet obKgdtion." Agreeing, to this
extent, with Mr.. Cham mberlain, i shall
notice that part of his opinion only
to correct his mistake as to the
course Of legislation on the subject of
receiving the bills of the Bank of the
State in payment Of taxes. Mr..
Chamberlain says: ::it should be
remembered that prior to the incor-
poration of the Bank of the State,
the bills of other banks within the
State were also receivable, in the
same manner, for taxes and debts
due the State; but when, subsequent
ly to the chartering of the Bank of
the State, the old. banks applied to
be re-chnrtered, this provision was
stricken out of their new charters,
and the bills of the Bank of the State
alone continued receivable for debts
due the State. The bills of other
banks were receivable only SO long
as they were redeemable in specie;
bnt the bills of the Bank of the State
were receivable rs specie, whether
redeemable in specie or not"
The statutes show that the same
provision contained in the charter OF
the Bank of the State of, South Caro-
lima, in regard to the bills of the
bank being receivable in payment of
taxes and debts due the State, is con-
tanned in all the bank charters grant
ed previous to this. charter, and is
continued in the renetodI charters of
the State Bank and Bank OF South
Carolina, in 1922, in the a.enewaI
charter of the Union Bank and
Planters aud Mechanics Bank, in
1880, In the rene,Du charter of the