The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-02-16
Tao areenviIie and Columbia Railroad
s. Icf Company ...-.

MIR. EDITOR: In your paper of Sunda
morning, Col. II. P. Hammett. the Pre-
sident of the Greenville and Columbia Rail
road Company. takes issue with Governo
Scott's statements and arguments in his re
cent veto of the Greenville Railroad bill
Occupying different stand-points, it wa
natural there should be wide divergenc
OF opinion upon the aspect and bearing @
the questions treated upon, but rs there j
additional matter introduced into Colone
Hammett's statement-much of it, however
being irrelevant-it will do no harm to ex
anime the questions in dispute.
Governor Scott vetoed the Act alluded t,
because he deemed it both uncorstitutiona
and inexpedient. It purported to re-enac
and amend an Act passed by the Genera
Assembly in 1866, under the provisiona
government, entitled can Act to alter an,
amend an Act to lend the name and credi
OF the State to the Greenville and Colum
bla railroad Company in the rc-adjustmen
of their debt" The Act which this las
named Act purported to alter and amcnC
was passed by the General Assembly on th
2Sth day Of January, 1861, more than
month subsequent to the secession of tn,
State from the Union. This body was or
ganized in violation of the laws, and fo
purposes destructive of the Union, and wa.
actively engaged in levying war against I'll,
Government of the United States. AL
their actions were, therefore, illegal, ant
must be considered null and void, ant
among them must undoubtedly be con
sldcred the Act which forms the basis o
the bill under consideration. To recapitu
late, the Act of 1869 amends the Act O.
1866, which amends the Act of 1861, whicl
was passed by an illegal and unconstitu
tional body; and the original Act being
void and of non-effect, the amendments K
it can have no binding force upon tho
people of this State. That this was the
opinion of the trainers Of the present Con
stitution of this State, is demonstrated in
Section 1G, Article TX, providing ''that nc
debt contracted by this State in behalf OF
the late rebellion i'll whole or in part, shall
ever be paid" And, with still further sig
nlhcance, an ordinance was passed, pro
vldlng ''that all Acts, or pretended Acts, oi
by the General Assembly of the State since
the goth day of December, 1860, pledgine
the faith and credit of the State for the
benefit of any corporate body or private in
dlvidual, are hereby declared inoperatiye
until the General Assembly shall assemble
and ratify the same. And it shall be the
duty of the General Assembly, u its frs
session after the passage of Mis ordinance. to
attend to the same" In this ordinance OF
the Convention, the Act of january %,
1861, pledging the "faith and credit of the
State for the benefit of the Greenville and
Columbia Railroad Company" was as dis
tinctly alluded to as if it had been speci
hcally named. Its validity, therefore, de-
pended upon its ratification by the General
Assembly at it's first session after The pas.
sage of the ordinance. The Convention
ordained that the General Assembly should
convene at Columbia, on the 18th day OF
May, 1868, but it was postponed by an
order of General Candy until after Congress
had approved of the Constitution under
which it was elected. This took place on
the 25th of June, and Congress directed
that the Legislature should meet at the end
of twenty days from the time the Act went
into effect, unless the Governor elect should
sooner convene the same. The Governor,
In the exercise of the discretion conferred
upon him, called the General Assembly to-
gether upon the 9th day of July, when it
convened accordingly, organized and pro-
ceeded to the transaction of business.
Among other subjects brought to its atten.
tion was bill introduced into the Senate
by MIR. Leslie. on the 25th of July, to ere
enact certain Acts lending the name and
credit of the State to the Greenville and
Columbia Railroad Company, and to vail
date the action of said company thereun-
der" ;, 1t was taken up and postponed re.
peatedly. until the Oath of August, when
Its further consideration was postponed
until the next regular session of the General
Assembly. 1t thus appears that after O
session of two months and twenty days,
Notwithstanding some very powerful induce.
ments-among them trip over the road to
Greenville, to which the members of the
General Assembly were invited, and in
which many of them participated bill
amendatory of the Act of 1861 failed to re-
ceive the ratification of the General Assem-
bly, ut its first session after the ordinance ol
the Convention. and thereby became in.
ODerativa