The bondholders were not silenced by this communication, for the reason that it was not believed that the action of the Governor would be sanctioned by the people. To get rid of their importunities, which were as annoying as they were urgent, the legislature, in 1841, formally took up the matter, and referred it to a Committee of its own body; which reported, on the 10th of February, 1842, the payment of the bonds to be incompatible with the honor and dignity of the State. We have room here to give only the last paragraph of the Committee's report: "The Committee, in coming to the foregoing conclusion, are aware that they differ from many worthy men in opinion. But they cannot believe that if this subject be examined free from all party influences, and determined by an application of law and morals to the facts, any other conclusions can be arrived at than those which they have adopted. Entertaining, as we believe, mistaken views as to the true principles of this government, as well as of the facts in this case, men have taken the liberty of slandering the State, both at home and abroad, on account of the stand she has taken. It was so at the memorable era when our fathers leagued together and pledged "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" to resist an unconstitutional invasion of their rights as British subjects. They, also, were slandered. Every opprobrious epithet was heaped upon them that the ingenuity or malice of their enemies could invent. Many of their fellow-citizens, under mistaken views of the principles upon which they acted, denounced them as disorganizers, agrarians, and rebels, and joined their enemies to force them into submission to an unconstitutional law. The result of the memorable and eventful contest that ensued is now known. The decision of the civilized world has been had as to the correctness of the principles and conduct of that much abused and slandered, but noble race of men. Through scenes of toil and blood they maintained the position they assumed, and have transmitted to their posterity their principles, together with the rich inheritance of liberty, secured by a well-regulated and constitutional government. Their names are stamped on the page of immortality, and their memory is embalmed in the hearts and affections of a grateful people; and distant generations will pronounce with exultation the names of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hancock, Franklin, and a host of worthies who struggled together through that gloomy period in our history. The people of Mississippi have taken a similar stand. They are not controlled by selfish or mercenary motives. The low and grovelling consideration of dollars and cents has nothing to do with the merits of this question. Their honest obligations they will fulfil, should they have to divest themselves of the comforts and necessaries of life to do so. Higher and holier motives than mere pecuniary acquisitions actuate them. They have determined that they never will submit to an invasion of their Constitution by either foreign or domestic foes. The rights secured to them under that sacred instru ment they will maintain at all hazards; and, relying on the correctness of their principles and the justness of their cause, they will with confidence and cheerfulness submit to the verdict of pos terity." Glowing as was the eloquence of this Report, it was fairly eclipsed in a speech delivered in the halls of Congress by Mississippi's favorite son, Mr. Jacob Thompson, then a member of the House, a man whom his people delighted to honor, and who, from one elevation after another, became under Buchanan, as Secretary of the Interior, one of his cabinet, and serving during his whole term, and till the outbreak of the Rebellion, as one of the chief administrators of the affairs of the nation. In 1842, it became convenient for the United States to borrow a few millions. The question was as to the mode. In the debate which took place in the House upon the subject, the firm of Prime, Ward, & King, of New York, was referred to (Mr. King, one of its members, being the gentleman whom General Jackson so successfully bullied in 1833) as having expressed opinions unfavorable to the negotiation of a loan in Europe, in consequence of the discredit thrown upon American securities by the action of the State of Mississippi. sinuation brought her gallant son to his feet. He gloried in the act of repudiation, and indignantly hurled back upon its authors the foul stigma sought to be cast upon the fair fame of his State. This in "From the late action of the State of Mississippi," he said, "I feel a renewed, a deeper confidence in the intelligence, the honor, the firmness, and patriotism of that people. Frowned upon at home by those who denied their power to inquire into their rights, denounced and misrepresented by their enemies from abroad, they have gone on in the even tenor of their way, seeking truth and asserting right. And I am now prepared to say to the friends of liberty, of the rights of freemen, of constitutional government, everywhere, Stand firm! be of good cheer! Here is a people who will extend to you sympathy and succor and effective aid. Doult not their courage, their honor, or their willingness. Let the hour and the necessity come, and Mississippi will go forward, and take as bold a stand in asserting the rights of mankind, in resisting oppression, in vindicating the integrity of constitutions, as any other State in the Union. "Mississippi has passed through some severe trials. While the credit system was considered a blessing, and others were sipping of its delicious and intoxicating poison, she slaked her thirst E 12 with eager haste, and drained the cup to its very dregs. Exhilaration followed; for the hour there was the feast of reason and the flow of soul.' The hectic flush upon her cheek was mistaken for the rich crimson of health and beauty. The life currents coursed rapidly through her veins, and gave a charm to being, which cast its rainbow tints on all surrounding nature. She walked in grandeur, the wonder, the admiration, the envy of all. The excitement grew higher and higher. Flattered and caressed on all sides, she was deemed the fairest of the fair, the loveliest of the lovely, the proudest of the proud. Wherever her citizens travelled abroad, they were the observed of all observers.' Each one was considered a hero of princely fortune and princely liberality. The dealer in the cities hasted to make his acquaintance, laughed at his wit, aided and connived at him in his prodigality and irregularity, and quailed at his frown. But the fatal hour came,-foretold and foreseen, indeed, by some of the wise and considerate, but well-nigh forgotten by all in the general intoxication. Her overstrained nerves gave way, and prostration ensued. Then were seen the awful contortions of the limbs and the wild flushings of the eye, which betokened madness and presaged death. The alarmed executive called together the legislative doctors, and bade them in their wisdom consult, and speedily administer the healing balm, or dissolution was inevitable. They did consult, and they determined that, as the patient was sinking, more stimulant must be procured and speedily applied. The Constitution, the bulwark of the freedom of the citizen, intended to guard his rights in this hour of trial and temptation, stood in the way! With more benevolence than wisdom, they leaped its barriers, and drenched the sufferer with a copious draught of the noxious poison. The disease grew worse, the pains increased, and the writhings were more distressing. At last, the physician's skill and the physician's medicine were exhausted, and no further reliance was placed on artificial means. The patient was told that she must trust for recovery to the strength and vigor of her constitution and natural resources. From that hour she felt more calm and easy, and recovery commenced. The improvement has been slow, but progressive, still she feels debilitated and enfeebled; but all look forward to an early and complete restoration. The only precaution required in her condition is a total abstinence from that intoxicating poison which caused her disaster. In recurring to the past, she feels mortified and chagrined at her excesses; and, in returning to a state of soundness, her first and highest duty is to herself. Restore a bleeding, prostrate Constitution, which has been trampled under feet. She will "To her own self be true; And it will follow, as the night the day, "I said I felt prouder of Mississippi this day than I ever felt before. I have seen her people tried, and I know them. Too proud to acknowledge themselves insolvent, too firm and too proud to submit to a violation of their rights, regardless of the strokes of calumniators, they take their stand, and appeal, as our ancestors did, to a candid world and an impartial posterity for support. Every true-hearted Mississippian feels proud of his State. She has forty thousand freemen who are ready to risk all, to sacrifice every thing, for her honor and her rights. Warmed by a Southern sun, fanned by a Southern breeze, fed upon a generous soil, our hearts are entwined around our noble State, and we grapple ber to our bosom with hooks of steel.' We love Mississippi, our severeign mistress, to whom we owe fealty and obedience; for her we would live, and for her sake we would not refuse to die. It is praise enough to satisfy the ambition of a common man, tread where he may, to feel and to say, 'Mississippi is my home.'" But the end was not yet. The holders of the bonds issued to the Union Bank, by dint of importunity obtained authority to try the question of their constitutionality in the highest legal tribunal of the State. This court affirmed the constitutionality of the Act issuing them, and that they were binding obligations on the State. As no execution could issue against her, all that the bondholders took by their proceedings was a bootless decision in their favor. The holders of the bonds issued by the Planter's Bank, the constitutionality of the issue of which was never questioned, were equally persistent in their efforts for redress. They obtained from the legislature of the State so late as 1853, twelve years after default in payment of interest, an Act referring the question of their payment to the people. These "rose in their majesty," to quote the language which reported their great achievement, and voted that the bonds should not be paid! Having exhausted all remedies open to them in the legislature of the State, as well as in the courts of conscience and law, the unlucky holders of both classes of bonds, seeing nothing in store for them but continued losses and insults, slowly and sullenly retired from the contest. As all the States chartered Banks, there were as many systems if such a word may be used—in the country as there were States. There was, however, nothing deserving the name, with the exception of that of the Suffolk Bank. Charters were to be had in nearly all the States, upon the application of proper par ties. In most of them, no provision was made for the security of their note-holders, other than their share capital. A greater or less proportion of this was held as reserves, according to the 1 Cong. Globe, Appendix, 3d sess. 27 Cong., p. 177. location of the Bank, and the kind of business which it transacted. The first attempt at any thing like a system, provided by the legislature of Massachusetts, was the passage, in 1829, of a law which provided that no Bank should go into operation unless 50 per cent of its capital were paid in in coin; and that no Bank should issue notes exceeding in amount 25 per cent of its share capital. Its liabilities of all kinds, excepting deposits, were not to exceed twice the amount of its capital. Such provisions, however, amounted to little, for the reason that, a considerable portion of their loans being in the form of credits, the Banks had no motive to issue larger amounts of notes than their capital. As no provision was made for the amount of reserves to be held, the coin to set a Bank in motion could be purchased, and sold immediately after it got into operation. The guarantee for the proper management of the Banks of this State, as well as the New England States, whose laws were largely copied from those of the former, was the (Suffolk Bank) system of redemption which has already been sufficiently described. This system provided the safest and best currency of the kind ever issued. The State of New York, from time to time, had created Banks by special charters. These were established almost wholly in New York City, and in the leading towns upon the Hudson. To meet the necessity for new Banks in the interior, the State, in 1829, established what was called the "safetyfund system," which authorized to the Banks created under it the issue of notes equalling twice the amount of their paid-up capital, and allowed them to make loans to twice and a half its amount. As security for the holders of the notes, every Bank which was to be organized thereafter, or whose charter was to be extended (a large number expiring in 1829), was required to pay, annually, to the treasurer of the State a sum equal to one-half of 1 per cent upon its share capital, these payments to continue till each Bank had paid a sum equalling 3 per cent upon its share capital; the amounts so paid to be held as a common fund for the discharge of notes or other liabilities of any Bank included in the system. If this fund, from any cause, became diminished, it was to be made good in manner already described. In 1841-42, 11 of the safety-fund Banks failed; making a loss to their creditors of $2,558,933. The |