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 her to our bosom with hooks of steel.' We love Mississippi, our sovereign 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 parties. 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 fund at this time equalled only $86,274. The whole amount contributed to it up to Sept. 30, 1848, equalled only $1,876,063. The balance of the loss was provided for by the State, which was to be reimbursed by further additions to the fund. In 1842, the Act was so amended that the fund became chargeable only with the losses to the public on the note circulation, which greatly reduced the present or prospective charge upon it. In 1838, this State established what was called the "freebanking system," by which banking associations could be formed without application to the legislature. These associations were required to deposit with the Comptroller of the State stocks of the United States, or of the several States, which should be equivalent, in interest, to a 5 per cent stock; or bonds and mortgages upon improved real estate having a value of twice the sum secured, equal in amount to their note circulation. Upon such deposit the Comptroller was to issue a corresponding amount of notes. This was nothing less than a system founded upon securities or real property. The result was, that previous to 1843, 29 of these Banks failed, having an aggregate circulation of $1,233,374. The nominal value of the securities deposited for their circulation amounted to $1,555,338. They produced, on their sale, in winding up the Banks, only $953,371,-a sum equalling only 74 per cent of their circulation. The law was thereupon amended so as to exclude all stocks except those of the United States and of the State of New York, which were required to be the equivalent of 6 per cent stocks. A wiser provision had been adopted in 1840, requiring all the Banks of the State to redeem their notes, either in New York City, Albany, or Troy, at a discount of one-half of 1 per cent. In 1851, this discount was reduced to one-quarter of 1 per cent. After the passage of the Act of 1851, two of the principal Banks of the City of New York undertook to establish for the State a system somewhat similar to the Suffolk Bank system of New England. The notes of such of the country Banks as kept deposits with them were returned, -the redeeming Banks dividing the discount between themselves and the issuers. This system, though by no means perfect, exerted a very salutary influence by forcing constant redemption of issues, and in keeping the currency down to the necessities and wants of the people. After 1838, no more safety-fund Banks were chartered, and that system went gradually out of existence. In 1846, the amended constitution of the State took away from the legislature "all power to pass any Act granting any special charter for banking purposes," and provided that corporations or associations might be formed for such purposes under general laws. The amended constitution also provided, that, after the year 1850, stockholders of Banks should be liable to the amount of their shares for all debts and liabilities of every kind; and that, in case of insolvency, the holders of notes should have a preference in payment over all other creditors. The State of Ohio affords another pertinent illustration of the system, or want of system, which has prevailed in this country, in the creation and management of Banks. In 1808, she chartered a Bank at Marietta, with a capital of $500,000, and another at Chillicothe, with a capital of $100,000. From 1809 to 1816, 4 more Banks were chartered. In 1816, 6 Banks were chartered, having an aggregate capital of $1,600,000. From 1811 to 1832, 11 Banks were chartered, with an aggregate capital of $2,700,000. In 1833, the Franklin Bank at Cincinnati, with a capital of $1,000,000, was chartered; and in 1834, the Ohio Life and Trust Company, with a capital of $1,000,000. Only a part of these Banks went into operation. There does not appear to have been any special provision made to secure their circulation. The number of them in operation on the 1st of January, 1835, was 24. Their aggregate share capital equalled $5,819,692; their circulation, $5,221,520 ; their deposits, $2,090,065; their loans and discounts, $9,751,973. From this time they increased rapidly, in consequence of the mania created by General Jackson's attack upon the United States Bank. In 1837, there were 32 in operation having a share capital of $9,247,296; circulation, $8,326,974; deposits, $7,590,933; loans and discounts, $18,178,699. They all suspended in May, 1837. The system had so little real foundation that most of the Banks went out of existence,the number in 1844, the year after the Banks of the country resumed, being only 8, their share capital being reduced to $2,167,628; their note circulation, to $2,246,999; their deposits, $505,430; their loans and discounts, $2,968,441! The reduction of their loans and discounts, equalling $15,210,258 in a period of seven years, shows the enormous inflation under |