the payment of the
decrees of the court. Now, with a full knowledge of these facts, is it
not amazing, incredible, that, several years subsequently, Mr. Jefferson
Davis should have declared, in his first letter of 1849, 'By the
Constitution and laws of Mississippi, any creditor of the State may
bring suit against the State, and test his claim as against an
individual; but, conscious that they have no valid claim, they have not
sought the remedy;' and he repeats this averment, substantially, in his
second letter. Now, who would have supposed, that more than five years
before the date of Mr. Davis's letters, the highest judicial tribunal
of the State, the one designated by the law and the Constitution, had
already unanimously decided that these bonds were valid, and that the
State Legislature, instead of paying the money, had _repealed the
appropriation_. But there came a new court, all chosen by the people,
under the wretched system, in many of the States, of an elective
judiciary, but unknown to the independent Federal judicial system. A
suit was brought in 1851, under the act of 1833, on one of the Union
Bank State bonds and coupons before the Chancellor. After elaborate
argument, the Chancellor decided against the State, and entered a decree
for the payment of the money. The State, as authorized by the law,
appealed from this decision to its own High Court of Errors and Appeals,
elected by the people.

Surely, it was supposed, that this new court, so recently chosen by the
people, after the legislative repudiation, would be governed by '_a
proper regard for the public interest and public opinion_.' Before the
Chancellor, as well as the High Court, all the objections made by
Governor McNutt and Senator Davis were earnestly pressed by the
Attorney-General of the State and associate counsel, but in vain; the
decision of the Chancellor was against the State, and it was unanimously
affirmed by the High Court. This case will be found reported by the
State reporter, Johnson _v._ The State, April term, 1853. (3 Cushman,
625 to 882,--257 pages.)

In this case, the bond sued on is given in the record, and will be found
an exact copy of that (heretofore quoted) under the original act, which
had passed two successive Legislatures, the principal as well as coupons
being payable in Federal currency.

On the reverse side of the bond is the following:

'L450 sterling. The President, Directors, and Co. of the
Mississip