that, when he walked, he was compelled to use a stick for a support. When the case was over he stood listening to Prentiss entertaining a knot of lawyers with his wit, when, in substance, the following sparring took place. Judge Winchester, the much-loved friend of Prentiss, was the opposing counsel in the case. remarked, He "Prentiss, how does it happen that you make your very best speeches when you've got neither law nor facts to support it ?" Prentiss comically replied, "Some fools in the world think it's the speech in the case that wins, and where they've got such an one they send for me, and I'm forced to speak, for there's nothing left for me to do but to speak." "How is it possible," continued Winchester, "for you to treasure up and make use, at the proper time, of so many beautiful figures of speech and flights of fancy? You certainly must have the most wonderful memory." "I'll tell you how it is, Winchester," replied Prentiss. "When I get to speaking and become excited I'm like a little boy walking through a meadow, when he sees a beautiful butterfly, with its gauzy wings of gold, and starts in pursuit, eager to capture the glittering prize. In the race, up springs another and still another, until the whole sky is filled with beautiful butterflies, every new one brighter than the other. It's so with me; every fancy starts a new one, till in the pursuit my whole mind is filled with beautiful butterflies." The last effort Prentiss made in the great cause to sustain the plighted faith of the State was at Vicksburg, on the 6th of November, in defence of the constitutionality of the bonds. He was made the more keenly sensitive to the dishonor of the State from the fact that, being a public man, he had received many letters from the bondholders, among others from the great poet Wordsworth. While the discussion, however, was going on, the ballot had decided it. The reader will perceive that the arguments of the antibonders grew and enlarged by discussion. Their first attack was, that the bonds were sold below par value; but they soon found that that direction was in the supplemental charter, and when they shifted their ground and attacked the supple mental charter as being unconstitutional, of course the "par value" clause fell with it. Among the arguments used by Governor Tucker, when running for Congress, was a very peculiar one. He said that the "seal" of the State, when the effects were being moved from the old State-house to the new Capitol, was lost, a new die was cast, and the bonds were sealed with this new die, that they therefore had not the seal of the State. To give point and emphasis to this argument, the ex-governor would exclaim, "Why, fellowcitizens, the State seal is to be an eagle, but just look at this" (holding up the impression); "it's more like a buzzard." This would, of course, raise a laugh; but a young speaker at Fayette squelched this argument most effectually. When he came to reply to the governor on this point he faced him, and answered him about as follows: "The governor has told you that the eagle is but a buzzard, but, sirs, whether it be the one bird or the other, it is very certain that the governor himself was wafted into office upon its wings. The very commission which he held for two years as our governor is stamped by the same seal, the same bird which he now denounces as the counterfeit presentment of the noble bird which is the emblem of our State." Here the governor very courteously arose and begged leave to withdraw, as he was not very well. Whether or not he continued the use of the buzzard argument after this I do not know, but the ad hominem criticism was certainly, at least so far as he was concerned, a "knock-down argument." The most potent argument used with the masses, however, was that they were to be called upon to pay a debt which they had not contracted, for money which they had not received, and to pay this it might take the poor man's last piece of property. Ten years after the question had been submitted on the hustings, and decided adversely to the validity of the bonds by the people, a suit was brought by H. A. Johnson, a holder of one of them, against the State, in the proper tribunal, the Chancery Court, and a decree was rendered in his favor. The State took an appeal to the High Court of Errors and Appeals to the April term, 1853. Section 25 Mississippi, 625. D. C. Glen, attorney-general, and W. F. Stearns appeared for the State, and T. J. Wharton and Daniel F. Mayer, after the decision, filed a petition for reargument. Johnson was ably represented by Messrs. Adams and Dixon. The counsel for the State made a powerful argument upon the following grounds : First, that the bonds were to have been issued under the original charter, but this and the others were issued under the supplemental charter; that this supplemental charter had changed the identity of the bank, and the bonds were therefore void, because this supplemental charter had not been repassed by a succeeding Legislature as required by Section 9, Article 7, of the constitution of Mississippi. Second, that if the bonds were issued under the original charter, they were void, because the people had elected legislators favorable to the pledge of the faith of the State, on the condition that the State was to stand as security for the bank, but the bank was first to get mortgage security from the stock subscribers. That after this the State was to loan her credit by her bonds, and the mortgage security given by the stockholders was to be held by her as indemnity against loss; or, in other words, the taking of stock mortgage security was a condition precedent to the issuance of the bonds, and as this had not been done, they were void, and the purchasers thereof were bound to know it. The court held that none of these positions were tenable, and affirmed the decision of the court below. It sustained the constitutionality of the bond, gave judgment against the State, and the decision still rests a brutem fulmen. A young sapling, wounded on the bark, will ever bear the scar on the rind, outside of the grains that form round the heart of the tree by annual accretion. Thus has it been with Mississippi. Forty years have passed since the wound of repudiation was inflicted, and the scar is still visible. Men may err, but when they pass away their errors are forgotten; but States, though they change, never die, and their errors, chronicled in history, like themselves, become immortal. The prophecies as to the fatal effect of repudiation on the character and prospects of the State have been fulfilled. A young writer of the day raised his warning while pleading for the State credit, and asked how they, the people, would feel if an enemy were thundering at the gates of the capital and the State should be without means and without credit. Years after, this same writer was a member of the Legislature when this supposed picture became a reality. He then heard a whilom distinguished leader of the repudiators publicly say, " Before I would support such a doctrine as repudiation again I would let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth and my right hand fall palsied by my side." Mississippi distinguished herself in the war of 1812. Her leader and her soldiers saved the day at Buena Vista. Her champion raised the victorious flag upon the halls of the Montezumas. Her citizen filled the executive chair of the late fallen Confederate States. Her children's bones bleach on every battlefield from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and though the cause was lost, their memories are sacredly enshrined in our hearts. In view, therefore, of her glorious achievements, let this her only error be forgotten and forgiven. CHAPTER XVII. DURING the month of February, 1843, Henry Clay, who had retired from the Senate and was resting preparatory to the great race he was to run, visited the South, and was received at Vicksburg by a public reception. Prentiss being deputed to welcome him, made a felicitous speech, of which we need only quote a few extracts as taken from the "Memoirs": "Your philanthropy has embraced in its benevolent grasp the cause of human happiness throughout the world; your eloquent breath fanned the flame of liberty as it burst forth simultaneously in two continents. Along the classic shores of Greece the votary of freedom Still mingles in his grateful lay Among the mighty volcanoes of the New World, even on the tops of the Andes, your fame has built for itself a nest by the side of the eagles. But your philanthropy has not destroyed your patriotism; you have never forgotten in your regard for other lands that you had a country of your It is your true and patriotic devotion which more than aught else challenges our esteem and admiration. Beyond any other statesman you have discarded local prejudices and sectional feelings; your heart is entirely and thoroughly American, and your aim has ever been the advancement of the interest and glory of the whole republic." own. After pointing out that Clay would serve as an example for poor young men fighting for fame, he proceeded: "The highest reward of the patriot is the esteem and regard of his countrymen; this reward you are now enjoying. Station cannot command wealth, cannot purchase it. The spontaneous tribute which has just been rendered to your character by men of all parties fills the measure of public honor. Even that high seat which millions eagerly desire you to occupy cannot add one cubit to the stature of your fame. Think not this is adulation. It is no less the interest than the duty of every country to acknowledge public worth, and we are proud in presenting Henry Clay to our brothers and sons as an example worthy of their imitation, and to the world as a noble specimen of an American |