770 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



whenever there shall be a final adjudication as to 

 the validity of the said several classes of bonds and 

 stocks in fuvor of the said bonds and stocks and 

 against the State. 



7. That the said Court shall meet m the city of 

 Columbia on the first Monday in May, with power 

 to adjourn from time to time until the whole matter 

 is disposed of. 



8. That no further bonds or stocks be issued under 

 the act of 1873, known as the consolidation act, in 

 exchange for bonds or stocks issued since April, 

 1868, until they are duly examined by the authority 

 of the General Assembly and found valid. 



9. That all of the unfunded debts and liabilities 

 of the State, including herein the bills of the Bank 

 of the State and so much of the funded debt as is 

 known as the Little Bonanza, be settled after proper 

 proof and examination at the rate of 50 per cent., 

 payable in coupon bonds bearing interest at the rate 

 of 6 per cent, per annum, payable semi-annually, the 

 principal payable within years in full satisfac- 

 tion of said demands ; except that advances made 

 for the support of the Lunatic Asylum and State 

 Penitentiary since the 1st of November, 1875, on 

 which shall be paid the amount actually and lonafide 

 due, after proof and proper examination thereof, the 

 said payment to be made in coupon bonds of like 

 character as those above referred to, for the full 

 amount allowed after such examination. 



THOMAS B. JETEE, 

 A. P. BUTLER, 

 T. B. ERASER, 

 J. W. MAXWELL, 



On the part of Senate, 

 CHARLES H. SIMON10N, 

 J. W. GRAY, 

 ROBERT R. HEMPHILL, 

 R. B. RHETT, 

 D. F. BRADLEY, 

 F. A. CONNOR, 



On the part of House. 



The members who composed the committee 

 of conference were then reappointed by the 

 caucus, and vested with authority to propare 

 a bill embodying the terms of the compromise 

 just adopted, and report such bill as soon as 

 practicable to the General Assembly, that by 

 its action it might receive legal force and the 

 matter be definitively settled. Tliis bill, in the 

 form of a joint resolution, was introduced in 

 the Lower House on March 12th, as an amend- 

 ment to and a substitute for the joint resolu- 

 tion introduced by a member of the Bond Com- 

 mission on the 20th of February, the first two 

 sections of which had been adopted on Febru- 

 ary 26th, passed by a vote of yeas 58, nays 31. 

 A motion to change the title of the original 

 resolutions into " A joint resolution to provide 

 a mQde of ascertaining the debt of the State, 

 and of liquidating and settling the same," was 

 also carried yeas 56, nays 36. The Senate 

 passed this joint resolution on March 19th. 



Immediately after the vote on the passage of 

 the foregoing joint resolution had been an- 

 nounced, the following protest against its adop- 

 tion, signed by four Representatives, was pre- 

 sented and read to the House, to be spread 

 upon its Journal : 



I THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, | 



T ** rr . COUTMBIA, 8. C., March 12, 1878. \ 



To the Honorable the Speaker and Members of the 

 House of Representatives of the State of South Caro- 



GBNTLEMEN : In accordance with Article I., section 



26, of the Constitution, -we dissent from and protest 

 against the passage of " A joint resolution providing 

 a mode of ascertaining the debt of the State, and 

 of liquidating and settling the same." 



1. Because in our opinion every bon a fide holder 

 for value of a bond or coupon of the consolidated 

 debt of the State is entitled to be paid according to 

 the terms of the contract set forth in the bonds and 

 coupons aforesaid ; whereas, under the said joint reso- 

 lution, a part of the said consolidated debt i's declared 

 to be valid, and is ordered to be paid, while another 

 part thereof is declared to be of doubtful validity, 

 and is referred to a legal tribunal, without reference 

 in either case to the honesty and bona fides of the 

 holders thereof. 



2. Because among those declared to be of doubtful 

 validity there are a number of bonds and coupons 

 which are not only in the hands of bona fide holders, 

 but which were issued in exchange for old bonds 

 and stocks of indisputable validity, as appears from 

 the records of the State Treasurer, prior to 1868 ; and 

 it appears to us unjust to refer these bonds and cou- 

 pons to the courts, while other bonds and coupons, 

 having no better vouchers, are to be paid without 

 any question. 



3. Because, in our opinion, the State is in honor 

 bound to recognize the rights of innocent holders of 

 these bonds and coupons, who have purchased the 

 same, trusting to the pledges made in behalf of the 

 State in the hour of her dire extremity and peril. 



4. Because if any part of the consolidated debt is 

 to be referred to the courts, it is, in our opinion, an 

 unnecessary expense to the people of the State to 

 create a special tribunal for the decision of questions 

 which can be decided in the courts as now constituted , 

 especially when grave doubts must arise as to the 

 powers of the General Assembly to establish such a 

 tribunal, in view of the provisions of Article IV., 

 section 1, of the Constitution. 



5. Because in our opinion it is inconsistent with a 

 due regard to the faith and credit of the State to re- 

 pudiate one half of the floating indebtedness, after 

 a defense of the interests of the State by able and 

 distinguished counsel, and after the amount of each 

 claim and the validity thereof shall have been deter- 

 mined in a special tribunal of our own creation. 



And we respectfully request that the foregoing 

 reasons be spread upon the Journal of this House. 

 S. DIBBLE, 

 JOHN F. FICKEN, 

 JOHN C. HASKELL, 

 L. E. PARLER. 



In order to set the new plan of adjustment 

 of the public debt in practical operation, the 

 two Houses met in joint assembly on March 

 22d, when they elected the three Judges of the 

 special court and the other officers, as follows : 

 Judges of the Court of Claims Joshua K. Hud- 

 son, Thomas Thompson, and A. P. Aldrich. 

 Commissioner of Claims to examine the float- 

 ing indebtedness of the State, J. H. Coit, of 

 Chesterfield. Attorneys to assist the Attorney- 

 General in defending the State before the 

 Court of Claims Y. J. Pope, of Newberry, 

 and Henry A. Mutze, of Lexington. 



The State election was held in November, 

 1878. The Democratic State Convention as- 

 sembled at Columbia on the 1st of August. 

 The State officers in the Executive Depart- 

 ment, with Governor Hampton at their head, 

 were renominated unanimously. The Com- 

 mittee on Resolutions recommended the adop- 

 tion of the platform of 1876 as the sense of the 

 Convention, and made a report on several res- 

 olutions relating to various local matters, in- 



