Samuel Freeman Miller

“ The bonds for which the State had guaranteed that the canal was a sufficient security, certainly constituted an 'existing right and equity against the State,' on account of the canal, and a 'liability of the State growing out of it.' And no where more appropriately than in an Act transferring the canal to other hands, for other purposes, could the State recognize distinctly the lien which it had created, and the sufficiency of which it had guaranteed. What were the just rights of holders of bonds outstanding and known as the Wabash and Erie Canal bonds in January, 1847? ”

“ There was no concealment of his interest in the debt which had the prior lien, nor of the existence of that lien. The number and character of the bonds which were liens on the canal were matters of public record, accessible to every body, and all prudent men must have acted in these matters in reference to their existence. It could make no difference to the parties who took the certificates of stock for these bonds, in whose hands the prior lien was found. ”

“ The various creditors of the fund, who have become so since the transfer of the canal property to the trustees, and the holders of the canal stock certificates, whose interest remains unpaid, are fairly and fully represented by those trustees. They come within that class of persons who have an interest in the object of the litigation, but need not be made parties because they are so represented. ”