The Democratic Watchman. interest, if not of, debt for the current year. - . Although the debt of some of tits :principal Governments of P.urope cans the aggregate of our registerid tiebi e people of this country pay •n- Dually a larger interne, thhn is 'noted from the people of Great Britlitp,ltnince, Russia, Austria, of Prusstift.--audi a sum nearly twice as forge as war. •^qtaired for allthe annual ptifposea of life t,tv• eminent before JB6O. Yee, sir, the men .of-thitt generation grew tip under an an nual expenditure-by the Goveinment, to support the civil list, the Army, the Navy, the pension list, internal improve merits. and ell the other objects to which appropriations were mtdis;'of half !Le i sum which is required now to defray the ttingle item of interest. And then di rtoe taxation was unknown Now the lend swarms with tix-gath who tat up the Substance 'cif the people like Inca , a The estimates for the War and Navy Dew 'mews and the civil list for 1868 is $182,000.0W, whiCh is more than five times as much as She actual coat of the same service in 1860. Thai the people should he restive and uneasy under such extraordinary bur jleus is net to be wondered at Nor *Se is strange that this monstrous debt da p and enterprise; for debt in the enemy of industry and en rpeise. It rests, like an incubus, upon the labor of the people. and tf it is ever paid their litho' must pay it ; for thong) labor is not the only source of (value place and circumstances may all be sources) yet it is the great, the chief source o' all individual and national wealth. It is fashionable to diecouree Isrgely on the wonderful resources of iii- country : and it is true, indeed that a bountiful Providence has given us s vast extent of fertile lands, and inn bmmist Otte minerals that match the wealth of al. the world besides, but what are all these resources except as the hand of labor chltivates and developes them '— The fertile heists, if the farmer ploW• .hem not—rbe rich minettilit, if the tot tit r digs them not, will never pay a dol ler of debt. I want to emphasize this iti our tu. I would have the Government and t 1l its credit r. rt elite h .w enitrel.y• they depend on the producing classes it the coun , ry, the laborer. whe•her be tills the soil, or delves in mines, or toil. in shops and factories Even gold it self derives its value from the Jabot nect - eriary to produce it. Were it se common es atopra.-and as enmity picked op. it would be no more valuable than stones. _And thin Bee what a load Of 404 we have laid on labor' It hag to bear municiPal and State taxation, sup.. port and educate children, build of homes and C , n• 1 ruet highways, and yet the Federal Government lose• it higher than puller F;ngtand or Famine in their subjects. 1 have seen a comp.!. tilos statement of our taxes and those of Eng Pond and France for the fiscal year ot 'SCA, reckoning both in cur currency AP BELL Elf 0 N TE, -Tvli FMOAT MORNING, JAN. 31, 1868 Speech of Hon. Ceo. W. Wilbdward, in the House of Repretentatives of the United States. on the Debt and Currency of the Country. • Me. Chairman. I have Somewhat to submit un the debt and currency of 'be Country. When I fount myself elected to itha Fottleth Congrees felt. and all I taw end heard tended to confirm the inn passion. that the financial condition of the country was the eitubjecit moot worthy to engage ti& attention of it Bepreseuta live initereiy desirous of relleVing the 11011 u-try of his constituents from the bar lens sod mob trrasstuents that were weighing it dowu. Bit tee iidtject was ailing-sided, and to its details quite complex sod iritw- Cale and, besnlen, it lay ouLof the line of the studies to which my I e had been devoted. I felt, therefore, wore sepsi• Ally than ever before. the want of a-guid ing hand to conduct me through three unfamiliar mazes of finance. I looked around for kin oracle. and I found so me ny,end beard such discordant response.. than instead of being enlightened and guidedj wao bewildered and puzzled.— doubt if the builders of Itabel• under atood,mich other so badly an the then Who, through newspapers, Magazines, sad pamphlets, have discussed the Goal aflame of the country. A few weeks ago Y public letter from a d tot ingubdied source. marking out a financial policy was extensively read. which an intelli gent tilted In the eastern purr of the 8 ale of l'ennsyl•ania very earns ally watefided to my - attention as a wise sad comprehensive statement of what was hest toe us, and abdut the same time a friend of equal intelligence io the western part of the State wrote me to express his seduces at the exhibition cf mental imbecility which the author cf that letter had presented. This 11- testrates the contrariety of opinion which r veils in regard to every scheme of fi issuce s-at is proposed. And when Caine into [las House and listened to ,honorable members I found the came di v•isity of optnion that prevailed out bide A 'ormer lloube. with singular unauintii, , approved the policy tit the Seers of the Treasury for con (taming I! volume of paper money (hie llouse ended coot rat ion 11,• repealed wt ,t 1 cotton. Ale Scuttle virtually res. Some gentlemen Insist on pay lug iho five Orient) , bonds ib greenbacks. others deprecate it so espudiatis.n Some would hasten a re turn to specie payment ; other, noufd postpone it apparently -to the lost al fable of recorded time " The national batiks are praised and abused as the wisest and Ilse worst of Inelitu ions and rut( laws are inktle'and al• tered until they becOme ee unwieldy so to defy the best efforts to execute them Public Juane are proposed to coosolidate our debt at the same ;me we are a:ripen-- lug the public credit And !hut we flounder out, confounding and conlound ed darkening connoted with words and bettling yid adhering to no stable r °tiny Now, tlir, in the ro:dist of all !Lie jra gon and discord or opinion, I know of no wiser course than to recur to certain great first,priciples which are either um , ersady.,confessed to- be true, or ditch can be easily defended This is necessary ,n all seasons of doubt The sterm toe•ed mariner corrects his reckon:ngs by toe meridian sun,the mathematician. when lost in rho labyrinths of the diffq entuai calculus recurs to the axioms and first petucyples of his science, ■nd though in moral, and political science. we have out the same ample and cure elan dards of truth in appeal to, yet the hell 11,4 ft rtornt recurrence In n tal priumples Is as necessary and w,..e in these departments of knowledge as iii the more exact sciences tr lam leer pabie of seeing how a particular line of policy is going to effect the business u. the country, and am, therefore, linable Ip judge of it by its fruits nod conse quences, I can bring it ,lo the reels of certain great and well abCertailied !rattle upon 'stitch our peliikal fabric in built, sal if it w ill not beer the test I will re ;ect it, however promising its proposed results, or however speoundll sod plau sible the reaso,,ing by whicri it ne.sup started What I propose to day to ititnply to ,tir up the pure minds of the House to a remembrance of some of Hid princi plea of political economy and of conAty.- • tutional law in connection with the fi asocial condition of the country. I have no /tenon- of finance to pro/tope file great poluu•al parry with which I have thq honor to act to out of power. and in unab e to carry out a policy. if it should it.ark one out, never so plain ly When the responsibility of udmtn• tsteriug the uovertiruent is again luid upon the shoulders of that party, as it no doubt will he neat year, it will be scion enough to develope the line of policy upon which the party shall move. Meanwhile, the requiem bilk) , resin tip -011 the Repttbl•can party under whose administration the pubic• debt, from about eighty million dulled in 181;0, - grew in five year,. to the coon') 'us .um $2.757,(18i1.371 Ili .Iccording s to the report of the SecreLau of the Trenritry this debt had been reduced on the lit of !Komi Ler last ki $2,112.5 rittl'„S.lty Thuthey be 'akin as th• aggrerile of ohs putitii:ol , Ltanctriniiied. corded, end regintred upon the books of the Treaoury Deportment, but it don not in studs unmet-qua claicuit upon Govern• anent - , growing out of the war, which ere ws yet unadjusted end ineuaceptihle of teen nn approximate ent_imate While route of 'ken* clams sec anrbitsut,.uu rea.id,b 4 ,e 011.1 dleht•llt sl, m.,ny are doubt!..." e.juilnble and nu , : and •iith 48 the oonacietioe of the rountry will ul iinnuely acknowledge WCaiever the aggregate .4 ;hero. ehlice , rnui hest will, •y , co that& ,well Le ifuLlIC dobt feeftinti - the big cigurer which now 'x i ores' n The annual' interest we pay on this Cebt in gold is $1471,ie1,;,01.91. This was the sues the Secretary sawed we paid clueing the fiscal year ending June 81 - J, 1887, but 'for the quarter ending Septa/abet all, 1887, the interest on the public debt was stated at $88,816,0i0.- 47, indica , ing a contiderahle increase of f illowP Eng!tab tease 1311 We per rent. on enttntiton ti. taxer .4.1.93 per cent. nn •alltatt. n Fog Hob taxer.. . $lO 92 per nenpit French laze, C S. tales. Thum it appears, sir, that we have. in the last few years, outgun. the pried' pal nal ions iat the Old World in charg tag industry with annual interest and u. imposing general taxes upon our peo ple lu seven yearn we have built pyramid of debt like that it ioil them more lino seven hundred years to resr And now, the party under whose adalt'tttelra nou these hntdena hii•e fallen upon lb, people, have • 'i.ting upon them the re sponsibility devising measures of relief To I r wisdom and statesman ship the row ry has a right to look for such reasmind.e and practical IllellP(17,0 as shall ine ease revenues while the: lighten • re, and shall 61111101 We and re./II II I n dustry and enterprise Itll. ihome of u., who have been ht tit bete by lieno C011410114' fICII lire brunt to bit thole our best couneels to ll a dam J. , 11111 pArt) lle Lrve tin ttCln t f.l to the Republicans. your settiotoil pion cif - den-wed policy brought t n 104 er141,11 111. 4 1 war, and overwhelmed t he i wait debt and inxetten, sod now, with out our extricate the county. no best you tnny. from the difficulties Into which you brought it Illit•evel Jit•i such language might Le by a parto out o f power, when addressed to a part; to power. iritititdititi. who Ire placid its re sponsible representative poeiiit ns.though they way belting to the party that is o ut of power. are bound to advise and coun sel and warn, according to their ability. for the good of all und of the whose country. They have no right to ' fold their mins and let the ship i.r finite drift to destruction becaure they ar e not et the helm It they eec dangers tiltend they are bound to point them out, and then. if the doutin•nt pail) will persist in running us upon rocks or shoals, all that can be done is fpr the masters of the &vet in throw them overboard and re ;tore the ship to those who have guided Ii safely through many storms nod dan gers In discharge of my personal du ty I proceed. therefore, to point out car lain general views and principles which ougb, never to be lost sight of by those who b no the power to give shape to i public measures—general views and principles upon whioh the public debt end its incidents and consequences ought I to be treated And, first. the public dt lit •huuld nut he regarded u a permanent fixture:to descend to.poeterity. but ebould be pu. in prnoete orliquidstion, no as to be paid off or reduced within tuaungesble proportionsduring the present genera tion. The author or all mischief never in vented a worse falsehood than the Fray trig that n national ti..bt is a national blessing Debt is no mate a blessing to a nation than to an individual, and most of us know bow it oppresses the in ilicidutil unit), cramping his energies. depri . A•ii.g his ambition. and virtudlly ?hive. if not of We credi tor, of his circumetstices —.The rich ruleth over the pour. and the borrower is servant to tiro lender II o wt.r r coutrenin I n greni nni i wad debt may be to a monarchical institution which . Eagle upon the principles of pri mogehiture and en hereditary aristoers cy. no representative and popular Oov vernmeit like ours—cen be truly lode % pendent beneath sorb a load of debt as has been piled upon us. Why. eir.at Ibis moment*, are restrained from buylpg territorial addition., and from exploring the extent of the precious metals in the public domain, and from other necessary and advantageous' expenditures. by the presence of this del t. It stands like • hideous spectre in the path of our pro gress. And suppose we had to resent • national affront, or ,vindicate a national right, by war; sloppier, for example, what is, quite supposable. chit to oonipel I:tropen.nations to 'reepeot the,„‘Vc - trine of ezpatrisiiott; upon which tour njelem of naturalisation is built, we would find I't expedient to adopt a bellig ereut policy, would not this debt tend to make ua obsequioua, eelt-sacri ' floing t I tear it would make tome pol iticians "Crook the pliant hlngee ci the knee, Where thrift may follow liwing." I have said. sir, thel--if the debt be ever paid labor must pay it; but to enable labor to do its worst it must have the asi(siatanee of capital ; nod habitue-41y timid, Is seared away fr o m enterprises of pith and moment by this overshadowieg cloud. - At this moment every industrial interest in the country leoguishes,and every look •Jut into the future discourages both cepa! and la bet. Between capital and tabor there is, naturally, not only on antagonism, but a strong elective affinity, which, if un disturbed by repenting forces, will draw • them into harmonious co-operation. A national debt is the worst of all repell ing fortes. In England and France in ni•idual wealth may be invested in pub do funds wiThont Mnierial injury to la hor, because the Government becomes the employtr of labor and dispenses the wealth which is lent to it: but with us the Gocernment is and ought to be con fined to• its appropriate functions as a political power. and can empire in no it rt al improvements ur publio works which ate not necessary for common de fense or ordinary governmental purpos e. All the wealth, thet afore, wbicl lhe l'o•critn ant concentrates in public loans is so much withdrawn from the o mmon avocation/1 of life and from the T. ward. of Inhor When, as in the le— • ante bef, re LlB, a system of banking is seed upon the Government bonds. and he Government abstracts from the labor lot the country a gold interest to pay to 1-!he bankers, who sell it at a premium an 4 divide the prolitritamong themselves the public debt becomes a peculiar curse to the people The only currency which the banks furufah.to the people is a - depreciated paper currency, which has the effect of enhancing the price of all itecesie•riem they consume while the) return to the titmice a coin interest to swell the profits of these favored corps nit inns. But a more eomprebennive objection to a perm metal public debt is its consol. "titling power. Thin is strikingly :111u. traied in England, where, under the op 'ration of their public debt and-thee ay stem of inienincy, au aristocracy has grown UO which p0F“@.81.1.1 MOM of the wealth of the country and. controls its legialat ion Toot moneyed aristocraoy has ground the Millions down into ab jecl pot el ty Dwelling veer in men stone of regal splendor. it has sentlabrie to eat tin scant meal and sleep its bard_ e leep in email anti mean collages. some tilliee made of mud, and often with no rod but a -thatch and nn-floor but the ground lll-smothered discontent and often open csuibi voice of popular passions have been the consequences of,the false eal , o ion that curate between capital and labor in that country Hence the ne cessity fir's standing army, an armed police and a hireling constabulary to keep the people in order"and to enable capital to wring the last drop of sweat from the brow industry All this, I rereat, may be well enough fur a mop. •rehy, but let nut our simple republican institutions fall under the control of a moneyed aristocracy, else the people of this cm utitry will share the fate of their kindred to the mother country. E•ery t..ing which tends to a conn , didaiion of money power, or poltotal power, is in imical to the prnciplet and genius of our American liberty Our PI•leln of int. si.tey in ties of the Lent inetitutions of the e..untiy, to t n illtliineo the accuni ulttied of Inmtlte , but charters of 11.0.11.1,1110° t.sorl and thtfral the operations of the 11,11 Male 1111//1. ♦i hen a, nee a va-t hoot's.. boned upon iltent WIWI." J 1 hl, and rapidly ac cumulating wealth, While the people lit large are embarrassed to pay their tol e, ere nine well lake alarm and conclude that it We would preserve and perpetu we republican institittions'we must get rid of that debt. .7 07 per rripon If 00 r.l' repuu I do not propose to Pay the deli) iii once h:lk kyo big to be wiped out sud denly, but we cart place oureelvee upon sound pi Iticiplen. wt. telt, it steadily ad hered to, will exiinguich the debt w tib. AD the lifetime of living men And the moment the world 'seen that tie hove adopted a system of finance that eliall he tttorted upon the world . % measure of val ues, that we have begun to retrench ex pense4 in earnest. that we hip, levii il such rensonable barn as can be collected and that we consid'er no debt paid until ii is redeemed in gold cud silver, our debt, great an it is will for altpraatical purpoern, llis.ppthr It will be ',moody paid from that hour. My next observation is that Govern ment boms ought to be taxed as bonds The text of several of the awn of Coo greets under which they were issued ex empts ibern from Slate and municipal taxation, but not from taxation for the ,purponen of the Federal Government. The income derived from them by our own eithenn in, 1 believe, included in taxable incomes, hut as distinct forms of property they have escaped taxation while all other forms lit property have been laid under contribution to pay in teract on theme very 'Muth', and to cup. port the Government, which, gives them .11 the value they porsens. This is not equitable or just But it will be said there bonds were placed in the'markri and sold with the underetanding, express or tacit, that 'hey Were no, to be taxed. Mir, the taxing power is vested in CollgreSS rtlf trust for the people, to be exercised for' throeprotection and benefit, but riot to be ali e ned. mortgaged, or given away No iormer Congress could lake the In • tog power 1111 N) funs this or Ally tot tollr future Congress The dead cannot bind the living. This Congress assembled with all its conic ittiliOtla . . functions and powers unimpaired by what former Congresses or Treasury agents had said or done in respect of the Min; power. "Congress shall have power to levy and °Oleo& taxes," says the Canal itutlow.and to argue that we hare not this power bp melte of what our predecessors did t ds to make theygonatituilon repealable by as sot of Congress or a Treatiiiil circular. The taxing power istire breath in the nostriti of the 'Government. if .it may be suspended in respect of one form of property,, it iniy in respect of all oth er torMs of property, and thus be extin guished, *blob would be suicide of the tioverninedt . Buil( the power exists, it may be ill faith, a t•ori of repudiat ion to exercise It Not so. The public creditor know*• what the legislative powers of the Gov ernment nre when be lends his money. and t e lakes the 6,4 of u constitutional • .aerume of those powers. Salaries nre fixed by law as Bolt (only on these bend. promise to pay, and judicial salaries are protected from diminution by the Con stitUtion, yet the Government 110 E% not hesitate to tax saltines, and nobody re pronches it with repudiation. The fact is, all forms of property, whether they be house' end !mole. sticks, bonds, et' • lit es et jo 0. • te del protection,and I hvttiOre OMe lie con Wive only of support to the Covertictient This is the prittetple upon which thr foreign bond holder can be justly taxed Ilia prop arty, so for es it is invested in bonds, is tiers to be proiletril and defended by our Government Whet he holds in his strong-box aeries Ilse ocean is only the side-deed, the evidence nod sign of the thing signified Ilte substance is here in our bands, to be wistded, preserved, and rettirned ; and as all thews are go♦ ernmental dui its, whnlev, r end Ihnever . enjoys governmental protection is bound to contribt is to the support of flo•ern ernment Nor will there be furry xprn- sive machinery necessary io collect 'him lax, for it can bo . deducted from each coupon as it filth. due, and go directly to the relief of ihe Treasury. will - lend al-o to equalize nod render uniform all public burdens, and thus take away the irroniing cmirast that is now presented between Government bonds and other forms of property, She invidious dis crimination between bond-holders and tax payers in gent tal bly third observation ifi, l that we hould fit s iimc foribe rtstimption of specie paymenta, first, of all CURIA nut liceeding -twenty dollars, and a more distant day for all other sorts The ad vantage of doing this new,by a declara tory act would he to give the country notice toorepare fur specie parnienta. sod such is the elasticity and Adapta bility of our people that they could. with ample notice, prepare for !him return to our normal condition without material -.crifice nr tlitonscnlellCS The prom) ninon incliden. of course,' he re-pe , •l ot much of throat of Congress of 2. - Ph Peb re.ry 1862 and•of subsequent Roe, a• made Tlt 7 nstiry !twee Ishii tenders tit "cygnet), of tit her By the set 0f,„186'2, $l5O 1100,010 were aurhorized, and by SUbsecitlviti acts panic fi•s hundred and fitly millions more—making an aggre gate of some seven hundred millions of irredeemable notes that were made legal tenders in' tiny merit of (low many of there noire have been issued seta are 14111 oursiandurg...l am. nimble...to ascer tain from the officinf reports, but 1110 , entered at one into. the circulation tit the country. and were not d to pay oil all debts that had matured Ground rents and mortgages were paid off to a valet extent in yennsylvanin—debiors hunting their creditors tea keenly RP, in other CirCtimsb , nces. creditor. pursue debtor,. As these notes Lava not aver aged in value more than from platy to ne•eury cent, in the ollar, and yet were m .de legal tenders a iri it is apparent lbw the debtor who u ed them awed a third of his debt Rod him creditor lost it, .boil yet all the d. but of the country, ex cept such as stipulated fne payment in specific artic'es, were contracted on the epecte basis, and were redeemable, be tore three acts of Congress were passed in nothing but gold and silver coots If three come were expressly anpulatedfor in the centred, of course the legal ithli gallon existed to render them. but if 'bury were not expressly stipulated for the creditor had a right to demand thi ta. 1.,c nothing elee was a legal tender -- When t'ongrrSH Crated litiollicr legal tender. wottli only two thirds as much as that upon the faith of which contrbote had bet 11 made, they tempted every l o ut or to use the cheaper and baser cur rency to pay his debts, and thiy !tomtit kited a third of the debts el the entilltrii If any man would ntensu,e Cite sacrifice and Or private rtglo• which this legislation bleb caused let hint inquire turn the aggregate of defile, puh'ie and private, Butte. municipal. corporate and individual butt have heed extinguished by tfternhat km, and a full third of that aggregate May 1 , 0 regarded as 1.. el 111 t he c , entry, Cttrifiscaleti, annihilnted And now ti to proposed to pay the live twenty bonds, which bear a nix per cent interest in coin, with these green backs that be .r nu interest, and It IX ar trued that the text of the Oct of 1842 ati tl•Orizes Ibis to be done. I believe this auggest ion °TN/Jawed with NI r. Pend lo ion, of Ohio, hot it has found an able defender in this Boone in the person of the glember from Massachusetts. [Mr Butler ] The gentleman from I [Mr Coley ] also favors the suggestion, and indeed he reetos to think greett ' bucks are a better currency than gold, and silver The gentlenian from Maas gohUa [Mr Butler] is not f .11 taut to the cause he ham espouted when lit ad mit, that the indebtedness of the (toter 'went. antecedent to the act of 1862, must bur paid in coin, and the reason be gives. .t.t wit: that that indebtedneas was con tracted on the specie bailie. would have applied to the and ions of private and corporation debts that have been paid in greenbacke. Does not the honorable gentleman know that the court. have de cided that the act of 1808, first- legal tender law, applies to al . ulecedent debts, public and private, even those ex pressed to be payable in coin! Interest on the public bond. and duties are the only exceptions mentioned in. the act All other debm, public and private. are within its .weep And though tonna created by subsequent awe. which mini* Wed tor colt* would not be within the °pea atom of the legal-tender sot, these prior loam,. which the geistlemsrit so conduit) excepir would he if we take lite 'leis, ter we are . take them, according to the judicial interpretaiion they have received.' , The question, then, is abasewhat lar ger tine than the honorable gentleman seemed to isuppoam It is no less than this, whether not only ,lithe five-twen ties but all prior loans Shell It, mild in greenback!! Obviously the Interest on these bond, ceonot be so paid, for the sot of 1862, in establishing the patter Ic gal tender,-eiprassly sate% bole eel on Government bonds. Trie Item of inter est. being expressly exceptediant of the enacting clause, cannot be Pgid is green back+ end must be paid In 9010. But as to the principal .of all bonds lettoept those Wiled usder acts of Congress subse quent tp legal-tender tots; the question is, does the law authedie payment of them iii greenbsoke? TbJs (Winton touches (be $600.001,1.00 authorized bv‘ the act of 1862 Rod whaitsveir hod ,been authorized by filar and it must he confessed that the ph, izeology of the Rot of 186.:layers the propositon to make them payable In greenbacks. It doer nut prescribe coin for any debts except interest and duties, and it does make Treasury notes legal tenderd in payment of —all claims and demand+ agntnet the .United etudes of every ktru whatsoever," except fur interest on h , and it do Glares also that they shall be lawful money and it legal-tender In payment of all debts public and private within the United/Stales, except duties ou imports aid it.terest as aforesaid " If Congrout bad power to make such An enactment oert•tuly the holdeit of five-twenty buids, nod of 3111-previou bonds I k olvo no.more right to complain that th'ey arc paid in igreenbaoke than ell other private erect turn hod, nod 0101 complaints were unheeded. The words of the enactment are large and oompre hensive enough to inolude these bond holderS, and t is ilthpo.siblo Re conceive of any equity they lut•tt, show whet creditors. to be taken out or the onset men!. Thtagentleman from M tine [Mr" tit:titre) - was at con itirratvie - - trouble—l o show Item our current !motor.% tint tilt bonds were negotiated with ti.. under standing trout they were to he relit emed in emir; hut it has been wt II an.wcred that advet tinements and by the Secretary of the Trel.•tit or tiny n of his agents cout,' alter the t nor of tilt/ law upon the Intik of %atoll the hoods were is tied Tl , at hte wits open so the purrs er of the bionic. 10.1 must be pre,coi, , l he purchased subject to it. The gentleman from Ohici[ftlr Catei] has discovered, at limo!), that the bond holders did not buy their bonds upon any high and p4triutic inotlye, but Nun ply Me n speculation. Then it in no nordship to treat them an c treat the soldier who fought our bailee, and the ,mitlter'er4gidow, the .Ity laborer, am:Pair the other most tnetiturious creditut4 of the Government. So long, en , as you Will insintnin tyro legal tenders, of diverse values, I shall vole for pay ing dt4its," not ex pretts ly excepted, to the cheopeet 01 t lose tenders If you will pay the most•-meri On- creditors of the flovernment in grotto haeka tixey are good entich. In my jtatlgutetd, for those bondholders whoa, the honorable gentleman from Ohio ple Cutely J has found Ic be no Intai pi' nut ir than other people nut, sir, I d not believe that Con great had tiny conottnnional power it make grvenbacka n legal tender I know the octane of lest region itt ofverat Staiem bate decided the act of 181;2 ton, c.dintitutional, by a bare majority of judges, and the Supreme Court wr the United States have nut yet passed upon the question. No far os the Judicial mind of the country has been expreoeed upon the subject, I confess tny'elf hound to regard thy Wei as conetilui knit!: and would, therefore, for the present vole for applying it to all debt'., public and private, which are not excepted from Its operation; bni believing it to ho of evil trample. destructive of that gond faith which should belong to all con irocto, andante of the conontutional rglirs or citizen!, And not wathin the delegated powers which we are sent here to exercise, I would wipe all such curios out of our statute-book The effect tit repealiug•that bad legislation would be happy in many to-pacts Ir would t a k e away the ugly question started by Mr P.ndlt ton and no fiercely discussed on this floor. because. movie .ii of leveling the holdholder down to the o,her credi toe, it would level the other creditor up to the bondholder It would bring tie hack to gold and ether. the conontu 'tonal currency, which I !fun sorry to brae the honorable gentleman [Mr Ca rey] sneer at i, '•bard many 'and —the idol of the Democratic heart It iv bard, to he cure hard to get and lord to keel). but while you keep it it is tm hard that it will not perish on your handy That it iv Democratic money is alto. true becautte it IS constittitionol, and r need not tell so intelligent a gentleman no toy friend from Ohio that all things which are constitutional are democratic And if, we would repeal this low'by cat.y,stagoe, as I propose, jt would. ores NIOII the country no shock : whale, if it should happen to be knocked in the head in the'Suprente Court, the multifarton. interests that are bound up in it would for a time he greatly danraged These are my reasons for suggesting itninetit tine steps for a gradual repotil of a his i that has done us more:dishonor allii nn jury 1110 any other rule:anent Of nut day I will nut to-day argue the constitution al question, but I wish to bring to the notice of tbe comities the collocation ul the thoughts which led to tie_enaut went Of the legal tender law of 1862, as con timed in the report of the Comptroller of the Currency. erlitat has been laid upon our dent If gentlemen will look into that it they will see that &lithe leading mel-bere of both Houses placed the law, not upon the Constitution. hut upon ••uncontrollable neebasity," ••the unusual exigenoiesoflhe country.'"•ne oeseity, not eh: ire ' Mr. Sherman. of of Ohio, brought out sharply the preys'. ing thought when hweald, "Toe Sena tor from Vermont. (Mr. Collatnero whois optutou le certainly entitled to the highest consideration, and who sup ports it with an able argument, cowends Hutt this measure Is unconetltuttortal I contemn be," adds, "if I did not feel Its necessity. I would shield myself beiilnd Iris conviction and v,ttt• against it. • ' rut a voice seems to Lave been raised i n belt Of of the constitutionality of the measure. but the uecessitten, of 111111 real or imagined were perrni.ted to set *side the Constitution. And suoh has been the Hoe of argument in the courto, as if necessity were a higher law than the Conatltution. I will not enter Into these questions to day, but I beg leave to refer to and quote an opinion, which I put upon record on the 24th of May, 1866, in the following words: "By overthrowing the specie basis end flooding the country with a depreciated pa per eurrency at a time when tba (imam meet WWI the elder pitrehaner and consumer of the prodnete of the nonntry, it rsired prices on Itself, Ind unnecessarily augmen ted the public debt, Which will be a burden u p on The Industry of Abe country: ..Did the people grant to their Reptilian/dives the power to do this thing ? They gra nted the power to /mulish a metallite currreney, but in what part of the-fundamental law did tdiey grant the power to_take it away f Ii it be true that war cannot be carded on,nitv: nub pager money, It is , not true that war re-. quireiPaper money to lee madd a legal tend: er. Our Government has carried on several were, foreign and domeetio. and a commerce that has penetrated every part of the globe upon a pnper currency, fitlite and Federal, having a round opeolobasig;without making a dollar of that paper currency a legal ten. I e Where, then, is the ground for the es. gumption that these acts of Congress were demanded by the exigencies of our civil war ? had Congrees borrowed enough gold and silver at. current rates to maintein the tpecie borte of our paper currency the debt of the country had been lees than `half..whet tt is to day, and no Wort of the Government to subdue the reo Ilion would have lacked energy of effort " These, Mr. ( Lawman, were my con victions three years. , g and euhsequeht omen vstions and reflection have tended to confirm them And it gives me great plesaure to see how strongly corrubora too. ot 'beer tisws are the obeervat ions CI Beere.ary MoCulluob in his late re volt, especially on page 15. Ile there as) /I in terms that the ..fin•scialr evils uhdor which the country has been clut tering fur twine yearn past, to say noth ing of the dangers which loom up in the hut brd'are inn grgst degree to he traced the-direct Issues by--t be. Government wt uttoon•ertible currency with the legal attributes of money. When the IleCebell led of the hour were 09 strongly insisted oil an 1862 the tells and dangers to which our ministers of hionice alludes ought not to have been forgotten A - really prudent statesman ship would not have ores look irrent.ncr have underrated the evil euustquensee ut impairing the obligationg of dtmintern of intlating prices, of stimulating rash 'peat/lan JLS and lavish expenditures, and induct:lg lite taxation. All these are deniuralizttig agencies and Nice'', and they hate led to loss of el-edit, onerous debt, the most dtiring frauds upon the revenue, a general derangement ut the liyiness of the country, and a debarenient of the moral sense of the people' -Bbch are some of the conse quences of eutdituting - printed rags lot 100 constitutional currimcy, that •tdt I of the Democratic heart'--silver nod ,;old—tati tell are the mensiii.es of value titrougl,uul the civittred world, nod whicti was our at front, 1.1.0 adop ttott of ilie Coutusiulion of 1787 until overtt,rown by ,he apt of l•ougress of 181;2 :%ly next thought is, 1114 t if we Would r pair the tnistakes at the past and get beck to •pecie payments wo must cur tail the expenses at the Goverum tit And the Gist and 'mist obvious reform Wankd he to abandon that crazy policy which, with grim facetiousness, we call recoortructiou. - nary are tea Slates, some of them older mail Any of us, all 4 Ilion . lllTTliirgaticiel reki.lative, execiiii•e end judicial departments after in, model of all the republican Slates of our Federal Union, known at all times by ie sea en MPS and bo toilet te- they hat e to-day except Virg nut, whom we have carrot In tw itu a g , - inst her consent,what reconeti action de they tieed If the propontiton was to restore the 1 1.1 Do minion to- her fair proportion.. recou struction would so far be intelligible but am it done not mean thin, what ilium it mean • These Stater, according to the (loot tile the Declaration of Inde pendence, which certain gentlemen are iund of misquoting, were "free and in dependent Btaree. ' and originally had nfully power to It vy war. conclude peace, contract alliances, e.tahlislutom mercy, and to do all other 11C19 and things which independent Strifes may °fright do " Such Stater , may confederate and icy did confederate. uoh States form a more perfect union, and they dttl no under tile l'onstliffin.n of ihe Untied Slitter. Thxt intorument con e. mplaied a permanent and irrepealable t‘m, bet, int.e it did hot nut icipate any . utlnwuouA t r in pruvis tune Hut it nu happened that is wap violated, and then tbuee ten l4tates, con iitlaring that a bargain broken on one tide, was broken un all !Wen, repealed their Noe of accesion to the Federal Union and passed ordinances of aecesmon I hat brought on war wino!' to compelling them to repeal their °reit meiteetts (et sOCO,BIOII, which hod the effect of re-toring their acts of am:emote Fur it to s rifle of the common law that when ft statute which - repeals s prior eioiutote inself repealed the pilot statute to telly ed lie-tdee, every depot !merit ut the Federul tiovernno ut 'rented the ,4 , llunti coo of seceseion u. null and r , nd Ordi n nee and I.l“twev whteh nre Halt !tit raid, and whiro ale rep, aled it. lures by the power thsi plese , l thew, nrr no II they had unit hero iov ' , gra rill 1 in, hired not the vuslity nod wool tnt.•gtity of the Staten. What the war overthrew WWI the southern Clolifeaerun , out (111 . southern metre Now. !brunet all 'ht.. ploce.to of se mission. fortnittion 01 the :tout he CI (on federacy, and war, these litotes were olive and notog as Stater, Withthe Paine form of goternuient they adopted from the first Our armies had in , letl over run them and hod sut•pended the civil functions of some of their officers, and the President wisely considered that, at he was the commander It WIC his duty at the 0108 C of 1h . reor to so withdraw him Army es to sat 1)108188_1mm+ on their legs again and rest .re them to their normal condition Thin he was to oomplishidi peacefully sod Heiman) when some evil geottw. whispend hum the ears of the legislative department that reconstruction belongs to t hern, and straightway iegislatora sr I about ttiptaie ing the President ott . enacting a Perms of harsh anti V1L1111 ,1 1V.3 mea.ure«that cool(' only he 0411 t, 1 oitt by ra •nunl mg army Wnd could te..uit In nolbiogl , i the &mail - 11 , 10U of till' over Ice Isnot. roar. •A.n.l shims tloettuetive n t raeure/. are what mite noreti. by a ate it ohnee tt la tog iiegt, reeit net meth,. 1.1,011 the plain etatement of histoviCal t o eta which ha•et made ii is apparent that readmit lion of 'there folly constinctrd' States into the Union, kr the (Once of the war. would not only Wove cost us nothing, but would have *sited Ile a large and un necessary expenditure, besides bringing into productive contribution to our war merce one of the mom fertile legions of the whole country. Under the ill-starred [PUACLPD,►D 7*. TI11111; PAOR.]
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