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All letters pertaining to business of the office
tliouM be addressed to
DURBORROW & RUTZ, BEDFOHP, PA.*
ATTORIEYS AT LAW.
, uII.NT. KEAGY,
.1 ATTORNEY-AT-LAW.
Office opposite Rots! A Schcll'- Rank.
Counsel given in RngtUk and German. [npl2t>]
T R | MM KIJIJ AND LINGEXi.XTEH,
|\ ATTORNEYS AIHW, tanruaii, PA.
liavo l'ormod a partnership in tho practice of
(be i->w Office on ./ uliana Streot, two doors IS on th
~f tlie Mcngcl Ilouan. [April l,lßfii-tf
M. A. POINTS,
ATTORNEY AT LAV.', 3*t>rom>, PA.
!;■• ncctfully tenters his ; rofessiona! services
t ;]ic public. Office wi'h J. W. Liagenfolter,
Esq., on Juliana stroct.
"■Collections promptly male. [Doc.9,'6-t-tf.
HAYES IRVINE,
ATTORNEY AT I.AW,
V. ill faithfully aut promptly attend to all hnai
nr • intrusted to his care. Office with G. 11. Spang,
.. ,11 -Iniiaua street, three doors south o: the
Mettgei House.
May 21:1,
psl'Y -M. AIJSIJP,
EJ ATTORNEY AT LAW, lir.nroito, PA.,
Will faithfully and promptly attend to all busi
entrusted to his care in Bedford and adjoin
ing counties. Military claims, Pensions, back
■ :v. Bounty, Ac. speedily collected. Office with
Maun A Spang, on Juliana street, 2 doors south
, ! the Mongel House. apl 1, 1864.—tf.
a. r. MKVEItX ; J. W. DICKBKSOS
MEYERS A DICKKRSON,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW,
RKDFOKT', PEJS'A.,
Office nearly opposite the Mongel House, w ill
I raetice in the several Courts of Bedford county.
I'cn-ions, bounties and hack pay obtained and the
purchase of Real Estate attended to. [may II ly
I B. CESSNA,
,) . ATTORNEY AT LAW,
i dice with JOHN CtssiA, on the square near
(lie Presbyterian Church. All business
entrusted to his care will receive faithful and
prompt attention. Military Claims, Pensions. Ac.,
speedily collected. [June 9, 1805.
U B. STUCK EY,
UTORNEY AND COUNSELLOR AT E, W,
and REAL ESTATE AGENT.
Office on Main Street, hotween Fourth and Fifth,
Opposite the Court House,
KANSAS CITY. MISSOURI.
\\ ill practice in tho adjoining Counties of Mis-
POttri su; ■ 1 Kansas. J'j 12:tf j
, , I SSELL '• N.LOHOBNBOKBR
I ) ASELL A LONGENF.CKER,
J V AT TOItHKTS A Col XSETLORS AT LAW,
Bedford, Pa..
\\ -.end promptly and taitbfully to all basi
lic-.- entrusted to their care. Special attention
~ n : collections and the prosecution of claims
i.,r 1- ek Pay, Bounty, Pensions, Ac.
-.• Office on Juliana street, south of tho Court
House. Aprils;lyr.
J- M'p. B. f. KKIil:
OtHAKPE A KERR.
A TTOItNE YS-A T-IA 11'.
Will practice in the Courts of Bedford and ad
joining counties. All husinc,.-s entxm-Led to their
car will receive careful and prompt attention.
Pensions, Bounty, Back Pay, Ac., speedily col
let n-d from he Government.
Office on Juliat a street, opposite tho banking
•Sou... of Itee l A . hell, Bedford. Pa. mar2:tt
J. It. I)IfRBOWtoW JOHJI LUTZ.
1 vbKBORKOW A IJT'TZ,
J ATTORNEYS AT L AW,
llKnroßD, PA..
\\ ill attend promptly to all business intrusted to
their care. Collections made on the shortest no-
Thoy arc, also, regularly licensed Claim Agents
and will give special attention to tho prosecution
(II o-e on Juliana street, one door South of the
•M'o -ei House" an i nearly opposite the //■' iter
office/ April 2.5. lflftfet.
PHYSKIAm
V\ T M. AV. JAM IS! >X. M. I'-,
V BLOODT Rrs, PA.,
lb-j i ctfully tenders his professional services to
the people "'-"that place and vicinity. [ilccStlyr
UK. B. T. IIARKY,
Respectfully tenders his professional ser- ;
rices to tho citizens of Bedford and vicinity.
Ulfice and residence on Pitt Street, in the building
formerly occupied by Dr. J. 11. HoEus. f Ap 1 I,CI.
1 L MAKBOURG, -M- Ik.
tf . Having permanently located respectfully
tenders his pofossional services to the citizens
of Bedford and vicinity. Office or. Juliana street,
opposite the Bank, one door north •! Hall A Pal
mer's office. April 1, 18B4—tf.
08. S. G. STATLER, near Schtllshurg, end
I)r. J. J. CLARKE, formerly of Cumberland
county, having associated themselves in tho prac
tice of Medicine, respectfully JTcr their profes
. ionat services to the citizens of Schellshurg and
vicinity. I>r. Clarke's office and residence same
as formtrlv occupied by J. White, Esq., dee'd-
S. G. STATLER,
Behcllsburg, Aprlll2:ly. J. J. CLARKE.
HOTELS.
{ 11! ALY BKATB 11OUSE.
NOTlCE.—Persons visiting the Watering Pla
ces, will find a very desirable resort at tho ('HA
LYRKATK HOUSE, near the Chalybeate Spring.
Bedford, Pa., where the umlcreigned is prepared
to accommodate from eighty to one hundred per
sons. The house is new and airy, and neatly fur
nished. Terms moderate.
Hacks running to Mineral Springs, and Miner
al Water slwavs on hand.
.Max Hl.3m WM. CHENOAVETII.
W"ABHIKGTON HOTEL.
This large and commodious bouse, having been
re taken by tho subscriber, is now ■.pen f r the re
caption of visitors and boarders. The rooms are
large, well ventilated, and comfortably furnished.
The table will always be t-tq | lied with the bes
the uarketeast afford. The liar is stocked with
the choicest liquors, in short, it is roc purpose
to keep a FIRfc.T-CLA.Sr HOTEL, 'flunking
the public for past favors, I respectfully solicit a
renewal of their patronage.
X. 15. Hacks will run constantly between the
Hotel and the Springs.
n.ayl7,'7:ly WM. DIBERT, Prop'r.
is*' i s Liii S i:o is.
\ > err & SHANNON, BANKERS,
X\ BUDFOKD, PA.
BANK OF DISCOUNT AND DEPOSIT.
Collection* made for the East, West, North Mfcti
Sfuth, and tb<s gcner.il business of Exchange
ir::. . • red. Note** and Accounts Collected and
Kern it'snees jrorii|it]vmude. HEAL ESTATE
b*jght. and sold. feb22
I \ ANIEIi BORDER,
I ) I'tTT MTKBBT, TWO DOORS WKHT OK THE 880
'JUD HOTKL, BEBFOBB, PA.
WATCUMAKEB AND DEALER IN JEWEL
UV. SPECTACLES. AC.
Ho kecpa on hand a stock of fine Gold and Sil
ver Watches, Spectacles of Brilliant DoubleKefln
> *, in al.Scotch Pebide Glaa*oa. Gold
Wutch Chaiiu, Breast Pins, Finger itings, bc*t
! * i !d Pens, lie will supply to order
f in his line not on hand. [apr.28 a '6s.
OVl v ' VILS! —T);** undcraigned has taken
out .taction license, and tenders bis services
to all u' have sale- ox auctions to cry, Cihe i
ini*i a . . l\>tt OUico address, Spring Meadow .
Be If-.. Pcnn'c.
UIKttOKKUH A MTZ Kilitors ;ui(l Proprietors.
gJalitical.
KUYItSWOOII ON LEGAL TEN I) BUS.
DISTRICT COURT OF PHILADELPHIA.
Boric v.-. Trott. Constitutionality of!e
gal-ten.lcr notes. Case stated. Opinion by
Sfcarswoud, R J.
If any point maybe considers! as well
act bed, it is that thcConstitutionof tiioTTni
ted States is a special grant or delegation of
limited powers to the Federal Government.
''lt has been truly said." observes C. J.
Marshall, hi the Unitod States, vs. Fisher,
2 Crunch, 212. "that under a Constitution
conferring specific powers, the power con
tended fl>r must be granted or it cannot be
exercised." The same thing bus been" af
firmed by Mr. Justice St >ry in Martin vs.
Hunter's L< ,ees, 1 W'heaiou, 32G. "The
Government of the Unite*! States can claim
no powers which are not granted to it by the
Constitution, and tho powers actually grant
ed must be such as arc expressly given,
or given by necessary implication. And not
to multiply citations—on so clear a princi
ple—again by C. J. Marshall in Met'ullough
vs. The State of Maryland, 4 WEeaton,
405. "This Government is acknowledged
by all to be one of enumerated powers. The
principle that it can exercise ouly the pow
ers granted to it, would seem too apparent
to have required to be enforced by all those
arguments which its enlightened friends,
while it was depending before the people,
found it necessary to urge, That principl
£# note it.tu'er-Ki'ly admitted."
It follows that to sustain the constitution
ality of an act of Congress— to determine
that it is a law—an authority for it must be
affirmatively shown. That authority must
exist in the Constitution in express words,
or the act must appear to be necessary and
proper for carrying into execution some
power or powers vested in Congress, in the
Government of the United States, or in
some department or officer thereof.
By this rule we are now to decide whether
that clause of the act Congress approved
Febnary 25.1862, entitled "An aet to au
thorize the issue of United States notes,
and for the redemption or funding thereof,
and for funding the floating debt of the
United Stales," which provides that the
notes issued in pursuance of that act "shall
be lawful money, and a legal tender in pay
ment of all debt- public and private"—is or
is not a law of the land.
The C" UP 'of the defendant —recognizing
that on hi; i V' -ted the burden of maintain
ing the affirmative of this issue—claimed
that the ■ vi-ion referred to was an exer
cise of authority vested in Congress under
one or other of the following Causes of the
enumeration in s eti'ui of article 1:
Paragraph 2. To borrow money on the
credit of the United States.
Par. 3. To regulate commerce with for
eign nation- and among the several States,
and with the Indian tribe*.
Par. fit. To coin money, regulate the val
ue thereof, and of foreign coin, and lis the
standard of weight and measures.
Par. 18. To snake all laws which -hall be
necessary ami proper for carrying into exe
cution the foregoing powers vested by the
Constitution in the Government of the
United States, or in any department or office
thereof.
I propose to examine these clauses with
such other parts of the Constitution a.; have
been supposed, in the course of the argu
ment. to illustrate them. I feel some de.
gree of confidene, not only from the well
known ability, learning, and research of the
eounsei for the defendants, but from my
own investigations, that if the act of Con
gress in question canu it he sustained on
either of thcc clauses, it cannot be sustain
ed at alb
I will begin with the last paragraph of
the enumeration, because its proper con
struction has an important bearing on the
other- —i'ar. 18: "To make all laws which
shall l>c necessary and proper for carrying
into execution the foregoing powers." 1
will not here revert to p >ii;ie*l and contro
verted. grounds, nor to tho argument by
which, in the FrxbraV: No. 44, and else
where, the objections of t'he enemies of the
Constitution to the sweeping words of tiii
eJause wore met and-answered by "it- en
lightened friends." I will take exclusively
as my guide the principles judicially .-.tttlcd
by the Supreme Court <>f the United States
in the leading case of Met'ullough vs. The
State of Maryland (4 W heat., HO) The
rule established in that case is well exi ■
ed by the reporter in the syllabu . If the
end be legitimate, and within the- -cope of
the Constitution, all th'e means which arc
appropriate, which are plainly adapted to
that cud, and which arc not piohlbitcd, may
constitutionally be employed to carry it into
effect. Let us recur, however, to the very
words of the opinion, as delivere 1 by C. J.
Marshall: "We think the sound construc
tion of the Constitution must allow to the
National Legislature that di- rolion, with j
respect to the mo ms by which the powers j
it confers are to be carried into execution, i
which will enable that body to perform tht
high duties a-signed to it iu the mannct
most beneficial to the people, fjct the ent!_
be legitimate, let it be within the scope of
the Constitution, and all means which art
appropriate, which are plainly adapted to
that end, and which are not prohibited, nut
consi-t with the letter and spirit of the Con
stitution, are constitutional." —P. 421.
This is certainly a very large charter to
the di-erction of Congress, yet an rule for
judi :al cases I ant willing to accept it. It.
is apparent, however, from the very term
in which the principle is enut.-iated, thai
this discretion i- not without limits.
If !■ not Congrc-s which is to be the fina
judge as to wheiit r a measure is necessary .
and proper forearryio r into effc-t any of t!;
delegated powers. Were it <o, the enumer
ation w iuM have been a vain and deiusrve
mockery, end the fundamental principl
that the Federal Government is one turn '•:>
of limited authority, and unmeaning formu- ,
la of word ,
The limits plainly set in this hn/uage ar- j
these: I The end must be legiiimato, and j
within the scope of the Constitution. 2 ;
The means must be appropriate and adapt ]
ed to the end. The means mu.-t not j
themselves be prohibited, but een-ist with:
the Icitcr and -pint of the Constitution.
There is, however, another limitat >II i
upon the discretion of Congress in Lie j
choice of neccs-ary and proper means. It |
is clearly slated in Mc-Cullough vs. Th
State of Maryland, and in.de ,-d the princi
ple of it may be considered to have rub:
that case. I quote again the very words id
the opinion;
"The power of creating a operation,
though appertaining to sovereign-y, :s net
like the powers of making war or ievyiu :
taxes, .or of oca citing commerce a great
substantive and in dependent t -a or, " A •
cannot be impbedt as a■> t ■' ito ' r
powers, or used as a ni ans ol exts-uun
■ them." [\\ heaton ,411. 1
I nu<i< .stand the Supreme Court iu tin
language to In down tic simple and rea
1 .. ..I.U, 1 , ~-l a .IV tbn -..1f l vi
(V LOOAL AND GENERAL NEWSPAPER, DEVOTED TO POLITICS, EDUCATION, LITERATURE AND MORALS.
dent—proposition, that no one enumerated
power can be incidental to another enumera
ted power. Throe cases are stated as exam
ples of substantive powers, but clearly only
as examples. Wc nave no right to say that
any one of the expre-s powers is more sub
stantive and independent than another.
Their very expression authoritatively stamps
their character. If, therefore, a power is
delegated, but in terms which import a iitn
itjjtion or qualification, it cannot be exer
cised as incidental to some other power, dis
regarding the limitation or qua'ification an
nexed to the express grant. It.deed, such
limitation or qualification may he consider
ed as a prohibition against the exercise of
tiiat power in any other way, and, therefore,
within the limit which the Supreme Court
places upon the discretion of Congress in
the enunciation of the general principle,
viz.: that Congress cannot employ a meas
ure. however necessary and proper it may
be for carrying into effect some express
power, if that measure has been prohibited.
I pass now to the consideration of those
grants, from which by the aid of the last
paragraph of the enumeration, it is con
tendod that Congress has authority to is
sue what the act calls "United States
notes," ar.d to make them a legal tender in
payment of all debts, public and private.
I. "To re rulate commerce with foreign
nation- and among the several States and
with the Indian tribes." (Art. I. sect. 8.
paragraph 3.)
It must be admitted that standards of
value, and of weight and measures are means
very appropriate and adapted to the regula
tion of commerce. But then we have in
this enumeration a claut-e which expressly
grants and defines the authority to create
such standards. If it directs of what they
shall consist, Congress cannot make anoth
er kind as incidental to the regulation *af
commerce.
With equal plausibility might it be pre
tended that, for the regulation of commerce,
Congress could lay duties, imposts, and ex
cises, tuid pass bankrupt laws. Such meas
ures might be very appropriate and adapted
to that end. Yet surely it will not be
maintained that, assuming these powers as
incidental, Congress could disregard the
rule of uniformity, which limits and qualifies
the express delegation of them. This qual
ification is, in fact, a prohibition of any du
ties, imposts, or excises, which shall not be
uniform throughout the United .States —of
any laws on the subject of bankruptcies
which shali not, in like manner,' be uniform
throughout the United States. (Art. 1,
see. s, par. 14.) These cases present a per
fect illu-tratiou of the soundness ofthe limit
to the discretion of Congress, prescribed by
the Supreme Court, that a substantive pow
er shall not be exercised as incidental. Ido
not, however, consider them as any more
perfect than the very CMS, : ore If the
power to create a -tandard of value and
medium of exchange i expressly delegated,
but confined by its terms, as we will present
ly see that it i-, to coins—foreign or domes
tic —it is a prohibition of any other kind of
money. Congress cannot, under the pretext
of regulating commerce, infringe the prohi
bition thus laid on them.
11. "To borrow money on tho credit of
the United States." (Art. 1, sect. 8, per. 2.)
It has been argued that under this clause
Congress may issue these "United States
notes." because they arc only acknowledg
ment- of debt in a negotiable form, and in
oidcr to-givc theui greater credit make them
a iegal tender. That there may be consti
tutionally i-sued to the public creditor eerti
ficati - of the amount due, transferable by
a-sigtiuicnt—or bonds or notes payable to
bearer, which can pass front hand to hand
by mere delivery—l do not deny. These
are all securities, and t 'ongres.s is vested
expressly with power "to provide for the
punishment of counterfeiting the securities
and current c..iti of the United States."
(Art. 1, sec. 8," par. 6.) This language is ac
curate. Securities <:x vi termini are some
thing different from money. This view is
strengthened when we find the coin described
in the same paeagraph as current emit.
The-' Unitod States notes are not securi
ties for money which maybe issued under
authority to borrow, but they are "hills of
credit" —tilings di-tinet and digerent from
securities. That there is such a distinction
may be clearly shown by the judgments of
the highest tribunal, which gives the law
on these subjects to all other courts. Ac
cording to that tribunal, bills of credit arc
not certificates of loan- not treasury bonds
or notes —not acknowledgments of'indcbted
qess, all of which are mere securities, but
bills invested with the functions of money—
ju.-t -itch bills as the United States notes is
sued in pursuance of the act of Congress in
qu tiou. In Craig vs. the State of Mis
souri (4 Peters 431), C. J. Marshall, in de
livering the opinion ofthe court, says: "In
its enlarged and perhaps literal sense the
term 'bill of credit' may comprehend any
instrument, by which a State engage- to pay
niouey at a future day; thus including a cer
tificate given for money borrowed. But the
! ian uagc of the Constitution itself, and the
' mi- hief to be j revented, which we know
j from the history of our country, equally
limit the iuterpratation of the term. The
word 'emit' is never employed in describing
those contracts by which a State binds itself
to pay money at a future day for services
actually received or fur money borrowed for
pr< sent use; nor are instruments executed
tor such purposes in common language de
nominated 'bills of credit." To'emiubills
Of credit" conveys to the mind the Idea of
issuing ]taper intended to circulate through
the community for its ordiitarj/ purposes as
ino/iri/. which paper ,is redeemable at a fu
ture day. This is the sense in which the;
terms have always been understood." Tht !
definition here given was sub-cquent.ly to I
considered and sustained in Bri-coo v.-. 'The j
; 11-nk of Kentucky, 2 Feters, 25".
' According to this clear and authoritative !
exposition, what distinguishes bills ol j
credit from such securities as are issued to |
the public creditor is that the former are. j
and th ! tier are not. in! - tided t • circuit < I
a money. The-.: lis 1 States' notes, t
! ;h it, arc not acknowledgments of debt nor j
i "- ouritiee ol the United States," but "bills ■
lof credit;" in other words, "money." In-
I deed, ibis aet of Congress of February 25,
i 1862, intends to leave no doubt on that
j point, for it oxpre: sly declares that they
j shall be "lawful money." in conformity,
i then to the principle, as settled by the fcju
■ pretn ■ Court in MeCuliough vs. the State
: of Maryland, we mu.-t turn to the money
; e: iitsc to ascertain whether Congress hail
authority to make them "lawful money."
; That body Cannot, as incidental to the j
power I i borrow, create am- kind of money,
which will not stand the tost of the express
power i"hi: h i.- granted on that subject.
If any doubt remains as to whether the
right to emit bills uf credit —to make paper
in mey —can 1 e exercised as incidental to the i
boi rowing power, it ought, a it appears to i
me, to L-c '. mil My dissipated by the proceed- j
; iog- of the Fede. a Convention when this
! clause was before tic in._ i freely admit that j
the ■ pinions ex, --■ din that body arc not ;
,• lie ~-ive upon the interpretation of the |
Celt .sti. .n. That instrument is to be
eon. trued like all others—hv it.- four cor l
BEDFORD. Pa.. FRIDAY. SEPT. QO. 18G7.
ncrs. But surely as C. J. Marshall relied
"on the history of our country" in limiting
the meaning of the words "bills of credit,"
we may resort for light to the opinions and
! votes of the men who framed the Constitu
tion, in deciding whether, in the words "to
borrow money," was intended to he included
| "to emit bills of credit," lor that is the pre
cise question we have here to consider.
By tin ninth of the old articles of confede
ration, section 5, it was declared that "the
I United States in Congress assembled, shall
; have authority to borrow money or emit
' bills on the credit of the United States."
I In the plan of the Constitution, as reported
i to the convention by the committee of detail,
i of which Mr. But ledge was chairman—this
' clause was copied—"to borrow money and ;
emit bills ontheereditoftheUnitcdStates."
On the 17th of August, 1787, inconvention.
Mr. Gouverncur Morris, of 1-fcnnsylvania,
moved to striko out the worth, "and emit
bills." Tbeie was a debars this motion,
which is reported by Mr Maaison. It was
argued by some, and Mr. .Madison himself
among the number, that the words had bet
tor remain, with a provision prohibiting
them from being made i legal tender. Mr.
James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, afterwards
one of the justices of the Supreme Court ot
the United States, appointed by President
Washington, contended that it would have
a most salutary influence on the credit of
the United States "to remove the possibility
of paper uionej. '' Other members who
spoke concurred with him in this view.
The motion was carried, and the words
stricken out by a vote of nine States to two.
Mr. Madison "has added in a foot note, that
the vote by Virginia in the affirmative was
occasioned by his aequie scencc. because he
became satisfied that striking out tie words
would not disable the Government l'roni the
use of public notes, as far as they eould be
safe and proper, and would only cut off th<
pretext for a paper currency, and particularly
for making the bills n tender either for public
or private debts. (5 Flliott's Debates, 434.
435.) Ido not know how these proceedings
may striko other minds, but they have con
vinced me that the Federal Convention un
dcrstood by "bills of credit," aot securities
—certificates of loans or indebtedness, treas
ury notes, or exchequer bill—but just what
Chief Justice Marshall afterwards defined
them to be. "paper money," and meant to
deny to Congress the power to make such
money.
Luther Martin, in the address to the Ma
ryland Legislature in justification of his
course in retiring from the Federal Conven
tion, has a' -o given a brief sketch of this in
teresting debate, which corresponds in the
main with that of Mr. Madison. lie de
clare- in the most emphatic manner that "a
majority of' the convention being willing to
ri.-k any political evil rather than admit the
idea of a pajxtr emission in any ; iss'd>l< rase,
refused to trust this authority to the Gov
ernment." (Secret Proceedings of the Fed
eral Convention, p. 57.) lie afterwards in
forms the Legislature, as indicative of the
temper of the body from which he had with
drawn, that as the Constitution "was re
ported by the committee of detail, the States
were ouly prohibited from emitting them
(bills of credit), without the cmseiitof Con
gress ; but the convention were so smitten
n lth tie paper-money itreatl, that they in
sisted that the prohibition should be abso
lute." "It was my opinion, sir," be pro
ceeds to say, "that the States ought not to
be totally deprived of the right to emit bills
of credit, and that as we had not given an
authority to the General Government fir
that purpose, it was the more necessary to
retain it in the States."
The members of the Federal Convention
truly represented the views and feelings of
the people of the States by whom they had
been chosen. No one acquainted with the
history of the Revolution can be surprised
at the extreme jealousy eutcrtaiued of in
vesting either the Federal or State Govern
ments, or eveti both, by joint action, with
any discretion on tills subject. It is plain
that the men who framed the Constitution
—the men who ratified it in the State Con
ventions —the great ina: - of their constitu
ents —meant notiiL.g ! ■> than to exclude
forever, in "> y possib' case —(Mr. Martin)
—the pro ihi/ity of paper money —(Mr. Wil
son.) The public faith again and again sol
emnly pledged for the redemption of the
Continental bills of credit, had been shame
fully violated. The tender laws of the States,
euacted at the urgent solicitation of Con
gress for the purpose of sustaining their
credit, hud utterly failed. The amount of
private wrong thereby inflicted on individ
uals and families wa- incalculable. Con
gross, in a circular address in 1779 —after
promising -olemnly that the amount of the
bills should on no account exceed S2OO,'XX),
(H>0 —indignantly repelled the idea that
[.hero could bi* any violation of the public
faith, or that there did not exist ample funds
to redeem them. The emission, however,
very soon after swelled to $379,000,000, and
having ceased to circulate, quietly died in
the hands of its possessors. (3 Story on the
"Const., 23 1 221.) No financiering was found
so easy, so attractive, and at the same time
.-,o deiu-ive and destructive as that of report
ing to paper money. "Who," said a mem
ber of the Revolutionary Congress in de
bate, "will consent to load his constituents
with taxes, when we can send to our printer
and get a wagon load of money, and pay for
the whole with a quire of paper?" (Brock's
History of Continental money, p. 13.) Well
.-aid Mr. Read, of Delaware, in the Federal
Convention, that such a p*wcr would stamp
the Constitution with "the mark of the
beast in Rcvelatious;" aad Mr. Lingdon,
of Now Hampshire, only expressed the feel
ing.-, of the eulire country when he declared
! that he would rather reject the whole plan
! than retain the three words "and emit bills."
i It requires but a slight knowledge of the
I times to conclude that if these three words
I had been retained, or bad it been imagined
I that though stricken out, us by comparing
! the new with the old system every bod;,
could see that they were, they -till lurked
! in the instrument as incidental to souu
; other power, the Federal Constitution would
j never have been ratified by nine States.
In the discussion and publications which
j followed on the promulgation of the plan,
j before proceeding to vote on it in the State
i conventions, as well as in the debates of
i those bodies, so far as they have been pre
-1 served and handed down to us, though every
hole and corner of the instrument was rnn
! sacked to find objections, 1 am not aware
I that it was ever suggested that it Bright pas
; srbly contain so odious and unpopular a
I power. The voice of the instrument itself
appeared sufficiently marked a = unmistak
able.
11. I come now to consider the remain
ing clause, which has been relied ou as the
j source of authority to pass the aot iu ques
i tion. "To coin money, regulate the value
■ thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the
i standard 6f weight- and measures." (Art.
i 1, see. 8, par. 5.) It is evident not merely
from the words, butfrom their juxtaposition
with tie clause fur fixing a standard of
; weights aud measures, that the Oon.-titu
ti >a intends that the money ol the United
j States shall be not merely a medium of ex
' change, but a standard oj value Uuifor
mity and stability were tho ends in view,
and for this reason these powers were vested
exclusively in the Federal Government.
Here, and here alone, and not as a mcro in
cident to something else, are we to look i'or
whatever authority Congress possesses over
the subject of money. These words seem to
mo to sanction only coins ot metallic eurren
cv. In the Federalist, No. 42, this is taken
for granted. "All that need bo remarked
on the power to coin money, regulate the
value thereof, and of foreign coin, is, that
by providing for this last case the Constitu
tion has supplied a material emiitiastoo in
the articles of confederation. The authori
ty of.the existing Congress is restrained lo
the regulation of coin struck by their own
authority or that of the respective States.
It must be seen at once that the proposed
uniformity in the value of the current coin
might be destroyed by subjecting that of
foreign coin to the different regulations of
tho different States.'' Judge Story thought
SO, for he says, '-The power to com money
is one of the ordinary prerogatives of sov
ereignty, and is almost universally exercised
in order to preserve a proper circulation of
good coin of a known vidiie in the home
market." (3 Story on the Const., 17.) But
tho Supremo Court of the United States
have not left to inference, but have distinct
ly declared the same opinion in The United
■ States vs. Marigold, 'J Howard, 560, which
au act of Congress punishing tlie offence of
importing spurious coin was held to be con
stitutional on the ground that the provisions
ofthe act appertained, to use the very words
ofthe opinion, "to the execution of an im
portant trust invested by the Constitution,
and to the obligation to fulfill that trust
on the part of the Government, namely,
the trust and duty of creating and main
taining a uniform and pure metallic stand
ard of value throughout the Union. The
power of coining money and of regulating its
value was delegated to Congress by the
Constitution for the very purpose, as as
signed by the framers of that instrument, of
creating and preserving the uniformity
and purity of such a standard of va'ue.
The word coin is one of weil-settledmean
ing. Tlie primary sense of the noun, ac
cording to I)r. Webster, is "the die used for
stamping money," and the undisputed sig
nification of the verb, according to most, if
not all, the lexicographers, is "to .-tamp
metal and convert it into coin." In Whar
ton's Law Jjcxicon (ad vcrbutn) it is said:
"Strictly speaking, coin differs from money
as the species differs from money as the
species differs from the genus. Money is
any matter, whether metal, paper, beads,
shells, Ac., which has currency as a medium
in commerce. Coin is a jiarticidar species,
always made of metal, ami struck according
to a certain process called coining." it
was urged at tlie bar—l do not know
whether seriously or not —that printing is
tamping, and these notes might therefore
literally be said to be coined. No such use
ofthe word in any author has been shown.
We may say figuratively to coin a story
meaning to invent one. but never to coin the
book in which it is printed. The story is a
fiction —the coinage of the brain—the book
a reality. iSurcly, however, no one will
contend iu earnest, thai if a sufficient num
ber of clerks bad been employed, and these
notes had all been written with the hand,
they would have been unconstitutional, but
that printing them makes them valid. To
state tho case thus is to reduce the argu
ment to an absurdity.
It ntay seem like laboring unnecessarily a
very plain proposition, but I will hazard
some further illustrations.
The notes iu question draw a plain dis
tinction on their face between themselves
' and Coins, 'l'iiey promise to pay dollars.
What is a dollar To a similar question,
What i.- a pound ? Sir Robert Feel answer
ed: "A pound is a definite quantity of
gold, with a mark upon it to determine its
weight and linenes.-." Many pages have
been written to controvert this definition,
and to prove that a pound is a mere ahstra
tion—something like a mathematical point
without length, breadth, or thickness. But
common sense, I think vindicates Sir
Robert Peel. A standard measure must be
some actual length or capacity—a standard
weight some actual weight. How else can
other weights and measures be compared
with it ? This is the object of a standard.
So a standard of value must be some actual
value. 1 would say, drawing the definition
from the statute book—l know not where
else to look for it—a dollar is a silver coin,
weighing four hundred and twelve and one
half grains, or a gold coin, weighing twenty
live and four filths grain-, ol nine-tenths
pure to one tenth alloy of each mc-tal.
These notes, then, promise to pay coins.
To say that they are themselves coins is to
make the promise and performance identi
cal.
As they do not state on their face when
they are to bo paid, in law, if issued by an
individual or corporation, thoy would be
payable on demand. (VV bitlock vs. I nder
wood, 3 B. & 187; Story on Notes, par.
20.) Payable in what ? in themselves, if
they are coins, or dollars. They are prom
ises to pay on demand payable in promises
to pay on demand. A promise to pay may
represent coin, and circulate as suon. _ It is
properly designated as currency, and is one
of many modes hy which the use of an ex
pensive standard may be spared by the sub
stitution, as a medium of exchange of public
or private credit. It is same and conveni
ent as well as economical, as long as it re
pru*uut the standard, by being immediately
convertible into coin. But in its very na
! turo it is not coin. Its value or power of
purchasing other commodities depends as
well upon the confidence of' the community
■ in the ability and intention ofthe issuers to
! redeem it as upon the amount issued." Coin,
upon the other band, possesses present, ac
tual, intrinsic value. If you obliterate from
the pound weight the public mark which
site-is its conformity to the standard, it still
weighs the same as before. So you may
era.-o the image frc m the coin, yet its value
remains. Riot out however, the superscrip
tion from the e pieces of paper, and nothing
remains—they are worthless. The stamp
on tl.ucoin is really nothing hut a certificate
of the weight and ilueness of that piece of
: metal. Government guarantees nothing
' but this—makes no contract to deliver corn.
! wool, -or leather in exchange for it. Tlie
i power of regulating its value can only ex
tend to declaring that in law a certain num
ber of one coin shall be deemed the equiva
lent of another of a different denomination
tn contracts and other transactions. In the
' market, unequal values cannot bo made
equal by law. Congress has no power to
l enact how many bushels of wheat an eagle
, shall exchange lor, and if they had, and
: should make the experiment, the act, like
all attempts by Government to change the
laws of value, which are natural laws, would
i j be futile.
The legislation of Congress upon tins
subjeit recognizes the difference between
these I uitedStates notes and coiu, and that
' th v are not of equal value.
The act before us (Feb. 25,1862) requires
duties on imports and the interest ut _ the
public debt to be paid in coin, and provides
1 that the notes "-hall be received the same
VOLUME 40; SO. 3?.
ascotn "t their par value in payment for any
loans that may thereafter be sold or negotia
ted by the Secretary of the Treasury." So
c !' e March 17, 1862, the Secretary
of the Treasury is authorized to pureha-e
coin with them at such rates and upon such
terms as he may deem most advantage, us
to the public interest And the act of
March 3, ISC3, prohibits the loan of <./-
renry or money on the security of gold or
silver coins, exceeding in amount the par
value of the coin pledged or deposited as so
curity. By tho first of these acts coin is
treated as the standard; by the last, paper.
The one speaks of the par value of tin notes,
the othor of the par value of the coins.
If' the word coin has any more general or
figurative sense in the phrase, to coin money,
than that I have assigned to it, it must be
held to have the same in other parts of the
article. In foreign coin will be included
foreign paper money, and Congress may
regulate it* value, and make it a legal ten
der. t noy may thus treat notes of the
Bank of hngland and France, Austrian and
Russian government money, but not .State
bank notes. Congress has no power of'
regulating the value of any money except
foreign coins and money coined by its own
authority. If to coin money means to
stamp paper, then the clause which forbids
the States "to emit bills of credit" wa.-
unnecesyarv; the prohibition "to coin
money included it. The terms of that
very prohibition show that in the mind.- f
the makers of the Constitution "to coin
money and "emit bills of credit ' were two
entirely distinct and different things. In
short, in whatever point of view it is regar
ded, it seems to me that the position that
this clause authorizes or permits any other
but metallic money is untenable.
The restrictions on tho States illustrate
and confirm the opinion which I have ex
pressed upou the proper construction of the
paragraph before us. "No State shall coin
money, emit bills of credit, make anything
hut gold and silver coin a tender in pay
ment of debts; pass any law impairing the
obligations of contracts." (Art. J, sec. 10.)
The whole power over contracts resided in
the States before the ratification of the Fed
eral Constitution. This section admits it
and leaves it there, subject only to two re- I
strictions, both having the same end iu ■
view—the inviolability of contracts. Ina-- j
much as the States cannot coin, and the i
Federal Government alone can. and ina- j
much as the States cannot make anything !
hut gold and silver a tender in payment ol j
debts, it follows that gold or silver coin-,
foreign or domestic, as regulated by Con- 1
cress, constitute the only lawful money.
This was evidently Mr. Webster's opinion •
in that able speech on the Specie Circular, i
which was cited at ihe bar, and iu which he ;
declared " that gold and silver, at rates fixed s
by Congress, < nstitute the legal standard ■
of value in this country, and that neither j
Congress nor any State lias authority to es
tablish any other standard or to displace
this." And still more emphatically: "Most
unquestionably there is and there can be no
legal tender in this country under the au
thority of this Government, or any other,
but gold and silver. This is a constitutional
■principle, perfectly plain, and of the: very
highest importance. The States are express
ly prohibited from making anything but gold
anu silver a tender in payment of debt,-;
and although no such express prohibition is
applied to Con cress, yet as Congress has no
power granted to it but to coin money and
to regulate the vaiue thereof, it clearly has
no power to substitute paper or anything
else for coin as a tender. The constitutional
tender is the thing to be preserved, and it
ought to be preserved sacredly under all cir
cumstances.' ' (4 Webster's Works, 271,
I must confess that upon a question
of this magnitude—amid the conflict of opiu
ion by which I am surrounded—my mind
Las re-ted with confidence and satisfaction
upou this clear and decided conclusion of a j
great intellect. Mr. Webster's fame rests i
mainly au his eminence as-a constitutional I
lawyer. The Constitution has been the
study of his life, the subject of most of bis
professional and political efforts. He be
longed to no school of strict construction,
but on all occasions was found earnestly
contending for the broadest charter to the
Federal Government. The opinions he ex
pressed in his seat in the Senate of the
United States, under the sanction of his
official oath, are entitled to be received as
deliberate and well considered.
With Mr. Webster I regard these pro- :
visions of the Constitution upon the subject !
of contiacts and tenders as "of the very j
highest importance," and "to be preserved I
sacredly under all circumstances." They
rest upon sanctions, which ought to be con
sidered as of the most inviolable solemnity, '
at all times and iu all emergencies. The j
true strength of government —the best |
foundation on which can rest the confidence
and affection of its people—is the security
which it guaranties to property. This de
pend- in this country upon those constitu
tutional provisions which absolutely pro
tect, under the ."Kgis of the courts of jus
tice, alike the daily earnings of the poor
and tho accumulated savings of tho rich
man, not only from fraud and violence, but
from the government itself, except In the
form ofopen and equal taxation.
It has been strongly urged upon us that
Congress has the power of debasing the coin,
either in weight or fineness, without chang
ing tho denomination or legal value. What,
it ha- been asked, is the difference between
that aud issuing paper money, even though
that paper should be at the time deprecia
ted below the value of the coin? I answer,
that because Congress may possibly accom
plish a certain end by constitutional means,
it does not follow that the same object can
be obtained by means which arc not consti
tutional. Though, by the process of deba
sing the metallic standard, Congress may,
perhaps, reduce all debts, public and pri
vate, fifty percent., it does not follow that
they can enact directly that the man who
owe- one hundred dollars to another shall
be quit upon the tender of fifty. We apply
uo suclj principle to other cases. Because
under a power a man may dispose of an es
tate by will, we do not hold that he can do
the same in any other wap than that direct
ed or prescribed.
But considering it merely as an argument
of the intention of the framers of the Con
stitution, it appears to me equally intxin
clusive. There are very important_ differ
ence ■ between debasing the coin and issuing
paper money, though their practical results
may in some respects be similar. It may
well have been intended to leave to Con
gress discretien as to the one, but to deny
to cither branch of the Government, State
or Federal, any discretion as to theothei.
1. The debasing of the coin as a financial
measure for the purpose of discharging the
public debt would be an open, gross, and pal
pable breach of faith, scarcely possible in the
preseut age of the world. Changes, however,
for the mere purpose of regulating the value
of the currency, may be occasionally neces
sary. "Arbitrary governments," says Albert
Gallatin, "have at various times, in order to
defraud their creditors, the com,
whilst they preserved its denomination, and
thus subverted the staudard value, by which
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the payment of public and private debts, and
the performance of contracts ought to have
been regulated. This flagrant mode of viola
ting public faith has been long proscribed by
public opinion. Governments have, in mod
ern times, substituted for the same purpose,
issues of paper money, gradually increasing in
amount anil decreasing in value. It was to
guard against these evils, that the provisions
in the Constitution on that subject were intro
duced." (Considerations on the Currency,
p. 72.)
It is true that the coin has been debased in
our own times aud country, but never with a
view to defraud cither public or private cred
itors. When the coinage of the Lnited States
was first regulated in 17!/2, a double standard,
both of gold and silver, was adopted, and the
proportion of these two metals fixed at one
to fifteen, which was then about their true re
lation in the market. Gut though the rela
tion between gold aud silver is certainly more
steady than that between any two other com
modities, at least within short periods of time,
ym ~ not immutable. Accprdimrlv. about
the year 1821, a change was observed to nave
Occurred. An ounce of gold, instead of be
ing worth only fifteen ounces of silver, was
really exchangeable for about sixteen ounces.
Of course no one would pay a debt with six
teen ounces of silver, when he could do so
with fifteen. The conseduence was that the
gold coins disappeared entirely from circula
tion, in obedience to the invariable law that
the metal legally undervalued is always ex
pelled. Silver became practically the only
Standard. The act of June 23, 18.31, com
mon! y called the gold bill, undertook io re
store the true relation. To do this, either the
gold coin must be debased or the silver en
hanced. The latter tourse would have been
fraught with more injustice and mischief than
the former. Though the true policy may have
been to let this alone, or to have established
as the only legal what had practically become
the actual standard, yet many pure and emi
uent'statesmen were then and still are wedded
to a different policy. Subsequently, by the
act of January 18, 1837, the weight and stan
dard of the coin of both metals were slightly
changed with no design but to maintain, if
possible, a currency of both gold and silver.
Silver, however, being now undervalued, was
banished from circulation as gold bad been
before. By the act of February 21, 1853. a
much more considerable reduction was made
in the weight of silver coins less than the dol
lar. but evidently only for the purpose of sup
plying a subsidiary currency, for small pay
ments ; for by the same act it was provided
that the silver coins issued in conformity
thereto should be legal tenders in payment of
debts for all sums not exceeding five dollars.
1 have no doubt that all this tampering with
the coin was unwise and unjust. Whatever
u ay be the advantages of a double standard,
they are too dearly purchasedby the frequent
ly recurring necessity for these changes. But
I do not see that there was, in any of these
instances, a criminal breach of public faith,
or an intention to interfere with private ccn-
I tracts. In 1834, the public debt had been
; then recently liquidated in full, and at the pc
i riod of none of these measures was anything
to be gained by the Government from them,
bin rather the reverse.
11. There is another important difference
between the two measures of debasing the
coin and of issuing paper money. When an
act is passed debasing the coin, all the mis
chief is done. On the day following, the pri
ces of all markets adjusted themselves to tho
new standard. Commodities, real or person
al, lands or chattels, are of exactly the same
exchangeable value as before ; the only dif
ference beiug that their value is expressed in
different figures. An ounce of gold will still
buy the same number of bushels of wheat,
whether it be coined into twenty pieces, call
ed dollars, or forty pieces. True, debtors are
richer at the expense of their creditors : but
that gross injustice also is finished. Every
man. creditor or debtor, capitalist or laborer,
knows exactly where he stands. Not so with
paper money. As to all existing contracts,
the same, and even worse injustice is done, if
the paper depreciates, than when the coin is
debused. All equality is at an end. To day
a man pays at ono discount, to-morrow he
receives at another. I'herc is, in truth, no
standard of value, ichatecer. The paper mon
ey varies like the mercury in the barometer,
acted on by the superincumbent column of
air, swayed to and fro by the tides of the at
mosphere—now high, now low —now rarefied,
now condensed. Thus, as confidence rises or
talis, but more certainly as issues are increas
ed or contracted, the value of every man's
property —and the real price of his labor what
he can procure for it of the necessaries and
comforts of life, fluctuates from day to day.
This was just what the mca of the Revolu
tion who met in the Federal Convention —
who assembled in the State Conventions and
! and ratified the Constitution, had not merely
i heard with their ears, but seen with their
own eyes, touched and handled with their
own hands, and felt in their own pockets.
They had not the advantage of reading the
same history repeated ia a more rapid and
aggravated form in the paper money of revo
lutionary France. But they heeded it BOt.
They had quite enough in their own experi
ence to make them determine to deal an ef
fectual death-blow at paper-money ._
On the whole, thai, 1 am of opinion that
the provision of the act of Congress of Feb
ruary 25, 1862, declaring the notes issued in
pursuance of that act to be lawful money and
a legal Under is unconstitutional.
This renders it unnecessary that I should
consider the other question, which has been
made as to the effect of the special agreement
to pay in lawful silver money of the United
States. Jam in favor of entering jtidgiru nt
for the plaintiff, but as a majority of the
court an; of a~different opinion, judgment
for the defendant.
THE Cleveland Herald makes tho follow
ing sensible remarks in relation to local
newspapers: "It matters not how many
newspapers a man takes, his list is incom
plete without this home paper. Every citi
zen who wishes well for his locaiitv, should
give a generous support to his home paper,
If that paper is not just such as he would
wish, he should feel that himself and neigh-*
bors are respnsible, in a measure, lor its
short coinings. Give a paper a liberal sup
port. an active, sympathy, and it will in
stantly respond to such manifestations. Let
an editor feci that his efforts are apprecia
ted, and he is the most responsible being on
eartb, his paper a part of himself, he is as
sensitive to praise or censure as a doting
father. Nothing cau supply the place of
the heme paper. It is the mirror in which
the town and neighborhood news is Reflec
ted; in the social, political and religious cir
cle printed, it fills a place that no other pa
per can. When a need of economy compels
the curtailment of your newspaper list,
strike off every other one before you say to
the publishers of your heme journal, "Stop
my paper." The man who does not read tho
advertisements in his home paper, can never
be said to bo well posted. The advertise
ments indicate not only the business enter
prise of the place in which they are publish
ed, but the cnteryrise of the advertise.—
When you sec a man who advertises
1 liberally, you may be certain of finding a
good stock of goods in his store, that he
keeps up with the market, and sells cheaper
than those who do not advertise. If you
want good bargains, always patronize those
who avail themselves of the advantages
afforded through the advertising columns of
L the home ha per."