The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-25 00:00:00

RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS.

In his last report the Secretary remarked that, ' After a
careful survey of the whole field, he was of the opinion
that specie payments might be resumed, and ought to be
resumed as early as the first day of July, 1868, while he in-
dulged the hope that such would bo the character of future
legislation and such the condition of our productive indus-
try that this most desirable event might be brought about
at a still earlier day." These anticipations of the Secre-
tary may not be fully realised. The grain crops of 1866
were barely sufficient for home consumption. The ex-
penses of the War Department, by reason of Indian hos-
tilities and the establishment of military governments in
the Southern States, have greatly exceeded the estimates.
The Government has been defrauded of a large part of the
revenue upon distilled liquors, and the condition of the
South has been disturbed and unsatisfactory.

These facts, and the apprehension created in Europe,
and to some extent at home, by the utterances of some of
our public men upon the subjects of finance and taxation,
that the public faith might not be maintained, may post--
pone the time when specie payments shall be resumed.
But, notwithstanding these unexpected embarrassments
much preliminary work has been done, and there is not, in
the opinion of the Secretary, any insuperuble difficulty in
the way of an early and a permanent restoration of the
specie standard. It may not be safe to fix the exact time,
but, with favourable crops next year, and with no
legislation unfavourable to contraction at this session, it
ought not to be delayed beyond the Ist of January, or at
the farthest the Ist of July, 1869. Nothing will be gained,
however, by a forced resumption. When the country is
in a condition to maintain specie payments, they will be
restored as a necessary consequence. To such a condition
of national prosperity as will insure a permanent restora-
tion of the specie standard, the following measures are, in
the opinion of the Secretary, important, if not indispens-
able :

First—The funding or payment of the balance of in-
terest bearing note, and a continued contraction of the
paper currency.
Second—The maintenance of the public faith in regard
to the funded debt.

Third—The restoration of the Southern States to their
limper relations to the Federal Government.
If this opinion bo correct, the question of permanent
specie payments, involving as it does the prosperity of the
country, underlies the great questions of currency, taxa-
tion, and reconstruction, which are now engaging the
attention of the people, and cannot fail to receive the
earnest and deliberate attention of Congress. In view of
the paramount importance of this great question the Secre-
tary deems it to be his duty briefly to discuss the mea-
sures regarded by him to be necessary for an early and
wise disposition of it, even at the risk of a repetition of
what ho has said in previous communications to Congress.
The measures regarded by him as important, if not in-
dispensable for national prosperity, and, as consequence
for permanent resumption, are— _ _

First—The funding or payment of the balance of into-
terest-bearing notes, and a continued contraction of the
paper currency.

By the Act of March 2, 1867, the Secretary was autho-
rised and directed to issue 3 per cent. loan certificates to
the amount of fifty millions of dollars, for the purpose of
redeeming and retiring compound interest notes; and such
certificates on the Ist instant had been issued to the
amount of $11,560,000, in redemption of the notes incom-
ing due in October and December. The notes still out-
standing will be either taken up with certificates or paid
at maturity. The seven and three-tenth notes, being ply-
able in lawful money or convertible at the option of the
holders into Five-Twenty Bonds, will bo paid or converted
according to the terms of the contract. Fortunately all the
interest-bearing notes are to bo paid or converted within
eleven months, and they need not therefore be regarded as
a serious impediment to a return to the true standard of
value. As to the redemption of these notes, and the man-
ner in which they should be redeemed, there cannot of
course be much difference of opinion. It is in regard to
a contraction of the currency, and upon which of the two
kinds of currency—United States notes or the notes of the
National banks—contraction should be brought to boar,
that a difference of sentiment seems to exist.