The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-19 00:00:00

In payment of all its debts the plighted faith of the Go-
vernment should be inviolably maintained ; but while it

acts with fidelity toward the bondholder who loaned his
money that the integrity of the Union might be preserved,
it should at the sametime observe good faith with the great

misses of the people, who, having rescued the Union from
the perils of rebellion, now bear the burdens of taxation that
Government may be able to fulfil its engagements. There
is no reason which will be accepted as satisfactory by
the people, why those who defend us on land and pro-
tect us on the sea, the pensioners upon the gratitude of
the nation, bearing scars and wounds received while in
its service ; the public servants in various Departments of
the Government ; the farmers who supplied the soldiers of
the army and sailors of the navy : the artisans who toil in
the nation's workshops, or the mechanics and labourers
who build its edifices and construct its forts and vessels of

v._
war, should, in payment of-their just and hard-earned
duns, receive depreciated paper, while another class of
that countrymen, no more deserving, are paid in coin of
gold and silver. Equal and exact justice requires that all
the creditors of the Government should be paid in a cur-

rency possessing a uniform value. This can only be ac-
complished by the restoration of the currency to the stan-
dard established by the constitution ; and by this means
we would remove a discrimination which may, if it has not

already done so, create a prejudice that may become deep-
rooted and wide-spread, and imperil the national credit.
The feasibility of making our currency correspond with
the constitutional standard may be seen by reference to a
few facts derived from our commercial statistics. The

production of precious metals in the United States, from
1845 to 1857, inclusive, amounted to $579,000,000 ; from
1858 to 1860, inclusive, to $137,000,000; and from 1861 to
1867, inclusive, to $457,500,000—make a grand aggregate
of products since 1849 of $1,174,000,000. The amount
of specie coined from 1849 to 1857, inclusive, was
$439,000,000 ; from 1858 to 1860, inclusive, $125,000,000 ;
and from 1861 to 1867, inclusive, $310,000,000
making a total coinage since 1849 of $874,000,000.

From 1849 to 1857, inclusive, the net exports of specie
amounted to $271,000,000; from 1358 to 1860, inclusive
to $148,000,000 ; and from 1861 to 1867, inclusive, to
$322,000,000 ; making an aggregate of net exports since
1819 of $741,000,000. These figures show an excess of
produCt over net exports of $133,000,000. There are in
the Treasury $111,000,000 in coin, something more than
$40,000,000 in circulation on the Pacific coast, and a few
millions in National and other banks—in all, about

$160,000,000. This, however, taking into account the

bpacie in the country prior to 1849 leaves more than
$300,000,000 which have not been accounted for by ex-
portation, and therefore may yet remain in the country.
These are important facts, and show how completely an
inferior currency will supersede a better, forcing it from
circulation among the masses, and causing it to be exported
as a mere article of trade to add to the money capital of

foreign lands. They show the necessity of retiring our
paper money, that the return of gold and silver to the
avenues of trade may be invited, and a demand cc eatod which
will cause the retention at home of at least so much of the
_ _ .

productions of our rich and inexhaustible gold-bearing
fields as may be sufficient for the purposes of circulation.
It is unreasonable to expect a return to a sound currency so

long as the Government, by continuing to issue irredeem-
able notes, fills the channels of circulation with depreciated
paper. Notwithstanding the coinage by our mints since
1849 of $874,000,000, the people are now strangers to
the currency which was designed for their' use and
benefit, and specimens of the precious metals bear-
ing the national device are seldom seen except when pro-
duced to gratify the interest excited by their novelty. If
depreciated paper is to be continued as the permanent cur-
rency of the country, and all our coin is to become a mere
article of traffic and speculation, to the enhancement in
price of all that is indispensable to the comfort of the
people, it would be wise economy to abolish our mints,
thus saving the nation the care and expense incident to
such establishments, and let our precious metals be ex-
ported in bullion. The time has come, however, when the
Government and national banks should be required to take
most efficient steps, and make all necessary arrangements
for a resumption of specie payments at the earliest practi-
cable period. Specie payments having been once resumed
by the Government and the banks, all notes or bills of
paper issued by either of a less denomination than $2O
should by law bo excluded from circulation, so that the
people may have the benefit and convenience of a gold
and silver currency, which in all their business trans-
actions will be uniform in value at home and abroad.
Every man of property or industry, every man who de-
sires to preserve what he honestly possesses, or to obtain
what he can honestly earn, has a direct interest in main-
taining a safe circulating medium, such a medium as shall
be real and substantial, not liable to vibrate with opinions,
nor subject to be blown up or blown down by the breath of
speculation, but to be made stable and secure. A dis-
ordered currency is one of the greatest of political evils.
It undermines the virtues necessary for the support of the
social system, and encourages propensities destructive to
its happiness. It wars against industry, frugality, and
economy, and it fosters the evil spirits of extravagance
and speculation. It has been asserted by one of our most ,
profound and most gifted statesmen that of all contrivances
for cheating the labouring classes of mankind none has
been more effectual than that which deludes them with
paper money. This is the most effectual of inventions to
fertilise the rich man's field by the sweat of the poor
man's brow. Ordinaty tyranny, oppression, and excessive
taxation, these bear lightly on the happiness of the com-
munity compared with a fraudulent currency and the rob-
beries committed by depreciated paper. Our own history
has recorded for our instruction enough, and more than
enough, of the demoralising tendency, injustice, and in-
tolerable oppression on the virtuous and well-disposed of
a degraded paper currency, authorised by law, or in any
way countenanced by the Government. it is one of the
most successful devices imptimes of peace or war, of expan-
sions or rovulsions, to accomplish the transfer of all pre-
cious metals from the great mass of the people into the
hands of the few, where they are hoarded in secret places,
or deposited in strong bo'es under bolts and bars, while
the people are left to endure all the inconvenience and
sacrifice, and demoralisation resulting from the use of de-
preciated and worthless paper money.
The condition of our finances and the operations of our
revenue system are set forth and fully explained in the
able and instructive report of the Secretary of the Trea-
sury. On the 30th June, 1866, the public debt amounted
to $2,783,425,879 ; on the 30th of Juno last it was
$2,692,199,215, showing a reduction during the fiscal year
of $91,226,664. During the fiscal year ending June 30,
1867, the receipts were $490,634,010, and expenditure,
$316,729,129, leaving an available surplus of $143,904,880.
It is estimated that the receipts for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1868, will be $417,161,928, and that the expen-
ditures will reach the sum 0f!5393,269,226, leaving in the
Treasury a surplus of $23,892,702. For the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1869, it is estimated that the receipts will
amount to $381,000,000, and that the expenditure will be
$372,000,000, showing an excess of $9,000,000 in favour
of the Government.