The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-14 00:00:00

UNITED 37 ATES CURRENCY.

(From the Anglo-American Tinzes)
Events are giving the Currency Question the place
the United States to which it is entitled before

the National Debt or any other financial question
whatever. A curious piece of by-play has occurred
between Mr. SPINNER, United States Treasurer, and

a gentleman who forwarded from Boston a $lO bill
with a formal demand for its redemption in gold

according to the terms of the note.

This the Trea-

surer returns with a long, elaborately argued letter,
wherein he ►►lludes to the essays on finance by his
correspondent in very complimentary terms. Mr.
SPINNER shows the practicability of funding the
debt, with lower interest and a more lengthened
He opposes every form of repudiation, even

UM.

to taxing the interest. With some inconsistency,
he proposes to make the national banks exchange
the Six per Cent. Bonds for Four per Cents.,
asserting that they have been created by the
privileges and franchises of the Government, at
whose sufferance they live, and therefore they

should be thus made to assist the Government.
If the banks have been granted such privileges
without the public receivieg an equivalent the
_ .

3overnment has been false to its trust, and the

officer who publicly announces it condemns the

achnim6tratioa iu general and his department in

particular. If the banks gave the equivalent for
these valuable conce,sioni of which the treasurer

would now deprive them, at least in part, then he
acts the repudiator's part towards a portiou of the
bondholders, on the very plea the general body of
repudiators use against the national creditor as a
wh-le. The plea is, that they bought the privilege
of receiving six per cent.—untaxed—coin interest,
at a rate that did not represent its value, taking
advantage of the country's necessities, and that now,
like SHYLOCK, they dem Lndtheir whole bond, and no-
thing less, notwithstanding the flaw in their contract.
The basis of the agreement was, we presume, that
the National Banks should keep as a security a pro-

portion of United States Bonds against their notes,
and the condition was that Six per Cent. gold_ inte-
rest should be paid on the deposit. Now, the Trea-
surer says, pia are mere creatures of the Govern-

went, living on this valuable concession; you mus
take Four per Cent. instead of Six, or we will wipe
you out of existence. This is curious language
from a Treasury officer, who commences with repu-
diating every species of Repudiation. But the truth
is that when we desire to shuffle off our debts and
difficulties we are in a vicious circle, and can scarcely
refrain from kicking at the pricks of honesty which
surround us while looking for an opening and find-
ing none not more or less barred.
One of Mr. PENDLETON'S most telling points in a
recent speech was his story of a neighbour who,
before the war, purchased a house, for which he
bound himself to pay $20,000. Like a wise man to
whom the future was an open book, he gathered
up his gold and hid it —(at least it appears from his
act, though Mr. PENDLETON did not say so)—and
waited, knowing the future, till gold rose to 250,
when with his hoard he bought $50,000 in legal
tender, paying the man from whom he had purchased
the house $20,000 in greenbacks, and investing the
other $30,000 in Government Bonds, from which
he has drawn a gold interest of $l,BOO a year ever
since, and he clamorously supports the doctrine
that the bands should be paid in gold. The only
hitch is the opportune production of the gold ; and
few iu Maine, where the story was told, will dispute
that a trader so sharp was entitled to a gain.
But if what the Nation anticipates. coxne3 to
pass, Mr. PENDLETON'S friend will be lucky in
being able to retain his plunder. There can be
no doubt that is equi'l the $30,000 which
vested in Government Securities belonged to the
perso❑ from whom he bought the house. The de-
cision of the Supreme Cour on the legality of the
Legal-Tender Act will be on cases similar to that
given by Mr. PENDELTON, as it can only decide
questions of right between individuals. PENDLE-
TON'S neighbour might be sued by the vendor on
the point whether the purchaser completed his con-
tract by the payment of the $20,000 in greenbacks.
The vendor assorts that there was no money known
to the law of the United States except coin when he
sold the house, and therefore ❑o other money could
have been meant—that in greenback payment the
sum specified had been reduced by two-thirds,
when instead of receiving $20,000 coin dollars,
as in the terms of the sale, he received but
$B,OOO, and that therefore he claimed the twelve
thousand still due. The appeal of the purchaser,
of course, would be to the Legal Tender Act, which
makes greenbacks a lawful tender alike for public