The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-15 00:00:00

REMONSTRANCES.

I have not hesitated to remonstrate with Senator Sher-
man and others who take the "greenback" view of this
question, and now I call upon you and all tho press of the
land of all shades and parties to stand by the right in this
matter.
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE PRESS.
If the several Secretaries of the Treasury, tho general
agent and the sub-agents are responsible for a "gross de-
ception" of the people, you, gexttlemen of the press, are
equally responsible; for, without your noble aid and un-
tiring efforts, the public would never have responded with
such an outpouring of means. You disseminated, in
thousands of editorials, the statement that the funded debt
(the 5-20 and other loans) were, principal and interest,
payable in coin. You did it, honestly, alio did 1.

POINTS OF LAW
In a recent letter to Senator Sherman I argued as fol-
lows : --That it should be considered a legal fact that the
5-20's are payable, principal and interest, in gold.
Because, Nothing is said to the contrary in the law
creating the loam.
Because, The custom of all other nations, as well as our
own, has always been to pay a funded debt in coin only.
Because, The debate at the time the loan law was
passed revealed distinctly the mind of Congress. The
Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means himself
distinctly stated, at the time the bill was pending, that the
bonds were, principal and interest, payable in gold.
Because, A provision was inserted in the bill for a
sinking fund, in coin, to be annually applied to the pur-
chase of the bonds.

Because, The Secretaries of the Treasury have all uni-
formly declared that the bonds would be paid in gold.
Because, The bonds were sold to the people by the autho-
rized agent of the Government on the strength and con-
tract of this declaration.

Because, This interpretation of the law was accepted by
the whole country. Congress, including Senator Sher-
man, stood by while the Treasury Department was thus,
year after year, promising to pay principal and interest in
gold, without giving a single note of warning of any in-
tention to repudiate the contarct in after years.
Because, When the Chairman of the Committee of
Ways and Means, to the retarding and said injury of the
negotiation of the loan then going on, rose in iris seat,
during one of the darkest periods of the war, and proposed
his individual motion, that thereafter the principal and in-
terest of the loan should be paid in Legal-Tender currency,
his motion was speedily and promptly suppressed, but not
until it had done great damage to the public credit, the in-
dications unmistakably showing that upon any other than
a gold basis it would be impossible to sell bonds.
Because, It is a fixed and settled legal, as well as moral,
principle that the principal is bound by all acts of a recog-
nized agent, and legal gentlemen and Senators may as well
argue to the winds as to attempt to tell the loyal people of
this nation who furnished the money in exchange for these
bonds that Congress is not bound by the promises of its
agents. if a clerk or agent, year after year, transacts
business openly to the satisfaction of his principal, making
sales, purchases, and contracts in the names of that prin-
cipal, while ho looks on approvingly and sanctions in in-
numerable cases the agent's acts, they are of course not
only morally but legally binding upon the principal,
although the clerk or agent may never have had written
or even verbal authority to show that his principal is
bound by what he has properly done in the regular course
of clerkship or agency.