The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-09-03

put III Jall and nned.
1.-THE debt to him was from individual En-
glshman his case was rather worse, for he was
obliged to receive not only the interest bnt the
principal in this deprecated paper. If for debt
OF one hundred pounds his English debtor offered
him paper which was worth only sixty pounds,
he was obliged to take it or get nothing. But if
the Englishman was inclined to be Just, to do as
the American states have done, make up the diff
ference by paying specie, or its equivalent, both
the creditor and the debtor might be found ex-
plating their honesty in the same Jail, the aot of
Parliament making it criminal in both to do an
American that act of justice which the American
States require to be done to an Englishman.-
And yet, so short is the remembrance of ones
own injustice, the English seem to have forgot
ten all this, and rail at their neighbors for SINH
lar acts, with the most entire unconsrioHsness
of what they have themselves done. Even that
most excellent tempered man, Walter Scott, in
his Life of Napoleon, cannot forbear to sneer at
the French, when he says that "the assignats
were raised to par by guillotining thooe who sold
or bouhht them at less than their full value"
He forgot that during a much longer period
than the forced circulation of assignats in France,
all those who sold or bought bank notes in Eng
land at less than their full value were-not alb
solutely guilotined, that not being the English
fashion-but fined and put in prison; with this
difference too, which might discompose the 10y
atty of Scott, that if the contumacious American
one hundred was put to death in France, it was
done by Jacobins and terrorists, whereas his
countryman imprisoned in England for the same
offence, had the consolation of knowing that
the law which condemned him was enacted, as
it graciously purports, f'by the Kings most
cellent Majesty, by and with the advice of the
Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons in
this present Parliament assembled" To make
the of the American States at all parallel to
this, it would be necessary to follow the exam
pie of England, and, LIST, forbid their banks to
pay specie; I'd, borrow from these banks till their
issues become deprecated; 3D., then declare by
legislative resolution that there no depreci-
alton; 4th, then, the depreciation increased,
pay the public debt in this paper, and force all
foreigners to take it in payment of debt, not
merely from the Government but from all pri-
vate American citizens; and 5thly, by en-
acting that, if any Englishman should receive
for any debt ten dollar note for less than ten
dollars, although it was worth only six dollars,
or having received it sheuld exchange it either
for specie or goods for less than ten dollars, he
should be fined and put in Jail at the discretion
of the American judges.
Fortunately for America her whole conduct
has been the direct reverse of all this. One of
the fundamental laws of the Union is that no
State shall "make any thing but gold and silver
coin tender in payment for debts" or e'pass any
law impairng the obligation of contracts;" and
this power, which is withdrawn from the States,
has never been exercised by the Federal govern
ment You remember, at the gloomiest period
of the last war with England-that very Eng
land, where at that moment, and during several
years previous, paper money was a legal tender
the American government declined that mea-
sure. The Secretary of the Treasury, MIR. Dali
las, declaring in his official report, of October
18th, 1914, tSthat the extremity of that day
not be anticipated when any honest man, and
enlightened statesman, viii again venture upon
the desperate expedient of tender law" No
tender law has, therefore, been passed in the
United States. The courts have never been
closed against foreigners. They have never
been forced to take paper money-they have
never been punished for receiving it, or for pass
ing it at any rate they pleased; and every dol
lar of principal or interest due to them by the
Government has been paid How faithfully
that principle was carried into execution is seen
in a very remarkable manner in the treaty be-
tween the United States and England IN the
year 1898. 1t was then agreed by the United
States, that inasmuch as British subjects who
had debts due to them from American citizens
found difficulty in collecting them, the United
States assumed to eemake full and complete COM
pensation for the same to the said creditors."-
For which purpose commissioners were to be
appointed to examine and make awards to the
claimants, "and the United States undertake to
cause the sum SO awarded to be paid in specie
to such creditor or claimant soithOtt deduction"
Afterwards finding trouble in adjusting the de-
tails, the United States agreed, by convention
between Mr.. Rufus King and Lord Hawkes.
bury,* in 1902, to pay gross sum OF SIX hun
dred thousand pounds, which was accordingly
done at what then was par, four dollars and Tor
ty-four cents for the yound sterling Now this
payment by the United States IN specie of the
debts OF individual citizens, was made when
government of EEgiand did not pay even the
interest on its own public debt in any thing but
irredeemable paper. What then, one naturally
asks, is the occasion of this new aenunciation!-
1t is this-the United States have borrowed
abroad certain SUMS to make improve ments-
That these will be repaid no man can possibly
doubt On a single occasion, however, one of
the twenty-six States, in the midst OF tempo
rary financial embarrassment and the excitement
of political contentious, inadvertently suffered
the quarter day to pass for tweatyfour or forty
eight hours; but then FASTENED to repair the
omission by not merely paying the interest, bst
by paying it in gold and silver, lest the foreign
Ell should lose any thing by the exchange.
It is a singular coincidence, that, IN the very
same year, 1897, when England began her pape
money system, which lasted for more than TWEEN
ty years, the government of France, too, came
in contact with its public creditors. The debt OF
France was then about nine hundred and sixty
six (966) millions of dollars, the interest about
forty-eght (4S) millions Of dollars; but in order
to continue the invasion of Germany and Italy,
the army required fifty-six millions, (56,) and
tins could only be had by taking it from the fund
holder; and so, the historian hasit, At was Gre
qusite to take decisive measure in regard to the
debt" This decisive measure consisted in pay
ing off nominally two-thirds of the capital in
fresh and worthless paper, and retaining the one
third-thus reducing the debt to about three hun
dred and twenty-five (322) millions, and taking
from the public creditors about six hundred and
forty -four (644) millions, and thus by simple
decree, without the least notice, and for no rca-
son except the wants of the army. The latest
French historian, NJ Theirs, says that the paper
given for the two-thirds ssfel in commerce to one
sixty of their value, and that TO those who did
not wish to purchase lands it was absolute
bankruptcy" Yet he entirely approves of the
me ASSURE, and concludes his account of it with
this convenient axiom of finance, more consola-