Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1858-09-09

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guilt, which can be expiated no 9th.
erwise than by a voluntary sacrifice
on the altar of justice of the pow
er which has been the instrument oil
lit. In addition to these persuasive
considerations, it may be observed,
that the same reasons, which show
the necessity of denying to the
States the power Of regulating coin,
prove with equal force that they
ought not to be at liberty TO sub
Istitute paper medium instead CT
coir. Had every State the right to
regulate the value Of its coin, there
might be as E.any currencies as
States; and thus the intercourse
among them would be impeded.
Retrospective alteratioDsdh its val
ue might be made; and thus the cit
liens of other States be injured, and
apimosities be kindled among the
States themselves. The subject Of
foreign Powers might suffer from
the same cause; and hence the Union
be discredited. and embroiled BY the
indiscretion Of single member
No one Of these mischiefs is less in
cident TO power in the States 10
emit paper money, than to coin gold
or silver"
sIr. j. continued: Another reason
why believe that the members of
the Federal Convention intended to
establish hard money Government,
is, that the States, it will be coDce-
ded by all, possessed and could ex-
ercise, prior to the formation of that
Government, the sovereign power of
::'coiniDg money aud regulating the
value thereof" Yot, under the
Government, We fnd that the States
of the Confederacy surrendered to
the General Government all the pow
er to coin money which they possess
ed. They prohibited, themselves
from coming money, even of gold
and silver, and they expressly dele
gated the power to this Government.
What was their object in delegating
that power7 1t was, that stab le,
uniform, equal currency and standard
of value might be established, which
should be the same in every part Of
the Union. Is it, then, reasonable
to suppose that the States forming
this Confederacy should surrender
this high prerogative of sovereignty
the power to coin money and to
regulate the value thefeof-and that
they should, at the same time. re-
tain the power of makingit repre-
sentative7-of making that which
should pass in the room and stead OF
il? No, sir, They believed. as |
believe, that they did, in effect, es-
.tablisb a hard-money Government.
They had suffered much; they ha d
been taught in the best Of all schools
the school Of experience. A
standing and lasting monument of
the changes and fluctuations which
have resulted from the use Of paper
money is still visible in this country.
How did it come to pass, that when
the dollar was in value but four
shillings and six pence sterling, we
found that here, where we are now
legislating, it had come to be seven
shillings and six pence! and that in
a neighboring State it had come to
be eight shillings? In Virginia,a
the New England States, at the same
time, it required six shillings to
make dollar. How, ask, did this
come? Not by the different sizes o.
the coin, but by the depreciation o.
the different value of the paper issues
used by the different colonies on
this continent. The men of that
day probably had not gone so faI
into the science of currency and ex-
changes as We, at a later day, have
gone. When Virginia issued heI
paper, it deprecated SO far as to
take six sbi!liags Of that paper to
make what was really four shiIlings
and six pence. In South Carolina
the depreciation was not so great; for
it required only four shillings and
eight pence Of her paper to make
four shillings and six pence sterling
In New York, where the depreciation
was greatest, it required eight shsi-
lings Of their deprecated paper to
make four shillings and six pence
specie or sterling. Instead of tax.
ing off the discount when the paper
became deprecated, they only added
the amount Of depreciation which