Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1862-02-18

Betore this letter appears in print, il is TO
be hoped that the two Houses will have sub.
stantially agreed upon such finance bill "a
will be satisfactory to the country. The
struggle in the Senate prior to the vote being
taken on making the United States notes a
legal tender, was most animated one. but
the vote itself was so decided, being II to %.
as to prove that the wishes of the Secretary
OF the Treasury could not be defeated. As
the bill now stands reported from the Senate
to the house, it contains the legal tender.
and the provision that the interest on the
public debt shall hereafter be paid in coin,
with the proposition allowing the holders OF
notes in sums not less than one hundred dol
laIs, TO obtain an equal amount Of registered
bonds from the treasury, redeemable after
two years, bearing an annual interest of
elght per cent. per annum; and also clause
authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury
70 receive United States notes on deposit
for not less than thirty days, in sums not less
than one hundred dollars. at apv of the de-
positoIies of the United States. and TO issne
certificates, which are to bear an interest nj
hve per cent. per annum; this amount to be
wlthdrawn at any time on the return of the
certificates, the interest to cease at the Meas.
uIe OF the Secretary, and the aggregate mt
to exceed twenty five millions. The other
portions the bill are, with slieh ht alterations
similar TO the project that passed the House
In the latter body many votes were thrown in
favor ofthe measure under the impression that
the interest was to be paid in coin, but NTr.
S,CIens, Chairman Of the Committee of Ways
and Means, managed at the last hour TO secure
vote in favor of bis own idea against snrh
payment. He is still supposed to be averse
to The payment Of the interest in coin. bnt 7
am inclined to believe that, whether he yislds
bis opposition or not, the House will affirm
the action of the Senate in this imDortant
particular. When it is recolected that the
refusal to pay our interest in coin would
involve the certain depreciation of our
stocks IN foreign countries the propriety
OF this provision will be at once appreciated
was struck with the powerful arguments of
senators Coilamer and Cowan against the
legal-tender clause The first, a veteran
statesman, recalled the best days of the old
school of public men, and justified his reDu-
tation as one of the most profound, thought
tuI, and honest OF all our great leaders. The
second, younger man, new to Senatorial life,
distinguished himself equally by the acumen.
logic and force OF his expression and STYLE
Butin such crisis as this all abstract theories
and old opinions must give way to the national
exigency. No man has surrendered more of
his political record in this contest than Sal
mon r.. Chase. If there ever was hard.
IL, n
His whole financial policy has contemplated a
wsr. upon all unsound banks, hostility to
high duties, and that permanent protection
to labor and industry which alone results
from an untiuctuatiug circulating medium.
lie came to the remedy of the legal tender
therefore, with marked reluctance, but he
believed it was his duty, as a patriotic states
man, to yield every thing in order that the
rebellion might be crushed; and when
finally his mind was resolved on this point
be devoted himself with herculean energy
to the task of aiding in the preparation of a
proper bill, and to the labor of pressing it to
a successful passage in both houses. When
appealed TO by some who attempted to re.
mind him of his old opinions, and to argue
against the legal tender, he is said to have
answered that "he was ready to make any
sacrifice for his country. That being willing
to yield his life to it, he would certsinlV
abandon every thing else in order to nut
an end to the rebellion and, that, as the
financial measures before Congress were
necessary 10 that END, and were demanded
by the people, were essential to the protec-
tion of onr soldiers and of all classes of the
laboring poor, he had given them his earnest
and conscientious support"
1t is an easy thing for learned iurist to
expound law and to indulge in the luxury of
augmentation against that which is a State
necessity; but in an hour like this when the
existence of the nation is at stake, he is the
best benefactor of his kind, and the bravest
soldier of the cause, who forgets himself and
remembers his country alone. Ali honor to
Secretary Chase for the unsel6sh patriotism
he has displayed from the beginning to the
end OF this trying period of our history! In
order to show how this fearless statesman is
appreciated, give you an extract from a
letter just received from one of the most re-
spoDsible and influential merchants of Phila.
delphia: "Chsse is "A No. H. Let him have
$6OO,OOO,0OO OF legal-tender notes instead of
$4,000 600; let il, in fact, be made the whole
circulating medium Of this glorious country,
ard when we are reunited, and the rebeisare
forced 10 respect the Constitution they h ave
or TO fly the country, among their
greatest blessings will be the enjoyment of
such currency as the world has never
known"