The Placer herald. [volume] (Auburn, Placer County, Calif.) 1855-1991, 1864-05-21
NUMBER 80.
ga RebelliOno on the Pacific Coast.

According to the theory of the Consoldsr
tionsts, California and Oregon are to day in
open rebellion against the United States
Government and, in fact, have been ever
since Congress enacted that the people should
take bits of paper printed by Mr.. Chase as
money. California has constantly repudiated
and spit upon this law. South Carolina in
her worst notification days. never went fur
tber than the people Of that State have gone
in opposition to this measure. So "rebellious"
are the dispositions of the Californians, that
it is said not to be a healthy business for
any one to even so much as hint in that
State of forcing the greenbacks upon them
as legal tender. A dollar greenback passes
there for go cents, or whatever may be its
value according to the premium of gold in
the New York market. The result Of this
notification of United States laws ia not
at all pleasing to the functionaries at Wash.
delicate question. The army and navy
officers on the Pacific coast, who are, of
course paid in illegal tenders are petitionne
for more wages, as their present pay, after
deducting the discount on it, is not, it ia
alleged, sufficient for their support. Will
Congress pass special enactment to relieve
these men! Will it recognize the validity
of California nullifcatioul We are now in
the midst of gigantic war for the avowed
purpose, IN many quarters, of compelling the
Southern States to submit to the laws Of
Congress. Why is an exception made to
California and Oregon? True, the cases are
slightly different. The Southern States by
an act of sovereignty, withdraw from tho
present Federal Union, and declared them.
selves exempted, by virtue Of such withdrawal
from obedience to all Federal laws. Califor-
MIA claims to be consistent portion of the
Union, and yet her people nullify such laws
as they deem obnoxious, and are thus prac-
tically, though not theoretically, out of the
Union.
We ask why do not those whs pretend to
be such stickIers for State submission to
Federal rule take this California rebellion in
hand? Why make flesh of one and fowl Of
another? Or, is it necessary first to subdue
the South and strike down the very fountain
and source of State rights, and then turn
their armies northward to exterminate what
little of it may remain here9 We confess,
however, not so much to wonder at the
course of the people of California as we do
at the course of our own people in the
Northern and Eastern States. That Con-
gress should pass such a monstrous act as 10
make paper a legal tender for all debts, in.
vovng as it does, the violations of contracts,
and that the people should tamely and
slavishly submit to it as they have, passes all
human comprehension. Gold and silver are
according to our Constitution, expressly
made the legal and only legal currency
Congressional acts cannot affect or alter this
constitutional provision, or change or modify
it in the slightest degree. Subservient
Judges, like those in this State, who d. cided
the legal tender clause constitutional, will
yet be cassed with Jetferes and other names
born to an infamous Immortality. 1t s we'll
understood that the Administration dare
not bring the question before the United
States Supreme Court as the bench now
stands, as the Judges will not even for the
sake of military necessity" blast their names
forever by rendering such decision as the
government" demands. In the midst of an
invasion of over a million of armed men,
when every home and every fireside right
was at stake, the Confederate Congress have
steadily refused to make their paper currency
a legal tender. Whatever may be the result
of the present war, that course on the part
of the Confederate Congress, will stand out
in bold relief as an act of devotion to their
organic law, even in a case of dire necessity,
unexampled in the worlds history, while the
infamous despotism Of the Federal Congress
of forcing upon the people whole cords Of
the Governments promises to pay, as money,
will be forever standing reproach and dis
grace. 1t is reputation in its worst and
most odious forms, for with every dollar 1t
forces upon the people it takes certain per
centage for which it renders no equivalent.
1t robes the great aboring and producing
classes without any pretense of paying them.
But as all wrongs have their punishment, so
this will doubtless react upon the people
who have submitted to it with fearful power,
California, by the course she has pursued,
will save herself from that dismal financial
crash that now stares all the Atlantic States
in tho face She will pass through the war
unscathed, and when we have gone through
the dereious greenback fsver that now in-
haes values and demorazes the people by
ndulgences in all sorts Of vices and extrava,
gances, and are suffering the prostratiou
incident thereto, California will be sound
and healthy, her financial system safe, and
her people prosnerOus and hapnv