The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1865-04-06
Ehe Biiers Bit.

- SaNuSLhh AND ODLlSH TRANSACTION.
. A firm of Tennessee spcessionists. doing
business in Nashville under the style of j.
G. French s. Co lately made maligne Mt
and n,arvelously foolish effort to diScredit
the National currency b. protesting some
coupons Tt appears that these psrtie, had
one hundred andtwentv three United States
bonds, the coupons Of which. worth 81 SO
each, had just fallen due. The course pur-
sued by them is thus narrated by the Wash.
ington correspondent of the Cincinnati Ga.
zette: s~ e. .-....r. o.. ...u aF
5s"Thev carried the coupons tn N,tional
bank. threw them down, deman1ed pay
ment TIE bank said certainly. hut there
seems to be quite aqraatitv ftham; please
to make up schedule Of the numbar AMI
amounts The holders refused. gathered
up the coupons in great wrath started
straigltway to a notary public. and had
separate notice of protest m,ds out f,r each
one Of the hundred and twenty three cou-
pons; affixed. 70 these one hun lrcd an | TWEEN.
tv three notarial papers, as m,nv twenty.
five cent Internal revenue stamps; tied up
the whole package. and sent 1t by mail.
placing several dollars nth Of postage
stamps on it. when it was entitled to cpme
free; and mp6eSrlv demanding of the Treas.
urer Of the United States the payment of
the coupons, with the notarial fees, cost of
stamps. postage, &c, amounting in all to
over double the value Of the coupons them
selves"
Mr.. United States Treasurer Spinner re.
plies to this surprising missive in the follow
ing terse and vigorous manner: s
TREASURY OF TIE U~TrED SrATgs,
WASHINGTON FEB 2j. 1855;
"Gentlemen: Your extraorii 1arv letter
of the 9Th inst, the very extraordinary pa.
pers that were attached to the COUPONS that
came enclosed with the letter, a. well as the
very extraordinary other one hundred and
twenty-three miSSives that proceaiedthelct-
te.r. are before me. s..... ....n
"You say they were protested ia accord.
ance with law as we (you) understand it,
Now, it is very evident that vol do not un,
derstand law at all Yoa should have con.
suited a good Ia wyer. It's not necessary
that maker Of a Commercial or other pecu.
mary obligation should have notice Of the
non.payment Of his own paper. 1t is only
necessary that indorsers Of such papers
should he notified Of the non-payment of,hs
obligation on their principal. It should
have occurred to you that t'e ere was no indor-
ser in these cases; that the United States
was the principal and that government
cannot be sued. Then why attempt to pro-
test at all -
"Then, too. you forget that the debt was
entitled to grace. You in yonr eagernesS to
to doa right smart thing jumped on the
instant that the day Of pavnent cane in
sight, and. to clap the obsur iitieS, Won pre-.
Sented the papers for payment tna party that
was under no legal or other obligations to
make such payments. should certainly
be LED to think that you were secessionists of
he malignant k nd, that is grown at the
North, and had done this thing with view
to bring the credit of the Untel States into
bad repute were the idea not precluded by
the fact that you paid heap ofpostaga gra-
tuitouSly and unnecessarily on the package
addressed to me, which, bylaw, as under
stand it, might as we'll have come free of
postage. And then, too, your unnecessary
liberal expenditure Of cne hundred and
twenty-three one.quar'er ofa dollar revenue
stamps, proves that you are really anxious
to aid rhe Government in its enieavors to
crush the rebellion.
"Fhe amount Of the coupons you state
correctly at s27a,2ai. I withhold You this
amount, with half cent additional. bv my
draft on New York, or return you all the
papers as yon may elect. As to the her
and larger claim that you make for costs,
the less said about it. and the sooner you
charge it to profit loss the better.
Respectfully yours. &c,
"F. E SPINNER. Treasurer U. s.
I" Messrs. j. c. FRENCH & Co. Nashville "