The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-16
General Buffers Plan for WepudIating
the Public Debt.

General Buffers Plan for UepudIating
the Public Debt.
Fron, The ". y. World.
General Buffers scheme of reputation,
which first came out in the report of a private
conversation, is now publicly acknowledged
over his own signature, in letter to the
Evening Post printed on Friday. His pride
in this dishonest project is so complacent that
he can "bear no brothers near the throne;"
and he accordingly tries to make it appear
that it is original with himself, and not bor-
rowed from Mr.. Pendleton. He AYERS that he
had not seen Mr.. Pendleton's views at the
time of the reported conversation, and has
met only synopsis of them sinoe He claims,
too, that his scheme differs radically from Mr..
Pendleton's. We are not curious to trace the
points of identity or differences but it is proper
to call attention to the alarming proposal put
forth by General Butler, and to inquire into
the probabilities of its adoption or rejection by
the American people.
Dismissing Mr.. Pendleton from the discus
sion, let us examine what General Butler
proposes to do with the national debt. We
will allow him to state his plan in his own
language
ITO the assertion that by this course the pub
lie creditor by fve-twenty bonds is injured,
reply that propose TO pay him when his obii-
or money which the Government has provided
for every other creditor, public or private to be
pald In, and that which IL is declared upon the
back of every legal-tender note he may be paid
In, the best and most valuable money which
the credit of the country can ustatu, bearing
relation Today to gold as l43 TO l00-while the
none y that these five twenty creditors lent the
Government (being the best which the then
credit OF the Government could afford)i stood
In relation to gold as 200 and 2S5 to 100 II the
government pays them in a currency from
hfty TO one hundred per cent. BETTER than they
lent the Government, OF what have they to
complain, save that the Government will not
tax the people to pay them usurious share;
or, in other words, will not tax the people to
enable the capitalist to make a speculation out
OF the war necessities of the Government
"HistOry tells of no Government which has
yet paid It's ci editors all they loaned to IT, and
thus made them whole; and doubt whether
good faith, good conscience, or equity require
this Government TO pay its creditors three
times what 1t received from them, with interest
at six per cent. on the treble amount. Ofcourse
II any contract to do that be shown, the Jew
shall have his bond but not one drop of Chris
tian blood"
This is, at least, hardy and explicit. The
bonds are to be paid in greenbacks, unless
(Which General Butler disputes) the Govern
ment is under contract to the contrary; and
II 1T be under contract to pay coin, it is
to be fulfilled in the same sense as E'Shylock's''
bond for the pound of fesh-in other words
1t is to be outwitted and defeated by trick of
Interpretation. The danger that the public
creditors will be dealt with as ''Portia'' dealt
the forfeit of his bond, is not small; and it
may as well be looked in the face. Our
ability to demonstrate that the Government is
under an engagement to pay in coin, gives us
no confidence that the engagement will be
Kept, any more than our ability to demon
strate that the policy of the Republican party
mas been educating the country into a CON
tempt OF solemn compacts; and as the Gov
ernment, under the control of that party. has
broken the public faith in almost every other
particular, it may easily add this infamy to
the long catalogue.
Gen. Buffers allusion to tShylock's" pound
OF 1lesh is apt and illustrative; but it is not the
first time the same figure has been used to
loreshadoW the Republican method of fulfilling
pubic engagements As all readers cannot be
expected to be familiar with every part of
Shakespeare's plays, let us recall the story of
ohyIock." A merchant who, in great dis
tress, borrows money of 'Shylock," j." enters
INTO bond engaging, as a penalty for non
payment, to forfeit pound of flesh, to be cut
out by the "JeW" nearest his heart. The
merchant fails to pay the debt, and the "Jew''
goes into court and sues for decree autho-
riHing him to take the penalty. A nimble-
Wltted woman, in love with the merchant,
enters the court in disguise, passes herself off
for learned expounder of the laws is per-
mitted to assume the iudgment-seat, and
makes the award as follows:-
Portla.--A pound of that same merchants
m flesh is thine;
The court awards it,, and the law doth give it.
Shylock Most righteous judge
Portla-And you must cuJ this flesh from off
The law allows 1t, and the court awards It,
Shylock.-Most learned judge! sentence:
come, prepare.
Portia.-Tarry a nttle;-there is something
This bond doth give thee here no drop of bload.
Inc words expressly are, pound of flesh;
But In the cutting IL, If thou dosJ shed
drop OF christian Diood, thy lands and goods
Are, by the laws of Venice, conhscate
Unto the State OF Venice.
This mode of enforcement defeated the in
tention OF the contract, and the spectators are
glad to see the Jew so dexterously foiled, be-
cause they consider the bond as repugnant to
natural justice. This is precisely General
Buffers idea respecting the contract (if there
be one) to pay the public debt in coin. He
would have the Government creditors awarded
their coin in some such oircumventing way as
Shylock was awarded his pound of flesh that
is, in way which, while pretending to give
the coin, cheats them out of it. keen coun-
sellor OF thieves, such as General Butler was
Whlle practising as a criminal lawyer, could
doubtless invent some chicaning fetch against
the public creditors, as adroit as that of evad-
ing the obligation to surrender fugitive slaves
by declaring them "contraband of war" or
treating Secesh ladies as women of the town.
lie prides himself on his ingenuity in such
stratagems, and his rogue's wit could easily
hit upon something equally expert for circum-
venting the public creditors. Whether the
country would adopt and applaud it is very
grave question.
When the Republican partv was n mora !