Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-11-28
nHonILY oN HaNEsTY

| letter Of BENJAMIN F. BUTLEB, in which
that parsonage argued the right Of the
United States to pay the principal OF
their fve-twenty bonds in currency or
psper-prOmises-to-pay, discusses the
question on moral grounds, as follows:
The Government emitted three kinds
Of paper: l. Greenbacks, for a time moi
redeemed in anything. 2. Bends pay
able in legal tender. 3. Bonds payable
in specie. The interest on those payable
in legal tender (7-S0s( was generally
higher than that on bonds payable in
specie rs Dos and l0-4Os). And those
who took the 7-S0s were urged to do so
BY the fact that they would have the OPP
tiOn at maturity Of converting them into
| sos, payable in coin. Hundred OF mil
lions Of bonds drawing Z 3 10ths per cent.
/ interest have thus, both before and at
maturity, been converted into 5-2Os
drawing but six per cent. These are
/ among the bonds which Gen. Butler says
the Government may now j~ustihably pay
of in g~reenbacks!
Il seems clear to our mind that the
! Government, in borrowing money, in
/ Cured an obligation to pay and that
the amount it thus contracted to pay
| could not be increased or diminished at
its own pleasure, since that would be
/ saving that it might pay whatever
amount it should see fit to pay. He who
| covenants to pay ten thousand dollars
| does not covenant 10 pay merely what
ever he may choose 10 consider or make
ten thousand dollars, but a definite
amount And when Gen. Butler pro-
poses that the Government shall pay its
coin debt in greenbgcks, and Mr.. Geo.
II nz-IT-~-, SW,nrnrraa an tho GrumuaE- Z
ton by urging that two thousand mil
lions more greenbacks be issued, and all
our funded debt, whether held at home
or abroad, paid off therein, so that the
holders thereof should thenceforth re-
ceive from the Treasury no interest
understanding at all but barefaced
lies, not worth a dime on the dOllsr-it
seems to Us that the rascslity OF the
latter is more logical and respectable
than Gen. Buffers. II we are to peTpe-
trate 8 gigantic National villainy, let it
be for something.
We believe there are on record specific
and unequivocal pledges Of the Govern
ment that the principal rs well as the
interest Of its fve-twenties should be
paid in coin at maturity. But this is not
material. A man who incuTs an Obliga-
ton is morally bound says Paley) to
0lscnAFHE IndL ODlLEhAltu = LE 6ADEA6EN !
the creditor to understand him as promis-
ing to fulfill it. In other words II q
man quits your presence understanding
YOU to promise him a hundred bushels of
wheat for 8 certain service, and you are
aware that he thus understands you,
and he performs it on the faith of that
understanding, you cannot pay him q
hundred bus hels Of oats, and thus dis
charge your obligation, although you
actually said oats, not wheat, in making
the offer. Is not the cese 10 point
The Government took the money OF
hundreds Of thousands, saying 81 will
paw YOU six per cent. interest in coin on
The sum 50 borrowed until 1 refund the
principal borrowed He who fancies
that this debt can be wiped out By ten
dering the face of it in deprecated green
backs, seems 10 US deficient in moral
sensiDility. 1t is the Government that
debases our currency and that Govern
ment cannot rightfUlly take advantage
OF its own wrong.
1t is worthy Of consideration whether
the States or the people OF the States, in
1857, conferred upon the General Gov
eminent the power to issue paper-prOm-
ises and to compel citizens to receive
them in payment Of debts due from man
to man. The power to do that is ex-
pressly prohibited to the States, as is the
power to enact laws that violate the OBJ
legations Of contracts. The Constitution
does not forbid the United States to make
its paper-promises q legal tender, or to
violate the obligation Of 8 contract, or
to pass laws to operate retrosPectively on
past transactions. But the Government
created by the Constitution has such
powers only as are granted to it, and it
was not necessary specially to prohibit
the exercise Of powers not granted, by
specifying these in detail.
To authorize a man to pay in depreci-
ated paper 8 debt which he owes in gold,
is to authorize and encourage him to do
that which the Tribune stigmstizes as
'~rascality' and villsiny.' When it was
proposed to make Confederate money a
LEGAL tender, we did not believe that the
Confederate Congress had the power to
do so, nor did We believe that il would
be a wise or beneficial measure. As q
means Of preventing government paper
from d~epreciatiHg, il always has proved
and always will prove u~navailing.
The Constitution, a. We read it, gives
Congress no power whatever tOssy what
one man shall receive in payment OF s
debt due him by another. That is an
interference between citizens Of a State
or Of different States that does not belong
among the delegated powers of National
government. There is not g word in the
Constitution, and there is nothing in
justice or morals, that gives it the right
to say that 8 msn shall not be bound to
keep his promise as be has made it. And
the very fact that to compel a creditor 10
receive in deprecated paper at par &
debt payable in gold, is Tascality and VIII
lainy, aud dishonours a State, the very
fact that 8 man who incurs an obligation
is morally bound 10 discharge it accord
ing 10 the understanding Of it by him
with whom he contracted, goes far to
repeI the notion that the Government Of
the United States can make lawful that
which is dishonest and fraudulent,
because it is not specially forbidden.