Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1865-1872, 1867-10-25

lar was due for dollar, neither more nor
less. None of the bonds then in exist
ence, and none ever issued before. made
any mention Of coin; and yet Mr.. Pendle-
ton will cohccde that they were due in
coin-which proves that the omission Of
the words is no valid argument against
payability in the precious metals.
Ii is not the omission Of the words az
coin, but the operation of the legal tender
act, that casts any doubt on the point. We
must concede that the law is grossly in
consistent with itself, and that Messrs
Pendleton and Butler reason with great
cogency from admitted premises when
they argue that the legal tender act makes
the principal Of the public debt payable
in grcenbacks. IF there were nothing
else in the law, their argument would be
conclusive. But as Thaddeus Stevens
said of it when it was on the point of its
final passage. the law bears on its face
the Inconsistent lineamcn,s of many pro-
genitors; or as he said with more empha-
sis in an earlier stage, it is grossly in
congruous." 1t became such bundle of
contradictions from the moment that the
Senate engrafled its amendment making
interest payable in coin, that its original
introducers would have flung out bill,
amendment aud all, if the Treasury De-
partment had not been in distress, and
within three days Of bankruptcy.
That the Senate amendment exempted
the interest of the bonds from the opera
tion of the legal tender clause is on all
hands admitted. But the exemption of
the interest exempted also the principal.
The principal and interest of the public
debt hold certain fixed arithmetical re
lation to each other; the six per cent an
uual interest being precisely six one
hundredths OF the amount ultimately due
as the principal Of the debt. Ii either
interest or principal 6uctuates in value,
they necessarily nuctuatc together, their
ratio to each other being constantly as
six is to one hundred, whatsoever may be
the absolute value of either. If borrow
ed last year thousand dollars in green.
backs, aud the annual interest is due to.
DAY, the sixty dollars which pay to day
is worth precisely six one hundredths OF
the value of the principal to day; and this
would be equally true whether the depre-
ciation were thirty per cent. or three
hundred; SO fixed is the proportion bo.
tween interest at any given rate and the
principal on which it is paid. When,
therefore, the Government engages to pay
the interest on certain debt in coin, and
declares ut the same time, that the rate j.
six per cent. it thereby engages that the
principal shall be also paid in coin; for
otherwise the interest would not be six
oue-huhdredths Of the principal, aud the
rate per cent. would be some other than
SIX. We therefore hold that Congress, in
exemptlug the interest OF the five twenties
from the operation Of the legal tender act,
necessarily exempted also the principal.
The Senate amendment respects coin
was un1eratood at the time, aud has bee
uniformly construed by the Treasury De
partment, to exempt the principal Of the
public debt as we'll as the interest from
The operation Of the legal tender'act. We
offer no proof Of this, because it is mat.
ter Of general Dotoriety. The fact thai
when MIR. Pendleton first announced his
view, IL stOrtled the country as novelty,
may stand, for the present, in the place of
proof. 1t is true that Mr. Stephens, in
1861, expressed the same view; but so set.
tied was the public mind in n contrary
opinion, that Mr. Stevens was regarded as
having uttered one Of his crotchers, aud
it was Immediately forgotten. What the
public thought on this subject accorded
with what tue Secretary Of the Trcasur,
did; aud on the plainest principles OF
pubic obligation his action bound the
Goveruinent, ecea u he mismterpreted Me
idU.
We trust TO make this very clear; but
we must pass for illustration from the ii
naUcle or urithmetical relation of priuci.
pal and interest. which we have been dis
cusslng, to the legal relation of principal
aud agent. Tie law on this subject rests
on solid grounds Of natural justice, aud
borrows nothing either from transcenden
tai ethics or n chivalrous aud fastidious
sense of honor. The law the law, ~
Mr., Pendelon we'll knows, alike Of an
cicnt Rome, all the States of modern Eu
rope, aud OF this cOuntry-is that the act
OF recognized agent binds his principal,
IT, whom IL homes TO his knowledge he
docs not di'caim IT, Semfer qui non pro
hiJu pro SC mterreRire, mdRddre citdiicar.
rhe principle is as old as tho science OF
Jurisprudence; and although the govern
ment is pet nmendsble to court il is un.
questiouably bound by the obligation OF
universal justice on which the principle
rests. Cousress knew that the Secretary
of the Treasury interpreted the law as ex.
empiing tho principal as we'll us interest
Of the public debt, from the operation OF
tho legal tender act. aud their acquics
cenco equally bound tho government
whether the Interpretation was according
to 'he original ialea!ion Of Congress or
not
r.. .o.. Al n. q