The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-18
NING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TUESDAY, AUGUST 49, 1868

has caused a large number OF people wholly
to forget their real nature and origin, and to
talk of them as "money" which may be used
not as the Government and the public are now
using them, as temporary expedient, but in
final settlement of the national obligations.
The delusion is, especially when we consider
the interval in time, in education, and eXpe-
rience which separates our day and generation
from the French Revolution, much more sur
prising than the delusion which reigned
amongst the French republicans about the
celebrated dSigndtS. Nobody in France was
ever gulled into believing that the dssignd'S
were "money." 1t was distinctly perceived
that they were prOmissory notes. The fallacy
which prevailed about them lay in supposing
that the Church lands were really pied dge1, in
practical manner, for their redemption
When 1t became plain, as IL soon did, that the
mortgage was not really foreclosable, and that
the security was therefore worthless, the
bubble burst. Nobody went about preaching
that they were as good as gold or. If any ybody
did, he met with an unpleasant illustration of
the feebleness of his arguments whenever he
offered them in payment for cup of coffee.
The popular habit of talking of the acts of
Congress authorizing the loans as claws" is
producing, if possible, effects still more mis-
chievous. For the mere purpose Of nomencla-
ture, it is no doubt convenient to call them
Claws" but when they are called claws" for
the purpose of determining the moral obliga
tions OF the Government, when "the letter of
the law" is spoken of as something by which
honest men may safely abide, the evil worked
by loose use Of words becomes fully appa-
rent. A law is command given by a supe-
rior to an inferior, and enforced by sanction
that is, by the infliction of a penalty of
some sort, in case the command is not obeyed.
A command with no sanction attached is not,
properly speaking, law at all;
it is the mere expression of a wish or desire.
tha Of iyi,
the various public loans have none of
the characteristics of law, and they are
not laws, as regards the public. They may be
considered laws as regards the Secretary of
the Treasury, inasmuch as they direct him to
offer bonds for sale on certain terms, and he
would, of course, incur the penalty of dismis-
sal in case of neglect or refusal. But as re-
CARDS the public they are simply invitations
TO lend money on certain conditions. They
command nobody to do or refrain from doing
anything whatever. They bind nobody.
Congress might repeal them tomorrow; many
members of Congress are constantly trying TO
have them altered or modified There is no
count in which the nation could be sued under
them; no power on earth competent to infict
any penalty for the violation. of them. They
simply declare that the United States would
like to borrow certain sums of money at GER
tain rates Of interest, and for certain fixed pc
RODS of time, and point out the persons to
whom, and the modes in which the money
shall be paid in. Whatever was not clear in
this invitation, the financial agents Of the Gov
erpment undertook to explain. They eX-
plained during four long years, through every
means of publication known to Ame-
rican civilization, that when the Gov
ernnent in its proposal spoke of repayment
it meant repayment in gold. The lenders had
to be content with this explanation, because
there was and is no court or tribunal of any
kind competent to construe the proposal, or
| enforce any construction of it except what
| those who made it chose to give it. In other
| words, it rests with the people who asked for
| the money to say what the invitation to lend
| ers meant; and in deciding what their Obliga-
| tons under it are they to be guided not by
legal rules of construction, but by the rules of
| morals in use in the forum of conscience, by
! the rules by which an honest man when he
| has in his distress borrowed secretly, and
! without giving security, governs his conduct
! when his friend asks him to refund. To call
in the aid OF practitioner in the criminal
! courts 10 tell us, under such circumstances,
where the path of duty lies, would be a con-
! tessiOD which we do not care to characterize.
Moreover, the persons, of whatever party,
who now call for payment in greenbacks, in
! defiance OF the declarations of the Government
| agents, are not entitled to hearing, for the
simple reason that their failure to speak sooner
| is presumptive evidence either of their stu
pldlty or dishonesty. IL they remained silent
| during the whole period of the contraction Of
the loans from inability to perceive the mis-
| chief which the declarations of the representa-
tives of the Government were working, they
| must be too obtuse to make their opinion Of
| the slightest value. If they remained silent
| wilfully, well knowing that the Government
agents were raising expectations which they
were not authorized to raise, and that the
payment in coin was not intended by Congress-
| they simply oonnived at an odous fraud, and
| their present protests are simply proofs of
| their monstrous impudence. In fact, their
appearance on the scene now, when the money
| has all been paid in and spent, to put new
Interpretation on the contract, before the bonds
| are payable, is one of the most remark able ex-
hibitions within our knowledge of moral cal
| lousness on great scale. 1t is hard to say
whether their spesking now or their having
previously held their peace is the more dis
Ureditable.
There is one other consideration with regard
to ''the letter of the laW'' which deserves
more consideration than it has yet received.
"lhe letter of the law' is, after all, letter
Only-sO many words, covering so much paper.
| To make il of any value as a rule OF conduct,
| it has to have an Interpretation put upon it;
| and, in fact, the only difference between "the
| letter. and ''the spirit" of law lies in the
mCde of Interpretation. "The letter of the
| law'' is, in other words the law strictly con-
| strued; ''the spirit of the law' is the law
| broadly construed; but construction you must
| have in both cases, construction by some con-
! stituted authority. Admitting, for the sake of
| argument, that the acts of Congress creating
| the loans are real laws, and that ''the letter
of the law" ought to govern the manner of
| IL