The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1869-09-02
Redemption of the Bonds in Greenbaeks.

The Radicals, in order to get a good
start in the present campaign in this
State imported the great Mogul of the
party, Governor Morton, of Indiana,
and placed him ON the stump to plead
the cause of the privileged orders, and
justify the despotic and unconstitu-
tional acts of the party in power be-
| fore the people. Unfortunately for
them, Senator Morton is on the record
in opposition to nearly every measure
advocated by the Radicals in the pres
ent contest. In July, 1858, he made a
speech in the z: S. Senate i'll which
he ably discussed the question of the
right of the Government to redeem its
so bonds in legal-tender currency.
The following extract from that speech
presents an argument which neither
he nor any Of the attorneys of the
bondholders who are perambulating
the State, will attempt to answer:
"But it is argued that Secretary
Chase, and perhaps one or two Assist
ant Secretaries or chief clerks of the
Treasury, gave it out in letters and
speeches that these bonds would be
paid in coin, and that the bonds were
sold upon such an understanding. In
none Of these opinions is there any
reference made TO these statutes. and
what was said seemed to have been
said in ignorance or Indifference to-
wards them, and the opinions were
predicated entirely upon what had
been the practice of the Government
heretofore. These several acts Gre
ating the legal-tender were public
laws, of which every man in the coun-
try was bound to take notice at his
peril. Every man in the country pur-
chasing bond is presumed to know
the character of the law creating the
bond or the existence of any other law
efecting the bond either as to time,
manner, or mode of its payment.
In matters of such immense magni-
tude the nation can only be bound by
the law. Its rights must be defined
by the law, and by the law only. 1t
can not be bound by the opinion of
public officers given either in igno-
rance or in violation of the law.
The Government of the United
States, which has power to borrow
money and create a uew loan, has put
the terms of that loan into the law,
and they cannot be varied by the opin-
ion or action of any public officer.
1t would be monstrous doctrine
that the rights of the nation and of
future generations, in matters of such
immense importance, could be varied
or changed by the illegal and unwar-
ranted declaration of a public officer,
who has no power to say or do any
thing except that which is conferred
upon him by law. Nor can it be said
that the good faith of the nation can
be effected by its refusal to comply
with the representations of a public
officer when those representations arc
made in direct conflict with a public
statute of which he and everybody,
else is bound to take notice. Even in
matters of private right and of the
smallest importance men are presumed
to know the law, and their rights are
determined accordingly, and no man
is bound by the act of his agent when
that agent is acting outside OF the au-
thority or the presumed authority
conferred upon him. Every man buy
ing bond of the Government must
know that the liability of the Govern
ment could not be fixed or changed
by declaration of the Secretary of
the Treasury, but that the liability of
the Government must be determined
absolutely and only by the law crea-
ting the bond or making regulations
fol. its payment. ~-s' .
The good faith of the nation in
matter of this kind can only be meas
ured by the promise given dy the law
making power, which promise must
be in the form of a law. The Consti-
tuition declares that Congress shall
have power to borrow money, from
which it must be inferred that Con-
gress, and Congress only, can prescribe
the terms, limits and conditions of the
loan. The attempt, therefore, to erect
the standars of good faith for the ma
tion, not only outside of the law, but
in violation of its express provisions,
does the nation great injustice by con-
tributing to place it in q false position
before the people of other countries.
That's all | have to say on that ques-
ton. If you prove that the Govern
ment is bound to pay the bonds i'll
coin, you do it in the face of four di7.
rect and plain statutes, as unequivocal
as any statutes that ever were written.
There is the statute, plain, direct,
even pathological, upon this subject,
declaring in not less than six or seven
places that these notes shall be receiv-
ed in payment, and as a legal-tender,
i'll discharge of every claim and de-
mand of whatsoever kind against the
United States, except interest upon
notes and upon bonds, and then going
on to say, as remarked before, tauto-
logically, that those notes shall be re-
ceived as lawful money and as legal
tender in payment of all debts; public
or private, in the United States, ex-
cept the interest on notes and bonds
as aforesaid. And yet in the face of
language SO plain, Language that can
not be misunderstood, it is argued,
from day to day, in this Senate, that
the Government is bound to pay the
five-twenties in cein."
1t being thus demonstrated that the
Government, by the law and the con-
tract had the right to redeem the $40
bonds in greenbacks, when Congress
passed Schenck's bill providing for
their payment in gold, is it not mani
fest that the people are robbed Of from
S60Q,00O,000 to SSO0,00OO0O for the
purpose of enriching the bondholders? /?
And yet the men who acknowled ge
the plunder and who are parties to it
have the brazen effrontery to go before
an plundered people and ask for a fur
ther lease of power. ..rl....f.
The Letter of General Rosecrans.
Declining the nomination for Gov
ernor rendered him by the Democracy
of Ohio, will be found on the first
page of our paper to-day. We have
no disposition to commend. on it. It
speaks for itself and will doubtless be
read by every citizen. The Radicals
affect to be greatly rejoiced over it,