National Republican., 1878-12-12
DEMOCRITIC LANDMARKS.
An Open Letter to Representative Buckner
WAsHINGToN, Dec. 3, 1873.


Hon. A. H. Baclacr, Chairman Of the Committee
on Banking aud Currency:
SIR: have read, with some surprise and
much regret, your letter in the Washington Ga.
Eette u the LIST instant, iIsructing your constit-
ucnts that the platform on which they re-
elected you Is erroneous and uuconstitutio tional,
In this that 1t asserts the power of Congress
to make Treasury notes lcgal.tender. | regret
to see in Democratic leader, occupying so
prominent position, so wide departure from
the old Democratic landmarks. One of those
landmarks had reference TO the relations ex.
isting between the Representative aud his con.
stituents. 1t vested tho right of instruc.
tion in the latter and imposed the duty of
obedience to their will on tho former You
reverse this relation; and, having been re.
elected on the 9Th Of November, on the LIST of De-
cember you assume tho right to instruct them,
from Washington city, that the measures they
reelected you to carry out are unconstitutional,
! am surprised that you preface your instruc.
tions by openly avowing that, while your re-
| election was pending and uncertain, YOU, "fOr
OJrOus reasons, suiOHsly dbsidiHcd from am dis.
cH'sion Of he merits or demeriis Of this disagree
mcm" with them.
| am told that II has become by no means
unusual for members of Congress, soon after
reaching Washington, to adopt views diamet.
rically opposed to those Of their constituents,
and that some of the means used to effect this
arc legitimate and some illegitimate.
| learned my Democracy forty years ago,
when Jackson was fighting the monster
the money power, as organized through the
United States Bank; aud Calhoun was con.
| tending for an issue of Treasury notes, as a
means of restoring the circulation to tho
nation to whom II belonged" as asserted by JEFF.
| forsOu. This was before that separate moneyed
interest, which Calhoun prophetic vision fore
saw would grow out of the banking and fund.
| ing systems, had developed into "the European
Grand Council of the International Finance"
before that Grand Council had obtained con-
troll of the organization of both tho great po.
litical parties Of this country. and before IL
had made the agent of the Rothschilds the
chairman of the National Democratic Execu-
| tive Committee.
For thirteen years | havo been laborng 10
my sphere as a private citizen to rescue the
| Democratic organization from the control OF
that Grand Council aud bring 1t back 10
where II stood in the days of Jackson and Cal
| houn-opposcd TO bank monOpOlies aud ready
to protect the people from the money
changers" Therefore 1t Is that SO much re.
gret suclI wide departures from the old Demo.
| cratic land d-marks.
uents on the opinions of Webster and Call
hOun.
First, as to Mr.. Webster. II must be borne
in mind that he had peculiar professional aud
personal relations to gentlemen connected
with the United States Bank. that monster
for whose special aud exclusive benefit this
"monstrous" doctrine was then advocated. lie
was practicing attorney.at-law as well as
Senator. lie was their retained counsel and
personal friend. l do not question his genius
and great ability-much less his integrity
but when Democrats quote him as authority
on this point Insist on that well. established
principle which disqualifies judge from sit.
ting on case In which he is counsel.
As TO Mr.. Calhoun. You say:
Mr.. Calhoun, In his speech on the bill authoriz.
Ing the issue Of Treasury notes In 1887 takes fol
granted that Congress Possesses no such power as
our State platform deWands shall be exefcised.-a
Calhoun's Works p. l02.
The power referred to Is that of making
Treasury notes legal-tendcr. ] reported that
speech of Mr. Calhoun. l was then mere
youth; but, that / understood what he said
aud intended to say, is evidenced by the fact
that, In speak ing OF my report, he said that he
would rather have me to report his speeches
than any professional reporter then In Wash.
ingtOn. have read that speech frequently
since. i have 1t before me now, and am un.
able to find In 1t, or Ia any other Of his
speeches, single sentence that, taken in con-
nectlon with the context, justifies the as
sertion that he took for granted" that Con.
gress had no power to make Treasury notes
legal.tender. There arc passages in his
speeches where, speaking Of gold and silver as
compared to bank notes, he asserts that, Of
these t,CO, the former are tho only cOnstitu-
tioual currency. But it Is only by violently
wrenching part Of what he said from the
context necessary to explain his meaning that
what he said about bank notes can DO made TO
apply to Treasury notes. As / understand
him, he ut times waived discussion Of this