Year: 1877

that slCcc the month of June, 1874,
by the permanent retirement OF nation
al bank note. ard legal tenders, the
circulating currency of tie country has
been decreased nearly SG4, GOO, 00O in
accordance with we!l-kuown law the
withdrawal from circulation of so large
an amount o. paper necessarily tends
20 uplift tie balance more nearly TO
par with gold.


The above facts show how the de-
cline of the gold premium May be eas-
/ lily accounted for. Should nothing
disturb this stcaiy-growiDg balance Of
trade in our favor, AMI cur people con
tinuc 20 practice economy in the con-
sumption OF foreign luxuries, there are
/. good reasons for believing that in a
few months Did would drop - par,
and the country float into specie pay
ments on this tide without a shock to
| the business interests of the land
From many favorable indications it
would seem that the present Is an op-
perfume season for Congress to coLsid-
er the question OF early resumption,
and provide measures to bring it about
without the monetary change being in
juriously felt by our people, as it now
seems evident can be done.


Congress, however, is fighting over
the presidency, and the average poll
tician on either SIDE is, at present,
more interested in getting or keeping
control of tie eighty thousand Offices,
than III GevotiLg himself to the con
sideration Of q"estlons affecting vitality
the business prosperity of the country.
/ Thus we have the instructive spectacle
of one class composed Of the intensely
patriotic men who have personal is
sues at stake, who like postotfices and
seats at the custom houses, and have a
hankcring for FederA provender hese
worthy citizens ale in deadly earnest;
they write resolutions breathing of
instant battle, and proclaim war from
every platform IN the North. On
the other hard the people fail to
respond to this war b!uste-, and are
unanimous and urgent in expressing
the opinion that If gore is called for
it must be the politician and not the
people which is to furnish it. This
settles the question. The public peace
will long remain inviolate If the war
riors who are to break 1t must be Ie-
cruited from that heroic class whom
MIR. Hill SO aptly describes as ''invin.
clble in peace and invisible in war"
The general temper of the American
people is for peace, and aPpreheDsions
of trouble in that direction arc grounC-
less. They want peace, lecaus1 they
know what war is. Especially is this
true of our own section. The South
has been the battlefield of one long
and bloody war; it has been wasted,
impoverished and nearly ruined and
it does not intend to furnish the
means, or the men, or the field for an
other experiment of the sort.


Grant has lately said that he meant
to have peace if he had to fight for it,
but the people mean more and better
than this. They mean to have peace
without fighting for 1t, and all the
clustering of those shrewd fellows
who, Wien plenty of fighting WAS to
be had, kept themselves SO carefully
aloof from wars alarms that they can
not tell tive-inch shell from a cocoa
nut, can do little hahn beyond post
poning the revival of business to such
time as they see fit to let the presi-
dental .uccession be settled quietly
and peacea5ly. This time cannot now
be far In the future, and then the
question of the prompt resumption OF
specie payments will be found knock
ing at our doors.