can take it to the mint and have it coined into a dollar. That fixes a price below which it cannot fall; but when silver is not monetized, when it is a commodity, as this bill makes it, the case is different. You pile it up in the treasury as a commodity, and when you take it out by a note, you cannot go and have that silver coined; it is a mere commodity. On the other hand, when you take out a piece of gold bullion with a note, you can take it directly to the mint and have it coined. There is a vast difference between a metal that is monetized and one that is demonetized. Silver is now demonetized. It is now a commodity, and when you issue notes upon it, you issue notes upon a commodity.

Unless you have some compulsory coinage of that bullion you cannot maintain the proposition that it is better as a basis for coinage than wheat, except that it is not perishable, or any better than lead or zinc, which are not perishable. You cannot coin lead or iron or zinc, nor can you coin the silver that is piled up in the treasury department unless you authorize it by law.

Hence I claim that it is a matter of great importance to the friends of silver, to those who are in favor of the true theory of money in this country, to insist that silver shall have the right of coinage to some extent, however limited it may be, so as to contradistinguish it from commodities. That is what I mean. When you say that silver bullion shall not be coined, that practically no coin shall be issued upon it, but it shall be placed in the treasury and notes issued upon it, you treat it as a commodity; it is no more entitled to coinage than iron or zinc or any other metal.

By such measures you demonetize silver; you make a commodity of it. When you, gentlemen on the other side, go home to your constituents and undertake to explain this point, and tell them why you provided for the deposit of silver bullion and the issue of treasury notes upon it, and why you would not treat cotton or wheat or lead or iron in the same way, you cannot explain your position. But if you say to your constituents, "We have put bullion in the treasury, it is true, but we have compelled the Secretary of the Treasury to coin it under the Constitution," however limited the coinage may be, you then draw

the distinction between silver bullion and other commodities. You then point to the Constitution of the country, which makes silver money; you point to the law which recognizes it as money at a fixed ratio of coinage; you keep up the ratio as well as the coinage. Thus you educate the people of this country in the true theory of monetary science. But when you undertake to select any particular commodity on which to issue notes without coinage, you are departing from all the theories of bimetalism, and you are giving silver a stab in this very bill which is claimed to be friendly to it.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I hope this free-coinage bill will not be voted down. I trust this House will do what the Fortyfifth Congress seemed to be unable to do, and that is, grapple with this great question. The longer we postpone it the greater becomes the difficulty. It was postponed in 1878, and a provision was put into the bill asking a conference of foreign governments for the purpose of coming to some agreement on the subject, and some understanding · by which France, England, and Germany may open their mints to the free coinage of silver. We were told thenthat was the prediction that defeated free silver then-that we could have this agreement which was promised us. But instead of that, we were met, especially by England and by Germany, with an absolute refusal even to consider the question.

If we have free coinage of silver now we are in this position: We are in the position to control the metals of this country in our own interests. Instead of London being the great center where you find gold and silver exchanged, and instead of England controlling the value of the two metals, New York will become the exchange of the world as between gold and silver. France that occupied that position for over seventy years, with the coinage between the two metals at a fixed ratio of 15% to I, was the clearing-house of the world for the money metals, and has to-day more metallic money within its borders than any country in the world, this country not excepted. There you could go and exchange your gold for silver and silver for gold at a fixed ratio of 15% to 1; and if we had that ratio and free coinage here to-day, this country would

simply be the clearing-house of the world upon the metallic question, and would stand in the position of controlling the value of gold and the value of silver, as established by law for the whole world. Because, Mr. Speaker, having, as we do, the South American countries, and China, and India, constituting over five-sevenths, or about that number, of the people of this world using silver, and the other part using gold, we would simply be the clearing-house for the goldusing and the silver-using countries of the world, and stand in the position of masters of the situation, instead of being, as we are to-day, simply a tail to the London kite.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

ADDRESSES TO HIS ARMY

[Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, 1769. He entered the military school at Brienne on April 23, 1779, leaving that institution in 1784 for a military academy in Paris. In 1793 he was placed in command of a battalion of artillery, and for his success at Toulon was made general of brigade. Under Barras, in command of the garrison of Paris, he swept the city with grape-shot, overwhelming the Terrorists and bringing to an end the French Revolution October 5, 1794. In 1796 he married Josephine de Beauharnais, née Tasher, having been appointed on the same day to the command of the army in Italy. The coup d'état, November 9, 1799, placed Napoleon in power as First Consul. During the consulate he made many reforms. He stopped the persecution of the priests, opened the churches, changed. the system of internal government, framed the code, aided education, reestablished the ecclesiastical hierarchy, instituted the Legion of Honor, and arranged the financial system of the country on a proper basis. War was renewed over Malta. Obliged to give up the invasion of England he attacked the Austrians, and on December 2, 1805, the Austro-Russian army was defeated at Austerlitz. At Trafalgar Nelson annihilated Napoleon's still cherished plan of invading England. The Peninsular war resulted disastrously, and the French were driven across the Pyrenees in 1814. After divorce from Josephine his marriage with Marie Louise took place, and the King of Rome was born March 20, 1811. The Russian invasion and defeat exhausted the army by the loss of half a million men, and prepared the way for Elba and Waterloo. The battle of Leipsic was the beginning of the end, and the few following victories did not prevent the allies from marching on Paris and taking possession of it. The emperor was forced to abdicate April 6, 1814, and was banished to Elba. After an interval of ten months, during which he laid crafty plots, he escaped from the island of Elba, in 1815, and appealed again to France. He succeeded in driving out Louis XVIII., and again took the field against the allies. Waterloo was lost June 18, 1815, and Napoleon was held as a prisoner at St. Helena by the British until his death, May 15, 1821. His body was removed to Paris in 1840.]

ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY AT BEGINNING OF ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

OLDIERS: You are naked and ill-fed!

SOLDIERS:

Government

owes you much and can give you nothing. The patience and courage you have shown in the midst of this rocky wilderness are admirable; but they gain you no renown; no glory results to you from your endurance. It is my design to lead you into the most fertile plains of the world. Rich provinces and great cities will be in your power; there you will find honor, glory, and wealth. Soldiers of Italy, will you be wanting in courage or persever

ance?

PROCLAMATION TO HIS ARMY

Soldiers: You have in fifteen days gained six victories, taken twenty-one stand of colors, fifty-five pieces of cannon, and several fortresses, and overrun the richest part of Piedmont; you have made 15,000 prisoners and killed or wounded upward of 10,000 men.

Hitherto you have been fighting for barren rocks, made memorable by your valor, though useless to your country, but your exploits now equal those of the armies of Holland and the Rhine. You were utterly destitute, and you have supplied all your wants. You have gained battles without cannon, passed rivers without bridges, performed forced marches without shoes; and bivouacked without strong liquors, and often without bread.

None but republican phalanxes, the soldiers of liberty, could have endured what you have done; thanks to you, soldiers, for your perseverance! Your grateful country owes its safety to you; and if the taking of Toulon was an earnest of the immortal campaign of 1794, your present victories foretell one more glorious.

The two armies which lately attacked you in full confidence now flee before you in consternation; the perverse men who laughed at your distress and inwardly rejoiced at the triumph of your enemies are now confounded and trembling.