property, and military organizations must be invoked, why not encourage the States to organize, discipline, and arm and equip their militia organizations? I am frank to say that I shall favor a liberal appropriation at the next session of Congress for that purpose.

"What are the real and true uses of our regular army in time of peace? Simply to furnish a small force to take care of our ordnance and forts upon our ocean front, and to protect the border settlements on our Indian frontiers, and to repel the cattle-thieves upon the Lower Rio Grande. Now, just what force is necessary to perform that service it is our duty to amply provide for; and when I say amply I mean it. I would accouter the United States soldier with all the improved modern appointinents, arms, etc., so that when he meets the enemy upon the field of battle he cannot reflect upon a parsimonious and unfeeling Government because of the unequal means of defense with which he is supplied.

"This bill provides to supply a force of twenty thousand men; that is, it proposes not to recruit the army above the number of enlisted men on the army rolls on the first day of this month, which, from the most reliable data, is not over twenty thousand enlisted men.

"I wish to make one other remark in reference to this bill. It is in reference to a restriction that was placed on the last army appropriation bill, controlling the use of the army. The Committee on Appropriations did not deem that, in view of recent events, in view of the action of the President in carrying out the Constitution, in carrying out the timehonored doctrine of non-interference by the General Government with the States, but allowing the States to regulate their own affairs in their own way, subject only to the provisions of the Federal Constitution, the committee did not feel that, in view of recent events, and of the action of the President in so promptly removing the troops from Louisiana and South Carolina, we should express a want of confidence in his policy, and his determination to allow the people of the States to regulate their own affairs in their own way.

"Nothing less than the inexorable demand of civil liberty and free government for the Southern States would have induced the Democratic House of Representatives of the Fortyfourth Congress to refuse the ordinary annual appropriation for the maintenance of the regular army of this country. Not, sir, that I would be understood as intimating, much less preferring, the charge that the temper and disposition of our regular army is inimical to civil liberty or local self-government; for, with the exception of a few officers high in command, the army has exhibited no political bias, nor been guilty of any voluntary oppressions of the people, or of defiance of the civil authority, which, alas, has been of too frequent occurrence in the last decade. No, no, sir; the army is not to blame. It is created to obey.

Obedience is the first and paramount duty of a soldier; and although the solemn authority of the courts has been defied, judges and governors have been deposed and stripped of the insignia of office, and the doors of State-houses have been closed by armed soldiers against the rightful entrance of the legally and duly elected representatives of the people, and many other similar outrages have been committed by detachments of regular soldiers, under the immediate command of their officers, acting under orders of superior officers, yet the country well knows that the responsibility for all the wrongs to public liberty lies at the door of the late Executive, and in no manner attaches to the army proper.

"But while Congress and the people acquit the army of all responsibility for these great wrongs, it nevertheless was used in the hands of the Executive as an involuntary instrument to perpetrate these wrongs against constitutional law and free government. Hence the advocate of home rule and independent State action, limited only by the Federal Constitution, felt in the closing hours of the Forty-fourth Congress the absolute necessity of embodying in the army appropriation bill a restriction, denying the use of the money so appropriated for the maintenance of the army, if employed to uphold the State governments of either of the rival governors of Louisiana and of South Carolina. That action, though violently opposed by the Republican side of the House at the time, found a precedent in the action taken by the Republicans of this House in the Thirtyfourth Congress, in reference to the use of troops to uphold the State government of Kansas, attempted to be set up by the pro-slavery party of that State in 1854.

"But the independent and responsible course which the last House chose to adopt in reference to this subject is derived from a much higher, more powerful and ancient source than the Republican Representatives of the Thirtyfourth Congress. It is coeval with representative government. It springs from the very nature of free government itself. In England for centuries the Commons withheld supplies from the Crown whenever redress of grievance could not be otherwise attained. It is as old, then, as free government in the mother-country, and, indeed, was about the only expression of true and unrestricted freedom which the people of the realm enjoyed. In this country it is the resultant power which springs from the great American doctrine of non-intervention and popular sovereignty which lies at the base of our free States. What disciple of free government will rise and gainsay the right to withhold supplies even from our gallant army, if that army by a usurping Executive is to be employed for the overthrow of the State governments established by the people in their sovereign right, and the erection on their ruins of the governments of pretenders and usurpers?

"Mr. Chairman, it is not necessary to recur

to the argument, so often repeated upon this floor and throughout this country, that the United States, and not the Executive, are required by the Constitution to secure to each State a republican form of government. Under that authority the President has no right to decide upon the legality of State governments. That duty clearly belongs to Congress. Congress, then, had the right to destroy the means which enabled the Executive to usurp this power or prerogative of Congress; and, sir, it had the courage to do so on the 3d of March last. Had it failed to discharge its duty, in view of the remarkable and unexampled scenes then transpiring within these halls and in this Capitol, well might the patriot have despaired. But with singular unanimity and determination the Democratic House was animated but by one voice and one will. The present Executive of the United States too clearly saw the absolute necessity of non-intervention, the right of the people of a State to regulate their own affairs in their own way, subject only to the Constitution, and hence wisely, as Commander-in-Chief of the army, ordered its removal from the soil of the two

prostrate States, and thus opened the way for the return of peace with its myriad blessings, rejoicing the hearts of the people, and banishing the dark and lowering clouds of war which for fifteen years had never ceased to threaten every household with the storms of war, and paralyzed every interest, moral as well as material, in the Southern States.

"The committee, therefore, after a calm consideration and full discussion, agreed to omit the insertion of the restriction upon the use of the army, which was so persistently urged by this side of the House at the last session, and which failed to meet the approval at the other end of the Capitol, and therefore resulted in the failure of the army bill.

"I repeat, sir, that despotic policy of military absolutism, under the late Executive, having yielded to the milder and more peaceful modes pointed out by the Constitution of the United States, there is therefore no necessity for the insertion of the restriction in this bill, but on the contrary potent and patent reasons for its omission. I hope it will be the pleasure of this Congress, before it adjourns its labors, to mature and enact such legislation as will in future be a guide to the Executive of this country in the use to which the army of the United States is to be put, and that henceforth the army shall never again be employed for such anti-republican and unconstitutional purposes as that of upholding or overthrowing State

governments.

A brief discussion ensued on the number of men in the army, and the bill was passed and sent to the Senate. There it was passed with several amendments, in which the House refused to concur. Subsequently, on November 19th, the Senate receded from their amendments, and the bill was passed.

The extra session closed on the day previous to the commencement of the regular session. No important public act had been passed. The bills and resolutions offered in each House, and not decided upon, were continued into the regular session.

For the President's annual message, see PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA, 1877. In the Senate, on December 10th, the following resolution, introduced by Mr. Matthews, of Ohio, was considered :

Whereas, By the act entitled "An act to strengthen the public credit," approved March 18, 1869, it was provided and declared that the faith of the United States was thereby solemnly pledged to the payment in coin or its equivalent of all the interestbearing obligations of the United States, except in cases where the law authorizing the issue of such obligations had expressly provided that the same might be paid in lawful money or other currency than gold and silver; and

Whereas, All the bonds of the United States au-. thorized to be issued by the act entitled "An act to authorize the refunding of the national debt," approved July 14, 1870, by the terms of said act were declared to be redeemable in coin of the then present nually in such coin; and standard value, bearing interest payable semi-an

Whereas, All bonds of the United States authorized to be issued under the act entitled "An act to provide for the resumption of specie payments," approved January 14, 1875, are required to be of the in the said act of Congress approved July 14, 1870, description of bonds of the United States described entitled "An act to authorize the refunding of the national debt"; and

Whereas, At the date of the passage of said act of Congress last aforesaid, to wit, the 14th day of July, 1870, the coin of the United States of standard value of that date included silver dollars of the weight of 4124 grains each, declared by the act approved January 18, 1837, entitled "An act supplementary to the act entitled An act establishing a mint and regulating the coins of the United States,"" to be a legal tender of payment, according to their nominal value, for any sums whatever: Therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate (the House of Repre sentatives concurring therein), That all the bonds of the United States issued or authorized to be issued under the said acts of Congress herein before recited are payable, principal and interest, at the option of the Government of the United States, in silver dollars, of the coinage of the United States, containing 412 grains each of standard silver; and that to rein payment of said bonds, principal and interest, is store to its coinage such silver coins as a legal tender not in violation of the public faith nor in derogation of the rights of the public creditor.

Mr. Matthews said: "Mr. President, the General Assembly of the State of Ohio at its session last winter adopted the following resolu

tion:

Ohio, That common honesty to the tax-payers, the Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of letter and the spirit of the contract under which the great body of its indebtedness was assumed by the United States, and true financial wisdom, each and all, demand the restoration of the silver dollar to its former rank as lawful money.

"This resolution was passed with great unanimity. There were but three negative votes in the House of Representatives and but one

in the Senate, and I have no doubt it expresses the deliberate and considered public opinion of the people of that State with the same proportion among them as to unanimity as was evidenced by the vote of their representatives in the General Assembly.

"I have been moved, Mr. President, in part by that expression of public opinion of the State which I have the honor in part to represent in this body, to introduce the resolution which has been just reported to the Senate by the Secretary. The resolution to which I now speak does not cover the entire ground covered by the resolution of the General Assembly of Ohio, for the latter not only expresses the opinion contained in the resolution now pending in this body, that the restoration to the coinage of the country of the silver dollar authorized by the legislation prior to the year 1873 is not in violation of the public faith nor in derogation of the rights of the public creditor, but it also expresses the opinion that this restoration of that coin is demanded by true financial wisdom; in other words, that it is not only the right of the United States consistently with its obligations to its creditors to restore to its coinage the silver dollar, but that it is expedient and wise and in pursuance of a proper public policy so to do.

"The recitals in the resolution refer to three distinct periods in our legislative history, and classify the public obligations by reference to those dates. The first recital refers to all the obligations which were outstanding on the date when the Act to strengthen the public credit' received the executive sanction: the 18th day of March, 1869. That statute corrected and supplemented all the prior legislation on the subject by making an express and emphatic declaration and definition of the public faith in respect to the existing and then outstanding obligations of the Government. It provided as follows:

That in order to remove any doubt as to the purpose of the Government to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors and to settle conflicting questions and interpretations of the laws by virtue of which such obligations have been contracted, it is hereby provided and declared that the faith of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin or its equivalent of all the obligations of the United States not bearing interest, known as United States notes, and of all the interest-bearing obligations of the United States, except in cases where the law authorizing the issue of any such obligation has expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful money or other currency than gold or silver. But none of said interest-bearing obligations not already due shall be redeemed or paid before maturity unless at such time United States notes shall be convertible into coin at the option of the holder, or unless at such time bonds of the United States bearing a lower rate of interest than the bonds to be redeemed can be sold at par in coin. And the United States also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin.

"If the word 'coin,' as used in this act, for any sufficient reason must be interpreted as

meaning gold coin alone, and not as including silver coin as then known to the laws of the United States, we are met at once by a consequence to which I wish to call the attention of the Senate, and that is that it would be just as illegal and just as dishonorable to pay the United States Treasury notes circulating as money in any other than gold coin as so to pay the interest-bearing obligations of the Government; so that, if we are shut up to a gold payment of our bonds by the terms of the law or the spirit of the law or the obligations of honor, then also are we cut off, in respect to the resumption of payment of our non-interest-bearing obligations which circulate as currency, from any other medium of redemption except that of gold alone.

The proposition is a very wide one, and its application ought to be thoroughly understood. The Government of the United States in this statute has pledged its faith not only to the owners and holders of its interest-bearing obligations, but to the people who are the holders and owners of its non-interest-bearing obligations; and in whatever medium of redemption they seek to liquidate one they are bound by the same considerations of law and public faith to insist upon the redemption of the other; and it is just as much in violation of all these considerations to make the silver dollar, by any new legislation, a mediumn for the redemption of our Treasury-note circulation as to make it the means of paying our bonded debt.

"There are Senators here who are familiar with the circumstances of the passage of this law. The history of the legislation antecedent to its passage is very plain, and the questions which it was designed to solve are not doubtful. The question had arisen in consequence of the language used in the act of 1862 and in the subsequent acts authorizing the issue of the bonds of the Government, with the exception of that statute which created the 10-40 bonds, whereby it appeared that, although express provision was made for the payment of the interest accruing on those bonds in coin, the question as to how and by what medium payment should be made of the principal of the debt was left unanswered. The greenback note was made a legal tender in payment of all debts and demands, public and private, except interest on the public debt and the payment of customs dues.

"The question was therefore agitated whether or not the principal of the debt might not lawfully and properly be paid in the greenback circulation. To meet that question and to answer it, and to answer it in the negative, the public-credit act of 1869 was passed. In my judgment (and it was always my opinion), the very nature of the case was such that under the statutes the original indebtedness of the country was not repayable in the greenback notes. I believed that by its terms-I mean by the implied terms, not by the actual language, but by a necessary implication growing

out of the very nature of the contract, it being expressed to be payable in dollars, and the greenback circulation not being dollars, but being merely promises to pay dollars-the original indebtedness of the country could not properly be liquidated in any other than coin dollars. Still there were a great many of a different opinion, and the public agitation upon that subject became very extensive; and, to meet it and to meet the doubts and to allay the disquiet excited by that public agitation, this statute to which I have referred was passed. It was intended to settle that ques-. tion, and was intended to settle every question connected with the mode of paying those bonds, and to assure the public creditor that he should be paid only in coin money.

"Mr. President, it does seem to me that if it had then been thought, if it had then been in contemplation of the parties, that these bonds ought only to be payable in gold money, and that their value in the market ought only to be measured by that mode of payment in undertaking to settle doubts, this statute would not have created new ones; it would not have left such a question as that open; it would not have been guilty of the ambiguity of introducing a new element of dissatisfaction and discord between the Government and the public creditor. These bonds had been bought in the market and from the Government. They had been bought largely by the use of paper money, and the argument was then made in opposition to the passage of this act that it was inequitable; that it was unjust to the people; that it was a hardship to the Government, which ought not to be imposed to pay in any other currency those who were holders of these bonds than that which had been received for them at the time. The answer to that was made and was accepted, and, in my judgment, was conclusive. It was this: It is an immaterial circumstance what was the consideration received for these bonds; it is a matter of no sort of relevancy what we were willing to take or what you were willing to give. The question of our obligation is, what have we promised to pay? what is the letter, and the spirit, and the true meaning of our contract? We have taken greenbacks. We have promised to pay dollars. That is our obligation, and that we will declare.' And it was declared by the act of March 18, 1869.

"Now, what did 'coin' mean at that date? Where do we go for the definition of a term used in a statute? What is 'coin'? Nothing is coin in this country but that which by law may be coined as money, and everything which by law may be coined as money is coin. We had on our books at that time another statute which contained that definition, which enumerated the coins of the United States, which declared of what they should consist, how they should be named, at what value they should be rated, how many grains of gold should be in the gold coin and how many grains of silver

should be in the silver coin, and of what fineness and how much alloy; and at that date, as at every prior date from that time back to the beginning of the financial history of the Government, there had been known to the country, to its laws, to its statutes, to its people, to the world, as one of the legitimate, lawful coins of the United States, the silver dollar containing 371 grains of pure or fine silver. The silver dollar authorized to be coined by every coinage act which had been passed and which had been changed only in reference to its weight as standard silver, as to its intrinsic value, as containing so much of pure silver, had been established at the very foundation of the Mint, and had been carried on continuously in every act of legislation upon the statutebook. That was one of the coins. That was one of the coins also spoken of in the act of 1862 authorizing the issue of Government bonds and establishing a sinking fund for the redemption of the principal of these bonds, for the fifth section of that act provided:

That all duties on imported goods shall be paid in coin or in notes payable on demand heretofore authorized to be issued and by law receivable in payment of public dues, and the coin so paid shall be set apart as a special fund, and shall be applied

us follows:

First. To the payment in coin of the interest on the bonds and notes of the United States.

Second. To the purchase or payment of 1 per cent. of the entire debt of the United States, to be made which is to be set apart as a sinking fund, and the within each fiscal year after the 1st day of July, 1862, interest of which shall in like manner be applied to the purchase or payment of the public debt, as the Secretary of the Treasury shall from time to time direct.

Third. The residue thereof to be paid into the Treasury of the United States.

แ "At that date, up to the time of the passage of the act of 1873, which dropped that coin from the list of the coins of the United States, the silver dollars authorized by the previous coinage acts were receivable in payment of customs duties, and were pledged by the sec tion of the statute which I have just read to the payment of the interest and the principal of the public debt. The same state of things in respect to the legislation of the country ex isted on the 14th day of July, 1870, which is the date of the passage of the act to authorize the refunding of the national debt, which pro vides for the issue of 5 per cent., 4 per cent., and 4 per cent. bonds, and marks the beginning of the second period of classification; for that was intended to make the beginning of a new history for the public debt, the object being to reduce the annual interest by converting our 6 per cent. and other bonds into bonds of the description authorized by the statute of July 14, 1870. At that date the coinage of the country, so far as it was regulated by law, re mained, as I have stated, in the same condition in which it was the previous year.

"In this carefully prepared and well consid ered law, intended to be the foundation of the