CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



183 



believe. While I have been no partisan of his 

 administration, I will do him the justice to say 

 that his whole life has shown him to be a man 

 who does not repudiate honest and honorable 

 obligations either in public or in private life." 

 All the resolutions were referred to the 

 Committee on Finance, and on the next day 

 the committee reported back the resolution 

 offered by Mr. Willey, of "West Virginia, with- 

 out amendment. On the next day, December 

 16th, the subject was considered, and Mr. Hen- 

 dricks, of Indiana, said: "I move to amend 

 the resolution by striking out all after the 

 word 'resolved,' and inserting as a substitute: 



That the Senate cordially indorse the sentiment 

 in the President's message that " our national credit 

 should be sacredly observed," and declare that the 

 public debt shall be paid as rapidly as practicable, 

 exactly in accordance with the terms of the contracts 

 under which the several loans were made ; and where 

 the obligations of the Government do not expressly 

 state upon their face, or the law under which they 

 were issued does not provide that they shall be paid 

 in coin, they ought in right and justice to be paid in 

 the lawful money of the United States. 



"I think, Mr. President, if Congress is now 

 called upon to make any expression of opinion 

 at all, that this is the statement which ought 

 to be made, that the public faith is to be ob- 

 served, and that it is to be observed according 

 to the contract ; that if it be the contract that 

 the bonds shall be paid in gold, they shall be 

 thus paid ; but if that be not the contract, 

 then, under the law of 1862, they may be paid 

 in the lawful money of the United States. 

 While we have no right to repudiate the obli- 

 gation to the bondholder, and perhaps have 

 no desire to do so, we have no right, in my 

 judgment, to increase the obligations of the 

 Government to the bondholder. ,He is en- 

 titled to his contract. When he gets his con- 

 tract, he cannot say that there is repudiation." 



Mr. Edmunds, of Yermont, said : "I agree, 

 I may say now, however, without going into 

 the discussion, to the assertion of the Senator 

 from Indiana, that we are to pay according to 

 the contract; but the great question is, as 

 between us, who are the final arbiters of what 

 that contract is and the people who hold it ; 

 what is that contract in the light of the cir- 

 cumstances under which it was made, in the 

 same light that it would be viewed by the gen- 

 tleman himself if he had made a promise in 

 similar language, and only his own honor could 

 be appealed to to interpret and enforce it ? " 



Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, said: "I 

 was very much struck with the argument 

 heretofore made by the colleague of the Sen- 

 ator from Indiana, that, assuming that the five- 

 twenty bonds were payable in lawful money 

 of the United States, it would be against good 

 faith that the volume of that currency as issued 

 in former years should be increased. I believe 

 it was the argument of the Senator from Indi- 

 ana to whom I refer (Mr. Morton) that the 

 greenbacks issued up to 1864, constituting a 

 volume of currency of a certain magnitude, 



were applicable under the laws to the pay- 

 ment of the principal of the five-twenty bonds. 

 It was his argument that the creditor received 

 his securities in view of the existing state of 

 the currency under the authority given by law 

 to the Secretary of the Treasury to issue that 

 sort of securities, and that it would be a viola- 

 tion, not of express but of implied faith on the 

 part of the Government, by issuing additional 

 currency, to reduce the amount of compensa- 

 tion which the creditor would receive when 

 the bonds came to be paid. Now, sir, at pres- 

 ent my impression is that that argument is 

 sound ; that we can apply the currency issued 

 under the act of 1862, and one or two subse- 

 quent acts, to the payment of the principal of 

 the bonds authorized to be issued by the same 

 class of laws passed pari passu with it ; but, 

 on the other hand, it would be inequitable and 

 unjust for the Government, by diluting the 

 currency by subsequent issues of paper-money, 

 to depreciate the value those creditors should 

 receive. I do not know in what exact form 

 this amendment is proposed. I am averse to 

 voting for an amendment without any limita- 

 tion, and which declares a general doctrine 

 upon which I have bestowed no attention." 



The amendment of Mr. Hendricks was re- 

 jected by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Hendricks, Mc- 

 Creery, Saulsbury, Vickers, and Whyte 7. 



NAYS Messrs. Abbott, Anthony .Cattell, Chandler, 

 Cole, Conkling, Corbett, Dixon, Drake, Edmunds, 

 Ferry, Fessenden, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Harris, 

 Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kellogg, Morgan, Mor- 

 rill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Nye, Osborn, Pool, 

 Eamsey, Eice, Kobertson, Eoss, Sawyer, Sherman, 

 Spencer, Stewart. Sumner-Thayer, Trumbull, Van 

 Winkle, Wade, Warner, Welch, Willey, Williams, 

 Wilson, and Yates 44. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bayard, Cameron, Conness, Cra- 

 gin, Doolittle, Fowler, Harlan, McDonald, Morton, 

 Norton, Patterson of New Hampshire, Patterson of 

 Tennessee, Pomeroy, Sprague, and Tipton 15. 



The resolution reported by the committee 

 was agreed to by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Abbott, Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, 

 Chandler, Cole, Conkling, Corbett, Cragin, Dixon, 

 Edmunds, Ferry, Fessenden, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, 

 Harlan, HarriSj Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kellogg, 

 Morgan, Morrill of Vermont, Nye, Osborn, Pom- 

 eroy, Eamsey, Eice, Eobertson, Eoss, Sawyer, Sher- 

 man, Spencer, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Van Win- 

 kle, Wade, Warner, Willey, Williams, Wilson, and 



NAYS Messrs. Davis, McCreery, Patterson of 

 Tennessee, Saulsbury .Vickers, and Whyte 6. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Conness, 

 Doolittle, Drake, Fowler, Hendricks, McDonald, 

 Morrill of Maine, Morton, Norton, Patterson of New 

 Hampshire, Pool, Sprague, Tipton, Trumbull, and 

 Welch 17. 



In the House, on December 14th, Mr. Broom- 

 all, of Pennsylvania, offered the following 

 resolution : 



Whereas, the President of the United States, in his 

 annual message to the Fortieth Congress at its third 

 session, says : "It may be assumed that the holders 

 of our securities have already received upon their 



