744 



UNITED STATES. 



the Department of Indian Affairs, has under- 

 taken the charge of the reservation in Colo- 

 rado occupied by various tribes of the Utes, 

 numbering in all about 8,000 persons. Two 

 agencies are embraced in the reservation. 

 Eleven hundred dollars were appropriated in 

 aid of the beneficiary funds in the schools at 

 Cambridge and Meadville. The number of new 

 publications during the year was not large. 



The aggregate attendance in all the schools 

 connected with the India mission was 445 

 pupils. During ten years, Mr. Ball, the mis- 

 sionary, has taught 3,000 boys and men. 



The income and expenditures of the Associ- 

 ation amount each to $102,683.38. The bal- 

 ance in the treasury was $7,160.73. 



In 1858 the assets of the Association were 

 reported about equal to its liabilities ; in 1861 

 its income by contributions was between 

 $9,000 and $10,000 ; in 1871 it owned its prop- 

 erty in Boston free of debt, and had between 

 $60,000 and $70,000 invested in trust-funds. 



UNITED STATES. On December 13th the 

 Attorney-General, A. T. Akerman, of Georgia, 

 resigned his office. He was succeeded by ex- 

 Senator George H. "Williams, of Oregon. He 

 emigrated from Iowa to Oregon, and in 1864 

 was elected to the United States Senate, After 

 his term in the Senate had expired, he was 

 appointed one of the representatives of the 

 Government in the joint commission to settle 

 questions pending between the United States 

 and Great Britain. General A. Pleasanton de- 

 clining to tender his resignation upon the re- 

 quest of President Grant, as Commissioner of 

 Internal Revenue, was, on August 8th, sus- 

 pended from the office. 



A treaty agreed upon by commissioners of 

 the United States and Great Britain was con- 

 cluded at Washington and signed on May 8th. 

 It provided for the settlement of all disputed 

 claims between the two nations, and the San 

 Juan boundary -line, and for the free naviga- 

 tion of the St. Lawrence River by vessels of 

 the United States, and for the use of the Cana- 

 dian canals upon the payment of regular tolls. 

 There are also provisions regulating the privi- 

 lege to fish in Canadian waters by citizens 

 of the United States (see DIPLOMATIC COEEE- 

 SPONDENCE and GREAT BBITAIN). 



An important decision was given by the 

 United States Supreme Court, in April,* rela- 

 tive to rights of the Federal Government and 

 of a State. In the case of Day vs. Buffington, 

 the question was presented, whether or not it 

 is competent for Congress, under the Consti- 

 tution of the United States, to impose a tax 

 upon the salary of a judicial officer of a State ? 

 Mr. Justice Nelson said : 



That the intention of the framers of the Constitution 

 in this respect might not be misunderstood, this rule 

 of interpretation is expressly declared in the tenth 

 article of the amendments, namely: "The powers 

 not delegated to the United States are reserved to 

 the States, respectively : or to the people." The 

 Government of the United States, therefore, can 

 claim no powers which are not granted to it by the 



Constitution, and the powers actually gi anted inu.st 

 be such as are expressly given, or given by neces- 

 sary implication. The General Government and the 

 States, although both exist within the same territo- 

 rial limits, are separate and distinct sovereignties, 

 acting separately and independently of each other, 

 within their respective spheres. The former, in its 

 appropriate sphere, is supreme ; but the States, within 

 the limits pi their powers not granted, or, in the 

 language of the tenth amendment, "reserved," are 

 as independent of the General Government as that 

 Government within its sphere is independent of the 

 States. The two Governments are upon an equality, 

 and the question is, whether the power " to Jay and 

 collect taxes" enables the General Government to 

 tax a means or instrumentality employed to carry 

 into execution one of the most important functions 

 of a State, the administration of the laws, and which 

 concerns the exercise of a right reserved to the 

 States. 



The right of the Federal Government to tax 

 the salary was denied. Mr. Justice Bradley 

 dissented. 



In 1870, as reported in the ANNUAL CYCLO- 

 PAEDIA for that year, the Supreme Court de- 

 cided that the act known as the Legal-Tender 

 Act, by which the notes of the Government 

 were made a legal tender for debts, was un- 

 constitutional as to contracts made before its 

 passage; but, as only seven judges sat on the 

 bench when the case was heard, and the deci- 

 sion was given by a majority of only one, the 

 Attorney-General, Mr. Hoar, moved for a re- 

 hearing immediately after the vacancies had 

 been filled. These were two, and they were 

 filled by the appointment of William Strong, 

 of Pennsylvania, and Joseph P. Bradley, of 

 New Jersey. At the time of the decision, 

 Chief -Justice Chase, and Associate-Justices 

 Nelson, Clifford, Field, and Grier, had approved 

 it, although the last-named justice resigned 

 before the opinion was pronounced, while, 

 against these five justices, only Justices Miller, 

 Swayne, and Davis, had dissented. On January 

 16th, after some remarks upon the importance 

 of the decision to be made, Mr. Justice Strong 

 read the opinion of the court substantially as 

 follows : 



The debts which have been contracted since Feb- 

 ruary 25, 1862, are by far the greatest portion of the 

 indebtedness of the country. They were contracted 

 in view of the acts of Congress declaring Treasury 

 notes a legal tender, and, in reliance upon that dec- 

 laration, legal-tender notes have become the univer- 

 sal measure of values. If now the decision of the 

 court establishes that these obligations can be dis- 

 charged only by gold coin, and that, contrary to the 

 expectations of all parties to contracts, legal-tender 

 notes are rendered unavailable, the Government has 

 become an instrument of the grossest injustice ; all 

 debtors are loaded with an obligation it was never 

 contemplated they should assume ; a large percent- 

 age is added to every debt, and such must become 

 the demand for gold to satisfy contracts, that ruinous 

 sacrifice, general distrust, and bankruptcy, may be 

 expected. These consequences are too obvious to 

 admit of question, and there is no well-founded dis- 

 tinction to be made between the constitutional valid- 

 ity of an act of Congress declaring Treasury notes a 

 legal tender for the payment of debts contracted after 

 its passage, and that of an act making them a legal 

 tender for the discharge of all debts ; as well those 

 incurred before as those made after its enactment. 



