ENTERED.

FLAG.

Vessels.

Foreign Prussian...

CLEARED.

4,750 474,447 4,704 470,586 10,836 527,031 10,919 547,115 Total...... 15,586 1,001,478 15,623 1,017,710 (For an account of the army, navy, and merchant navy, see the article GERMANY.)

Education in Prussia is in a very flourishing condition. There were, in 1864, 144 gymnasia (colleges), with 2,188 teachers; the number increased in 1866, in the old provinces, to 153 gymnasia, besides 26 progymnasia, 56 "Real" schools of first rank and 27 of second rank. There are in the old provinces 6 universities (Berlin, Bonn, Breslau, Greifswalde, Halle, Königsberg), and one academy, in Munster; the number of matriculated students in 1864 being 5,873; to which, in 1866, were added 3 universities (Kiel, Gottingen, and Marburg), in the recently acquired territory. (For latest statistics of the Prussian universities, see GERMANY.) There were, in 1865, 62 primary normal schools, with 3,610 pupils; 25,056 public primary schools, with 36,157 teachers and 2,825,322 scholars; 906 private primary schools, with 1,683 teachers and 52,692 scholars; 519 higher schools for girls and boys, with 2,626 teachers and 91,052 scholars; 601 boarding-schools, with 2,676 teachers and 36,014 pupils, and 912 Sunday and benevolent schools, with 61,895 pupils. According to the Berlin Military Gazette, a fort has been built at the entrance to Kiel harbor, which, together with the fortifications now existing, renders it impossible for an enemy's fleet to approach the town. The fort is armed with twelve rifled 72-pounders, from Krupp's gun-factory. The Gazette adds that a monster cannon-a 370-pounder has also been manufactured by Krupp for the protection of the coast. The inner barrel of this gun is made of a single steel casting of 840 cwt., and is strengthened by three massive steel rings, weighing 600 cwt. The total weight of the gun is 1,000 cwt. The gun-carriage is also of steel, and weighs 300 cwt. The solid shot are of steel, and weigh 1,100 lbs. each; the shells weigh 1,181 lbs.

The Prussian Diet which had been opened on the 15th of November, 1867, was closed by the King on the 29th of January, 1868. In his speech from the throne, the King expressed his satisfaction that important measures had been passed, mainly by the joint action of the Government and the representatives of the country. He thanked both Chambers of the Diet for the readiness which they had displayed in voting additional grants for the maintenance of the dignity of the crown. The King then alluded to the measures which had been adopt ed to alleviate the distress in the province of East Prussia, and for the establishment of a provincial fund for Hanover. He also referred to the unanimity of views displayed by the

Chambers and the Government, respecting the compensation treaties concluded with the former rulers of Hanover and of Nassau.

The Prussian Government, throughout the year, expressed the most earnest desire for the preservation of peace in Europe. On September 15th, the King of Prussia, in answer to an address from the rector of the University of Kiel, expressing a wish for the maintenance of peace, said:

As to the hope you express for the preservation of peace, no one can share it more sincerely than I do; for it is a painful necessity for a sovereign, who is responsible before the Almighty, to give the fatal word for war. And yet, there are circumstances in which a prince neither can nor should avoid such responsi bility. You yourselves have witnessed here, with your own eyes, evidence of the fact that the necessity of a war may force itself upon a prince as well as upen a nation. If there exists between us a link of condHowever, I do not see in all Europe any circumstance dence and friendliness, it is to war that we owe it menacing peace, and I say so confidently, in order to tranquillize you.

A new session of the Diet began in November. The King, in his opening speech, after referring to the subjects which would most engage the attention of the Diet, thus referred to some important occurrences since the close of the last session:

By the conclusion of a revised Rhine Navigation Act, a new international agreement has been obtained for the traffic upon one of the most important of rivers.

It affords me satisfaction that a return of the dis tress which afflicted a portion of the province oi ter-a result due to the measures which were taken Prussia last year need not be apprehended this winwith your approval, to the devoted activity of the authorities and corporations, and to this year's favor able harvest in every province of the monarchy.

The relations of my Government with forga powers in every direction are satisfactory and frien fy. The events in the Western Peninsula of Europe can give rise to no other feeling within us than the wish and confidence that the Spanish nation will se ceed in finding in the independent formation of her national position a guarantee of her future prosperity

and power.

A proof of united progress in civilization and bamanity has been afforded by the international con gress which has just accomplished at Geneva the tast ciples already settled previously for treating and er of completing and extending to the navies the pri ing for the wounded in war. We may hope that the moment is far distant which will call for the applic tion of those principles. The sentiments of the soereigns of Europe and the nations' desire for peace ment of the general welfare will not only suffer give ground for trusting that the advancing develop material disturbance, but will also be freed from the obstructing and paralyzing effects which have ely too often been created by groundless fears, taken s vantage of by the enemies of peace and public order.

On the 9th of December, the Chamber of Deputies adopted a resolution requesting the Government to take steps for causing the Prussian Ministry for Foreign Affairs to be amalgamated by the year 1870 with a concentrated Foreign office for the North-German Confederation During the debate, Count Bismarck said: “Confidential negotiations with our Federal allies have convinced me that we shall be able to lay the necessary bill on this subject before the North-German Parliament at its next meeting."

PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. Message of President JOHNSON to the two Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the second regular session of the Fortieth Congress, December 7, 1868.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and

House of Representatives: Upon the reassembling of Congress, it again becomes my duty to call your attention to the state of the Union, and to its continued disorganized condition under the various laws which have been passed upon the subject of reconstruction.

It may be safely assumed, as an axiom in the government of States, that the greatest wrongs inflicted upon a people are caused by unjust and arbitrary legislation, or by the unrelenting decrees of despotic rulers, and that the timely revocation of injurious and oppressive measures is the greatest good that can be conferred upon a nation. The legislator or ruler who has the wisdom and magnanimity to retrace his steps, when convinced of error, will sooner or later be rewarded with the respect and gratitude of an intelligent and patriotic people.

Our own history-although embracing a period of less than a century-affords abundant proof that most, if not all, of our domestic troubles are directly traceable to violations of the organic law and excessive legislation. The most striking illustrations of this fact are furnished by the enactments of the past three years upon the question of reconstruction. After a fair trial, they have substantially failed, and proved pernicious in their results, and there seems to be no good reason why they should longer remain upon the statute-book. States to which the Constitution guarintees a republican form of government, have been educed to military dependencies, in each of which he people have been made subject to the arbitrary vill of the commanding general. Although the Contitution requires that each State shall be represented a Congress, Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas are yet xcluded from the two Houses, and, contrary to the xpress provisions of that instrument, were denied articipation in the recent election for a President nd Vice-President of the United States. The atempt to place the white population under the domiation of persons of color in the South, has impaired, f not destroyed, the kindly relations that had preiously existed between them; and mutual distrust as engendered a feeling of animosity which, leading 1 some instances to collision and bloodshed, has revented that cooperation between the two races so ssential to the success of industrial enterprises in the outhern States. Nor have the inhabitants of those tates alone suffered from the disturbed condition of ffairs growing out of these congressional enactments. 'he entire Union has been agitated by grave appreensions of troubles which might again involve the eace of the nation; its interests have been injuriously fected by the derangement of business and labor, ad the consequent want of prosperity throughout lat portion of the country.

The Federal Constitution-the magna charta of merican rights, under whose wise and salutary prosions we have successfully conducted all our doestic and foreign affairs, sustained ourselves in peace id in war, and become a great nation among the owers of the earth-must assuredly be now adequate › the settlement of questions growing out of the civil ar waged alone for its vindication. This great fact made most manifest by the condition of the country hen Congress assembled in the month of December, 65. Civil strife had ceased; the spirit of rebellion ad spent its entire force; in the Southern States the cople had warmed into national life, and throughout e whole country a healthy reaction in public sentient had taken place. By the application of the mple, yet effective, provisions of the Constitution, e Executive Department, with the voluntary aid of e States, had brought the work of restoration as VOL. VIII.-41 A

near completion as was within the scope of its authority, and the nation was encouraged by the prospect of an early and satisfactory adjustment of all its difficulties. Congress, however, intervened, and refusing to perfect the work so nearly consummated, declined to admit members from the unrepresented States, adopted a series of measures which arrested the progress of restoration, frustrated all that had been so successfully accomplished, and, after three years of agitation and strife, has left the country farther from the attainment of union and fraternal feeling than at the inception of the Congressional plan of reconstruction. It needs no argument to show that legislation which has produced such baneful consequences should be abrogated, or else made to conform to the genuine principles of republican government.

Under the influence of party passion and sectional prejudice, other acts have been passed not warranted by the Constitution. Congress has already been made familiar with my views respecting the "Tenure of-Office Bill." Experience has proved that its repeal is demanded by the best interests of the country, and that while it remains in force the President cannot enjoin that rigid accountability of public officers so essential to an honest and efficient execution of the laws. Its revocation would enable the Executive Department to exercise the power of appointment and removal in accordance with the original design of the Federal Constitution.

The act of March 2, 1867, making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending June 30, 1868, and for other purposes, contains provisions which interfere with the President's constitutional functions as Commander-in-Chief of the army, and deny to States of the Union the right to protect themselves by means of their own militia. These provisions should be at once annulled; for while the first might, in times of great emergency, seriously embarrass the Executive in efforts to employ and direct the common strength of the nation for its protection and preservation, the other is contrary to the express declaration of the Constitution, that " a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

It is believed that the repeal of all such laws would be accepted by the American people as at least a partial return to the fundamental principles of the Government, and an indication that hereafter the Constitution is to be made the nation's safe and unerring guide. They can be productive of no permanent benefit to the country, and should not be permitted to stand as so many monuments of the deficient wisdom which has characterized our recent legislation.

The condition of our finances demands the early and earnest consideration of Congress. Compared with the growth of our population, the public expenditures have reached an amount unprecedented in our history.

The population of the United States in 1790 was nearly four millions of people. Increasing each decade about thirty-three per cent., it reached in 1860 thirty-one millions-an increase of seven hundred per cent. on the population in 1790. In 1869 it is estimated that it will reach thirty-eight millions, or an increase of eight hundred and sixty-eight per cent. in seventy-nine years.

The annual expenditures of the Federal Government in 1791 were four million two hundred thousand dollars; in 1820, eighteen million two hundred thousand dollars; in 1850, forty-one millions; in 1860, sixty-three millions; in 1865, nearly thirteen hundred millions; and in 1869 it is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury, in his last annual report, that they will be three hundred and seventy-two millions.

By comparing the public disbursements of 1869, as estimated, with those of 1791, it will be seen that the

increase of expenditure since the beginning of the Government has been eight thousand six hundred and eighteen per centum, while the increase of the population for the same period was only eight hundred and sixty-eight per centum. Again: the expenses of the Government in 1860, the year of peace immediately preceding the war, were only sixty-three millions; while in 1869, the year of peace three years after the war, it is estimated they will be three hundred and seventy-two millions-an increase of four hundred and eighty-nine per centum, while the increase of population was only twenty-one per centum for the same period.

These statistics further show that in 1791 the annual national expenses, compared with the population, were little more than one dollar per capita, and in 1860 but two dollars per capita, while in 1869 they will reach the extravagant sum of nine dollars and seventy-eight cents per capita.

It will be observed that all of these statements refer to and exhibit the disbursements of peace periods. It may, therefore, be of interest to compare the expenditures of the three war periods-the war with Great Britain, the Mexican war, and the war of the rebellion.

In 1814 the annual expenses incident to the war of 1812 reached their highest amount-about $31,000,000 -while our population slightly exceeded eight millions; showing an expenditure of only three dollars and eighty cents per capita. In 1847 the expenditures growing out of the war with Mexico reached $55,000,000, and the population about twenty-one millions; giving only two dollars and sixty cents per capita for the war expenses of that year. In 1865 the expenditure called for by the rebellion reached the vast amount of $1,290,000,000, which, compared with a population of thirty-four millions, gives thirty-eight dollars and twenty cents per capita.

From the fourth day of March, 1789, to the thirtieth of June, 1861, the entire expenditures of the Government were seventeen hundred millions of dollars. During that period we were engaged in war with Great Britain and Mexico, and were involved in hostilities with powerful Indian tribes; Louisiana was purchased from France at a cost of fifteen millions of dollars; Florida was ceded to us by Spain for five millions; California was acquired from Mexico for fifteen millions; and the Territory of New Mexico was obtained from Texas for the sum of ten millions. Early in 1861 the war of the rebellion commenced, and from the first of July of that year to the thirtieth of June, 1865, the public expenditures reached the enormous aggregate of thirty-three hundred millions. Three years of peace have intervened, and during that time the disbursements of the Government have successively been five hundred and twenty millions, three hundred and forty-six millions, and three hundred and ninety-three millions. Adding to these amounts three hundred and seventytwo millions, estimated as necessary for the fiscal year ending the thirtieth of June, 1869, we obtain a total expenditure of sixteen hundred millions of dollars during the four years immediately succeeding the war, or nearly as much as was expended during the seventy-two years that preceded the rebellion, and embraced the extraordinary expenditures already named.

These startling facts clearly illustrate the necessity of retrenchment in all branches of the public service. Abuses which were tolerated during the war for the preservation of the nation will not be endured by the people, now that profound peace prevails. The receipts from internal revenues and customs have, during the past three years, gradually diminished, and the continuance of useless and extravagant expenditures will involve us in national bankruptcy, or else make inevitable an increase of taxes, already too onerous, and in many respects obnoxious on account of their inquisitorial character. One hundred millions annually are expended for the military force, a large portion

of which is employed in the execution of laws both unnecessary and unconstitutional; one hundred and fifty millions are required each year to pay the interest on the public debt; an army of tax-gatherers inpoverishes the nation; and public agents, placed by Congress beyond the control of the Executive, diver. from their legitimate purposes large sums of money which they collect from the people in the name of the Government. Judicious legislation and prudenteonomy can alone remedy defects and avert evils which, if suffered to exist, cannot fail to diminish confiden in the public councils, and weaken the attachment and respect of the people toward their political isstitutions. Without proper care, the small balano. which it is estimated will remain in the Treasury & the close of the present fiscal year will not be realized, and additional millions be added to a debt whil is now enumerated by billions.

It is shown by the able and comprehensive repert of the Secretary of the Treasury, that the receip for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1838, were 85638,083, and that the expenditures for the same period were $377,340,284, leaving in the Treasury a surtins of $28,297,798. It is estimated that the reces during the present fiscal year ending June 30, 1863, be $341,392,868, and the expenditures $336,162,47, showing a small balance of $5,240,398 in favor of the Government. For the fiscal year ending June 5. 1870, it is estimated that the receipts will amount $327,000,000, and the expenditures to $803,000, leaving an estimated surplus of $24,000,000.

It becomes proper in this connection to make s brief reference to our public indebtedness, which has accumulated with such alarming rapidity and assume. such colossal proportions.

In 1789, when the Government commenced opentions under the Federal Constitution, it was burdene. with an indebtedness of $75,000,000, created during the war of the Revolution. This amount had beel reduced to $45,000,000, when, in 1812, war was dr clared against Great Britain. The three years' struk gle that followed largely increased the national et. gations, and in 1816 they had attained the sum of $127,000,000. Wise and economical legislation, boyever, enabled the Government to pay the e amount within a period of twenty years, and the etinguishment of the national debi filled the land rejoicing, and was one of the greatest events of Pre ident Jackson's administration. After its redes tion a large fund remained in the Treasury, was deposited for safe keeping with the sever States, on condition that it should be returned wi required by the public wants. In 1849-the after the termination of an expensive war with Ma ico-we found ourselves involved in a debt of $4000,000; and this was the amount owed by the xernment in 1860, just prior to the outbreak of the rebellion. In the spring of 1861 our civil war otr menced. Each year of its continuance made enormous addition to the debt; and when, i spring of 1865, the nation successfully emerged for the conflict, the obligations of the Government reached the immense sum of $2,873,992,909. Tur Secretary of the Treasury shows that on the 1st day of November, 1867, this amount had been redet $2,491,504,450; but at the same time his reporte hibits an increase during the past year of $65.0 for the debt on the 1st of November last is statedt have been $2,527,129,552. It is estimated by the See retary that the returns for the past month wi to our liabilities the further sum of $11,000,000making a total increase, during thirteen months, $46,500,000.

In my message to Congress of December 4, 153. was suggested that a policy should be devised whe without being oppressive to the people, would at begin to effect a reduction of the debt, and, if pe sisted in, discharge it fully within a definite numb of years. The Secretary of the Treasury forcibly re ommends legislation of this character, and just;

urges that the longer it is deferred the more difficult must become its accomplishment. We should follow the wise precedents established in 1789 and 1816, and, without further delay, make provision for the payment of our obligations, at as early a period as may be practicable. The fruits of their labors should be enjoyed by our citizens, rather than used to build up and sustain moneyed monopolies in our own and other lands. Our foreign debt is already computed by the Secretary of the Treasury at $850,000,000; citizens of foreign countries receive interest upon a large portion of our securities, and American tax-payers are made to contribute large sums for their support. The idea that such a debt shall become permanent should be at all times discarded, as involving taxation too heavy to be borne, and payment once in every sixteen years, at the present rate of interest, of an amount equal to the original sum. This vast debt, if permitted to become permanent and increasing, must eventually be gathered into the hands of a few, and enable them to exert a dangerous and controlling power in the affairs of the Government. The borrowers would become servants to the lenders-the lenders the masters of the people. We now pride ourselves upon having given freedom to 4,000,000 of the colored race; it will then be our shame that 40,000,000 of people, by their own toleration of usurpation and profligacy, have suffered themselves to become enslaved, and merely exchanged slave-owners for new task-masters in the shape of bondholders and tax-gatherers. Besides, permanent debts pertain to monarchical governments, and, tending to monopolies, perpetuities, and class legislation, are totally irreconcilable with free institutions. Introduced into our republican system, they would gradually but surely sap its foundations, eventually subvert, our governmental fabric, and erect upon its ruins a moneyed aristocracy. It is our sacred duty to transmit unimpaired to our posterity the blessings of liberty which were bequeathed to us by the founders of the Republic, and by our example teach those who are to follow us, carefully to avoid the dangers which threaten a free and independent people.

Various plans have been proposed for the payment of the public debt. However they may have varied as to the time and mode in which it should be redeemed, there seems to be a general concurrence as to the propriety and justness of a reduction in the present rate of interest. The Secretary of the Treasury in his report recommends five per cent.; Congress, in a bill passed prior to adjournment, on the 27th of July last, agreed upon four and four and a half per cent.; while by many three per cent. has been held to be an amply sufficient return for the investment. The general impression as to the exorbitancy of the existing rate of interest has led to an inquiry in the public mind respecting the consideration which the Government has actually received for its bonds, and the conclusion is becoming prevalent that the amount which is obtained was in real money three or four hundred per cent. less than the obligations which it issued in return. It cannot be denied that we are paying an extravagant percentage for the use of the money borrowed, which was paper currency, greatly depreciated below the value of coin. This fact is made apparent when we consider that bondholders receive from the Treasury, upon each dollar they own in Government securities, six per cent. in gold, which is nearly or quite equal to nine per cent. in currency; that the bonds are then converted into capital for the national banks, upon which these institutions issue their circulation, bearing six per cent. interest; and that they are exempt from taxation by the Government and the States, and thereby enhanced two per cent. in the hands of the holders. We thus have an aggregate of seventeen per cent. which may be received upon each dollar by the owners of Government securities. A system that produces such results is justly regarded as favoring a few at the expense of the many, and has led to the fur

ther inquiry whether our bondholders, in view of the large profits which they have enjoyed, would themselves be averse to a settlement of our indebtedness upon a plan which would yield them a fair remuneration, and at the same time be just to the tax-payers of the nation. Our national credit should be sacredly observed; but in making provision for our creditors we should not forget what is due to the masses of the people. It may be assumed that the holders of our securities have already received upon their bonds a larger amount than their original investment, measured by a gold standard. Upon this statement of facts it would seem but just and equitable that the six per cent. interest now paid by the Government should be applied to the reduction of the principal in semi-annual instalments, which, in sixteen years and eight months, would liquidate the entire national debt. Six per cent. in gold would, at present rates, be equal to nine per cent in currency, and equivalent to the payment of the debt one and a half times in a fraction less than seventeen years. This, in connection with all the other advantages derived from their investment, would afford to the public creditors a fair and liberal compensation for the use of their capital; and with this they should be satisfied. The lessons of the past admonish the lender that it is not well to be over-anxious in exacting from the borrower rigid compliance with the letter of the bond. If provision be made for the payment of the indebtedness of the Government in the manner suggested, our nation will rapidly recover its wonted prosperity. Its interests require that some measure should be taken to release the large amount of capital invested in the securities of the Government. It is not now merely unproductive, but in taxation annually consumes one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, which would otherwise be used by our enterprising people in adding to the wealth of the nation. Our commerce, which at one time successfully rivalled that of the great maritime powers, has rapidly diminished, and our industrial interests are in a depressed and languishing condition. The development of our inexhaustible resources is checked, and the fertile fields of the South are becoming waste for want of means to till them. With the release of capital new life would be infused into the paralyzed energies of our people, and activity and vigor imparted to every branch of industry. Our people need encouragement in their efforts to recover from the effects of the rebellion and of injudicious legislation; and it should be the aim of the Government to stimulate them by the prospect of an early release from the burdens which impede their prosperity. If we cannot take the burdens from their shoulders, we should, at least, manifest a willingness to help to bear them."

In referring to the condition of the circulating medium, I shall merely reiterate, substantially, that portion of my last annual message which relates to that subject.

The proportion which the currency of any country should bear to the whole value of the annual produce circulated by its means is a question upon which political economists have not agreed. Nor can it be controlled by legislation, but must be left to the irrevocable laws which everywhere regulate commerce and trade. The circulating medium will ever irresistibly flow to those points where it is in greatest demand. The law of demand and supply is as unerring as that which regulates the tides of the ocean; and, indeed, currency, like the tides, has its ebbs and flows throughout the commercial world.

At the beginning of the rebellion the bank-note circulation of the country amounted to not much more than two hundred millions of dollars; now the circulation of national-bank notes, and those known as "legal tenders," is nearly seven hundred millions. While it is urged by some that this amount should be increased, others contend that a decided reduction is absolutely essential to the best interests of the country. In view of these diverse opinions, it may be

well to ascertain the real value of our paper issues, when compared with a metallic or convertible currency. For this purpose, let us inquire how much gold and silver could be purchased by the seven hundred millions of paper money now in circulation? Probably not more than half the amount of the latter -showing that when our paper currency is compared with gold and silver, its commercial value is compressed into three hundred and fifty millions. This striking fact makes it the obvious duty of the Government, as early as may be consistent with the principles of sound political economy, to take such measures as will enable the holder of its notes and those of the national banks to convert them, without loss, into specie or its equivalent. A reduction of our paper circulating medium need not necessarily follow. This, however, would depend upon the law of demand and supply, though it should be borne in mind that by making legal-tender and bank-notes convertible into coin or its equivalent, their present specie value in the hands of their holders would be enhanced one hundred per cent.

Legislation for the accomplishment of a result so desirable is demanded by the highest public considerations. The Constitution contemplates that the circulating medium of the country shall be uniform in quality and value. At the time of the formation of that instrument, the country had just emerged from the war of the Revolution, and was suffering from the effects of a redundant and worthless paper currency. The sages of that period were anxious to protect their posterity from the evils which they themselves had experienced. Hence, in providing a circulating medium, they conferred upon Congress the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof, at the same time prohibiting the States from making any thing but gold and silver a tender in payment of

debts.

The anomalous condition of our currency is in striking contrast with that which was originally designed. Our circulation now embraces, first, notes of the national banks, which are made receivable for all dues to the Government, excluding imposts, and by all its creditors, excepting in payment of interest upon its bonds and the securities themselves; second, legal-tender notes, issued by the United States, and which the law requires shall be received as well in payment of all debts between citizens as of all Government dues, excepting imposts; and, third, gold and silver coin. By the operation of our present system of finance, however, the metallic currency, when collected, is reserved only for one class of Government creditors, who, holding its bonds, semi-annually receive their interest in coin from the national Treasury. There is no reason, which will be accepted as satisfactory by the people, why those who defend us on the land and protect us on the sea; the pensioner upon the gratitude of the nation, bearing the scars and wounds received while in its service; the public servants in the various departments of the Government; the farmer who supplies the soldiers of the army and the sailors of the navy; the artisan who toils in the nation's workshops, or the mechanics and laborers who build its edifices and construct its forts and vessels-of-war-should, in payment of their just and hard-earned dues, receive depreciated paper, while another class of their countrymen, no more deserving, are paid in coin of gold and silver. Equal and exact justice requires that all the creditors of the Government should be paid in a currency possessing a uniform value. This can only be accomplished by the restoration of the currency to the standard established by the Constitution; and by this means we would remove a discrimination which

may,

if it has not already done so, create a prejudice that may become deep-rooted and wide-spread, and imperil the national credit. The feasibility of making our currency correspond with the constitutional stand ard may be seen by reference to a few facts derived from our commercial statistics.

The aggregate product of precious metals in the United States from 1849 to 1867 amounted to $1.74000,000, while, for the same period, the net exports of specie were $741,000,000. This shows an exiss of product over net exports of $433,000,000. There are in the Treasury $103,407,985 in coin; in cirea tion in the States on the Pacific coast about $40,000,000, and a few millions in the national and other banks-in all less than $160,000,000. Taking into consideration the specie in the country prior to 15, and that produced since 1867, and we have more than $300,000,000 not accounted for by exportation or ty the returns of the Treasury, and, therefore, usi probably remaining in the country.

These are important facts, and show how em pletely the inferior currency will supersede the better, forcing it from circulation among the masses, at: causing it to be exported as a mere article of trade, add to the money capital of foreign lands. T show the necessity of retiring our paper money, th the return of gold and silver to the avenues of trade may be invited, and a demand created which w cause the retention at home of at least so much of the productions of our rich and inexhaustible gold-bearing fields as may be sufficient for purposes of circulati a It is unreasonable to expect a return to a sound rency so long as the Government and banks, by con tinuing to issue irredeemable notes, fill the channels of circulation with depreciated paper. Notwithsta ing a coinage by our mines since 1849 of 8874.m 000, the people are now strangers to the curre which was designed for their use and benefit, a specimens of the precious metals bearing the nati sa device are seldom seen, except when produced te gratify the interest excited by their novelty,

If depreciated paper is to be continued as the perme nent currency of the country, and all our coin is to be come a mere article of traffic and speculation, to the enhancement in price of all that is indispensable to tha comfort of the people, it would be wise economy t abolish our mints, thus saving the nation the care and expense incident to such establishments, and let all precious metals be exported in bullion. The time come, however, when the Government and nati banks should be required to take the most eff steps and make all necessary arrangements for a tsumption of specie payments. Let specie payments once be earnestly inaugurated by the Government st banks, and the value of the paper circulation directly approximate a specie standard. Specie payments having been resumed by the Gernment and banks, all notes or bills of paper iss by either, of a less denomination than twenty doll should by law be excluded from circulation, sc the people may have the benefit and convenience a gold and silver currency which, in all their bas ness transactions, will be uniform in value at be and abroad.

"Every man of property or industry-every m who desires to preserve what he honestly possesso or to obtain what he can honestly earn, has a dire s interest in maintaining a safe circulating medi such a medium as shall be real and substantial, E liable to vibrate with opinions, not subject to be b up or blown down by the breath of speculation, to be made stable and secure. A disordered currency is one of the greatest political evils. It under the virtues necessary for the support of the so system, and encourages propensities destructive of its

happiness; it wars against industry, frugality, a economy, and it fosters the evil spirits of extrava and speculation." It has been asserted by one of 357 profound and most gifted statesmen, that " of all contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of kind, none has been more effectual than that which deludes them with paper money. This is the effectual of inventions to fertilize the rich man's da by the sweat of the poor man's brow. Ordinary tyranny, oppression, excessive taxation-these bear lightly on the happiness of the mass of the community