the
human race."

He evidently did not consider the purchase of silver bullion at
its coinage value by the government, instead of the free coinage
of silver, as monometallism.

After the passage of the act of 1853, gold in great quantities,
the produce of the mines of California, was freely coined at the
ratio of sixteen to one, and was in general circulation. If, then,
the purchase of silver, instead of the free coinage of silver, is
the demonetization of silver, it was demonetized practically in
1834, and certainly in 1853, when the purchase of silver and its
use as money increased enormously. In 1852 the coinage of silver
was less than $1,000,000. In the next year the coinage of silver
rose to over $9,000,000, and reached the aggregate of nearly
$50,000,000 before the beginning of the Civil War. Then, as now,
the purchase of silver bullion led to a greater coinage than free
coinage.

This was the condition of our coinage until the war, like all other
great wars in history, drove all coins into hoarding or exportation,
and paper promises, great and small, from five cents to a thousand
dollars, supplanted both silver and gold.

When, therefore, it became necessary to prepare for the coinage of
gold and silver to meet the requirements of the act of 1869, "to
strengthen the public credit," it was deemed by the treasury
department advisable to revise and codify the coinage laws of the
United States. Mr. Boutwell, then Secretary of the Treasury, with
the assistance of John Jay Knox, deputy comptroller, afterwards
comptroller, of the currency, and the officers of the mints of the
United States, prepared a complete code of the coinage laws. It
was submitted to experts, not only to those in the treasury but
also to all persons familiar with the subject. The bill was
entitled, "An act revising and amending the laws relative to the
mint, assay offices, and coinage of the United States."

The law, tested by experience, is conceded to be an excellent
measure. A single provision of the bill has been the subject of
charges and imputations that the silver dollar was, in a fraudulent
and surreptitious way, "demonetized" by this act. There is not
the slightest foundation for this imputation. The bill was sent
to me as chairman of the committee on finance, and submitted to
the Senate with this letter:

"Treasury Department, April 25, 1870.
"Sir:--I have the honor to transmit herewith a bill revising the
laws rela