nsisted, as I now
insist, that no discrimination should be made against the note
holder, but that until we are ready to pay him in coin he should
be allowed, at his option, to convert his money into a bond at par.
Until then our notes are depreciated by our wrongful act, and we
have no right to take advantage of our own wrong by forcing upon
the bondholders the notes we refuse to receive. This is the precise
principle involved in the act to strengthen the public credit,
approved March 18, 1869. That act did not in any respect change
the legal and moral obligations of the United States, but expressly
provides that none of the interest-bearing obligations not already
due shall be redeemed or paid before maturity, unless at such time
as the United States notes shall be convertible into coin, at the
option of the holder. And the act further 'solemnly pledges the
public faith to make provisions, at the earliest practicable period,
for the redemption of United States notes in coin.'

"This is in exact harmony with the position I held when I wrote
the letter to Dr. Mann and that I now maintain, the primary principle
being that the United States notes shall first be brought to par
in coin before they shall be forced upon the public creditor in
payment of his bonds. This act is the settled law, and whatever
any man's opinions were before it passed, he would assume a grave
responsibility who would seek to evade its terms, weaken its
authority or change its provisions. It has entered into every
contract made since that time. It has passed the ordeal of four
Congresses and two elections for Presidents. It cannot be revoked
without public dishonor. So far as the bondholder is concerned,
it is an executed law. Over $700,000,000 of bonds have been redeemed
in coin under it, and the civilized world regards all the remainder
as covered by its sanction, and in their faith in it our securities
have become the second only in the markets of the world. This law
is not yet quite executed so far as the note holder is concerned.
His note is not yet quite as good as coin. Congress has debated
ever since its passage the best mode to make it good. The Senate
in 1870 provided, in the third section of the refunding act, as it
passed that body, that these notes might be converted into four
per cent. bonds, but the House would not concur. Everybody can
now see that if this had been done these notes would now be at par
in coin. Other ex