Four years were allowed to prepare and to provide for resumption. Thus far, prior to March last $28,743,318 silver was substituted for $17,074,317 fractional currency retired; no gold was accumulated, and greenbacks were retired only to the extent of eighty per cent, as national bank-notes were issued. This plan of resumption is confessedly not a perfect plan, and almost every one has desired to make amendments to it, but it is the only one that Congress would grant, and it is now demonstrated that under the provisions of that act the specie standard can be reached by the 1st of January, 1879. I repeat what I have said elsewhere, that resumption can be, ought to be, and will be secured if this law is not repealed by Congress.

And here I should refer to the papers submitted by Mr. McCulloch and Mr. Ropes, all very well stated, all very well written; and with many of their ideas I heartily agree. But what is the use of talking about other plans of resumption? The idea suggested by these gentlemen was advocated in Congress for years. A simple funding act was proposed by the Committee on Finance in 1866, and was pressed year in and year out. In the original draft of the funding act, now a law, United States notes were convertible at the will of the holder into four per cent bonds precisely such as we are now selling at par in coin. With this feature the bill passed the Senate, but the House refused to pass it. No proposition has been more frequently urged and acted upon adversely by Congress than that now advocated by Messrs. McCulloch and Ropes. What is the use of wasting ammunition on this? What is the use of delaying resumption until Congress will pass such an act? If Congress would pass such an act it would greatly aid and expedite resumption, and I cordially join with these gentlemen in the hope that such a bill will pass, and advise them, if they think they can promote it, to get into Congress as soon as possible to help. I have tried the experiment with much labor and no success. What, then, is the use of distracting attention by new plans of resumption? I receive on an average about one a week, some of which are wild, and some of which contain very good ideas. I could furnish from the files of the Finance Committee as many plans of resumption as there are cities in the United States. But it is manifest to practical men that no legislation can be obtained from Congress except some simple measure that will aid the execution of the present law, the

danger being rather that the opponents of resumption will be strong enough to arrest the movements already made in that direction.

Now, dismissing for the moment the extremes of opinion on resumption, the practical question is, What ought to be done now? Shall we abandon the progress already made towards a specie standard, and commence again the wild round of experiments on interconvertible bonds and paper money, without promise or hope of redemption? Shall we repeat again any or all of the financial fallacies which have marked the history of mankind, or shall we go steadily forward until we can base all our transactions upon that money which by the experience of mankind is proved to be the best possible standard of the value of all labor and productions?

Mr. McCulloch says truly, that if any party should undertake, in the face of the present movement towards resumption, now assured of success, to reverse that policy, it would do not only a wrong thing, but a very foolish thing. But is it not equally foolish for the friends of resumption to now dispute longer as to the best plan of resumption? If all the people were agreed as to the policy of resumption, we should have strength enough to divide as to the means, but when we have barely a majority in favor of resumption at all, is it not better to cling to the plan now in process of execution ?

Many new questions are thrust into this controversy that ought not to embarrass resumption. Thus, General Ewing insists that resumption means the entire extinction of the greenback circulation. No doubt many persons are in favor of withdrawing these notes or repealing their legal-tender quality, but this is a question properly for the future, my own conviction being that, under existing law, after they are reduced to $300,000,000 and have been redeemed, they may be reissued, and that the national bank currency should be used simply to meet the ebb and flow indispensable to every good currency. But this may be determined by Congress either way without affecting the virtue of the law.

So the silver question, entirely within the power of Congress, may be made a most essential aid to resumption if confined either in the amount or mode of issue or in its legal-tender quality. If issued without limit upon the demand of a depositor of silver bullion, it is the substitution of a single silver standard instead of the

gold standard. Whatever decision Congress may arrive at on this question, the Resumption Law must stand, to prevent our paper money from falling below the specie standard fixed by Congress. At present paper money is worth more than silver, because the market value of silver bullion is greatly depreciated. The expectation of the redemption of our paper money in gold, with our demonstrated ability to do so, has brought it nearly to the standard of gold. If silver alone should be adopted as the standard, the paper will fall even below that standard, unless resumption in silver is provided for by law.

The existence and power of the national banks depend entirely upon the will of Congress. Banking is now free, and this provision of law is a happy and wise expedient to prevent any sudden contraction of the currency, or, as now, to meet an unusual demand for currency. The Comptroller of Currency is prepared to issue promptly any amount of bank-notes that will be required. The provision for the redemption and retirement of this currency is now in successful operation, and may be continued in specie-paying times as now, but Congress has power to further limit or restrain this issue, or to make any further provisions necessary to secure the prompt redemption of bank-notes.

These are all questions apart from the Resumption Act, which is intended to secure the free conversion of United States notes into coin, such as is now provided, or may hereafter be provided, by Congress.

There is only one other point as to the Resumption Act that it is necessary to mention, and that is the ability under it to secure resumption. This, I submit, has been demonstrated. The accumulation of coin and the gradual retirement of United States notes will unquestionably, if continued, produce specie payments before the time fixed by law. The rapid changes that have already been made in the value of United States notes by the policy adopted for the last six months have been marked and decisive, and this has been accompanied and followed by a great improvement in all branches of industry, and has been favored, no doubt, by Providence in the gift of a large crop, for which there is a ready demand.

The brightest lining of the dark cloud depicted by some of the writers of these papers is to be seen in the steady pursuit of this

policy of resumption. If the friends of resumption will only be content with the plan of resumption that is now upon the statutebook, securing only such additional legislation in aid of resumption as Congress, in its wisdom, may see proper to grant, there need be no fear of the result.

We need not raise the question presented by Mr. Wells, nor do I see that it would be effective, for, if a law is passed repealing or modifying the Resumption Act, there is no authority in our government that can restrain its execution. Nor is it to be presumed that Congress will do anything to impair the public faith pledged to any portion of its creditors. Popular commotion always stops short of this. There is no tradition of the national government more sacred than that which holds it to a rigid, faithful observance of the public faith. It is by this alone we are enabled to sell our bonds bearing four per cent interest at par in coin. The confidence thus inspired and thus evidenced is the best property of the nation, worth more in times of adversity than all the gold and silver that can be accumulated.

JOHN SHERMAN.

ART. II.-CAVELIER DE LA SALLE.*

THE name of Cavelier de la Salle may fairly represent the type of the bold and undespairing explorer. It may not be flattering to national complacency that the most conspicuous actor in the discovery of the interior of our continent spoke another tongue than our own, and belonged to a race which, if it has largely mingled its blood with that of the Anglo-Saxon, did so by the force of conquest. La Salle sprang from those northern hordes of pirates, the apparition of whose ubiquitous galleys in the port of Marseilles threw a shadow of gloom over the last days of Charlemagne; whose beleaguering hosts filled Paris with terror; who seized one of the fairest provinces of France, mastered Sicily and Southern Italy, conquered England, and after carrying terror through all the coasts of Europe, grew with marvellous facility from barbarian hordes to leaders of medieval civilization. He was a Norman, and a worthy offspring of that valiant and powerful race.

The qualities which formed the basis of his character have long been familiar; but until lately we have had no means of intimately knowing the man, and have not even suspected the susceptibilities which formed a strange contrast to the bold energies and undespairing constancy that are patent in his life. His enemies add their touches to the picture, and tax him with coldness, sternness, an unapproachable reserve, and finally with madness; but they never impugn his integrity, or deny that, tried by the ordinary standards of Christian morals, his life was a well-governed one. In all this we have only the outlines, truly or falsely drawn, of a strong individuality. The shade and color are wanting.

It has been known for some years that original letters of La Salle, written from the depths of the wilderness to his associates and allies in France, are still in existence, buried somewhere among

Découvertes et Établissements des Français dans l'Ouest et dans le Sud de l'Amérique Septentrionale: Mémoires et Documents originaux recueillis et publiés par Pierre Margry. Vols. I., II.