Sir, I am told that it will be unpopular to make this sacrifice, and ancient ghosts are paraded through this Chamber to frighten us from duty. Naturally, all who are against the proposed system will be against the seeming sacrifice. But the people are too intelligent not to see what is demanded by the best interests of the national currency; and unless I greatly err, they will insist that what we do shall be so done as to make our work most effective and most triumphant, to the end that victory may be certain. It is on no narrow ground that I make my appeal. I speak for a national currency which shall be to the whole country like the horn of abundance; and I plead for it now, as essential not only to the general welfare, but also to the common defence.
Mr. Fessenden replied to Mr. Sumner with severity. On the other hand, Mr. Chandler, of Michigan, recognized as a business man, said: “The country owes the Senator from Massachusetts a debt of gratitude for his patriotism and statesmanship. He has risen above small matters, above local, petty interests, and has come up to the standard of the broadest statesmanship, in the argument he has just delivered, which is one of the ablest financial arguments ever delivered on this floor.”
Mr. Sumner’s amendment was lost,—Yeas 11, Nays 24. The amendment of the Committee was then agreed to,—Yeas 29, Nays 8.
BRANCH MINTS AND COINAGE.
Speech in the Senate, on the Proposition to create a Branch Mint in Oregon, April 29, 1864.
The Senate having under consideration a bill to establish Assay Offices at Carson City, in the Territory of Nevada, and Dalles City, in the State of Oregon, Mr. Nesmith, of Oregon, moved to strike out the section establishing an Assay Office at Dalles City, and insert several sections establishing a Branch Mint there, instead. This was contrary to the recommendation of the Finance Committee, and also to communications from Mr. Pollock, the Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, and Mr. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, sustained by Mr. Fessenden in the Senate.