ready
stated, they may refuse of their own accord, or under the direction of
the Secretary of the Treasury, any bank notes not expressly directed by
act of Congress to be received in payment of the public dues.

I have thus answered the several questions proposed on the bill before
me; and though I have been necessarily obliged to examine the subject
with much haste, I have no other doubts as to the soundness of the
construction above given than such as belong to discussions of this
nature and to a proper sense of the fallibility of human judgment. It
is, however, my duty to remind you that very different opinions were
expressed in the course of the debates on the proposed law by some of
the members who took part therein. It would seem from these debates that
the bill, in some instances at least, was supported under the impression
that it would compel the Treasury officers to receive all bank notes
possessing all the characteristics described in the first and second
sections, and that the Secretary of the Treasury would have no power
to forbid their receipt. It must be confessed that the language is
sufficiently ambiguous to give some plausibility to such a construction,
and that it seems to derive some support from the refusal of the House
of Representatives to consider an amendment reported by the Committee of
Ways and Means of that House, which would substantially have given the
bill, in explicit terms, the interpretation I have put on it, and have
removed the uncertainty which now pervades it. Under these circumstances
it may reasonably be expected that the true meaning of the bill, should
it be passed into a law, will become a subject of discussion and
controversy, and probably remain involved in much perplexity and doubt
until it shall have been settled by a judicial decision. How far these
latter considerations are to be regarded by you in your decision on the
bill is a question which belongs to another place, and on which,
therefore, I forbear to enlarge in this communication. I have the honor
to be, sir, with high respect, your obedient servant,

B.F. BUTLER.

AN ACT designating and limiting the funds receivable for the revenues of
the United States.

_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_. That the Secretary of the
Treasury be, and hereby is, required to adopt such measures as he may
deem necessary to effect a collection of the p