"GREYSTONE, _Feb. 12, 1886_.
"DEAR MR. BANCROFT,--I have received a copy of your _Plea
for the Constitution of the United States_, which the publishers
sent to me at your request.
"I note your strong impression of your sense of the importance of
the theme, when you say you 'have thought it right to bestow upon it
many of the few hours that may remain to you for labor.'
"To the eyes of your countrymen, those hours grow more valuable as
they become fewer.
"As an argument your _Plea_ is overwhelming.
"Indeed, until new lights recently dawned upon the court, and upon
some others, in all our national history it had been universally
considered as axiomatic that Congress had no constitutional power to
make anything but gold and silver a legal-tender. That conclusion
was always assumed when the subject was incidentally alluded to.
Forty years ago, in a speech in the constitutional convention of the
State of New York on the subject of Currency and Banking (Tilden's
_Public Writings and Speeches_, Vol. I., p. 222), I recognized the
disability of any government in this country, State or Federal, to
make a legal-tender of anything but gold and silver.
"In all the literature of political economy, of currency and
banking, this postulate was taken for granted.
"It is a long time since I have had the pleasure of seeing you
or Mrs. Bancroft. I was gratified at the account of you, which I
received from my nieces who recently visited Washington. I hear that
you have lit up your household by the sunshine of a young lady of
your kindred.
"I am passing the winter at a country home perched upon a cliff
overhanging the Hudson four hundred feet above the tide. I send you
a picture of the place.
"With best regards for yourself and Mrs. Bancroft,
"I remain, very truly yours,
"S. J. TILDEN.
"P. S.--Since writing you, I have received the _Evening Post_ of
this afternoon. It is a 'Mugwump' journal. I send a cutting from its
editorial columns upon your _Plea_."