If it be said that all this may be accomplished by an assay office, I reply, that this does only partially what is accomplished by the mint. The gold is delivered back in ingots stamped, so that for certain purposes it is merchandise; but the work is only half done. If the quantity were trivial, as at Charlotte and Dahlonega, then an assay office would suffice; but where the supply is so great as in California or Oregon, it would seem as if no pains ought to be spared by the Government to facilitate the commerce in this article, or to meet the desires of its producers. Now it is obvious that nothing in this respect can equal the stamp upon the national coin. A courtier said to Philip the Second of Spain, “Your golden ducats carry your name and your features over all the countries of Europe, exciting envy and dread.” The time for envy and dread has passed; but our eagles are not idle. There is their inscription, _E pluribus unum_, an unquestionable stamp of nationality and value, which they carry wherever they go. Therefore, Sir, while admitting, that, for the sake of the coin, there should be the highest accuracy possible in the operations of the mint, I cannot hesitate to insist, that, regarding gold as merchandise, the mint must be established in such localities as may be required by the interests of commerce. I do not think there would be any hesitation in this conclusion, if the whole subject of coinage had not been shrouded with a certain mystery, almost like the “black art.” This appears constantly. “They cannot touch me for _coining_; I am the king,” says Shakespeare; and Pope says,-- “She now contracts her vast design, And all her triumphs shrink into a coin.” Like other incidents of sovereignty, coinage is reserved rightfully to the Government, and on this account is little appreciated in its true character. People sometimes err in not seeing that the delicate laws applicable to this subject must not be strained to interfere with the proper regulation of the value of gold when it has become a principal article of commerce.