“This was an action of debt, commenced in the Circuit Court for the district of Georgia, by the District Attorney of the United States for that district, against the defendants, on a bond executed by them, in June 1820, to the Post Master General of the United States, the condition of which, after reciting that Eleazer Early (one of the co-obligors and defendants in the suit) is the Post Master at Savannah, provides that if he shall perform the duties of his office, ‘and shall pay moneys that shall come to his hands for the postages of whatever is by law chargeable with postage, to the Post Master General of the United States for the time being, deducting only the commission and allowances, made by law, for his care, trouble, and charges, in managing the said office,’ &c. ‘then the above obligation shall be void.’ The breach assigned was, that the said E. Early did not pay to the Post Master General the moneys which came to his hands, as post master at Savannah, but that the sum of 7,736 dollars and 64 cents was still in arrear and unpaid. The defendants pleaded to the jurisdiction of the Court, that this was ‘not a suit in which the United States are a party, nor is the debt declared on one contracted, authorized, or arising, under a law of the United States, and over which jurisdiction has been given to this honourable Court.’ On the argument of the cause in the Court below, the opinions of the judges of that Court were opposed upon the question of jurisdiction, and it was certified to this Court for a final decision.”