The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDOisT, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 22, 1864

will see his chance and take advantage of it, or
whether Mr. Lincoln will deprive them both of their
opportunity by allowing the laws of the State to take
their course against himself personally, and pleading
military necessity and the Indemnity Act as justifi.9
cation of his act acd a bar against the penalty. In
this latter case no immediate decision will be ob-
tained. The whole matter will have to go before
the Supreme Court. Long before it reaches which
tribunal Mr. Lincoln will either be "D:ctator" with
enlarged power, or an obscure lawyer in Sangamon
County, Illinois—no longer of sufficient political
importance to be worth the troub!e of prosecuting.
The supporters of Governor Seymour insist that
he is in earnest ; :hat he will, to the utmost extent
of the means placed by the people at his disposal,
resist the encroachment of the Federal power. They
urge also that his previous moderation, caution,
and forbearance are but so many proofs that he
will act with dignity and determination when cir-
cumstances have provided him with so strong and
unmistakable a ciao as that which General Dix,
acting on Presiden tal authority, has so opportunely
Afforded.

The appeal by the Governor of New York to the
merchants, bankers, and other wealthy citizens, to
advance, by way of loan to the State, the sums ne-
cessary to pay in gold the interest upon the debt
held by Englishmen and other foreigners, has had
but little effect. Not above a quarter of the neces-
sary funds has been thus provided for,. and the
whole proposal has fallen to the ground, and been
abandoned by the Chamber of Commerce, the body
which first took np the subject as a matter of public
duty and promised to carry it to completion. It
appears that some portion of the principal has
already been paid off in greenbacks, and for that
reaeon the Chamber has decided that it is of no use
to pay the interest of the remainder in gold-4
the debtor having done partial injustice, it is better
that he should continue to do injustice than that he
should lay himself open to the accusation of incon-
sistency by suddenly becoming honest. Governor
Seymour, however, may claim the merit of having
seen the right Course and dared to pursue it, and
may leave to the Legislature the shame of a quasi
repudiation, and to the mercantile community ot this
great city such portion of the disgrace as is Implied
in its tacit acquiescence in that which it knows to
be dishonourable, and the stigma of which it might
have removed if it had been half as much in love
with the public credit as with private moneymaking.
The great State of Ohio has had even less shame
than New York, and it has repudiated the obliga-
tion of paying in gold a debt contracted in gold,
without so much as a remonstrance from any con•
stituted anthority entitled to speak in its name.
Yesterday week the auditor Secretary of State, and
Attarney-General of Ohio, constituting the Board
of Fend Commissioners, arrived in this city to pay
the semi-annual interest of the Ohio public debt,
aue July 1, a debt amounting to about 13,000,00')
dole, for the mcst part held in England and Oar.
many. They paid in greenbacks, and thus tender
to the foreign creditor a mere composition, at the
then rate of gold, of 403 on the dollars, or 8s on the
pound sterling. Tais may not be called either
robbery or repudiation ; but it is marvellously like
the one, and is certainly a very considerable stride
towards the other. At some future day, perhaps,
New York and Onio may be again b want of funds
to carry out some project of internal improvedlent
or public utility, and may issue proposals to the
c ipitaiists of Europe to advance them gold on such
security as New York or Ohio can offer. But if,
under the circumstances, Englishmen and Germans
do not button up their pockets they will deserve to
lose their money, and will merit as little sympathy
as any bumkin at a fair who permits himself to be
swindled by a ring dropper.