The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-25 00:00:00

GENERAL SHERMAN'S OPERATIONS•

The army of General Sherman, although succeeding at the
end of the summer in obtaining pcssession of Atlanta, has
been unable to secure any ultimate advantage from his suc-
cess. The same' general who, in February last, marched a
large army from Vicksburg to Meridian with no other re-
sult than being forced to march back again, was able by the
aid of greatly increased numbers, and after much delay, to
force a passage from Chattanooga to Atlanta, only to be for
the second time compelled to withdraw on the line of his
advance without obtaining con,rol of a single mile of terri-
tory beyond the narrow track of his march, and without
gaining aught beyond the precarious possession of a few
fortified points in which he is compelled to maintain heavy
garrisons, and which aro menaced with recapture.

ATLANTA AND RICHM")ND NOT VITAL POINTS OF THE

CONFEDErt.kCY.

The lessons afforded by the history of this war are
fraught with instruction and encouragement. Repeatedly
during the war have formidable expeditions been directed
by the enemy against points ignorantly supposed to be of
vital importance to the Confederacy. Some of these expedi-
tions have, at immense cost, been successful ; but in no in-
stance have the promised fruits been reaped. Again, in the
present campaign, was the delusion fondly cherished that
the capture of Atlanta and Richmond would, if effected, end
the war, by the overthrow of our Government and the sub-
minion of our people. We can now judge by experience
how unimportant is the influence of the former event upon
our capacity for defence, upon the courage and spirit of the
people, and the stability of the Government. We may, in
like manner, judge that if the campaign against Richmond
had resulted in success instead of failure; if the valour of
the army under the leadership of its accomplished com-
mander had resisted in vain the overwhelming masses which
were, on the contrary, decisively repulsed ; if we had been
candled to evacuate Richmond as well as Atlanta, the
Confederacy would have remained as erect and defiant as
ever. Nothing could have been changed in the purpose of its
Government, in the indominable valour of its troops or in the
unquenchable spirit of its people. The bad and disap-
pointed foe would in vain have scanned the reports of your
proceedings, at some new legislative seat, for any indication
that progress had been made in his gigantic task of conquer-
ing a free people. The truth so patent to us must ere
long be forced upon the reluctant Northern mind. There
are no vital points on the preservation of which the con-
tinued existence of the Confederacy depends. There is no
military success of the enemy which can accomplish its de-
et ruction. Not the fell of Richmond, nor Wilmington, nor
Charleston, nor Savannah, nor Mobile, nor all combined,
can save the enemy from the constant and exhaustive drain
of blood and treasure which must continue until he shall
discover that no peace is attainable unless based on the re-
cegnition of our independent rights.

Before leaving this subject it is gratifying to assure you
that the military supplies essentially requisite for public
defence will be found as heretofore adequate to our needs ;
and that abundant crops have rewarded the labours of the
farmer, and renderel abortive the inhuman attempt of the
enemy to produce by devastation famine among the people.
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
it it not in my power to announce any change in the con-
duct of foreign Powers. No such action has been taken by
the Christian nations of Europe as might justly have been
expected from their history, from the duties imposed by in-
ternational law, and from the claims of humanity. It is
charitable to attribute their conduct to no worse motive
than indifference to the consequences of a struggle which
shakes only the republican portion of the American conti-
nent, and not to ascribe to design a course calculated to in-
sure the prolongation of hostilities.

No instance in history is remembered by me in which
a nation pretending to exercise dominion over another,
asserting its independence, has been the first to concede
tho existence of such. independence. No cases can be re-
called to my mind in which neutral Powers have failed to
set the example of recognising the independence of a
nation, when satisfied of the inability of its enemy to
eubvert its Government; and this, too, in cases where
the previous relation between the contending parties had
been confessedly that of mother country and dependent
colony, not as in our case, that of co-equal States, united by
federal compact. It has ever been considered the proper
function and duty of neutral powers to perform the office of
judging whether in point et fact the nation asserting domi-
nions is able to make good its pretensions by force of arms,
arid if not, by recognition of the resisting party to discoun-
tenance the further continuance of the contest. And the
reason why this duty is incumbent on neutral powers is
plainly apparent, when we rtflict that the pride and passion
which blind the judgment of the parties to the conflict cause
the continuance of active warfare, and consequent useless
slaughter, long after the inevitable result has become ap-
parent to all not engaged in the struggle. So long therefore
as neutral nations fail by recognition of our independence to
announce that, in their judgment, the United States are
unable to reduce the confederacy to submission, their con-
duct will be accepted by our enemies as a tacit encous
ragement to continue these efforts, and as an implied
assurance that beliet is entertained by neutral nations
in the success of. their designs. A direct stim
lug, whether intentional or not, is thus applied to securing
continuance of the carna.ge and devastation which deso-
lateg this continent, and. which they profess deeply to deplore.aultifyhebydic'threegaliradtioofw;thlostuLs'fi:rhopuotnaina%haendnieohreri6rteiainuaprkuabblilee
flow the fact that authentic expression has long since
been givcreby the Governments ot• both France and Eng-
land to the conviction that the United States are unable to
conquer the Confederacy. It is now more than two years
since the Government of France announced fifficially to the
Cabinets of Sr. Petersburg. and London ittl own conclusion
that tho Unite.l States were unable to achieve any decisive
s. In the answers sent by those Powers
no intimation of a contrary opinion was conveyed; and it
Mies. both in and out of Parlia-
ment, the members ol• her Britannic Majesty's Govern-
ment have not hesitated to express this conviction in
unqualified terms. The denial of our right, under these
circumstances, is so obviously unjust, and discriminates so
unfairly in favour of the United States, that neutrals have

niUt

is nntnriou that in

sought to palliate the wrong of which they are conscious,
by professing to consider, in opposition to notorious truth
and to the known belief of both belligerents, th, t the re-
cognition of our independence would be valu less without
their further intervention in the struggle—du intervention
of which we disclaim the desire and ra itru,t the advan-
tage.: We seek no favour, and wish no int( rvention, we
know ourselves fully competent to maintain our own
rights and independence against the invaders of our mum.
try, and we feel justified in asserting, that without the
aid derived from recruiting their armies from foreign
countries, the invaders would ere this have been driven
from our soil. When the recognition of the confederacy
was refused by Great Britain, in the fall of 1862, the refu-
sal was exercised on the ground that any action by
her Majesty's Government would have the effect of
inflaming the passions of the belligerents and of prevent-
ing the return of peace. It is assumed that this opinion
was sincerely entertained ; but the experience of two
years of unequalled carnage, shows that it was erroneous,
and that the result was the reverse of what the British Mi-
nistry humanely desired. A contrary policy, a policy just
to us, a policy diverging from an unvarying course of con-
cession to all the demands of our enemies, is still within the
power of her Majesty's Government, and would, it is fair to
presume, be productive of consequences the opposite of
those which have unfortunately fcllowed its whole course of
conduct from the commencement of the war to the present
time. In a word, peace is impossible without .independence,
and it is not to be expected that the enemy will antieipate
neutrals in the recognition of that independence. When the
history of this war shall be fully disclosed, the calm judg-
ment of the impartial publicist will for these reasons be
unable to absolve the neutral nations of Europe from a
share in the moral responsibility for the myriads of human
lives that have keen unnecessarily sacrificed during its
progress.

The renewed instances in which foreign powers have
given us just cause of complaint need not be here detailed.
The extracts from the correspondence of the State Depart•
ment which accompany this message will afford such far-
ther information as can be given without detriment to the
public interest, and we must reserve for the future such ac-
tion as may then be deemed advisable to secure redress.
FINAIiCES.

Your special attention is earnestly invited to the report of
the Secretary of the Treasury, submitted in conformity
with law. The facts therein disclosed are far from discou-
raging, and demonstrate that, with judicious legis'ation, we
shall be enabled to meet all the exigencies of the war from

our abundant resources, and avoid, at the same fme, such
an accumulation of debt as would render at all doubtful our
capacity to redeem it.

The total receipts into the Treasury for the two quarters
ending on the 30th September, 1874, were 415,191,650 dole,
whioh sum, added to the balance of 308,222,722 dols, that
remained in the Treasury on the Ist of April last, forms a
total of 723,474,272 dols. Of this total, not far from half,
that is to say, 342,650,327 dole, have been applied to the ex-
tinction of the public debt, while the total expenditure have
been 272,378,505 dole, leaving a balance in the Treasury on
the Ist of October, 1861, of 108,435,440 dole.
The total amount of the public debt, as exhibited on the
books of the Register of the Treasury, on the Ist of October,
1861, was 1,147,973,208 dols, of which 539,840,000 doh; were
funded debt, bearing interest, 283,880,150 dols were Treasury
notes of tha new issue, and the, remainder consisted of the
former issue of Treasury notes which will be converted into
other forms of debt, and will cease to exist as currency on
the 31st of next month.
The report, however, explains that, in consequence of
the absence of certain returns from distant officers, the true
amount of the debt is less, by about twenty—one and a half
millions of dollars, than appears on the books of the Regis-
ter, and that the total public debt, on the let of last month,
may be fairly considered to have been 1,126,381,095 dole,
The increase of the public debt during the 6 months from

April 1 to October 1 was 97,650,780 dole, being rather
more than 16,000,000 dols per month, and it will be ap-
parent on a perusal of the report, that this augmentation
would have been avoided, and a positive reduction of the
amount would have been effected, but for certain defects in

the legislation on the subject of the finances, which are
pointed out in the report, and which seem to admit of easy
remedy.

In the statements just made the foreign debt is omitted

it consists only of the unpaid balance of the loan known as
the cotton loan. The balanco is but £2,000,000, and is ade-
quately provided for by about 250,000 bales of cotton owned
by the Government, even if the cotton ba rated as worth but
Gd per lb.

There is ono item of the public debt not included in the
tables presented, to which your attention is required. The
bounty bonds promised to our soldiers by the third section
of the act of Feb. 17, 1861, were deliverable on Oct. 1. The
Secretary has been unable to issue them by reason of an
omission in the law, no time being therein fixed for the
payment of the bonds.

NO APPROPRIATION NEEDED FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS

The aggregate appropriations called for by the different
departments of the Government, according to the estimates
submitted with the report, for the six months ending June
30, 1865, amount to 438,102,679d015,whi1e the Secretary esti-
mates that there will remain unexpended out of former ap•
propriations, on Jan. 1, 1865, a balance of 467,416,504 dols.
It would, therefore, seem that former estimates have been
largely in excess of actual expenditures, and that no addi-

ticnal appropriations are required for meeting the needs of
the public service up to July 1 next year. Indeed, if the
estimates now presented should prove to be as much in ex-
cess of actual expenditure as has heretofore been the case,
a considerable balance will still remain unexpended at the
close of the first half of the ensuing year.
The chief difficulty to be apprehended in connection with
our finances, results in the depreciation of the Treasury
notes, which seems justly to be attributed by our secretary
to two causes—redundancy in amount and want of cor-
fidence in ultimate redemption—for both of which remedies
are suggested that will commend themselves to your consi-
deration as being practicable as well as efficient.

FLAN FOR REMEDYING THE CURRENCY EVILS.
The main features of the plan presented are substan-
tially these :-Ist. That the faith of the Government be
pledged that the notes shall ever remain exempt from taxa-
tion. 2d. That no issue shall be made beyond that which
is already authorised by law. 3d. That a certain fixed por-
tion of the annual receipts from taxation curing the war
shall be set apart specially for the gradual extinction of the
outstanding amount, until it shall have been reduced 150
million dollars ; and 4th. The pledge and appropriation of
such proportion of the tax in kind. and for such number of
years after the return of peace, as shall be sufficient for the
final redemption of the entire circulation, The details of the
plan, the calculations on which it is based, the efficiency of
its operation, and the vast advantages which would result
from its success, are fully eetailtd in the report, and cannot
be fairly presented in a form sufficiently condensed for this
message. I doubt not it will receive from you that earnest
and candid consideration which is merited by the importance
of the subject.

The recommendations of the roport for the repeal of cer-
tain provisions of the tax laws which produce inequality in
the burthen of the taxation ; for exempting all Government
loans from taxation cn capital, and from any adverse discrir
urination in taxation on income derived from them ; for
placing the taxation on banks on the same footing as the
taxation of other corporate bodies ; for securing the pay-
ment into the Treasury of that portion of the bank circula-
tion which is liable to confiscation because held by alien
enemies; for the conversion of the interest-bearing Trea-
sury notes now outstanding into coupon bonds, and for the
quarterly collection of taxation; all present practical ques-
tions for legislation, which, if wisely devised, will greatly
improve the public credit and alleviate the burthens now
imposed by the extreme and unnecessary depreciation in
the value of the currency.

The returns of the Produce Loan Bureau are submitted
with the report, and the information is conveyed that
the Treasury agency in the trans-Mississippi Department
has been fully organised, and is now in operation with pro-
mise of efficiency and success.

The provisions heretofore made to some extent for
increasing the compensation of public officers, civil and
military, is found to be in some places inadequate to their
support, perhaps not more so anywhere than in Richmond,
and inquiry, with a view to appropriate remedy, is sug-
gested to your consideration. Your notice is also called to
the condition of certain officers of the Treasury, who were
omitted in the laws heretofore passed for the relief of other
officers, as mentioned in the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury.