The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-07 00:00:00

Ti IE 'UNITED STATES,

(IFrom the Times Correspondent.)
NEW YoBK, Dec. 22.
The ass essors from all parts of the country held
by the N ational Government have been spin in
session to counsel the Secretary of the Treasury and
the Pinar ,ce Committees of the two Houses of Con-
gress on the necessary changes in the Internal Re-
venue Bill, to make it as productive as originally
estimated. The proposed amendments are nume-
rous ; and these gentlemen further advise, in order
to secare uniformity of practice and construction,
that the bill shall be entirely rewritten and codified.
Some of the proposed taxes will strike Englishmen
who are not old enough to remember the taxation
of the wars of Napoleon as very curious, not to say
harsh. Iron nails, screws, castings, forging, rivets,
rolled copper, ingots, pigs and bars, soft soap, all
manufactures of leather, all oils, all materials used
in shipbuilding, the clothes made at your tailor's,
the repairs to the same clothes which you have made
if war prices force you to be economical, the teeth
with which the dentist fills the gap that unkind
natare has made, the cream and water ice with
which the confectioner softens the miseries of an
American summer, bricks, cement, books (except
Bibles), umbrella stretchers, crinoline, and root beer,
are collected together into an omnibus ad valorem
bill, which calls on all citizens of the Republic to
pay tax for their good government on everything
they use or wear except the air and sunlight of
heaven. Congress does not look upon teas outside
attempt at legislation with unqualified favour, and
I fancy that, in spite of the wishes of Government,
there will be no change msde in
,the law till after
the Christmas holidays.
Another measure which the Administration was
equally anxious to have acted upon at once, the
Enlistment Act, will probably go over the recess,
owing to a difference of opinion as to the changes to
be made. The friends of the South—open and secret
—urge the radical change of making every man
liable within the specified age, without power of
furnishing a substitute or of commutation. While
the supporters of the Administration are strong
enough to put down any such amendment as this,
they are by no means agreed among themselves as
to what is best. Some wish to abolish the commuta-
tion clause, others to consolidate the various classes
of rolls, and it is by no means certain what shape
the differing opicions will take. Meanwhile the
effect of delay will probably be the postponement
of the draught, weigh had been fixed for Jan. 5.
The World of this morning furnishes a table
showing the number of votes that will be requisite
under the President's Proclamation, to enable the
" rebel" States to return to the Union—the Procla-
mation requiring a registration of but one-tenth of
the number of voters in 1860 ;

Vote in 18'0. No. required
Alabama
Arkansas 54,053 .. 5,400
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana
69,120 6,912
Tennebseo
North Carolina
Texas
" Virginia and South Carolina," it says, " are no
included in this list, because the former is not men
tinned in the proclamation, and the latter never
casts Presidential votes." This newspaper, and the
political element it represents, are opposed to the
proclamation as recoiring of the Southerners a month
which will exclude many who would otherwise be
glad to return, yet concedes the almost certainty of
the early return of the States of Louisiana, Ar-
kansas, and Tennessee ; and the prcbabilicy of the
return of Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama in the
spring, should there be further military successes
with General Banks and at Mobile. It cannot be
denied that the formation and maintenance of State
Governments in the capitals of these States, on an
anti-slavery basis, and a continual participation by
an➢ considerable number of their population in the
legislation at Washington, will have a damaging
effect upon the Southern cause, and we cannot be
surprised if the experiment is regarded with some
apprehension at Richmond. On the other hand the
pretences of the abolition pspecs that the procla-
mation has any effect upon the armies of Lee and
Bragg, I believe to be entirely without foundation.
I do not believe that they have lost, or are likely to
lose, a single man from this cause.
Tae Southern line of the electric telegraph made
a great sensation in town yesterday, by announcing
from Richmond that on the 18th inst. the armour
plated Ironsides and three Monitors, while attempt-
ing to pass the obstructions in Charleston harbour
had become entangled, and that the Monitors had
become disabled and the Ironsides would probably
have to be abandoned. This intelligence is not cre-
dited here. Only last week we had from the same
source news of the destruction of the gunboat Day -
light, while this morning we learn that there was no
truth in the report. Probably before this letter
reaches yon, telegraphic intelligence, either confir-
matory or explanatory of the Richmond bulletin,
will reach you. If the news is true, it is very dia.
astrous to the Federals, for it is understood that the
Confederates have ironciads at Charleston waiting
the proper moment to come out and break the block-
ade. The favour with which the Monitors are re-
garded by the Navy Department is not shared by
naval officers. Congress has called for the publica-
tion of all the reports of their behaviour in action,
and we shall soon know the whole story. Mean-
while we have in the documents accompanying the
report of the Secretary an instalment of what we
,may expect when the whole truth about these ves-
eels is known. The New York Times of this morn-
ing publishes an extract from the report of each
commanding officer of a Monitor at the action in
Charleston harbour. These extracts are very curi-
ous, and well worth attention. Before quoting from
them, however, let me say en passant that I had it
from a gentleman, who was in Sumter at the time,
that no damage was done to it by any shot from
these vessels. Capt. Drayton, in command of the

Pgssaic, says :
"At the fourth shot from the 11-inch gun I was struck '
in quick succession in the lower part of the turret by two
heavy shot, which bulged in its plates and beams, and,
forcing together the rails on which the 11-inch carriage
worked, rendered it wholly useless for the remainder of the
action, several hours being necessary to put it in working
order. Soon afterwards it was discovered that there was
something the matter with the turret itself, which could
not be moved ; and on examination it was found that a part
of the brass ring underneath it had been broken off, and
being forced inboard had jammed. On closing this the
turret could again be moved, but for some time irregularly.
.A. little after a rifle shot struck the upper edge of ►he tur-
ret, broke all of its eleven plates, and then, glancing up-
ward, took the pilot-house, yet with such force as to make
an indentation of two and a half inches, extending nearly
the whole length of the shot. The blow was so severe as
to considerably smash in the pilot-house, bend it over, open
the plates, and squeeze out the top ; so that on one side it
was lifted up three inches above the top on which it rested,
exposing the inside of the pilot-house, and rendering it
likely that the next shot would take off the ton itself
enter ely,"
Captain Rodgers, cf the Weehawken, says that
the deck of that vessel " was pierced so as to make
a hole through which water ran into the vessel; 36
baits were broken in the turret and a good many in,
the pilot-house." Captain Wooden " experiet:ieed
sarioug embarrassment in mancenvring (the Mon-
tank) in the narrow and uncertain Channel, with
the limited means of observation afforded from the
pilot-house," and "is led to believe that Charleston
cannot be taken by the naval force now present,
and that had the attack been continued it could not
have failed to have resulted in disaster." Captain
Ammon, of the Patapsco, thinks " a want of vision
one of the most serious objections to vessels of this
class, making it impessibie to fight them advanta-
geously," and that " if it is proposed to batter down
forts with a 15• inch gun, then it is quite plain that
we have to come within distances at which heavy
ordnances, if employed in heavy batteries against
us, cannot fail in the end to injure and perhaps dis-
able us." Captain Rodgers, of the Catskill, "was
surprised to find, even with this severe fire, that
these vessels could' be so much injured in so short a
time." Commander Fairfax, of the Nantucket, is
"convinced that although this class of vessels can
stand a very heavy fire, yet the want of more guns
will render them comparatively harmless befoce for-
midable earthworks and forts;" and "is disap-
pointed, beyond measure, at this experiment of
Monitors overcoming strong' forts ;" and Captain