The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-26 00:00:00

doors, and a demand abroad is felt almost at the same
moment and;supplied without injurious delay. To effect a
foreign loan would not, as it has seemed to the Secretary,
add much if at all to the whole amount of sales unless
stimulated by efforts and inducements which our financial
condition has not as yet called for, and though a certain
advantage might be gained in the power to control in some
degree the rate of foreign exchange by the deposit of allarge
sum to be drawn against as occasion might require. The
possible benefit thence to be derived has not seemed suffi-
cient to counterbalance other and opposing considerations.
This nation has been able thus far to conduct a domestic
war of unparalleled magnitude and cost without appealing
for aid to any foreign people. It was chosen to demonstrate
its power to put down insurrection by Ps own strength,
and furnish no pretence for doubts of its ability to do so,
either to domestic or foreign foe. The people of the United
States have felt a just pride in their position before the
world. In the judgment of the Secretary it may be doubted
whether the national credit abroad has not been strength.
ened and sustained by the fact that foreign investments in
our securities have not been sought by us, and whether we
have not found a pecuniary advantage in self-reliance ; but
however this may be, it seemed to the Secretary that, even
if inclined to attempt the negotiation of a foreign loan, the
time was unpropitious, and the difficulties attending such a
negotiation tivhile exchange was subject to rapid and vio-
lent fluctuations, upon any safe terms, appeared almost in-
surmountable. Whatever risk was to be incurred must
necessarily fall on the Government. Tie thought it wi,er
I therefore to wait until events should have more fully de-
monstrated the inevitably favourable result of the contest in
which the nation is engaged, which time he believes to be
near at hand, rather than venture on an experiment which,
if successful, could afford but temporary relief, and a failure
in which might be attended with evils of a very serious
character. Believing the country can, if it will, sustain for
a long time to come aay burden which the war is likely to
impose, the Secretary has deferred an undertaking which
seemed to him so doubtful of success and so questionable in
its results. It may be added to these consideration that to
have the interest on our public debt payable at home, and
to our own rather than to a foreign people, are advantages
the value and importance of which Can hardly be too highly
estimated.

Upon this report or budget the city writer of the
New York herald has the following remarks
The report of the Secretary to the Treasury leads Wall •
street to expect further issue of currency to an indefinite
amount ; for his complaint against the restrictive provisions
of the act of July 2, 1861, and hie promise to suggest, at an
early day, such modifications as be considers necessary,
leave no doubt in the public mind as to the haphazard policy
he will pursue if the finances are left under his control.
" In his judgment a wide discretion should be entrusted to
the officer charged with the duty of negotiating loans, in
order that he may be enabled to avoid unexpected diffi-
culties occasioned by possible conditions of the money mar-
ket, The discretion thus confided should, in the opinion
of the Secretary, include the power of increasing the cur-
rency." What is the nation to expect from a finance Minis-
ter who talks in this way, when not much less than 1000
millions of currency, including the State and national bank
issues, already flood the land, and when this currency in-
flation has done more than the entire funded debt to depre-
ciate the gold value of the paper dollar to about 41c., at
which it stands to-day ?Mr Fessenden would seem to be
deliberately inviting the worst evils that inevitably over=
take excessive issues of irredeemable paper money. And yet
while asking for the wide--too wide—discretionary power,
he appeals to the people to save him from the necessity of
using it in these words :—" Nor does he believe that a pa-
triotic people, struggling for national existence and pose
sessed of ample means, would compel him to adopt a mea-
sure so fraught with injurious consequences as an issue of
paper money beyond the limit so prescribed." And " to no
individual would any considerable addition to the circula-
tion in any form be more objectionable than to the present
head of the 'treasury Department, and no one would re-
sort to such a measure when the circulation was adequate
to the wants of business with more reluctance." Herein we
have a virtual admission that he is ready to increase the
volume of the currency indefinitely to float his loans, or
when there is in his opinion not enough money to supply the
wants of trade. If 160,000,000 dols in coin and 140,000,000
dol bank notes were sufficient for the needs of commerce in
the whole of the loyal States at and before the time of the
suspension of specie payments, nearly 1,000 millions ought
to be enough now. Mr Fessenden, unfortunately, seems to
overlook the fact that the more paper money there is in cir-
culation the more we require ; for every addition to its bulk
tends to its depreciation, and consequently the greater is
the amount required for common uses. When thousands of
millions of French assignats had been issued, where before
hundreds had sufficed, the Directory still wanted and
issued more because their purchasing power had
diminished in proportion to the extant of their issue ;
and so it was with the old continental money of this
country, and the end of both was worthlessness
and repudiated by the people. But the warnings
of history may well be neglected by one who has failed to
profit by the great lesson taught by the fiscal policy thus
far pursued under this administration. " It is for the people
(says Mr Fessencien) to determine whether the necessary
means shall be furnished by way of loans aed the circula-
tion be restrained within safe limits, or whether they will
['refer to endorse the evils of exorbitant prices, with a loss
of credit in the:present and a debt of needless magnitude en-
tailed upon the fteure. Their financial officer can only
submit to their decision end act as the necessities of the
occasion may demand." As he makes no obj, etion to the
amount of currency outstanding, bun like Oliver Twist,
asks for more, it is to be inferred that he considers it as yet
within " safe Emits." He speaks of loans as the only al-
ternative of currency infl ttion, apparently placing no reli-
ance upon increased taxation. Indeed, in that part of the
report where he refers specially to taxation, he estimates
the probable receipts (after adding what he considers a
centingcnt sum of 50,000,000 dols.) from internal revenue
at only 3C0,0000,000 dots. for the current fiscal year. It is
easy, however, for anyone acquainted with the resources of
the nation to see that double this sum might be raised with-
out pressing unduly upon any section of the community.
But upon this important branch of his subject the secretary
has nothing to say worth mentioning. Ho avoids it as he
has avoided telling the people what the national debt is at
the pretent time, and the ratio of this from the Ist of July,
up to which time his statements only extend, to the end of
October, contradict his estimates for the future, and he
leaves the country in a fog, to get out of its financial em-
barrassments in the b st way it can.