The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-07 00:00:00

THE POLISH QUESTION,

le Nord publishes the following as the text of
the despatch addressed by Prince Gortschakoff to
N. de Knorring, the Russian Charge d'Affaires at
Vienna, in reply to the despatch of Count de Rech-
berg, repudiating the Russian proposal of a Con-
ference between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in
regard to Poland :

" St. Petersburg, July 15.

" Count do Rechberg has addressed to the Am-
bassadors of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Ma-
jesty, under date 19th July current, a despatch
which has been published in the Vienna news-
papers, The object of this document appears to be
to prevent all misunderstanding as to the policy of
the Cabinet of Vienna in the Polish questicn. The
Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs will permit
us to throw a similar light upon the intentions
which dictated our last overtures.

"It is not without sem() surprise that we have
seen Count de Reehberg allude to the possiblity of a
mental reservation on the part of the Imperial Ca-
binet. If this view is inspired by the desire of dis-
claiming ail idea of a separate understanding which
might b 3 judged incompatible with the engagements
which the Cabinet of Vienna has contracted, and the
principle by which its conduct has been regulated,
we hasten emphatically to bear witness that no un-
derstanding whatever has existed between that Ca-
binet and ourselves on the subject cf these last
overtures.

" We have no mystery to make of propositions
made in entire good faith, entirely in the spirit
and letter of the Treaties of 1815, upon the basis of
which an exchange of ideas had been agreed upon ;
and which, according to our conviction, contain a
method of a pacific solution of the question conform-
able to the interests of the Kingdom of Poland.
The Imperial Cabinet had believed itself justified in
inferring, from the despatch of the 18th of June,
that the Count de Rech berg had anticipated our re-
fusal to adhere to a Conference of the eight Powers
that signed the General Act of the Congress of
Vienna, seeing that his Excellency subordinated to
the previous consent of Russia, the adhesion of the
Austrian Government to this combination. We
had not inferred from the despatch any approbation
of that refusal. We had seen in that reserve a sen-
timent of dignity, which in a like case the Cabinet
of Vienna would have claimed for itself, and we had
rendered justice to an equitable act. As to the view
of what the dignity of Russia called for, that was a
consideration for our august Sovereign alone ; but
it was evident that a combination which did not
seem conformable to the dignity of the country,
ought for that very reason to be considered im-
possible.
"Bat Count de Rechberg has thought he per-
ceived in our proposition of an understanding be-
tween the three Courts, with the view of putting
the situation of their Polish possessions, to which
the stipulations of the Treaty of 1815 apply, in
harmony with the circumstance of the moment and
the wants of the age, the idea of establishing be-
tween the Kingdom of Poland and Galicia an assi-
milation which his Excellency repudiates. We had
no thought of establishing any assimilation what-
ever. That there is a necessary solidarity be-
tween the interests of the three neighbouring
Courts and their respective Polish possessions is
attested by the historical traditions aad precedents
which have created the order of things actually
existing. Facts have more than once demonstrated
how much the situation of each of the provinces
re-acts upon the condition of the others. Actual
events, and the active part which the revolutionary
elements of Galicia take in the insurrection in the
Kingdom and its ultimate object, are additional
evidence of it. The Cabinets of Austria, England,
and France have pre-supposed it in basing their
diplomatic action upon the reaction which the
troubles in the Kingdom exercise upon the posses-
sions of the neighbouring States, and thereby upon
the tranquillity of Europe.
" We were actuated by the conviction of this
solidarity in proposing an understanding destined
to bring about the necessary harmony between the
institutions which it would be a question of intro-
ducing in the Kingdom of Poland, after the pacifi-
cation of the country, and those which exist in the
Polish possessions of the neighbouring States. It
was a friendly idea, conformable to the relations of
the two Imperial Courts and their mutual interests.
We are bound to repudiate every different inter-
pretation.

" As to the substance of our propositions, we
believe that, appreciated with the conciliatory spirit
which dictated them, and applied in good faith,
they could lead to a rational and practical solution
which would meet at once the rights and interests
of the three neighbouring Powers, the stipulations
of the Treaties of 1815, upon which rests the
general balance of power, the reasonable wishes of
the Poles, and the solicitude manifested by Europe
in favour of the tranquillity of those countries.
" We can only then regret the different impres-
sion which the instructions addressed by the Count
de Rechberg to the Ambassadors of Austria at
London and Paris gave us intimation of.
" You are authorised to give his Excellency a
reading of the present despatch. Receive, &c.,

" GORTSCHAKOFF.

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, July 24.

The tide of victory that seems to have set in so
strongly in favour, of the Federal arms has begun to
alarm that very large and influential class of people
who have made, are making, or hope to make for-
tunes out of the expenditure of the war. Brokers,
speculators, and contractors' on the one hand, and
dealers in and manufacturers of army and navy
stores and accoutrements on the other, together with
all the retail traders of the great cities who prosper
Upon the lavish outlay of the numberless persons
who revel in their newly-acquired riches, look with
anything but complacency upon the prospects of
peace. They do not sympathise with the South, but
neither do they desire it to be so thoroughly con.
'Paned as to be unable to protract the contest for
two
or three years. this interval hope
tatelirvnettihteoir
to consolidate
and realise their gains, and either to
real estate greenbacks into gold and betake them-
-8 to enjoy it or to invest them in
the gre their own country. They know that
soon asst shePa P" balloon of credit will collapse as
inevitable eraaarhis over, and hope that before the
fortunes ea 0 they will be able to snatch their
deluge, Since it mast
of calamity. " After us the
vest let the
and ealctlati
must come, but during our har-
re be dry weather." Such is their
prayer
would not be cot °ll. For these reasons they
defeat General siirYead if General Lee were to
the valley of the
Shenandoah, or re-entere
Maryland as an invader,
of which there seematolin bary
Monitors
were to capture or
the defenders of Charleston a prospect, and if
and irenclads that
annihilate the fleet of
now seem to be too successft:lsly betugurin Fort
peaceconsequences of
Sumter. Nor is the fear of the g
peace confined to these sordid
detest
worthier, and more respectable peoples. who
le Steadier,ci
the war, and believe it to have been wrongly-
com-
menced, wrongly conducted, and in every sense disaster both for North and South, dread-thBellae a.,
cial convulsions that must attend its cloes anemia
would fain discover where safety lies. Look where
they are unable to detect any solution of
they will,
the national difficulties, except in bankruptcy and re.
pudiation. The prospect, gloomy as it is, does not
affect Americans with as much horror as it would
Europeans. They pride themselves on the courage
and elasticity of mind of their people, and on the
boundless resources of their continent. Half a mil-
lion or a million of men now in possession of
worldly wealth, may be reduced to poverty and
destitution. But what of that? These men can be-
gin the world again, and, if they do not, a younger
and more vigorous class will spring up to c arry on
the work of trade and industry. Nobody is placed
so high above his fellows as to fall very heavily, or
to be much missed when he is gone. There are no
princely families to be ruined, and to bear with them
to oblivion the influence, the glories, and the tradi-
tions of centuries. There is no national church, with
imperial revenues, to be confiscated to the needs of
the State. Tl:ere is nothing a century old of which
the destruction would create a void. There is no-

body in the land better than a merchant who was
poor yesterday, is rich to-day, and may be poor
again to morrow. Tnere is nothing, in fact, that
can be pulled down that cannot easily be set up
again, and if national bankruptcy is to ensue, let it
come, The Americans owe their money to one
another, and their dents and repudiations are a
family affair which it is scarcely the world's busi-
ness even to criticise. Such is the line of argument
adopted to rob repudiation of its terrors, and to re-
concile the minds of the people to a convulsion that
whatever evils it may bring in its train, will relieve
the next generation of the load of taxation which
it might otherwise have to bear in expiation of the
crimes and follies of the present. The men who
hold Government stocks, or have claims against the
State, do not use this language, but were their
stock sold and their claims paid, they would use it
as readily as others. American social snd financial
life is at this moment a scramble. No one cares
who is ruined, so it be not himself. " Good angels
for the foremost ; the devil for the hindmost,"
is the maxim and the practice. No one who is now
making money thinks that he will be the victim
when the day of bankruptcy comes, and whoever
else may be the F u ffe rr; r is not matter for his consi-
deration.

Yet the time of reckoning draws near. The irre-
pressible " piper" has to be paid,
whatever
the shifts and devices by which his
unwelcome
visitbe
may be postponed. Mr. Chase hasdividual in his keeping, and has,
.tm tahsatthteeardrimbiletteind-,
managed to propitiate him with great
at
admitted
dranthcee
and success. He has not,
public very largely into his
exceed-
ingly difficult for the most assiduouss s t uldt eni st
s of thi
s
branch of contemporary history to make out at any
time the true condition of the Treasury, its assets
or its liabilities. No financial Minister ever before
in any country wielded such power as Mr. Chase,
or was so little trammelled in its exercise by say.
thing but his own discretion. And it must be said
in his favour that, authorised as he has been by Con-
gress to issue almost fabulous amounts of paper
money, based upon nothing but a national taxation
not yet collected, the inevitable result of which was
to raise the premium on gold to a hundred or even
two hundred per cent., he has so manipulated his
issues as to keep the premium at', a moderate point.
Rather than flood the market with paper, though
fully empowered to do so, he has kept the army
without pay for six or eight months at a time, pre-
ferring to run the risk of exciting the value of the
paper dollar to 40 or 50 cent. On the Ist of this
month the sum of 100,000,000 dole. became due to the
military and naval service, bat it has not been paid
for the reason that such an amount of paper thrown
upon the market would send up the premium on gold
to a rate which .might imperil other fiscal opera-
tions of the Government, or be otherwise injurious
to its credit. The great study of Mr. Chase is to
keep down the premium, and for this purpose he
has bethcaght himself of every imaginable expedi-
ent. He has crushed out the smaller fry
of speculators, he has surrounded transactions in
gold with every possible difficulty, and has, more-
over, contrived to keep a sufficient amount of the
metal in his own custody to revolutionise the
market at any moment, by means of his secret
agents, offering to sell in large amounts. He has
hitherto played his game with success. Unaided
by Federal victories he managed between the end
of February and the beginning of June to reduce
the premium from 76 to 45 ; and aided by the Fe-
deral victories of the last three weeks he has brought
it down to 25. It may even reach a still lower
point, if Charleston be taken ; but that he cannot
retain it at any minimum which his wishes may
prompt, is evident to any one who carefully studies
the present financial condition, as far as it is known,
or who calculates the liabilities that will fall due
within the next few months, and which he has no
means of meeting except by loans or large issues of
paper. The following official statement, published
yesterday, is Mr. Chase's own account of his posi-
tion up to the Ist instant :

INTEREST-BEARING DEBT.
Dols. Dols.
Four per Cent. Temporary Loan, coin 5,036,037
Four per Cent. Temporary Loan.... 23,023,258

28,059,295
Five per Cent. Temporary L0an....70,808,188
Five per Cent. Temporary Loan, coin 6,450
Five per Cent. Bonds, due 1865.... 3,461,000
Five per Cent. Bonds, due 1871.... 7,022,000
Five per Cent. Conde, due 1874.... 20,000,000
101,297,638
Six per Cent, Bonds, due 1568 .... 18,323,591
Six per Cent. Bonds, due 1881 .... 69,547,800
Six per Cent. Bonds, due 1882....185,684,141
Six per Cent. Treasury Notes .... 717,100
Six per Cent, Certificates of Indebt-
edness ...157,092,241
431,275,874
7.30 per Cent. Bonds, due Aug. 19,
1864 ....
7.30 per Cent, Bonds, due Oct, 1,1864 86,989,500
139,920,500

DEBT NOT BEARING INTEREST.
Dols.
Treasury Notes past due .. 39,100
Dols.
United States Notes 387,646,589
Less amount in Trea-
sury ............ 22,157,088
376,498,500
Fractional currency

396,721,056
Total Debt, July 1, 1863, as exhibited by the
books of the Treasury Department 1,097,274,365
Total Debt, July 1, 1863, as estimated by the
Secretary in report of December, 1862 1,122,297,403

Actual Debt less than the estimated Debt by 25,023,037

RECAPITULATION.
Aggregate Debt at 4 per cent. interest
Aggregate Debt at 5 per cent. interest 101,297,638
Aggregate Debt at 6 par cent, interest .. 431,275,874
Aggregate Debt at 7.30 per cent, interest.... 139,920,500
Aggregate Debt without interest

Total Debt, July 1, 1863, aS exhibited by the
books of the Treasury Department ...... 1,097,274,365
Total Debt, July 1, 1863, as estimated by the
Secretary in report of December, 1862 1,122,297,403

Actual Debt less than the estimated Debt .. 25,023,037
An investigation of this document shows the in-
terest-bearing debt to amount to upwards of
700,000,000 dols.—at rates varying between 4 and
7 3-10ths per cent.—or a permanent annual charge
upon the resources of the country of about 40,000,000
dole. to bo met by taxation. The debt not bearing
interest is the paper money already issued, popu-
larly known as " greenbacks," together with the
postage currency for fractional parts of a dollar,
commencing at 5 and ending at 50 cents; both
amounting, in round numbers, to 397,000,000 dole.
On the Ist of July last year less than

150,000,000 dollars of greenbacks were in cir-
culation, so that Mr. Chase's necessities in the
interval have compelled him to more than double
the amount of his issues of irredeemable paper. In
this respect he has not overstepped the powers con-
ferred upon him by Congress, but has fallen consi-
derably short of them, as the following tabular
statement of the sums authorised by the several
Acts of the Legislature, to which the dates are ap-
pended, will show :

Dols.
By Act of February, 1862 ....
„ July, 1862
„ January, 1863
„ February, 1863
„ March, 1863
)1 March, 1863 (fractional or
postage currency)
), March, 1863—Legal tender
notesof 10 dole. (bearing int.) 400,000,000

397,0001118 1,059,000,000
whenever
From t • •
:otoaoppears that Mr, Chase, having is-
suedpaper money, dols., has it in his power to issue,
he pleases, an additional sum of
either to resort
65;00%000 dols.hin greenbacks or other form of
loans is evident.
and as
toattb.he will speedily be compelled
This measure or to contract new
Isir,e fiscal year commences on the
all his accounts to that .d
Chase
Ist of July,
has not squared up
dols. are due to the armate'
theiron-clads ships and i
inasmuch as 100,000,000
much more to contractoyrsantd earY' and possibly as
he anticipated, is actu-
for army subsistence for,
vhiephasthyeare,uilt:uteday. be
t
assumed that the debt
25,000,000 dols. less than he he asserts to be
175,000,000 dole. more than
remains to consider what are his
It
for
the year commencing on the let instant. T
Congress which expired on the 4th of March
last was:: mindful of his necessities during the