The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-26 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

MANCHESTER, Sept. 25.—The yarn market has
been very quiet to-day, and the business done has
been small. There has been a little buying for
Calcutta and for the Mediterranean, but nothing of
any moment. The business offering, in fact, has
hardly been sufficient to fairly test prices. The
market closes firm, spinners being deeply under
contract, and showing no disposition to make any
concession. The chief cause of flatness is in the
smaller business doing for cotton at Liverpool, at
declining prices. There are plenty of buyers in
the yarn-market, but the easier prices at Liver-
pool gave them a hope that by waiting they
may do better than at present, and for this reason
they have been holding back. The cloth-market
is affected in the same way. Manufacturers are
generally firm, but buyers are cautious, and the
transactions have been few and to a limited
amount only. There is an impression among sellers
that the pause is only of a temporary character,
and, though hero and there a manufacturer may be
found who is rather easier to deal with, the market
generally is firm.
CARDIFF, 25th.—There is a considerable amount
of vitality evinced in the coal trade, and the steam
coal merchants especially are well supplied with
orders. Quotations for coal and steam are firmer,
and a slight advance has been obtained by several
of the merchants. The house coal collieries are
also better employed. Increased activity is to be
observed at the ironworks, and it is expected that
a general advance of wages will take place in
November. The puddlers and others employed
at the Cyfarthfa works have already had a pro-
mise to that effect. Bars are now quoted 7s.
6d. to £6 10s., free on board, with a tendency to
further advance. The men are out at one or two
of the collieries, but no serious difficulty is appre-
hended.

PLEASANT NEWS FOR GEORGE CRUIRSIIANK.—
Mr. Bass has recently declared that the brewing trade is
the largest in the kingdom, that one brewer alone sold
£1,100,000 worth last year, and that 600,000 persons are
dependent upon it,

Mayer Anselm died in 1812, without having the
supreme satisfaction of hearing his honesty extolled
by kings and princes. He left five srms, who suc-
ceeded him in the banking and money-lending busi-
ness, and who, conscious of their social value,
dropped the name of Anselm, and adopted the higher
sounding one of Rothschild, taken from the sign-
board over the paternal house. On his deathbed
their father had taken a solemn oath from all of
them to hold his four millions well together, and
they have faithfully Kept the injunction. But the
old city of Frankfort clearly was too narrow a realm
for the fruitful sowing of four millions ; and, in con-
sequence, the five were determined after a while to
extend their sphere of operations by establishing
branch banks at the chief cities of Europe. The
eldest son, Anselm, born 1773, remained at Frank-
fort; the second, Salomon, born in 1774, settled at
Vienna ; the third, Nathan, born in 1777, went to
London ; the fourth, Charles, the enfant terrible of
the family, established himself in the soft climate of
Naples ; and the fifth and youngest, James, born
1792, took up his residence at Paris. Strictly
united, the wealth and power of the five Rothschilds
was vested in the eldest born ; nevertheless, the
shrewdest of the sons of Mayer Anselm, and the heir
of his genius, Nathan, the third son, soon took the
reins of government into his own hands. By his faith
in Wellington and the flesh and muscle of British
soldiers, he nearly doubled the fortune of the
family, gaining more than a million sterling by the
sole battle of Waterloo, the news of which he car-
ried to England two days earlier than the mail.
The weight of the sulid millions gradually trans-
ferred the ascendancy in the family from Germany
to England, making Londo❑ the metropolis of the
reigning dynasty of Rothschild. Like the royal
families of Europe, the members of the house of
Rothschild only intermarry with each other. James
Rothschild married the daughter of his brother
Salomon; his son Edmond, heir-apparent of the
French line, was united to his first cousin, the
daughter of Lionel, and grand-daughter of Nathan
Rothschild ; and Lionel again—M.P. for London—
gave his hand in 1836, to nis first cousin Charlotte,
the daughter of Charles Rothschild, of Naples. It
is unnecessary to say that, though these matrimo-
nial alliacces have kept the millions wonderfully
together, they have not improved the race of old
Mayer Anselm of the Red Shield. Already signs
of physical weakness are becoming visible in the
great family. So at least hint the French papers
in their meagre notices about the Rothschild con-
gress at Paris. From all that can be gathered out
of a wilderness of canards, thin faces and thick fic-
tion, it appears that the sovereigns of the Stock
Exchange met in conference for the double purpose
of centralising their money power and widening their
matrimonial realm. In other words the five reign-
ing kings, descendants, according to the law of
primogeniture, of the five sons of Mayer Anselm,
came to the decision to reduce their number to four,
by cutting off the Neapolitan branch of Charles
Rothschild, while it was likewise decided that per-
mission should be given to the younger members of
the family to marry, for the benefit of the race, be-
yond the range of first cousinship. W hat has led
to the exclusion of the Neapolitan line of Roths-
child seems to have been the constant exercise of a
highly blameable liberality unheard of in the annals
of the family. Charles, the prodigal son of Mayer
Anselm,actually presented, in the year 1846, 10,000
ducats to the orphan asylum of St. Carlo, at Naples,
and the sou and heir of Charles, Gustavus, has
given repeated signs of his inclination to follow in
the footsteps of his father. Such conduct, utterly
unbecoming of the policy of the house of Roths-
child. could not be allowed to pass unnoticed, and
accordingly—wo quote the rumour of Paris jour-
nalism—the decheance of the Neapolitan line
has been pronounced. However, Baron Gustavus
de Rothschild is not to retire into private life, like
famous Charles V. with only a cassock on his shoul-
ders and a prayer bcok in his hand; but is allowed
to take with him a small fortune of 150,000,000
francs, or about six millions sterling—a mere
crumb from the table of the descendants of poor
Mayor Anselm, who wandered shoeless through
the elec'mrate of good King George 111. It is cer-
tain that no romance of royalty is equal to the ro-
mance of the house of Rothschild.

Vacancies, Promotions, and Appointments
in the Civil Service.

(From the Civil Service Gazette.)

Home Office—The office of Lord Lieutenant of the county
of Aberdeen has become vacant by the death of the Marquis
of Hnntley.
g,„yal Mint—Mr Charles L. Davies has been appointed
an extra temporary clerk, London.
Board of Trade—Mr Frederick William Lewis has been
appointed a clerk in the Registrar of Joint-Stock Companies
Office.

The Post Office—Mr Victor Shepherd has been appointed
a temporary clerk, London.
The Admiralty---Captain George Henry Richards, R.N.,
has been appointed hydrograPher, in the room of Rear-Ad-
miral John Washington, deceased. Mr J. Albert Edwards
has been appointed a temporary writer in the Accountant's
Office, Devonport Dockyard.
Customs—Mr John Foster has been appointed an outdoor
officer, Shields. Mr John Owen has been appointed an out-
door officer, Swansea. Mr George William Shreeve has
been appointed an outdoor officer, Grimsby.
Inland Revenue—Excise Branch—Mr Robert Moffat,
surveying general examiner, third class, has been appointed
to be surveying general examiner, second class. Mr Thos.
Oliver, dropped first class assistant, Linlithgow colleotion,
has been appointed to be first class assistant, Queeneferry,
second division, Linlithgow collection. Mr Wm. Thomas
Ashen, second class assistant, Ayr collection, has been ap-
pointed to be second class assistant, Linlithgow collection.
Mr. George Ferguson has been appointed second class as-
sistant, Linlithgow collection.
The East Indies—Mr H. L. Harrison has bean appointed
to officiate as joint magistrate and deputy collector of NlA-
dea. Mr G. L. T. Harris has been appointed to officiate as
magistrate and collector of Backergunge. Mr E, G. Glazier
has been appointed to officiate as joint magistrate and deputy
collector of Backergunge. Mr A. Cadell has been appointed
to be an assistant in the Allahabad division, and is invested
with the powers of a sub-magistrate of the second class.
Mr E. W. Barron, assistant in the Allahabad division, has
been transferred in the same capacity to the Rehilcund
division. Mr F. D. Melville has been appointed to act as
assistant judge and session judge of Poona. Mr W. 11.
Newnham has been appointed to act as assistant judge and
session judge of Tannah. Mr J. Marriott has been appointed
to bo deputy clerk of the Crown, Bombay, in succession to
A. Sangster, deceased. Mr C. R. Ovans has been reappointed
acting first assistant to the collector and magistrate of
Poona. Mr Assistant-Surgeon R. Haines has been appointed
to be acting registrar of the University of Bombay. The
Rev. T. Horsfall has been appointed to act as chaplain of
Aden.

THE GREAT LITERARY PIRATE, TAUCIINITZ!-
Miss Muloch's novel, " The Ogilvies," forms the 667 vol,
of the Baron Tauchnitz's "Collection of British Authors,''
the number of volumes of which is evidence of the pcpula.
rity of English literature in Germany.

The Queen of to-day, commenting upon an article which
appeared in the Observer of last Sunday, headed, " The
Brompton Exhibition Building," remarks,—This to the
cursory observer would, at first sight, appear to be nothing
more than a mere piece of reporter's gossip about the pre-
sent state of those ruins of the monster shed over which
Messrs. lielk and Lucas reign triumphant. Some attempt
was made at graphic description, and a word-picture pro-
duced something after the usual " liner" fashion. The
reader is informed that " the whole of the flooring is re-
moved, and here and there tall weeds raise their heads in
various parts of the gr.und, just as they peered up through
the open spaces in the flooring when the Exhibition was in
its full glory, as though anxious to see some of the wonders
beneath which they were buried. The stumps of the trees)
which once formed an orchard, are seen in long rows in
the western transept, and they still give forth some
signs of vitality. A few pipes of an organ, which an exhi-
bitor apparently does not think worthy of removal, lie in
the western gallery. There are some foundations of brick
and concrete, which tell where once stood some heavy trophy
that helped to fill up the nave, and spoil what might otherwise
have been a noble promenade. Huge letters still point to
where the dinners were provided. A few birds chirp and
flutter amid the solitude, and occasionally the silence is
broken by the footsteps of Mr. Mason, who is the guardian
of the building," Marius mourning over the ruins of 'Car-
thage sinks into insignificance beside Mr. Mason pacing,
ith resonant footsteps, about the ruins of the Great Exhi-
bition building. The destination of different parts of the build-
ing is then referred to ; one of the domes is being packed up
to be removed to the Alexandra-park, at Muswell-bill,
and portions of the annexes have already been erected "as
sheds and workshops at Millwall, the Isle of Dogs, and
other places ;" whilst another portion "has been converted
into a chapel, at Notting hill, for a brother of Mr. Spur-
geon." In addition to this, the agreeable information is
imparted that " Mr. Sandford, the secretary, has returned
to his duties at the Committee of Council on Education;
and Mr. Lindon, the tireless and assiduous assistant secre-
tary, has transferred his services as agent to the firm of
Ruinart and Co., the well•known champagne growers."
It is not, however, until we come to the very end of the
article that we arrive at its real purpose for (like certain
fabled reptiles) it carries its sting in its tail. " The re-
freshment-rooms," says the writer, in the most un-
concerned tone possible, and quite as if he were merely re.
minding the reader of something that was perfectly notori-
ous, " which have the frontage in the Horticultural Gar-
dens, are to be fitted up as the museum of natural history,
where Professor Owen will, it is hoped, have sufficient
space to display all the beasts of the field, and the
fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, which are under
his care at the British Museum." There now, the cat is
out of the bag. The House of Commons (siding with
every scientific man of mark in the kingdom, save one) has
decisively pronounced against the project for splitting up
the collections of the British Museum. It has been
denounced in the press as a public sin, and the officials of
the Museum themselves are, for the most part, utterly op..
posed to it. When Professor Owen's plan for erecting a
great Natural History Museum upon the ruins of the Bri-
tish Museum collections, and under the shelter of the
monster sheds, was first mooted, it was almost universally
scouted by the public, and, in spite of Ministerial influence,
was rejected by a large majority of the House of Commons.
And yet we hear (on the authority of a semi-official paper
like the Observer) that the thing is to be done after all.

Address of the Polish National Government
to the Youth of Poland.

The Niepodleglosc, the official organ of the Polish
National Government, published in its number
which appeared at Warsaw on the 12th inst. the fol.
lowing proclamation to the pupils at the schools :
Young pupils, a new scholastic year is commencing, and
with it will return for you the study which is to endow your
intelligence with fresh knowledge, while it ennobles your
hearts. At the moment when the nation is struggling
against the enemy it is well to remind you of your duty to
the country.
You have imbibed the love of country from your earliest
infancy, and you have carried away from the paternal roof
a knowledge of your duty towards it. We will not repeat,
therefore, what your fathers and mothers have taught you.
Young pupils, you ought to engrave deeply upon your
hearts the words we address to you, for they are the echo
of the sacred voice of the country which regards you as its
future citizens and its future defenders.

Just as it is the duty of your elders to defend the country
with arms in their hands, or to deliberate upon public
affairs, so it is your duty, children of Poland, to seek to de-
vote all your strength to the development of your intern.
gence and the elevation of your hearts.
The soldier who sheds his blood upon the battle-field and
the pupil who studies equally accomplish their duty to.
wards their country.

Children of Poland, remember that in a future genera.
tion you will reap the fruits of the sanguinary work of the
present day. Remember that if your fathers and brothers
fall for Poland, the hour will come for her to rise again,
and then it will be your turn to serve the country and lend
it the support of your arms.
You will only be able to serve the country well,
your mind is full of lofty thoughts and your hearts of noble
sentiments. Young pupils, do not forget, too, that the
country disdains its degenerae sons.
Children of Poland, better days than those your fathers
have seen await you. You approach a moment in which
1 the fetters will fall from the hands of the mother country.
Remember you prove yourselves worthy of serving a free
Poland. To your studies, therefore, children of Poland;
they are your sole duties—your most sacred duties towards
the country."

Foreign Mail Packet List.

MAILS DUE.

Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton. Oct. 19.
via Marseilles ... Oct. 13.
brazil and Cape Verds, by British packet . Oct. b.
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Sept. 25.
China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton. Oct. 2.
via Marseilles ...Sept. 27.

Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton

THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA.

Governor Letcher delivered the following address
to the Virginia Legislature on the 7th inst.:--

"Executive Depw:tment, Richmond, Virginia,
Sept. 7, 1863.

" Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Delegates,—
In this crisis I have deemed it advisable to convene yon
in extraordinary session, in order that the freshly chosen
representatives of thie people may consult and devise such
measures as will be calculated to meet the existing emer-
gency in public affair s. The war has new been in progress
for more than two ye ars and a half, and has been prosecuted
against us with a ife-ocity unparalleled in all past struggles
between contendb tg parties. It has been conducted upon the
avowed principle. of subjugating els, either by force of arms
or by visiting up ma our people the horrors of famine. Hence
it is that, foil ert and defeated again and again upon the
field of battle, -they have adopted the policy of desolating
our farms, doe troying our crops, burning our dwellings,
stealing and currying away our property, leaving our wives
and children, -to perish by the slow torture of starvation. It
is no longer_ a war for the preservation of the old Union, as
it was ori.ginally proclaimed to be; but it has degenerated
into a wear for the emancipation of our slaves; and this
purpose. the administration at Washington propose to ac-
complish, even if the extermination of the white race, of all
ages,, sexes, and conditions of the Southern Confederacy,
shall) be the result. We have no alternative, therefore,but
to defend ourselves with all the power, energy, and ability
we can command. We must succeed, if we would be free
and independent people, worthy of the illustrious ancestry
from which we descended. To succeed, we must have union,
harmony, r4oncert, conciliation, courage, energy, and deter-
mined res elution on the part of rulers and people. We must
cultivate one towards another the noble virtues of prudence.
toleraticry, charity, and forbearance. With these general re-
marks I, proceed to the consideration of such subjects as are
of special interest at this time, and in my judgment demand
legisl'etive action. The subject first in importance, so far
as the Commonwealth is concerned, is the beat means of pro-
viding an adequate force for the local defence of the State
against invasion or raid, and for the execution of the laws in
case a resort to force shall at any time become necessary.
The entire military force of the State has been absorbed by
the conscription law, and we are thus left, in the time of
greatest peril, with no militia organization for the defence
of the Commonwealth. This want can be and must be sup-
plied with as little delay as practicable. As to the plan of
raising this force I am aware there is much diversity of
opinion. The difference, however, is reconcilable, if the
subject is considered and discussed in a patriotic spirit.
Let a force,to consist of all able-bodied persons between the
ages of 16 and 60, not in the Confederate service, be
organized, corresponding with the force now organized in
the cities of Richmond, Petersburg, and Lynchburg. Let
them bo regularly enrolled, formed into companies, bat-
talions and regiments, and officered is such manner as will
be most likely to secure efficient, intelligent, and energetic
men. They should be drilled at proper intervals, so as to be
well instructed in the evolutions and the manual, and pre-
pared for efficient service whenever the necessity shall arise.
The act should also define what is local defence, as there is
much contrariety of opinion in regard to it. Some think
local defence consists in remaining at home, and under no
circumstances to be taken out of the city or county in which
the company is organised. This, in my view, is a most mis-
taken. notion of the moaning of the term local defence ,'
and if it is to prevail will work great mischief, and render
the organisation of little value in giving protection to our
people. My opinion is, that if the city of Richmond can be
defended more certainly 50 miles from it than immediately
around or in it, that locality is the proper place for its de-
fence, and the local militia should be required to make the
defence there. The officer charged with the defence of any
:particular locality is presumed to be better acquainted with
the mode of defending it, and the best point for defending
it successfully, and he should direct all troops so as best to
secure the ends desired. The object of such organisations
should be to give adequate protection to all parts of the
Commonwealth. We must not only provide for the defence
of the counties, cities, and towns, by the local forces in and
immediatelyaround them, but we must, under the law which
is proposed to be passed, have authority to order others
from contiguous counties to their aid and support. A force
whose operations are to be confined by county, city, or
town boundaries, can prove of but little value in checking
raids or in executing and enforcing obedience to the laws.
This organisation should be made to embrace the foreign
population who are located among us. This foreign
population may be said to consist of three classes. First,
those who have been regularly naturalised, and who aro
therefore citizens embraced by our laws relating to the
public defence; second, those who are domiciliated among
us, and have been living in our midst and prosecuting
various branches of business, and who left their native land
-with no purpose or intention of returning to it; and, lastly,
those who are temporharily sojourning among us. The first

class are in service under our militia laws, and the second
should be required to go into service for public defence of
the soil on which they reside. The latter class, who are

sojourners, engaged inno regular business, should be exempt.
I recommend therefore that in your legislation upon this
subject the second class above referred to shall be clearly and
distinctly embraced. On this subject I desire to present
another recommendation in regard to the Act passed by
your predecessors en Nov. 20, 1862, authorising persons of
certain religious denominations in the State to exempt them-
selves from military service in the war by the payment of
500 dols. each. Subsequently Congress passed an Act of
like character, and these persons availed themselves of it
and were discharged from liability to all military service in
the Confederate army. I regard this provision as substan-
tially a violation of the constitution, inasmuch as it grants
exemptions to certain classes of persons which are not granted
to others. In this war all classes who reside among us should
be required to perform duty of some sort, if they are within
the military age. If they are unwilling to bears arms there
are various other duties connected with the army and the
general defence which they can perform, and which they
should he required to perform. They are citizen', property
holders, to a large extent interested therefore in all that
concerns other citizens, and should be required to perform
their part. In some countries this class of persons are re-
quired to aid in the construction of fortifications, and I sea
no just reason why they should not be required to do so

here. This branch of defence must be maintained by some-
body, and if their religious convictions will not allow them
to go into the ranks for the defence and maintenance of the
common cause, why cannot they do this ? It will not do to

say they are opposed to war, and can do nothing that will
tend to its prosecution. The law is based upon the princi-
ple that they are bound to do something; otherwise
they would not be taxed the sum of MO dollars each.
That money goes into the Treasury, and is drawn therefrom
to defray the expenses of the war; and to this extent, at
least, they are aiding and supporting it. If they can aid to the
extent of 600 dole, in money, can they not aid by labour or
other service ? A state of war imposes a personal obligation
upon every citizen within the military age, and he should be
required to discharge it. When the country is invaded, our
dwellings burnt, our landslaidwaste, our property destroyed
or carried away, our citizens imprisoned, it is their duty to
step forward promptly and aid in repelling the invader.
Ministers, and members of other religious denominations
equally as conscientious, are in the field. I recommend,
therefore, that this law be repealed. The time has come
when it is absolutely indispensable that we should omit no-
thing which promises protection to our people and success
to our cause. An unscrupulous enemy is pursuing us with
a spirit of malignity and vindictiveness that respects neither
the rights of persons nor of property. We must be active
and untiring in our efforts to repel him, and to accomplish
this we must call forth all our able-bodied men, and prepare
them for the most efficient service. No army can expect a
continued current of success. We may, nay, we must expect
to meet reverses, and wemustbe prepared for them. Instead
of discouraging, they should only stimulate us to increased
efforts—should call forth redoubled energy—should bind us
more closely together, and inspire us with a more determined
spirit and courate. If our forefathers had permitted reverses
to crush their spirit or paralyse their energies and efforts,
the American Revolution never would have proved a suc-
cess, and the independence of our country would never
have been achieved. They passed through storms and trials
far greater than any that have fallen to us in this con-
test. The men, old and Young, sustained and supported
the cause with hearty goodwill, and as the clouds gathered
and the prospect of success seemed to grow more despe-
rate
and hopeless, they became more and more resolved
and determined. The noble woraeu of that day, while their
fathers, husbands, and sons were engaged in fighting the
battles and driving back the invader, planted and gathered
the crops by which the army was sustained. 'We have not i
been reduced to such straits yet, nor s it probable we shall
be. But the women of the present day have shown a self-
sacrificing spirit, inducing them incessantly to work, and
showing that they are ready to emulate such an example.
They have displayed a generous devotion, which should
awake the sluggards and animate and cheer the gloomy and
desponding. There are in all communities some people
whose eyes always fall upon the dark side of every picture,
and who are disposed to succumb at even the indications of
disaster. It would be remarkable if we had not some such
among us ; but it is ratifying to know that the number is
very small, even in those Portions of our State which have
been overrun by the enemy. The spirit and courage of the
large mass of the people have never flagged. Each new
wrong has inspired new resolution. Eac new outrage has
but nerved them for a more determined and desperate
struggle in behalf of the cause. Virginia went into this con-
test after the most serious and calm consideration—with a
firm resolve to do her whole duty to herself and her Confe-
derate sisters—to take all the consequences, however hor-
rible they may be. seer people never quailed, nor have they
murmured under the repeated wrongs and aggressions they
have suffered. She was not the first to enter this struggle,
nor will she be the first to sue for peace, unless that peace
shall be accompanied by an unqualified recognition of the
independence of the Southern Confederacy. The General
Assembly, at its last session, prescribed that no Confede-
rate issues of a date anterior to April 6, 1863, should be
received in payment of State taxes. I am unable to com-
prehend either the wisdom or the policy of this legislation.
It is calculated to impair confidence in the currency of the
Confederate Government, and, indeed, in almost the only
currency in circulation in the greater portion of the State,

If these issues are not to be receivable in payment of
State taxes, it is inferrible, at least by those who are
not fully informed in regard to such questions, that it
is because those issues are not as valuable as subsequent
issues by the Government, or for some cause or other
they have not been considered a safe or reliable circulating
medium. No matter what caused the exclusion, it is per-
fectly plain that the effect has been to depreciate the cur-
rency and to arouse in the public mind the suspicion that it
will not ultimately be redeemed. Very few persons in
ordinary business transactions stop to examine the particu-
lar date of a note which they are about to receive. Very
few can remember the particular date of the note, discredited
by the law. The consequence is, as soon as they ascertain
that notes of some date are not receivable in payment of
taxes, and they do not know which, they became shy of re-
ceiving any, and all are discredited. When they are told
that some of the banks will not receive them on deposit, and
that some of the railroad and other transportation companies
will not receive them for fare or freight, they of course re-
fuse to receive them, and a general depreciation ensues,
which it will be found next to impossible thereafter to pre-
vent. In very many cases this money has been paid to our
soldiers, and by them sent home to pay the'r taxes. Some
such cases have been brought to my knowledge; and the
persons who were in this situation, on finding that it was
not receivable in payment of State taxes, have very natu-
rally complained. If the money was good enough to pay
the soldier, who receives but 11 dole. per month, why is it not
good enough to satisfy the claim of the State when her
agent applies for State dues ? We have no State bank cir-
culation, we have no State Treasury-note circulation, both
of these descriptions of note having been hoarded as fast
as they could be collected by moneyed men. The conse-
quence, therefore, is that the holders of the repudiated '
Confederate issues are driven to the necessity of shoving off
those they have, in order to procure such as will enable
them to meet the demands of the State. While it was
not the intention of the Legislature to place the tax-
payers in this condition, such is inevitably its effect.
They must have such money as will answer the pur-
pose, and to obtain it they must apply to such persons
as have it, and must pay them such price in these rejected
Confederate issues as will command it. The only reason I
have ever heard assigned in justification of this legislation
is that it was designed to force persons holding
to thisr currency
f
to fund in Confederate bonds, and thus retire itomrhcuad-
lation. This would all be very well if every man
for
an
who ithe these issues in hand had no use for thaemtsei . either
It sup-
portunfortunately of his family or the payment of
d
at
hcoarappmeunns,ithyohwaevveern,o moneyfor this thinevoeryst,. htfhoueyr-rfiefctehisveofththeye
have present and pressing use for to relieve their daily
iwna lag
with
tand a the wantshaeuch h
thereforeo f those
an dependentimpossibility, u p n
stphaweenl
amdtyhit
the
Find-
ing no
nd
fund-
ing,.-
all otes of issues
cir-
culationgr
e sa, feeling
etlhi
nu
gs
thee je
difficulty,c e d cannot
pa
nr
obdverdeetsire desirousd
that in
tno
compel
which
ecember, 1862, should be fundable
PinreB iPieurssscethednatthil. eboainesdtts if presented by the 22d of April, 1863;
if not presented by that day, but presented before August
1, 1863, they were then fundable in 7 per cent, bonds ; and
these issues are not fundable at all after August Ist. Notes
issued after Deo. 1, 1862, are fundable in 7 per cent. bonds
until August 1, 1863, and after that date in four per cent.
bonds. Notes issued after April 1, 1863, are fundable in 6
per cent. bonds if presented in 12 months from their issue,
but if not so presented they are fundable in 4 per cent.
bonds. This looks to me very much like a repudiation to
some extent of the obligations assumed by the Government,
and it is not, therefore, surprising that such legislation
should have created uneasiness in the public mind, and
aided in bringing about depreciation and a want of confi-
dence in the ultimate payment of these obligations. Other
legislation on the part of Congress has tended strongly
to produce the same conclusion in the public mind.
The mode in which taxes are to be assessed upon credits
in certain contingencies may be mentioned as one that
tends directly to the discredit of the currency. Better
far would it have been to make these issues a legal tender
in payment of debts than to resort to a compulsory process
like this to force its reception by the creditor; and while
this is being done our Legislature is urged to reject the
same paper issues in payment of State taxes. When the
Government casts suspicion upon its currency, and the State
Governments and the banks and railroad companies do the
same thing, the people may well become alarmed. The
consequences cannot fail to be most disastrous. We cannot
change the action of Congress, but we can remedy the errors
of our own legislation, and thus show that we aro disposed
to uphold the credit and currency of the Confederacy. I
submit the report of Captain Edward H. Fitzhugh, now in
charge of the Quartermaster-General's office, to which I in-
vite your attention. It presents a clear and succinct state-
ment of the condition of affairs in that office from the orga-
nisation of the State line forces to the present time, and
will doubtless be read with great interest, especially when
it is recollected that just before the State line troops were
disbanded it was quite currently charged that the entire ap-
propriation had been expended. This report shows that
the sum of 1,225,000 dols. had been drawn from the Trea-
sury for that department, and that since the force was dis-
banded 616,517 dols. 92c. had been refunded, leaving the
actual cost of the State line forces, so far as that depart-
ment is concerned, 608,482 dols. Bc. Other property, now
being collected, and which will be turned over to the Con-
federate Government, will further reduce the cost. No re-
port has been received from the Paymaster-General's de-
partment-. . . On the 20th of August last a requisition
was made upon me by the Secretary of War for 5,340 slaves,
to work upon the fortifications around Richmond. Copies
of the papers are herewith submitted to your consideration ;
and I particularly invite your attention to the draught made
upon the several counties. The apportionment upon the
counties seem to be entirely arbitrary, and bears very un •
equally. In some cases 5 per cent. of the slaves is crdled
for, and in other cases less than 1 per cent. Thus, Amelia,
with upwards of 7,000 slaves assessed with taxes in 1862, is
required to furnish 50, while Allegheny, with less than 700,
is required to furnish 30. The county of Albemarle, with
12,681, is called upon for 200, while Brunswick, with 9,212
is called upon for 250. The county of Augusta, with 4,430;
is called upon for 80, while the county of Rockingham, with
2,161, is called upon for 100. Hanover, with 8,521, is called
upon for 30, while Prince Edward, with 5,998; is called upon
for 150. These examples will suffice to show how unequally
this burden is distributed, and I trust that mine amend-
ment will be made to the law which will afford protection
against such inequality. The law requires that the value
of such slaves as may escape from the Confederate authori-
ties and not return to their owners, or be seized or be killed
by the public enemy, or may by want of due diligence on
the part of the authorities of the Confederate States, in any
manner be lost to the owners, shall be paid by the Confede-
rate States to the owners of such slaves, and in like manner
compensation shall be paid for any injury to slaves arising
from the want of due diligence on the part of the authori-
ties of the Confederate States.' Many cases of peculiar
hardship arising from the loss of slaves have been brought
to my attention, and mach complaint has been made by the
owners in consequence of the fact that they have not received
the value as provided for in this Act. In several cases the
only slave capable of field labour that the owner possessed
has been lost, and compensation not having been made he
has been unable to supyly his place. If the value had been
promptly paid the hardship in such cases would have been
greatly relieved. 1 invoke your early attention to this sub-
ject, of so much importance to our common constituents.
I have received a communication from the President of the
Central Railroad, enclosing a report made to him by the
superintendent on a subject of great importance to the road,
and not less to the State and tha Confederacy. The demands
for the transportation of passengers and freight over this
and the other railroads of the State have been very great,
and the roads have been severely taxed to meet them. So
far they have fully met the demands, but it is apparent to
any person who will pass over them that extensive repairs
are now much needed, and must be made, or they will be
broken up and rendered useless. Besides, great difficulty
is experienced in procuring crossties and the necessary sup-
ply of wood for fuel. Labour is indispensably necessary to
relieve them ; and, so far as legislation can aid them, I am
satisfied it will be cheerfully extended. . . I communi-
cate herewith the reports of the board of visitors, the supe-
rintendent and the surgeon of the Virginia Military Insti-
tute, and I commend them to your consideration. They are
deeply interesting, and notwithstanding the embarassments
of the time, they show that the institution is in a very
flourishing condition. When the institution was re-opened
it was seriously apprehended that it would be difficult, if
not impossible, to procure the requisite supplies for clothing
and feeding the cadets; but I take pleasure in saying that
the judgment and energy of the superintendent have over-
come all difficulties, and the operations of the school have
been regularly kept up. The institution has strongly com-
mended itself to the fostering care of the General Assembly
and the people of -Virginia, and I cannot too earnestly press
its claims upon your support and favour. I trust it will be
your pleasure to adopt the recommendations made in the
reports, and thus place it upon a firm and enduring basis,
and enable it gradually to extend the sphere of its useful-
ness. . . The extortioner is still pursuing his heartless
traffic and amassing his gains. The war to him is a godsend,
and he would not have it terminated for any earthly consi-
deration. He shares none of its hardships—he suffers none
of its dangers. He has perhaps hired a substitute who, for
a Pecuniary consideration, agreed to be shot at in his place.
Such men are found everywhere throughout the Confede-
racy, and it is time something were done to put an end to
their
money-making business. I have been investigating
this subject, in the hope that I would be able to make some
practical recommendation that would check, if it did not
eradicate this evil. In the first volume of the Revised Code'
of 1819, page 551, I find an act which was passed in 1777,
entitled ' An act to prevent forestalling, regretting, engros-
sing, and public venduos,' which, with very slight amend.
meats, would, if re-enacted, check in a great measure
this growing evil. I invite your attention to it, and
recommend that some similar act be passed at this
session. The finances of the State are in a
highly prosperous condition—much more prosperous,
indeed, than could have been anticipated undearntdhescaitricsuflemd-.
circum-
stances which surround us. The numerous demands made
upon the Treasury have bees promptly met
Our revenue is increasing, and the people, with that noble
spirit which has ever characterised Virginians, cheerfully
pay their taxes, and thus maintain the credit and uphold
the character of the Commonwealth. • • •

6, JOHN LEICIIER,"