The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlMES.—There is something amiss in the body
politic when it requires so many investigations,
which, after all, only discover what has gone wrong.
The great mass of the recent intelligence from Ame-
rica is made up of reports of national inquests to
ascertain the causes of the general catastrophe.
Thera has been a military inquiry at Washington
into the conduct of commanders eeriously compro-
mised in popular belief ; another military investiga-
tion on the field of Fredericksburg, proving only
that " somebody blundered ;" and a third official
scrutiny of enormous frauds and peculations on the
Treasury, committed in the city of New York. The
reports of these examinations read like so many de-
tails of morbid anatomy, the facts detected
fulls
explaining certain fetal results. In New York we
trace the unhealthy activity of the commercial prin-
ciple that " got up" an army as a good trading
speculation, anti as it would " make a corner" in
tallow or fancy stocks. Never were the fat ribs of
peace preyed upon so unresistingly by the hungry
of many nations. Vultures of all countries scented
the feast from afar. The vast bulk of the Common-
wealth had drifted, like a wounded whale, into
strange waters. Years of quiet feeding had clothed
it with flesh, and it was floating defenceless. How
soon it was surrounded by those sharks who are al-
ways roaming the depths, and how effectually they
began their work, an American authority has almost
despairingly told us. The Government, half afraid
it would discover too much, and still unwilling or
ashamed to reveal half it knows, has appointed a
Commission to ascertain to what extent the Federal
Treasury has been plundered amid all the noisy pa-
triotism of the Empire State. Awful is the price that
has been paid for having the cheapest military esta-
blishment in the world. Two years of inefficiency
and defeat have cost more than an effective force
would have required through two generations. It
appears that the Central Executive is not the only
sufferer. Contributing citizens, corporations, and
the great Union Defence Society itself, have all
been defrauded in proportion to the funds they
gave. The subscriptions were sent in liberally, but
there was no business-like control of the money.
The machinery indispensable to the administration
of an army had to be constructed while the army
was brought together. The Defence Committee
contributed towards the " organisation and equip-
ment of 40 regiments." Here, indeed, was " the
opportunity for rogues and thieves to reap their
golden harvest." And the reapers descended upon
it instantly. The confusion of the time favoured
their purpose. Keen and self-possessed, in all the
blaze of warlike enthusiasm, rascality had but to
stretch his hands to be rich. The " rogues" robbed
all funds and deposits impartially, the coolest
thieves occasionally varying the work by robbing
each other. The Adjutant-General's Department
had the management of the funds, and the muster-
ing officers, in the different cities, were appointed
the "disbursing" agents to pay the exp nses of
the recruits before they were sent on to Washing-
ton. Tha recruiting was undertaken by private
enterprise, and fell into the hands of two kinds of
contractors ; one undertook the work on a large
scale, "putting in his bid" to the official advertise-
ment for men, engaging to furnish them "to any
number the Government might require," and pro-
viding them with rations and lodgings. This was
the general contractor. The other was a " special,"
or sub-contractor, in most cases a beershop keeper,
who opened a recruiting office on his premises, and
ran np an account against the " disbursing officer,"
thus getting his pull on the Exchequer also. From
the contractors, through a multiplicity of agents,
up to the disbursing officials, into the Adjutant-
General's Department, to the final depletion of the
Central Treasury, the tale of fraud runs through a
labyrinth of unscrupulous devices. False returns,
forged certificates, and affidavits obtained by perjury
are only a few items in a network of chicanery so
nefarious that a special detective police had to
be engaged as a check on it. The amount of the
plunder is estimated at a million of dollars. The
investigation applies only to the expenses of the
first enlistment of men, and does not extend to the
contracts for arms, stores, and clothing. And this
is stated to be a sample of what has been going on
in every city "throughout the United States." We
must multiply the plunder of New York by twenty
to make a rough guess at the real amount the
country has lost in this raid of public pillagers.
There are many sincere believers in the possibility
of restoring the political union of the States by force
of arms who are even more perplexed than discon-
raged by the repeated military failures. The " bound-
less resources" of the Federal Government ought,
they say, to have crushed the revolt long ago. En-
thusiasm,
money, men, nothing was wanting. What
has neutralised all these elements of power in war ?
Reluctant, even now, to acknowledge a real supe-
riority on the part of the Confederacy in the actual
operations of the campaigns, they assert that the
lukewarmness and treachery of some members of
the Government, and all the military commanders,
have caused the national reverses. The imputation
of treason is not supported by any proof, except
want of success, which of itself is no evidence of
corrupt motive. But there has been a cause at work
from the beginning of the war why the " boundless
resources" of the Government have not commanded
a proportionate degree of strength. A public sus-
picion is being confirmed by the revelation of facts.
The fighting power of the Federation has been mea-
sured to it by the " resources" left after an inde-
finite amount of absorption. The means were large,
but they had a limit. Revenue has found its ex-
treme verge, and credit is approaching the point
where it will find a power able to mark its ne plus
ultra. What has been really without bound or re-
straint is, not the resources of the Executive, but
the waste of them. There is a moral defect at the
root of the national calamities. Treason there has
been, but in a wider circle than that of Generals
and Ministers. The people have turned the war
into a scramble for profits. An army of public ban-
ditti have won a full and decisive victory in the
fight for gain. They have not mastered the
Southern territory, but they have achieved com-
plete possession of the Northern purse ; and, as one
conquest consumed the means of making the other,
they could not secure two triumphs at once.
HERALD.—A great writer has defined grati-
tude "as a quick sense of future favours." The
definition suggests the worldly wisdom which di-
rects the conduct of the great master of statecraft.
Ministers, wise in their generation, know well
that anticipation exceeds the pleasure of posses-
Sion ; and if hope deferred makes the heart sick it
keeps the suppliant humbly crowding at prefer-
ment's gate until the magic words "open sesame"
are
uttered. The groat expectations of others is a
great element of power in the hands of those who
hhave anything to bestow. The heiress, until she
selectedas from the crowd of her admirers; the
wealthy uncle, surrounded by the social tribe of
expectant nephews and nieces ; or even the miser,
without St relative in the world, are all powers in
their way, until the selection has been made
and the promise given. But what are all these com-
pared to the Ministers with places, garters, titles,
pensions to bestow ? The unthinking %is:lder that
a place is kept vacant, a garter untied, a promised
peer left unrobed. Why this is his secret. As the
man armed can keep a whole mob at bay, for no
one can tell whom the shot may hit, so one place
can preserve order amid a whole crowd of suppor-
ters; each of whom thinks himself the one on whom
fortune may smile through the countenance of the
Minister. how is it, then, with such a knowledge
of human nature as Lord Palmerston possesses, that
be is now about to kill la polde aux ceufs nor, to
cut off the fountain head of his influence, by creat-
ing batches of baronets and peers ? Is this the last
effort of expiring gratitude ; the sweet song of the
dying "an ; the last low words of political affec-
tion? Or are we to accept these party offerings,
these political gifts, as but an earnest of future
favours, of still higher rewards in store for the self-
devoted followers of his ambiguous policy ? Be this
as it may, let not the deed be darkly done. This
act of gratitude should not be kept in the corner
the future lights of the peerage must not be placed,
under the bushel. Let us, while the subject is yet
fresh, record some of the names of the new noble
barons who are to adorn the Legislature. Report
says there are to be no less than 20 added to the dig.