The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-31 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Aug. 18.

Peremptory orders from Washington have been
issuod for the recommencement of the draught in
this city. To-morrow has therefore been fixed upon
for the renewal of the lottery, which, in the words
of a labourer who declares that he will neither serve
as a soldier nor endeavour to find a substitute, if he
die for it, is to decide whether " the bodies of the
men of the working classes are their own property
or that of Abraham Lincoln." Governor ievmour's
remonstrance has not been altogether without effect
upon the President's determination, for the officers
charged with the duty of the conscription have re-
duced their demand upon six districts of the State
of Now York from 26,299 men to 12,300—a conces-
sion which amounts to an administration of the
truth of Governor Seymour's charge that the enrol-
ment was partial and unfair. In other respects the
President holds firm, and has appointed Gen. Dix,
the Federal officer in succession to Gen. Wood act-
ing independently of the authority of Governor
Seymour, to carry out the provision of the Conscript
Law and to maintain the peace of the city. Gen.
Dix, who is one of the few respectable and judicious
officers in the service of the President, has a large
force under his command, and, in anticipation of
disturbance, receives almost daily such reinforce.
ments as the Secretary of War can spare.
It is thought by all those quiet citizens who love
tranquillity so much that they fancy ail others must
love it as affectionately as themaelves, that the
action of the municipality of New York in voting
three millions of dollars to find substitutes for
unwilling conscripts will act as a conductor to
carry off the electricity of popular wrath. When
the working classes are once convinced that, if
draughted, the maternal city of New York will pay
the exemption money that will enable them to re-
main at home with their families, in ownership of
the fee simple of their own bodies, it is exceedingly
probable that Gen. Dix, his armies, and his gun-
boats will have nothing to do, and that no further
breach of the peace will occur. Were there a new
insurrection ever so little more formidable than the
last, it is scarcely probable that three millions of
dollars would pay for the damage that would be
done to property, to say nothing of the loss of life;
so that the civic magnates in insuring the safety of
the city for that handsome premium have perhaps
done a prudent stroke of business ; but if it should
happen that they cannot borrow three millions of
dollars for the purpose, the Federal Government, in
their default, might ultimately find itself in a very
serious dilemma. Time presses, as Mr. Lincoln takes
occasion to remind Mr. Seymour,and as no draughted
man is likely to offer himself for service, after such
an offer has been made to him by so wealthy a cor-
poration as that of the Empire City, Gen. Lee may
take advantage of the halcyon days that have so un-
expectedly dawned upon his cause as to resume the
offensive, and once' again try his chances against
the city of Washington. It is possible, if the Mayor
do not veto the bill of the two branches of the City
Legislature, that the three millions of money may
be borrowed upon the security of the local taxation,
which these bodies have it in their power to levy :
bat it is tilso possible that capitalists may refuse to
take stock in the loan. In the neighbouring city of
Brooklyn, where the working classes are resolutely
determined and closely banded not to serve in the
Federal army, the municipality has agreed to bor•
row one million of dollars, fur the purpose of paying
substitutes to replace the bone and sinew that pre-
fer work to fighting. But the banks have refused
to advance any funds on the security offered, and
the Joan, on being put up to public competition, has
produced only 20,000 dols. This is but a small step
towards a million; and as the working classes
require cash down, the chances are that Brooklyn
will take nothing by its action but the merit of good
intentions. It remains to be seen whether the
capitalists of New York have no greater sense of
the impending danger than those of Brooklyn, or
whether house proprietors and others will not in-
vest in a stock, the issue of which may more effectu-
ally protect their property from plunder and con-
flagration than all the soldiers that General Dix can
bring to bear in their defence.
The city is full of troops, the militia is under
arms, and will remain so during the night ; but it
is not probable any riots or disturbances will take
place. The difficulty, as stated is my letter of the
21st ult., will occur when the Government shall en-
deavour to carry off the draughted men forcibly
from their homes, unless, in the meantime, all
danges from that cause shall be obviated by the
judicious expenditure of the £3,000,000 which the
corporation have voted to pay exemptions.
While such is the aspect of political affairs in this
city, Wall-street takes no heed of any of the angry
portents that flare and flash on the horizon. It
looks for the immediate capture of Charleston, and
the certain repulse of General Lee, should that
daring soldier once more resolve to attempt the
capture of Washington. It considers, in the slang
of the day, that Mr. Jefferson Davis is "squirm-
, ing" under the heel of Mr. Abraham Line )1n ;
that the rebellion is "squelched ;" and that .now is
the time for storks of all description to rise rapidly,
and for those who understand the manipulation of
those articles to make fortunes before they begin to
fall. The Stock-Exchange is wild with excitement.
A veritable scrip mania has set in with a virulence
equal to that of the dog days. Lines such as the
Harlem Railway, that prior to the war were at a
discount of 75 per cent., and that have in no sense
increased their traffic in the interval, have shot up
to enormous premiums. The intrinsic value of the
Harlem stock is estimated to be about 30, but it
sold yesterday as high as 170 to persons who expect
it will reach 180 to-morrow. The Erie, that long
slept between the fifties and sixties, was
yesterday,
at 1091 ; the New York Central at 130 ; the Illi-
nois Central at 124; and the Pacific Mail at 235.
in the Harlem line the advance has been 10 per
cent. since yesterday; on the New York Central. 2'.4;
on the Erie, 28; and on another line—the Pitts-

burg and Fort Wayne--which has suddenly risen
into popularity, Si. It is not surprising under such
circumstances that all legitimate business stagnates
or dies. Well-street, Exchange-place, and William-
street, monopolise the presence of all the old and
young speculators of the capital. Their pavements
are so thronged with greedy gamblers that locomo-
tion is difficult. It is the old story of the South Sea
Bubble and the Mississippi Scheme revived in a
new latitude, a story that will run through the same
developments, contain the same episodes, inflict the
same miseries, end with the same crash, and point
the same moral. Change-alley and the Rue Quin-
campois never witnessed more madness, more in-
veterate and desperate gambling, more rotten and
baseless speculation of far-seeing► knaves and over-
wise fools, than may
str e circumference,e
t,up the
be witnessed to-day within a
circle of 3001yvairudisainio.
centre is in narrow which
theentry
that leads to the hall of meeting of the Board of
Brokers ; and all the people who rush to this Temple
of Fortune know that the speculation that attracts
and dazzles them is based upon nothing--that it is
unsound as a soap bubble, and must as certainly
collapse. But, no one cares to-day—as no one cared
during the similar insanity of the Mississippi
Scheme, or the more recent railway madness of the
time when Hudson was King, and all Eugland and
Scotland thought of nothing but malting profits
upon the sale of railway scrip, leaving the loss, the
misery, and the broken hearts to the last new
comers, who happened to be in possession when
" Panic' blew on the card-castle with his hot breath,
and brought the fragile fabric to the ground. There
is a likelihood, too, that this is not even the climax,
but only the commencement of the "mad term." Mr.
Chase is compelled to issue more paper, whether he
desire to do so or not, or else the armies of the Re-
public will go unpaid, and the contractors will
grow clamorous for the realisation of their enormous

gains. And all these reople are war patriots. Why
with their notions slould they not be? Would
not peace make as certain an end of them as the
first frost does of the nosquitoes ?
The case of the Peterhoff, recently decided by
Judge Betts, of this c ty, in favour of the captors,
has excited by little i,,,terest or attention. It is
believed that Earl Russell is so satisf ed with the
sound law and the Signified impartiality of the
judge, that the British. C tbinet will submit to his
decision in this as is all similar cases; and that
nothing which Judgeßetts can do will ever be con-
sidered a cam bclli. It would be well, however,
for Earl Russell and the British public to know that
Judge Betts, in the first place, is not a functionary
of the rank of such mon as Lord Stowell or Dr.
Lushington ; but an attorney, elected to the office
for a term by univ‘rsal suffrage, and paid by a
salary that would hive no attractions for a third-
rate, much less for a leading professional advocate ;
and in the second phee, that no reporters regularly
attend his court—anl that no official record what-
ever is kept of the proceedings or the judgments
delivered. The judge keeps his own notes, and such
professional gentlemen as are employed in the several
cases doubtless preserve a private record of the
proceedings. But beyond this there is nothing to
show the exact terms or phraseology of any judg-
ment that may be delivered, or the evidence on
which it may be founded. As these decisions be-
come precedents, it !s obvious that it is highly im-
portant to the commercial public of Great Britain
and other countries tat there should bo 3omp
official record of them. But there is none. Thue,
to a considerable extent, the fancy or caprice of
Judge Betts, whose professional status is not mi•
perior to that of a police magistrate in London,
may decide upon the most delicate questions of
international laws without other remedy open to the
aggrieved owners of ships and cargoes than a costly
and protracted appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States. There are certain circumstances,
too, in connexion with the case of the Peterhoff that
ought to be better known in England than they
appear to be. The Peterhoff, it may be remem-
bered, was seized, to the south of Cuba, on the regu-
lar track to Matamoros. Her papers were all regu-
lar, and all made out for that port. Her insurance
was on the voyage to Matamoras, and nowhere else.
She drew too much water to enter any port in
Texas or the Rio Grande, except Matamoros. She
was laden with saddlel, horse-shoes, boots, and vari-
oas other articles that Admiral Wilkes deemed to be
contraband of war and destined for confederate use.
Judge Betts, after a lengthened inquiry, decided
every point against the vessel, and she was con-
demned accordingly. Yet within two months previ-
ous to this very time, when a British vessel was not
allowed to trade between a British and a Mexican
port, no less than 119 American vessels had cleared
out from New York to Matamoros laden with ex-
actly the same kind of articles as were seized on
board the Peterhoff; besides six, or some say nine,
other vessels from the ports of Boston and Phila-
delphia, bound on the same errand, with similar
ventures,