The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-25 00:00:00

AMERICAN FINANCE.

The following letter has just been sent to the
well-known American political economist, Mr.
Henry Carey, by the new Secretary of the Trea-
sury, Mr. M'Culloch :
" Treasury Department, April 4, 1865.
" Dear Sir,—Your favour of the 27th ult. would
have received an earlier reply but for pressing offi-
cial duties. I have now only time to remark briefly
that I am not responsible for what the newspapers
may have said about the financial policy I shall
adopt as Secretary of the Treasury.
" Amid the great events that are transpiring in
the United States, overturning theories and con-
founding the wisdom of the wisest, a Secretary
of the Treasury who should avow, or even deter-
mine definitively in his own mind, his future
policy would be pronounced a bold rather than a
sensible man. What I shall aim to do is to watch
carefully the progress of the events that I may be
unable to control, and endeavour so to accommo-
date the administration of the Treasury to those
events as to maintain the credit of the Government
and protect the interest of the people.
" In the brief address which I made to the prin-
cipal officers of the department on the 9th ult. I
said, among other things, 'My chief aim will, of
course, be to provide the means to discharge the
claims upon the Treasury Department at the earliest
day practicable, and to institute measures to bring
the business of the country gradually back to the
specie standard, a departure from which (although
for the time being a necessity) is no less damaging
and demoralising to the people than expensive to the
Government.'
" This is the only avowal of policy which I have
made, or expect to make, at least for the present.
"The former of these objects is receiving my first
attention. The sales of the Seven-Thirty notes,
than which no more desirable security will be offered
to the public, which have been temporarily dimi-
nished by the Wall-street panic, will, I am hopeful,
be soon again so increased as to put the Treasury in
a condition to meet all suspended requisitions, and
honour all draughts that may be made upon it; so
that the different departments, by being in a con-
dition promptly to meet their engagements, may be
enabled to reduce largely the expenses of the Go-
vernment.
The latter object seems to be in the right train
for accomplishment by the effective blows of our
military and naval forces without any interposition
of the Treasury Department, and in the face of a
daily increase of currency through the instrumen-
tality of the national banks.
" You seem to be apprehensive that the return to
specie payments is to be effected by a contraction of
Government issues, and you say that in one thing
all have been disposed to unite, and that was that
an early resumption was the cardinal point of my
policy, and that it was to be sought at whatsoever
cost to the capitalists and working men of the
country.'

" A resumption of specie payments is with me a
' cardinal point,' because I believe that the specie
basis is the only safe and healthy one for business ;
and because I am clearly of opinion that the in-
terests of capitalists and working men will be pro-
moted by a return to it; but no policy could be
more unwise than that which should attempt to ac-
complish it by such a curtailment of the currency as
would prostrate or injuriously affect those great
interests upon the prosperity of which the Govern-
ment depends for its revenue, and which cannot be
broken down or severely depressed without de-
priving labour of its proper reward.
" The history of Wall-street within the last ten
days sustains the correctness of the opinion which
in another position I have frequently expressed—
the high price of gold was to be attributed in part,
at least, to other influences than the expansion of the
currency, and seems to indicate that the paper cir-
culation of the country which has been issued or
secured by the Government, even while its volume
is being increased, may appreciate nearly to the
specie standard.

"As the war draws to a close, and the restoration
of the Union is no longer doubtful, gold and cur-

rency approximate rapidly to each other in their
market value, and of course all those articles which

were made to follow the former in its ascent muse

sympathise with it in its decline.

This cannot be

.• P., NJ
prevented by any action of the Treasury, even if
the interests of the country require it. It might
have been better for the country and the people that
the decline of coin should have been more gradual
than has been the case for the week or two past, but
it is better that it should have come down as it has
than it should not have declined at all.
" It is understood, I believe, among those whose
habits of indulgence led them into protracted ex-
cesses that ' sobering off' rapidly is a dangerous
experiment, but, dangerous as it may be, it is pre-
ferable to continued intoxication.
"It does not follow, however, that be-
cause gold has declined from 185 to 146, and
may speedily decline much further, prices ge-
nerally will fall to the same extent, nor do I
believe that any permanent decline that is likely to
occur will prostrate the great interests of the coun-
try. On the contrary, lam of opinion that when the

specie standard is restored, or nearly reached, the
assurance that this state of rings will create, that
the business of the country is to be transacted on a
firmer basis, will divert capital from speculation, and
stimulate, instead of prostrate, productive industry.
" The close of the war will remove the Govern-
ment in a good degree from the market, both as a
borrower and a purchaser, and while the business of
the country is being accommodated to the new order
of things there will be, to a considerable extent, stag-
nation and embarrassment ; but, as hostilities are
now likely to terminate before speculation has re-
sulted in large individual indebtedness, the transition
is likely to be effected without the disasters which so
many have apprehended. The liabilities of the peo-
ple are so small, the circulating medium is so ample
and well secured, the resources of the nation are so
vast, and our political future is so brilliant, that the
embarrassments which a change in the business of
the country must bring about will be but temporary,
and the indications are now decided, that by the

time reconstruction is fairly commenced enterprise
will be quickened into new life, and, with its integ-
rity established, the only drawback upon the national
prosperity, and the only stain upon the national es-
cutcheon removed, the great Republic will move for-
ward again on its career of prosperity and honour,
scarcely staggered by such a struggle with a gigan-
tic rebellion as would have broken any other nation
into fragments.
" You will perceive by the statement of the con-
dition of the Treasury on the Ist inst. that the Go-
vernment circulation has not been diminished.
Whether or to what extent this circulation will be
reduced depends upon circumstances that cannot

now be clearly foreseen. I have been and am still
of the opinion that it must be curtailed before a re-
turn to specie payment can be effected ; but it cannot
be denied that the course of the market for the past
month has been such as to justify a reconsideration
of the opinions which have been so generally enter-
tained in relation to the inflation of the currency.
The increased demand for money which is the result
of the diminution of individual credits may not have
been fully estimated, and it may turn out that
no considerable reduction of paper circulation will
be needed for the restoration of the specie basis.
At all events, the Government will have no interest
in retiring its direct issues if the desired object can
be obtained within a reasonable time without it.
" That any valuable interests are to be perma-
nently injured by a return to specie payments is
hardly credible, and I cannot but think that your
apprehension of disaster to the. manufacturing in-
terests of Pennsylvania as the result of it are with-
out reasonable foundation.

" The general tariff policy is, I apprehend, settled
by our national debt. The discussion of it, there-
fore, at the present time is unnecessary. That the
present tariff needs revision is undoubtedly true.
This revision it will receive by the commission which
is to be appointed to revise the revenue laws, from
whose labours I anticipate the best results.
" The necessities of the Government will give to
our manufacturing interests all the protection they
will require to shield them from destructive foreign
competition ; and before the close of the present
Administration I confidently expect to see these in-
terests more prosperous than they ever have been.
What recommendations I shall make to Congress
upon the tariff question I am not now prepared to
say. I expect to be able to endorse the bill that
shall be prepared by the :commission, and shall be
disappointed if this bill does not harmonise our
foreign and internal duties, and produce a revenue
which shall be sufficient to meet the interest on the
public debt, and gradually reduce the principal
without being oppressive to the people.
"In conclusion, permit me to say that I see no
cause for discouragement in the present or prospec-
tive condition of the country. Our national debt
is large, but our national resources are sufficient to
carry it without embarrassment. While it would
be foolish to call it a national blessing, it may be so
managed as not to be a national calamity, and in
the worst view that can be taken of it it is a small
matter in comparison with the inestimable value of
the Union, in the maintenance of which it has been
created.—l am, very truly yours,

"H. M'CuLLocH
Mr. H. C. Carey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief will
hold a levee at 1 o'clock on Wednesday, the 3d May.
Further experiments with reference to the trans-
portation of troops and horses by railway were
made at the Farnborough-station, on the South-
Western line, on Friday, in the presence of Lieut.-
Gen. Sir J. L. Pennefather, K.C.8., commanding
the division at Aldershot; Colonel Herbert,
Assist.-Quartermaster-Gen. ; Major-Gen. Hodge,
commanding the Cavalry Brigade ; Col. Phill-
potts, C. 8., commanding the Royal Horse Artil-
lery, and other officers. The experiments were
under the direction of Col. Herbert, and on this
occasion were carried out by D and F troops of the
Royal Dragoons, under the command of Col. Rad-
ford. Thirty-six men of the D and 32 of the F
troop, with a corresponding number of horses of
each troop, were engaged, the first object being to
ascertain tha time which would be occupied in trans-
! ferring the men and horses to the train completely
equipped for service. On arriving at the railway
station the men dismounted, relieved the horses
of their bridles, removed the carbines, and
divested themselves of their accoutrements. They
then led their horses to the trucks and re-
versed the position of the animals, after which
they resumed their accoutrements, and took
their places in the carriages. On leaving the
train they again divested themselves of their
accoutrements and led the horses from the trucks.
This accomplished, they re-armed, mounted, and
formed line. The same operations were then re-
peated, with the exception of reversing the horses
in the trucks. Twelve horses were transferred to
two trucks and the men seated in the carriages in
ten minutes, but the trial was unfavourable in some
respects, and • under ordinary circumstances would
be accomplished in less time. The next experiment
was with a view of ascertaining the time which
would be occupied by the cavalry in having the
train completely equipped and ready for service.
This was accomplished in six minutes by the F troop
and seven minutes by the D troop, who were under
a slight disadvantage by being further removed from
their horses. The experiments, which were consi-
dered very satisfactory, concluded with the weigh-
ing of an average trooper and horse. Their com-
bined weight was ascertained to be 13icwt.
Nos. 22 and 24 troops of the Military Train will
arrive at Aldershot from Liverpool on Saturday next.
The 74th Highlanders will arrive at the camp at
Aldershot early next month, from Edinburgh, and
will be quartered in the South Camp.
The headquarters and five companies of the 69th
(South Lincolnshire) Regiment, under the command
of Colonel Mackirdy, arrived on the North Camp,
Aldershot, yesterday evening, from Gosport.
The 83d Regiment, under the command of Lieut.
Col. Hankey, left the North Camp, Aldershot, last
evening for Sheffield, per special train on the South
Eastern and Midland Railways. Five companies of
the regiment are detached for Weedon, whither
they will proceed this morning. Prior to their leav-
ing the camp the regiment was inspected by Major
General David Russell, C. 8., commanding the 3d
Brigade, who expressed his great satisfaction at the
conduct and general bearing of the regiment during
its 12 months' stay in the camp. The strength of the
seven companies for Sheffield is as follows :-26
officers, 37 sergeants, 442 rank and file, 14 drum-
mers, 51 women, and 61 children. The journey was
to be broken at Warwick for one hour for refresh

ments. The strength of the Weedon detachment is
as follows :—Major Venables in command, 11
officers, 15 sergeants, 271 rank and file, 9 drum-
mers, 34 women, 36 children; and one horse.
The members of the Ordnance Select Committee
of Woolwich Arsenal, jcomprising Capt. L. G.
Heath, C. 8., RN., vice-president ; Col. C. Hogge,
R.A., C. 8., Col. Younghusband, RA., F.R.S. ;
Lieut.-Col. T. L. J. Gallwey, R.E. ; Lieut.-Col. R.
S. Baynes, Capt. H. Heyman, R.A., secretary, and
Capt. K. W. Haig, assistant-secretary, assembled
at the proof butt in the Plumstead Marsh yesterday
morning, at 11 o'clock, and resumed the preliminary
test to which the experimental wrought-iron gun
carriage and slide made after the designs of Lieut.-
Col. Shaw, are ordered to be subjected. The car-

riage was mounted, as on the former occasion, with
the " Big Will," from which ten rounds were fired
in succession. The first eight consisted of car-
tridges of 601 b. of powder and 5141 b. shot, and the
last two charges were increased to 701 b. of powder
and 5591 b. shot. The firing was witnessed by a
large number of Generals and other officers. After
each round the carriage and appurtenances were
carefully examined and searched, with a view of de-
tecting any signs of weakness or defect, and each
time with the most favourable results. Notwitstand-
ing the terrible shock occasioned by the heavy
charges, the carriage resisted with admirable effect.

The average amount of recoil was found to be 4ft.

Tin. in the eight rounds, and sft. 11iin. with the
increased charges. The carriage and gun will be

forthwith forwarded to Shoeburyness, to complete
the destined trial at an elevated range.

The crew of the screw steamship Revenge, 73,

Capt. the Hon. F. A. C. Foley, at Devonport, will
probably be paid off on Wednesday, and she will be
placed among the steam reserve in Ilamoaze.
Instructions have been received at the office of
the Lieut.-Governor of Portsmouth from the Horse
Guards, directing that a trial shall be made of Com-
mander Fred. Warren's cookingpot, with a view to
ascertain its suitability for cooking the rations of
men in barracks, and also on active service in the
field, the Assist.-Quartermaster-Gen. of the district
being also ordered to prepare a report upon the same
for the information of his Royal Highness the
General Commanding-in-Chief. The chief features
of this new system of cooking and the merits claimed
for it by its inventor are :-1. That it saves time,
waste, and trouble. 2. That the meat is cooked in
its own juices, and without immersion-or contact
with water, as in the ordinary form 'of boiling ; 3.
That a saving of 3oz. in the pound is effected in the
weight of the meat, and that its nutritive qualities
are 30 per cent. higher than those of meat cooked
in the ordinary way. 4. That no attention is re-
quired beyond allowing the time for the pot to re-
main on the fire, and that, therefore, the men's
dinners cannot be spoiled by any want of attention
from the cook. Commander Warren's ccoking pot
resembles in its arrangement, more than anything
else we know of, a carpenter's glue-pot. It consists
of a pot within a pot, the outer pot being fitted
with a lifting flange to allow of the escape of surplus
steam.

The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Lieut. G. S. Brown, to the Cam-
bridge ; F. Inglis, master, J. Sanders, chief engi-
neer, and J. Hopwood, assistant engineer, to the
Asia, for the Minotaur ; R. Widdecombe, assist.-
engineer, to the Indus, for the Scorpion ; W. Stan-
ton, master, to the Seringapatam ; Geo. Roe, engi-
neer, to the Frederick William ; F. G. Julian, en- •
gineer, to the Indus, as supernumerary ; W. P.
Guyer, engineer, to the Donegal, for the tenders ;
and John Wood, assistant-engineer, to the Indus,
for hospital treatment.

titure.

These are serious defects, and yet the Admiralty or-
dered one of these galleys to be placed on board the
Edgar prior to her sailing for Lisbon, As a contrast
to this it is but fair to notice the galley placed by.
the Admiralty orders on board theDukeof Welling-
ton training ship on the plan patented by Mr. Grant,
superintending storekeeper of the Royal Clarence
Victualling-yard, Gosport. This galley has proved
a perfect success, both in point of time occupied in
cooking and in consumption of fuel. Since it has
been placed on board upwards of 40,000 rations of
soft bread have been baked by it for the use of the
crew. Its average daily consumption of fuel is less
than scwt. With these facts it is almost inexpli-
cable why the Admiralty do not generally adopt
it in her Majesty's ships. To return more im-
mediately to the docks : No. 9, 250 feet in length,
is used as a breaking-up dock, and now contains
the Alfred, late a target and experimental firing
ship for the gunnery ship Excellent. The Alfred was
the first vessel made use of in England as a target-
ship for testing guns and armour-plates, and during
the time she has been breaking up in No. 9 not only
have pieces of iron and steel of all forms and sizes
been removed from her frame, but several live shells
have been found embedded in her frame, and have
necessarily been removed with every care and re-
turned to the gunnery ship Excellent. No. 10 dock
contains the new paddle despatch vessel Helicon,
preparing for her trial and commission. No. 11 is
a dock still in the hands of the contractors and
about four-fifths completed, and, therefore, will be
for some time to come yet unavailable for service.
The building slipways of the yard, as we have already
observed, are vacant, the last vessel launched from
them being the Helicon, now fitting for commission
in No. 10 dock. Alongside the jetties of the yard
are lashed the Minotaur, Valiant, Warrior, Salamis,
Osborne, Lightning, and America target-ship.
The Minotaur is our latest iron frigate from the
Thames, and handsome as she undoubtedly is in her
hull, she is certainly unsurpassed for ugliness in her
spars and rigging aloft, where her five masts, 12
crossedyards, and compound tracery of rigging seem
to have been designed for the special purpose of
affording a certain mark to an enemy's shot in action
and an equal certainty of fouling the screw of the
ship when knocked away and overboard. It is un-
derstood that the Admiralty have decided already on
substituting single for her double topsail yards, with
fidded topgallantmasts to her topmasts. The ship
has been sparred and rigged on theoretical, but most
certainly not on practical principles. But two out
the four blades are yet fitted to the Minotaur's
screw, and therefore, for this as well as other reasons,
the ship will have to be placed in dock before she can
make any trial of her speed. She may equal the
Warrior in point of speed, but it is not expected she
can excel her. Three of the 12i- ton sniooth-bore
150-pounder guns for the Minotaur have been landed
at the dockyard by one of the Ordnance steam
transports from Woolwich. The Valiant iron frigate,
a sister vessel to the Hector, is completing alongside
the jetty north of the Minotaur for trial and com-
mission, and ahead of the Valiant lies the renowned
and as yet unsurpassed Warrior, cleared out and
dismasted, and waiting to be taken in hand by the
dockyard authorities for repairs and refit. For this
purpose she will be floated into the steam basin, if
practicable, on the 25th inst. The ship should have
been in the steam basin months since, but the
deepening of the basin's floor rendered the delay
which has thus occurred unavoidable.
Just ahead of the Warrior lies the Salamis, Pre-
paring for foreign service—most probably in the Dar-
danelles, in attendance on the British Ambassador at
the Court of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, but
with her boilers requiring some repairs ; and next
the Salamis lies the Royal paddle yacht Osborne,
Commander John D'Arcy, completing the renova-
tion of deck and cabins for the service of Royalty,
At the extremity of the yard lie the Lightning,

paddle steamer, and the American target ship—the
former waiting a chance to enter the steam basin and
the latter her turn of entrance to the breaking-up
dock, having finished her career as a target-ship.
Off in the harbour, mid-channel, the Royal
paddle-yacht Victoria and Albert is lying at her
moorings, preparing for a voyage to Dublin with
. . _

his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and wait-
ing for entrance to a dock, which she cannot obtain
before the 25th inst. The Octavia frigate, fitted
with experimental engines, lies lashed alongside a
hulk off the dockyard, rigged, armed, and stored in
readiness for commission. She is a Symondite-built

wooden frigate, of 3,161 tons, and 500-horse power

engines, and carries tho bow with which she was

originally constructed. Rumour assigns as her
future captain, Captain M. Connolly, some time
since commanding the Sutlej, as flag captain to
Rear-Admiral J. Kingcombe. Besides the work thus

going on in the different vessels we have enumerated

in the basins, docks, and alongside the jetties of
Portsmouth dockyard, there is certainly other
going on in generally unnoticed places in the
nooks and by-ways of the Master-Shipwright's
department, in the foundries, the smithery, the
mast-sheds, the boat-houses, and a score of other

places ; but it is an indisputable fact that the pro
gress made in this description of work since the in.

troduction of iron in a greater extent in a ship's con-
struction hag fallen in the proportionate ratio in
which iron has superseded wood. In the steam

factory department the organisation is more perfect
than in any other department of the yard, and the
results are necessarily the more satisfactory ; and
even the casual visitor walks through its long vista
of workshops, where he sees every inch of space oc-
cupied by labouring machinery and its attendants,
with far greater satisfaction than he does past the
basins, docks, and wharves or jetties, with their
forced inactivity and the evident languor of mind
and body they evidently impress upon all who ap-
proach them.

Portsmouth dockyard possesses a collection of
models of ships from a very early date, and a goodly
and most interesting collection of records ; but even

.n these matters no care has been taken for the

Ships of ancient lineage are shown in side

models, but without name or date of build ; for no
record has been kept until late years of the doings of
past naval architects in the mould loft, nor has any
record been kept or books or documents of past
times. As with the docks and basins, so it has been
with all things, besides, in the yard, and the ancient
motto inscribed over its gate vas doubtless " Rest
and be thankful."

APhIEHENSION OF A SUSPECTED MURDERER.--At
an early hour on Friday morning a telegram was re-
ceived in Glasgow from the chief constable of St. Helen's,
a town about 12 miles from Liverpool, which intimated
that a young man named James Dickenson, a bottlemaker,
aged about 22, had left Liverpool on Thursday by the
Liverpool and Glasgow steamer Princess Royal, and that
he was wanted on the charge of having caused the death
of a young man named Edward Rowson, by drowning. De-
tective Donnelly and Sergeant Muir were at once despatched
to await the arrival of the steamer. So soon as the Princess
Royal was moored alongside the quay, Donelly went
aboard, and among the crowd of passengers he speedily
espied his man, who was standing in the centre of a group
in the forecastle of the ship. Upon going up to him and
asking if his name was " Campbell," the prisoner replied
that it was not, and stated that he came from St. Helen's
near Liverpool. Upon being informed of the nature of the
charge which was laid against him, he became greatly
agitated, but declared his innocence of the crime. He sub-
sequently stated, however, when being searched at the
police-station, that he was in company with the deceased
Edward Rowson on the night he was drowned, and that
they had both been drinking to excess. After three o'clock
in the morning, the prisoner and deceased were going home
together, when the prisoner left his companion for a few
minutes for a private purpose ; and that, upon his return
to the spot where he had left Rowson, he found that he
was gone. Ho continued to shout his name for some time,
but receiving no answer, he went home. The prisoner is a
light-built young man, and has a frank, honest countenance.
A telegram was immediately despatched to inform the
authorities at St. Helen's of the capture.—North British

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