The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-12 00:00:00

issued an address to their brethren throughout the
State, advising them not to take it. Every subject
of discussion in Missouri is eclipsed by this, and we
find the entire religious community arrayed against
the State Government. 'The prudent Republicans
regret very much that a Constitution should have
been forced upon the people by bayonets that was
repugnant to the feelings of all but a handful of
Radicals. The Governor says he will enforce the
oath, and defiances are flung at him from nearly
every pulpit in the State. The clergy compare
themselves to :the martyrs of the Church in the
time of James 11., and their flocks rally around
them with intense enthusiasm. In a very few days
the limit of time within which the oath must be
taken will expire, and then all clergymen who have
not taken it will be dragged from their altars by the
military and deprived of the right of preaching. The
follies of our sad war are all united in this greatest
folly, which threatens Missouri with a renewal of
strife.
We have some additional information about cotton.
The receipts at New Orleans show a falling off as
compared with the early part of August, and the
price is somewhat stiffened. Some people consider
this an ',indication that the old stock is being ex-
hausted. Bales of this year's crop are making their
appearance at New Orleans and Mobile, but no reli-
able estimates of the amount of the crop have yet
been published. On August 24th the ship Francis
B. Cutting cleared from Mobile for Liverpool with
a cargo of $460,000 value, chiefly cotton. This is
is the first clearance for Europe from any Southern
port since the close of the war. The Treasury De-
partment has not lately published any cotton esti-
mates, and devotes itself solely to finance. The Sec-
retary considers that he will be able to get through
without difficulty until the meeting of Congress, as
the receipts from customs and internal revenue are
much greater than were anticipated. The Govern-
ment loans maturing before the end of the year will
not be taken up, so that the only extraordinary de-
mand upon the Treasury will be for certificates of
indebtedness, of which $50,000,000 mature before
October 1. At present very few new certificates
are issued. The internal revenue receipts for the
quarter ending October 1 will be $65,000,000. In
order to prepare for the troubles that may arise
after Congress meets, the Secretary is about to ne-
gotiate a long loan, for which compound interest
notes and certificates of indebtedness will be re-
ceived. The bonds will have 40 years to run, and
the Secretary wishes to withdraw as many legal
tenders from circulation in subscriptions for them as
he can. The amount of the loan about being put
upon the market will not exceed $50,000,000, how-
ever. The New York Evening Stock and Gold
Exchange has been closed in deference to the strong
expression of popular opinion. It was devoted to
stock and gold gambling, and was under a ban as
soon as the Ketchum frauds were discovered. Ket-
chum himself was arrested on Aug. 26, having never
been out of New York since his sudden disappear-
ance. Although the losses he has occasioned by his
forgeries amounted to $4,200,000, it is very doubt-
ful if he will be prosecuted, and soon we may see
the great swindler of the time as free as any of his
victims. Where rich folk are concerned American
law is sometimes addicted to strange freaks.
Strong efforts are being made to mitigate the
condition of both Jefferson Davis and Alexander H.
Stephens. Petitions for the pardon of Mr. Davis
are being signed in all parts of the South and for-
warded to Washington. Among the principal ones
is a memorial from 4,000 ladies of Mississippi, and
another from a large number of the ladies of Savan-
nah. It is very seldom now that we hear tirades
against Mr. Davis, and his pardon is not an impro-
bability. For the pardon and release of Mr. Stephens
direct personal intercession is made at Washington,
and the President listens patiently to all petitions in
his behalf. His brother, Linton Stephens, is in
Washington, and, together with many friends from
New York and Boston, is interceding for the release
of the distinguished Georgian. As the rigours of his
imprisonment have been much mitigated since peo-
ple have taken interest in his behalf, an early par-
don is anticipated. The President, ho xever, is very
chary of his pardons. He refuses, so the story
goes, to pardon Southern clergymen, " because
they fanned the flame of secession," and civil officers
because they did not fight ; every one has respect
for soldiers, none for those who stay at home ;" and
when the pardon of soldiers is asked for he
refuses without assigning any cause. The principal
pardons granted have been of those worth over
$20,000, and this fact is so well known that on
the 26th of August, among the throng of visitors
at the White House seeking an interview with the
President, was one who had a letter from a distin-
guished politician to the following effect :—" The
bearer is a poor man, not possessed of the $5OO which
he understands are necessary to obtain a pardon,
and he trusts to the generosity of the President to
grant it." On reading this the president became ex-
ceedingly angry, denounced it as an insult and an

outrage, and ordered the man to be shown the door.

Some excitement has been created in Virginia among
the wealthy men who have produced pardons by
General Terry causing Alexander Dudley, a citizen
recently pardoned, to surrender his pardon. No
cause is given, but bribery is supposed to be the
reason, and the others who have been pardoned are
fearful of losing their documents. Dudley is one of
the wealthiest men in Virginia, and is president of
the Richmond and York River Railroad, of which
he owns nearly all the stock.
The Freedmen's Bureau at New Orleans has re-
cently confiscated the lands of several Confederates
for the benefit of the negroes. Some of the owners
having been pardoned, the Bureau at Washington
issued a circular of instructions directing the officers
at New Orleans to retain their lands. The Presi-
dent, however, annulled the circular, and the lands
will be restored ; and as the seizure of the estates of

pardoned Confederates has been attempted in Ten-
nessee, no doubt the President will follow the same

course there. The President has laid down the rule

that where a pardon is granted it secures the per-
son's right to all his property, and already in more
than one case the officiousness of under-strappers
in the South who attempted to give trouble in
this matter has been rebuked. In several parts of
the country the Freedmen's Bureau is publishing
orders designating the abandoned plantations that

have been taken possession of for the benefit of the

negroes. In Louisiana a recent circular announces

the seizure of nearly 25,000 acres, and the lease of

various portions to white and black tenants. In
Virginia 17,000 acres in the countries bordering on
the York and James Rivers have been similarly
seized ; and in both States these orders are but the
beginning of a series that will confiscate hundreds
of thousands of acres. In South Carolina a negro
insurrection is apprehended. All the blacks are to

be liberated on January 1, and will then have to

shift for themselves.

A letter from that quarter

says :--

"As all the negroes are to be turned loose upon the
country on the Ist day of January next, the question is,
How are they to live ? Poor creatures ! their doom is

sealed ; they or the white race must perish—which will it
be ? Will the North stand by and see their own flesh and
blood perish at the hands of the negroes ? We are sure they
are preparing for the crisis. They are arming themselves
now,
and I think they have more weapons than the whites."
I n order to prepare the negroes for their condition
after the Ist of January, General Saxton has issued
what are styled ticmiel‘Lerlytehven matrimonial command-
ments, " 'which re
blacks, and threaten all sorts akrorfi marriage
things rite
if amongthey
a there
have at
sdoicffieertyenist
not obeyed.
times had a half-dozen husbaandss
General
considerably mixed up in South Coarrwli'ves'
Saxton hopes to unravel it by militarlynao.rd sipid
hence the " matrimonial commandments,,, 11
in
number, which have been the joke of the Week.
For some time past the President has had many
applications from distinguished Confederates asking
permission to go abroad. After considering the
subject for some time, he has finally issued an order

which states that paroled Confederate prisoners

against whom no special charges are pending will be
furnished with passports to go abroad, upon condi-

tion that the applicants do not return to the United

States without the permission of the President.
Confederates not in the army must make applica-
tion for passports, " which will be disposed of ac-
cording to the merits of the several cases." It is re-
ported that Generals Lee, Beauregard, • and Taylor
will avail themselves of the privilege of going abroad,