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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—As the meeting of Congress approaches,
she noise of battle begins to be heard. The terms

on which rebellious States may be re-admitted into
the Union—supposing, indeed, that they have ever

ceased to be members of it,—the test oath to be
exacted from senators and representatives, the ex-

tension of the suffrage to negroes within the Federal

district of Columbia, are so many topics of discus-
sion which must give rise to animated and even
fierce contention. But there is another question,

which is said to transcend all these in the interest

it excites. The Constitution is an object of al-
most idolatrous worship in the States, and motions
for its amendment might be supposed to be of the

utmost importance; but the Constitution is, after
all, a means to an end. Laws are framed in order
that men may live, but money is, perhaps, a greater
necessity than law. It would seem that the finances
of the Union will be hotly debated even before it is
decided what the Union is. Financial questions
come home to men's business and bosoms. Every-
body is interested in knowing what taxes he will
have to pay, and just at present financial questions
in Americaa:mean much more than this. The
Secretary of the Treasury desires to restore the
circulation to a specie basis, and his policy will be
pressed upon Congress for acceptance. There can
be little doubt of its wisdom, but the consequences
it will involve are too weighty to allow of its adop-
tion without determined opposition. What incon-
trovertible paper was first issued, every creditor found
his property and every debtor found the burden of
his indebtedness suddenly diminished, the wealth of
persons in possession of fixed incomes was reduced,
and fortunes were made and lost at a stroke. A

recurrence to specie payments must simply reverse
the course of these disorders. Henceforth creditors
who lent greenbacks will have to be repaid in gold,
contractors will reap the benefit of a rise in the value
of money, and gold-jobbers will find their occupation
gone. Mr. M'Culloch may, and we hope he will, find
the house ready to support him ; but he is prepared
for a storm, and would probably feel happier if he
were allowed to defend his own proposals in Con-

gress itself, instead of being forced to intrust that
office to a deputy. The financial system of the
United States is, in. truth, in such a condition that

,
the only question which ought to arise about it is
what should be done first. The Government has

created an enormous debt, and a very great portion
of the debt was created by the issue of inconvertible
paper. Part of this paper currency has been already
redeemed and withdrawn from circulation, but it is
calculated that even if affairs continue as at present
the amount afloat at the end of the financial year
will be $890,000,000, or £178,000,000. There is, in-
deed, one advantage connected with a debt existing
in this form—that no interest is paid on it ; and this

is an advantage that every one can appreciate. It is
obvious that if the whole amount were called in and
funded there would be an additional annual burden
on the Treasury of at least 12 or 13 millions sterling
in the shape of interest. Every American citizen can
understand so much. The evils attendant on an in-

Hated currency are, unhappily, not equally apparent,
though in the opinion of all competent thinkers it is
certain that they more than counterbalance the ap-
parent gain. A currency based on nothing but the
national credit puts the Treasury at a disadvantage
in every operation it has to undertake, throws the
markets of the States out of relation with the rest of

the world, introduces in all bargains an element of
chance which unsettles the stability of commercial
affairs, besides encouraging a spirit of gambling
fatal to regular industry. If an inconvertible paper
currency were made permanent, the inhabitants of
the States would lose many times more than the
amount they seem to gain by escaping the payment
of interest, and Mr. M'Culloch follows a sound policy
in contracting his issues and funding Treasury-
notes, so as to restore the equilibrium between paper
and gold. He has, however, another difficulty to
contend with besides the aversion of the country
from an apparent increase in the national expendi-
ture. The income of the past quarter has so much
exceeded his requirements that he has been able to
pay off a considerable number of certificates of in-
debtedness as they matured. In the quarte: end-
ing on the 30th of September the receipts of the
Treasury amounted to nearly £88,000,000, whilst
the expenditure was £75,000,000, so that there was
a balance of thirteen millions applied in the pay-
ment of part of the floating debt. It is, of course,
idle to suppose that either of these figures will be
maintained. The expenditure is already in process
of rapid reduction, and it is estimated that in the
coining year it will not exceed £70,000,000. On
the other hand, a comparatively small proportion of
the income of the last quarter, was drawn from
permanent sources. Out of the eighty-eight mil-
lions, no more than twenty-nine millions came
from the Customs and Inland Revenue. The rest
was derived from temporary and occasional sup-
plies. But it will be seen that a quarter's in-
come of twenty-nine millions represents very much
more than is wanted to provide for the national
expenditure, and would leave an ample balance,
which, if applied in the' redemption of the incon-
vertible currency, would soon bring the price of
gold down to par. This sum of twenty-nine millions
is, however, derived from an infinity of taxes, many
of which do not realise enough to cover the expense
of collecting them, much less to justify their main-
tenance. The Congress put off as long as possible the
imposition of taxes, in the hope that the Southern
rebellion, would be almost immediately quelled, and
when at last it recognised the necessity of raising a
revenue it stove to make up for delay by taxing
everything that came under its control. The wit of
man probably never devised a more pernicious system
of imposts than was thus established. There is no
comparison between the injury which it inflicts on
the people and the produce which it brings to the
exchequer. It is an excise law applied to every
trade, however trifling, yet expressed with a gene-
rality which renders its application confused and
uncertain. The internal taxation of the Union is
thus excessively intricate and minute, and it inter-
feres at every step with the course of manufactures.
When it is remembered that, in addition to this,
the Customs Tariff is framed more for the protec-
tion of the manufacturers of New England and
Pennsylvania than for the raising of revenue, no
surprise can be felt that one of the things which will
be most energetically.demanded of the coming Con-
gress is the revision of the inland revenue laws and
the simplification and reduction of the Tariff. We
know in England the extreme difficulty which a
Chancellor of the Exchequer has in defending a
modest surplus. Some member of Parliament, who
feels his seat shaky, is sure to insist upon the reduc-
tion or abolition of a tax which he thinks unpopular,
and although the private opinion of the house may
be strongly against the motion, the Government is
obliged to give way. Mr. M'Culloch feels this diffi-
culty, but in an aggravated form. He has, or will
have, a considerable surplus, which he wishes to
appropriate to a reduction of the debt ; but the
surplus is derived from a system of taxes
indefensible in many of its parts, and it may
be feared that in the demand for the reform
of the system the surplus will disappear. It
would be, perhaps, too much to hope that Mr.
M'Culloch may be entirely successful in his attempts
to influence Congress, but the course which it is un-
derstood he will endeavour to pursue deserves the
support of every wellwisher to the Union. A resto-
ration of a specie currency is the first great object
of his desires, and he will seek to accomplish it by
a continuous withdrawal from circulation of Trea-
sury-notes, and the rest of the inconvertible cur-
rency, paying off as much as he can, and finding
the remainder. Next to a return to cash payments
he desires a reduction of the national debt, and for
this purpose it is essential that he should retain a
considerable surplus of revenue over expenditure.
A simplification, however, of the taxing system of
the Union is as much a desideratum as the reduc-
tion of the debt. At present the production of
wealth is wantonly impeded, and the industry of
man is hampered, by taxes which are really unpro-
ductive, and by customs' duties which tax the Union
for the benefit of the manufacturers of the older
States. If Mr. M'Culloch will propose the abolition
of unprofitable imposts, and will use his influence to
procure the reduction of duties which are strictly
protective, he may remain in receipt of as large an
income as he enjoys at present, and have the satis-
faction of knowing that the progress of his fellow-
citizens is hindered to as slight an extent as is con-
sistent with the existence of taxes at all. It may
be that even then he and his successors will not
succeed in paying off the whole of the debt in 30
years, as Americans fondly hope, but, if he does not
achieve this success, he will at least have deserved
it.

" THE ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES " ON JAMAICA
AND AMERICA.-It is now nearly four weeks
since the news of the Jamaica massacre first
reached this country. The sensation of horror
with -which the appalling story was first re-
ceived has widened and deepened as the
details flowed in upon us, and we now find society

il• .....".

of a

stirred to its very depths in contemplation o
slaughter perpetrated by English officials, such as,
happily for the British name, has never before been
paralleled in the history of our colonial rule. It
would appear, judging only from the avowals of
Governor Eyre and his subordinates, that a second
Reign of Terror has been inaugurated in Jamaica.
Men, women, and children have been hunted and
shot down like wild beasts, without even the pre-
tence of trial. Respectable and substantial citizens,
editors of newspapers, members of the Legislature,
and Christian ministers, have fallen victims to the
panic-stricken fury of the authorities. Under pre-
tence of justice, ruthless Murder stalks through the
island, leaving a track of desolation and filling the
streets and highways with the bleeding and mangled
bodies of its victims. And so this carnival of blood
and butchery is raging, and the people of this country
look on in helpless horror, while their Government,
with measured and deliberate slowness, announce
their intention of instituting an " inquiry" into the
facts of the case in much the same manner as
they would announce an inquiry into the
causes of the potato blight or the cotton famine.
It is still a disputed question whether or not there
has been any organised " rebellion" in Jamaica.
From all the facts yet before the English people, it
is impossible to believe that the rising of the blacks
was any thing more than a mere riot, alike with-
out premeditation and without any definite object
beyond the rescue of a prisoner who had fallen into
the hands of the authorities. But whether there
has been a rebellion or not, the conduct of Gover-
nor Eyre and his subordinates appears equally
indefensible and equally atrocious. Assuming that
a rebellion did exist, and that the authority of the
Queen was in danger of subversion, we are forcibly
reminded of another, and an infinitely more for-
midable rebellion, which took place not many
years ago. Let us contrast these two rebel-
lions, and the measures taken to suppress them.
Five years ago a portion of the people of the
United States declared their intention to rebel
against the authority of the Federal Government.
The Federal Government, however, was reluctant
to resort to force to put down the conspiracy, and
not until its ships were fired upon, its forts invested,
and its soldiers seized as prisoners by the rebels,
did it appeal to arms for the vindication of its
rightful authority. The rebellion put down after
four years of cruel war, the American Government
now shows itself as moderate in the hour of victory
as it was firm in the hour of danger. Those who
inaugurated the most iniquitous rebellion ever
known in the world's history have been freely
pardoned, and in many cases restored to the rights
of property and citizenship. No punishment has
been meted out to the offenders, and even the arch-
conspirator Jefferson Davis, through whose instru-
mentality the land has been deluged with the blood
of its best and bravest, is now likely to escape with
no severer penalty than a few months' imprison-
ment. The American people and the American
Government have alike shown themselves, through-
out the whole course of the war, firm in the main-
tenance of their rights, but kind and lenient to
those who sought to destroy them. There was no
panic when the great wave of rebellion rolled over
the land, threatening to engulf them—no cry for
indiscriminate vengeance even when their chosen
leader fell. Undismayed in the darkest hour
of national calamity, calm and moderate in
the brightest blaze of victory, these Americans
have taught the nations a lesson of forbearance
mingled with firmness, the moral influence of
which shall not be lost to the remotest time.
The same splendid qualities which the Americans
so conspicuously displayed in their merciful dealings
with rebellion have been again illustrated by the
English people in their reception of the news of
the recent high-handed proceedings in Jamaica.
Throughout the land there is a cry of indignation.
Public meetings are being held in all the large towns,
and the best men of the nation are expressing
their abhorrence of the cruelties practised by the
rulers in Jamaica. The highest intellectual
authority in England, John Stuart Mill,
M.P., has declared that the English people
should express without delay the indignation
due to the lawless and brutal proceedings of
the Jamaica authorities, and their reprobation
of the crimes perpetrated under pretence, or even
without the pretence, of justice, and call for the
condign punishment of the prepetrators. And in
this we see only one more illustration of those
qualities for which the English nation and the
English people have ever been distinguished.
Individuals " clothed with a little brief authority"
may play the tyrant, as Governor Eyre has done,
but their acts of tyranny will never be sanc-
tioned nor excused by the people. We can afford,
if necessary, even to lose Jamaica ; but we
cannot afford to have our good name com-
promised and our national character dishonoured.
The machinery of Government moves slowly.
Those who are shocked and astounded by such
news as that over which all England shudders are
apt to be impatient of the cold and passionless man-
ner in which the Government moves to vindicate its
outraged honour. But we believe there is no in-
disposition on the part of the British Government to
deal with the crimes of the Jamaica officials
as their enormity deserves A moment's hesitation
on their part would be suicidal. There must be a
thorough and complete investigation into all the
circumstances, and that without delay. Nothing
less will satisfy the country—nothing less will save
the Government.