The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-14 00:00:00

The Headless Horseman.

Mayne Reid. Chapman and Hall.
A Strange Tale -of Texas, the author of " The
Scalp Hunters" calls this newly-commenced sixpenny
monthly serial story of " The Headless Horseman."
And it certainly promises to prove a stranger story
even than The Strange Story of Sir Bulwer Lytton !
Looking at the mere cover of the tale, as it has been
been touched into startling terror by the pencil of
the draughtsman and the steel cutter of the wood-
engraver—one seems to recognise that wild
moonlit waste of the Texan prairie—what ?
Well, Somebody's Nightmare ! Literally, Some
Body's Nightmare ! The Headless Horseman
awfully mounted upon his destrier—sitting bolt up-
right in the saddle—headless ! The meaning of the
spectral vision is as yet, of course, incomprehensible.
Onelean only repeat that it is surely—Some-body's
Nightmare ! On that wild waste of the prairie it is
that—the Headless Horseman having just flitted
momentarily across the scene in the Prologue
r and then vanished— there it is in the
midst of that vast solitude of the desolate
prairie of Texas that the principal characters of the
story here commenced, are introduced to the
reader. And, backed as they are, simply, as one
may say, by the sky, they are brought
out to view all the more vividly by reason
of there being no background whatever. We look
forward pleasurably to a little better acquaintance
with Maurice Gerald, the Mustanger, the hero of the
tale, and with the heroine of it, Louise Poindexter.

Her Majesty forwarded yesterday, through
Sir Charles Phipps, an annual subscription of £5O to the
Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
The three ships forming the Turkish squadron
under command of Admiral Edhem Pacha left Ply-
mouth Sound on Sunday morning for Constanti-
nople. They will call in the Tagus for fuel, of
which the flagship, the Kossova, consumes large
quantities. While in Plymouth this ship was sup-
plied with an Armstrong gun from the Royal Arse-
nal at Devonport, •

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

SPAIN.

MADRID, MARCH 13.

The Finance Committee of the Congress have
decided that 25 per cent. of the proceeds of the
sale of the Crown domains shall be remitted to the
Queen immediately after the passing of the bill.

FRANCE.

PARIS, MARcH 14.

The Moniteur of this morning publishes the
speeches delivered by M. Schneider and M. Rouher
at the grave of the Duke de Morny yesterday.
M. Rouher reverted in his speech to the words of
the deceased, that liberty could only be established
peacefully by a sincere harmony between the
Sovereign and a moderate Assembly.
Bo URSE, March 13.—The market is rather active,
with an upward tendency in quotations. Threes,
for the Account, are now at 67fr. 75c. Mobilier
were very firm at 872 fr. 50c. In Railway Shares
there is a moderate business doing, without change
in prices. The market was somewhat heavy towards
the close. The following are the last prices :

4i per Cents 94 GO
Do. end month —

3 per Cents. 67 75
Do. end month 67 75

Credit Mobilier ... 871 25

Do. end month B6B 75
Bank Shares 3502 50

Credit Foncier 1285
Roman 73 50

Italian Loan 64 75
Do. end month 64 75

RAIL'

Ditto Threes —
New Mexican

Russian —

Austrian
Spanish Threes

}tome-Debt —
Deferred

'ATS.

Cash. Acct.
Orleans
Northern lOl7 50 ... 1016 25
Lyons and Mediterranean 950 ... 950
Southern 5BO ... 580
Western 542 50 ...
..7.

Eastern , 522 50 ... 522 50
Sardinian 305 ... 303 75
Austrian
Lombard 545 ... 547 50
North of Spain 298 75 ... 298 75
Saragossa 370 ...
Ditto to Barcelona 165 ...

PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, March 11.

" We are in possession," says the Prase, "of
interesting details as to the contents of the Austrian
answer to the Prussian conditions despatch.' The
Prussian demands have received not a merely tem-
porary reply, as most of the communications assume,
but, as we are informed, a definitive answer in the
note that left here on the sth inst. This note, how-
ever, consists of two separate despatches, both bear-
ing the same date and forwarded to Berlin the same
day. The first and shorter despatch declares
in a perfectly friendly yet measured tone,
that Austria is compelled to characterise the
Prussian demands as quite unacceptable, because,
in their present shape, they cannot but appear in-
compatible with the indispensable pastulate of the
establishment of a really sovereign new Federal
State as well as with a series of other arrangements
based on Federal right. The despatch expresses
the conviction that King William himself, who has
given so many brilliant proofs of undeviating Fede-
ral fidelity, will be the more disposed to appreciate
the reasons which have rendered it the duty of Aus-
tria to decline compliance, because that Power is
now, as preViously, ready to recognise the interests
of Prussia to the fullest extent inside the strict limits
of Federal right, and to extend the most compre-
hensive and willing consideration to further proposals
upon that basis. The second despatch contains the
detailed explanation of the motives for refusal, and,
till puttin g forward Federal right, adduces reasons
for the impossibility of complying with each sepa-
rate demand.

" We doubt considerably," is the comment of the
Presse, " whether this retort, cleverly drawn up as
it must be admitted to be, will be received with dis-
favour in Berlin. It will be said in that capital that
if nothing is to come of the demands made in the
Prussian despatch of Feb. 23, then beyond all
means let nothing come. No choice would then
remain save annexation, as in the interests of
Germany' Prussia must take up a firm position in
the Duchies. All the world knows that the Crown
lawyers axe seeing to the removal of legal obstacles
to annexation."

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Feb. 28.

While the Northern journals of all shades of po-
litical opinion, with one exception, are rejoicing at
the surrender of Charleston and Wilmington, and
expatiating triumphantly on what they describe as
the " strong Union sentiment" displayed by the few
poor white people and infirm negroes left behind in
the desolate streets to receive the conquerors, a veil
has been suddenly drawn over movements of far
more vital importance. General Sherman is plung-
ing through the Carolinas at the head of 50,000
men, cut off from all communication with his Go-
vernment, except such as he hopes to establish by
force of victory ; and the Southern press has been
officially requested by General Lee to convey to the
public no whisper or hint of his movements, lest the
enemy should derive advantage, and be enabled in
case of his weakness, to send him reinforcements,
or provide the means for his escape. The command
has been implicitly obeyed, and thick darkness
shrouds all the latest movements of the adventurous
invader. All that is known of Sherman in the North
is that, after taking possession of Columbia, Beau-
regard retreating before him, he had advanced on
the road to Charlotte, and that a greater soldier
than Beauregard had been appointed by Gen. Lee
to oppose his future progress. It was held in the
South, and is admitted in the North, that the long
series of reverses which have culminated in the loss
of the Atlantic cities originated in the unfortunate
supercession of General Joseph E. Johnstone by
General Hood. The restoration of General John-
ston, who is thus brought face to face with his old
opponent, is consequently confessed in the North as
tending to equalise the conditions of the struggle,
and to render the task before General Sherman
much more arduous and protracted than it would
have been if he had to deal with an engineer Gene-
ral such as Beauregard, or a mere fighter such as

Hood. The probability is that these well matched
antagonists will meet in decisive battle, and that the
first news of the result will be received from the
victor. _ • , _

The situation is critical both for the North 'and
South. Neither of them can suffer a severe reverse
without perilous consequences. The defeat of Sher-
man would retrieve all the recent ill fortune of the
Confederacy and inspire the people with renewed
hope and energy; while it would cool Northern en-
thusiasm, or replace it by despondency, such as that
of August last, when the Democratic Convention at
Chicago pronounced the war to be a failure, and
looked for no greater virtue in a Presidential candi-
date than an earnest desire of peace and a strong de-
termination to concede it. On the other hand, the
defeat of Johnstone would enable Sherman to effect a
junction with Grant on the Appotomax, and compel
the surrender of Petersburg and Richmond, thus re-
ducing the force of the Confederacy to the sole army
of Gen. Lee, and dealing on the South the heaviest
blow and sorest discouragement, next to absolute
ruin and subjugation, that it would be possible to
inflict.

Mr. Hugh M'Culloch has accepted the Secretary-
ship of the Treasury. In the case of any other man
the appointment would have excited but little curio-
sity. As Mr. Fessenden was a dilution of Mr. Chase,
the new Secretary would have been looked upon as a
dilution of Mr. Fessenclon. But Mr. M'Culloch
enters upon the scene under different auspices. He
is, what few Americans are, a sound political econo-
mist. He has studied the philosophy and theory as
well as the practice of finance. To read his letters
and treatises any one who did not know that he was
an American might imagine he was an Englishman
or a Scotchman who had never embraced the delusion
so prevalent on this side the Atlantic, that as the re-
sources of America are not half developed it is com-
petent to American statesmen to run riot in wild ex-
periment, and set at defiance the dearly bought expe-
rience of older communities. Mr. M'Culloch is, as
far as his published opinions testify, a worthy sue-

cessor of Adam Smith, Mill, Ricardo, and his quasi
namesake, the late J. R. M'Culloch, and might,

from the doctrines he has enforced, be assumed to
have imbibed financial wisdom from the lips of the
late Sir Robert Peel, and to have learnt the prin-
ciples of Free Trade at the feet of Richard Cobden.
He thus expresses himself on the subject of paper

money :—" What is needed in a paper circulating
medium is that it should be convertible into coin ;

that it should be sufficient in amouut to e,nswer

the purposes of legitimate business , that it should
not, on the one hand, by being over-issued, encour-
age extravagance and speculation, and give an arti-
ficial and unreliable value to property ; nor, on the
other hand, by being reduced below the proper
standard, interrupt business and unsettle values. It
should be supplied to just the extent of •the demands
of a healthy trade. It should be increased as the
regular business of the country may require its in-
crease, and be diminished as the proper demand for
it is diminished." The following are his reasons
why a Government should not issue its own paper
and call it money, and why a Government should
not act as the banker of the nation :—" Govern-
ments should not be bankers. None has existed
which could be safely trusted with the privilege of
permanently issuing its own notes as money. Under
popular institutions like ours no m ore dangerous,
no more corrupting power could be lodged in the
hands of the party in possession.of the Government,
none more perilous to official probity and free elec-
tions. Give to a party dominant in the Legislative
and Executive branches of the Government the au-
thority of issuing paper money for the purpose of
furnishing the country with its currency, subject as
it would be to no restraint but its own pleasure, and
what guarantee would there be that this authority
would be honestly and judiciously used? If there
were no risk in the preparation of the notes, and
checks were provided to make fraudulent issues an
impossibility, the power of issuing Government pro-
mises as a circulating medium is too dangerous a
one to be conferred • upon AtY party, except
under extraordinary circumstances." And while
he lays down with such force the principles upon
which he would act, and on which it must be
supposed he will act to the extent of, his
power,the thus in equally emphatic terms describes
the mischief already done by his predecessors •
The expenditures of the Government have created
a great expansion of currency and of prices. There
would have undoubtedly been an expansion, in a less
degree it is true, but still an expansion, if the war
had been carried on upon a specie basis. Prices of
all the necessaries of life as well as luxuries, and of
everything which the Government must purchase in
the prosecution of the war, are enormously high,
and the penalty is yet to be paid for the inflation, in
increased taxation and the ruin which must over-
whelm the thousands who believe, and act upon the
belief, that the apparent prosperity of the country is
real, and is not to be interrupted. Fortunate will
the country be if the war can be closed and prices
reduced to former standards without a collapse,
which will as greatly excel in the extent of its disas-
ter that which occurred at the close of the last war
with England as the present war excels that in
costliness and magnitude."
In his letter of instructions to the promoters and
founders of the new National Banks, established by
Mr. Chase with the avowed object of driving all the
old State Banks out of existence, he recurs to this
theme in the following words :—" Bear constantly
in mind, although the loyal States appear superfi-
cially to be in a prosperous condition, that such is
not the fact ; that while the Government is engaged
in the suppression of a rebellion of unexampled
fierceness and magnitude, and is constantly draining
the country of its labouring and producing popula-
tion, and diverting its mechanical industry from
works of permanent value to the construction of im-

plements of warfare—while cities are crowded and
the country is to the same extent depleted, and
waste and extravagance prevail as they never before

prevailed in the United States, the nation, whatever
may be the external indications, is not prospering.
The war in which we are involved is a stern ne-
cessity, and must be prosecuted for the preserva-
tion of the Government, no matter what may
be its cost ; but the country will unquestionably
be the poorer every day it is continued. The
seeming prosperity of the loyal States is owing
mainly to the large expenditure of the Govern-
ment, and the redundant currency which these
expenditures seem to render necessary. Keep these
facts constantly in mind, and manage the affairs of
your respective banks with a perfect consciousness
that the apparent prosperity of the country will be
proved to be unreal when the war is closed, if not
before ; and be prepared, by careful management
of the trust committed to you, to help to save the
nation from a financial collapse, instead of lending
your influence to make it more certain and more
severe."

These examples will show the British and Euro-
pean public what ;manner of man he is to whom
Mr. Lincoln has intrusted the management of the
finances at this time of peril. That he will restrict,
as far as practicable, the issues of incontrovertible
paper money, and that he will urge upon Congress
the necessity of a far better and more productive
system of taxation than has yet been dreamt of by
the
,assembled wisdom of that body, is, with the
views he entertains, as nearly certain as any-
thing human can be. But the old question will
recur, if the war continue for twelve months more—
how are the Army and Navy to be paid, unless by
fresh loans, or by fresh greenbacks ? Mr. M'Culloch
knows, if Mr. Lincoln and the American people do
not, that the North cannot afford the expenses of
the war either in men or in money ; that the sooner
it stops the better ; and.that, stop when it will,
there will come the day of reckoning. No states-
manship can avert the crash, though it is possible,
if Mr. C'Culloch be as bold and successful in en-
forcing his views as he is correct in expressing them,
that the inevitable shock may under his manage-
ment be less calamitous than it might have been
under the blind guidance of Mr. Chase or of Mr.
Fesseuden.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GRAND TRUNK OF CANADA.

The traffic receipts on this company's lines for the week
ending Feb. 18, amounted, for local passengers, to £4,188,
for foreign passengers to £535, for mails, &c., to £642, for
local freight and live stock to £11,251, and for foreign
freight and live stock to £l,96s—toial, on 1,377 miles of
railway, £18,581, and for the corresponding week of last
year to £16,483 on 1,335 miles of railway, showing an in-
crease of £2,098. The above traffic, both in 1864 and 1865,
was partially interrupted by severe weather.