The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-28 00:00:00

all created by the war, and solely represented
by the national credit. This sum is, of course,
exclusive of all the Treasury bonds and loans
and certificates of indebtedness, which stand at
this moment at so high a premium in Wall-
street. Though there is much affected contempt in
certain quarters of the warning v ice that comes
from England by every mail, more uneasiness is felt
on the subject than has yet been publicly expressed
and some of the greatest magnates of Wall-street
shake their heads dubiously whenever it is men-
tioned. It begins, too, to be perceived that Mr.
Chase is taking the first steps, under cover of the
war excitement, to found a National Bank of the
United States—a matter on the expediency and
propriety of which public opinion is still as much
divided as it was in the days of Andrew Jackson.
The excitement in monetary circles has been great
both yesterday and to-day. The last quotations of
gold this afternoon were as high as 51 per cent. pre-
mium, and bankers' bills on London advanced to
116, with the prospect of a greater rise.
The Tax Bil!, which is the only basis on which
this great superstructure of credit is to rest, has
been referred to a Committee of Conference of both
Houses; and, as it is understood that the House of
Representatives does not insist upon the restoration
of the clauses struck out by the superior wisdom of
the Senate, it is the general impression that it will
be finally disposed of in a few days. The items from
which the greatest amount of revenue is anticipated
are the Income and Property Tax, and the duties
upon Spirits, Beer, and Tobacco. By what machi-
nery it is proposed to collect the Income end Pro-
perty Tax—from which between nine and ten mil-
lions sterling are reckoned upon ; or whether the
collectors are to be appointed by the Federal Go-
vernmeni, or by that of the several States of the
Union, is not very clearly stated. But no one seems
to anticipate the slightest difficulty in the matter.
" We have taught the nations of Europe how to
build iron-clad war-ships and how to conduct a
great war. We are giving them new notions every
day. We shall next show them a scheme of finance
that will astonish them, and, better than all, we
shall force them to contribute to the support
of the war which the English aristocracy origi-
nated among us—by a small tax upon cotton."
This is the tone of public feeling just now—some-
thing like the bravery of a man with the toothache
on his way to the dentist's. Perhaps, when he has
crossed the threshold of the operator and caught
his first glimpse of the ruthless forceps, his courage
may not be quite so rampant.
The proposed new tariff of Customs' duties awaits
the passage of the Tax Bill, and as the Government
expects to raise a revenue of at least 100,000,000
dols. from that source alone, the world of trade,
especially the English, will be curious to see by
what means it is proposed to levy it. According to
all present indication, the new tariff will be the
Morrill Tariff—tightened and exasperated against
the trade of the world—for the supposed advantage
of the manufacturers of New England.
In the meantime, as it is thought desirable that
everybody should have a fair start after the war is
over, when there will be unlimited happiness, un-
limited credit, and unlimited " green backs," or
other paper-money, there is considerable anxiety
for the passage of a Bankruptcy Bill. Two such
measures are before Congress, but make no pro-
gress. Many petitions in favour of Mr. Conkling's,
and afterwards of Mr. Porter's Bill, have been pre-
sented from the principal commercial cities of the
North, and especially from New York. From a
statement recently circulated it appears that there
are upwards of 8,000 registered assignments of pro-
perty to preferred and favoured creditors in New
York city alone, the right to prefer one creditor
over another being allowed in this State. Mr.
Conkling's Bill follows the provisions of the Act
recently introduced in England by Lord Westbury.
It abolishes, as that Act does, all distinction be-
tween trader and non-trader, embodies all the penal
clauses for fraud, and prevents the issue of any cer-
tificate upon the same grounds,' precisely as the
English law does, and proposes to appoint official
assignees with the same powers. It is vehemently
uppeaea la Clo..oLcao, and ham filo flinitrivantacrp of
not being proposed and supported by gentlemen
who understand the subject sufficiently to answer
the innumerable objections that are started against
it. Perhaps, however, when the United States
really become a nation—when they have a strong
central Government, a large debt, and a uniform
currency, public opinion will be ripe enough for a
General Bankruptcy Act, if not at an earlier
period.
Mr. Benjamin Wood, one of the representatives
in Congress of the city of New York, whose pub-
lished but unspoken speech in favour of conciliating
the South I recently forwarded, has got himself
into difficulty by it. A charge has been made
against him of furnishing important information to
the enemy. It is alleged by Mr. Wood's friends
that there is not the slightest foundation for the
charge; and that it wholly rests upon the fact that
he directed copies of his speech to be sent through
the Post-office to some of the leading politicians of
the South. The speech can have given no informa-
tion the enemy; though, as has been remarked, it
may have afforded comfort to such among them as
really desired to return into the Union. Mr. Wood
expresses himself as ready at any place or time to
meet the charge, which has been referred to a Com-
mittee of the House to hear evidence and make its
report. The " Mountain " is growing into power,
and the "Gironde " must look to itself.

Mr. Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, a
gentleman whom it has long been the fashion to
decry, principally for the reason that he did not
order the capture of the Merrimac at all hazards,
but in whose deriarimr?nt all the most signal vic-
tories of the war have been achieved, has ad-
dressed a long letter to the Naval Committee of
both Houses of Congress, urging the appropriation
of any amount of money that may be required for
the reconstruction of the Federal Navy. He is of
opinion that the United States, in view of the con-
tingencies of a foreign war, should immediately
make itself a great naval Power, and establish
several additional Navy-yards for the building of
iron-clad and iron war vessels. He considers it
especially important that one of them should be
established at some point in the Valley of the
Mississippi. His letter will attract attention in
Europe as well as in America ; and shows, like
many other circumstances of less importance, that
after the reconstruction of the Union, should that
ever take place, the United States will arrogate to
themselves a larger share in the politics of the
world than they have hitherto deemed it prudent
or necessary to claim. I have said it before, and I
repeat it, they have become a more warlike and
aggressive people than ever they were, and will
seek opportunity to prove that they can fight
foreigners with as much energy and determination
as they can fight their fellow•citizens.

:11sTIOUS DOUBLE SUICIDE.—The Precurseur
ER
Antwerp narrates the following :—Twe gentlemen, ap-
parently s!
andedtr i ,om fifty to sixty, crossed the Scheldt in the
steamboat
.honended at Saint-Anne, where they supped
at a public
a known as the Rose d'Or. After sup-
per they went
FillaCeS . SlVely to five or six other similar
observed that they were constantly
houses, where it was
whispering together,
singular that at one establishment manners were indeed so
heliahment, the St. Jacques,
steamboat Linde:
pro,: husbandth to follow them
the mistress persuaded
to
Saint Jaques they
pornoceethdeedir
undressed themselves, tied their Zpllace, where they
threw it into the river, and then jumped up in a parcel,
This was executed with such rapidity that
themselves.
not time
landlord,
who was at some distance from them, had
to
pre-
vent the execution of their design. Both bodieshave been
found, but no traces have been discovered as to their iden-
tity, or the reasons for the act.

YoRKSIIIRE WIT.—A Yorkshire boy went into
a public-house, where a gentleman was eating eggs. The
boy looked extremely hard at him for some time, and then
said, "Will you be good enough to give me a little salt,
Sir ?" "Ay, certainly, boy; but why do you want salt?"
" Perhaps, Sir," says he, "you 'll ask me to eat an egg
presently, and I should like to be ready." cc
Whc.•.t country
are you from, my lad ?" "Yorkshire, 44 I thought
so—there, take an egg." 41" I thank you, Sir," said the
boy. 4. well," added the gentleman,
cc they are all great
horse-stealers in your country, are they not ?" " Yes,"
rejoins the boy, "my father (though an honest man)
would mind no more stealing of a horse than I woule
drinking your glass of al2—Your health, Sir," aided he,
and drank it up. "That will do," says the gentleman;
" I see you're Yorkshire,"