The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-16 00:00:00

A Washington telegram of the 30th says :
. _._.

" The suspension of specie payments to-day gives general
satisfaction among the business community here. There
seems to be a general desire to keep all the specie in the
country, and to give free circulation to Treasury notes. On
this point Mr. Spaulding, of New York—who, by the way,
is a banker at Buffalo, member of the committee of ways
and means—introduced in the House of Representatives,
on leave, a bill to authorise the Treasury to issue demand
notes of not less than five dollars, redeemable everywhere,
to the amount of fifty million of dollars, in addition to those
heretofore ordered."

The United States sub-Treasury at New York

followed the example of the banks, and suspended
specie payments—i, e., it paid specie only for the
principal and interest of the public debt, and for
no other claims.
The New York Tribune publishes the following
suppressed despatch :

" The true history of the Trent affair at Washington is
briefly this—
" At the first Cabinet meeting held after the seizure of
Slidell and Mason, the President expressed himself in favour
of restoring them to the protection of the British flag if it
should be demanded. He said it was doubtful if the course
of Captain Wilkes could be justified by international law ;
and that, at all events, he could not afford to have two wars
on his hands at the same time.

"Attorney-General Bates echoed this opinion. Ho
thought the seizure unjustifiable, and was in favour of
giving up the men on demand.
" Secretary Seward was non-committed. The other
members of the Cabinet disagreed with Mr. Lincoln posi •
tively, and Secretary Chase argued forcibly and will
warmth that the course recommended by the President
would be dishonourable to the United States as a nation.
Thus matters stood until the first belligerent note from
England. No further discussions took place, nor was the
question again mooted in Cabinet until Christmas-day.
" The despatch from Earl Russell to Lord Lyons was
delivered at the State Department on Saturday, as we
telegraphed the next day, and Mr. Seward immediately
ent to work on his reply. Remembering the views of the
Cabinet previously expressed, Mr. Lincoln was not in haste
to call them together. One meeting was adjourned to pre-
vent premature discussion, and another on the regular day
did not take place. The first was on Christmas-day, and
after Lord Lyons had made his communication. Imme-
diately M. Thouverel's despatch had been delivered Mr.
Seward's reply was read to the Council and the session pro-
longed for five days.

" The despatch of ➢Z. Thouvenel had convinced the oppo-
nents of the policy of surrender that the public opicion of
Europe would sustain England, and it was used to secure
unanimity in that policy.

" Mr. Seward's despatch, however, was subject to much
criticism. Many alterations and modifications were sug-
gested. The next day a revised copy was read to the ad-
journed Cabinet meeting; further changes were suggested,
and the despatch as a whole was not approved and adopted
until Friday morning."

The comments of the press upon the surrender of
Mason and Slidell, and the despatch of Mr. Seward
upon the subject, possess but little interest. The
papers generally seem to concur in characterising
the despatch as a " masterly" production, and there
is very little dissent from Mr. Seward's arguments.
The tone of the American press, taken as a whole,
is undoubtedly much less hostile to England since
the settlement of the Trent difficulty than it has
been for many months.
The New I ork Times of Jan. 1 contains the fol-
lowin g review of the " situation" :
" There are rumours of fighting in different parts of Ken-
tucky. The telegram we published yesterday of a reported
fight at Paducah is yet in doubt. The despatch via Phila-
delphia which we give this morning furnishes little addi-
tknal information, though it seen:s to give a colouring of
truth to the report, by mentioning the name of a captain
who was killed. Rumours prevail in Louisville of a general
engagement in Southern Kentucky, but they lack confir-
mation. It was also said that Buckner's plan was at once
to attack in force M'Cooke's brigade (our advance body in
Southern Kentucky). All these exciting rumours only
show the imminence of an engagement at more than one
point in Kentucky. Indeed it does not seem possible, con-
sidering the position of our troops and of the rebels, that
many day a can pass over without 75,000 or 100,000 of our
gallant western troops measuring swords with the rebels.

" Capt. Colston, who arrived at London, Kentucky, on
Dec. 24, from Cumberland Gap, reports that there are only
1,500 rebels there under command of Col. Rains. A gen-
tleman, who reached the same place from Perry county, re-
ports that a skirmish occurred a few days ago between 118
rebels and 47 Union men. The former were routed with a
loss of one killed and 16 wounded, while the latter lost none.

"A letter, published in the Louisville (Nashville) Courier,
dated Abingdon (Virginia), Dec. 15, says :—A variety of
interesting news from the rebel States reaches us by way of
Fortress Monroe. A fire occurred at Nashville (Tenn.) on
the night of the 22d ult., by which the commissary stores,
including a portion of the Ordnance department, were de-
stroyed—the loss being estimated at nearly 1,000,000 dols.
—no small item for the rebel exchequer to lose. Fugitive
slaves who have reached Fortress Monroe report that the
inhabitants of Yorktown and the military authorities there
are much frightened in anticipation of an attack. General
Burnside's expedition, they believe, is going up York River,
and General Wood is expected to co-operate in an attack
upon Magruder's position. That worthy, it is stated, has
asked permission of the rebel authorities at Richmond to
burn Yorktown, and has been instructed to refrain until he
is certain that the place is to be immediately attacked. The
rebel force in the vicinity of Yorktown is estimated at
30,000. It is announced that one of the rebel brigadier-
generals committed suic!cle on Thursday last. A pri-
vate despatch received from Washington states that
General N'Clellan, on investigating the specifications