The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-28 00:00:00

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

There has been some angry discussion in the
Senate of the United States, and there is likely to
be more, in relation to the Bulwer and Clayton
treaty. Already things have gone so far that the
veracity of one or more senators is involved in the
issue. The Monroe doctrine not only now seems
to be in especial favour, but this doctrine is fast
degenerating into Filibusterism ; so deeply has it
struck to the heart of the nation. __ _

The business world has been startled by the in-
troduction of a bill into the Senate of the Legisla-
ture of New York conferring corporate privileges
upon some citizens, to organise an association,
with a capital of 100,000,000 dols., for the purpose
of building a railway from the river Mississippi to
the Pacific Ocean. It is proposed to complete the
survey of the first 600 miles by a year from next
April, and within five years from that time to
have these 600 miles of railway completed.
There is also to be a telegraph line over the
same route. Stupendous as this scheme is, it is
said that the names of the corporators will afford a
very satisfactory pledge to the public that the en-
terprise will be prosecuted with the utmost vigour.
Of course, these corporate powers are conferred by
the Legislature of New York subject to the ap-
proval of the National Congress, since no one State
of the Confederacy has any authority whatever to
trespass upon or extend its authority to the do-
mains of another State or those of the Federal Go-
vernment. But it is not supposed that Congress
will interpose any obstacle to the scheme, and its
re-affirmation of the act of New York will impart
to this charter from the Legislature equal validity
with any act of Congress itself.
There have been two trials of the Ericsson caloric
steam-ship, and in many quarters it is alleged that
the experiments were more satisfactory than
its best friends anticipated. The inventor thus
briefly sums up the merits of the caloric prin-
ciple :

" 1. The caloric engine burns about one-tenth as much
fuel as a steam engine ; hence a caloric ship of the largest
size may circumnavigate the globe without stopping to
take in coal ; hence, not a sail will be seen on the ocean
in 50 years after the success of the new principle is cer-
tain ; hence, machinery will be applied to a thousand
arts which now require manual labour ; hence, the pos-
sibility of the long-desired machine plough ; and hence,
the coming of that good time when arduous manual toil
will absolutely cease under the sun.
"2. The cost of the caloric engine is about the same
as the steam engine, minus the cost of the boilers.

"3. Only one-fourth as many engine-men will be re-
quired on board a caloric ship as are necessary for a
steamer.

"4. No smoke whatever will issue from a caloric fur-
nace when anthracite coal is used, and consequently no
huge unsightly smoke-pipe will be necessary, and the
rigging will be as clean as that of a sailing ship.
" 5. There can be no bursting or collapsing of boilers,
for the simple reason that there will be no boilers to
burst. The worst accident that can happen to a caloric
engine is for it to stop ; nor is watchfulness imperatively
required, as in no case can a dangerous accident occur.
"6. Owing to the extreme simplicity of the caloric
engine, the wear and tear will be very slight, and the
duration of the engine proportionably long."
The American Exhibition for the Industry of all
Nations seems to be exciting an increased interest,
not only in America, but throughout Europe.
Mr. Everett, the American Secretary of State,
has forwarded an official circular to all foreign
representatives, inviting their co-operation in
the undertaking. After a. kind of half apology'
for the inadequate representation of America
in the Great Exhibition of 1851, Mr. Everett
expresses himself as certain that the produc-
tive, manufacturing, and artistic resources of
the United States will be displayed to greater ad-
vantage in the New York Exhibition than on any
former occasion, and ventures to predict that, in
some respects, the Exhibition at New York will
equal, and even surpass, its prototype in Hyde-
park.

VESSELS FROM AIISTRALIA.—The non-arrival of any
large proportion of the vessels known to be on their way
from Australia with consignments of gold, while con-
tinued shipments of coin are made from this side, causes
disappointment. Nearly a million and a half sterling is
on board of vessels which had sailed previously to the
departure of the last a.dvices from Singapore, and it is
probable that the Great Britain and the Sydney also are
now within four or five weeks of their return with an
equal amount. On the whole, it is estimated that, even
up to the present time, the gold received has exceeded
only in a very slight degree the quantity transmitted
from this side for its purcase, since, in addition to the
sums sent on mercantile account, those taken by emi-
grants, of which no precise calculation can be made,
must have reached a very heavy total. At the same time
the exportation of goods has been going on to an
unprecedented extent, and is rapidly increasing. For
this augmentation, therefore, Australia is our debtor,
and as its value, may, perhaps, not be far short of
3,000,0001., it will be seen that the present state of
the Bank bullion does not of itself present an index to
the existing balance of trade, since, in addition to the
stock in the vaults of that establishment, we may reckon
the sum thus stated as being at sea, and wholly unre-
presented in our circulation. In ordinary cases it
would not be correct to assume that the returns
for goods exported would all come to increase out
stock of wealth, since, those goods are made
out of raw material, much of which is im-
ported from other countries, and which will involve pro-
portionate payments from us to foreign producers. But
in the case of shipments to Australia these payments
for the raw materials of which they are partly composed
are completed long before we get anything back, and a
drain of our specie may therefore, under such circum-
stances, take place to the continent, while the larger
amounts of gold which aro to operate as a set-off,
and to pay both for raw material and manufacturing
skill, are delayed in their arrival. This is what is taking
place at the present time, and is a counterpart of a
state of affairs that existed at one period between San
Francisco and New York. Under the pressure thus

St.
St.
Si.
St.

26i
13k1
201

St.
16
St.
St.

121.
123
124
R.

created, about two or three years back, the rate
for money in the latter city during a few months
rapidly advanced, and there were many predictions of a
crisis, together with a renewed cry on the part of the
Protectionists for a higher tariff that should enable them
to keep the gold they were obtaining. As soon, how-
ever, as regularity of communication was thoroughly
established all this difficulty ceased, and from that period
to the present, owing to the steady excess of the gold
received over the gold exported, and the consequent
abundance of capital the money-market has been easier,
even in the midst of the most extended activity in all
branches of enterprise, than was ever before known.
There is no reason to suppose that the same state
of things will not be witnessed on this side. We are
now simply in the position of tradesmen who pay ready
money for material and wages, and who give credit to
the customers. At times they require all their capital
and something more, and at other periods, when
they get their debts in, they are anxiously seeking for in-
vestments. In the former inetance they are compelled
to pay a full rate for money, and are in the situation in
which the public now find themselves with regard to the
Bank of England, but although the Bank are quite right
in proportioning their charge to the demand, they also
must expect when collections come in, to experience a
corresponding reaction. It is probable that during the
next year the changes in the relative abundance or
scarcity of money will be more sudden and frequent than
at any former epoch, and it will be an advantage if this
should ultimately induce the Bank to discontinue the
announcement of fixed rates, and to adopt the only true
course of regulating their business in accordance with
the actual state of the market from day to day, and the
general position of their affairs.
Tax SUGAR DUTIES,—The Commissioners of Customs
having received and considered a proposition of their
principal officers, submitting, in cases where sugar en-
Sault; superior
ratese
en-
tered to be warehoused under an inferior denomination
is found upon being landed and examined to be of a
tqouableitya,mtehnadtedthferomwartehheouloswinegr etnotrtyhe higher
ybeer
thefcadsuet,y,th:vitlhanoudtingspescuiravleaypoprlicaantdionlantoding
Board
in aci of
waiter
tcoerttihf3reinagmeunpdomn
amendment
te
owfatrrhaententtlryiatfothere e isw
hnoole
proportion of the sugar as may be objection
orsuch
specified by them,
the Board have approved of the
proposition of their
Surveyors-general, and have directed the proper officers
to
govern themselves in future AOCOrdingiy,