The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LO3NDON, TUESDAY EVENII,..IG, OCTOBER 19, 1860.

MISCELLANEOUS NE JVS.

/NVESTIGATION Al' BRIDGWATER.

The Commissioners who have been probing the
depths of electoral iniquity at Bridfrwater have been
subjected to some criticism. Nobody denies that
their work has been thoroughly done ; but it is com-
plained that they were too rough in the performance,
that they used harsh expressions, and delivered their
opinions on the disclosures before them with unwar-
rantable freedom. No doubt it is a sad thing that a
rich voter should be exposed to plain speaking ; but it
'appears that the "World, the Flesh, and the Devil,"
as the Commissioners are called, have been credited
with some sayings which they never employed. They
never used the terms " liar," " scoundrel," or "thieves.'
But they did give vent to some straightforward
opinions, and, as Mr. Price says, "persons who
heard the evidence could not be surprised that any
honest man should express himself in terms of
indig-
nation at the disclosures which had been made." A.
very interesting and instructive ceremony took place
at the last sitting. Certificates of indemnify were
granted to the bribers and bribees at the last election
to the number of 60 oil- 70. Mr. Lovibond did not
apply for one of these appropriate rewards, and for an
excellent reason—he would not have obtained it. An
unhappy grocer, one of the great bribers on the
Liberal side, was also refused. The weary reader
will be glad to learn that, after this touching ceremo-
nial, the inquiry was adjourned sine die. So also has
that at Norwich.

ANGLO-SAXON UNION.

being adopted in several pansnes, anu as yeti the fratricidal war from the memories it must leave,
good results. The Warwick Union resolved to try it
than by the knife eradicated, which, if given its way,
yet it was a cancer, which could not be otherwise
on Saturday, after a long discussion. They will pay th®;
cost of schooling and medical attendance, and
3s. a week with each child. They also provide an , might have carried the continent back into barbar-
outfit, and allow Gs. 6d. a quarter for renewal and ism. Yet thousands of good men so abhorred the
repair. The opposition to the proposal was altorrether
weak. The poor-law inspector of the district, Mr.
Peel, thought no workhouse child should be
better treated than a labourer's child. The
labourers, he said, often had to bring up half-a-dozen
children on 14s. a week; and yet here the guardians
were going to pay nearly 4s. a week for each child !
The labourer's child (we will suggest to Mr. Peel)
often gets no schooling : would he keep a pauper
child without education ? The labourer's children
are often attired in rags : would he put
the children of the State in rags ? They are herded
together disgracefully in unhealthy cottages : would
he provide such lodgings for the boys and girls thrown
upon the parish ? There was greater force, perhaps, in
another complaint of Mr. Peel, that the steps taken
would lead to more child desertions in the district,
but that is by no means proved.

prospect of such a strife that they almost preferred
to see a slave nation created along their frontier,
and carved out of their own territory To sup-
pose that the very people who thus reluctantly,
and impelled by all the political considerations
they held most dear, as well as by motives of
humanity, would insidiously provoke a war with a
weak brother to grasp the territory of their neigh-
bours, is to imagine that Americans are both knaves
and fools, and those who attribute to them such mo-
tives ought not to be surprised at getting a reply they
may not like. Canada will require no guarantee for
its independence, for the destiny of Canadians, as far
as the Republic is concerned, will always remain in
their o wn hands. Someof the States might dislike Ca-
nadian annexation on any terms, but none of the
States would like it except with the assent of nearly
all the inhabitants. Mr. GOLDWIN SMITH asserts that
by entering the Union Canada would be placed in
relations to other countries and especially to Eng-
land, such as few Canadians would desire ; and
we would wish to learn what Mr. SMITH means ?
Are the relations of the United States with any
country such as Canada would not desire ? We
believe the case to be exactly the reverse ; that
these relations are such as Canada or any inde-
pendent nation might eagerly wish to secure. There
is a general feeling of friendship on the part of other
nations towards the United States, and if the Pro-
vinces entered the Union, the votes of Vermont,
New Hampshire, and Rho.le Island, would be all
the less likely to lead to a fratricidal war with Eng-
land, although we are not aware that the,,ferocious
Senators from these States, Mr. SPRAGUE included,
expressed any desire for flaying alive the British
lion. Less likely, because Canadian Senators would
be introduced into the Chamber, because there
would remain nothing on the Continent to fight
about, while the war, which involved Canada on
either side, would be neither more nor less than fra-
tricidal; and less injurious too in case of war, because
the combatants could scarcely come into contact ex-
cept on the ocean. Supposing Mr. S3IITIi'S assertion
to be true, that Canada was required to preserve De-
mocracy in its integrity on the continent, acting as
a check to the speed with which the Union travels, it
would be all the better to get the break so as to act
directly on the train, and we in vain strive to see the
force of the Professor's conclusion admitting his pre-
mises. We believe in a Pan-Britannic Council, and
hold, notwithstanding the history of the past, that
it is still feasible for all English-speaking people.
Had the thirteen colonies remained British they
would have insured the transfer of British power
and the seat of the Imperial Government to Ame-
rica. Wherever the larger interests of the people
exist there the Government will have to be adminis-
tered, and England was saved by this disruption
from seeing the Imperial Parliament seated on the
Potomac instead of on the Thames. If England's
colonization ends in creating several distinct and
equal nations, we cannot see any insuperable bar to
a Council. which might direct the foreign policy of
all, and perhaps in a small degree modify the home
policy of each. Bat unless all be embraced, such a
Council can only be a vanity of vanities, for it will
still be the United States versus the British Em-
pire. We would ask the Professor if he cannot
enlarge his ideas and grasp the whole, not leaving
I the weightier part outside.

(From the Anglo American Times.)
Professor GOLDWIN SMITH, in his letter to the
Daily A ews, as well as the commentators on it, dis-
cuss the question of the Canadian connection with
Great Britain in a sectional, not a general way. It
is this sectional feeling that is the real bar to har-
mony ; and, although plainly in the way of the
material interests and well-being of the Anglo-
Saxon race, whether in America or in Europe, yet so
strong are prejudices, that the last thought with either
section is to remove it. A small portion of the colo-
nists regard the Professor as a pest, terming him an
anti-colonialist, and they foresee ruin to the British
Empire in the policy designed to sever the political
connection with North America. While Gots)wisT
SMITH desires to have the Dominion erected into an
independent Power, he yet hopes to see a Pan-Bri-
tannic Council for the preservation of intimate re-
lations between the scattered members of the race.
Still, as he would broadly separate Canada from the
United States, this excludes half the English speak-
ing people and leaves untouched the real bane of
the whole race—its division into rival communities.
had England grasped the opportunity opened by
the war she might have used it as a powerful at-
traction to cement a close alliance ; but her action
was the reverse, her effort bein g to split the rival por-
tion of the race into further fragments, though it
failed. Webelieve the opportunity to be still open in
the entrance of Canada into the Union, coupled
with a large and well-directed emigration from
Great Britain. and a free outlay of English capi-
tal on such States as Minnesota and Kansas, as
well as in the re-settlement of Virginia and
others. This, if practicable, may be regarded as
beyond comparison of more importance than a
political alliance with Canada or the erection
of the Dominion into an independent Power, and
it is the great principle which GOLDWIN SMITH and
his commentators overlook or dismiss as imprac-
ticable. Few give it a thought, though nothing
can be achieved of true importance which ex-
cludes the general alliance. It must be acknow-
ledged that England's advisers have not been
happy in their advice on American affairs, nor
has the ship of State been well steered among
American shoals. This has been mainly caused by
an ignorance which is almost laughably displayed
in the Saturday Review ; for instance, in its re-
marks on this very letter. It declares that
the Canadian connection with the Crown alone
prevented Canada from being swallowed up by
the Union, whether the Canadians liked it or
not ; that in3ependence would be instantly fol-
lowed by an unjust and encroaching policy on the
part of the Republic, which, if resented, would end
in conquest ; and, if not resisted, in absorption. The
factithat the United States i nvaded and conquered its
Southern neighbour, wresting from a sister Repub-
lic half its richest territory, is brought forward as con-
elusive evidence, the purchase of Alaska being as con-
elusive of the design of Northern conquest. There
is here the ignorance coupled with the perversion of
facts, which have done so much to mislead the English
people, and they, in their turn, to create a dangerous
spirit of ill-will in America. In the first place, if
any country in the world ought to know the diffi-
culty of maintaining intact a border on the other
side of which is a semi-civilized nation, it is the
British. They established in India a trading com-
pany that detested war and abjured conquest, for
its object was only to make money, not to create an
empire. Yet its march from Cape Comorin ended
bat at Cabul, its annexations extending crossways
from Scinde even to Burinah. That is, it swallowed
up every existing thing, from impassable deserts to
impassable mountains, while there was scarcely a
foot of this territory for which it had any desire.
Yet, because in little short of a century the United
States becomes involved in a war with as uncivilized
a community as any absorbed by the British in India,
which results, as such wars always must, in a cession
of territory, this is -brought forward as a proof
that the Americans are as ready to conquer as they
are to purchase provinces. Since that war was in-
augurated, too, the whole government of the United
States has changed. Then the dominant power in
the councils of the nation was the slave-holding
interest ; aggressive on a principle of self-preserva-
tion. It would be unjust to judge what the United
States would do now, from what it did do then, for
the spirit of the Government is altered. Strong as
this is, yet it comprises only a small part of the mis-
representation. The Mexicans were profoundly igno-
rant, vain-glorious, aggressive, unjust, provoking this
war at the time when the helm of State affairs at
Washington was in the hands of comparatively un-
scrupulous men ; while the ease of the Canadians
is altogether different. Descended from the same
stock, speaking the same language, with no marked
difference in government, laws, habits, and inte-
rests, a war of aggression on the part of the United
States would be little less than fratricidal. And for
what ?—to add soil to a country of already over-
grown extent inhabited by a people in all respects
like unto themselves—but conquered. So tremen-
dous are the interests that the United States would
in such a course jeopardise,so wholly is it opposed to
the spirit of their institutions, that it appears to Ame-
ricans almost incredible that any respectable Eng-
lish paper could publish as its opinion that the
United States on the birth-day of Canadian Inde-
pendence would commence towards her a policy of
aggression, in view of its leading to a war of con-
quest. Mr. SMITH gives a colouring to this fallacy
by talking of a guarantee of Canadian independence
to be given by England. The largest hole picked in
his letter was on this point, for, in one breath,
he asserts the danger of such a guarantee, as it is,
of course, implied in the connection now existing,
which he gives
as a reason for its severance ; and on
the other he proposes to sever that connection, and
after give that guarantee to renew the very danger
he advises England to avoid. But Mr. SMITH knows
enough of the Republic to be deluded, and we ven-
ture to assert that, paradoxical as it may appear, he
had a truer conception of America generally, before
he left England, than he has now. Of this, however,
he is aware, that if the Republic swallowed the Do-
minion, the meal would disagree with her, which
the Republic knows. The English papers constantly
allude to the tempting bait to aggression which would
be offered by Canada's helplessness as an independent
Power. They appear to have no conception of
American aim and aspiration, nor in any way to
understand the position. Conquest, Americans well
know to be little less dangerous to the liberties of the
conquerors than to those of the conquered. Theaspi-
ration is to rule by the will of the people from one
end of the continent to the other. The principle of
the Government is the equal rights of all. Now,
we ask any European how conquest can be harmo-
nised with this doctrine ? Conquest implies a war,
a subjugated country, an army of occupation. To
conquer and to hold the South was a hateful task ;
more hateful as well as dangerous to hold by military
force than to conquer. Not only did Unionists ad-
mit this, but the burden of all their speeches was the
danger; indeed,tbey were only spurred on by a greater
danger still, and never since the affairs of man
began to be told for the instruction of coming gene-
rations was there an instance recorded of a sovereign
government dealing with a suppressed revolution so
mildly, using only legal efforts to re-erect the subju-
gated States on the same footing of self-government
as that they had so foolishly attempted to destroy.
, the Northern States all the more bitterly regretted

MONEY AND BUSINESS.

(Front the Wall-street Journal.)

FRIDAY EVENING, October 1.

The Financial Tornado last week was followed by se-
veral days of excitement, unparalleled even in Wall-
street, culminating in the usual New York style, by the
issue of innumerable injunctions. The Gold Exchange
Bank is injunctioned—the New York Stock and Gold
Exchanges—also the leading bulls and bears, in fact
every one on whom the expense of an injunction was
thought to be worth the cost. So facile, indeed, has the
obtaining from our incorruptible elective judges of an
injunction become that this little luxury is indispensable
to a New Yorker's existence. It is as yet impossible to
know who, among the dealers in gold, have or have not
failed, although it is absolutely certain that many good
houses have foundered. The excitement in the Gold
market has naturally extended to stocks, resulting on
Wednesday in a fall of 20, 30, 40, and 50 per cent. in many
of the leading securities. Of course several stock houses
had to succumb, prominent among whom are Lockwood
and Co., one of the most ituroitant and honourable firms
in the market. We expect, however, that this suspension
will only prove to be temporary, and that this long suc-
cessful firm will shortly resume their position. Charles
C. Meigs and Son, a house of the highest integrity, has
also been dragged down, and having always enjoyed the
confidence of the community, have the utmost sympathy
of all parties. Among the minor failures, we note those of
Fuller, Treat and Cox, Julian and Co., Keep and Co., &c. &c.
To-day affairs in Wall-street show a rapid recovery; the
reaction if anything being too speedy. Money on call is
easily obtained on ordinary collaterals at 7 per cent. in
currency to 7 per cent. in gold, and on,Povernments at 7
per cent. in currency. In discounts there is little change,
prime names passing at 12 per cent. Gold is quiet, and
closes at about 1301. The notice from the Sub-Treasury
for the October sales of bonds, indicates the easy condition
of the Treasury finances, and the confidence of the Ad-
ministration in the continued success of its efforts to in-
crease the revenue. Tho sale of gold is to be $2,000,000
per week, and the purchase of bonds $2,000,000 per week,
the latter in addition to the fortnightly purchase of
$1,000,000, which will make an aggregate purchase of
bonds for the mouth of October of $10,000,000. The dis-
bursement of $8,000,000 of gold during the month, with
$30,000,000 more for interest on the Ist of November,
ought to make the gold market easy for the balance of the
business season.

Quotations for Specie :
Amer. silver... 96 to 98 I Eng. sovs 4BO to 484
Mex. d011ar5...102 „ 104 20 francs 380 „ 384
Eng. silver 470 , 480 I Thalers
Five francs .... 95 „ 96 I

Foreign Exchange is firm, but the transactions are few,
Sixty Days. Three Days.
London Bankers
London, Prime Commercial lO6l-107
Paris, Bankers 5.271-5.20 5.20-5.171
Bremen, Bankers
Hamburgb, l3ankers 34f —354
Frankfort, O.M. 894-40
Berlin and Cologne
Antwerp 5.27i-5.20
Amsterdam, Bankers
Swiss 5.27k-5.20

Government Bonds are firm, and show an improvement
from 1 to 2 per cent. on the general run of tho list; the
demand for currency bonds is especially strong at an ad-
vance of 3 per cent. on the price of yesterday.

Sixes, 1861, registered — to
Sixes, 1868, coupon

„ .
Sixes, 1881, coupon ll9l to 1191
U.S. 6s. Pacific Railroad lO9 to 1091
Five-twenties, 1862, registered l2Ol to 121
Five-twenties, 1862, coupon
Five-twenties, 1864, coupon
Five-twenties, 1865, coupon
Five-twenties, 1855, coupon, new
Five-twenties, 1867, coupon
U.S. 6-20 Coupons, 1868 ll7l to 118
Ten-forties, coupon .. lO9 to 110
Ten-forties, registered — to
Oregon War Loan, Sixes, 1881 — to

Southern and Border State Bonds aro strong, especially
North Carolina's and Tennessee's, which have rapidly re-
covered from the lowest decline. Railroad Stocks aro very
active, the heavy fall having brought in large purchasers
at advancing prices. Railroad Bonds have, owing to the
excitement in the Street, been in better demand, affording
to investors, as they do, an absolute security, uninfluenced
by the variations of the market. A mong others we direct
special attention to the First Mortgage Thirty-Year Seven
per Cent. Sinking Fund Bonds of the Southern Central
Railroad Company of New York, which are offered for
sale by Vermilye and Co., at 871 and accrued interest.
N. Y. Central 6e, 1883... Tol. & Wab. Equip 79
N. Y. Central Gs, 1887... 87 Mil. & Pr. du Ch. Ist M —
N. Y. Central Gs, R Est.. 87 Gal. & Chic. Eat 97
N. Y. Central Gs, Sub'n.. 87 Gal. & Chic. 2d M 95
N. Y. Central 7s, 1876... Chi. &R. I. Ist M 97
N. Y. Cen. 7s, con. 76,... 97 Chi. R. I. & Pacific 7's 92
Erie Ist Mort Ex 9B Cleve. & Tol. S. Fund... 99
Erie 7s, 2d Mort, 1879 95 N. J. Central let M 99
Erie 7s, 3d Mort, 1883... 86 N. J. Central 2d M 100
Erie 7s, 4th Mort, 1880... 851 Pitts. Ft.W., & Ch. Ist M 100
Erio 7s, sth Mort, 1888... 77 Pitts. Ft. W, & Cli. 2d M —
Long Dock Bonds
Buff. N.Y. &E. Ist M, 77 B7 Cleve. & Pitts., 4th M 73

Ilud. R. 7s, Ist AI, 981 Chic. & Alton, S. F. Inc. 99
ILA. R. 7s, 2d M, 'B3 102. Chic. & Alton, S. F. lst3l. •99
Harlem Ist 31, '6B '72 Mil. & St. Potul Ist 31... 90
Mich. C. Ist 31, 69'72 Mil. & St. Paul 2d M...
Mich. new Ist 31 Bs, 'B2 Marietta & Cin. Ist 31...
Mich. So., 7p.c. 2d M._ 92 Morris & Essex Ist A 1... 99
N. Ind. Goshen Line '6B Morris & Essex 2d 31 ... 90
Mich.S.&N.l.S.F'd7p.c. 98 Joliet & Chic. Ist n... -
111. Cen. 7p. c '7O 1193 Chi. & Gt. East'u 15t31.... 83
Alton &'l'. If. let 11 921 N. Y. &N. 11. Os .. ... 96
Alton & I'. IL '2d pfd 80/: Dubuque &S.City,lst M.
Alton &T. li. 2d 31.1nc. 752., Peninsula Ist M.
lian.& SU. LandWrntsloB- Ohio & Miss. Ist 31 92
Han. & St. J. Con Ohio & Miss. Con. B2
Chi. B. &Q. Ist M 106 'l'ol. P. W. Ist ALE. D...
Chi. &N. West, S. 90 Atlantic &G.W. 2d 31.
Ohi. AcN. W. Con Cony. 87 Del., Lack., & W., 2d 11. 90
Clii. &N. W. Int B B5 Lake Shore Div. Bonds
Chi. & N..W. Ist 31 BB Cleve, P. &t 1 sh. N. 8...
Quincy & Tol,-Ist AI, '75 Do: 0.13...
111. & So. lowa Ist 31 --Union Pacific Gold. 8... 81,
O.Wet. Ist 31, 'BB — Central P.IIR. Gold 8... 92
Gt. 'Western 2d 31 '93 Bl Pacific 1111. guar. by Mo. 90
Tol. & Wab. 2d M Ex B4l

Express Stocks are steady.
Adams
American Merchants' Union
Merchants' Union, old Stock — to
United States 'ill to 521
Wells, Fargo, and Co 172 to 18
Miscellaneous Stocks do not show much activity, ex-
cepting Pacific Mail, which has advanced 10 per cent. from
the lowest price.
N. Y. Central xd 1721
Erie
Hudson

~ 158

Reading
Mich. Central 123
Illinois Central
Cleveland & Pittsbrg 94
North-West
North-West Preferred 83i
Canton 54
Rock Island
:Neveland and Toledo

Fort Wayne
Pacific Mail
Atlantic Mail
Quicksilver
W. U. Telegraph
Mariposa Preferred
Ohio and Mississippi 27}
Boston Water Power l3
Cumberland
Bankers and Brokers —
M & St. Paul
M & St. Paul Preferred 81.

STATEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DEBT OF THE UNITED

STATES.

The following is the recapitulation of the Troasury
Statement issued by Secretary Boutwell on the Ist
instant :

DEBT BEARING INTEREST IN COIN.
Bonds at 5 per Cent. $221,589,300 00
Bonds at 6 per Cent. 1,866,847,500 00

Amount outstanding $2,107,936,800 00 $42,213,660 83
DEBT BEARING INTEREST IN LAWFUL MONEY.
Certificates, 3 per
cent. interest
Navy Pension Fund,
3 per cent. interest 14,000,000 00

50,545,000 00

Amount outstanding $64,545,000 00 $1,242,262 50
DEBT BEARING NO INTEREST.
Demand and Legal
Tender Notes 530,114,643 50
Postal and fractional
currency 33,001,298 50
Certificates of gold
deposited

24,412,720 00

Amount outstanding 413,528,662 00
Debt on which inte-
rest bas ceased

since maturity ... 4,522,696 61 9620,774 62
Total Debt— Principal outstanding 52,590,533,158 61
Accrued interest to date and coupons
due not presented for payment

44,076,687 45

Total debt, principal and interest... $2,634,609,856 00
AMOUNT IN THE TREASURY.
Coin
Currency
Sinking Fund in U.S
coin interest bonds,
and interest col-
lected and accrued
thereon
Other U. S. coin in-
terest b nds pur-
chased, and ac-
crued int'st there-
on 34,625,962 50 166,114,783 98

Amount of public debt, less cash,
Sinking Fund, and purchased bonds
in Treasury 52,468,495,072 11
Amount of public debt, less cash, Sink-
ing Fund, and purchased bonds in
the Treasury on the Ist ult 52,475,962,501 50

Decreaso of Public Debt during the past
month
Decrease since March 1, 1869
BONDS ISSUED TO PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANIES, INTE-
s REST PAYABLE IN LAWFUL MONEY.
Amount interest accrued

Character of Issue. outstanding. not yet paid.
Union Pac. Co., 6. p. c 526,638,000 00 8400,548 97
U. P., East Div., 6 p. c 6,303,000 00 94,545 00
Sioux City & Pee., 6p.c 1,623,320 00 24,424 80
t
Central Pacific, 6p. c ... 2,362,000 00 29,444 22{22,009,000 00f 329,549 86
Central Branch U. P. to •
assignees of Atchinson
and Pike's Peak, 6 p.c 1,600,000 00 24,000 00
Western Pacific, 6 p. c. 640,000 00 6,272 88

Total issue 861,180,320 00 $903,785 73
:nterest paid by United States $4,984,822 54
nterest repaid by transportation, &e 1,643,952 15

Balance of interest due United 5tate5...53,340,870 39

NOTE. —The $3,000,000 United States Bonds purchased
on the 29th (Wednesday) and the $1,000,000 coin sold on
the 30th (Thursday) have not been included in the above
statement, the details of the transaction not having been
received at the Department. The Assistant Treasurer at
New York has redeemed $1,451,487 77 Three per Cent.
Certificates out of the Reserve in his hands for that pur-
pose. The item is not included in this statement.
The foregoing is a correct statement of the public debt
as appears from the books and Treasury returns in the
Department at the close of business on the last day of
September, 1869. GEORGE S. BOLTTWELL,

Secretary to the Treasury.

MR• BOUT WELL'S DESPO7ISM.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

A controversy has arisen on the subject of Secre-
tary BOUTWELL'S use of the Treasury gold in break-
ing down the " bull" clique, and many condemn
his course as an unjustifiable interference on the
part of the Government. Into this question Eng-
lish as well as American papers have entered. The
Times considers that had the lesson been carried to its
end its precepts would have been made the more im-
pressive, their value being enhanced by their higher
cost. It calls the interference a glaring departure
from all the sound rules of public economy, while
admitting that Mr. BoUTWELL may be authorised by
circumstances in the financial position of the United
States. The Economist regards the Secretary of the
Treasury as a financial despot such as the world has
never seen. It is in his power completely to control
the market, to make his own fortune and that of his
friends, or to mar the operations of others by a whis-
per. The Economist holds this to be an improper
and dangerous power in the hands of any man, while
assured the present Administrationwill only use it in
what they consider to be the country's good, though
that paper does not favour Mr. BOUTWELL'S views
on finance. The Philadelphia Ledger entertains
quite a different opinion as regards the. Secretary's
power. For instance, it calls his sale of 41,000,000,
which was generally supposed to have broken down
the gold clique on the celebrated Friday, a mere
drop of water on a hot brick. It is preposterous,
says the Ledger, to suppose that it is possible for
the Secretary of the Treasury to control the gold.
market, or, what is popularly termed, to put down
the gold " premium," where the operations are of
such magnitude, and it evidently regards the attemp t
to do so as in a high degree improper as well as
useless. The Nation strenuously condemns the in-
terference of the Secretary, asserting that should
he take any part he will be made in a large number
of cases the mere tool of speculators, or the public
will suspect him of being so, which, considering the
magnitude of the interests committed to his discre-
tion, would be a calamity only second to the real
loss of his integrity. The World earnestly warned
Mr. BOUTWELL against the doctrines of Mr. Ho-
RACE GREELEY and of Mr. BIGELOW, particularly
in allusion to a meeting these gentlemen were to hold
on the arrival of the Secretary of the Treasury at
New York, whom it terms " the loyal league bears'
in gold ;" Mr. BOUTWELL being urged not to institute
inquiries touching the alleged conspiracy, and
even if a conspiracy exists, not to notice it as being
no business of his. The Evening Post took strong
ground in censuring the action of the Secretary,
terming it " the greatest defeat the Treasury had
met with under the present Administration." The
Post writes in grief over what it regards as a grave
blunder, believing that in taking this part in a bear
and bull contest Mr. BOUTWELL has stimulated in-
stead of checking the pernicious gambling practices.
Most of the New York papers take the same view,
though his action is strenuously upheld by the 7ri-
bune. There is much contradiction in the opinions
expressed; for instance, nothing cap, be further asun-
der than those of: the London Economist and the Phila-
delphia Ledger. According to the one Mr. BOUT-
WELL holds the financial affairs of the Union by his
control of the gold market within the hollow of his
hand; according to the other, his power of selling gives
him no control whatever, being swamped in the mag-
nitude of the operations. Of the two, the Ledger, we
believe, to be furthest astray, while considering that
both are in error. Where the former errs is in put-
ting on a par the bona fide transactions of the Secre-
tary with the paper work of the speculators ; at the
same time, too, it clearly and forcibly points out the
difference. The nature of such speculative operations
may be gathered from these facts. From the Wed-
nesday to the Friday, during which the battle raged,
a good deal over $1,000,000,000 in gold were bought
and sold. There is not in the United States a third
part of this quantity ; indeed it is said that there
could not be obtained in New York outside the
Treasury enough to make up the sum of twenty
millions. While these gentlemen were buying and
selling thus furiously the transfer of the metal at the
day's end seldom reached to a couple of millions.
When then genuine business was done, the actual
gold being thrown on the market, its weight even in
comparatively smallquantities was instantly felt, for
literally men who did not want it found it a great deal
too heavy to carry. At the time the " bull" opera -
tions were at their height small parcels poured out in
various directions, and men hawked the gold about