The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-24 00:00:00

SELECT COMMITTEES.

Two select committees of parliament are sitting
at this moment. One (of WhiCh Mr. Disraeli, Mr.
Walpole, Mr. Hardy, and Mr. Henley are members)
arose out of the mad Mayor of Corks escapade, and
is...engaged in inquiring how fartheHouSe of Commons
has the power to examine witnesses on oath at the bar.
Sir Erskine-May, in" giving evidence, stated that as
early-as 1614 the subjectwas mooted,' and a bill was
brought.in,.bnt was not proceeded with ; and that
on account of their jealousy of each other neither
House of Parliament had for the last two and a half
centuries asserted any new privilege.
The other committee is inquiring into the mode of
conducting parliamentary and municipal elections ;
and the evidence given before it in favour of the
Ballot is so strong, that some of the Conservative
members are inclined to make trial of it at first in
municipal contests.

Mn. SMALLEY AND TFIE UNITED STATES CONSUL-
GENERAL IN LOMON.—The London correspondent of the
Tribune, in his letter of May 2, thus frankly acknowledges
the errors into which he fell regarding Mr. Morse: —" In
my letter of April 17, printed May 3, I criticised the re-
nomination of Mr. Morse to the London Consulate, object-
icg to it mainly because Mr. Morse had been a Johnson
man. I charged him with that on what I thought credible
testimony, but lam satisfied I was wrong. Mr. Morse
came to me yesterday in a frank way, which f cannot but
respect, and assured me that ho had sympathised with Con-
gress throughout in its struggle with President Johnson on
Reconstruction, and had approved his impeachment ; dis-
senting strongly on that point from his friend, Mr. Fessen-
detal I say this at his request, and, for my own part, I ac-
cept Mr. Morse's statement as a conclusive refutation of
the reports in which I had put faith. He desire; it to be
understood, also, that the London Consulate is by no
means the lucrative post it is supposed to be, that he has
not made money in it,' and that ho does not now own an
interest in any vessel under a foreign flag. As for his con-
duct in the Trenholm and Prioleau cases, Mr. Morse still
believes he was right, and that if the Department bad sus-
tained him instead of annulling his agreements, we should
have gained much more than we are now likely to get from
the pending suits. But itis not necessary to go into a dis-
cussion about that. My criticism was really based upon
what I srpposed to be Mr. horse's Johnsonisin • -in other
words, upon faithlessness to the Republican party, by
whose President he has just been reappointed. As I was
mistaken about that, I owe Mr. Morse an apology, which
he dces not ask for, but which I make with a great deal
m re.pleasure than I did the original charge."
11ARVARD!S REPLY TO CAMBRIDGE.—" John 11.
D. Goldie, Esq., President C. U. B. C., Cambridge, Eng-
land. Sir,—Your letter reached us some time ago, and
would have been answered sooner but that some delay has
Leen. caused by a change of officers in our club. But we
hope that you have construed our silence into consent, as
we shall be only too glad to grant you the favour re-
quested. Hoping that your May races may have resulted
in such a manner as to have decided you to select a four-
.oar,-r-I remain, sir, yours very truly, ALDEN P. LORING,
Captain, IL V. B. 0.-13osto, June a,

TilE AMERICAN PRESS.

The Nation, of June 3, in an article on " Euro-
pean Finance and American Securities," accounts
for the English Limited Liability fever as a wild,
insane attempt to invent a use for the glut of gold
accumulated in England and France by the substi-
tution of a paper for a metallic currency in the
United States, whereby all the coin circulating there
found its way to Europe. From the break-down of
the vain attempt to force employment for money to
the present there has been a surfeit of unemployed
capital, consequently the rate of interest has ruled
lower for a longer period that ever before known.
If the rate be Four per cent. in London, and
Six per cent. in New York, English capitalists
will invest in America, which really means in Five-
Twenty Bonds, and the same holds for other coun-
tries ; hence the large sums advanced as loans to
Foreign Governments, which led to the late rise in
Btink of England rate of disoiunt, and the pro-
posed bill of the North German Parliament, pre-
pared by the Finance Committee to tax all capital
invested in loans to Foreign Governments, or in
Foreign Sectuities of any kind, one per cent. per
annum.

"Efforts, to a limited extent successful, have teen made
to induce England, France, and Germany to ii nd their sur-
plus accumulations to Spain,- Italy, Russia, Turkey, and
who knows what other poor hopelessly bankrupt states:
There are even men—and men of ability and iullue%ce,
too—who are at this very day using such international
quarrels as the Alabama controversy to cheat Englishmen
and Germans into the belief that Turkey, and Spain, and
the Pope of Rome are better and safer creditors than the
United States. But Englishmen and Germans, who have
visited this country, or who have friends and relatives and
correspondents here, know better; and hence neither the
efforts of the press nor the action of the Bank have so far
materially interfered with the steady progress of invest-
ment iu American securities. In truth, the advance in the
Bank of England rate has rot yet produced the effect an-
ticipated float it in advancing the rate of interest else-
where. Ou the coutiary, outside of the Bank, money
seems obtainable almost as cheaply as before ; and what-
-ever influence the change has made on other securities, it
has-rot oven, combined with the Alabama controversy and
with the recent ten per cent. rise in gold, depressed the
price of American bonds more than one or two per cent.
Within the last two weeks large orders for our bonds have
again been received both from Germany and from Eng-
land, and there iseveryl.kelihood that the demand will con-
tinue. As long as Europe cannot find sate,profita ble employ-
ment for its money accumulations, so long will its money
accumulations tend to seek employment here. As long as
money can find safe employment in the United States at
six per cent. interest, nothing that batiks and Governments
can do will prevent all money from coming here that can-
not be employed at home at as good a profit. What has
prevented the even more rapid and more extensive em-
ployment of foreign capital here is fear that the essential
element of safety is wanting. That element of safety
whatever selfish politicians and over•impatient journalists
may say—has been furnished, to the satisfaction of Euro-
pean capitalists, by the Administration of General Grant;
and the unexpectedly favourable showing of our national
accounts is bearing out the anticipations of his warmest
admirers. In spite of the extraordinary and unnatural
recent advance in the price of gold, in spite of some of
Secretary Boutwell's measures which we cannot but con-
sider injudicious, the capitalists of Europe are beginning
to regard our financial future with growing confidence.
They are beginning to recognize dimly that a large drain
of specie from Europe to this country will and must set in
so soon as our people are resolved upon returning to a
specie currency. It is against this inevitable drain that
the North German Government and the leaders of finance
in England aro instinctively arming themselves."

'llle same paper discusses the Harvard and Ox-
ford Boat Race, giving the crews as follows :
HARvAnD.—Stroko, W. H. Simmons, aged 20, sft. lliin.
height, 1741bs racing weight ; 2. S. W. Rice, aged 26, t•ft.
11in. height, 1651bs racing weight; 3. G. Bass, aged 23,
sft. lqin. height, 161Ibs racing weight; Bow, A. P.
Loring, aged 25, sft. 111 in. height, 1581bs racing weight.
The Harvard coxswain is not yet selected, but will pro-
bably weigh about 100.
OXFORD.—Stroke, S. Darbishire (Balliol), 1601bs racing
weight, March, 1869; 2. Z. C. Tinne (University), 1881bs
racing weight, March, 1869; 3. A. C. Yarborough (Lin-
coln), 1661bs racing weight, March, 1869 ; Bow, W. D.
Benson (Balliol), 16011bs racing weight, March, 1869 ;
D. A. Neilson (St. John's), cox., 1101bs racing weight,
March, 1869.

There is notLiog by which the test of merit can
he accurately decided. Harvard will carry a cox-
swain—unheard of for nearly three college genera-
tions, for all the boats of late years have been
made with a steering apparatus, which the bow oar
manages with his feet. A college four oar is almost
an unknown boat on American waters, and where
the Americans pull six oars the English pull eight.
Harvard turns a stake in the middle of the race-
course, while Oxford pulls straight.

" ❑:owever, there are ono or two facts well authenti-
cated, which serve to show the Harvard crew need not
dread that overwhe'ming defeat which is predicted for it
by the conservative aLd despondent. 'The Healy course'
comes nearer being an exact. mile in length than any other
in England. The Henley time' made by an eight-oar
over this course has the reputation of being the best time
made in the country. Now an average of some nine or
ten years of this time shows sm. 50sec. as the best Eng-
list. eight-oar time on a mile course. Last year the Har-
vard crew, in their race with Yale at Worcester, made the
first mile in a three-mile course in sm. 30sec. In other
words, an American six oar has done better than the aye-
-rage English eight. It is true that the Henley time is
made against a current, but it is a very sluggish one, run-
ning not more than half a mile an hour, and it is also true
that the American time of 5.30, though made on dead
water, was made on a long course on which no crew would
dare to use all their power for the first mile."

Tn style Harvard will equal and probably excel
Oxford. The old Harvard long stroke has been
changed, and the system now aims to bring the
strength of the crew to bear upon that part of the
stroke upon which force most tells. By the style
at present practised the men bend well forward,
seize the water with the oar, and then pull till
their backs slant a little back of a perpendicular,
and then repeat this movement, the body passing
through an angle of about 50 deg.

" The four men who pull every evening ou the Charles
look beautiful in a boat, and the same can hardly be said
of the four Englishmen as they appear in a photograph of
tLe Oxford eight which beat Cambridge last March. Tinne
looks too heavy even for a man of his cannons weight,
and while Darbishire looks finely and Benson prettily,
Yarborough, beyond all doubt, looks a positively ugly oar.
On the other hand, Simmons and Loring are, in the opi-
nion .of all competent critics, lovely,' and Rice and Bass
are, in appearance, better than Yarborough and Tina.
Of course it is to be thought of, that, in speaking of the
Englishmen, we speak of men whom we have not seen in
the flesh."

Harvard has the advantage in age ; Simmons and
Loring have pulled in eight or nine races ; while
English rowing has deteriorated of late, American
rowing has much improved, and the Harvard can-
not fail to be a much lighter boat than the Oxford
" ship," the English, according to the Nation, bay-
ing failed to acquire the art of turning out, light
boats. Hence America may hope for sueless, but
if Harvard is beaten, the Nation says, " We must
include the damages to our feelings in the Alabama
claims, and try again."
The New York Tribune and Times keep up the
discussion on Secretary Boutwell's financial policy.
The limes maintains that it is unwise to strip the
Treasury of gold ; that in doing so resumption of
specie payment is indefinitely delayed ; that the
debt cannot be funded at a lower rate of interest
until after specie payment has been resumed :

" The holders of a six-por-cent. security will not volun-
tarily exchange it for 'one baring four per cent.; and, be-
fore the' Secretary can compel the exchange, he must be in
a position to make redemption in coin the alternative.
The higher the premium on the present bonds be forced,
the less inclined will their holders be to surrender then;
for a less valuable bond. A certain coercion is indispen-
sable ; and coercion is impracticable so long as the Tree-
sury is nut prepared to redeem outstanding securities at
par in coin."
The Tribune replies :

" If the revenue is made to considerably exceed the ex-
penditures, and if every dollar of surplus is promptly ap-
plied to the purchase or payment of debt, making bonds
scarcer and scarcer and gold abundant in the market, it is
cot possible that we should not march steadily and surely
ou to resumption. That effected, and bonds still growing
scarcer daily, while most of them either already are or very
soon will bo redeemable at the Government's option, there
can be no difficulty in reducing the rate of interest. All
that will really be needed is the floating of an American
Consol at a fraction above par."

On notifying the holders of bonds which have run
their five years that they are to be paid off either
in coin or Consols, selling at a market price slightly
over their par value, they will choose the Consols ;
but if not, others will buy them, furnishing the
coin to redeem the bonds. The 7 intes considers—

" The gradual appreciation of the currency to be the
true criterion of an approach to specie payments. Tell us
what the national currency is worth, and there will be no
difficulty in determiaiog the improvement or deoliue of the

public credit, without reference to the price of bonds.
Judged by this standard Mr. Boutwell's measures have not
been a success. The currency is more depreciated than
when he began his work, and this single fact outweighs
columns of partizan praise."
The !lribune answers that Mr. Boutwell has more
gold now on hand than when he took over the office,
the sales not equalling the accommodation.
"It happens to be a time of year when we have little
produce to export and many imports to pay for, so that
there is an extraordinary demand for gold or bonds to
send abroad, and this tends strongly to raise the premium
on gold. Whenever the Secretary shall begin in earnest
the work of investing his surplus gold in national obliga-
tions, he will very soon make gold bulls as scarce as hen's
teeth, and the premium on coin will find a down grade
steeper than any incline on the Pacific Railroad. Just
wait till he gives the bulls three or four weekly doses of
ten millions each, and see what their operation will be.
As yet, the were anticipation of what ho may do his
lowered the premium at least five per cent.; let him
really do, and it will go down by the run. Be patient."
The Round Table, June 5, writes on " Mr. Sum-
ner's Radical Blunder." Mr. Sumner spouted de-
fiance, exciting surprise, dissent, and grave dis-
pleasure among the English Radicals, endangering
the sentimental alliance between them, the effect
being a rise in gold and a fall in bonds. The Round
Table hopes it will open the eyes of the English of
the Sptali ir way of thinking to the real feelings
of the Republican party :
, The truth is that the Americans of the Radical stamp,
for the most part, hate England so cordially and so com-
prehensively that they cannot find it in their hearts to discri-
minate to any great extent between English friends or foes.
Most people who read and like the Tribune would, if they
could, cut off communication with England altogether.
They dislike the Spectator and Daily News about as much
as they loathe the Times and Saturday Review. None of
them appreciate our glorious country, and the mawkish
toleration and patronage of one class is as offensive to
them as the open aversion of the other. They would burn
every ship, refuse admission to every bale of gocds, shut
their doors to everything English, in fact, unless it be
current literature, which they can appropriate at pleasure,
and so fill up their magazines and journals without cost.,
to the great encouragement of American authors and im-
provement of American literature."
The Round Table then goes on to show that the
Democrats are at least fair and judicial in their
mode of treating international questions, conclud-
ing thus :

"Meanwhile, it should afford intelligent Englishmen
some satisfaction to knoW that the philippic in question
was born of a supposed political necessity, and was manu-
factured for home rather than for foreign consumption.
Had General Grant been made President without the aid
of the Radical faction, it might not have been thought
necessary to take the wind out of his sails by a heavy bid
for popular prejudice, or. to forestall the chance of disas-
trous consequences to that faction in the possible event of
the hero of Richmond going over to the Democrats."

I❑ another article the Round Table laughs heartily
at the ridiculous alarm Mr. Sumner's performance
caused in England :
" His speech was merely a pyrotechnic display, intended
to glare and dazzle our sensation-loving public, and amuse
them with its lurid flame and pungent smell of gunpowder.
And it perfectly succeeded. The cunning workman, anxi-
ous only for effect, rammed into his rocket case a double
charge of inflammable materials, and it ascended with a
terrible fizz, scattering aloft a bright shower of harmless
spangles. Au open-mouthed public gazed enraptured, and
smiling editors, laughing in their sleeves, patted the youth-
ful pyrotechnist on the back, and called it a capital per-
formance."

Whether England paid or refused to entertain the
claims, America has not, and Lever bad, the least
intention of going to war, which she knows would
be financial ruin and political chaos :

"Wo understand now exactly what war means. We
know its horrors, its uncertainties, its bitter truths ; and
while we shall faithfully uphold our flag and enforce our
rights, we do not intend to plunge into another struggle
to please a bilious newspaper correspondent or an ambi-
tious pyrotechnist."
The Springfield Republican considers—

'The correspondence about the Johnson-Clareudon
treaty just published in England is quite as damaging to
Mr. Seward's reputation for frankness and plain dealing as
his course in the St. Thomas matter was. Ho seems to
have thought that he could persuade England and the
United States into a treaty whereby both would be dis-
appointed ; and to this disingenuous scheme Lord Stanley
seems to have consented. As Mr. Seward can scarcely
have been ignorant of the real temper of the Senate and
the American people, this project seems all the more ex-
traordinary ; but, as we suggested some time ago, it may
be that President Johnson himself directed the matter and
left his Secretary of State no alternative. Even in that
case the attitude of Mr. Seward is not very dignifiod or
honest."

The letter of the Lairds it thinks proves beyond ques-
tion the complicity of the English Government, and
the liabilityof the English. Commentingou the sup-
pression of Mr. Sumner's speech, it says, if this
speech bad not become a daily object of attack in
the English papers, they might have been excused
for its omission, considering its length. But under
the circumstances, they were in honour bound to
publish it, and by neglecting this duty they trifled
with the confidence of their readers, and incurred
the suspicion of a desire to misrepresent, by pas-
sionate inferences, a State paper which they sad-
delay suppressed, so as to prevent the public from
forming its own opinions. It thus alludes to our
report of the 53d anniversary of the British Peace
Society, upholding the interpretation of the speech
there given by the Rev. C. 11. A. Dill :

" Mr. Dall was quite correct, and we are glad there was
an American in London to tell the people so, and a jour-
nal candid enough to agree with him."

The Washington correspondent of the Boston
Advertiser says that the talk of that city among
the politicians is to the effect that the 'Republican
State Convention of Pennsylvania, which meets in
Philadelphia on the 27th inst., will be asked to de-
clare itself on the Alabama claims question. The
persons moving in the matter are said to support
the views of Mr. Sumner.

The Free-Trader remarks : " The ' British Gold'
argument has the nine lives of a cat. When Mr.
Marshall, the Treasurer of the League, made it
known that £5 was the only sum ever received
from a Britisher, we thought we had killed this false
assertion. But it seems we were mistaken. The
Tribune now sees British Gold' concealed under the
subscriptions to the League marked cash.' For
its further enlightenment we would state that these
items, in the subscription list published by the Tri-
bune, are mostly composed of a number of two dollar
contributions received by the publisher of the Free-
Trader, as subscriptions to this paper. Ile handed
them to the treasurer as 'cash,' in order to save mak-
ing numerous separate entries on our books. The sum
paid in by the Liverpool, London, and Globe in-
surance Company was for advertisements in the
Free-Trader ; and the League has never received a
cent from that company as a contribution. We
bad thought the ingenuity of the upholders of the
B: itish gold' argument had reached its greatest
development when it broached the cash item'
theory, but in this also, it seems, we were mistaken.
A correspondent of the Tribune makes it known that
two of the officers of the League are interested in
foreign trade,and actuallyhave a brother. in-law who
is English, and a banker besides. The correspondent
says that where our treasure is there are our hearts
also.' Now it is natural to suppose that this English
banker is possessed of the affections of his Ameri-
can brothers-in-law; this being admitted, it is only
necessary to transpose two words of the text and
make it read that ' where our hearts are there is our
treasure also ;' and it follows, of course, that these
two Americans give ' British gold' to the League
when they subscribe to its funds. . . . It will be
gratifying to all our friends to know that the re-
ceipts of the League nearly equals its expenditure,
and that we have a nest-egg of $25,000 in our trea-
sury. During the hot summer months public meet-
ings in towns ace impracticable ; but we promise our
supporters to inaugurate a Free-Trade campaign
during the coming autumn that will remind them of
a general election contest."

The New York World of June 17 says that the
Republicans have given up the intention of making
Mr Sumner's speech their war-cry for the elections.
The Imperialist, in a scathing article, repudiates
James Gordon Bennett and the Ilera1(1.
Tte
Herald has been-exercising its wit at the expense
of the Imperialist, which does not appear to like it,
and so it thus replies :
"All who have watched the career of Mr. Bennett aro
aware how persistently he has a:,used the infancy of every
great movement, except in cases where he could better
smother by seeming favour, and with what unvarying re-
gularity he has, in after days of prosperity, fawned, and
grovelled, and demanded consideration' for his services as
nurse, if not
parent. sow, knowing as we do that the
as
tastes of the owner of the Herald are strongly monarchi-
cal, opposed not only to Eepublicanism, but to that Free
Empire to which we are pointing, but Which ha cannot

comprehend, we can have no doubt that before long be
will attempt to take our powerful and growing movement
under his protecting wing and claim it as his own. We
desire to repudiate him in advance. We want none of his
assistance, believing that it would be detrimental to our
great and noble cause."

nRITISII ORPHAN ASYLUM,
JUP- Mackenzie-park, Slongh (formerly at Clapham-rise).
Instituted 1827.
Patron—Her Most Gracious Majesty the QUEEN.
For the gratuitous board, clothing►, and education of
destitute orphans from all parts of the British dominions,
and of all denominations, whose parents wore once in
prosperous circumstances.
One hundred and seventy-five orphans now in the In-
stitution ; ample room for about 30 more.
Increased support indispensable, as this Charity is not
endowed, and is in the greatest need of further pecuniary
assistance.

Subscribers and the public are invited to inspect the
Institution, and judge as to the nature of tho Charity and
its peculiar
The last Report can be obtained on application to the
Secretary.

THOS. TILSON, Chairman.
CHAS. LEE, M.A. Hon. Secs.
AUBREY 0. PRICE, M.A..
ALFRED MACKENZIE, Secretary.
Offices, 73, Cheapsids, London, E.C.
Bankers—Messrs. Williams, Deacon, and Co., Birchin.
lane ; and Messrs. Haywood Brothers, Manchester.

MUTUAL ASSURANCE without MUTUAL LIABILITY.
NON-FORF ITUR M POLICIES by a LIMITED NUMBER
of PAYMENTS. PROFITS may be APPLIED so as to make
POLICIES PAYABLE in LIFETI ME.

BRITISIt EQUITABLE ASSURANCE
COMPANY.
4, Queen-street-place, Southwark Bridge, E.Cil
NEW POLICIES ISSUED.
New Policies
In WeelEs, 18811.4.
3 86 —114,250
1869 ... 3 108 18,481

ExcesA 22 £4,231
In 52 weeks ending April 7th, 1869 -.3,105 —£539,442