The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-15 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES,

The Tenure of Office Act may probably cause a serious
complication in Congress. General Butler has reintro-
duced the bill for its repeal, and it has passed the House
of Representatives by 143 to 16 votes—all but unanimously.
If the Senate persists in rejecting it, a struggle will ensue,
not a party fight, but a contest for supremacy between the
two Houses. In the House of Representatives the
support of the bill is not guided by any party considera-
tions, for whilst General Butler introduces the measure
for repeal, the Tribune, the organ of Bntlev's section,
opposes it. The contest is one between the two branches of
the Legislature, and the action of the Senate is therefore
awaited with the greatest interest. Should the Senate
persist in rejecting the bill, General Grant cannot fail to
side with the Lower House.

The differences of the civil war are smoothing down.
President Grant's appointment of General Longstrcet as
Surveyor of Customs at New Orleans is a conciliatory act.
Longstreet was one of the reading Confpflerate officers,
and has fought against Grant himself.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

On the expiry of the postal contract with the
Cunard Company with the year 1867 a provisional
arrangement was made for last year for the convey-
ance of the mails across the Atlantic. In conjunc-
tion with Mr. Inman the Messrs. Cunard and Com-
pany offered to perform the service for a subsidy of
£150,000 a year ; their steanattra::d.rrying two-
thirds of the mails, and receiving .tiVo-thirds of the
sum, the other third going to Mr. Inman. The Go-
vernment cut this down to £105,000, at the same time
shortening the term of the contract from ten years
to seven, which was accepted by the companies, the
contracts being signed by the end of 1868. Parlia-
ment had, however, to ratify the engagement, and as
the Ministry changed during the interval the new
Government asked to shorten the agreement to six in-
stead of seven years. This the companies declined, and
the original contract has just been discussed in
Parliament, and will doubtless be ,sanctioned.
However important may be a penny postal rate, it
is even of more importance to have the letters
quickly and regularly delivered, which cannot be
done without a special subsidy. Indeed, it would
be impossible for any but old and well-established
companies to keep up such fleets as those of the
Cunard and Inman on such a subsidy as £105,000
a year, scarcely the cost of one of their steamers.
The amount has evidently been reduced to the
closest margin, and the Government may rely on
this, that they would never hear ag tiu of eight-day
passages from New York to Queenstown if the
subsidy was decreased or withdrawn. The enormous
difference in the expense of a fleet which saves one
or two days in the passage across must be known
before the question of subsidy can be appreciated.
Strike off the subsidy, and off go the two days, and
were it not for the strong competition the com-
panies would make far more by throwing up the
subsidy and taking their time to cross the ocean.
General Caleb Cushing's Treaty for the Ship
Canal across the Isthmus of Darien has been favour..
ably reported on by the Foreign Affairs Cmi_
mittee of the Senate, and the Chairman, Senator
Sumner, asks for its ratification. It is regarded as
of great commercial importance to the world. It is
favoured by General Grant, who may be trusted
to carry it out during his present administration,
even supposing that General Butler failed to secure
his reelection in 1872. The Danish Treaty and
oilers are for the time postponed.

Among the schemes for reducing the United
States army the most prominent were those of
General Butler, Mr. Dodge, and Mr. Blaine.
Butler's Ilan was to discharge men and officers till
the estimates should be reduced to a fixed sum.
The bills of Mr. Dodge and Mr. Blaine differed in
principle from Butler's, but not from each other.
Butler's plan was defeated in the Representatives
by 111 to 64, and the bill that finally passed that
body provided for a reduction to 25 regiments of
infantry, and 5 of artillery and cavalry, by not
issuing new commissions nor enlisting men; while
no further promotions are to be made nor any ap-

pointments in the various departments, many of
which are to be consolidated as tke General of the
Army may deem best. As finally passed in the
Senate, Mr. Wilson's amendment being adopted, the
number of infantry regiments arc to be reduced to
35 ;:the number of brigadier-generals to 8 ; the term
of enlistment being fixed at five years: it mustersout
of the services about 14 infantry regiments, and
provides that the Yc esident shall consolidate the
regiments as rapidly as the requirements of the
public service will permit. Considering that army
expenses will be less in proportion to the cost of
living than in the days of Buchanan, this wholesale
reduction of both army and navy is a singular com-
mentary on the remark of the Times, that the ex-
penditure of the United States Government is
rapidly growing in all directions. It is these
ignorant or untruthful statements which so mis-
lead the English, and give them such erroneous
ideas on the United States.

Where population grows denser many of the cus-
toms though condemned in Europe by the United
States are adopted by the latter as their necessity be-
comes developed. The rivers, and what in England
would be designated lakes, though called in America
ponds, have been almost emptied of fish by a lazy,
vagrant class, who use any means which answer the
purp3se of the moment. It is to replenish the de-
struction they have caused that Seth Green and the
Commissioners appointed by different States have
been at work tore-stock, but unless the result of their
labours be protected they will be fruitless, because
these people will consume the fish as fast as the waters
are replenished. Massachusetts has set the example in
fish culture, and that State feels most strongly the
necessity of protecting the work, and establishing
the principle that the fish cultivated by the owner
of a farm on his own property are as much his as are
his sheep and cattle ; but this is a new idea to the in-
habitants, and an infringement of a good old cus-
tom, savouring of feudal Europe, t hough it is becom-
ing clear that it must be enforced or the lakes and
rivers will become lifeless. A game law has been sub-
mitted to the New York Sportsmen's Club, amend-
ing on various points that now in force. Trout
fishing will not be allowed during September ;
woodcock shooting is no longer controlled by the
ebb and flow of the tide, a very curious provision of
the present law in the United States, but commences
o❑ the 4th of July all over the States ; partridges
cannot be shot before the Ist of September, and
the sale of quail, partridges, venison, and prairie
chickens is absolutely prohibited after the Ist of
Nlarch, regardless of the time or place of their being

The important matter of taking the census of the
United States is being arranged at Washington, to
be carried into practice next year. O❑ the 19th
and 20th February the Census Committee, of
which Representative Garfield is the Chairman,
after discussion, decided to recommend the establish-
ment of a different Census B treau, and to adopt the
planof Dr. Huff, who superintended the taking of the
census iu 1865 in the State of New York. Under the
old system some districts were enabled by fraud to re-
turn many inhabitants in excess of what they con-
tained, and it is now intended to appoint special offi-
cers to gather the returns, instead of working through
the United States Marshals as heretofore. The Com-
mittee favour an increase of the members of Congress
to 300. The present apportionment is one Repre-
sentative to an aggregate of 125,000 inhabitants,
and if, as is probable, the House will reject this pro-
posal, the next election will raise that, aggregate
to 150,000 inhabitants to every member. The effect
must be, under any circumstances, to increase the
representatio❑ of the Western States. The New
England States will lose some of the members they
now return if the numbers be not increased, and so
will Pennsylvania, and even New York. Indeed,
five is the estimated loss of the last State, two
for Massachusetts, and one for each of the other
New England States.

The House of Representatives on the 23d Feb.
struck out the Appropriation for tba salary and ex-
penses of the Special Revenue Commissioner, the
Hon. David A. Wells. Mr. Cake, a Republican of
Pennsylvania, wished to know if the Commissioner
could not get on without any salary since his trip to
England ! General Butler defended Mr. Wells, and
so did Mr. Allisoa, of lowa ; but the amendment
was adopted, though it will probably give rise to a
fight hereafter, for it certainly has a very curious
appearance that a singularly able and honest pub-
lic servant should be suddenly deprived of his means
of existence because he truly stated the result of his
lengthened investigation into a very difficult sub-
ject, and his opinions and figures militated against
a powerful and well-combined interest. It has al-
ways been the curse of Protectionists that they never
know where to stop; and in the end lose what they had
gained by pushing to an extreme, and disgusting the
nation by the violence and injustice of their attacks
against all who oppose their doctrines. This action
can scarcely fail to damage their cause with the
public, and to drive the man generally conceded
to be best acquainted with this subject fairly into
the arms of their opponents. Power is passing from
the Atlantic to the Prairie States ; even the census
of next year will make this change distinctly felt,
and we cannot but doubt the wisdom of the Pro-
tectionists in making the question a war to the knife,
as the Free-traders can scarcely fail to interpret an
act that deprives a Government officer of his salary
because he faithfully reported the information he
was specially appointed to collect. We are glad to
notice
,that next day, on Mr. Allison's motion, the
provisb was amended, the words, "after June
30, 1870, being inserted."