The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-25 00:00:00

THE STEAMER HORNET.

The steamer Hornet has been released by the authorities
at Halifax, nothing being found to warrant her detention. It
will be remembered that the Hornet was seized on suspi•
cion of being a Cuban filibuster, and one of her sailors gave
information that she was loaded with arms under her cargo
of coals. In consequence of this the authorities deter-
mined to have her unloaded, despite the protest of her
captain, but no arms or ammunition were discovered. The
Hornet is therefore at liberty; but it is still believed that
she is intended for Cuba, and will take her arms on board
when at sea. Nearly all the vessels of the American navy
aro getting ready for sea—a fact which encourages the
supposition that active interference in Cuba is in contem-
plation.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

The economical policy of the Fortieth Congress,
honestly administered, has produced surprising re-
sults. In 1862 the Government expended, as
shown by the warrant books of the Treasury De-
partment, $570,800,000. I❑ 1865, $1,900,000,000,
the largest annual outlay ever known in America.
In 1868 this dropped to $1,700,000,000, while for
the year ending June 30, 1869, the amount was
$585,000,000, bringing the expenditure to within a
small sum of what it was in 1862. The War De-
partment expended on the military branch
$80,500,000 last year, while for the previous year
the sum was $120,000,000, and for the Navy
$23,500,000, against $30,000,000 during the preced-
ing year. The Treasury Department proper costs
more by $9,000,000, while the interior Department
has risen from twenty-eight to thirty-six millions.
Captain Shaw, of the London Fire Brigade, has
returned from his tour in the United States. He
has been everywhere well received, especially at
Philadelphia, a committee of the fire companies of
that city meeting him at the railway station.
Everything connected with the department worth
seeing was shown. He was " dined" sumptuously,
a mini,,ture steam-engine pumping out the cham-
pagne. Captain Shaw, in returning thanks, said

he did not think the Philadelphia Department ex-
celled that of London save in point of numbers, and
concluded with the following advice :—" As long as
you can enforce discipline in your volunteer de-
partment you can make it effective ; without it you
cannot." The whole force—some 45 steam engines
and innumerable hook-and-ladder companies, mus-
tering upwards of 3,000 volunteers, and thousands

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of followers—were reviewed at four o'clock the
following morning.
General Prim and Senor Silvela, Minister for
Foreign Affairs, have returned to Madrid. The
proposal of the Duke of Genoa for the throne
of Spain has, it is rumoured, failed, and his
Majesty of Portugal then came on the tarn.
He was said to be about to abdicate In order
to accept the Spanish crown, and that dur-
ing the minority of the Crown Prince of Portugal
Don Fernando would act as Regent, but according
to the latest rumours his candidature also has failed.
When the Cortes reassembles the Government will
introduce a bill to provide for the better preserva-
tion of public order, and it is said that that body
will also discuss the choice of a candidate for the
throne, some asserting that it will elect the King of
Portugal.
Prince Arthur was cordially welcomed at Mon-
treal on Saturday, at Toronto on Monday, and visited
the Industrial Exhibition at London, Canada, on
Wednesday. The American press continues to pub-
lish articles urging his Royal Highness to pay a
visit to the United States.

Advices received from Japan, via San Francisco,
state that his Royal Highness the Duke of Edin-
burgh arrived at Jeddo on the 29th of August.
Some of the principal Japanese priests are memo-
rialising the Government to oppose Christianity.
The Austrian Embassy to China arrived at Pekin
on the 14th of August.

The only other telegrams from America are that a
Cabinet Council was held yesterday specially to
consider Cuban affairs, the members having all
assembled at Washington. President Grant was
expected at the White House last Wednesday.
A telegram of Thursday evening says—The vio-
lent fluctuations in gold have unsettled values and
caused a partial suspension of business generally.
The rise of gold is owing to the continued opera-
tions of the bull clique. Exchange on London is
nominally quoted 104.

Notwithstanding the feverish state of the New
York Money Market, and the great speculative
combinations to affect values, business was gene-
rally active, a sound and profitable trade being re-
ported on the departure of the mail. In dry goods
this was stimulated by the cold weather, which in-
duced large purchaiers of woollen and flannel goods,
especially .of the finer imported descriptions, in
which an Active traffic in America is sure to re-act
favourably on England.. The returning prosperity
of the Southerners is being felt beneficially in New
York business. There have lately been numerous
agents purchasing largely for the South, who appear
to be well supplied with funds.

The news from Paraguay tells of the final defeat
of Lopez, at least so it is proclaimed, although the
Dictator has survived many final defeats. Count
d'Eu, with the Allied Army, appears to have at-
tacked his position, taking Ascurra, Lopez and
Mrs. Lynch being compelled to seek safety in flight.
Gen. Mena Barret() was dead, and 1,500 Paragua-
yans were placed hors de combat. Great excitement
prevailed in Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, and
there were general illuminations in Rio, as this was
believed to be end of the war. The Paraguayan
Provisional Government bad been formally in-
stalled. Senator A. S. G iljo, with the Minister
Paranlios and Dr. Verez, _were to leave on the 25th
for Rio.

Bad we been asked to name a weekly paper in
England,to support Mr. Burlingame's China policy,
we would have answered, the Spectator, believing
it to be based on the broad principles of interna-
tional justice, involving the protection of the weak
against the tyranny of the strong. Had we been
asked to name a weekly in America likely to sup-
port that policy, we would have named the Nation,
for the same reasons. Yet these are the two papers
conspicuous for their opposition. We grant that we
are giving no small assurance in saying this, that
our own view of the question is wrong, nevertheless
we hold to it ; seeing no reason, from what we have
read in these papers, to change our opinion. The
policy of treating China on a footing of equality
may be an error, and it may be necessary to revert
to the old British systein ; but even were all the

chances to b© in favour of such an end, we would
still desire to see it given a full and fair trial.
The most disastrous gale ever known in the New
England States occurred on the afternoon of Sep-
tember 8. In Boston alone the damage is esti-
mated at $1,000,000, the Coliseum being among
the ruined buildings. All the coast towns suffered
severely, the aggregate of destruction being im-
mense. For two days no telegraph messages could
be despatched, as the poles which supported the
wires were blown down for miles. The gale was
particularly severe in Rhode Island, where several
lives were lost, about 100 buildings being unroofed
in Providence, and the Hartford Railroad depot
demolished; the Oriental Mill was unroofed, the
Chestnut-street Church steeple blown down, as
were nearly all the other steeples, and also Ross and
Walker's tannery. In Maine several vessels have
been wrecked, fifteen being ashore between Cape
Porpoise and Portland. The Marine Hospital at
Portland had one-third its roof blown off, and the
fog-bell at Portland head light was blown into
the sea.

A discussion is being carried on between the
Nation and the Springfield Republican, touching a
letter of introduction alleged by the former to have
been addressed by Mr. Sumner to Mr. John Bright
for Mr Reverdy Johnson when he went as Minister
to England last autumn. The Republican denies
that such a letter was written, whereupon the
Nation states that it was not a mere letter of in-
troduction, but what was far more valuable—
" A long letter by mail, speaking of Mr. Johnson in the
highest terms, calling attention to his unanimous confir-
mation by the Senate ; assuring Mr. Bright that he had the
confidence and esteem of all parties; that ho was abun-
dantly competent to settle the 21/abamaquestion, and would,
in Mr. Sumner's opinion, settle it. Tho warmth of the
eulogy was so great, in fact, that Mr. Bright was anxious to
hurry up to London at once, to see this remarkable man ;
but, being unable to do so, wrote to Mr. Johnson to
apologise, and inserted in his letter an extract from Mr.
Sumner's, in order to show him (Mr. Johnsen) what a high
place he occupied in the opinion even of political oppo-
nents. Moreover, after the treaty arrived here, Mr. Sum-
ner, on the 17th of January last, wrote to Mr. Bright com-
mending it, and on the 19th, after dining with Grant, added
a postscript, with even a stronger commendation, thus
confirming the confidence of the British Cabinet in Mr.
Johnson. The subsequent speech, therefore, was to Mr
Bright and others a painful surprise."
The Nation then goes on to allude to Mr. Sumner's
interview with the New York Herald's correspondent,
in which Mr. Sumner laid down the extraordinary
doctrine that the British Cabinet ought not to have
negotiated with the Ambassador of a retiring Ad-
ministration—the thought even suggesting itself of
calling Mr. Thornton's attention to the subject.
Considering that the performance was that of the
Chairman of the Senate's Committee on Foreign
Affairs, if it be not a fit subject for comment in
the newspapers, the Nation can hardly see what
duties the press has.
A meeting composed of citizens of nearly every
State of the Union was held at the City Hall, Wash-
ington, Sept. 3, to elect a committee and to take
other steps towards holding a World's Fair in
Washington during the year 1871. A second meet-
ing was to be held a few days after to get up a per-
manent organization. The gentlemen elected to
serve on the committee were :—Messrs. M. W.
Corcoran, 11. D. Cooke, George M. Riggs, W. S.
Huntington, Moses Kelley, Alexander R. Shep-
pard, C. S. Noyes, William B. Todd, James Y.
Davis, Henry Polkingliam, and sixty-five others.
It is evident that Washington does not intend to
throw up the sponge to any city in the West, but,
replies to the agitation for the removal of the
National Capital by an invitation to the World
to hold there a Fair.
Mr. Charles S. P. Bowles, an American banker
travelling in Europe, wrote to Secretary Boutwell
on the national debt and his financial policy as re-
gards Europe. He recommends bonds of thirty
years at four per cent. paid in gold, and guaranteed
to be exempt from any tax whatever, and he be-
ieves that the Conservative class of investors would
be attracted who have hitherto been frightened away
by the high rate of interest, which to them is the
strongest indication of bad security. We have much
pleasure in reproducing the following remarks from
the pen of Mr. Bowles, while dissenting from them in
some degree. Whether bad or good policy, we have
seldom heard the right disputed of the United States
Government to levy on the foreign bondholders the
income tax paid in the country. The case differs
widely from such debts as that due from Austria to

England, where the foreign country raised in the Lon

don market a sterling loan, and then proceeded to
levy a special tax on the income, which was not merely
a breach of faith, but a downright robbery. The
United States Government raised no loan abroad,
and has the power to tax income as Congress decrees,
while the property in the bond can have no right
to escape simply by being taken out of the country
by a foreign holder, who sends the coupon back to
it for payment
"It seems incredible that anything so fallacious and
mischievous could gain a hearing. Ii is only by thus
4:treating doubts of our good faith that our National pro-
gress can be checked. To find in a country men of high
position proposing to partially nullify an honest obliga-
tion would alarm any ono who did not understand the de-

magogues to whom our peculiar institutions give birth.
Every $5O or $lOO bond of the United States held by a
foreigner makes of that holder an ally and an added
strength. He becomes an agent for the enlightenment of
his circles and for the encouragement of emigration to our
country. Shall we, then, in petty pursuit of a few evad-

ing taxpayers, nullify our obligations, thereby discourag-
ing the hopes and destroying the confidence of our Euro-
pean friends, by taxing indiscriminately with these eva-
ders our allies and future immigrants ?"

Roll of Honour 18 has been issued, containing
the names of Federal soldiers interred in 16 national
cemeteries, besides local cemeteries and military
posts. The volume embraces the names of 22,900
Union soldiers, 11,530 being unknown. Many had
been buried hurriedly at insolated spots with only
temporary marks or none at all, and frequently the
ground fell into the hands of the Confederates. Vol.
19 has also been issued, giving the names of those

interred in seven national cemeteries and various

posts. 17,453 Union soldiers are there recorded ;
the remains of 63,847 have been removed from 295

different localities to 23 national cemeteries. The
18th volume brings the number of graves recorded
in printed form to about 193,000. Of the occu-

pants about 120,000 are known and 73,000 un-
known. There yet remain to be printed the names
of about 120,000 soldiers and prisoners of war, an
aggregate of 305,000 graves; of the occupants
nothing at least of 100,000 will ever be known.

The Hon. David A. Wells has replied to the letter
of the American Consul at Liverpool on the subject

of the extinction of the National Debt of 'the

United States. Mr. Wells, late Special Commis

sioner of the Treasury to Europe, has been remark
ably accurate in the calculations by which he anti

cipates the probable receipts and expenditures, and
therefore his opinions perhaps carry as much weight
as those of any man in the United S tates. He says that
$100,000,000, bearing interest at 6 per cent. yearly,
carried to a sinking fund, would extinguish the
debt in fifteen years ; but should the contribution
be limited by law, as now, to one per cent. of the
entire debt annually, that is, $50,000,000, bearing
6 per cent. interest, the debt would be extinguished
in twenty-three years. Between these periods he con-
siders the redemption will be complete. The excess
of the income over the expenditure for the year
was $48,000,000 ; eighteen millions of what would
otherwise have been surplus was drawn by the Pen-
sion Bureau, and nine millions and a half, if the

gold be turned into currency, was paid for Alaska.
These, being extraordinary items, may be calcu-
.

[ated in the surplus of the current year, and to it

may be added some thirty millions gained by the

retrenchments of the present Administration, and
fifteen millions from the growth of wealth in the

couutry. Such sums would place at the disposal

of the Government for the redemption of the debt

ully $120,000,000; and his calculation therefore

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would leave a sufficient margin to meet ordinary oc-
currences and unexpected incidents.

A party of men in a carriage, about noon on the
Gth inst., drove to Keenan's liquor shop in Philadel-

phia, and asked where was Brooks. Being present,
James J. Brooks answered he was the man, and the
reply was a shot from a revolver, which, pass-
ing through his lungs, mortally wounded him. The
party then re-entered the carriage, and drove furi-
ously off to Fairmount Park, where all clue was
lost. A reward of $5,000 bas been offered by Com-