The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-09 00:00:00

FOREIGN NOTES•

The well-informed Boston correspondent of the Daily
News discusses at some length the great financial and poli-
tical questions which are at present agitating America.
As we are informed by telegram, the debt of the United
States on the Ist December amounted to 2,639,000,000
dols., while the cash in the Treasury amounted to only
138,000,000 dols. ; so that the necessity of having the
financial relations of the country so arranged as to
guarantee a safe and speedy extrication from present
financial difficulties seems to be both clear and urgent. As
one means of effecting this object, it has been resolved to
pay a number of Government bonds, both principal and
interest, in gold, a step which will tend to re-
establish credit and silence agitation on the sub-
ject. But finance is not understood in America by the
people, and the American financier has, in carrying his
theories into practice, to contend with the general igno-
rance on all subjects connected with currency, taxation,
and revenue, " an ignorance partly due to want of reflec
tion, and partly to a want of experience ; secondly, to the
habit, only too widespread, of accepting great and obvious
views of things, and not pushing into the heart of them ;
thirdly, to the absence of the habit, so common in Euro
pean countries, so rare in colonial ones, of accepting
instruction from individuals ; and, fourthly, to the pecu-
liar condition of the country—its prosperity, and
the large predominance through the greater part
of it of production over consumption." The party
in America who take perhaps the most part in
all discussions on financial questions are what are termed
the " Western inflationists" the producers of the
Western States, who, aware that the issue of a fresh
batch of greenbacks is invariably followed by a rise in the
price of agricultural produce, are intensely interested in
and desirous for an expansion of the paper currency of the
country.

Mr. M'Culloch, the American Minister of Finance,
nas been for some time back applying himself vigorously
to the contraction of the currency, and up to the assembly
of Congress this session he was acting under a law which
directed him to withdraw paper from circulation
at the rate of 4,000,000 dollars a month. But the
" Western inflationists " immediately after the meet-
ing of Congress introduced a bill repealing this law,
and we learn by telegram of 7th December that the HoUie
of Representatives has passed a bill suspending Mr.
M`Culloch's authority to contract the currency. President
Johnson is not to be impeached— the " yeas " for his im-
peachment being 57, the " nays " 108. But it certainly
was not the address of the President, with its sneer at the
blundering of " Congressional legislation," that diverted
that current of feeling in favour of impeachment which
was so general among the Republicans. The change of
policy on this question among the Republicans was due to
tie fat that had they occupied the time of Congress with
long impeachment debates at this season, when questions of
currency and taxation imperatively demand immediate
attention, the country would undoubtedly mark its disgust
by a decided reaction that would in all probability throw
the power of the Government during the next Presidential
term into the hands of the Democrats.

The newspapers have correspondents on all sides finding
mull with our Consuls and the Foreign Office for " blun-
dering into a war with Abyssinia." A contemporary has
'observed that "men and societies should be made to feel
directly the consequences of a folly." " A Poor Parson"
thereupon asks why he, whose every shilling is forestalled
before it is earned, should be made to feel the con-
sequences of the follies of those who have drifted
us into this needless war. Why should our Christian
charities be stinted because somebody blundered and
somebody else made the blundering worse ?
The purchase of the Island of St. Thomas by the UniteQ
States will probably have some influence on the sugar
'markets. Like other European States having sugar.
groWing colonies, Denmark encouraged the sugar-growed
in her possessions by a considerable bounty. Raw sugaz
imported into Denmark from her colonies paid about half
the duty imposed on other sugars. It is not likely that
the Muted States will continue this system.

We are happy to be able to announce the safe
arrival at Hong Kong of her Majesty's ship Perseus, for
the safety of which there was some degree of anxiety, by
letters which we bad received by a former mail from
China.—Army and Navy Gazette.
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—The number of new
members returned to the House of Commons since the dis-
solution of July, 1865, has now been increased to 60. The
names of the new members are as follows : Lord J. Hay,
Mr. J.Candlish, Mr. R. Arkwright, the Hon. G. Denman
Mr. M. Wyvill, Mr. H. A. Herbert, Mr. 11. Whitmore (who'
obtained his seat on petition), Sir E. Lechmere, Mr. N
Eckersley, Mr. J. Goldsmid, Mr. J. Gorst, Mr. C. Capper.
Sir J. Hay, the Hon. E. W. Lascelles, Mr. R. Eykyn, Mr.
C. Edwards, Mr. B. Osborne, Lord Amberley, Mr. D. For-
dyce, Lord Eliot, Mr. M. Chambers, Mr. T. B. T. Hiid-
yard, Sir. R.IT Brett (who obtained his sent on petition),
Mr. J. A. Smith, Mr. R. Nicholson, the Hon. J. Henniker-
Major, Mr. P. S. Corrance, Mr. P. Vanderbyl, Viscount
Barrit.gton, Captain D. Pennant, Mr. Rowel Gwyn, Capt.
White, Mr. Jervois Smith, Mr. Garth, Mr. J. Bowen, Mr
Lanyon, Mr. De la Poet., Mr. Kavanagh, Mr. Vanes, Sir
J. B. Karslake, Mr. E. K. Karslake, Mr. S. G. Stopford,
Mr. Smith Barr;-, the Hon. 0. Duncombe, Mr. G. Morris,
Mr. Labouchere, Lord Ronald Leveson-Gowor, Mr. H.
Edwards, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Dixon, Colonel Somerset, Mr.
Keown Mr. Winterbotham, Lord Hubert Canning
Burke, 'Mr. R. Warren, Mr. G. 11. Finch, jun., the Lord
.Advoc,te, Mr. M. W. Thompson, Mr. T. I'. Paget, and Mr.
Jacob Bright. The effect of these 60 changes has been to
add five or six votes to the Liberal party. Vacancies
exist at present at Lancaster, Reigate, 'fettles, and in
Westmoreland.

WILD FOWL.—On Tuesday last numerous large
flights of wild fowl made their appearance on the Surrey
side of the Thames, and at Kew and Kingston a large flock
of wild ducks and teal located on the river, and afforded
good sport for the "knights of the trigger." In the river
Wandle several species of wild fowl were shot, and on the
large waters at Claremont both flights of wild geese and
ducks have alighted in largo numbers. During the day
many droves of wild fowl passed over as if on transit to
the south coast. The large influx of these feathered
visitors in this part of the country is an unmistakable sign
of approaching hard weather in the north.—Sporting
Gazette.