The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-11 00:00:00

SOUTH CAROLINA BONDS.

The State of South Carolina having passed an act to
fund its debt, interest and principal past duo, a new series
of bonds of $lOO, $5OO, and $l,OOO have been prepared,
payable at Columbia in 1887 and 1397, with half-yearly 6
per cent. interest, commencing July 1,1867, and the Gover-
nor has issued his proclamation in regard to the matter.
The holders of past due bonds and stocks are required to
come forward and fund the same in the new bonds, above
described, or else receive certificates for the amount bear-
ing 6 per cent. interest. The past due debt thus provided
for includes the following :—5310,000 bonds of 1859, with
interest ; the interest on $1,000,000 of bonds issued under
act of 1854 ; interest on $500,000 of bonds issued under
act of 1853, for building the new State House, and the in-
terest on $1,755,000 of State House bonds under several
subsequent acts.
The London market for American Securities has shown
less activity than for some time past, still prices have been
well maintained, and in some cases show a fractional ad-
vance, United States 5-20's of 1862 are last quoted 703 to
1, and the 1865 issue 691 to 1.
Illinois
demand asCsepnrutranlgcluoset to 78, and Eries,d7i ftoor4wBh. which
ta-
nsd.2othe o
nC
de
sr,t il6BcBa2t e: sTohfuDr
sedbaeyn,t7uor6e9:67oto i
15;8.
p 7710
-day, are firm at
461pe1
rtoc2e,nta.
lantic and Great Western Consolidated Bonds leave off
OFFICIAL TRANSACTIONS Fon TIIE WEEK. United States
Friday
701 1; Saturday, 701 a ; Monday, 701 1 ; Tuesday, 701
1 1 ; Wednesday, , United States 6 per Cent. 5-20
Bonds, 1865: Thursday, ; Friday, —; Saturday,
; Monday, 60/ ; Tuesday, 69t ; Wednesday,
Virginia 5 per Cent. Sterling Bonds : Thursday, —.
Vir-
ginia 6 per Cent. Dollar Bonds: Thursday, —; Friday,
—; Saturday, —; Tuesday, —; Wednesday, —. Atlan.
and Gt. Westn. (N. T. Sect.) Ist Mrt. Bonds, 1880: Friday,
70 69 ; Monday, ; Wednesday, —; Tuesday, 681 9.
A tlan. and Gt. Westn. 2nd Mrt. Bonds, 1881: Friday,
—; Monday, —. Atlan. and Gt. Westn. (Penns. Sect.)
Ist Mort Bonds, 1877: Thursday, —; Friday, —; Wed-
nesday, Atlantic and Great Western (Pennsylvanian
Section) 2nd Mrt. Bonds, 1882: Thursday, —; Saturday,
—; Monday, 67 1. Atlan. and Great Western Consoli-
dated Bonds, 1895; Thursday, 401 1 ; Friday, 401 1; Satur-
day, 411 1; Monday, 411 ; Tuesday, 401 404 11 1; Wed-
nesday, 411 1. Erie Shares, $lOO, all paid: Thursday,
461 1 7 61 ; Friday, 453 1 ; Saturday, 46 ; Monday, 451 6
I ; Tuesday, ; Wednesday, 47 1. Erie Shares, 6 per
cent. Convertible Borids : Thursday, —; Monday, —;
Tuesday, —; Wednesday, —. Illinois Central 6 per
Cent. Bonds of 1875: Thursday, —; Tuesday,
Illinois Central 7 per Cent. Bonds, of 1875 : Thursday,
; Friday, 671; Tuesday, —. Illinois Central Shares,
all paid : Thursday, ; Friday, —; Saturday, ;
Tuesday, —; Wednesday, Michigan Central 8
Per cent. Convertible, 1869: Thursday, —. Panama Rail-
road, 2nd Mort. 7 per cent, 1865: Friday, —. Philadelphia
and Erie First Mortgage, 1881: Thursday, —; Fri-
day, —; Monday, —; Wednesday, —. Philadelphia
and Erie First Mortgage, 1831, with option to be paid in

Philadelphia: Friday, —; Wednesday, —. Pennsylvania
Second Mortgage Sterling Bonds, 1875: Monday, —.
---
(Glenn and Co.'s Weekly Circular.)

LONDON, Dec. 6.
The London market for American securities has been
active during the past week, large purchases of United
States 5-20 Bonds have been made notwithstanding the
uncertainty as yet of an agreement between the President
and Congress, which latter body met on Monday last. In-
vestors in England are beginning to believe that, come what
may, the credit of America will be rigidly maintained, and her
Government Bonds paid at maturity. The annual state-
ment of Secretary M'Culloch, that $158,000,000 of the
debt of the United States has been paid off in the last fiscal
year, is very encouraging, and has tended to strengthening
the market. 5.20's at 71 are I per cent. higher; Eries at
46i are the same ; and Illinois Central at 77i are per
cent. higher than they were this day week. The railway
earnings of American roads for the month of October are
on the whole good ; a majority of 27 roads show a hand-
some increase over same month last year. •

The Seven Days' Fighting before Richmond.

---4. -

The seven days' fighting which shook off.
M'CLELLAN'S hold on Richmond, and forced him
back on the James River, is only described by
Colonel VON BORCKE so far as he himself was en-
gaged. STONEWALL JACKSON'S troops reached the
spot on the 26th of June from the Valley of the
Shenandoah, and an army close on 30,000 of the
best Confederate soldiers, led by their greatest
general of division, was placed on the flank of the
Federal line. STUART'S cavalry and a division of
infantry were sent to strengthen him. JACKSON did
not get into action till five in the afternoon, and he
was urged in his movement by the distant roar of
artillery which announced LosmsTßEET's attack.
It was not till ten o'clock at night that the Federals
were dislodged, and the combatants slept on the
battle-field to renew with the rising sun the great
struggle that for the time was to decide the fate of
the Confederate capital. The incidents of the next
day's fight, described by Colonel Von BORCKE, are
amusing and instructive. Among the cavalry en-
counters there was an affair with a newly-organised
regiment of Federal Lancers. " They stood," says
the Colonel, " 300 yards from us in line-of-battle,
" and presented with their glittering lances, from
" the point of each of which fluttered a red
" and white pennon, and their fresh, well-fitting
" blue uniforms turned up with yellow, a fine mar-
" tial appearance. One of our regiments was imme-
" diately ordered to attack them. But before our
" Virginia horsemen got within fifty yards of
" their line, this magnificent regiment, which
" had doubtless excited the liveliest admiration
" in the Northern cities on its way to
" the seat of war, turned tail and fled in
" disorder, strewing the whole line of their retreat
"with their picturesque but inconvenient arms. Of
" the7oo horsemen," adds the Prussian, " not more,
" he believes, than 20 retained their lances." The
Federal Lancers, when caught in this position, had
one of only two courses to pursue. If they had
time they should have got into motion to meet their
enemy ; if not, their only plan was to act as they
acted. A raw regiment would not be likely to sit
in cold blood in their saddles and await the charge
directed against them. Those who know what it is
to stand in the way,of a charge of cavalry can alone
realise the position. Although steady infantry in
square are safe, it is often the case that the terror
excited by the thundering roar, rush, and whirl of
the charging squadrons, dissolves squares composed
of troops whose nerves are not strong. A charge of
cavalry directed on a stationary line of cavalry is
sure to be fatal to the stationary body. They haa&
not the effective means of protection afforded by
the fire of an infantry square, nor are they solid and
immovable. Each atom which composes the ca-
valry has two wills—that of the horse has to be
considered as well as that of his rider, and even if
the heart of the one remains calm in the face of this
imposing danger, it does not follow that the heart
of the other is equally impassive. The lance versus
the sword has furnished a lengthened dispute to mili-
tary men. Whatever may be the comparative
value of the weapons, this fact is certain—you
cannot extemporise a regiment of lancers. The
lance is a splendid weapon in the hands of a good
horseman who knows how to use it, but one both
dangerous to the rider and"dangerous to his corn-
radts when placed in unskilful hands. After a few
months' active service no such incidents as this, de-
scribed by Colonel Von BORCKE, occurred. The
Confederate cavalry then became opposed to troops
as good as themselves, and they had often to re-
cord a very different result. Our author 'relates
how a captain on the staff amused the troops, even
when the men were falling thickly around, by the
nimble and successful manner in which he dodged
the shells of the enemy. Annoyed at the raillery,
he declared lie would never again 13.)w at the ap-
proach of a shot, and was sitting with the utmost
gravity, bolt upright in the saddle, when a 12-
pounder screamed through the air only a few feet
over his head. Down went the head, not merely
to the saddle but with the body, to which it was
securely attached, to the earth, amidst the convul-
sive shouts of his comrades. One requires to get
used to 12-pounders screaming over your head be-
fore you cease to recognise their presence by an
inclination. The absurd part of it is that when
the bow is made the shot has passed. If the head
had been in the way of the ball, the head would
have been off before the spirit had moved its posses-
sor to make the bow. Though the bravest men may
be betrayed into this action, the case is very dif-
ferent with " the dodge" the Colonel narrates,
which appears to have created unusual merriment
among the Confederate soldiers. " Amid the fury
" of the battle a wounded man was borne along by
" two of his comrades, his limbs hanging motion-
" less, and his head dangling as if life was nearly
" extinct. The fire of the enemy was still mur-
" derous, and one of the carriers, struck by a inns-
" ket-ball, fell to the ground, dropping his charge,
" who, seeing himself in great danger, suddenly
" revived, and, jumping up, took to his heels with
" surprising agility. The explosive laughter which
" followed him in his rapid flight all along our lines
" absolutely drowned for a few moments the tumult
" and hurly-burly of the engagement." General
STUART sent the Colonel to order two squadrons of
a Georgia regiment to attack a Federal battery
which had pushed boldly forward without proper'
support. When galloping back on his return, he
felt a stunning blow across the spine, and at the
same moment his horse rolled over with him. A
solid shot had passed close to his charger's back,
and the current of air set in motion by its pas-
sage had knocked over both horse and rider. He
adds, that afterwards he witnessed many si milarc ases
of prostration of men and animals by windage. At
dawn on the 28th the armies were again in motion, and
STUART'S cavalry was employed in collecting and
guarding the prisoners and books capt u red. The Colo-
nel had an opportunity of testing the truth of some
stories recited in camp of a tremendous bayonet fight
between a regiment of Texans and the New York
Zouaves. It was.said that these determined antago-
nists, had pierced each other through and
through with their formidable and fatal weapons,
and that their dead bodies had been found
standing erect, in the very attitude in which
each had received his death wound. Although an
obstinate struggle had taken place, and the bodies
of the Zouaves, dressed in their flashy red uniforms,
were scattered over the ground like scarlet poppies
in a corn field, it was the bullet of the Texan marks-
men, not the bayonet, that had brought them
down. He examined many of the corpses and found
only three or four with bayonet wounds, and even
these had first fallen beneath the bullet. Colonel
VON BORCKE states, and the experience of every sol-
dier bears him out, that bayonet fights rarely if ever
occur, and exist only in the imagination. On this
day an incident took place, the rumour of which
reached Europe, and turned out to be grossly un-
true. It was Midsummer, the heat was excessive,
the work exhausting. Orchards of fruit trees lay
on the road, and the men devoured whatever tended
to quench their thirst. Where they came to wells
they drank profusely. In consequence many were
seized with a kind of cholera, and they immediately
concluded the wells had been poisoned by the hated
Yankees. This charge is often made in war, and
arises from the same cause. In the action of the
Hindun, preceding the last Siege of Delhi, some
soldiers of the 60th Rifles died after drinking ex-
cessive quantities of the muddy water they could

alone obtain, and the men of that regiment are to
this day persuaded that their comrades were the
victims of a foul conspiracy of the enemy to poison,
the wells. On the 26th June M'CLELLAN'S lines
extended in a semi-circle around Richmond. On
the 2d July what remained of his army was massed
at Westover on the James River. His retreat was
masterly, and the enemy accord to him the highest
credit for the way in which he managed to hold his
own, and check the advance of LEE'S victorious
columns. His line was probably weakened by an
undue extension when it lay before Richmond, and
he gave his enemy the opportunity of massing
against detached points an overwhelming force
without the power of reinforcing the position
attacked. As the Federal troops abandoned position
after position they converged, and as they converged
they became stronger. At Malvern Hill the con-
centration of Federal Artillery checked most effec-
tually the Confederate advance ; and the Federals
began .to learn practically a well-known rule of
war, that the chief element of success :ies in con-
centrating on a vital point a force stronger than
that of your enemy.—Anglo-Anzerican Times.

The Pi oposed Nicaragua Railway Company.

The Standard last Monday said :—The prospec-
tus of the Nicaragua Railway Company (Limited),
with a respectable provisional committee, has been
issued to-day, for the purpose of making a transit
route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,
through Nicaragua, as projected by Captain Bedford
Pim, R.N. At present the Panama Railway is the
only means of communication between the two
oceans, and since its opening a continuous stream
of traffic has passed over it, yielding to the pro-
prietors steady and exceptional dividends. But the
Panama line, though laid at the narrowest part of
the isthmus, labours under several important disad-
vantages. Not only does it pass through a most
doubtful climate, but its Atlantic terminus is much
exposed to the " Northerns," which are the dread
of all shipping in those latitudes ; while its Pacific
terminus lies in a region of calms so continuous as
to render it very difficult for any merchant vessels,
except steamers, to approach or leave the port. The
Panama line is, therefore, viewed chiefly as a pas-
senger route, but it has from the outset been obvious
that no single route would be adequate even to the
requirements of the passenger traffic between the
two oceans. Hence another route was established
from Greytown, on the Atlantic, to the Lake of
Nicaragua, by steam boats, on the River San Juan,
and thence, after crossing the lake, by land journey
from Virgin Bay to San Juan del Sur, on the
Pacific; and notwithstanding the discomfort attend-
ing the mode of conveyance by that route, yet as
many as 2,000 passengers per month have been car-
ried over it. The latter route is now practically
useless for general merchandise, owing to the silting
up of the River San Juan and Greytown Harbour.
The manifest advantages possessed by Nicaragua
for tratsit purposes led Captain Bedford Pim in
1859-60, then senior naval officier at Greytown,
carefully to examine the northern coast line, when
he found at Monkey Point there was an excellent
natural harbour, capable of affording all the shelter
that could be desired for the widely-extended
commerce which must of necessity find. Its way to
it when the projected line is opened. The excellence
of this harbour has since been confirmed by a
survey made by the United States Government. On
the Pacific side of Captain Pim's route, the port of
Realejo, which was thoroughly surveyed by order
of the British Government, is one of the finest har-
bours to be found on that coast. Captain Pim,
having cut a track through the wooded portion of
the country lying between the Atlantic and the Lake
of Nicaragua, and thus proved the feasibility of the
project obtained from the Congress and Govern-
ment of Nicaragua a concession for the construction
of the railway, together with valuable collateral
advantages and privileges, the whole of which will
be transferred by him to the company. The lake,
which lies in the line of the proposed route, permits
the gradual development of the uaclertaking ; as,
in the first instance, two terminal lines of railway
may be laid, and the connection between them car-
ried on temporarily by steam boats on the lake.
The railway is to he constructed with great regard
to economy as a light single line, capable of con-
veying passengers and goods at a moderate rate of
speed. It is estimated that the first issue of shares
now to be made will be sufficient to complete a
through communication between the oceans, by
the use of the lake, so that the undertaking will no
doubt prove remunerative at an early period. No
estimate of profits is given, but it is stated that the
Panama Company pays regular dividends of 24 per
cent., and last year gave besides a bonus of 40 per
cent. It is also said that when the construction
account of that company was closed in 1859 the
gross outlay had been $8,000,000, and that in the
first seven years (during only four of which the
entire line was open) the net earnings were nearly
$6,000,000, or nearly 75 per cent, on the gross outlay.
These results have been obtained from the Panama
Company with all its disadvantages, and therefore
the Nicaragua Company, with its harbours and
climate, bids fair tobe an unusually good investment.
This route will also be a saving of 700 miles in dis-
tance, and three days in time, as compared with
that by Panama. The capital of the company is
£1,000,000, in shares of £lO each. Only half is
now to be issued, and the first shareholders will
receive, from the free grants of land conceded to
the company in perpetuity, ten acres for each share
allotted, which privilege, exclusive of the returns
expected from ..the railway, is of itself considered a
valuable consideration. The deposit on applica-
tion is 10s. per share, and 30s. after allotment, but
is not to be payable before 24th January next.