The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-18 00:00:00

A FRESH MAN

ARTICLE IV.— 'The high contraeting parties desiring,
moreover, that the measures which they intend to adopt
should not bear an exclusive character, and being aware
that the Government of the United States, on its part,
has, like them, claims to enforce upon the Mexican Re-
public, agree that immediately after the signature of the
present Convention a copy thereof shall be communicated
to the Government of the United States ; that that Govern-
ment shall be invited to accede to it ; and that in anticipa-
tion of that accession their respective Ministers at 'Wash-
ington shall be at once furnish d with full powers for the
purpose of concluding and signing, collectively or sepa-
rately, with the Plenipotentiary designated by the Presi-
dent of the United States, a Convention identic, save the
suppression of the present Article, with that which they
sign this day. But as by delaying to put into execution
Articles I and II of the pi esent Convention, the High Con-
tracting Parties would incur a risk of failing in the ob-
ject which they desire to attain, they have agreed not
to defer, with the view of obtaining the accession of
the Government of the United States, the commencement
of the above-mentioned operations beyond the time at which
their combined forces can be assembled in the neighbour-
hood of 'Vera Cruz.

ARTICLE V.—The present Convention shall be ratified,
and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at London
within fifteen days.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have
signed it, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.
Done at London, in triplicate, the thirty-first day of the
month of October, in the year of Our Lord ono thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.

(L.S.) RUSSELL.
(L.S.) XAVIER DE ISTURIZ,
(L.S.) FLAHAULT.

THE FIRST OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF
TILE CONFEDERATE TREASURY.

The circular of Hu ie Secretary of the Treasury
gives no very encouraging account of the pecuniary
resources of the Confederate States. So complete is
the official silence of the rulers of the New Common-
wealth, that we have now, for the first time, a dis-
tinct account of the nature of the cotton loan, of
which so many vague descriptions have been
hazarded.
In the first place, it is not a loan or a "subscrip-
tion" of cotton at all. It gives the Government no
right to any specific bales whatever. It is only an
engagement on the part of the planter to subscribe,
for the use of the Government, a certain sum of
money out of the proceeds of a certain number of
bales of cotton when sold. The planter re-
tains the produce in his custody, has the
exclusive right of declaring when he will sell
it, and at what price he will sell it. The Govern-
ment get nothing in preesenti, and it is open
to the obvious effects of many contingencies whether
the Government will ever get anything. The
planter may become bankrupt, and the cotton on
his estate may be seized by his creditors; or he
may be needy and fraudulent, and dispose of the
crop surreptitiously. All the Government appears
to receive is an order on the factor or commission
agent who is to conduct the sale ; but the factor
can have no present possession of the cotton, for
the Government will not permit it to be brought
down to the seaport town where he conducts
his business. He can only pay the Government
when he receives and sells the cotton, and,
especially if the Confederate Government should
chance to be unsuccessful, he may never receive or
sell it. Some other broker, who has no cognisance
of the transaction, may be selected to sell the
cotton and to transmit the proceeds to the planter.
From other parts of Mr. Memminger's circular it
would appear that just now the planters are ex-
tremely desirous of cash.
What, then, it may be asked, do the Government
got by this uncertain promise to make a loan at a
distant period P They gain, or hope to gain, pre-
sent credit. They bind the most wealthy part of
of the population to give them aid, not indeed now,
for even the richest planters have now little money,
though much cotton—but as soon as it is in their
power. The Government gets all it can from its
future subjects, and it must do with it as best it
may.

The Government must want credit exceedingly.
It is issuing promissory notes, which Mr. Mem-
minger officially tells us have; supplanted
all the other currency of the country. It is car-
rying on a war of existence upon credit, and the
sole wonder is that it is so successful as it has been.
Probably, rather stringent measures would be put
in force both by the Government and the populace
against any cautious person who objected to take
Treasury notes. As the Government are issuing a
vast paper currency, it naturally wishes to have
some vague connection with real wealth, and asks
even the present promise of a nominally secured
loan at an indefinitely distant period.
Such is the glimpse which Mr. Memminger
affords of his own Treasury. The account he gives
of that of the planters is not much better. "
l en
ap-
pears
they want a loan, too. As they are to
to the Government somethinghereaasfktetrhae
as soon
they have sold their cotton, they
Govern-
ment to lend them a little now to carry them over
the trying interval previous to its sale. The Go-
vernment is issuing countless Promissory notes,
and the planters would like, not unnaturally, some
for their own use. But upon this Mr. Mem-
minger is even amusingly stern. He is not defi-
cient in political economy,
ll
notes for himself. He has
to carry on, and his
resourcesave saysareery h
expensive
tried
antot s
wthhaii
ers
utmost, and no portion of them can bo squandered.
If he helped the planters he would issue so many
notes that the whole currency would be depreciated,
and so the Government would have to pay in a
medium which has become less and less efficient
every day.
It is evident that the difficulty which we pointed
out many months since is really pressing upon the
Confederate States. We showed on March 26,
1861, that the Southern States were utterly defec-
tive in pecuniary resources—that the deposits in
their banks were only £15,000,000, a little more
than those of a single London joint-stock bank.
Mr. Memminger recommends the planters to ask
aid from the banks; but if the banks had plenty of
money to lend, the planters would not have peti-
tioned Mr. Memminger.—Economist.

It is reported that Mr. Macßae has been offered
a knighthood, and, like Mr, Thomas Fairbairn, declined tho

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST MEXICO

(From a Supplement to the Gazette of Friday.)
The following is a translation of the Convention
between her Majesty the Queen of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, her Ma-
jesty the Queen of Spain, and his Majesty the Em-
peror of the French, relative to the combined opera-
tions against Mexico :
ARTICLE I.—Her Majesty the Queen of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, her Majesty the
Queen of Spain, and his Majesty the Emperor of the
French, engage to make, immediately after the signature of
the present Convention, the necessary arrangements for
dispatching to the coasts of Mexico, combined naval and
military forces, the strength of which shall be deter-
mined by a further interchange of communication between
their Governments, but of which the total shall be suffi-
cient to seize and occupy the several fortresses and military
positions on the Mexican coast.
1 he Commanders of the allied forces shall be, moreover,
authorised to execute the other operations which may be
considered on the spot most suitable to effect the objects
specified in the preamble of the present convention, and
specifically to ensure the security of foreign residents.
All the measures contemplated in this Article shall be
taken in the name and on account of the High Contracting
Parties, without reference to the particular nationality of
the forces employed to execute them.
ARTICLE IL—The High Contracting Parties engage not
to seek for themselves, in the employment of the coercive
measures contemplated by the present Convention, any ac-
quisition of territory nor any special advantage, and not to
exercise in the internal affairs of Mexico any influence of a
nature to prejudice the right of the Mexican nation to choose
and to constitute freely the form of its Government.
ARTICLE lII.—A commission composed of three com-
missioners, one to be named by each of the contracting
powers, shall be established with full authority to deter-
mine all questions that may arise as to the application or
distribution of the sums of money which may :be recovered
from Mexico. having regard to the respective rights of the
three contracting parties.