The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-15 00:00:00

FINANCIAL POSITIONES OF THE UNITED
STAT.

There is a controversy now going on be-
tween the Catholic papers of France as to
the line of policy to be pursued by Catholics
in the coming elections in France, which, be-
sides its intrinsic importance, is of interest
to ourselves, as it bears no slight similarity to
the controversy as to whether the Catholics of
the United Kingdom should support Mr. Glad-
stone and the disestablishment of the Irish
Church, or Mr. Disraeli and the Government.
The Gazelle de France, which in politics is Legi-
timist first, and then Catholic, contends that
it is the duty of Catholics to oppose indiscri-
minately every Government candidate, and
when, as in the majority of instances, Catholic
candidates are not forthcoming, or have no
chance of election, to vote for Liberals and
Revolutionists in preference to the supporters
of the Imperial dynasty. The Univers, which
is solely and simply Catholic in its politics,
contends, on the other hand, that it is the
duty of Catholics, if they cannot return mem-
bers of their own party, to vote for those can-
didates, whether belonging to the Opposition
or to the Government, who will give the
strongest pledges to support in the Chambers
the two most vital questions affecting French
politics—the Temporal Sovereignty of the
Pope and the freedom of education. In a very
large number of the constituencies the Catholic
party, acting together, will be in a position to
extort such pledges, at least from the Govern-
ment candidates, if not from those of the Op-
position, who, for the most part, belong to the
party of revolution and irreligion. In those
comparatively rare instances, however, in
which neither Government nor Opposition
candidates will give any assurance of not
attacking the Temporal Sovereignty of the
Pope, the Univers advises Catholics to abstain
altogether from voting. This policy seems in-
finitely to be preferred to that of the Gazette
de France, which postpones Catholic interests
to party politics. It is the great vice of these
mere party politicians that they contract wide
and momentous questions, involving grave
political principles, into a simple matter of
party predilections or personal feeling. Men
of this stamp never seem to rise above the low
levels, if not of personal interests, at any rate of
party ties, of local influences, of extraneous, or
accidental associations. They never seem to
grasp, when test occasions call for an indepen-
dent judgment, the principles which underlie
political life, but flounder about in the muddy
waters of their own creating, an easy prey to
an adroit party angler. However honourable
to the Gazette de France, its staunch adherence
to the Legitimist party may be, still it is a
political crime to endanger the highest inte-
rests of the country and of religion for the
sake of a lower object. The return, by Catholic
support, to the Chambers of infidels and revo-
lutionists, simply because they are the oppo-
nents of the existing dynasty, as the Gazette de
France advises, is a suicidal, as well as crimi-
nal, policy. That good Catholics should be
found advocating such a policy shows the
danger of habitually subordinating Catholic
interests and principles to political or dynastic
partizanship.
One thing that may be said to the credit of
this shallow and shortsighted policy of the
French Legitimists is its openness and honesty.
There is no attempt in the writers of the Gazette
de France to conceal their aim, or to throw
dust in the eyes of the public. This directness
of purpose offers a favourable contrast to the
line pursued in England by some Catholic
partizans of Toryism under somewhat analo-
gous circumstances. What the defence by
the arms of France of the Temporal Sove-
reignty of the Pope is to French politicians
the disestablishment of the Irish Church is
to the Catholics of the United Kingdom.
The defence of the Pope, undertaken byFrance,
is the defeat of the infidel and revolutionary
party in the nation in the same way that
the disestablishment of Protestantis= in Ire-
land is the overthrow of Protestant ascend-
ancy in the United Kingdom. It would have
been a fair and direct issue had the Catholic
supporters of Toryism of the Disraeli stamps
maintained that the overthrow of Protestant
ascendancy was no equivalent for the loss of
Tory promises, or for the restoration of the
Whigs to power. We might have lamented
the contracted political vision which looks
only to immediate interests or to temporary
or subordinate questions, and fails for want
of power or want of will to recognise the
immense political consequences involved in
such an act of supreme justice as the dis-
establishment, by the vote of the nation,
of Irish Protestantism, but we should have
credited the Catholic advocates of this shal-
low, brainless policy, at least with the merit
of openness and thoroughgoing partizanship.
As it is, the shifty tactics pursued have only
excited contempt, for this tergiversation,
whether justly or not, is universally attributed
to extraneous and uncongenial influences
rather than to an honest conversion. In the
first instance, it was seriously argued that for
Catholics to support Mr. Gladstone in dis-
establishincr the Protestant Church was to cast
in their lot with Dissenters, Voluntaryists, revo
lutionists, was to side with Garibaldi, with the
advocates of progress and Liberalism all over
the world, against the Pope and Catholic
principles, against the Encyclical and the Syl-
labus ; but when these grotesque absurdities
were fairly driven out of the field by sheer
ridicule, another plea is put forward, which is
neither honest, nor direct, nor above board, to
dissuade or discourage Catholics from an ener-
getic and united action in the coming elec-
tions. The plea in support of Mr. Disraeli's
Government now put forward is, not as for-
merly urged, that the Catholics of the Empire
are in doubt as to whether the disestablish-
ment of the Irish Church is a benefit or not,
but that both Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone
bein,-, agreed as to the necessity of dealing
with° the Irish Church, the only question is,
shall Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Disraeli be allowed
and appointed to deal with it, and that as the
issue between the rival statesmen is only as
to the exact meaning of the word Disestablish-
ment, so such Catholics as prefer Mr. Glad-
stone's general politics wish him to have the
carriage of the question, while those Catholics
who prefer Mr. Disraeli's general policy wish
him to have the carriage of the question. But
we appeal with confidence to every one con-
versant with the question at issue between the
two parties, which has to be decided in the
coming elections, whether there is the slightest
doubt as to Mr. Disraeli's determination to
uphold the Irish Establishment and Mr. Glad-
stone's determination at all costs to abolish
it. If there be any meaning in words and acts
such is the issue to be tried. But why waste
breath on this transparent device to raise con-
fusion, in order to cover a party purpose ?
Catholic constituencies we make sure, will, as
the Catholic members of both houses did,
support the disestablishment of the Irish
Church, and place no confidence whatsoever
in Mr. Disraeli's proposed dealings with the
Irish Church, as explained by the supporters
of his policy in the English press.—Westminster
Gazette.

Perhaps the last act of the Hon. Thad. Stevens
was to write a letter, which the person to whom it
was addressed made public, showing that the ques-
tion as to the payment of the 5-20's had been
wisely settled by the passage of the Funding Bill.
lie urged his friends and those who hold them to
exchange 5-20's for the New Bonds. But we have
never considered the late Mr. Stevens to be a financial
light to any one's path, and the holders will require
better grounds than a mere recommendation before
they do anything of the sort, even if the oppor-
tunity were open.
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They are therefore equally safe and efficacious, and as a
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box, no other medical advice or assistance can be needed
in any ordinary case of sickness.

The Hon. D. A. Wells, Special Commissioner aZ
Revenue, answers as follows (though somewha t
condensed) Mr. Allison's questions relating to the
public expenditure and receipts, and the increase
or diminution of the debt:—
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES FOR 1867-8..
The national receipts of revenue from all sources
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, were sub-
stantially as follows :--
Customs (gold) 5163,500,000
Internal revenue (currency)
Miscellaneous 47,000,000
Public lands and direct tax 2,800,000

Total 9406,300,400
The expenditure of the Government on account
of the interest on the public debt for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1868, was $141,635,551.13.
The other aggregate expenses of the several de-
partments of the Government for the same period
were $229,914,674.56.; making a total expendi-
ture for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, of
$371,520,225 ; and leaving an estimated surplus of
receii,ts over expenditures of $34,749,777. The
details of the expenditure will be seen in part by
the following statements, which show some ground
for believing that in future years the expenses will
be smaller :
Interest—The present condition of the debt of
the United States necessitates the annual expendi-
ture, on account of interest, of about $126,000,000.
The excess of interest over this amount last year
was due mainly to payments on accumulated inte-
rest on the compound interest notes, and will not

again appear.
The Civil List—The expenditures of the execu-
tive, legislative, and judiciary, foreign intercourse,
territories, collection of the revenue, District of
Columbia, public lands, mints and assay offices,
coast survey, lighthouses, post-office deficiency,
&c., were last year $53,009,846.95. The estimate
of the present year is about $36,000,000.
Interior Dcpartment—The expenditures under this
head for the last fiscal year were $27,882,676.27, ap-
portioned substantially as follows :—For pensions.
$23,282,676 ; for Indians, $4,600,000.
Navy Department.—The expenditures under
this head were $25,775,502.72, but the appropria-
tions for the present fiscal year are only
$17,300,000.
War Department.—The total disbursements of
the War Department were $123,246,648.67, of
which amount there were paid :
For bounties 838,000,000
Reimbursing State war claims.... 10,330,188
Engineer bureau, mainly river and harbour
improvements 6,132,620
Payments for property lost or destroyed in
the military service of the United States,
estimated
Subsistence of Indians, estimated ! 1,000,000
Freedmen's Bureau
Expenses of reconstruction
National Cemeteries
Commutation rations of prisoners of war

Total— .................. . ................ $66,533,238
This amount' deducted from $123,246,648.62
indicates the legitimate army expenditure for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, to have been
$56,713,410 ; of which a large part is due to the
Indian hostilities in the summer and fall of 1867.
The military appropriations for the present year
are only $33,081,018.
CLASSIFICATION OF EXPENDITURES.
Dividing the expenditures of the last year into
" ordinary expenses," or those which are required
to support and maintain the Government, and
" extraordinary expenses," or those which have
been the unavoidable result of the war, we have—
ORDINARY EXPENDITURES.
Fiscal year 1867-8.

1858-9.
Estimated or
..____ 'Actual. appropriated.
Civil list
Interior (Indians)
Navy Department 25,775,502 72 17,300,000 00
War Department
Rivers and harbours
_-- -

---
Total $146,231,379 67 $90,381,013 00
EXTRAORDINARY XPENDITURES.
Fiscal yEear 1867-8. 1868-9.
Estimated or
Actual appropriated.
Interest public debt $141,635,551 00 $126,000,000 00
Pensions
Bounties
Freedmen's Bureau
Reconstruction
Reimbursing States
Payment for property
lost or destroyed in
military service 5,111,300 00 6,000,000 00
Subsistence of Indians 1,000,000 00 1,000,000 00
National cemeteries
Commutation prisoners'
rations

Total ............ $225,318,815 00 $198,500,000 00
EXPENDITURES OF THE WAR AND NAVY DEPART-

MENTS FOR SEVERAL YEARS.
The aggregate expenditures of the War Depart-
ment, from April 1, 1865, to June 30, 1868, in-
clusive, were $917,117,043.43. The disbursements
for the nine months from April 1, 1865, to Decem-
ber 31, 1865, as stated by quarters, were as fol-

lows :
St•coud quarter of 1863
Third 7,
165,369,237 32
Fourth
17 68,122,511 65

Total $647,688,056 33 I
So that of the above total expenditures of the
$647,688,000, or 70 per cent of ,
directlyar, and was disbursed in the
contingent upon the ter- .
ruination
re a,
or
ftwi
thena es n t ,
nine months succeeding the surrender of Gen. Lee.
The balance of expenditure charged to the War
Department, viz., $269,428,987.10, covers a period
of thirty months, or from January 1, 1866, to
June 30, 1868, and represents the disbursements
further contingent upon the termination of the war
—such as arrears of pay and transportation of
troops, the expenses of the Indian war in the sum-
mf.r and fall of 1867. the payment of bounties
(49,382,859), from July 1; 1866, to June 30, 1868,
the payment for property lost or destroyed in the
military service of the United States ($11,000,000),
the reimbursement of the State claims in 1867-8
($10,330,000), river and harbour improvements and
the expenses of fortifications, subsistence of Indians,
freedmen's bureau, expenses of reconstruction, &c.
The expenditures of the Navy Department from
April 1, 1865, to June-30, 1868, were $133,119,296.
Of this amount $59,817,889, or 45 per cent., were
distributed within the nine months suc4eding the
termination of the war in 1865. The balance,
$73,271,407, covers the regular expenses of our
navy for a period of thirty months, ending July 1,
1668, as well as the disbursements on account of
prize money, and for the settlement of contracts
entered into prior to the war. The following table
shows the expenditures of the Navy Department
since and including the fiscal year 1862 :-
1862 ................................. $42,674,562
1863 ................ . ................ 63,211,105
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1569
FREEDMEN'S BUREAU AND RECONSTRUCTION
EXPENSES.
The expenses of the Freedmen's Bureau since its
organization has been $5,617,000. Concerning the
proportion of this expenditure incurred by the
Bureau for the relief of the starving and destitute
of both races, and for educational or other pur-
poses, the Treasury has no information. According
to the accounts of the Treasury, the expenditures
contingent upon the Reconstruction Acts have been
$2,344,700.56.
REDUCTION OF TAXATION AND DEBT.
The amount of taxes abated or repealed since the
close of the war is thus estimated :--

By act of July 13, 1866 •••
„ March 2, 1867 •••
„ February 3, 1868 ...
„ March 31, 1868 .••

• 8E0,000,000
40,000,000
23,769,000
• 43,500,000

Total ... $167,269,000
At the close of the war taxation was all but uni.
vernal ; land, agricultural produce, unmanufactured
lumber, breadstuffs, and a few other forms of pro-
perty or products only, being excepted. At the
present time, of all manufactured articles or pro-
ducts of industry, the following only are subject to
specific or direct taxation :—Distilled spirits, fer-
mented liquors, manufactured tobacco, gas, matches,
and playing cards. Perfumery, cosmetics, patent
medicines, and a few other manufactured articles,
are subjected to a stamp tax proportioned to their
selling price, since July, 1865; furthermore, the
additional tax of five per cent. on incomes in excess
of five thousand dollars has been repealed, an I the
exemption on all incomes has been increased from
$6OO to $l,OOO. The taxation formerly imposed on
the gross receipts accruing from the transportation
of merchandise has also been entirely removed.
Coincident with the above reduction of taxation, or
from August 31,1861, to June 30, 1868, the aggre-
gate debt, deducting cash in the Treasury, exhibits
a reduction of $250,000,000. On this abatement
of the debt the reduction of interest at six per cent.
would be $15,000,000 per annum.

The prices of Horniman's Teas are greatly reduced ; their
well-known superiority has attracted a host of spurious
imitations; therefore notice all Genuine Packets are signed
" Horniman ct C 0.," London. 800 Confectioners are Agents
in Loudon and 2,200 Gheninito in tin Country.