The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-21 00:00:00

FINANCIAL MEASURES OF CONGRESS.

The telegram from Washington of the 15th inst.,
published in London yesterday, shows the effect on
the Senate of Mr. COBB'S resolution in the House,
and of the platform of the National Democratic
Convention of New York. Mr. BLAINE, of Maine,
failed to get the Representatives to adopt a resolu-
tion directing the Committee of Ways and Means
to prepare a bill for funding all the National Debt
into Five per Cent. Ten-Year Bonds, Four and a
Half per Cent. Thirty-Year Bonds, and Four
per Cent. Interminable Annuities, the National
Creditors to have their choice in exchange for these
Securities. Mr. BOUTWELL, of Massachusetts, de-
sired to substitute for the bill brought out by
COBB'S resolution one authorizing the issue of new
bonds for fixed sums bearing coin interest for
limited periods when the principal would become
payable in gold. So closely is the country divided
on the question of the National Debt that even the
best informed cannot predict the result of a vote.
Generally the Republicans support the most honour-
able interpretation of the law, and the Democrats
that they consider most to the interest of the tax-
paying people. But the party line is no strict
division ; indeed, judging from the tone of the
papers on the COBB proposition, to tax the interest
on the Bonds, the line is more geographical than
party. In the West the bill is supported by nearly
all the newspapers, irrespective of party. In the
East the Republican newspapers condemn the
measure as a dishonourable attempt to defraud the
bondholders, and the Democratic journals either
keep a discreet silence or only mildly approve. In
analyzing the vote for the resolution to tax the
bonds we find that 61 Republicans went for the bill,
and all the Democrats except two. Of the 61, 49 were
from the West, while only 22 Western men opposed
the measure. The Committee of Ways and Means
brought in the bill, with their protest against it
affixed thereto, declaring that they acted only in
obedience to the order of the House, in opposition
to their judgment, and with the intention of oppos-
ing the Bill in every way. They deny BUTLERS
assertion " that it was the same tax the English
put ou their Bonds"—there being no precedent for
the law on the statute books of England—or, they
add (but in error) " any other civilised country."
They affirm the proposition simply to be to pay the
public creditors less by 10 per cent. than the nation
agreed to do, which was swindling people out of
money borrowed to save the nation. The Com-
mittee then proceed to show how injurious the
passage of such a measure would be, and its da-
maging effect on the national credit, and they end
by presenting the bill in its undisguised deformity
as follows :

"Be it enacted, &c., that from and after the passage of
this Act there shall be levied, collected, and paid, a tax of
10 per centum on the amount of interest hereafter due and
payable on all the bonds and other securities of the United
States. To secure tho collection of the said tax, the
amount of interest hereafter paid on any bonds or other
securities of the United States bearing interest at 6 per
centum shall be at the rate of only 5 and 5-10ths per
centum, and bearing interest at the rate of 5 per centum
shall be at the rate of only 4 and 5-10ths per centum,
and if bearing interest at the rate of 3 per centum, shall be
at the rate of only 2 and 7-10ths per cent= per annum.
No higher rate of interest than is here prescribed shall be
paid in any bond or other security of the United States
now outstanding or authorised to be issued, all conditions
of any such bonds or other security and all laws and parts
of law to the contrary notwithstanding."

Of course, where there is anything nasty in Wash-
ington, General BUTLER will be found actively
stirring the mess. His bubbles come up to the sur-
face, assume the intelligent aspect of the General,
burst, and are followed by others, the whole being
-cept fermenting. He was at the bottom of COBB'S
resolution, and came to its rescue at the nick of
time. But, to have another iron in the fire, be has
brought in a bill of which the first section provides
the taxation of 10 per cent. on the interest of the
Bonds, exempting them from all other taxation.
The second section authorizes a four per cent. in-
terminable issue, exempt from taxation, to be ex-
changed for 5-20's at the option of the holders.
The third section authorizes 10-40 Bonds at
Four and a Half per Cent., exempt from
taxation, to be issued in lieu of 5-20's. From
all this patching it will be seen how strongly the
attention of the country has been directed to the
subject, and with no surprise we learn the action
•of the Senate last Wednesday, which Reuter thus
gives :—" The Senate has to-day passed a bill autho-
rizing the issue of bonds redeemable in coin after
20, 30, or 40 years, and bearing 5,4 i, and 4 per
cent. interest respectively, also payable in coin and
exempt from all taxation whatsoever, except the
ordinary income tax. These bonds are to be used
exclusively for the redemption at par, at the option
of the holder, of any of the present interest-bearing
debts of the United States, except Five per Cent.
Bonds and fhree per Cent. Certificates. Bonds may
be issued to an amount sufficient in the aggregate
to cover all the principal of all outstanding obliga-
tions, but to the amount redeemable iu 20 years is
not to exceed one-third of the whole issue. The bill
further provides for the reduction of the debt by
the appropriation of a sum which, including the in-
terest of the public debt and the maturing funded
debt, shall amount to $135,000,000 annually.
Finally, the bill enacts that any contracts hereafter
made specifically payable in coin shall be legal and
valid, and may be enforced according to its terms,
anything in the several Acts relating to United
States notes to the contrary notwithstanding." We
cannot pretend to pass a judgment on this impor-

taut measure with these bare facts only before us,
but what moved the Senate is too clear to be mis-
understood. In the first place, the question was
rapidly reaching the point of partial or total repu-
diation. It is evident, from late events, from the
Democratic platform, and from the course of events,
that the bondholders could have no peace, the coun
try being kept in constant hot-water until Congress
had taken action on the subject. A matter which
concerns the pocket is a dangerous one to keep un-
settled, and the more so as the division is geogra-
phical, the interest of the Eastern being op-
posed to the interests of the Western States.
There are subjects enough for dispute between
them without this addition, and if the notion
is conceived that Western agriculture is mulcted
for Eastern manufactures—that the Western tiller
is heavily taxed to supply luxuries to the rich
Eastern bondholder, there is a double instead of a
single danger, and one the Senate might well con-
sider incumbent on them speedily to reduce to the
narrowest limit. Knowing that something must
be conceded, even in the interest of the bondholder,
they have passed this measure as the best open for
all. What mainly concerns the present bondholders
is the additional security they will possess if the
Senate's bill becomes law. The old thought
will arise—What guarantee can I have that
this will be the final settlement? If the pre-
sent arrangement is interfered with, why not
this arrangement, and the next the terms being
worse at every change till the value of my bond is
whittled away? What is to be the gentle pressure
by which the bondholders are to be induced to ex-
change Six per Cents. for Five per Cents at par ?
There must be a threat in the back-ground to
leave the owners of the 5-20's out in the cold if they
do not rush in through the door opened by the
Senate. Our opinion is that the measure is
honestly intended, that the Senate consider it to
be a necessity under the circumstances, and that
they regard the question as one of compromise,
doing the most they can to protect the creditor of
the nation.—Anglo-American Times.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

(From the Anglo-American 2 imes.)

A memorial was sent to Congress by William
Jewett, and presented in the Senate by Mr. Trum-
bull, and in the House by Mr. Banks, praying that
Alaska be paid for " as a national measure for the
protection of the national honour and the people's
appreciation without regard to party of the life-
long public services of the Hon. William H.
Seward." General Banks is strongly pushing the
measure, and is to be rewarded, if he succeeds, by
the mission to Austria. The vote was to have
been taken on the 9th instant, and there can be
little doubt that the appropriation of $7,500,000
will be made to Russia. Indeed, Alaska has been
organized as a Department, General J. C. Scott t 3
command, with head-quarters at Sitka. It is even
said that Mr. Seward is now turning his attention
to Salvador and Greenland. Mr. Washburne, the
Treasury watch-dog," strongly opposed those ac-
quisitions, and does not mince matters in accusing
Mr. Banks of giving an untrue account of the
value of Alaska, which is without fisheries, mines,
or valuable timber, and had been pronounced
utterly worthless in the reports of Russian officers
to their Government. A practical instance of its
value was, however, given by a Democratic mem-
ber, who declared that a company of capitalists
were prepared to pay $10,000,000 in gold if the
United States would make it over to them.
Mr. Horatio Seymour accepted his nomination as
the candidate of the National Democratic Conven-
tion for the Presidency on the 11th instant, and
General Frank P. Plair accepted his nomination for
the Vice-Presidency on the next day.
General Gillem, who succeeded Gen. M'Dowell,
has assumed command of the 4th Military District,
and a writ of quo warranto has been taken out by
Governor Humphreys of Mississippi, against Gen.
Ames, 'requiring him next November to show by
what authority he claims to be Governor. .Ames
was appointed by General M'Dowell. In Florida
Reconstruction is complete; the civil authorities
on the Ist inst. having taken over the Govern-
ment, but the country officers remain till new ones
are appointed. In North Carolina the Legislature
was to meet July Gth, and in Alabama on the 13th.
The Message of Governor Scott of South Carolina
was able and excellent, as well in spirit as in
temper ; that of Governor Holden, of North Caro-
lina, was to be delivered on the 4th July. The
lately elected New Orleans City officers, after
taking the Constitutional Oath on the 27th June,
assumed their functions. Major Frank Manny,
of Nashville, was fatally stabbed in New Orleans
on the 30th June, and the assassin who is unknown
has escaped.

The civic functionaries at Washington have not
been slow to follow the example of their brethren
in London who discussed the dis-establishment of
the Irish Church by administering to the Lord
Mayor "a heavy blow on the stomach," while
Alderman Rose squared up to Beales, M.A. Ex-
Mayor Wallack and Mayor Bowen, of Washing-
ton, fought it out on the night of the 26th June.
The Mayor had the worst of it in punishment, re-
ceiving a severe blow on the mouth ; but the ex-
Mayor came to grief in law, being arrested and held
for assault and battery. The negroes of a village
near Washington indulged in an attack on the
police, who were ordered to remove the " hogs"
permitted so to increase and run at large as to be-
come a nuisance. Sambo's weapon, strange to say,
is a razor, and he freely used it against the myr-
midons of the law.
TIIE PIIENIANS.—The word Fenian is said to be
derived from the Phcenicians, who, haVing made Carthago
a powerful maritime State on the Mediterranean, pushed
outside the Straits of Gibraltar, established themselves at
Tarshish on the S.W. coast of Spain. They afterwardg
carried the elements of civilization to the Celts of Ireland,
and were the Phenians to whom the Irish in all ages have
looked back so fondly. A colony of Phenians worked the
mines in the county of Wicklow, and another discovered
metals at Killarney. Some ancient bronzes dug up in Ire-
land are found to contain the exact proportions of the Car-
thaginian relics, and their shape also corresponds. They
were merchants and navigators, and could not have op-
pressed the Irish, as they are remembered with so much
affection.

The class of 1868 at Yale College graduates 108
men. During its four years it has numbered 168. Tbe
freshman class promises to be remarkably large, nearly
200. The secret society known as the Spade and Grave
is dying of unpopularity, its elections being respectfully
declined.

A Charleston paper says that a movement is on
foot among the largest planters and property holders of that
State to give free grants of alternate sections of their
land to new actual settlers, provided they are white men-
We hear it is in contemplation to add two more
steamers in the autumn to the Guion Line. They arc to
be of the most powerful and swift class, and be named the
Idaho and Montana.

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