The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-08 00:00:00

MR. A7KLVSOA'S SPEECIL

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
Edward Atkinson admits that the figures in his
now celebrated speech on the United States Debt
were arranged to answer the Democratic charge of
extravagance brought against the ruling Republi-
cans. This is tantamount to saying that they were
arranged to support the most favourable conclu-
sions for his clients, but be asserts their official
character being furnished by the Hon. David
Wells, Special Revenue Commissioner. His weak
point has been seized on and exposed, and we may ob-
serve, most grossly misrepresented. He adds to the
Debt as it stood on the Treasury books on the Ist of
April, 1t65, the liabilities the Government had then
incurred, and the expenses of the Army and Navy
department for fifteen months thereafter, thus
arriving at the grand total of more than three and
a quarter thousand millions of dollars. instantly his
conclusion that over eight hundred millions of the
national debt had been liquidated since the war is
stated to be reached by adding to the debt on the
Ist April the whole Government expenditure for the
next 15 months, amounting to $920,000,000. The
wonder is said to be that he stopped at fifteen
months, and did not add the full three years' ex-
penditure. Mr. Wells on this is declared to be so
dishonest that had these figures been given by any
English politician .he would never thereafter have
dared to show his face in the public streets. 'We
would strongly recommend the London Globe not
to take as a text the assertions of the Standard's
correspondent, and write its " snippetty" articles
thereon, for it was betrayed last Saturday into a
series of absurd blunders by so doing. In the first
place, Mr. Wade had nothing to do with Mr.
Atkinson's speech. Next, it was not Mr. Wells'
speech ; it was that of Edward Atkinson, of Bos-
ton, known for the most able reply ever made to
the repudiators, as well sustained and complete an
argument as has been brought before the public.
Finally, the assertion that Mr. Atkinson added the
total Government expenditure for fifteen months,
which amounted to over nine hundred millions, is
a shameful perversion of Mr. Atkinson's facts. The
writer had not read a word of what the speaker had
said. He did not know where, when, or by whom
the speech was made, but he accepts the dictum of
an amusing writer, though one as unreliable as he is
inimical to the United States. We may ask the Globe
if the British expense for the Abyssinian expedition
ended with the fall of Magdala, the de ith of the
King,and the surrender of the prisoners? Suppose the
British Treasury showed its outlay for the expedi-
tion up to that day, would financiers- be justified
in asserting that there ended the expenses ? There
were transports to return and be discharged ; there
were accounts for contracts entered into but not
concluded to be settled ; the army had to be
brought back.; extra batta paid to officers and men ;
and, though there were few wounded, still liabilities
for rewards and pensions were incurred. We ven-
ture to state that the heaviest portion of the out-
lay fell on the Treasury after the national success,
as was the case in the United States ; and this fact
is shown in Mr. Atkinson's figures, though not in
the correspondent's letter, who desired to prove his
own untruthful assertion. In the quarter coin-
prised between the Ist April and the 30th June,
1865, on orders of the War Department the Treasury
disbursed $114,196,377, or nearly a half of the
total for the fifteen months. The sum for the next
quarter was upwards of $165,000,000, and the
amount within six months of the Confederate sur-
render paid on army account alone was just
$580,000,000. Is not that the war cost, and could it
fairly be charged as the ordinary Government ex-
penditure ? Mr. Atkinson says it cannot, and
estimates it as he does the disbursement of the
Navy Department, as part of the war debt. He
goes further, for he includes the pensions, bounties,
and even cemeteries for the soldiers killed. But
when the correspondent writes, and the Globe
follows, that he made up his total by adding the
immense sum which had not been incurred up to the
Ist of April, 1865, but which was afterwards
expended by the Government within fifteen
months, they misrepresent Mr. Atkinson. That
gentleman, who anticipates this misrepresentation,
states that the war expenses under wholly different
circumstances would have amounted to a moderate
sum, which he has not deducted, as there was an
extraordinary expenditure of between forty and
fifty millions for the Indian war and harbour im-
provements which he put down as a set off. This
is very different from all the Government disburse-
ments, and when they ask why he restricted it to
fifteen months, and did not add the further Govern-
ment expenditure of the 24 months since then
elapsed, we answer, because it was within the former
period that the United States paid off and disbanded
their million of Union soldiers. The marvel is that
they succeeded in doing it so quickly, and we ven-
ture to say that even the paltry expedition into
Abyssinia will not be finally settled for many a
month to come. Indeed Mr. Atkinson might fairly
have extended the period of extraordinary expendi-
ture. His fault perhaps is in not having deducted
from the total the ratio of cost now incurred by the
army and navy for the fifteen months. But in com-
mon fairness this should have been explained by
those who prefer charges so strong against both
him and Mr. Wells. The Special Commissioner,
however, had nothing to do with the cooking of
these accounts, as the correspondent terms it, and
even did the results wholly misrepresent the subject
this would form no reason for Mr. Wells not showing
his face in the streets. The plan and arrangement,said
Mr.Atkinson,are mine; but the data was furnished by
Mr. Wells. The questions the former put were an-
swered by the latter, and for errors of figures only
air. Wells is to blame. But these people have not
attackel the figures, but only the way in which they
were used ; yet this, Mr. Atkinson says, was his
way, for which he would claim credit or bear blame.
Still the Globe never even alludes to Mr. Atkinson,
treating the speech as that of a Mr. Wells, on data
furnished by a Mr. Wade, but what Wells or what
Wade is not indicated, and for the best of reasons
—the writer did not know. Here, then, we have a
London evening daily, said to be inspired by the

Government, which grounds an articid on the loose
statements of a correspondent bitterly hostile to
the ruling party of the United States, without the
slightest examination of the subject, but content
with the simple fact that it was unfavourable to the
Republic. In the columns of the Standard this
letter is intelligible, but among the leaders in the
Globe its assertions are not ; for the correspondent
knows about what he was writing,states his case, ad-
vances his proof, and withholds what demolishes it ;
while the writer in the Globe had no more knowledge
than an infant of the subject, but a vague notion,
gathered from the correspondent, that it was some-
thing very bad. Men in ly wholly differ on the great
American questions in dispute though very intelli-
gent, honest, and patriotic, and we do not deny
honesty of intention to the Standard's correspondent,
although his view is very different from ours, and he
may often be unscrupulous in making assertions
and garbling facts. But the Globe is simply pan-
dering to a vile prejudice, and thereby making
itself contemptible in American eyes; a sort of con-
tempt felt for those who express strong opinions
on a subject of which their Own exposition proves
them to be ignorant. But while desiring an
honest discussion and deprecating garbled extracts,
we are far from prepared to accept Mr. Atkinson's
financial statement, except in a qualified way,
making full allowance for the campaign nature of
the docUment, and the evident desire to prove as
much as the figures can be made to do.

MONTLONG'S MEXICAN REVELATIONS.

(From the New York Nation):

Early in February, 1867, a few days before
Maximilian set out on his fatal march from Mexico
to Queretaro, the city which, after a seventy days'
siege, was to witness his downfall on May 15, and
his execution on June 19, he entrusted Wilhelm
von Montlong, an officer of his staff (it is this
officer and his friends who state it), with the task
of elaborating, from official documents, an exact
and detailed account (" noticia exacta y pormeno-
rizada") of the conduct of the French army during
its stay in' Mexico, the evacuation of which it was
then completing. The task was executed after the
death of the Prince with devoted zeal, but without
the aid of materials sufficient for an exhaustive
work on so interesting a topic. The book, which
embodies the results of what is introduced to us as
a labour of love and devotion to the memory of
" the unfortunate monarch," is too fragmentary,
and the documentary evidence adduced to support
some of its most important assertions hardly ample
enough for their corroboration. But even so)
these new " Revelations" are an interesting con-
tribution to the history of our time and continent.
Written not " sine ira et studio," they have, at
least, the merit of strengthening opinions generally
current in camps hostile to that of the author.
" The empire began with treason," says Major
Montlong, " and treason brought about its end."
Maximilian, he believes, would never have accepted
the crown carried to him at Miramar had he
not been most artfully and treacherously deceived
concerning his election as emperor. This may be
true only to a degree, but the grossness of the de-
ception which was to serve as the basis of a new
throne and dynasty is revealed in the following :
The principal inhabitants of Monterey having been
assembled by the French General Jeanningros—
who acted precisely as others did in other towns--
he addressed them in these words : —" The Emperor
of the French, always anxious to promote the wel-
fare of all unfortunate nations, and desirous to
establish your happiness, has determine 1 to trans
form the Mexican Republic into a rich and flourish-
ing empire, and has selected for your emperor the
most liberal and enlightened prince of Europe, the
Archduke Maximilian of Austria. But Napoleon
wishes Maximilian to be elected by the general vote of
the nation. I have called you here, therefore, to receive
your votes." And advancing a few steps towards
the assembled Mexicans, he added, with a threatening
countenance : " N'est-ce pas, gentlemen, you accept
the prince whom the Emperor Napoleon sends you?"
To which the assembly, intimated by a squad of
French troops posted in front of them, answered,
" We do," and the general, turning to an officer of
his staff who collected the protocols, said : " Write,
sir, that this city has voted unanimously for the em-
pire, and let these gentlemen sign the document."
The notables of San Luis Potosi, who refused to
,ion a similar declaration, were thrown into prison,
kept for thirty-six hours without fool, and thus
compelled to submit.
This is au example of the political dealings of
the French invaders in Mexico. Of their mili-
tary deeds in that country we learn some that
hardly redound in a higher degree to the glory
of the "great nation." General Mangin having on
the occupation of the village of Montealto found out
the suspicious disposition of its inhabitants, he had
46 of them, noted as the most "liberal," arrested in
the night and. shot without trial or sentence. This
ferociouS act may be ascribed to the prompting of
incipient insanity, as the general shortly after lost
his reason ; but other barbarities are related for
which, unfortunately for human nature, no such
plea can be raised. A Captain Charrier, of the
Foreign Legion, is charged with having, by threats
of execution, forced the prefect of a small town to
sign the death-sentence of his own brother, whose
only crime was his attachment to the Liberal cause.
According to our narrative atrocities like these
were much more frequently committed by the
"liberal" Mexicans than by the French champions
of " civilization." The native allies of the latter
naturally make no exception, and in a retrospetive
glance a butchery of almost unparalleled atrocity—
executed at Tacubaya in 1859 —is related in which
the future Imperial generals, Miramon and Marquez,
were the chief actors. Miramon—we read—in an
order concluding with the words " God and law !"
decreed the execution of all wounded officers found
in the hospital at that captured place, and Marquez
included in the hecatomb the seven physicians
whom he found administering to the wounded.
And yet Miramon is one of those few Mexicans
of whom our author occasionally speaks with ad-
miration, a sentiment which Maximilian must have
fully shared, if it be true that, a few minutes before
their common execution, placing him between him-
self and Gen. Mejia, he addressed to him these words :
" Even monarchs must admire the brave ; before
dying I cede to you the post of honour." Miramon
himself, who energetically protested his constant
fidelity to the cause of order, died with the words,
" Live the Emperor" on his lips. The Emperor
lived a few seconds longer, during which he vainly
tried to recover breath after the deadly volley. His
last words and acts—his enemies acknowled4ed it
—were worthy of a better cause than was his,
viewed is the mildest light. Mejia alone sank in
silent despair, having, a moment before, seen his
wife in mad anguish running through the streets
of Queretaro with her baby in her arms.
The men of whom our author speaks with al-
most unqualified contempt are Marquez, Lopez, and
Marshal Bazaine. In Marquez's tardiness to relieve
Puebla, then besieged by Porfirio Diaz, he sees the
main cause of the disasters which terminated the
last struggle of the empire. Ilis obstinately-
prolonged defence of the capital after the fall of
Queretaro—a defence made possible only by atro-
cious deceptions practised on the decimated and
starving garrison—he ascribes to purely selfish mo-
tives. The treason of Lopez, who is stated to have
sold Queretaro to Escobedo—yet with the intention
of aiding in the flightrof Maximilian—is represented
as a fact, the authenticity of which is proved by a
mass of irrefragible evidence. Bazaine, whose im-
peachment before the tribunal of public opinion and
of history seems to be the main object of the book,
is charged, not without proof, not only with sordid
selfishness, extortion, peculation, and cruelty, but
also with duplicity, intentional abuse of instructions,
falsity to the interests of both France and Mexico,
hostility to the came of Maximilian, and even con-
scious military treachery—the motive being the
marshal's secret intention, fomented perhaps by
his Mexican marriage, to make himself master
of Mexico as President or otherwise. Tire bloody
Imperial decree of October 3, 1865, is represented
as having been extorted by the heartless French-
man, and made doubly fatal by his still more san-
guinary secret instructions concerning its execution.
These are certainly no isolated accusations, broad

as they are, but, as we have stated, they are not
sufficiently substantiated by the documentary evi-
dence.

The little that is said in the book of Juarez and
Porfirio Diaz betrays, if it does not display, the
writer's antipathy to the former and esteem for the
latter. He detests most of the Mexican leaders in
both camps, unveils the corruption and treachery
that doomed the Imperial Government to bar-
renness and precocious decay, excuses the crimes
of one party only by those of the other, and
finds the Mexican people, with their bandit
warriors and ignorant and profligate clergy, 4; ut-
terly demoralizel by a civil war of forty years dura-
tion, which has broken all the springs of the tn 3"
chine of State, distracted all minds, and adulterated
every sentiment of duty, honour, and social inte-
grity." He considers the Conservative party, both
in Mexico and Central America, as doomed, finally,
to succumb to the Liberal, and that—the late
Mexican Imperial officer acknowledges it without
hesitation—on account of its greater rottenness.
And yet he is convinced that Maximilian under-
took the gigantic task of regenerating such a
nation with the aid of such a party in good
conscience and from noble motives, and that
•ins
victory alone could have secured to the distracted
country the blessings of peace, order, and civiliza-
tion. But was this victory possible after the down'
fall of the Southern Confederacy, even if Bazaine and
the Mexican Imperialists remained faithful ? Wrasl
it still possible in the latter part of 1866,
when the
French commenced their retrogade movements,.
preparatory to their return to France ? Was it
still possible when Maximilian returned from Ow

zaba to the capital to continue the struggle single'
handed? Was not the gallant stand made at
Queretaro as useless a waste of blood—for honour's
sake, perhaps—as was the post Imperial de-
fence of Mexico by Marquez, from less honour'
able personal motives? Did princely or militari
honour command the leader and his enthusiastic
Austrian followers to cling to the last to a cause
which was already known to them to have been
conceived in treason, and, if not criminal from the
beginning, had certainly become a "lost cause '?
To none of these questions does our author atteniPt
to give an answer. We can certainly find no ev
planation strong enough to exculpate his hero from
the guilt of reckless adventurousness—a guilt which
he may have nobly expiated with his blood, though
without repentance. It was a strange Nemesis that
cerried a scion of the house of Austria, three bun-
dred years after the death of Charles V., to the
shores deluged with Aztec blood by that monarch;
conquistadores, to perish by a bullet at the hand of
an Aztec chief !

THE EXHIBITION IN THE PACIFIC

STA7ES.

The Pacific States have had a grand Exhibition
called the Mechanics' Institute's Fair, held in
Pavilion built for the occasion, lately completed °
San Francisco. The structure is a parallelogram i°
form, with its greatest length running east and West'
Its entire length is 337 ft. by a width of 205, exclusiv,
of boiler room. The number of square feet
ground floor is 72,000, against 55,000, occupy
by the pavili,n of 1805-6. It is built entirely °
wood, and the chief points aimed at have bee°
lightness, strength, and economy of cost and apace
The main hall is 272 feet long and 180 feet wide'
with a central arched nave of the same length, 8'
feet wide and 68 feet high. Around the entire 01
runs a gallery nine feet wile, with twenty feel,
width at the end connections, which is used mailwo
for walking. It is reached by fuur wide staircases, tvc
upon either side, and a steam hoist-way near the
entrance, after the style of the most approved bois'a
ways in use at the hotels in the Atlantic States a%
Europe. The Pavilion is lighted by continnent
windows along both sides, while the front consi3
of one semi-circular window, of forty feet radi°s;
'The whole is brilliantly illuminated in the evenillp
by upwards of 1,200 gas burners. The main ell;
trance is from Stoekton-street, and is flanked by tl'e
towers 80 feet high, surmounted by flagstaffs. 0,0
grand vestibule is 50 feet wide, and leads direct L
the body of the building. As the visitor enters
door he finds on his right hand machinery at 30.4
hardware in general, and on his left textile fabli 0
and lighter manufactures. The front wings ara
occupied by musical instruments, drawings, 3t)
liquors (esthetics 1) on the right hand, and by ~
restaurant on the loft. The long traverse Wies
at the rear, opposite the entrance, is devoted
to art. In the galleries are wines, confect
tionery, bookbinders productions, &c. The r.O
Gallery is placed across the rear of the 113°10
building, and is 205 feet long by 30 in width.
receives abundant light from above, by a conti°/1;
ous line of perpendicular sash, placed upon t 136
roof. Easy access and egress to and from the Pio
Gallery is obtained by five passage-ways—one fred
the nave, and two from each of the wings or aisle°,ea
the main hall. The walls of the gallery are tic' a
so as to subdue the sharpness of the light, °li
relieve the paintings, photographs, &c., which 3a r
placed upon the walls. This will form a moat i 0
,
n
teresting feature of the exhibition, far exceedrgol
anything of the kind hitherto witnessed on °o
coast. The various artists of San Francis,
have largely engaged space—so that a r
tion, if not all the photographs have t°,
placed across one of the ends of the gali'etb,
in the main building, which is made of extra Wi'a,
and equally well arranged and lighted for such P"ii,
pose as the Art Gallery. The building cost, ill,finut
$30,000. The quantity of lumber used was Pcivea
600,000 feet,and 700,000 shingles have been expel 3
in roofing. In the centre of the nave a fonotiltet
is erected in an open space, the spray from the O
rising nearly to the roof, while along the middle,
east and west from the centre, flowers are exhibit, ti
The goods and manufactures are divided into tbfr,
classes, and ores, as might be expected, have a Ptil
S ro
minent place. The Fair was opened on the ,
August, when the Hon. Newton Booth of Sacra
mento delivered an impressive adiress.

roe
At Arreton, in the Isle of Wight, there is a 1, -0
chestnut tree tNhich is now in full bloom; at Bally de
carrott, Ireland, there is a pear tree covered with bleSS'ell
as luxuriant as if in early summer; and at Ball,roPol
there is an apple tree covered with a luxuriant croP
blossoms, while a considerable quantity of this 0055°13

fruit still remains upon the branches.
[ADVERTISEMENT. I Holloway's fiztoo.
the Sick.—Though the mind be downcast, and 13°,,, fil
feebled by continued indisposition, the sufferer shouTia
this season make a last effort to regain health by Tiloocis
Holloway's purifying pills, which, by cleansing thettie
will search out the hidden cause of mischief and OW' d to
seeds of most diseases. No invalid is too much reducce sci°
undergo this very gentle treatment with safety an. jolt
vantage. Neither youth not old age need fear any qliel
to the system from a regulated course of these pills. 000
are infallible in stomach complaints, bilious affec,:tiot
sickness, want of appetite, disordered bowels, constiro-f t 1)"
and the annoyances which spring from derangement
digestive and assimilating organs.

Births. tge
MILLS—On the 7th inst., at Wilderness, Sevenoa,"
Lady Louisa Mills, of a son. , o 0)
MASS On the bth inst., at The Lodge, New Witnblei
the wife of Dr. Massy, Deputy-Inspector-Genera
Hospitals, of a son. 01#
THESIGER—On the 6th inst., at Manchester, the SOP'
Charles Thesiger, of a son.
Marriages. Job
APKENZIE—PRINGLE—On the 6th inst., at the -1- • joi3"
terian Church, Regent-square, London, Dui:101%01r
M‘Gregor M'Kenzie, Esq , of Holford-square, ,
vile, to Jessie, third daughter of Robert Pringle'
of Great Percy-street, Pentonville.
.0
.00
WILLIAMS —INMAN On the 6th inst., at Bath P'40,00
Church, near Bath, Edward Fraser, eldest survivirfeel'h
of the Right Hon. Sir E. V. Williams, to Emily DeTrO'
daughter of the late T. G. Inman, Esq., of Bath, P'
ter-at-law, J.P.

Deaths. Ttrig'i
BRIGGS On the4th inst., at Firnbrao, Dundee, H.
-- •
Esq., of Outwood Hall, near Wakefield, aged 7L ll6
BRANS—On the Gth inst., David A. Brans, Esq., °.
Queen' s- (the ston.
- o°l
BILLETT On filth inst., Charles Billett, 0,, -p -c c
road and Stock Exchange, aged 38. el'
DawslN —On the 30th ult., at Woodville, count,' 0)0_
ford, Henry Dawson, Esq., of the Middle Teinpl.e, 1,,0,1'''
eon of the late 11. Dawson, Esq Drumniartui '
"I
county Dublin, Ireland.
k. IPii.
WALKER—On the 3d inst., at Lea Wood, Matloc)
Walker, Esq., aged S 2.
_O4

_ or
London : Printed and Published by WILLIA.3I .11-111),/
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tai SUN oilcN
strand, in the Precinct of the 8e voy, m the 0°
Dialdlesex,—Thursday, October 8, 1c368.