The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-09 00:00:00

LO.'VDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1868.

All the accounts that reach us from Abyssinia
are sure to attract attention and inspire interest, i
whether the details are many or few. By a tele-
gram despatched from Suez on January 8, it is re-
ported from Senafe that the natives are very friendly
towards the forces, and that supplies are arriving.
This is a very important thing, and one of the most
reassuring pieces of intelligence that we have yet
received. From the first hopes have been held out
as to the goodwill of the natives, and nothing
has transpired of a nature to contradict it.
The troops are healthy, which is another fortunate
report, especially as there have been some mis-
givings on this point, and not without reason, on
account of the news from time to time received as
to the sanitary condition of the forces. Still more
reassuring is the next paragraph, to the effect that
letters have been received from the captives, dated
November 11, stating that they were then all well.
It is, indeed, most astonishing that these unfor-
tunate men should have preserved their strength
and spirits as they have done, and it affords us a
well-grounded hope that they may yet keep up to
the end. King THEODORE is still in an embar-
rassed position, and perhaps he may never recover
himself if our forces are able to get on with promp-
titude. On the whole, then, we may safely con-
clude that this last intelligence is of a satisfactory
character, and that we have reason to believe that
success may attend this expedition, the issue of
which is so important and so vital to the interests of
the country as regards its own sentiments and its
prestige abroad. In some quarters is; has been
rather the habit to ran down this Abyssinian
expedition, but we expect that those who are pleased
to find fault would find themselves puzzled to ex-
plain what they mean exactly, and still more at a
loss to show how the Government could have acted
otherwise than they have done. It is very likely
that this war would never have been necessary had
not their predecessors been so unwise and uncer-
tain in their dealings with King THEODORE, but
the consequences of that imprudence entailed upon
the present advisers of her MAJESTY this grave
responsibility, and it is both unjust and ungene-
rous to give them the blame of the misfortune occa-
sioned by others. As this expedition has become
necessary, and has actually started on its way, it
would be the most satisfactory thing, as well as the
most becoming, to abstain from making any depre-
ciatory remarks upon it, and putting aside vexatious
questions as to the why and wherefor of its depar-
ture, to await with interest the success of a cause
which s.nould be dear to all who really respect the
rights of Englishmen, and desire to uphold the
dignity of their country.

The marvel of reading in London on the 9th news
from New York dated the Bth has become so com-
monplace that men almost cease to notice it. It is
nevertheless no small testimony of the progress of
skill and science, and the year 1867 has something
to boast of in having familiarised us with it. By
its agency we are kept completely au courant with
the course of American politics, and we on this side
of the Atlantic are often sooner aware of the
events at Washington than residents in the
more distant States themselves. The news
which the electric messenger has just con-
veyed to us is rot surprising, though it augurs
ill for the American tax-payer. The Secretary of
the Treasury has just issued his monthly state-
ment of the public debt and the cash in the Trea-
sury, from which we learn that sr far from dimi-
nisbirg at the rate which was once promised the
national burden has actually increased. On the
Ist of January the debt was $2,642,000,000,
against $2,639,000,000 o❑ December Ist, showing
an increase of $3,000,000. The cash in the Trea-
sury at the same date showed a decrease in a cor-
responding period of four million dollars. This is
an additional proof of the evils of Radical legisla-
tion, and will perhaps stimulate the more moderate
party to further action. So long as the ruinous ex-
pense attending the military government of the
South is kept up, and the energies of the country
cramped by the desolating policy of the extreme
faction, there is little chance of amendment. The
position of the finances has long been demand-
ing consideration, but it is so difficult and in-
vidious a subject that the most daring and
ambitious politicians have been glad to
postpone definite action. It has been of
late pressed upon the consideration of the Legis-
lature, and hundreds of schemes and sugges-
tions, all more or less impracticable and illusory,
have been brought forward. But while Congress is
weighing their !dative merits, and discussing their
possible results, the debt goes o❑ increasing. If it
is to enlarge at the rate of three million dollars a
month, the fortunes of the Spates will have to take
a more favourable turn to enable them to pay the
interest in any form whatever. We would rather
anticipate that the evident decline of the Radical
party in public estimation will lead to such a
thorough alteration in the administration of national
affairs that confidence and security may be restored
throughout the country and that trade may revive.
The Americans of whatever occupation never want
for enterprise and energy, but public confidence has
been so completely shaken by recent events that
capitalists naturally fear to invest their money.
The Southern States are at present a dead weight
upon the industry of the North. If we consider for
a moment their extent and their population,
and then think what it would be to have
such a pauperised nation dependent upon us, we
shall realise in some measure the difficulty in which
American statesmen find themselves. We must
add to this the cost and burden of the military
routine and the Freedmen's Bureau before we shall
rightly appreciate the situation, and we shall then
be thoroughly convinced that nothing but a com-
prehensive change iu the form and spirit of -admi-
nistration will relieve the Treasury or restore the
prosperity of the Union.
In regard to the political differences between the
PRESIDENT and Congress, we find that Le military
committee of the Senate has presented a report
recommending that the Senate should not concur in
the rewovalof Mr. STANTON from his Qffi e. Whether