The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 3, 1868.

ROIIIAIV AFFAIRS.

(From the Correspondent of the Westminster Gazette)
ROME, July 25.

From what I hear it seems likely that the
Pope will not go into the country this year ;
lie is, however, expected to pay another visit
to the camp about the 3rd or 4th of August.
His health continues flourishing, and all
through this hot season he has continued to
perform all the public duties required of him,
both as King and as Pontiff. This is the
more remarkable that his age, though it has
been commonly reported to be seventy-seven,
is in reality seventy-nine ; the error arising
from some confusion in the record of the date
of his birth at the time the revolution broke
out in central Italy.
Contradictory reports continue to reach 11A
from Austria, and I am not in a position at
present to send you any very reliable informa-
tion on the subject. Reports are received
here of strong popular movements in Hungary
in fit von,. of the maintenance of the Concordat ;
and the disgrace of Beust is still considered
imminent by many. Meantime, a curious ex-
' ample to revolutionary states has been set by
Portugal, where the late crisis has ended in the
appointment of a Franciscan, Frl Antonio,
made Bishop of Viszen in the Consistory of
September, 1862, to the post of Minister of
the Interior.

Count and Countess Girgenti embarked at
Civita Vecchia on Tuesday night on board the
Isabella 11. They make first for Austria,
where they will visit the Court first, and after-
wards the Queen of Naples. They will then
visit the Count de Chambord, and then the
Emperor of the French, returning to Madrid,
where the count holds an appointment of
colonel of a regiment of hussars, in the
autumn.

The commissions charged with preparing
the minutes for consideration of the General
Council are pursuing their labours, and a new
one has been appointed to take cognizance of
Church ceremonial. The Pope has lately
summoned several ecclesiastics from Spain
and America to come to Rome this winter and
take part in this work, it being his desire
that all countries should be represented in
each commission.
The debates in the French Chamber of De-
puties on the 10th, on the subject of the Coun-
cil, have not passed without notice here. M.
GutSroult, in his long speech, betrayed all the
intense hatred with which the subject inspires
the revolutionary sects. M. 011ivier, a man
of more imagination than judgment, while
repeatedly rendering his testimony to the
courage the Pope has displayed in summoning
an ecumenical Council at a moment when
he is attacked on all sides, yet drew the con-
clusion that the Bull, 2Eterni Patris, is a pro-
clamation of the separation of Church and
State, than which no statement could be more
false, seeing that the Syllabus expressly con-
demns the proposition that Ecclesia a Static
Statusque ab Ecelesid seiungendus est. M.
Baroche undertook the reply to these two
speakers, and did so in a rather involved
speech, in whieh he, of course, took care to
protest against the principle, being one that
would not at all suit the Emperor's Govern-
ment, which lays claim to be admitted to the
Council. _ . .

M. de Sartiges has been some little time in
communication with the Roman Government
on this subject, and speaks of it as if he expected
to succeed. He has every motive to press the
matter, first in order to blot out by his success
the check the Emperor received through him
in the refusal of the cardinalate for Mgr. Dar-
boy ; and, secondly, because such a triumph
bears with it hopes of a place in the Senate
when his time comes for retiring from diplo-
matic life. The line of argument he has taken
up is this—" that the holy Roman Empire"
having ceased to exist, and France having
rendered signal services to the Holy See, she
has, ipso facto, ascended to the position so long
held by the holy Roman Empire.
General Zappi's Brigade returned into Rome
early this morning, looking all the more soldier-
like from the dust of their march and the
bronzing the sun has given them, notwith-
standing the white linen head-gear which has
been sem, ed out to them. They started at
eleven last evening, taking the cool night-time
for the march. The next brigade ordered to
make experience of the camp is nominally un-
der General de Courten, but as he is absent on
home-leave, Colonel Allet will probably preside
over it, at all events at first. It takes up its
quarters early next week, but eight men from
each company will go down to-morrow to
make all in order. General Zappi's brigade
had a very pretty field-day before breaking up,
and of course a crowd of spectators went out
to assist at the spectacle, who rendered due
justice to the admirable appearance of the
troops. The conduct of both officers and men
has indeed called forth the highest praise dur-
ing their stay, as well for regularity of dis-
cipline and for assiduity in all the offices of
religion, as for their good feeling towards the
inhabitants of the neighbourhood. The King,
of Naples paid a visit to the camp on Wed-
nesday, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel de
Charette and Don Alfonso of Spain. The
troops were put through several manoeuvres,
in one of which the King took the command.
He afterwards slept in General Kanzler's apart-
ment in Rocca di Papa.
The Zouaves continue to receive accessories
of volunteers. They are asking impatiently,
however, when the promised rifles from Eng-
land are going to make their appearance. A
few, indeed, have come, but only a few, and
there have been reports of the arrival of more,
but it has turned out to be only report. I
know one spirited lad at least, though really
probably there are more, who, needing change
of air, gave up availing himself of his cong4,
in order not to lose the opportunity of practis-
ing himself in the use of the new arm, and after
all it has not come! I hope our people at
home will consider the disappointment, the
long—now more than six months'—delay is
calculated to cause, as well as the fact that if
we are to have another campaign, as many ex-
pect this autumn, their weapons will be of
tenfold value if they are sent in time for
the men to be familiarized with them, than if
they can only be dealt out at the eleventh hour.
If the delay is occasioned by an increase in
the number, it might be more easily borne. If
people in England could see the earnest looks
of those who, feeling that they have offered
their young lives and all they hold dear to the
cause, think perhaps that the donation of a
couple of pounds to provide them with a suit-
Able weapon is no great matter in comparison,
I am sure they would be moved to respond to
their anxious and natural wish.
The French troops are going on very quietly
at Civita Vecchia. I hear they have just re-
ceived a considerable importation of fresh
stores, including some thousand new beds.
A commission, which was appointed to audit
the accounts of the army administration de-
partment, has just brought its labours to a
close, and seems to have found the whole in a
very satisfactory condition. Though some
purchases had to be made at high prices dur-
ing the pressure of last October, this is com-
mended as a wise economy under all the cir-
cumstances, and the general arrangements
are pronounced to show a very careful manage-
ment of the funds.

This creditable report may serve to set at
rest the idle stories which have been circu-
lated to discourage the generosity of the faith-
ful. It would not appear, however, that they
have exercised any very seriously damaging
influence, as the even flow of material aid,
whereby Catholics are determined to support
the head of their religion as long as there is a
head, proceeds unchecked. The Giornale had
to publish a supplement the other day to con-
tain the lists of offerings it had to announce.
The Archbishop of Bruges sent 25,000 francs
as the offering of his diocese on St. Peter's
Feast, and every day there are new offerings.
The census of the year 1867-8 has been
lately completed. The increase of the popu-
lation was materially checked by the ravages

of the cholera last autumn. It made 500
orphans, who are being well taken care of
through the charity of the clergy and nobility.
The total number of the population is given
at 201,183, of whom 103,560 are men.
Another interesting report has also been
brought out—that of the committee for the
care of the wounded of the Mentana campaign.
It consisted chiefly of those noblemen, gentle-
men and townsmen, who had formed the corps
of volunteers for supplementing the defence of
the city. Their co-operation with the military
having been superseded by the arrival of the
French troops, they sought another sphere of
usefulness in tending the wounded. Besides
going on to the field to gather them in, they
opened hospitals in Rome to receive them.
The Prince of Sarsina (Aldobrandini) gave
the house for one of these, where, through the
kindness of Romans and visitors, everything
necessary was provided, and the prompt organi-
zation of the service was due to the zealous
labours of Count de Bianchi, Marchese Cap-
ranica, and Signori Gatti and Patti.
Prince Lancellotti was among the most in-
defatigable in searching the field of battle, as
well as in looking after the sick, and still more
in organizing the volunteer watchers, who for
three months continued in relays to watch for
four hours at a time by the bedside of the
wounded, rendering all the help of which they
stood in need. Circumstances threw the Gari-
baldians chiefly under their care, which did
not diminish on that account. The Surgeons
Tancioni, Lang, Sirolli and Laborde, saw their
gratuitous services recompensed by the most
satisfactory results ; four only out of forty-six
having died, a very small proportion in cases
of gunshot wounds.
Don Luigi Sbordoni and other ecclesiastics
administered the sacraments, and two, at least,
of these four Garibaldians died giving every
testimony of sincere penitence. One was not
a Catholic.

The society which had for its president Mar-
chese Patrizi, for its treasurer Marchese Cava-
letti, and for its secretary Signor Frenza, further
provided warm clothing for the discharged
prisoners, many of whom were, of course, from
the nature of their antecedents, in a very desti-
tute condition.
A curious remnant of mediwval customs has
just received its due observance. Formerly
several Confraternities were endowed with the
power of obtaining on stated festivals the grace
of a criminal under sentence of capital punish-
ment ; now, only the Confraternita della monte
retain their privilege, and the remission is
further confined to prisoners condemned to
penal servitude for life. This Confre,ernity,
one of whose special works is to bring into
Rome and give Christian sepulture to bodies
of persons who may die or be killed in the
open country twenty miles round Rome, met
on Sunday last in their oratory, in the Via
Giulia Sta. Maria dell' orazione, to deliberate
as to the case most worthy of their intervention
on the feast of the Assumption. They finally
decided in favour of a young man who, having
been jilted by his innainorata under peculiar
heartless circumstances, and meeting her sud-
denly, after trying to avoid the temptation, had
yielded to the sudden impulse and taken her
life.
To-night, Cardinal Antonelli's fete, he gives
an open reception at the Vatican.
The Emir of the Libanus, Joseph Karam,
has been staying here some days. He has
had an audience of the Holy Father, which
he attended in a superb oriental costume.
He also paid a visit to the camp, on which oc-
casion he presented General Kanzler with a
magnificent white burnous, richly embroidered
with gold.
The weather continues all that can be desired.
By leaving the windows open at night, the
outside persiani shut all day till evening, I
generally keep my rooms under eighty degrees;
the highest they have been up to is eighty-
five degrees. Still, leaving the persiani open
even for a few minutes will send the thermo-
meter up ten degrees. The agriculturists who
raised so loud a cry against the unprecedented
visitation of rain, begin now to think that it
was rather a good thing after all. The harvest,
though unusually late, will be very fine ; and
it is a year of such abundance, that, notwith-
standing the damage done to the vines by the
hail, there will yet remain more than the ave-
rage of ordinary years.

THE TAMMANY CONVENTION.

(From. the Anglo-American Tinte3.)

Some of the English papers have discovered a
desperately revolutionary purpose in the Tammany
platform. They maintain that the intention is
avowed of neutralizing the work of the war, and
of re-establishing the Union as it existed ten years
ago, with a modification of slavery. But these
organs confound the Democratic declarations and
charges against the Republicans with the platform.
In the first place, the Democrats have persistently
denied the right of the General Government to use
force against secession. They denounced the sub-
stitution of paper money for coin, denying the con-
stitutionality of the legal tenders. They always
declared the illegality of interference with the
domestic institution of the South. They have up-
held Free Trade, and represented high tariffs as
injurious to the interests of the country. Recon-
struction they have simply painted as diabolical ;
the black man's heel on the white man's neck ; the
inferior seated, like the Old Man of the Mountain,
on the shoulders of the superior. Yet, strongly as
the Conservatives have affirmed these charges, they
make little show in the Tammany platform. In-
deed, as is elsewhere said, the labour of the
Convention ended in the production of a mouse,
although in this we fear we wrong the little cheese-
nibbler. The difference between the fire and fury
of •the declarations and the platform is that which
marks a strenuous Opposition when suddenly trans-
ferred to the Treasury benches. To hear them,
when hungering for office, the listener is persuaded
that unless quick action be taken in turning out the
Government that was ruining the country it would
be too late. Yet, when they find themselves in the
pleasant pastures, those who had been stirred up to
indignation, and expected radical and sweeping
changes, are astonished to see the indignant de-
nunciators placidly browsing, or contentedly re-
posing in the shade. We can thoroughly under-
stand why indignant declamation should not be the
ground of action in office, but we cannot see why
the charges should not be embodied on the platform.
The right of secession is declared to have been
settled by the war, as well as of slaveholding, and
therefore is given up. But war cannot decide the
right of a question ; it merely shows the
power by which it is backed. The Spectator main-
tains that the platform is an open avowal of
the right of secession, a declaration of the States'
Rights' doctrine, which would undo what the most
costly war on record effected. We believe it will
be found in practice that no great change would
be effected even if the Democrats succeeded in car-
rying their candidate, unless failing HORATIO SEY-
MOUR, BLAIR became President. But even then he
would conveniently forget the manifesto to the Mis-
souri delegation, which led to his election. However
violent the talk may be those who will realize the
change are the office-holders, whoever gets in ;
and this in our opinion will extend to the only point
in which the Tammany platform joins issue with
that of Chicago—namely, the manner of paying off
the bonds. The Nation says—" Out of the hosts of
principles which it has upheld at one time or another
during its long and checkered career ; out of that
vast collection of grievances which it has accumu-
lated since 1860, and in describing which it borrows
the language of the oppressed in the worst of past
ages, it produces nothing worthy of being em-
bodied in a positive proposition and fought
or at the election. It has no reform to
call for; it does not offer to carry any reform
out, either in the administration of the Government
or in the machinery of the administration. It goes
into the canvass simply to maintain the doctrine
that, wherever in a national promise to pay money
the word coin' is not mentioned, the debt shall be
paid iu lawful money of the United States'—that
is, iu another promise to pay issued by the same
debtor—and that the representations made in ex-

planation of the original instrument by the officers f
of the Government, and the understanding of those
who lent the money, and which has remained undis-
turbed for four years, shall count for nothing. Such
a bat:de-cry' as this coming from any political party
would be singular enough ; there was only one thing
needed to make it by far the most singular battle-
cry of history, and that was, that the party raising
it should be a party which has always maintained
that paper money issued by Government is not and
cannot be 'lawful money,' and that, therefore, the
currency in which it calls for the payment of Go-
vernment debts is not simply inferior in value to
coin, but has no value whatever ; and this one thing
the battle-cry in question has. The Democratic
party, after many changes and reverses, at List takes
the field in support of a compound swindle, made up
partly of fraudulent bankruptcy and partly of utter-
ing counterfeit money." It really does surprise when
the platform is compared with the charges against
the Radicals, which Senator DoourrLE sums up
very forcibly in his letter discounten mncing a third
party movement. One would suppose, to read
what he says, that to the Republicans is due the war,
that they alone kept the Union divided, establish-
ing military despotisms, and forcing down the
credit of the Government till the United States
Bonds sell for far less than those of Brazil. But
this is mere declamation, which the Radicals retort,
so that it simply amounts to "you're an-
other." Have the lately reconstructed States been
restored to their rights in the Union and in the
Constitution ? If not, what are the rights omitted ;
if so, what is the use of the first article ? As no
one has been punished for political offences, as the
Freedmen's Bureau is being abolished, as the Army
is being reduced, as everybody demands the expul-
sion
of corrupt men from office where no corrupt
men are to be found—at least, ticketed " corrupt "
—as everybody demands equal and lighter taxation,
as all are agreed both in America and abroad on
the subject of naturalization, it is difficult to dis-
cover where, except in the payment of Bonds, the
parties join issue. But it is asserted by the Demo-
crats that both platforms, even oa the subject of
the Bonds, mean the same thing, and if so, as the
platforms are declared to be identical, would it not
be as well for the candidates to toss up for the
Presidency, and save the nation from the Fall cam-
paign? The truth is that platforms are like the
speeches of sovereigns, very vague. The parties,
in reality, differ widely—and although the DUD:O-
-m-ate have failed to embody this in language,
and will not revolutionize the Government, even
if they succeed in carrying the election, yet
it has an overwhelming interest, and will,
perhaps, be the most hotly contested yet
seen in the United States. YENDELTON gives a
hearty and single-minded support to the Demo-
cratic ticket, and SO does HENDRICKS ; DOOLITTLE
evidently regards the man as a traitor who attempts
to split the party or swerves in the least degree
from the single object of defeating the Radicals.
The Southerners will go as a unit for the ticket and
platform, whatever may be the decisions of the
" so-called" Legislatures of the lately reconstructed
States, and although GRANT is the favourite, the
Tribune very justly warns its party against over-
confidence, and impresses on it the necessity for
hard work.

TIIE FUNDING BILL OF CONGRESS.

The telegram from Washington of Monday
evening leads us to suppose that Congress has
so far passed the Senate's Funding Bill as to
provide for the issue of Thirty and Forty-Year
Bonds, redeemable in coin and free from taxation.
They are to bear interestat the rate of 41 per
cent. and 4per cent: respectively, and are to equal
in amount the total of the Five-Twenty Bonds,
and to be employed in their redemption. A Bill
introduced into the House proposed a uniform 40-
year Bond, with interest at 3 65-100 per cent:,
exempt from taxation, the conversion into 5-20's
to be optional, We suppose that a conference
took place between the Chambers, and the main
features of the Senate's Bill were preserved. The
puzzle is what the measure is intended to accom-
plish, as there appears to be no sufficient inducement
for holders to change Six per Cent. Bonds into Four
per Cent. Bonds? We suppose that Congress in-
tends to checkmate, as far as possible, the agitation
against the Bondholders pending the Fall election,
while it leaves them practically in the same position.
That our readers may judge of the above telegram
for themselves, wo give the bill as it passed the
Senate :

Be it enacted, &c.;'thht the Secretary of the Treasury is
hereby authorized to iSshe coupon or registered bonds of
the United States, in such for and of such denomina-
tions as ho may prescribe, redeemable in coin, at the plea-
sure of the United States, after twenty, thirty, and forty
years, respectively, and bearing the following rates of
yearly interest payable semi-annually in coin ; that is to
say, the issue of bonds falling due in twenty years shall
bear interest at five per cent. ; bonds falling due in thirty
years shall bear interest at 4 per cent., while said bonds
shall be exempt from taxation in any form or under any
State, municipal or local authority, and the same and the
interest thereon and the income therefrom shall be exempt
from the payment of all taxes or duties to the United States
other than such income tax as may be assessed upon other
incomes. And the said bonds and the proceeds thereof
shall be exclusively used for the redemption or payment at
the option of the holder or purchaser of or exchanged for
an e pal amount of the present interest-bearing debt of
the United States, other than the existing five per centum
bonds and the three per centum certificates, and may be
issued to an amount in the aggregate sufficient to cover
Ise principle of all outstanding or existing obligations, as
limited herein, and no more. But not to exceed seven
hundred millions of dollars shall be of the issue redeem-
able in twenty years.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That there is hereby
appropriated out of the duties derived from imported
goods $135,000,000 annually, which sum during each fiscal
year shall be applied to the payment of the interest and to
the reduction of the principal of the public debt in such
manner as may be determined by the Secretary of the
Treasury or as Congress may hereafter direct, and such
reduction shall be in lieu of the sinking fund contemplated
by the fifth section of the act, entitled "An Act to authorize
the Issue of United Status Notes, and for the Redemption
or Funding thereof, and for Funding the Floating Debt of
the United States," approVed February 25, 1862.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That any contract
hereafter made, payable specifically in coin, shall bo legal
and valid, and may be enforced according to its terms, any-
thing in the several acts relating to the United States notes
to the contrary notwithstanding, provided that this sec-
tion shall not apply to contracts for the borrowing of cur-
rency or the renewal or extension of any indebtedness
under a contract already entered into, unless such contract
originally required payment in coin.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That from and after
the passage of this act no percentage, deduction, commis-
sion, or compensation of any amount or kind shall be
allowed to any person for the sale or negotiation of any bonds
or securities of the United States disposed of at the Trea-
sury Department or elsewhere on account of the United
States; and all acts or parts of acts authorizing or permit-
ting, by construction or otherwise, the Secretary of the
Treasury to appoint any agent other than some proper offi-
cer of his department, to make such sale or negotiation of
bonds and securities aro hereby r.pealed.
This was SHERMAN'S Bill, which, as first intro-
duced, Mr. StraiNEß pronounced to be Repudia-
tion. Although we use that term with regard
to the proposals calculated to infringe the
spirit of the contract against the bondholders,
it is scarcely applicable to any of the mea-
sures suggested ; for it should be borne in mind
that all, except the bill introduced into the
House to tax the interest ten per cent., have de-
sired to observe the exact letter of the law.
Nearly all the Senators of the Western States
argued in favour of greenback redemption, while
those of the Eastern have gone unanimously for
coin, and the three days discussion which preceded
its passage through the Chamber was chiefly
directed to that subject, and as there was no
obvious reason, it shows how wholly men's
minds arc influnced by the mere position of the
hour. When these debts were contracted nobo ly
anticipated that they could be paid in anything
but coin, and now many anticipate that thirty and
forty years hence, they cannot be paid in any-
thing but paper, yet the greenback then may
only be preserved in museums as a curiosity.
There is a letter from "An experienced American
Jurist" in the limes of last Tiles lay on the subject
of these securities. He regards the question of
payment as purely legal, and the contract being in
writing it must hinge on the interpretation ; nor
do any party or class in the United States seek
anything more or less than the legal fulfilment of
the stipulation. He considers that it might as well

be argued that repudiation was threatened if a man
declined to pay more or in a different currency
from that stated in the contract. But this does
not put the question fairly, for no one in the
country when the contract was made held money
to be anything but coin, and they took the prof-
fered Bonds in this belief. A sovereign power
may declare anything to be money within its terri-
tory, and the United States could scarcely get a
cheaper material than small bits of paper. These
the Washington Government decreeing to be money
circulated as currency, and the experienced jurist
considers tint unless expressly stipulated to the
contrary, the bondholders can legally be paid in
them. The City editor says that " the letter seeks
to place these various questions on the only base
that can be practically recognized, namely, the
precise phraseology of the Acta of Congress
under which the several loans were created. The
declarations of the Secretaries of the Treasury, of
the Government banker, of the Legislltors, were
mere matters of sentiment, which could not bind in
the slightest degree either the Legislature or the
Courts of the country in their interpretation of the
written law." But it is not to the courts of the
country that the bondholders appeal. When the

lion. TIIAD. STEVENS wrote his celebrated letter
on this question, which has done so much to damage
his reputation, he cited a simple case by which we
may illustrate our view. A friend of his borrowed
from a gentleman a sum of money, the stipulation
being that it should be repaid in gold. The
lender, after the lapse of a certain period, de-
manded the fulfilment of the stipulation, and
fir. STEVENS'S Friend, gold being then over
200, offered the amount in paper. Of course
this was.rejected, but on appeal to the Courts for
enforcement of the contract the lender discovered
he was at the mercy of the borrower, greenbacks
being the legal tender for gold as for everything
else not expressly exempted by law. Had Mr.
STEVENS'S friend been an honest man, he would
have observed the stipulation of his contract, what-
ever construction might have been put upon it by
the law, and we have little doubt that the credit of
TIIAD.'S friend after that transaction was at a low
ebb. If the public creditor appealed to the law,
notwithstanding the assertions of the Government
agents, notwithstanding the open and uucontra-
dieted statements which brought the money in, the
Court would interpret the written contract by the
written law, and no one would blame the judges
for so doing, however greatly their ruling might
damage the credit of the United Stites. Bat there
is another side to the subject, which doubtless
THAD. STEVENS'S friend has realized long since.
There are moral questions, and those of political
economy which are of infinitely greater importance.
The United States is a sovereign power, and may enact
anything the majority of the people choose 'within
its territory ; but the tribunal is the world, and the
punishment that, no nation has failed to receive which
outraged such obligations. Jesuits might argue to the
lmpeachment Trial length, but the subject is in a nut-
shell, and will so remain. The money was lent on
the honour and good faith of the United States,
few of the lenders either knew or cared about
the legal terms, but they understood what their
Representatives said, what was publicly announced
by the successive Secretaries of the Treasury, and
by the agent who floated the loans. If the
Government repudiated these and appealed to the
strict letter of thelaw, it would stand convicted of
being a party to a fraud by which it largely
benefited, in all minds whether justly so or not,
and it is this consideration that would prevenz,
the Government from availingi tself of the oversight
in the contract, unless driven by an overwhelming
pressure. We can only hope that the Funding
Bill, as passed by Congress, will be acceptable
to the bondholders, and settle for the present this
vexed question.—Anglo-American Times.