The New York herald., 1864-11-07


The Attempt co Deceive EaroPs.
As the condition Of the rebel confederacy
grows more hopeless, the efforts Of its mana
gers become more desperate. They cannot
properly be called rulers, for they have very
little left to rule. Nearly all their territory is
gone, they have but one port left into which
vessel may by accident enter; what remains is
in frightful state Of confusion, disorganized,
impoverished aud distracted and they perceive
their last hour near at hand In this extremity,
with Hoods army broken up and in full flight,
and Grant laundering at the gates of Rich
mond, what is to be done, Write q circular,
says the horror-stricken Davis, and Benjamin
docs 1t. Brighten the German capitalists, says
Davis. will do SO, says Benjamin, and he
springs his rattle. We do not remember, in all
the civil or uncivil wars of Europe, that ever q
foreign secretary undertook to overthrow any
country with which bis own was at war, by
attacking its pecuniary resources n it was
ever attempted it proved a failure, and Mr..
Benjamin will succeed no better in this in
stance.
Notoriously the United States-for the largest
portion of them are SO, being yet twenty-five in
number-have never asked q dollar Of money
from any foreign State or any foreign bankers,
though the latter, on more than one occasion,
have been ready to lend us all we wanted in
specie. A sort of lottery loan on cotton for
few millions was obtained by the rebels in
Europe; but no second attempt has been made,
as the borrowers are known to be insolvent
and the security, most of it, gets into the United
States Treasury. Mr.. Benjamin seeing, there-
fore. the hopelessness OF the rebel finances,
undertakes the renegade task of decrying the
responsibility Of the parties he has helped to
rob. Whatever money has been invested in
our securities by Continental bankers, has been
placed there Of their own accord, proprio n,ota,
without solicitation, and the interest on it has
boen regularly paid them in gold. Mr.. Benja-
MINIS circular will not therefore have the least
influence on the foreign market.
The circular states that the debt of the United
| States on the LIST OF May next will exceed thai
| Of Great Britain. Now the debt OF that coun-
try is about four thousand millions Of dollars,
while at the present moment ours is but two
thousand millions, funded and unfunded. If it
| increases at the rate of two millions day, on
the lst Of May next the total amount Of the
debt will then be only about two thousand three
hundred and sixty-two millions Of dollars, OF
which about Eve hundred millions bears no in
tercst. So that Mr.. Benjamins assertion falls
short of the truth by nearly two thousand
millions~s
Indeed, in the table annexed to his circular
there is its own complete refutstion. He next
attempts to show that to meet this debt we are
already the subjects "of the most onerous taxa
tion ever imposed on people" Now while the
taxation OF the loyal States has not yet in any
way approached the severity Of that under
which the rebels groan 1t is also certain
that it in no way imposes the burdens which
are this day laid on the people Of France,
England or Austria, even in peace. While
here 10 war tax has been laid on landed estate,
in Austria it ia even now sixteen per cent on
all the products OF the land in the country, and
twenty-one and half per cent on oil house
rentals. Licenses. stamps, are many hundred
per cent higher than with us. An agreement
of an ordinary stock company with capital oi
one hundred thousand dollars costs there, to
make it legal, six hundred and twenty-five dol.
lars; and here, but five cents per sheet The
whole schedule is on the same enormous scale,
in every part and parcel Of it's items.
In Great Britain, as every one knows, the
people are taxed from the cradle to the grave,
and in every possible shape. A patent In
England costs eight hundred and ffty-one dol.
lars; here, about twenty-five dollars. The
license tax on whiskey is here one dollar and
fifty cents per gallon; there, two dollars and
forty-three cents. Stamps, licenses, probatcs
indentures, are more costly, IN most instances
by hundreds per cent than with us. Tea il
taxed two hundred per cent, tobacco about
seven hundred per cent, and 80 on ali the
articles of necessity the tax gatherer takes ar
enormous proportion. In France it is no bet
ter Everybody pays taxes there, whether he
has property or not Mechanics cooks, re.
tailers, street vendors aud shoe blacks pay
large sums for liberty to ply their trade, though
living from hand to mouth. Real estate i
heavily taxed so are doors and windows; every
mans head is taxed. and the tax on fermented
liquors and tobacco alone is equal to the
whole iatcrest we are now paying on
our national debt Mr.. Benjamin's statement
is, therefore, without the least basis Of truth
He makes another assertion Of tho same falsity
vis.:--that II We carry on tie war another
year it will be absolutely impossible, ever
with entire unanimity," to meet "our obli
cations" II We should not do so we have d
least a pre- cedcat in the rebel States. But va
are not only unanimous ia the determination Il
pay, but have the means To do %.
While the wealth Of Great Britain in
cTeasss decennially At the rate q thirty seven
per cent, ours 10 advancing ct Tho rate Of one
hundred and twenty-six per cent While he,
population increases at the rate OF about fifteen
per cent every ten years, ours increases
in eicbteen new States and Torritories