Year: 1864

The prophets of evil" on both sides
of the Atlantic, who at first strove to
frighten the patriotic people of the North
into dishonorable submission to the rebel
secessionists, by demonstrating the utter
ly ruinous effects OF II war ON trade and
the impossibility of obtaining the neces-
sary funds for its prosecution, have
changed their tactics since the results
have so brilliantly belicd their predictions
and now busy themselves in cndeavors to
create confusion and distrust by attempt
ing TO show that inconceivable disasters
must ovcrtake us in commercial affairs as
soon as the war shall be at an end. We
regret to find that among these prognos-
ticators Of ruin are some of our hcartiest
friends in England, the most prominent
of whom is Mr. Golden. In all their
public addresses and writings, while they
admit the greatness of our resources, and
the successful operation of the financial
plans of the Government, they predict
tremendous revulsions as soon az the re-
bellion shall be fairly squelched and we
return to our peaceful pursuits once more.


This would be like saying to man
struggling. in the waves to keep himself
afioat, "You may save yourself from,
drowning, my friend; but what's the use?
You will die as soon as you get on dry
land" But orr friends and enemies will
be as much disappointed at the results of
first few years of peace succeeding the re-
bellion, so far Us commerce is concerned,
as they have been in the financial infu-
ence of the war. For our own part, we
never for moment doubted the ability of
the Government, nor the willingness of
the people to supply all the means that
might be required for the war, and we do
not now, for a moment, doubt that the
four years succeeding the end of the re-
bcllion will be the most prosperous the
country has ever known. The debt which
the war will leave upon our hands, though
its cnormity, if it had been foreseen might
have staggered us three years ago, will
then have reached its maximum, and ev-
cry day will increase our ability to pay it
while every year will diminish its magni-
tude We have got used to it now, and
If we can bear up under its weight while
our commerce is crippled and the great
export staples of the nations are in a
great measure cut off, what is to prevent
our getting along very comfortably under
the debt with an increased population, the
cotton and sugar fields Of the South again
yielding their rich harvests, and all re-
strictions removed from our commerce :?
If specie payments were to be at once re-
sunied by our banks, and the Goydrnment
were to cali III and. destroy all the green
backs that have been issued to meet the
requirements of trade for circulating
medium, it is undoniable that tremen-
dous crash would be the result, which
would injure the country, financially, in
finitely more than the rebellion has done.
Bnt there is no reason to fear any such
suicidal acts The grcenback currency
will not be cancelled dNring the present
gchcration, at least, and the resumption
of specie payments must necessarily be so
gradually effected that no perceptble
changes will be effected by it.


The entire South, it must be remcm-
bered, is completely exhausted of all the
materials necessary to civilized life, and
its want will have to be supplied chiefly
by the industry of the North and West.
1t has still large amount of gold and
silver, and great stores of cotton and ma
val stores, which are better than precious
metals It's freed slave population will
instantly become larger producers and
consumers than they were before, and its
dish blnded rebel armies, who have hither-
to produced nothing, and existed upon the
minimum rations necessary for sustaining
human life, will become cutivators of the
soil, and an element of wealth and pros
perity, instead of ruin. There viii be
no lack of employment for our own SOL
diers and sailors, who will at once return
to peaceful life, and the ships that have
been temporarily converted into men-of-
war will be needed to help carry abroad
the surplus products Of our fields, and
bring back the products of other lands,
which will be needed to make good our
Deficiencies. There is one very impor-
tant fact which Mr.. Golden and the eco
nomists of his school are apt to overlook
in making their calculations as to- our fu-
ture, and that is, that we are u growing
people. They forget, if they ever knew
that while the population of Europe du-
ring the past fifty years have only in
creased at the rate of thrty-seven and
sixty-nine per cent, taking the highest
and the lowest ratios, the population of
the United States has increased in the
same time nearly six hundred per cent ;
and population, with us, in our undevel-
oped resources, is wealth greater than the
political economist ever dreamed Of


There is just one thing that would
change the brilliant prospect of our ma
ton into one of gloom and disaster, and
that is the madness of faction, which for
the sake of temporary power, would over
throw spstem which no mind was wise
enough to devise, but which grew up nat
urally from onr necessities.


--.s%.~b.Se-0


Mayor Gunther on Gold Badges. Last
year the New York common council vo-
ted themselves heavy gold badges of Office