The New York Herald Newspaper, January 20, 1862, Page 4

4 JAMES ENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, OPPICE N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. advance. mail will beatthe fa the aa Bone but Marvant tn Neo York Ae HERALD” oy epee ‘$7 per annum. iron tiger eee Bias Sinaia wach month tots r on Wednesday, at four cents per iY ei Atpica a one Po 5 --—aeee Broadway.—Natso Quaun—Ssntinet WALLACE'S poy THEATRE, No, 844 Broadway.—Sar gor Lal KEENE’S TH hs I a wow hy JEATRE, Broadway.—Oug Awxat- uEW weotnam of THEATRE, Bowery.—Scorro—Carcrixg 4 GovkaNxss—lerER SELL. a BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Sricxner's Nattonat BARNUM'S AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway.—I Bvening.—Onvixa—Hirrorotamus, WHALE, rif pod ce BRYANTS' MIN! Mechanics’ Hall, be way.—Wuo Stagcx Bity Parrerson. baal HOOLEY'S MINSTRELS, St: No “ thy ee etn. No, 659 MELODEON CONCERT HALL, No. 539 Broadway.— Sones, Dances, Burixsques, 4c.—Bourwuy Gini RY MUSIC HALL, 585 Broadway.—Soi Danaea Buaussaves, bo-—Siaurs Soesvenney SOe% GAIETIES CONCERT ROOM, 616 Broadway.—Dnawrva Room Evrsuraunaants, Balers, Pawtomruns, Fances £0, AMERICAN MUSIC HALL, 444 Broadway. —S. Lars, Pantomiues, &0.—Guost IN Srite OF Himseor, a CRYSTAL PALACE CONCERT HALL, No. 45 B: — Buacusquas, Soxcs, Dances, ‘éo-—Bataato's Game PARISIAN CABINET OF WO! - Open dally from 10.4 M-t9 Pe aes Bronware NOVELTY pepo HALL, 616 Broadway.—Bunczsovss ATHENAUM, Brooklyn.- io Farixt's Coxcert. RTH'S HALL, 906 Broadway.—Cot. Taorrr's Ia on tan Lute Vine en ee ee New York, Monday, January 20, 1862. THE SITUATION. The President and General McClellan had an in- terview yesterday, and it is stated on excellent authority that they are both perfectly satisfied with the condition of our military and naval affairs. There has been no movement of importance in the Army of the Potomac. The rebel batteries on the Lower Potomac lose 20 opportunity of firing upon the Union vessels which attempt to run the mock blockade. On Friday the propeller E. Chamberlain, of Philadel- phia, loaded with hay, ran the gauntlet from the batteries at Evansport and Shipping Point, and although no less than hundred shot and chel! were fired at her, not # single one took effect. From’ Kentucky we have no reliable news, ex- cept so faras that contained in a despatch to the St. Louis Democrat of the 17th can be s0 con- sidered, which is to the effect that a large body of rebels, under Jeff. Thompson, numbering six thousand, advanced upon’s federal detachment of eight hundred troops under Colonel Mills, ata distance of about twenty-three miles from Ironton, and gave them battle. A desperate conflict is said to have ensued, resulting in the loss of many killed and wounded on both sides. The Union troops, overpowered by numbers, had, at latest accounts, fallen back a distance of eight miles, leaving a quantity of baggage in the hands of the enemy, and were still retreating towards Pilot Knob, where some alarm existed, and Colonel Car" lin was making every preparation for the impend- ing struggle at that point. ‘This news, however, needs confirmation. A de- spatch from Cincinnati also atates that Gen. Buell is concentrating a large force of Union troops at Green river, and is preparing for anadvance. The rebels in the vicinity of Bowling Green are said to be de- stroying the railroad, laying trees on the track and otherwise obstructing the advance of the Union troops; but it is further reported that they are making preparations to abandon their strong posi- tion at Bowling Green on the approach of the Union forces. A personal interview between one of our re- Porters and Captain Pray of the brig Mountain Eagle, leaves no room to doubt the fact that Messrs. Mason and Slidell arrived at Saint Georges, Bermuda, on the 9th instant, on board the British war steamer Rinaldo, as stated in the Heratp last Friday. After the Rinaldo had coaled she sailed for Saint Thomas, where the rebel agents would wait a passage to England in the regular British West India mail steamer. We publish to-day another copious and interest- ing selection of news from late Southern papers. These extracts give @ good index of the progress of the rebellion in the South. The general tone of the rebel press continues to be bitter against the Union, and mendacity and sarcasm are resorted to in order to bolster up a bad cause and mislead those who are blindly lending their means and aid to add fuel to the flame of rebellion, Fraud and extortion are patronized by the bogus government. The news which we publish to-day will be found highly important to the readers of the Hena.p. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. The Cunard steamship Africa, hence, arrived at Liverpool on the 2d inst., and not on the 7th, as pre- Feported. ‘The North Carolina State Convention will meet again to-day. + The Tennessee Legislature, which adjourned on the 21st of December, will reassemble to-day in Nashville. An election wil) be held to-day in the First dis- trict of Kentacky to choose a member of Congress to the seat in the House of Representatives made vacant by the expulsion of Henry C. Burnett, a rebel. Delegates duly chosen will assemble to-day in Great Salt Lake City to draft and adopt a State constitution for Utah, and set in motion a provi. sional State government. The constitution will be submitted to the.people for their adoption or re- fection. By the arrival of the Cleator at this port yesterday, wo have advices from the West Indies, dated at Kingston, Jamaica, on the 6th of NEW YORK HERALD, MONUVAY, JANUARY 20, 186% Kingston Watchman eays ‘our Northside friends | banks (two hundred and forty of them) gre rejoicing in prospect of the steamer to and from New York touching at Montego Bay.” By the Cleator we learn that the British ships- of-war St. George, Mersey, Sanspariel and Barra- couta sailed December 25 for Vera Cruz, and the Phaton December 28. The French fleet lef, on the 23d for the same destination. The brig Appline, from Bonaire for Boston, put into Port Royal, Jamaica, December 21, in distress, having sprung her mainmast. The journals of the country generally seem afraid to speak on the question of taxing newspa- pers. Two or three are in favor of the proposition, and a few have spoken on the other side in pretty strong terms. They are, however, beginning to open their batteries on the bill recently passed by the House of Representatives abolishing the frank- ing privilege, because they say it cuts off the dead head principle of carrying their exchanges through the mails free. We are sorry to say that the bill will not effect this desirable end. Newspaper ex- changes ought not to go free through the mails. It is only the matter of a few cents @ day; and if the system of exchanges were abolished altogether the really deserving newspapers would be bene- fitted, and the government would be saved the trouble and expense of carrying an immense amount of trash through the mails. The grand annual pow-wow, being the twenty- ninth, of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, will be held in Boston on Thursday and Friday of this week. The shining lights of ultra abolition. ism will all be on hand, among whom we find an- nounced the names of Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Wen- dell Phillips, Parker Pillsbury, and an array of names gathered from the famous three thousand clergymen of New England. They will all have their say during the two days’ carnival, and they will no doubt pitch into the administration gene- rally, and President Lincoln in particular, for the conservative policy which they have thus far seen fit to adopt in their endeavors to put down the re- bellion and restore the operation of the American constitution. Give them room. About one-third of the horses furnished to the government by contractors, at @ cost ranging be- tween one hundred and nine and one hundred and forty-five dollars each, are either too old for service, ring-boned, spavined, broken winded, or otherwise entirely unfit for use. The Western country, it is said, has been entirely cleaned out of diseased horses. ‘The cotton market was quiet Saturday, and quotations ‘without change of moment. The sales, in small lots, em- braced about 200 bales within the neighborhood of $3 ic. a 34c. for middling uplands. The flour market was steady but inactive, the sales being light and chiefly to the domes- tictrade. Extra State ranged from $5 75 a $5 85 for me- dium to good grades, and $5 85 a $5 90 for choiceand fancy qualities, Wheat was dull and sales limited, closing at oasier prices. Corn was lower and inactive, with sales of Western mixed at 64c. Pork was in fair demand, with sales of new mess at $12 25a $12 50, and $11 75 a$12 for old mess, and $9 25 a $9 50 for new prime. Prime mess was at $13, and city do. at $13 50. Sugars were steady, while sales were limited and embraced about 200 hhds. of Cuba and 200 bags of Manila. Coffee was firmly held, with sales of about 1,100 bags Rio at 18};c. 8 20c. yocluded in the sales were 600 bage for export. Freights were steady, with moderate engagements. The Banks and the Govefnment. From our Washington intelligence we learn that great difference of opinion exists between the government and the banks, whose delegateg are now at the national capital, seeking to carry theirown views in Congress. The difference relates to the future financial action of the government, the loans, the debt, the currency, taxation and the whole question of national finances. There is not a dollar in the treasury, and yet Congress has done nothing to provide the ways and means of carrying on the war. The government is consequently embarrassed, and should the present inaction of Congress continue much longer the operations of the army and navy will be brought to a dead lock. The cause of this delay is that the banks de- sire tho control of the currency, by which they could make fortunes at the public expense. They could depreciate it at pleasure, and they would do so, thus making the finances of the government a source of fraudulent gambling, in which they would have the cards stocked and be sure to win. Now, the constitution gives the government the control of the currency, and we hope it will not let its hold go. Let us be instructed by the example of another nation, which has had much experience in war and finance. In all the great wars of England coteries of bankers have conspired to gain the position of million- aires by speculating in the loans of the govern- ment and the currency. The Rothschilds, the Barings, the Hopes of Amsterdam, the Gold- smidts and others have accumulated untold wealth by such means, and-they are now a power in Europe, controlling its governments by their gold. Such a power in our midst would be a despotism unknown to our con- stitution and laws, and foreign to the genius of our institutions. Even in England the government, from time to time, has found it necessary to keep banks and bankers in check, and to regulate the action of the Bank of England itself. Restriction acts, suspension acts and orders in council have been called into operation. When large issues of paper money are necessary for the purposes of government, the most delicate manage ment is necessary to prevent a depre- ciation. If left in the hands of the bankers, uncontrolled, the currency would soon be de- preciated to a ruinous figure. The only secu- rity for the country is in the firmness of the government retaining the control which the constitution gives it. The public safety is the supreme law, and banks and bankers must succumb or be crushed. Let a national currency, therefore, be issued at once, ia the shape of demand notes, to be made a legal tender during the war, and, after having served their purpose in circulation, to be funded, at the option of the holder, in six per cent government stock; or let Treasury notes be issued, with a small per centage of interest to be paid semi-annually; and let a comprehensive system of taxation be adopted to pay the interest and create a sinking fund for the redemption of the principal. By thus establishing a proper system of credit, and keeping the control of the cur. rency in its own hands, the government will prevent depreciation, just as the English government did in the case of the Bank of Eng. land during the war with France. Up till 1810 the notes were within two or three per cent of par. In that year, and in succeeding years, the issues became 80 excessive that in August of 1814 the depreciation was twenty-five per cent. Peace was then established, and, though at the end of the year the notes of the bank in circu- lation amounted to £28,232,730, or upwards of failed, and the general want of confidence in them became so great that a wide fidd was thus opened for the circulation of the Bank of England notes, and in 1827 their value, relatively to that of gold, was nearly restored. Inmodiately after the bank proceeded to re- sume specie payment, till only £3,595,960, or less than eighteen millions of dollars, remained in its coffers. The government then found it necessary to interfere, and the act was passed known as Mr. Peel’s bill, providing for the gradual resumption of cash payments. One of the provisions of this act arose from a sugges- tion of Mr. Ricardo, which appears cal- culated to afford security against the evils to which paper currency is exposed by panics. The effect of this plan is to exclude a metallic currency, with the exception of what might be necessary for effecting small payments, by making Bank of England notes a legal tender, with the obligation imposed on the directors to pay them on demand, in gold bars of the proper standard and of a weight not less than sixty ounces for any one payment. This provision, which was temporarily adopted in Peel’s bill, would effectually prevent deprecia- tion of the notes, and in all times of political panic would have @ good effect—the greatest part of the mischief arising from the numerous holders of small amounts of notes. Why this provision has not been permanent no good reason has ever been assigned. As the law now stands, Bank of England notes are a legal tender, except at the bank and its branches, and the notes are only payable at the place where the same are issued. The bank is required to have as much coin and bullion in its coffers as will amount to a third of the liabilities of the bank, including sums deposited as well as notes in circulation. Experience proves that is not sufficient in times of an unusual drain, and hence suspen- sion of specie payment becomes necessary by the authority of the government. The princi- pal privilege conferred on this bank is that any other banking establishment having more than six partners is prevented from issuing notes payable on demand in or within sixty-five miles of London. The balances of money be- longing to the government are kept in the bank, which, in this respect, performs the func- tions of a private banker. The bank acts as the agent of the government in the management of the national debt, ‘and receives and registers transfers of stock from one public creditor to another, and makes the quarterly payments of the dividends. Thus we see that in time of war it is necessa- ry for the English government to have control of the currency. It will be equally necessary for our government to have control of the cur- rency in the United States, engaged as it is ina gigantic war. The banks have already sus- pended specie payment. The-government has done the same, and must issue a national cur- rency, which will answer for all purposes of internal trade, and will in a great mea- sure supersede the currency of all the rotten banks in the country. The depreciation it ought to reach should not exceed ten per cent, and that not before a lapse of two years. Specie is only needed fot the balance of trade in our foreign exchanges ; and as our imports have vastly diminished, owing to the economy practised since the’way began, very little gold need leave the country. What are the Commitiee of ‘Vays and Means doing to provide for the si: «ws of war? The Chairman is Thaddeus Stevens, who employs himself in abusing correspondents of newspa- pers—a proof that he isa man unequal to the position and dignity he has assumed; otherwise he would not waste his precious time in com- menting upon what the newspapers may say. He says he is collecting facts, and isnot yet prepared. What has he been doing, and what have the rest of the committee been doing, since the last session, seeing that it is only now they are collecting the facts? Did they not then know that financial provision must be made for the war? Does not their neglect to do so till now prove their utter incompetence? Yet Mr, Stevens is one of: the school of politicians who are continually abusing General McClellan because he is not ready to march on Richmond- The most essential thing the General now re- quires is money; and that neither the committee nor Congress has made any effort to provide. As for McClellan, he is fully prepared, as far as his army is concerned; and that prepa- ration he has made in one-third the time the Emperor of the French required for his cam- paign in Italy. It is not necessary, however, and probably not desirable, that he should advance before April. But when he does move, let the Committee on Ways and Means and Congress at large take good care to have him well supplied with the sinews of war, Otherwise the country will hold them responsi- ble. Tue War axp THE Practice or Econouy.— The great prosperfty of the United States, the long prevatence of peace, and the absence of taxation, have combined to render us the most extravagant people on the face of the earth, Mechanics and shopkeepers here dress about as well as the nobility and gentry of England: Every European who visits this country, and every American who visits Europe. are struck with this contrast between the Old World and the New, more than with any other thing. In Europe a man of fortune will wear a hat for a year. Here people will scorn to wear a hat more than two months. The same observation applies to clothes in general. Four suits in the year are not uncommon in this country. One suit in the year is a fair average in England. In the case of the fair sex the extravagance is still greater—ludies with bursting wardrobes still crying out, like Flora McFlimsey, that they have nothing to wear. Dresses which cost, per- haps, as high as fifty dollars, are given to a ser- vant after being worn two or three times, Other expenditures of women are in keeping with this, and the dress of the ladies of New York costs more on an average than it does for the duchesses, marchionesses and countesses of Great Britain. In mere extravagance we have been taxing ourselves at the rate of 3150,000,000 ayear. That must be all changed now. What was spent in that way must now be spent in taxation for the salvation of the Union. Todo this rigid economy must be practised in every household. Even rags must be saved. By adopting this course we will not seriously feel the effect of taxation, except, perhaps, in render- ing us better men and women, and in establish- ing habits of saving and economy hitherto un- known to Americans. Our superfiuities alone would pay the whole tax for the war. Weare the only people in the World of whom go much Geonstomed channels gad gold! oquld be aig. We publish to-day some important statistical | pz Mape.—The cry still continues wo be lifted statements about the systems of taxation in three of the greatest military Powers of Europe—England, France and Prussia—toge- ther with a plan for raising by taxation $273,000,000 per annum in the United States, without the pressure being seriously felt by the people. The facta, precedents and suggestions thus exhibited in one view cannot fail to be valuable to members of Congress at a time when they are called upon to impose sich taxes upon the whole people as will bring the nation triumphantly out of the war. Such tax- ation is a new thing in the republic, and it re- quires no ordinary amount of skill and courage to devise and carry out such a comprehensive system as will be ade- quate to the grand object in view. There is no other nation in the world so able to bear taxation as the United States. It is only needed that the taxes be imposed in an equitable and judicious manner, and that the purpose for which they are levied be for the common safety and common interests. Are we not able to stand a heavier tax than Great Britain, with her impoverished population? Yet in the begin- ning of the Crimean war an income tax of $50,- 000,000, pledged to the payment of loans for the war, was levied by the British Parliament, and that was distinct from the other taxes. The whole taxation for the support of the govern- ment has been in recent years from $360,000,000 to $370,000,000 per annum, or about a million per day. In 1815 Great Britain floated an unfunded debt of $355,000,000, and paid $360,- 000,000 in taxes, when her population was only half as large as ours is now. Will it be said that twenty-four millions of American freemen have not the public virtue and the patri- otism, or that they have not the ability, to bear as much taxation as twelve millions of Englishmen, particularly when the object to be attained is infinitely more precious than that for which England con- tended? She struggled for a maritime and commercial supremacy, and to turn the balance of power in Europe against her rival, France; but we are fighting for our national existence, and against the dismemberment of the country by an organized rebellion. There is one item in our tabular statement which ought to be made to yield even more than is set down to it, and that is the tax on aliens. Foreign residents, enjoying all the privi- leges of citizenship without sharing any of its burthens, return to their native countries after making fortunes, and carry with them the wealth they realized. The table which we present may, in some ar- ticles, overestimate the amount which can be raised ; but it will be found that others under- estimate the amount, and the total of $273,000, 000 will be found not above the mark. How easy, then, will it be for Congress to levy $200,000,000 in order to establish a sinking fund for the payment of the principal of the loans, and also the means of paying the semi-annual interest. It is not constitutional, nor is it just, that we should saddle posterity with the payment of loans contracted by ua, unless we tax ourselves for a full share of the burthen; and if we did not do this posterity would be fustified in repudi- ating the debt. Let us then put our own shotit- ders to the wheel, instead of looking to foreign aid or posterity to assist us. Heaven helps those who help themselves. Wis anv Frorp—In the last summer cam- paign of the rebels in Western Virginia General Wise, their great political prestidigitateur, and General Floyd, their great thief, each com- manded a brigade, and were charged to co- operate with each other in clearing the “Yankees” out of the mountains. But General Wise, on the approach of the “Yankees” up the Kanawha, took to his heels, and, after a hot chase of a hundred and fifty miles, they had to give him up, for they lost his trail, although, in the course of the hunt, they picked up nearly all bis wagons, provisions, munitions, &e- General Floyd fared no better. Overhauled by our General Rosecrans on the right, left and rear, Floyd slipped off, under cover of dark- ness, across the Gauley, and cut off immediate pursuit by destroying the bridges and boats behind bim, after having abandoned his tents, wagons, provisions and baggage en masse. And yet again he was overtaken by our troops, and only escaped by dropping his wagons and bag: gage as before, and by running through rain and mud, and over rocks and ravines, night and day, for two days, without stopping. From these achievements Wise and Floyd reported progress at Richmond, Wise accusing Floyd of cowardice and treachery, and Floyd denouncing Wise as a poliroon and a mili- tary chatlatan—and they were both right. Jeff, Davie would doubtless havé turned them both adrift but for thelr great claims as among the head Virginia conspirators in the work of dragging that State into the dismal swamp of secession. Neither Wise nor Floyd, therefore, could be kicked out with impunity; but to prevent them from quarrelling hereafter, Davis has judiciously placed them nearly a thousand miles apart, Wise being detailed to the coast of North Carolina, and Floyd to the western corner of Kentucky. Moral: If two cowardly generals, detailed to assist each other, run away at the approach of the enemy, let them be separated, so that each wil! be com- pelled to shift for himself. Tax on Newsrarens.—We approve of Mr. Colfax’s proposition to tax newspapers. There is no reason why that species of property should not be taxed. Three millions of dollars could easily be raised from it. But it would be a grand mistake to compel the proprietors of newspapers to send their journals exclusively by mail. They would overload the mails most inconveniently, interfering not only with the rapid delivery of newspapers, but also the cor- respondence of the country. The effect would be to diminish the circulation of the press to a very great extent, and thus reduce the proposed revenue from that sonrce. The present method of sending newspapers by the expresses, which cony probably, nine-tenths of the whole circulation, ought not to be interfered with. There is no necessity for it. The proper mode of levying a fax on newspapers is by a stamp orf each copy, which would give the pro- prietor the right to send it free by mail or ex- press, at his own option. This simple method would save the Post Office a vast amount of trouble and expense, and would bring in « cer- tain, reliable revenue. The tax might be from one-quarter to one-half cent. The stamp sys- tem (not an adhesive stamp, but an impression made on the blank paper with red ink, ond for which stamp offices would be necessary) has been found to work well in England. What is $o prevent ite working equally well borg? pon that point, up of “Onward, onward,”. by all the dissatis- fied or disappoiuted politicians, the traitorous abolition journals and the corrupt spoils hunters in and out of Congress. It is urged on all sides by unthinking men that the army should be pushed forward, and the issue of the war precipitated, and there is a disposition to put all the blame of inertion upon the commanding general. This is all wrong, and the just and right thinking portion of the public condemn it. Tf an onward movement is to be made—as it will be soon enough—due provision must be adopted to carry it out successfully. This can only be done by Congress, and Congress must accept the responsibility of its failure. Great armies cannot be moved without the sinews of war. There is an army of seven hundred thousand men now in the field, while appropriations have been made for only five hundred thousand. Men without money to maintain them are useless. The treasury is approaching depletion, and there is a floating debt of a hundred millions of dollars to be pro- vided for. Yet, in the face of these difficulties, what is Congress doing to aid the suppression of the rebellion or to assist the government to operate with its vast army? L#terally nothing. While members are urging an onward move- ment, and inveighing against what they term procrastination in the conduct of the war, they are not adopting the most essential measures to insure its progress. The army is ready; the generals are skilful, and prepared to lead their troops to action; the plans of the Com- mander-in-Chief are matured; but the whole machinery stands still for want of that lubri- cating oil—money—which Congress alone can supply. If a forward movement, then, be demanded, let the impetuous advocates of that measure insist that it shall commence in Congress. It is there that the real forward movement must be made. Congress should apply itself to provide for filling the treasury at once, for regulating taxation, and negotiating loans on such safe and favorable terms as will insure their being tendered. This is all the country demands of its representatives at the present critical moment, and failing in that they fail in their highest duty. Heretofore the time has been frittered away in Congress—now six weeks in session—upon every frivolous and vexatious question, while the paramount duty of that body has been com- pletely ignored, smothered up, and hidden away under every possible disguise, and, first of all, under the pretence of a patriotic desire for an instant onward movement of our armies. In a crisis such as the country is now passing through, every branch of the government should combine in one common action; yet what miserable example Congress, the greatest motive power of all branches of the govern" ment, is now setting to the country and the world. Upon the conduct of that body depends the question whether our armies can be efficiently employed, rebellion crushed out at once, the in- tegrity of the Union re-established, the counfty restored to prosperity and peace, our ene- mies subdued at home and humbled abroad. Let the clamorers for an onward movement, then, knock at the doors of the Congressional chambers, and demand that it shall be made there. Resex Devices to Break Up reg Unity oF tae Nortu.—We have before us a singular document, which was found amongst the con- fiscated effects of Colonel Pegram, the rebel officer who has just been liberated from Fort Warren, and permitted to go South to seek an exchange. It professes to be an expose of a conspiracy on the part of Massachusetts—its statesmen, orators and public men generally— to break up the Union. To prove this, it cites every petition, every abolition speech, every newspaper and magazine article which can, by implication, be twisted into a squint in that direction. If Massachusetts were to be held responsible for all the rabid utterances of the abolitionists by whose presence she has been cursed, she would certainly have much to answer for. A faction, however, is not a com- munity, and the people of that State have given the lie to all such charges of treason to the constitution by pouring forth their blood and treasure in its defence, No other State has done so much for the Union, and gone has proved itself more sincerely conservative, as General Butler and others of her distinguished soldiers have proved by their conduct on the contraband question. Ovr Caractry ror Taxatioy.—If the real and personal estate of all the loyal States were taxed in the same ratio as this city, it would produce over $100,000,000—sufficient to pay the interest on the loans contracted and to be contracted for the war. Such is the amount that might be derived from the taxation of real and péfsonal estate alone, independently of revenues from imports and excisable articles produced in the country. Men of wealth here live in the most extravagant style, many of them in houses worth $100,000. Will they not make a small sacrifice for the Union which has given them their wealth, and which, if destroyed, will impair that wealth and reduce them from merchant princes to comparative poverty. If England incurred a debt of £800,000,000—four thousand million dollars—to maintain its power, surely the preservation of the Union is worth at least a quarter of that amount, which is the estimated cost of the war. For suck a purpose a thousand millions is a mere bagatelle, and ought not to weigh more than the dust in the balance against the vast permanent interests, glory and power involved in the struggle. Tar Arn. Reseniaon iw Bartimore—Cost ov a Werk or Terron—In April last, when Baltimore wes under the reign of the rebel terrorists, the sum of $500,000 was appropriated by the Common Council for “ the defence of the city.” The rebels had only time to expend $74,519 of this amount. Amongst the iteras of outlay we find disbursements for Hall's patent rifles, muskets, revolvers, pikes, powder, percussion caps, cartridges, drums, sbet, repairs of steam gun, balls for ditto, repairs of gan carriages, surgical instruments, rations for volunteers, refreshments for bridgebwrners, &e. Mayor Chapman, in transmitting to the City Council a detailed account of the items de frayed out of the appropriation, states that a number of other claims still remain unpaid. He adds:—" It has been said by some that this large amount of money was appropriated and spent for the defence of the city of Baltémore; but in my opinion the main otject waathe cap- ture and destruction of the Capitol at Washing- ton.” But little doubt, we aaa NEw YORK HERALD. | 22thitespecialto remark on the market.” The | becoming abundant. A ‘number of country ‘Taxation for the Union. ‘Winnty' vue Rear, Fonwanp Movaaent Suout FEDERAL TAXATION. HOW TO PROVIDE THE WAYS AND MEANS TAXATION IN ENGLAND, FRANCE AND PRUSSIA. British Revenue During the Eleven Years War. Sixty Millions Sterling Raised from Taxes. Wearly REVENUE SYSTEM OF FRANCE. OUR ABILITY TO SUPPORT TAXES. HOW TO BAISE $273,000,000 OF REVENUE, &e., &., & Taxation is a question so entirely new to Americas citizens that the public mind may be sald to have yet ne definite notions about the fiscal expedients forced upow us by the war. The cheapness of the federal govern. ment has hitherto saved us the discussion of the thous sand theories of taxation that have perploxed the states: men and vexed the people of the Old World. Our reve- nue system has been chiefly confined to a tariff on impor. tations, and we haye fondly hoped that taxation would ever prove as foreign to the revenue of our government ‘as despotism has been to its rule. The rebellion, how- ever, has temporarily increased the national expenditure fivefold, and we have therefore no alternative but, for the nonce, to adopt extraordinary expedients for raising the national income. We willingly yield precedence to Furope in the matter of fiscal acumen. In the Old World taxation is a science as thoroughly systematized ag sur- gory. Being, in fact, the mothod of dressing the wounds and setting the broken bones of tho body politic, it bass of course, its literature, its theories, its doctors and its schools, as much as the inferior science that deals merely with the misfortunes of the body physical. The scho- lastic study of taxation may be very interesting for those who have learned to regard national burthens as an is- separable accompaniment of government; but Americans are quite satisfied that the science of taxation, should re* main one of the peculiar institutions of Europe. All we desire is to take a short practical lesson for present use from the oxperience of governments that have grows gray in taxation, having no time to spend among the theoriats. EUROPEAN PRECEDENT. Great Britain and Franco may be regarded as the coun- tries that, more than any otber in Europe, have regu- Inted their taxation with an intelligent regard to the in- terests of trade and the feelings of their people. Im both countries the taxes, though mostly originating with the government, bave generally the quiet acqui- escence of the people, as being, on the whole, the least burthensonfe way of raising revenue. If, there- fore, Europe affords any precedent worthy to guide us i= the present emergency, we are most likely to find it i= the systems of England and France. It has been foolishly asserted that England has grown great through her taxa- tion. The truth is that she has prospered only in spite of it. Hor developement is greatly indebted to the generally judicious adjustment of hor taxation, and it strikingly proves how rapidly @ people may progress despite of the heaviest fiscal burthens, provided those burthens be not allowod to fall injuriously on the productive resources of the country. BRITISH TAXATION DURING THE FRENCH WAR. ‘The period of heaviest taxation in England was daring her war with France and the Allies. During the cloves 1803 to 1818—she maintained an effective army of about 135,000 men, and a navy f about 120,000 seamen aud marines. The of the United Kingdom at that time was about eighteen millions, ‘80 that the proportion of subjects enlisted in the govera- ment@ervice was one and a half percent. In this re- spect, her position differed materially from ours in the present r@bellion, our population in the Geld being aboug three per cent of the whole. The yearly expenditure ef ge United Kingdom during that period averaged twenty. ‘five dollars per head of the population; our own is at the rato of about eighteen dollars per head of the loyal popu \eifhe question of ohiet interest ie, sew did Ragland then raise her revenue? Her total revenue during that eleven years was upwards of four thousand seven hundred mil. lions of dollars, ot an average of four hundred and twenty” soven millions of doliars a year. ‘The following compart son will show, in round numbers, what proportion eacls source of revenue contributed to this enormous aggre- ee ATE REVENUE OF GREAT BRITAIN MROM 1803 TO 1618, DICLUBIVE. $3,400,000000 NY ise ‘eee. (60,000,000 1 whose exchequer had not then been united with that of Great Britain, The revenue of Ireland variod during thas war between twenty-three and thirty-eight millions of dollars. This amount, being available for war purposes, practically raised the fisoal resources of the United King- dom to the average amount of four hundred and fifty-five millions of dollars per annum. It appearsfrom the above statement that upwards of seventy-one per cent of this war revenue was raised alone from taxation, and but twenty-one per cont by loans. Tho fact that England could sustain such a prodigious burthen of taxation dur- ng eleven successive years, and at the sano time im- monsely augment her wealth, is surely not without a moral for those of our countrymen who timidly imagine that we cannot, during our present short struggle, pay most of our war expenses by taxation. It is important to know in what proportion each kind of tax has con- tributed to this result, We have, therefore, compiled the following table, showing the. amount in round figures amount derived pid rearty water coe sat sie ee foul web reve- — . loans and red Dills, nue from these sources: worexey Z i 000 002'ST 00°F ‘08'S —000'009'9 ‘cogs Sess ems 000°006°E 000° 008s 000'8 ‘008'FE 000'009'eT Tee on0fo0e"r coo'es _ood'sor oH 2 ES Fy A PRU be In 1805 new customs and excise duties were imposed by Parlement, donigued (or the period of the war, ang 1 3. Bul nae § sl ges gesbeeee 7 i ba age F £ gust i i bs fa. 2 3 eon voses| go Siveecblsl i i ileeelseeT i S Elweceeesenseeeal 9 F. i a ileadlielh $ ¥ sleeustdeneBbaee i : eet i , = Gl esebeeceubeges|s 3 iii el Fi it AL ee : s nebbbzacdOE¥E| 2 : | i aie auieel” baa: iter yi 7 qa bad 3 oofoox'st o0'oov's e00'g00's ev0'oNs's a00'o96"s ao0'oo0"r —