A WI

VOL. XVII. 1}

=

Fresh Importation. The Centre of Attraction.

(BALES COTTON GOODS,

Per Steamer from BRITAIN, July 2), 1867, at the

BRITISH WAREHOUSE, coupled with the SPRING SUPPLY, makes the Largest Importation ef DRY GOODS to thie market this season. Bought and Sold on the Best Terms.

W. & A. BROWN. July 29, 1867

NEXT DOOR TO THE BANK. CHU Subscriber has JUST RECEIVED, aud offers for SALE, on the usaal terisune—

® Caske Heanessey BRANDY (paie),

”

“This is true Liberty, when Freeborn Men,

ia at ROBERT YOUNG’S,

Queen's Syuare.

The Best and Cheapest

Hoop Skirts

in the Trade, are at

R. YOUNG'S.

The Best Assortweat and Newest Styles of

Summer Dresses

are at

ROBERT YOUNG'S.

The Cheapest place tu buy Shawls & Mantles,

I) do du (dark), a very superior article ; 20 Boxes (Steele & Suns) CROWN SOAP,

YOUNG'S.

The cheapest COTTONS are at

26s per box; 70 Bixses (Steele & Sons) PRINCE'S FEATHER SOAP, 20s per box; 200 Bois. CANADA FLOUR, we CORN MEAL, 100 Bags CORNMEAL

R. W. BRECKEN, Nert door to the Bank of P. E. Island

_ Qeccn-ctvect, June 17.1067. Se India Produce.

West

POMIE Subscriber wishes to inform the Trade The Original Weed SEWING MACHINES, the

thet the Brigt HELEN DAVIES is pew due from BARBADULS, with « tuli Carge wl the abuve, consisting «f—

Il0 Hinds ) VERY BRIGHT tu Tierces > BARBADOERS 5U Bbi« SUGAR.

200 Puucbeons ? Choice Muscovau 25 suvall packages } Molas cs.

Apply to J. & TT. MORKIS,

DANIEL DAVIES.

Charlottetown, July 15, 1507

“TOWNEND’S HATS AND CAPS.

{= STOCK of the above, received es Letts,” from LONDON, of the uewest STYLES aud SHAPES— Gweod Silk HATS, 7¢ Gd to Ide. Parise Veivet da, 2Ue 278 Gd. ‘Tewneud's best do, See Gd. Kus & Geut’so FELT HATS, variety. A large Stock of Tweed and Cloth CAPS, Aud aisvin Ladies SURAW HATS. &e &e G &35. DAVIES

bi?

Terme ae usual or te

ol

m grest

Charlottetown, June 7,

NEW GOODS! NEW GOODS! ’ Quik Sul taute of P tee Irigy ANN eft-r. Wholesale and Retail, Fur Useh ot good Juint Notes of Hand,

Nese. 1, Va 5 WHITH LEAD, in 56. 23, & 14 Ibe :

Black, ed. & Yellow PAINTS, in 28 & l4lbe.;

fiuled and raw LINSEED OILS;

Chenee's Smethwick (FL ASS;

FUTTY. Blact aod White, i. Bladders 28 aud MM lbe..

CUT NAILS, and CUT SPIKES;

Diswead Head DECK SPIKES:

Hare Refined and Common LION, aseorted sizes;

Marrela and Kege COAL TAR;

Barrels Biack and Boght VARNISHES;

Colle HEMP and WIRE CORDAGE;

Holts Extra and Navy Boiled CANVAS;

Kare YELLOW METAL, § to Z;

YELLOW METAL BUTT? BOLTS,7 « 3;

CLINCH RINGS, Iron and Yellow Metal:

Crates and Caske (GLASS. CILIN A. and EARTH- | ENWARE,—Crates assorted tor country

ther wuuld taturm the Luhabi- E. (slaud, that, ow the arrival «*

trem Liverpool, G. B, ue will

wer;

ANEW MIXTURE for Bottoms of FISHING BUATS, wuch approved of by Huglich | Geberimen.

Parties wauting any of the above articles will du wellby calling aud inspecting thew, at the

OLD STAND, formerly occupied by W. W

R. YOUNG'S.

Ladies and Gentlemen's Paper Collars & Cuffs for the Millien at

ROBERT YOUNG’S.

Beautiful BONNETS and HATS, cheap at

ROBERT YOUNG'S.

best in the Murket, at ROBERT YOUNG’S.

Keal Paisley Shawls for less than they can be imported, at

ROBERT YOUNG'S.

Ladies’ SERGE BOOTS, from Ye ed per pair, au first rate article, at

R. YOUNG'S. FIRSE RATE TEA, at ROBERT YOUNG'S.

Charlettetown, loth July, 1467.

tf

Bristol Line to New York, VLA BRISTOL, R. L. FASE: Cabin, 35; Deck, $4.

| |

j }

YAKS less the Depot of the Boston and |

4 Providence Railroad, Pleasant atreet, daily, Suudays excepted ‘i At &S.330 P. M.

Por steamer PROVIDENCE, Capt. Benj. M Simmons, ou Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridaye. | For steamer BRISTOL, Capt. Benj B. Bray-

ten, on Tuesdays, Coursdays and Saturdays. Passengers going by this live to Philadelphia

|

| Ba timere and Washington, can cenueet with the

New Jersey and Camden and Ainboy Ratlrggt

Phie line connects aleo with the Athens line going to Saratoga and the West, lauding at the same Pier ia New York.

Baggage cheeked through.

Tickets, State Rooms cod Borthe can be ewecured at the Agent's office, Old State House, eorner Washington aud State «treets, and at the Bustun sud Providence Railroad Depot.

GEO. SHIVERICK, Passenger aud Freight Agent. 3m

Jule 15. 1867.

tyery Maw his own Fire Brigade.

“A little fire is quickly put ont, which being sutlered, rivers cannot queuch.”—Vide Mr. Card well in the British House of Commons.

L'EXTINCTEUR,

A new Portable. self-acting Fire Engine, for And the heart grew sad and the eyes grow dim, | Wearily waiting and watching tur him.

the Extinguishing of fires in their carly stages. }

This little Engine can be carried on the back to

any desired spot; throws « sinall stream of water, |

impregnated with eiyht times its vol

acid gas, which ia the wost simple aud most effvc- tive means yet known to science for dostroyiuy

Loup & Co., HEAD of LOKD'’S WIIARF, fire They Lave the advantage of being always W ater Street. ready fur use. All that is necessary in spplyinw ARTEMAS LUKD them is to turn the tap with ove hand and with

7 i the other direet the stream upon the fame. Tre

Ost. 29, 106. P. E. ISLAND Boot & Shoe Factory.

fEYHE Subscriber would hereby inform bis,

evinervas frieuds aud customers that he bas in svurse of preparatiou, « very superior style of

LADIES’ KID BOOT,

suitable for the coming season. Also, Ladies’ aud Geutleuwen s Wear, iu every variety, such a«

Ladies’ and Misses’

Balmoral Kid BOUTS, Congress BOOTS,

|

They are also made iu copper, up to $60. They are

i of be ¢ | es | Aud the red beauns slant Curcvugl the druoping

| cost of them is bat trifling. ranging from $15 to $35 |

indispensable for houses, stores, warchouses, fuc- |

tories, public offices, halls, &e , &c. J.R WOODBURN, At Mr. Youug’s Store, Queen Square. July 15, 1867

BEALES & CO,

Merchant Tailors & Drapers,

Late Smardon'’s Corner.

No more watching through heavy tears, | No wore waiting through weary years,

| But eyes, that in radiant luve-light swim, | Aud lite-long devotion, lovuk up ty hin !

Y JOURNAL OF POLITICS,

CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

enna

POETRY,

Yew

THE OLD HOMESTEAD.

{uncomfortable person came into the mind of any one, it was relegated to that unseen to- | morrow which never comes, or consigned tu oblivion with the poco-curante apophthezm— “Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.”’

A great war always creates more scoundrels than it kills; and it must be said of the | American Civil War that the best people connected with it were the native-born soldiors and sailors on both sides. Of the [rish and Germans who fought for the bounty money, and did not care a straw for the principles at issue, we shall speak hereafter. Such a | terrific debt was never rolled up with such reckless rapidity and such shameless robbery /since the world began As soon as it was found that no money could be borrowed in Europe for the purposes of the strife, and that European capitalists, chary of American ventures at the best, positively refused to ad- | vance # Sixpence in support of the contest— neither party to which enlisted much of their sympathy, and the North least of all—the Federal Governwent saw that there was noth- }ing to be done but to borrow as much as | it could of the Northern people, and tu issue inconvertible paper-money to supply all pos- sible deficiencies. When the war first broke vat, the Northern peuple and their Govern- ) ment had but little idea of the magnitude of the tusk they hadundertaken Mr. Linevln, (a modest and timid man, was loath or afraid | ta call for so tangy as 75,000 men for the! | castigation of the rebels; and Mr. Seward, as ell the world knows, thought ninety days!

—_ww

When the skies grow warin and bright, And flash with gold the bours, And in her pale, faint robes, the spring

Is calling up the flowers ;

When children with unslippered feet, Go forth with hearts ef glee

To the straight and even furrows, Where the yellow corn must be ;

What a beautiful embodiment Of ease devoid of pride,

Is the good old-fashioned homeetead With doors atill opeu wide !

But when the happiest time is come, That to the year belongs,

Of uplands bright with harvest gold, And tneadow full of songs .

When fields of yet unripened corn, Aud dsily garuered stores,

Rewind the thrifty husbandmaa Ot ample threshing fluore—

How pleasant, from the din aud dust Of the thorvughlare aloof,

Seciwes the old-fashioned huinestead, With steep and mossy roof,

When bome the woodman plods, with axe

LITERATURE

having to advise the Public, may speak free.’’---Euripides.

MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 18

much afraid of him; or if the ideaof such an country were arrayed against each other, the into further

| Feder

|

thinking that whaling-vesseis, then out of

employment and lying idle at the wharves |

of New Bedford, could be advantageously purchused fur that purpose, authorized the naval officer in command at Brook-

lyn to employ such competent shipbroker |

AND

67

| the Report presented in the second session of (the thirty-seventh Congress by Mr. Wash- bourne, and ordered to be printed for the use of members. It may be suffieient to add, however, that no action was takea on the document, unless it were in the case of Mr.

i are a am eR A ares enen a

detaile of these and other frauds | ti f ral Government being in want of two or | quite as gigantic and Leartless. Any one | New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, [Minois, Indiana, three sailing-ships for coaling purposes, and | who is curivus on the subject may refer to| "4 Miehigan. The vast debt growing out of this

ee

N

ee

WS,

; . | tion and limited territories, bal

ance the

of

war will give rise to new and angry discussions. It will be beid almost exclusively ina few Atlantic States Look upon the map of the Union, and see how eimall is the territory in which it will be owned. Weare to be divided into debtor and cre- ditor States, and the last will havea vast

derauce of power and strength. Unfortunately

;

as he might select to proceed to New| Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, who was there is no taxation upon this national debt, aed

Bedford to make purchases. The broker

‘not accused of any personal corruption, but

| its share 1* throwa off upon other property. It is

was found ; and purchased a ship called the | was pointed at by public opinion as being a! beld where many of the Government contracts

Roman, for 4000 dollars, and another ship cailed the William Badger, for 2500 dollars. By a little mancuvring, all of which is fully explained in the Report, this agent of the Government managed to charge his employ- ers 14,500 dollars fur these two vessels; and

had the coolness, moreover, to demand five! per cent. on this sum for his personal services. | pointed, as a solatium to his wounded feeling, |

The Secretary of the Navy, anxious to do ato the post of Ambassador at the Court of |

| little too easy, too good-natured, and too | anxions to serve his personal friends at the ‘expense of the public Treasury. This gen- ‘tleman found it necessary, or expedient, on 'comfortable—it is difficult to decide upon the exact word to apply—to resign the portfolio of the War Office, and was forthwith ap-

goud turn to his friends,appoiuted his brother. | St. Petersburg.

in-law, a wholesale grocer in New York, to} act u8 agent for the purchase of ships gener- | ally for the needs of the Government, al-| though he knew nothing whatever of their}

At this time the war was but young, and all the plunder possible to contractors was but little compared with the chances that

jafterwards presented themselves, when Mr.

four months aad a haif the favored grocer 'men, 300,000 at a time, and to order the con- wade no lese a sum than $91,000, or £18,000 | struction of monitors and ironclads as rapidly

sterling. as his commission upon the purchas- es he effected. ‘Ibe Committee reported also the very nutorious case of what were called ** The Hall Carbines.’’ Lt appeared that in the month of Jane, a Mr. Eastman, a very sharp * Yankee,’’ from Manchester, in the State of New Hampshire, tad purchased of

Upon his shoulder swung, And in the huvutted apple tree Are seythe and sickle hung; When light the swallows twitter ‘Neath the rafters of the shed, Aud tue table in the ivied porch With decent care is spread-— Then hearts are lighter and treer Than beat in the populous town, In the old-fashioned bowestead, With gables sharp and brown.

When the flowers of summer perish, Lu the cold aud bitter rain. Aud the little birds with weary wings Have goue across the wain ; Wheu curls the blue smoke upward ‘Toward the bluer sky, Aud cold along the naked hills And white the snow-dritts lie— Lu legeuds uf love aud glory ‘Paey torget the cloud aud storm, lu the vid-tashioned Lomestead,

With bearthstune large aud warw. ~<—s2r

sufficient time in which to ** whip the South’ | the Ordnance Bureau 5400 of a useless arm | —using the vulzar Yankee phrase which both | called Hall's Carbines, at the price of three Northern and Southern Americans employ, 'wod a half dollars each. He slightly altered where an Englishman would say to *“con- | and improved them ata cost of less than | quer.’’ General Winfield Scott, who, being three quarters of a dollar, asd found a cus- | Virginian, better knew the temper of his tomer for them in the person of a Mr. Simon people than Mr. Lincoin of Ohio, or Mr. | Stevens, who gave him twelve dollars and a | Seward of New York, considered, that three| half for each carbine. Stevens, hearing that | years, three hundced thousand men, and two General Fremont, then in command at St. | hundred and fifty milliuns of dollars (fifty | Louis, Missouri, was greatly in want of arms, /miliions sterling,) would be none too much | telegraphed to him tu the effect that he had jtur so great a work, and that even all these 5000 rifled cast-steel carbines, breech- might be unavailing if a young, an able, and loading, new, at twenty-two dollars, | more especially a fortunate g-neral were not | aod asking whether he would purchase. The | discovered iv lead his countrymen to victory. | General telegraphed back immediately to | The estimate was considered at the time tobe | Say that he would *‘ take the lot,’’ and they | lighly extravagant. Experience, however, were forwarded accordingly. By this little soun proved its moderativa ip every element | Operation, aliowing for the seventy-five cents except thatof time. The three yearsstretch-| for each carbine expended on the alterations, ed intu four. The killed, the wounded, and | whatever they were, the Government lost, or the disabled alone amvunted, before all was) #38 defrauded of, 89,750 dollars, or close over, to the full three nundred thousand that | uvon £18,000. This was not, however, the General Scott considered ample for victory ;| worst part of the business. The Committe and the mod st two hundred and fifty millions | reported that ** General Fremont manifestly of dollars ran up in one short year nore than | waderstuod from Mr. Stevens's telegraphic double the sum ; and before the war wasended, | despatch that the arms were new, and ready in the early spring of 1865. had reached the jfor delivery, when in truth, and at the time ascertained amount of 300 miliions of dollars, | Stevens made the purchase, a part of these

| Softly the sun’s last rays are gliutiug

| Ten loug years—and that daily glory

| But duty severed those clasping handa, | Aw the pitiless ocean severs the lands—

| Ten years more—while the restless billows

Raia -fENHE Subscribers desire to return their PHE

siscere thauks to their friends and customers |

St ae te ae : —— be net rm ae ane | forthe verylarge amount of patronage heretofore ex- « — eo i ' | tended to thew, and trust the same faver may be |

jeoutinued towards them | very commodious and suitable business staud, bey leave to briug the tollowiug faets before the public.

Gents’ and Boys’ Calf Tap soled BOOTS, Balmoral BOOTS,

Gidea Fo pag o. above business upon a more extended scale, and, | War. Neary Couvress do. Kip do, being in possession of the modern improvements, Light du én. Lrogaus & Shoes, | whieh, coupled with their usual style of cutting

ke. &e. dec. aud careful workmanship, they trust to merit ati |

| increase of that very liberal

Whelesale Dealers before seudiag their orders abroad sheu!d eal! aud exawmiue the large aud varied sock of

Ladies’ & Misses’, Geuts’ & Boy»’

BOOTS & SHOES,

P. E. Island. GBORGE NICOLL,

Soath Bide Queen's Square, if ___ Mareh ith R87

REM

;ceived at the hands of a

‘eharges aud punetuality will be the order of the |

Specially manufictured for the Trade of d-y.

| — |

sivee their commmencement in business. As usual, Garments warranted to ft.

Residence and place of business—coruer of Great George Street aud Queen Square, where moderute

BEALES & CO. Ch'town, 10th June, 1867. _ 3m

Fishermen's Outfits. T

Having uow secured a)

viz :—That they are nuw prepared to carry on the |

atronage already re-| un iscrimiuating public, to break her back.

|

} '

HE SUBSCRIBER ie prepared to furnish | superabundant 4» they are, promptly te FISHERMEN, at reasonable the pauperis that is the

or just twelve times us much as General | Scott had anticipated. | Towards the middle of the year 161, upto’ which time the Government had not resorted | to the expedient of printing inconvertible greenbacks, and when it relied sulely upon the produce of loans for carrying on the war. | the vultures who sniff carnage from afar off | and delight in the odvur of blood—the | Knavish contractors and jobbers, who are, | | untortunately, to be found in all couatries, j and who think it nu sin tu rob a nation, how. | [ever great may be its distress and peril—were | Dusily engaged in the work of plunder. Lue} Goveroment was greatly in want of steamships for the transport of troops, and it was iv the! matter of # caumsbips that the first organized villanies of the ‘* patriots,’? who thirsted to grow suddenly rich at the expeuse of a nation battling for its life, were displayed. Tine | sule tu the Government of two steamers, the | Catuline and the Killvan Kull, excited at this time particular remark. The Csataline, an unseaworthy boat, it appears, with which | the insurance offices would have pothing tu do | except at a very exceptional premium, was | purchased of ber owners for 18.000 dollars, | though not worth 12,000, and trausferred to the service of the Government fur 10,000 dollars her month, for the conveyance of | troops between New York and Annapolis | At the end of two months and a half, after! making three handsome earnings, she was | accidentally destroyed by fire. As sho was not insured against this risk, the Government, that had undertaken to pay 50,000 dollars for ler in the event of her destruction or loss by any peril not covered by her insurance, had to provide this handsome sum; and the speculators—leading patriots all of them— weat on their way rejoicing, willing, no doubt, to supply the Government with as many wore steawships as it might desire, on equally favourable terms. This was but one specimen out of scores, and by no means the worst. The brood of contractors and speca- lators did not, however, confine themselves to thie particular mode of plunder. Army stores, horses, mules, fodder, and firearms were all in hot request, and all these articles were supplied by greedy patrivts, desirous of growing rich by single operation. Shoes

AN OLD STORY.

Over the hilletde, over the sea, Flushing the fleecy cluuds, aud tinting With gold and eriiusvn the purple sea,

Wile hand and hand they wander together Youth of twenty aud child of ten—

Acrose the sea beach, aud uver the heather, By sloping hillock aud shady glen ;

A breeze is stirring each rippling curl

On the sunuy head of the little girl,

And ber eyes, frou the suading hat’s broad briw,

With innocent love look up te him.

Ten long years—and the mellow gloming Casts its glamor v'er gleu and lea, « And glides the sands where a maid is roaming

With eyes that wander beyond the sea.

Has dawned aud darkeaed ov wood aud grure, Lighting the page of w lasting stry— The old, uld story of waiden’s love.

|

Fret and foam on the patient shore,

willows, Aud writes strange words on the greeusward floor ; But far from ingle, and glen and heather, From the purple hills of their pative land, Wander those two as of yore together— Heart answering heart, band clasping band,

(From Blackwood's Magazine for July, 1367.)

AMERICAN DEBT, AND THE} that wore out in a three-days’ march were FINANCLAL PROSPECTS OF THE | suppled at a price three or four bundred per UNION. cent. above the market value of the best

article that could be manufactured ; thou- sands of stands of old-fashioned and useless | firearms were foisted upon the War Office; | and spavined vid mules, fit for nothing but | the knucker, were disposed of at princely | prices. So great was the scandal created— | for naturally every needy scoundrel who could nut get bis fingor into this beautiful pie | was indignant at, as well as envious of, those | who did, and made a great clamour, through | the press and otherwise, about the manner in| which the country was being robbed—that | Congress was alarmed. The result was, that | in the summer of 1801 a special committee, of seven members of the House of Represen- | tatives was appointed, u der the presidency | of Mr. Van Wyck of New York, to “ inquire | into all the facts and circumstances connect- ed with contracts and agree.nents by or with produce amoug us | the Government, growing vut of its efforts in curse of the Oid | suppressing the rebellion.’’ On the 17th of | December the Committee presented its report, |

‘és What a mean, coutemptible, little, one- horse country England is,’ said a Western orator in the height of the American Civil “It took her nigh upon two hundred years to run up & debt of 800 million sterling,

—| and she is always groauing and sweating | der the load, as if it were more than enough But yur yreat country has run up nearly as big a debt in three years, and thinks nothing of it—ay, and will run up twice as big a debt, if necessary, to restore our glorious Union. We are a great people, | that’s a fact; and the stupid old mouarchies | of Europe shall one day feel it.” ** A debt of | 2500 million of dollars,’ said another Ameri- | lcun, & very distinguished citizen of the State | f New York, “will be a great calamity. It! ll depress our energies, tsx our resyurces, |

} Y

| wi

|an Austrian officer, then in the Federal ser-

| ° | tant, or even extortionate.

arms were still in the possession of the Grovern- ment, and unpaid for—a fact of which he was uecessurily informed, for he advanced the woney to enable Eastman to obtain them.’ lu other words, the Government was made to sell its useless qarbines for three doilars and @ half, and buy them back again imme- diately for twenty-two! Bad as was this case, it did not stand alone. Some time be- fore the outbreak of the war, a firm of foreign merchants and general dealers in Broadway had recived from Vienna a consignment of 25,00) muskets, which had been rejected as unserviceable by the Austrian Government. These muskets were invoiced at two dollars each. General Fremont was shown a speci- men, When in New York, on his way to take command in the West, and on the advice of

vice, who explained the uselessoess of the aru, declined to purchase, though greatly in need of arms for his men. On reaching St. Louis he telegraphed back to New York, for *‘arms! arms! arms! send us arms! anything! ’’ And this lot, by some means or other, was sent on to him, at six doliare and a half each, in all 162,500 dollars, or

a8 all the available hands. energy, and science in the country could produce them. As yet, also, the dollar was a dollar, and gold was at par; no immense issues of paper-mouney haying been made to inflate prices, and puff up the country with ideas of immense wealth con- sequent upon im .nense expenditure. ** Green- backs !’’—so called from being printed ou the back with a green colour which those whe forged bank notes by means of photography could not reproduce—were not issued until 1862, and proved a great success. At the very first outbreak of the wer, all the banks throughout the Union, with the exception of two small but highly esteemed and res- pectable concerns in New York, had suspend- ed specie payments, and thereby forfeited their chartera of incorporation. Before the war, the bank-note system of the States was a erying evil. There was no national currency except guld and silver, and gold disappeared at the first cannon-shot, while silver, and even copper, followed the example after a short interval. T’he notes of one State did not circulate in any other, except ata discount; and a man who travelled a couple of thoasand miles, and traversed five or six States, had to lose a very considerable percentage on his notes in every one of them. But the greenback, based upon the credit of the United States, and equally good in all the States, recommended itself ag a great con- venience, and found universal acceptance. [t did not displace the notes of the various State and City banks, but did service as a supplement and addendum, and, being sown broadcast over the land in payment of the army and navy, and of army and navy stores, und allthe accoutrements and paraphernalia of war, had the temporary effect of real wealth in stimulating every kind of trade and enterprise. The Northern people, having no hostile armies tramping over their soil, no squadrons and armadas of the enemy block- ading their ports, and throwing red-hot shot and fiery shell into their maritime cities, saw nothing but the bright side of war—the side of its profuse expenditure. Everything went merrily when the greenbacks made their ap- pearance—everything except the price of gold, that soon began to lift its back against

have been executed, and where, in sume instances, |gross frauds have been practiwed. It ie held | largely where the constitution gives a di | tionate share of political power. With ali these | elements of discord, is it wise tu assail Constitu- | Ueual laws, or bring authority inte contempt T | To keep down the debt, and provide at least & portion of the ways and mesne neces- sary for carrying on the war out of the anoual produce of the people's trade and | industry, the Government introduced @ eye- _tew of taxation—new to America—exceeding- ly oppressive in its incidence, aod labouring under the Magrant demerit of a productive-

j j

: | ness utterly incommensurate with the exteat build, their quality, or their value. In | Lincoln found it necessary to call for levies of 7

and cost of the machinery employed to collect it. In order that the masses of the people—the adult males in possession of votes—might not complain, an income and property tax of five per cent. was imposed upon all incomes above six hundred dollars per annum; of seven per cent. upon all incomes between five and tex thousand dollars, and of ten per cent. on those above ten thousand. Kvery psreoa liable to the tax was allowed to deduct six hundred dollars, and the price he actually paid for his house-reat, out of his total income, and was coly chargeable on the remainder; so that if the average amount of heuse-rens paid by the working classee and the gress bulk of the people was one hundred dollare per annum, nobody with an income of less than seven hundred dollars, £140 per annum, was licble totheimpost. The duty of 33 per cent. ad valorem upon foreign manufactured gouds—a duty levied not so much for revenue as for supposed ‘ protection to native io- dustry,’ was increased to 494 per cent., payable in gold ; a tax upon alcholic liguore of 60 cents per gallon, which it was autiei- pated would prove highly productive, was aisu imposed fur the first time; while every- body engaged in any trade, occupation, or pursuit, except that of the day-labourer, wae compelled, under a heavy penalty for neglect or disobedience, to take out an annual licence at a cost of ten dollare, and in some basi- nesees, such as that of the hotel-keeper, of @ hundred dollars. The tailor, the shoemaker, the batter, the milliner, the bosier, the baker, the buteher, the fishmonger, the grocer, the greengrocer, and the butterman; the mer- chant, the trader, and the manufacturer; even the merchants’, the manufacurers’ and bankers’ clerks, all bad to take out licenses tu pursue their several callings, so that the Americans enjoyed a luxury of taxation which even uur old and experienced England had never tasted. There was a talk of taxing servant girls*—*‘helps,’’ as they are called— and negro waiters; but the idea was aban- doned. A very elaborate system of stamp- duties upon bills of exchange, baakere’ cheques, receipts, trade circulars, and ever upon potographic or album portraits (stupid- ly called cartes-de-visite in England, but avs in Awerica), was devised; and all sorts of imposts, which Great Britain had for thirty years been busily engaged in getting rid of,

its unwelcome rival, and persieted in reaching & premium that the loyal people of the North took pleasure in stigmatising as in the highest degree disloyal and rebellious. When 900 millions of inconvertible paper-money had been thrast into circulation, guild, that up to May, 1862, had been at par, advanced by rapid steps to a premium of 24, 5, 10, 20and 30, and reached, at the commencement of 1863, as high as 35 per cent. In January of |

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£32,500 sterling. These arms were never

that year, the rapid increase of the public) debt and the premium on gold had begun to |

were revived in America. The people hew- ever, were new to taxation ; the tax-

of whom about fifty thousand were appointed, did not underetand their business; and after an experiment of eighteen months, it wae found necessary to devise other and better means for raising a revenue. Mr. Chase, the Seeretary of the Treasury, had estimated that be would receive, during the financial year, 150,000,000 dollars from the [oternal Revenue alone, exclusive of the Income and Property tax and the Custome duties. Bus

used. The Committee reported that they | very seriously alarm the professional states-| from the let July, 1362, to the close of 1863, found a large number of them at Cairo, on|men and ablest financiers of the country.|the actual receipts amounted to no more

the Mississippi, and that notwithstanding the urgent necessity for arms at that point, whole regiments being destitute, these mus- kets were left in the boxes in which they were shipped trom the arsenal at St. Louis.

These specimens of the recklessness with which arms were bought, and of the rapacity of those who sold them, may suffice. Turn- ing to the contracts for the supply of cattle, we find the same carelessness on the one hand, and roguery ontheother. “* Inthis matter,” said the Committee, ‘‘ there ismuch evidence of gross mismanagement, culpable careless. ness, and reckisss improvidence. Evidence exists of large contracts for cattle having been made without any advertisements for bids, or any efforts on the part of the agents of the Government to satisfy themselves whether the prices to ba paid were exorbi- Cattle were fur- nished at prices, per live weight, very little, if any. below the retail prices of the meat in any of the markets of the country; and the contractors, without themselves furnishing a single hoof to the Government, made large

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Mr. Robert J. Walker, a gentieman who had | been Secretary of the Treasury inthe halcyon | days of President Polk, when there was no

debt worth speaking of, and when the Federal

treasury suffered under an overflow of cash,

was one of the first tv sound the warning

voice against the dungers which he saw in the

future.

“ Our national finances,” said he, “ are involved in extreme peril. Our public debt exceeds 720,- 000,000 dollars, and is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury, ou the lat of July next, at 1,122,- 291.403 doliars, and on the Ist of Julyl, 864, at 1,744,685,536 dollars. When we reflect that this is nearly one-half the debt of England, and bear- ing almust duuble tis rate of interest, it is clear that we are approaciing a fatal catastrophe. Nor is this the most alarming sywwptem. Gold vow commands a premiuiwn of 32 per cent. as compared with legal-teader Treasury notes, and with largely auguiwuted issues must rise much higher, with a corresponding increase of our debt and expendi- ture. Indeed, should the war continue, and there be no other alternative than additional Treasury uetes, they will, before the close of the next fiscal year, fail to command 40 cents on the dollar in

than 47,641,000 dollars,or at the annyal rete of 31,740,000 doilars—littie more tian one fifth of the sum expected. The Income and Property tax was largely evaded; and the Customs Duties brought lese into the coffers ot the State than they put indirectly into the pockets of the native manufacturers, by affurding them a pretext to put up the -_ of their untaxed commodities to that of the foreign articie which had paid duty. A revision of the whole scheme of taxation wae ordered, the chief results of which were that the duty upon whiskey and other alcholic liquors was raised to two dollars per gallon, and that the [acome and Property Tax wae ordered to be more stringently collected. Tae estimate for the year 1564 from the three

| great sources of revenue, the Income and

roperty Tax, the Customs Duties, and the [nternsl Revenue, was n0 more than 285,900, 000 dollars—a sum which, as the war ex- penses of the Government were upwards of three millions of dollars per diem, was barely sufficient to carry on affairs for three mouths even if the money could have been

| gold, and our debt will exceed several billious of

sums of money by subletting the contracts | dollars. This would result from an immense re- to other parties who assumed all the respon: | dundancy and depreciation of currency, aud from sibilities, and all the risks, and still made in| the alarm created here and in Euoope, as to the profits sums nearly as large as the criginal | waintenance of the Uniwn and the ultimate contractors.’’ solvency of the Government. L[ndeed, our enemies

ical : ee alien § © There is every reason to believe.”” added| at home aud abroad, the rebels aud their allies in

: : : | the North and in Europe, already announce im- > Committee, *‘that there was collusion on peudiug catioual baukcuptey aud repudiation, and t

e part of the employees of the Government | there are many devoted patriots who fear such a

at once collected. Under the circumstances, there was nothing for it but loans in the shape of * five twenties,” ** ten thirtiea,”” * seven forsies,’’ sad “ greenbacks '’—con- tinuous, never-ceasing greenbacks —~ some bearing interest and sume not, but none of them convertible into goid on demand, or into gould at all, except a¢ such a premium ou the real article as made the paper dollar

to assist in robbing the Treasury ; for when & conscientious officer refused to pass cattle not in accordance with che contract, he was superseded by one who had no conscientious | scruples in the matter; and cattle that were | rejected by his predecessor were at once ac. | cepted. With sucha state of things existing, if officers of the Government, who should be | imbued with patriotism and integrity | enough to have a care of the means of the '

Treasury, afe ready to assist speculating con- |

tractors to extort from and defraud the Go- | vernment, where is this system of speculation | te end, and how soon may not the finances |

catastrophe. That the danger is imminent is a truth which must not be disguised. Here lies the great peril of the Government. It is not the rebel armies that can ever overthrow the Uuion It is

worth, upon the average, about 2s. 3d. sterl- ing instead of 4s. 2d. As the working classes, taxed heavily upon their favourite whiskey. the alarming increase of the public debt and ex-\ Shough untaxed upon their incomes, found penditure, aud the still nore appalling depreciation | “hat their six or seven hundred dollars

of the national currency, that most imperil the | #20um of wages represented a purchseing great Republic..... 4’ are upon the verge of ruin | power of little wore than balf ite amount in We are hanging over the gulf of an irredeemable | the blessed days of peace, they too, for the paper system, and its spectral shade, repudiation, | first time in American history, began to strike is Seen dimly in the dark abyss. The present | for higher wages.