THE TAXATION AHEAD-The present fiscal year will leave us with a public debt of nearly or quite $600,000,000. The coming year will see this amount doubled. Supposing the necessity for our present establishment to have ceased at that time, we shall still be obliged to maintain a large army and navy at an additional expense over past years of at least $100,000,000 per annum. It is safe to say that from and after the coming year, supposing the war to be closed at that time, we shall have a yearly expenditure of $200,000,000, with a debt of $1.200,000,000, at a yearly cost of $70,000,000, making a total of at least $270,000,000, a minimum of $250,000,000 per annum. Supposing our revenue from imports to be increased to its amount previous to the war, there will remain nearly $200,000,000 to be raised by methods of taxation heretofore unknown in this country, and we shall be launched at once into the system of debt and of taxation in which European countries have made such unhappy advances in the last three quarters of a century.-N. Y. Trib. FREEDOM FROM DEBT-ITS EFECT ON POPULAR COMFORT AND PROGRESS. The freedom from taxation, together with the absence of a landed aristocracy monopolizing the soil, has facilitated, more than all other causes, the quickening and strengthening of the popular intelligence. The universal dissemination of newspapers and books; the multiplication of the comforts of life, and their enjoyment by all classes; the general support of public education, and the participation in its benefits by the poorest as well as the richest; these privileges, which constitute at once the chief glory and the safety of our country, must all be seriously abridged by a system of taxation sufficiently comprehensive to meet the expenditure contemplated. But the national revenue is a diversion, to its full amount, of so much of the earnings of the people; and no jugglery will enable them to pay it to the Government, and at the same time to enjoy its expenditure themselves. Hitherto the amount thus diverted has not been sufficient to interfere seriously, or even perceptibly, with the comforts of the people. But a duty of 50 per cent on all articles of luxury, taxes upon notes and other evidences of debt, excise duties, and taxation in other forms, will enhance the cost of living at least 50 per cent., and this must be met, by all but the wealthy, by a corresponding curtailment in the consumption of articles of luxury and comfort. The daily newspaper and the cheap literature, which have quickened the intellects of the poorer classes; the numberless articles of convenience or of taste, which have relieved and adorned their homes; the participation in the benefits of education which they have enjoyed, must all give way to the necessities of public credit.-N. Y. Trib. COMPARATIVE HEALTH OF TROOPS.-It would seem that the loss of life from disease was in the Mexican war about twice as great among Southern as among Northern soldiers. On April 8th, 1848, the Secretary of War made a report to the United States Senate of the losses of the volunteer forces employed in Mexico. From this it appears that seven Northern States-Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois-furnished, in the course of that war, 22,573 men. Of this force the total loss from disease was 2931 men; less than one-eighth of the whole. Nine slave States-Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky-furnished 22,899 men. The loss from this force, by disease and death caused by disease, was 4315, or more than one fifth-a very considerable difference in favor of Northern troops. When we go into particulars, we find that Massachusetts lost of 1047 men but 61 by disease, while South Carolina, which furnished 1054 men, or seven more than Massachusetts, lost not less than 338 by disease. Mississippi lost 769 men by disease, out of 2319, while Indiana, furnishing nearly double the number, namely 4470, lost only 768. Georgia lost 362 men by disease, out of 2047; while New York lost but 188, of a total of 2665. North Carolina sent 936, and lost 233; while New Jersey sent 424, and lost but 12. Pennsylvania sent 2464, and lost 411; but Mississippi lost 769 out of 2319. WAR UNDERMINING OUR LIBERTIES. I will not speak of the cost of this war, though you know we shall never get out of it without a debt of at least $2,000,000,000. I will not remind you that debt is the fatal disease of Republics, the first thing, and the mightiest to undermine Government, and corrupt the people The great debt of Englaud has kept her back in all progress at least a hundred years. Neither will I remind you that, when we go out of this war, we go out with an immense disbanded army, an immense military spirit embodied in twothirds of a million of soldiers, the fruitful, the inevitable source of fresh debts and new wars. I pass by all these, and lying within those causes are things enough to make the most sanguine friends of free institutions tremble for our future. But let me remind you of another tendency of the time. You know, for instance, that the writ of habeas corpus, by which Government is bound to render a reason to the Judiciary before it lays its hands upon a citizen, has been called the high-water mark of English liberty. The present Napoleon, in his treatise on the English Constitution, calls it the germ of English institutions. Lieber says that that, with free meetings like this, and a free press, are the three elements which distinguish liberty from despotism, and all that Saxon blood has gained in the battles and toils of 200 years, are these three things. Now, to-day every one of these-habeas corpus, the right of free meeting, and free press-is annihilated in every square mile of the Republic. We live to-day, every one of us, under martial law or mob law. The Secretary of State puts into his Bastile, with a warrant as irresponsible as that of Louis, any man whom he pleases, and you know that neither press nor lips may venture to arraign the Government without being silenced. Mark me, I am not complaining; I do not say it is not necessary. It is necessary to do anything to save the ship. It is necessary to throw everything overboard, that we may float. It is a mere question whether you prefer the despotism of Washington, or that of Richmond; and I prefer that of Washington. But nevertheless, I point out to you this tendency, because it is momentous in its signifiance. We are tending with rapid strides-you say inevitable; I don't deny it, necessarily; I don't question it-we are tending to that strong Government which frightened Jefferson; toward that unlimited debt, that endless army; we have already those alien and sedition laws which, in 1798, wrecked the Federal party, and summoned the Democratic into existence. For the first time on this continent we have passports, which even Louis Bonaparte pronounces useless and odious. For the first time in our history, Government spies frequent our great cities. This model of a strong Government, if you reconstruct it on the old basis, is to be handed into the keeping, of whom? If you compromise it by reconstruction, to whom are you to give these delicate and grave powers? To compromisers? Reconstruct this Govern ment, and it must be in the hands of men that have no principle, or are willing to shift as it pleases. I am not exaggerating this. It is the same position that England held when Holcroft and Horne Tooke and Hardy went into dungeons under laws that Pitt executed, and Burke phrased; when Fox said that he despaired of English liberty, and when it was said that no man was entitled to an opinion who hadn't $15,000 a year. Why, there is no single right that Government finds itself able to protect, except the right of a man to his slave. Every other bulwark has fallen before the necessities of the hour.-Wendell Phillips. GLANCE AT OUR NATIONAL FINANCES. 1. RESOURCES, chiefly loans. The Secretary of the Treasury, in his report, July 1861, submitted a detailed statement, in part estimated, showing the receipts for the last fiscal year, ending on the 30th of June, 1861, including the balance in the treasury at its commencement, to have been $86.972,893,81; the expenditures to have been $84,577,258,60; and the balance to have been $2,355.645,11. Actual returns show that the receipts, including balance, were $86,835,900,27; the expenditures, $84,578, 834 57; and the balance, $2,257,065 80. For the first quarter of the current fiscal year, commencing 1st July, 1861, the receipts and expenditures are ascertained, and for the remaining three quarters, ending 30th June, 1862, are estimated as follows: For the first quarter, the actual receipts from customs, lands, and miscellaneous sources, including the balance of $2,257, 065 80, were. For the second, third and fourth quarters, the estimated receipts are.. ... To these sums must be added the amount realized from loans in all forms prior to Dec. 1, 1361, as already stated And there must be added also the amount to be realized from additional loans already authorized... $9,809,731 24 27,000,000 00 197,242,588 14 75,449,675 00 And there must added, also, the amount anticipated from the direct tax..... 20,000,000 00 Making the total receipts. 329,501994 38 $98,239,733 09 2. EXPENSES.-For the first quarter were ...... 302,035,761 21 For civil service, and increased interest...$5,166,438 99 143,130,927 76 Making a total of....... 543,406,422 06 From which deduct actual and estimated receipts, as above stated.... 329,501,994 38 Making an apparent amount, for which recourse must be had to loans, of...... 213,904,427 68 For the fiscal year 1863, commencing on the 1st July, 1862, and ending on the 30th June, 1863, no reliable estimates can be made. It is earnestly to be hoped, and, in the judgment of the Secretary, not without sufficient grounds, that the present war may be brought to an auspicious termination before midsummer. In that event, the provision of revenue by taxation, which he has recommended, will amply suffice for all financial exigeneies, without resort to additional loans, and not only so, but will enable the government to begin at once the reduction of the existing debt. It is the part of wisdom, however, to be prepared for all eventualities; and the Secretary, therefore, submits the estimates of the several departments for the fiscal year 1863, based on the supposed continuance of the war, as follows: For the civil list, including foreign intercourse, and miscel laneous expenses other than on account of the public debt $23,086.761 23 For the Interior Department, Indians and Pensions.... For the War Department.... For the Navy Department.... Redemption... Interest on debt contracted before 1st 4,102,962 96 360,159,986 61 45,164,994 18 .$2,883,364 11 ....29,932,696 42 .10,000,000 00 42,816,330 53 Interest on debt to be contracted after 1st July, 1862..... Making an aggregate of estimated expenditures of....... 475,331,245 51 From customs, lands, and ordinary sources $45,800,002 00 20,000,000 00 From internal duties, including income tax... 30,000,000 00 Making an aggregate of estimated receipts of ..... 95,800,000 00 379,531,245 51 The whole amount required from loans may, therefore, be thus stated: For the fiscal year 1862, under existing laws..... It only remains, in order to complete the view of the financial situation, to submit a statement of the public debt as it was on the 1st day of July, 1860, and 1861, and will be, according to the estimates now presented, at the same date in each of the years 1862 and 1863. On the first day of July, 1860, the public debt was........ On the first day of July, 1861, the public debt was....... On the first day of July, 1862, the public debt will be..... 547,372,802 93 On the first day of July, 1863, the public debt will be..... 897,372,802 93 $64,769,703 08 90,867,828 68 It seems, then, that we are, by the admission of our rulers, drifting into a debt of some $900,000,00. What an accumulation for so short a period ! There is nothing to match it in all history. Let us persist in this prodigality only a few years; and how soon will it prove an incubus on our prosperity and happiness, from which long ages will hardly suffice to recover us. CORRUPTION INCIDENT TO WAR. We have been amazed at the lack of knowledge or reflection betrayed by most of our people respecting the moral results inseparable from the conflict in which we are engaged. How many have spoken of it as a providential opportunity for purifying the national character from the bad habits engendered by a long and eminently prosperous peace! It was going to lift us up from the low, sordid, selfish pursuit of gain to the high elevation of a generous, self sacreficing patriotism, and inaugurate a new and glorious era of moral as well as martial heroism. The delusion seemed for a time well-nigh universal. Christians, in public prayer-meetings, devoutly hoped to see our camps become so many scenes of religious revival; and even ministers, in the phrenzy of the hour, were reported to have preached discourses now on "the Evils of Peace," and now on "the Blessings of War." Strange inversion of the public mind! Peacemen were tolerated chiefly when their utterances could be tortured into a practical contradiction of their principles. The Bible was to be read backwards, and the New Testament give place to the Old, the Sermon on the Mount to the Imprecatory Psalms, the Prince of Peace to the God of War. The Millenium of War was coming; and a hundred, if not a thousand sermons were preached in justification of war, for one earnest plea for peace. This huge delusion is now beginning to vanish, as we foresaw from the first it would, before the actual results of this conflict. We have waited patiently for its moral developments, inseparable from war in all its forms. Let us learn, from facts like the following, how war, even in behalf of Freedom and righteous Government, works moral corruption and ruin. FRAUDS IN CONTRACTS FOR THE GOVERNMENT.-Congress has appointed committees to investigate these; and from a speech of Mr. Dawes, of Mass., in the House of Representatives, we give a few facts to show how this war, like every other, is demoralizing the community as fast as it can, down to a degree of corruption that must in time prove fatal to our government. "The very first contract entered into by this Government, after the troops had left their homes to come here in April last to defend the Capital, was a contract for cattle. It was not made with a man whose business it was to supply cattle, and knew the price of beef in the markets of the country, but here with a man well known in this and in the other branch of Congress for the last ten years, as an old stipendiary-one of the class of men who, in times past, made their money by such operations as buying the certificates of members for books at a discount, and then charging the full amount! This contract was so made that the first 2,200 head of cattle furnished, was charged at a rate which enabled their original contractor to sub-let it in 24 hours after to a man in New York who did not know the price of beef, so that he put into his pocket, without stirring from his chair, $32,000, and the men who actually furnished the cattle put into their pockets $26,000 more; so that the contract under which these 2,200 head of cattle were furnished, was so made that the profit of $58,000 was realized over the fair market price! Sir, poorly as the army is shod to-day, a |