The New York Herald Newspaper, December 29, 1854, Page 4

~e “NEW YORK HERALD. FAMEBS GORDON BENAET??®, PROPRIETOR AND EDITOR, Orries 4. W. CORNER NASEAU AND FULTON Tt ZERMS, cash in advance. DAILY HERALD, 2 cents per WEEKLY HERALD every Situr 4 eapy, or 33 per snnum: the Buropeum Liuion $4 per sana fo any part of Great Britsin, and $5 to any part of the Con finent, both 10 inc a "ALL LETTERS by Mail jor Subscriptions or with Adver to be meen, or the postage will be deducted from rem LUN TARY CORRESPONDENCE, containing impor teat news, solicited from any quarter of the world—i/ use will be liberally paid for. @@- Cum FORmIGN Conansro™ DENTS ARY PARTICULARLY REQUBATED FO fMAL Al. Eerrens ann Packacgs est vs. NO NOTICE taken of aronymous communications, We de Rot those rejected. B PRINTING executed with nestness, cheapnen, am VERTISEMENT'S renewed every cay. —¥? per ansum. day at 6 cents ANUSSMENTS THIS EVENING, DWAY THEATRE, Srosdwsv—Soruia’s Surrun ecoak's OrexkA—L& Frere pe Dance, BOWERY THEATRE. Gowery—Vv Nerensor’s Wire ‘Wir Boy—Massacae OF MicuiLismaxinac. BIBLO’S GARDEN, Broad BURTON'S Faience | Chembere amp Lowsr Twerty —Nice Youre WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway—Tue Sisrz! Gueriran Rom Iaetann Wire's Seconp Pioon EBTROPOLITAN THEATRE. Brosdwav—Nicx oy Tue ‘Woovs~Rosxne Macainn—Revrrian Prince. AMERICAN MUSEUM—Afterncon—Everacue. Evening Bop Roy. Bowrmran Grrv. street—Urrzn Tan Man. WOOD'S VARIETIES—Mechanics’ Hall, 673 Broadway— BUCKLEY'S OPERA HOUSR, 599 Breadway—Buox- Qar’s Bruorian Orana Trovrs, New York, Friday, December 29, 1854. a The News. ‘The steamship Atlantic, now in her fourteenth @ay out from Liverpool, had not been telegraphed . @t Sandy Hook at twelve o’clock last night. The wanusually dense foga that have prevailed for several Gays past cufficiently account for her delay. Inanother column will be found Secretary Marcy’s reply to the protest which we published on Wednes @ay from Mr. Molina, the Minister from the repub- Ke of Gosta Rica, against the projected colonization @cheme of Col. Kinney. Mr. Marcy states that ho does not perceive upon what grounds the govern: ment of the United States can interfere with the Proposed expedition, which appears to bs a peace- fal enterprise, involving possibly agricultural, mining and commercial speculations, but contem- plating no measure which will render them amenable tothe neutrelity Jaws of the United States. The question of validity of lands between them ani other claimants is a matter to be adjudged, not by the government of the United States, but by the teibunals of the State within which the dispute shall arise. The Kinney expedition is accordingly Officially endorsed by our government. ‘We have received our letters and files of papors from Havana to the 24th instant. The latter o02- tain nothing of avy interest. In the former wil! bz found an account of another of those cases of 0)- pression by the Collector of the portof Havana, which shows a continued disposition on the part of the Spanich officials to interrupt, by every means in their power, our trade with the island. The trial of Mesers. Felix and Lacoste, implicated ia the Bara- qa ofiair, was expected to take place shortly. By way of New Orleans wé have advices from Mexico to the 19th inst. Gen. Santa Anna has, of eourse, been elected President by nearly a nnani. mous vote. Reports were prevalent at the capits) f additional victories of the government troops over the insurgents; and it was likewise stated that Gen. Alvarez had approached within eighteen leagues of the city. In another column will be found an interesting Communi:ation in reference to the effect of Mr. Adams’ proposed naturalization bill on the foreign element in the volunteer force of the United States. We publich this document less from concurronce with the views of the writer, than for the informa tion which i; farsishes regarding the proportions of natives and adopte citizens which make up the ranks of cur State militia. Our correspoadent evidentiy labors under 4 misapprehension respect ing the provisions of the proposed bill, They are strictly prospe tive in their operation, and wil] not affect those foreigners who happen to be in the eountry previous to the passage of the bill. All gach persons will be entitled to the rights and pri vileges granted by the old law, aud, therefore, so far as regards the present constitution of our vo" Janteer companies, the apprehensions that he ex presees will prove groundless. Is appears that there is nothing new in the @ectsion of Judge Dean, of the Supreme Court of ‘the State of New York, published in Wednesday's paper. We understand that, 90 far back as 1838, eme of the Judges of the Common Pleas of this city @ecided tbat the examination of parties seeking Baturalization should be made by the Judge, and that bis initials should be affixed to the affidavits which are placed on file. This method of proceed- ‘img is sdop‘ed in all our courts, and never has been @eparted from since. The clerk only prépares the papers, and adwinistera the oath to the applicant for citizenship in presence of the Judge. Yester¢sy evening the Board of Aldermen held the last meeting bat to which can be convened by them as at present constituted. They donated $1,000 to the Women’s Association for a home for discharged female convicts. The report of the com nittee respecting the repurchase of the Fort Gansevoort property, was made a special order for Fridsy evenirg. The subject of the lease of the public msrkets was brought up and discussed, but nothing rew was advanced beyond what has been uttered on the same matter on former occasions. ‘The further consideration of the subject was post- poned, and the Board adjourned to Friday eveniog. The proceedings of the Board of Councilmen last evering were unusuolly interesting. In our report will be found the crdiaance authorizing the iseue f bonds upon contracts psyable by assessments. The Suvervisors yesterday afternoon acted upon a@nomber ot bile, and adopted a report increas irg tre salavies of clerks in the County Clerk's office. Elisha Whaler, Kuow Nothing candidate for As sembly in the Orleans district, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the dest) of Alexis Ward, is reported aselected. There was no whig candidate. The thip Irene, errived yesterday from Havre ‘with 680 passengers, had fourteen deatha and two births on the passace; and the ship St. Nicolas, from the eame port, bad seven deaths and two births. ‘The flour market yesterday continued firm for all grader, The sales included about 1,200 bbls. com. mon State brands, at $8 87}, 500 of which were for export. Canadian was quiet at about $10 per bbl, duty paid. Southern was firmer, with sales at $9 25 2 $10 50, the latter for Georgetown. Indian corn was without material charge. Mess pork was eteady, with moderate sales. Cotton was quiet, with small traneactions, as dealers were waiting the news by the Atlantic. Groceries were more active. ‘The sales embraced about 2,500 bags Rio coffee, at 90. for skimmings to 104. for good quality. There | ‘was also more doing in sugar and molasses, without | material alteration i» quotations. | Spanien Acent ty Santa Domrnco.—We un- derstand that Don Eduardo San Just, Commer- cial Agent of the Queen of Spain to the Domin. | ean republic, has arrived in the city of Santa | Domingo, and by our last advices from that city had entered upon the duties of his office. What’s in the wind now? This is the first case | of an agent being sent to the Dominican repub- | lie by Spain; and it looks »s jf the “ triple al- | Amy 00"? we tavorable to us. We must be on the gui vive. tion of the Ostend War Policy—Last Card of the Administration. Our special telegraphic advices from Washing- ton, of this morning, touching te latest move- ments of Soulé and the Cabinet and the Ostend diplomacy on ‘he Cuba question, are of the very bighes: interest and importance. They are spe- cific and circumstantia’, and we are fully as- sured of their authenticity. The intelligence which we are thus enabled to lay before our readers, is, therefore, of the utmo:t m ment, involving, a8 i. does, the abandonment by Marcy of his conciliatory Spanish policy, and his surrender to the war cvalition of ‘he Ostend convention, The result is that in behalf of the President, the Secretary of State is pre- paring an extraordinary message to Congress upon our relations with Spain, of a decisive and belligerent character. Thus our Cabinet and diplomatic intrigues and entanglements upon Cuba, of the last twelve months, are brought to a crisis, »nd the admin- | istration, in its present extremity of distress, has resolved :o play its last card, and stake its desperate fortunes upon the venture. The un- meaning and scanty allusions to our affairs with Spain in the late annua! message to Con. gress, led us to suspect at the time, that Spain and Cuba were held in reserve, the plan of Mr. Pierce being first to try the experiment of the soothing system. It failed—asignally failed; the annual message, for all purposes of political capital, proved an abortion. Now, after much wrangling and a hard struggle with Marcy, the radicals have succeeded in whipping up the old moderado to the work, rather than resign his place to their substitute. The Ostend, the Cabinet and Kitchen Cabinet al- liance have thus prevailed in making Marcy the active agent of Buchanan in the adoption of his Ostend Cuba platform for the Presidency; and we have only now,to wait patiently for the war message which is to be thrown into Congress, and the explosion of the bomb. It appears from our despatch, which corro- borates all our previous intormation upon the subject, that the Ostend convention was a Pre- sidential caucus, with Buchanan for its cham- pion and Soulé for its manager—that they agreed upon a decisive war policy towards Spain, and that a leading object of their pro- ceedings was to hoist Marcy out of the Cabinet and put Buchanan on the new Cuba platform, in the high road for the succession. It also ap- pears that Marcy, from the beginning, has been the great obstacle in the way of this Ostend coalition, and that Caleb Cushing, in his letters from Washington, all along, has been an active co-laborer in their efforts to supplant the un- suspecting Premier. Their scheme was too brilliant, however, to admit of any nice scruples in regard to Marcy A policy which comprehended “the acquisi- tion of Cuba in less than six months,” or a war with France and Spain, embodied so much of grandeur and glory as to excuse almost any conspiracy which would remove the only ac- tive enemy in the administration to the plan. Ambitious of distinction, and bold and ad:oit in the prosecution of his game, Soulé has bent all bis energies to a belligerent issue with the Spanish government. He has found in Mason an aspiring and willing instrument, and in Buchavan a credulous believer in Baltimore conventions and in the capital of a war-cry for the succession. Sustained, also, by Kossuth, Sickles and Sanders, in London, and by the ac- tive co-operation of Cushing and tho Kitchen Cabinet at Washington, we cease to wonder at the success of Soulé, or at the credulity of Buchanan, or the final submission of Marcy. The denouement is at hand. The whole plot will come to its grand developement in the message which Marcy is preparing for Con- gress. Meantime thinge are going on at Ma- arid precisely to the heart’s desire of Soulé. He has been received, upon his return to the Spanish capital, with indifference, and has been treated with contempt. Espartero professes to be too much engrossed in home affairs, or in riding out with the ladies, to re-open negotia- tions with our Minister upon the Black War- rior, or the purchase of Cuba, or anything else. Of course this isinsufferable. Soulé, therefore, writes home for definite instructions, and we may now divine what they are to be. Our bel- licose ambassador may yet achieve his desired ultimatum of a rupture with the Spanish Cabi- net, a demand for his passports, and a trium- phant return to Washington as a flaming mes- senger of war. According to our Washington advices of a few days ago, the Cabinet have abandoned for the present the idea of prosecuting negotia- tions for the acquisition of Cuba. The special message which Marcy is drawing up will most probably confirm this information. The recom- mendations of this meseage will, we suspect, be limited to the uxsettled affair ot the Black Warrior, and a considerable schedule of similar outrages upon our commerce and our citizens, by or with the connivance of the Spanish authorities of Cuba. Up- on these unliquidated grievances a strovg case may be built, strong enough to make the ears of Young America and the Order of the Lone Star tingle with delight. Unless, too, Marcy again disobeys the wishes of the Cabi- net, as he appears to have done in his State papers, in repeated instances heretofore, such a case may be expected soon to be Iaii b-fore the two houses. It will be an easy matter to drive Spain to the wall upon the uo settled balances of these aforesaid Cuban outrages. The Espartero government could bardly venture with safety to answer a posi- tive demand for justice, with prompt and satisfactory reparation, without exciting a dan ogerous reaction among the inflammable revo lutionary Spanish people. Yes; The Black Warrior and other Cuban outrages will do. Make a case of them of posi- tive, prompt and full reparation and indem- nity, with security for the future, and Soulé will get his passports, and the fillibusteros may prepare, as volunteers, for a cescent upon Havana. But no time is to be lost. There may be peace sooner than we expect in Europe. We say there may be. The administratioa appears to be aware of this; and of the ne- cessity of precipitating the Ostend coup d'état with Spain while England and France are absorbed in Sebastopol. We must strike while the iron is hot; for, should France and England be re- lieved of Russia before we shall have made a final settlement with Spain, that settlement may go over, with our unfinished business, to the next generation. Prepare, then, for the message—a strong Mestage--a war message, upon our relations with Spain. It is the last card of the adminis- tration—it is the coup d’état of Soulé and the tions have le't the administration and i{s small remaining party in a des;erate state o' d-s- pondency. The furor: of a war policy is the last cbance. Curious coincid-nce, that while the Honse C. mmittee 02 Foreign Affairs are engaged upon the; 7 jét of a peace commission to the European belligerents, Marcy, the peac- man of the Cabinet, st ould be engaged in con- cocting a rupture with Spain! It is the last card. Let it be pliyed. The procecding: of Congress’ have become flat and stup'd. Give | them some hing to co. Give them the mes- sage. Don’t flinch aad fall back. We have had enough of that. Send up the meseage. The Corporation Ad@vertising—Flagg’s De~ fence. ‘The censure that has been showered from all quarters upon Mr. Flagg’s :eport on the Corpo- ration advertising has »t last driven him to attempt a defence in the columasof the Jour- nal of Commerce. We give the document eleewhere, as it appeared in that newspaver; that is to say, in the disguise of an editorial article: and now, the public may judge be- tween Mr. Flagg and ourselves. The question at issue lies in the smallest possible compass. The |aw—whose merits may pass unnoticed at present—says that the advertising shall be given to the five jourvals which cffer to do it at the lowest rate per thousand copies circu- lated in the city. Thereupon the Heratp, Times and Sun, with two German papers, offer to publish said advertising at a lower rate per thousand papers circulated in the city than any other journal— the Heratp’s bid being the lowest of all—and claim the advertising accordingly. Yet the Comptroller, moved by hatred of the Heratp, which has exposed his mismanagement of the city finances, makes an award in favor of four of said five journals, excluding the Heraip, whose tender was the lowest, and substituting the Pust, the organ of the political clique to which Azariah C. Flagg belongs. When this award was made, Mr. Flagg gave ashis reason ‘or breaking the law in this flagrant and barefaccd manner, the following tabular statement :-— Pre su qaasus yooo auyy suns sof svah sad buasyscapp fo 730 0, 2 ~2 e-« oo 28S8 x Tere] bs roms Orns oo “5%, BE The gist of this is to show that, if the law were ccmplicd with, it would cost the city $12,024 a year for having its advertisements in- serted in the 49,004 copies of the Hzratp, where- asit would only cost $1,127 to have them in the 3,000 copies of the Post. Hence, said Mr. Flagg, I think it would be more economical to violate the law than to obey it, and therefore re- commend the advertising to be given to the Post instead of the Heratp. If, instead of being the leading journal of North America, tho Heraxp bad been a sckly organ oP an effete political party, leading an obscure existence with one-thirteenth its present circulation, the aggregate amount of iis bills against the Cor- poration would have been less than those of the Post, and then, according to the Comptrol- ler’s reasoning, it would have obtained th: award. But as it ic, being thirteen times -: valuable as the Post, as a vehicle of publicity. Mr. Flagg ruled it out on account of its great cir- culation. He had the unparalleled impudence to write over his owa signature that 40,000 ad- vertisements printed and distributed for eigh: cents a line were dearer than .3,000 advertise- ments printed and distributed at 1 3-4c. a liue, or in other words that two mills were a larger sum than two mills and a half. Driven to bay by the uproar created by this aucacious endeavor to gratify his private spleen, Mr. Flagg now shifts his ground, and urges fresh excuses for his cosduct, through the medium of the Journal of Commerce. He says that “suspicion at once attaches to the statemect of the Heraxp of its city circulation. Much of it, sold at its counter, finds its way immediately through express and steamboat lines to distant parts of the country; and yet it is present:d, but improperly, as city circa- lation.” We are surprised that a respectable paper like the Journal of Commerce should lend it- self to the propagation of such scandalous im- putations as these. Personally it is impossible that we can have any accurate knowledge of the city circulation of the Heraip: but the persons who made the affidavits have ample means of ascertaining what that circulation is, avd their character, we will take leave to say, is full as good snd their oath as worthy of reli- ance as those of Mr. Flagg himself, or the edi- tors of the Journal of Commerce. It is be- neath a respectable journal to eeek to gain pri- vate ends by casting calumnious aspersions of honorable men. If the Journal of Commerce cannot defend its friend Flagg without insinu. ating that the rest of the world are addicted to perjury, it had better let bim alone, or at all events it should wait until the individuals it maligns have been openly charged with false oaths in print over the signature of a responsi- ble man, and no prosecution has followed. The quibble as to the distribution of the city Heratps by express and steamboat lines is worthy of the author of the Comptroller’s report The circulation stated in the affidavit to the Comptroller is exclusive of the papers we send by mail and to distant sgents; what becomes of those we sell over our counter neither we nor any one else can tell. The presump tion is that a large proportion thereof, after being read in the city, are sent by mail or other conveyance to friends of the subscribers in the country; but to argue that thereby our city circulation is diminished is ridiculous. Our employés have sworn in com- pliance with the law; to go beyond that is neither the province of Mr. Flagg nor of the Journal of Commerce. There is, more in the article in question about Americans “blushing” for the Hrratp—our “upholding licentiousness and corruption,” “using our whole power to degrade the morals of the community,’ and so forth. Our excel- Jent cotemporary is behind the age. All this, and much more of the like tenor. used to be said commonly enough before the Herat attained its present position, and while it had rivals; but now that we think we may say it has passed the point when serions rivalry was feasible, everybody but very old fogies has ceased to think it necessary to abuse us, Mr. Flagg must brush up; we are near 1855, Then as to “np- holding licentiousnees and corruption,” if the Journal of Commerce or any other paper had fought a quarter as fiercely against corruption were concoctivg schemes not very | Ostend. league-sit is the Jast hope of Pietoe,:|of all <orts.ss we have, it would have more ene- , | gpd the iret hope of Buchanag, The late elec mies and more subscribers than it now counts, erent OOO EE Itis possible, as the Journal hints. that the Common Council may reject Flagz’s report. But if they do s», affection for us will hive no share in their motives. If we have been their friends, where in the name cf gogdness are their enemies? There is one suggestion in the Journal in which we entirely concur. It says:— saying ive'or seven papers ia thal edopted at. Wash; ive or teven. TS, a d at a Tagvon and by every Stake in the Union, to hava a 8 ngle paper employes in this service—on the agreement that a sufficient number of copies of the city advertiements shall be furnished to each department, to be odtxined by any citizen. This course will diminish the expense, produce fair competition on the part of the press, and prevent the combinations and arrangements now made, aud more than all, the corruption to which the present measure will give rise. Undoubtedly. The city should act just as any private individual does, and endeavor to obtain the greatest publicity at the smallest ex- penee. For ourselves we care not whether the Corporation advertisements appear in our columns or not: in a business light, they would be no advantage; and they would consume space which we can employ more profitably. We had far rather resign all claim to them thaa see the city mulcted in a hundred thou- sand a year for advertisements in five journals two of which are in a foreign language. But to see the whole Corporation patronage used as ® tool in the hands of Flagg to gratify his pri- vate pique, and reward bis personal friends, we shall never submit; and, if we know the pub- lic, it shall not be done, Santa Anna Turvep SLavepeaLer.—If any- thing were wanting to complete the despicable portrait presented to us by the man who, at present, exercises so fatakan influence over the destinies of Mexico, it vould be found in our correspondence of to-day. A letter which we publish from a well informed correspondent in the Mexican capital gives the finishing touch to a character which nothing but the last extreme ef political and social demoralization could have brought prominently upon the scene, Various as have been the aspects under which the present ruler of Mexico has appeared to us, in the many desperate shifts to which he has been reduced by his own incapacity and want of principle, we have seen nothing as yet which equals in cold blooded inhumanity and atrocity the villanous part ascribed to him in the com- munication to which we refer. The statement of our correspondent amounts to this—that for the paltry consideration of $20,000 General Santa Anna has authorised his former aid-de- camp, Col. Jimenez, to proceed to Yucatan to wage war against the Indians of that State for the purpose of making captives, who are to be sold at the rate of fifteen dollars a head to Messrs. Goicuria & Co., a Spanish firm at Ha- vana, for a term of years. It is needless to say that the object of this compact is to sup- ply the deficiency of slave Jabor in the island, caused by the compliance of the Spanish gov- ernment with the requirements of Great Britain end France as to the suppression of the traffic. Once introduced into Cuba, under cover of this forced apprenticeship, these unfortunate Indians will be immediately re-sold to the planters, and like the Bolzss and Emancipados, will be re- duced toa condition infinitely worse than that of the recognized slave. As to the recovery of their freedom at the end of the stipulated term, they have as little chance of it as the miscalled free laborers who have either under the appren- ticeship system voluntarily delivered them- selves into bondage, or been brought withia the operation of the foolish measures by which twaddling philanthropists have endeavored to mitigate what they call the evils of slavery. Without entering, however, into the discussion of these questions, there can, we think, be but one opinion as to the cupidity and wickedness ol this proceeding on the part of the Mexican Dictator . espasian once asked if the coia wrung from an odious tax smelt of its origia. We can tell Santa Anna that wealth thus ac- quired will stink iv the nostrils of humanity. Kossutn anp OTuer Rerugzes.—We have not filled our columns with the speech recently delivered by M. Kossuth, at St. Martin’s Hall, Long-asre, London; partly because other mat- ters of more pressing interest required the space, and partly becauee we see no sound pur- pose to be gained by disseminating the senti- ments of the Hungarian exile. It is easy enough for M. Kossuth or any one else, seated quietly by a fireside at home, to criticise the move- mente of the allies and to argue on paper or ina speech that they have gone to one place when they should have gone to another, and that they have done what they ought not to have done, and that they have neglected the things which tbe interest of Europe and the war required them to do. Centuries ago, the old poet told us that criticism was easy, art difficult. Hence, when a man undertakes to criticise the acts of another, he is only entitled toa hearing on one of two grounds, either be- cause he says things which are obviously true, or because, the truth of his assertions being less apparent at first sight, the character of the critic investsthem with a show of plausibility. Now the reasoning of M. Kossuth is not obvi- ously true. The aliies have certainly failed hitherto at Sebastopol; but on what grounds are there any reasons for supposing they would have succeeded better elsewhere? Sir Charles Napier had a fair trial in the Baltic, and cam back without having done anything. As toa descent on Poland, in the first place, it could not be made without an invasion of the territories of Prussia, which was not to be thought of, and secondly, Russia had, besides a garrison of 100,000 men or thereabouts in the cities, an army of 300,000 men on the watch on the tron- tier. The allies have never been able to muster over 110,000 men; what could they have done against a force four times their own strength, and fighting om a home base, sur- rounded by every munition of war, and receiv-~ ing reinforeements whenever required? M. Kossuth’s criticism is clearly not one of those where accuracy strikes the mind at first sight. Next as to the character of the critic. There was a time, not many years ago, when Louis Kossuth had a chance of testing his ability as a general. He was then the leader of a large and powerful nation in arms against an oppressive government: he had right on his side, the sym- pathies of all Europe except Russia, aud a strong and staunch army. In the ranks of his enemies were many who, had the war been con- ducted with skill, would have joined the rebel cause, Viena was fresh from insurrection, and Italy only waited a blow to be struck to rise and operate a diversion in favor. of Hun- gary. Yet with all these advantages, thissame Louis Kossuth, who now upbraids England and the allied generals with what he calls their blunders, could hardly hold out a few mon ths, and finally fled from bis country inte the arms of the Turks. Surely this is not the sort of man eriticism with valu, Ifhe kgows what should be done 9 much better than Lord Raglan and Canrobert, not to speak of Lord Aberdeen and Napoleon, why did he fail so ingloriously himself? Why did he not use a little of his super-eminent science and rkill to eave Hungary? A man may fail, and be none the less capable on account thereof. The most successful men bave been at times on the brink of ruin : Louis Napoleon could not pay for his wa-hing. Bat if in such cases the world generously consents to make allowance for misfortune, and acquits such men of want of ability, it has a right to expect that they will not presume on its good nature to speak and act as though perfect triumph bad crowned their endeavors, An author who having published a bad novei would at once set about showing that neither Mitchell nor Hawthorne nor Melville knew any- tning of nove) writing, and that their books de- served not to sell, would be likely to meet with severe and merited castigation. Just so with M. Kossuth, Mazzini, Ledru Rollin and the other exiles. They ali had their chance—in some cases a fair-and promising one—but not one out ef the number had the tact or the sense or the prudence to maintain himself. Common decency should remind them of this, when they feel impelled to cavil at the acts of others. It is quite likely that the expedition to the Crimea may prove a total failure; and that, as Kossuth says, not ope in five of the men sent out will return to his home. But could any one have done better? Would the allies have met any different reception anywhere elee—at Riga or Cronstadt for instance? Is it not plain to demonstration that, as was the case in our owo war, the extent of the Russian territory, its distance from Western Europe, and the nature of the climate will alone defeat every invasion’ Our New Acquisition of the Galapagos Islaniis Another Dead Bargain for our Spare Mil- lions. Galphin was a mere private, and Schuyler hardly a brevet above corporal in the spoils divi- sion of sappers and miners. It requires a general to push the trenches under and into the walls of the citadel, and General Pierce, the rumor is, has eclipsed them all in doing the clean thing at a single bound. Three millions, the story goes, are to be paid by a recent treaty, for the Archipelago of Ga- lapagos, an arid pile of rocks and lava, radi- ating from about 30 minutes south latitude and 72 or 73 west longitude, embracing some two degrees of latitude and five of longitude, and distant seme six or seven hundred miles from the Pacific shore of the Western continent. Plenty of fish, few and rare animals, tolerable harbors, more Spanish convicts, a scarcity of fresh water, showers few and far between, tall rocks in the middle and deep ocean outside—all for three millions of dollars! Cheap as dirt? No; there is not even dirt enough to form a soil; and the dirty convicts, the only types of humanity in the group, would not be entitled to vote the administration ticket under our penal statutes. Cheap as rocks and lava—cheaper than the Galphin dead horse stock, and far cheaper than Schuyler’s certificates of no stock at all! The public treasury is uneasy under the weight of specie, and it must be relieved. Needy and seedy agents, politicians, haagers on and gentlemanly friends, need funds for their board bill, or will be compelled to seek new quarters in this inclement season. Ecuador will gladly accept of one-tenth part of the sum The Ecuadorian Minister, Gen. Vilamil, is said to hold the fee of the finest pile in the group of rocks, and has keen anxious for some time to exchange it fora pocket full of dollars. He willaccept of one-tenth, and the remaining eight-tenths, $2,400,000, divided among the outsiders, will buy them warm clothes, good dinners and bad wine until some new “ Pilli- coddy turns up with barnacles” to resuscitate the adage concerning “a fool and his money.” It is said that the purchase is prompted by the discovery of rich deposits of guano on one or more islands in the group. The value of the guano to the farming interest, it is rumored, will more than compensate the country for the three millions of dollars. The mountains, hitherto supposed to be rock® and lava, may prove to be guano; but the fa- cetious Darwin, a careful and generally accu- rate writer, says the sea fowl do not inhabit these islands ; and, as fish are not in the habit ot climbing dry rocks to deposit their bones, we are at a loss to account for the origin ot guano at the Galapagos. If every square or cubic mile inthe group should prove to be guano, the lack of rain described by all who visit the group, would warrant the concl usion that like the deposit on the Chincha Islands, a few degrees south, the accumulation of ammonia, poisonous alike to plants and animals, would ren- der useless the small remaining amount of phos- phates that constitute the chief value as ao manure in guano of any kind. Ammonia must accumulate in guano deposits, unless there is sufficient rain or moisture to evaporate or wash it away. Men of science say we cannot increase the fertility of our fields by a supply of ammonia or by nitrogen. We need only the phosphates of the fish bones; and when the phosphates are encumbered with over fifty per cent of nitrogenized and ammoniacal matter a8 in the rainless districts of the Chinchas and other islands, they are poisons instead of ma nares to vegetation. Ammoniacal guanos, such as must occur on the Galapagos, if guano exists there at all, have ceased to be of any value where science and correct practice have obeerved their effectsand counted the cost. The markets are well supplied with a much superior quality of clean phospate from rainy districts, where showers have washed and car- ried off the poisonous ammonia. The Peru- vian government, by a system of cheap certifi- cates, such as are used in the sale of patent medicines, have sold large quantities of the ammoniacal guano. But it has been used most- ly for experiment, and is not likely to be fur- ther employed where its pernicious effects are known. The Cabinet have been gulled by the selling agents certificates concerning the ammoniacal guano, and have busied themselves in nego- tiating with Peru for the Chincha Island trade; and failing in that, they have no doubt con- cluded to set up for themselves in the Galapa- gos rock trade. They need not be in a hurry. When the poisonous properties of the ammo- niacal guano become generally known, as they must before the close of the present administra- tion, its sale must cease, and then they may buy the Chinchs Islands for one-tenth part of the three millions of dollars. If the Galapagos rocks should prove to be guano, phosphatic, washed and purified from poisonous ammonia, how could the government aid agriculture with cheap manure, when, as the story goes, the treaty is for sovereignty only, and when, as is probable, the fee 40 every foot of sock will have previously passed to sub- negotiators of the treaty, who will of course’ contro} the price of their own lays, whether retailed to agriculturists as manure, or to the goverpment ss a substitute for marble for the extension of the Capitol ? Tux Last or Mn. Mrrcnet.—We regret to learn that Mr. Mitchel, from various causes, has abandoned the newspaper he founded some time since in this city. In doing so he complains, we understand, that less liberty is enjoyed here than he expected: having himself lost thousands of subscribers by wishing for a plan- tation in Alabama, and nearly as many by his controversy with Archbishop Hughes. We submit that Mr. Mitchel misapprehends the subject of liberty. He is free, as every one else is, to say that he would like to drive niggers on a plantation; likewise to flagellate ‘rchbishops, as and how he pleases, But the liberty is not all on one side. The public is free on theirs to buy the newspapers they like best. They are not bound to spend their money as Mr. Mitchell pleases, any more than he is bound to weite the articles they please: both parties are free agents, and neither has a right to complain if in the exercise of this ma- tual liberty they do not suit each ether. We have usually held a tolerably plain course in regard to slavery, though we have not sighed for Southern plantations or an overseer’s whip; but the public have not withdrawn their sab- scriptions from us in consequence. We also have repped Archbishop Hughes pretty severe-, ty Over the knuckles when he went to Carroll! Hall, or exceeded the proper limits of his au- thority in other ways; but his Grace’s parishe ioners did not think it necessary to “stop their- HERALD” as they ‘‘ stopped their Citizen.” In. retirement, Mr. Mitchell may learn tact. Progress or THE New Party.—Itisstartling to see the strides which the Know Nothings are making towards power and popularity. The telegraph has been constantly occupied for the past year in recording Know Nothing victories; other evidences of the wide spread success of the doctrines are found in the tone of the press. The following are a few of the journals in our exchange list which are favorable to the new party:— Name. Oourier and Enquirer. Express... Sentine! ublica: Grlenbuiae MARYLAND. Baltimore. American., Reporter, Chronicle. ‘TannrroRY. «+ Kickapoo City. Temembered that among other de- viations from the conventional policy of politi= cal parties under the old system, the Know No- things have not employed newspaper organs to puff them, or to disseminate their doctrines among the people. They have left them to work their own way, and relied on the good sense of the masses and the independent press to promulgate them. The net result will be seen more completely than people suspect, a few months hence. Tae Cazyeav Misston to Saint Dommvao.— We print to-day, two interesting, and, if true, very important letters, from Saint Domingo It seems that the fruits ot the Caznesu mission are nearly ripe, but that there will be some trouble about plucking them. Why not buy sr Hayti, Soulouque, the crown jewels and 1? _—_—ee THE LATEST NEWS. BY MAGNETIC AND PRINTING TELEGRAPHS, Non-Arrival of the Adiantic. Sanvy Hoon, Dec. 28—10 P. M. We have no tidings of the steamer Atlantic, now in her thirteenth day from Liverpool. The fog continues very dense, except at intervals, when it lightens up for afew moments. The wind is very high from the N.N.E. Sanpy Hoox—12 0’Clock. We hear nothing of the steamship Atlantic up to this hour, The weather continues thick and foggy. ington. HIGHLY INTERESTING AND SIGNIFICANT INSIDE D13- CLOSURES, CABINET AND DIPLOMATIC, UPON THE OSTEND LEAGUE AND THE CUBA QUESTION—PROBA- BLE WAR POLICY—FORTHOOMING EXTRA MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT, ETO. Wasutraton, Dec, 28, 1854, Thasten to communicate to the Hxnaup the following curious and highly important disclosures in relation to the official movements of Soulé since his return to Mad- rid, the inside history of the Ostend Convention, the final submission of Marcy to the war policy of that Con- vention, and the last card which the administration iz about to play to regain the sympathies of the American An official letter has been recefved from Mr. Soulé, in which that gentleman tells of his several interviews, since his return to Madrid, with the chief officer of her Catholic Majesty’s government, on the subject of Cuba, but which met with no favor from that fanctionary, fur- ther than that the suggestions should be placed before his colleagues. The next day this wan followed up by s demand for another interview with Espartero by Mr. Soulé. This could not be given, as the home affairs of Spain would require for some time to come the undivided attention of the Ministry, Ear- ly that afternoon Espartero was seen in ® calache with a fashionable lady of Madrid, some milesfontside of the city, Again an interview was asked for, relative to: the Black Warrior affair, but with ne better success. Mr. Soulé now asks from our government definite instruc- tions in the matter. A majority of the Cabinet is in fa~ vor of an immediate negotiation for the purchase of Cuba, with Cushing as the champion. It is stated, also, to me, that a regular confidentia? correspondence bas, for some time past, been going om between Cushing and Soulé ; that the exhibition of the letters from Cushing was made at Ostend ; that copies of “We aie’ before this had been sent by him (Soulé) to Byobanan apd Mason; also a4 confidential, that there let-