The New York Herald Newspaper, March 12, 1855, Page 4

556 — NEW YORK HERALD. —_—_———- JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR AND EDITOR. QFFICE N. W. CORNER OF NASSAU AND FULTON STS. AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth streot.—Lvora pr Dasxermoon. BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway—Tuc Wire—Tas Buenre Brine. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery—Ros Rov—l02—Woor Dzaren. BURTON'S THEATRE, Chambers street—Acc RAVATING Bam—Biack Swan—Wanpenino MrnsrRet. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway—Jouy Butt—Tax Peacnzn Tavenr, AMERICAN MUSEUM—Afternoon—Hor Conx—owa- ov’s Come. Evening—Hongary, rue Bast Poricy—Tue Bours Bxvpep Room. WOOD'S MINSTRELS, Mechanics’ Hall—472 Broadway. BUCKLEY'S OPERA HOUSE, 589 Brondway—Bucx- aaev’s Ermoriay Orena Trovre, PERHAW’S BURLESQUE OPERA HOUSE, 663 Brond- way—Erniorian PERPORMANCLS, MMPIRE HALL, 596 Broadway—Panonama or Evnorx. New York, Monday, March 12, 1855. To Advertisers. ‘The prensure of advertisements created by the demands ef the spring trade, necessitates a greater stringency in eur effice regulations as to the latest period of their re- eeption. Of our present average of advertisements, ap- close to a thousand per day, the greater por- @en does not reach us before « late hour of the evening. Ber the future, if the pressure continues, we shall be ‘gempelled to postpone to the following day the publica- Mon of all advertisements which are not delivered before P.M. By adhering to this role our getting to press swift be much facilitated, and our readers enabled to ro- @etve their paper at an earlier hour of the morning. Malls for Burepe. ‘SHE NEW YORK HERALD—EDITION FOR EUROPE, ‘Me Cunard mail steamship Canada, Capt. Stone, will Beave Boston on Wednesday; at 12 o’clock, for Liverpool. ‘The European mails will close in this city at a quarter eo two o’elock to-morrow afternoen. ‘The Henaxp (printed in English and French) will be ‘Woblished at ten o’clock in the morning. Single copies & wrappers, sixpence. iptions and advertisements for any edition of ‘She New Yorx Henaxp will be received at the following Races in Eurepe:— Savenpoon,. John Hunter, No. 2 Paradise street. oxpon. Edwards, Sandford & Co., No. 17 Cornhill. 'm. Thomas & Co., No. 19 Catharine street. Panw.,.... Livingston, Wells & Co., 8 Place de la Bourse The contents of the Kuropean edition of the Hmmarp ‘will embrace the news received by mail and telegraph at ‘te office during the previous week, and to the hour of yadlication. News for the Pacific. “hai rtedmally Blab ot Hoe Wort, canrase 221m ‘Mave this poxt thI5 afternoon, at 3 o’clock, for Punta Amsnas. 2 ‘The New Yoru Heratp—California edition—contain- fing all the latest news by mail and telegraph from all parts of tho world, will be published at eleven o’clock ‘Mie morning. Agents will please send in their orders a0 early as possible. The News. No signs of the Pacific up to two o'clock this Morning. A graphic acodunt of the obsequies of Bill Poole ‘W given in to-day’s paper. Our Rio Janciro correspondent alludes to the mis- ag slo>p-of-war Decatur. The steamer Massachu. gotts and the Decatur left Rio in company, bound for ‘the Pacific, and when a few days from port encoun- fered terrific gale, which so disabled the former feet she pat back for repairs. It was understood ‘when the vessels left that if they were separated, ee one which should reach the Straite of Magelian ‘rst should wait for the other. There isa proba Ailisy, therefore, that the Deestur may have survived ‘be siorm, reached the Straita in safety, and awaited ‘he arrival of the steamer to tow her through to the Pacific. ‘We publish in another column the reply of Liew tenant Governor Raymond tothe letter of Mayor ‘Wood, removstrating against the passage of the bil! Mereasing the number and enlarging the powerso ‘tbe Board of Commissioners of Police, now in th> Bards of a committee of the Legielatare. Mr. Ray- mond has not studied attentively the provisions of ‘Me bill in question, but he bas carefally weigaed ‘the objections of the Mayor to its enactment, and ‘the result appears to be, simply, that just in pro, portion to the opposition of Wood, the democrat- azises the support of Raymond, the whig. The Mayor ig not inclined to make a paggy machine of the police force, but the Lieutenant Governor has serious misgivings that some of Mr. Wood’s sno: ‘eomors in office may do #0. In fact, the so-called Zeply is a melange of specious trivialities, charac- teristic of their author. Let the Mayor, now that ‘e members of the Legislature are in town, address himself personally to them on the subject of gra- $aitous legislation for the city in general, snd the police bill in particular. Last night a number of the members of the L3- gialature arrived in the city from Albany, and were Dilletted at the Astor House as the guests of the ‘Ten Governors. Another detachment will arrive to @ey, when the cfficial welcome will take place. The gubernatorial functionaries have completed the pro. gramme of entertainments, and it does not differ materially from that of previous years, except, per- haps, the addition of a trip to Staten Island, to view the Quarantine hospital, which isa new feature in the amusements. The North river is reported open as far as Cox: eackie. All that is wanted Is au old fashioned equi- wmooctial gale to break up the ice and open navigation. ‘This event always infuses fresh vigor throughout the city, the State, and consequently the entire eountry. A brisk business season is anticipated, ‘nd extensive preparations have been made to ‘weet it. ‘We would direct attention to the letters of our ‘Washington correspondents, They are very inter- Beating. Old Nasean Hall, at Princeton, N. J., was entirely @estroyed by fire on Saturday night, together with the books, clothing, and furnitare of the students. ‘The gallery of pictures, however, a choive ard valuable collection, was rescued. The loss is estimated at fifty thousand dollars,on which there ia insurance of sixteen thousand. Nassau Hall, #0 called in honor of the Prince of Orange, formed the principal building of the New Jetsey or Princeton College, founded in 1738, an institution bas maintained the highest rank among our seats of learning, and between which and Yale and Harvard colleges there has existed a generous emulation. It has ever been popular with th» Bouth, and numbered among its graduates Thomas Jefferson, John C. Calhoun, and a host of others who have shone conspicuously in every department of intellectual effort. ‘The argument in the ease of the contempt of the Marine Court, published in the Daily Times on the 16th of February, was concluded, before Judge ‘McCarthy, on Saturday, by Mr. Busteed, counsel for the reporter. The decision of the Court is re. swerved. We bave received late advices from the Brazile. Our correepondent, witing from Rio Jansiro on ‘the 11th of February, gives an interesting summary of commercial and marine intelligence. His letter ‘will be tound in another column. ‘The term of the Urited States Supreme Court @lored on Saturday, after a session of niaety seven Gays. Seventy-cight cares have been disposed of. ‘The Sardinian frigate Des Geneys, from Genos, ‘hat has been lying at Qosrantine for ssveral daya, ‘Was towed up yesterday by the steamtug Achilles, ‘and anchored in the North river. We learn with deep regret that our este»med fel- tow citizen, Coptain Samuel C. Reid, who formerly eommanded the private armed br ep, Armstrong, ds iyitg dangerously ill, and that bis regovery is oonsidered yery dountfal, er, Wi) NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1855. We pubvish to-day the contents of a pamphlet emanating from the Know Nothings of this city, Council No. 12, Fifteenth ward, explana- tory of their political principles and purposes &s members of the new and great national American party. In the argament of this manifesto, and in the resolutions appended, it will be seen that this American platform of Council! No. 12, is sab- stantially the p/atform recently laid down by George Law, in his letter to the new party of the Penneylvania Legislature. Here the Know Nothings declare eubstantially, that a new epoch is upon us, and that they have entered the field to provide for its necessities, in the in- troduction of a new order of things in the poli- ties and the government of the country. To this end they propose to abolish and su- persede the electioneering corruptions of the old political parties—their rum and rowdyism, and their system of trafficking with the foreiga elements of our population, and all the little out- side tactions of the day. They purpose to intro- duce a purely American policy, in order to root out those balances of political power in our elec- tions known as Roman Catholics, Irishmen, Ger- mans, and so-forth, They propose to make the federal constitution their guide upoa national affairs, and to adhere faithfully to the Union, State righte, and the liberty of individual opi- nion. They make no war upon any religion; but they are pledged to put down the interfe- rence of the Catholic or any other church, or of the clergy of this or any other chureh, in State or political affairs. They say that all churches must be reduced to the same level, of non-intervention in politics. They also insist upon the Bible as @ proper book for the use of our common ¢chools, This Council No, 12 also advocates a liberal system of improvements of our rivers aud har- bors by the federal government—they advo- cate the independence of Congress over all sec- tional agitations—the total abolition of the spoils system of the old parties, especially as illustrated by the present administration; they urge, in view of the mighty swarms of Euro- pean emigrants now pouring in upon us, some material modifications of the naturalization laws; and, upon the whole, at home and abroad they are in favor of “America being governed by Americans.” 5 Tt atviteas or 6 _. ....aus U8, though this isa decidedly re- yolutionary programme, that there is nothing very sanguinary about it. Thisew American party, in fact, so lately risen from the chaos and effervescence of the old parties, is begin- ning to assume a symmetrical and consistent shape, as a great progressive national Ameri- can party. Before the expiration of another year, we have no doubt that its political prin- ciples for the campaign of 1856, in every hole and corner of the Union, will be as clearly un- derstood as the popular strength of the party. In the meantime, this new American organ- ization, this spontaneous popular reaction, is multiplying its forces upon every side. Dur- ing the last year, from Maine to New Orleans, and from Virginia to San Francisco, the Kaow Nothings developed a power at the polls per- fectly astounding to the old parties and fuc- tions, At the last fall elections in Massa- chusetts, they polled upwards of eighty thou- sand votes; in New York, upon the spur of the moment, one hundred and twenty-two thou- sand votes; in Pennsylvania upwards of ,one hundred and twenty thousand votes; while their tremendous balance of power thrown against the administration in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Towa, and Wisconsin, has literally left the Cabinet and their spoilsmen without a North—or, in the choice language of Caleb Cushing, completely “ crushed out.” We suppose that at this day the new Amori- can party could command a majority of the popular vote over all other parties and factions combined, old and new. We believe it, from the returns of nearly a thousand Councils in the State. We presume that they have been making a corresponding progress in the States around us. No such advances as these could be made among the intelligent American masses, except upon a sound Union and constitutional platform, such, for instance, as that of George Law, and the present manifesto. From this day to the last of next November, in State elections, the battle will be between this new American party and the combined odds and ends of the old parties and factions, The re- organization of parties is rapidly narrowing down to this arrangement. In New Hampshire the case is somewhat different. There they have four tickets in the field—the Know Nothing, the administration, the whig and the free soil tickets. But even there the fight is between the Know Nothings and the administration as the last vestige of the old order of things. The result, we apprehend, will prove it, very much to the prejudice of Mr. Pierce. The New Hampshire election comes off to- morrow. Mark theresult. It is the beginning of the new series of 1855, which is to deveiope, far and wide, the irresistible progress of the Know Nothings. Virginia will follow towards the end of May. If the Gibraltar of the spoils democracy in the North should be taken to- morrow, which is very likely, we may look out for the capitulation of their Sebastopol in Vir- ginia as the next sacrifice, together with all their Southern capital and arms and munitions of war. Such are the signs of the times, Foyeran or Bri Poo.e—Diseasen Pusurc Senrrent.—To see the fuss and noise that is making about the death of the late Poole, one might suppose that he had been a patriot, a useful citizen, a man to be proud of. Instead whereof, as every one knows, he was one of a set of ruffians who have cursed this city for many years; and met his death at the hands of another ruffian ina drunken frolic. Yetcrowds assemble to see him buried. Meetings are held to express sympathy for him; and the news. papers are full of news ot what he said and what he did, and what the other members of the ruffian band do or say. There is here grave cause for shame and sorrow. Pablic sentiment must be deeply diseased when the death of a man like Poole can create such a reneation, and the attendant circumstances awaken such an interest as to compel the press to minister largely to it. of us to feel deep burning shame for what is going on around us. The cause, however, is not bere or there, It must be sought in the okt political parties—in the conciliables of the whigs, and the nightly conclaves of the democrats—where men of the clase of those who mordered Bill Poole were tanght their power, and egged on to commit by wholesale acts such ag that which cost him his life, We ought every one ‘The Tariff, the Currency, and Trad, Then began the contest between the United The history of tis country records no great- | States Bank and the State Banks for public er folly than that which has been exemplified | favor; each endeavoring to make as many in the tariff contests. For nearly forty years, | friends as possible by discounting as largely American politicians have been divided into two partizs, Protectionists and Free Traders, each a}using each other with the utmost viru- lence, and each claiming that nothing short of the thorough adoption of its peculiar doctrines conid save the country. All this while, the fet has been that the country—which was to be saved—cared little or nothing about the ta- riff; was most slenderly interested in its provi- sions; and would have got on equally well aa- der either school of political economists. When this has been said—as it has occasionally—poli- ticians have scouted the idea, and called atten- ticn to the vital importance of the tariff contest in Great Britain; inferring of course that it ‘was equally momentous here, and forgetting or choosing to overlook the notable fact that ta England free trade meant cheap bread, where- as here its warmest adherents could only claim that it was a judicious commercial system with- out particular hold on public sympathy. Inu the one country, every man felt himself directly concerned in its attainment; in the other, it was oaly by a process of abstract reasouing that its advantage couid be explained, and by an indirect and barely perceptibie change in values that its working could be felt. Yet Politiciaus, on the one side as well as the other, have striven might and main to make it appear that the people’s welfare depended upon a cor- rect choice between the two systems; aud have actually succeeded in persuading several thou- sand intelligent creatures that such was the care, This is 2 fallacy worth exploding, and a very hasty glance at past history will doit. From the acknowledgement of v%¢ independence of the United States to the breaSing out of the war in 1812, Europe supplied this (@U8try with manufactures. Noone audibly objec. dle arrangement which seemed to consist of a “it exchange of raw produce on the one side for Taanufactured goods on the other. Before the war broke out, the commercial quar rels in which the United States were in- volved had given an impetus to home mannfac- tures; we find the customs dutics falling from $16,000,000 in 1808, to seven and eight millions in following years and finally to $5,000,000 and $7,000,000 in 1814 and 1815, and of course the consumption being if any- thing increased during the same period, the dif- ference was supplied by the factories in the States. In 1816, after peace had been declared, arueh of foreign manufactures took place, no lees than $36,000,000 being paid for duties that year. In terror and ruin, the manufacturers hastened to Washington to implore relief, or, as they called it, protection against these fo- reign importations. It was askiog the country to put its hand in its pocket and pay s0 much to Peter and Paul, because Peter and Paul were likely to do a bad business. But the Fourteenth Congress found affairs io a shocking condition all over the country in consequence of the war. Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Lowndes and many others agreed to do what they could to relieve the manufacturers and traders, and for their accommodation, a tolera- bly high tariff was passed, and a nation) bank established. The former did not attain its ob- ject, of course, no protective tariff ever did; and the bank affording facilities to merchants, the importations continued to be large, and in 1818 and 1819, financial revulsion was the consequence. Again the manufacturers and merchants ran to Congress for help, and Monroe, who, in 1820, was about entering on his second Presidential term, espoused their views warmly. He was elected; but when Congress came to legislate on the prevail- ing commercial distress, it was found that the free traders—as they began to be ca!led— from New England and elsewhere were in a ma- jority. Mr. Clay aod other politicians who had their fortunes to make took up the question of protection to home manu‘actures with great zeal, and an active agitation was kept up throughout the country. And though under the act of 1816 the importations had fallen off from $36,000,000 in tha’ year to $13,000,000 in 1821 and $17,000,000 in 1822, in consequence of the prevailing financial embarrassments, thus proving if anything could be proved, that it wasnot because the tariff was tuo low that business did not thrive, Mr. Clay suc- ceeded early in 1824 in carrying his protective tariff, in opposition to Webster and the New Englaud men. The depression of 1818-9 being over, busi- ness began to revive, and the revenue from im- ports again increased in 1826 to over $23,000, 000. Tbe manufacturers of course claimed that they bad not protection enough, and in January, 1827, they soon brought forward a bill to raise the rates of duty still higher. It was defeated in the Senate by the casting vote of John C. Calhoun, and a temporary stringency in the money market reduced the imports that year. By this time, interests had undergone some change. Manufactures had been established in New England whore citizens therefore became high tariff men; while the Southern States went, as they said, for free trade, that is, a low tariff. In 1828, the mercantile com- munity having recovered from the embar- rasement of the year previous, the imports kept up, the customs duties in that year being as high as in 1826. Again the manufacturers, who bad thoroughly enlisted the support of the Northern and Eastern States, demanded more protection, and got it. But, strange to ray though the act of 1828 was so oppressive as nearly te rouse a rebellion in the South, in tour years after its passage, the revenue from duties was bigher than ever. Jackson’s election was claimed as a triamph by the free traders, who instantly began to attack the tariff in detail, The duties on tea, coffee, salt, and molasses were reduced at the first session of Congress onder his administra tion. But it was not till 1832 that Joho Quiney Adams reported bis bill redacing the tariff throughout. This tariff, which became a law in July of that year, etill affirmed the principle of protection while it reduced the duties levied on all articles not competing with American in- dustry. It dissatisfied every one, however, and Mr. Clay proposed a compromise bill which provided for a gradual diminution of the duties during a period of ten years to a ani- form standard of twenty per cent on a home valuation. It passed Congress by a «mall ma- joriy, and became a law in March, 1833. Lt wae to take effect on aud after 21st December, 1£53. Lefore it did £0, President Jackson removed 8s and more largely than its means would allow, From the beginning of 1834 te the end of 1836, when the contest was determined in favor of the State banks, the bank loans and discounts rose from $324,000,000 to $457,000,000 ; and as a matter of course the imports of foreign goods rose at the same time from $126,000,000 to nearly $190,000,000. This movement received astill greater impetus when the deposits were lodged in the State banks, thus giving them a semblance of financial strength, and tempting them to enlarge their line of discounts. In the year 1837, they reached the enormous amount of $525,000,000 ; but also in that year, all the New York city banks suspended pay- ment, and most of the financial institutions of the country followed the example. The crisis was hastened by the specie circular requiring debtors to the general goverament to pay in coin instead of paper. But the expansion of the four last years had rendered @ crash inevi- table. The revulsion operated directly on the im- ports. In 1836 they had nearly reached $190,000,000, The year 1837 began on a still more extensive scale ; but the revulsion put a stop to the purchases on this side, and for the whole year the imports were only about $141,- 000,000, Matters went on in the same way for several years. The banks contracted their dis- counts, the imports grew less and less. Presi- dent Tyler vetoed the Bank bill, and the Bank. rupt law was passed; but no change took place, It might have-been supposed that the per- fect parallelism which had been maintained for years between the bank issues and the imports— while the latter had fluctuated quite indepen- dently of the tariff, often rising when the lat- ter was high, and falling when it was lower—it might have been supposed that this would have ccavinced the people that alterations in the tarifr “were not the remedies for periods of com- mercial a. "tes But Mr. Clay and others, “sal objeess to serve, kept the who had politic. word Protection coi ‘ently be! pore the rape eye, and men who were _ fering eagerly caught at the straw of comfort. The* manufacturers of course were as eager as ever tov Se their fel- low-countrymen tax the mrelves for tho benefit. Accordingly in 1842, Mr. Clay’s comp Wise tariff having eerved its ten years, and the ave” rage duty on foreign imports being twenty per, cent, Mr. Tyler signed a new tariff avowedly in order to afford protection to American man- ufactures. The first year of the new tariff witnessed a great falling off in the imports, which fell to $64,753,799. But the very next year ushered in an improvement, and by its close the imports were larger than in the last year of Olay’s compromise tariff. If anything could have convinced the Tariff men of the utter folly of their principles, it was this. The country understood the mat- ter plainly enough by this time, and one of the first acts of the new democratic President, James K. Polk, was to advise Congress to enact a new tariff, reducing the rates of duty. The Pennsylvanians and the Lowell and other manu- facturing men set up a dismal howling at being placed on therame footing as farmers, lawyers, tailors and carpenters; but the President was firm, Congress was clear, Robert J. Walker was prompt, and the new tariff was passed in 1846 It has lasted till now, and not tle iéast of the ludicrous blunders to which it has given rise has been the notion studiously circulated by the protectionists that it was airee trade tariff the fact being, as every one who chooses to ex- amine it will perceive, that it is calculated in ordinary times to give the government asurplas of from five to ten millions per annum, chiefly made up by taxing foreign goods in order to keep up the price of native manufactures. Twen- ty-five per cent, or five per cent higher than Clay’s compromise tariff of 1833, would per- haps be a fair average of the duties it imposes. Yet notwithstanding this onerous tax, the banks extending their loans, the importations increased from $146,000,000 in 1847, to $304,000,000 in 1854; or at the rate of one hundred per cent in seven years. This unexampled increase is at ence explained by a reference to the bank ta- bles which show that during the same period, the bank loans and dissounts swelled from $310,000,000 to $607,000,000; but to those who look to the tariff as the mainspring of commer- cial fluctuations, it must be totally inexplicable. If the Senate had not rejected the late tariff bill passed by the House, or if both bodies had | paid attention to this important business at an earlier period of the session, the present tariff would have undergone a reduction which would have prevented tLe accumulation of a further surplusin the tressury. It is difficult to say what influence the Know Nothing doctrines may exercise on the tariff question ; in some parts it is said that they have allowed the manufacturers to imbue them with the narrow commercial theories of thirty years ago; but, on the whole, it seems probable that the next Congress will pass a tariff bill in form analo- gous to that of the House bill of last session. No one, save the fossil remains of Mr. Clay’s defunct party, and those who like the manu- facturers have @ personal interest in the impo- sition of high duties, denies that the tariff ought to be reduced so as to produce no more revenue than is required for the wants of the government. It is a question which is no longer susceptible of debate among enlightened men; has been discussed, decided, adjudged, and laid upon the shelf together with the slave trade, the national bank, and nullification. Credit is the true measure of trade. Any child can understand that a boy can only buy as many toys or books as he has money to pay for; but it seems that many full grown adult nay legislators, cannot be brought to under- stand that this is the case on a large as well as aemeall scale, and that the purchases of the merchant must necessarily be in proportion to the extent to which the bank will do paper him. Blockheads, accidentally and unwisely indulged with the use of types, have said that it was not eo; but that the purchases of the merchant would be greater or less in propor- tion to the duty levied on them by the State; adding, in their unspeakable stupidity, that as a twenty years war would be likely to build up manufactures and thus prove an ultimate beno- fit, there was no reason why the same end should not be attained by @ protective tariff without the war. Bat, most obtuse of dunder- heads! a tariff, toexclude foreign manufactares as a war would, must be absolately probibitory ; the deposlte frum the United States Bank, | aud where is the revenue to ome from? for him, and for bis customers who buy from | ‘The Central Park in The community last week were astonished to find in the proceedings of the Board of Aldermen a report of the Committee on Lands and Places, recommending a concurrence with the Board of Councilmen to reduce the area of the Central Park. Everybody knew that the Board of Councilmen had never expressed any opinion or taken any action on the subject, and it was not understood how the committee of the Board of Aldermen could advise a con- currence in measure which the Board of Councilmen had never sanctioned. The mystery is explained upon an examination of the papers It appears that the Board of Councilmen of the year 1854 had, on the 13th of March of that year, passed such a resolution, since which time it had been allowed to sleep, public opinion being too decidedly favorable to the _Park to allow speculators to interfere with its dimensions. The Committee of the Board of Aldermen have dug up this report of the old Board of Councilmen, upon which the present Board of Councilmen has never acted, and now propose a concurrence. This appears to be rather queer legislation, and something like an unfair dealing towards the present Board of Councilmen, The committee of the Board of Aldermen do not in their report condescend to assign any reason for reducing the Park, but adopt all the reasons set forth by the Board of Councilmen of last year. This report contains so many glowing mistatements of fact that it requires great charity to believe that they were made unintentionally, and with good motives. It states that the area of the Park, excluding the State Arsenal and the Reservoir, will be 750 acres. Thisis not true. It will contain only 624 acres. It asserts that the number of build- ing lots within the present area of the Park is 13,521. This is also incorrect. The number slightly exceeds 7,000. It affirms that the cost of the lots will average from $1,000 to $1,500 each, and that the total cost will be not less than fifteen millions of dollars. This is equally untrue. The average award of the lots can- not exceed $750 each, and the total cost of the Park cannot exceed $5,250,000. Deduct from the amount the assessment of $2,000,000 upon the adjacent property benefitted, and the ad- dition tothe debt of the city will be $3,250,000. This sum is payable by 9 five per cent stock» redeemable in forty-ttve years, the interest upon which will be $162,500, which will be about fifty cents annually, Which each indivi- dual in the city will pay for the use and en- jevment of the park—one of t1'¢ finest in the world. Gut. Now, the proposition of the commi. ‘te is to cut down this noble square from 624 % 256 acres, and to commence its lower termin'™’ at Seventy:second street, so high up that ‘the present generation can never expect to reach” it. As it now stands, with its terminus at Fit ty-ninth street, we of the present day may ex- pect the pleasure of using it within three years after the report of the commissioners is con- firmed. Why have the commissioners not made their report to the Supreme Court? They promised it last year. Any five inteHigent men acquaint- ed with real estate would have made their va- Yuation in six months. The commissioners have been sitting at $4 day each for nearly two years, This delay appears to be a trifling with the public money and the public interests. If the Board of Aldermen should so far forget ts duty to the city as to adont the lent)" Vee s vere avgioemenuis fow recommended, we must look to the Mayor foraveto. He has the ambition to make this the best governed city in the world; it will condace to his fame if he also endeavors to make it the most beautiful and healthy. The welfare of three millions of people, by whom, within fifty years, this island will be covered, is at stake. What will be the condition of this immense mass of human beings, three-fourths of whom must be the sons and daughters of toil, if the niggardly economy of the present day deprives them of a place of recreation covering this small area of 624 acres. IncrEASE OF THE ARMY*-AN EMEUTE AMONGST THE SportsMen.—A good deal of indignation is expressed by members of Congress now in this city, in consequence of the report that the ap- pointments of captains and lieutenants in the new regiments: have been made, and that all the selections are of persons already in the army, and not one from civil life. It is | known, that in order to get the four ad- ditional regiments bill through Congress, pro- mises were freely made by the President, both to Senators and members, that they should have a certain number of appointments for their friends. The measure was thus carried by open bribery and corruption. Now that these promises are supposed to have been violated, | patriotic membersare loud in their denuncia- tions, and threaten to have the law repealed next Congress, We have very little sympathy to offer. They might have known that in any bargain they enter- ed into with Mr. Pierce they would be cheated, if possible. Intuitively the dishono- rable path has always been chosen by the ex- isting administration; and in the present case, even the old adage of “ honor amongst thieves” does net hold good. If an increase of the army was proper, it was also proper that the most | efficient officers should be selected, instead of needy hangers-on of political adventurers, But | the truth is, Congress granted the increase, not | because of any necessity, but simply with a view to the spoile. The President and his Cabinet recognized the propriety of dividing the plunder, 80 as to obtain possession of it, and now having nothing further to aek at the hands of the defunct body which expired last Sunday morning, they repudiate their promises, and Jeff. Davis takes care of his pets. This may not evince a high standard of morality, but it un- questionably exhibits a very characteristic phase of the Pierce administration. Astounpinc ReveLation From THE Spier Worip.—We publish today a curious com- | munication from San Fraucisco, which will fall like a bombshell into the camp of the spirit- ualists. It appears that some monthe since the writer, Mr. F. ©, Ewer, of San Francisco, took | itinto his head to prepare for the California | Pioneer Magazine a fiction of rather a bold | and original conception, undertaking to | describe the sensations of a dying man daring | the moment of dissolation, and sketching the | scene which opens to the soul as it enters upon its second existence. Some two or three monthe after it was published, the writer was surprised by receiving a letter from Judge Edmonds, stating that he had copied the first part of it into the November number 0° the Sarred Circle, and adding the astoynding fagt that be (the Judge) bad bad several apirit- eR ES SS ES SS SS a a ee ee a a a ae SS See RE ee a ee 2 Ee ae ee ee mea CE EAE AREAS TED NO SBE STE SS SE i Me Nas Ba VOL. xXx. ual interviews with the defunct fictitious herd of the narrative, “John F. Lane!” The best part of the joke is that the article contains as- sertions in physics which are impossible, and which, to minds less credulous than those of Judge Edmonds and his fellow dupes, would have at once suggested doubts as to the sin- cerity of the writer. The value attached to the Judge’s adhesion to the new sect will, after this exposure, be considerably lessened. If his — present convictions have been arrived at on such loose evidence as the above, we can only say that however much we may admire the \ extent of his faith, we can have very little respect for his professional acumen, Orrra News.—Little by little, light is breaking upon the subject of the late Italian Opera in Fourteenth street, and the intense curiosity of the public to know what became of the money is partially gratified. In a depo- sition made on Saturday in a case in the Supe- rior Court, Mr. Ole Bull, the manager, swore that “Mr. Maurice Strakosch was furnished with $8,000 in drafts to proceed to Europe to en- , gage artists.” It would appear that Strakosch. | found some other employment for the money, _ for he did not do as he agreed, sent no artiste to Ole Bull, and did not even write to him. The air of Paris is so seductive, and so apt to affect the memory. From Paris it seems M. Maurice Strakogch travelled to Austria to visit his friends and relations ; but of the $8,000, not a word more is heard. Here at all events is one of the leaks in the operatic business, and one of suck magnitude as to have necessarily had some considerable share in causing the wreck. Eight thousand dollars at a swoop for a gentleman whose filial and fraternal affection impels him to go to Austria! It would appear from Mr, Bull’s deposition that this Strakosch is reput- ed to be a bad fellow, and Mr. Bull, whose own character for veracity is unimpeached, de- clares that he would not believe him.on his oath. But this has nothing todo with the mat- ter. The point is that we have discovered where eight thousand dollars that were raised for the Opera went. Trip or THE Susqueanna Round THE Woripv.—We publish in another part of to- day’s paper a very interesting communication from the pen of the Rev. Edward C, Bittinger, on the trip of the United States steam frigate Susquehanna round the world, under the com- mand of Captain Franklin Buchanan. The Susquehanna left Norfolk on the 7th of June, 1851, and but recently arrived in Philadel- phia, having visited in her cruise, among other places, Rio Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, Manila, Shang- hae, Japan, the Sandwich Islands, Acapulco, , and Valparaiso. The communication to which. we refer gives an account of the various visits. of the squadron to Japan, with graphic descrip- tions of the scenery of those islands and the mWners and customs of their inhabitants. It also throws some light upon the revolution © now going on in China; and altogether, it will not fail to attract the attention of every reader. We have received several valuable presents, brought from Japan by the Rev. Edward C. Bittinger, Chaplain of the Susque- hanna, Among thm are a Japanese pamphlet, a eoin, and @ handkerchief—curiosities for which that gentleman will please receive our thanks. THE ma TEST WEWDS.. BY MAGNETIC AND PRINTING TELEGRAPHS, Highly Important from Washington. THE OSTEND DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENOE—BEA- SON8 WHY THE MOST IMPORTANT DESPATOHES ARE HELD BACK—MISTAKEN DELICACY OF MR. SOULE IN REFERENOE TO THOSE PAPERS—-THE OZAR’S LET- TER TO THE PRESIDENT--SENATOR DOUGLAB.ILL OF THE PREVAILING EPIDEMIC, ETC., ETO. Wasntvotoy, March 10, 1855. ‘The publication of the Osterd papers, thus far, pre- senta nothing new; the principal points have already appeared in the Hrratp, and the only novelty they con- vey at this moment is the formal official language im which they make their appearance, To withhold any part of this more than interesting correspondence called for by Congress, and seemingly compljed with by the President, must be marked not only as a breach of duty on his part, but as designed t> mislead the public mind. The correspondence marked ‘‘Bmphatically pri- vate,’’ which from time to time was transmitted to Mr. Soulé by the President, contains the information de- manded by the people’s representatives, and which it is determined, if possible, by the managers at the White House, they sball be cheated of. As it ia certain that General Pierce will not permit these paper to see the light, it f due to the public and to the repu- tation of Soulé, that the strong sense of delicacy which he is laboring under, in refusing their publicity, should be made to yield to the public interests and de- mands. Enough is known of their contents to warrant the assertion that much of the embarrassments and difficulties which Mr. Soulé has been made to encounter in his negotiations as Minister of the United States at the Spanith Court, have arisen from the impossibility of complying with the President’s private wishes, and at the same time in following out his instructions from the Btate Department. It was some time before Mr. Soulé became convinced that he was being made the instru- ment of an unprincipled combination, at the head of which was placed the American President, Its dis- covery was followed by his letter of resignation, in which appears the evidence of his unmistakable con- tempt, in the utterance of this language—‘‘ Leaving me no alternative” (alluding to Marcy’s despatch of No- vember 13, 1864,) ‘but that of continuing to Unger here im languid impotence, or of surrendering a trust, which, with the impediments thrown in the ‘way of its execution, I would strive in vain to discharge ina man- ner satisfactory to the government or creditable to my- self; you will not be surprised at the course which @ sense of dignity impels me to adopt—I resign my com- mission of Envoy Extraordinary, &c., &e.’” The ‘impediments’ spoken of are the two sets of instructions which Mr. Soulé was required to act under—one private, coming from the Presi- dent, the other official, written by the Secretary of State—ench directing the pursuance of opposite | policy; thus leaving to Mr. Soulé no other alter- native ‘but to linger in languid impotence,” or to. ‘ resign bis commission as United States Envoy. The particulars creating these “impediments” are what the country require and expect; and all the efforts now at work onder the management of Cushing, Forney and others to suppress them, in the imperiect publications before the public, will not avail. In the private in- structions of General Pierce are to be found the secrete which bave been instrumental in defeating American interest abroad, and in casting a stigma upon American consistency and reputation If of any interest to the Courier and Baquirer of your city, your correspondent would ask permission, through the HERALD, tore afirm his previous statement of an aw- tograph letter having been received by the President of the United States from the Czar of Russia, as alvo of the Secretary of State baving in bis possession undeniable evi dence of the interference of both England and France ia the political aflains of this country. For the fature he will refrain from noticing any comments which hie letters may call forth from a jealous and laggard press. General n bas ¢eturned to this city, Mr. Cochrane lure in not having present at the fasion meeting ngle man of the number of ‘distinguished Senators’ who were in caucus with him a few day« since while in Washington, aud who expressed a desire to epeak at Tammany Hall, is unpleasantly felt by some prominent officenoliers in this city, Mr. Douglas's in- du peattion is much regretted, but itis hoped be has re- covered exe this, The mediesl men of the White Hours agree wpen the charscter of hin Maeare, which is pro- nounced “bumbagianns,” at present quite prevalent cs ca