The New York Herald Newspaper, December 20, 1857, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. OFFION N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. HS, cash em advance. THE DAILY HERALD, two cents per , BT per annum, THR WEEKL) HERALD, every ia cents per cory. 0 Ki per urnum; the European edition, $4 per annum to ery parton Britain, or $8 to any part of the " ‘beth fo welut Pastane THE FAMILY HERALD, every Wednesday, at four conte per ory or 2 prev ar mum. ‘OLUNTANY CORRESPONDENCE, é news, solicited om any ofthe world Y coed act be tine wally paw! for, g@POuR GN CORRESPONDENTS ARB Pas Foe Regunara 10 ‘AuL LBTTERS AND Pack aGas NO NOTICH taken of anomymous correepondenc. ano Norte eg We do. not wee PRS TING execuied with neatness, cheapness and des pow ADV ERS SEMI erory, » advertisements im én te Werxiy Easveed i eg ere g the id Bury san Rditions. . AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVRNING. —— DWAY THEATRE, Brosdway—Farsteian, Boo10- Pe rigr4 TA eiwkris Barenealr yen BLO'S GARDEN, Broad Abee Tomt Rore Feati—Gunmy — BOWERY THRATRE, -—KQuesteian, GYMNASTIC AN Eimraantine Years. Dsggauuunad. "i ond oppoaiie Bond ayeet— BN Tee ee tuoran eke Rlina tev eNom WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway—Tux Poox or New ‘Yous. —- —Jocko, THE BRAZILIAN jowsTER. — LAURA KEENF'S THEATRE, Broadway—Tar Corsican Buorweas -Takw Cans or Dows. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth stroct.—Ronzrt Le Diawus, i ICAN MUSEUM, Broadway —After seem omMOnraiuns AnD Rouwpunavs. Evening, Ross or Pennie. D'S BUILDINGS, 561 and 563 Broadway—Grorce crores Wooo's MINSTRELS—MY FRIEND BLack GBORGE yom WHITE PLAINS. MECHANIC'S HALL, 472 Broadway—BRrant's MINSTRELS —Krmiorian Songs—MOTLEY Baoraxns, New York, Sunday, December W, 1857, New York Herald—Californ’, Edition. ‘The United States mail steamship Str of the West, Capt. Gray, will leave this port to-morr’,w afteruoon, at two o'clock, for Aspinwall ‘Tho mails for California and other parts of the Pacifl will close at one o'clock to-Wuorrow afternoon. ‘The New Yorx Weet).y Hunarp—California edition— containing the latest iv,telligence from all parts of the ‘world, will be publis).ed at ten o'clock in the morning Singie copies, in wrappers, ready for mailing, six cents Agenta will please send in their orders as early as pos- sible ‘The News. “The Senate yesterday, after a prolonged debate, passed the bill authorizing the issue of $20,000,000 of Treasury notes by a yote/of thirty-one to eighteen of the democrats. Senators Davis and Pugh voted against the bill. The operation of the act is limited to one year, and notes of a less denomination than one hundred dollars are prohibited. We print the pill, in the shape it passed the Senate,in today's paper. Mr. Crittenden introduced a resolution pro- viding an increase of the rates of duties, and also to ascertain the dutiable value of imported goods by a system of valuation, instead of the existing mode. The House, after some debate on the motion for a special committee on the Pacific Railroad project, went into Committee of the Whole, and discussed the ‘Treasury Note bill until the adjournment. We understand that the President, Postmaster- General and the Committee of the Board of Alder- men have, so far as their action is necessary, com- pleted an agreement for transferring to the federal | government land im the Park for the proposed new Post Office. The papers are prepared, and Secre- tary Cobb stands ready to hand over the purchase money #8 soon as the city authorities formally ratify | the bargain. By the terms of the agreement Park place is to be extended through the Park in a straight line; and all the Park south of this exten- sion is conveyed to the government for the Post Ofice. Doubtless the Common Council to-morrow evening will attend to this business and complete the sale, so that the transfer can be made and work commenced without delay. The steamship North Star arrived at this port from Southampton yesterday morning, with our European files dated in London on the 2d, and in Paris on the Ist inst. Although the news had been anticipated by the Canada at Halifax, the papers by the North Star contain some very interesting ex- tracts. A good deal of anxiety prevailed in the po- litical circles of London with respect to the ultimate efiects of the operation of our late treaty with Ni- caragua. The spech of Count de Morny to the French Le- gislature, in his capacity of President of that body, found little favor in the eyes of the English journalists. From India we are informed of the execution by the British officers of four of the sons and one grandson of the King of Delhi. Lieut. Sackeld, of the Bengal engineers, who gallantly blew up the Cashmere gate on the day that Delhi was stormed by the English, died of his wounds on the 10th of October. Forty- two Scotch fishermen had been drowned off the Banffshire coast during a storm, and eighteen French soldiers were killed by the sudden fall of a portion of the tower of Vincennes fort. The money crisis in Hamburg was exceedingly severe, and a host of failures, with many suicides, took place in Consequence I report of the City Inspector we learn re 351 e city last week, a as compared with the mortality of the that ¢ deer as week previous. There is still much smallpox in the city, and the disease seems to be spreading towards st side of the town. Last week thirteen per- ed of smallpox, being an increase of seven as red with the previous week. There is no oo- casion for any alarm on this matter, but those who have neglected to get vaccinated should delay no The following table exhibits thé number of eaths during the last two weeks among adults and children, distinguishing the sexea:— ‘Week ending Dec. 12 3568 ‘Week ending Dec 19 10 (106 361 Among the principal causes of death were the fol- lowing :— i Dec. 19, oO 2 ni of the lungs ay Befammatiom oo brew a Bearlet fever 16 Marastnus (‘ofantile) “ Tiropm the bead is Seon Pi Brononitis 5 uw There were also 4 deaths of apoplexy, 5 of conges- tion of the brain, 6 of typhoid fever, 6 of disease of the heart, 7 of whooping cough, 8 of inflammation of the bowels, 6 of old age, 13 premature births, 27 stillborn, and 13 from violent causes, including 2 murdere and 1 suicide. ‘The following is a classification of the diseases and the number of deaths in each class of disease during the week :— Fionea joints, te and nerres Live organs and biood vessels Tange throat, & Old age Skin, he., and erupt! Buillborn and prema Fuomach, bowels and Unoertain seat and Coksown Urinary organs... Total ‘ ‘ The number of deaths, compared with the corres- ponding weeks in 1855 and 1956, was as follows :— ‘Week ending Dec. 22, 1866, ‘ 300 Weok ending Dec. 20, 1856 998 ‘Week coding Dec. 14. 1857 354 Week ending Dec. 19, 1867 #0008 Boe ‘The nativity table gives 239 natives of the United States, 67 of Ireland, 33 of Germany, 5 of England, 4 of Scotland, aad 1 each of Italy, Prussla ad the West Indies. Our readers will doubtless peruse with satisfaction the angual report of the trustees of that favorite charitable institution of our city, the Fire Depart- ment Fund, which is published in our advertising: columns. The trustees have disbursed during the past year over thirty thousand dollars in relieving. the necessities of the widows and orphans of de- ceased firemen, and for other legitimate objects of the fund; and it is creditable alike to the activity of the trustees, and the liberality of our citizens in: these times of financial disaster, that the receipts. have exceeded the expenditures. The steamship Canada, from Liverpool 5th inst., arrived at Boston last evening. The European mails brought by her wil reach this city to-morrow morning. The steamship Adriatic, which left Liverpool on the 9th inst., will probably arrive at this port to-day. She will bring four days later news. The Central Democratic Clab bad a lively time last night in view of the recent action in to regular nominations and the refusal of the Sachems to allow a mass meeting to endosse the ad- ministration to be held in Tammany Halt. A full re- port is given elsewhere. General Superintendent Tallmadge is causing to be placed in the bands of every policeman of the Metropolitan Police district a neatty bound pocket copy of the rules and regulations of the Department. He has determined to hold the officers and men strictly accountable for the observance of these rules, and will endeavor to have any disregard of them suitably punished. If he succeeds in carrying out his plan he will effect a much needed refoysa in the Department. James Shepherd, convicted on Monday last of arson in the first degree in the Court of General Sessions, was yesterday sentenced by Recorder Smith to be executed on the 8th of February. The prisoner ‘solemnly protested that he was innocent of the ime. He would have been sentenced to be Wang on the same day appointed for the execution of Cancemi and Rodgers were it not that the law allows the convict a longer time to prepare than would intervene between pow and the 15th of January. 2 We have news from Por} Louis, Mauritius,.to the 12th of October. The new Gavernor, Mr. Stevenson, had arrived. Sugar making went on actively, and the weather was favorable. A large crop was ex- pected. Peruvian guano was much wanted in the market. We have papers from Australia dated at Sydney the 13th and Melbourne the 16th of October. The production of gold was very good, and prices ranged from £3 16s. 3d. to £3 198. 9d. for Castlemaine and Ballarat qualities. Trade was dull, with an over- stocked market. The Lands bill had been rejected by the upper house of the Legislature of Sydney, as had also the bill to abolish State aid to religion. Ten shillings a head as license tax had been im- posed on each Chinese settler. | Wehave advices from Kingston, Jamaica, to the 28th ult. There is no news of interest. The Mer- cantile Intelligencer says:—We are badly supplied with all American stuffs, and prices have been gene- rally maintained at the high rates last quoted. Mo- | ney hasbeen somewhat scarce, the banks being dis- inclined to accommodate. Of island produce, pi- | mento remains inactive. Coffee has been kept from market by continued heavy rains in the country, and transactions in the article have been very limited. There was rather a better fecling in cotton yesterday, and the sales embraced about 600 bales, chiefly to spin ners. The market closed at an advance of about sc. per Ib. Flour was again dull, and prices for common and modium grades were lower, by about five cents par bbl Common grades of wheat were quite heavy, while choice low were held above the vews of buyers. The sales were confined to small lots of common grades, at prices which afforded no criterion of the market. Corn was dull, and sales confined to a few cargoes of mew at 56c, a6Sc. Old mixed | was nominal. Pork was steady, with sales of uninapected and inspected mess at $15 76.4 $16. Sugars were steady, while sales were moderate, being confined to abou | 200 hhds. Cuba muscovado and 40 a 50 bhds. Porto | Rico, at prices glven in another column. Coffee was in | limited demand, and prices unchanged. Freights were steady for British ports, with moderate engagements. | The Treasmy Note Bilu—What the Govern- ment Requires and the Country Needs. We publish in full to-day the bill reported to the Senate by Mr. Hunter, from the Committee on Finance, as passed by the Senate in an amended shape, authorizing the government to issue twenty millions of Treasury notes to meet the exigencies of the public ser- service, caused by the decrease in the revenue since the financial revulsion which has recently swept over the country. The bill in its amended shape passed the Senate by a vote of 31 to 18, The amount of issue authorized by this bill is twenty millions of dollars, in sums not less than one hundred dollars, and limiting the time of issue to the Ist of January, 1859. Six millions are proposed to be issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, to meet the requirements of the government, with a rate of interest to be fixed by him, not exceeding six per cent per annum; and the residue to be sold at par to bidders who shall agree to exchange them for specie at the lowest rate of interest; also not exceeding six per cent. We would here remark that this bill is drawn in the same loose and disconnected style that forms so marked a feature in the lite- rary productions of Congress; and which leads the public very often to wish that some inde- pendent wood-sawyer had the drawing of all our legislative enactments, rather than the gen- tlemen whose business it now is. The second | section of this bill is as pretty a piece of invo- lution as can be found in the celebrated inter- twined scroll work onthe walls of the Moorish Albambra at Granada. The bill has been warmly discussed in the Senate, and on one side has been met with the objection that the amount is too much, and should be cut down to ten millions of dollars; while on another it is proposed, in view of the existing wants of the community }r some me- dium of general circulation and exchange, to limit the rate of interest to three per cent per annum. We do not agree with either of these objections, which probably emanate solely from a desire to dissent from the proposed measures of the administration. So far as regards the amount to be issued we can find no difference, so long as the Treasury is limited in the issue by ite needs under the ap- propriations of Congress. If this body had au- thorized the issue of only ten millions now, and it had been found afterward that ten more were wanted to eomply with its own enactments, it would certainly authorize the increased issue; and if the twenty millions are not wanted by the Treasury, the Secretary will have no call to } issue the notes. We therefore regard the objec- tion to the amount as puerile in the extreme. In regard to the rate of interest which the notes shall bear there is much to be said, and & great want of knowledge as to the practical effect of the issue of Treasury notes by the federal government. But we shall not go into any abstruse argument of this old question in finance at this time. We will deal only with its principal points. In the first place, the object of the measure is to relieve the wants of the government by a temporary loan from the pub- lic. If that were the only end desired, it would certainly be best attained by the sale of the Treasury notes in the manner proposed in Senator Hunter's bill for the sale of the four- teem millions; tiat ix, to the bidder who rwill take the government's promise to pay at \the lowest rate of interest. This woul@ Le » diract application to capitalists, and the netes wha” issued would go intetheir coffers as se much safe investment. To the public at large they would be of no service whatever: But there is another object to be attained in the issue of Treasury notes by the government. It is desirable that while the public serves the government in this matter, the government should endeavor to meet the wants.of the whole coramunity, and not of that particular class alone which is ‘seeking safe investments. We have a country larger than all the countries of Kurope put together, | throughout which there is now the greatest need of a circulating medium, available for remittance from one peint to another at a trifling cost. This necessity is met now in va- rious ways, at a positive loss to the public. We have bank bills which ere sent from Dan to Beersheba, and back again to Dan, the brokers. who manage the business shaving them from 4 quarter to five per eent at every point, and making fortunes by it. Thea we have lankers who draw their own bills both ways, for which they also charge very pretty per centage, and to add to the interest of the thing, stop pay- ment occasionally, and buy up their own paper at 60 much on the dollar. Finally, we have a eafe but limited medium of remittaace in the government land warrants, which are used for this purpose to a large extent, although the value of them is payable by the government only in public lands at the land, offices in the far West. They have very nearly a standard value at which they are bought and sold in every city, town and harglet in the Union. Now, if the Treasury notes arg. issued bearing six per cent interest, or any other rate that shall recommend them to capitalists, they will be at once hoarded, and render no service what- ever to the community. But if a nominal rate of inivrest be put upon them, as for instance one-sixth of one per cent, which Is easily calculated, or not worth calculating at all, they will go at once into cir- culation, and do yeoman eervice all over the country, without expense to the government. They will be more available to travellers than the present local issues of bank bills, more convenient to carry ‘han specie, and more secure than private drafts; they will serve the trader either as current funds at home, or as bills to remit to his distant creditor ; they will pass current as a circulating medium everywhere, without the doubts that now attend the bank bills in use, as to what is the rate of discount or whether the bank is sound. We trust, therefore, that the House will amend the bill so as to authorize the issue of these Treasury notes at merely a no- minal rate of interest, to bring them within the law. If the rate of interest is left to the option of the Secretary of the Treasury, he will be beset by a horde of gentlemen with plethoric pockets, in search of a safe invest- ment, who will befog the whole question with asswrances that the public wont take the notes, and that he had better sell them to them in large amounts at a round rate. Let us have the Treasury notes in small sums and ata nomi nal rate of interest, and let the government pay them out as money all over the country. If it will do this, the man that will not receive them in payment of a debt will make the fortune of any showman who will exhibit him, notwith- standing the hard times. Tue AMERICANIZATION OF Nicaragua ty Wasi- INGTON AND AT THE Sovru.—The intelligence from Washington in regard to the position of the filibusters ther@, and two articles—one from the New Orleans Beeand the other from the Mo- bile Register—which will be found in our news columns to-day, are marked indications of the tone and tendency of public feeling. The fact that two members of the Cabinet and two and twenty Senators are with the filibusters does not at all surprise us; but to find the New Orleans Bee, one of the most conservative of the old fossils of journalism, and the Mobile Register, an ultra fire-eater, standing on the same plat- form in regard to Walker and the Americaniza- tion of Nicaragua, is a strong indication of the unanimity of public sentiment in the South. In believing that they must oppose the President and his policy, however, the Southern fire-eaters have gone off, as usual, at half cock. If what they desire is really a sound and rapid national progress southward, and not the furtherance of private or individual schemes, they have no reason to be dissatisfied with the President and his announced policy. On the contrary, if they will go to werk honestly on the measures he has recommen@éd to them, they will achieve a greater and far more rapid national progress than can possibly be attained by the largest liberty of individual enterprise. Mr. Buchanan frankly avows in his Message his ground of opposition to these private move- ments to be the conviction that “nothing is bet- ter calculated to retard our steady material progress, or to impair our character as a na- tion; and having this progress as much at heart as the most ardent of its advocates, he at once proposes to Congress to take measures which will place our government in its true position on this momentous question, and which it has never before occupied. We recommend the two members of the Cabinet and the two and twen- ty Senators, who are favorable to Gen. Walker, to consider that portion of the President's Mes- sage recommending the abrogation of the Clay- ton-Bu§wer treaty, and the portion where, treat- ing of the Isthmus routes, he recommends “the paseage of an act authorizing the ‘President, in case of necessity, to employ the land and naval forces of the United States to carry into effect this guarantee of neutrality and protection.” If they will go to work and pass these acts at once, our government will holda power which it ought to have, and which is exercised by those of Europe whenever occasion pre- sents. It is the power under which England is extending her possessions in India, France in Northern Africa, and Russia in Central and farther Asia. Its very existence will preclude all necessity of private expedi- tions to interfere in the civil dissonsions of the disorganized countries south of us. These private expeditions all rise from the invitation of some one of the contending par- ties there, who, tired of civil war and anarchy, desire some strong ally to restore order, If the government had the power to use the national forces for this purpose, its aid would be sought to a far greater extent than is now sought from private expeditions. Had these acts, which Mr. Buchanan recommends, been passed before, we should long since have arranged the ques- tion of the Nicaragua Transit route to the ad- vantage of the whole world. When it once possesses it occasion will rise faster than we could use it. Why should we not make @ treaty with Mexico to put down those hordes of savages, many of them going from our own territory, that ravage her north- ern States, or those that are now desoiating Yucatan? Why not guarantee the Tehuantepec, Honduras and Chiriqui routes across the Isth- mus? Let Congress pass the measures reoom- mended by the President, and the Nicaragua route will sgon exhibit a peace and prosperity that will do more to basten our national ad- vance than all the private expeditions that can possibly be fitted out. Kansas Affairs in Kansas and at Wi If the broken Kansas tea-kettle of “popular sovereignty” is not mended, it will not be for the want of tinkers, While the free State Legislature isin session at Lecompton, devising the ways and means to extinguish the Lecompton constitu- tion, two “popular sovereignty” bills have been introduced into Congress—one by Mr. Douglas in the Senate, the other ky Mr. Banks in the House. The bill of Mr. Douglas provides for a Board of five persons, to*be appointed by the Presi-~ dent and confirmed by the Senate, to make an enumeration of the inhabitants of Kan sas, and a fair apportionment of membezs to the Convention; also, provides for sn election to be held on a day designated by the Board, not less than ninety nor more than one hundred and twenty days from the passage of this act ; also, provides that the Board shall be entrusted with the appointment of Judges and places of voting, which is to be confined to every free white male citizen of the United States over twenty-one years who may be a bona fide inhabitant of the Territory on the 21st of December, and who shall have resided three months prior to said election in the county in which he offers to vote ; also, provides that the Convention shall assemble at not less than thir- ty nor more than sixty days after the election of the delegates ; also, provides that the Con- stitution shall be submitted to the legal voters, for their free acceptance or rejection, and un- less adopted by a majority of the legal votes cast, shall be null and void. The bill secures the personal and political rights of the people, including those of speech and the press. The bill introduced in the House by Mr. Banks is drawn up after the pattern of the Min- nesota Enabling act, and provides for the for- mation of a constitution and State government, by authorizing the legal voters, on the first Monday in March, to elect delegates—two for each representative in the Territorial Legislature —who shall assemble at the capital on the first Monday in -, and determine by vote whe- ther the people of Kansas wish her to be admitted intothe Union at that time, and, if so, shall form a constitution, and take all necessary steps for the the establishment of a State government, subject to the approval aod ratification of the people of Kansas. The other sections of Mr. Banks’ bill relate to the census upon which to base the election of representatives, ta land for schools, universities, public buildings, salt springs, &c. Under ordinary circumstances, either of these bills would answer the purpose very well; but under the extraordinary circumstances which surround this Kansas difficulty, they are both in advance of a practical opening for the introduction of any such expedients in Con- gress. The late Lecompton Convention (pro- slavery) has provided that a popular vote upon the slavery clause of its constitution shall be taken on the 21st December (to-morrow); and in the meantime it is probable that the free State Legislature will have provided for an election, in the bulk, as between the Topeka and the Lecompton constitution. Should there be no violent collision between these conflicting parties and authorities at the polls, the result will most probably be the adoption of the Lecompton constitution by the Lecompton party, with “no slavery,” and the adoption of the Topeka constitution by the Topeka (or free State) party, and the transmission of both to Congress by the same steamboat down the Missouri. Upon the law, the authorities, the facts, figures and vouchers, touching the adoption of these two constitutions respectively, Con- gress may be called upon to make an election, and the difficulties which may thus arise on both sides may make some such compromire as that of Mr. Douglas, or that of Mr. Banks, the best course to pursue. So far as any proceedings have occurred in Kansas in behalf of a State organization, the law and the legal authority have been on the side of the Lecomp- ton Convention; and this is the position of the administration. If the President, like Mr. Doug- las or Mr. Walker, could go behind the legal facts in the case, he might be justified had he adopted a different view of the subject from that laid down in the Meseage. But the President cannot go behind the record, for his functions are neither judicial nor legislative, but purely of an executive character. Grant him the‘ power to set aside or supersede the local legis- tive authorities, good or bad, of a Territory, and we make him the absolute despot over the Territories. He has avoided any such assump- tion of power, in recognizing the local Legisla. ture of Kansas as he found it, and in recog- nizing the proceedings which have subsequently occurred under its authority, including the pro- ceedings of the Lecompton Convention. Within a week or two, however, the whole issue may be presented under such a state of facts from Kansas as to leave the President perfectly free to abandon or to abide by the Le- compton constitution. If the regular Territorial Legislature has not been, and cannot be, super- seded by a Constitutional Convention, in the interval to the appointed ratification of the State constitution, Maen the constitutional elec- tion, under the authority of the Legislature, will be at least as valid as that ordered by the Lecompton Convention. Admitting the validity of both elections, the administration and Con- gress will be perfectly free to abandon the Lecompton constitution, and to provide for new constitutional election should the popular vote be against the whole Lecompton pro- gramme. We say a new election, inasmuch as the Topeka constitution, in any event, will hardly be admissible, in the absence of the regular forms required in its initiation. Whatever inay be the solution of this Kansas squabble, Lecompton constitution or a new con- stitutional election and Convention, Kansas myst be a free State; but, free State or slave State, by fair means or by fonl, the thing will pretty surely split up the democratic party. Mr. Douglas, aware of this, has settled his ac- counts with the fire-eaters, and has resolved to look out for number one. So with Walker and Stanton. But the administration must stand by the laws and authorities as it finds them, and await the issue of events. Appeouchlag Changes The rapid and continaous- spread of commer- cial distress over the whole of Hurope, in spite of the efforts made by national banks and go- veraments to arrest it, is amongst the signs of the times that deserve to be carefully noted. ‘The suspension of the Bank of England charter was the panacea whioh, according: to financial empgrics abroad; was te cure tite evils caused by the influence of our own embarrassments. This, with the aid of other precantions adopted by the Continental governments, would, it was thought, speedily allay all’ cause for alarm. Well, the Bank charter has been: violated, con- trary tothe opinions and advice of all sound financial thinkers, and the French and other Continental governments have done all that lay in their power toallay the distrust which has rapidly diffused itself amongst all classes. Still the panic is spreading wider and wider, like a malignant epidemic, carrying misery and annihilation to cemmercial credit. in its train. Instead of things getting better, they are rapidly getting worse, not only in England, but throughout the the Continent. All the great centres of commerce are profoundly disturbed. No. man, however strong his commercial posi- tion, considers himself safe, and houses that: have hitherto enjoyed the unlimited confidence: of the public have falten under the ban of sus picion. In Hamburg, according to the last ac~ counts, the failures were arriving so thick and fast that business was altogether suspended. Financiers are so acoustomed to take-a purely economical view of commercial. disturbances like the present, that it is no wonder that the remedies which they prescribe should sometimes turn out failures, Thus,in England it was thought that the suspension of the charter and the extension of relief by the Bank of England to a few of the leading banking houses would have the effect of easing the position of the se- condary establishments, and of gradually re- storing confidence amongst the commercial classes generally. What is the fact? In Great Britain the middle class firms are failing by thousands, and credit is almost wholly annihi- lated. In France there is reason to believe that things are in an equally bad if not worse con- dition—although the precautions taken by a despotic government to gag the press and to make matters wear the best aspect possible render it difficult to arrive at the facts. From the general tenor of the adviees that reach us from all quarters we are compelled to arrive, with the London 7imes, at the conclusion that European commerce is rotten to its core. There are organic derangements, like diseases, #0 desperate that no remedies or palliatives can avert their consequences, and Europe, we are convinced, is now suffering under the influence of a malady of this nature. How else are we to account for the wide spread calamities caused by the reaction of onr own disasters! Here we have already tided over the worst of our troubles, satisfied that we have been more frightened than hurt, and cool and comfortable, all things considered. We feel that we have youth and vitality in our favor, and that it will not take us long to recuperate from our temporary exhaustion. How, then, does it happen that the contrecoup of mis- fortunes which exert only a passing influ- ence over us, should shake Europe to its very centre, and plunge it into the depth of distress and despondency in which we now behold it? People may attribute the deep-rooted consternation now prevailing abroad to excessive speculation, undue expan- sion, vicious banking, governmental extrava- gance, or any other of the fallacious causes that present themselves to the superficial thinker. The philosophy of the thing, however, lies within a simpler and more arbitrary compass than any of these reasons. The commerce of the world is continually shifting the theatre of its operations, and the evidence of history goes to establish the fact that every mutation of this kind must lead to more or less of a general disturbance. Thus, when the Jews were the only bankers of Europe, each religious persecution which drove this peo- ple from the scenes of their commercial activity was followed by universal distress and suffering. In the same way, when the commerce of Venice and Genoa was transferred to the Hanse Towns and Holland, the change was marked by a con- comitant disturbance in the financial relations of European countries. So it was, also, after each succession of violent measures taken by England to assert her commercial supremacy and to absorb the trade of the world. Who can doubt, from the evidences of deep seated disturbance and disorganization which are now presenting themselves in the commer- cial relations of Europe, that we are now in the midst of another of those great changes which transferred the trade of Tyre and Carthage to Italy and Holland, and thence to the insular Western communities? Do not all the facts transpiring both in Europe and here tend to prove that the trade of the globe is gradually taking this direction, as the great commercial centre whence both hemispheres are in futuré to be vivified and fed? Pesuic Prtiva Corrvrrions—A Fawt.y Breeze ts Ricumonn.—It seems that Mr. Roger A. Pryor, with the success of his factotum, Mr. Banks, at Washington, as a joint stock candi- date for the printing of the House, has been em- boldened to make a dash for the State printing of Virginia. But as this movement involves the ousting of Mr. Ritchie, the anointed successor for life of good old Father Ritchie, the first do- monstration against him has stirred up quite a lively little breeze between the Wise and Han- ter democracy. A day had been appointed for the election of State Printer, the old line demo- crats considering the re-election of Mr. Ritchie a fixed fact, anda party daty as plain as the nose upon the face of Captain John Tyler. But on the appointed day, lo, and behold! in the House of Delegates Mr. Seddon (a good Hunter man and a fire-eater dyed in the wool) proposed © postponement of the election; and from among his reosons for the motion, we give the follow- ing as covering the whole ground:— He (Mr. Seddon) did not wish by the election of Mr. Ritchie to be considered as endorsing in any form or man- ner the recent course of the Richmond ans would maintain this position were lo the anly man House. Never would he endorse the doctrines given a fatal blow to every principle that he taught to uphold and hold dear to big heart, his yote, would he cy! the feet of Northern democrac sent that it should go forth from her 4 and States of the ,. by reason of the sophistries of the (rer, aa it would A forth, I that Journal waa endorsed by the re-election of Mr. Ritchie to the office of Printer. is wae ® Cy reason for him why the election {and never would hi * Virginia had departed covered herself from ber suter the present incumbent bey candidate for a federal office, and it was fidently expected by his friends that he wou! Nd be appointed Minister to Ni » if he should be elected Printer, and thus go eg not the office be vacated, and the Execative appoint his successor, with law or without law? He was not willing to leaye the office to this exigengy, and dysired Wg know whole of: | CL wes In the course of. the guerilla debate which followed betweea the Wise and Hunter men, ported Hunter's reelection to the Senate; that on the Kansas question z fH 'R. should go to Naples, opposed to bie »he would leave Se wise Lene ind, and he tia advise him accordingly, to go at once ta Wash- ington, and demand his right toa.share and share all round with Mcssra. Steedman, Banks, Harris, Wendell & Co., in the printing plunder of Congress. In this connection, after all that Mr. Pryor has done and snffered:for Mr. Hun- ter and Southern rights, we should think that Mr. Hunter ought tobe able and ready to do something for Mr. Pryor, on behalf of that greatest of all Southern rights—the right to the spoils. Go to Washington, Mr. Pryor, and put in your claim. —_—_—_—_—_— THE LATEST NEWS. IMPORTANT FROM WASHINGTON. Passage of the Treasury Note Bill in the Senate. PROPOSED REVISION OF THE TARIFF Debates in Congress on the Financial Condition of the Country, &e., &e., die. Affairs at the National Capital. PROPOSED REVISION OP THE TARIFF—PASSAGE OF THE TREASURY NOTE BILL IN THE SENATE—DEBATS ON THE TREASURY NOTE BILL IN THE HOUSE—THE NEW RULES OF THE HOUSE—THE NAVAL COURTS— THE AFPOINTMENTS—THR CABINET AND GENERAL WALKER'S EXPEDITION—SOUTHERN SENATORS IN FAVOR OF THE NICARAGUA MOVEMENT, ETC. . Wasuiatow, Dec. 19, 1857. In the Senate to-day Mr. Crittenden submitted a resolu- tion in relation to relieving the present financial condition ~ of the country, as well as the wants and embarrassments of the treasury, by increasing the rates of duty levied under the Tariff act of March last. Also, to change the present mode of ascertaining the dutiable value of im- ported goods, which is productive of monstrous frauds, and to substitule a system of valuation therefor. The Senate then resumed the consideration of the ‘Treasury Noto bill. Mr. Wilson, of Massachusotts, favored 8 revision of the tariff system, #0 as to restore duties om Ton, woollen and cotton goods to where they were by the tariff of 1846. In the course of his speech a running debate occurred between Messrs. Hunter, Fessenden, Se- ward, Davis and Benjamin, Mr. Simmons then obtained the floor, and occupied two hours. After he had con- cluded his speech tho debate was kept up till six o'clock this evening, when a vote was pressed by Mr. Hunter, nd the bill finally passed, some of the republicans voting or it and some of the democrats voting against it: among them was Jeff. Davis and Senator Pugh. In the House Mr. Bennett's resolution, pending from yesterday, to appoint a select committee of nine to con- sider and report on all propositions concerning the Pacific Railroad, was taken ap. A motion to lay it on the table was defeated—yeas ninety-five; nays ninety-nine. The House then went into Committee of the Whole, and took up the Treasury Note Without coming to any conclu- sion, after a debate of two hours, the House adjourned. The Select Committee appointed to amend the rules of the House bave nearly completed their roport. It will be made on Monday. Tho only persons admitted to the floor of the House are the President of the United States, his Cabinet, the Judges of the Supreme Court, Senators and tho officers of the House, The foreign ministers will havo & place assigned them. The lobby is knocked into « cocked hat, and are in high dudgeon. An indignation meeting has been called. The President has not yet communicated to the Senate the nominations from the naval retired list. The naval courts are about finishing the last of their dirty job. In court No. 1 to.day Commodore Reed was examined in the government's behalf in the case of ex-Commander Le- compt. Court No. 2 is waiting for tostimony in the caso of Commander Johnston. His defence is to be read on Monday, at 11.4.M. In court No. 8 this morning tho defence of Commander Chauncey was read by his attor- ney, Mr. Phillips, and the defence of ex-Captain Levy was being read by B. F. Butler, Faq., of New York. A good deal of astonishment is expressed at the ap- potntments made last spring not being communicated yet to the Senate. The friends of some of them feel some anxiety. The Second Comptrolier, it is said, will hang fire; also one of the new pursers. The filibuster question increases in interest and per- plexity hore. In addition tothe points I have already sent you about its effect on the diplomatic corps, there are several others which are much talked about in official ‘and Congressional circles. The appointment and confir- mation by the Senate of General Lamar, an old leader and ex-President of independent Toxas, as Minister to Nicaragua; the escape of Walker, and the expression he used to Captain Chatard, on board the Saratoga, are often cited as indicating a more per- vading feeling in favor of the Americanization of Central America in the governing power than would seem to be indicated by the course of the President. It is known here that some of the members of the Cabi- not do not agree with the President in his determination to stop Walker in his course, and that one of them has written a letter toafriend in the South, in which he in- timates that he may be under the neceasity of coming out with a letter defining his position on this question, or per- haps evon of resigning his seat in the Cabinet. The friends of Walker have carefully canvassed tho subject here, and say that twe members of the Cabinet ‘and twenty two of the Southern Senators are opposed to any interference against him. There wi! be some more developementa in this matter before long that will be very rich, and probably startle some of the old fogies who are i fraid of a fuse. THR ORNRRAL NEWSPAPER DRSPTCT. ‘Wasninuton, Dec. 19, 1867. Lord Napier bas, by instruction of Lord Clarendon, placed in the hands of #ecretary Cassa number of medals which her Majesty’s government desires to present to the officers and men engaged in tho several expeditions which have been fitted out in the United States for the recovery of Sir Jobn Franklin aad his companions. , Her Majesty's government directs Lord Napier to ex- prese the high sense which they entertain of the zeal and devotedness of the parties who volunteered in these enterprises, and their earnest hope that the citizens of the United States who shared the same dangers may be per. mitted to accept the same honorary recognitions aa the officers and men of Her Majesty's service employed in the cause of the Arctic discovery. ——— ‘The Canada Bound Inward. Hramasp Lice, Cape Cod, Dec. 19—P. M. The steamship Canada was signalled off this station at half past four o’clock this afternoon. She will arrive at Boston about 9 o'clock this evening. Bowrow, Deo. 19, 1867. ‘The steamship Canada from Halifax, arrived at hor pr Bere wt ball-paat § o'clock pig gyening. Gbe bringy