The New York Herald Newspaper, January 13, 1858, Page 4

NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 13, 1858. NEW YORK HERALD. James GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE 5. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU BTS. Volume XXII... AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. BROADWAY THRATRE, Broadway—Afiernoon and Bvening—Raoseruiax, Gruwastic, MENAGERIAL AND BLe- Peaxvine Ee CeeTaueMans. ~ NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway—Taw Consoniet—Trout Rore Fuars—Geuax Rac—Crcvors. THe BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery—Mazerra—Ticae OF Ba.—Ronset perl BURTON'S THEATRE, Broadway, opposite Bond street— A Bacuaron’s Wire—Coccunvs—Taxing BY Tone, — WALLAOK’S THEATRE, Broadway—Tax Poor or New ‘Yous. LAURA KRENE’S THEACRE, Brosdway—Ax Unequat Maron—Haxrequix Bue BARNUWS AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway —Afternoon end Evening: Valen runs xD Onson. — ‘WOOD'S BUID! 661 and 563 Ounvrr & Wove's Missrams—Naw ‘Ymar Cais, — BUCKLE SERENADERS, No. 444 Broadway—Necro Mazopins — Busesquss—Waan’s Ma ‘Mammal MECH. (8 HALL, 472 Breadway—Bavanr’s MinsTe ats eT ear eeanap MULES. rs . EMPIRE HALL, 596 Broadway—Diorama or Dr. Kaww’s ADTENTURES IN THE Anctrc Rugions. New York, Wednesday, January 13, 1858. ‘The News. ‘The steamship Empire City has arrived at New Orleans from Havana, with the San Francisco mails to the 20th ult. There was nothing of importance stirring in California. A fearful hurricane had ravaged the coast between La Pose and San Bernar- dino, during which thirteen vessels were driven ashore. The steamship Star of the West left Aspin- wall for New York direct on the 4tn inst., with the Pacific mails, two hundred passengers, and $1,600,000 in treasure. She will probably arrive at this port to-day. ‘The United Statea steamer Fulton had arrived at Aspinwall from Greytown, with intelligence that Col. Frank Anderson had surrendered Fort Castillio and the river steamboats to the frigate Susquehan} na, thus extinguishing the filibusters, and practically opening the way for the ultimate establishment of the United States protectorate over the Transit Route. Before surrendering Anderson dismantled the fort and destroyed the machinery of the boats. Anderson and his comrades are on their way to the United States in the Wabash. ‘We have accounts from the army of Utah to the Ast ult. At that date all the troops, with the excep- tion of Col. Cooke’s Dragoons, were comfortably quartered at Fort Bridger, in the enjoyment of good health and ample supplies of provisions. The dra- goons were stationed at Henry's Fork of Green river, where some grass remained for the animals. Advance parties of the Mormons had, it is reported, started for the British possessions, preparatory to a general migration of the entire body of the Saints in the spring. Brigham Young, it will be remem- bered, visited the region of country alluded to last summer, ostensibly on an excursion of pleasure, but fin reality no doubt to ascertain its capabilities for settlement. Colonel Cumming, the new Governor of Utah, had issued a proclamation declaring the Territory in a state of rebellion, and court was to be opened for the trial of offenders. We have news from Hayti datedat Portau Prince ‘on 24th of December. The markets were overstocked with provisions and merchandise. Trade was dull, with no change in the rates of prices. There was nothing of political interest to report. Our Rio Janeiro correspondent confirms the report published in the Hzmatp of the 26th of December: as to the intention of the Emperor to declare war against Paraguay. It was said that if such an event took place President Lopez would secretly seek aid in the United States by raising men and money. Advices from Inagua, dated at Mathewtown on the 29th of December, report a moderate supply of salt at ten cents per bushel. Market dull. No export duty. The proceedings of Congress yesterday were rather dull. The Senate passed bill authorizing the change of the names of vessels in certain cases. The joint resolution extending the time for the restoration of naval officers affected by the Retiring Board to next April, was adopted. In the House the docu- ments relative to the capture of Walker were re- ferred, the part concerning Commodore Paulding to the Naval Committee, and the other portion to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The President sent in the constitution recently adopted by the peo- ple of Minnesota; also a message stating, in effect, that Nicaragua had not made any complaint as yet ‘of the invasion of her soil by the United States in enpturing the filibusters. Lhe session terminated with a debate on Central American affairs, Commo- dore Paulding, Gen. Walker, Kansas and the Mormon question. ‘The appointment of Mr. Clifford, of Maine, as As- sociate Justice of the Supreme Court, in place of Mr. Curtis, resigned, was confirmed by the Senate yes- terday , by a vote of twenty-six to twenty-three. Several interesting propositions were broached in the State Senate yesterday, among them bills re- pealing the Port Warden act; repealing the Militia Commutation; organizing a Department of Health for New York, with a medical practitioner as its chief; and a bill to increase the liabilities of bank stockholders in certain cases. The resolutions in op- position to the Kansas Lecompton constitution were <discumed at some length. The Assembly epent a couple of hours in unsuccessful attempts to tect a r. The matter will probably be settled to- day, and it is believed that Mr. Alvord, the demo- cratic nominee, will be chosen. In the Supreme Court yesterday Judge Davies de- nied a second application for an injunction # re- @train the Corporation from transferring the bioek of land granted by the last Common Council tothe Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. ‘The Board of Ten Governors met yesterday, and after several ballots succeeded in electing Washing: ton Smith, republican, President of the Board for the ensuing year. Anthony Dugro, democrat, was chosen Secretary of the Board. Ballotings were then fgone into for the choice of a Governor, in place of Daniel F. Tiemann; but no one candidate received a majority of votes, and the matter was laid over until next week. There are now 8,054 persons rhe in- stitutions under the care of the Governors. The Police Commissioners yesterday resolved to organize ® mounted police force of twenty-eight men for the Twelfth, Nineteenth and Twenty-second wards. Dr. Anson Jones, one of the heroes of the Texan revolution, and formerly President of the Texan re- public, committed suicide at Houston on the 8th finst., by blowing ont his brains. A sketch of the career of this distinguished gentleman is given else- where in our columns. The Board of Supervisors met yesterday. The election of Sergeant at-Arms and Messenger was postponed till next meeting. The quarterly bill of tthe Coroners, amounting to $3,315, was received and referred. A motion to appoint a suitable person to codify the laws for the regulation of the Board was Thomas Gentil pleaded guilty to burglary in the third degree yesterday in the Court of General Sea- gions, and City Judge Rassell sent him to the State prison for two years. Daniel Martin, indicted for grand larceny, pleaded guilty to the minor offence ‘and was sent to the penitentiary for six months. ‘Wom. Alaster was convicted of an attempt to steal a ‘of gold from W. W. Wilson, in Wail street, (on the 29th of December. He was arrested on the spot while attempting to break the window of the office. The Court sentenced him to one year's tm- {Prisonment In the penitentiary. Andrew Lang and Lewis Martin were tried for highway robbery. The complainant, Andrew Ryotte, a Frenchman, testified that on the night of the 8th of December, while in a lager beer saloon, corner of Church and Leonard streets, he was assaulted by the prisoners and robbed of his watch and $7in money. Lang was acquitted, and Martin was convicted of grand larceny and sent to the State prison for two years and nine months. Francis McHugh, an old offen- der, was convicted of garroting John Williams, in Water street, on the 30th of November, and sent to the State prison for thirteen years and nine months. Ann Wells, convicted of stealing a quantity of morocco skins, was sent to the State prison for two years. Francis Forrester and John Richmond were convicted of breaking into the store of John Whit- lock, 259 Tenth avenue, and stealing $40 worth of boots and shoes. Forrester, being an old offender, ‘was sent to Sing Sing for four years and nine months, while Richmond was sent to the penitentiary fortwo years and nine months. John Lemon and George Vandivere were convicted of stealing a gold watch from Lewis Simmons. Lemon was sent to the State prison for two years and nine months, while the other was sent to the penitentiary for two years. In another column will be found letters of eminent citizens and a petition of the police force of the Fourth precinct, upon which Judge Russell was in- duced to suspend judgment in the case of Michael Wogan, Jr., who was convicted of a minor grade of arson in the General Sessions, and who now stands charged with the murder of Michael Cassidy. They form a complete justification of his Honor’s course and exculpate him from the censure given by the Coroner's jury. ‘The sales of cotton yesterday embraced about 1,200 bales, based upon middling uplands, at 10c. and middling New Orleans at 103(c., establishing an advance since the receipt of the Atlantic’s news, last week, of about 1\c. per Ib. Flour wasin fair export demand, with limits, however, forcommon grades, rather under the asking prices of holders. The sales were toa fair extent, in- cluding about 3,000 bbis. for export, while prices were without change of importance. Wheat was firm. The chief sale consisted of about 28,000 bushels prime Chicago spring at 98c., and a small lot of Kentucky white was sold at $130. Corn was firmer, with a small sale of old West- ern mixed at 74c., and acargo of new yellow at 72c.,in the slip. Pork was dull and easier, with sales of new mess at $1475 a $14 80. Sugars wore rather heavy, while sales embraced about 600 a 600 hhds. at prices given in another place. Coffee was quiet and sales limited. Freights were without change of moment in quotations. About 750 bales of cotton were engaged for Liverpool at 3-164. ; flour at 1s. 101g. a 2s, chiefly at the latter figure; and acon at 208. To London, flour was engaged at 2s, 6d. The Test Question upon Kansas— Will the South Back Down? We spread before our readers this morning several additional newspaper articles, North and South, upon the present sharply defined test question of the Kansas imbroglio. The first of these articles, from the Richmond South (fire-eater), deplores the Tammany Hall letter of Gov. Wise, as amanifesto which, “from one end of the South to the other, will be read with astonishment and mortification.” Mr. Pryor therefore calls earnestly upon the Legislature to put an extinguisher upon this firebrand with- ‘out delay. The second of our extracts is from the Richmond Whig (opposition), and says that “this letter of Governor Wise is calculated to do more harm to the cause of the South at the North than anything which has yet transpired” in this Kansas squabble. Our third extract is from the New York Tribune, which emphatically declares that “the Lecompton constitution is doomed,” on account of the motive of Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, in the Uni tates Senate on Monday, for postponing his remarks on the Kansas question—because “it was undergo- ing changes every day,” and because he was anxious to “have it presented in a more definite form, which would probably be the case ere long.” Our fourth extract is from the New York Times, and it expresses the opinion that this letter of Governor Wise, in connection with some other recent developements of public opinion, “will pretty certainly give the coup de grace to the Lecompton movement.” Thus it will be seen that, notwithstanding the different lights and shades under which this subject is exhibited by our several cotempora- ries referred to, they all substantially concur in the opinion that the Lecompton constitution is dead and done for, and that to Governor Wise belongs the honor of giving the finishing blow to this.policy, involving the admission of Kansas as asiave State. The coup d'état of Walker and Douglas is thus consummated through the coup de grace given to the Lecompton programme by Gov. Wise. And we must admit that in this excuse of Senator Brown for poetponing his re- marks upon Kansas there is # manifest letting down; while the Richmond Souff, lately all con- fidence and exultation, can only speak of its astonishment, mortification and despair. But what is the difficulty with Southern men fin Congress? Why do they hesitate? Mr. Brown says he is “waiting for this Kansas ques- tion to assume a more definite form.” But could anything be more definite than the form in which it stands under the Lecompton pro- gramme? The regular Territorial Legislatare of Kansas provided the necessary laws for the election of a Constitutional Convention. Un- der those laws a Constitutional Convention was elected, and the members thereof assembled at Lecompton, fully recognized by the federal go- vernment, and framed a State constitution for Kansas, embracing the institution of slavery. ‘The Convention also provided for an election on the 21st of December, at which the people were to decide whether they would have this consti- tution “with slavery” or “with no slavery.” ‘The election was accordingly held, and by a large majority ofthe votes cast the said consti- tution was adopted with the slavery clause. Thus, through a regular chain of legal proceed- ings, 0 slave State constitution was established for Kansas; and beyond this point it ie not the duty nor the policy of Southern men in Congress to go. Mr. Brown, no doubt, is waiting for the re- turns of the elections of the fourth of January; but #0 far as they legally affect the Lecompton constitution, these elections are mere surplus age, and of no legal value. If the friends of ox- Mayor Wood next week were to get up a new election for Mayor of this city, and if they were to cnst a majority of fifty thoueand votes for their candidate, it would not in the elightest degree affect the result of the regu- larly authorized Mayoralty clection of last De- cembér. So in regard to the regularly appoint- ed Kaneas constitutional election. Granted that the free State party command an over- whelming majority of the people of Kansas, and that the Lecompton constitution, slavery and all, were carried by default, from the re- fusal of the free State men to participate in the election—what then? The legality of the re- eult is etill as unquestionable as if every man in the Territory had voted, and simply because all popular elections are decided by the majori- ty of thone who do vote, and not by any majori- ty which may refuse to vote. The Jarmary election was called by the Terri- torial Legislature; and that election, we dare say, has resulted in @ very heavy majority against tke Lecompton constitution, out and ont And # Southern men are willing to admit that the Legislature had the legal right to re- vise the work of the Constitutional Convention oud order a new election, the case ia closed. But we bold that, ina legal view of the mat- ter, the case was closed with the Lecompton election, and that the next step in regular or- der was the acceptance or the rejection of thie Lecompton constitution by Congress. This, at all events, ie the only ground which South- erm men can consistently occupy; and if they interd to hold this greund, it is useless to wait for the reterns of the Kansas January elections. The broad, comprehensive test question with the South is the admission of Kansas as a slave State, according to the time-henored principle of mutual concessions between the North and South in the admission of new States. Here we have Minnesota and Oregon awaiting their admission as free States, and Kansas, with her regularly adopted constitution, presenting her- self before Congress as a slave State. Let the South stand upon this ultimatum, then, that all three of these new States shall be admitted upon the faith of their several constitutions, without going behind the record; and let Southern men make this the teat question of the continaance or the dissolution of the present Congress, and they will soon bring their Northern brethren to their eenses. But if Presidential intrigues and spoils and plunder are to decide thie ques- tion, then there is an end of the South, of Southern rights, Southern equality, and a Southern balance of power. With the capitulation of the South upon Kan- sas, all the measures, principles, abstractions and protestations of Southern politicians, states- men, States and Conventions, of the last fifty years, will be reduced to rubbish ; and the chi- valry, the prestige, the unity and eelf-suetain- ing spirit of the South will have departed for- ever. The question is one of life or death to the South, upon the simple alternative of the admission or rejection of Kansas with her slave State constitution. Ovr Nicaragua Prorecrorate.—We learn, by the arrival of the Empire City at New Orleans, that the third act of our Nicaragua protectorate has just come off. Colonel Anderson, the captor of San Carlos, has surrendered to the United States ship Susquehanna. This is probably the last we shall hear of Walker’s second expedi- tion to Nicaragua, although the success it had achieved in recapturing the San Juan river and the Transit Company’s steamers will ever re- main as an incentive to similar enterprises should the arm of our government ever be with- drawn from that region. In fact, but for the practical protectorate established by the United States before the negotiation of the Nicaragua treaty with Senor Yrissari, General Walker would now have been President of that country and have had an opportunity to retrieve some of the many errers he has committed. Captain Davis wag the first to save the present govern- ment there from destruction, by forcing Walker to surrender at Rivas. This has been acknow- ledged by the contending parties there during their recent mutual accusations. Commodore Paulding saved them a second time, by seizing General Walker when he was upon the eve of triumph. Captain Sands has now interfered in the third instance, and induced Colonel Ander- son to surrender a fertress from which native forces never could have driven him. These events, which are the forerunners of the protectorate that has been negotiated be- tween the envoy of Nicaragua and our govern- ment, evince the wisdom of the policy of that treaty and the necessity of its immediate estab- Mshment by regular process of law. It is to be hoped, therefore, that it will meet with no de- lay when brought before the Senate. If it is not immediately established, we shall be con- tinually under the necessity of exercising the same lawless protectorate over the Nicaragua Transit route that has been used by Davis, Paulding and Sands. The moral force of the governments there has been broken, not only in the eyes of the world, but even in the conside- ration ofthe native population, and a stronger power must guarantee peace to them, It is ex- pected that the Yrisarri treaty will be return- ed by the Star of the West, due here to-day or to-morrow, fully ratified by the government of Nicaragua, and that it will be at once sent to the Senate by the President, So commences our Nicaragua protectorate. ‘Tue Boarn or Epvcation.—The first meeting of the new Board of Education takes place this aftegnoon, when a President will be elected for the ensuing year. Although comparatively lit- tle attention has hitherto been given to the pro- ceedings of thie body by the public, the Interoats entrusted to its charge are of the highest im- portance. The Board, which is both executive and legislative, and is utterly irresponsible of any authority, is composed of forty-four School Commissioners, or a representation of two from each ward. As the real importance of the office of Commissioner is not properly appreciated by the people, men who are utterly unfitted for it, by their ignorance, their character, and often by their degraded and moral social instincta, are frequently, we fear, elected to fill the posi- tion. The reenlt is what might naturally be expected. The Board of Education pre- sents on a smaller scale the same spectacle which is exhibited in our national Legislature. The interesta of the lobby overrule and override the public in- terests, and the Board has been converted into an arena for the operations of scheming con- tractors and dishonest and corrupt officials, The expenditures of this department havo reached the extravagant amount of twelve hun- dred thousand dollars a year; nearly one-third of which becomes the spoils of the lobby mem- bers, who assemble in great force at every mect- ing of the Board. The operations of those gen- tlemen extend over a large field, embracing con- tracts for building new school houses, repairs to old ones, supplies of furniture, school books, and anything and everything connected with educational purposes, They are, in fact, as much members of the Board as those who are elected to the office, and share with them in the division of the plunder, Now, for all this the people—the taxpayers themeelves—are greatly to blame, for it is to their neglect and indifference that we are in- debted for the peculation and dishonesty which disgrace the department of public instruction. None but men of the highest character and with a thorough knowledge of the demands of public education should be placed in a position of this kind, where so much depends upon the honesty and capacity of the incumbent, We trust that this ie the last Board of Educa- tion that will beso organized, and that hereafter its members will be appointed by the Mayor, to whom they will be responsible for the discharge of their official duties, No Statesmen in Congress, Whatever talkers there may be in Congress, it is now becoming sadly apparent that there is not one statesman either in the Senate or the House—anless, perchance, some one of the hitherto silent and obscure members should hereafter loom up in the due proportions of stateemanship. Scarcely ever, in our history, has there been a time when this could be said with truth. There have been times when the tide of genius and statesmanship ebbed low enough; but there were always one or two men of strength, either in the Senate or the House of Representatives, on whom one could rely, and from whom it was safe to expect, on all topics of leading importance, a speech or two which thoroughly exhausted the matter in hand in all its bearings. It was reserved for our day seemingly to witness both houses sunk to a dead level of mediocrity, dullness, and idle talk. Short as the session has been, there have been four topics under debate which might have af- forded a statesman an opportunity of develop- ing his capacity. At the very commencement of the session, the Treasury Note bill was in- troduced. ‘This measure involved considera- tions of the highest consequence to the finan- cial well-being of the country, and very impor" tant questions of abstract science. The debate which-arose on it would have justified a refe- rence to our past financial experience, and to the lessons it teaches; to the many contrasts be- tween our financial ways and those of foreign countries; to the principle of public debts; and more particularly, to the exigencies which required the government to appeal to the Legis- lature for aid. Yet the only word of debate which was heard was on petty technical points ; in the Senate, seemingly, as a mere matter of form; in the House, evidently, a thorough par- tizan opposition to the government, got up (strange to say, by Banks of Massachusetts, who ought to have been above that sort of thing) solely in the hope of embarrassing the adminis- tration. Neither among the defenders nor among the assailants of the bill was theréa single statesmanlike speech made. Then the Kansas question has been before the Senate and House, and no end of speeches have been made upon it by people of all kinds ; but to what do they amount? There is Senator Douglas with his hair splitting theory on one side, and very likely some ultra Southerner with another hair splitting theory on the other side; and the republicans with their impractica- ble utopias in the rear on one side, and the disunionists with their utopias to the full as im- practicable, in the rear, on the other; and in the midst of all are a small party of gentlemen who call themselves administration democrats, and whose time is spent in prigging ideas from the President’s Message, and diluting them freely in rhetoric, then serving them up to Congress. How many reams of paper have been covered by all this idle talk on Kansas, it were hard to say: there must have been a good many; afd—will it be believed !—the facts of the Kansas case are not before Congrese—and cannot be till the result of the election of January 4 is made known; and thus, all that has been said may turn eut to be mere bosh, and good for nothing. Could any set of school boys act more foolishly? The Utah question has been brought up twice, on a motion to expel Mr. Rernhiscl tho dolegate frem Utah, and ona bill to abolish polygamy in the Territories; but, asin each case the de- bate was rather desultory, and was speedily brought toa close, it is perhaps premature to despair of a statesmanlike speech on this head. But the case of General Walker has been fully discussed and disposed of ; and where shall we look for the calm, thorough complete exposé of the law of the case, the facts as established by competent evidence, the application of the law to the facta, and the connection of the result by the equity view of the case—which, in states- manship, should always be preferred to the strict legal view? We shall certainly find nothing of the kind in any of the speeches which have been delivered in the Senate and in the House. Some of these were merely windy flourishes about the expansion of the South in the direction of Central America ; others were seemingly extracts from the old files of old papers about the folly and the wicked- ness of American filibusterism ; and many were pettifogging arguments about the rights of American naval officers when acting as con- stables. For statesmanlike views on the Walker question we must turn to the President's Mes- sage. These messages of Mr. Buchanan’s are the teat by which one arrives ata knowledge of the penury of our national legislature in the higher qualities of statesmanship. It is by comparison with them that the speeches of our orators appear the wordy performances they are. They seem to be the only relic of owe old statesman- ship left to us. Disrrmution or tue Crry Grapma axp Levetiine Jons.—Some of the newspapers are, we see, taking up the views originally pro- pounded through the columns of this journal, in reference to the bad taste and impolicy of the system by which the upper portion of the city is being levelled and laid out in straight lines, It is time for our cotemporaries to wake up to proceedings which are likely to affect so mate- rially the beauty and health of our city. ‘Thore portions of New York which lie be- tween Union square and the Central Park, and between the latter and the two rivers, have already in a great measure been destituted of their natural advantages by the pick and the axe. Instead of the Corporation availing them- selves of the original configuration and sinuo- sities of those sites for the construction of ave- nues and streets, they have been grading and levelling, until they have reduced all the tho- roughfares in those quarters to a nearly uni- form surface. In the construction of new streets, of course this level will be strictly ob- served, and thus every portion of those dis tricts will assume the character of @ re- deemed marsh, not only in appearance, but in atmosphere. How unnecessary and impolitic thie plan is may be judged of from the case of the Harlem railway. Instead of cutting through Murray Hill, as it now does, that line might have been made to take the route of either the Firet or Second avenue, where but little or no grading would have been required. By its so doing, some of the most picturesque and healthy features of this neighborhood might have been preserved. We trust that when the ground situated above the Central Park comes to be laid out, some ob- atacle will be opposed to the corrupt proceed- ings by which the portions of our city already built upon have been disfigured and apoiled. That part of the island may, by judicious dis- tribution, be made to gontribute to the effect of the Central Park, just as in London the terraces and villas in St. John’s Wood are made to as- sist that of the Regent’s Park If the con- tractors and other corporate jobbers who have been living out of the grading and levelling system can be foiled by the energetic action of our citizens, we may yet save from their dese- crating hands some of the most beautiful spots on the island. More MenicipaL Conrvuprion.—The commu- nication of Daniel D. Conover, Street Com- missioner, and that of the Mayor, on the Battery extension, presented to the Common Council on Monday evening, are calculated to satisfy every tax payer that the charges of fraud and corruption which have been so frequently brought against the Corporation of this city, are not only well founded, but actually fall short of the truth. It appears from Mr. Conover’s letter that the wrongheadedness of Mr. Flagg, the Comptrol- ler, has again in this instance cost the city a large sum of money, come of the payments which he has made being absolutely without warrant at all, and others being manifest over charges. Twelve cases are enumerated by Mr Conover, in which the city has been robbed the law violated, and a rich harvest reaped by some of the ministers of corruption. In fact, Mr. Conover states—and we have no hesitation ‘ in believing him—that for years the whole sys- tem of the Street Department has been one of “wholesale violations of laws and ordinances, contempt for the Common Council and the Mayor, bribery, corruption, and deliberate and systematic alteration of contracta.”” On another side, the Mayor’s letter shows how grossly the city has been defrauded in the matter of the filling in of the Battery. When the contract was first awarded (after years of struggles, during which the would-be contrac- tore bought up the penny papers to advocate their claims) it was estimated that the cost would only be some $27,000, it being assumed that the profit from dumping the earth would be equal to the additional expenditure ; but it seems that over $52,000 have already been spent, and the most expensive part of the work remains to be done. Ht is eupposed by many that the contractor has put all the profit in his pocket and thrown the loss on the city. More than this, the tide has washed much of the earth dumped into the channel, thus actually rendering the well known channel highly dan- gerous. When this job was first suggested we opposed it, and we warned the public against interfering with the harbor; we foresaw what is now happening. But people will only learn wisdom by experience. If anything too severe could be said of a city whose everyday records contain disclosures of this kind, we should like to hear it. Tux Eronty-srven Tuovsanp Dottar Jos.— The country papers are full of articles about the $87,000 which Messrs. Lawrence, Stone & Company say they paid for procuring an alter- ation in the tariff. And well they may be; if an act of Congress can be procured on #0 vital a eubject as the tariff by the payment of a sum of money, it is very evident that the benefit de- rived from the existence of a Congress may be largely overshadowed by the mischief it may do. These country journals reiterate the cry for particulars, which was first raised in tbis étty; the demand—North, South, East and West—is for the names of the parties who got the money, and for some account of the ser- vices they rendered in retarn for it. The demand has been urged long enough and loud enough for an answer to have been given ere this, #f it had been the intention of the par- ties who say they paid the money to surrender the names of the rogues who took it. As they have resolutely withstood the question hitherto, it is to be expected that they will continue to withstand it. And it only remains for all who feel concern in tke honor and honesty of Con- gress to resort to the extreme measures which the determined silence of Lawrence, Stone & Company render imperative. We allude ofcourse to the application of the law passed at the last session of Congress; under which, coupled with the previous statutes, It is presumable that these persons, who confess that they laid out money to buy up Congress, can be dealt with accord- ing to the measure of their guilt. It will perhaps be urged that the agents of the Middlesex mills did no more than any other manufacturers; that all the woollen factories were equally concerned in the degrading opera- tion of bribing members of Congress, This may or may not be the case; but as the law never forbears to try a thief against whom there is evidence because there is reason to belfeve that other thieves walk the streets unmolested for want of evidence, so it is no oxcnse for Mesesra. Lawrence, Stone & Company that their alleged colleagues in the base work of corrupting Con- gress have not yet been under the necessity of disclosing the state of their affairs, and econ- fessing their dirty transactions. Against these parties there ie the best possible evidence— their own formal confession: and, on the broad general ground that the tempter is as guilty as the tempted, the corrupter as the corrupted, the purchaser of men’s consciences as the man who sells his conscience, we now call on Congress to proceed against Messrs. Lawrence, Stone & Company with all the vigor and all the severity which the law allows. No less will vindicate the credit of the Con- gresaional body in the eyes of the public and of the world. It is intimated in some Eastern pa- pers that the charge of $87,000 for the pur- chase of members of Congress is a fraudulent one, and Was intended to hide other expendi- tures of the house, such for instance, as stock gambling lorses; be this as it may, the public at large will believe the facte to be as Lawrence, Stone & Company stated them to be until the contrary is proved. Facts versus Fievres.—There is a maxim amongst merchants of the old school—that is, of the school that despises the system of keep ing books by double entry—that the more scientific the bookkeeper the more complicated and unintelligible his accounts are likely to prove. The case of Comptroller Flagg would seem to bear out this theory, paradoxical as it may seem. THe has had « certain reputation as a financier, and yet nobody seems satiafled with hiw figures, Since he has been in office more complaints have been made against the accu- racy of his financial calculations and statements than were ever before charged against any officer in his situation. The report of Mr. Conover on the Street Department gives oon coup de grace to the Comptroller's character ability. It fully confirms the opinion which the public have been gradually arriving at, of his utter incapacity for his present post. If he Tax Traian Opyra—A New Pian ror te Resvyxnation.—There can be no doubt that the Italian Opera is the moet elegant, graceful, re- fined, artistic and intellectual of public enter- tainments. If we call thiscity a metropolis, we must have the Opera ; without it, we are only villagers. It is an absolute necessity for the fashionable world. Stop the Opera for six months, and we should have a frightful record ef suicides among the higher classes. All the old and young M’Flimseys in the Fifth avenue, Madison square, and elsewhere, would be aephyx- iating themselves with charcoal, drowning themselves among their gold fish, hanging them- selves with their bell pulls, impaling themselves upon their bodkins, piercing their carotid arte- ries with their crochet needles, or slowly starv- ing to death by refusing to take supper at even- ing parties, Look at it, for a moment: The young women have nothing to wear ; the young men have nothing to say, and the old ladies have nothing todo. The Opera is the only re- lief from thie hopeless ennui. Nobody has any money to give parties worth going to, and over the doors of the drawing rooms might property be affixed the motto of Dante for the infernal regions, This theory, that the Opera isa necessity, is fally understood in all the great capitals of Eu- rope. In Paris, Milan, Berlin and Vienna the governments give the managers subventions varying in amount from fifty thousand to ome hundred and twenty thousand dollars per annum. In London the aristocracy pat down at least fifty thousand dollars cash before the Opera season commences. We have nothing of the kind here—on the contrary, the manager is obliged to give, every night, two hundred free seats to the persons who would otherwise be the best paying patrons of the Opera. He has no subvention or subscrip- tion to fall back upon, but must take as heavy expenses, proportionately, as any of the foreign houses, with no specie reserve to fall back upon. He always has a large floating debt with no sinking fund, or, rather, with all his fands sunken. We perceive that the director of the French Opera at New Orleans has gottea himself into this difficulty. It is the old story —singers scarce—salaries too high—times hard, and some of the leading nightingales sick— moulting perhaps—and cannot sing. So the di- rector has arranged what the French call a tombola, and pute up the seats and boxes aa prizes in a lottery, from the proceeds of whieh, when the nightingales get well, he may be able to go on. Now, what we want in New York is a similar coup de theatre to provide a sinking fund for the manager of the Opera. We suppose that our Legislature would not permit a lottery of any sort, for the best purposes; but there would be no harm in legalizing five or six masquerade balls during every season. These balls should not be permitted to be given in any other place but the Academy of Mu- sic, which is « chartered institution, and therefore entitled to peculiar privileges. Many years ago there were some splendid mas- querade balls given at the old Park theatre; but there being no law restricting them to any particular localities, they were run down by being given in taverns, halls, hotele—large and sma]l—and all sorts of houscs. We would have the privilege of giving the balls restricted to the Academy; and the arrangements should be made under the strict supervision of the police, aided by a special posse of divincs—ray ten clergymen—eelected from all Evangelical de- neminations in good standing. The police could keep a sharp lookout for the pickpockets, while the reverend specials kept watch and ward over the movements of Satan, and see that none of their tesder lambs went astray into the camp of the wolves. z Under such auspices, with the charm of novelty, excitement and vewiety, there can be no doubt that the masquerades would be a grand success. They would bring alt classes of society together, and allow an opportunity for any quantity of fun and frolic, without rowdy- ism, immorality, or excess of any kin. They would, moreover, result in a handsome profit for the manager—eustain the Opera, and save the fashionable world from the awful alterme- tive—suicide, or o life of blank despair. Vive le bal masqué ! New Dermrrioy or Liset.—We have received a number of communications commenting upon the course taken by a portion of the New York press in the publication of Donnelly’s speech, but as we have anticipated, in an article of Sunday last, most of the objections of the wri- ters, we do not think It necessary to give them insertion. A re-echo of the sentiments contained in that article is the only palliation which the Times is able to offer for the recklessness with which it gave circulation to the vindictive declarations of the dying murderer. It pleads the convenient excuse thet it regarded his statements in reference to’ Mr. Smith as so wild and improbable that it attached no importance to the publication of them. ‘hiv is a novel answer to a libel of so serious # cheraeter, and we trust that ite singularity will exercise some weight in the proceedings which we understand Mr. Smith is about to take againgt the Times and Sun. When the utterance of truth in the public interest is prosecuted and punished, it is of some importance to us to have the preeedent er tablished of impunity on the circulation of falschoods. Rogues, swindlers and publie de- faulters will then have less chance of mulcting respectable journals for the expression of am honest and unbiassed opinion upon their eoa- duct. ‘Tue Ormna Reviven.—The manager of the Academy F announces “Ti Dop Giovanni” for Friday, to close tha season, during whieh nearty fifty performances have Dees given under the mest discouraging circumstances. The “Don Glovanni”’ will be givon in the samo stylo as at her Majesty's theatre, with all the artists inthe cast. The famous “ Liberty Chorus,’ and other gems, will be re tained; and for the first time in this country tho ball room music will be played an written by Mozart, by three orchestras. The full particulars of thie grand performance may be found in the appropriate place in today’s Hanaup, —— The Fine Arts in Washington, BRADY'S NRW GALLERY. We soe by our Washington correspondence that Mr. Brady, of Broadway, is about to dpen ® permanent branch: of his photographic establishment in that city. He hae Jong contempiated this step, the success of the expert- mont which he made @ few years since, during one of the seasons of Congress, having convinced him that Wash- ington would im future be one of the most importass theatres of his operations, As the great social and polig- cal centre of the Union, to which all thetintellect, talem® ‘and beauty of the country are attracted, Mr. Brady is am- doubtedty right in his calculations, and he may expect te reap from his new enterprise the full harvest of the pre- fexajonal exertions by which be has raised phetography to the highest rank amongst the arte. Binos Mr. Brady’s last professional visit to Washington ‘vast improvements have been effected in the daguerream and photographic processes. The Intter was them in tte the omipont personages whe at (bas time Wook part in tho °