The New York Herald Newspaper, January 3, 1859, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDO ENNETT, OFZICE N. W. CORNER OP FULTON AND NASSAU STS ERM:. cash in adeance, Money sent. by mail will be at the ae the condone ‘Posage mampe not received aaeubscription money ‘iit DAILY BERALD, tro cents per copy, $1 per annuum. THE Wee) MBKALD. cry Rr Qiks cots per or $8 per annum; open per 4 snp port of Great Britain, or $9 lo any part of the Continent, both fo an WAY BYE KAMULY HERALD, every Wednesday, at four cnt Pt OF nn. “WOLUNTARY CORRESPONDENCE, comining impo-vent news, solicited from any quarter of the world; if wsed, will be Tierally paid’ for. ‘Bg-OUn FOREIGN CORRKSPONDESTS 4KE Paaricucanty Ruquesrep 10 Skat, ali, LErtaxs axp Pack aces SENT UB. Volume XXIV. AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. ADWAY THEATRE. Broadway—Eavesraray, Gru ROWERY THEATRE, Bowery—Carrain Kro—Po ca WON TAS—TWO BUZZARDS. BURTON'S NEW THEATRE, Broadway.—Tse Mosca ack—MY OVERCOAT, WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway.—Mencusnt or Ve- mick. aaiet) y RENE'S THEATRE, No. 624 Broadway.—Oun AdATES Gfosis— Tus Mansieo Rake NUM'S AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway—After. Py as Rrening BBX Bour—Hanvequin Visca, ‘WOOD'S MINSTREL BUILDING, 561 and 563 Broadway— Epmloria® BONGS, DaNGxs, Ac.—SOUTURIN LUPE LLLUSTRATED, MECHANICS’ HALL, 427 Broadway—Rrvants’ Minstaeis —Neako SoNGS aNd BURLESQUES—SHYLOOK. CAMPBELL’S MINSTRELS, 444 Broadway.—Ermiortax Cranacrenisties, SoNGs, &c.—Dovuste Beppep Room. New York, Monday, January 3, 1859. ‘To Paper Manufacturers and Agents. ‘The proprietor of the New Yors Hxnaup wants to make arrangements for a constant supply of printing pap r, puck as the Heraup is printed upon, to the amount of 1,000 to 1,200 reams per week, payable in cash at the end ofeach week. Apply immediately. The News. A despatch from New Orleans states that an ar- rival at that city from Ruatan, reports that the fili- busters who left Mobile on board the schooner Su- san had landed at Porto Cabello, near Omoa, in the bay of Honduras, also that the ex- peditionary force proceeded forthwith to cross the country to Leon, Nicaragua, where an attempt would be made to overthrow the government of President Martinez, Another despatch, however, furnishes the intelligence that the Susan was wrecked on the 16th ult., about sixty miles from Belize, in British Honduras—that her passengers were saved, and that one hundred of them arrived at Mobile on Saturday morning on board the British ship of war Basilisk. We shall not attempt to explain how these contradictory statements originated. The latter is undoubtedly the true one. Our readers are referred to the des- patches alluded to for the particulars, By the arrival of the steamship America at Hali- fax yesterday forenoon we have dates from Liver- pool to the 18th ult., three days later than the ad- vices brought by the Fulton. The intelligence is interesting. With an abundance of money consols had declined a trifle, the latest quotations being 96} a 9T for account. There had been an average business in American stocks at unchanged rates. ‘The Liverpool cotton market was buoyant at an advance of one-eighth of a penny upon all descrip- tions. The recent arrest of members of secret clubs in Ireland has been followed by the appre- hension of other parties, and increased exertions on the part of the authorities to suppress the ille- gal organizations. The Atlantic Telegraph Com- pany had held a meeting, and adopted a report of the directors setting forth the financial condition of the company. An abstract of it is given in our telegraphic summary of the news. Another com- pany has been formed for laying a telegraph cable between Europe and America. The news from the continent is unimportant. We have advices from Saint Thomas, dated on the 20th ultimo, which report freights dull but very good health amongst the shipping According to the report of the City Inspector there were 400 deaths in the city during the past -week—an increase of 55 as compared with the mor- tality of the week previous, and 29 less than oc- curred in the corresponding week of 1857. The following table shows the number of deaths for the past two weeks among adults and children, dis- tinguishing the sexes:— Men. Women. Boys. Girls. Total. ‘Week ending Dec. 25.....70 7% 16 85 Week ending Jan. 1 ay 89 «116 101 Among the principal causes of death were the following:— —Wek ending— Dee, 2%. Diseases. Jan. 1. Bronchitis. . 6 Consumption. TL Convulsions (infan 25 2 oSabd Dropey in the head. Inflammation of the Inflammation of tne lun Inflammation of the brain Marasmus (infantile). 13 Bearlet fever....... 12 ‘There were also 5 deaths of apoplexy, 11 of con- gestion of the brain, 14 of congestion of the lungs, 15 of croup, 6 of puerperal fever, 7 of disease of the heart, 7 old age, 6 premature births, 34 stillborn, and 10 from violent causes. The annexed table shows what portions of the human system have been most affected :— Diseases Dec. 25. Jan. 1. Bones, joints, &. a 2 Brain ad nerv 2 42 84 Generative organi 1 9 Bh 143 7 2 : 40 Btomach, bowels and other digestive organs. 43 50 Uncertain seat aud genera! fever a % 2 - 2 400 The number of deaths, compared with the corres- ponding weeks in 1857 and 1858, was as follows :— Week ending Jan. 3, 1857 Week ending Jan. 2, 1858 Week ending Dec. 26, 1858 Week ending Jan. 1, 1859 The nativity table gives 271 natives of the United States, 79 of Ireland, 30 of Germany, 13 of England, and the balance of various foreign countries. The annexed table shows the temperature of the atmosphere in this city during the past week, the range of the barometer, the variation of wind cur- rents, and the state of the weather at three periods during each day, viz.: at 9 A. M., and 3 and 9 o'clock P. M:— SP. M. oP. M. REMARKS, Satarday—Clear all day and night. Sunday—Morning, clear; afteruvon, cloudy; night, hail- storm. Monday—Clear all day and night. ‘Tuesday—Clear sha, and night. Wednesday—Morning, overcast; afternoon and night, ‘Thursday—Morning, snowing and blowing fresh; after- noon, snowing; Dight, rain. Friday—Morning, raining. The steamship Weser, of the North German Lioyd line, is now in her thirtieth day out from into office on Saturday with the usual ceremonies, The Common Council will organize this afternoon. nalized by an unusual degree of violence. No less than three murders are reported, together with a number of stabbing cases. The particulars are given in another part of to-day’s paper. pool, arrived at this port from Kingston, Jamaica, yesterday mo: the island are dated to the 18th ultimo. tion of a communication by steam wi States was prominently before the goycrnment and Legislature. Two propositions—those of Messra, Hitchins & Company, agents of the New York and Central American lines, and of Messrs. George Solomons & Co., of Jamaica—offered the greatest advantages. A ship load of coolies were daily ex- pected from India, up to the ith of December. proclamation of pardon to the Mormons was before tie Court of the Third Judicial district. Sinclair cla'med the right first to find ont the guilty, pass sentence, and then apply the pardon. Prosecuting Attorney for the United States sup- ports the executive, Commissioners and new Go- yernor, and regards the course of the Judge as un- necessarily tending to increase difficulties in that Territory. gives a doleful description of the condition of things in the Red river settlement of New Mexico. He says that roaming bands of Camanches who are in the category of friendly Indians go about murdering and pillaging the settlers, while the military afford them no sort of protection, but rather protect the Indians from the indignation of the whites. He is particularly severe on Gen. Garland, who was in command of the troops there. If the ‘acts be as represented, an effectual remedy should be applied by the government with- out loss of time. garita, writing on the 16th ult., says:—This speck in the ocean, columns of the the world-read Heraup, is likely to attract some notoriety as regards po- sition, connection and produce. This port is ac- cessible for the largest ships to enter, and is a harbor remarkable for safety, and the island is likely to be as advantageous to Venezuela as Ire- land is to England or Corsica is to France. The sugar cane is extensively cultivated, and a quarter of the island is now under the cultivation of enter- prising planters, producing sugar, coffee, corn, hemp and rye. The fisheries are very profitable, and salt is being made in abundance, and now sells at Sc. per bushel. Barbadoes, Trinidad and Deme- rara require all we can produce, whilst Laguayra and Purto Cabello get their supplies from the United States. A floating dock and dockyard are to be constructed here directly after the return of General Paez, who is daily expected at Caracas. The adjacent islands abound with guano, which is of the most fertilizing quality, and doubtless cannot but attract the attention of Americans and Euro- peans. NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JANUARY 38, 1859. tion between the eoatinents: will- demand thou- | is landed in Cubs, the veal, having no papers, Bremerhaven for New York. She is a now vessel, and may bave broken some of her machinery and put back, The new Btate officers were duly inducted into office at Albany on Saturday. The inaugura- tion ceremonies took place in the Assembly cham: Ler # the State capitol. About noon Governors Morgan aud King entered the chamber, followed by Lieute: ant Governors Selden and Campbelt, State P son Inspector Everest, Canal Commission ers Ry gles and Gardner, the Secretary of State, and w!l the State officers. Following them cv tie Lurgesses’ staff and corps, and Company B and staff of the Continentals. As the Governors as- cended the Speaker's desk the cannon commenoed firing. and the doors were thrown open to th» pnb- lic. An immense concourse of persons immediate- ly iushed into the chamber, filling it sol dly in every part, and the scene is described as one of much excitement. Many hundreds of persons were to gain admission to the hall. Tae Legisla- ture will no doubt organize to-morrow. The newly elected county officers were sworn unal The New Year's festival in this city was sig- The English steamship Cleator, bound for Liver- ing, short of coal. Our advices from The ques- h the United We have papers and correspondence from Utah President Buchanan’s Judge The A correspondent of the Santa Fe weekly Gazetic Our correspondent at Macanta, Island of Mar- heretofore forgotten in The Wosld’s Progress in 1858=What Has vis Been Achieved for Humanity. We have given in our columns these past few days a copious index to the events of the world transpired during the past year, and now that we are entering upon a new one, a cursory re- view of the great points achieved in the world’s progress is worthy of our attention. “We do not hesitate to place among the most important—if it is not in fact the most impor- tant—of the achievements of the year, the gathering at Liverpool of the philosophers and statesmen of England, and their solemn adop- tion and promulgation of the great idea which lies at the very foundation of all things, physi- cal or metaphysical, in this country—that po- litical science is secondary to social progress and elevation. We claim this as the true Ame- rican theory of human developement; and its adoption and teaching in the first of European nations will eventually rock to their foundations nearly all of the time honored tradi- tions of Europe, for it wars with all of them. Besides this, the year 1858 has been one of great social developement. Among the prominent events we may notice among ourselves the establishment of the Over- land mails, the opening of the Tehuantepec route, and the metalliferous developements in Fraser river and Arizona, which will give a new impetus to our Pacific empire} In Europe the most prominent events in social progress have occurred in Russia, where the emancipation of the serfs, the opening of the Amoor territory, and the vast public works that have been con- structed, have embraced a territorial extent only equalled by our own. In politics the field has not been less actively worked than in social science.) The acknowledg- ment by England that the law of nations does not admit her claim to exercise a police of the ocean is agreat point gained in bebalf of the whole world. The opening of Japan and China to commerce and political intercourse is aneevent full of import for the future. In India, FEng- land’s rule has been re-established, and the East India Company, whose destruction had been a problem to statesmen for half a century, has been abolished. _Our own land has witnessed the cessation of the Kansas feuds and the repression of the Mormon rebellion, both of which events have demonstrated the stability of our Union and the elasticity of our political institutions A not less renmrkable event is the initiation of the Paraguay expedition, which may he said to be the germ of the developement of a traly American policy in our political relations, The mechanic arts have their triumphs, too, to record in the year 1858. First and groatest among them we recognise the laying of the Atlantic cable. In this event, and the impulse which it has given te ocean telegraphs every- where, a revolution has been initiated in com- merce and politics which will be felt till the end of time. Another event worthy of mention here is the completion of the great iron steamship Leviathan. Unwieldy monster and crude ex- periment as she may now seem, if we measure the progress of the future by the developement of the past we shall see that the day is not far distant whon the necessities of intercommunica sanda of such shipa, Nog the least in this field is the adaptation of steam power to canal navi- gation. Science has, perhaps, not been #0 prolific ia ils novelties during the last year as in some others, but its range hes beon marked with a stendy industry of developement in every field. Its resources have been taxed severely. by the -.aghiosements in me- chanfes, and several new and important laws have been deduced from the phenomena of elec- trie currents which are intimately connected with the transmission of thought. In scientific art important discoveries have been made in the trausfer of son impressions to copper plates which are full of promise, We shall glance at but: one other point in the immense field of world progress before us. The religious world has been the scene of some of the most antagonistic movemeats. that could have been witnessed. Among ourselves a religious awakening almost unparalleled has occurred, while at the same time in Mexico and Southern America the most strenuous exertions have been yand are stil being made to overthrow the eccle- giastical influence as a social clement In Catho- lic Europe a like antagonism is witnessed. Rome, in the case of the Mortara boy, exhibits a return to the worst theories of ecclesiastical despotism; while in France @ more liberal spirit has been awakened, and we find many of the clergy protesting sgainst the Mortara case, and Montalembert, a champion of church supremacy, contending with political despotism. The influ- ence of these events upon the religious opinions of men will not be lost for a long time to come. It will be seen, from the cursory review we have taken of the events of 1858, that it will stand alongside of almost any one of the years of the century in world developement. The im- mense appliances in mechanics and science which each year brings to the aid of human pro- gress give great scope to periods of time. Steam and electricity, as motive powers of matter and thon gh!, are daily increasing the wants of meu and their ability to consume. Every increase in the facilities of distribution, every decrease inthe cost to the consumer, acts upon produc- tion and trade even in a greater than geometri- cal ratio, and thus causes that commercial devel- opement which so rapidly outstrips the increase of population. Herein lies the true theory of human progress, for social progress must precede the developement of moral and political science. The Importation of Negroes in Ceorgia-Is the Case of the Wanderer a Hoax? We begin to suspect that the Savannah Repub- lican has been humbugged in the matter of the schooner Wanderer, and her landing of a cargo of slaves in Georgia. If such a landing has really taken place, and three hundred or four hundred negroes have beeu imported into any of the South- ern States, it is very singular that the offi- cers of the government have not been able to get hold of any of them, or to find out where they are. Such a state of affairs could result from only one of two thiugs—either there is an entire unanimity in the feeling of the population in that region, and no one will de- nounce the crime, or the officers of the govern- ment are very lax in the performance of their duty, A large number of newly imported ne- groes, not able to epeak a word of English, ema- ciated with their sufferings during the middle passage; many of them sick and needing medi- cal attendance, several of them dying daily and requiring some cort of public burial in order to free their keepers from the charge of murder, could not be silently or secretly carried to and fro, or provided for, anywhere in our Southern States. That the officers are lax in tlie perform- ance of their duties, the proceedings thus tar in the case will not allow us to suppose. That public opinion in the South is tanimous in fa- yor of opening the African slave trade, in vidla- tion of the law, we know is not the case. Io view of all the circumstances, we do not believe that a cargo of negroes has been imported at all; and the report of the Wanderer having landed them in Georgia will turn out to be a canard, like the Pearl river report last year. We believe, however, that the Wanderer did bring a cargo of negroes across the Atlantic, and are pretty well assured that it formed one of the cargoes recently landed in Cuba. Captain Corrie, after doing this, may have kept on board two or three young negroes, which he has per- haps landed and secreted, as the report states. Soon after the seizure and departure of that ves- sel from our port last summer, we received in- formation which led us to believe that the Waa- derer had been purchased with fands supplicd by acertain well known slave trading concera in Cuba. Captain Corrie was engaged to carry the business through for a stipulated sum down, a rate per head on the negroes landed, and the versel to dispose of as he chose afte: The fact gf the arrival of the vessel at Brunswick without papers, as reported, confirms this; for the ,slave trader takes care to cross the occan without ® national or papers of any kind. The reason that if captured, no court can condemn them for piracy. The vessel may be condemned and the negroes liberated by the captor, bat the crew can be punished only by the nation under whose flag the offence was committed. The vessel having no flag, the crew escapes, The course of the slave trade, as now carried on, is very simple. The trader takes with him to the coest about seven or cight thousand dol- lars in Spanish ounces. With these he buys of the British trading vessels there—who make up their cargoes for the market--the assortment of goods necessary for his barter and work. These consist of Birmingham muskets and shackles, Manchester madapollams and handkerchiefs, a little rum, powder, and a few knicknacks, From the native traders he buys rice to feed the claves, The original sum of seven or eight thousand dollars will give him a stock that in barter will probably buy fifteen hundred assorted negrocs, To take these from the factory he requires three vessels. Having availed himself of the English flag for the first part of the business—which is getting the goods to the const for the bar- ter—he now docs the same with the American flag to get the vessels there. Three American vessels are purchased, and some reckless adventurer ig found who will deliver thgm on the coast. When they get there, the flag and papers are sent ashore, and the negroes come on board. A mew crew, in part or all, comes with them, who understand taking care of the slaves. And now for the ran to Cuba. Every place below is filled; the crew remain always on deck, rain or shine, and a look- out is kept at the mast head all the time. If a sail is deecried upon the horizon, the course of the vessel is changed so as to avoid it. They wish to mect ucither friend nor foe. If the cargo is an ineumbrance. Sometimes she is burnt, sometimes set adrift at sea, as was the Grey Ea- gle, off Bahia Honda; tometimes she is run to some small Mexican port, where she gets Mexi- can papers; sometimes 5! ¢ is given to the mate, as in the case of the Haidee, or to the cnptain, as is probably the case of the Wanderer, It is in this trade that we believe Ca»tain Cor- vie bas been engaged, and not in brinying ue- grocs into the United States. We are told he is viry fond of notoriety, and should not be at all surprised if he himself started the hoax tant has bern palmed off upon the Savannah Repubiiczn. Railway and Steamboat Accidents. The tables of accidents im passenger traffic which we compile annually for the benefit of our readers are amongst the most instructive and useful records of the year, They show how far the companies who have charge of the con- veyance of such vast numbers of our population bave discharged conscientiously the respousibili- tics which it entails, It is only by the public's being kept accurately informed upon this point that the mischievous tendencies of monopolics can be counteracted and legislation brought to bear upon the carelcseness and indifference which they are apt to create. Unless they are acquaint- ed with the extent of the evils resulting from such causes it is impossible that they can take effective measures to guard against them. It is to this vigilance on the part of the press that in a great degree may be attributed the gratifying results to which we are about to point at- tention. Th. following table shows the number of rai!- road accidents which have ben attended with loss of life and injury to person during the year on the point of expiring, and, as will be seen, it offers a favorable comparison with that of the previous twelve months:— 1857, 1858 ——. Accid's. a i Inj'd. Antes, Ke 4 7 not include accidents caused by the carelessness of travellers themselves, or deaths or injuries re- sulting from the reckless conduct of persons in crossing the railway tracks when trains are ran- ning. ‘The following additional table shows the num- ber of accidents and the number of persons killed and injured during the last six years:— Year. Killed, Injured. 234 496 589 539 7632 938 3,199 nm from the above that, as com pared with 1857, the number of accidents this year exhibits a diminution of about forty per cent, and that there is a large decrease in the number of persons killed and injured, Extending the comparison back to the previous five years, the results will show a much larger average of decrease. As regards steamboat accidents the improve- ment is not of so marked a character, for the ac- cidents themselves are not so much under the control of a careful supervision as in the case of railways. Still, as will be seen by the follow- ing table, there is, as compared with the year 1857, a decrease of about eleven per cent in the number of accidents, and four and a quarter per cent in the number of fatal casualties: — ——1867___, ——18585———_, Months. Accid’s. ee a, Accid’s, Killed. Wou'd. 2 L = 2 45 16 3 27 1 3 49 - 4 12 19 : 4 8 4 oe aT prot 8 45 pare 3 98 a _- — _ s 8 9 1 4 10 - _- _ 2 ub 6 2 4 7 1 1 - 3 6 & 4 55 5 8 16 8 % 119 8 December... 1 7 - 1 20 - Total .....27 300 107 30 322 86 For the last six years the number of lives lost aud persons injured! by steamboat accidents, not including those which have occurred at sea, is as follows:— Accidents. Killed. Wounded, 31 319 168 me 587 225 176 107 358 127 822 86 300 107 810 that will strike one in compar- ing the general results of the above tables, is the large proportion which deaths by steamboat accidents bear to the number of accidents them- selves, Thus we find in six years 2,062 deaths to 192 accidents, whilst for the same period we have by railway casualties only 938 deaths to 832 accidents. This of course can only be attributed to the wholesale character of steamboat accidents and the difliculty of escaping the double peril§ of fire and water, ‘The improvement under both heads exhibited by the present year is for us, however, the im- portant feature of these tables. This gratifying fact is to be attributed to a variety of causes, amongst others the use of better materials by the railway companies in the construction of their tracks and locomotives, the substitution on steamboat lines of first class vessels for inferior ones, the greater vigilance enforced by the ver- dicts of juries and the strictures of the press, and the employment of a more trustworthy and responsible class of servants, As these causes obtain a wider operation, there is no doubt that we shall find a proportionate decrease in the number of passenger casualties, In these, as in all similar enderprises, experience will convince those engaged in the traffic that their interests lie in the taithful diecharge of the responsibilities which they have incurred. 4 Tux New Common Covneu.—The new boards of the Common Council hold their first eession today, but we presume that, according to ancient usage, it will be only a ceremonious meet- ing, at which no attempt will be made to transact business, Many of the members of both boards are entering for the first time upon their career of legislators, and we hope that they will commence their duties with a due sense of the important trusts reposed in them, and make a fair start at the opening of the new year. As for the old hacks who hold over, or have been re-lected, we have no hopes at all for them; they can hardly do worse than they have done, and itis not likely that they will do better. The political complexion of the new Common Council is somewhat curious, In the Board of Councilmen there is a tie, the democrats and re- \icans cagh pumbering twelve; and in the other board the democrats stand eleven to five repub- licans and one American; thus giving the demo- crate 2 small joint majority in both boards combin- cd, It makes very little difference, however, whic party is in the majority, for they are all equally ccrrupt and unscrupulous where the spoils are concerned. . It is probable that the Mayor will send in his message to the Common Gouneil some time during the week, avd there may be some anxiety as to the reforms be may recommend. ‘That there is plenty of room for reform no one doubts. The Pension Bill—The Lobby at Work. ‘The vultures that infest the halls of Congress, and that go to form that curious institution known as “ the lobby,” have been sedulously but silently at work for the last three weeks, and have actually succeeded in getting through one house @ measure which, if consummated, will en- rich them beyond anything they could have con- ceived possible, and will saddle the national treasury with an increased annual expenditure of from ten to twenty millions of dollars, This scheme is covered up in the guise of a bill grant- ing pensions to the surviving officers and soldiers of the war of 1812, and their widows, and to those who served in Indian wars during or preceding that period. Notwithstanding that it is a plundering scheme, concocted between the lobby and such members of the House as fall into their plans, the thing has been gravely represented as an act of justice to the survivors of our last war with Great Britain, and any amount of balderdash was got off by orators of the hifalutin order, in depicting the sorrows and sufferings of the war- worn veterans designed to be beneficiaries under the act, We give elsewhere, in our columns to- day, some extracts from the speeches made in favor of the measure, as well asa review of its passage through the House, which will enable our readers to comprehend fully this last grand swoop of the lobby upon the national treasury. We have no doubt that the bulk of those whose interests are ostensibly promoted by the bill will join with the people of the country at large in denouncing it as wrong in principle, in- jurious in practice, and, to a certain extent, hu- miliating to the patriots of 1812, The men who then enrolled themselves in the service of their country did so from a sense of duty, not from those sordid motives of pay and pension which the friends of the mea- sure now impute to them. If there was any propriety or justice in the measure, its opera- tion should certainly not commence with the present Congress, but should extend back to the time of service, and to the heirs of those who have since passed out of existence. As there were about half a million of men enrolled for service in the war of 1812, the aggregate pension to which, under the principle of the Dill, they would have been entitled, would be forty-eight million dollars a year; and supposing the num- ber of pensioners. not to decrease, as they certainly would do, the aggregate cost of this pension system to the government up to this time would have reached the snug figure of two thousand, two hundred and eight millions of dol- lars, If the pensioning principle is to be estab- lished at all, it certainly should commence im- mediately after the service—so that those whose health was injured, though not to such an extent as to entitle them to be considered invalids, might enjoy the bounty of the government before they passed away. But nothing could be more antagonistic to the principles on which our government is founded than the inanguration of a great pensioning system like that now proposed to be fastened upon us. There was some reason for pensioning the soldiers of the Revolution, for they perilled their lives and fortunes in a desperate cause, and without having an established government at their back. There is no parallel between their case and that of the soldiers of subsequent wars, and the policy of granting pensions to men not invalided should have expired, as was intended, with them. Our general laws provide pensions for all who are wounded in battle, or who, from exposure or other cause while in service, are in- capacitated from supporting themselves, and for the widows of those who die in battle or from any of the accidents of war; and our pension list for these and for the soldiers and widows of the Revolutionary war shows the number receiving pensions to be—from the army 10,723, and from the navy 892—and the aggregate amount of their annual payment is $1,033,101,39. But, besides this, Congress has from time to time passed, at the instance and for the chief benefit of the lobby, bills granting bounty land warrants to all who have served in any of the wars of the country, including Indian scrimmages. Under these laws more than sixty-two millions of acres of the public domain have passed from the govern- ment into the hands, for the most part, of capi- talists and speculators, who first bought up for a song the claims of old soldiers and their widows and heirs, aud then went to Congress and got that body to pass these bounty land warrants, ostensibly for the benefit of the old soldiers and their widows and heirs, but really and virtually for the benefit of the lobby and of a host of pen- sion agents and swindlers. It is exactly the same sort‘ of influence that is now at work to fasten on the government this enormous pension swindle, and that has succeeded in getting the favorable endorsement of the popular branch of Congresg. The total amount of pensions paid since the establishment of the government has been within a fraction of ninety millions of dollars; and if we add to that the value of the land given away in bounty warrants, estimatedfat $1 26 an acre, we have a grand total of about a hundred and twenty millions of dollars paid away by the government in bounties and pensions, But the new dodge for robbing the treasury has not even the semblance of consistency or fair play about it; for while it provides for the soldiers and marincs who Imd little or no fighting to do, it makes no provisiou for the gallant sailors who had fighting to do, and who did it Well. And yet, strange to say, the measure secured a vote of two- thirds of the members of the House (122 to 61), from an iden that prevailed among them that if they voted according to their consciences in the matter they would incur a certain amount of unpopularity in their districts. Let us aesure them that they never commitied o greater error in their political Ives, and that in striving to escape Seylla, they have fallen imo Charybiie. The members of the lobby also had another clement in thelr favor, and that was the protec- tionist element. The members from Pennayl- vania aud those other States that are in favor of a protective systom voted for this bill, in order to raise the expenditures of the government, and necessitate an increased tariff of duties on im- ported goods, All these elements, combined with the elemeut of inbegility whigh prevails to such a large extent in Congress, effected the passage of this Pension bill through the House; bat we cannot believe that it will ever pass the Senate, or, if it does, that it vill ever receive the sauotion of the President,who is pledged against all lobby operations lite this ‘Tae Op Year’s Gams.—Anongst the retro- spects which it is our habit to present to our | readers at the commencement Of the new year, there is ore which may be said t give unulloyed satisfaction. We allude to that which, in the ad; vertisements in’ our financial columa, sums up: the year’s results in banking and other stock operations by the announcement of handsome dividends, Thus we find the Chembal Bank in- timating to its shareholders that it is ready to pay a dividend of six per cent on the quarter, making twenty-four per cent on theyear—a de claration which we will venture to my but few similar companies in the world are ia a position toimitate. This is the only New Yak bank, if will be recollected, which declined tosuspend i specie payments during the panic,und which) was never for one moment embarraed by ite, self-reliance at that critical period. The pros- ‘| perity of this institution is a proot thatsagacious Management and decision of purpose will do a4, much for joint stock associations as for individual enterprises, Next we have a fine insurance company (the Park) anno F a semi-annual dividend of ten per cent, —— that the operations of that concern have been conducted with almost equal prudence ani skill. A «till more gratifying feature in our Satuday’s financial column is the declaration of thé semi-annual dividend of three per cent on the stock of two of the Savings Banks. We may take the fact as evidence that the large class for whose benefit this institutim was founded are exercising that economy aid fore, sight which alone can conduce to their jrsperi- ty and comfort in the country of their aiptiou. Of the notices relating to State stocks ve may remark, en passant, that California bond stand in rather amore satisfactory position or the holders now than they did a couple ¢ years ago, when they were at little more thn one- third of their present value, Amonga thes) financial advertisements there is not or mord creditable to those concerned, nor more satisfa tory to the commercial world generally, thau that ot the house of Dennistoun & Co., mnouné-| ing its readiness to anticipate, by twilve aud] eighteen months, the instalments whin, under] the pressure of the panic, they were compelled to ask time for from their creditors, Thi promp ness in relieving those to whom they ax indeb ed from the inconvenience to which ther emb rassments have subjected them, is an example which we trust will have the effect of stmulating] others to similar exertions. Whilst themerch: of the world are animated by such a spirit thd periodical revulsions which speculatioi and ove trading bring in their train can be attaded wil no permanently injurious results, Trom (th brief resumé it will be seen that theadvertise ment columns of our paper are scarctly lesa in teresting during the holidays than during period of active commercial movement. ¥ the Ne Year brings with it the obligation to vipe off old scores, it should be recollected that it at same time returns to those who live upon interest of their capital the revenues upon whicl they have counted. All circumstances conside ed, we are justified in inferring that there fewer disappointments under this latter head thay people had dared to hope for afters perlod o such unexampled depression and suffvring. Hotmay Festiviries—The weather e( out quite favorably after all on New Year's d: and the usual rounds of visits were made in usual way. We are led to believe that the di cussion which has been opened upon the feasibll ty of abolishing this celebration, as a distinct ruld has had its good effect. The festivities of Satu: day were distinguished by an absence of intoxi cation, and by quiet, orderly and decorous ba haviour asa general thing. A large number @ people found out very suddenly that eating ai drinking, when paying formal visits, is not in best taste, and others refused wine altogethersat taching themselves to the fragrant Mocha, th lively lemonade, or the cup that cheers but mo inebriates. This change is encouraging, shows that people are not radically wrong on di subject any more than any other. The follics New Year’s day are chiefly those that spring from the indiscretion or inexperience of you and the unbridled indulgence of sots and foold This latter class is beyond salvation, and if i cannot be cut off in any other way, it would b better to do without the celebration, with all pleasant memories and kindly souvenirs, This the true point of the argument, and its agitation if it accomplished no other good end, was at leas instrumental in starting up a new subjec| for conversation, which on New Year’ day is usually of the most commonpla description, and confined to meteorological of servations or statistical accounts of the numb of visits made and to be made. All visitia, New York ought to be eternally obliged to for giving it something to talk about. Well, the holidays, at least for the everyday world, are over, and with to-day we are all sup posed to go to work in earnest to make up fi the time spent in frolicking. In the fashionabl world it is the season of long dinners and |: parties. The theatres are preparing their mid winter novelties, the season of grand public ball] has commenced, and Mr. Ullman brings bao Piccolomini to the Academy on Wedneéda: fresh from captivating the Athenian sages, an ready for a new triumph in “La Zingara,” on of her chief London successes. So, between th Opera, the theatres, the dinners, partics, visit and balls, with a mild winter and an easy mone market, we shall manage to get along very we At least it might be, and has been, a great d worse. So, with Sancho Panza, let us give Gd thanks, and not look a gift horse in the mouth. eaten The Presidential Asptrants. Mr. Douglas, takes his departure to-day for Philadel; at 2 P. M. from the Battery. He will be accompanied by the committee of one hundred citizens from our sistor cit who arrived here last evening to invite him to tho ovation awaiting him on his arrival in Philadelphia. © hundred guns will announce his departure from this ci Mrs. Douglas and child will enjoy the air of tho me tropolis a few days longer. On New Year's Day Douglas was visited by « host of friends, amon whom were @ delegation of prominent democrats Wisconsin, consisting of ox-Governor Barstow, Hon, Larrabee, momber of Congress elect; Colonel Lindse Ward, Judge Hale, Hon. Jesper Viiet and Mr. Kelso; Yeatorday Judge Douglas enjoyed rest and quict, such should pertain to the day. Speaker Orr left the metropolis on Saturday afternog at six o'clock. Previous to bis departure niynerous frien called upon bim at the New York Hotel to pay their pects to him, General Sam Houston {s still at the Metropolitan Hote but will probably leave tho city today for Washin He was called upon by a multitude of frients oa NE Year's Day.