The New York Herald Newspaper, January 8, 1859, Page 4

4 NEW YORK ‘HERALD. JAMES “GORDON BENNETT, waETOR AND PROPRIETOR, ———$ | today's Masco, The report tea very voleminous documest, and our readers will, therefore, doubt leas, be the more grateful for the opportunity of ascertaining all the material facts it contains, with { out the trouble of laboring through tts cumbersome details Moss's, Preston and J. Glancy Jones, our new Ministers to Vieoma and Madrid, depart in the steamship Fulton to-day, for Burope lirief sketches of the personal history of these gentlemen are given in another column In the United States Court yesterday tiste, M. Rodriques OFFICE N. w. comes § or “FULTON AND WASEAU STS gent hy mit wlll be ot apa not received as auhorrine °oHE b rAMihy mERaxD, every Wednesday, ot four con's Pr Omen tan Col CORRESPONDENCE, conta secs, solicited From any quarter weorkd eherally) pai Farricoi any ‘Beuesres 0 ENT VERTISEMI moiced every day, ertisemn nts om me) pose Winenr Hews, Faminy Wests, and tu the Paditiow. ON PRINTING ceccuted wih neatness, cheapness and de- NO NOTICE taken of anonymous correspondence, We do not return rejected comuiunications. Oliver Bat- ad Oliver Jacobson, who were tried fo. vieluting the United States laws tn relation to the slave trade, by voluntarily serving on board the ship Haidee, were acquitted by the jary, and discharged In the General Sessions yesterday, Charles Ber gen, indicted for burgiary im the second degree, pleaded guilty to the third grade of that offence, and was sent to the State prison for two years John Morton, .ndicted for a similar offence, pleaded guilty to petit larceny, and was remanded for sen- tence. Dennis Bowen was tried and convicted of highway robbery, having, on the evening of the 25th of November, assaulted Michael Green, of Pougl keepsic, and robbed him of nine dollars in silver Judge Russell sentenced him to imprisonment in the State prison for ten years and six months. John Tagen, charged with committing an assault and battery on Mary Johnson, was acquitted. Clora Smith, alias Ellen Chase, was convicted of forgery in the second degree, having passed a two dollar altered bill on the Manufacturers’ Bank of Roches ter. When she was arrested she took the officers to No. Pell street, where o large vuraber of altered bills and dies was found. She was sent % the State prison for five years and three months. Tt is said that the men who were engaged in altering these bills have been instrument i! in sending three women to Sing Sing. Edward McManus, indicted for forgery in the second degree, pleaded guilty to the fourth grade of that crime = sent to the State prison for two years. The Grand Jury handed in a nwober of indictments for burglary, to which pleaded not guilty, ton yesterday embraced about 1,000 losed quietly, while prices were Tots in transitu were in steady ained prices, while parcels in store were Common grates of flour were firmer, were steudy, and prices sustained, were moderate. Wheat was steady, and prime id, while transactions were light. In corn, saies were moderate, and prices unchanged. Pork was dull, with sales of old mess at $17 1214, and new do. at $17 50, and new prime at $1350. Sugars were firm, but sales were mod ». The sales were confined to about 400 hhds. New Orleans at prices given in another column. Cotee was quiet, but firm. Freight engagements were quite limited. Some cotton was reported to Liverpool at 24d., and rosin to London at 2s., anda bark was engaged for Cienfuegos and back, to load with sugar, at 88c. There was some inquiry for vessels to load at Southern ports with cotton for Europe and coastwise. importer word, will Le Pe md Fosse DORuRSPONDENTS ARE Beal alt Lerreks ap Pack AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, ADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street—Travsan Overs ent Matinee at one 0' ‘clock—Dow Giovani. BROADWAY THE. ATRE, Broadway—Afternoon and Eveving—KQuestRy Grusastic AND Acnopatic Frats— CLOWN IN 4 Bannkis Suor. BOWERY THRATRE, Bowery —Srx Dacuars or Cxtwx— POCA-HON-TAS— MAGIC ‘tromrer—Dumy GIRL OF GENOA, 3 NEW THEATRE, Broadway —Afterncon— aaron Duek—Dusnaicwesck. Eveniag—My OVER cost Bascat DivegriseMeNt—Ouver Twist—Desuats- Brave ge LORS THEATRE, Broadway.—Mencuant or Va- LAURA KEENE’S THEATRE, No. 624 Broadway.—OrR Anmetcas Covsix—Tae Minuten Rake. BARNUM’S AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway—After poon—iaruET DiveRTisseMeNt—Ben Bout—Hagieguin Vit- zagen. Evening—Sovpign any Sauon, Trvker and Tatton —Haxrrquin ViLLacEn. WOOD'S MINSTREL BUILDING, 561 and 563 Broadway— Ermiortas Boxcs, Dances, &. EW Yxax Cauis, MECUANICS’ HALL, 427 —NeGRo Songs anv Buniyse CAMPBELL MINSTRELS, 44 Broadway.—Eraioriax Onanactentstics, Boxes, ao. —DouaLE Bevped| Room. oadway—Brr ants’ MINSTRELS S—SRYLOOK. New York, Setmnday, January | 8, 1859. eee To Paper Manufacturers and Agents. Tho proprietor of the New York Heratp wants to make Q@rrangements for a constant supply of printing paper, Buch as the Heratp is printed upon, to the amount of 3,000 to 1,200 reams per week, payable in cash at the end ofeach week. Apply immediately. bales. without quotable chang demand at © some Lees MAILS FOR EUROPE, The New York Herald—Edition for Europe. ‘The mail steamship Fulton, Capt. Wotton, will leave this port to-day, at noon, for Southampton and Havre. ‘The European mails will close in this city at half-past ten o'clock this morning. ‘The Furopean edition of the Heratn, printed tn French and English, will be published atten o’clock {n the morn- ‘ing. Single copies, in wrappers, six cents. ‘Subscriptions and advertiscments for any edition of the Nsw You Hxnsty will be received at the following places The Conflict Between the Russe-American - and Anglo-French Alllances—What Present 47 Lu e Hill intrigues are Leading us to, ne , Wilham stroct, The antagonistic developements which are . Lansing, Co., No. 9 Chapel street, taking place between the Western Powers of R. Stuart, 10 Exchange street, Fast. 3 i i i i Peat Taoane ‘Baldwin ene ‘31 as Oceasllis, Europe and this country, in the policy which is to be established in Central and Insular Ameri- ca, have already attracted the attention of the public mind and are causing to spring up every- where a conviction that between ourselves and the Anglo-Wrench Alliance the same conflict will take place as that which was developed with such bloody and costly results in the Crimea. They are not temporary and passing causes that are going to bind together at an carly day the United States and Russia against France and England. They lie far deeper than such differ- ences as may exist in the policy of reconstruct- ing government in Mexico, of the canalization of the Nicaragua isthmus, or of the acquisition of Cuba. These are merely points in the great an- tagonism now existing between the general systems of developement of these, the four Hamnvre.. De Chapeaunge & Co, ‘The contents of the European edition of the Herarp will @ombine the news received by mail and telegraph at the office during the previous week and up to the hour of publication. The Ne Advices from San Francisco to the Mth ult, three days !ater, via the overland rovte, have come to hand. The news, however, is unimportant. Bu- Biness was dull, and unusually cold weather pre. vailed. The bark David Godfrey, trom this port, had arrived out. The brig Samuel Churchman, which arrived at this port from Bucnos Ayres yesterday, brought us news and letters from our correspondents dated on the 4th of November. Juan G. Aquilar and Victor Cherno had attempted a revolution against the existing government a few days previously. They were aided by about one hundred men, who were marshalled to the cry of “religion, morality, and the confederation.” This was intended as a demonstration against the Freemasons, who are in direct opposition to the priesthood. Senor Aquilar was arrested and would be executed. The existing government was firm but mild in its attitude. The Bew poor house, opened under Masonic auspices, was inaugurated without any clerical blessing, but tbe laity patronized it to such an extent that the wixty irreligions mendicants who were within its walls were likely to live inexcelieni style. Export ry dull, and produce market high. No- within themeelves the republic of trade, and obey its normal law of free intercourse and material expansion. But oniward cir- cumstances—circumstances existing before the constitution of the republic of trade had devel- oped itself—have controlled in each of these ne tions its scheme of material expansion. England and France, hemmed in and bound down by the lines drawa across Europe at the Congress of Vi- enna, and well contented with a balauce of power which gives them absolute control on that conti- nent. from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Baltic and Black Seas, have sought to perform their part in extending the rule of the republic of trade in regions distant from their own terri- tories. The extension of her rule in India and China, ihe building up of an empire in Australia, and the developement of the Coolie trade to in- crease the production of raw material, have ali was private bill day in Congress, and but little of general int d. Inthe Se nate a report was present ng that there was vo land in the immediate vicinity of New York which can be appropriated for the government offices in the event of their removal from Staten driand. The public land at Sandy Hook, how- would answer the porpose, <A resolution was adopted calling for recent correspondence detween the Britis government and our been pursued by England, under the irresistible Minister at London relative to the African | impulse of commercial develop and not lave trade, especi regards the case of the | under the old feudal idea of simply extending the yacht War It is said that this correspon- | glory and power of the King and his court. In dence wil ome startling facts implica- ting the American tle £ with slave trade operations. Fall particulars respecting the California overland moll wets, and information as to the sh France the same causes are leading her to in- vade Northern Africa, to desire Madagascar, and to develope the slave trade under a new form. Under the new order of things that is beginning off and pay of the navy, were also called to rule the world, the glory of the prince ‘The French Spoliation bill was again taken up by . P way to the material elevation of the & vote of 90 to 23, but owing to the illness of Sena tor D the subject was postponed. The de- | _ The United States and Russia, hemmed Dat the Pacific Railroad was then re- | i aud bound down by no such lines femed and continu til the urnment. In and checks and balances ‘Os exist on se eleven private bill e passed. A} the Continent of Europe, have obeyed r the relief of the parties interested in the Gen. Armstrong was reported by the The discovery of the gold fields at » Peak, Cherry Creek, Xc., has led to a pro: for the establishment of an Assay Office at The bill for the admission of Oregon reported neat week. The Committee on es have agreed to, report in fayor of the the law of developement in a different way. They have not been forced to go to distant re- gions, but have extended their rule only over contiguous territories, The influence of climate, and of the necessities of commerce, which are born of differences of latitude and not of longitude, have impelled them alike southward. Russia Orgusizetion of Territorial governments in Arizona | has marched to the ocean highway of the Black and Dacotah. Sea and the Bosphorus, and we have made the tut little was done in the Legislature yesterday. | like movement to that of the Gulf of Mexico and fo the Benate a bill was introduced abolishing the | the Straits of Florida, The eame identity of ex- Oftice of Inspector General of Militia. It seems | pansion longitudinally has marked the growth of that the incumbent of this office has become ob- | the two nations: and, the one travelling west and noxiows to certain of the militia officers, and as the other eastward, { there is no probability of his being superseded pa ware sia int Pe pe sein baat and hence te attempt to do away with the office alto- | "1 oe hores of the Pacific. nether, There is also considerable opposition to a the pursuit of this natural developement England and France have bad no jealousies to encounter from other European nations, and they have Leen weil contented with the Euro- pean balance of power; for while it checked the growth of any other European nation, their own material expansion gaye them a continually in- the appointment of Commissary General Welch, #nd i! is said that strenuous eflorts will be made t6 prevent Ids confirmation. In the Assembly two bile iding for the registration of voters were introdoced. There are now four bills of this cha- ractor before the Legislature. A resolution for the sppointment of » select committee of five to exa- creasing power in the Euro pean scheme. This mine into the affairs of the Quarantine establish: | toq to the Anglo-French alliance. But every ment, wae offered by the member from Richmond such alliance must be progressive, for to be simply conservative of the statu quo would be practical retrogression. By it the ambition of Napoleon was fed, and he has become the autocrat of Hurope, with the hope of establishing his autocratic dynasty. In conflict with the rule of this alliance and the hopes of Napoleon, come the necessities of the republic of trade. They are moulding the intellectual and the active classes, both of England and France, against them, and above all, they are creating a material alliance between Russia and county, and laid over. A bill was introduced by Mr. Rutherford, of New York, repealing all laws Testrieting the sale of spiritnons liquors—in fact, @stablishing an entire free trade in strong drinks. ‘The Senate adjourved till Monday, but the House refused to do 80. James W. Terbert, United States Conul at St, ‘Thomas, died at that place, of yellow fever, on the fmorning of the 27th ultimo. Ta the suit brought by Mr. Slater against Fer- nando Wood, for ax alleged assault and battery, arising out of the City Hall riots of June lust, the Jery yerterday gave a verdict for the platatiif, with 9250 4 America, for the defence of commercial develope- An abetract of the annual report of the Comp- | Mevt and progressive civilization. It ts the thuller of the State is given iu the movey article in” menacing alitude of the Anglo-French alliaugg great living nations of the world. They form | that is @t this moment impoaing upon Russia the Wrogress and Prospect of Ratlways to the uecessity of holding the Bosphorus; and upon us that of holding Guba and Central America for | the respective defence of our material expansion. It was the conviction of this great truth that led the American people to sympathise so strong- ly with Russia in her recent conflict with the Powers of Western Enrope; and it was the fear of the results that might spring from it that made the Cabinets of Londor and Paris so careful to keep their tool, Spain, out of the war with Russia. Had they made Spain « member of their alliance the whole world would have been drawn into the was against it. Arrangements were made in this country between Russia and the American filibusiers, under which, so soon as Spain declared war against the former, the Cuban expedi- tion would have had the use of the Rus- sian flag, and Russian sbips would have ewartoed in the waters of Cuba. The necessities of England and France had caused them to with- draw nearly all their ships from the American waters, and the alliance between Russia and > Cubs would have given & practical form to ican sympathy, and abundant ports to the Russian fleet; and together they would have swept the ocean. When the present truce was hatched, our sympathy took a new form. We saw that Russia wanted the .same mechanical developement to triumph in the East that we possess to enable us to triumph in the West. American engineers, American machinists, Ame- tican railroad contractors, American shipbuild- ers, American inventors and American wreck- raisers swarmed to Russia, Russian contracts y appeared among us on every side. We undertook to equip the Russian railways with to streteh telegraphs across the Russian to build Russian frigates and river to raise the sunken navy at Sebastopol, and to forge the chains of commerce between our new empires on the Pacific. ‘Thie is the work that is now going on between Russia and America, and that is preparing them for the coming conflict between the Russo-Ame rican aud the Anglo-French alliance. Its causes lie deep in the foundations of that republic of wade which is foreing us all forward in the paths of industrial developement and material expan- sion. The Western Cabinets of Europe may dream of establishing a balance of power through- out the world, which, like that of Europe, shall prevent other nations from expanding, and leave them free to expand at will. But it cannot be done; and their pursuit of their present jealous policy in Turkey and intercontinental America will only lead to a conflict that will change the face of the world. We hope that the material interests of the people in England and France will yet force their Cabinets to abandon their autocratic schemes, and the antiquated theory that the material developement of any one na- tion is inimical to all others. The true duty of government is now recognized to be the social developement and elevation of the people, and not to increase the renown or extend the arbi- trary power of any one man or his dynasty. England, in playing second fiddle to Louis Na- poleon, is false to herself and to the progress of that republic of trade which she has so largely helped to inaugurate. Tae Pace Ratrmoan—A Georcta Drs- ustonis? =N THE SenaTs.—Mr. Senator Iverson, of Georgia, as a rampant fire-eating disunipnist, leaves all his Congressional competitors in the shade. In discussing the Pacific Railroad bill on Thursday last he flatiy gave the Union up as a bad job, and pleaded no other alternative to the South than a Southern confederacy, ani that, too, without much further delay. He agreed substantially with Mr. Seward that there is “an irrepressible conflict” between the North and the South on slavery, and he contended that this con- flict must go on until slavery is abolished by Congress, or until the Union is dissolved. He did not consider the success of Douglas in Ili- nois a democratic victory, but “only a victory of freesoil democracy over abolition whiggery.” “He would not turn on his heel to choose be- tween the Wilmot proviso and squatter sove- reignty.” He believed that, in the event of Sew- ard’s election as President, more than one South- ern State would take immediate steps to swing out of the Union, and that Georgia would be amoug them. Finally, with regard to the Pacific Railroad, as he “believed that the dissolution of the Union was near at hand, he was unwilling to vote money and lands for s road which was sure to be located outside of the South; hence he wanted the South to Lave a route equally with the North, which shail aid ber while in the Union, when out of it.” uinly very plain speaking, and if the dissolution of the Union as a for gone conclusion, we should say that this proposition for an equal sectional division of the spoils of a Pacific rail the shape of a North- ern road and « Southern road would be a fair busi- ness transaction. But Mr. Iverson must be either a very hot headed fanatic or a very desperate ni gitating politician, or he would never inflict upon the Senate at this particular time such nonsense as a sectional division of the spoils of this Pacific Railway job, in anticipation of a dissolution of our federal copartnership, His speech, however, serves very forcibly to show the political uses to which this Pacific Railway il be applicd in the Senate and in the se during this session. It will be made the occasion, on all sides, of flaming speeches for buncombe: and, as there is no chance that any compromise of sections or parties can be arrang- ed, either upon the route or the plan for building the road, the sooner ay Whole subject is laid upon the table the bett “tHe Law or Lien. W that Senator Brandreth bas introduced a bill in the Legislature of this State with the intention of so far amending the law of libel as to make it requisite on the part of the prosecutor to prove that the publication complained of was incited by malicious motives on the part of the publish- er. Ag the law etanda now, publishers of import- ant newspapers are obliged to withhold much valuable information from the public, or rum the risk of being subjected to an expensive suit, with all its attendant annoyances, While, as public journalists, we would not and do not shrink from any proper responsibility, yet we believe that we have a right, in the discharge of our duties to the public, to a fair protection at the hands of the law; otherwise the liberty of the press, which is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, is a humbug. If the metropolitan press is to be held liable for republications from country papers —said publi- cations referring to persons that we never heard of, and consequently could have no malice against—then the public must suffer by being deprived of information. Consequently, such « law as Senator Brandreth proposes is eqnally a8 important to the reading pubtic as it is to the journalists, and we hope it will pass United States, We have compiled and printed in our impres- sion of to-day a tabular statement of the extent and coat of the railways fn the United States. The strides of the irom horse over our territory are something wonderful. In 1828 the only rail- way in the United States was one of three miles in length, from the granite quarries at Quincy, Maseachusetta, to the tide water of the bay. Now we are operating (weaty-cight thousand two hundred and thirty-eight miles of railway— about one mile to every thousand of our popula- wen The Quincy railway dates back to the be- inning of this century, and the cars were, 94 & matter of course, drawn by horse power. Many years after its construction, the Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill Railroad, in Pennsylvania, was built, and among others of the first of this de- scription of railway were the South Carolina, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Hudson and Mohawk, the Ponchartrain, &.; and onward to 1850 the rate of construction gradually increased. From that period to the present the building of rail- ways has progressed at a more rapid rate, and at least three-fourths of the total mileage now in operation have been opened to travel and com- merce within the past seven or eight years, Thus, ina comparatively short period, the net- work has expanded, isolated and lecal roads have been connected, and the whole brought into something like a system, and by the indomitable energy of our people a condition been consum- mated such as the world has never before seen, and to which the old countries of Europe, where @ealth has most accumulated, have failed to approach. The progress of railway building in the seve- ral States, and in groups of States, is exhibited in a supplementary table, which gives the mileage in operation at the end of each successive quin- quennial period, commencing with 1829 and end- ing with 1859. An additional table gives the aggregate mileage for the whole United States at the commencement of each annual period. These tables atford sufficient data to trace clearly the rise aud progress of the whole railroad system of the country and its separate parts, and present, also, but indirectly, an epitomatic outline of the pro- gress of settlement and developement in the several States. |The cost of construction and] equipment of the roads in operation amounts to the enormous sum of $1,050,655,S70—showing the average cost per mile to be $37,775. The New England States have open 3,717 miles of railway; the Middle Atlantic States, 6,486 miles; the Southern Atlantic States, 4,555 miles; the Gulf States, 1,675 miles; the Southern interior States, 1,892 miles; the Northwestern States, 9,101 miles; and California 22 miles. Ohio stands in advance of all the other States in regard to the extent of railways open—2,978 miles. Next comes Mlinois, with her 2,774 miles. New York stands third on the list, with her 2,718 miles, aud Pennsylvania fourth, with her 2,656 miles. Of the New England States, Massachusetts takes the lead, with 1,327 miles while Virginia occupies the like position among the Southern States, with her 1.642 miles. The railways of the New England States stand nearest to completion—3,739 miles being open out of a total length of 4,165. Of the 8,880 miles of road in the Middle States, 7,084 miles are open. The South Atlantic States have 4,295 miles open, out of 5,937 miles. The Gulf States have only about three-tenths of their roads built—1,527 miles ont of 5,144. The South in- terior States have about nine-twentieths of their roads built—1,953 miles out of 4,102. The Western States have three-fifths of their roads built---9,191 miles out of 14,903; and California has only about one-sixth of her roads built-—22 miles out of 122, For the whole United States the roads open stand in the proportion of about nine-fourteenths to the entire length of the roads. The future of railways in the United States is one of grand proportions. As yct the system that the course of events indicates as necessary to commerce and trayel is only partially com- pleted. The Alleghanies have heen scaled, and the Mississippi aud Missouri brought into con- nection with the Atlantic, and the great North- era lakes and Upper Mississippi (a short inter- ruption excepted) have their waters connected with the Gulf of Mexico via New Orleens and Mobile. But west ofthe settled States the whole territory is as yet a pathless waste. Beyond lie our Pacific territories, rapidly filling up with a thriving agricultural, mining and commercial people. These portions of the Union must be connected, not only at one point, but at several, and lateral lines will be required for the conve- nience of the settlements that will be made within the zones which intervene. Basing a calculation for the future on the pre- sent ratio of mileage to population, and esti- mating an igcrease of the population on the average rate for the past fifty years (thirty-three and a third per cent in ten years) we hay Gabe fol- lowing figures: Yeo Raitroas. 30,921 mites, $1203 « SAT « . i 73,005 199 seraton Oa But ik shall say that such mileage, vast as it is, will not be exceeded? Hitherto the pro- gress of construction has far outstripped that of population, and we have a wide country in which the vigor of the nation will be indefinitely expanded, the railroad and settlement mutually operating upon each other, and lending an im- petus to the general movement. Again, the fature may be calculated from the condition of the present, in relation of mileage to territory. All the present States (Minnesota ex- cepted) have more or less railroad within their limits, in all amounting so far as completed and as before stated—to 25,258 miles. Within the same States there are probably at the present time 6,000 miles in course of construction, and twice that amount projected, partially surveyed, and which will be eventually completed. Others, that bave not been yet conceived even in the mind, will also be required. Thus probably 60,000 miles will scarcely be the ultimatum of the present States, which cover in the aggregate 1,464,105 square miles, On this basis there will be about one mile to every twenty-four or twenty-five square miles, There ix already amile to every 52 equare mi The whole United States contain 5 “iG square miles. If, then, we take the present ratio (1 to 52) we shall eventually have 76,224 miles, and if the rate which we have estimated as the completion of the present State systems (1 to 24), the mileage in the Union will ultimately reach 165,152 miles. Improtabie as the attainment of such rosulte may appear, we dare to be confident that the man is now living who will see the highest esti- mote realized On the whole, we y look upon th atatua and prospects in the United Sts gatlafeotion, Wy have avi ouly @ larger al- NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1859. solute mileage than aay other country of the world, but we have also @ larger mileage in re- jation to population. Girest Britain and Ireland, with aboat the ¢ame population as the Union, have little more than 9,000 miles of railroad, or about one mile to every 3,000 inhabitants. Bel- gium ranks next in railroad progress, and all the States of Europe have more or less of the iron track; but these are fur behind Great Britain, and immeasurably behind the United States in the great railroad race. — far aa regards the desiderata of specd with ‘omfert and safety in railway travelling, we have yet mush to learn. Matters, however, are im- proving. Railways are generally better ma naged than they were ten years ago. The build- ing of purallel lines, while it has ruined specula- tors, has been advantageous to the travelling public, by reducing the rates of fare and improv- iug the working machinery of the competing roads. The impression, however, mast be that the railway business here is over done. This is especially the case in the West, where but one road is now earning money enough to pay a divi- dend to the stockholders. This, however, is pretty well understood; and no one can say, now- a-daya, that he goes blindly into railway opera- tions, which, while they develope the resources of the country, almost always ruin their projec- lg The Recent Extraordinary Wills—Bargains with Providence. Twas a common thing during the Middle Ages for men, when in their last moments, to be- queath vast sums of money to ecclesiastical and charitable institutions, chiefly under the influ- euce of the clergy, as a peace-offering to Heaven, and with the expectation of receiving posthu- mous aid and favor from the church. To such an extent was this custom carried that the church at length absorbed nearly half the wealth of Eu- rope. But times have changed, and men, with the influences, passions and weaknesses that con- trol them, have changed with them. In our day it has become the fashion with some old men, who have led lives of very questionable morali- ty, who have acquired immense riches by the most equivocal means—perhaps by robbing the poor and cheating the widow and the orphan—or whose youth had been spent in debauchery and vice of every kind, to make large bequests, not to abbeys and monasteries, but to rich tract and missionary societies, colleges, and so forth— mostly, too, as of old, under the influence of priests and parsons—in the hope of purchasing themselves out of the hands of Satan, and bribing Providence to open the gate which the wicked- ness of their lives has sealed against them. Some there were who have done these things out of fool- ish vanity, and some through malice which they bore their heirs. But, doubtless, there were many also whose wealth was honorably acquired, and leaving no kindred behind them, or their families being very rich and desiring no increase to their wealth, have left muniticent legacies to charitable institutions with the purest motives and in a truly pious spirit. ‘We have had many instances of all these in this country. There was the case of Stephen Girard, in Philadelphia, who lefta fortune of some thir teen millions of dollars to found the college which now bears his name, and atands in its cold and uninviting grandeur in the suburbs of the Quaker City. Subsequently Mr. McDonough bequeathed to certain institutions in New Orleans and Baltimore his whole fortune, cutting off all his kindred; but we believe the nearest of kin disputed the will, and it has been in litigation for so many years that the money musi be nearly swallowed up by the lawyers. More receutly we were astonished and disgusted at the unnatural aud malignant spirit evinced in the will of the millionaire Thorndike, of Boston, which was drawn with « most wicked cunning, so as to deprive his daugh- ter—-whose matrimonial connection displeased him--of any participation in his immense wealth. Bat the child upon whom be sought to exercise amean revenge even after death now disputes the legality of the instrument, and it will go inte the courts, where a large portion of the estate will undoubtedly be dissipated in law expenses. Within a few days the will of another million- aire, Mr, Ellsworth, of Hartford, has been admit- ted to proof in that city, whereby the large sum of $700,000 is bequeathed to Yale College, to his son he leaves same sum; to the heirs of another son, $25,000; and the miserable pittance of fifteen hundred dollars annually to his wife! His whole estate is valued at $500,000, out of which one-eighth only is bequeathed to his family, who have doubt Jess been brought up in duxury and with large etations, and the rest to an institution al- rich fur beyond its wants. The injustice of this disposition of his wealth is too manifest to require further comment. fact is that none of these old coll rest, Yale nor Harvard, nor the tnire or should reecive bequests, They are already nothing but vich corporations; they charge high prices for the education of pupils; and if they cannot maintain themselves by their legitimate income they should shut wp their doors, In this city we educate fifty thousand children in our common schools with the money of our citizens raised by taxes, to the amount of a million and a quarter annually, and we pay a large sum to the State, besides, to educate children in the country districts. The common schools get no large legacies; they can get on without them. Besides, the golden plums, in the shape of bequests, which fall to the lot of these public in- stitations, in reality do not advance their uaeful- ness; they do not increase the educational influence of the colleges, nor convert more heathens through the instrumentality of tract and missionary socicties. They merely swell the plethoric coffers of fat corporations; the money is squandered here and there among directors, managers, parsons and colporteurs. No one knows what becomes of it; for generally, their operatic re conducted h closed doors, and a meag count of their proceedings, in the shape ofa “report” now and then, got up to sult the managers, is all the information the public are ever favored with, The propriety of colleges and other institutions accepting lega- cies such as this of Mr, Bllswortl’s, when they know that by so doing they are participating in an act of gross injustice to the families of the testators, is very questionable, Yet not only do they accept them, but they grasp at them with an indecent rapacity, and are ready to go to law about them, and defend their rights to the last, the moment the heirs put in any claim in behalf of what they deem their just title to the pro- erty. But the moral of all this is that these foolish old men, who are so exercised about their salva- ton when about io depart to another world, or so vain as to a to immortality for their panes, or eo waliclows that the preseneg of doath and judgment cannot sre their hearts, may be making a fatal mistake. With the Scripture warning of “ Judge not lest ye sball be judged,” bofore us, we forbear to say more than that the words of the poet may apply to their cases, that— *- Satan now is wiser than of yore, And tempts by making rich—not making poor” —tbat their aims at salvation in the other world, and immortality in this, may be foiled, aad they may find themselves disowned for their selfishness, above and laughed at for their folly and superstition below. Taz Siam Cusan Iysurnecrion.—In another column will be found a couple of communica- tions, the one from New York and the other from New Orleans, professing to give details of the projected insurrectionary movement in Cuba, which has found birth in the’ busy brains of certain political schemers and newspaper correspondents here and there. On com- paring them, it will be seen that there is a singular agreement, not only in the main features of these pretended revelations, but in the generalization which is used in regard to matters on which specific information might have been given without endangering any oue. This caution is the more remarkabie from the fact that other statements are made, pointing to individuals of whose safety but little heed need be taken. If such a plot were really in existence, the Captain General would not have the slightest difficulty, from the allusions contained in these letters, of pouncing immediately upon the par- ties. We do not feel the least compunction in making him a New Year's offering of ull the iv- formation which they furnish, confident that no one’s rest will be disturbed and no one’s neck imperiled by the facts which they profess to dis- close. ‘The persons who get ap these pretended Cu- ban plots must have unlimited faith in the gulli- bility of their compatriots. They originate, as it is well known, either with the Cuban officials, who want to make their services appreciaicd at home, or with Cuban exiles here, who tive upon the sympathy of their fellow liberals in that Istand, and who are desirous of showing that they are doing something for the aid which is afford- ed to them. The newspaper correspondents, through whose instrumentality these foreshadow- ings of revolution are circulated, are of course the more ensily duped from their zeal to acquire the latest aud most important news, Whatever may be the views of our govern- ment in regard to Cuba, it is clear that they can- not be in any way promoted by these simulated movements. The persons who are at the bottom of them are the last who feel desirous of wit- nessing the annexation or purchase of that island by this country. They are merely political schemers, intent only upon their own selfish ends, and they doe not want to further any project which has the future welfare and good government of the Cuban people for its ob- ject. In this conviction we deem it right to hold up to ridicule and contempt the foofish rumors with which they are seeking to agitate the pub- lic mind, both here and in Spain. Were th any real conspiracy of this character on foot it is certain that its authors would make less noise about it. Jene, Clemens Turvep Eprror—A Goon Dose or Payste—In ‘h great debate upon the Com- promise measures of 1850 there were several Southern men in the Senate who, although the first to open their batteries against the general scheme of Mr. Clay, were soon converted into his most active and earnest supporters, and so con- tinued to the end of thestruggle. Conspicuous among these inen were Senator Foote, of Missis- sippi, and Senator Clemens, of Alabama. But for thus supporting those great measures of gec- tional conciliation and peace, Gen. Foote, a5 soom as they could get hold of him, was read out of the democratic church of Mississippi by the managing fire-caters of the purty there, and Col. Clemens met with the same fate in Alabama. What next? Gen. Foote went out to San Fran- cisco, turned Know Nothing, and came within gunshot of being elected 9 Senater from that State; but missing the mark, he scraped the gold dust of California off his shocs, and returned home to Mississippi, no longer a party man, but an inde- pendent politician, waiting for “something to turn up.” Col, Clemens, also as a Know Nothing, after thus waiting until lis patience was exhaust- ed in Alabama, has emigrated into Tennessee, where he has “turned up" asthe editor of the an independent journal, hostile to Mr. n, opposed to “sauatter reigaty,” disgusted with the Southern fire- rs, but devoted to the constitution and the and Enquirer, ern giilitury man, who figured te at the satne time w Foote aud + Borland—was also carried away by the Know Nothing jack-o’laatern. This movement as a politician castiug him in Arkan- sas high and dry, he next resumed his original ion of physician and apothecary; but that *s being too monotonous, he started a newspaper, and from that poiat, with us, all traces of him have disuppeared. Col. Clemens, also, we dare say, in his new vocation of news- yaper editor, will soon be brought to his proper level, up or down; nor do we expect that the restless spirit of Gen. Foote will ever be quieted util he shall have entered into dhe experiment of starting a paper. No better dose of physic for your restless and disappointed politician can be administered than that of starting a paper. If the patient does aot prosper, his self-concelt will be taken out of him, at all events, with the disciarge of bis sur- plus gas. And so, if Senator Douglas had fallea short of a re-election, we would have recom- mendcd him personally to take charge of his paper at Chicago, and thus keep up his newspaper fight with that late fimous member of Con. ss, “Long John Wentworth,” at short range. old and experienced political stagers, who have hud enough of the ups and downs, and honors, vanities and crosses of the politician's career—such as Tyler, Van Buveo and Fillmore are sufficiently sobered down to retire gracefully into “the shades of private life; but for those cnergétic, fiery, restless and ambitious politi- cians, who have been stopped half way up the ladder—such as Foote, Clemens, Borland, Douglas and others—we know of no better re- medy than that of starting a paper. Senator Seward, who was lately a partner in the paint, oil, putty and liquor business at Auburn, hag given it up as a bad job; but should he fall shor¢ of his White House calculations in 1860, tet him, also, star’ a paper, Prosrtets or aN Extra Srssroy.—Mr. Phelps, of Missouri, Chairman of the House Committee of Ways and Means, has declared in this oapa- city, as the represeutative of the Exocutive Dae U