The New York Herald Newspaper, January 13, 1859, Page 4

4. NEW YORK HERALD.| JaMnsS GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. OFFI0B K. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS Money mail wil! be at the ook ihe = ‘Poage wampe net as subscription | FE Dates Pa eB ate cor, 07 $8 10 ena oe annum to any part of reat raat’, | or $8 twit Bi On the Stk eed Dik ech monihy ea a ends SN ABAD, every Wednesday, at four ceuta per warty of the world; if used, Ji okies UORMRSTONDENTS. ARE cd fvimh aN ‘4 LATTES AND PAGK- y HiquasTmp <0 Smal ALL AEs SE hIeR chen of ancnynous correspondence. Wedo not Fron munications. i INES reneeed every ; advertisements in- A pexuy Heratp, Fait Herat, and én the m Editions. SME, ‘executed with neatness, cheapness and de- No.12 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. AOADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street—[raLtan OreRs —La Traviata. BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway.—-Putx aw—St. Maxy's Bre. BOWERY THFATRE, won-ras—Vankse Tan —MoLt. PitcHRR—Po-CA- ER. ‘ON’S NEW THEATRE, Broadway—Nick Or tay eer Ixo Divaunissnanst-Mab Dos, WALLACK’? THEATRE, Broadway.—Mrucrant or Ve- micx—DLvs AND CHERRY, LAURA KEENW’S THEATRE, No. 6% Broadway.—Ocr amemoas Cousin Taz MaRninp Rake. BARNUM'S AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway—After- noou and Rvening—Tox Noppy's Sscnet—Rosstra. ING, 561 and 563 Brosdway— .—New Year Cauis. WOOU'S MINSTERL BC Erwories SoxGs, Dasces, BRY ANTS’ MINSTRELS, MECHANICS’ HALL, 427 Brond way—Neono Boxes axp Bonirsaues—SuyLoce, ENIFFEN’S CAMPBELL MINSTRELS, 44 Broadway.— ques, &e.—On! Hsu. ary 13, 1859. ‘The News. ater news has been received from Mexi- co. There has been another change in the rulers of that country. Our aivices by the Quaker City gave us intelligence of the overthrow of Zaloaga and the choice of General Robles for President. Now we learn that President Robles is set aside and vral Miramon elected to the Executive chair in of Mexico. These changes are only in the men. The two parties remain the same—Juarez as the head of the liberals and Miramon as the present nominal head of the church party. General Miramon, it will be recollected, suc- ceeded Oxvllos as commander of the northern di- vision of the army, and recently defexted Vidaurri. After that victory he went to the capital, in hopes of becoming President. Failing, for the time, in that intrigue, he returned to the army, where he was when the wheel of fortune turned in his favor. While these movements are going on in the city of Mexico, indicating a growing weakness in the church party, the liberals are making arrangements for a grand coup early in the spring. The screw steamship Alps, of the Cunard line, which left Havre on the 25th ultimo, arrived at this port yesterday morning, bringing uso Paris paper dated in the afternoon of her day of sailing. We have some news items from the Continent later than our advices by the Africa. The Paris papers continued to comment on the President's Message in a yery hostile strain. A deep se jon had been prodyced by the Message in Madrid. One of the papers there was of opinion that the idea of the purchase of Cuba was thrown ont merely for an increase of popularity by Mr. Buchanan. M. Barrot. the new French Minister, was received in a very flattering manner by Queen Isabella. Na- poleon was about to send a diplomatic representa- tive to Canada. Among the passengers who arrived here on Sun- day last by the Africa was Dominic H. Lynch, Esq., formerly of this city, and now of Hong Kong. This gentieman, who has come home to take out the new steamer Fire Witch to the Chinese seas, cross- ed the Isthmus of Suez on the 3d December last in eleven hours. The road is now completed+ . L. was one of a large number of passengers who crossed in the first through train. The Australia passengers were also on board. The time from Suez to Alexandria was eleven hours, a stop being made at Cairo for dinner. The road is in first rate condition and admirably managed. The only other American who cr dat the time was Chandler Robinson, Esq, of Boston. A heavy freight of Tndia silks, lso brought over, and Mr. L. thinks all valuable commodities for Enrope will hereafter take this route. The United States frigate Macedonian, Captain Levy, was at Alexandria at the above date, and all on bosrd were well. By the a’ 1 of the Moses Taylor at this port yesterday morning we received letters from onv dated in Granada n Juan del Norte on | the Ist inst and produce ve the people exceeding All the priests were ¢ money to rebuild the churel the Walker wars, The native wor 4 strongly | with the Walker canse. Belly’s canal seh was | talked of with great favor. Some arms and ammu- nition arrivi ada were said to be sent The United States arbor of San J > had returned there 1, With the captain and crew of the | from ongland. ‘alovous from Cape Gra ship Fortitude, the wreck of which has been re- The vessel would be a total loss, } could be saved from her. | - NEW, WORK) (HERALD, THURSDAY) pS ANDAR Yy 23; 1859. gr ee eran ea full bench of Judges. The bench.concurrédin the opinion of Justice Robertson, in virtue whereof Flanchet was remanded in the custody of the Mar- shal, to be held at the order the United States Con- sul. Their Majesties and the young Crown Prince were enjoying excellent health at Kona, Hawaii. One hundred and sixty-seven whalers had arrived up to the 18th of November, and the average take was five hundred and eighty-eight barrels each. Of the Hawaiian fleet, 17 left last spring for the | northern grounds. Thirteen arrived with 6,425 bbls. whale, 98,200 Ibs. bone, besides 2 quantity of ivory and peltry obtained by trade. Two vessels had been reported with 1,050 bbls. between them, bringing up the Hawaiian average to 498 bbls. and 7,A€0 Ibs. bone per vessel. The President yesterday offivially informed the Senate thut the yacht Wanderer had landed a cargo of Africans on our Southern coast, and also that the government was making every effort to bring the guilty parties to punishment. It was deemed inexpedient to communicate the correspondence regarding the affair. A report from the Naval Comumitice, authorising the President to place Commodore Stewart at the head of the active list of naval captains, as a recompense for his dis- tinguished services, was received and laid over. The Printing Committee reported against printing a number of papers, including fifty thousand copies of the speeches of Senator Crittenden and the Vice-President on the occasion of leaving the old Senate Chamber. The Pacific Railroad bill was then tuken up, the question being on its recommit- ment with instructions to the committee to report a bill for northern and southern roads, The mo- tion was defeated by a vote of 22 to 25. Tho de- bate on the merits of the bill was then resumed, and continued till the adjournment. In the House an unsnecessful effort was made to obtain leave to report a bill providing for the admission of Oregou into the Union. The discussion on the motion to refer the Nayal Appropriation bill to the Commit- tee of Ways and M was then resumed, but without arriving at any decision on the question the House went into Corumittee of the Whole, end devoted the remainder of the session to speeches on the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, domestic politics, &c. The telegraph announces that Gen. Jerez has been received at Washington as Minister from Nicaragua, in place @ Senor Yrisarri, who resigned the post some time since. The proceedings of the Legislature yesterday are given among our telegraphic despatches, to which our readers are referred. The Governor yesterday sent to the Senate the nominations for Bank Super- intendent, Commissary General, Commissioner of Emigration, and Trustee of the Tdiot Asylum. They will doubtless be confirmed in due time. The Police Commissioners met yesterday in se- cret session, and made fifty-five appointments on the patrol force, said to be mostly democrats sug- gested by the democratic members of the Board of Supervisors. The names were withheld from the reporters, but will be given as soon as passed upon by the examining physicians. Among them are a number of the old force. The Board of Emigration Commissioners held their regular weekly meeting at their office in Worth street at the usual hour yesterday, but transacted no business of importance. The return shows the number of emigrants arrived tothe 5th of January to be 244,and since, to the 12th, 511, making a total of 755, as compared with 960 to the same time in 1858. The number of inmates iu the institutions stands thus:— z 0. «1858, «8BT. - 1,00 1,532 %3 cer . 1,207 2,088 1,053 The amount (balance) in bank on the Ist of January, 1859, was $5,656 28. The receipts to the 5th were $2; and since, to the 12th, for the commu- tation of alien passengers, $746—leaving a total balance of $6,404 28. The new Board of Edacation held their first meeting last evening. Richard Warren, the chair- man of the Finance Committee last year, was plectod Provident, and Thomas Boese, au old and efficieut member of the Board, was re-elected Clerk. The executive committees were elected, and the names of the Commissioners constituting them will be found in our report of the proceedings. James McMahon suffered the extreme penalty of the law at Newark, N. J., yesterday morning, for the marder of his sister-inlaw. Our report gives full details of the circumstances of the murder, the escape of the murderer, his ingenious capture, pe- culiar conduct during and since his trial, and cir- cumstances of his death, including the minutie of physical appearances and seusations after suspen- sion. The wial of Marion Crops, charged with the mur- der of policeman Rigdon, at Baltimore, was con- cluded yesterday, when the jury rendered a verdict against the prisoner of guilty of murder in the first degree. ut of General Sessions yesterday, John tried and convicted of forgery in the and at the request of counsel, who an arrest of judgment, he was re- turday for senten Tt is said that f the most notor sunterfeiters in peen instrumental in sending four the State prison, who were convicted of mannfactured by him ivietion is owing ina e of the Assistant Dis . Dowling. George Bowne lof forgery in the third degree, hay- check on the National Bank for #20, @ to have been drawn by Francis R. Tik nthe 24th of September, 1857. He was re- 1 till the last day of the term, as his insel bill of exceptions, Bowne, who is sixty- years old, and appears to be a respectable man, was tried and convicted in this court in 1852 of a similar offence, and sentenced to imprisonment in the State prison for four yer 1 three months. triet Attorney and Cap was convic ing f prpe Tank will f iw ‘The harbor of San Juan was rapidly filling up, | and arrangements were making to remove the town | to the mouth of the Colorado river, where a city | would be founded under the rule of the Mosquito | king, and defended by Jamaica negroes. The | United States ship Jamestown was boarded by ai officer of her Britannic Majesty's ship Cresar, whe inquired, in the usual categoricsl style, after flibus- | ters. | Our Panama co pondent, writing on the aa | inst., states that the French frigate Serieuse had left | that harbor for Central American po’ The United States ship Saranac had been ordered to go | north from Panama in search of the St. Marys | and to put the relief crew of that vessel on hoard. The ship-of-war Jamestown had left Aspinwall in order to aid the Savannah to cross the of the San Joan river, in which work the British frigate Valorous would, it was said, help her. | Commodore McIntosh, U.S. N., previous to his | departure from Aspinwall, received moat flattering | letters of address from Hon. Amos B. Corwine, | Dhited States Consul at Panama, and the American citizens resident at Aspinwall. We publish the papers this morning, and their perusal will show that the late action of the gallant officer on the British “right of search” question was highly ap- proved off, whilst the warmest wishes for his speedy restoration to health were expressed by all. We publish also the letter of Meet Surgeon nick, invaliding Commodore MeTntox) general orders in which that oficcr t of the squadron. Captain Gardier assumed th command of the Rownoke and ordered a sain the retiring flag officer. We have files from the Sandwich isleudy dated at Honolulu on the 20th of November. The case ef haVeas corpus in the matter of Fr. de Manchet, 2 Trevich seaman shipped an board of the Ameri can whaleship Nassau, of New Bedford (reported Dy lost avrival,) had received a hee before the ‘or: with the The steamboats of the Norwich and Stonington lines have been within in consequence of the counmlation of ice inwvong Island Sound, The receipts of beef cattle at all the yards during the past week amounted to 2,56 head—an increase of 400 head as compared with the week previous, ihe demand throughout the week was for all qn at # range of from 7c. to 1c. per pound, the ge being abont %e., which is an advance on the prices previously reported. With heavy re- «the demand for cows and calyes was active 1 35 per head. Veal calves sold briskly at former rates, 3).a6e.per pound, while some ex- tra fat calves aold at Tc s. The best quality of ep and lombs sold at $6 500 $7, an advance of ve cents, while common qualities were Su #5 75. S fair demand prevailed fo d hogs, at nee of je, The qnota- range from to Gje.. according to quality. The sale ® dull corn ions pf cotton yesterday embraced aboat 1,900 a 2,000 1 bout 1,000 of which wore sold to arrive, The mar ed with a quiet feeling, but without quo- table change in prices. The Hour market closed witha Armer feeling, especially for common and medinm grader, and inside qualities of extra brands were also firmor, while sales were pretty freely made, part on speculation, Wheat was firmer and in more active demand, ant priees of the better qnalities were higher. Corn was held aboye the views of buyers, while sales were small at 80c. for hew yellow: old Western mixed wae held at 8% a $50, Pork woe more animated and buoyant in prices: pales of bow meas were made at $17 8744, which was afterwarda hold nt $17 50, and mew primeon the spot and for delivery next month, at $13.0 $13 10. Beef was steady. Sugars were Srm, with gales of about 1,100 bhds. New Orleans ond 5&5 Doxes nt rates given in another column. New Orleans molagees was in steady demand at 38. The sales of coffee embraced 600 bags Laguayra, 600 mate Java, 300 bags St. Domingo, at rates given elsewhere. wore firmer, and nutmegs were freely sold at an Freighte wore imactive and engagotents {i ‘The Commercial Disasters of 1959~Whet They Were and What the Remedy. ‘We publish to-day in another column an inter- esting table and report on the commercial dié- asters of last year, prepared by Messrs. B. Doug- lass & Co., one of the mercantile agencies of this city, Although the general result exhibited in the aggregates of these statistics is satisfactory, it will be seen that the storm which passed over the commercial world in the latter part of 1857 extended its effects into the succeeding year. Many houses that passed through the panic after- wards fell under the spent pressure of the tem- pest, or from the difficulty of recuperation dur- ing the slackwater time in trade which followed it. tis for this reason that the number of fail- ures recorded last year amounts approximately to 2) per cent on the number of mercantile firms which Mesers. Douglass bad on their books in 1857, while the failures in the preceding year of panic amounted to only 2} per cent ou'the same aggregate. But there is one great difference be- tween the failures of 1857 and those of 1858. In the former the total amonnt of tinbilities amounted in round numbers to two hun- dred and ninety-two millions of dollars, while in the latter they have reached only uinety- six millions, We regret that the enterprising au- thors of this circular have not given us this year the same detailed statement of the number of commercial firms on record, the statistics of those whose bankruptcy was fraudulent, and the perecntage paid on the liabilitics from the assets. Sueh data are very desirable for many reasons, not the least among which is the light they may throw upon the diverse systems of commercial legislation in the several States. Tn the generalizations of the circular there is, however, much matter of interest. We observe that the city traders generally have exhibited a marked improvement in stability over that of the country traders, particularly in the Western and Northwestern States. This discrepancy we attribute to the closer dependence of the country trader upon the prosperity of the agricultural interest, and the falling off which these great grain and meat producing districts experienced last year both in erops and market prices. The South exhibits great stability in her commercial community, and excellent prospects for the com- ing year. In New England, too, the course of trade is healthy, and the cotton and woollen manufacturing establishments have already expe- rienced a revival of trade about equal to their capacity to supply. One of the signs of the in- creasing commercial preponderance of our city exists in the fact that these mercantile agencies are extending their operations into Canada, thus increasing the facility of the Canadian trader for obtaining credit here, and at the same time enlarging the market for our New York merchants. On the whole, it is thought that en- couragement is the prevailing feature of the coun- try, and that we shall have a safe if not an extensive trade during the ensuing year. In the present material condition of the coun- try there is no doubt much reason to entertain this hope. Prices, generally, of our staples of trade are much nearer to the cost of production than they have been for a series of years past— a condition of things which contrasts most favorably with that of several months before the panic of 1857. At that time speculators were carrying heavy stocks of cotton, sugar, grain, flour, and in fact of neatly every article of general use, at prices fully one hundred per cent above the cost of production. The couxequence was that both distribution and consumption were @iminished ; and when the inevitable fall of prices came, panic came with it. Now no such great and general decline can occur, and consequently the future presents a much safer prospect to the trader. But a large diminution of consumption has fol- lowed the panic. When everybody believed themselves to be possessors of fortunes in their stocks of staples held at speculative prices, extravagance was rife in all things, and stimulated industry and consumption greatly. But the loses of the panic took away these for- tunes, and the aggregate diminution of wealth and enforcement of economy is not to be found in the 2} per cent of merchants who have failed, but among the 97, per cent that did not fail. That we shall recover from the effects of the panic there can be no doubt. It is only a ques- tion of time. It took us twelve years to re- cover from the crash of 1837, and then began the flood tide of prosperity which culminated in 1857. Whether we shall waddle along now through twelve years of uncertain trade depends upon other causes than the slow operations of good annual crops and the gradual increase of accumulated wealth. Some great impelling cause outside of the existing elements of trade must occur to produce it. The famine in Europe and closely following opening of Cali- fornia started the last prosperous cra, But the California and Australian stimulus is now lost. Men do not rush in shoals there, nor send goods by the hundred cargocs, That trade obeys the normal law. There are, however, many ele- ments in agitation that may again stir up the fountains of commerce. The admission of Cuba to our Union, the opening of Mexico to our adventurous and enterprising youth, the movement into the field of production and con- sumption of one or two hundred thousand coolies by England, or Africans by france, and the open- ing of trade with three hundred millions of Chinese, may each or all contribute to swell the coming tide of prosperous commerce, These ave causes far more rapid in action than the slow process of general recuperation. It was the la- hor of only three hundred thousand men, stimu- lated by golden hopes in California and Austra- lia, that produced the last era of prosperity, An equal withdrawal from the present supplies of labor, and its employment in a new field, will produce similar results. Ti is the addition of new territories to the domain of commerce that stimulates distribution and consumption every- where, and gives new and greater life to trade. Tie Broapway RAWRosrp avo tun ALBANY Lonsy.—We understand from Albany that Thurlow Weed, the Mephistophiles of the lobby, is very busy in the great work of arranging the business of the Legislature for the pregont ses sion, including, especially, all the various jobs in which the lobby is interosted. (ne of the most conspicnous and promising of all these jobs is that of the Broadway railroad, beginning at the Battery and passing up through some of the side strects to University place, thence to Union square, and thence up Broadway.and the Bloomingdale road to Manhatianville, This job, it is suppoeed, ifcarried out, will be worth to the lobby at least the snug little sum of a round million of dollars, and the programme for pushing it throngh the Legislature is of the moat brilliant description. It involves libcral largesees and retaining fees tn every influentiel quarter; but these advances will; of course, pe Atuong the ‘secrets only known to the parties concermed. We are informed, however, that the plaa of op®- rations will probably comprehend a douceur to each of the daily newspapers of the following list, according to the sliding scale of their daily circulation, from one to another—that is to say, upon the ratio of one dollar in the railway stock for each copy of their daily circulation respective- ly. This equitable lobby arrangement, therefore, would include the following newspaper disburse- ments:— Journals. Stock. Cireulation. Courier ang Enquirer 93,500 3,500 sous nal of Sooner 4,500 —_ Exprees (#1 edi , 8,000 19,000 8,000 18,000 1,500 1/600 + -90,000 90,000 press, the reader cannot fail to admire the tact displayed in measuring each journal according to the length of its breeches, With the same degree of wisdom and liberality in the other proposed advances of the lobby managers for this Broadway road, there can hardly be a doubt of its succese. Indeed, it is said that Thurlow Weed plumes himself upon holding this pre- sent Legislature in the palm of his hand, and that, with the experience of his “statistics” in the matter of “free wool” at Washington, he entertains no doubt of the success of every Al- bany echeme on his present echedule that can be made to pay. We presume Master Weed is ready to listen toall sorts of bide upon this rail- road, and all other jobs from all sorts of opera- tore in the business of the Albany lobby. Ocean Mall Service. It is stated that the committees on the Post Office and Post Roads of the Senate and House are engaged in the consideration of the subject of our ocean mails, with a view of reporting a comprehensive Dill, which will re-organise the service and place it upon a permanent basis. As all the contracts for carrying ocean mails by United States steamers expire this year, with the exception of the Collins line, (which is inope- rative,) some action is of course necessary, unless, indeed, Congress should decide that Eng- lish steamers are to continue to have the mono- poly of ocean mails, which they now possess everywhere but in the immediate California ser- vice. The Postmaster General, in his last report, recommends that the United States ocean mails shall be divided into European service—home service—by which he means the California, Ha- vana and Vera Cruz mails—and mixed commer- cial and mail service, under which head he places the establishment of regular mail communica- tion between the United States, Brazil and the Eastern coast of South America, and the United States and Venezuela, and the whole West coast of South America, lying on the Pacific, and embracing the ports of New Granada, Ecuador, Pera, Bolivia and Chile. This latter service would connect at Panama or Tehaantepee with the Cali- fornia steamers, and with the regular mails to the United States. We have frequently spoken at length of the great advantages of this route, and of the loss which our commerce suffers in con- sequence of our having no mail facilities with the South Pacific, being dependent wholly upon the British line running there, and which, connecting with the West India line of steamers to South- ampton, arranges its schedules s0 as not to con- nect with our steamers at Aspinwall; thus de- taining our mails on the Isthmus, whilst theirs ure carried directly on to their destination. We are glad to see that the Postmaster General has recognized the importance of this route, and has called upon Congress to authorise its establish- ment. Mr. Brown, whilst willing that the home ser- viee and the contemplated routes to South Ame- rica shall not be subject to the rule of being self- sustaining—on the ground that they are necessary for commercial and diplomatic, as well as postal purposes—insists that the European mails shall be sustained Ly the postages alone. On another oc- casion we may go into an inquiry as to the sound- ness of this dogma; but at present it is sufficient to observe that under a proper system of remune- ration, we believe that the gross amount of post- ages would be sufficient to defray the expenses of a weekly mail to Europe. But at the same time no permanent American line can be established which leaves to the contractors the uncertain risk of being remunerated from these postages. Government must take that rick itself, and agree to pay for a fixed period a reasonable and suffi- cient sum for the work. Under the present ex- periment of giving the postages as com- pensation we find Vanderbilt's line conveying a portion of the mails, during the summer months, when the travel is sufficient to make up for the expenses, and the English lines, which are composed of screw vessels, making long passages, taking them in the winter—the Cunard line, during the whole time, running regularly, thus securing the great bulk of the letters, and thus bringing into the British Post Office a revenue doubtless more than sufficient to defray their large subsidy, whilst our Post Office Department does not receive a cent. The experiment has been tried till ithas succeeded in tying our splendid steamships up te our wharves to rot, depleting our Post Office, and giving England that monopoly on the ocean to which her wie, paternal and fostering care have always been directed. There is, however, one recommendation of the Postmaster General to which we are distinctly opposed. It is his sugges- tion to give out the ocean mail contracts to the lowest bidder. We have seen enough of the utter folly and dishonesty of this course. As Mr. Rusk, when Chairman of the Senate Post Office Committee, well remarked, there was scarcely an instance on record where the go- vernment was ever benefitted by giving out its contracts to the lowest bidder. In almost every cage under this system the contractor, in order to secure the work, bids for it at a less price than he can afford, in the confident expecta- tion—an expectation never disappointed—of afterwards receiving relief from Congress. The printing contracts are prominent examples of this specics of mancuvring, which in the end costs the country far more than if a fair price had been given in the first instance. It is not the policy of this government to seck to have its work performed at a less price than can honestly be afforded. As a matter of course itleads to cheating and dishonesty, The proper couree for Congress to adopt with regard to al! our occau mails is to fix a price per mile for the different rontes. There is sufficient experience and information to determine what such service can be properly and economically performed for by the mile, and this sum should be appropriated, leaving to the government alone the responsi- bility of having the service properly and faith- fully exeeuted. In this way, instead of provid- ing an indefinite amount, the Appropriation for ner the service will be a Sxed sum; acd instean of holding out inducements for parties fraudulently to offer to execute the work for less than it can honestly be done, with a view of afterwards bav- ing the amount increared by way of indemnity, an honest, faithful and really economical execu- tion of the service will be secured. We call the attention of the committees now epgaged in the consideration of the subject to this point of the case; and we trust their action will be euch as to demonstrate that they tuke a liberal and statesmanlike view of the question. Completely neglected as our ocean mail service has been of late years, the period has now arriv- ed when Congress must act, or abandon the ocean to the superior enlightenment of Zuropean government enterprise, ‘Wall Street and Its Operators. Some of the country journals are endeavoring toexplain to their readers the phenomena of Wall street, with very slender success. It is no wonder they fail. Wall street isa place sui ge- neris—unlike the Stock Exchange of London, and the Bourse of Paris, on both of which full time operations are unknown—and equally un- like every other money mart in the financial world. One requires to have been in it to under- stand it. It is the greatest gambling hell in the world—a gambling hell compared to which Ba- den sinks into insignificance, and Frascati pales his ineffectual fires. For the stakes are millions, the gamblers the merchants, divines, lawyers, doctors and property owners of the United States, and the croupiers men of the calibre of Jacob Little. Just now all is pretty quict in that famous place. At present railway stocks are under a cloud. The revulsion on the one hand, and the failure of last year’s crops on the other, have re- duced railway traffic so low that very few roads are earning their expenses. The Erie is confoss- edly insolvent; the Central has just published a report which deserves to be bound up with Baron Munchausen and Gulliver's Travels; the Reading is on its last legs; the Ilinois Central has been driven to beg for a loan of money to pay the interest on its bonds; the La Crosse has gone into the hands of bondholders; other railroads, throughout the North and West, are daily awaiting the fore- closure of mortgages. So, on the whole, railroad property is in bad odor at present, and the public take no part in the operations of Wall street in this class of securities. This, however, does not discourage the regular operators of that famous gambling hell. It is estimated that there are three hundred persons in or about Wall street who go by the name of stock brokers, and who make a living by selling and buying stoeks—for the public when the public is a speculator, for themselves when no commission business is to be had. These are divided into bulls, or partisans of a rise in stocks, and bears, or advocates of a fall. About half of the whole number occupy seats at the Stock Exchange ; the other half are cither fallen angels, who have once belonged to the board, and have lost their seats by reason of insolvency, or aspiring saints, who want to get into the board, or decided demons, who know that they can’t get into the board, and don’t try. They are sometimes known as light artillery, and sometimes, irreverently, as scallywags. All of these—in and out of Paradise—are at the present time trying to make a living by speculating in stocks, in the absence of commis- sion business. Brokers as they are, they require beef and bread—cassimere and boots for them- selves, silk and hoops for their wives; so they buy and sell to that end with an earnestness de- serving of reward. On Monday morning two hundred of them believe that New York Central is going up, and buy, on an average, a hundred shares apiece. This purchase of 20,000 shares naturally puts the price up. The moment it rises half per cent the speculators who bought first sell out to make their profit, and the price falls. In, then, come the other hundred, who be- lieve that Central is going down; they sell ten thousand shares, for delivery thereafter. This of course knocks down the price, which so terrifies the bulls (who bought as above and did not sell out at 9 profit), that they instantly sell out at a loss, and dine that day on cold beef and pickles. Presently the bears, who sold for delivery, hegin tobuy. A rumor goes through the street that Erastus Corning and Duncan, Sherman & Co, have agreed to buy up twenty-five thousand shares; everybody rushes in to buy: Jacob is buying, Kowalski is buying, Groesbeck is buy- ing, Whitehouse is buying, Stebbins is buying; the light artillery declare, with tears in their eyes, that Central will go to par ina week: all the bears, in fear and trembling, cover their con- tracts ata loss; and after a terrible flurry of a day or two a dead ealm succeeds. Jacob offers to sell a couple of thousand shaves; nobody wants them, and the market falls off at least twice as much as it rose. * Such, in brief, is the history of Wall street speculation at the present time. When “the public” come in, the case is different. Then the street combines against the outsiders, and fleeces them to a certainty. But when the left to prey on each other, the fight is sue’ related above, and o hard fight itis, It ts to be difficult to make a living by writing books, or painting pictures, or selling dry goods, or breaking stones; but the worst of these immnst be an opnlent calling in comparison with that of a stock speculator in January, 1859. Tax Kaasworta Witte—Aweur. Ixvianarion oF CysvArien Ween.—Tt was one of the maay excellent mexims of St. Paul, that a man whe neglected ta’ provide for bis own household was were than an infidel. This compreheative plat- form, eo briefly and terecly expressed, has been held good in law, équity, religion, morality and politics until yesterday, when Chevalicr Webb came out and demolished it altogether. The particular cause of the Chevalice’s storm of ise dignation may be found in the comments of the journals that have mildly suggested that it would have been better for all parties had the late Mr. Ellsworth provided more liberally for his widow and children, instead of leaving the greater part of his fortune to an educational institution. The Chevalier is evidently in a bad temper. He calls the offending journalists “blow flics,” and describes them as dining upon the bodies of dead heroes, They are “ rapacious and watchful creatures,” grossly impertinent, and more to the same purpose, eays the Chevalier. They should have more respect for wealthy men, dead or alive, sane or insane, and should duly venerate 0 old and rich a corporation as Yale College, which has done a great deal of good one way and another, though the Chevalier docs not tell us exactly how. Then there is a grand puff for Yale and its sacred elms, far more redolent of the aroma of learning than the academic groves of Athens herself, ‘and a farewell dash at the “paltry slurs of the paltry minds” that do | not agree with the Chevalier. The indignation } of the Courier is awful, but it is tempered in some degree by an extract in another part of the paper from a Western journal, the editor of \ which says that he intended to be very indignant at Mr. Ellsworth for leaving his wife only a emall anntity, but he suppressed his rising choler on finding that she was the fourth wife of the testator, and had only been married a few monthe—a conclusion which is amusingly absurd. According to Western logic it would seem that a widow loses her legal rights in exact propor- tion to the time that she has been married, and the place that she has on the roll of her late / husband’s partners. It is,in fact, carrying the army rule of promotion by seniority into pri- |, vate life, and Mrs. Ellsworth can console herself with an arithmetical calculation of how much she would have had in the event of her having j been a little higher on the list and a little older | in the service. The Western editor thinks itis , all right, and the Chevalier agrees with him, and desires to know how anybody has been informed that the bereaved relatives do not acquiesce in the will. That’s the question which provides the Chevalier’s sheet-anchor, and which would really make everything comfortable were it not for » few lines in the Journal of Commerce—we like to | quote from weighty authorities—to the effect that the will is to be contested on the ground that for | several years the mind of the testator ‘has not | been sufficiently strong to enable him|to trans- I act business without aid.” So Chevalicr’s indignation amounts to no- thing, and he must start eomething new to relieve his mind, which is doubtless in a bad state on account of the meagre lookout for the lobby at Washington. As for the will itself, we will leave it to the lawyers, who will proba- bly make a good thing of it before they finish! We have no desire to exploit family secrets; but when wills are printed, it seems to us that they are public property, and that public journals are comments upon them as may seem proper. If, in calling attention to the extraordinary wills of the day, we have unwittingly incurred the wrath of our amiable Wall street Chevalier, we are ex- cecdingly sorry; but the poignancy of our grief is somewhat modified by the reflection that this j is not the first time, nor will it probably be the ast, that we have had the misfortune to disagree with the valiant warrior of the Courier and the ‘regular army.” Errecrs or Reck Ess Srecunation anv Ex- PANSION.—We have repeatedly stated in these columns that the effects of the late financial crisis, and the reckless speculation which was its precursor, would continue to afford sad exam- ples all through the country for some years to come. Two striking instances bearing out this view have just been presented to us, illustrating the consequences of the wild speculations which characterized the period preceding the revul- sion. One of them is furnished by an Eastern State, the other by a far Western one. First, of the latter. It appears that the debt of the little city of Keokuk, off in Iowa, has grown to a pro- portion equal to seventy-five dollars for every inhabitant—to a sum, in fact, amounting to 31,150,000, a quarter of a million of which has been incurred for municipal expenses, and the balance for railroad and other operations, Keo- kuk is on the verge of bankeuptcy, of course; the people cannot raise the taxes necessary for its own government. And what does it do? It proposes to its creditors to wipe off fifty per cent of their claims, and assures them, by a circnlar from the Mayor of the city, that its debt now nearly quadruples the limit allowed by the constitution of Iowa, The agents of the city are now coming to New York to make these liberal terms with their creditors. This is one of the strongest illustrations yet furnished of the mischievous and immoral system of expansion so universally practised all over the West. The other case referred to shows the result of reckless individual speculation in railroad bonds and stocks. A sale of property belonging to a firm in New London, Connecticut, took place the other day, at which a large number of the shares of one road were gold for ive and a half cents each; $8,900 second mortgage bonds of the same road brought $44 50; and $7,000 income bonds were sold for $7, or one mill on the dol- Jar. It is quite probable that these stocks and bonds were bought originally at par, or a little below, which are now sacrificed at these unpre- cedently reduced rates. There is a moral in these two cases which may serve future operators—whether cities or commercial firms--and we may expect to see similar transactions turning up from time to time. Corp Wearuer—Tae Disrressis oF vue Poor.—While the comforts and convenience of all classes in the community are materially af fected by the present cold weather, the severity of the season has brought much and bitter suffer- ings to the poor, as may be seen by the daily re- ports in our columns of deaths from exposure and destitution, men and women crippled by the frost, and perishing infants, whose parents had not wherewith to sustain life in them. Yet we have not heard of any action on the part of the public to alleviate the distress of the needy One good Samaritan, touched by the condition of the poor, has sent us the following communi cation, with its enclosure :—~ TO THE RDITOR OF THE HERALD. New Yorn, Jan. 12, 1869. Tsee sud hear a great deal said about the cold, and about the sufferings of the poor during the present cold; but Tdo not find any one offering their mite for comfort. Ibaye not much to give, but I enclose $6, and hope others may do likewise, and add all they can. A BRIWSH AGENT. We are at a loss to know what disposition to make of this five dollars, but hold it subject to the suggestion of the charitable donor. Mean- time would it not be well to organize some so- ciety or committee which might become the al- moner of fands contributed in this way? There are many persons, doubtless, who would follow the example of our correspondent if their contri- butions could be placed in the bands of some committee which would underiake to dispose of them to the best ad\autage for the benefit of the suffering poor. Tue Ferunn Posrrion or Sexator Dovaras. We have our suspicions that Mr. Senator Douglas has no serious intention of casting himself out- side the pale of any healthy political organiza- tion, notwithstanding all the positive declara- tions of the Chicago Times and the Chovalier Forney, of war to the knife against the adminis- tration and the regular democraey on the part of the “Little Giant.” His re-election to the Senate ought to satisfy him for the present; and if his late develictions have rendered him posi- tively ineligible for Charleston, in 1860, there ia yet the prospect before him of a full recovery of all the ground he has lost in the interval to 1864, We cannot believe that he te ready, upon personal dislikes and antipathics to plunge i all the | ; doing no more than their duty in making such | ) \ i] ' i 7) / | } } ' t } }