The New York Herald Newspaper, March 7, 1859, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. QP7ICE H.W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. SERMS, exch tn otoance, Woney cont by madd weil be at he eer vcore Postage satips Not ‘as eubscription Thi DAILY ZERAED, soo cute pense Pep omree. in REKLY HERALD, ever) Gt sia cents per ane es Ber anouims he ‘Europain Baition every Wea age cous por copy, SA per anraun: ocany part q, Grea. Brivis, ni ‘the Continent, both to tuchude postage; Baier Gh the Band Bh of each month at vo cl YQ AR AED, eve Wedassday, at four cots Yor ot ONEARY CORPESPONDENCE, containing important meine, 6ottic any quarter of the world; Y used, will l Uberally paid for, ggrOun Fonway Comnesroxpaxt ae Paerwvc ‘Beqoxstap 70 Star at Larreks 45D i ‘Agts best i BO NOTICE taken of nnonynicuacorreyponience. We donot return ve commun nS. is ite tne VERTISEMENTS renewed every day; adserticemen' ected en the Wenkit Houcio, Fant insta, and tn the The Thisty-Itih Con, Politicas Parties The Administration ond the Coau- try. The Thirty -Afth Congress, which, to the great relief of the country, cuded its miserable exia- teuce on the 4th instant, bas left a most formidu- ble budget of tegiciative omiaaions, failures, defl- ciencics aad anfiniehed business to the new Con- gress, which may thus be called together some months in sdvance of the first Monday in Decem- ber next, The prominent recommendations of the Presi- dent's snnual Message of last December, were, touchiag our foreign affairs, a temporary mili- tary ocewpation of the uorthern provinces of Mexico; authority to the Executive to employ the army and navy, if necessary, in behalf of the peace and aeutrality of the Isthmus transits of She "PRINVING executed with noatness, cheapness and dé- spaich. Volume XXIV.... .No. 65 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway.—Axtos¥ 4x» CrRo raria—Fawiiy Jans. Broadway.~-Afernoom—P arny Sre0- selsee Gr CeecnnMad, “hives ag— cindy FERPORKAAOES Traine Houses, de. TRE, Bowery.—Ovr: Exgusa Cousiy— WALLACK’S THEATRE, Brosdway—Tak VaTEnsn ; Of, Feaxom ano Avcsais. THEATRE, Ko. 624 Brosdway,—Ocr eee eRe oereanons OF TE Lae OF WAS into. Broadway.—After- AMERIOAN MUSEUM, Browiweyiinvast BaRNUWS noon-—Duso Suor—Beias O'bis5. Hox. “8 MINSTREL BUILDING. 561 and 563 Broadway—- Blueray Santer VsW0Es, to. —Nivene SrELt. ) MINSTRELS, MECHANTCS’ RATA, 437 Broad- wae TANTS eiues inn Dokunsave—KeEt "ew i DE TENT. Ivew Work, Monday, March 7, 1858. “TIALS FOR THE PACIFIC. New York Herald—California Edition. ‘The United Statos mail stearaship Illinois, Capt. M*Gowan, will leave this port this afternoon, wt two o'clock, for Aspinwall. ‘Tho mails for California and other parts of tho Pacific Will close at one o'clock this afternoon. Tho New Yous Wematr Hxraup—California edition— fontaining the latest intelligence from all parta of the world, will be published at ten o'clock in the morning. Single copies, in wrappers, ready for mailing, eix cents. Agents will please send in their orders as carly az pos- ible. MAILS FOR EUROPE. Whe New York Herald—Edition for Europe. The Cunard mail steamship Canada, Capt. Lang, will Jeavo Boston on Wednesday for Liverpool. ‘The European mails will close in this city to morrow afternoon at halfpast one o'clock to go by railroad, and fat four o’clocic to go by steamboat, ‘The Buropean edition of the Hraatp will bo published at ten o'clock in the morning. Single copies, in wrappers, Bix cents. Subscriptions and advertisoments for any edition of the New Yoru Henarp will be received at the follewing piaces ‘in Europo ~~ Lonvos...., .Sampaon Low, Son & Co., 47 Ludgate Hill. Lansing, Starr & Co., 74 King William strect. Panm......Lansing, Baldwin & Co., 8 piace de la Bourse. Livearoot. Lansing, Starr & Co., No. 9 Chape Stuart, 10 Exchange strect, East. Haven... Lansing, Baldwin & o., 21 Rue Corneille, eece “De Chapeaunge & Co. e contents of the European edition of the Hsrap will @ombine the news received by mail and telegraph at the Office during the previous week and up to ihe bour or Publication. The News. 'The screw steamship Jura, which left Liverpool on the 18th ult., reached this port early yesterday morning, with two days later nows from Earope. Cotton remained firm in Liverpool at the advance reported by the City of Baltimore. Consols closed in London, on the 17th ult, at 95j 95] for money and account. The preparations for war were very vigorously carried on by the Powers most interested, but nothing more definite had taken place on either side. Sardinia, it was said, would probably bring about the crisis by some act of hostility towards Austria. Our latest despatches state that Austria consented to send a representative to a conference in Paris, provided England and Prussia abstained from discussing the Italian question. Fresh complications had arisen in the Danubian Principalities, as it was said that Turkey and Aus- tria would seek to prevent their union, as decreed by the newly elected Hospodar. France, Russia find England would be directly interested in this. Onde; in India, was finally conquered by the British on the 8th of January, when all the rebel forts were destroyed, and 400,000 stand of arms sur- rendered. The Begum and Nana Sahib were sup- posed to have fled with their followers into Nepaul. Nothing of importance had transpired in Partia- ment. We have news from Hayti dated at Gonaives and Port au Prince on the 20th ult, brought frem the former place by the brig H.C. Brooks, and from the latter port by the brig Isabel Beurmann, arrived yesterday. At Gonaives everything was quiet and trade improving: provisions in good supply; wood, $55 a $40, currency, per 1,000 pounds q fee, $116 a $120 per 100 pounds. Port au Prince ot, but the inhabitants were apparently dis- satisfied with Geffrard, he being rather unpopular there in consequence of his demands on produce exports and the power which he is commencing to exercise, which they presume wil! soon expand to tyranny. The chartered steamer M. W. Chapin, of the Pa- raguay expedition, was at Ceara, Brazil, on the 17th of January, taking in coal. Saturday was an active day in the cotton market. The tales embraced about 8,400 balos, a considerable portion of which was sold in transitu. Prices closed firm on the basis of 1254. for middling uplands. If we cetimate the fvorage price at 12340. per Ib., and the bales at 450 Iba. @ach, the value of the sales made yesterday will amount to tho sum of $479,460. Fiour was again active and firm, | ‘with a epectiative feeling, while sales of common and mediom grades were made at better prices. Southern flour was also active, and free salee made at full prices. ‘Wheat was in good demand and sales active, while prices ‘Were withont change of moment. Corn was more buoy. @nt, with sales of Jersoy and Southern yellow mt BSc. 86c.,.and Western mixed at 87c. a | B7}4c. Pork was boavy and lower, with of now moss at $17 95 2 $17 95, and old do. at $1707 a $17 40 and $18 10 & $15 15 for prime. Sugars were firm and notive, with sales of 1,200 to 1,00 bhds., 1,000 bags Cal- Gutta, 3,300 bags Pernambuco, and 109 boxes white Ha- wana, all on terms given in another column. Coffee was | firm. The chief transaction of tho day comprised the | Roanoke’s cargo of 4,400 bags of Rio at 1l3jc. The rates | of freight wore without change of moment. To Liverpool, the chief engagement coneiated of 1,000 bales of cotton at | 5-824. » 8-16d., and 600 bbls. rosin at 1s. 6d. Wir 14s Become or te Reorstry Lawt— Mt is acknowledged by all parties, we believe, that a regietry law of some kind is absolutely needed in this city to prevent fraud and the abuse of the ballot box at clections, Since the Legis lature commenced its present session we haye heard # good deal of talk about it. The republi- | gan party were clemorousin its fevor before they Bitained power in the State; yt the members of Ghat party in the Legislature have not given us | gach a law, though they have a majority large @nough to carry everything before thom —a ma- , fority, too, which they have not failed to use for | the purposes of bad and oppressive legislation | with regard to this city. The republicans have now an opportunity of purifying the election | system ngainst the crrors and grievances of which | they’have been 0 long complaining, if they are J onebtly disposed to give us any good laws at all, Ceatral America; aad a special appropriation to cuable the President to eater into active nego- tiations for the purchase of the island of Cuba. Coyperuing our internal affairs, the leading features of the Message were, an appeal to Con- gress in behalf of @ general bankrupt law, in- cluding corporations; a recommendation in favor of some positive legislation in behalf of a rail- rond from the Mississippi valley to the Pacific ocean; end an appeal for the relief of an ex- haasted treasury, through a modification of the teri, embracing euch specific datics as would afford come encouraging incidental protection to our home manufactures, while increasing the treasury receipts from the foreigu imports thus assessed, Such, forcign and domestic, wore the bold, practical, expedient and popular recommenda- tions of the last annual Message of Mr. Bu- chanan. And what has this Thirty-fifth demo- cratic Congress left upon the record in response to these leading recommendations? Nothing— literally nothing. The Cuba question, the affairs of Mexico and Central America, the bankrupt question, and the demands of a rapidly increas- ing public debt, and of an empty treasury, re- main substantially untouched by Congress. The last act of the session was the authority given to Mr. Cobb to re-issue twenty millions of treasury notes, or, in other words, to go upon tick for twenty millions more, to make up the defipiencies in his current receipts through the ensuing fiscal year. In addition to this imposing schedule of Con- gressional omissions and failures, all the appro- priations for the Post Office Department—exceed- ing, in the aggregate, twenty millions ofdollars— have fallen through, from certain disagreements between the two houses and among the several Presidential cliques and factions thereof. Thus, in reference to this important department of the public service, the administration has to deter- mine whether the government can most wisely undertake to live upon the money of the mail contractors till December, or resort to an extra eession of the new Congress, or shut up the post offices and stop the transportation of the mails. In any event, the budget ofbusiness of the new Congrees will comprehend, first, our relations with Mexico, Central America and Cuba—rela- tions which, from the active and compre- hensive intrigues of England and France, cannot be much longer neglected; second- ly, a public debt, hard upon a hundred millions, all told, heavy expenditures, deficient receipts, and various retreachments in the appropriations of the late session, which are no retrenchments at all—such retrenchments, for instance, as those suspending the work on the Treasury building and the new wings of the Capitol, and on the Washington city water works. These are items which must he paid, and the extension of time expedient adopted by Congress will, in the end, rather increase than diminish the appropriations thus put off. But why all this budget of blunders, this bung- ling work upon the regular appropriation bills and this ignoring, dodging and suffocation in Congress of all the great landmarks of the Presi- dent’s foreign and domestic policy? The list of party aspirants, locel and sectional cliques, min- ing and undermining, plotting and counterplot- ting for the Presidential succession, will furnish the solution to the whole mystery. Thue, the democratic managers of the great spoils and plunder gqyue for 1860 have abandoned the ad- ministration because they have failed to use it for their selfish schemes, and because it is taken for granted that, as Mr. Buchanan is out of the way, the only thing now to be looked after is the Charleston Convention. There is, also, a very fair prospect that the Presidential election of 1860 will be a scrub race, and that the election ay thus be thrown into Congress, In the meantime, the beleagured democracy are on the eve of their Southern elections for the new Congress, and if they would save the House of Representatives. upon a small margin for gains, they must gain, instead of losing, a few members. Hence the course of the Southern democracy in this last Congress. To save themselves at home in these approaching Con- eressional clections, they have choked off a mo- dification of the tariff, they have enforced a con- riderable number of mock retrenchments, inter- mixed with « tew real reductions, and have fallen wack upon the beggarly expedient of running into debt to the extent of an additional sum of | twenty millions or more, rather than run the tisk of facing the music of increased duties upon foreign imports or inevitable direct taxation. | On the other hand, the Presidential schemers | of the Northern republican camp were equally busy, at the late session, especially in shaping their policy in Congress for buncombe Presiden- pasecd the House, and which only failed in tho | Senate, we suppoge, for want of time, was nothing but a bold agrarian experiment for the next Presidency; and if the grant of a free farm of 160 acres of the public lands to every applicaut, upon the simple condition of cultivating it, is not calenlated to awaken the enthusiasm of the “landless,” we should like to know what is. ‘The new House Pension bill for all sorts of old | soldiers, calling for eight, ten or twelve millions of money, and which was also smothered in the | Senate, was another bid for buncombe. Ditto | the land geant bil to agricultural colleges, equal to seven and a half millions of money, vetoed | hy the President. Ditto the French spoliation bill, of five milllone, which has degenerated into | a mere lobby job. Upon all these measures the republicans took the lead, because, while these things afforded them good materials for Prosiden- ticl eleetioneering, their exhausting demands upon the public domain and the treasury would drive the government to a high protective tariff, or to a system of direct taxation, which would be as fatal to the @emocracy in 1860 as were tho financial expedients of Martin Van Buren in 1840, Of the eome patriotic calibro was that constitu- tional point raised against the Senate ny Mr | Jalusba A. Grow, of the Iouse, upon cheap Portages—the poiat opon which the Post Oflice tial clectionering. The Homestead bill, which } NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1859. il through. [t was a capital point for thera cheap postage electioneering. Aud thns,d@etween the plots, measures and manures cf Southern sed Northern democratic and repub- fican Presidential tiokere and pipe-layers, the demands of the country and the necessitics of the trensury, as embodied in the wise and scasonable recommendations of our patriotic President, from the first to the last of this demoralized and de- funct Thirty-fifth Congress, were shufited off, eter ignored or repudiated. : This state of things, among all parties, affords rather a gloomy exhibit of the working of our republican system in these degenerate times. Indeed, as we have heretofore shown on repeated cccusions, the universal corruptions of all our political parties at this day are driving the coun- try headlong to chacs and disselution, or to 4 sweeping popular revolution of reform. In this view, as the last chance for the treacherous and disenscd democracy seems to depend upon the mercy of the President in reference to an extra teesion, why should he be embarragsed upon that ecore, when the party has dome him nothing but mischief, and can do him no good, and when it has ceased to be worth the trouble of any furthor efforts to save it? ‘The News from Europe—Preparations for the Coming The advices brought by the Jura, although they add but little that is positive to our pre- vious information, still tend to coni:m the im- pressions we have formed as to the imminency of a European war. The Dasublan Principalitics question has again assumed a critical aspect, arising out of the independent action of the Rou- mains themselves, who, not content with electing a Hospodar of their own choice, have taken upon themselves to declare the union of the Molda- vian and Wallachian provinces. If, as is appre- hended, 2 Turkish and Austrian force is marched into the Principalitics to reverse these procced- ings, we have again raised one of the chief issues on which Louis Napoleon bases his complaiats against the government of Francis Joseph, and which have served him as 9 pretext for the formi- dable military and naval preparations in which he is engaged. It is thought by some that Eag- land will sapport Turkey and Austria on this question; but, putting aside the natural sympa- thies of her people with the cause of the Roumains, it does not appear tous ut all likely that she will break off from the French alliance for such a cause. In the course which he has taken on the Principalitics ques- tion, the French Emperor bas no doubt assured himself that she will not attempt to prevent his checking Austrian encroachments in that quarter. Besides, the sacrifices made by Great Britain in the Crimean war cannot be thus lightly cast aside, and freah ones incurred for what is, after all, but a merezentiment. Were the Derby gov- ernment disposed to take such a course, it is not probable that the English people would tolerate this second attempt of Austria to crush the efforts of a people who are gallantly asserting their right to self-government, and with whom, in reality, she has neither a legal nor‘a preserip- tive right to interfere. But menacing as this question is to the peace of Europe, it is but secondary in danger to the ex- asperated state of feeling which exists between the governments and people of Austria and France, and the ttitnde of France in regard to them. However adroit may be the public declarations of Louis Napoleon— however tranquilizing to easily satisfied minds his protestations of a desire to maintain peace— we cannot shut our €yce to the fact that every act of his points to a different conclusion Whilst, for instance, we are, on the one hand, told that the Presse bas received @ warning, on the re- monsirance of the Austrian Ambassador, for its fulminations against his government, on the other we learn that the French Chambers of Commerce have had a notification to abstain from expressing their wishes in favor of peace. Add to this the fact that military preparations are being continued with the utmost urgency, and that orders have just been issued to place the whole army of Lyons on a war footing, with its equipages de campagne and other field material, and we can haye no better commentary on the sin- cerity of Louis Napoleon’s recent professions. Admitting, however, for argument sake, that the Emperor is disposed to prevent matters from reaching the crisis of war, it is a question whether he wiillong be ablo to do so. The speech of Count Cavour in the Sardinian Legislature must have convinced all Europe by this time that a arupture with Austria is an event that cannot be much longer postponed. It is stated by the Turin correspondent of the London 7imes that the plan of Victor Emmanuel and his advisers is to drive the Austrian troops out of Italy, with the view of forming a kingdom strong enough to re- sist Austria on the one hand “and France on the other.” If this be so, then it is probable that, with or without 'rance, Sardinia will provoke hos tilitics, trusting to the Italian national sentiment alone for eupport. It is not likly that Louis Na- poleon will remain an indifferent spectator of such events; and thus, in spite of himself, he will be drawn into the vortex, dragging with him those allied with him, or who dread his power. Everything, therefore, tends to the conclusion that a war, and that of the most formidable character, is close at hand. In spite of the efforts made to reassure the public mind in the great commercial centres abroad, the same con- viction seems to be everywhere establishing it- self, However such an event is to be abstract edly deplored, we do not know that we ourselves have any particular reason to regret it. View- ing the policy of England and France in con- nection with the Central and Southern portions of this continent, it is certain that, if eomething does net speedily occur to prevent the proseca- tion of their schemes there, we shall be driven into Lostilities with those Powers for the proteo- tion of our own interests. If a European war can avert from us such a necesssity, and at the same time raise from the dust the down-trodden nationalities of the Old World, we own that we are neither sufliciently unselileh nor humanitarian in our notions te whine over it when it comes. News vrom New Yi via THE CoUuNTRY Pruss,-Every once iv a while the provincial ournals are hoaxcd with sore extraordinary in- vention from the pens of their “own”? correspon- dents in the metropoliz, These fellows are chief: ly poor, miserable, broken down vagabonds, who take in letters to write as laundresses do linen to cleanse. The laundress, however, has this advantage over the liveraicur: she does her work well and promotes cleanliness, which is near akin to godliness. But the letter writer to the country journal wallows in the filth of the Five Points, and bis work is odorous of the stale tobacco aud bad whiskey of the low grog- chops where ho picks up his secend hand sean- dale, One would think from reading bie lueuw brations that be was hand ia glove with fasbion- able eociety, while the truth is that a reepeotablo Fifth avenue chambermaid would not associate withbin. He ptoksup bis few dirty dollars in the dirtiest way, and his “information” is as fulse snd distorted aa the kennels from which he drags it. If some of the gentlemea who conduct country papers could have s glance at their cor- reepondents they would be 86 thoroughly asham- ed of their personnel as thoy are of the miserable which tney write. The Exteting Dangers is our Spacish Amert- can Relations—Louis Napolcon Alms to be the Arbiter of America. ‘The adjournment of Congress without acting upon the special Message of the President asking for the necessary power to enforce our claims on some of the Spanish American States, leaves our relations with several of those countries in the moet critical condition, and renders three or four petty wars almost incvitable. Throughout nearly all Spanish-America there is a singular activity and pertinacity in the treatment of public questions in a manner hostile to tht interests of the@nited States, and with an evident disregard on the part of those countries for the maintenanee of peaceful relations with ua. Paraguay has forced us te demand reparation for eross national insults; with Chill, the Sportsman and other recent seizures are unatoned for, while that government is on the verge of revolution; Peru has not paid the admitted claims for the Lobos island affair, and hag two American ships and several of our citizens now in .her clutches; Venezucla has just acknowledged her responsi- bility in the Aves island matter; Costa Rica and Nicaragua refuse to treat with us, while both have made a most obnoxious grant toa French eubject; and the latter Power has recently made transit treaty with England, said to contain eeyeral articles that will be obaoxious to the United States, and is now engaged in negotiat- ing other treaties with the British Envoy, Sir Wm. Gore Ouseley. Mexico is a prey to contend- ing factions, aM the government which our Minister there had recognized has driven him out with contumely, and outraged and plundered our citizens on every side, Spain is making ex- traordinary ¢fforts to prepare the abolition of slavery in Cuba, solely for the purpose of making that island an undesirable sccutction for the United States, Hex Cortes has lately resolved to permit the introduction of thirty thousand Chinese laborers there, as a preliminary step to emancipation and the final destruction of the island. ‘ Within the broad scope of this desert of our relations with Spanish-America but one oasis presents itself. Our diplomatic relations with New Granada have been suspended for two years, in consequence of the utter ignorance and incom- petency of Minister Bowlin and Commissioner Morse. Gen. Herran succeeded in making a treaty at Washington, conceding to us a naval depot at Panama, and the appointment of a com- mission to adjudicate and pay all the claims of our citizens against his government. Owing in agreat measure to the want of an American Minister at Bogota to support the treaty, and to the irritation caused by the undiplomatic course of Bowlin and Morse, the New Granadian Con- gress rejected the concession of a naval depot, and only consented to pay the claims of our citi- zens who suffered in the Panama riot through the extraordinary exertions of President Ospina. That treaty is now before our own Senate, in ex- tra session, aad, strange to say, though its only results are to Cause the sufferers by the Panama riot to be paid at an early day, and to re-open diplomatic relations between the two republics, the Panama Railroad Company has its agents at Washington who are using their utmost efforts to prevent its ratification by the Senate. New Granada is to-day the leading Power of all the Spanish-American nations. No revolution has ever succeeded in overturning its constituted government; it has abolished the connec- tion of Church and State, proclaimed re- ligious toleration, bas now several Ame- rican missionaries preaching in its cities, is governed by a federal representative govern- ment, has trial by jury, perfect freedom of the press, and does all it can to encourage foreign immigration. Its government entertains the best disposition towards ours and towards our citi- zens, and yet certain short-sighted and selfish in- terests are endeavoring to reduce our relations with it to the same lamentable state that charac- terises all our relations with the ogher Spanish- American countries. Should the Senate refuse to ratify the Case-Herran treaty, the New Gra. nadian Minister, now so well disposed, will have no resource but to ask for his passports and go home, leaving the United States to take the initiative in resuming diplomatic relations when- ever it may see fit to do so. In all these things the open and active inter- vention of France and England, under the con- trol of Louis Napolcon—for Great Britain is now only a secondary Power in Europe—is evident, He controls the policy of Spain in sending thou- sands of Chinese apprentices to Cubayhis Admi- ral dictated the terms not long since to menace Venezuela; his agent, Mons, Belly, is recognized by Lord Malmesbury as the valid claimant to the Nicaragua transit route, and Sir Wm. Gore Outeley fs nothing more than 9, French agent to carry out Louis Napoleon’s views in Central America. lis Minister, Gabriac, ia tht true ruler of the central goverament of Mexico, and Mr. Otway is nothing more than his lacquey, who at bis command licks tho hand that lately, on two occasions, threw British subjects into chains at San Luis Potosi and defied the British Minister. Under the direction of Gabriac the allied flects at Vera Cruz have made the greatest cffort to crush out the liberal government of Juarez, and the naval commanders of the allied Powers now carry their claims to the point that Presi- dent Juarez shall divide the miserable pittance of revenue they have left him with the insurgent chief Miramon, in order toenable him to come and take Vera Cruz. It is evident, from all these proceedings, that Louis Napoleon aims to put a bridle and 9 curb on the United States, and to make himeelf the arbiter of America, as he has made himself that of Europe. While he is stirring up the hatreds of these governments towards the United States, we have prepared the ground for him, and turned the hearts of the people against us, with the miserable and incompetent representatives and diplomatic agents we have sent there. Not to be prolix, we will cite only the history of our diplomatic iniercourse with Central America. In 1962 Solon Borland was sent as Minister. After exhibiting a folly and incompetency of which the files of the State Department afford but too conclusive proofs, he came back, shooting a native on hisway home. He was succeeded by Mr, Wheeler, who began his diplomatic career with» contest in Philadelphia over his ruaaway negro, ond ended it hy the most singular aad 1m- explained recognition of Walker's fililmater go- vernment. Thon went Carey Joues, whose ex ploits are too fresh in the memory of our readers to require recapitutation; and lsstt7, old Gen, Lamar, who began by leaving bit commis- elon and spectacles bebind him, and the end of whose miasion is yet to Le secu. Such have been our diplomatic ageats ix Spanish Americs, and it is no wonder that our government has beea able to achieve sothing through them; while, ou the other hand, the criminal neglect of Congress to give the President power to not in the only way that imposes respect on the ephemeral rulers of many of those countries, leaves him no re- source but to assume the responsibility of pre- serving peace by enforcing upon them a due regard for the law of nations, or to suffer con- tumely and insult until the country is lashed into a war. Under these critical circumstances the Presi- dent has! .t ope course open tohim. He must endeavor to avert the threatened dangers by aclecting the most competent agents, without regard to local political influences, and by at once reorganizing our Spanish-American .legations. No man who has made home politics and elec- tioneering tactics the stady of his life can possi- bly know anything of Spanish diplomacy. If such men are sent they must sce through other's eyes, hear with other’s ears, and play the part of the puppet pulled by the interosts of those who sec and hear for him. And when he has appoint- ed good and capable agents, he must be prepared to sustain them in the course circumstances may render it necessary to follow. Stanan Goxs ror Foos ar Saspy Hoox ayn Atona tnx Coast. —The recent case of the steamship Black Warrior going ashore in a fog at Rockaway, has roused the attentlon of ship- owners, underwriters, captains of vessels and others, to the necessity of some effectual signal which will prevent a reeurrence of similar dis- asters. The importance of the matter must be evident to all: not only property to a vast amount, but human life, is continually af stake. Had gale sctin from the southeast the Black Warrior would have gone to pieces immediately, her cargo would have been destroyed, and all hands on board would have perished. As it is, she is a total loss; and that her crew and cargo have been saved is owing to the energy of her | Captain and officers, aud the mercy of the uncer, tain winds. At this season of the yenr and in the fall densé fogs are very prevalent, and during their con- tinuance vessels attempting to reach a position on or near the bar are exposed to great danger tervals, say every fifteen minutes. This would be heard out at sea, for in the stillness of fogs a gun or other sound is heard at a long distance, and the heard at so short a distance as to render them al- most urclese. Whatis wanted, then, is a large gun, and we are glad to see that an application has been made to the government on the subject by the commercial and maritime gentlemen whose names are signed to the following letter: New York, March 1, 1869. How. Howxts, Conn, Secretary of Treasury, Washington:— Sta—We the undersigned, commanderg, owners, under- writers and agente of steamers and otuer veseels et od in commerce and navigation out of the port of Now York, respectfully requost that you will have placed on or near the extromity of Sandy Hook a heavy twenty-four pounder gun, to be fired with full service charge every fifteen mi- nutes during the prevalence of fogs, "We tako the liberty of urging this request upon your consideration, for tho gervice of auch a fog signal as a will render to vessels has long been apparent to ve, and is recently more stronge Y manifested by the loss of the steamship Buck Warrior, on the 20th ult., in a fog common to this coast at this sea: son of the year. Very respectfully, your obedient sor- vants, Capt. 8. P. Griffin, steamship Fmpire City. "Re 2 ee ea wars, db. We 8 farrior. Capt. Adams, steamship James Adgor. Capt. M. 8. Woodhull, steamshi; Augusta, ‘ ‘Tinklepaugh, stoamaship Northern Light. ship Chariot of Fame. pt Kirby, U. 8. Mall Bu Homa Har; boy eh Co, ip Oo, Wm. Lottimor & Co, D. B, Allen. A. B, Nellson, Sun Mutual Insurance Ov, Chas. Dennis, Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co. John A. Parkor, Great Western Insurance Co. The bells on Sandy Hook and the lightship off the bar, now of little or no use, would bo ren- dered totally unuecessary after the establishment of the gun, and might be turned to account by being placed, one on Fort Diamond aud the other on Governor's Island, and others might be added with advantage on other points in the bay be- tween Staten Island and New York. Now, the establishment of the single gun asked for will do very well for Sandy Hook, but it is not sufficient for the safety of our merchant marine nearing the dangerous shore of Long Island and the Jersey beach. The government should place guns at intervals on all prominent points along the const where fogs prevail. For instance, a gun should be placed on Barnegat, in the vicinity of the light-tower. The signal of each gun could be casily arranged 60 as to be distinguished from the others, just as lighthouses are. These, with due attention to the old golden rule of “the three L’s,” which is too much neglected—“Lead, Latitude and Lookout”—wonld in most cases prevent the disasters arising from fogs on our coast. The lead in particulag ought to be at- tended to, for on the const of Jersey the bottom so gradually aud uniformly shelves from the shore, that by the sounding line the distance can easily and accurately be determined in a fog and the beach can be enfely approached within a mile, unless in a gule blowing on the land. There is just one other point that deserves at- tention. It fs still the practice, thongh not 80 much as formerly, to surrender ships to pilots at sea. This custom ought to conse, It is no disparagement to our excellent pilots to say that they are not all navigators, nor sequainted with nautical instramente, churte, logs, deep-soa leads, currents, &c, That is not their business, and the responsibility ought not to be throwa on them of bringing a ship from sea, out of sight of land, to the position where their local knowledgo begins. There is none 60 well qualified to do this as her commander, aud he alone ought to be eatrust- ed with the sailing of the ship till she comes within the pilot grounds. It is highly probable that if there bad sot boon a pilot on board of the Black Warrior, Captata Smith, by the oxorolse of of being stranded. It is suggested that a gun of large calibre ought to be placed on the “ Point of the Hook,” and fired during fogs at short in- some fourteen or fifteen miles result would be to warn ships of their danger. Had such a signal been in existence when the Black Warrior was groping her way through the darkness, she would not have been lost. There is, we are aware, a fog bell on the Hook, and another on the lightehip, but they can only be the ordinary precautions of mariners, would have caved his steamer. It is no reflection on the piles who took her in charge to exy that the captaim must necessarily have been better acquaintes thon be with the porttion of bis ship at the time she was boarded by the pilot boat, which had been Iping-to mest of the night, drifting, dc. The pilot imagined he was off the Highlands, whem he bad run the ship far past them, and was close on Long Island besch. The captain, too, is necessarily a better judge than the pilot of the speed of his own vessel, and this is an important point in determining her position. The fune- tions of the deep sea navigator and the local pilot ought not to be confounded. With this distinction kept in view and rigidig carried ont, and with large signal guns, which we hope the Secretary of the Treasury will promptly establish at Sandy Hook and at proper poluts slong the Jersey and Long Island shores, & vast amount of property and of human life wilh be saved from deatruction. Taz Virawta Exxcriox—Orrosition Mov mENTS.—We perceive by the Richmond papers that the canvass in Virginia has commenced in = right good old fashioned, carncst way. Mr. Letcher, on the democratic side, and Mr. Goggin for the opposition, are nominally soliciting the suffrages of the people for the gubernatorial chair of the Old Dominion; but the fact of the matter really is, as the Enquirer puts it, who shall be the candidate, and what shall be the manner of organizing the opposition for 1860? Yor this great stake Mr. Goggin and Mr. Letcher wilh contest every inch of ground in the Old Dominion, after the manner of the immortal campaign just preceding the election of Mr. Buchanan, when the combined whig aud Know Nothing forcea were routed by Ficld Marshal Wise. That fight went a great way in settling the succeeding Pre- sidential Canvass, and the contest now opened, with equal preparation, is comparatively as im- portant. The forces are nearly ‘equal. Mr. Letcher, to be sure, has a certain nominal preponderance; but tue democracy of Virginia is not exactly a hoppy family. Mr. Goggia’s partisans are fight- ing for life, and they will present a firm front, The campaign is to be condacted in the usual way—all the principat places in the Common- wealth to be canvassed by each candidate, Mr. Goggin has already commenced his canvass at Bedford, and Mr. Letcher’s first appointment is made for Shenandoah on the 7th inst.—to-day. At the same date Mr. Goggin is to be at Rich- mond, and to address a meeting there. So there is a little difficulty about making the appoint- ments agree; but we apprehend that between two such fine old Virginia gentlemen as Mesars. Letcher and Goggin such 4 misunderstanding will be only temporary, and that\they will tra- verse the State together, thoroughly, discussing and ventilating the political questions of the day from every point of view. The press, too, will be earnest, and the Richmond papers begin to show that spasmodic vitality which«is ouly awakened by an important contest. To the country at large the importance of this Virginia election, as well as the contest in Ken- tucky, and several other States where the opposition is being organized, can hardly be overrated. If the opposition in. Vir- ginia should win—and they have some chances for victory—or if they should make such a gain as to show that the demoralization and disinte- gration of the democracy is understood and con- demned by the masses of the people, there will be a grand opening for the formation of a consti- tutional party on broad national grounds, and with a fair chance for success in 1860. + the same time, the black republicans and abolition fanatics of the North willreccive a blow from which they may never recover. The Virginia election is really the opening of the Presidential campaign, and its result will be looked for with a degree of interest second only to that of the great event itaclf. Toe Cry Tax Levy w tam Leoistatuax.— It will be seen by our Albany correspondence to-day, that the tax levy for 1869 has been under the consideration of the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly. As might be expected, there was a horde of city officials present, watching the procecdings, and advocating or opposing certain reduotions, as their interests inclined. At present it is proposed to reduce the estimate considera- bly, by cutting off many items altogether, and bringing down the figures in others. The total reduction suggested is over two miilious, and includes, among other thinge, a large amount of the judgments against the city reccmmended by the Comptroller to be paid, wilt considerable Teductious, also, in the items for the Belgian aud Russ pavement, the expenses of the Street De- partment, the Almshouse Department, the Printing for the Common Council, and the sala- rics of the members of that body. There can be no doubt that many of these re- ductions will be stoutly resisted by tic harpies who have made their calculations to fatten upom the different jobs for which ihe appropriations provide; but we trust that a fair, equitablyand politic course wit be adopted, in pruning tae enormous levy Jaid upon this cily. It is cssen- tial that whoever is done should be done quickly, in order that the wheels of our niunici- pal government may be set in motion. ——_——— THE LATEST NEWS. Non-Arrival of the Europa. Sanpy Hoox, March 710 F, M. ‘There are yet no signe of the ctoamship Kuropa, Captam Teitch, now in her sixteenth day from Livorpool, au@ faily due. The weathor is cigar, with @ light nortuerly wind, . Affairs in Washington. > ‘Wasnivaron, March 7, 1850. ‘The condition of tho Postmaster General is such that ho is not expected to live throughout the night. Tho i’resi- dent and members of the Cabinet, and other distinguished personage, are in attendance at bis residence. Governor Brown is about sixty-throe years of ago. 4 Board of Surgeons has been ordered to moct at Phila- delphia on the Ist of April, to examine candidates for pro- motion and appointinent in tho medical service of the army. Apphcations are to be addreseod to the Secretary: of War. The Late Bloody Aff'ray at Wawesville, re Lovravitie, March 6, 5 ‘The Grand Jury of Wopkins county find no grounds for indicting the murdorors of Thomas 8. Low at Hawesville, ‘The Journal publishes their roport to-morrow, Several of the citizens have left Hawesville, fearing violence {rom the outlaws. Markets. Cixcansani, March 6, 1860, Flour firm, eales 2,000 bbls. at $686. $6. Wheat active ‘and firm at $1 93 for primo red and $1 43 for white. Whie- key, 26c, Pork duil at $179 $1750 for moss, Bacon dull: shoulders, 7c; sides, 670, Lard dall at Ll%g0, allko Enorsment.About three weeks ago, Gideon Garrett, a farmer at South Westerlo, Albauy county, die. of bis fare for $6,000, gnve $2,000 to bis wits’ ang, two children, and with the balance, $4,000, oloped with, Vis net vant girl 'o California, 4 ,