The New York Herald Newspaper, April 12, 1859, Page 8

6 NEW YORK HERALD, ish war steamer, and dispose! f at $26 per head for aterm of six years. These negroes were part JAMES GORDOF BEAN BEE, TTOR AND PROPRIRTOR, | bad been safely landed on another part of the island by a slaver, In endeavoring to reach another point to land the remainder of the negroes, the bork ren on a reef and was subsequently taken pos- ion of by the steamer, VERMA, cash to advance. Honey sont by mad wilt ba ui Ms se pial of the vender Pomage sdampe sot ae uberrig tine, Captain Shefield, of the brig Julia, of Boston, Ge oath Y HARALD, hos ence 8 por arenas has heen sentenced by the court at Porto Rico to THE REEKLY GRKALY, cory Sanco ame f% six yours imprisonment for striking a man named afin conta ver copy 34 Keene, his first mate, with a sabre, across the face per annum to any part Grea Aeitsin As imcinen, oak "eo teste peatage, the rite Editi om the Sth and 3% of aaah wana, af ee tomts acon oF $1 80 par anne THE FAMILY HERALD. om Wadnenday, as fore conse yoo wry, Pas OORBESPUND ERC. pooe, sotiliad of the world, wack cil be pene gr and head, and also for shooting the mate of the Frances Jane, of Baltimore, with a shot gun. The mate of the Frances Jane had interfered in the ang quarrel between Captain Sheffield and his mate poral entt Beomeeras ve tas Ais terrane ase Pome, | ind volunteered his ass'stance, with others, to des. Ct corresponds Wedoas | patch Captain Sheffield on the spot, when the lat- reagent comer pila | ter shot him. It is stated that an appeal will be én he Weexty Hexen, Fawr | made for another trial by the captain. JOB PRINTUNS mexcedad WHR meatnces, heapnes and an The Emperor of Brazil and his court have gone swaich. .. | into mourning for the apace of two months, as a mark of regret for the death of his aunt, the Prin cess Donna Maria Anna, Arch Duchess ef Au:tr's. Among the recent deaths at Rio Janeiro are the following:—Miguel das Bayas, American, bache- ihe . | low, aged 30 years, of yellow fever. ani Harrison C. eee cee aiee tw eh baits Willis, American, aged 16 years, of dysentery. The Board of Aldermen did not argan‘ze last evening, several of the members being still at Al- bany. The Board of Councilmen met last evening, and, after transacting considerab'e routine business, adopted a resolution repealing all privileges here- tofore given by the Corporation to parties to con- struct railroads in this city. Quimbo Appo, the Chinaman who murdered Mrs. Fletcher, at 47 Oliver street, on the 8th of March last, by stabbing her with a dirk, was tried yester- day in the Court of Oyer and Terminer, before Judge Davies, and found guilty of murder, with a recommendation to mercy by the jury. A report of the trial appears in another part of the Heraup. The testimony in the libel suit of Edwin Forrest against N. P. Willis closed yesterday. A report will be found in another part of the Hgratp. Coun- sel will sum up to-day. The snit excites a great deal of interest, from the position of the respective parties, ‘The Republican Executive Committee of this city met at headquarters, 618 Broadway, last evening, and after considerable debate on tho subject og Albany legislation for city railroads, reaffirmed the resclutions of the Central Committee, passed on the 9th of February last, in which special legislation for the benefit of private corporators was repro- bated and denounced. The feeling of opposition to the railroad bills passed through the Assembly was very strong. The New York Marine Society were to have held their quarterly meeting yesterday afternoon at the United States Hotel; but in consequence of the want of a quorum the meeting was adjourned until + the second Monday in July. torpor ta 6 1 adwartrenmnenie BRALD. and in the Volume XXIV, --Mo. 101 | SO AMUSEMENTS THIS BVBNING, METROPOLITAN THEATRE (Late Burton's.)—Oamtiza, ox, tax Fats oF 4 Cogustrs. WALLAOK’® THEATRR, Brosdway.—Tas Scuorsn— Buys app OuKuRY. LAURA KEENE'S THEATER, No. 6% Brosdway.—Ocr Auagioas Cousin—Jaxmnt Line, THEATRE FRANCAIS, 685 Beoldway—La Mant Li Camraane. UWS AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broatway.— After seb RiSnervnos Kvecing—Ogs Lema Gouna. WOOD'S MINETREL BUILDING, 661 and 663 Broadway- nectvon and’ Bvesiag feuturiax Sowas, Dawons, a. Heavun Lorna. BRYANTH' HINSTEELS, MEVHANTCH BL 4% Broad way.—Necno bonas, £0.- Kouiesqos lratians Ormma, TRIPLE SHEET. New York, telieamy, April 12, 1859, Sails FOR SUROPE. fhe New York Herald—Eidition for Europe. ‘The Cunard mail steamship Persia, Capt. Judkins, will leave this port to merrow for Liverpool. The European mails will close in this city at half-past eleven o'clock to-morrow morning. ‘The European edition of the Hzratp wil! be published at fon o'clock im the morning, Single copies, im wrappers, ix Cente. Subscriptions and advertisements for any edition of the New Yous Heeatp will be received at the following places Ta Europe — 5 ps Ladgate Hill. At the Charch of the Holy Cross (Roman Catho- ™ William street. lic) in Forty-second street, last Sunday afternoon, Pronto —— Balsrin & On. 8 place K pete there was a panic among the congregation, caused R Stuart, 16 Exe! street, Haves.....Langing, Baldwin & Go., 21 Bue Corneille. +-De Chapeauronge & Co. ‘The contents of the European edition of the Hmnatp will eombine the news received by mail and telegraph at the office during the previous week and up to bour the of Publication. by a curtain catching fire from a lighted candle. Two children had their arms and legs broken, and some thirty or forty persons were more or less in- jured in trying to make their exit from the edifice. The buildings in process of erection at Far Rock: away, opposite the Marine Pavilion, and owned by Mr. Andrew Brady, of New York, were totally destroyed by fire on Sunday evening last. The fire is believed to have been the work of an incendiary. Loss about $5,000; fully insured in this city. There was a rumor current in Wall street yester- day that forged paper had been successfully passed off, but neither the amount nor the parties receiv- ing it were mentioned. The sales of cotton yesterday embraced about 8,000 bales, about 500 of which were sold from tore, and the remainder in transite. The market closed with much ‘steadiness at the late improvement. Flour was dull, and The News. Woe publish to-day some further intelligence re- garding the settlement of our claims on Paraguay, which we have received from Rio Janeiro by the bark Hannibal, which vessel arrived at Baltimore on Saturday. Ina private note our correspondent says it was generally stated at Rio, on the 27th of February, that the settlement had been made by President Lopez agreeing to pay the indemnity de- manded. The report of General Urquiza, claiming ail the honor of intervention to bring about this | for some grades the market was easier, while tho nales, Pacific result, was not received with a very good | owing in part to the inclemency of the weather, were grace at Rio Janeiro. The stock of coffee at Rio on | moderate. Wheat was quiet: a small lot of Illinois mixed the 25th of February was limited, and that of good | brought $142. Corn was steady, while the chief rale wa8 quality found a ready market at 5//400. The Hanni- | confined to Southern yellow at 880. Rye sold at 88. a bal brought 5,500 bags. Qlc. Pork was lees buoyant, and the turn of the market Advices from the city of Mexico to the 4th inst., favored purchasers. New mess sold at $17 60a $17 70, state that that city had been unsuccessfully attack. | “24 Prime at $12.60a$1260. Beef and lard were steady and in fair to good demand. The rain interfered with ed by Degollado on the 2d, and that several hun- | transactions in sugars: eales were confined to about 200 dred men were killed on both sides. Mr. McLane, | phds, Cuba and New Orleans at prices given in another the new American Minister, had recognized the | cotusn. Coffee was held with firmness, while sales were Juarez or Liberal government. Senor Mata, who, | quite limited. Freight engagements were moderate, and as the representative of that government, is now rates were without change of moment. in this country, is understood to be on his way to The Next Presidency—W. H. Seward and His Washington from the South. At the latest ac- Pennsylvania Pilgrimage. counts from Vera Cruz, of the 8th inst., Miramon, Hon. W. H. Seward, after his arduous and ex- the leader of the Church party, was at Orizaba. Z gr, Buropehn Aloe, exxi letters brought by ain} “sts ators in che late memorable Congres, Chachi G5 Becahih Fab ndl ina dashy yhakalnlny . | has been taking a little quiet social relaxation iy y 1y morn” ing. The letters from our correspondents in Paris | 00g the good people of Pennsylvania, In this and Berlin, given in this paper, will be read with | Connection, we whderstand that bis reception at interest, as tending to show the hopes and fears | Harrisburg by Gen. Simon Cameron and his po- still entertained by the diplomats on the subject of | litical friends was all that could have been de- Italy. That the Peace Congress will meet was set- | sired, aud tbat the author of the Rochester ma- tled; but that it will be able to roll back the war | nifesto, on his retarn to Albany, will have the excitement just evoked was doubted very much. glorious news to report to his chief engineer, Statistics of the strength of the Prussian army are | Phurlow Weed, that Pennsylvania is safe and given, which will be foand accurate. It was said sound for the republican Presidential candidate that the Empress Eugenie would immediately revo- | . 860. utionize the dress fashions for Indies, and all the | 1 1860. ee fair ones of Europe were watching for the grand | Starting from this point, the chances of the re- coup d'éat, its mode of execution and result. Tne | Publican party loom up into bold relief. The Paris correspondent of Le Nord writes some im- | Penneylvania October State election of 1856 de- portant letters on the war question, which we | cided the last Presidential election in favor of translate. Mr. Buchanan, In thus saving that State to the By the last Australian mail in England govern democracy, he saved the party from absolute de- ment was advised that gold to the value of struction. But in the Pennsylvania October $6,090,000 was shipped in thirteen vessels, before | tection of 1858 the democracy were routed, the steamer started for Great Britain. ” 9 i Counsel for defence in the case of Daniel R, | Horse foot and dragoons;” and now, in the Sickles resumed his argument yesterday morning | *Pring of 1859, we sey the party there 60 hope- on the opening of the court, and concluded at haif | !8*y demoralized, distracted and divided upon past twelve o'clock. The interest at Washington { Spoils aud plunder, and slavery abstractions, and increases as the trial progresses, and the desire to | pertonal quarrels, as to render it morally certain procure admission to the court room yesterday was | that the opposition in 1860 will hold possession of the State by a large majority. The same may be said of New Jersey, from which a re- fo great that many persons obtained ingress through the windows before the doors were open publican has been elected to the United States Senate by a fusion of the opposition ed. After counsel had got through with his speech majority of the Legislature, which may be ac- the examination of witnesses was commenced, which consumed the remainder of the day; but cepted ag the basis of their Presidential coali- tion. nothing of peculiar interest wus elicited. A full Thus, from the local elections of 1858-"59 it report will be found else 5 An affair of rather an ¢ ng character occur: would appear that the republican party bolds in the palm of its handthe States of the following red yesterday in the Assembly. After an unsnc” cessful effort on the part of Mr. Rutherford to speak list, and the electoral vote which they represent, to wit — in favor of a resolution, the previous question was Connecticut about being put by the Speaker, when he exclaimed, “ Why, you set of thieving dogs, do you mean to choke me down altogether?” The Speaker then ordered Mr. Rutherford to keep silent, which he refused to do. A call was then made by the k. er on the House to protect the chair and preserve order, when Mr. Rutherford said,“ Go to hell, al of you, you dogs.”* Mr. Rutherford was then re- moved, struggling violently, by the sergeant-at arms and two assistants, and held under arrest for the remainder of the evening. Mr. Spencer yesterday reported in the Assembly in favor of the bill to commute the sentence of Mary Hartung. On a question being raised by Mr Morris, the report was withdrawn until after tho return of Mr. Bingam, one of the committee who signed the report. Another attempt was made during the evening session to memoriafize the Governor to stay the execution until after the trial of Bheinman, her alleged paramour, but without #uccess. The bill for the protection of game passed the Awembly yesterday. The provision relating to doer ordains that none of those animals shall be killed in the interim between Vebruary au! July. ‘The bill authorizing the Supervisors to regulate the te of game in this city was lost. Four hundred negroes were recently brought &-‘0 the port of San Jush, Porto Rico, by a Span Pennsylvania, Rho: 4. Verm Necessary Wo an election. tees In addition to the above catalogue of States, therefore, the republicans must secure either Min- nesota or Indiana or Illinois to make up a major- ity of the electoral vote; but, from the elections in those States last fall, and from the general ran of the Northern elections of this spring, und from the prevailing sectional distractions of the de- mocracy everywhere, Indiana, Illinois and Min- nesota may, all be carried by the republicang This is doubtless the estimate of W. H. Seward, and with this prespect before him is {t likely that either he or bis party engineers will consent to any concessions to the opposition party of the South which may be dispensed with, and espe- cially when such concessions may involve the loss of that indispensable anti-slavery balance of power which commands the vote of the North? We think that the game of the republican | ofa cargo of one thonsand—sx hundred of which | party precludes the posstbil ty . a fusion with | the opposition elements of the uth; but that it will embrace some plausible concessions to the floating Americans and “old line whigs” of the North is apparent from certain recent events. We refer to the defeat of the so-called Personal Liberty bill in the Massachusetts Legislature, the shelving of 9 similar bill at Albany, and the objections of the New York 7ribune to the extreme abolition doctrines of the Rev. Dr. Cheever. These corresponding movements on the slavery issue indicate the repudiation of the Rochester manifesto by the republican party, and probably the dropping of Seward himself, unless be ween him and Gen. Cameron the terms of a treaty of peace may have been agreed upon calculated to combine the republicans of New York and the heterogeneous opposition elements of Pennsylvania. In any event, the Northern elections of last autumn and of this spring, in connection with the distractions and divisions of the democratic party, have placed the next Presidential election 80 temptingly within the reach of the republican party, that if the “old line whigs” and conserva- tive Americans of the country desire to hold the balance of power of 1860, they must lose no fur- ther time. If they delay much longer any general movement for a national or- ganization, the present loose materials of the country may be absorbed ‘between the two great sectional parties of the day. In this view it is all important that the new opposition move- ment of the South ehall be felt in the approaching Virginia election. Let the opposition in this election win the day, or exhibit anything like a substantial gain upon the old whig vote of 1840 and ’44, and we aball have at once the nucleus for a third Presidential party strong enough to command the final issue of the contest. On the other hand, if the results of this Virginia elcc- tion shall disclose the fact that in the South the opposition to the Southern sectional democracy is as impotent as the democratic party of the North, then we may as well prepare for the cou- tingencies of a terrible collision in 1860 between the North and the South upon the slavery que:- tion. The administration of Mr. Buchanan has of- fered to the democratic party the means and the basis for a powerful reunion and consolidation; but the sectional and factious leaders of the party, North and South, have not only refused to sup- port the President, but have turned against him. The party is thus reduced to the occupation of the south side of the slavery line, and presents but a feeble resistance to the overwhelming power of the North. Thus it is that nothing can save the country from the most fearful sectional contest in 1860, except the intervention of a third party, equally opposed to Northern antilavery disunionists and Southern pro-slavery secession- igta, Hence the importance of this impending Virginia election. Upon the defeat of the demo- cracy there in 1859 may depend the defeat of the black republicans in 1860. ‘The News from Mexico—Our Spanish-Ameri- can Relations Assuming a Better Footing. By the arrival of the steamship Tennessee at New Orleans, we have full confirmation of the failure of the Miramon expedition against Vera Cruz, and of his retreat to Orizaba. We also learn that the attack of Degollado on the city of Mexico had failed; but the most important point of the news is the announcement that our Minis- ter to Mexico had recognized the government of President Juarez. In taking this step, Mr. McLane has adopted a wise course. Of the two governments now striving to establich their rule in Mexico, that of President Juarez is the only one that entertains any sympathies towards us or towards our insti- tutions; and, besides that, it is the only govern- ment in Mexico that has any real welding with the popular tendencies of that country, and which seeks to administer power in accordance with the spirit of the age. It counts in its ranks all the popular leaders, as Lerdo, Zamora, La Lave, Vidaurri, Alvarez, Degollado, and many others, and has presented during the existing struggle the most palpable evidences of possess- ing a hold on the hearts of the people. Aided by foreign countenance and the remnant of the old army organization, the church partisans have been able to take city after city; but they have always been too weak to divide their forces and hold their conquests; and thus, as they were called from point to point to oust the constitutionalists, the people have readily re- turned to their allegiance to President Juarez as soon as the church troops were withdrawn. On the other hand the Miramon government counts in its ranks all the reactionary leaders in Mexico. With the Archbishop of Mexico at its head, Bighop Munguia and Padre Miranda as prime instigators, Cuevas, Elguero, Parra, Perez Gomez, Cobos, &c., as actors, and Mons. Gabriac, the French Minister and ad hoc representative of Spain and Pruseia, as prime mover, it has endea- vored, by imitating the forms of the French em- pire, to construct a State in America on the feu- da} and theological principles of the Middle Ages The discomfiture of Miramon at Vera Cruz is virtually the overthrow of this party, and of the European theories it wished to establish in Mexi- co. Itchose to make an open rupture with us in the insulting course it pursued towards Mr. Forsyth, and the robberies it perpetrated on our citizens in that country, and it made the prepon- derance of American or Enropean influence one of the most important issues of the present con- flict. When the time of action was ripe Mr. Bu- chanan did not hesitate to send a Minister to Vera Cruz; and now Mr. McLane, in recognizing the Juarez government, has thrown our moral influence into the scale of popular liberty, and against the church party and its European ad- visers, The time was well chosen, and the result will bein proportion. Not only dees the action of our government come just when American ener- gy has been acknowledged on the banks of La Plata, but it chimes in with the turn of the crisis in Mexico. Ifit is followed up, as we doubt not it will be, by a engacions and firm policy on the part of our administration, it will lead to the es- tablishment of our preponderance in the politi- cal counsels of all the Spanish-American repub- lica. The President has acted with boldness and decision in regard to Paraguay and Mexico, He has met also the untoward appearance of affairs in Central America, sending immediate instrue- tions to our representatives there. To reap the due fruit of these events, he should send our Minister at once to Bogota to settle on the spot the pending questions with that government. A few months’ delay may again entangle onr rela tions with that republic; and when Congress meets he will be able to show them that notwith- standing the factious and treasonable course of that body, he bas put our Spanish-American re- letions, and our political influence in those coun tries, on a safe footing, and can keep them there if Congress will do its duty in the promises, he Provisions of the New Chartcr—Let us 100: to the Seuate. The new char‘er, we perceive, is before the Senate. We trust that body will castit out. The present change: proposed in our city govern- ment are ike all former changes—there is no principle or consistency in them; aud whea the botched job, now being done, is completed, it will be Ike an old tinkered kettle with three ad- ditional leaks in it for every one that is stopped. What is wanted is not a patching up of the old ystem, bu a complete new one, upon some principle of un‘ty that will make the wheels of our city government go in harmony and subordi- nation, like the movements of a click or a watch—all controlled by one main spring or one weipht, Let us see what are the provisions of “the new charter,” as it is called. 1. The ten Almshouse “Governors” are to be abolished, and six “Commissiovers” to be sub- stituted, who are to be nominated by the Mavor and confirmed by the Board of Supervisors. The transter of the appointment to the Mayor is all right, but the confirmation ought not to be left to the Board of Supervisors, but to the Board of Aldermen. There is no necessity for any Board of Supervisors. We have certainly too many boards and bureaus and commissioners. The di- minution of the number of officers from ten to six, and calling them commissiouers, appears to be @ frivolous change, without meauing. 2. The City Inspectorship is to be abolished, and a Board of Health established, of which the Mayor is to be the head, and the members to be the Presidents of the two Boards of the Comm n Council, the President of the Board of Supervi- sors, the Comptroller, the Health Officer of the port of New York, the Health Commissioner, the Resident Physician and the President of the Croton Aqueduct Board—the meet- ings to be convened only by the Mayor. There is to be under this Board “a Bureau of Sanitary Inspection,” the chief of which is to be called “a Sanitary Inspector,” and he is to be a pbysician, with a salary of $3,000; and three clerks in the office, to have a salary of $1,000 each. The appointment and removal are vested in the Mayor. This part of the new billis an * improvement on the old. 8. There isa change in the Finance Depart- ment, consisting of the création of a new officer, called a “Deputy Comptroller;” and there is a transfer of the Bureau of the Collection of As- sessments from the Street Department to the Department of Finance, and it is to consist of acollector and four deputies. To this depart- ment isalso added “a Bureau of Markets,” the chief of which is to be called “the Superinten- dent of Markets.” What the markets have par- ticularly to do with the Finance Department it is rather difficult to see. The Mayor is to have little or no power over this department, The Comptrollership is to be, as heretofore, an elec- tive office, independent of him, and he cannot meddle with the collection of assessments for four years. Even then “the Comptroller shall have power to prescribe the manner of keeping the books and accounts of this bureau, and to make all rules and regulations respecting the manner of transacting the business thereof.” The Comptroller, in future, may obstruct the whole city government, as the late Comptroller used to do, There isno necessity for a Comp- troller—all necessary duties of his office could be performed by an auditor appointed by the Mayor. The Comptroller's duties ought to be strictly confined to the supervision of the ao- counts, and he ought to be appointed by the | Mayor. The eollection of the assessments ought not to be comiected with the Comptroller’s office, but be placed directly under the authority of the Mayor, ualess the Mayor have the appoint- ment of the Comptroller. All the persons now appointed to collect assessments are legislated out of office before their terms expire. This is decidedly unconstitutional. The Chief Engineer of the Fire Department is to be elected and hold office as formerly, though the act expressly says that “each head of the executive departments in the municipal government of the city of New York, except the Comptroller, shall hereafter be appointed and removed at the pleasure of the Mayor of the city of New York.” There is, therefore a con- tradiction in this bungling act. The head of the Fire Department ought to be subject to the same rule as the other heads of departments. 4. The cleaning of the streets is to devolve in future on the Croton Agueduct Department. This, we think, is a change for the betters It could hardly be for the worse. The streets have been long kept in a state of abominable filth. A deputy Street Inspector is to be appointed in each ward. But the direction of the work in the Street Bureau is to be divided between the Mayor and the Comptroller. This is an error. The sole control ought to be in the President of the Board, who ought to be subject to the Mayor. The Comptroller ought to have nothing to do with it. The Mayor, till 1863, cannot remove the head of the Croton Aqueduct Department, mor fill up any vacancies in the Board. The vacancies are to be filled up by the members themselves. This is a blunder, for the same rule ought to apply to this Board as to the ted | house Department. 5. No bureau or clerkship can be abolished or changed by the Common Council without the written request of the head of the department. This is absurd, for it makes the head of a de- partment the judge of what is a proper subject of legislation, which belongs not to him, nor to the executive, but to the legislative body—the Common Council—subject to the veto of the Mayor. 6. The heads of all executive departments, except the Comptroller, are to be appointed and removed by the Mayor. This is downright humbug, for in the next sentence the Mayor’s flands are tied up for four years as to some of the most important departments. The head of the Street Department, the heads of the Croton Aqueduct Department, viz:—the President, Ea- gineer and Assistant Commissioner—the head of the Law Department and the Chamberlain of the city, are to continue in office till 1863; and he- fore that time their tefms may be further pro- longed, or the power of appointment and remo- val taken from the Mayor by another enactment. If the change is good, why not make it at once? The deputies, chiefs of bureaus and clerks are to be appointed and removed by the heads of depart ments. This is wrong. The whole appointing power ought to be vested in the Mayor alone, who would thus be rendered responsible to the city. rs Contracts are to be made by the Mayor and head of each department conjointly, and it is not necessary that they be confirmed by the Common Council. Itis right that the validity of contracts should not depend on the Common Counvil’s confirmation, as this would retard pub- lic business, just as it would were Congress to insist on confirming the contracta of the Seoreta- | preserving Cuba from the grasp of the filibus- ; ters; and whenever there is any talk in Madrid NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 1859.—TRLPLE.. SHEET. ry of War and of the other heads of departments, and lead, as hitherto, to any amount of corrap- tion, But in making the contract the responsi- bility ought not to be divided between two, tending, as it does, to confusion and delay. The coutract ought to be made oaly by the head | of the department. 8. The section giving a salary of $1,000 to each member of the Common Council is | as unwise as it is unjust. It is indeed an outrage. It might do very well 1f it only had the effect of eaving the public purse from peculation; but that will go on as briskly as ever and the pew salaries will only be so much throwa away. As a compensation, the sum is not enough for good men; it is too much for bad men; and ita tendency will be to bring into the Common Council a lower class of politicians, if possible, than we have yet seen there. 9. But the most objectionable feature in the whole bill is the {clause which pro- | longs the terms of officers beyond the period for | which they were elected by the people. This | will be very likely to lead to litigation and to “confusion worse confounded,” of which we have had specimens already, in the case of the Street | Department and the old and new police. The section will probably be disregarded, as uncon- | stitutional and void; and the people will have to pay the piper in the shape of double salaries and endless bills of law expenses. The Court of Appeals will probably upset this provision of the | new charter. We have thus analyzed and explained the-pro- visions of “the new charter.” The reader will observe that it legislates some men out of office and prolongs the terms of others by legislation; that it wants unity, simplicity and homogene- ity, and that it is utterly inconsistent, and, in some respects, even self-contradictory. The true principle of a city government lies in a nut- shell. The legislative body—the Common Coun- cil, subject to the Mayor’s veto—ought to make, unmake and modify all departments; and the Mayor, as the chief executive, ought to appoint all heads of departments (including the head or heads of police), the principal appointments to be confirmed by the Board of Aldermen, as those of the President of the United States are confirmed by the Senate. The State Legis lature ought not to have anything to do with our city government, Their legislation is usur- pation, and a violation of our municipal rights. The Cuba Question Abroad—Disoussion in the Spanish Cortes. The echoes of the discussion of the Cuba question in Congress last winter are just begin- ning to come back to us from abroad, and they present some very curious featires. First in importance is the discussion in the Spanish Cortes, which we reprint in another column. Some few weeks since we were inform- ed of certain arrests in Cuba, under accusations for political conspiracy. Subsequently to that, some of the foreign journals published here dis- covered that a formidable filibuster expedi- tion against Cuba had been fitted out in this city, without any of the American journals or the go- vernment finding it out. Then came an influx of Spanish spies, some of them “in bran new clothes;” and finally a city journal announces, “from the best authority’”’—some one, no doubt, having the ear of Queen Isabella—that the some time since appointed Captain General of Cuba, Gen. Ros de Olano, is not coming to the island, and that Gen. Concha is to be retained in his im- portant post. We know that Gen. Concha is considered in Spain as the only man capable of of removing him, a conspiracy suddenly starts up in Cuba, and a filibuster expedition ia the United States; and it is singularly coincident that these remarkable movements are found out by some “ hungry Frenchmen,” or other foreign gentlemen of undoubted respectability and high authority. No doubt all these things have sprung from the discussions in Congress last winter about Cuba, They have produced a marvellous effect everywhere. The Minister of State ackuow- ledges in the Cortes that “the government can- not deny thet the question of the acquisition of the island of Cuba sprung up menacing, im- posing,” but “happily it is almost ended.” It is alittle strange that a Spanish Minister should find so much danger to Spain in the simple pro- position to give Mr. Buchanan authority to issue to Queen Isabella thirty millions of five per cent United States bonds, when she should give to him a treaty ceding the island of Cuba; but we suppose Senor Calderon Collantes knew what he was saying, and why he said it. In connection with this subject, we publish also, in another column, a letter from Cuba, discussing the point of the question of the right to sell Cuba. If our correspondent is right in his law—and he seems to be so—the Crown alone has the right to sell Cuba, and neither the Cortes, the Ministry, nor the people of Spain have anything to say in the matter. We are not surprised that the discussion of the question in Congress has made such an impres- sion both in Spain and in Cuba. It is very natu- ral that it should do so, and it will make a deeper impression yet. The question of the annexation of Cuba to this confederacy belongs to a higher category than that of a mere party question. It involves the right of self-government by the peo- ple, the progress of social developement, the natural extension of the republic of trade, and the retrocession of the old and musty theories of political kingcraft, before the enlightened teach- ings of social elevation. Such a question must always be menacing and imposing to those who still cling to the idea of class government for the exercise of a paternal influence over the great mass of mankind. But its open discussion does not stimulate conspiracies, nor foster fiti- buster expeditions; and we shall need some bet- ter assurance that it has produced these results than the statements of a hungry foreign journal, arrests by the government of Cuba, or the presence ofa handful of Spanish spies in New York. The Spanish Cortes have discovered something more than bravado in the course the Cuba question took last winter in Congress, and the echo from them exhibits a very different tone from the wild boastings that characterized the early Spanish speeches on the subject. It is easy to eee that the thirty million proposition has produced a great moral effect in Europe. A Lesson To Ramnoap Companins.—A se- vere lesson-—though not one-half severe enough—- has just been given to a railroad company by a jury in Burlington, Vermont, which we trast will have a wholesome effect on the managers of railroads generally. It appears that in July, 1855, a locomotive on the Burlington avd Cana- da line exploded, whereby one of the passengers, a Mr. Eben N. French, was killed. The admi- nistrators of the deceased brought an action have now award’d them seven thousand dollara Though this moy be a small price to pay for a human life, yet the verdict will probably have the effect of sharpening the wits of the railroad managers, and reaching their humanity, through the moat sensttive channel—iheir pockets. A few more verdicts of this character would de good. A heavy mulct now and then would cor- rect much of the carelessness so common in the cepducting of railroad lines in this country. Itis evident, from many similar cases, that, juries gene- rally are disposed to inflict damages in all casas where accidents occur through the negligence of the company. They should lay them on heavily It is the only way to insure safety in travelling, The mode which many of our railroad compa- nies have been recently adopting, of raising loans to pay dividends, and allowing the rolling stock to go to ruin, has left the roads in such villainous repair that the wonder is that appall- ing accidents are not more frequent; but they may be expected to occur at any moment A heavy verdict for damages, in case of loss of life or limb, is more salutary than all the laws that could be enacted. Laws are almost invariably disregarded, but verdicts for damages are not likely to be. The Cotton Question—Cotton and Labor in Africa. For some time past the English philanthropists of the Exeter Hall school, having utterly failed to produce either cotton or sugar in large quan- tities through an enlightened free black peasant- ry in the West Indies, have given up their Amo- rican experiments in sociology and turned their attention to the developement of Africa. Sun- dry expeditions have been fitted out by benevo- lent England to that benighted continent, aud all of them have been marked with pretty near- ly the same results, There is an abundance of excellent cotton growing land, and plenty of cotton of indigenous growth, though, it is confessed, of very poor quality and staple when compared with our “uplands.” The na- tives gather small quantities of it, which they manufacture into a coarse kind of cloth; but here their industry stops. Our Exeter Hall friends “expect much improvement, both in the quality and quantity of this cotton, from careful cultiva- tion;”’ but, sad to say, this happens to be just the point where the Exeter Hall exponents of soci- ology fail: how to make Quashee cultivate cotton and sugar more largely and more carefully, or, in plainer terms, how to make Quashee work. Louis Napoleon, having taken a practical view of this great question, and with a full knowledge of the complete failure of the philanthrophic theory of Exeter Hall, says the only way is to export him from his native Af- rica, os an aprentice for ten years, to the French West India Islands. So he sends his ships and officers to the const, and they enter into a competition for the .purchase of likely young negroes with the Cuban slave traders. This runs the price up from twenty or twenty- five dollars to fifty, and in some cases one hun- dred dollars a head; when the French and Spanish dealers, finding this against their ia- terest, combine, and the latter is again left alone in the market, on condition of supplying the French traders with free apprentices and the Cubans with glaves on equal terms. In this way Louis Napoi got the 20,000 negroes he re- quired to try thé t\periment of making Quashee work in Martinique and Guadalupe. The thing being -seen through, he agrees to stop awhile and think over the propricty of the matter, pro- vided England will agree to fill up with cooliea the French islands in the Indiana ocean, just as he had filled up with negroes those in the West Indies. His theory of makiog Quashee work did not suit Exeter Hall and my Lord Brougham. * Rey. Doctor Livingstone, one of Exeter Hall’s African explorers, found the same state of facts there which we have recited above—plenty of cotton lands, plenty of cotton growing on them, and plenty of niggers, even in a state of slavery, where they could be made to work. He ex- plained this condition of things when he re- turned to England, and endeavored to answer the question how Quashee could be made to work. His solution of the problem was, in substance, that white. men must be sent out to Africa to instruct the boss niggers how to make the slave niggers work, for the one had no more brains than the other. This did not set well on the Exeter Hall stomach; for what it de- mands is the solution of the problem, “ How Quashee can be made to grow plenty of good sugar and cotton without making him work.’ So Dr. Livingstone and Exeter Hall split, and he has thrown off his gown and band and returaed to the Zambesi as Consul and trader, under the protection of certain Manchester utilitarians who want cotton, good and plenty of it, and do not care a fig for the niggers. The result of all these explorations and ex- periments is the same everywhere. Ia multitude of places cotton and sugar lands are found. The cane and the gossypiam exist in abundance and under numerous con_ ditions of indigenous growth. Bat in order to produce the sugar and cotton of commerce other combinations than those of productive land and natural growth are required. Science must bring its inventive skill from the most cultivated mental resources of the fever-brained white man, industry muet contribute its hoarded wealth in the shape of capital, and the negro must com- bine with all these his semi-intelligent babor, guided by his feverless brain, beneath the burn- ing sun of the tropical and semi-tropical re-~ gions. The highly developed staples of: sugar and cotton, as now required by. the uses of four hundred millions of civilized men, are the results of the most intri- cate and artificial combinations of human power, with natural laws, on a large scale, known to the world. They are nowhere the result of natuzal lo-~ cal elements alone; and the philanthropists af Exa~ ter Hall may search the globe from now to.ctez- nity, and they will no more find them as indige- nous products than they will find the oloths of Manchester growing on trees in soma favored clime. Thus.far their misguided efforts have resnited ouly to the prejudice of society in its material developement, and, as a natural cansequence, to its intellectual advancament. Itis an admitted axiom that the devebopement of human know- ledge is inseparable from the progress of indus- try and of national wealth; and wherever these decay science and civilization wane, and man relapses into a state of unproductive barbarism. These great truths it was that forced the French to seck negro apprentices in Africa and the English bond laborers ia In- dia to repair the injuries which the theories of Exeter Hall had inflicted on their inter-tropioal colopice. But these measures are only palliatives, net remedies. They inflict an aged and worn out against the company for damages, and the jury” pauper glass upon the community, which must be