The New York Herald Newspaper, February 8, 1860, Page 5

4 NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIEVOR. OFFICE N. Ww. CORNER OF NASSAU AND FULTON STS. TER. nie. Money sens by mah wl) be as ine Pile hander” Poscige sanise not received 8 mubecriphion “on PRINTING executed with meatness, cheapness and de epatch AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. ACABEMY OF MUBIO, Fourteenth street.—ItaLarn Orgaa Banose on Exviiie. NIBLO'S GARENN. Broedway.—Coonn’s Bova Aurat skateg—Afternoon and Bveniog BOWERY THEATRE Bowery. —Krt Cansox—Inetanp As Ir Was—Hows ix THe Wats. WINTER GARDEN, Broadway, opposite Bend streot.— Ouiver Twit. WALLACK’S THBATRE, Broadway.—Romamos oF 4 Poon Yours Mam, ehzee XEENE's THEATRE, 634 Broadway. Jaume rr NEW SOWERY THEATRE Mowery.—Tuuss Fast Man Hour 1 tae Wau. BRO. ‘AY BOUDOIB, 444 Broadway.—Taxnesa's Vow Lass BARKUMS AMEKICAN MUSEUM, Broadway.—After- Boon and Bvening—Ocroxoon. INSTRELS, Mechanics Hall, 473 i. BRYANT! Xi Broadway Bun.asqoes, Hones, Danons, £c.—suncesgum [taLian Oreea NTKLO’S BALOOR, Broadway.—Guo. Onawrr’s Mrn- Srums ou Bones, Dances, Buucesquas, 6c —Biack Statue New York, Wednesday, February 8, 1860. The News. ‘The election for a Chief Engineer of the Fire De- partment in place of Harry Howard, was held last eveuing, but up to the time of going to press (2:15 A.M.) we have received no intelligence’as to the result of the contest. It is believed, however, that Mr. Decker has been elected. Our reports from Washington are important, especially to those interested in the fate of the Post Office Appropriation bill. This bill, which passed the Honse on Monday, was taken up by the Benate yesterday. It was printed, in the shape it passed the House, in yesterday's Henap. An amendment providing for wrapping and mail paper was agreed to. An amendment providing that in- terest on sums due contractors should be paid to contractors themselves, and be in full for all claims for damages, and providing likewise that no inte- terest is to be allowed onthe last quarter of the year, was also agreed to. Another amendment was proposed, providing for the abolition of the frank- ing privilege after the lst of May next, but that all persons now entitled to the privilege be exempted from the prepayment of postage. This amend- ment gave rise to considerable discussion, and Mr. Collamer moved to repeal the acts of 1847 and 1851, appropriating $700,000 annually for the use of the Post Office Department. At this stage of the proceedings the further consideration of the bill was postponed till to-day. A mes- gage was received from the President ve- toing the joint resolution, passed by the last Congress, making an appropriation for removing obstractions from the mouth of the Mis. nissippi river. A joint resolution, appropriating $6,000 for the relief of Commander Hartatein, was adopted. Commodore Shubrick was autharized to receive a sword from Gen. Urquiza, the President of the Argentine Confederation. Senator Wilson intreduced a regaigtion providing for a sweeping investigation in e exercise of the power and patronage of the various departments of the go- vernment. The Senate held an executive session, and confirmed a number of important appoint- ments. ‘The republican members of the House held a caucus last evening to nominate a candidate for Printer. Abram 8. Mitchell, of the St. Louis News, received the largest number of votes, and will pro- bably be elected to-day. It is stated that Clark Mills’ statue of Washing- ton will be inaugurated at the national capital on the 22d inst., and that it is in contemplation for- mally to invite the National Guard, of this city, to participate in the ceremonies. Several subjects of interest were brought up in the cegislatare yesterday, but we have no space for ® more extended reference to them. Our reports and despatches give the particulars, The New York National Democratic State Con- vention, called for the purpose of selecting dele- gates at large to the Charleston Convention, reas- sembled at Syracuse yesterday. Fernando Wood, John A. Green, Jr., Gideon J. Tacker, and Joshua R. Babcock were appointed delegates at large, and Wn. C. Beardslee, Jamos T. Soutter, John Haggerty, and Benj. Chamberlain alternates. A fall list of the district delegates is appended to our report of the Proceedings. Mayor Wood addressed the Conven- tion in an eloquent speech, which we also publish. The Mayoralty election at Lancaster, Pa., took place yesterday, and resulted in the success of the democratic candidate by 189 majority, a* demo- cratic gain of 500 votes as compared with the elec- tion of October last. An arrival at Boston from St. Helena, December 27, reports that the bark Orion, of New York, Capt. Morgan, had been captared as a slaver by the Bri- tish steamer Pluto, and delivered to the United States steamer Mystic. The captain was imprison- ed at St. Helena by order of the American Consul. ‘The Orion had on board when she was captured ten hundred and twenty-three slaves, of whom one hundred and fifty-two died before reaching St. He- lena. Mr. E. George Squier read an interesting paper on the “Unexplored Regions of Central America” before the Historical Society last evening. A re- Port of itis given in another column. Before the adjournment a commitge was appeinted to express the sense of the society with reference to the death of Lord Macauley. Early on last Monday morning the hotel known fas the Grove House, in Yonkers, was discovered to be on fire, and in a short time was completely de- stroyed. The four fire companies were promptly on the spot, bat before the flames could be suffi- ciently extinguished the handsome residence of Captain Garrison also caught fire and was entirely consumed. The yacht Tremont, owned by R. Liv- ingston, Eeq.,'was likewise destroyed, in spite of the greatest exertions to eave her. Fires have been quite prevalent of late in Yonkers, and it is thought that the insendiary has been busy. at his work of destruction. The loes on the burnt buildings amounts to $10,000. At the meeting of the Board of Almshouse Go- vernors yesterday @ resolution was adopted ap- propriating $5@ t% place wire network outside the bars of murderers’ cells, to prevent their friends ‘ror, passing anytuing in to them. A lively discus- fsion arose out of a motion to discharge a demo- cratic overseer of the erection of the Island Hospital. The subject was finally referred to the Committee on Island Hospital, to report upon it in two weeks. No farther business of importance was transacted. The number in the institutions is 8,399, a decrease of 65 for the week. The Aldermanic Committee on Streets were to have met yesterday to hear parties on the subject of widening Ann street from William to Gold street, but none of the Aldermen made their ap- pearance at the proper time, and consequently no Meeting took place. A large number of property holders interested in the improvement were pre- sent, all of whom, on motion of George G. Sickles, Bignified their disapprobation of the proposed mea- pure. In the Court of Oyer and Terminer yesterday, John Hayes, charged with the murder of Edward Kelly, on the sist of Angust last, by shooting him RR NEW) YORK’ HERALD) WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY '6, i860, with « pistol, in a Liquor saloon in Whitehall street, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the third degree, and the plea having been accepted he was remand- ed for sentence. The trial of Henry Loughrane, charged with killing Timothy Mulcahy, was post- poned. The trial of Patrick Tannan, for causing the death of Patrick Honeyman, will be commenced to-day. The case of John Howe, charged with stabbing Themas Clare, was postponed till to-day. There are yet seven indictments for murder, ten for other grades of homicide, and nineteen for felonious assaults, remaining to be disposed of. The cotton market was du yesterday on the basia of 11Xc. for middling uplands, while the sales were confined to 600 bales in transit and about 400 bales in store. Flour was again active and firmer for common grades of State and Western, as well as for mixed grades of Southern, while prices closed five cents higher in some cases; extra qualities were un chapged. Wheat was in better request, chiefly for mill ing; the principal sales wore confined to Canada club, at $1 20, and Milwaukee club on private terms, with some white Canada at $1 38. Sales of corn were moderate, and prices without change of moment. Pork was firmand more active, with sales made for March delivery; new mess sold on the spot at $18 a $18 26; new prime at $1425 a $14 373;. Sugars were more active, buyers having en- tered the market more freely. Prices were firm, with sales of 1,200 hhds. Cuba muscovado and 1,490 bags Per- bambuco at rates giyen in another column. Coilee was firm. Ap invoice of 2,000 bags Rio was sold at 12c.,* with small lote at 12c.a12%c., and 500 bags Cecara, a new article from Brazil, resembling prime Laguayra, were sold at 123zc., and a lot of Java in mats sold at 165¢c. ‘The stock of Rio embraced 23,245 bags, 81,000 mats and 1,000 government bags, which, including small lots of other descriptions, gave a total of 64,257 packages of all kinds, . The Real Issue im the National Grisis— Ranging of the Politicai Elements. Congress having organized, and the time for the meeting of the national conventions being rapidly approaching, the political parties are getting fairly into the field, and ranging their forces on the great isaue that is presented to the people. The question of candidates is but a minor matter in the coming fight, and the eleventh hour professions of the several aspirants have little to do with the great issue before the coun- try. Each party has a list of prominent men, all of whom are striving to obtain the nomina- tion, and they speak accordingly. But these speeches are addressed in reality to the party conventions, and the conventions are made up of office beggars. Their duty is simply that ef naming the candidates, and they have no influ- ence whatever in forming the issue. It is folly to suppose that Mr. Douglas, with his labored speeches, can change this from the practical and vitalquestion that -has come up, into an empty abstraction such as he proposes; or that Mr. this or Colonel that can soften down and give a national complexion to the wild fanaticism that believes in Seward, applauds Wendell Phillips, and cano- nizes John Brown. It is, therefore, a mat- ter of little importance who are the candidates named by the respective conventions. They will be but the representatives of party ideas and the central point for party affinities; and the discourses of prominent candidates will be fashioned more with a view of securing the votes of the office beggars in convention than with the hope of modifying the real issue pre- sented to the country. The result of the battle lies between two great parties, which respectively represent the positive and negative principles of American politics. The black republican party has as- sumed the positive position of the abolition of slavery, immediate or prospective, gradual or violent, as either of the several schools of doc- trine among its partisans may prevail in case of triumph in the election. It is the legatee of the abolition societies that have for a quarter ofa century been working upon the Northern masses; of the priest politicians who have been striving to mislead the moral sentiment of the peopk into fanaticism; and of the debris of old party leaders disappointed in the past, and hungry and clamorous for the future. They all unite in one great alm—the ultimate abolition of slavery, which forms the cohesive element of the party organization. Between Seward and Sumner the difference is but a step, Ho- race Greeley is only a degree below Wendell Phillips,Sherman and Grow are merely a shade more moderate than Theodore Parker, and the brutal and bloody speech of Seward at Ro- chester, the incendiary book of Helper, and the abolition stump speeches now being deli- vered by Phillips and Giddings, are the hand books of the black republican party for the coming fight. Around the opposite political pole gather the conservative elements of the country, the various factions of the democratic party, a portion of the remains of other disin- tegrated political organizations, and the great commercial, manufacturing and mining in- terests of the Central States. Whether all of these accept the nominee of the Charleston Convention or not, their aim will be the same, and that is, the defeat of the nominee of the Chicago Convention, the standard bearer of the radical revolutionists who would overturn the existing order of things. A sensible and logical letter from the pen of Mr. Rives, of Vir- ginia, which we publish in another column, exhibits in a graphic manner the true ten- dencies of thé political elements which are rising into strength everywhere, and that will operate with overpowering force against the fanaticism that would involve every- thing in ruin. The true field of the fight will be in the Central States, whose material interests will be more immediately affected by the result. Commerce, manufactures and mines are directly dependent on the harmony and friendly intercourse between the North and the South. In these extreme sections of the Union the old parties will probably throw their usual respec- tive majorities, because the people have not a practical knowledge of each other, and are led to act through imaginary antipathies. But in the Central States the question comes home to every man’s tangible interests, and there the issue, if rightly understood, will shape the re- sult. The prese, the pulpit and the platform already resound with this issue. The abolition orators are taking the field at this early hour, and the lectures of Wendell Phillips and Gid- flings, the eulogies of Jobn Brown, the stimu- lated circulation of Helper’s book, the obsti- nate clinging to Sherman as the black repub- lican candidate for Speaker, and the labor- ed attacks upon slavery, are all parts of the e of the black republican propa- ganda. Their object is the abolition of slavery, immediate or ulterior, according to their several of fanaticism. Their success will iavolve the whole country ina civil war, break up the foundations of credit and commerce, stop the busy hum of our manufactories, close our coal and iron mines, and spread a general ruin and desolation over the. lard. tiom of Delegates to Charies- New York be Saved te the Democracy? On Monday the delegates elected for the several Congressional districts of this State to represe@t the democracy at the National Presi- dential Convention at Charleston assembled at Syracuse for the purpose of organization, and of selecting delegates at large. An ac- count of the preliminary proceedings appeared in yesterday's paper by telegraph. To-day we publish by telegraph the result of the delibera- tions of the Convention yesterday, together with an able speech of Mayor Wood. It will be recollected that this is the second set of democratic delegates to Charleston, and that last fall another Democratic Convention, under the auspices of the Regency, elected delegates to suit that junta, and did not give therank and file of the democracy any chance of sending men to represent the people—the same tactics pursued by the Seward wing of the republican leaders in the State. The delegates now assembled at Syracuse are elected not by a packed conven- tion, but by democrats in theseveral Congres- sional districts, and therefore claim to repre- sent the people. This completes the arrangements of the New York democratic politicians to throw the State into the hands of the black republicans, and thus lose the Presidential election. That result seems almost inevitable, whatever way the contest between the two rival sets of delegates may end. A house divided against itself can- not stand. The splitin the party arose in this way: A very general feeling was expressed among the democracy that the delegates to the Charleston Convention should be elected by the people in their Congressional districts—a measure which was favored by Fernando Wood and his friends. Meantime Mr. Wise, of Virgi- nia, in reply to a letter from New York asking his opinion, wrote a private, confidential note, giving his views pertinent to the subject. The Albany Regency got hold of it by playing the confidence game, and sent a copy to Dickinson, who was caught in their trap and unconsciously became their tool. He circulated Wise’s letter among his friends, which gave the Regency an excuse for a wider circulation, and for selling it secretly to the press for twenty pieces of sil- ver. The object was threefold: first, toembroil Wise with Dickinson, damage him at the Charles- ton Convention, and put him out of the way of their own candidate; second, to injure Wood in Southern New York, and prevent his election to the Mayoralty, as he was known to be friendly to Governor Wise; and third, to pre- vent the election of the delegates to Charleston by Congressional districts on the hue and cry of “dictation from another State,” and under the pretence of unanimity and of casting their votes as a unit, to elect them by a packed con- vention, in order to guard against any chance of an expression of the people’s will, and so to stock the cards for themselves as to have a sure game. But what is the resubt of this well laid scheme? The very contrary of what was calcu- lated has been effected. Instead of the free soil Buffalo platform candidate of the Regency being elected to the Mayoralty, Wood defeated both him and the black republican candidate together, and by his victory gave a blow to the Regency from which it has not yet reco- vered, and is not likely to recover till after the Presidential election. He is far stronger in the State to-day than they are, and is a more formidable candidate for the Presidency or Vice Presidency than either of their two pets, Dickinson and Seymour, or any other man who adheres to their faction. He was the leading spirit of the late Convention at Syracuse, which claims to emanate directly from the voice of the people, which is claimed to be “the voice of God.” The base conduct, the treachery and the trickery of the Regency, have elevated Fernando Wood tq his present strong position, and but for them his name would scarcely have been heard in the political world to-day. Under these circumstances will a double set of democratic delegates goto Charleston from the Empire State, and whichever set may be accepted, the result will be the same—the loss of the State, and the triumph of the black re- publicans. If one set is adopted, the other set will bolt, and do all manner of mischief—a step which, in the present position of parties in the State, must prove fatal to the democracy. How is the difficulty to be met? There is only one way of averting the disaster, and that is by admitting both sets of delegates, or rejecting botb, and at the same time nominating for the Presidency General Wool, of New York, a patriot, a soldier, ademocrat, a thorough Union man, who, by his popularity and his high character, would triumphantly carry this State againet Seward and his myrmidons, and thus save the republic from the danger which im- pends over its destinies. Unless this course is adopted at Charleston, the State of New York may be set down as lost to the democratic party; and with the loss of New York, the whele game is lost, and the vast stakes and issues which depend upon it. Faction IN THE APPOINTMENT OF CoNGRESSION- aL Commrrrees.—The Speaker of the House of Representatives is now arranging the Commit- tees in Congress, ef which the Committee of Ways and Means and the Committee on Com- merce are the most important, certainly those in which the country has the greatest interest. The Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means in the last Congress was Glancy Jones, who was a fair sort of man. For this post, Sherman, the defeated candidate for the Speak- ership, is spoken of; but he has no claim to such & position, unless that he endorsed Helper’s book, and he is entirely unfit for the discharge of the duties of Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. Equally unsuitable is the gentleman who is talked of for Chairman of the Committee on Commerce—Mr. Washburne, of Illinois—who knows more of log cabins and prairié chickens than of ships and commercial relations. Such is the way in which faction prevents the business of Congress from being properly conducted, appointing men to posi- tions for which they are unfit, and excluding men who are eminently suitable. For in- stance, Mr. Jobn Cochrane, who filied the office in the last Congress, would be the right man for the same post now. He discharged the duties before with great ability. He hails from the commercial metropolis of the Union, was Surveyor of the Port, is acquainted with merchants and merchandise, and is completely conversant with commercial subjects. Why not appoint him, instead of some ignoramus from the Western country, who knows as much about commerce ag he dees about Chinese ¢ We published yesterday what purported to be “a lecture” of Joshua R. Giddings, deli- vered in this city,on “the duties of human governments,” but what every reader will pronounce to be a stump speech of the Presi- dential campaign. With great naivedé, he says that “some have charged him with giving a partisan and political character to his lecture, but that it is merely lyceum lecture.” If ever lecture was political and partisan, that of Giddings undoubtedly is. It is, if possible, more so than even the lecture of Wendell Phillips, who holds out the massacre of St. Domingo as an example to the slaves of the South; and as for its being of the lyceum order, it is more suited to the Five Points and a nigger mob. There is nothing of the lecture about it from beginning to end. It is a mere clap-trap ad captandum political party speech, in which the vain old garrulous agitator makes himself the principal subject. It coasista of a string of stories about John Quincey Adams and Joshua R. Giddings, and what they said and did in Congress, and how Giddings, to aave himself from being expelled for his violence, an away. But as for discussion of the princi- ples of human government or its duties, there was not a word. That is a subject entirely above the calibre of such men as Giddings. The composition was not a lecture, but an incendiary harangue of the most violent de- scription, quite worthy of him and in keeping with his political history and antecedents. But it was necessary to give out that it was “ mere- ly a lyceum lecture” in order that persons who do not swear by Giddings and Seward should be entrapped into attendance. The object is to make proselytes, and Joshua wants a hear- ing. Agitation is his trade. He was born in Pennsylvania, and is now sixty-five years of age. He practised law in Obio, whence, in 1838, he was sent to Congress, where he held a seat ever since till the last Congress, On retiring he made a remark which is characteris- tic of him. He eaid, in writing a letter in De- cember: “This is the first letter I have paid for in twenty years.” How has the Post Oilice been abused and perverted all that time in circulating gratuitously the printed sedi- tion and incentives to treason and blood- shed and murder which emanated from his own pen and the silly brains of his fellow conspirators, to say nothing of their private letters, having thesame object in view— the subversion of the constitution and the go- vernment. Mr. Giddings, who is a lawyer, thinks he has made a great point by showing that treason can only consist in such overt acts as those of Jobn Brown. That may be the definition of legal treason, though to give aid and comfort to traitors is also treason. But there is a moral treason that is more criminal in the eyes of all law-abiding men, and that is the treason that influences brave but foolish men to deeds of violence and insurrection and civil war, but shrinks back from the personal consequences in which it involves its dupes. This treason is‘more detestable than the other, because it is cowardly and will not practically carry out its own doctrines when there is danger in the way. Giddivgs, like Garrison, knows how to take care of bis neck. Like him, too, he is one of the oldest leaders of the anti-slavery party, and has been always regarded asits Corypheus till Seward loomed up in his “ higher law” and “irrepressible conflict,” and thus took the abo- lition wind out ofmany spreading saila. But Gid- dingsis still afloat. He wasa prime moverin the organization of the republican party at Pitts- burg, and he now takes the stump in its cam- paign of 1860, and seems determined to make up by violence of language for his partial eclipse by younger, fresher and more refined men who have adopted his views. It is impossible for the republican party to get rid of such leaders as Joshua R. Giddings and William Lloyd Garrison, and well may these men now exult with the diabolical pride of Satan, who enticed the angels in heaven from their allegiance to God, that after an agi- tation of a quarter of a century they have suc- ceeded at lastin seducing multitudes of fana- tics from fidelity to the constitution, and mus- tering a party who are strong enough to elect a Speaker in Congress, and, perhaps, to place a man after their own hearts in the chair of the chief magistracy of the United States. It is not our intention to review at length whatis 0 facetiously called “ the lecture” of Mr. Giddings. That, indeed, would be an arduous task. To argue with him would be like saw- ing the air. As well might we undertake to refute a raving maniac in bedlam, or to make one of the niggers he worships compre- hend a problem in the science of astronomy. By what process of reasoning can a man be de- feated in argument who says he believesin the constitution, swearsto it, declares in favor of State rights and non-interference with the do- mestic institutions of the Southern States, and yet denounces the slaveholders of the South as “murderers, robbers and thieves,” and, worse than Nero, applauds the slaves that mutiny against their masters and smite them dead, and that, as for himself, if he were a slave, “he would escape if compelled to slay every slave- holder who opposed his escape, if God gave him the power, even though he should be com- pelled to walk upon the dead bodies of slave- holders from Mississippi to Malden?” How for- tunate for the slaveholders that the power and courage of Giddings are not equal to his will! He added that he declared in Congress that “he wished every slave upon earth could listen to him, for if that were the case, and his mind could be obeyed, yonder sun should go down upon a world liberated.” No doubt if he had only access to the slaves of the South this day, and could escape himself with a whole skin, he would advise them to a measure more general and more fiendish than that of St. Domingo, and to-morrow’s sun would set in an ocean of blood. What would be the use in throwing pearls before swine in arguing with a man who dignifies his trash with the name of “a Lyceum lecture,” but avows that he would nullify the Fugitive Slave law, and if a slave escaped into Ohio, he would regard him as free and not surrender him, though he swore in Congress te uphold the constitution, which commands the rendition of the fugitive? On the contrary, he would look on with approbation and delight if the slave should “stand up’ in his own humanity and strike a death blow to his oppressor”’—that is,a death blow to his master seeking to reclaim him. From a man capable of such revolting senti- ments ng there, the reader will not be surprised to hear United States flag does not protect the from being lawfully mur- dered by his slaves in passing coastwise from Virginia to Louisiana. Nor need any one won- der when Giddings descants on the fearful mor- tality of negro slaves at the South, in the face of the returns ot the census, which show that it is only in such freedom as the North gives them the negroes perish, and that in the South they are by far the most long-lived portion of the population of this continent—a fact which will outweigh all the slanders of Giddings and of the whole crew of anti-slavery propagand- ists from Maine to Missouri. Tue Devicrency Br.t—Paruent oF rae Mart Coytractors.—The bill to defray the deficiency in the appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year end- ing 30th of June, 1859, and also to provide for the expenditures of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1860, making in all ten millions two hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars ($10,296,000), did not pass through the Senate yesterday. That body added several amend- ment to the House bil!, and adjourned while debating fhe propriety of abolishing the frank- ing privilege. Of the sum appropriated by the present House, $4,296,000 are to be paid to the contractors, who have been eo long deprived of their earnings by the factious and unprinei- pled conduct of the last House, who refused to pass the bill to pay an honest debt—a debt which they so largely contributed to swell by the enormous burthens they threw on the mails by their abuse of the franking privilege. Had there beea no franking privi- lege, as there ought not to be, and had the mails not been cumbered in circulating useless newspapers gratuitously, and had Con- gress used proper economy and sound judg- ment in regulating the mail contracts, there would bave been no deficiency at all, for no good reason Gan be assigned why the Post Office should not be made a selfsustaining in- stitutien. The franking privilege and the free transmission of newspapers ought to be abolish- ed at once. When the bill becomes a law the $4,296,000 to be paid the mail contractors will be circulated through the country, and give great relief. This heavy demand on the Trea- sury, together with the balance of the appro- priation payable before the end of June, will nearly empty it of all that it contaias, and there will probably be soon a necessity for another Treasury loan. For the details of the subject the reader is referred to our money article. Inpicruests For Corporation Fravps.—For a couple of years past the attention of certain investigating committees has been devoted to the developement of frauds in the Corporation, the result of which has been in many cases the establishment of very grave charges of cor- ruption and fraud against sundry subordinate officials, contractors, surveyors, and so forth. We should like to know what has been done with these charges. In two or three cases in- dictments were found by the Grand Juries against the parties. Where are they? Has the potency of political intrigue overshadowed the majesty of the law? Has the scheming of the low and vile governing class been able to ar- rest the course ofjustice? The District Attor- ney ought to be able to tell us whether these indictments are to be acted upon, as well as those found against thieves and burglars in unofficial life, or whether they have been suppressed by some hocus-pocus arrangement. The people, who have been fleeced at the rate of millions of dollars for the last eight or ten years by this class of criminals, have a right to know what course has been or may be pursued with regard to these indicted individuals, and we now call upon the District Attorney for in- formation. Tae Treaty with Mexico BeroRE THE Senate.—The new treaty with Mexico still hangs fire in the Senate, and Mr. McLane, our Minister to that republic, has been called to Washington, where he is momentarily expected toarrive.. What is the object of his coming has not been explained; but we can hardly suppose that the Senate can require any explanations regarding the grave and important interests that hang upon their action in this matter. Our commercjal intercourse with the eight or ten millions of cons of cotton fabrics, utensils of iron, stone , and the mechanical appliances of steam power, has been reduced almost to a cypher by the neglect of those de- fences which this treaty provides for it; and at the same time the routes to the gold and silver regions of our territory on the Gila, and south of it, remain closed, for all the practical purposes of emigration and trade, until the port on the Galf of California, which the treaty grants to us, shall be opened. These interests are of immediate and practical importance, and the ratification of the treaty will give an early and a great impulse to our commerce with the Pacific shore. The ulterior advantages of protection to our transit communication be- tween the two oceans, and the political advan- tages which the treaty secures to us, are too evident to need comment. It is hardly possible to conceive that there should be any doubt as to the propriety of rati- fying the treaty because of a supposed inability of the liberal government of Mexico to carry out its stipulations. The contest that has been going on there for two years, if rightly consi- dered, removes any such doubt. A military and clerical revolution, that absorbed the whole army and clergy, has not been able to reduce more than one-fourth of the republic to its rule, and is to-day far weaker than it has been at any previous moment. It is true that the great exertions and sacrifices that have been made render it difficult for the constitn- tional government to exhibit great aggressive energy; but the same cause deprives the priest- ly revolutionists of any strength they might be supposed to possess. The Juarez government is stronger to-day, through the decay of its an- tagonista, than it has been at any previous time. Let the treaty be ratified, and the commerce which will revivify Mexico begin under the shield of its stipulations. Cro ann BroopsHep 1x New Yorx.—The records of the present session of the Court of Oyer and Terminer afford a melancholy evi- dence of the progress @§ the worst crimes in this metropolis. Already some four or five prisoners have been convicted of murder—a heavy calendar for one session—and in reply to an inquiry of Judge Ingraham yesterday, aa official of the District Attorney's office stated that there are still untried no less than seven more cases of murder, ten for other degrees of hemicide, for felonious assaults. Now, near! qrimes were committed come out, apropos to the stupid Union pam- phlet, with a ferocious attack upon the metre. polis. According to this editor, “Sodom aad Gomorrah were heaven-born places compared with New York.” We are compelled to believe that our Georgian cotemporary has derived hig. facts from his personal experience in the sinks and dens and slums which abound in New York, as in every other great city in the world. The difference between New York and the Scriptu- ral localities mentioned by our Southern co- temporary is, simply, that they were small cities, or “ one-horse towns” like Atlanta, and were pre-eminently distinguished for the license which was allowed within their gates to vice and immorality. There might have been there many persons like the country editors, who come to New York and devote all their time to gambling, drinking, and debauchery generally; and the Sodomites might have found in the At- lanta newspaper a yery facile and accommodat- ing organ. The fact is, and the police records prove it, that much of the crime committed in the metropolis, distinct from the offences done by foreigners newly arrived upon our shores, is the work of sojourners and visiters from other parts of the United States. The country editors are not behind-hand in contributing their share of misdemeanors; and as they are not generally fit for decent society, their expe- riences of the metropolis are drawn from the Five Points or some other congenial locality. When they come to New York they are always very anxious to make the acquaintance of the leading metropolitan journalists. We are, how- ever, compelled to decline the dangerous honor. The condition of thé country editor is notori- ously impecunious, and if you ask him to din- ner, although he may refrain from pocketing the spoons, he will not hesitate to turna penny by libelling you in his delightful “ editorial correspondence.” If the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had any such leaders and teachers as the great majority of the country editors in the United States, we cannot wonder that the Cities of the Plain could not produce the seven just men whose endorsement was required to save the fated boroughs from the merited ven- geance of Heaven. The rural editor and his readers realise the idea of the blind leading the blind, and both are always in the ditch. Tae Way To Crean THE Srreets.—lIt is stated insome of the European journals that @ company of English capitalists have applied to the King of Naples for permission to extin- guish the volcano of Mount Vesuvius by cut- ting a canal from the sea, and letting the water flow in upon the terrific subterranean fire which burns several thousand feet below the sea level. ‘These are just the men to take a contract for cleaning the streets of New York, and we re- commend the Corporation to open communica- tions with them upon the subject at once. To be sure, it is a much more difficult task to clean our streets than to put out the flames of Vesu- vius; but these British volcano extinguishers must be fellows of great enterprise and large ideas, and we have no doubt that the magni- tude of the undertaking would not frighten them. They are just the kind of men we want for the emergency. NEWS FROM THE STATE CAPITAL Compelling Witmesses to Testify Before Commoa Council Investigating Com- mitteea—Prize Fighting—Free Fight Over the Bill to Appoint Inspectors and Canvassers—Irrepressible Conflict im the Senate, dec. OUR SPECIAL ALBANY DESPATCH. ° Atsayr, Fob. 7, 1860, ‘This has been general order day in the House. Various bills were under consideration in the Committee of the ‘Whole, among which was the bill to compel the attend. ‘ance of witnesses before Common Councils in cities. The Dill was so amended that it confined the powérs of the Council in investigations to questions of finance, and cut off their powers of inquiring into character, &c. Mr. Cooper (rep.) then moved that another section be added, repealing the special act passed February 8, 1865, in regard to the Common Council of the city of New York. This the Tammany members voted in a body against. ‘Mr. Cooper asked for the ayes and noes, that those that ‘Were objecting to repealing « special act, whom he recog” nized as being those that were crying against special legis- lation, could be placed upon record in their true position. ‘The act of 1866 was then read, and after a short disous” sion the section to repeal that act was adopted, and in that shape the bill was ordered toa third reading. It will un- doubtedly pass in that shape, and thus wipe out a law that has placed power in the hands of reckless and um principled politicians, who have secured their election as members of Common Councils, to investigate the character of any person that their fancy may prompt them to bring before them. From recent developements in that noted body in New York, it is not to be wondered that the friends of the Tammany clique should vote against the , of the act of 1855. amendment to the prize fighting act came up also in Committee of the Wholo, and was strongly opposed bj Messrs. Ellsworth, Robinson and Milliken, on the ground ‘tbat it was in violation of the common law, requiring men to testify to matter that would criminate themselves; al- thoes ‘the law provides that the answers of any person who bas been a party in the fight shall not be used against him, in any proceeding or prosecution whatever, yet they considered it a violation of al law and justice; their testi- mony would give aclue to the prosecution and farnish the latter weapons to use against the parties thus testify- ing. Afier some further discussion progress was ro- ported. ‘ ‘The bill to provide for the appointment of of election and district canvassers in the city county of New York, by the Board of Supervisors being taken up, Mr. Cougs (of New York) moved to amend the second seo- tion of uma fot containing the reading and writing qualif. cation, so that the Board of Supervisors be authorized to employ professors of elocution and penmanship for the of exemining the appointecs, and that no one should be considered qualifiea, unless uch person could read and write ove hundred and fifty words per minute. There was another skirmish in the Assembly this morning, upon this bill to authorize the Board of Supervi- sors of the county of New York to appoint canvassers and inspectors of election. After @ short explanation by Mesers. Jacqnes, Harris and others, Mr. Arcutarius moved that the Committee rise and report progress, in order that a member from New York, whe was not present at this time, could speak upon the question. This motion was lost; whereupon there commenced a scsne de- cidediy rich racy. Mr. Calheot said the discursion had taken a wide course, more so than he thoug! motion to confine the appointments to the inhabitants of eee ne was reaily the question be- re them. Mr. Milliken, of Westchester, stated that whatever the other side might say upon bis assertion, that there were districts in the city of New York where men could not be found quaiified te eerve as inspectors and canvaseers, he could show them that such was fhe case. He would sleo ha meee a eee of New York that were of governing themselves. At this assertion three or four of the York mem- order; confa- ras emer nae generally rei ‘8 fow mipdtes. the point of order that the gentleman (Mr. Milken) was epeaking unpariiamentarily, and mskibg unjust charges against bis constituents. (Laughter. jane Sa, SEs his point of eur ee well en, . Milliken prooeedea, * Sideroa It one Of tbe. hoaliniest 'ruloe thar Now York could adopt to appeal from the “dead mbYit” to a heathy Legislature. There were in the city that were loathgome tothe city itself. This was not the characteristiq of the city of New Yori alone, but of all great cit Mr. Arcolarius followed, refuting the charges ot Mr. Milliken, that they were unable to themseh Stating that the dietrigt known as she ‘‘doad rabbits"’ wa One of the most jy known im thecity during the last mayoralty election, which was the most exciting knowa: ‘there for many years, and probably eqnal 0 ny wah ht justifAble upon his © _—