The New York Herald Newspaper, November 13, 1867, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD, BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York | Herap. Letters and packages should be properly bealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. THE DAILY HERALD, prtdisred every day in the year. Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $14, Tho Catavonsia Enitioy, on the 1s', Mth aud 21st of ach month, a1 Six Cxsts per copy, or $3 per annum. JOB PRINTING of every description, alo Stereotyping and Kngraving, neatly and prompily executed af the lowest rates. Volume XXX... cece cee AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, prhOADWAY THEATRE, Broadway.—Tickst or Leave aN FRENCH THEATRE, Fourteenth atreek—Taw Graxn Ducuxss. BOWERY THEATRE Bowery.—Beite o mez Fav- pourc—Bownis mis Wire, NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Busox Croor, NEW YORK THEATRE, opposite New York Hotel — ‘Noxwoop. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Nicut’s Daxam, WALLACK’S THBATRS, Broadway and 13ta street.— Tux Honeymoon. GERMAN STADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.— 18 Vertosunc Bei pax Larerne—Fortunio's Lirp, &c. Brosdway.—A = Mipsumaxe BANVARD'S OPERA HOUSE AND MUSEUM. Broad- Way and ‘hirticth siree.—Vevin's AvcTION, NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street. —Grawastics Eauesraianisa, £0. Matinee at 334. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 2 GurLoce—Too Muca ror Goon N. 4 West 24th street.— Mutines at 2 THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Wurrs, Corrox & Suanrier's Minstuxis SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 685 Broadway.—Ermio- Pian ENteuTainments, Singin NCING AND BURLESQUES. KELLY & LEON'S MINSTRELS, 720 Broadway.—Sovas, Dances, Eccunraicrrizs, BURLESQUES, 40, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSR, 21 Bowery. Voca.isu, Necno Minstaxtsy. dc. Matinee at 24, .—Comio EIGHTA AVENUE OPERA HUUSB, corner Thirty-fourth —MinsteeLsr, Fances, dc. BUTLER'S AMERICAN THEATRE, 473 Broadway.— Baier, Fance, Pantoume, &c. BUNYAN HALL, Broadway and Fifteenth street.—Tur Poms. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUR, Brooklya,—Eraiorian Minstuxisy, BaLLaDs and BURLESQUMS. BROOKLYN OPERA HUUS, Williamaburg.—Nosopr's AUGUTER. FINE ART GALLERIES, 843 Broadway,—Exaisiti0n oF Panenincs, NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— Bomnce anv Art, TRIPLE SHEET. EUROPE. ‘The news report by the Atiantic cable is dated yester- day evening, November 12, Napoleon issued another note on the subject of a con- ference on the Italo-Romaa quostioa, in which he in- vites all the anor Powers, The Italian Cabinot bas for- wardod a circuiar to the different cruris explanatory of the situatou, ro as to them to form a more cor- essity of aconference, The s completed under General Menobroa, »ps have evacuaiol Rome and al! other points of fapal territory, and aro concentrated at Civia Veceia the Emperor boing satixled of King Victor Ewanuel’s inclivation to observe the September Convention. A member of tho Prussian Diet bas been tried and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for remarks ov jadiciary, maie during a legisiative debate, A serious riot which occurred ¢n Ox.ord, England, was suppressed by the military. Tuo Honduras Iutereceantc Railway Joan is on the London market to the amount of one millon of pounds meriog. fwitzerland approves the pew postal treaty with the United Staves, Admuirai Far- Fagul's Moot will reman at Lisbon for some time, . od ai 94 9-16 for monsy In London. Five. | ‘went 05 sors at 70 15-16 in Lund n and 764; in Frank- tu ‘Tuo Liverpool cotton market closed heavy and @eclin- jog, with middling uplands at 84d. ‘The Manchester trado advices are wafavorabie. Broadstaufs firm. Provwions withost marked change By the steamship Scotia at (his port yesterday wo havo our apecial mail telegrams, special written corre spondenc: and newspaper files, reporting very interest ing dotaiis of our cabie dospatohos to the 2d of Novem ber The compilation embraces letters from our special cor- respondent in Italy aod on the Roman territory, photo- graphing with pen and ink the scenes witnessed ata revolutionary ‘mass meeting’ in Florence, and the equipment and appearance of the Garibaldian invaders en rowle for Rome, Our special correspondent ia oxtousive preparations for a g Doing made ail over the empire, maintained towards Italy The Pope's Encyclical letter to the prelates of the Church in denunciation of her enemies to “Piedmont,” Italy and Resse, is given in our columns, with an Italian cabinet circular addressed Dy Genoral Menebrea to the King’s reprosentatives at the a? erent courts, ‘The Board of Soporvisors met yeetorday, and after transacting considerable business relative to tho pay- ment of bills for services rendered organized as the Boart of County Canvassers, but the returns from some districts not having beon sent in only a fow wards were canvassed. Supervisor Taylor entered a provost against canvassing the votes to Milla vacancy in the Board oc. casioned by the resignation of General Shaler, on the ground that he (Taylor) had been elected to fll his un. expired term, which is for six years from January 1, 1867. The protest was laid over for consideration. At a meoting of the Board of Excise yesterday a quee- tion was asked of tbe president whether @ billiard esloon could be kept open after twelve o'clock midnight, pro- vided the bar was eflectualiy closed. Mr. Schultz imti- mated that the liquor dealer would be aafor if be closed his billiard room and bar both before midn edt, but de- clined to give any more definite . The report of the Board to tho Constitutional tion shows thas ginco (ts organization th @ been 1,350 complaints preferred againet liquor dealers, 184 of whom have bad Aber liconses revoked. The whole amount received for loenses was $2,655,658. At a meeting of tbe Mozart Mayoralty Nominsting Convention held fast evening at Mozart Hall Fernando Wood was nominated by acclamation os the candidate of this wing of the devaocracy for the office of Mayor of ‘this city for the next term, The weekly atatement of mortality im this city and describes tho | war which were 1 reports the attitude NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1867.—TRIPLE SHEET. and hoisting the United States fag, and the interchange | We reconstruct the South, not for the common Of two short sentences in the way of speech making, Our Buenos Ayres letter is dated September 27, Videla had again turned up in Salta et the head of @ revolutionary force of probably fifteen hundred men. The Cordova rebellion Las been quelled, The Presi- dential election comes of on the lst of January next, the most prominent caudidate being My, Sarmiento, at present Minister at Washington, The*feoling against further prosecution of the war with Paraguay was quite | intense, and rumors of ao early peace were very general, | Invell.gence from the seat of war states that the fleet was lyiog between Curupaity and Humaita, unable, it was reporied, to get up or down. This rumor being published, the Brazilian government made | bastetodeay i, Ad agent was at Buenos Ayres to | make arrangements for a eable telegraph to Europe. He bad already made satisfactory arrangements with Graz aud Uruguay. The New York State Constitutional Convention re- assembled at Albany yesterday, pursuant to adjourn- meat. No business was transacted beyond the passage of resolutions and the delivery of addresses eulogistic of the late David L. Seymour, a member of the Conven- tion who died during (he recess, In caucus in the after- hoon the republicans decided to go on with their work ag they had commenced, Governor Bullock, of Massachusetts, a day or two ago gave ivstructions tbat no more liquor seizures under the Prohibitory law should be made, and-to-day the chief Constable willissue an order to that effect, stating that itis ip accordance with instructions from headquarters and the will of the people as expressed at the late lections, In the Alabama Reconstruction Convention yesterday the report of the commities to memorialize Congress for the removal of tue cotton tax was presented. It repre- sents that the tax was greater than value of the land, and petitions, im case the tax is not removed, that the land be taken away (rom the planters aud worked as common property. Tbe fights between Bolster and McLaughlin, and Sorrell and Bowie, the two latter negro pugilists, was to have come off at Fort Albany, Va,, yesterday, but Mc- Laughlin being tt and Bowio failing to appear, both fights were given up, The crowd were surprised by the military a d captured, only a few being able to escape, Sorrell and Boister being among the latter. The prison- ers were marched to Alexandria, where they were all reloused, their arrcat without the riot act having pre- viously been read being declared illegal, A negro plot to kill certain white and colored men who voted the conservative ticket bas, it is reported, been discovered near Lynchburg, Va, The negroes in Mecklinburg and the adjoining counties are said to be debating within their secret societies whether or not they should seiz lands on the 1st of January if they are pot then g to them by Congress. Radical dele- gates are urgi! m to take the lands, and very few Degroes will hire out for wages, Lewis Lindsay, tho negro delegate to the Virginia Convention who made an incendiary speech in Rich- mond on Saturday, was arrested yesterday by the mili- tary and wiil probaviy be tried by a military com- mision. Senor Murillo, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of Colombia, Presented his credentials to President Johnson yesterday, The Convention election in Arkansas came off yester- day, and from all indications resulted ina radical ma- jority. " The steamer General Putnam, of the Lighthouse De- partment, was sunk vear Newcastle on Monday, on ber way from Wilmington, D to New York, by colliding in a fog with the steamboat Major Reybold, é Reconstruction by the NegromA War of Races. We are courting the fate of Hayti and Ja- maica; for like elements, governed by the same general forces, produce like results, This rule of nature is as irrevocable as the law of min- eral crystallization. There is, however, a cer- tain radical power in the United States that is ever willing to dispute a fiat of nature, pro- viding it encroaches upon its pet theories, One of these pet theories is the superiority of the negro race over the white. That such is the real basis of radical negroism is very evi- dent. Were it not so, why do they boost the negro up the tree of liberly instead of allow- iug him to cimb it himself, as the white man has been forced to do? It is with the greatest difficulty that the most intelligent of our people can govern themselves. If it be conceded that four millions of uneducated negroes, with brains undeveloped and even sterile, are capa- bie of seli-government, then it must also be acknowledged that ifthe balance of the nation were of the same material it would make no difference to our republicanism, which would also be to grant that Hayti is a republican Utopia. If, however, it is argued that the in- telligent white population is the salvation of our republicanism, and thatwe can still exist under a bad admixture of one-eighth African, itis a concession that we, to a certain extent, vitiate the nition and voluntarily recede in civilization and the perfection of government which we sesk, We submit the question, then, Is it statesmanship in any century, much more in this, to go backwards? As we are directed now by the radical ele- ment, we photograph upon our present institu- tions and on future history at least one-third of the picture of Hayti. In that unfortanate country we have had nothing but a war of races since ils discovery by Columbus. From the benefit of white and black relative to the whole nation, but entirely for the negro, ‘he radicals go so far that— vide Ben Wade—they say that wo may have a war of caste, and even hound on the negro. We have gone negro mad; and the madness threatens to wind up by a war of races which, when {t comes, will sweep the negro out of existence. The nation stand under this negro load. We must shake Domingo and Jamaica. The Roman Question, After a silence of some days the Atlantic cable is again eloquent. Matters have not, if we are to judge from its intimations, mended ! in Maly. revolution. Outbreaks bave taken place in most of the large cities, and though the mili- tary have gained a temporary triumph, the cities are described as in a state of siege. It is evident that it is with the utmost difficulty the Italian government are managing to pre- serve even the appearance of order. So loud are the people against France that Victor Emanuel and is government, through General La Marmora, now on a special mission to the Emperor Napoleon, are compelled to insist on the immediate withdrawal of French troops from the soil of Italy. They claim to have proved their ability as well as their disposi- tion to preserve order, and France is assured that there is no reason to fear further disturb- ance, Garibaldi and the other ringlead- ers being about to leave Italy for the United States. It is also stated that the Italian government has refused to accede to the proposal to submit the settlement of the Roman question to a purely Catholic conven- tion. A later telegram, which we print in this morning’s Heratp, shows that France has yielded s point, and asks a general congress of all the European Powers, great and small, to consider and settle the difficulty. The Italian government is still rebellious, refusing to hear of a congress in any shape or form, and has issued a counternote to the Buropean Powers accordingly. It is evident from all this that matters are sufficiently complicated. A crisis of some kind is at hand. There are many who will doubtless think, and not alto- gether without reason, that in this instance Garibaldi and the party of action have been rather a curse than a blessing to their country. The truth is, revolutions such as that which they sought to accomplish at Rome depend more upon moral than upon material force. Moral results, however, are to be looked for only after long ages of moral effort, The har- vest is seldom early and can never be forced. At the same time it is not to be forgotten that @ time comes io the history of moral progress when material influences of a certain kind are of immense value. Such a time, we believe, has come in the history of the Roman question. The material influences required, however, were not those of the eword and the rifle. The steam engine in its many applications, the electric telegraph and the printing press— these are the influences which Italy and Rome specially need. Properly used they would do more for the real welfare of the Italian penin- sula than the party of action, with their present ideas, can over hope to effect. Garibaldi, how- ever, is but a small philosopher, and Mazzini is more empirical than practical. The difficulties of the Roman question are religious in their essence. Intelligence only can uproot existing prejudice and pave the way forthe grander future. Superstition has still a firm hold of many of our fellow crea- tures. Superstilion, however, is fed by igno- rance. Intelligence, which dispels the one, uproots the other. Education and the com- forts of domestic and social life are the things which are required in many parts of the mod- ern world, Italy and Rome not excepted; but the best means of securing these comforts are the general use of steam, the telegraph and the printing press. If Garibaldi and his friend Mazzini would only look at the lessons of the past they might discover some wiser and nebler means by which to serve their country. All history shows us thata people must be ripe for a change before they can accept it and benefit by’ it. Garibaldi’s mistake consisted in this, that he would force a revolution. The time will doubtless come when the chief of the Catholic Church will occupy a posiiion more wortby of him, and when Rome will be the capital of Italy; but that time must be brought about by a class of influences very different from those negro emperor Jacques I, in 1804, to the present ruler, Salnave, the Haytien part of the island has presented even a worse con- dition than that whieh is presented in the long years of wholesale Spanish murders which made its borrorsa proverb. How rapidly the couatry marches to the primitive barbarism which is the delight of the negro race is best shown by the value of the exports just pre- vious to the accession of Jacques L. compared with those of to-day. At that time they reach- ed the large figure of $27,828,000, To-day they are scarcely $8,000,000. But if Hayti exhibits a sorry argument for negro domination, what does Jamaica show? Since the island wae given up to negro rule its march has been rapid from bad to worse, until to-day one of the finest and formerly one of the most productive of all the West India group lies but a wreck in negro hands. All this has taken place in thirty-four years, notwithstanding the efforts of the English government to prevent i, And how of Liberia? Large sums of money, Christian and missionary effort unlimited, have been used to little advantage. The negro there, forced into a hothouse growth and kept upon the plus side of civilization by constant white offort, is still far dowa in the acale. He often runs eastward to his native barbarism, and is on!y kept inside the bounds of the colony by large contribuiions to hie welfare. We dismiss Liberia asa mawmoth hey: poorhouse. Bot Liberia is nothing to the negro poor houwe we are establishing in the whole Sontuern valf of the United States. We go Brookiya shows 007 deaths here and 1611p the later city. A grand celestial exhibition of meteoric showers is ad. Vortiwed lo take place in the heavens ether to-nigh to-morrow night. ‘The stock market was firm but dull yesterday, Gov. Womens securities were steady. Gold closed at 129)4. MISCELLANEOUS, in'o tw negro asylum business as we go into | every hing olge in America, We ses the whole | North un half of the nation to earning money to maintain the negro, We make huge appro- pristions for the benefit of the negro. We bury all material progress to embody all our ideas in the progress of the negro. We take The formal transfer of Russian American bas nally | no time to legislate npon our rained commerce, ‘been ma w ‘despato! ora! Roussean received the transfer, which was accom- seen by reference to ther page from New Archangel for we are oceupying every moment for the negro. We approach a fiaancial panio, but which the party of action have just employed. RuMantom Checked tn Virginia. General Schofield seems resolved that ruf- flanism of every description shall find Old Virginia a hard road to travel during the ex- istence of his military rule over the District. Lewis Lindsey, the negro conventionist who uttered such seditious and violent language in Richmond a day or two since, has been arrested on the charge of inciting an insurrec- tion, and will be tried by a military court. At the ‘same time we learn that a large crowd of bullies and raffians, black and white, assembled to witness » brace of prize fights, one between two white pugilists and the other between two negroes, were eurrounded by the military at Fort Albany yesterday and two hundred of them “taken into camp.” The radicals will no doubt be as highly indignant at one of these arbitrary acts of the military commander of Virginia as the crop-baired bruisers in gen- eral will be at the other. A Nicorr t% THS Fexce.—There is some- thing mysterious about the reported disappear- ance of the Nicolson pavement petition from the files of the Board of Aldermen, There could be no object in stealing them, since the Aldermen never pay any attention to petitions alone. Two Ktxos or Mover ror Two Kinps oF Moex.—This is the financial plank in the radical platform—“ two kinds of money for two kinds of men.” National bank rags for the people, and national gold coin for the rich bondhold- ert. Who goes with the party that is for making the rich richer and the poor poorer? How ro Ratse tee Dicxevs,—Mr. Dickens will soon arrive in Boston and will commonce his readings immediately, we believe. We re spectfally suggest that the first reading be from his “ American Notes,” | Stx Cexts Rewarp will be paid for the | return of a lot of missing petitions, strayed or stolen from the Cowmon Council chamber, geseon Wiyh sao eacemenion of lpvoring the Human | try to hide Ut by Wolding before {h ihe uegco, | No questions sakes is not powerful enough, with all its vigor, to | it off, or down we go to the level of Hayti, Sun | Italy, in fact, stands on the verge of | The Cabinet and Cabinet Rumors. The ingenious and inventive Washington correspondents of the press put out every day or two rumors of changes about to be made in the Cabinet, It isa fruitful subject and af- fords abundant materials for speculation, The wavering views and purposes of the President often mislead the industrious correspondents, who run their legs off by day and lay awake at nights to cook up food for a public always bungry for news, In fact, this Cabinet busi- ness has been a continual muddle, first, be- cause Mr, Johnson himself did not know what to do, and next because there are always nu- merous cliques and agents of Cabinet aspi- rants manufacturing news for effect, One of the last rumors is that the efficient Collector of the Port of New York, Mr. Smythe, is to be made Secretary of the Trea- sury in place of Mr. McCulloch. This, like many others, may have little foundation, but it has greater show of probability from the fact that Mr, Smythe has no clique or agents in- terested in putting forth such a rumor, The Collector is an honest and practical business man, above the arts and tricks of pipe-laying and scheming politicians. He makes no effort to manufacture news for public effect or to in- fluence the President, and, therefore, it is probable he has not been mentioned for Sec- retary of the Treasury without authority. Presuming this to be the case, and that the President is really contemplating such a change in his Cabinet, we have no hesitation in saying the appointment of Mr. Smythe would be an excellent one. In the trying situation of Collector he has shown great ability and in- flexible honesty. These are qualities of all others which are so much needed now in the Treasury Department, He is a New York mer- chant and banker, has bad a life-long experi- ence in financial matters, and has won the esteem of the business community for ability uniformly displayed in the various positions which he bas occupied. He was one of those prominent bankers and capitalists whose coun- sel and assistance Mr. Chase sought in the early part of the war, but afterwards rejected. Had the advice of Mr. Smythe and those other gentlemen been followed— to raise the money needed by direct loans—we should not have been burdened with the enormous debt that now presses upon us, nor would our finances and currency have been in such confusion. Specie payments might never have been suspended, or if sus- pended temporarily, we might by this time have returned to them again. Such a man, who has been connected all his life with the large financial and commercial affairs of this great metropolis, is certainly more fitted for Secre- tary of the Treasury than the small village banker now occupying that position. It is proper, too, that the finance minister of our country should be taken from its great financial and commercial centre. We do not say that ifa man of very superior ability for this office could be found elsewhere he should not be appointed, but we do say, other things being equal, the Secretary of the Treasury should be from New York. Besides, the chances are thaf'a gentleman connected with the large business operations of this city would from that circumstance alone be most fitted for the office. But at present there seems to be an obstacle in the way of appointing Mr. Smythe or any other gentleman from New York. One mem- ber of the Cabinet—Mr. Seward—is from this State, and it would be contrary to practice to take another at the same time. Though there be no constitutional objection to taking two members of the same Cabinet from one State, it would not be proper todo so. In order to make Mr. Smythe Secretary of the Treasury it would be necessary that Mr. Seward should resign. To him personally this would be very painful, doubtless ; but he ought to have suffi- cient regard for public sentiment, the embar- rassing situation of the President, and the good of the country, to voluntarily get out of the way. His public honors and usefulness have reached their limit. We shall want to purchase no more territory as long as he lives, and our foreign relations would be better conducted by a man not given so much to tedious circumlo- cution and toadyism to foreign governments. His peculiar statecraft is unsuitable to our republic, and not at all needed now. A clerk in the State Department accustomed to its rou- tine could do all that is necessary. A premier here is a fiction. The financial affairs of the country are paramount to everything else in the administration. Mr. McCulloch is totally unfit to manage them. He is leading us rapidly into serious complications. We want some one in his place who will extricate the country from a frightful system of taxation and save us from the evils that threaten us. If the President bas any comprehension of our finan- cial situation, if he has any decision of charac- ter and moral courage; he wiH by some means or other get rid of Mr. McCulloch and Mr. Seward, and appoint Mr. Smythe or some such capable man from this great commercial mo- tropolis to the Treasury Department, The Railroads and the State Laws, The recent decision of Judge Barnard, of the Supreme Court, refusing @ mandamus to compel the admission of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad to’ Castle Garden, is based upon a law which probibits any railroad char- tored under the laws of any other State from selling or offering their tickets for sale any- where within the State of New York. The de- cision could not be otherwise so long as the Jaw remains unrepealed. The New York Cen- tral Railroad is therefore the only road, pend- ing the exclusion of the New York and Erie, that is allowed to sell tickets to emigrants in Castle Garden. This road is not, however, to be left without its own trouble from the law. Ite Castle Garden agent is Mr, Robert Murray, the United States Marshal, and chapter 474 of the State laws of 1855 provides that “ No per- son holding office under the government of the United States, or of this State, or of any of its cities, or who shall be in the employment of the Commissioners of Emigration, shatl solicit custom for any transportation line, or shall be interested in any way, directly or indirectly, in the forwarding of emigrants, under a pen- alty of not less than one hundred dollars and not exceeding three hundred dollars, to be sued for in the oame of the people of this State, and which money, when collected, shall be paid into the connty treasury for the use of the poor of said county.” If the penalties in this case should be sued for the poor of New York would receive quite a liberal sum of money for their winter relief ; but probably the Commissioners of Emigra- Won, fo their geal for the enforcement of the laws of the State, will be satisfied with exclud- ing Marshal Murray from Castle Garden and requiring the New York Central Railroad to appoint a properly qualified agent. The City Election—Hobson’s Chotce. When the republican organization was in its infancy it adopted the prudent and com- mendable policy of selecting its best men as candidates for office, By this course it gained the confidence of the country and grew speedily into a successful and powerful party. The enormous patronage entailed upon it by the war added to its strength, and it soon held possession not only of the national govern- ment but of nearly every State remaining loyal to the Union. But its repeated triumphs served to render its leaders arrogant and care- lees of popular sentiment, and they soon began to force upon the people objectionable nomi- nees, in the belief that their majorities in ail the States were large enough to defy oppo- sition, In Connecticut they sought to elect to Congress a showman, notorious only for the extent and variety of his tricks upoa the credulous, and possessing no qualifications as & representative, unless his familiarity with monstrosities and humbugs of every descrip- tion might be regarded as rendering bim a fit associate for the radical Congress. But when the ballots were counted they were astounded to find that their Joyce Heth and Feejce mer- maid nominee bad gone down under the weight of popular contempt, and dragged thelr large State majority with him. In this State they sought to crowd the Legislature with men notoriously corrupt, and they came out of the fight with a fifty thousand majority against them for the first time in a long course of years, The Tammany democrats in this city are falling Into the same error committed by the republicans, Through the divisions among their opponents they have managed to secure all the patronage remaining in the hands of the city government, and, trusting to the strength of regularity in their organi- zation, they imagine themselves certain of success and able with impunity to defy popular sentiment in the selection of their can- didates, A close corporation committee, with closed doors, packs a city Tammany Conven- tion and instructs it to nominate John T. Hoff- man for Mayor. They throw overboard such citizens as Andrew H. Green, Cornelius K- Garrison, John Anderson, John Kelly, and others of equal character and responsibility, and force upon the electors a tool of their own ring, under whose administration the tax- ation of the city has increased to the enormous sum of twenty-four million dollars. They pay no heed to the wishes of the large majority of voters who desire to reform the city govern- ment, and believe that under the cry of “ regu- larity” they can compel the people of New York to re-elect a candidate who neither pos- sesses the confidence of the taxpayers nor the sympathy of the masses. It remiins to be seen whether their fate will be similar to taat of the republicans. If the choice in the Mayoralty election Is to le between Fernando Wood and Joha T. Hoff- man, the people will oare very little what may be the result. The most satisfactory termina- tion to the fight would be that which attended the famous battle between the Kilkenny cats. For ourselves, we shall fold our arms in grand indifference, heedless who may win. It mat ters little whether the wroath of victory may alight on the venerable brow of the magnifi- cent rascal, Fernando Wood, the champion of free trade in liquor and lager, open bar rooms and beer gardens on tho Sabbuth, and roast beef for the poor man every day in the week; or on the aristocratic locks of the Puritan Hoffman, the highly perfumed advocate of gold for the bondholder and banker, and paper for the nasty common people. The suc- cess of either means jobs, jobs, jobs—taxation, taxation, taxation! It is of little consequence whether Wood makes up bis pools for hungry democrats outside of Tammany, or Hoffman continues to work for the well-fed inside ring ; the result will be the same—taxation rolled up by millions, and the cost of every article of food and apparel increased to the poor man in proportion. If the people choose to submit patiently to be made the dupes and tools of the ring politicians, it is a matter of perfect indifference to us whether the figurehead in the City Hall for the next two years may be a magnificent rascal, with a white mustache, or an oily Puritan, with » brown. Axsove Sosricion.—It is due to the Aldermen of New York city to say that no person sus- pects any member of the Board of purloiuing the Nicolson pavement petitions from the files. They are above stealing such things. The Brazilian Defeat in Paraguay. It is evident that the allies are fast losing ground in their desperate onslaught against Paraguay. The latest news from the seat of war (to the 24th of September) tells a sad story for Brazil. A large detachment of troops escorting ® valuable wagon train were beset by a Paraguayan force and completely routed, with the loss of one thousand men, including forty officers. ‘The strategic situation of the allied army is really more critical at this time than at any previous period during the war. The Villa dol Pilar, over which they made such a fuss as scapture of a vital strategic podition, has been found untenable and abandoned. The allied right wing, thrown to the north and west, to pierce the Paraguay communications between Houmaité and Asuncion, is liable at any moment to be cut off by a strong attack from Lopez on the centre. Were this done it would at once close the war. To maintain the struggle now it is proposed to make a levy of fifty thousand Brazilian slaves, paying their masters for them atthe rate of six hundred dollars each. This shows how sadly reduced Brazil has become in this attempt at conquest. Uruguay long since ceased to be represented in the field. The Argontine republic has ite contingent greatly reduced, while her troops still in the fleld show almost open mutiny, and the officers give vent to their tra- ditional hatred against Brazil. The Bra- gilian officers, disgusted with a war in which they reap no honor, also turn towards their natural énemy, the Argentine republic. We have often foreshadowed there is much proba- bility that tho great alliance against Paraguay will wind up by a war between the allies them. selves. We published yosterday certain prelimina- ries for @ treaty of peace said to have been suggested by Lopes; but in Brazil it ts oonsid- ered doubtful if any such propositions were ever submitted to the allles by tkefr sturdy opponent. Lopez has the game ‘oo wuch im his own hands to concede anything that is not in consonance with Paraguayan policy. * Paraguay, although full of the desire to ex- tend her territorial sway to the mgnth of the Parana, is, nevertheless, the only power strug- gling for principle among the four nations engaged. She is, in fact, detending the integ- rily of her nationality and of her territory. She holds the key to the whole upper Parana and the whole of the maguificen: valley of the Paraguay river, Her overthrow by Brazil would be the worst evil that could befall La Plata valley ; for the allies would immediately commence a contest for the spoils, over which they would destroy the present prospetity of a valley which, for vast productions and com- mercial wealth, is destined to be only second to that of our Mississippi. , The attics should accept the kind offices of the United States to settle the questions between them. As the contest now goes it is ruinous to the eastern hylf of South America, which only requires the taking off of this curse of war to spring into an unprecedented commercial prosperity. The Formal Handing Over of Alneka, We publish some interesting despatches to-day descriptive of the ceremon es attending the formal delivery to the United States of Russian Amerioa, Walrussia, or Alaska, as this new acquisition is hencejorth to be known The proceedings took place at New Archangel, Captain Pestrechoff acting Commissioner im. bebalf of the Czar of all the Russias, in hand- ing over the territory, and Gvoeral Roussean acting Commissioner in receiving it, with the raising of the Stara and Swipes, in the name of the United States. Some distinguished lidies, it appears, graced the important occasion with their presence, among them the Russian Prin- cess Matsakoff, who wept audibly at the trans- fer of a part of her country’s “eacred soil’”® to tho stranger—a patriotic Princess who, we should be glad to hear, has been added to the daughters of Uncle Sam. It appears that the steamer Ossipee, in which General Roussean went ap to New Archangel—a wooden town of fisbermen and fur hunters, of abuut » thousund inbabitants— had @ narrow.escape in a heavy storm from shipwreck. From this ferocious sou’wester it seems that between fogs and storms the horrors are divided of that iron bound coast of volcanic iniets and islands backed by rug- ged mountains wrapped in perpetual snow. This archipelago, from fifty to a hundred miles wide, extends from 54-40 to the 60th degree North latitude like a pan-handle, and there, af the sky-kissing rivet of Mount St. Elias, the pan itself, or main body of Russian America, is spread out unuer the lurid spectral lights of the Arctic circle. Of this vast region we have exploring expeditioa has gone up, bat we may not, perhaps, hear from it till the long wintry night of three months in those bigh latitudes shall have passed away. 5 It is probable, however, that this pan-ban or selvage of five hundred miles long, south of Mount St. Elias, this archipelago of number- less islands, varying in size trom Bedloe’s te the magnitude of New Jersey, and of deep inlets, from the width of the Hudson to the breadth of Long Island Sound, will be worth the purchase money of all Alaska, in its min- erals, imber and fish, including the sea licn and the ivory-tusked, oil-producing walrus, the salmon and the cod. We hope to receive soon some interesting details of this sort from some of the attachés of General Rousseau’s expedi- tion ; for we cannot suppose that Mr. Seward has neglected to give all the necessary facili- ties and instructions to this end. | We trust, tao, that he will see to it that peace is preserved up there between the Yankees and our newly annexed fellow citizens of Rus- sian descent until they get accustomed to each other. Seven duels on paper among them, directly tollowing the change of the national ensign, is rather a bellicose beginning for brotherly love and harmony. We look to Mr. Seward to take care of his white elephant till we get him fairly in his new harness. Inpormation Wantep—Of the petitions ia favor of the Nicolson pavement, mysteriously “hooked” from the chamber of the Common Council. Any information sent to the Mayor's office will be thankfully received. Steumships aod Railroads—Competition vas Consolidation. A lively contest is now going on between the directors of the Atlantic Mail and New York Mail Steamship companies, on the one side, and the present directors of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company on the other, for the future control of this Pacific line. The present directors, in a card to the shareholders, earnestly appeal to them against electing these New York and Atlantic managers, broadly hinting that they are seeking in the profits of the Pacific Mail line to repair the losses of their Atlantic experiments, The Atlantic men charge the present Pacific com- pany with extravagancy, favoritism, negli- gence and bad management generally, and hold out to the shareholders the idea of larger dividends from better management under @ new board, Leaving the interested shareholders to settle this question, as we presume they will, accord- ing to the facts and the evidence, it will be seen, on turning to our advertising columns, that an opposition line to the Pacific Mail Company has entered the field on the Panama route, viz, the North American Pacific Steamship Com- pany. Competition, the old maxim says, is the life of trade ; and experience has shown that with every new line on a great business route, by land or water, the business for all is in~ creased. At all events, tho sharebolders im these rival Pacific lines will, in due time dia cover whether their interests lie in competition or combination. Meantime, while competition is the order of the day among our steamship companies, con- solidation is making giant strides emong the railway lines centring in New York. Commo- dore Vanderbilt, who in a steamship line vim Nicaragua, tried, some years ago, the experi- ment of opposition against the Panama: route, in free passage, board and morn~ ing toddy thrown in, .but who was finally compelled to give it up, hae left these salt water and steamship adventures for larger enterprises on the land and im railroads. He has thus already secured the control of the Hudson river, the Harlem and virtually the New York Central, and is weaving his wey eroupd the Erie, whigh will soop, be qlge iq