The New York Herald Newspaper, March 9, 1868, Page 4

4 4 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York HeEpatp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Volume XXXIII... AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Boston COMIQUE Bauuxr and PanToMIME TROUPE, BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway.—Sau. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—MazerPa—My Pou. AND MY PARTNER JO, A NEW YORK THEATRE, opposite New York Hotel. Nowopr's DavcuTER, FRENCH THEATRE,—TaE GRanv Docuess. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broad’ NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—The WHITE Fawn. ‘WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and 13th street.— ROSEDALE. BANVARD'S OPERA HOUSE AND MUSEUM, Broad- way and Thirtieth street.—UNOLE Tom's CABIN. NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street.—GYMNAsTics, EQuersTeianisa, &c. STEINWAY HALL.—READINGS FROM SHAKSPEARE— JULIVe Casar. KELLY & LEON’S MINSTRELS, 720 EOOENTRIOITUES, &c.—GRAND DUTOR SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 58 Broadway.—ETuI0- FIAN ENTERTAINMENTS, SINGING, DANCING, & —Homery Dourre. Eypntway.—Sonce, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Comio Vooarism, NEGRO MINSTBELOY, &c. BUTLER'’S AMERICAN THEATRE, 473 Broadway.— BALLET, FARCE, PANTOMIME, dc, BUNYAN HALL, Broadway and Fifteenth street.—TaR PILGRIM. Matinee at 2. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC. —ITALIAN OPERA— Fea Diavouo. MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— Jzesik Bkown—Ipior WITNESS. Cousin. BROOKLYN ATHENAUM, corner of Atlantic and Clin- ton strects.-SONGS OF SCOTLAND. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn.—ETHIOPIAN MINSTUELSEY—BUBLESQUE OF THE WILD FAWN. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— BOIRNOE AND ABT. New York, Monday, March 9, 1868. EUROPE. ‘Yhe news reports by the Atlantic cable is dated yesterday, March 8. By telegram we have a very full report of the speech delivered by Mr. Shaw Lefevre in the English House of Commons on the Alabama claims ques- tion extended to a point at which the cable com- munication was interrupted. A synopsis of the de- bate transmitted through the cable appeared in the HERALD yesterday. The French press clause for disfranchising editors for certain offences was rejected by the legislative body. Austria avows a policy especially friendly to Italy. By the steamship Weser we have a mail report in detail of our cable despatches to the 25th of Febru- ary. MISCELLANEOUS, Our correspondence from Hiogo, Japan, dated January 14, gives a detailed account of the death by drowing of Admiral Bell and several of the crew of the flagship Hartford. Commodore Goldsborough had assumed command of the ficet in the China seas in place of the deceased admiral. The English fleet, a8 well as the American, half-masted all their flags and fired minute guns during the funeral, which was attended by the consular oMicers of all nations, the English marine band playing a dead march. The remains were buried in the American cemetery in Hiogo. Our correspondence from St. Domingo is dated Feb- Tuary 16, The news has been anticipated by our Gulf cable telegrams. The supposition that the proposed sale of Samana was the cause of the rebellion against Cabral is considered doubtful, and it is now stated that the issue of paper money was the sole cause. The successful leaders of the rebellion are already threatened for their inability to restore specie pay- ments. The churches were generally well attended yester- day. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher preached a sermon upon the Saviour’s love for little children in Ply- mouth'chureh, Brooklyn, Previous to his'sermon he made some remarks relative to the poor of Brooklyn and requested that a collection be taken up for their benefit. In the Canal street Presbyterian church Rev. David Mitchell preached on the subject of swearing. At St. Patrick’s cathedral the Rey. Mr. Kearney de- livered a discourse on the the text, “This is my be- loved son, hear you.” Rev. Dr. Swope officiated at the Church of the Transfiguration. In the Church of the Holy Aposties, on Ninth avenue and Twenty-cighth street, Rey. Morgan Dix, rector of Trinity chapel, preached on the importance of the ministry. Bishop S. S. Snow preached in the University, opposite Washington square, on the “coming mighty earth- quake.” He said the ramblings were even now heard in Washington and in Europe, and as God was about to work terrible things He had calied him to alarm the nation. Bishop Snew is calied by those who (he Say*) speak as wise men “a crazy head.” The order of Superintendent Kennedy to the police directing them to arrest all parties “masquerading on the streets’ was not made public on Saturday aud many persons innocent of its existence were captured. A party of ladies in a coach were driven to the station house by an officer, who mounted the box for the purpose, but they were released on intl- mation of Superintendent Kennedy that he did not refer to people in coaches. Another party, more un- fortunate, were discovered on the streets and were locked up all night, The pilotboat Isaac Webb (No. 8), which left New York harbor on a cruise on the 2ist of February, re- turned on Saturday morning. During her craise she experienced the severe gale of the first four days of March, and became so badly hemmed in by ice that It was found extremely diMcult to free her. The pro- visions became scarce, and only two days’ rations remained when she returned to the harbor, An old woman named Ann Van Ranst was recently found dead in her room in Flushing, L. I., having, it Was supposed by @ coroner's jury, committed suicide by hanging. Recent developments led to the belief, however, that murder had been committed; and it is now charged that the murder was committed by her son, an only child. The Church of St. Charles Borromeo, Sidney place, Brooklyn, took fire from the heater and burned to the ground yesterday morning just before daybreak. The consecrated vessels and a portion of the sacrifl- clal garments were saved, but the paintings, sculp- ture and organ were lost with the building. The loss on the church is estimated at $20,000 and on the fur- niture at $12,000, Jt is stated in Washington that General Schofield ‘Was offered the post of Secretary of War ad interim Defore General Thomas, but that he deciwed it very politely and diplomatically. The President's counsel has been fixed upon, They have had several consultations, but are not known to have agreed upon any line of defence as yet. The Im- peachment Managers are examining reporters in re- ward to the President's speeches during his Chicago tour, A butcher in Louisville, named Kriel, yeaterday yourdered his wife by firing « pistol at her, and then Wo efforts to kill himself in the same way. He ‘Was captured without Veing much hurt, *| Unhappy Antoinette, ‘Thad Stevens Organizing a Reign of Terror. The proceedings of Congress in the impeach- ment business, and particularly the langnage | and bearing of the radical leaders, bring vividly to mind the Jacobin reign of terror during the French Revolution, When Thad Stevens, on presenting the articles of impeachment against the President, drew up his feeble frame in the attitude of a dictator and shook his finger above his head in a threatening manner towards the Senate, while fiercely exclaiming, ‘(Let me see the recreant who dares to tread back upon his steps and vote on the other side!” the history of Jacobin terrorism in the French Convention was faithfully repeated. After analyzing the vote of the Senate as a strict party one, and exulting in the prospect of there being no chance for Andrew Johnson, the ‘‘unfortunate man, the unhappy man,” escaping his doom, he exclaimed, ‘‘Point me out one (of the Senators) who dares to do _ it,” who dares to vote against my pro- gramme for deposing ‘‘the man at the other end of the avenue.” When the bold radical chiéf uttered this threatening language he evi- dently had in his mind the Girondists of- the Senate—the Shermans, the Fessendens, the Pomeroys and others in whom he had not mugh confidence, and whom he felt it necessary to whip in by the threat of party vengeance. Well may it be said that history repeats itself. It is especially so in revolutionary times. The denunciation of Andrew Johnson asa tyrant and a violator of the laws on the flimsiest pretext by Thad Stevens and others who show themselves to be the most violent tyrants, and who scout the constitution as an obsolete, wornout instrument, carries us back to the reign of the Jacobin Mountain in France. Thad Stevens’ exclamations, referring to the President, ‘Unfortunate man, thus sur- rounded, hampered, tangled in the meshes of his own wickedness! unfortunate, unhappy man, behold your doom!” reminds us forcibly of the language of Robespierre, Danton, Camille Desmoulins and Marat with regard to Louis the Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette. Unfortunate, unhappy Louis Capet, sur- rounded, hampered, tangled in the meshes of the bloody Jacobin revolutionists! unfortunate Austrian, “what chance was there, what loophole” for your escape? So alike are these revolu- tionary scenes, so similar the language, that we can hardly realize the fact that we are not reading the history of the French Revolution or that such things are occurring in our own beloved country. Yes, history repeats itself; for we are passing through a similar revolution to that of the French, to that of the English when Charles the First was beheaded, and to those of other nations when all the old land- marks were destroyed and constitutions were laughed at. Thad Stevens is a fit leader in organizing a reign of terror here. He has the boldness of Danton, the bitterness and hatred of Marat, and the unscrupulousness of Robes- pierre. Ben Wade is a suitable ally of Stevens in the revolutionary work, though a subordi- nate actor. He has the coarse and vindictive character of Marat, too, with all the agrarian and levelling theories of the most advanced revolutionist. «Sumner, another fit ally, is a visionary and sentimental theorist, conceited as Robespierre, as weak as Camille Desmoulins and as implacable as Marat. The lesser lights of the Jacobin revolutionary party—the Chand- lers, Wilsons, Boutwells, Butlers, Binghams and others—while equally as vindictive and destructive, are but the followers of the leaders. They are all of the same stamp, however, and are all bent on usurpation of power and the destruction of the old government handed down to us by the fathers, Ah, but some incredulous and over-hopeful people may say, all will come right; Andrew Johnson is not going to be hanged; the bloody scenes of the French Revolution will not be re- peated; we shall come back to law and order by and by, and so forth. Let us not deceive ourselves, History shows us that those gen- erally who inaugurate revolutions do not an- ticipate the ultimate consequences. When they start they calculate upon stopping short on attaining certain objects; but revolutions do not stop; they grow with party necessities and as partisan feeling becomes intensified. Such things as many would shudder at in the beginning of a revolution are accomplished with the greatest complacency afterwards. The very apathy and over-hopefulness of the people encourage revolutionists to more out- rageous measures. Do the American people realize the revolution they are passing through ? Is it a small thing to impeach the President of the United States and to depose him on such flimsy and ridiculous charges as the radicals have trumped up against Mr. Johnson? His worst enemies do not assail his honesty or in- tegrity. He has endeavored to perform his duty according to his understanding of it and the constitution which he has sworn to preserve. His sole offence is that he has not gone with the domi- nant party in Congress in theit efforts to Africanize the country and to revolutionize the government, Is it a small thing to remove a President for party purposes alone? Such a thing was never dreamed of before in the United States. It is an important and very long stride in the way of revolution. And who ashort time ago would have thought that a large section of the country, ten States of the Union, would be kept for years under mili- tary despotism in time of peace? Who would have thought that these States and the white people of our own flesh and blood would be put under the government of barbarous negroes? Who would have imagined that Congress would have ventured to abolish the Executive and usurp all the powers of government in its own hands? Who would have believed that a powerful faction would dare to set aside the constitution and declare it dead? Yet all this has been done, and much more, within the brief period of two or three years, Is not this revolution? Jt would be hard to find in history @ greater and more rapid revo- lution within as short a time. No, the revolution would not stop with the deposi- tion of the President. That event would only accelerate it. His removal would not be peace, as certain radical organs pretend to say. The necessities of the Ja¢obin party would impel it on to other revolutionary measures, and probably to serioug conflicts among the | people. The people Would become famiilarized with these high-handed and despotic proceed- ings, and either apathy, which is destructive to liberty, or counter-revolutions would follow, NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1868. What under other clroumstanoes and in former times would have startled them might no longer create surprise, and » reign of despot- ism or anarchy would ensue. A faction deter- mined to rule will stop at nothing when it has the power, and especially when there is fear that this power is slipping out of its hands. The military despotism over the South may be extended to the North. Some disturbance may be fomented as a plea for suspending the writ of habeas .corpus and governing the North as well as the South by the strong arm of military power. It is quite evident that the radical oligarchy now estab- lished at Washington would not stick at this or anything else to perpetuate its power. As this revolution proceeds we shall soon find our se- curities will run down abroad, that they will be sent back in vast numbers, and that both the government and country will be plunged into great financial troubles and bankruptcy. And what will become of the debt and the bondholders? Is it likely that the people will see themselves ruined by a revolutionary Congress, and then consent to bear the burden of an enormous debt? If they should it would be contrary to all experience where the people have had a voice in the matter. This is the deplorable state of things to which Congress is hurrying us on, and unless the people rise in their might at the polls and drive the radicals from power we have a disastrous future be- fore us. Disracll’s Cabinet Programme—-The Premier the Moses of England. mr. Benjamin Disraeli made his first official appearance as Premier of England in the House of Commons last Thursday evening, when he enjoyed a gratifying personal recep- tion from the members. The political prize for which he toiled during thirty-one years was in his hands; yet, ruled by that sense of mod- esty or acquired mental restraint by which his public career has been distinguished, he did not seem elated by his success. He an- nounced the change in the Cabinet, cfused by the retirement of Lord Derby, in terms of graceful compliment to his late chief, and almost deprecated the action of the Queen in imposing her commands to form a ministry on himself in words savoring of the humility of those in general use by the members of his house, particularly at the conclusion of a most excellent bargain. The soreness of class with which the extreme aristocrats were agitated, by the confession that their own ranks could not furnish a man suited for the office at such a crisis, was soothed by a statement to the effect that ‘‘the polioy of Lord Derby would be followed by the new ministry,” while Glad- stone and Bright, who sat in almost breath- less wonder at the sudden presto change which excluded the former more completely from office, had a little of the wind taken out of their already flapping sails by a general intimation that the ‘‘ domestic legislation of the new government would be a liberal one,” and that it would go on “ recognizing national traits as best securing national institutions.” To the financiers and manufacturers he promised “peace,” and to all foreign governments a ‘* generous sympathy” with their institutions. By this action Promier Disraeli caused the session of the House to pass very agreeably, sent the members home in good humor and steadied himself to an ‘effective poise on his newly acquired pinnacle. No man knows bet- ter than himself that he cannot remain there inactive for any lengthened period, and he is equally well assured that he cannot adhere to the policy of Lord Derby, for the very excellent reason that Lord Derby had no particular line of poliéy, if we except the good policy of “holding on” to office and keeping his political adversaries out in the chilly air of the lobby. Mr. Disraeli’s promise that ‘national traits” will be recognized by his Cabinet may mean a good deal or nothing; but, coming so soon after the claim which he recently advanced in his speech in Glasgow, to the effect that British reforms always proceeded from the tories, we incline to the opinion that it means a good deal, and may be elaborated under his care so as to include the restoration of Donny- brook Fair, the establishment of the Kirk of Scotland, a rood of ground for every English- man and an Englishman on every rood, with every other prominent ‘‘trait” calculated to render the inhabitants of the islands happy, with, perhaps, the single exception of that one of ‘lending money gratis,” which at one time prevailed to some extent in London. Mr. Disraeli will permit the present expiring Parliament to ‘die out” according to the undefined policy of Lord Derby ; but the scope of the political horizon of Great Britain indi- cates that the English nation is about to expe- rience a revolution in its system of executive administration and the course of its parlia- mentary legislation involving changes of the most serious character, and which are likely to eventuate in the attainment by the peoples of the islands of that degree of comfort and hap- piness—social, religious and financial—for which they have vainly struggled since the period of the grand popular effort of Watt Tyler down to the latest agitations of John Bright, Bishop Colenso, the Ritualista, Re- formers, Trades Unionists and Fenians, In Premier Disracli England has found her Moses—a man of a most ancient lineage, but sympathizing with the oppressed as kindred in suffering to his race, and who, judging from his persistent courage and perseverance, has no doubt received some extraordinary intima- tion that he was destined to be their leader and deliverer, and that he possessed all the gifts and graces necessary to qualify him for the exalted position to which Queen Victoria has been pleased to call him. As the first renowned Hebrew leader and general lived many years in the retirement of an humble every-day life before assuming power and command, so Mr. Disraeli, qualified in the almost unseen recesses of a London law office, comes forth self-made and without any of the medals or insincere logic of Oxford or Cambridge to announce to millions of Britons that the day of their political deliver- ance is at hand. That day will be the day of assemblage of the next Parliament, when the Premier will, in the Queen’s speech from the throne—her Majesty speaking as an anointed vehicle of the Word—review the situation of their country, exhort them to cheerful obedi- ence, polnt owt the doming blesslagd dnd draw their attention to the many curses which are certain to ensue from disloyalty and unfaithful- ness, and conclude by pronouncing the most solid advantages to the. ‘4ribes,” he himself taking all the while 9 most particular survey of the land from the Thames to the Mediterranean, and thence to the Hoogly and the banks of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Standing on the right of the throne, his Sinai at this glorious moment, Mr. Disraeli will overshadow every politician in England, and sit subsequently in his place during the session securely and calm, survey- ing the petty strifes of the old party men raging around him, as did his illustrious ances- tor when he sat with Aaron and Hur and watched the battle of his people with the Amalekites. These Amalekites were, we are told, of uncertain origin, just like the members of the Gladstone-Bright opposition, and we are well aware of the terrible judgments which befel them for their conduct in opposing the progress of the ‘‘chosen,” as we will soon learn how completely Disraeli will have routed his parliamentary adversaries by the exercise of his great system of Hebrew tactics carefully adapted to the occasion. As this system comes into full play John Bright will gradually disappear from the political platform, Gladstone's learning of the schools will be confounded by its simplicity, the hereditary policy of the Stanleys, the Rus- aells, the Howards and the Talbots be dissi- pated by its superior wisdom and antiquity, and all existing interests be compelled to ac- commodate themselves to the new dispensa- tion. This is just what Great Britain requires. No more tinkering or palliatives according to family recipes, but an impartial examination of the case and a clean sweep towards a radical cure. Who among the public men of Britain can accomplish this except Disraeli? Not one. He will not permit a poor man to be spit upon for the reason that he may wear a threadbare “gaberdine,” for he believes in blessings in store for the lowly; he will not see the nation emaciated by the taxgatherers of the Crown, for he knows in what unpleasant form King John applied to his own ancestors for money in the very city of London; he will not have the country distracted longer by religious broils, and will silence Cardinal Cullen, the Archbishop of Westminster, the Puseyites, Protestants, Methodists, Baptists and others by having a copy of the law as expressed in the Ten Commandants read as a standing reply to every religious deputation which may call in Downing street. Through his people he can learn the condition of the British army any day, for its officers ‘‘apply” just as frequently to them as they do atthe War Office; and who should be as popular with the navy as the direct descendant of the man for whom a sea, was “ruled” so as that “the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and the left?” He will pay the Alabama claims, as he thoroughly understands the rule of compound interest and the accumulating charges of cent per cent. Mr. Disraeli will have now measures and new men. Baron Rothschild is to be advanced a step in the English peerage—perhaps as a counsellor, like Aaron. There may be some little difficulty here; for what title will the Baron take? We at first thought of an Irish one; but this would at once revive the old difficulty between the Sons of Phenicia—in the shape of Fenians and Israelties—and thus disturb the equanimity of the great leader. No; Baron Rothschild must have a Hebrew title, which Mr. Disraeli can easily suggest from his extended acquaintance by travel in the East. In face of this new state of ,affairs the descendants of the Conqueror will soon take to useful callings and England be thus relieved of a heavy incubus. Indeed, we already perceive symptoms tending in this direction in the fact that the Prince of Wales had just had a “run with the engine” and worked well at a fire in London, and the report that Lord Pelham Clinton, who comes direct from a chamberlain of Normandy, through the Duke of Newcastle, is to retire from Parliament and appear on the stage in America, The New Hampshire Election To-Morrow. The fight in New Hampshire closes to-day, and the contending armies will begin to count up their killed and wounded to-morrow. The can- vase has been a close and hotly contested one throughout, new issues being brought forward from time t6 time by the action of the Execu- tive or Congress until the climacteric was reached on the question of the impeachment of the President. It does not appear, however, that this issue was thoroughly introduced into the campaign just closing, one of the principal conservative speakers (Senator Doolittle) de- clining altogether to discuss the subject on account of his having to take official action upon it immediately in his capacity as a mem- ber of the High Court of Impeachment. But there is no doubt that each party has made the most of the points calculated to effect their side beneficially, and we may regard the result of the election as in some, if not in an important, degree exhibiting the sentiments of the people of the State upon the whole matter of impeachment. The result will also furnish us with the opinions of the people in this pioneer race for the grand Presi- dential sweepstakes next November upon the great topics of reconstruction, taxation, the financial policy of the government, negro supremacy and the general conduct of national affairs by the radical majority in Congress. Taking as examples of the direction in which the tide of public opinion is flowing from the recent city and town elections in this and other States, there are certainly reasonable grounds for expecting that the reaction against the radicals begun last year and continuing up to the present hour has finally reached New Hampshire, and that to-morrow the people of that State will pronounce a decisive rebuke to the Congressional majority, that is fast grganiz~ ing a reign of anarchy and bringing the coun- try rapidly to the precipice of bankruptcy, repudiation and ruin. Tux IMPRACHMENT.—The two houses of Congress will resume their legislative business this morning, the impeachment being out of the way till Friday next, when President John- son's answer to the summons of the Senate may be expected. It is rumored that he will ask for twenty days’ grace in order to make up his line of defence, and that one of the first motions of his counsel will be to exclude Ben- jamin Wade, President pro tem. of the Senate, from pitting as a member of the Court of Im- | peachment, fecaass, 8 President pro tem. of the United States in expectancy, he is an in- terested party in this case iu the eye of the law. gg . ————————_— Important Lawsuit in France—Rebel Bel- We published yesterday a very interesting letter from our correspondent in Paris relative to an action which the United States have instituted before the Civil Tribunal of Paris against M. Arman, Deputy in the Corps Législatif and shipbuilder at Bordeaux; M. Erlanger, banker at Paris and son-in-law of Mr. Slidell, Confederate diplomatic agent at Paris during the late war; M. Voruz, engine builder at Nantes; M. Dubigeon, shipbuilder in the same town, and certain other persons, in order to recover from them large éums of money, exceeding three hundred and fifteen thousand pounds, received by them for ¢on- structing vessels of war for the Confederate States. The United States also claim an in- demnity of one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds for the injury they suffered from the violation of the laws of neutrality by the build- ing by the defendants of the vessels in ques- tion, These were four steamers, ‘‘ostensibly des- tined by a foreign shipowner for regular com- munication between Shanghae, Osaca, Jeddo and San Francisco,” and eventually to be sold to the governments of Japan and China, and two plated steam rams. Thanks to the inter- ference of the United States Minister to Paris, the permission which had been obtained for the arming and the departure of these vessels was revoked, and in consequence of this inter- diction two of the steamers were sold to Prus- sia and two to Peru. One of the steam rams was subsequently sold to Prussia. The other was bargained for by the Danish government, which, however, refused it after it had been completed, on account of its not fulfilling all the conditions requisite. Notwithstanding this refusal it was sent to Copenhagen, and thence, after a second refusal, to the little village of Houat, near Quiberon, in French waters; its name was changed to Olinde; two days later thirty tons of coal were sent to it from Nantes, the Danish crew which had been substituted at Copenhagen. for its French crew were con- veyed from it to Nantes and their places were supplied by a Confederate crew under Captain Page—the same crew that had served on the Confederate steamer Florida; an Eng- lish steamer put them, together with cannon and ammunition, on board the Olinde, which again received a new name— the Stonewall—and, running up the Confede- rate flag, put to sea. With its subsequent his- tory all are familiar. When stress of weather compelled it to put in at Ferrol, in Spain, the diplomatic agent of the United States called on the Spanish government to seize it; but the Spanish government declined. When it went to Lisbon a United States vessel of war, the Niagara, attempted to seize it, but was fired into by the Portuguese. Finally, at Havana, it was taken possession of by the Spanish au- thorities and given up to the agents of the United States. In the course of the diplomatic correspondence «with the French government the threat on the part of the United States gov- ernment to seize the two vessels built at Nantes if they should leave the port, even to make a trial trip, and under the French flag, led to a threat of interdicting any vessel of the United States from sojourning in French waters; 80 that this contract of Mr. Slidell, the Confede- rate agent, with his son-in-law, Mr. Erlanger, for building vessels for the Confederate service narrowly missed involving France, Spain and Portugal in direct war with the United States, and thus helping to carry out one essential part of the programme of Jefferson Davis and his counsellors at Richmond. . The object of the United States government in its demand for the restitution of the sums paid on behalf of the Confederate authorities to Messrs. Arman, Erlanger and their associates, and for the interest thereon, is, of course, not merely to recover the comparatively trifling amount of money involved, as to settle, dis- tinctly and forever, the question whether a few States or counties which may happen to rebel against the central power of the United States are entitled to the recognition of their claims as belligerents by European governments. This is the vital question at issue in the case. The Emperor of the French has listened with politer promptitude than the British govern- ment to each definite complaint which the United States have been compelled to make on account of real or apparent violation of neu- trality. But there is little doubt that a tacit understanding existed between France and Engifind from the outset of the war, and that neither would have mourned inconsolably had the war resulted in the disruption of the American Union. However this may have been, it is almost time for both those Powers to learn that it is equally important for them as for ourselves to have a just and final settle- ment of the question which is at issue alike in Alabama claims in England and in Stonewall claims in Fran Tue Breakina Up or a Roven Wrster.— From the warm sun and balmy skies of the last few days we think we may congratulate “all the people of the United States” that the rough winter of 1867-8 is ended, and that brighter days and better times are coming. The break- ing up not only of the embargoes of snow and ice on the railroads, but of the close, icebound blockades of our interior rivers, has already commenced in the West under the pressure of dissolving spring rains and swelling floods, From the East to the West there will probably be work for bridge builders and railroad and canal men with the clearing away of the winter's accumulations of ice and snow. Railroad companies should accordingly double their usual precautions against accidents from embankments washed away, Iand slips and fallen rocks, culverts caved in, bridges dis- placed or weakened, &c. Our city councils, meantime, without standing upon the ceremo- nies of the Circumlocution Office, should at once provide for a wholesale chopping up of the banks of ice which obstruct the streets right and left, lengthwise and crosswise, so that the sun and the rains may have a chance at the removal of these nuisances, if we can get rid of them In no other way, A few thousand dollars appropriated for this purpose in giving the relief of employment, even for a day or two, to a fow thousand needy workingmen, would be a most acceptable act of charity, not only to them but to the whole community, Istenvat Revettie Reokwrs,—The total internal revenue receipts since the beginning of thepresent year are reported as making the magnificent sum of $134,988,013, and the reserve of gold in the Treasury is one hundred millions, One would think that with suck Fesources under a peace establishment there ought to be an immense surplus at the end of the year after meeting all our current obliga- ‘tlons, and a relieving reduction of the national debt upon this surplus fund through -eome judicious measures of legislation, or a re- lieving reduction of these internal revenue taxes. From present appearances, however, no relief either way need be expected from this Congress. . The Southern Reconstruction Conventions. On Saturday last in the Virginia Reconstruc- tion Convention the most important proceeding was the expulsion of a Mr. Leggatt, by a vote of fifty-four to sixteen, for expressing his con- tempt and disgust of a certain proposition on disfranchisement before the Convention, and for adding, ‘‘I have a contempt for the whole establishment.” < On the same day, in the North Carolina Con- vention, the article on homesteads, including a thousand dollars’ worth of land in the exemp- tion from the sheriff, was adopted; also an article making provision for the prompt pay- ment of the State debt. On the same day the Georgia Convention resolved itself into a State nominating body, or a republican party State convention, where- upon a majority of the white delegates refused to participate, and considerable confusion and a split in the radical amp were the immediate results. Among other refractory movements Mr. Farrowe, President of the Union League, announced himself as a candidate for Governor, against Mr. Bullock, the nominee of the Con- vention. Here may be an opening for the conservatives. On the same day, in the Mississippi Conves- tion, they were engaged upon the tax ordi- nance authorizing the State Treasurer to pay the Convention warrants, and upon a resolu- tion on the petition of certain persons formerly slaves touching certain properties acquired by them in 1868-64, and of which they have been lately dispossessed by their former mas- ters. The resolution requesting General Gil- lem to order the restoration of said properties was adopted. : On the. same day, in the Louisiana Convention, the constitution being finished, the special business of the day was the signing it. -Seventy-six members of the Convention affixed their names to the docu- ment, and seven refused to sign it. A resolution was next adopted ordering the printing of ten thousand copies of the con- stitution in pamphlet form for distribution by the members. The Convention meets to- day for the election of registers. Within a month or so, it is supposed, or im season to be represented in the Republican Presidential Convention at Chicago on the 20th of May next, the work of reconstruction in all these outside States will be pushed through to the grand finale of their restoration to Con- gress, so that their votes on the basis of uni- versal negro suffrage and its radical Southern balance of power may be secured to the radicals onthe Presidential issue and in the elections for the next Congress. Jar Finanogs, tHe TaRivy AND INTERNAL Revenve Laws 1n Conoress.—Now that the House has got the impeachment question off its shoulders by transferring it in due form to the Senate, the subject of finance, tariff and internal revenue appears to have caught the attention of members. Mr. Clarke, of Kansas, and Messrs, Blaine and Lynch, of Maine, expressed the republican view of the finance question on Saturday, while Mr. Holman, of Indiana, represented the democratic ides of the matter. No doubt Mr. Holman spoke the mind of the whole Northwestern democracy when he insisted that the bondholders should have no more privilege than the industrial classes, upon whose labor the finances of the country rested. Mr. Broomall, of Penn- sylvania, made a high tariff speech, of course, in the vein of the leading interests of bis State. Byt with all this discussion we are disposed to think that Congress has no inten- tion whatever of doing anything in regard to the important subject of finance nor any other grave question. Impeachment and quarrels with the President are going to occupy all its time for the purpose of diverting public attention from the great financial questions of specie payments, currency, national banks and the odious internal revenue laws and income tax. Tug Two Dromios—Stanton, the Secretary ~ of War, who, by the “advice and gonsent of the Senate,” holds the Department, and Thomas, who, by the appointment of the President, sits as Secretary of War in the Cabinet councils. POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE, ‘The election in Shelby county, Tenn., on Satarday resulted in the defeat of the democrats by an esti+ mated majority of from 600 to 1,000, The municipal election in Louisville, Ky., on Satur- day resulted in the success of the whole democratia ticket, The Columbia (S. C.) Phantz thinks the month of March, 1868, will, it is expected, exhibit two wonder- ful events—the trial of Jefferson Davis for insisting that the Southern States were out of the Union and the trial of Andrew Johnson for insisting that they are in the Union. Politics are getting quite exciting in North Caro- lina, The Raleigh Standard (radical) is particularly rabid. One article in a recent issue is headed “ » the Branded Liar.” Another, “A Cowardly Scoundrel,” in which a certain person is denounced as “a liar, scoundrel and poltroon,” and the declaration is made that “this mark shalt be branded on his brow.’ Still another article is headed “A Public Liar! and in it ———-—— is charged with being an “ infamous and public liar”— the paragraph closiny th this significant remark:— “The people of this State know that we say what wo mean." Phis is all occasioned by a charge that the senior editor of the Standard “incifed assassing against President Lincoln," an accusation calculated to arouse Lie ire of almost any Union man in the country. FIRE IN SACO, MAINE. Saco, March 8, 1868, An Incendiary fire here last night destroyed Hill's market house, Libby's barber shop, Dr. Granv’a drag store, Dra, Snow and Libby's offices and Gur- ney's grocery store. Loss $10,000, Mr. Gurney is Insured for $1,200 in the National Insurance Company of Boston, There are no other insurances on property destroyed. TEMPERANCE MEETING IN POUGHKEEPSIE. Povankrersiz, N. Y., March 8, 1968, Alarge temperance meeting took piece here to« night. The great temperance revival which com- menced here over @ year ago continues with much vigor. Fifty persons signed the pledge to-night, One-half of the firemen of the city are members of the Father Mathew Temperance society. Ee aga AREMGER Hy Tae peed IN MAINE.We learn that th ehdck of all earthquake was felt in the vicinity o Damariscotia on Saturday afternoon last, at abou§ five o'clock, for several miles upon the river and prob. | ably all through that section of the country, 1 wae / attended with a rumbling noise, similar to that of @ pi Ryd passing ‘over the frozen gtound,— Pordand Argus, March 1 %