The New York Herald Newspaper, March 26, 1868, Page 6

{NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway.—Joz. NEW YORK THEATR! New York Hotel.— beastie. mp ennai, Mie Fer FRENCH THEATRE.—La BRLLE HELENE. OLYMPIC THEATRE, 1 NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Taz WHITE Fawn. roadway.—HuMPtTy DUMPTY, ~ WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and 18th street.— ROSEDALE. ) BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Srot.en Ca1Lp—Doo “OF THE OLD STONE Cn0Ss—STAGE STRUCK YANKEE. BANVARD'S OPERA HOUSE AND MUSEUM, Broad: ay and Thirtieth sireet.—Rir VAN WINKLE, dc. NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street,—Grunastics. “EQUESTRIANISN, &c. ) THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—BaLuer, PaRor, Os, ) KELLY & LEON'S MINSTRELS, 720 Broadway.—Son@t 8) EcorntRicit1e8, &c.—Geanp Dutow “Ss.” ' SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 585 Broadway.—Ern10- PLAN ENTERTAINMENTS, SINGING, DANCING, &c. Vi TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Comio ‘Wooa.isu, NEGRO MINSTRELSY, &e, + BUTLER'S AMERICAN THEATRE, 472 Broadway.— (BALLET, FARCE, PANTOMIME, &c. puywovre CHURCH, Brooklyn.—OLe BULL's GRAND oxornTs, “MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— RicwarRy Ll, ‘ HOOLEY’S OPERA HOUSE. Brooklyn.—ErmiorraNn ‘MINGTRELSEY—BUBLESQUE OF THE WILD FAWN. ' NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— (GCIENOE AND AnT. TRIPLE SHEET. \ New York, Thursday, March 26, 1868. = ne CONGRESS. In the Sénate yesterday a bill-to provide a tem- aah and provisional government for Alabama was ‘introduced and referred. The Pacific Railroad bill was taken up, and went over on the expiration of EE morning hour, and the report of the Committee n Rules was considered, and after some laughable {discussion was adopted. The Army Appropriation i recently passed was reconsidered and referred. ‘A inessage from the President was received vetoing fthe bill abolishing appellate jurisdiction in the upreme Court. On a motion to postpone considera- ‘ion of the message it was agreed to devote to-day ‘o discussion on it, with the understanding that a vote shall be taken before adjournment. }. In the House the Senate amendment to the bill ex- xempting certain manufactures from @ tax was sidered at length and the bill, with additional endments, was passed. The Pacific Railroad jTariff bill was then taken up, but a vote on a motion ‘to refer it disclosed the fact that there was no ‘quorum present, and the House adjourned. THE LEGISLATURE. In the Senate yesterday bills were reported author- ‘izing railroads in avenue © and elsewhere, and aking more stringent the laws relative to the storage of combustible material. The bills incor- \porating the New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey Pneumatic Company and authorizing the construc- Pion of a tunnel under East river were reported ad- ‘versely and the reports were agreed to. The bill in- jcorporating the Highland Suspension Bridge Com- any Was passed. huis were introduced relative to the directors of the Erie Railroad, authorizing {the construction of a railroad from South ferry to the (Grand street ferry, and authorizing the constraction f an elevated railway from the Battery to Central ark. 4 In the Assembly, the articles of impeachment ‘against Canal Commissioner Robert C. Dorn were ‘adopted by a vote of 108 to none, and a committee seven was appointed as a Board of Managers. e Senate amendments to the bill abolishing the anal contract system were non-concurred in, and ‘the bill was ieferred. Bills were reported for the ‘etter protection of emigrants and relative to the use piers. EUROPE. The news report by the Atlantic cable is dated yesterday evening, March 25. The South German delegates from Wurtemburg to the German Zolverein are opposed to the policy of (Prussia. The French legisiative session was ad- Journed after the bill regulating public meetings was passed. The British House of Commons passed the Dill abolishing church rates. Prince Napoleon visited Prussia, it is said, with the object of conferring with the signers of the treaties of 1815 on the subject of the proposed absorption of Poland by Russia in “violation” of the treaties. Consols 9334 a 9334. Five-twenties 72% in London ‘and 7534 in Frankfort. Cotton active, with middling uplands at 10%. @readstufts slightly advanced. Provisions and pro- duce without marked change. By the steamship Allemania we have an interest- ing mail report from Europe to the 13th of March. The Paris Moniteur of the 12th inst. states the working of the new army bill as satisfactory, but adds:—One single deplorable exception has taken ‘place at Toulouse, where some tumultuous demon- ‘strations occurred in the evening of the 10th inst., ‘but were soon terminated by the energetic attitude ‘assumed by the authorities. The presence in these gatherings of well known agitators and strangers to the operation of revision sufficiently attests that ‘the operations were simply made a pretext for a dis- turbance. MISCELLANEOUS. Our special telegrams from Mexico are to March 19. ‘The case of the British steamer Danube, which was recently engaged in smuggling at Vera Cruz, is under consideration both in the Cabinet and Con- eress. A heavy fine was imposed upon the vessel ‘and the captain is to be imprisoned if he returns to ‘Vera Cruz. The Yucatan expedition had all returned. It has been declared officially that no more of the Spanish debt is outstanding. Lopez, the betrayer of ‘Maximilian, has been arrested, and the judiciary have declared unconstitutional the law under which Maxamilian was executed. A telegraph line from Ban Luis Potosi to Matamoros is projected. The clergy refuse to confess patients who occupy confis- cated convents, The State Senate Special Committtee continued taking testimony in the Erie Railroad controversy ‘yesterday at the State capital. David Groesbeck, H. Rt. Pierson and others were examined. Mr. Heath, ‘Mr. Drew's broker, was subponed, but refused to appear, | Inthe Virginia Convention yesterday a resolution ‘was introduced to investigate charges against Judge Underwood, the President, who is accused of offering ‘Dribes for the establisiment of a strong republican party in Virginia. In the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature yesterday the bill withdrawing the consent of New Jersey to the ratification of the fourteenth article of the constitution was passed over the veto of the Governor, The general Railroad bill was lost by a ‘vote of 6 to 11, upom a reconsideration in the Sen- ate. The Governor has vetoed the bill repealing the Sunset law. The steamer Morro Castle, Captain Adams, from Yiavana March 21, arrived at this port yesterday. Lier news has been anticipated by our special Cuba cable telegram. On the 19th inst, Mr, William Cleggett, of Baltimore, Md., died at Havana, The American ‘Consul took charge of his personal effects. A few new cases of cholera te announced at Matanzas. No Clean bills of health are now issued at that port. San Francisco experienced a shock of earthquake on Tuesday, ‘The Kansas republicans favor Grant and Pomeroy. A coe ls pending in the Memphiy gourty whieh | ‘NEW, ‘YORK HERALD, .THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1868—TRIPLE SHEET. else sign his name officially. The Jury on the tate disaster on the Long Island returned a verdict yesterday consur- ing the company. » ~ : The case @ Hatch vs. the Rock Island, Chicago and Pacific Company was up again yester- day in the Staves Ciroutt Court, before Judge Blatchford, ¢n motion to restrain the defendants from @road, and demanding that they shall call tn 4 certain amount of stock. Counsel was heard in o| to the injunction, after which the court ‘to this morning. The NorthGerman Lioyd’s steamship New York, Captain Dreyer, will sail from Hoboken to-day (Thursday) about two o'clock P, M., for Bremen, via Southampton. The mails for Europe will close at the Post Office at twelve o'clock M, The stock market was weak and unsettled yester- day. Governinent securities were dull. Gold closed ‘at 13834. The Presijiential Question—Another Mani. festo from Mr. Chase. The special organ of Chief Justice Chase, as a politician, is the Cincinnati Gazeite. The opinions which it advances from time to time as to his views and position in reference to the political issnes and parties of the day are vouchsaféd with the air and tone of one who speaks by authority. After the last October Ohio election, for instance, our readers will re- member that from the journal in question we published a manifesto in behalf of Mr. Chase, the particular object of which was to clear him of the responsibility for the decisive defeat of the radicals in said election on the test question of universal negro suffrage. In this defence of the Chief Justice it was contended that he had had nothing to do with this negro suffrage issue in Ohio, and that, in short, instead of being a radical he was a conservative republican. This manifesto, however, did not save him in the New York November election, in which the re- publicans, under the management of the radi- cal faction, were made to understand that the availability of Mr. Chase as their Presidential candidate was the main question in the can- vass. Upon this issue a democratic majority on the State ticket of some fifty thousand was decisive against the radical favorite of that day, and subsequent events rapidly brought General Grant into the foreground as the universal republican favorite, including the New York radicals. The Grant-Johnson correspondence and the New Hampshire election settled the |}: last doubts upon this point, even in the mind of Mr, Chase himself, This conviction to him came with the force of a stunning blow; forit upset and demolished all his Presidential plans and calculations of eight years of active engineesing. In 1864, for the republican nomination, he made an earnest and vigorous fight against Abraham Lincoln. With the leaders of the party he had made pro- mising headway ; but in the Convention he was nowhere against the popular pressure in favor of ‘‘Honest Old Abe.” Mr. Chase submitted and fell into line, as Mr. Seward gave way to Fremont in 1856. But crushing as was Seward’s disappointment in being superseded again in 1860, it was not, perhaps, felt more keenly by him, though his last chance, than is this other second disappointment felt by Mr. Chase. There is a limit to the Presidential hopes of every aspirant, which the party concerned, as the time approaches, seldom fails to discover. Thus Martin Van Buren, who gave way to Polk in 1844, looked for his reward in the democratic nomination of 1848, and in being cut out again he saw that his last chance with the democracy was gone. He felt that he had been trifled with, and that nothing was left him but to settle his outstanding balance against his party in the defeat of Cass; and it was so settled. In 1852, in being overtopped by General Scott in the Whig Convention, Mil- lard Fillmore doubtless expected his reward in 1856; but then, in being superseded by Fre- mont, he adopted the independent retaliation ticket of Van Buren, and with a similar result. Now, from this Cincinnati manifesto in behalf of Chief Justice Chase we perceive thai his disappointment is analagous to that of Van Buren and that of Fillmore, and that on certain conditions he is prepared to accept the suffrages of the opposition against the ticket of his own party, with which but yesterday he stood as chief apostle. Such is the whirligig of party politics, The party does not hesitate to throw this or that leader overboard to save the ship, and the leader does not, upon the pinch, hesitate to desert the sinking ship to save himself. The Chief Justice, in falling a party victim to radical expediency, may properly act upon the idea that he is free to take his own course. His Cincinnati organ tells us that there is no ground for supposing that Mr. Chase would abandon his life-long principles even for an elec- tion to the Presidency ; but—and there is much virtue in a but—there is some ground of differ- ence between him and the republicans of Con- gress on the military features of the reconstruc- tion laws, although this is the only difference. “He fs and always has been a strong advocate of (not universal, but) impartial suffrage ;” and on the money question ‘“‘he is in favor of pay- ing the debt honestly, as was intended when it was created,” and ‘‘in favor of appreciating the value of greenbacks, and not of depreciating them by a further issue.” Finally, if the democrats ‘should nominate him on his own platform he would probably accept, though he has never said as much.” “‘If he should by any possibility be placed in that position the only issue in the approaching campaign would be simply that of men;” for the platforms of both parties would be virtually the same. Now, as in striking out ‘‘the military fea- tures” of the Reconstruction laws we knock the whole system on the head, and as in substi- tuting impartial for universal suffrage we abolish the radical programme of Southern negro supremacy, there would appear to be no impassable chasm between Mr. Chase and the democracy on this business. On the financial question we think he is also within speaking distance of Messrs, Belmont, Barlow, Seymour and the managing moneyed democratic mana- gers of the East, though widely separated from Mr. Pendleton and the Western democracy. This manifesto of Mr. Chase, then, we may accept as his first bid for the democratic nomi- nation. If it should strike the fancy of Messrs. Belmont and Barlow we may hear from the Cincinnati Gazette something more to the pur- pose in gnother manifesto, Meantime, as Mr. Chase has shown bow easily the two parties in this coming Presiden- tial contest may be brought to fight substan- tially upon the same platform, why may not turns on th¢ right of ‘the Governor to have some one | Admiral Farragut, repeat in 1868 the battle and the victory of 1852, in beating the enemy with their own weapons? The republican party has fulfilled its mission—the abolition of slavery—the mission of tearing down the old system of things. In undertaking to rebuild upon a foundation of quicksands all its labors 80 far have been profitless. A new party will have to come to the rescue of the government in this work of reconstruction, this year, or two or four years hence in the. national elec- tions. Why not this year? © Why not prepare at once to convene all the opposition elements in a national convention, in view of a new na- tional party and a new opposition departure, with the removal of President Johnson and upon the hints thrown out in this Chase manifesto of im- partial suffrage and the abolition of the radical military system of reconstruction, leaving the money question to regulate itself for a while? Under such a reorganization of the opposition forces, neutralizing all the issues and wiping out all the party lines of the war, we have no doubt that the present loosely bound materials of the republican party would melt away like snow before the sun. Title and Powers of the Chief Justice. In the once popular burlesque of ‘‘Poca- hontas” the last scene was made a political allegory by the introduction of certain charac- ters bearing the flags and having on their shields the names of all the different States. At first they marched harmoniously together, but gradually bickerings arose, and the North- ern States drew off on one side of the stage, while the Southern States arrayed themselves in line of battle on the other. Then rushed in between them a parti-colored creature em- blematic of slavery—black as night on one side of the body, white as snow on the other—carry- ing a flaming torch, and with dissénsion between the opposing sections for his object. To the Northern States was turned a side of blackest horror, while to the Southern States the hue of this strange creature was white and stainless as the plumage of a swan. We all know the sequel. It has been written in the blood of half a million men and monu- mented in their graves—the moral of this alle- gory being that in all important controversies the respective parties shall at least commence by trying to understand the general character of the issue about which their dispute has arisen, _ It is in this view that the exact position oc- eupied by the Hon. Salmon P. Chase in the trial of President Johnson, now pending, be comes a matter of the highest moment. By the counsel for the defence, and by all the Senators who affect respect for the constitu- tion, Mr. Chase is invariably addressed by his constitutional title of “Mr. Chief Justice,” while by Senator Sumner and the radical Sena- tors in general, as also by the seven Managers of Impeachment from the lower House, every vestige of the judicial character and authority is now sought to be stripped away from the Chief Justice of the United States, and he is continually addressed by the senseless title of “Mr. President,” Bottled Butler endeavoring to improve on this want of due respect by always referring to the said Chief Justice under the purely impersonal and rather contemptu- ous designation of ‘‘the Chair.” “‘If the Chair will allow me,” says Bottled Butler; ‘‘the Chair must see,” and so forth. It is not becoming the dignity of Mr. Chase and the sanctity of our highest ermine, nor is it just to the defendant, nor in obedience to the constitution, nor in conformity with the re- spect due to our court of last appeal, that any question shall continue to exist in regard to the exact capacity and function held by the Chief Justice of the United States in the trial of President Johnson. It is not a ques- tion of mere words, but vitally af- fects the character of the tribunal and the powers of its highest officer.. To the Jacobins who are now plotting the removal of the President at all hazards, with or without evidence, and on charges of an utterly frivolous nature, it is the first essential of their des- perate scheme that the Chief Justice shall at once be stripped of all his judicial and there- fore potential attributes. To accomplish this the revolutionists of our national Senate, in violation of all the early authorities on this momentous issue, have refused to call them- selves a “court” while sitting for the trial of President Johnson. They have also refused to recognize Mr. Chase in his character of Chief Justice—the only character, by the way, under which he has any right to participate in their proceedings. And, indeed, under the rules of trial which these conspirators have established it will not be ‘‘of the slightest con- sequence,” as Mr. Toots would say, whether Mr. Chase shall be addressed as ‘‘Chief Jus- tice,” “Mr. President,” or be simply referred to by Bottled Butler with ill-disguised con- tempt as “‘the Chair ;” for under every title he will be utterly powerless and a worse than nullity if he shall have so poor and mean a spirit as to let his high office be thus degraded without protest and vigorous recalcitration. We think it the clear duty of President John- son’s counsel to raise this issue at the earliest possible moment, so that we may know whether it is before a Court of Impeachment the Prest- dent of the United States is now being tried, as prescribed by the constitution, or whether our national Chief Magistrate is being done to official death by an informal and revolutionary body of partisan Senators who have cast off all restraints of law, all respect for their oaths and all semblance of deference for the highest regu- lar judicial tribunal in the land. If Mr. Chief Justice Chase shalltamely submit to the fet- ters sought to be imposed upon his judgment and action by the ‘“‘rules of trial” which the Jacobins of our Senate have adopted, he will indeed deserve to be called ‘the Chair;” for he will have no more practical power or voice in guiding the trial over which it is his duty to “preside” than any other article of dumb furniture in the Senatorial chamber. Let him, therefore, at once raise the question of his proper title by ignoring any Senator or Man- ager for the House who shall address him other- wise than as “Mr. Chief Justice ;” and in the side issue thus raised and to be argued we shall obtain @ practical solution of the problem now before the country—whether it is beforea revolutionary and illegal tribunal of Senators who have resolved themselves into a Jacobin club, or before such a High Court of Impeach- ment as is provided for in this case by the con- stitution and laws of the United States that | President Jobnson is now being tried. This is ue from Judge Chase to the previous dignity of his own character; and unless he shall take this step, and take it speedily, he will stand in much danger of becoming the reproach and derision—the ermined sphinx or Bar- numitical “What Is It’—of the Supreme Court bench, ‘The Herald and the Abyssinian Expedition— Newspaper Revolution in England. The legislators, stockjobbers, newspaper men and people of England generally have ex- perienced a new and intensely exciting sensa- tion by the publication in the London Times of a special telegram from the New York HeERALp correspondent attached to the British military expedition in Abyssinia, forwarded to our general news agent in London and fur- nished in copy to the editors in Printing House square through the courteay of that gentleman when én ¢ransitu for transmission by the Atlan- tic cable to New York. This telegraphic war reportof the HzRap, dated at Antalo on the 15th of February, con- tained highly important intelligence to the effect that although Major General Napier was engaged in negotiating an alliance with the powerful native chief Kassai, of Tigre, peace was doubtful; that the British advance was then in the enemy’s country or within his lines, that all stragglers from the corps were killed, that three British officers were missing, that Theodorus was advancing at the head of thirty thousand men, and _ that the Abyssinians mutilated the bodies of the dead—as is customary with them in time of war—in a horrible manner. In fact, our special correspondent conveyed in this des- patch the very first distinct indication which was had in Europe of the assurance that the Abyssinian king will fight before he surren- ders his prisoners, and that General Napier’s army is engaged in a very hazardous duty in the prosecution of a critical enterprise. The London Zimes printed the skeleton despatch— or telegram stenographic notes, as we may eall them—of our correspondent in its issue of the 5th of March, simultaneous with its appearance in this city copied in full from the abbrevia- tions in the columns of the Heraxp, prefacing the matter thus :—‘‘ We have been favored by the correspondent of the New York HERALD in London with the following despatch.” By our enterprise and professional compli- ment the Heratp placed the London Times ahead of the British government, the British War Office and other London papers, and elevated that journal in the matter of early news, for that one occasion, to the same posi- tion which the Heratp has so long occupied over its contemporaries on this side of the At- lantic. Horse Guards did not know of the situation in Abyssinia, Parliament had not heard of it, the Stock Exchange could not turn @ penny on Theodorus, the people were ignorant of what they were likely to get in return for the expenditure of the first four out of twenty millions of pounds sterling, and as for the Queen, of course her Majesty could not be better informed than the Commander-in-Chief and the London Z'mes. When England sat down to breakfast on the morning of the 5th of March the case was en- tirely different. The nation had experienced a quiet and healthy revolution in the all-im- portant matter of newspaper conduct and the effects produced by the working of a really live newspaper. The Head of the Church saw at once that her missionaries were in a truly apostolic danger, and that the evangelization of the Abyssinians was likely to prove almost as costly and tedious as the Christianizing of Britain. Horse Guards was informed from General Napier’s camp that fighting on the banks of the Sutlej was quite different work from fighting at the base of the Mountains of the Moon and in the ravines around Magdala. The income tax collectors ruled their columns for the collection of that extra penny war tax; the Parliamentary opposition became more bold, and the Stock Exchange experienced a regular “ruck” of ups and downs. The agitation extended, and it may be fairly claimed that Great Britain was just as completely roused by the publication of this single special telegram to the Hrrarp in the columns of the London Times as it was a few days before when Queen Victoria sent for Mr. Disraeli and commissioned the literary Israclite to form a Cabinet, thus proclaiming from the throne that the blood of the Norman barons had failed, and that henceforth she would not have hereditary Premiers any more than she would have hereditary costumers or milliners. Each event constituted a revolu- tion; the one a revolution in the science of government, and the other a revolution in the cognate science of conducting a newspaper. John Bull proper did not, however, under- stand all this; perhaps does not comprehend it even now. ‘Alf and ‘alf and pipe,” fre- quently repeated, failed to enlighten the old fogies of the London press. Some of the writers, as will be seen by the extracts from the London press which we publish to-day, would not believe the Hgratp's report; the aristocratic organ, the London Post, sneered slightly at the intelligence; others thought it serious, if true, and all of them appear to have forgotten that the day of carrier pigeons, spe- cial brigs from Calais, and couriers from fields like Waterloo have been superseded by steam and electricity, by those who have the intelli- gence and spirit to render these agents subsi- diary to the spread of intelligence and their own business purposes. Mr. Disraeli, the new Premier, estimated the Heratp's news at its proper value, without doubt, Disraeli has full faith in the indestruc- tibility of his race; so of course he was not surprised to learn that, coincident with his own triumph in obtaining possession of the great seal of England, Theodorus, a sable descend- ant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, should hold out in war like a monarch and a man of mettle, Mr, Disraeli’s people are very numerous in Abyssinia, Indeed, the first Chris- tian mission of the present day to that country, patronized by the late King of Prussia, was sent there under the auspices of the ‘ Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews,” with Bishop Gobat, a German Swiss, at its head; so that what between Premier Disraeli and the Hxratv’s special correspondents the people of England will soon learn something about the African territory, its biblical lore, {te roads, mountains, rivers, trenches and can- non—a fact which is duly attested by our very latest special telegram from Antalo, just pub- lished. Enterprise like this develops the true mis- of isolation by country, it cares for the well being of humanity, and becomes a universal instructor. Common Sense in the New Dominion. ment. Itis said, however, that he did not During the debates in the Provincial Parlia- ment on Tuesday Sir John A. McDonald fur- nished gratifying proof of the fact that common sense still reigns in the new Dominion. In reply to the inquiry of Mr. Mill whether any demand had been made on United States government for compensation for property destroyed by the Fenians during the raid of June, 1866, Sir John said that there was no correspondence between the government of the new Dominion and the imperial government asking for such compensation; He added that the government of the United States had its own difficulties, and had perhaps exercised its power with reference to the hostile organiza- tions in question as strongly and speedily as could be done with due regard to ultimate results, He also said that the Canadian government had implicit confidence in the good faith of the United States government towards Canada. He alluded also to the causes of irritation which the United States has on account of the Alabama and other vessels that were fitted out in England, and de- clared, in the name of the Canadian government, that, considering ‘this was a matter of angry discussion, it was not desirable to add fuel to the flames by sending our demand for com- pensation, It should be remembered that there were incursions which we could not prevent from Canada to the United States, the St. Albans raid and the proceedings of Lake Erie. The government of Canada would see that full claim for compensation would be put in through her Majesty's government, to be considered in settlement in cross account for compensation between the two nations.” With reference to the rendition of the leader of the Fenian in- vasion of Canada Sir John A. McDonald said that no demand had been made for the rendi- tion of those who came across the frontier and escaped back. ‘The government thought that to vindicate the law it was sufficient to deal with those who had been captured with arms in their hands.” The common sense views expressed by Sir John A. McDonald augur favorably for the continuance of friendly relations between the new Dominion and the United States. The Last Presidential Veto. The President yesterday returned to the Senate, with his objections, the Judiciary bill passed by both Houses of Congress a few days ago, in which jurisdiction is taken from the Supreme Court of the United States in certain cases, including all that would be likely to test the Reconstruction laws. The veto message is quite brief, but calm, dignified and dispas- sionate in its arguments. Mr. Johnson calls attention to the injury the bill will inflict upon citizens who may believe that the inferior courts have not done them justice, and he affirms that it appears as if the object in pass- ing the measure was to prevent a decision on the constitutionality of certain laws, from a knowledge that they are unconstitutional. He warmly eulogizes the Supreme Court as a tribunal whose decisions have never been in- fluenced by partisan consideration, but by their invariable adherence to justice and im- partiality have won for the judges the respect and confidence of the whole people. The short, though earnest and able defence by the President of the right of the people to appeal to the highest judicial tribunal of the land, will have but little effect upon the radical majority in both houses of Congress. The time has passed when argument can con- vince them of the dangerous precedent they are about to establish by taking away jurisdic- tion from the court and thus preventing it from deciding whether the Reconstruction laws are constitutional or not. It is, therefore, proba- ble that the bill will be passed over the veto by both branches of the national legislature to-day. Jere. Black Missing—A Guano Island and a Very Curious Case. For the last two years the most conspicuous and the most constant, if not the most useful, of the President's volunteer legal advisers has been the Hon. Jere. Black, of Pennsylvania. He was, too, among the first and most zealous in tendering his services to Mr. Johnson in this impeachment; but strangely enough he does not appear on the trial among the President's counsel. ‘‘And thereby hangs a tale.” Mr. Black, it appears, is of the counsel em- ployed by certain Baltimore claimants to a little guano island—Alta Vela—near the coast of Dominica, to which Dominica has put in a claim of sovereignty. The case is briefly this:—Some two or three years ago these Balti- more claimants, or a party whose rights they represent, discovered that on this little unin- habited outlying island of Alta Vela there wasarich mine of guano, Finding that no State and nobody laid claim to the island these men (citizens of the United States) planted their national flag upon it and inthe name of the United States took possession. Having thus established their pre-emption right they proceeded to dig out and ship off the guano, The chiefs of the republic of Dominica, how- ever, got wind of it, and finding there was money in the enterprise forcibly expelled these intruders and took possession of the island in the name of said republic, and next proceeded to make it all right with the govern- ment at Washington. It appears, too, that they secured a recognition of their claim to the island from Mr. Seward, on the basis of a com- promise that an American company should have the privilege of working out that guano, Next, it appears that the company installed under this privilege were Mr. Thurlow Weed and company, and that they have found the guano of Alta Vela as profitable as a first class whiskey speculation. The original claimants vainly protested to the administration against this treatment, until, as & last resort, they laid their case before Congress and demanded an investigation. The House of Representatives accordingly called for the papers from the State Department, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, we under- stand, have the papers now under consider- ation, Now we reach the explanation of Mr. Black’s withdrawal from President Johnson's counsel in this impeachment trial, Mr. Black is charged with the prosecution of the case of these origigal claimants (9 Alta Yolaj Mr. retire until he had vainly tried the. sine qua non that the President should send down & requisition in a ship of war to demand the restoration of Alta Vela to his clients. This is a curious case and evidently a big job, or Thurlow Weed would not be in it. Free wool, steamboats, railroads, army or corporation contracts, whiskey or guano, wherever there isa big, job look into itand you will find that Thurlow has a finger in the pie. The withdrawal of Mr. Black from this im peachment case, however, gives a blue look te this guano job of Alta Vela ; for Mr. Black has a keen eye for the main chance, ‘The Western Union Telegraph Company and Its Commercial Agency. The attemptof the Western Union Telegraph Company to secure a monopoly of the lines all over the country has been mainly incited by the desire to make money outside the legitimate business of telegraphing by controlling com- mercial intelligence, peddling it out or trading upon it before it becomes known to the public. For this purpose the managers have sought to exercise authority over the press; to make their own employés the agents for the col- lection and transmission of news; to establish marine and commercial agencies of their own, and to make newspapers as well as individuals entirely dependent upon them for reports and information of every description calculated to affect prices. We have already fully exposed the evils of this attempted monopoly, and have shown that a telegraph line thus operated would be a serious injury to commerce instead of a great public benefit. The Western merchants are beginning to feel the danger and annoyance of this policy of the Western Union monopoly, and to under- stand that the control of commercial news by the telegraph company is calculated to work much injury to individuals and to leave busi- ness men at the mercy of speculators. We publish to-day the preamble and resolution om this subject adopted a few days ago by the Chicago Board of Trade and the comments of a Chicago paper on the subject of the Western Union Commercial News Agency. It is charged that the company keep back private commercial despatches and forward those of their own agency, not only for the purpose of compelling business men to patronize the agency, but also to enable parties to use the news for thelr own benefit in advance of its circulation among the subsori- bers. The Chicago Board of Trade declare’ their determination to do all in their power to promote the success of the Pacific and At- lantic line, which is about to be completed to Chicago, and other contemplated opposition lines. It will not be long before every news- paper and every merchant in the country will recognize the necessity of opposition in the telegraph business, and will do all in their power, by subscription of capital and in the distribution of their patronage, to encourage and foster all competing lines. The Erle Railrond War. The Erie Railroad battle still rages furiously in the Legislature at Albany and in the Execu- tive chamber at Trenton, although there is « temporary lull in the fight in the courts. The judges appear to have come to the wise.con- clusion that they are doing the bench no ser- vice in interposing between the opposing forces, and by common consent they have ceased firing their paper bullets and await the result of the bill now pending at the State capital to legalize the issue of the ten million’ new stock by the Erie Company to complete their six feet track to Chicago. In the mean- time the order of Judge Clerke has, after some difficulty, been served on Mr. Osgood, enjoining him from acting in any manner as receiver of the proeeeds of the ten million stock, and a card has been issued by the president and treasurer of the Erie board, from their stronghold in Jersey City, absolutely denying the statement that the one hundred thousand shares of the new stock were issued without the surrender :| of an equal amount of convertible bonds, and without the proceeds of such bonds having been paid into the treasury, and asserting positively that the whole amount of ten million dollars convertible bonds was issued and sold, and the proceeds were actually paid into the treasury ofthe company, and that not a dollar of the new stock has been issued except upon the sur- render of an equal amount of such convertible bonds. These are the only new features in the case worthy of notice, except that the Legislature and lobby at Albany are anticipating » glorious time and a bountiful harvest in the plucking of the rich geese now in that market, and that the Legislature and lobby at Trenton are in de- spair at finding that by the hasty passage of the pill granting large powers to the Erie Railway Company in that State they have unconsciously deprived themselves of as promising and profit- able a contest as that now being waged in Albany. An attempt was made in one of the * New Jersey houses to get back the bill; but to the dismay of the lobby it could not be done, and it remains with the Governor for his action. The impression appears to be that he will sign it, and that the Trenton lobby will be denied any taste of the spoils and go home hungry and disappointed. Thus the only par- ties that are likely to be benefited by the war are the lawyers of this city who are retained on one side or the other, and the hotels, saloon keepers, washerwomen and bootblacks at Albany, who now stand some chance of getting paid up by the members ond the lobby, pro- vided that they are sharp enough to secure the settlement of their bills before a stampede from the capital takes place. _ The College of the City of New York. There is @ bill now before the Assembly at Albany to appropriate money for the erection of a new building for the College of the City of New York, an institution long known as the «Free Academy,” and remembered as their “Alma Mater” by many young men who could not aspire to the honors of @ graduate at Harvard, Yale or Cambridge, The sum asked for is thirty thousand dollars, to be raised by yearly tax, The Legislature, during {ts hun- dred days’ existence, is asked for many appro- priations fox worse purpgaes {han this, It in, y eee