The New York Herald Newspaper, December 29, 1868, Page 6

6 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR ‘All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches “must be addressed New York HERALD. Volume XXXII. seeeee Noe 364 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.Jack SHEPPARD— MaGio FLUTE. FRENCH THEATRE. Fourteenth street and Sixth ave- nue,—GENEVIEVE DE BRABANT—BARBE BLEUE. PIKE'S OPERA HOUSE, corner of Eighth avenue and 28d street.—CHANSON DE FORTUNIO—LES BAVARD#. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Humpry DcMPrTY. ‘with NEW FEATURES, guapaowax THEATRE, Broadway.—Tot EMERALD NG. NEW YORK THEATRE, Broadway.—Tu® BURLESQUE oF BARBE BLEURBELLE HELENE, MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn. ALADDIN. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and 18th street.— Two CaN PLAY aT TuaT GAME—FOLLIE6 OF « NIGHT. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—APTsn DARK; oR, Lon- DON BY Nieut. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC.—Miss MaGGrE MITCHELL INT LITTLE BAREFOOT. WOOD'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE, Thirtieth street and Broadway.—Afternoon and evening Performance. UNION LEAGUE CLUB THEAT! corner Madison avenue and 2th street VANDENBOFE' READINGS. KELLY & LEON’S MINSTRELS, 720 Broadway.—ETH10- TIAN MINSTRELBY, BURLESQUE.—GIN-NEVIBVE DE GEAW SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRE! Broadway.—] TIAN ENTERTAINMENTS, SiNuiNGy DANOING, a a BRYANTS’ OPERA HOUSE, Tammany Buildit sireet.—ETHIOPIAN MINS’ neeey. &o- ingly TONY PASTOR'S OPERA braked 201 Bowery.—Comio Voca.ism, NEGRO MINSTRELSY, HIBERNIAN MINST! Apollo Hall, of Broad- way cod Bula. OF LANEREY Dea NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street.—EQUuESTRIAN AND GYMNASTIO ENTERTAINMENT. Matinee as 239. CENTRAL PARK GARDEN.—Turo. THomas’ GRAND PROMENADE CONCERT. Matinee at 3. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street.—A MADRIGAL AND GLEE CONCERT. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSE, MINGTRELS—“Santa CLAUS,” GIPTs, HOOLEY'S (E. D.) OPERA HOUSE, Williamsburg.— Hoo.er'’s MinsTaris—“SantTA CLaus,” Girrs, £0. PR mimi ATHENAUM, corner o Atlantic and Clin: sa.—SIGNOR Britz, Matinee at Brooklyn.—HOpLRy’s ao. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— SOIRNCE AND ALT. TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Tucsday, December 29, 1868. mor Europe. The cabie telegrams are dated December 28. ‘The basis of the Paris conference on the Eastern question will be the autonomy of Crete, the suspen- sion of the energetic measures enunciated in the Sultan's ultimatum and an agreement to support the just demands of Turkey. It i asserted in Constantinople that the Porte is epposed to the conference. ‘The Foreign Minister of Greece has oMctally de- declared that the kingdom is willing to make any Gacrifice for the maintenance of her rights, Greek subjects are deeing rom Turkey and taking refuge in Koumania. France bas tnvitea Prussia to attend the Eastern conference, to be beld in Paris. ‘The French Chambers will meet on the 18th of wext month. ‘The Spenish government are taking measures to reduce the badget for the ensuing year. The English journals take conticting views of the late violence committed by an English man-of-war in Chinese waters. Sur Richard Mayne died on the otth. Paraguay. Intelligence is recetyed by the Allantic cable that President Lopes i prepared to accord full satisfac- {:0n to the United States for the wrongs suffered by Alferican cluzens, He was about to leave Villeta for ssuncion. The aliies had been surprised in their Wivaa,? of Asuacion and lost lov prisoners, Colombia, Our Panama letter is dated December 20. Caled Cashing had landed at Carthagena and continued on his way to Bogota. Baldwm, who assassinated the Superintendent of the Panama Ratlroad, had died of the Wounds he ioficted oa himself. A few cases of smallpox were prevalen’ in the city, and yellow tever is reported at Santa Martha and Baran- quilla, Central America, The Guatemala House of Representatives con- vened on the 29 of November, The message of the President shows that internal affairs and foreign Telations are in a highly satisfactory state, Dr. Francis Dueiias has been elected President of Saly s ut the Same as last year, The sugar crop will be very large. In Cosia Rica an attempt on the part of General Salazar to overthrow the Provisional President Jim- inez had been discov alazar was at once broken of his command aod peace prevatied, ‘There was no news of importauce from Honduras or Nicaragua, Coba, Count Palmaseda’s for from Nuevitas into the in’ have made thetr appearan The work of grinding eq, 1 cathering coffee at Santiago was prevented by the pretence of the in- burgents, and emigration thence to Jamaica was sill going on. re reported advancing or. The imeurgents emali bands at Gidara, ‘The insurgents at L been defeated by Pre Alas are reported to have it Baea's truops, Minecito neoms. The rumors that General Grant and President Johnson were about to place themselves again apoo a fnendly footing, and that General Grant, tn purse ance of this purpose, Intended to pay bis respects to | the President on New Wear's Day, are denied by our Washington correspondent. On the contrary, Gene rai Grant will leave Washington on Wednesday and will not return until after New Year's, The report of Genera! Grant's hostility to the issuance of bonds to the Pacific Railroad is equally unfounded. Sena- tor Pomeroy states that in the conversation which gave birth to the rumor General Grant merely referred to the necessity for economy in the coming adminis- tration. - Senator Sumner states that the Alabama claims .,/ave not yet come officially before the Comunittee on Fo, “len Relations, of which he ts chairman, and therety Te the reported statement of whatthe com- mittee wo," agree to in the matter 1s premature. He himself h.’S been able to form no opinion of the present status 0,” t¢ negotiations except from what he reads in the Arm, 1°42 and British papers. It is well understoo.” 0Wever courts may adjudi- cate in the matter, that President Johnson, tn his recent amnesty proclamation. “id not intend to re- Neve Arnold, Mudd, Spangier ®0 other prisoners confined for complicity in the assassination of Presi dent Lincoln of the penaity of tielt Grimes. The Richmond whig says that infuvences are at work amony the highest Virginia c:'teles to organize measures for the ending of sectional «,“ife on the accession Of the new administration aa 4 for the settiement of any national demand that may be made upon the Southern people. Boston is to have @ Weekly mat! from Rurop & Via Queensiown, every Wednesday, by the Cunaru line, after New Year. A band of Mexican robbers on the evening of L '*- cember 18 attacked the village of Clarksville, Texa % at the mouth of the Rio Grande, and kilted two citt wens an’ woanded another. They pivadered the NuW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1868.—TRIPLE SHEET. Custom Tfouse, a small } uilding, and after commit- ting other outrages Tage away and crossed into Mexico, i Laura Reno, who swore vengeanoe on the mur- derers of her brother, one of the victtins of. the Indiana Vigilance Committee, met a man at her brother's funeral, whom she ordered away, telling him that she knew him to be one of the murderers, He slunk away without a word of denial. Aschool teacher near Chattanooga, Tenn., was assaulted some days ago for having whipped one of his pupils, ani in the affray that ensued four por- Sons, including the school teacher, were killed, the only person in the party who escaped unhurt being the schoolboy who originated the trouble. George Kutter, late President of the Tennessee National Bank, was arrested in Memphis,-on Sun- day, on charge of embezzling the school fand of the State. The amount is near $300,000, : ‘The mills at Durham, Canada, for the manufacture of wooden ware were destroyed by fire on Saturday if. The inidgo fairs were all over, and the crop | night. Loss about $20,000, Despatches from Arkansas state that a militia command had gone into Ashley county, and that the people in consequence were fleeing with their property. A bill is preparing for presentation in the Ohio Legislature providing for the extension of the limits. of the city of Cincinnati by adding about thirty square miles to the corporation. ‘The City. Before the Lyceum of Natural History, in this city, last evening, the announcement was made of the iscovery of metallic hydrogen by Professor Graham, of London. The discovery was pronounced one of the most important of this century. Parker Gill- more, of the British army, also presented some in- teresting observations on fish culture, The Fisheries Commission appointed by the Northern Atlantic States commences -its session to-day. An examination was held yesterday in the case of William G. Wright, charged with selling fraudulent railroad tickets. He pleaded not guilty and said that he had been made the dupe of ethers, but was held on a charge of forgery in default of $3,000 bail. In the United States Circuit Court yesterday the order for @ stay of proceedings on the indictment against Judge Fullerton until April was vacated and the case placed on the calendar for trial by Judge Benedict on the first Wednesday in January. The great cotton case, in which Vernon K. Steven- son is defendant, was peremptorily set down for trial before Judge Blatchford yesterday, but in con- sequence of the absence of important witnesses Dis- trict Attorney Courtney asked and obtained a post- ponement until the 5th of January. In the case of the Kings county Board of Super- visors, who were tried in the Brooklyn Court of Ses- sions yesterday for misappropriation gf funds, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, — Nathan Konigsberg, a Prussian, about sixty years of age, committed suicide in hia house, 218 Seventh street, yesterday, by cutting his throat with a razor. He was a jeweller and had amassed considerable property, and a morbid fear of its depreciating in value and leaving him penniless was the cause of his suicide, The steamship City of Cork, Captain Phillips, of the Inman line, will leave pler 45 North river at one o'clock P, M. to-day for Queenstown and Liverpool, calling at Halifax, N.8., to land and receive mails and passengers. The mails will close at the Post Office at twelve M. The Hamburg American Packet Company’s steam- ship Westphalia, Captain Trautmann, will sail from Hoboken at two P. M. to-day for Southampton and Hamburg. The European mails will close at the Post Office at twelve M. The Anchor line steamship United Kingdom, Cap- tain Campbell, will leave pier 20 North river at twelve M. to-morrow (Wednesday) for Glasgow, calling at Londonderry to land passengers, The stock market yesterday was strong and buoy- ant, with a feverish feeling at the close in conse- quence of the stringency in money. New York Cen- tral sojd as high as 15844. Gold was unusually dull and closed at 134%. ‘The market for beef cattle yesterday was moder- ately active and quite steady, with moderate arri- vais. Prime and extra steers were sold at 1640. 0 lic, fair to good at 1éc. a 16c. and inferior to ordl- nary gh Jde. &1gi4c Milch COws were quiet, but un- changed in value. We quote:—Extra $100 a $125, prime $90 a $95, fair to good $75 a $85 and inferior to common $40 a $70. Veal calves were in fair re- quest at full prices, viz.:—Prime and extra 120. a 18¢, common to good 100. a 1i%6., infertor dc. a 9X¢. Sheep were in moderate supply and in fair demand; prices were quité steady, particularly for not fur a moment to be doubted that the Proposal to which we have alluded, if seri- all, but certainly by the majority of the Euro- pean Powers. They are not willing that we should interfere with them, and hitherto we have not interfered. We “have not been will- ing that they should interfere with us, but on more than one occasion they have interfered, and interfered very unnecessarily. Some of us remember the interference of Great Britain in the: affairs of South America, and how Canning hoped to rectify the balance of power in the Old World by creating a counterpoise in the New. We have none of us forgotten what ‘was attempted on this Continent when our hands were tied by our recent civil war. The offence of Europe was not the less that France failed in Mexico and that English assistance was ineffectual in the South. The fact is that interference, wherever interference promised any advantage, whether on this Continent or elsewhere, has been a leading characteristic of European diplomacy. If we have been more cautious in this matter that is no suf- ficient reason why this caution should con- tinue. ¥ All these things, however, aside, why should any species of international policy be eternal and unchangeable? Why should a policy spe- cially adapted to one age and one set of condi- tions be the best for another age and an entirely new set of conditions? In the inter- ests of civilization Europe has for some gene- rations enjoyed what we may call a monopoly of the control of both hemispheres. The great Powers have been looked to as the pro- tectors of civilization, and the smaller Powers have followed in their wake or submitted to their dictation. We are not called upon to say that the European Powers have done their work badly. Butif another civilized Power has sprung into existence, if that Power, by the extent of its territory, the numbers and rapid growth of its population, the magnitude and the suc- cess of its undertakings, commands the atten- tion and the respect of the nations generally and induces some of them to sue for its aid and protection, as little are we called upon to say that in the interests of civilization the co-operation of this Power should not be heartily welcomed. Tho United States is. that Power. What other’ nation on the face of the earth is contributing more than ours to the general welfare of mankind? Not only are we giving an impulse to trade and commerce all over the world; we are providing homes and a country for the outcast and the needy of all lands. Our cen- tral position, in fact, standing as we do between two great seas and two great Conti- nents, marks us out not merely as the great arbitrator, but as the great controller of the future. The Burlingame mission is a striking illustration of the light in which we begin to be regarded by all the nations of the earth. In many important respects we haye @ greater interest in all lands and in all peoples than any of the so-called great Powers of Europe, and this interest will grow and intensify with the advancing years. So far as we can see there is no good reason why we should not, and many good reasons why we should take our place at once among the great Powers and share with them the duties and responsibilities which belong to the position. In any conference of the great Powers it is competent to us to take part, and our assistance might be invaluable. The peculiarities of the Eastern question might be more successfully dealt with by American intellect than by the logic of a worn-out Old World diplomacy. good stock. We quote:—Prime and extra 7c. a 8c., common to good 5c. a 63c., inferior 4c, a4%c. For swine the market was dull out strong at 9\;c. a 10¢. for common to prime. Prominent Arrivals in the City. Senator S. C. Pomeroy, of Kansas; H. T. Clarke, of Nebraska; Amos Kendall, of Washington; Homer Ramsdell, of Newburg, and J. ©, Schermer- horn, of Albany, are at the Astor House. General Jacob Stanwood and Judge Busteed, of Alabama; Captain J. Johnston, of shtp James Guthrie: Colonel S. M. Carpenter and William Hincke, of Washington, are at the Metropolitan Hotel, General J. Y. Pillsbury, of West Point, and Thomas Lyman, of Boston, are at the Brevoort House. Fdward Thornton, of Washington, and Dr. Feehan, of St. Louis, are at the Clarendon Hotel. Captain Trowbridge and Captain Harding, of the United States Army, and Dr. Cornwell, of St. Louis, are at the St. Charles Hotel, General Seaman, of Long Island; Dr. Andrew ‘Thompson, of fowa, and Surgeon A. M. Reed, of the United States Navy, are at the Sc. Julien Hotel. Major George B. Rodway and Colonel Kilburn Lenox, of the United States Army, are at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. ° Chauncey M. Depew, of Albany, and J. W. Cox, of Californfa, are at the Hoffman House. * The Proposed European Conference—Why Should Not the American Government be Represented @ The Eastern question still continues to form the most important element in our daily cable budget of news from Europe. Our deepatches this morning show that the Porte maintains an attitude of firmness while Greece, is more disposed to adopt a policy of con- clllation. From Berlin we learn that the granting of autonomy to Candia is regarded by some as the only possible method of tem- porarily solving the dificulty. In London, while it Is believed that a congress will grow out of the present negociations, no great or permanent results are expected. One of the most important items in con- nection with this department of news is the suggestion that in the event of a congress being held the government of the United States should be represented. We have no means of knowing whether this suggestion be a mere rumor or a fact. So far as we know the an- nouncement has, with a single exception, been unheeded in this country, The government has been eilent regarding it. Only one journal has alluded to the matter, and the allusion is of a kind which indicates a gross misconception of the altered and rapidly altering relations of nations under the new conditions of the later years of the nineteenth century. Ac- cording to this journal we have nothing to do with the affairs of Europe. It is the ad- vice of this journal that if any such proposal be made to our government the answer should be that as the settlement of the Eastern question is no affair of ours we cannot in any shape interfere, This, we know, is in perfect harmony with the hereditary policy of this country. The policy of the founders of this republic—a policy which has been religiousiy followed up until the pre- sent time—was America, for the Americana and the rest of the world for itself. It is There is nothing insoluble in the difficulty. The real difficulty in the case is that no one can, or rather, no one dare, propose any- thing new. European conferences have been failures all through. They have never suc- cessfully grappled with the difficulties of any great international question. They meet and discuss and patch up an agreement and leave the question as they found it. This has been specially true of all congresses which have attempted to settle the Eastern question. As it has been with former congresses s6 will it be with this one. The Powers at variance will be temporarily reconciled ; but the ques- tion at issue will be left as unsettled as ever. The time has come when the Turk should retire from Europe, when the provinces south of the Balkan should be given to Greece and the provinces north of the Balkan consolidate d and constituted a South Slavonic empire. But no one at the conference will have the pluck to speak out the truth. This is but another reason why the United States should be represented. Our representatives alone would be untram- melled. Sympathy for the Turk is quite unne- cessary. Back in Asia, whence he caine, he would have a more splendid field for his ambi- tion than he cam ever hope to have in Europe. In the interest of the United States, in the interest of all the parties to this quarrel, in the interest of civilization itself we think it right and proper that, if invited to take part, our government should send representatives to the proposed congress. The Reciprocity Commissioner from New Dominion. The government of the New Dominion, it appears, has appointed G. W. Brega commissioner or special lobby agent at Wash- ington in behalf of a bill from Congress re-establishing the old reciprocity treaty, or something of that sort. The commissioner's compensation will probably be three or four thousand a year; but to make any impression atall upon Congress he will have to run an establishment costing thirty, forty, or fifty thousand dollars a year. Mr. Brega is no doubt confpetent to do it; but in undertaking it he should require the money from his gov- ernment as he goes on, because we are told that there are certain parties in this city who have claims against said government of several years’ standing for reciprocity lobby services at Washington amounting to thirty or forty thousand dollars in gold. The lobbymen con- cerned, too, we apprehend, will have to wait some time longer for their money. As for this scheme of Canadian reciprocity, we had enough of it under the old law, and 80 the law was repealed. If the Canadians want more of it annexation is their true policy. As outsiders they cannot expect our Congress to take care of them; but inside the Union they will eoon rise to the height of the cedars of Lebanon—yea, they will overtop the big trees of California, Annexation is the policy for the Oanadians, and we oan wait, the ously raised, will be rejected, not, perhaps, by” Brazil and La Plata War-Sigus of Im- perial Defeat, The allies have met with a terrible defeat in front of Villeta. The Argentine Republic seeks peace with Lopez, Such are the two items of news from the Plata valley which indicate a crisis in the war—indicate great changes for Brazil and new complications be- tween her and her southwestern nepublican neighbors, At length there is a reaction, and the question with Brazil now is how to pre- serve the empire from disintegration, The affair having reached this point it is, perhaps, well to glance again at the causes of the war. When Paraguay saw all national energy disappear from Uruguay, and saw, too, that the men who called them- selves Argentine stftesmen were indulging the poetical dream of restoring the old Buenos Ayrean viceroyalty, which included Bolivia and Paraguay, its people naturally became alarmed for their national safety. East of them was Brazil, a territory hated through an inborn hatred which has been nourished through generations. This was caused by the barbarous raids made upon the old Jesuit missions by the Paulistas or Mamelucos, who from South Brazil carried their piratical man- stealing expeditions almost into the heart of Paraguay, desolated its fairest territory, plundered its wealth and sowed the seeds of an intense opposition to everything Brazilian. No wonder, then, that when Paraguay saw her old enemy closing the mouth of the Plata; saw Uruguay tossed in civil strife like a play- thing in the. hands of the imperial treasury ; saw Argentine statesmen false to every governing principle which animates the republicanism of this Continent; saw them, in fact, linked in a most unnatural and suicidal alliance with the empire—we say it is not astonishing that Lopez, as the repre- sentative of the Paraguayan people, should make a protest—August 30, 1865—against imperial encroachments in Uruguay, and declare it to be equivalent to war if these usur- pations were continued. Brazil, however, laughed at the pigmy threat, and before Para- guay could put an army in motion had formed that secret treaty with the Argentine Republic which is even a greater blot upon the civiliza- tion of this century than was the late alliance against Mexico. This treaty Uruguay was also forced to sign. It bound the allies to a perpetual war against Paraguay until Lopez was banished, It cut off, without treaty, one- third of the Paraguayan territory, provided for an allied police system, through which, for five years afte “the pied the country was to be governed by the conquerors for the best good of the people. It forced them to pay all the expenses of a war which was generously ‘‘waged for their. benefit,” as the treaty very ironically stated. It disarmed the nation to a man, that there might be no internal movement to dis- Bane a Upertios, . Finally, in a protocol— which feads thore like o compact between three piratical associations than like a treaty between three separate nationalities of this would-be civilized poriod—it provided that all ‘‘dotin”, booty, captured from the Para- guayans “‘shall belong to the party making the capture.” We may call that little pivot of South Ameri- can liberties a despotism, and may anathema- tize Lopez as a bloody tyrant; but we should despair of the human species if Paraguay failed in spirit to defend itself against an alliance which is infamously flaunted to the world as a crusade of civilization against bar- barism. But the allies overreached themselves ; their very treaty became the fortalice of Lopez. Paraguay—man, woman, child—ral- lied, and—if we do not misjudge those vir- tues of the human race found even in the savage—will rally to the last drop of blood to defend itself. Their defensive military position is the finest in South America, if we except, perhaps, that of Bolivia. We have from the very first maintained the inability of the allies to carry out the objects of their alliance. As yet they have not driven Lopez from the river bank, and they have been three years hard at work at the problem. The empire has run up its national debt to nearly six hundred millions of dollars gold. Both Brazil and the Argentine Republic have been drained of ‘“‘volunteers,” who, chained or tied in pairs, have been driven to the work of unearthing ‘‘the Paraguayan tyrant.” To-day half of the allied strength is in its iron- clad and monitor fleet; and yet at Villeta and Asuncion the Paraguayan guns sweep the river. Theallied army, stuck in the impassa- ble bogs in front of Villeta, has no hope except to flank the position by cutting through the swamps on the west side of the Paraguay river, and, recrossing the stream above, gain the enemy’s rear. We give Marshal Caxias a few months to try this movement, while the twenty thousand troops he de- mands to reinforce him are being gathered, if possible. Driven from Villeta by army and iron-clads, the Paraguayans will retire to the interior. The Brazilian strength will then be divided, while that of Lopez will be so in- creased that the difficulty of conquering the country will be greater than ever. If, as is very probable, the Argentine Re- public should withdraw it will’ force Brazil into trouble with her allies, who have no right to retire except by common agreement. The empire cannot brook this insult; if she does it will be at the loss of prestige. To continue the war alone against Paraguay she cannot; for if the Argentine Republic remain neutral there will be no point on the Paranda river, which below Paraguay lies entirely in Argen- tine territory, where her transports can find a supply station, General Urquiza, too, occu- pying Entre Rios, will be ready at a mo- ment’s notice to throw his twenty thousand untouched Argentine troops into the rear of the Brazilian army in case of trouble between the allies. Thus we see the position of the empire is very critical. The sturdy defence made by Paraguay threatens the dismemberment of Brazil and the formation of one or more republics from her unwieldy territory. She has within herself many great elements valuable for the building up of a republican nationality ; but her present govern- ment, even in practice, does not belong to this Continent. Fight as hard as she may to con- trol the southern half of it, sho will fail, for she does not move so rapidly in civilization as the nations upon her frontier, despite the sivil wars which have agitated them. She is @ good example of the past trying to accom- modate itself to the new without losing any of the prerogatives of the olden time. Whoever supposes she can succeed evidently does not understand the age or the principles which govern the development of nationalities in the Western World. . The Outrageous Libels Upom the Grocers and Traders of New York. The recent libellous and outrageous attacks upon the grocers and traders of New York are about to meet their just and legitimate reward. We learn that the parties most grievously libelled have held a meeting and agreed to commence, in a few days, actions for libel, in civil and criminal prosecutions, against the instigators and promulgators of these atrocious calumnies. The good name that New York merchants have earned for liberality and fair dealing with their customers has been grossly compro- mised in these villanous assaults. There is no excuse nor palliation for them. If these self-imposed investigations into the pretended frauds of our grocers and traders had been commenced and pursued in a spirit of honesty and candor there might have been some shadow of a plea in their vindication. But when we find that secret emissaries enter a store, and, selecting such articles as are most likely to suit their purpose, com- pare them by such tests as they may select for the same purpose, and spread their verdict before the community with a great flourish of trumpets, it is time for all oar traders and for all our citizens who traffic with them to protest indignantly against the in- famous inquisition. For example, we find these self-elected inquisitors taking a bag of flour from one establishment, and, without stop- ping to inquire about the state of the weather when the article was put up and when it was sold, draw their own conclusions and issue their tpse divit about “short weight” accord- ingly. They do not take the trouble to examine, from the experience of experts, the effect the weather has upon a number of articles of general consumption, flour particu- larly. If they did they would ascertain that the most conscientious merchants in the land are liable to make a difference, alike against as for themselves, in the exact amount they put up and the amount they sell from week to week. The atmospheric changes, and not the knavery of the floyr merchant, or grocer, pro- duce this result. Besides, it is not to be ex- pected that every article sold—say flour, sugar, tea, coffee and all the rest of the con- sumable domestic commodities—will weigh to less than the eighth of an ounce the same on one day as upon another. A housekeeper may find her budget short by a few ounces one day or one week, and the next day or week a similar amount in excess. One purchaser may buy an article of a grocer at one hour in the day and another buy a similar article an hour later, and it would bo strange if slight difference in weight should not be found—one a trifle short and the other a trifle in excess. But we submit that this is far from showing a premeditated intention of fraud on the part of the grocer or dealer. In regard to aduerations, whatever they may amount to, we ask, who are to blame—the honest grocer and dealer of New York, or the tea and coffee growers, the sugar planters, the home merchants in the distant lands of spices, who ship their goods to this market, where they are bought and sold just as dry goods or printing paper or lumber or steel andiron or any other merchantable article is bought and sold? If a consumer goes to one of our wholesale grocers and buys a chest of tea or a bag of coffee, or anything else in the grocery line, in the original package, he or she will find, we will be bound, that they get the article as pure as it is sent from the plantations or, the home market. The wholesale grocers here cannot be held accountable for the soundness of the goods they receive except when, by the accidents of a sea voyage or other causes, they find such goods to be damaged. Butif it is discovered by their customers that the goods they sell as pure and sound are not as represented, such goods are of course returned to them, and their recourse is upon those from whom they made the original purchases, In regard to the retail traffic in all sorts of groceries for family use in all large communi- ties a few things are certain. If you pay a cheap price you may expect to get cheap goods. If you pay a chicory price for coffee you are likely to get your coffee mixed. If you buy Beverly beans for Mocha or Java, Beverly will preponderate. Even the adul- terations in this cheap retail business are not 80 terrible as these Bohemian blackmail inquisi- tors make it appear by their own reports. They aver that sugar is adulterated with flour, potatoes and tapioca starch. We have known such adulterations to be administered to sick children by order of physicians, and they thrived upon them. They declare that coffee and pepper are adulterated with ground shipbread. Well, that cannot be considered so fatal an adulteration when we find that our seafaring men go aloft, ‘‘in stormy winds and weather,” and keep hearty and robust on this shipbread. But it is not the object of these Bohemian inquisitors to improve the quality of the daily food of the people of our city. Their move- ment is a wholesale and abominable combina- tion to wring blackmail ‘from grocers and dealers who do not succumb to their atrocious demands. They carry on this nefarious cru- sade, we repeat, at the expense of the mer- cantile reputation of our traders. They have found that their calumnies are greedily caught up by jealous dealers in other cities, who are envious of the stupendous growth of the great cotimercial metropolis and of the reputation for honor and probity our merchants enjoy among all the mercantile communities on the Continent. They have enlisted the outside provincial press in this despicable and criminal warfare. The papers jump like hungry wolves at anything calculated to retard the growth of New York or injure the reputation of iio merchants. Now, we are glad to see that the instigators of and the retainers in this infamous crusade will be held responsible at the proper tribunals for their atrocious libels upon the fair fame of our city and upon the reputation of her merchants. Nor tite Winow, as Rerorrep.—It appears that the unfortunate woman who committed suicide at Chicago on Christmas Eve was not the widow of brother of Charles Dickens, as —__ reported, but that the widow of said brother and her children are in England and are sup- ported mainly by the author of “Oliver Twist.” This puts a different face upon the mystery; but still it is a sad case. Colorado Jewett to George Francis Train on Irish Freedom and Other Things, We publish in another column one of the grandest and finest propositions ever laid before the world. It isin the form of a letter from Cornell Jewett, sometimes jocosely called Colorado Jewett, to George Francis Train, of Ireland and Omaha, sometimes called ‘‘one of the greatest asses that ever lived,” Whether man is or is not an ass is of course a matter of opinion among his friends and foes and the indifferent public. Perhaps a just view of the nature of the ass might establish that to be an ass, humanly speaking, is not so bad as people fancy. The ass is not a tippler, and this is a greatvirtue, He isnot high feeder. Neither .| @ guzzler nor a gourmand, he is content with a simple meal of herbs and a drink of plain water, and from the time of Pythagoras all the philosophers have agreed that these personal habits were the bases of all individual excel- lence and greatness. Train possesses these virtues in common with the ass, and so does Jewett. We therefore assent to and accept the view of those who pronounce Train ‘‘one of the greatest of asses”—only we insist that Jewett shall be taken into the olassification, and that it shall be acknowledged and recognized on all hands there are two asses equally great, Colorado's proposition to George Francis is, first, that George Francis shall prove him- self a patriot. This is a good idea, and Colo- rado, like a truly great thinker, thus suddenly opens our eyes to the fact, of which we had quite lost sight, that Train has never done this thing. Did he ever raise a regiment during the war? We forget. Did he properly denounce the men who fired on Fort Sumter? Did he enlist as a private in his own regiment and turn up in Congress on the day of the first . battle? He did none of these things, and therefore the faots are against him on patriot- ism—at least on proving it. He has lain in a’ British jail, and that is something if he wants to run for Congress in an Irish district, but’ nothing to Jewett’s purpose. Jewett’s plan is that Train shall prove his patriotism in this definite way—by joining ina “vigorous cam- palgn, from Maine to Alaska, in behalf of a national reform party,” the ultimate conse~ quence held in view being the legitimate gift of freedom to Ireland through tho extension of American principles to the whole world by way of Behring Strait and the Northwest passage. We cannot say that we exactly understand this proposition, but it is a very grand one. We are sure of that, for we know the author. It comes, as we said, from Colorado Jewett, one of the two greatest worthies on this Conti- nent, considering the one as the type of all wor- thies. It would bea good thing forthe coun- try debating societiesto discuss the point of pre- eminence between these worthies—first, as to the virtues of the ass, and, second, as to which is the greater ass of these two. We commend Jewett’s proposition to Train, but at the same time we warn him to be on his guard against Jewett. In fact, there are some points in Colorado's note that point to a suspicion of improper motives. Could we suppose that he was capable of keeping to himself any impres- sion made upon his mind we might fancy that this letter was instigated by a secret envy of the fame and greatness of Train and a fear lest he should monopolize all the applause the world has to spare—that the letter was, in fact, meant to be a suggestion to the people not to forget in their admiration of George Francis that Colorado still lives. @ Again, what does Jewett mean by endeavoring to dissuade Train from smashing the British government to pieces? We are not sure but that thero is British gold in this. Jewett’s attempt to switch Train off implies that he has been bought. So does his thinly covered sneer at the Fenians, whom he calls “fathers,” as if he would imply that they are not “‘brothers,” as they say they are. Our Financial and Commercial Affairs. Wall street is quite animated just now, despite the customary dulness of the holiday season in the financial world. This activity is due to the excitement produced by extensive stock movements, brought about by the com- binations and cliques into which the street is divided. The recent cowp in New York Cen- tral has stimulated speculation to an unusual extent, and the precincts of the Stock Ex- change are as crowded and lively as during the regular monetary periods of the spring and fall. In commercial circles some uneasiness has been created by the failure of two prominent houses, one in Baltimore and the other in New York. The latter establishment is well known to the trading community, and its collapse was one of the least expected events of the hour. In both instances the cause of suspen- sion is traceable to the great decline in the value of manufactured goods which succeeded the period of the war, with its high prices and general inflation, The diminution in these values has been so steady and constant that the promptest kind of business on the part of our merchants has been necessary in order to dispose of their stock without loss. In many instances they were overtaken before their goods were sold, and where the differences were large failures have resulted. In view of these facts Congress would do well to pause in any plan for a forced resumption of specie pay- ments, and consider whether a sudden appre- ciation of greenbacks, such as is contemplated, would not be the cause of innumerable bank- ruptcies, If failures take place with the pre- sent gradual decline of the premium on gold what would be the consequence were that pre- mium to suddenly disappear altogether ? TELEGRAPHIC NEWS ITEMS. Patterson’s woollen mills at Durham, Canada, were destroyed by fire {Saturday night. Tho toss, |8 about $20,000, General Stoneman has ordered the Mayor of Richmond, Va., to hold in custody Sally Anderson, the negro murderess, who was recently released by Judge Underwood, Beginning on the 1st of January next Boston is to have a weekly mail from Europe, ¥!@ Queenstown, every Wednesday, by the Cunard line. John Mason Williams, god tet Pwr 4 ¥ Pleas, ied in New el. fora, pry pent tg morning, aged eighty-elcht Tome One COMA Held, Masa, last night ignwesee Gonna io fivito Goneral dfant to v.8i6 that olty and ins) the United States Armory there during his ex; visit to Now Buvland.