The New York Herald Newspaper, May 8, 1869, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. GORDON BENNETT, JAMES PROPRIETOR. AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENT /OOTH'S THEATRE, 234 st., between Sth and 6th avs.— Matinee OTHELLO. Evening—WItp Oars. Tur Buruesave Ex- Eves, Matinee at 2. VENUE, THEATRE, Fifth avenue and Twenty- ee ATEN RALIAGE AUX LANTRUNES. Matinee” WALLAGK'S THRATRE, Caste. Matinee at MAN STADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery— par herpes KLINGSBERG, 4c. YMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Humrrr DoMrry, worn Ncw FeatupEs. Matinee at Tg. RAND OPERA HOUSE, corner ot Eighth avenue and shi sect. Tue TRMPEsT.” Matinee at 1s. CADEMY OF MUSIC, 14th street.—Afternoon—Ros- wns MRsst SOLENNELLE. Eveuing—Concrrt. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—THE SPIRIT OF THE Fountain - Jack SPRUCE. WAVERLEY THEATRE. BuBLEsgct COMPANY—PA: "S$ MUSEUM AND THEATRE, Thirtioth street and en eroom and eveaing Performance. THE TAMMANY, Fourteenth street.—Rowinson CRUSOR AnD Lts MAN Fatpay, 40. Matinee at 2. MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— Ovus—Inisi EMIGRANT. Broadway.—E.izk Hout's ; OR, THE JUDGMENT. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broudway.—Comtc SKETORES AND Livixc STATCES—PLU10. Matinee at 2. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 585 Broadway.—ETH10» MAN ENTERTALNMENTS—TAREE STRINGS TO ONE Bow. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOSE, 201 Bowery.—Comic Voca.ism. NEGRO MINGTRELSY, &c. Matinee at 2). NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street.—RIsLey’s JAPANrSE TROUPE, Matinee. #00: Mixes 8 OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn.—Hoorey’s Tar BILL Postgn'’s DREAM. Matinee. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 613 Broadway.— SCIENCE AND ART. P TRIPLE SHE New York, Saturday, May 8, 1569. el eee THE NEWS Europe. ¢ telegrams are dated May 7. in Temes and Telegraph of yesterday had editorials on the Alabama claims, Mr. Sumner’s speech proves @ bitter pill. The consideration of the Irish Church bill has been just concluded in the House of Commons, A billon the Irish land ques- ton will be introduced at the next session of Pariia- ment. At the Chester races yesterday the Steward’s Cup was won by Lord Catthorpe’s bay horse Knight of the Garter, and the Badminton Stakes by Mr. Merry’s ut colt. Sever. avy robberies of arms and ammunition in various paris of Ireland within the past few days have taten place. Five suspected persons have been arrested. The Town Council of Cork has re- Solved to sustain Mr. O’Sullivan against the action of Parliament He is announced as a candidate for @ Seat in the House of Commons. The proposed Spanish Directory will constst of Serrano, Rivero and Olozaga, with Prim at the head. All the aiwendments to the religious clauses of the Dew constitution have been rejected by the Vortes. The first day of the Mohammedan new year was celebrated in Constantinople on Wednesday. As usual the Sultan received the representatives of foreign Powers. The Cretan chiefs fave been par- doned and set free, The North German Lioyd steamship Union, Cap- tain Dreyer, from Bremen April 24, and Svuthamp- ton the 27th, arrived here at an early hour this morning. a Cuba. In answer to a request from weatthy Spaniards that more troops should be called for from Spain, Captain General Dulce yesterday pieaded the poverty of the government. The negro volunteers at Nuevitus have become insubordinate and threat- ening. Commodore Phillimore, of the Britisa navy, ‘Will demand explanations and full indemnity for tre numer: wes committed by Spanish vessels im Brite Sandwich Islands, vices are to the 22d of April. Ramors mong the coolies, and {a conspiracy ore great Preparations for vere belag mad The King had narrowly escaped bemg killed by the falliog of a cocoannt while | his country seat. A limited busi- neas d of among the spring whalers, The Legislature. ed in the St hside Ratlrc Bul Senate yesterday for a new passen- re ger depot for m Kal'road, The bill amend- ing th law was lost, Several bills were rep 1. The Brown Underground and Swain's Two-tler Raiiroad bills were lost. The Annual Tax bill was ordered to a third read- ing. A he afternoon session the bill legaliz- ing wu issue of eighty per cent scrip by the tread and that authorising the pase its stock nty per cent were third reading. The bill toamend the tan Excise law was considered in Com- mittee of the Whole, and the enacting ciause stricken out. In the Senate Mr. Tweed moved to disagree. On motion, further consideration of the Dill was postponed to the 4th of July next. The bill meking ppropriations for the canals was ordered uird reading. In the Assembly the New York County Tax Levy was ordered toa third reading. A resolution was passed that the Assembiy adjourn sine die at cleven o'clock to-night. The bill to increase the salaries of Judges of the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court ‘was reconsiaered and finally passed. Bills were passed reviving the charter of the Brookiyn and Mott Haven ferry; to lay out Madison avenue in Westchester county relative ta, the House of Mercy in New York; for the enforcement of liens of mukeepers, mechanics and laborers in chattel property, and numerous others. At the afternoon session a large nuwnber of bills were also passed. With some few exceptions the Assem- bly agreed to the report of the conference com- mittee on the Supply bill. At the evening session the bili to remove the State capital to New York was lost by 42 to 56. Several bills were passed. The New York City Tax Levy was recommitted to we Committee on Cities, reported again with amend- ments and passed, as was aiso the County Tax levy. The struggle over these bills was very severe. Miscellaneous. Grand preparations are betng made to complete the Central Pacific Ratlroad in an impressive style to-day. Business In San Francisco and Sacramento witl be suspended, and telegraphic arrangements have been made by which each stroke of the hammer driving im the last spike will be simultaneously re- ported in San Francisco and New York. The last rail on the Union Pacific will be iatd on Monday. Mr. Durant, Vice President of the Union Pacific Railroad, Join Duff amd several other gentiemen were seized at Piedmont station, Nebraska, on Thursday morning, while in the officers’ car, by the laborers on the railroad, who said that the car would Not be allowed to proceed until their wages were paid. The men numbered about 300, among whom were numerous desperate fellows. They were all armed, and seemed determined. No violence was intended and the mail and other cars were allowed ‘to proceed, the officers’ car, with its prisoners, being alone detained. In the Massachusetts Legislature yesterday the Senate Committee on woman's right to vote sub- mitted a favorable report. The galleries were filled at the time with women, who were barely restrained by propriety from giving a round of cheers. The Feport recommended an amendment to the consti ‘Wallon striking out the word ‘male’ from the sec- tion relative to suffrage. Ono member of the com- | recompense for the damages suffered by our mittee dissented. The Prohibition Liquor bill nas been defeated in the Senate. The Repeal League of Nova Scotia met in Halifax on Thursday night and a member of the government who was present denied that it was intended to ac- cept confederation. A paper on annexation was read, but no motion was made on the subject, Smuggling has greatly increased of late on the Canadian borders and large quantities of goods have been run in without payment of duty. Secretary Boutwell’s attention having been directed to this matter, he has taken eMcient measures to suporess the evil and to bring the offenders to punishment, The State Department has information that the Haytiens are highly indignant at the appointment of a negro to represent this country there. They think it was intended as an insult and say that a negro was appointed because no white man would accept the place, An army officer, who has arrived ia Washington from the plains, confirms previous reports relative to a threatened outbreak. The Oheyennes, Arapa- hoes, Kiowas and other tribes whom Sheridan, it was thought, had thoroughly defeated during the winter, are preparing for the war path as soon as the grass grows. J. Russell Jones will probably be appointed Minis- ter to Belgium, and Sanford, who falled of a con- firmation as Minister to Spain, will be removed altogether to makeroom for him. The City. ‘Wall street was greatly excited yesterday over an advance in gold to 139%. at the same time there was a heavy decline in stocks and @ panic was almost the result. A partial reaction took place late in the afternoon and gold yielded to 13834. In the final match for the champion’s cue, playea last night at Irving Hall, between Deery, of New York, and Rudolphe, of Chicago, Deery won in his eighty-fifth inning by 55 points. Prominent Arrivals in the City. Le Baron Gauldrée Boilleau, French Minister to Peru; Le Baron de Wetterstedt, of Sweden, and Hon. George Villiers, of England are at the Brevoort House, Ex Governor W. C. Gibbs, of Rhode Island; Sylves- terA. Mowry, of Arizona; Ed. Alexander Prentice and W. D, Dramond, of Montreal, and B.S, Rooney, of Baltimore, are at the New York Hotel. 8.8. Robeira, of Havana; Dr. J. Bigelow, of Bos- ton, and Dr. E, Farnham, of Philadelphia, are at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Major C. J. Plunkett, of Hartfora; General E. W. Smith and Captain W. A. Parker, of the United States Army, are at the Hoffman House. Major Luke Tilden, of Australia; Dr. J. M. Blake, of Chicago, and Colonel Frank D. Riblet, of Boston, are at the St. Charles Hotel. Bishop Basser and Lieutenant Davis; of Nassau, are at the Astor House. B. B. Taylor, George C. Renny, of the United States Navy; James Y. Ely, of Washington; Dr. Wilbur P. Morgan, of Baltimore; Colonel F. Nemeggin, of Boston, and Congressman W. H. Barnum, of Con- nécticut, are at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Prominent Departures. Judge T. L. Jewett, for Steubenville; Major General Heintzelman and General Badeau, for Washington; Judge C. Gurney, for San Francisco; Captain Storer for New Bedford; Ex-Senator Stark, for Connecticut; Coionel Hildt, for West Point. Our Forcign Relations and General Granv’s Foreign Policy—A Glorious Opportanity. The opportunity now offered to General Grant for the extension of the boundaries of the nation, and its moral and material power throughout the world, is without a precedent in American history, and without a compari- son in the records of the human race. Ifasa soldier the results of his strategy and tactics and his co-operative combinations of nume- rous armies, amounting to over a million of men, and distributed over an area of eight lwandred thousand square miles, eclipse the grandest combinations of the first Napoleon, he has now the opportunity as a statesman to reduce by comparison the late imperial pro- gramme of Napoleon the Third in both hemi- spheres toa mere bagatelle. General Grant, in a word, has the opportunity of making this government, by general consent, the arbiter of the American Continent, and he has the advantages for securing, through China and Japan, the commercial balance of power in Asia He may thus make Washington mor- aliy the dominating political capital of the civilized world, and New York and San Fran- cisco the commercial and financial centres of the world’s exchanges. Cuba, Mexico and the Alabama claims cover the three great foreign questions upon the settlement of which the commanding position indicated may be secured for the United States. The annexation of Cuba is only a question of time; but the time may be lengthened or shortened, according to the in- terest of the administration in the settlement of this question. It seems to us that without any difficulty, considering the domestic em- barrassments of England, France and Spain, the subject of the annexation of both Cuba and the island of St. Domingo might be so far pushed forward meantime as to be submitted for the ratification of Congress at its next ses- sionin December. Such, too, upon this matter, is the present favorable aspect of things in the Gulf, and at Washington and in Europe, that we are strongly inclined to the conclusion that the annexation suggested will be among the recommendations of General Grant's next mes- sage to the two houses. These acquisitions will give us the lock and the key of the Gulf of Mexico, and by the law of gravitation as they ripen all the contiguous islands will fall in. The possession of the Gulf involves the con- trol over every isthmus ship canal inter- oceanic transit route from Tehuantepec to Panama. To make this control effective and useful, however, the absorption of Mexico and Central America becomes a political and com- mercial necessity. Having, since the removal of Napoleon's protectorate, given the people and politicians of Mexico a fair trial in self- government, in which they have signally failed, we may now, without fear of European epposi- tion, follow the example of Napoleon, and, in the interests of humanity, civilization, law and order, take Mexico under our care, and by treaty with the local authorities provide also for the fusion into the great republic of the Central American States. The great impediment which in 1847 deterred General Scott from the acceptance of Mexico as a free gift in the name of the United States was in the broad political lines of distinction and caste which at that time divided the whites from our black and African-tinctured people. Now those barriers are all removed, and under the new dispensation of “‘liberty, equality and fraternity” the hybrids of Mexico cease to be an embarrassment on either side. Sub- ject, then, to the will and pleasure of our gov- ernment, Mexico and the Central American States await the development of General Grant's foreign policy. On the Alabama claims the upshot of Senator Sumner’s exhaustive and conclusive exposition of the case for the United States has been put into a nutshell by Wendell Phillips in this demand—a full pecuniary commerce from Anglo-rebel cruisers, and & distinct disavowal of Lord Russell's neutrality and belligerent rights of 1861 as a precedent for the future guidance of England. Now, as with the acceptance of this ultimatum the most convenient settlement to both countries will be the cession of British North America, so with the rejection of this ultima- tum by England the occupation of the New Dominion will be the most conve- nient alternative for the United States. For this alternative, upon a call for volunteers, two hundred and fifty thousand trained sol- dier could be mustered along our Northern border within sixty days. Senator Chandler's late speech on this subject was rather a stump harangue from a Western demagogue than the argument of a responsible American states- man ; but still his leading idea is fixed in the public mind of the great Northwest. Those people, as to a natural outlet for their heavy surplus products, are looking now to the open- ing of the St. Lawrence to the sea with some- thing of the same feeling which led them against the late rebellion to the reopening of the Mississippi. General Grant, as a Western man, we doubt not, is a believer in this whole pro- gramme of expansion, north and south. He is, too, a man of war; but as President of the United States it is manifest that his‘paramount desire is peace, at home and abroad. Our only apprehension concerning his foreign policy is that his desire to avoid war may so entangle him in diplomatic cobwebs and red tape as to render him powerless to do any- thing in giving a satisfactory shape and direc- tion to the Cuban or the Mexican question, or the Alabama claims. Uponall these questions, moreover, the powerful interest of the bond- holders will be apt to prove a drag upon the administration. We rely, however, upon the progressive ideas, sagacity and moral courage of General Grant, sustained by the general drift of public opinion, in our expectations of a foreign policy which offers not only the Con- tinent for our occupation, but its boundless resources from which to meet our national debt. ‘The News from Cuba: We publish elsewhere in our columns to-day fall and interesting letters from our correspond- ents in Cuba, giving the most clear and satisfac- tory account of affairs within the lines occupied by the revolutionists that has yet been given to the public. The reports are obtained from intelligent American engineers who have been engaged taking off the sugar crops of planta- tions belonging to some of the insurgent chiefs, and they bear on their face an appearance of truthfulness which must be apparent to every unprejudiced reader. From these adcounts it will be seen that the Spaniards have in every instance exaggerated the numbers of their op- ponents, and when we consider how much has been done By these half-armed and unorgan- ized bands against well armed and disciplined troops we find it difficult to believe that the revolution can be suppressed by the present force which the Spaniards can put in the field. The great efforts of both sides-seem now to be directed to the line of the railroad from Nuevitas to Puerto Principe, which was de- stroyed some months since by the revotution- ists. About seven thousand troops have been concentrated by the Spaniards at Nuevitas for this purpose, and our leiters state that Ces- pedes and a number of the principal leaders under him were in the vicinity with Quesada, concentrating their forces for the struggle. The pictures ‘hich our correspondents give of social life among the Cubans, who have taken to the woods to escape from Spanish rule, indicate anything other than an early surrender. From the other portions of the island we have advices of the presence of in- surgeat bands in numerous places, but very little in the way of active operations. Affairs in Wall Street. The wide fluctuations in stocks which have been prevailing for some days past in Wall street were premonitory of a sort of financial storm which burst upon that locality yesterday and produced great consternation. A decline in five-twenties at London, following an ad- vance in the Bank of England rate of discount, led to a decline in bonds here and a rise in gold to 139}—over three per cent in one day. The excitement was suggestive of the war days, when gold used to vfbrate so violently. Simultaneous with this rise in gold there was a sudden decline in railway shares, and a panic seemed impending at the Stock Ex- change. The ‘‘bulls” were in great trepida- tion, particularly during the half hour around five o’clock, when the building was closed and the excited throng was locked ont upon the street. Towards six o'clock the crowd began to question the necessity of being guided by the state of the money market in London, and, with Yankee independence, took another view of the situation, the result being quite a reaction, although the feeling was still nervous when darkness drove them home. Bocus Corporations.—The public should be on their guard against all bogus com- panies which the reports from the White Pine district of Nevada will be likely to set afloat. Think of the many mining swindling concerns that have operated in and around Wall street during years past, and the thou- sand petroleum bubbles that have snatched millions from the pockets of greedy aspirants for easily-acquired wealth. Trat’s Waat's THe Matrer.—On the com- mittee of the State Senate to which the Gas bill was referred there are two menjnterested in the gas companies. No wonder the bill was dragged ont of it. BerBery axp Corrvptioy.—The bill to prevent bribery in the Legislature passed throngh the Assembly by unanimous vote, It is said that this is becanse its opponents were shamed to silence. If this were true they might also have been shamed to honesty.* It will be found finally, we have no doubt, that the bill is easily gotten around, and that is the real reason why opposition was silent, Trem TRacniNe.—The movement in the Legislature to give the Mayor and Comptroller power to remove anybody and everybody from office in the city is what the republicans might have expected. They began the gamo, They went to the Legislature to have their majority in that body make up by legislation for party defeats here, and now the democrats go fur« ther in the same direction, NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1869.—TRIPLE SHEET. - On AR EC e Oe Tee we. See eee eee The New York Legislature—Closing of the Session—The Work Before Adjournment. During the session of the Legislative Assembly in Albany yesterday a resolution was adopted fixing the hour of eleven o'clock to-night as the period of adjournment cf the House sine die. The parliamentary action of our representa- tives, city and State, during the closing hours of their assemblage was of that varied and busy character which has marked each simi- lar recurrent era in the State Capitol during many of the years immediately passed, but on the present occasion we must, in justice to the representative body, observe that in this instance there was a commendable absence of that unseemly ‘‘hurry scurry” and indecent indulgence in vulgar personalities which we have in days past been frequently pained to re- cord. This unusual observance of decorum induced a more careful attention to business, and the result, as will be seen trom our ample report this morning, was the final passage of 4 great number of measures of much practical utility and public value, the furtherance of many more toward completion, as well as the summary rejection of others regarded either as absolutely unnecessary or brought forward merely for purposes of momentary personal interests or a future money gain. Railroad extension, overland, overhead and under- ground in New York, the reduction of rail- road fares, the metropolitan tax levy, honor to the memory of the dead of the Union army, ferry facilities, the incorporation of the Har- lem Yacht Club and the New York Young Men’s Christian Association, the condition of the House of Mercy in this city, the affairs and charges of fare of the New York Central Railroad, affording the keepers of boarding houses a more ready means for the recovery of their bills, the plan of establishing a quar- antine station at Coney Island, the opening of a new avenue from Brooklyn through Prospect Park to Coney Island, with a variety of measures of like intent and aim were considered; so it must be acknowledged that the members of both houses, working with a will, took into careful consideration, after a wide sweep of their Solon like vision, matters affecting the good both of our bodies and souls, onr means of recreation and mental improvement, a plan for ranting more quickly from the up-town districts of Manhattan Island to the doors of the new Heratp building, the opportunity of paying our taxes, with other measures equally important and interesting both to property- holders and persons who hope to acquire pro- perty—sanguine hopers indeed—by the “‘sweat of their brow” and labor of their hands in coming days in New York. The religious, financial, commercial, trades, laborers and steam interests were well cared for, but it remains to-day for the members of each of these bodies or classes to read the HERALD and thus find out with what particular benefit, present or prospective. It will be seen that the Brown Underground Railroad for New York was called up for a third reading in the Senate, and, being amended with respect to its route by the inser- tion of the words ‘‘ona line east or west of City Hall place by a tunnel or open cut,” was made thé subject of an animated debate, at the close of which it was declared lost by a vote of fifteen to thirteen. Swain’s Two Tier Railroad bill for New York was lost, twenty voting against, and eleven members for it. The bill authorizing the construction of » new depot for passengers by the Harlem Railroad, at Forty-second street, New York, was passed, and it is to be hoped that the directors of that line will amend it by the insertion of a sum- mary executive clause, to be posted on its gates, reading, ‘‘No ‘loafers’ or baggage smashers permitted inside or around the build- ing.” The Supply bill, as rendered by a committee of conference was taken up anda new committee of conference appointed. The Senate Committee of the Whole reported in favor of legalizing an issue of eighty per cent scrip by the New York Central Railroad. The bill restricting the fare on the same line to a charge of two cents a mile was adopted by a vote of twenty to twelve. The bill making an appropriation for the payment of the New York Canal debt, principal and interest, was passed. The Senate committee struck out the enacting clause from the bill to amend the Metropolitan Excise law, and on motion its further consideration was adjourned to the Fourth of July by a vote of sixteen to fourteen, all the republicans voting ‘‘aye,” and all the democrats “‘no,” We rejoice, as will our readers, to know that our legislative system is becoming more healthy both in tone and action. Our exhibit of the proceedings, given elsewhere to-day, proves this, for it will be observed that while bills of minor importance were either delayed or only partially debated and forwarded, every measure of solid, substantial worth received earnest attention, and was, contrary to the rule observed hitherto, for the most part approved. It is to be hoped that our State legislators will persevere in this path of healthy reform and progress, until the latest gangrene of the lobbyists and buttonhole agents in Albany has sloughed away from the halls of the representative assemblage in Albany. The Resources of the South—The Country for the Emigrant. At a meeting of the Fruit Growers’ Club, on Thursday last, which was fully reported in yesterday’s Heraxp, several Southern gentle- men described the South, with its vast and im- perfectly devoloped resources, as a land of promise for the emigrant. General Tochman, for instance, whose foreign birth precludes him from being suspected of sectional preju- dices, and whose long residence in this country qualifies him to speak authoritatively on the subject, presented a glowing but not exag- gerated picture of the South as a most desir- able home for emigrants from the North and from Europe. Statistical tables show the rate of mortality to be less and that of longevity to be greater in the South than in the North and West. The exports of the cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco producing States are still, aa they were before the war, greater than the exports of the North, East and West com- bined. ‘The war,” said General Tochman, “has impoverished the people but has not changed the climate nor destroyed the fertility of the soil.” The report for 1867 of the statis- tical bureau at Washington exhibits the fact that the population of the Southern States for thas year was 9,568,709, while their exports amounted to $328,406,757. The population of all the other States in the same year was 24,916,765, and their exports $243,202,243. Thus while the Southern States had but twenty-eight per cent of the entire population, they furnished sixty-nine per cent of the total value of exports. What is true of the genial climate and fertile soil of the South in general, embracing, east of the Mississippi, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and, west of the Mississippi, Arkansas, parts of Louisiana, and the great imperial State of Texas, which alone is equal to eight such States as New York, in size, and almost equal to the same number in productiveness—- what is true of the entire South is particularly true of Virginia. That State, including West Virginia, has an extent of 61,852 square miles. No other State in the Union has such a variety of surface, of climate and of products. To- bacco, sweet and white potatoes, wheat and other grain, the fig and the olive of the Promised Land—which lies in the same latitude, and is shone upon by the same skies that the patriarchs of the Bible were wont to gaze at— inexhaustible mineral wealth, coal, available | water power and increasing facilities of trans- port and communication, are among the in- ducements that invite the emigrant to Virginia. A farm of three hundred or four hundred acres can be purchased there for what it costs to go with a family to the Northwest or to the Pa- cific. Long credits are offered, so that a farmer of moderate means can secure a home- stead atless trouble and expense than any- where else. Moreover, the work of recon- struction is steadily progressing in Virginia and in all the other Southern States. It will doubtless be completed before the Presidential term of General Grant shall end. Those who now emigrate South will enjoy a sure prospect of sharing in its recovered prosperity and of wequeathing to their children a heritage of solid wealth, Genérai Tochman and the other Southern speakers at the meeting to which we have alluded did not exaggerate the attrac- tions of the South, and especially of Virginia, as the country for the emigrant. The old war- ery, “On to Richmond,” has now acquired a new meaning. Southerners themselves have adopted it as an appeal to Northerners to “move on to Richmond with their hoes and ploughs and spindles and mills, and help to rebuild the Mother of States and of Washing- ton.” Such an appeal cannot be made in vain. The Argentine Confederation. Since the new President of the Argentine confederation, Don Domingo F. Sarmiento, assumed the executive power, a great change has taken place in the Plata valley. Public improvements, railroads and telegraphs appear to be the order of the day. Now, our cor- respondence tells us, telegraphic lines are to be run from Buenos Ayres to all the principal cities of the republic. This will certainly be the best protection that can be had against the repeated gaucho uprisings which have kept that country so long in a revolutionary condition. The Argentine people have, since the date of their independence, been divided into two great parties. The marked characteristics of these have not been caused so much by political creeds as by the pecu- liarities of the topography of the country, Buenos Ayres up to a late date has been the one great centre of commerce. Here has been concentrated the wealth and nearly all the civilization of the country. Two-thirds of its large population are English, French, German and Italians. The people of the in- terior, uneducated, yet full of a sturdy feeling of independence, could not stand the dictation which characterized Buenos Ayres as a pro- vince of the confederation. Wars arose in consequence, and the now flourishing city of Rosario sprung up upon the banks of the Paran4, two hundred and seventy miles above Buenos Ayres. This new city has become the great outlet for the upper provinces and the terminus of a railroad two hundred and fifty miles in length, now nearly completed to the very heart of the country. Other railroads have penetrated inland to the west and south. They are all built by English capital and are all paying large dividends. Next to the United States the Argentine re- public has had the greatest influx of immi- grants from Europe, and there is an immense annual increase. Tliese are principally Ital- ians, who are very rapidly exerting an impor- tant influence, not only upon the Argentine government, but upon that of the neighboring republic of Uruguay, where many have also settled. Political jealousies between the vari- ous provinces have lately become more quiet. One event is notable—President Mitre com- pleted his Presidential term and quietly turned over his chair to his regularly elected suc- cessor, Sarmiento. The interior provinces, although somewhat uncertain of the policy of the new Executive, have quietly submitted to the laws and lend themselves to the general desire for national improvement and progress. The Southwestern tribes of Indians, who have heretofore made fearful raids upon the cattle farms, are receiving due attention. Freedom of religious worship has contented the settlers and merchants from other countries, and five or six Protestant churches, which the energy of the Rev. William Goodfellow has called into existence, attest moral progress. The Argentine republic, in the fertility of its soil and the superiority of its climate, is to South America what our Mississippi Valley is to North America, The Plata basin is but little inferior to our own great valley, while the water carried to the ocean by the Plata is far greater in quantity than the drainage which, from our own States, flows into the Gulf of Mexico. All” that the great Plata valley requires is a good government, and the prospects are that it is now on the right track. With twenty years of prosperity it will be the strongest and most prosperous country in South America, Burkev.—The gas bill has been killed by the Senate Committee on Manhicipal Affairs, composed of Messrs, Crowley, Creamer, Palmer, Banks and Kennedy. They kept the billin their hands so long that now it is re- ported it is too late for it to getthrough. Ap- parently that gas money on deposit in Albany has been earned. Who gets it? Potick Commissioners are to be expensive articles if they are to have twelve thousand dollars salary. Could we not get along with about half as many of them as we have? Our cable despatches from day to day show that Spain is making satisfactory progress towards constitutional government. ‘The de- bates on the new constitution have been singu- larly lively. There has been some vigorous opposition, but the government has carried all its points by large majorities, and the pre- sumption is that the new constitution, without any serious modification, will be adopted by the Cortes. We have just learned by cable that the article of the national constitution guaranteeing liberty of worship was adopted by one hundred and sixty-four against forty. This in Spain, which has hitherto been so much under the heel of the Papacy, means progress of a very substantial kind. It ap- pears also from another item of news that, while there isa strong desire on the part of the people to have a change of ministry and a responsible chief of the State appointed, no change will take place until the national con- stitution has been discussed in detail and the form of government finally agreed upon. It may now, we think, be taken for granted that the new constitution will be substantially adopted, and that Spain will remain a mon- archy. Who shallbe proclaimed monarch of Spain under the new constitution is as dark @ question to-day as it was six months ago. Montpensier, we have good reason to believe, is still the favorite candidate with Serrano, and, although Prim is 8 somewhat doubtful cha- racter, he has not yet openly differed from his colleague on thismatter. It is notorious, how- ever, that Montpensier is not the favorite of the Spanish people; nor does any one believe that his nomination for the crown will receive the countenance of the Emperor Napoleon. The Spanish people have committed themselves against the Bourbons, and a Bourbon of any name or of any family, younger or older, legiti- mist, Orleanist, Spanish or Neapolitan, on the throne of Spain, other than Isabella or her son, would be regarded by France and Europe gen- erally asa Napoleonic defeat. The question, therefore, becomes one of paramount importance, What will Napoleon do? Taking it for granted that Spain is still to be a monarchy, and believing that the con- sent of Napoleon is necessary to the success of any candidate who may be thought of, many are asking themselves the question Whom will Napoleon support? Looking at the entire situation, remembering that with the exception of Montpensier all the other candidates are virtually out of the field ; taking into consideration, too, the obstacles which lie in the way of Montpensler, it is exceedingly difficult to resist the conviction that the weight of Napoleon's influence will be flung in the scale in favor of Isabella’s son, the young Prince of the Asturias. It ought not to be forgotten that there is a power behind the throne of France, in the person of the Empress Eugénie. She is a stanch and uncompromising Catholic. She has no sympathy with the liberal sentiments now prevailing in Spain. Her priestly advisers have even less, Isabella, whatever her faults, had the reputation of being a good Catholic—a favorite of the Holy Father. If Isabella herself cannot be restored the next most desirable thing in the dethroned Queen’s interest would be the elevation of her son to the vacant throne. If Eugénie believes that the proclamation of the Prince of the Asturias King of Spain would please the Holy Father we may rest assured that her influence will not be withheld. If the Spanish people take to this idea we have little doubt that the experiment will be made. To put the copestone to the new Spanish con- stitution would be a great triumph to the Em- peror and would be flattering to the French people. There is one serious drawback to this mode of settling the difficulty. The Prince is not yet quite twelve years of age. According te the new constitution six years would have to elapse before he could assume the responsi- bilities of the executive. Those six years would be covered by a regency. Six years of @ regency, with a queen mother in the country who might prove quite as impracticable as was Queen Christina, would not be a pleasing prospect for Spain. She has not yet forgotten the last regency. It is very doubtful whether by any coaxing or any compulsion she will run the risk of reviving the troubles which marked the early years of the reign of Isabella. Time will soon tell. It is gratifying to see Spain making such progress, but many fear that trouble is still in store for her. Snowra Trem Srxceriry.—Mr. Bergh, who gives all his time while alive for the pro- tection of animals, will give one hundred thousand dollars for the same purpose when he dies, and a still more enthusiastic friend of the animals has already given two hundred thou- sand dollars to the society. At this rate asylums may be built. Tue Tax Levy—Ratsina THe Winv.—We see now the exact meaning of that little letter of Mayor Hall's on city improvements. He sketched out in said letter a fine programme for the realization in this city of some of those comforts and elegancies that the age has seen grow up in so many great cities, and then, at its close, said the Mayor had not power to carry this all out, and illustrated his meaning by the story of an earnest clarionet player, who, being encored, said that if he was to play again some one else must ‘furnish ze wind.” Now, following that little letter, Mayor Hall appears in the Legislature adding to the tax-lovy three millions three hundred and fifty~ eight thousand seven hundred and ninety dol- lars. Does he call that wind? A pretty stiff breeze ; but even to that people might not ob- ject if there was any moro than the usual chance that the money would go the right way. Three million dollars’ worth of improve- ment might do, but one million dollars’ worth of improvement and two million dollars’ worth of enriched contractors and municipal jobbers are not what we want. Toe Late Ovrrace at Quarantine. We have been called upon by a number of the passengers who came from Aspinwall on the steamship Alaska, all of whom denounce in very strong terms the act of Bully Swin- burne in forcing them to submit to the opera- tion of vaccination at the Quarantine station. We cannot help them to allay their wrath farther than to make the outrage public and to call upon Governor Hoffinan to immediately 4emove the obnoxious Health Officer.