The New York Herald Newspaper, May 11, 1869, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD PROPRIETOR. ‘Allbusiness or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yor HERALD. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Volume XXXIV. AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tur BuRLesgo® Ex: TRAVAGANZA OF THE Forty THieves. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Fifth avenue and Twenty- fourth street.—La GRanpr DUc urssk. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Lith street— CasrE. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Homery Donety, with NEW FEATURES. corner of Eighth avenue and GRAND OPERA HOU 28d atreet.—Tux TEMPEST. ROWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Wao's To WIN; 08, Tue Muupex at rux Four WiLLows. WAVERLEY THEATRE. 720 Broadway.—Minian’s Crime—Mivpy AsuorR, £0. WOOD'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE, Thirtieth street and Broadway.—Afternoon and evening Performance. THE TAMMANY, Fourteenth street—Roninson CRusOR asp lis MAN Faipay, &0. ROOTH'S THEATRE, 23d at,, between Sth and 6th avs.— OrnE.10. MRS. F, B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn. SNAKE. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Comic SKETOMES AND Living STATUES—PLU1O. y.—Erato- SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 585 Broad: ONE Bow. PIAN ENTERTAINMENTS—THREE STRINGS BRYANTS' OPERA HOUSE, Tammany Building, Mth street. ETHIOPIAN MINSTRELSY, 4c. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA H Vocalise, NEGRO MINSTRELSY, » 201 Bowery.—Comtc ce NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street.—RISLEY's JAPANESE TROUPE. HOOLEY’S OPERA HOU MinsTRELS—THE BILL Poster’ NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 613 Broadway.— SCIENCE AND ART. Brooklyn.—Hoor.ey's Dream. TRIPLE SHEET. May 11, 1869. New York, Tucsda: TO ADVERTISERS. All advertisements should be sent in before eight o'clock, P. M., to insure proper classifi- cation. = THE NEWS. Europe. The cable despatches are dated May 10. While on a visit to the town of Chartres, on the 9th, the Emperor made a short speech, in whici: he referred to his former visit, when President, and to the coming elections. ‘The question of acquiring Gibraltar was brought defore the Spanish Cortes on Saturday, to which the Minister of State replied, that before considering that point seriously Spain must be strongly consti- tuted and financially reorganized. ‘The Chief Secretary for Ireland stated yesterday in the House of Commons that the government was considering by which means to increase the power of the Lord Lieutenant, with respect to the suppres- sion of outrages in Ireland. A mass meeting was held in Cork on Saturday for the purpose of censuring the conduct of the British government in reference to Mayor O'Sullivan. Cuba. Captain General Dulce, with his escort of volun- teers, has returned to Havana from Matanzas. Fight- ing is reported near Nuevitas, It is stated by Cubans in Washington that there are already 2,500 Americans in the Cuban army, and that 3,000 more will be added soon. The Secretary of State yesterday received advices direct from the revolutionary authorities. Admiral Hoff has re- ceived instructions to promptly punish the shooting of any Americans under Count Valmaseda’s recent order that any man found away from home without @ satisfactory reason shall be shot. A Cuban and a Spaniard fought aduelin New Orleans yesterday, the Cuban being badly injured and the Spaniard remaining unhurt. The duel grew Out of the cries of “Death to the Spaniards,” which a Cuban procession recently indulged in, and the vie- torious Spaniard has tendered a general cha‘lenge to every one in the procession who inaulged in the cries. The Legislature. In the Senate, yesterday, the veto messages of the Governor were taken up and a large batch of them ‘were sustained, including the vetoes of the biils au- thorizing a President pro tem. for the Boara of Police Commissioners, and for coustructing the 125th street and the avenue ( railroads. A new Con- ference Committee was appointed on the Tax Levy Dili, after some discussion, in which an appeal from a decision of the chair was carried by the casting vote of the Lieutenant Governor. a point of order being raised that he could not give @ casting vote in such a case, it was overruled by him. Messrs. Mattoon and Van Petten voted with the democrats on appointing a new committee; but Mr. Van Petten said he voted under a mist nd moved to reconsider the vote.: This waslost. Three Tepublicans were appointed one after the other on the new conference committee, but each declined, and Mr. Williams finally accepted. In the Assembly a bill for the construction of a railroad in Twenty-third street was read 4 third time and passed, with only one dissenting voice. ‘The re- ports of the conference committee on the tax levies ‘Were agreed to, and comanittees were sent to inform the Governor and the Senate that the Assembly was ready to adjourn. Miscellaneous, The Pacific Railroad was completed yesterday, the fast spike being driven in at five minutes past three P. M., New York time, The event was celebrated in this city by the firing of cannon, the chiming of Trinity bells and a general jubilation among the business men. Chief Justice Chase rendered a decision in the Circuit Court at Richmond, Va,, yesterday, reversing Judge Underwood's decision, by which Judge Sheffey, of the State Court, was removed from office as ineligibie, under the fourteenth amendment, and @ negro named Casar Griffin, sentenced by him to imprisonment, was released. Sheffey was appointed under the Alexandria government, ‘defore the fourteenth amendment was adopted, aud was a de facto oMficer; and even if he 4s Ineligible, the convenience of the State must be consulted and another interpretation of the ‘Smendment preferred. Under this decision Cwsar Griffin was returned to the custody of the State au thorities, and Jeter Phillips, who is sentenced to Geath on Friday next, was also remanded. new arrangement for appointing army officers as Indian agents does not work harmoniousiy. In several instances, citizens appointed and confirmed to such places, find them alread: pe ady filled by aumy | The threatened strike among the coal e miners ~ Leigh and Schuyikil districts commenced pn day. Work is suspended, | Prof. Gabb inf ed those favoring the 5 ation of St. bomungo that he has rospectod 299 pesoe Fidinede aay porta cule and ta, A fire occurred in Paterson, N. J., yesterday, by Which the Murray Mill aud nearly the whole of the block on which tt is situated was burned, involving & 1088 Of $325,000, The City. In the Board of Health yesterday a sharp rencontre took place between Dr. Stone and Dr. Swinburne in reference to a resolution requiring the latter to in- form the citizens when he is about to send a ship up that may have ship fever on board. Dr, Stone said Dr. Swinburne did not know too much of common Manners, was addicted to vulgar insolence and did not keep thirigs as they ought to be at Quarantine. Dr. Swinburne retorted by telling Dr, Stone to go back to Boston, and saying he did not know any- thing about ship fever. No blood was let. ‘The second trotting match between Lady Thorn and American Girl, was won yesterday by Lady Thorn, at the Fashion Course. The best mile was in 2:2 Acircular was shown Treasurer Spinner the other day purporting to come from Messrs. Gumbridge & Co., 69 Wall street, in which they propose to sell certain counterfeit treasury notes, apparently a3 good as the genuine, for a small sum on the dollar, The parties who showed this document to the Trea- surer claimed that they had been victimized and demanded redress, The document was sent to Superintendent Kennedy. In his charge to the Grand Jury yesterday Judge Benedict, of the United States Circuit Court, e8- pecially called attention to corruption in office and to numerous evasions of the income tax law. District Attorney Garvin, ta prosecuting a case in the General Sessions yesterday, took occasion to say that if the man who saw the Rogers murder and said, “Jim, don’t do it,” would come forward and tell who committed the deed, he should have full immupity from punishment. The steamship Cimbria, Captain Haack, will leave Hoboken at two o’clock P. M. to-day for Hamburg, calling at Plymouth, England, and Cherbourg, France. The mails will close at the Post OMice at twelved'clock M, The steamship Minnesota, Captain Price, will sail from pier 46 North river at three o'clock P. M. to- morrow (Wednesday) for Liverpool, calling at Queenstown to land_passengers. The National line Seamship Pennsylvania, Captain Hall, will leave pier No, 47 North river at six o'clock to-morrow (Wednesday) morning for Liverpool via Queenstown. The Inman line steamship City of Dublin, Captain Eynon, will leave pier 45 North river to-morrow, 12th inst., for Antwerp direct. The stock market yesterday was very strong, buoyant and active in response to the stimulative effects of the completion of the Pacific Railway and the proposal to begin paying off the national debt and the easter condition of the money market. Gold opened at 137 and closed at 13734. Prominent Arrivals in the City. Judge James B. Hutch, of Springfield, Mass.; Major P. B. Tyler, of WestgHaven, and Professor Samuel Gardiner, of Washington, are at the Metropolitan Hotel. judge Sherman, of Washington; George W. Paschal, of Texas; Commander Windell and Gen- eral 0. O. Howard, of Washington, are at the Astor House. Colonel Mowbrie and S, F. Tappan, of Colorado, are at the Hoffman Hous James Trabue, of Loutsviile, Ky., and Colonel W, L, Scott, of Erie, are at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Major Barney, of Washington, is at the Westmore- land Hovel. Lieutenant Colonel Waters, of Chicago; Dr. G. Taylor, of Connecticut, and Dr. C, Purvis, of Wash- ington, are at the St. Denis Hotel. Lieutenant Commander F, A. Cook, of the United States Navy, is at the Brevoort House, Colonel E. P, Latham, of Wisconsin, is at the St. Charles Hotel. Ex-Congressman T. M. Pomery, of New York; E. P. Ross, of Auburn, and Paymaster M, B. Cushing, of the United States Navy, are at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Prominent Departures. Governor Travis, for Hudson Bay; Colonel W. A. Smith, for North Carolina; Colonel F. 8. Stevens, for Swansey; Major Clarence King, for Chicago; Judge E. Ross and Judge R. Blake, for Washington; Gen- eral Hoffman, for Pittsburg; J. R. Tyer, of London, for Philadelphia; Mr. Fairchild, for Cazenovia, and Colonel R. D. Wardell, for Albany, Spain and Caba=—The Real Position. There is a singular similarity, though an ap- parent contradiction, in the positions occupied respectively by Spain and Cuba, which, though ignored by the parties aiming tp assist the Spanish agents in this country to rivet and preserve the last links of colonial despotism in America, must exercise an important influence in the final settlement of the contest in the Antilles, The revolution of September last in the Iberian peninsula drove out the ancient dynasty and derogated the ancient form of government. By an almost unanimous upris- ing of the people these acts were confirmed, and to-day the Cortes is sitting in special con- vention for the purpose of deciding what form of government shall rule the nation. No man in Spain or out of it presumes to ques- tion the right of the Spanish people to decide this important question, and all the arguments presented in behalf of a monarchical or a republican system expressly recognize the right of the people to determine the matter. In accordance with our usual practice the representative of the United States in Madrid was the first to recognize the popular government, and of the great Powers of the world ours is probably the only one whose gov- ernment and diplomatic agents are not actively at work to influence the decision of the national representatives in Spain. The motive and reason of the Spanish revo- lution were the tyranny and corruption of the Bourbon rule. Without concert of action with the Spanish people, but animated by the same feelings, the people of Cuba determined to throw off the same despotism which enthralled them, and, with but little difference of time, they began the movement. The colonial gov- ernment, under Captain General Leraundi, re- fused to recognize alike the acts of the Spanish people and of those of Cuba, To the last moment of his power in Cuba he held friendly communication with the exiled Queen, When superseded, the new Captain General was not permitted by the Spanish traders in Havana to recognize any popular rights in Cuba, and the government there was committed to a course antagonistic to every idea that is to-day pro- claimed in Spain. Under false representations (for the people of Spain know little of what is passing in Cuba) several thousands of men have been induced to volunteer for service in the island. A thousand of these, from Catalufia, arrived recently in Havana, and when they learned the antagonistic character of the con- flict numbers of them began to express dissatis- faction. Great efforts were made, however, with banquets and speeches and triumphal arches, to suppress this feeling, and to a great extent it succeeded sufficiently to get them off to the field. It is a significant fact, however, that a portion of the officers refused to embark further in the service and have retugned to Spain, Our private advices from tha state that the sqme feeling has already spread to » remarka- ble extent aindhg the resident Spaniards there, and should the government forces receive any serious check in the field it may ahow itself on the surface to an extent little suspected at the present moment. The people of Spain and Cuba are to-day each claiming the right to ee tablish their form of covernment, and the logic NEW YORK HERALD, 1UESDAY, MAY 11, 1869.-TRIPLE of this great fact will enforce its recognition. | Te Pacife Railrond—Its Rings and Its If it is right in Spain it must be right in Cuba also, This is the view, and the only view, which should be permitted to control the action of our government in the question, There is no other safe position; none which will not lead to complications innumerable and results disastrous. A few short-sighted and selfish partisans are calling for an enforcement of the neutrality laws, and it is worth while to examine what these laws are and upon what principle it is sought to apply them to the suppression of the great American principle of the right of the people, The neutrality laws as they exist to-day upon our statute books are a disgrace to us as a nation, and are not paralleled by the laws or the practice of any other great Power. They are the growth of the era of cowardice which marked the administration of the elder Adams at the close of the last century, reaffirmed and strengthened in 1818, when the country ex- perienced a temporary reaction from the spirit which laid the embargo of 1809 and made the last war with England in 1812-15. The coun- try, on each occasion of their enactment, had just gone through a long period of commercial depression and disaster, and was a hungered for commerce. As a pruden- tial measure in the era of our national baby- hood they have done their work and are now unworthy of our material and moral position among the nations. The declaration of Presi- dent Monroe, known @s the Monroe doctrine, was a national reaction against them, and represents the true spirit which animates the country and guides its policy. Any adminis- tration which ignores this great fact and per- mits itself to be guided by the moral cowardice which enacted the neutrality laws will consign itself to failure in its diplomacy and to igno- miny in the appreciation of the country. There is but one path to success open to the administration of President Grant. It must show itself equal to the requirements and power of the United States of 1869, and not undertake to fulfil its mission in the spirit that animated our fathers in moments of depres- sion two generations ago. We are now a great and united Power, and any position that we take is to-day considered by the nations of the world. The time has gone never to return when the Powers of Europe could take a determination in an American question without waiting to know what the United States might think or wish in the matter. At this moment the Cabinets of Europe are passive on the Cuban question, waiting to know and asking what view does General Grant take and what will he do. In deciding this matter he will receive the support of the country and the respect of the world in pro- portion as his administration approximates to the spirit that animated the declaration of Monroe. We have recognized the right of the people of Spain to change their dynasty and their form of government, and we must accord the same right to the people of Cuba. Any other course will be treason to the principles that guide the American people and treason to that self-respect which should animate our policy as a free and powerful nation. LaGistative ADJOURNMENT IN ALBANY.— The closing hours of the session of the New York Legislature were marked by earnest and exciting scenes yesterday. The amount of tax levies for the city and county: gave rise to animated debates, which resulted in the voting of a committee of conference. This committee reported in favor of avery mate- rial reduction in the estimates, recommending that the city tax levy be cut down one million eight hundred thousand dollars and the county levy six hundred thousand dollars. This was adopted in both branches, and by large ma- jorities, so that the tax levy sheets as amended may be regarded as fixed facts and law. Governor Hoffman was sustained in several of his vetoes. An adjournment sine die was voted by the Senate and Assembly at midnight, after the usual interchange of courtesies. A Day To Be Cetesratep.—May 10, the completion of the Pacific Railroad. Napotron on THE Stcmr.—The Emperor of France paid a visit to Chartres on Sunday, where he inspected the arrangements made for the horticultural exhibition. He also delivered a neat little address, in the course of which he recalled the memory of the re- public, by stating that he had been in the city when President. After this delicate reminis- cence he referred to the approaching elections, advising the people to aid the cause of “liberal progress,” by voting only for men worthy of the mission. His Majesty is a able politician. He combines republicanism and imperialism in one, and will accept either in any emergency or difficulty of a seriou character. Reia1ous Revivars.—The observing French traveller who reported that the Americans had three hundred and sixty-five religions and only one gravy ought at this day to pay the United States another visit. He would find that while we are still behind the French in cookery, we are still going ahead in new religions as well as in revivals in the old ones, from the High Church Ritualists down to the Latter Day Saints. This is a remarkable fact, and yet at &@ moment's notice all these worshippers vill turn from Moses to Aaron and his golden calf. “Old Hundred” was sung in modern Vall street by the bulls and bears the first tim: on the fall of Richmond, and the next timewill probably not be before Richmond falls agan. Excitement iN Littte Ruopy To-for- Row.—There will be some excitement in rov- idence, R. I., to-morrow in regard 0 the election for city officers, There are tvo re- publican candidates in the field for Myor— Mr. Clarke, regular, and Mr. Doyle, iprague bolter. Asa test of personal populrity the result will be regarded with interest. Crooken.—Is it to be inferred that the Pacific Railroad is a crooked one oecause a number of venerable gentlemen from the country undertook to celebrate its ompletion by ondeavoring yesterday to walk crack on Broadway? Geserar Bourixr.—It appears tat General Butler is about to wake up the sbepy politi- cians of Massachusetts in a great speech on the political situation. Very wel. He will be just in time, as the little clad of dust raised by the light Bull run fatteries of has settled down and here is an opening for the big gun of Big Betlel, Financial Muddle. We published yesterday a letter from a cor- respondent giving a graphic account of the progress of the Pacific Railroad, the character of the country through which it passes, the disposition of its ab- original inhabitants and the queer style of civilization that has followed the great work as it has steadily advanced toward the com- pletion of the vast steam belt that girdles the globe. To-day the electric telegraph furnishes us with the particulars of the ceremonies of the final inauguration of the business of the road, the jubilant displays in various sections of the country on the occasion, and our local columns chronicle what occurred in this city in honor of the event. That it was worthy of ® celebration equal in magnificence to that which attended the laying of the Atlantic cable no one, we think, who reflects upon the mag- nitude of the work—a continuous line of rail three thousand miles across our own Conti- nent—will deny. It maybe asked why this, the greatest marvel of enterprise in the nine- teenth century, should not have elicited more of a denfénstration than that which marked its triumph in this city yesterday. The same old flags that have honored such events as the anniversary of the birthday of Tom Paine were flung to the genial May breeze from the City Hall, and a few hotels hoisted their ban- ners on their outer walls ; but beyond this and the firing of afew guns in the Park anda semi-solemn Je Deum by the chimes of Old Trinity, there was nothing to strike the stranger or our own citizens with the fact that a momentous event had occurred in the history of our country—that a giant child had been born in Israel. We think we can explain the reason for this extra- ordinary lukewarmness on the part of our usually demonstrative citizens. As the great work approached completion it became the magnet of attraction in Congressional and out- side jobbing rings and speculators, in the en- deavor to grasp the managemont of the road and shape it to suit personal and speculative purposes. At first there was a mud- dle about the payment of the workmen, in which a mythical financial bubble called the Crédit Mobilier figured, with that ingenious, rattle-pated twistifier, George Fran- cis Train, as the figurehead. Then the Massa- chusetts Congressional ring, with Mr. Oakes Ames as the inspiring genius, claimed the lion’s share of the management, and a hubbub and the usual amount of jealousy and heart- burnings were created among outsiders by the modest demands and snug little private finan- cial arrangements of that most modest and self-sacrificing of all jobbing rings—one com- posed of New England political and financial capitalists and general stockjobbers. | Anon strides in the rotund and unconquerable Fisk, Jr., who entangles the company in the meshes of the law, smashes into its safes with iron sledges and official jimmies and cold steel chisels, both literally and in the shape of or- ders from the court, notices from a receiver, and so on; and, finally, what with the wrang- ling among inside and outside rings for the control of the vast resources and prospectively enormous emoluments of the company, the entanglements among the lawyers, the oppo- sition of the advocates of rival lines and other troubles that have environed the under- taking, even in its cradle, as if it were the determination of certain rings to smother it there rather than to allow it to be raised by the hands of other jobbing nurses, it is no wonder, we say, in view of all these things, that the completion of the great enterprise was celebrated in the cold and indifferent manner it was in this city yesterday, or rather that the event should not have been commemorated at all in the commercial metropolis of the nation. In the midst of these bitter ring fights and financial heartaches Uncle Samuel stands quietly by without power to say a word, and all the while he sees his rich mineral and agricultural lands lying at the mercy of specu- lators, his natural rights of way across his own domain gradually falling within the magic circle of Congressional plotters and Wall street speculators and stock gamblers, and the advantages of the great work, the en- gineering wonder and admiration of the world, built with his own munificent donations, be- coming absorbed by private capitalists and monopolists, who will, if they be not carefully looked after, cause the read to become before a long time a national by-way and by-word in- stead of a world-wide blessing. Let us, how- ever, hope for the best. Let our authorities and our people throw these monopolists and jobbers aside and come out for a grand jubilee and jollification—a splendid illumination and a grand good time all around—in honor of the completion of this miraculous work, and then prepare for another magnificent continental achievement—the construction of a ‘“longitu- dinal railroad,” bisecting the Continent from one end to the other. Goop ror Misstsstprt.—A number of Mis- sissippi gentlemen are out in an address, urg- ing great prudence, both in words and in con- duct, upon the people of the State, in view of the misrepresentatioys of designing men. This is all right and proper, and will, if steadily adhered to, insure the speedy restoration of Mississippi to all her former rights and privi- leges in the Union. A Generat Muppre ww Rat.roavs.—The contagion of the great Erie Railroad muddle has seized the Pacific Railroad companies and various intermediate Western companies, and some Southern companies, so that we are ina fair way to have a general railroad muddle. Out of it all o few sharp directors and stock jobbing managers, and the lawyers called in, will carry off the lion’s share of the spoils at the expense of thestockholders, the public and the public treasury. Such is the working of all these railroad muddles. Arriva, or Tun Fenxtans.—Several dis- tinguished Fenian exiles, released from one of Britain’s bastiles, arrived in this city the other day, and yet the Hudson river was not set on fire, neither was there an earthquake. There was no Train on hand. Frumvsters.—Marshal Barlow and the Spanish Consul here and the Spanish Minister in Washington are on the qué vive for ardent adventurers, but have no facts of an expe- dition, Somo of the newspapers have half a dosen expeditions every day, which is very great enterprise. SHEET. The Protestant Congress at Worms. Some few days ago we learned that a Pro- testant Congress was to be held at Worms. By a later cable despatch we are informed that the Congress is to meet on the 31st of May and that the object of the Congress is to take into consideration the recent invitation of the Pope to the Protestant Churches to send representatives to the Ecumenical Council and to frame a reply to the same. Worms has a historic connection with the great religious revolution of the sixteenth century. It was here that on the 17th and 18th of April, 1521, Luther confronted the combined forces of the Church and the world. At Worms the Refor- mation properly began. Since then the Church of the West has been split into two great hostile divisions. Since the Council of Trent, which was a complete failure, no at- tempt has been made to have the divided Church represented in one congress until now. We have no expectation that the Pro- testants of Germany will agree to accept the Pope's invitation; but as their reply will be a document of some historic interest we shall await the result of this Congress with a cer- tain amount of interest. The Pacific Railway, Secretary Boutwell and Wall Street. The completion of the great railway enter- prise led to a decided revival of speculation in Wall street yesterday, although the event had been so long looked for and its effect so largely discounted. As the bells of Trinity were ring- ing out peals of joy the brokers in the maze of streets and passage ways around the Stock Exchange were steadily bidding up stocks until a portion of the railway list touched the highest quotations ever attained. It may be that the expectations of those who are tempted by the mania of the moment to invest their all in the roads which are to unite with the Pacific Railway in the great trans-continental route will be disappointed. But the easier state of the money market, the widespread praises of the great enterprise and the hopes of large dividends in the future surround their speculations with a couleur de rose which for the present dissipates apprehension or fear. Simultaneously with this great event is the culmination of the public debt and the proposi- tion from Washington to find theans, not of adding to, but of lightening our burden of national debt. The speculative fever, had, therefore, a twofold source. One remarkable feature of monetary affairs within the past week was the struggle between London and New York to see which should affect the other. London became agitated last Friday and came near producing a panic here. But the effect of Secretary Boutwell's proposition to begin paying off the national debt was to give New York the supremacy, and to-day London fol- lowed the American metropolis. This fact and the completion of the Pacific Railway are significant indices that New York is to be the commercial and financial centre of the world. Taar GorpeN Sprixe.—The golden spike that closes the final link of the Pacific Rail- road is suggestive. It is unfortunate for trav- elling communities that. golden spikes, in the shape of fat dividends, have been the ambition of many directors, who manage to secure them atthe sacrifice of the lives and limbs of pas- sengers, Tuk Nevada City (Cal.) Gazette complains that the assessors of Yuba and other counties in that State are in the: habit of picking up strangers and assessing them for the horses they ride, the buggies they ride in and so on. “Yuba Dam” is located in that county, and strangers sometimes pronounce the name with a heartiness slightly indicative of profanity. Tor Geeat Want or tar Cusans.—Not men, but arms and ammunition. They want rifles and cartridges to meet the Spaniards with their Chassepots; but still a few Americans who have smelt gunpowder will be useful ia teaching the young idea of liberty in Cuba how to shoot. ARMING Prisovers.—In the event that has just occurred at Sing Sing we see what may happen in our prisons where the men are worked on contract. One of them assaulted the foreman armed vith the knife that was given yim as an implement of labor. Where prisoners are put at benches by the hundred, each with a knife in hand, and there is only moral restraint, what is to prevent wholesale insurrection and desperate slaughter ? Trniry as A Temrorat CeLeprant.— What would the preliminary celebration of the completion of the Pacific Railroad yester- day have been had not the chimes of Trinity rang out a Laus Te Deum? Inyocent Fst.ows.—According to the ac- counts of one of the country correspondents Granvs Political Career. Grant's career in politics recalls already certain of the striking points of his career in war, and his military history supplies material for the most likely judgment of his future. He blundered at first. He was beaten some- times so tremendously that almost any other soldier would have lost heart, and, facing to the right about, brought off the demoralized fragments of an army. McDowell at the last minute of Bull run was nothing like so badly beaten as Grant was on the first day at Shilob, and the force that McClellan hustled to Harri- son’s Landing was one flushed with victory and conscious strength, infinitely superior in every respect to the force with which Grant still held his lines on that first day. One general retreats with a splendid army, that moves away from the enemy against its will, and the other crushes the enemy with a force that hardly hangs together. Without disposi- tion to disparage Grant’s military achieve- ment, it is still clear that he gained many battles under a rule hinted at by Napoleon, who said that at the last it was often only a question who would run away first. Grant always stayed. His tenacity turned the tables. He always considered that the force that had worked him down to nearly nothing had in doing this worked itself down to about the same figure, and that things were still even. He could think of the enemy’s distress aa well as of his own. He was able so far to command his thoughts that he could lose sight of everything but the grand object, and he ever desired to save his army from the ruin of retreat. Some generals had their retreats so beautifully planned out before the battle that they could not bear to close it in any other way. In all this is seen a man having faith in him- self and faith in the chapter of accidents, able to apply the ordinary methods and modes of common sense to problems of the very highest importance, knowing that victory and defeat are often so near alike that one must wait to distinguish between the two, and be willing to wait—a man not thin-skinned, re- ceiving no impression from defeat and only fighting on. Here is a man, then, who can learn by experience and can stand the neces- sary experience, not only without exhaustion, but without perturbation. The problems of our political life are not the most difficult ones. Indeed, the average man of our political sys- tem is far from being a wonder of intellectual power, and it is no great compliment to Grant to say that he is decidedly above this average. Nay, we cannot readily call up in thought any single man of public life who is so out of the ordinary proportion, so much above the average ability, that a comparison of him with Grant would sound extravagant, and we can call up a multitude of pigmies far below him, yet successful in politics. Grant, we take it, is quite equal to any science that could be mastered by those great chosen men of the Senate—our foreign ministers. Neither do we believe that any of the great politicians in the Cabinet quite dwarf him. Even in the Senate we have not seen the man that makes us ashamed of Grant. Grant is equal to any of these men—greatly superior to the majority, and needs only the experience of their operations to beat them on their own ground. Epaminondas by beating the Spar- tans taught them how to beat him, and Grant will learn the trade of politics in that Spartan way. The Approaching French Elections. Notwithstanding the tumultuous cries of “ Vive la liberté” and ‘ Vive Uimpereur” which were shouted forth at the closing session of the third Legislature of the second empire, and which indicated at once the programmes and the hopes of the imperialist party and of its oppo- nents, on the eve of the approaching French elections, the votes of the Corps Législatif adopting the extraordinary budget by 226 against 14, and the pension law, in favor of the old soldiers of the first empire by 218 against 6, are unmistakable signs of the triumph about to be won by the Emperor and his adherents in their fresh appeal to universal suffrage. There is no doubt that the preliminary measures determined upon by the Emperor in order to secure such a triumph attest the remarkable tact and shrevydness of Napoleon IIL, and will prove successful both with the people and the army of France, President Schneider, in his farewell speech, cl ed for the Legisla- ture the credit of having ‘Qonstantly seconded. the initiative of the sovereign in the develop- ment of our public liberties. his thus,” he added, ‘that under the shadow of & power protecting order and security we have, in con- cert with him, realized solid and durable pro- gress for the moral and material prosperity of France.” The speech of President Schneider was followed by prolonged shouts of ‘ Vive UEmpereur!" And when the opposition caught up and repeated the exclamation of the gentlemen of the British Legation are dreadfully puzzled what to make of us, and what to say or what to do, we are so wonder- fully inconsistent. This timidity is a national trait. Englishmen are always diffident, and even shy, in the assertion of their own opinions. In fact, it was merely because the authorities were too modest to say no that the Alabama got out. Our Pottor.—In the fact that the police were informed of the manufacture of Haytien currercy here in time to seize all made, and yet dd not seize it because there was ‘‘no comp’aint made,” we see that our detective aysten regards as the true object of a police not the suppression of crime, but the division of a reward. Harp From.—Gideon Welles, who recently wen: into retirement from the Navy Depart- mert, has been heard from. He shipped all his household effects on a government vessel at Washington to be sent up the Connecticut river to Hartford. The vessel drew eleven fee of water, and there are only six feet on the bar at the mouth of the Connecticut river. It b the same old Gideon. ‘na Dirrerexor.—The steamship Ariel, which arrived at Quarantine at an early hour onthe morning of the 6th inst., was detained unil the 10th inst., having some slight cases of tickness aboard. The James Foster, Jr., witl nearly all the passengers and crew down with ship fever, was detained but forty-cight hous, The James Foster, Jr., is owned by @ more wealthy and liberal company than the Ariel M. Jules Favre, ‘ Vive la liberté,” and that of M. Pelletan, ‘‘ Vive la nation,” the President of the Corps Législatit declared that ‘the nation’ does not separate liberty from the Emperor.” Unquestionably, and despite a larger accumu- lation of grievances and indignation against the Emperor than was ever raised against the Citizen King, it is highly probable that Napo- leonic ideas will receive a new lease of life at the next elections. THE YACHT FLEETWING. This schooner yacht of honorable record, belong- ing to the New York Yacht Club, and owned by mr. George A. Osgood, is now on the screw dock near tne foot of Pike street, Bast river, where she is undergoing the process of cleaning, scraping, and, in some portions, the plaining of her hull prior to ite thorough painting. The work will be completed to- morrow, when the yacht will be towed to the foot of Thirty-fourth strect, East river, The Fleet- wing has been lying in winter quarters at New London, and since the tate genial weather has caused our yachtmen to be astir i a z : L A