The New York Herald Newspaper, May 29, 1869, Page 6

6 NEW YORK I [ERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. jo. 149 Volume XXXIV. AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. OLYMPIC. THEATRE, Broadway.—Hicoory Diccory Dock. Matin ee BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—PuTNAM—TUB ASSAS- SIN OF THE ks—J AQURS StRov. BOOTHS TH » between Sih and 6th avs.— Matinee—Orus Wip Oars, GRAND OPERA HO! corner ot Eighth avenue and 28d sireet.—!’ATRER. t 135. oadway.—Tuk SPROTACULAR NIBLO" 2N EXTRAVAGANZA OF SENDAD THE SAILOR. PIFTIL AV £ THEATRE, Fifth avenue and Twenty- fourth stroet.—Matinee at 2—BAse BLEUE. FRENCH THEAT! nue—La Vir Panu Fourteenth street and Sixth ave WALLACK'S T CASTE. Matinee WAY! Iston. Broadway and Iith street.— BATRE, WooD's M Broadway.—Att THE TAM MA. Guay. Mar WAY'S PARK THEATRE, OUT 4 MERCHANT OF VENICE. Brooklyn.— BROUKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC- BELL. THEATRE COMIQ AND LIVING STATU Tue HeeMir's 51d Proadway.—Comtc SKETOORS jatinee at 2. PARK GARD! av., between 58th and LAR GARDEN s SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 585 Broaiway.—Fraio- PIAN ESTERTAINMENTS—THE UNDLEACURD BLONDES. BRYANTS’ OPERA HOUSE, Tammany Building, Mth street, Evi(OVIAN MINSTRELSY, &0. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HO! SE, 201 Bowery.—Comtc Voca1iss, NEGRO MINSTRELSY, &c. Matinee at 934. EMPTR: Gmanp © TY RINK, corner 3d ay., 6Bd and ith sta.— HOOLE OPERA HOUSE. Brooklyn.—Hoover's MINSTRELS —Vst-AU-VENT, Matinee ut 233. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— BCIENCE AND ART. LADIES’ NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 620 Broadway. EMALES ONLY TTEN DANCE. TRIPLE SHEET. — York, Saturday, May ae; sinh THE HERALD IN BROOKLYN. Notice to Carriers and Newsdealers. BrooktyN Carniers aND Newsmen will in future receive their papers at the Brancn Orrice or tHe New York Herarp, No. 145 Fulton street, Brooklyn. ADVERTISEMENTS and Svusscrrerions and all letters for the New Yore Herarp will be received as above. Europe. The cable despatches are dated May 28. The London 7imes, commenting on Messrs. Laird’s letter, regrets the insufficiency of the law, and the Datly News requires assurances that Mr. Motley is empowered to express the opinions of the Presi- dent and the Senate before entering upon a new treaty. The tories are organizing meetings im order to protest against the disestablishment of the Irish Church, Owing to much rain having fallen few persons were present at the Epsom races, and the track was heavy. The Oaks Stakes was won by Brigantine, the Great Surry Foal Stakes by De Vere, and the Epsdm Two Years Old by Roquefort. * The Americans in Paris have handed a farewell address to General Dix, and 300 will join him in a banquet on June 1. He leaves py the Cambria. The official papers of Paris state that the elections are in favor of the imperial government. Six hundred volunters left Cadiz for Havana yes- terday. Queen Isabella has declined to abdicate in favor of her son. Anti-govermmental disturbances of a serious nature have occurred at Seville. The London 7imes mentions that business in American bonds 1s only transacted in Frankfort, in the issues of 1862. Ismail Pacha has been receivea at Trieste with at state, gb Cuba. The Spanish gunboat Austria reports having chased a suspicious looking steamer that was lurg- ing along (he coast and having fired at her to bring her to, but the vessel hoisted the American colors and continued on her course. Captain General Dulce has asked to be immediately relieved from duty. It is stated that the ex-rebel ram Atlanta, recently sold by the government, is being fitted up by her owners at Philadelphia for service under the Cubans. Venezuela. The brig Morancy, Captain Hill, arrived at this port yesterday from Porto Cabello, When leaving that port she was fired at from the fort, first with a blank and then with a round shot, which struck her amidships aud went through the bulwarks, but did no other damage. Miscellaneous. The opinion of Attorney General Hoar has been called for on the question whether it is required of the United States to ferret out the destination of vessels supposed to be aiding the Cubans, or only to accept the papers of such vessels as sufictent evi- dence of lawful intent, and grant them clearances to such ports as Kingston, St. Thomas or Vera Cruz. The Spanish authorities claim that the first pro- position covers the true intent of the law, but Secre- tary Fish, and, it is believed, Attorney General Hoar, incline to a belief in the last. Mr. Huntington, Vice President of the Central Pa- cific Railroad, complied witn the late law of Congress yesterday by depositing with Secretary Boutwell $4,000,000 worth of first mortgage bonds on the Cen- tral as the required security for the completion of the road, that amount having been decided upon by President Grant and his Cabinet. Secretary Boutwell has directed the issue of the amount of bonds in full that the company is entitled to, which is to be ex- pended in completing the road. The ship Margaret and the bark Zelitas were wrecked off Anticosti Isiand on the 16th instant, and thirty-two of the crews were lost, only one man being saved, The Fifteenth Amendment has been postponed ‘until January by the Rhode Island House of Repre. sentatives, ‘The negro Turner, who was appointed Postmaster at Macon, Ga., through the influence of Sumner and Butler, a8 a rebuke to the rebel element, appears to have proved a sore reproach indeed. A deputation waited upon the President on Thursday to have him removed, as they claim he is arrogant and proud ‘and totally unfit for the position. The President re- plied that it was too late, the sppointment must stand. ‘The public debt statement to be issued on Mon- day, will, it is stated, show @ decrease of the debt during the month of over $15,000,000. The receipes from customs and internal revenue up to the 26th inst. aggregated $35,502,073 and will probably show @ heavier average during the remaining days as the receipts from both sources on tne 27th were, $1,711,000, The coin in the Treasury las not been dininished so far by the weekly sales of gold, the books showing at present $90,596,000 of it on hana. The graves of Union soldiers at the Arlington Cemetery will be decorated to-day. All the public offices in Washington will be closed and the Preal- dent and prominent offictals will take part. A floral tomb is to be erected by the indies over the 2,000 unknown graves, In regard to the election in Mississippi the Preai- Gent stated yesterday that it would not be held until NEW YORK HERALD, after the Virginia election, an aaa the obnox ious clauses of the constitution would be submitted separately, Among the anniversary meetings that were held n Roston yesterday were those of the Free Keligion- ists and the Shakers, ‘Two rich prothers named Young, living in Hunter- don county, N. J., were recently sentenced to two years tn the State Prison for klopemania, they hay- ing stolen nearly all the tarkeys in the neighborhood, The City. Commodore Meade has filed afidavits’ and com- menced suit for $200,000 damages against Charles A. Meigs and Benjamin ¥. Corlies for false imprison- ment in having caused him to be confined in a lunatic asylum in October last. Meigs and Corlies were arrested yesterday and gave bail in the Su- preme Court, Chambers, A Mrs, C. A. Seaman, an elderly lady, supposed to be somewhat deranged, was found on the streets and taken to the Central Police office on Thursday even- ing. Her only daughter, who 1s married and lives in the Thirty-second precinct, was telegraphed the fact, and returned answer to send her to the island. Superintendent Kennedy, astonished at such heart- lessness, telegraphed again, saying that she would be sent up as a vagrant uniess her relations came to seeabout her, The answer came that the only danghter “did not want to have anything to do with her; send her anywhere, so she won't trouble us.’ Kate Fisher, the actress, was in Justice Shandley’s court yesterday, on the charge of theft preferred by Mrs. Bevins. The latter was the principal witness, and on her cross-examination Mr. Howe, counsel for defendant, asked her a question as to her mar- riage relations, which she refused to answer and appealed tothe Court for protection from insult. Justice Shandley, however, sustained the counsel in asking the question, and on Mrs, Bevins persisting in refusing to avswer it he summarily dismissed the case, Prince Louis Ferdinand de Bourbon, of Naples, nephew of ex-King Ferdinand, was married yester- day to Senorita Amelia Hamel, of Havana, by the Rey. Dr. Wiseman, in St. Peter's church, Jersey City. The same coupie were married some time ago under peculiar circumstances by Justice Dodge, in the Jefferson Market Police Court, in this city. Acolored man, named James Wilson, was dis- covered in the hold of the Rising Star on Wednes- day, he having remained there since she left Aspin- wall, nearly eignt days previously. During this time he was without food or drink, the cargo offer- ing no substance anda it being impossible to attract attention by his cries, He appears now to be getting well, being only a little weak. The stock market was irregular and weak after the opening of business yesterday, but became ac- tively buoyant in the afternoon, with a general ad- vance in the railway list. Gold closed at 139%. Prominent Arrivals in the City. Judge Colt, of Connecticut; Colonel McCoomb, of Delaware; Dr. Bigelow, of Boston; Congressman D. McCarthy, of New York; Colonel S. F. Slater, of New Orleans; General Burnside, of Rhode Island, and E. C. Catherwood, of San Francisco, are at the Fifth Ave- nue Hotel. Captain Alex. Hays, of Philadelphia; R. N. McCor- mick, of Arizona, and Cyril V. Grey, of San Fran- cisco, are at the Astor House. Ex-Congressman J, L. Dawson, of Pennsylvania, and ©, F, Stansbury, of Washington, are at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Colonel A. W. Scott, of San Francisco, and Colonel J. Bailey, of Utica, are at the Metropolitan Hotel. Major H. K. Bruce, of Cleveland; Dr. S. Russell Childes, of Saratoga, and Colonel Henry L. Steb- bins, of Georgia, are at the St. Charles Hotel. Captain J. Mirehouse, of the steamship Antwerp, is at the New York Hotel. Prominent Departures. Dr. Robert H. Storrs, for Hudson; Major H. An- thony, for Rochester; Dr. Fellow and E. R. Helm- bold, for Philadelphia. The Lairds, the Alnbama and the British Government—A Fire in the Rear. The Messrs. Laird, of Birkenhead, builders of the notorious rebel incendiary cruiser, the Alabama, it appears, have deemed it expe- dient, in their own justification, to publish a letter on the building of theship. They claim in this letter that it was a simple business affair, free of concealment; that it was known to the government and the public and the American Minister that the vessel was intended for war purposes and for the Confederate gov- ernment; that there was no haste or secrecy in the work; had ample time and opportunity to discover the character of the ship, and to seize her if an unlawful venture. They hold, in short, that the building of the Alabama was not in viola- tion of law, the opinion of the English people, or the practice of foreign nations. was sent out unarmed, and went to the Azores, to which men and arms had been sent from other parts for her equipment. that her Majesty’s government The ship The Lairds begin to feel their responsibility in this business; but they are only repeating their old story with greater emphasis under the pressure of Senator Sumner’s astounding exposition of the American view of these Alabama claims. But, as the London Star puts it, ifthe apology of the Messrs, Laird must be admitted in their defence, the culpa- bility of the British government is only brought out into bolder relief, The Lairds, however, were not so innocent as they wish to appear. The Alabama, under the fictitious name of ,” left Liverpool on the 30th July, 1862, as ona pleasure excursion in a trial trip. To give color to this artifice she went out with a number of ladies on board, and when sufficiently far out for her purpose the ladies and other pleasure passengers were transferred to a tug provided for the occasion and taken back to Liverpool, the ‘290" pursuing her course to the appointed for the regular arming, equipment rendezvous (the Island of Terceira) and rechristening of the ship. Another steamer, the Bahama (rebel), took out from Liverpool, Semmes, his officers, and a portion of his crew, and munitions and supplies, of the trial trip and pleasure excursion was to meet the ‘ 290,” Captain This stratagem adopted because the United States war steamer Tuscarora was on the watch in the harbor for the suspected craft, having been pretty well informed of the intentions of the Anglo-rebel league in Liverpool concerned in getting her up and getting her off to sea. All these and other facts connected with the character, purposes and departure of the 290" and her tenders were so generally known in Liverpool at the time that, indepen- dently of Mr. Laird, the M. P., the British government cannot put in the plea of ignorance. The member of that government concerned in the ship and the government itself were, then, confederates in the trick of her escape. With the guilty member and his plea of innocence we have nothing more to do, Our bill of complaints and damages is against his government. The Tairds had their hearts in their work. They were with the so-called Confederate States. In the ship building into which they entered for the benefit of Jeff Davis’ incendiary cruisers, blockade runners, iron-clad rams, and what not, they combined business with pleasure, and forthe cause they took many risks which more pru- dent business men would have avoided. But our account is with their mnsters. The same spirit controlled the perfidious neutral- ity of her Majesty's ‘Cabinet, uses ity, press and Parliament. They did everything possi- ble for the Southern confederacy short of an Open recognition and alliance, and but for their distrust of Napoleon they would have joined him in the proposed recognition. In the summer of 1863 the Lairds were 80 well pleased with the success of the Alabama and other ventures of a like character that they undertook the bolder experiment of two powerful iron-clad rams for the confederacy, and it was only after @ protracted course of statements, remonstrances and warnings to the British government from the United States and our agents in England that the sailing of those two rams was prevented by government orders, We have reason to believe that there would have been no such official interposition in behalf of an honest neutrality had not the confederacy fallen into an incurable decline from its disastrous defeats at Vicksburg and Gettysburg. The Lairds at Birkenhead were astonished and indignant; but they could not at the time fully understand the wisdom of this change of base at London. British sympathy still adhered to Jeff Davis; but Abraham Lincoln had become a power to be respected. It was the difference in the probable eventu- alities of the war as seen through the fogs of London after our fearful disasters under McClellan and Halleck (as the director of Pope), in 1862, and our decisive successes under Grant and Meade in 1863, It was “only this and nothing more.” The arrest of Mason and Slidell by Captain Wilkes on board and their removal from the British ship Trent, in November, 1861, was seized upon by England with an avidity for war with the United States, which began to subside in 1863, and which, with the collapse of the Davis confederacy in 1865, was changed into the most endearing protestations of brotherly love. But we have not forgotten the intensely offensive nature of the demand for reparation concerning the Trent affair, when a respectful application would have answered the purpose much better. But the same deplorable sympathy for our rebellion here made manifest, and the same intense desire to break up this great republic, that began with Lord Russell's belligerent rights, we trace in the building, the escape and the depredations of the Alabama and her Anglo- rebel colaborers on the high seas. Nor will quibbles or evasions or pettifogging now avail to settle our outstanding balances against England. The money bill directly involved is acomparative bagatelle; but the precedents set up of belligerent rights and neutrality must be abandoned by England or they may prove to her the box of Pandora, full charged with evils and disasters. We can wait, but delay with her will not remove the danger. Goodby, Politicians! It is pretty well understood that Presi- dent Grant is about to take a two months’ vacation from the federal capital. Four months’ duty, after wielding supreme authority ina mighty nation like this, is calculated to exhaust almost any man’s brain, especially one not trained to the duties of statesmanship. Dur- ing the past four months President Grant has worked hard. He may have committed errors. He may have been worried. But now let him have repose. Let him have rest. Let him have peace. Let him go to the Pacific coast, up to Oregon and Alaska, away from the haunts of politicians. Before he leaves, however, let him bid adieu to the politicians, Let him cast them behind him as he would the wolves of the Plains, and amid the gorgeous beauties of the Yosemite Valley, or under the giant shadow of Mount Hood, or in the placid and pleasant vales of the bonnteous hosts of the Pacific beeches, let him smoke his pipe of peace in peace. He can then reflect upon his past—his successes and his failures—upon his short comings and his short goings; and, in the solitudes of the wildernesses, as well as in the progressive and expanding grandeur of the majestic West, realize what he might have done and what he may still do toward making his administration a model for others to copy. Revoivtion AGarwst Revorvriox.—The cities of Seville and Malaga were seriously disturbed yesterday by counter-revolutionary demonstrations directed against the provi- sional government. The inhabitants were equally violent against Isabella. Good news for the Cubans. Who comes next in Madrid? Fata SHIPWRECKS,—From Quebec we re- ceive the mournful intelligence of the loss of the ship Margaret, Captain Allen, from Sun- derland, and the bark Zetus, Captain Burn, from Hull, England, on the Caribbean reef off Anticosti Island, in the estuary of the river St. Lawrence. Thirty-two persons perished, the mate of the Margaret alone escaping. Both vessels were bound to Quebec, a critical point of navigation, the approach being rarely fatal, however, except during the fogs and storms of winter. Warcn 1s Ir aNp Writ is It ?—There is only one little difficulty now in the way of the union of the Old and New Schools. They cannot determine which is to be the school of the future—whether the New School is joined to the Old or the Old to the New. Each is willing that the other should come in, acknowledge its errors and be forgiven. When this little diffi- culty is ont of the way, and when they know who the property belongs to, it will be all right. Wor’t Come Dowy.—The ex-Queen of Spain advances her terms to her friends among her former subjects just as the nation becomes more distracted. She now refuses to abdicate even in favor of her son, A Bourbon to the last. ScsTicCk AND THE Law.—The two men for whom pardons were signed by President John- son, but whom Grant refuses to set free, are to be brought in court on the writ of habeas corpus, and we shall probably hear argument on the very interesting point as to when a par- don becomes effective, and whether an incom- ing President can review the clemency of his predecessor. Meanwhile it seems to be quite enough for Grant to know that a man was appointed by Johnson or pardoned by John- son to settle the the caso against him. Narorzow’s « “Horran, '—The “official jour- nals of Paris assert that the election returns extinguish the old political parties and leave the ‘diberal empire” opposed only by a few revolutionists. We imagined that the coup @ at hed accomplished all this, SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1869. —TRIPLE SHEET, ; Tae United Sintes Minister to Paraguay and the Allies. A great deal of unnecessary discussion as to the situation of our Minister to Paraguay has been caused by the refusal of the allied com- batants against Paraguay to transmit his de- spatches and the neglect on the part of the agents of the Associated Press to give news when it is in their reach. Inthe Hzratp of May 17 we published the fact of General McMahon’s arrival at Asuncion, as will be seen by the following extract from the letter of our Rio Janeiro correspondent of April 7:— General McMahon had arrived at Asuncion, but 18 said to be ex reticent as to Paraguayan affairs. The fact of his visit to Asuncion is stated in pe Bpenas. pee a eeneann, but one of the Brazil- ince from Asuncion and La Plata mes uy ‘ante of it. Oaptsin "kirkland, of the battled by the refusal of the allies to pe, the despatches to General McMahon under a fag ‘of trace, or to tas the bearer a safe conduct tthe allied had returned, it is said, to juenos Ayres, r muanine @ protest. Since that period the agents of the Asso- ciated Press have on several occasions reite- rated the statement of no news from Minister McMahon, and the government has become at last anxious about him. Our correspondent gives in the above extract the true reason why no communications have been received from the Minister, and on this point we would recall another fact within our knowledge. In April last year several packages addressed to our Minister at Asuncion were delivered to Admiral Ignacio, Commander-in-Chief of the allied fleet at Curupaity, with a request to for- ward them the first opportunity, which was promised. It was an easy matter then, as flags of truce were passing every few days. In September, when our Minister was descend- ing the Paraguay river in the United States steamer Wasp, the allied forces were met somewhere about Villa Clara, and the Admiral then sent the packages on board the Wasp, they having been in his possession between five and six months. This, with the fact of the allies refusing an escort and flag of truce recently to Commander Kirkland, to enable him to communicate with the Minister, shows that they are not very favorable to the trans- mission of any correspondence which they can- not visé beforehand. The loss of the steam- ship Mississippi, on her recent voyage from Rio Janeiro, has probably caused a further delay in the arrival of General McMahon’s despatches; but if the department will read the Heratp attentively they will always be posted as to the latest news from our Ministers, as well as everything else. Present State of the Drama in London and New York. In another portion of the Herap will be found two interesting communications on the condition of English theatricals at the present time. Both writers treat the subject in a@ manner characteristic of a thorough knowledge of the work before them, a perfect acquaintance with the interior workings of the English stage, and a sensible appreciation of the merits of dramatic artists. From these communications it will be seen that the theat- rical season has neither been a brilliant nor a profitable one in the British metropolis. The theatres, with very few exceptions, are losing money. Even the sensational drama cannot now attract audiences. Theatre-goers are surfeited with that kind of thing. Boucicault, one of the most prominent playwrights of the sensational school, writes invain. Robertson, a dramatist who has given to the stage some really good plays, 18 only moderately success- ful. The theatrical business may be said to be flat, stale and unprofitable. None of the English actors are attracting attention. Web- ster, a comedian of acknowledged ability and a favorite in London, is playing to miserable houses. Barry Sullivan is nearly similarly situaied. Whatever success is going is being won by American actors. Sothern draws well, and J. 8. Clarke is meeting with a flat- tering appreciation. Miss Bateman, too, has created a favorable impression. be seen that the blue lights and legged exhibi- tions, which for the past few years have had possession of the stage, must soon give way to a more refined, entertaining and instructive class of performance. The naked drama has very nearly run its course. The difference between the past and present theatrical seasons in London and in this city is, that while the American season has been a successful one the season in London has been nearly a complete failure. Our theatres— Niblo’s, Wallack’s, Booth’s, the Olympic, the French theatre and the old Broadway—have been very prosperous. The music halls and museum have done well. The reverse, with few exceptions, has been the case in London. Even Mr. Fisk here might have achieved large success in the theatrical field if he had less irons in the fire. His three theatres—the Grand Opera House, the Fifth Avenue Opera House and the Catacombs in Fourteenth street—are too much for him. He will find this out, probably, if he has not done so already. He has produced ‘“urline” in mag- nificent style, it is true, and if he has failed in realizing his great expectations of its enccess he surely deserved a better fate. The letters before referred to are exceed- ingly interesting as showing the condition to which the English stage, like the American, has been reduced, owing to the production of the vile, sensual trash of the sensational order of drama, which for some time past has de- graded the stage and perverted to some extent the taste of theatre-goers. The New Dominion — Internal mente. The most suggestive item in our telegra- phic news from Ottawa is the fact that Mr. Dawson's report on the Red River route has been Iaid before the Department of Public Works. Mr. Dawson recommends the opening of communication at once between Lake Superior and the Red River settlement, in such @ way as would admit of the route being immediately used, and to proceed with further works until a first clacs line of communfcation shall be completed. If our neighbors of the New Dominion and the government behind them were fully up to the demands of the time how speedily would they bend their efforts to completing the communication by stenm- boats and railway cars from the Red river of the North to Lake Winnepeg and the Saskat- chewan to the base of the Rocky Mountains and through the valleys of the Columbia and the Fraser to the Pacific coast. A Northern Pacific railway will inevitably become a neces- sity, Along its line thousands upon thon sands of emigrants from the poverty which Improve. It will thus ! has been their lot and seems predestined to be the lot of their offspring, if they remain in the “‘old country,” may find wealth and happiness. We cannot but encourage any movement towards promoting their welfare, and we therefore regard Mr. Dawson's report as an encouraging “‘sign of the times.” The only drawback or difficulty which we perceive in the matter is the very prominent one that Canada is to request the British Parliament to pledge the guarantee of the home treasury for the necessary money loan. This appears dis- couraging. The English people will scarcely advance cash to Canada or become responsi- ble for a Canadian loan. How will the colony be ruled when the last instalment would fall due? John Bright knows “first class paper” and never deals in depreciated securities, Ominows of War—British Naval Muster at the Bahamas, The letter of our special correspondent in the Bahamas, under date of the 17th of May, which appeared in the HeRratp yesterday, con- tains matter calculated to attract the serious attention of the nation, as well as excite a very general patriotic apprehension in view of the present muster and movements of the British West India squadron in the harbor of Nassau, New Providence, and in remembrance of the vast injuries inflicted, both against the integrity of the Union and the cause of the war for its restoration, by English pirate blockade runners armed and freighted to strike our shore from this point during the re- bellion at the vital littoral centres of Charleston, Wilmington and Key West. After recapitu- lating the efforts which were lately made by the Receiver General of the Queen of England to arrest and detain the steamship Salvador, suspected of serving in the cause of the Cuban patriots, and noticing the alacrity with which a British war steamer was manned and de- spatched in pursuit—an ineffectual chase, as we know—the writer proceeds to state the im- portant fact that New Providence has been suddenly named and effectually occupied as a general rendezvous for the English fleet serv- ing in the waters of the West Indies. Within afew days the flagship of Commodore Philli- more, Royal Navy, entered Nassau harbor from Halifax, and this commissioned centre was immediately surrounded by the Eclipse and other war vessels, while the inhabitants of the city, comparatively desolate and slightly pov- erty stricken since the close of the American war, were gladdened by the semi-official, perhaps official, news that the command would be immediately supported by several English war rams and iron-clads, and a French fleet, and that the military quarters, from the land- ing to Berbice, would be made joyous and re- sonant almost immediately with the drillings and bugle calls of a regiment, at least, of soldiers of the line ordered either from Canada or the home depots. Movements of this character produced, very naturally, a profound sensation among the people of the Bahamas, and the questions of the day were to the effect: What is the present government preparing for? Where is England going to strike? What Power will she damage, or—the colonial penultimate it may be called—is she about to assist or uphold a people? In reply we present the opinion that Britain is about to aid the cause of repression with one hand and strike, should she find an opportunity, against the executive attestation of man’s ability and right to self- government with the other. She is preparing to menace the United States, should our peo- ple so regard it, by the assumption of a war attitude on this side of the ocean. In all this we observe much more than the almost stereotyped ‘‘speck of war” of which we have so frequently heard. England is hard pushed in the matter of colonial: rule and restraint from Queensland, at the antipodes, to Quebec, in North America. Her home population has imbibed a spirit of inde- pendence—slow in assertion, but certain of fruition—from their communication with the United States. We have revolutionized the current of her trade with Asia and diverted its flow. with the profits of its commercial distri- bution, to our own territory from San Fran- cisco to New York. We populate and cultivate our virgin soil with the healthiest blood of the United Kingdom and sustain an unprecedented load of home taxation on her native and Irish muscle, supported and directed by American capital and intelligence, while the daily ex- hibit of our wonderful capacity for war forces our people to a continual contrast of her na- tional decrepitude with the gigantic develop- ment of the republic. Rich in wealth accumulated by any means from almost every quarter of the globe, and fertile in the governmental expedients and policy of an oligarchy educated to Cabinet rule and evasion, England has become irritable and sore with the knowledge of our progress. In such condition she received the stimulants conveyed in Senator Sumner’s masterly expo- sition of the Alabama question—his statement of the items of our bill of damages, with his utrum horum of pay, make restitution, or take the consequences. Alarmed at the tone of Congress she has roused herself to a survey of the position and canvassed all her means of safety. Political economy assures her that peace will prove fatal to her interests, perhaps her existence, and that her last and latest hope is in war—war in the cause of royalism, feudality and the money power against the United States, Spain or even the Canadians, should they declare for independence. Such resolution once taken she will endeavor to maintain it. Hence the naval muster at Nas- sau; hence the naval communication from Halifax, hence the military landing in the Bahamas, the active efforts to divide and dis- tract the American people. Does’ General Grant view the situation in this light? If so, will he blink the ‘‘speck of war,” or foster it to effulgence from thie side? When shall we hear from Mr. Motley? Boory.—One of the daily papers says that & thief at the Bull's Ferry fire stole ‘‘a firkin of paint” and got away with it ‘in his boot.” How about his corns? Mayor Hatt, refuses to attend to the dogs, and says they belong tothe Board of Health. The Board of Health donies it, and in this difference it is probable that the dogs will neither be muzzled nor pounded this year. It will be worth while to notice If we are any the : worse for it, I = — The Hub in a Whirl. Since the memorable Bosten Tea Party the “Hub” has hardly ever been in a greater whirl of excitement than during the present week. The Labor Reform League of New England assembled in Boston on Tuesday, and plunged at once intoa fiery struggle in behalf of free trade, free money, free public markets, free travel, free transportation and free land. On Thursday the American Tract Society closed an animated session which it had held in the Tri-Mountain City, The chief bone of contention was a proposed change in its man- agement. Heretofore the executive committee of the Tract Society has been composed of Congregationalists, Baptists and Episcopalians. But as it seoms that the Episcopalians have given but one-fiftieth part of the money contributed to support the society, and the Baptists but one fifty-sixth part, while the Congregational- ists have given twelve-thirteenths of the whole amount, the latter claimed and obtained the control. The Treasurer’s report on the finan- cial condition of the society gives a balance of $160,936 in its favor. On Thursday also the New England Anti-Slavery Society met in Boston. Wendell Phillips, of course, was present, and read the stereotyped series of resolutions which virtually ignore the potent fact that the war abolished slavery, and insist that the emergency yet . Tequires the active and watchful efforts of the abolitionists, Othello Phillips cannot realize that his ‘occupation 's gone.” He is like the poor fellow who swore that his corns still tor- mented him, although both of his legs had been cut off. Itis, however, an encouraging sign of the times that the attendance at this meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society was not large. Almost everybody except Mr. Phillips is beginning to see that ‘More Last Words” on the topic of American negro slavery are as superfluous as those which Baxter's publisher was tempted to issue after the entire edition of his “‘Last Words” had been sold. Phillips’ “More Last Words” found fewer listeners than the speech as delivered on Wednesday evening at the meeting of the New England Woman's Suffrage Convention. There a large crowd gathered to hear Mrs. Howe, Lucy Stone, Mrs. Livermore, and—borrowing old Father Grafton’s expression—‘‘ other hens try to crow,” in emulation of William Lloyd Garrison, the chief rooster of the occasion. The Free Religious Association met in Tre- mont Temple yesterday. There was a large assemblage. Rev. O. B. Frothingham opened the proceedings by stating that the “society had no creed to propagate, members differing very much in their belief, but all seeking after the truth.” Mr. Frothing- ham foamed up to the spiritual, as imported from Germany, and was eloquently supported in his plan for the attainment of ‘an era of the absolute supremacy of human reason.” After this a gentleman of the Jewish per- suasion from New York made an appeal for “truth and one God.” Ralph Waldo Emer- son followed in a strain of misty politico- theology. Lucretia Mott was absent, from indisposition. The Shakers were also in convention yesterday, with both sexes well represented, according, as they claim, to the ‘Order of Adam.” Intense love was expressed for the sisters, and faith with quakes and shakes advocated. But all this hubbub will soon be drowned in the Great Noise. Land reform leaguers, tract distributers, abolitionists, religious re- formers, and even crowing hens must be silenced when the big Drum shall beat, the big Organ shall swell and innunterable voices shall thunder forth to the universe the glory of the whirling Hub. It is to be expected that after the Great Noise, Bostonians, for many generations to come, may be deaf it not dumb. Exoovrace Toem.—Some Japanese tugitives driven out by the civil wars are reported to have reached San Francisco, part of a com- pany that intends to cultivate tea and silk. The more of these the better. That is a kind of skilled labor we can premiums for. GETTING ON THE Pouce Force.—A “Gury of his countrymen” have just declared that Martin Reid was not guilty of perjury when he swore that he gave two hundred and seventy-five dollars to Fire Commissioner Wil- son to get him a place on the police. How po- licemen are appointed the public perhaps does not know, but it can get an inkling by reading the testimony in Reid’s case. BEAUREGARD owes the United States govern- ment ten dollars. He says the government owes him one hundred and sixty, and that it can take out the ten and send on the balance. But there is a law that prevents payments to rebels, so he cannot have the one hundred and fifty. How then about the ten? Make him pay up. Never mind about the slaughters and the treasons and all the other evils of his resistance to government, but never let him get away with that ten dollars. Lamp now "positively declares that it was notoriousin England while the Alabama waa on the stocks that she was to be a war vessel for the Confederates, and that the British gov- etnment knew it and had ample opportunity to prevent her departure if there had been any desire or will todo so, This isa fire in the rear that will astonish those writers who argue for the disposition of the British government to do all that an honest government might in assisting us. Japancee Immigration. The first large wave of Japanese immigra- tion is rolling in upon our Pacific coast. We published yesterday a San Francisco telegram of the 27th inst., announcing the arrival of three Japanese families under the auspices of 4 Prussian named Schnell, an old resident in Japan. These families, together with thirty- seven more, which are now on their way, and eighty which are preparing to come, make a total of one ~ogewe and twenty- one Japanese families Propose to nettle . in California. Thero, in « climate remarkably similar to their own, they intend to bring mulberry trees, tea and bamboo plants, and to purchase it lands for immediate cultivation, Every facility should be afforded to enable them to carry out successfully their pur~ pose. They have been driven into exile by the defeat of the Northern princes, several of whom also, it is expected, will come, with a following of many other industrious families. If these Northesa princes shall emulate the —