The New York Herald Newspaper, December 22, 1869, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York HeERa.p. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. _ Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Volume XXIV Comuiy GRAND OPERA NOUS! 28d street.—LINGAny’s BUNLESQ BOOTH'S THE Merny ¥ a ave ween Sth and OLYMPIC TREATRE, Broaaway.—Unne2 Tux Gas- LIGHT, Matiace at 2. ACADEN) MUSIC, Mth street.—ITALIAN OrERa Witntam Tre FIFTH AV THEATRE, Duxe's Mo Twenty-fourth st—Tue NIB. Lrrre woop" ner Thirticth AKDEN, Broadway.—Tut Courpy or BOWERY 1 ELLA Rosi ~Forty WINKS THEATRE, Broadway and Lith street.— imine Ir ON, THE TA IANY, Fourteenth strect.—Tur BuRursQue oF Bap Dickey MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S A MIDSUMMrSs NiGHT’s K THEATRE, Brookiya.— M. TONY PAST Vooatisn, OPERA HOUSE, 291 Bowory.—Comto MUNSTRELSY, &C. Matinee at 234, THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Couto VooAL- eu, NEGRO Avs, £C. jatinee at 2)y. RA HOUSE, Tammany Building, 1th INSTRELS, MINSTRELS, 585 Broa tway.--ETa10- SY, NeGRo Acts, £0, WAVERL: E! THEATRE, No. 120 Broadway.—Eruro- PIAN MINS’ Nea EGRO AOTS, &c. NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street... AND GYMNASTIO PERFORMANCES, &C. Matinee HOOLEY'’S OPERA HOU MinsTueLs—A Tip Tro THR M Brooklyn.—Hoouey’s APOLLO HALL, corner 28th street and Broadway.—Tur Caapiry Gianr. NEW YORK {'SSUM OF ANATOMY, 413 Broa \way.— BOIENOE AND AST uy SW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618%, VoMALES ONLY IN ATTENDANG TRIPLE New York, Wednesday, December 22, 1808. T2B NEWS. Europe. Cable telezrams are dated December 21. The Peabody funeral smp Monarch sailed for America. ‘ic Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affaira prowises that the Gladsione Cabinet will legislate a measure to enable British subjects in America to divest themselves of their nationality when they please, The Prcfect of the Seine an- nounces that + order" will be preserved in Paris, M, Rochefort’ journal has attained a very large circ n in Paris, ‘The French war Steamer Gorgone was wrecked on a voyage from the coast of Spain for Cyerbourg. A citizen of pany has been expelled trom France for political utterances. The French government, it Is now said, has made no proposition for a conti- mental dis nent. Marshal de Suint d’Angely and M. Del, e. of France, are dead. The repubdli- can agitation continues in Spain. The throne party @re active in Madrid, but still in quest of acan- didate. ‘The different committees of the Ecumentcal Coun- cil are in process of organization. A Papal bu)l has been issue: ia respect to ecclesiastical discipline and clericai censure. United States bonds were depressed tn the Frank- fort market. Egypt. Our special correspondence from Cairo, dated the 2th of November, furnishes a brilliant and Most entertaining narrative of the fétes and festive scenes which were enjoyed and witnessed, at the expense of the Viceroy, after the successful passage of the inauguration fleet through the Suez Canal. In style and piquancy of language and point the communications have not been equalled, and ‘Will commeu (he earnest attention of our readers. Paraguay. Telegra: advices to the 29th ult. Yomito hus broken out among the allics. teported to lave fed to Bolevia. Cuba. Despatches from Havana mention a number of skirmishes in which the insurgents were defeated. Rebel troops are reported to be moving on Cama- guey. The report from the United States that five cents additional duty would be imposed on fugal grades of sugar creates some ©: among the Havana merchants. The >} Steamship Eagie was detained at fiavana by the police on Saturday for an hour, while they searched her for a passenger who fad spoken against the gov- ernment. state that Lopez is . Congress. But little business was transac’ i in the Senate yesterday. A bill was reported providing for the execution of the laws against polygamy in Utau, and a bill was introduced for te more equal distribution of national banking capital. A large number of nominations by the President were confirmed in executive session. Mr. Hoar’s was wot considered. Mr. Sumner’s bill relative to telegraphic communication with foreign countries was taken up and discussed and finally recom- mitted, and at four o’clock the Senate adjourned. Inthe Bouse the debate on the bili to perfect re- construction in Georgia was resumed, Me-srs, Potter, Voorhees, Eldridge and Cox, democrats, and Bing- ham and Farnsworth, republicans, speaking in op- position to the bill, and Messrs. Paine, Whittemore. Logan and futier supporting it. In the course of his remarks Mr. Singham said that sentence 4 NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, she New York Custom House, was committed for extradition in Toronto yesterday. ‘The report of gold diggings in the Big Horn moun- tains has called together a crowd of miners at Chey- enpe, who propose to visit the diggings in the spring. ‘rhe Montana Legislature has rejected the appoiut- ments made by Governor Ashley for Territorial Audi- tor, Treasurer and Supermtendent of Puollc In- struction. The City. ‘as arraigned in the Court of day before Recorder Nackett for the kiting of Albert Richardson. fe pleaded not guilty and was remanded to prison, The Grand Jury have as yet foand no indictinent for bigamy in connection with Richardsod’s deatubed marriage owing to the want of evidence on the partot the minister who officiated at Mrs. McFariaud’s mar- riage with AlcFarland. klsewhere will be found the particulars of recent heavy robberies of passengers on the ning out of this city, ‘The Baroness 01 Fralof has suviered vo tie extent of over $50 the ro! laces irom her trenks. In the t » Allea, WhO Is cl son, au iuister, with t ou Hy es, her counsel asked an order at the j e extravagant waste of her 2 lady's very undercioues being sold. e Cardozo offered to Issue au Lujuuetion if counsel would show Daniel McParland Genera! Sessions yest ug demented evidence to t Mect, aud the case was adjourned until to-day. Colonel Ro Clarke, formerly of the Thirteenth Brooklyn re who ts confined in Ludiow street jal for the alleged manufacture of cguaterfeit tobacco stauwps, attempted to escape at about day- break yesterday moraing, but was detected. [is cell door was unlocked and opened, and how it was done is a mystery. The Cunard steamship Siberia, Captain Harrison wiil sail to-~day for Queeastown and Liverpool. The European mails will close at the Post Oftice at twelve M. Toe steamship Colorado, Captain Wiliams, will leave pigy No. 46 North river, at bal-past eight o'clock this morning, for Queenstown and Liver- pool. The stock market yesterday was strong and dull. Gold declived to 119%, closing fivaily at 120% a 120%. Prominent Arrivals in the City. General 0. S. Shephard, of the United States Army, is at tne A House, Colonel Charl peucer, of Philadelphia; General John E. Mutford, of Richmond, Va., and Colonel M. C. Wilcox, of Knoxville, Teun., are at the Metropoli- tan Hotel. General J.D. Imboden, of Virginia, and Colonel MeVicker, of the United States Army, are at the St. Charles Hotel. Professor §. B. Ingraham, of England, and Colo- nel Wm. Lewis, of te United States Army, are at the St. Elmo Hotel, George W. Arnentrout, of the United States Army, is at the Hotman House, General J. G. ster, of the United States Army, now fighting Baez with varied and doubt- ful success. ernment been besieged to annex the eastern part of the island and two or three times to extend our protectorate over Hayti. Negotia- tions were entered into for the cession of the island so long ago as Pierce's administration ; but English and French agents interfered, and it was abandoned. The terms of this last pro- posal, made by the government of Baez, are that the United States assume the possession of the Dominican republic, granting it a Terri- torial government identical with other Terri- torial governments within the jurisdiction of the United States, the conditions being that the Dominican people shall first decide by vote to allow such possession, and that the United States shall une the public debt and other obligations of the Dominican gov- ernment, amounting to one million dollars, and pay for their State property, amounting to one million dollars more. Our government sent out commissioners in July last, who returned in October, expressing their belief that the Dominicans are desirous of annexa- tion and that the isiand is worth possessing. Dominica once a Territory of the United States, Hayti will soon seek our protec- tion, Salnave already looks with favor upon annexation, He has several times songht the protection of the American flag, and that pro- tection has caused a degree of enmity to this country in those who are hostile to his admin- istration. The newly accredited Minister from Hayti, Ceneral Alexander Tate, is said to favor annexation. He is a quadroon and the man who, in 1861, offered his services to Mr. Lincoln to aid in the organization of colored troops, and was then spoken of as a man of high culture and fine presence. Such is something of the history and politi- eal condition of the island with which our government is now negotiating for its cession to the United States. Its possession will put us in a position to command the Gulf and will bring peace to a people long distracted by internal wars, The rich natural resources of the island will rapidly develop under American skill and industry, and foreign and inland com- merce, aided by American enterprise, will create for themselves new and greater empo- riums. The msp which we publish to-day shows accurately the position of St. Domingo and jis most prominent surroundings. and J. W. Wadsworth, of Geneseo, are at the Albe- marie Hotel. General George J. Magee, of Watkins, N. Y.; Pro- fessor J, M. Drown, of Cambridge; General S. D. Hangerford, of Massachusetts, and General A. H. Sanders, of Wasulogton, are at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Prominent Departures. Colonel Selwyn, for Boston: General H. J. Hunt, for Washington, aud Captain Uliver Eldridge, for San Francisco. a Domingo. For many months the American mind has watched witli interest the progress of events in Cuba, From this, the largest and most populous of the West India islands, its attention is now div d to St. Domingo—the richest, the most beautiful and the oldest. The island was named for St. Domanic, who founded the rival order to the Franciscans. We have already grasped San Francisco, and are now preparing to scretch our protecting arm over St. Domingo. This is the only one of the Antilles not possessed by a foreign Power, and is occupied by two independent nations. The island possesses greater historical interest than any other of this vast group. Spain made it the key to the whole of her posses- sions in the New World, as she entered upon that wonderful career of conquest and success- ful commercial enterprise which distinguished her in the seventeenth century. 1t wus here Columbus founded the first city in the Western World, and here Cortes filled the humble posi- tion of notary long before he dreamed of Mexico. The growth and rapid development of the island ceased when the greater con- quests on the main land were achieved. The Spanish adventurer then abandoned the island and rushed to the richer mines and broader fields of Mexico and Peru. The French, in their absence, attempted to estab- lish a colony on the island. Spain opposed them. The French turned buccaneers and hunted the Spanish on sea and land, and the island berame little but a byena’s nest of pirates. Morgan, afterwards knighted by Charles I[., here joined his bloodthirsty band and sailed to sack Panama and Puerto Belio. The French imported the African slave, and St. Domingo became the cradle of slavery for the Western World. Some writer has said, ‘‘if Dominica is the Rome of the Antilles Hayti is the France.” Before the French Revolution slave labor had brought wealth, attended by a degree of luxu- riousness and licentiousness only equalled by their countrymen in the reign of Louis XV. That revolution contemporaneously repeated itself here by even a bloodier reign of terror than in France. The planting of the Jacobin standard sowed the seed of insurrection, and a hideous massacre ensued, which the French army tried in vain to suppress. The hero and martyr to this terrible episode was Toussaint L/Ouverture, whose praises and virtues have been sung and extolled by poets and philoso- phers. At last a negro, a native of Guiana, Si. in the President’s message referring to the im- position of the oath required of members of the Legislature by the Reconstruction acts | was not intended by the President to be there, and the Presifent did not stand by it At the close of Mr. Butler’s remarks tne bill was voted upon and passed; yeay 121, nays 61—Messrs. Bing ham and asworth voting with the democrats against the bi. A concurrent resolution was pa extending te recess of Congress to the Lo January. A resolution was adopted authorizing the President to make suitable preparations for the re- ceptiun of the remains of George Veabody; also a resolution donating cannon for an equestrian statue of President Grant, to be placed on the south ter- race of the Treasury, and the House adjourned, Among the nominations confirmed by the Senate were the names of Mr. Low for the mission to China Mr. #low Wo Brazil and General P. H. Jones Post- master of New York. Miscellancous. The news from the Red River region states that the fort of the Hudson Bay Company near Pembina had been seized, with a number of Governor McDou- gali’s agents, by @ company of mounted Insurgents, Coione! Dennis escapea and Is trying to reach Ameri- can territory. Governor McDongall’s force is said to have dwindled down to fifty Swamp Indians, No blood has been shed, and the insurgents are sald to be united and in undisputed possession of the whole country. All the evidence in the Dickey murder trial at Bombay Hook, N. J., was submitted yesterday and the summing up was commenced. ‘pibers 4, Gould, ong of the alleged doraulvers trom subdued the French, dnd was crowned Empe- | ror of Ilayti with Napoleonic ceremony, An- other imperial negro graced the throne, with the title of Henri I. He it was who built the palace said to rival in splendor the Tuileries, and then won the gratitude of his country by committing suicide within its walls, Then followed the republic, attended by more than twenty years of comparative peace, or till 1849, when the President, ‘by the will of the Haytien people,” in imitation of Louis Napo- leon, became Emperor, he present republic of Hayti was established in 1855. Sullivan Salnave, “the superb negro,” is President. He reached his office by deposing Geffrard, his predecessor, The partisans of Geffrard made war against him, and that war is still raging. Late advices show the insurgents to be rapidly gaining in strength, while Salnave's officers and men are deserting to the ranks of the enemy. Another revolution in the repub- lic seems not only probable but imminent, The Dominican republic dates from 1844, | and occupies the eastern or Spanish portion of | the island, Buenaventure Baez is President, Like kis contemporary, Salnave, he reached Gop Ar 119}.—-Yesterday gold touched tho lowest point it has reached since September, 1862, when our defeat at the first Bull Run had started it on its upward flight. The open- ing price in the morning was 120}, but it gradually sunk to 119}, recovering finally to the opening figure. The Treasury is ‘about opening a sluice gate of the precious metal in payment of the January coin interest on the public debt, while the banks have an amount in their vaults which approximates the status of old times. However, gold has become a commercial commodity. Just now the supply is in excess of the demand. With all this decline Wall street is less expectant of an immediate return to specie payments than when gold took its downward turn from 130 a few weeks ago. : Guorata Rec RUCTED.—The Senate Georgia Reconsiruction bill passed the House of Representatives yesterday by a vote of 121 yeas to 51 nays. By thia bill Goveraor Bul- lock is authorized and empowered to summon together the State Legislature elected in 1868, The Governor will announce the day for the assembling of this body, upon which, after the usual formula of taking the oath presented for reconstructed States, it shall proceed with the business of legislation. One of its first acts will, no doubt, be the adoption of the fifteenth amendment and the enrolment of Georgia in the phalanx of States marching to the music of the Union and the one and indivisible repub- lic with its motto Z Pluridua Unin, Tue Rep River Insurrecri0n.—Despatches from St. Paul, Minnesota, announce that the insurrection in Winnipeg Territory, so far from having died out or been suppressed, as previous accounts intimated, has culminated in actual hostilities. The initiative has been taken by the capture of Fort Garry and its occupation by six hundred of the insurgents. The counter revolution which McDougall and the government agents endeavored to create fell flat, the population being a unit in the movement against the British authorities, The greater part of McDougall’s agonts and emissaries have been captured, and now, according to the despatch referred to, the settlers, under their leader, Rielle, are in undisputed possession of the whole Territory, Sue Wants A Fiarmr,—At the woman suf- frage meeting in Brooklyn the other evening Miss Susan B. Anthony opened a discourse on the proposition that “‘it is a false theory that all women are born to be supported ;” but she had not made much progress when she gave it up asa bad job, in this fashion: —‘‘Mr. Beecher, Ican’t speak. The spirit doesn’t move me, I can face a lion’s den—walk through it—but 1 can’t speak here to-night. Do get up a fight. Then, perhaps, I can speak.” Here, then, we have Miss Susan’s grand idea of woman suf- frage. She wants it that she may head a gang of ronghs on election day, and go in, knock down and drag out the ‘dead rabbits.” ‘Do get up a fight,” she says. ‘‘Then, perhaps, I can speak.” Is not the woman who occupies this platform on woman’s rights clearly entitled to stand guard at the polls or to head a gang of repeaters? What Dons tr Mean?—Cardinal Matthieu has left Rome and returned to France. The Cardinal is the Archbishop of Besancon, a churchman who is not without power in France, Why has he gone home go soon? We were told by the Pope, a few days ago, that leave of absence from the Council was not to be easily obtained. We have since been told by the Atlantic cable that the Cardinal had gone home to do gome confirmation and ordination work. We are now told that the Cardinal has gone on a apecial mission to the Emperor, the eldest son of the Church, What does it mean? Is the Council already a fail- ure? Is the postponement a confession of weakness? We ought not to forget that Na- poleon is not yet formally crowned. Has some expected coronation to do with this mission? What does the whole thing mean? The 6th his office by making war upon and deposing Cabral, his predecessor. Cabral and his | Cabinet, at the head of the insurgents, are of January, on which day the Council reas- sembles, may make matters more intelligible. We wait with some anzicty, Several times has our gov- | DECEMBER 22, 1869.-TRIPLE SHEET. The Darien Canal. A canal across the narrow neek of land which connects the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean is one of the grandest possibilities of the present, and it is certain to be one of the grandest facts of the fulure. Since the Suez Canal was formally opened the Darien Canal or some canal across our isthmus has been pronounced a necessity, The necessity has been confessed, not by Great Britain alone, but by several other nations of the European Continent. In a recent editorial, expressive evidently of the commercial sentiment of British traders, the London Times says that growing interest is felt “ia commercial circles in the possibility of another ship canal, deeper, wider and less subject to fogs and sand drifts, through some of the Central American States, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,” President'Crant, in his first annual message, has connected his name and his administration with this necessity and with this forthcoming triumph. Itds well knowa that the President is favorable to the enterprise. 1t is just as well known that with his sanction initial steps have been taken. It is our opinion that if President Grant does not permanently asso- ciate his name with the Darien, or some such canal, although it may be named by another name, he and his friends will have good reason to sorrow over a lost opportunity. It is well known to us that the Suez Canal, while full of promise, is not yet encouraging to the great mercantile firms of Europe, par- ticularly to the great mercantile firms of Great Britain. After long and laborious calculation the moneyed and business classes of Europe generally have arrived at the conclusion that for sailing vessels the Suez route will never pay. Their reason for so goneluding is not merely that the canal is not yet deep and broad enough to receive vessels of the largest ton- nage, but that when the canal is made all that the canal ought to be the Red Sea presents difficulties which are insuperable. This, of course, applies chiefly to sailing vessels. It is not denied that when the canal is deepened and widened steamships, and such steamships as have hitherto navégated the Red Sea, will be able to make the entire passage from Bombay or Calcutta to any point in the Mediterranean, or to any port in Great Britain or beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, ina space of time short- ened by some weeks. The Suez Canal brings the British ports nearer to Bombay by over four thousand miles, brings New York nearer to Bombay by over three thonsand miles, brings St. Petersburg nearer to Bombay by over four thousand miles, brings Marseilles nearer to Bombay by over five thousand miles, So far as Great Britain and our Atlantic sea- ports are concerned the saving is very nearly one-half. But the advantages gained by a short- ened route are more than counterbalanced by tonnage dues, by the expense for coal and by general insurance. On the whole it has been concluded that the Cape route cannot be ruined by the Suez Canal. Aside, however, from the imperfections of the canal the Red Sea difficulties stand seriously inthe way. The channel of that sea is narrow. Coral reefs abound. The winds are always, or almost always, parallel with the sea. Losses, serious losses are inevitable. Proba- ble perils fully counterbalance the apparent gain, It is this reason which has compelled the merchants of Great Britain to speak out through the columns of the London Zimes, They see that our Darien Canal, once made, will be a success, and a success for ever, We have no Red Sea. The isthmus once cut, the Atlantic and the Pacific will be one. The ports of China and Japan, and all the ports on the Pacific coast of this Continent will be brought nearer to our Atlantic ports by some thousands of miles, and nearer proportionally to the ports of Western Europe. We have obtained from the greatest commercial nation of modern times the confession that the Darien Canal is needed. It is not for us to despise the demands of the world beyond ua, especially when those demands coincide with our own interests. Much depends on General Grant. As a warrior his name is great. As a ruler in times of peace he has given, and he still gives, promise. But if he would take his place with the Alexanders, the Cwsars, the Napoleons of the past, he will not lose the opportunity of linking his name with the Darien Canal. Peace hath her victories not less renowned than war, and the olive is not less desirable than the laurel. Words are not lost upon the wise. Dom Pspro on Loprz.—Everybody in South America would, it seems, be quite content to declare the war against Lopez at an end save only the Emperor of Brazil, who pursues his foe as if with personal malignity. The allies of Brazil are quite content with what has been done—the Emperor's own ministers are divided against him on the point of relinquish- ing hostilities—but the Emperor, with stolid, persisting, butchering obstinacy, will not hear of peace while Lopez is free in Paraguay, Thus, for the supposed offences of one man, war is resolutely made against a people. The coun- try is kept in all the disorganized and horrible condition incident to war. Every human lite is kept upon the hazard solely that his Majesty, the Emperor of Brazil, may keep up the hunt against his enemies. We have heard a great deal of the inhumanity and barbarous temper of Lopez, and we now find that Dom Pedro is rather more than his peer in these qualities, inveterate and inevitable jobber has his eye on our new Post Office. He feels disgusted to see such a magnificent structure going on go handsomely without putting a cent in his pri- vate pocket, and he is determined to stop it or harness on his plan, Such we take to be the meaning of the resolution offered in the House by a man from Nevada, instructing the Post Office Committee to inspect the Post Office ope- rations, and report if they are corrupt. The work is, if possible, to be delayed till the job- her mancuvres his committee. A Goop Pow Weit Mapg.—The Recorder, in deciding a case involving the routine of administration in the Board of Commissioners of Emigration, has decided that commissioners do not perform their duties as the law requires when they sign papers in blank, but that they must give every case a personal supervision, To act upon this decision will make the duties very onerous, but it will doubtless be neces- sary wherever the action is expected to be binding legally. The Pontifical succession. It appears by a telegram from Rome that the Pope has changed his views with regard to the Pontifical succession. When thé Ecumenical Council was about being inaugu- rated Pius the Ninth expressed a desire that if he should die during the session of the Council his successor should be declared by acclama- tion, in the presence of the assembled pre- lates, by the Cardinals, instead of following the usual, though not obligatory, custom of electing the Pope by ballot in secret conclave. He has now issued 9 decree that in case of his death the Council shall be dissolved, and the Cardinals shall elect a successor to the chair of St. Peter in the usual way. The idea that the Pope intended the council of bishops assembled in Rome to have any voice in the election of his successor is erroneous. None but the dignitaries composing the College of Cardinals have any right to vote for the elec- tion of a Pope, but they might have carried out the Holy Father's wishes by declaring his successor openly and by acclamation in the presence of that mighty assembly of a thou- sand prelates, gathered from all quarters of the earth. The election of a Pope bas always been a political game, after all, in which Austria, France and Italy played their parts against each other. America may be in the next time, The Pope, however, for some reason has altered his mind upon the question. It may be that he intends to create a few more cardi- nals, and as the American bishops are said to be very friendly to his Holiness, a few red caps may be dispensed among the archiepis- copal sees of the United States, Canada or South America, But it is not likely that Pope Piug will depart this life during the session of ay cee 2 5 the Gouncli—for he ia hale aid hearty still— unless, indeed, it be prolonged for ten or a dozen and a half years, like the Council of Trent, in 1545, The question of succession is therefore not likely to trouble the cardinals just yet. Paving Fifth Avenue. The question of the pavement of this great thoroughfare was up in the Board of Assistant Aldermen on Monday in the shape of the remonstrance of a citizen against paving it with wood. We do not believe that concrete pavement for that street has had anything like a fair or satisfactory trial. It has failed in circumstances that would have insured the failure of almost any pavement known. It was ignorantly and badly put down. It was put down apparently in ignorance of the principles upon which such a pavement must depend for its success. Elasticity, for instance, is one of the necessary elements of such a pavement. Yet here we find it laid upon a solid sténe pave- ment, and thus placed upon a firm, unyielding base, as if in order that the wheels passing above might cut it up the more effectually. It was badly put down, because the materials were not of the best quality, and in its pre- paration the exact point of consistence .was not nicely hit. At the same time we are not sure that any comparisons between Paris and this city as to the use of this pavement are at all proper; for in Paris its success is in great part due to the mere perfect arrangements of the city government and the consequent greater attention given, not only to choo8ing good pavements but to keeping them in constant repair when down. Pavements that would fail anywhere else would succeed in Paris, from the simple fact that the city has a pavement organization always on duty, such as should have been es- tablished here when the supervision of the pavements was given to the Croton Aqueduct Board. Taking, therefore, the general view of the merits of pavements as those merits can be realized here, we incline to the opinion that @ wooden pavement on Fifth avenue would be better than the present one at its best, and as between the Stafford pavement, which seems highly successful where we have it, and the Nicolson, which has many failures in the city, we should judge the former to be de- cidedly the best. Tux Suet Too Tain,—The latest mine dis- aster, the caving in of several houses, proves to have originated in the most culpable negli- gence. A gallery of the mine had been worked so near the surface that props were necessary to keep the ceiling of the gallery from caving in at any time, and from want of attention the props in time became inadequate to the purpose. Minera should be forbidden by statute from working their mines so near the surface, unless they can be compelled to make the surface in such cases permanently and un- changeably secure. Let Tuem Br Sent Ur.—The two men dis- missed from the police for highway robbery have just been tried for the offence in the Court of General Sessions and found guilty. In charging the jury the Recorder made some remarks, with which the whole public will sympathize, as to the difficulty of getting so large a police force as ours without some rogues in it, and the success of the Commission in their efforts to keep the force pure. TirtLeBAT TitmousE IN THR ComMoN Covunot.—Tittlebat’s great platform was “everything for everybody.” By the magnifi- cent way in which the fathers spread around their donations, giving hundreds and thousands to everything and everybody, from St. Vin- cent’s Hospital to Mr. Larry Lanergan, we fancy they are all of Tittlebat’s party. EMINENTLY Prorer—The bronze staiue of General Scott which the trustees propose to set up in the beautiful grounds of the old Soldiers’ Home, founded by the General, near Washington, Congress, too, should by special appropriation provide for an appropriate monument to Scott at West Point—a monu- ment embracing the names of all the West Point officers distinguished in the public ser- vice. Such a monument would be a power- ful incentive to the cadets to strive to emulate the examples of their honored predecessors in the Academy, and, moreover, it would be use- ful to the boys as a standard book of history. Having repaid, ten thousand times over, all its costs to the Treasury, West Point should no longer go begging for such becoming histori- cal ornaments as the suggested monument to Scott. Keering an Eye on Trose ALABAMA Ciaims—Senator Sumner, in asking for the latest correspondence on the subject. Ho evidently doos not intend that those claims shall be allowed to sleep till forgotten. Ine —s Pe eR ee Report of the Commissioner of Revenue. The annual report of the Special Commis- sioner of the Revenue, which was recently submitted to Congress, and which has been heretofore hoticed in our columns, is now laid before us in the form of a neat pamphlet. Mr. Wells treats not only the subject of revenue fully, but gives us a comprehensive treatise on the industry, trade, commerce and progress of the republic. His figures will prove both in- teresting and suggestive, though in some instances they need explanation and qualifica- tion, He starts out with the fact that the revenue receipts of the Treasury have been largely in excess of the expenditures every year since the termination of the war, and that the wealth of the country has been greatly in- creased, ‘Inshort,” he says, ‘the experience of another year reaffirms the principle before announced, that the progress and growth of the country, through its elements of vitality— viz., great national resources and an inherent spirit of energy and enterprise in the people— is, in a great degree, independent of legisla- tion and of the impoverishment and disorder which the occurrence of a long war has neces- sarily occasioned.” Adverting to the happy condition of the people at large he says:— “There are few who, exempt from physical ailment, need hunger from scarcity of food or be idle for the lack of some opportunity for remunerative employment.” These are facts which are attested by the experience of all. Still, Mr. Wells re-echoos the old resumption and contraction dogma, and, in face of the facts he presents showing the wonderful progress and prosperity of the country under a paper cur- rency, makes the contradictory assertion that this state of things isa ‘false appearance of wealth and vigor ; that it has been succeeded by a condition of depression; that contraction of the currency, direct and undisguised, is the one necessity of the situation, the only remedy tor existing evils, so far as the currency has rela- tion to them, and that the nation cannot emerge from its embarrassments and difficul- ties until the makers and administrators of the law have the honesty and courage to take it (contraction) up az carry it forward to the end.” Here is a curiogs muddle of ideas about prosperity and suffering, gbout progress and depression, which shows that Mr, Wells’ abstract theories are stronger than facts or his judgment. The Commissioner has some scintillations of | light on the true cause of the difficulty in the way of resumption or of maintaining a specie basis, could resumption be forced. He admits that ‘there is no such thing possible as the resumption and continuance of specie pay- ments with a continuance of the abnormal sys- tem of foreign trade and exchanges against us.” He says, truly, ‘‘we settle the adverso balances by the purchase in the first instance of bills of exchange on England, paying a banker's profit, and probably effecting such a purchase to a greater or less extent by selling at a discount the nation’s obligations of indebtedness.” In another place he estimates our foreign indebtedness at $1,465- 500,000. A thoysand millions of this, he states, are in United States securities. At an average of six per cent we have to pay to Europe an annual interest of near eighty- eight millions of dollars, Estimating the total balance against us, and taking the account of the United States with foreign countries for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1869, as the basis of his calculation, he makes out that we have to pay, probably, at the present time an average of two hundred and ten millions per annum to balance the account with foreign countries. Among the items enumerated are twenty-five millions a year spent by Americans abroad and twenty-four millions as excess of freights carried in foreign bottoms. Of course there is not specie production enough to settle this adverse balance, and therefore our bonds and other securities continue to go abroad to make up the large annual deficiency. Mr. Wells’ remedy for this state of things is contraction of the currency, to force specie payments, and cheap production, in order that we may be put on a footing in the markets of the world with the cheap labor products of other nations, But what will our farmers and laborers generally say to this extraordinary proposed remedy? Can they be put on a foot- ing of competition with the pauper and ill-paid laborer of the Old World? Is that the price we are to pay to reach specie payments? We do not imagine the products of the country would be increased, and, as a consequence, the exports, by such low prices as Mr. Wells wants to bring us to. On the contrary, we think a large portion of the crops, particularly in the West, would rot on the ground. It would not pay to gather and transport them. Any sudden or great change in’ the present condition of the currency or of the price of gold could not fail to be terribly disastrous. We see indications of this in the present decline of gold. The governmeat itself, with all its desire to reach specie payments, has become alarmed. The only true and safe policy is to let things alone, and to leave the laws of nature and trade to solve the problem of a cur- rency circulation or a specie basis. We have, as Mr. Wells admits, been wonderfully pros- perous under our system of currency, and, as to the excess of importations and the balance of trade, they will adjust themselves in due time, Mr. Wells makes an astounding statement of the cost and destruction of the war, He says the amount will reach near nine thousand millions of dollars in all, including the actual ex- penditures on both sides and the destraction of property, But he seems to forget that a large portion of this amount entered into the various industries and improvements of the country and has become permanent wealth. He speaks properly in glowing terms of the surprising recuperation of the South, and he might have given our fellow citizens of that section full credit for their industry, intelligence, energy and good disposition under the extraordinary circumstances in which they were placed, The Commissioner makes the gross annual product of the country at present almost seven thou- sand millions of dollars, of which nearly half is from agriculture. The total valuation of property he estimates at over twenty-four thou- sand millions of dollars, which, notwithstand~ ing the cost and destruction of the war, would bo an increase of about sixty-five per cent for the last decade, There are many other valu~ ablo statomonts and some good quggestions in