The New York Herald Newspaper, January 12, 1871, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. Volume MRAVT ee eeeeeesteseeceeetee Ne 12 ——— AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, OLYMPIO THEAT! = inn or WOLTFlo THEATRE, Broadway.—Tux Pixromiue o1 BowERY a ca a apwpat Famaras, Bowery.—Tam GALLEY SLAVE WOOD'S MUSEUM Broadway, corner 8b st.—Perform- ances every afternoon and evening. GLOBE THEATRE, 19 Broadway.~Vantery ExtEn- TALNMENT, 20. FIFTH AVEN 7 vf tome a UB THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street BOOTH'S THEATRE, 28 at., between th and On a1 RIOWELIEU. “ NEW YORK STA! ‘ Keel Pn ay DT THEATRE, 45 Bowery.—LOvg AND NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tn® SPEOTACLE OF Tax BLack Cxoox. wi i we ttnacns THEATRE, Broadway ana 18th street.— LINA EDWIN'S THEATRE. Broadway.— a Favur ALapin. bis, veut cacalbag GRAND OPERA HOUS) ' ~ La GRanne DUCHESSE, ee ae ee MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— Goaarme CLOBINDA—ROM¥O JAFFER JENKLNS. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC.—JerreRson a8 Bir Van WINELE, § TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 21 Bowery.—Va- RBIELTY ENTERTAINMENT. THEATRE COMIQUE, 614 Broadway.—Comto Vooau- 18M, NEGRO Acme, &C.—JOLLY SANTA CLavus, BAN FRANCISCO NrGRo MINSTRELSY, BRYANT'S NEW OPERA Hag ene ot, between 6th and 7th avs.—NEGRO MINSTRELSY, EOOBNTBICITIZG, £0. INSTREL BA’ Broadway.— ‘AROES, Bonuustues, ‘ae. me LLO HALL. corner 28th street and Broadway.— Dr. Coury's DIORAMA OF IRELAND. NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth strest.—ScaNES IN ‘THE RING, ACEOBATS, £0. HOOLEY'S OPERA Hi EE.iy & Leon's MinsTEe1s. BROOKLYN OPERA HOUSE——Wricn, HUGHES & Waitr’s MINSTRELS, Canny THE NEWS To MARY, jrooklyn.—HOOLEY's AND DR. KAHN’S ANATOMICAL MUSEUN, 745 Broadway.— SOLENOE AND AxET. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATO! — BormNor axp Ant. ee ees TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Thursday, January 12, 1871. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD, Pace. II i ies er 1—Advertisements. 2—Advertisementa. 3—Dominica: Scenes in-the Senate Over the Pas- Sage of the Amended Resolution; The Oppo. nents of the President Suffer a Sedan Defeat; Sumner Interviews Ben Wade and Gets a Flea in His Ear—Enfranchisement of Wo- ee genset to Minister Schenck at Wash- ington. 4—Congress: The Amended St. Domingo Resolu- tion Adepted by the Senate; Sumner’s Pro- posed Amendment Defeated—The State Capt- tal: The Agony About the Standing Commit- tees at an End and the Grumbling Commenced; The Rapid Transit Question; Savings Bank Depositors Protected—The National Game— The War Ciaim of New York Against the United States—Uatching Muskrats. S—Europe: Count Bismarck’s Exposition of Ger- man Unity; British Trade During 1570; Irish Opinion of the Fenian Pardons—An Absconder Absconds—New Hampsiire Politics: The Cam- palgo Early Inaugurated by Both Parties; The emocratic Convention—Through the Suez Canal—Piratical Plot: A Plan to Seize the Steamship Ocean Queen on Her Last Voyage to Aspinwall—Health Matiers—American Dairymen’s Convention. G—Editorials: Leading Article, “Finance and Common Sense’—Amusement Announce- ments. ‘Y—ditorials (continued from Sixth Page)—France: BRERALD Special Report of Great Riots in Paris; Capitulation of the City Predicted; General Chanzy in Full Retreat—rhe King of Spain: Scene in the Cortes During the Swearing In Ceremonies—Miscellaneous Telegraphic News— Personal Intelligence—Business Notices. 8-The Washington street Homicide: Trial, Con- viction and Sentence of the ie Wrecked Steamer gence—The Trial by Court Martial of the Colored Cadet— The Jersey Drought: How the Water Famine tg Regarded— Fi it Swin- diers: Another of the Pat McDonald Gang Gone to Grief—The Expected Extles—Aqua- tic—Tbe Coal Miners—An important Cosi Suit—The National Guard. 9—Proceedings In the Courts—Brooklynites’ Bur- ens pananeiel nd Commercial Kepor far Fal fartiagés, Birth and Deaths. AO—Washington: Utah Knocking at the Door; Australia Steamship Subsidy; A Revolution- ary Legislature in Tennessee—Aducational Affairs: Meeting of the Board of Commis- sioners—Amusements—State —_ Legislatures— Western Boundary Surveys—Shipping Intelli- gence—Advertisements. ma yi 11—Keal Estate Prowlem: Suit Against the City, Based on Alleged Half Ownership of a Closed reet—The Taylor Will Case—The Gridiey- Andrus Case in Norwalk—Heroism of a Rail- road Engineer—Advertasements, 12—Advertisements. Tae MicnicaN REPUBLICANS think they are safely over their sea of troubles now that they have secured their Ferry for United States Senator. Taz Democrats in New HAMPSHIRE ace tually expect to carry that State in March next. They have harmonized all their party differences and nominated James A. Weston, of Manchester, for Governor. Tor Nationa, Gvarp.—It appears from the Adjutant General’s report that we have eight divisions of the National Guard in the State, numbering 24,285 men, officers and all. This is a very effective standing army in time of peace, and we can depend on all our citizens in time of war. Frank Brarr will most probably be chosen United States Senator by the Missouri Legisla- ture to-morrow or next day. The constitution of the State, as interpreted by radical registry officers, will not allow him to vote, but it can- not prevent his being voted for, and we are likely to have the anomaly of a man voting in the United States Senate who cannot vote in bis own precinct. —_—_——___——- We Horg THe RECEPTION OF THE FENIAN Exirzs will not be made altogether a political affair. We must remember, while Tammany is taking the matter into its own hands, that many republican Irishmen are heartily enlisted in the welcome to be tendered them, and that a republican adminisiration finally secured their release. Sixteen of the liberated prison- ers are on board the Cuba, and among them the question of party politics, or of any politics exeept the broad one of freedom and self-gov- ment, is doubtless entirely ignered. Ce ee Tat Covorep Capet AGarn.—The court martial of James Smith, the colored cadet at West Point, for alleged lying, bas already occupied five days, and it is believed all the evidence isin. The unfortunate, and in this case apparently “unreliable contraband,” will make his own statement ef the case to-day. ‘This poor little pioneer of social equality bas 0 far proven an exceedingly costly experi- ment, It is very doubtful whether even in the old days of slavery this ‘‘bright boy” would have brought as much as the goverf- ment has already szpeniog on tim merely to NHW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 12. 1871.-TRIPLE SHERT, Finance and Common Sense. At the present stage of our history American opinion can well afford to attend with greater closeness than heretofore to the educated, sound and liberal opinion of foreign countries where wise ordering, scientific pre- cision, gealous and patriotic statesmanship may furnish to us valuab!e suggestions in the direction of our own steps, We aro the inheritors of the labors of all mankind. It is in all respects for our interests and in no respect against our dignity te attend to the scientific liberal opinion of the civilized werld ea to any portion of our policy and our doings which belongs to political science in its most universal aspect, and upon which, therefore, wo ought, if wise, to avail our- selves ef the stock of wisdom and knowledge common to all educated and civilized man- kind. Apply this te finanes, and we have a state of facts which, combined with the hideous, we had almost said the infernal, pressure of the shees on our ewn feet, caunot longer be disregarded. For years past the whole unanimous opinien of fiscal and economical authority in every land has been in an attitude of prolonged bewilderment at our proceedings in the sovereign article of finance, - . For years past every intelligent economical thinker throughout the globe has been asking himeelf how it can possibly be that the most industrious and intelligeat population in the world, supposed to have their destinies under their owm centrol, can submit with se unexemplary and ignorant patience to fiscal loads and fiscal processes which might almost appear devised by express malignity of ingenuity so to overweigh us in the race of life as to insure not a prosperous run therein, but an ignominious breakdown and defeat. For years past the dweller in the United States has been regarded by scientific economists and practical chancellors of the exchequer all over the world as a curious and monstrous Issachar, o “strong ass crouching under the burdens” which ignorant statesman- ship persists in laying on him. It is not a comfortable state of things by any means to be so regarded. To be fleeced unmercifully by our government and be laughed at im- moderately by the sober-minded of all coun- tries, surely that is not a pleasant or a profit- able plight to stand in. Pocket and pride cry out against it alike. And can that state of things endure which thus injures and outrages pocketand pride? We mean to try that ques- tion, What can be more paradoxical than our position at thismoment? We raise by oppres- sive taxation surpluses every year unex- ampled in financial history, and which make the mouths of treasurers and chancellors of exchequer throughout the globe to water as they gaze stupefied with envy and ad- miration at the colossal figures which testify tothe greatness at once of our country and our folly. It might be expected, then, that the whole capital of the world would compete eagerly for our favors; that a nation with a balance- sheet so magnificent would have tho lenders of the world at its feet, and that no country would be able to place its public debt upon the market upon terms so favorable. But we know by only too painful experience #ad cer- tainty that this is not the case. Now, is not this a subject deserving our most serious scru- tiny? Why is it that Great Britain, with her ebbing political power and a range of pro- ductive resources which is to ours as Liliput to Brobdignag, can command at any moment countless millions at three per cent, while we cannot be sure of commanding any appreciable gum except at rates at least twice as much? ere are answers to this question of the most definite and precise kind, and we shall giverthem in due course, 9 ~ “*°v7>->-,,. For the present we desire to lay at the outset express and particular stress upon the fact that it is precisely the immoderate, ill-coneid- ered and cruel extent of our taxation which lies atthe very root of this matter. We are tak- ing from the pockets of our people a hundred millions more a year than are required for any immediate practical purpose. It is this infatu- ated and impertinent piece of practical dogma- tism, and this mainly, that not only oppresses us all in our business lives, robs us of half our lives infact by making them just one- half as productive as they might be, but also, let it be well noted, keeps down our public credit, We should like to write it up in letters of fire throughout the land that the extra taxation it is which keeps down our credit. Why? Because it is, in fact, an immense forced loan taken yearly out of the people's pockets by burglarious finan- cial policy. Because, therefore, our govern- ment itself blunderingly competes with the capitalist lender all the time, amd thus by incredible and inexplicable perversity, steadily and perseveringly, like the pig cutting its own throat as it goes against the stream, raises the money market against itself. Because you can- not increase the capacity of people to raise loans on favorable terms by bleeding them to death to pay off loans before they are dme. All this doctrine is in conflict with the stupid and in- terested cry which has prevailed among us so long that we can only appreciate our public credit by keeping up our taxation to the utmost. The exact contrary is the truth, the plain truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us the first rules of arithme- tic! It is truth which, as we have said, we should like to write up in letters of fire all over the land: truth so plain, indeed, that the poli- tician who will not leara it might well deserve to be thrown into the fire in which it was written, as not having the brains whioh entitle him toa longer existence in the midst of ra- tional mankind. The practical and urgent inference from all this is that we should reconsider from the very foundation our present plan of action with re- gard to the relation of taxation and the pay- ment of the debt, We have furnished the de- cisive key to the right solution. To overtax, beyond immediate need, to pay off debt pre- maturely is in reality to increase the burden of debt. We should adopt the simple rule of paying off debt out of legitimate surplus— namely, that which accrues in yearly income out of taxes imposed only to meet current ne- cesdities, but which overtop expenditure by the necessary expansion of the country. Such has been the plan of Great Britain notoriously the best ordered country finanolally, whatever Vv she may be in other respects, in the world. She buys up her debt in detail, not out of taxes imposed for the purpose, but out of the extra product of a wisely considered taxing system, which ‘every year brings in more and more, because the business and income of the country grow every year. Under this system, while constantly relieving the public of bur- dens, she has paid off in fourteen years four hundred millions of dollars of debt, The principle is a plain and simple one—to take a certain small margin of the inevitable increase of the country’s wealth to pay off ita debt. We, on the contrary, are cutting into the very body of the country to do it; and, as it would be easy to show by a balance-sheet drawn up, increasing the debt substantially, not dimin- ishing it, as we have before insisted, and shall never cease to insist, It is not mecessaty to dwell upon the gigan- tic political evils which accompany this mischievous finance. A great statesman said once that ‘finance is policy.” Wrong money dealings infect life, private and public, and make it unwholesome allover. Our gigantic taxing system isa great carcass that invites human vultures in myriads to preyuponit, We leave alone that point just now, for we want to con- centrate attention on the single point of money loss, which is heavy enough in all conscience, or ont of all conscience rather. We hope and believe that the people will soon make an end of all this. The principle of paying off debt out ofinevitalle increase ef publio wealth is applicable to no country so decisively as te this, which must, in the physical nature of things, be ina few years so much richer and vaster in population than now. We trust that this will be felt at once in the proper quarter, and that this nonsense of killing the geose for the golden eggs will be stopped. Leavea hundred millions more in the pockets of our industrious people, and pay debt gradually, if it must be paid before it is due. It is not, however, considered good policy to do this in private life; why should it in public? The Proverb says that there are two bad pay- masters, one who pays before the time, and the other who does not pay at all, The proper medium for a nation, perhaps, is to pay out of increasing resources, Lot us adopt it without delay. Our toiling millions require that bare justice at the hands of those who represent them, and they will have it. wv The St. Resolution Passed—Tho Commission. The St. Domingo, or Dominican resolution, as adopted by the House, was concurred in yesterday by the Senate, after a discussion of severaVhours, in which the implacable Samner and intractable Carl Schurz were most con- spicuous and ferocious on the opposition side. We presume that General Grant, in the appeintment of three commissioners, author- ized to go down to St. Domingo and look into the history and condition, political and social, and into the resources and products and everything connected with the republic of Dominica, in reference to the expediency of its annexation to the United States, will lose ho time, but will “strike while the iron is hot,” and send off his men at once. It is rumored that the stanch and trusty ‘“‘Old Ben Wade” is to be at the head of the commission, and his appointment, if made, will give general satis- faction. We suppose, however, that this ru- mor is mere conjecture, though sometimes mere conjectures prove correct. In any event it seems to be understood that the commission is to be expeditious in making its inquiries and in returning with its report, so that, if possi- ble, its report—whieh will doubtless be in favor of annexatlon—may be submitted for the action of the present Congress, which expires on the 4th of March next. Failing in this, we presume it is the desire of General Grant to have the commission back again in season for the first session of the new Congress, which, unless otherwise ordered by a new law, will meet on the 4th of March, with the retirement of the present Congress. To aid the Com- mission and the public generally, we have had prepared, and publish this morning, ® map showing the proposed territorial acquisition. It is probable that unless this St. Dominge question shall come up in the form suggested this first session of the new Congress will be very brief ; whereas, with the question before the two houses in a message from the President, we may have a session of two or three months’ duration, end- ing with the annexation of Dominica and a bill for its government as a Territory of the United States. Domi A Piratican PrLot.—Our correspondent at Aspinwall sends us the particulars of a plot arranged among the Cubans of this city to embark on board the United States mail steamship Ocean Queen, on her last voyage to Aspinwall, over two: hundred Cuban recruits. They were to have gone as steerage passengers, and after getting to seathe ship was to have been seized, and the notorious Colonel Ryan, who was on board under an assumed name, was to have taken command. The ship was to have been run upon the Cuban coast, the arms, of which she had a large number on board, and the men were to have been landed and the ship then released. Fortunately a detachment of United States troops, en route for San Diego, went out by the Ocean Queen, and thus frustrated the designs of the Cuban pirates, They are adopting bold measures, and if caught by the authorities of the United States they may expect no more mercy than they would receive at the hands.of the Spaniards. If the Cubans in this city, in order to accomplish their plans, are arranging piratical expeditions, it will be well for our steamship owners to be on their guard, ENGLAND AND THE CONFERENCE.—At is said that Lord Granville is mainly responsi- ble for the postponement of the London Con- ference. Why? The reason, it may yet be found, is that Lord Granville sees that in another Crimean war Great Britain, although she can now confidently count upon Austria, needs her ancient ally, France. As a few weeks may put upon the French throne a Bonaparte or a Bourbon delay, from Lord Granville’s point of view, is not dangerous, Ong or Boss Twrep’s Smant Jops.—An act to incorporate the Real Estate Trust Com- pany, with a capital of a million dollars, has been introduced into the Legislature by Boss Tweed. This will prove a nice little bureau through which real estate jobs can be Gartigd on gugcemfully in thia gity, : Military Activity in France, Our war despatches continue meagre, but they furnish information enough to convince us that the opposing armies in the Southwest and East are engaged in a vigorous campaign. A Versailles telegram reports General fe Chanzy’s army as retreating from all points, but we presume that Le Mans is atill held by the French. We are not surprised at this re- trograde movement, As was suggested yester- day it_{s probably a part of de Chanzy's plan of eperations and may not be com- pulsory, It seems to us, however, that the French ought to endeavor to hold Le Mans, if they do not propose making an immediate advance upon Paris. Le Mans is the termi- nus of three railroads, each of which starts from @ seaport town, and, comsequently, en- ables the French to. receive supplies of food and ammunition with ease and rapidity, If Chanzy retires upon Alengon he will have only the railroad from Cherbourg upon which to depend for the transportation of supplies, We doubt if this single line will suffice for the purposes of a large army. It may be, however, that Chanzy will leave Le Mans for the pur- pose of rapidly concentratiag near Alengon— say at Montagne—and then endeavor to flank Prince Frederick Charles and reach Versailles by way of Dreux. Thus far the main efforts of the Germans seem to be directed against his right wing, undoubtedly for the purpose of preventing a junction with the Army of Bor- deaux. If Chanzy intends making an effort to hold Le Mans he ought to give battle some- where near Montfort, on the Huisne river. The country here is admirably adapted to de- fensive warfare. It is broken by numerous small rivers, the passage of which in the face of a brave enemy would be no easy task. The operations in the East are becoming more active. On the 9th inst. a severe engagement was fought at Villersexel, and both sides claim the victory. The scene of the battle is a village in the department of Haute Sadne, some twelve miles southeast of Vesoul and perhaps twenty-five miles south. west of Belfort. We cannot understand why it was necessary for the Germans to advance on Villersexel, because it seems to us that they should have been in posses- sion of it. As the French despatch claims, the village must have been the | key to the German military position. It virtually commands the line of communica- fion between the Germay investing force belors Belfort and the army under Von Werder at Vesoul. The conclusion, then, is natural that either Von Werder blundered greatl yat first in permitting the French to oc- cupy so important a position near his lines or the Bordeaux telegram gives the correct account. We shall doubtless obtain the truth in a few days, either from the fighting of another battle atthe same point or from the raising of the siege of Belfort and evacuation of Vesoul by the Germans, Our special correspondent at Brussels for wards a report of the occurrence of bread riots in Paris, which resulted in a collision be- tween the mob and the troops. It is easy to see that if serious dissensions have broken out in the besieged capital its early capitulation will become a necessity. From other sources we leara that the bombardment continues vig- orous, and thatthe French retura fire flags perceptibly. This latter statement is sur- prising, because the artillerists in the forts are all from the navy, and are accounted the best in the French service. In coneluding this résumé of the military situation in France we are impressed by the thought that the present activity of Prince Frederick Charles is due to the weakening of the German investing line around Paris, Should this prove to be the case Trochu’s failure to take advantage of it and make a grand sortie will confirm our opinion of his military incapacity. Certainly, if he does not assume the offensive within a very few days his last chance of success will be gone forever. United States Senator from West Virginia. Charles J. Faulkner, formerly of Old Vir- ginia, but now of West Virginia, having been invited to become a candidate for the United States Senate from the latter State, has written @ letter in reply, in which he says:— Ido not seek the office and shall not seek it. I have never expressed to any human being the wish to have the place, and yet, in response to your direet inquiry, Ifeel no hesitation in saying that if Con- gress shail remove my present itical disabilities and it shall be the pleasure of the State of West Virginia, unsolicited by me, to call me to her ser vice in the Senate of the United States, I shall, as a citizen of the State, deeply sympathizing in all that affects her fortunes and fame, feel it my duty to ac- cept the position and to discharge its duties to the best of my ability. Mr. Faulkner was an active member of Con- gress for several terms prior to the rebellion, and in 1860 was appointed by President Buchanan Minister to France. He returned to the United States in 1861, and being sus- pected of disloyalty was imprisoned in Fort Warren, but was exchanged for Hon. Alfred Ely in December of that year. Since that time he has remained entirely in private life, until the present effort of his friends to restore him te the service of the public. Mr, Faulk- ner was always: considered a national Union man until the outbreak of the rebellion, and being absent from the country at that time cannot be said to have been particularly cen- cerned in “firing the Southern heart” to a treasonable extent. Personally he is esteemed a high-toned and honerable gentleman, while for statesmanlike abilities he was, during his Congressional career, considered the peer of some of our most distinguished men, Con- gress will havea delicate point to settle when called upon to,decide the question of the re- moval of Mr. Faulkner's disabilities, If the Southerners could manage to behave them- selves for any reasonable length of time, and cease their premature efforts at retaliation, which cannot possibly enure to their benefit, a general act of amnesty might be passed to cover ali such caees as that of Mr. Faulkner, Until they do we fear thare is but little hope for the restoration of their strongest men to public life, so long at least as the reins of. government are held in the handa they are a present, AN Irish GENTLEMAN tenders, a residence to his Holiness the Pope on his estate near Limerick in the Green Isle, In this particular instance of devotion to the Pontiff Ireland cannot claim to rank ahead, asthe use of a magnificent homestead near New York was offered to the head of the Raman Catho- lic Charch long since, files of the Ugeaip, as may he geen in td 4 Congress Yesterdnay—End of tue Dominican Controversy—lnternal Loprovements. The Dominican joint resolution passed yes- terday through its last legislative stage, the Senate having, after a three hours’ debate, concurred unanimously in the House amend- ment precluding the idea of the government being bound to the acquisition of the republic of Dominica, We have no doubt that the conntry at large will be gratified that this much vexed question has been at last remeved from the Congressional arena, and that both houses will now be free to attend to the ordinary and necessary business of legislation. The suc- cess of the administration thus far in the mat- ter of the commission is said te bo no real indi- cation of the sentiment of either house on the simple question of annexation, inasmuch as republican Senators and members voted for the commission, as a harmless and not very costly affair, who would, nevertheless, oppese to the last extremity the policy of annexation. The proceedings in the House yesterday presented no features of public interest. A bill for the collection and publication of con- sular reports ag to the cereal crops of other countries was passed, and another bill for the more careful transportation of cattle by rail- road was discussed and laid over till to- morrow. The death of Mr. Covode, ef Penn- sylvania, was announced, and a committee appointed to attend his funeral. Then the House went into Committee of the Whole, and, after a long discussion, made large ap- propriations fer continuing the work on the Louisville and Portland Canal and on the Des Moines Rapids. The consideration of the Le- gislative Apprepriation bill developed a very smart practice of the small newspapers throughout the country which are designated by the Clerk of the House for publishing the laws of Congress—that is, te procure from the public printing office at Washington the few score or few hundred pamphlet copies of the laws required to furnish each subscriber with @ copy, and thus, at very trifling expense, become entitled to the pay allowed for advertising. It was a Nevada paper that was found to have adopted this plan, but it is un- derstood that the same thing has been going on allover the country, The Committee on Approprigtions made ap pllort f ave the law Tpealed which facilitated this tick by allow- ing copies of public documents to be obtained at cost price, but a very strong opposition to that was developed, led by the chairman of the Printing Committee, and the proposed repeal was defeated, so that Congressional sanction is given to this swindle. To be sure, if it is de- sired that the laws shall be published, it is better to have them in pamphlet form rather than diluted through the columns of weekly newspapers ; but the real question, and which does not seem to have been touched upon in the debate, is, What possible use is such sort of publication at all? It helps to deplete the Treasury and to keep up feeble party news- papers. Ouly that and nothing more. Ove State LxGtstarvre.—The little agita- tion about the formation of the principal com- mittees in our Legislature was settled yester- day by the Speaker announcing the standing committees, as given in our usual legislative columns. It will be seen that there is but little change in regard to the chairmanships of the principal committees as before announced, A rather important movement was made tend- ing to show the action of the democratic party in this State in regard to the annexation of St, Domingo. A resolution was introduced in the House, and referred to the Committee on Federal Relations, having this object in view. Opposition to the measure on the part of the democracy of New York appears to be a fore- gone conclusion, This is among the first planks that will probably be spiked in the democratic platform for the next Presidential campaign. is Forraer Sargcuarps to Lire Assur- ANog.—A bill has been introduced in the State Legislature proposing to place it out of the power of life insurance companies to make any objection to the payment of policies, on the ground of misrepresentation in the sanitary condition of the insured, after three annual premiums shall have been paid, The justice of such a measure must strike everybody as entirely evident, If the companies continue from year to year to receive the premiums of the insured it is eminently proper that when the widow or other beneficiary shall come to claim the amount of the policy there shall be no charge of forfeiture because of matters which should have been the subject of investi- gation at an earlier time. The bill allows a sufficiently wide margin—the period of three annual premlums—and should pass, Brooxs vs. Hastincs.—The newspaper quarrels in this city seem to have been taken up in Congress. Mr. Brooks, of this city, hav- ing had his official integrity impugned by Mr. Hugh Hastings, editor of the Commercial Advertiser, in the columns of his paper, brings the matter before Congress, and a committee of investigation is appointed upon the mutual admiration principle in vogue among Congressmen. The matter might more properly have been taken before the courts ; but it would have been better for Mr. Brooks not to have noticed it at all, neither on the ftoor of Congress nor in the courts of law. Mr. Brooks’ official record ought to be suffi- cient to enable his reputation for integrity to pass current in any community. Besides, if he worries himself about such trifles he may keep himself in hot water all. the time. He has attached, entirely too mach importance to this affair, and had better ‘‘let it slide” altogether. GovgRNor Gzdry as. THE Labor CANDIDATE For. PRESENT,—The Nashville Union reminds us that Governor Geary, of Pennsylvania, will prebably be the nominee of the National Labor Union for President im 1872, and herce his violent opposition te the Enforcement act—the employment of troops at elections—-need not create surprise, Still it does not appear that the Gevernor is prepared to declare open war on the administration. The National Labor Union is, no donbt, a very fermidable body; but it is hardly powerful enough as yet, we think, to run in a Presidential candidate solely by its own strength, Geary is toe old a soldier and too sly & politician to be caught leading in any movement that has not the chances for auccess degidediy in its favor, Cassius M. Cray says he will go for Horace Greeley for President, Probably that 1s the reason Mx, Gceoler ‘wea’ go for St, Domisgo. Capitulation of Paris ana a Earopean Ware Signs and symptoms which are easily inter- preted by the watchful and experlenced eye are visible in the news from Europe that we thig morning publish, and in all that we have been receiving for some days past. The Ger- man investing armies are pushing the siege of Parls with tremendous energy, and the inevi- table result begins to force itself upon the minds of the most sanguine. The French capi- tal must fall. Her resistance has been heroic, under all the circumstances, beyond parallel, and history will transmit from age to age the story.of this her sorest trial, her supremest tribulation. Her wonderful variety of resources, her equally astonishing ingenuity of adapta- tion, her quiet, order, patience, fortitude, self- reliance and patriotism have excited afresh the admiration of the world, already accorded to her artistic taste, her splendor, her gayety and her priceless treasures, relics and monu- ments. Yes! Paris—the proud, imperial city— Babylon the Great ef modern days—must yield te hard necessity. She cannot allow her chil- dren to be slaughtered nor her accumulations of art and science to be destroyed in a fatile resistance, after the guns of her own fortresses have been turned upon her populous suburbs and the enormous shells of the Krupp batteries have begun to rain down into the courtyards of her palaces, The foe ia close upon her in tremendous numbers recruited freshly from beyond the Rhine by new forces one-third as strong as the whole invading army was a month ago. He is now pressing her with desperation, sharpened by the exasperated outcry that swells hourly to more menacing notes from a vast united people in Fatherland demanding to know why the war is not promptly ended by its crowning success. All the resources, masculine vigor, gene- ralship and supreme determination of the new Germanic empire are bent with tenfold zeal upon the capture of the great city on the Seine, and neither life, outlay, science, mate- rial, invention, whether in engineering or diplomacy, will be spared to bring it at once to terms. The direst necessity exists on both sides for this conclusion, Disguize ff as they afay, thousands of people in the beleagueitd placa are suffering dreadfully, while throughoat all Germany the suspense and impatience to be done with this work have become well nigh » frenzy, if we are to judge by the tone of every journal-that reaches us from the land of King William and his proposed imperial subjects, Moreover, we know that even amid the thun- der of hostile guns, the most strenuous secret efforts are making to effect what hag been so often refused—an honorable and rea- sonable capitulation. Bismarck is as great a manager as Moltke is a military stragetist, and he is, after all, a republican of the future who well knows that royalty is not immortal. Two vast organizations that were purely military— viz., the original French and German regu- lar armies—have been enormously diminished. The chief masses on both sides now set over against each other consist of armed citizens, It is Germany's boast that her entire people are in the war; it is the cry of France appeal- ing to the world that she, too, is now the peo- ple battlirg for home and fireside, The secret voice of both these peoples is not for bloed ; it is for peace. Both have shown the grandest heroism; both have suffered beyond ex- ample; they have revealed themselves to each other at last with ‘“‘the light of battle on their faces,” and irreconcilable hatreds are not the growth of manly hearts, the causes being corrected er removed. Non-combatants may curse unto the end, but men who are familiar with the gaze.of death are most acces- sible te reason—“the bravest still the gentlest.” Paris is on the eve of the noblest resolution of all—to be morally equal to the fortune of war—and with her acceptance of this result will come the free, spontaneous, overwhelming offer of the true German people for lasting peace and friendship, This day may bring the first note of its coming. But, unfortunately, this reconciliation be- tween the two great belligerents whose gigantic struggle now enchains the attention of mankind, is anything but the harbinger of a general peace. In fact, both adversaries feel the necessity of some arrangement in the prospect of a far wider and more destructive conflict on the North and the South, and’ ex- tending from the latter quarter to perhaps the farthest East. Great Britain—now the first financial and naval Power of the world—is, beyond all question, arming, in hot haste and on an imposing scale, for some tremendous. conflict. Her naval and military work- shops ring, ‘night and day, with the dreadful note of preparation, and she is purchasing artillery and _ rifles of the latest and most approved construction, in this country, in enormous quantities. At the same moment, the tread of freshly sum- moned armies echoes along the western and southern frontiers of Russia, and Austria and Turkey are both onthe alert. There isa sterm gathering on the Baltic and the Black Seas which will sweep down upon the German Ocean, the English Channel and the Mediter- ranean with a violence in the presence of which France and Prussia may well hold their hostile hands and seek present rescue. and future security in honest reconciliation. and alliance. As, a year ago, we foresaw: and foretold the crash that has shattered. France and decimated Germany, 80 do we now.clearly foresee a direr trouble brooding over Rurope. Tas House has agreed upen Philadelphia as the place for the celebration of the: cente- nary: of our independence, That eminently respectable old village must commence a& once to inflate itself with a lithe New. York, nergy, or it will not be able in.the interveaing period of five years to sustain the shock, “Hlazina” at West, Pons.—The Military Academy at West Point should certainly set the example of abolishing forever the brutal custom of “hazing” which still lingers dis- gracefully in our colleges, This:custom, more honored in the breach than the observance, is glaringly unbecoming to any one who {a ‘sup. posed to be learning to be “an offloer and a gentleman.” It is Lynch law, without’ the pretext which rough frontier life sometimes affords for putting that into execution. The Superintendent of the West Point Academy very justifiably launched a general order on Tuesday against what he stigmatizes as “mob law.” The condemnation of all the members of the first class to Confinement within narrow Unaite af the wosh aud deprivation. of Farr