The New York Herald Newspaper, May 20, 1871, Page 6

W YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STRECT, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, All business or news letter and (clegraphic ) Gespatcbes must be addressed New York ‘Mewar. a Letters and packages snould be properly AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. PRTHSATRE, 2 PR's TALE. Matine U MUSEUM Broa: every afternoon an way, corner % ening. —-H¥ Broadway and 12th street.— oe at 1g. ) THE ARKANSAS roer of #th av. ana 2d st.— Bagne BURCE. Faust. Matinee a EDWIN’s THEATRE! 1K. Matinee at 2. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Tuk Goup BrLt— our Live's ty Dancer. 0 Kroadway.—CoMEDY AVENUE THEATRE Twer jor Svew A Four as He Li ta Ks. M rth street,— t Lg. “* ACADEMY OF MUSIC. Fourteenth street. Ivar ‘Orana—Kounnt Le Diavie. pid “GLOBE THEATRE, 725 Br WAINMED?, Ac. Tux Trurt; “OLYMPIC THEATRE. Broadway.—New Veusr Pack Suerrauv. Matinee at? EESION OF MER. F. 8. CONWAY'S FARE THEATRE, Rrootiyn,— Kary Div. rooklyn, BRYANT'S NEW OPERA th and 7th avs.—Nhane MiNsTE: 251 st. between 6th Matinee at 2. | THEATRE COMIQUE, 414 Broadway.—Couro Vooar moms, Newko Acts. sc.” Matinee at 2 TONY PASTOR'S OF ERA HOUSE. BL Bo Vee P miry Excperaisurst. Matinee ataq. 3O"eTN V4 'S MINSTRELS, corner 28th NSPRELSY, 40, Matinee at 2. tree: and 4th ave.—Atter. CENTRAL PARK GARDEN, — 01 | Somure Nicurs’ Conorr THEODORE 7 ros i THOMAS’ DR. KALIN'S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM, 745 q — INS AN / SEUM, 745 Broadway. New York, Saturday, May 20, 1871. ONTENTS OF TO-DAY'S HERALD, Pace. 1—Advertisements, Adverusements. News from Washingto: Snmner on the demners—Im portant ry—The Great Raiiroad Lease Shermai’s Nomina- ftov—Workingmen's Union—Tue Insurance c Companies sinictea Notes, Political . = and General—Vres The Jersey Dump deut—The Natio: asic in the Pri 4—The Great Treaty tional ts Bearing on the Questions Discovered by the Joint Com- missiou—Among the Ku Kinx—Fleetwood —Woman's Suffrace—Miltiary Move. ments—Brookiyn Burglaries—Buffum, the Murderer, G—The Death Penai Xecution of William John- 7 $n (Negro) in it Virginia—The Indians— I ‘be Apache War in Arizona—The Old Story—: The Putnam Tragedy—Another Car Fight— The Cabie Controv —Railroad Encroach- ments Checked—I ade Wood's Old Jobs— Boylston Bank Burglary. G—Kaitorials: Leading Article, “Preparing for the Campaign Isiz—New Departure of the Democrac miusement Anouncements, ) FeEdtorus ‘ixth Page)—The uise of the Ver- Allot and Dauphine; rntion—The british Another War Cloud Success of _ the Tampico Revowitiontsts—Miscellaneous Tele- aca © News—Amusements—Personal Intel- ligenee— Views cf te —- Past —-Business Notices. S—France: The Attempt of Lombrowski to Recap- ture the Bridge of Neuilly; liners’ Proclama- tion to the Parisians—Religious Intelligence— Rising Methodistism—The Morrisania Mystery: An fhvestigation Comm Americans Abroad—One of Nature's F Vouan Not Man’s Eqnai—Kn kKiux Wanted—Army and r Naval Intelligence. @—The Lady in Biack: The Mysterious Suicide at the Stevens House—Impor' t “xpress Companies—Ierse: dist—Waging Woman's War—Pi, consin—Fire in the Woods tn Parliament--Torkey in che Fast—Mexico : ——— Preparing fer the Campaige of 1872—New | maintaining the rights of capital and labor Departare ef the Democracy. The political campaign for the Presidency in 1872 has commenced early and in earnest. General Grant made the firs! important move- ment, with the aid of Senator Morton and other ‘aitbful adherents of the administration, at that significant gathering at the National Hotel, Washington. This apparently impro- vised but carefully prepared meeting was the opening of the contest, It was a warning to all the republican aspirants for the Presidency and foctious leaders of the party that they must give way to General Grant, the man who stands head and shoulders above every other candidate on that side for the nomination. The trip to the West afterwards and the speeches delivered there were designed to eloar (wack more effectually and to fix both the candidacy of General Grant and the plat- form of ihe party. This was an astute move- ment, and shows that the President was wise in selecting Mr. Morton as his chief man in this business. For some time before, and at the time of the Washington meeting referred to, there was a disposition on the part of some of the republican leaders and Presiden- tial aspirants to kick ont of the administration party traces ; but this had the effect of quieting them. It is proving as effectual as Rarey’s horse-taming manipulations. Sumner, Fen- ton, Geary and the rest have been brought down, and if they kick at all it is only in a feeble way. The Republican State Conven- tion of Pennsylvania, which was held at Har- risburg on Friday last, threw overboard all otber candidates, and emphatically renomi- r nated General Grant as an honored leader of the party and ‘‘a proper standard bearer of the republican party in 1872.” We take it for granted, then, that the other republican State Conventions will follow that of Penns ia, and that the President will be % §0—A Chicago Murderer: He K i. Robs im and Thea Throws His Body into Lake Michigan-—The New Jersey Foster—Ship- ping Intellizence—Advertisements. 11—Proceedings in the Courts—The Presidency: Great Exvectations Crumbling Into Dust— Misceilancous Foreign liems—Auverusemeuts. A2—Advertisements. Tae Mrixens, after their long and dreary contest, seem to have at last concluded that _ they are merely fighting against hope. They * will probably resume work at once on the most favorable terms that they, can get. The odds | of railroad corporations, operators, combina- { tions, Legislatures and courts against them > have proven too much for them. 7 Bwvox Jouwxsox, a negro, was executed in Wnion, West Virginia, yesterday, for the mur- 1 der of a white man. The execution wasa public one, three thousand persons being present. It took place in a mountain gorge, Just on the outskirts of the town, and a pro- wession led the way from the jail to the gal- lows, the condemned man on bis coffin being _ the central figure of the parade, according to the time-honored usages of Tyburn. Judge Monell, a verdict of $1,000 was given - for damages sustained by a lady through the falling, a8 she was crossing it, of a plank side- walk over an excavation in front of a house in process of building. The suit was against the contractors. Tho verdict will no doubt prove @ salutary lesson to builders, and lead to ‘Breater care in the constraction of these tem- porary sidewalks, so numerous throughout the eity and so inseperable from the excavating ‘end undermining of sidewalks in putting up buildings. The jury in this case have wisely, and it is to be hoped that the taught will be of service to the whole ity Avrairs x Panxama.—Would it vot be well the government of the United States to 8 more attention to affairs on the Isthmus : Panama? There are valuable American r ioe there that require to be constantly guarded, and yet there is not an American vessel of war at either end to afford protec- tion to American property or American resi- dents in-case of emergency. Of late the | steamer Montijo has been seized by a party of rebels, and there is no power to regain posses- ~ sion of her. The railroad interests are left to fake care of themselves, and the numerous I _ passengers still crossing from ocean to ocean are without any protection whatever in of a disturbance arising. There may be » a repetition of the massacre of 1856 unless ) measures are soon taken to guard against it, ‘and if there is the responsibility must rest vs ct ' In tHe Scrrnion Covrr, yesterday, before f * | renominated. fe is, undoubtedly, the strong- est man of the party. The military reputation which curried him to the White House still adds lustre to his name. Though he failed in his St. Domingo scheme he may regain popu- larity on the Joint Commission treaty, should the Senate ratify it. Though he inaugurated the unpopular Ku Klux coercive policy and invested hi; f, through the acquiescence of the pariy in Congress, with dangerans arbi- trary power, he may use this power so pru- dently as to merit popular commendation. Even the enormous burden of taxation the people are made to bear and the extravagant expenditures of the government may be partly excused, on account of the liquidation of a large portion of the debt; or, at least, he may be able to shift the responsibility of burden- some taxation upon the shoulders ‘of Con- Then, he can justly’ plead that the revenue has been more faithfully col- lected than under the previous administration. In every point of view General Grant holds the first and most prominent position in the radical party. Nor would it be an easy mat- ter for the democrats to defeat him, for in ad- dition tothe elements of popnlarity he may claim he has at his command as President the enormous patronage of the government, and an army of office-holders to bear upon the election. Though we hold, as we have main- tained all along, that one term in the Presi- dential chair is best for the country, and should satisfy any man, yet in view of the towering position of General Grant, and the exigencies of the party, he may be re-elected, and the d-mocrats may have to wait till 1876. Still the democrats are laying a good foun- dation for a close, if not a successful contest, in 1872. The declaration of the democratic Coogr.ssmen at the end of the late session was a pretty good platform. It was a more popular and taking one than that of the President and Senator Morton. It took broader ground on the questions of con- stitutional and local self-government, as opposed to the centralizing and quasi- military policy of the administration and the radicals; on an approach to free trade or arevenue tariff only, on reduction of taxation, on a more liberal course toward the south and on other public measures. In this declaration, too, the democrats had the vantage ground of attack. The mistakes, corruption and bad policy of the dominant party gave them a frnitful theme. The radicals felt this counter- blast to their winter campaign manifesto. Senator Morton and the other administration orators who opened the campaign in the West arraigned the democrats for not being sufli- ciently explicit on the amendments to the con- stitution, although the declaration of the de- mocratic Congressmen appeared to cover the ground very well. but it is evident now that the democrats are not going to lay behind on this political issue. They are resolved not to Iet their position be equivocal any longer, or to give their opponents any advantage on the issues settled by the war, inclnding the rights and political equality of the negroes under the amendments to the constitution. The most important movement in this direction is that of the convention held at Daytov, Ohio, for the purpose of appointing delegates to the State Con- vention—from a place and under auspices where such a movement might have been least expected--from the home and under the management of C. L. Vallandigham, This was a gathering, as the report expresses it, of leading professional and solid business men of the city and county, and Mr. Vallandigham, the old copperhead leader, was the controlling spirit there. The resolutions unanimously adopted at this convention declare that the democrats ‘‘cordially unite upon the living Issues of the day;" that they ‘‘accept the gresa. | nataral and legitimate results of the war, in- cluding the three several amendments de facto to the constitution recently declared adopted, as a settlement, in fact, of all the issues of the war, and acquiesce in the same as no longer issues before the country ; thus burying out of sight all that is of the dead past—viz., the right of secession, slavery, inequality before the law and political inequality.” This is plain enough, and places the democrats of Vallandig- ham’s county on a solid foundation with regard to the constitutional amendments so as to secure, in the language of the seventh resolu- tion, ‘universal political rights and equality among both the white and the colored people of the United States.” The eighth resolution is equally emphatic as to the ‘payment of the public debt at the earliest practical moment consistent with moderate taxation.” There am ace subjected on the Isthmus of | are some other good points in this platform regarding the retura to gpecle garments, equally, demanding universal amnesty, s0 a8 to bring peace and harmony to the country, revenue reform, economy in the government, and so forth. Mr, Vallandigham’s speech at the Convention strongly endorsed these reso- lutions. This is a new departure for the old democracy, which bore the stigma of copper- head so long and which has been assailed tor not honestly accepting the amendments to the constitution. Allis fair sailing now, and we doubt not the democrats of other States and throughout the country will follow in the same course. Whatever may be the result of the approaching Presidential contest this position of the democracy, accepting and closing up the issues of the war, promises peace to the country. With such a platform all that remains for the democrats to do now is to nominate the right man for their Presidential candidate. We have told them who would be their best candidate. General Sherman is the man. He would carry all the strength of the party and would fairly divide with General Grant what- ever popularity results from military success and fame. A contest between these two generals and friends, with the party platforms alike as to the issues of the war and honest acceptance of the constitutional amendments, would be less bitter than any that we have had for a long time past, and would turn, probably, upon the comparative merits of the governmental policy of the two great parties. ting Outside Paris. The news from France which we publish this morning is not cheering. , An attack by the Versailles troops, according to one ac- count, on Montrouge yesterday, and which resulted to their advantage, is by another re- port aunounced to have been not only a fail- ure, but that the troops were driven back with loss and a number of guns captured by the insurgents. At Vanvres we also learn that the soldiers of the republic were repulsed ; in the Bois de Boulogne another failure is re- corded, and again at the Maillot gate the in- surgents have been able to hold their own. From Fort Vanvres, then, to Porte Maillot the troops fighting under the tri-color have accom- plished nothing. With all their changes of com- manders, their lax discipline and incomplete erganization these soldiers of the Commune are maintaining their ground ably and well. Were their cause a just one we could admire and praise it; but with 9 cause already stained with innoceat blood, and a record of infamy, sacrilege and persecution to stain the official acts of its leaders, we cannot wish it any other fate than failure—immediate failure. It may be that the plans and preparations of the Ver- sailles authorities are not yet completed, and that the attempts of yesterday and the day be- fore were but feelers thrown out to ascertain the strength of the insurgent army in the direction of Vanvres, Issy, in the Bois de Boulogne and Porte Maillot ; but the informa- tion gained by the inquiry shows that on the south and southwest of the city the Commune troops exhibit a determination to make a stout resistance. In a general order Marshal Mac- Mahon attempts to fire the enthusiasm of his men by dwelling on the vandalism of the insurgents in their destruction of the Column Vendéme and calling on his men to redouble their energies in order that the strife may be promptly brought to an end. Already the bitterness of hate between the contending troops is sufficiently strong, and we doubt not bat that the Marshal’s appeal will not be lost on his men. The repulses of yesterday will in the end avail nothing, for the cause of the Commune is hopeless, yet every defeat, while it does not secure to the rebel- lious Parisians anything which they can turn to advantage, hastens the day when the German army will interfere to settle the domestic quar- rel and again be in a position to dictage terms of peace to France. Already there isa stir in the German camp, and before many days pass over we may hear of a movement of the German troops on Paris, What Thiers and MacMahon may not be able to accomplish Bismarck and the German army can, and a German occupation of Paris is not, in view of the present situation of affairs in France, among the most remote of possibilities. Mexico.—Our sister republic is preparing for her quadrennial farce of a Presidential elec- tion, although in the present instance the farce will doustless end in a tragedy, which may en- danger the very life of the nation. The latest intelligence from the city of Mexico shows an unusually disturbed condition of affairs throughout the country. In Tampico the gov- ernment bas been unable to make headway against the revolutionists, and General Rocha, who has been ‘sent to reinforce the federal troops, is believed to favor the in- surgents and to have organized a plan for a successful pronunciamento in favor of Lerdo. In San Luis Potosi so fearful has the gov- ernment become of the state of affairs that General Escobedo has been ordered to organ- ize a force of four thousand men in order to preserve peace during the coming election. Corruption is boldly practised by both Juarez and Lerdo, each using money freely and openly in order to secure his own success, Porfirio Diaz, Mexico's best soldier, and one of her trnest patriots, is powerless in this contest, his friends having deserted him for the more wily and wealthier Lerdo, Altogether, the situation is most critical for Mexico, and whether Juarez or Lerdo be successful in the coming contest, a fierce and protracted civil war seems inevitable, Ovr Wasnincton Corresponpent for- wards a despatch from Minister Washburne to the State Department, containing an official notice from M. Jules Favre of the restoration of the passport system throughout France. While the necessity for a return to a most vexatious system must be deplored, in view of the present melancholy condition of France, all travellers must comply with the new regulations with as much cheerfulness as they can command, As will be seen in the letter of M. Favre, the French government is dis- posed to act as generously as it can under the circumstances. Tor *Broap” Sear or New Jrnsey Torngp Ur Aaain.—A deep sea seal, weigh- ing five hundred pounds, has been captured in the Delaware river at Burlington, N. J. This is a novel revival of the “‘broad seal question” which made sach # hubbub in Congress in 1846, \ y Lt The Darien Isthmus Explerations—The Nicaraguan the Best Rente fer a Ship Canal. From the results of the careful and1aborious explorations of the expedition under Com- mander Selfridge, United States Navy, in search of a feasible route at some pass across the Isthmus of Darien for a ghip canal we con- clude that there is no feasible route in that quarter for a ship canal of the character re- quired for tho world’s commerce. A dividing ridge of seven hundred and sixteen feet aiti- tude above the sea level is too much fora through cut, or for the lockages necessary, in view of the vast reservoir of water demanded to supply the locks in both directions from the summit level. South of Nicaragua, the best route for a ship canal, after all, is thal now occupied by the Aspinwall and Panama Rail- road. The length of the canal by this route, from sea to sea, would be, say fifty miles, and for nearly half this distance the bed or the valley of the Chagres river would be available. The summit level is not much over three hun- dred feet, and appears, from its interlocking streams, to command a good supply of water. Tt is probable that a caval as large could be cut across this isthmus route at less than the cost of the Suez Canal, and that it would be much more durable when completed. But nature has prepared the most available line for a ship canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the Nicaraguan route. Captain Pym, Royal Navy, a British engineer, has calculated that a ship canal may be excavated over this route for about twenty millions of dollars, The length of this route from sea to sea for a canal would be, say one hundred and thirty miles, including the river San Juan to the great Lake Nicaragua (about two-thirds the size of Lake Ontario), the distance thence across that lake, and the distance thence, some fifteen miles, to the Pa- cific. The summit level of Lake Nicaragua is some three hundred and twenty feet above the sea level, and in this great lake we have not only a reservoir sufficient for all purposes of lockage, and a fountain of cool fresh water from which may be supplied all the ships in the world, but a summit level harbor broad and deep enough to accommodate all comers from all quarters of the globe. ‘en miles north of Lake Nicaragua, on the same pla- teau, is another fine lake, called Managua, and of the little town of Massaya, between these two lakes, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, in an essay on a sbip canal by the Nicaraguan route, has left his opinion upon record that this little town of Massaya, in the future trade across the American Continent by this route, wili rank in importance with the com- mercial and naval position of Constantinople. Captain Shufeldt has made a reconnoissance of the Tehuantepec route, and reports favor- ably upon it for a ship canal; but for an American isthmus canal on a grand scale the Nicaraguan route is the best, and, we think, the only feasible route of them all. We would suggest to General Grant, therefore, the expediency of an early exploration of this route, in view of its manifest advantages for a great interoceanic ship canal. Lost Relics of the Past. Among the saddest loases that the country has had to mourn for some time is the destruction of the old colonial and revolu- tionary buildings by fire at Alexandria, Va., yesterday. The country is just getting old enough to cherish warmly the memories and relics of its young days, and when it is known that among the houses destroyed by this fire were the Masonic lodge of which Washington was the Master, and the old Solonial Court House, in which his provincial troops were quartered in 1754, from the door of which Braddock marched to his defeat in 1755, and in which ex-President Washington gave his last vote, in 1799, a feeling of genuine sorrow is likely to come over our hearts. We could better have spared many richer and grander edifices. These relics are the things that certify the truth of history, and in this age of iconoclasm, when it is argued that William Tell and Shakspeare are myths, there is no certainty that ere long some irre- verent enemy of the past nay not propose to prove that there was no such person as George Washington. The old revolutionary flags in the Court House were saved, however—the flag of Washington's body guard, the flag of Paal Jones and that of a company of Alex- andria Continentals, These lessen the mis- fortune in some degree, but it isa greater loss than busy Yankeeland of to-day has time to brood over, this loss of the grand old land- marks of the revolationary days. ProvinciAL Opposition 10 THE TREATY.— It was to be expected that the little people of the New Dominion would object to the pro- visions of the great treaty between Great Britain and the United States. They cap- tiously opposed all propositions for harmonious arrangement from the very beginning. Bot they must understand that they will have to take their concessions in this matter. Eng- Jand makes her concessions, and it is evident from the protocols published exclusively in the Higrawp that she made many concessions dis- tasteful to her. How can Canada, therefore, hope to be unexceptionably benefited or made unqualifiedly happy by the treaty? She receives much better treatment than she had aright to expect, and may thank her stars that annexation was not the finale of the con- ventions, if that is anything to be thankful for. A Just Sentexck—Ten years in the Jersey State Prison, awarded to Jack Enright for highway robbery and atrocious assault on a citizen of Hoboken. Jack is one of the despe- radoes known as the First ward gang in this city. He dogged his victim from this city to Hoboken, forgetting that he was going beyond the reach of New York politicians, and when a Jersey judge clutched him he did not wait long to receive his quietus, Cxtcaco as THE New Rexiciovs Cantre.— It is an accepted maxim among sensible Chris- tians that their missionaries should be dis- persed as widely as possible among the heathen and pagan. It was, probably, in this spirit that Chicago, the most God-forsaken city on the continent of America, has been elected for the anniversary meetings of the Baptists and Presbyterians—one being in- clined to water and the other to something a little hotter, Let the goéd cause goon. Let religion thrive, even if ite basis be ao wickeda lity 00 Crlonan, + NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1871-TRIPLE SHEET. ‘Tho Treaty—Genater Gumucr Has His Sav. Senator Sumner made his great speech in the executive session of the Senate yesterday on the new treaty. Ho objected to many points of it, notably to the very inadequate ‘‘re- gret” which England expresses for the escape of the Alabama, and to the provision placing the claims of English subjects on the same footing as the Alabama claims, Mr. Sumner contended that England should have apolo- gized fully and squarely for her hasty recogai- tion of the Southerners as belligerents, because such recognition prolonged our war two years. As to the English claims the hasty recognition which England gave to the South mado her directly responsible to her own subjects living in the South for any damages arising out of our civil war, and he thought our Commissioners should not have admitted them at all. These are the most prominent objections that he bas to make, and except upon these points his speech is emi- nently pacificatory. He says that compro- mise and concession were the mainsprings of the negotiations throughout, and, in the in- terest of peace, he can offer no objection to the spirit of compromise that so happily pre- vailed. But we must have our flag respected abroad and loved at home, and the Senate must consider the treaty without allowing the spirit of compromise to sully the honor of the nation. These are the sentiments of the Thunderer, who lashed the Clarendon-Johnson treaty out of existence, and as such they are of great weight. But in the present instance Mr. Sumner evidently means merely to propose amendments to the treaty, a course of proceed- ing that was impossible in the former case, and his objections are upon a question rather of punctilio than of equity, a sophistic reasoning upon the difference between an apology anda regret rather than a crushing invective against the justice of the provisions agreed upon. So long as Mr. Sumner sees a chance to amend the treaty, in accordance with the ideas conveyed in his speech, he will contend for that chance; but if he has to choose between the treaty as it stands and none at all, it is evident, from the mild tone of his speech, that he will accept the treaty as it stands, Coal on the Is us of Pauama—Aa I[m- portant Discovery. In another part of the paper we give a description of the bituminous coal mines that have been discovered on the Isthmus of Panama. Accompanying it are certificates from most reliable men who have tested its quality, and they pronounce it very superior, better indeed than our Cumberland coal. If these mines are as stated and if the coal is as described the value of the discovery is ines- timable. It has always been asserted hereto- fore by the best authorities that good coal does not exist in countries of volcanic forma- tion; and, although there was a report some time ago to the contrary, still it was not believed, and the rumor was thought to be got up for speculative purposes. The present dis- covery appears to give the lie to all past theories, and we trust that it may prove equal to the most sanguine expectations. The value of these mines to commerce will be very great. When we consider the number of steam vessels that concentrate at Aspinwall and Panama, and know that every pound of coal they use is imported from England or the United Siates, it is easy to see that the saving of expense will be enormous. Another fortunate circumstance is the proximity of the mines to the seaports and the unusual facilities for transporting the coal to where it is required for use. They are located almost on the banks of streams that never have less than three feet of water; hence flatboats can be loaded from schutes, and in a few hours they can be placed along- side the ship or steamer for which the coal is intended. In regard to working them we think it must prove a comparatively easy matter. Native labor can probably be ob- tained ; and, from the nature of the mines, the coal cropping out of the surface, it will be some time before very expeusive mining ma- chinery will be required. There is another view that must be taken of the great importance of the discovery. The Darien Ship Canal will doubtless be con- structed ; every obstacle that now presents itself will be overcome, and, when completed, it will form the great highway of commerce— the track that will be followed in passing from east to west, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, And now the value of the now mines shows forth in stronger colors. Let us take the Suez Canal, that is completed, and that is now forming the great channel of communica- tion between the ports of Europe and the Con- tinent and India and China. The steamers passing throngh it cannot carry coal for the entire voyage; they are obliged to renew their supply en voute, generaily at Aden. All the coal they thus receive on board is brought from England, around the Cape of Good Hope, at a great cost, for there is no means of obtaining it nearer. Let the Darien Canal once be completed and the new mines of coal be thoroughly developed, so that a supply equal to all demands can be furnished at a moderate cost, and the chances are that a great proportion, if not all, of the commerce that now passes through the Suez Canal will be directed to that of Darien, The low price at which this coal can be furnished will render our route by far the most economical, and as the cheapest method of getting to a place, pro- vided it is equal in every other respect, is always the one chosen, the American canal, when once completed, will soon become the most popular, We have now an additional incentive to push the great Darien Canal to completion; for, if there is no mistake in the report and statements we have given to the public, we shall thereby be enabled to change the current of commerce, and bring to Ameri- can shores the trade that now benefits others than Americans. Coal on the Isthmus of Panama is as valuable as gold, and let us make the most of it, Tax Mysterious Suictpe at the Stevens House has been finally identified as a Mrs. Harrington, formerly a Miss Eliza V. Selden, who appeared some years ago at the Winter Garden theatre, and became quite a successful actress, She married a sporting man—one of those unsettled, uncertain nomads of civil- ized life who have no time to attend toa family—and thence the trouble began ‘which ended in her suicide, The Law of storms. Now that summer spproaches the usual number of Americans will soon embark fer Europe. Although the dangers of the sea are now but little thought of, even by the most timid tourist, they are as real as ever, and’ occasionally they reassert their terror in the most terrific and protracted storms, Despite all the theories to the contrary the cyclone, bora in the fiery zone, will overleap the conventional line which man draws on the map and calls the tropic, and moving with ua- slackened pace it crosses the Atlantic right in the path of our passenger steamships, The Gulf Stream, long known to the sailor as the “weather breeder,” overhung by aqueous vapor, iis waters lighted from beneath by the phosphorescent glow and from above by the electric flash, is the natural channel for the storm and the ordained track of the hurricane. , And the track of the hurricane is that which navigation selects for the great caravan of trade and intercourse ever moving between the Old and New Worlds. Doubtless the accurate meteorological ob. servations of the Signal Service, under Gene- ral Myer, will go far towards demonstrating the laws of the phenomena of storms on land, and enable us to anticipate by many hours the approach and force of all perilous atmospheric changes. Fortunately, however, for the seaman of the present day he may have on board his ship the means of foreknowing and completely evading every dangerous cyclone that his vessel may encounter. More than forty yeara ago Mr. William C. Redfield, of New York, demonstrated in substance the law of storms ;. and, had his great discovery at that time been more fully tested by seamen, thousands of noble ships, overtaken in cyclones, would have been saved from destruction. From an induo- tion of thousands of distinct and accurate ob- servations this great meteorologist had forced upon his mind the conviction—now entertained! by all meteorologists—that these storms ro- tate around a centre of low barometric pres- sure, and that they rotate in the northern hemisphere in a direction against the hands of a watch, in the southern hemisphere with those hands. Long since Mr. Redfield’s labors: this law has been established and re-estab- lished; all authorities on navigation endorse it; its application is enjoined by our navat officers, and instances are numberless in which masters of sea-going vessels have verified its claim to accuracy and its value in all dangerous parts of the ocoan. Had it been applied by the commander of the San Francisco in 1853 that richly freighted! steamer might have escaped the sudden destruction that overtook her. By the use of the well known ‘‘storm card” of Piddington, specially invented for the practical application of the law of storms, by simply observing the wind and adjusting the card on his chart, the seaman instantly discovers the dreaded centre of the hurricane and sees how to direct hie course to evade it. During the cruise of the Japan expedition Captain Silas Bent, them master of the Mississippi and one of the first American naval officers to test the law, by a timely signal to Commodore Perry warned the whole Japan squadron of an approaching typhoon and delivered it from impending destruction. The new and splendid United States ship Idaho, in the fall of 1869, was nearly overwhelmed and forever rendered unseaworthy on her first voyage, either from ignorance of the law of storms or from having rashly dared to push through the centre of a Pacific cyclone. Only late in the fall of last year the powerful steam sloop-of-war Shenan- doah, of our navy, on her passage from Boston to Lisbon, very nearly shared the fate of the Idaho. But, notwithstanding all these facts, and in defiance of the counsels of science and good seamanship, the commanders of some of the large passenger steamsbips crossing the At- lantic not only unnecessarily get into these cyclones, but, whether from sheer ignorance or recklessness, when once in the danger are: powerless to extricate themselves. Twoi striking instances of this incapacity, of quitey recent occurrence, are before us. In one of these the steamer belonging to a favorite English line, and on this occasion bound from. Liverpool to New York, ran into a revolving gale near latitude 42 degrees longitude 65 de- grees west, and in twenty-four hours, during, which she madly attempted to push through the storm-centre, where the ‘‘vorticose” mo- tion of the gale is most furious, she only made ninety-six miles, Still insanely keeping on her fatal course, according to the account taken from her own logbook, ‘‘the engines were obliged to be stopped, owing to the fearful sea running at the time,” and she was forced to lay to for some hours, finally reaching this port with the loss of a passenger washed overboard only after eighteen days of wretched flounder- ing. And yet the officers of this vessel had’ the boldness to state to the reporter of the press:— Itappeara from the logs of the different Atlantic stents ips that a cyclone must have lately prevailed jn the Atlantic, as most of them have experienced heavy weather, some more and some less, but allin such directions that show the gale must have been blowing ina circle. it is the bellef of the oMcers of the —-—— that their vessel must have been right in the midst of it. x Had the vessel's machinery been a little stronger doubtless her commander would have forced her into the storm-vortex, where, like the ill-fated San Francisco, she might have been “capsized by a single sea.” Had the commander, on the other hand, utilized the law of storms and given the cyclone a wide berth, he might have easily and safely made port in little more than half the time he actually consumed, In the second instance to which we allude, a splendid steamship of another English line, bound in a contrary direotion (from New York to Liverpool), just twelve hours after dis- charging her pilot off Sandy Hook, ran upon! the outer circle of a cyclone, Her master: plunged at midnight toward the centre of tha storm, which, it seems, as is frequently the case, had a progressive speed (toward the northeast) less the speed which the steamer usually made, Every hour the ship was near ing the deadly vortex, the violence of the gale constantly increasing. The wind veered from southeast to east of southeast, aad afterwards, to north and woest—i. ¢., against tho watch hands—precisely as oxplained by the law of storms; the cargo shifted; the vessel was thrown on her beam enjs, the sea making « clean brench over the ghip, @iliag the ongiag