The New York Herald Newspaper, December 2, 1871, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD mn aaeie AND ANN 87 STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Hgrarp. Letters and packages -hould be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned, THE DAILY HERALD, published cvery day tn the subscription tear. Four cents per copy. price B12. Annuai Volume XXXVI AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. BOOTH'S THEATRE, 23a erwaen Sth an LBCr Ars, == Matince at Lig, GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of Si ay and 83d at — PARis; OR, TUE Days oF THE COMNUNY. Matinee at 2 FIFTH AVENUE THEATR' Tur NEW NA OF Dr / Twenty-fourth wirsst.— Matinee at 125. LINA EDWIN'S THEATRE, N Bourrk—Lk PONT DES SOUPERS, dway.—OPRRA eat 2. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, beiweon Houston streeis.—OUR AMEICAN CousmN. Prince and Matinee at 2. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowers. —Srancuine Drvrus—Tur GOLvEN FARMER. oF. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and 13th street.— ROSEDALE. Matinee at 13s. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.--Tue BALLET PAN- 1OMIME OF HUMPTY DUMPTY. Matinee ut 2. THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth _ strect—ITALIAN OPERA. Matinee ay 14g—MIGNON, KEvening—ConcERt. WOOD'S MUSKUM, Broaaway, corner ith st.—Perform- ‘ances afternoon and evening, —-CLAIRV OY ANCE. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Couto VooAL- 18M8, NEGRO ACis, ac. Matinee at ig. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, way.—NEGRO AcTS—BURLEB: ‘ourteeath at, and Broad- #, BALLET, &c. Matinee. THIRTY-FOURTH STREET THEATRE, near Third ave- nue.—Neguo ECoRNTRICITIES, VOCALISMS, &C. Matinee, ASSOCIATION HALL, S6th street and 3d ave.—Matinee at 2—Granp Corcert. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street.—Matinee at 1)— Gxanp Concert. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bi — NEGRO ECCENTRICITIZS, BUMLTOQUKS ko. Matinee: BRYANT’S NEW OPERA HO! ‘and 7th ave.--BRYAN1'S } SAN FRANCISCO MI Tak SAN FRANCISCO MI. PARK THEATRE, opposite City Hall, = un Mipaxr—Big Figur, glee sac hag MRS, F. B. CONWAY'S Matineg 2—Divorcr. E: NEW YORK CIROUS, Fourteenth sirset.—SceNrs IN THE RING, ACROBAT, XC. E, 231 st, between 6th TRELS, Matinee at 2. L WALL, 68 Broadway.— LS. BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Evening—S7eanorn, &c. DR. KAHN'S ANATOMICAL zl 5 - an, RAEN AL MUSEUM, 745 Broadway. Agr, TRIP L x K New York, Saturday, December 2, 1871. CONTENTS OF Pace. : 1—Advertisements, 2—Advertisements. 3—The Grand Duke at West Point: The cap | Up and Down the Hudson—Ovituand ALS HERALD, NEW YURK HERALD, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1871.—TRIPLE SHEET, Pro Retseombling of Congress—Tho Pre- sident’s Message and th Republica Party. ae ® The two houses (second , session, Forty- second Congress) will assemble in the na- tional Capitol on Monday next. It will be the long session, and it will probably be protracted till well into the dog days. We have no doubt that a full quoram will be present in both houses on Monday, and as each house is duly organized we expect that the President's Mes- sage will be read in both before the day's ad- journment, and that during the afternoon and evening it will be communicated by telegraph to all parts of the country, and, more or less, in iis essential points, to all parts of the civ- ilized world. We have already given to our readers the information that General Grant, in this Mes- sage, abandoning the policy of Secretary Boutwell, of maintaining a system of oppres- sive taxations in order to hurry up the re- demption of the national debt, will take a new financial departure—that he will recom- mend the abolition of the income tax and our internal taxes, excepting stamps and the taxes on spirituous and malt liquors and tobacco, and that he will also suggest the pro- priety and expediency of large reductions in our external taxes or duties on imported goods. These recommendations will be, we expect, the distinguishing feature of this Measage, and we cantiot doubt that they will bo ag ageepta- ble to Congress as we dre sute they Will be to the country, We have for many months been pleading the policy of lightening our burdens of national taxation, in opposi- tion to Mr, Boutwell’s policy of rushing the payment of the national debt. We have con- tended that there is no wisdom in the latter policy, and that it is one of great iujustice to the present taxpaying generation, which has had to bear so much of the heavy burdens of the war; and we are gratified to know that General Grant takes the same practical com- moa sense view of the subject. Let the re- commendations suggested be adopted by Congress and carried out in an immediate abolition of the income tax and in liberal re- Distingumied Persons—the Old lrish Regi- ment Revived—Tue Captive Counolly—chureh Reformation in Europe ew York State Methodist Convention --The Commiseiou of Appeals—A Kentucky Stud Farm—Muntcl- pal Anxieties—The New Collector—An Armory for Newark. 4—Congress: The Struggle Over the House Stand- ing Commitices; Blaine, the Committee; Maker; How the es his Selec. Personal Sketches of Celevraved Chair- A Gove yy Conncils—Hotel Xplosion tu Pat p Gas Question—What Are tne Nates'—On the “Runners”: Opening of the Skating Season; Preparavions for the Pau- neurs in Qentrai Park; The Skaters’ Houses; The Life-Saving Apparatus; Tie Lake by Night—Anotuer Feasi at the Howard Mission rhi—The Biblical Battie: The War of | In Long Isiana City; Both Sides Inter. viewed, 5-Europe: State of Public F the Condition of Trad ment of the Barbarine Circu'ar of Count Beust; Mental and Physical eling in France and aris; Cruel Treat. ans in Kome; The Condition of Queen Victoria; Archbishop Mau- uing on slavery; The Great Fire in the City of Geneva; The Emperor Wiliam and the Cathos he Church—Foreign Perso} Miscellaneous Items—t Murder: Gimer, the A Again Brought to the Second Respite—New York City —Rhode Island Affairs—Staboiug Affray in ‘Trenton—Not a Murder- Another Warning vrunkards— Personal sotes. G—Eaditorials: Leading Article, “The Reassembling 0! Congress—The President’s Message and tne Republican Party’—Amusement Aunonnce- ments, 7—The Prince of Wales’ Iiiness—News from Eng- land, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and China—The War in Mexico—News from Wash- ington—The Nauional Debt—Views of the Past —Business Notices. S—Fisk, Mansfield, Stokes: The Notorious ‘Trio Suil frying Their Quarrel in Court to the Ex- clusion of Puvlic Business; The Suppressed Letters—The Political Outlook: The Keorgant- zation of the Democratic Party m This City and ls vifficuities— Republican Meeling tn the First Asseinbly Disirict—funning Notes, Yolitical and General—A Desperate Jersey Burgiar—iiow an Ex-Policeman Makes His Living—The Fires tn the Nor:nwest—Affairs in Georgia—The Keform Movement in Brooklyp— The Charces Against brookiyn Policemen— ‘The Brovkiyn Fire Marshal's Report—Brooklyn Navy Yard Adairs—Tihe Rode Suicide—A Mys- terious: with tue Jury —Proc 9-A Pacific Coast Rom Promise Case im Damages Claimed— Financial and Commerc: i Gossip--Foreign Miiates—Tampering ings iu tne Courts, : Tue Great Breach of Yater! A Temporary Water Fam- e Water Choxed by Ice at : Great Bxciiement and a Gene- ral “Hub-"bub—The Winter Elements—The Weather—Amusements—News by Telegraph— Shipping lntelligence—Advertisements. 11—A Massachusetts Runaway Bank Casuier Cap- tured in San Francisco—The “Taxpayer” ana Alderman Fariey—Advertisements. 12—Advertisements. Tox Manion (S. C.) Star (democratic) ex- claims, dogmatically, ‘‘We must beat Grant.” First get rid of your ‘‘dead beats,” Tue Nationa, Dest was reduced during the month of November $3,462,080, which is a very slight decrease, indeed, compared with the monthly average of the year. Gotp 110}.—Gold declined yesterday to 1104, which is only one-eighth per cent from the lowest point ever reached since the close of the war. The refunding of two huadred millions of the public debt and the reports by cable from London explains the decline. Jopek Rionarn Busterp, of the United States District Court of Alabama, delivered a brief but very feeling tribute from the bench, on the 27th ult., in memory of the late General James H. Clanton. But while these eulogies are being made in behalf of the lamented deceased we join with a Philadelphia contem- porary in inquiring what is doing or has been done about the arrest and punisiment of his gesassin? A Locat Conremporary, somewhat famous for its amazing array of figures the day after an election, thinks that ‘wo kind of knowledge is so valuable to politicians as a moderate acquaintance with arithmetic.” The ovly trouble with our contemporary is that it seems to be @ little too much acquainted with arith- metio, furnishing, as it frequently does, a magoificent array of figures with a lamentable paucity of faote, ducfions in the tariff schedules, and this pew policy will 3 @ trump card for the adminis tration and the republican party in the coming Presidential contest. We suppose that these measures of financial reform and the apportionment of the House of Representatives, under the new census, will be the main business of this session; for it is not probable that beyond these important sub- jects there will be much time consumed in debate, except in the consideration of the annual appropriation bills. We expect that the President will crow a little over the Joint High Commission and the Treaty of Washing- ton, and upon this matter he is fairly entitled to the approbation of the country. We expect that be will point out the good fruits of bis Quaker peace policy with the Indian tribes, and that Congress will be satisfied with the evidence of the Secretary of the Interior on the subject. We expect that in his general retrenchments and savings the re- port of the Secretary of the Treasury will be satisfactory, and we expect that upon that “twin relic of barbarism,” Mormon polygamy, the Message will be very interesting. Tie Prosecutions commenced against Brigham Young and other Mormon saints, for “lewd and lascivious cohabitation,” are by the advice or consent of the President, and we expect that he wil! submit his reasons and his purposes to the two houses in view of some legislative measures of assistance for the peaceable abolition of Mormon polygamy as a public nuisance which cannot longer be safely toler- ated. For the last month or two in North and South Carolina, but particularly in the Palmetto State, General Grant has been prosecuting a very active military cam- paign against those mysterious noc- turnal mossiroopers, the Ku Klux Klans; and if the half is true that has been re- ported of the number of those Klans and their atrocious doinss and their political pur- poses, 8 considerable portion of the Message ought to be devoted to this subject. We pre- sume, however, that General Grant will con- tent himself with a brief mention of the Ku Klux, and by referring the two houses to the report of the S:cretary of War and the ‘‘accom- panying documents,” in justification of his re- pressive measures under the Ku Klux law of the last session. It is possible, however, that in connection with these Ku Klux Klans as a political combination, and with ballot stuffing, repeating, &., he may suggest to Congress some further legislation for the regu- lation of our political elections. At any rate, as we are advised, this subject will not be ne- glected by this session of Congress, We expect in the Message that General Grant will put his foot down against the con- tinuance of these railway land-grabbing spoli- ations, for they bave gone far enough; we expect that he will have something to say on civil service reform; we hope he will throw some light onthe present apparently dilapi- dated condition of our navy not available for active service ; and he will surely not commit the blunder of passing over uhe present state of affairs in Cuba and our relations with Spain as trifliog matters, The time has come when our government may wisely abandon the policy of non-intervention in Cuban affairs, not with the view of annexing the island, but for the purpose of vindicating the claims of humanity and of insisting upon the usages of civilized States in the conflict between Spaio and her Cuban insurgents, and in the intercourse between the island authori- ties and our own government and citizens, It is possible, too, that the expected return of General Sickles from Madrid may be ex- plained in the Message as something of greater moment than a mere pleasure ex- cursion, and we hope it may so turn out to be. We have on several late occasions pre- sented the continued chaotic condition of Mexico, still going on from bad to worse, as calling fur the active interposition of the United States to the extent of the annex- ation of that beautiful, rich and delightful, but unhappy and distracted country. The plea of the Emperor Napoleon in justifica- tion of his imperial protectorate was the common cause of humanity and the com- mon interests of civilization. It would have been a good plea but for the impediment of the Monroe doctrine of European non-inter- vention in American affairs. It iy a good plea in our case, as the next door neighbor of Mex- ico, for whose good conduct we stand as secu- rity before the world. Moreover, fifty years in her vain experiments have proved that Mexico is incapable of self-government, and that she needs, to begin with, the wholesome discipline of our territorial system. We fear, however, that for the present General Grant has had enough of ‘‘manifest destiny” in his St. Domingo adventure, and that in his Message he will throw out no encouraging hints in reference to our golden opportunity in Mexico. Upon the whole, from General Grant this time, on the threshold of the great contest which will involve the merits of his adminis- tration and his claims for another Presidential term, we look for a good, practical and popu- lar Message—for a document which will serve not only as a clear and satisfactory exposition of the doings aad the policy of his administra- tion in our foreign and domestic affairs, but which will serve also as a guide for Congress in its measures of legislation and as a plat- form for the republican party in the coming national elections, It is probable that General Grant, - who has ex- torted from his enemies the admission that he is a shrewd politician, has thoughtfully considered his Message as a campaign docu- ment, and has taken good care in it to protect his flanks and his rear while pushing forward his reconnoitring columns, At all events, with, the submission of this Message to the country, we shall very soon ascertain the strength and the purposes of the anti-Grant republicans in Congress and out of Congress, and from present indications the strength of these anti-Grant republicans, as an outside party, as thus developed, will not be sufficient to justify the democracy in a change of base on the eve of the battle, Railroad Monopolies. The question of the monopoly of the rail- roads of the country by daring and unscrapu- lous speculators has again forced itself upon the attention of business meo, and presente, at the present moment, proportions of suc mag- nitude ag to create 2!8rm fn the minds of those who form the ramifications of our commercial system. So long as thero remained a reason- able amount of competition and the divide et impera principle could be maintained by those who dealt with the fundamental interests of the United States the possibility existed of keeping audacious railroad monarchs in check. But as each year goes by the grasping avarice of a few men is discovered to be drawing the grand network of our railroad system within their immediate control, by means of which impositions are made on the travelling, as well as on the commercial community. State Legis- latures are subjected, directed and welded in accordance with the will of this ‘iron ring;” ocean, lake and canal navigation is ruled and freights the most ruinous and unjust are charged. People marvel when they are told that a scheme exists for regu- lating the price of cotton between New Orleans, London, Liverpool and New York, and ask how it can be so? The answer is that the railroad companies and ocean steamship lines have carried it out. The Pennsylvania Railroad slone is stated to control five thousand miles of railroads in the Western and Southern States, as well as about two thousand miles of lake and canal traffic. In addition to this the astute speculator at its head has conceived a scheme for a new line of ocean steamers to trade between Philadelphia and the port of Liverpool, four of the steam- ers for which are now actually being con- structed in the shipbuilding yards of that city. This at once places the prestige of that cor- poration beyond a doubt. By the same manipulation hitherto apparent of the power thus placed in the hands of this body, nothing is easier for them than to obtain complete pos- session of a large portion of the cotton-grow- ing districts, the purchase and carriage of the product, the holding or forwarding it as they may deem advisable and the subsequent ship- ments to Europe at such a rate of tariff as they may be able to make up by means of a well defined organization, and which no one could afford to ignore. Given the legislative influence of the States through which their lines pass, the accumulation of the material would follow, monopolies would be created and the buyer at home and abroad must adopt “Hobson’s choice”—accept their terms or go without. Tae Repcsitcan NaTionaL CoNvENTION.— The Philadelphia Jnguirer favors the idea of the Baltimore American, that office-holders should not be sent as delegates to the next Republican National Convention, but thinks that in the present ca’e the objection to the renomination of General Grant will come from that class of politicians, and not from the non- office-holding citizens. The Jnguirer wants the rule of excluding federal office-holders from such conventions to be permanent, and not applied exclusively to the forthcoming Grand Sanhedrim of the republicans, In this view the Inguirer is probably correct; but the difficulty will be, we imagine, to find office-holders sufficiently patriotic to risk the chances of @ continuance of their tenure of office to a class of people who, however vir- tuous and innocent, may still have a secret hankering after a share in the spoils, Preptcrions Anovut THs Waite Hovss.— The Lynchburg Republican (democratic) is hardly correct in stating that history indi- cates that all the President makers are more apt to be wrong than right in their surmises as to the next occupant of the White House. The triumphaat election of Grant was predicted by independent journals long before either party thought of him as an available candidate, And when he did loom up as a candidate there was a terrible scramble between the republican and d:mo- cratic leaders as to who should secure him as their standard bearer. As it was in 1868 so it will bein 1872, Grant will be re-elected unless the great reform movement shall unite the best men of all parties and sweep corrup- tion from the halls of federal, as it already has swept it from the halls of our own municipal government, Ta AcorecatE or CLaims of Southern loy- alists will not probably amount to more than fifteen million dollars, according to the report of the committee to be submitted on Monday. The searching iuquiry into the loyalty of each claimant is the cause of such a great falling off in the amount originally estimated as the agareg ate, The Reopening of the Fronch Assembly and the Message of Lresident Thiers. The National Assembly of France resumed its sittings yesterday at Versailles. The President, who has no longer the right to ap- pear in the Assembly in person and plead his own cause, sent his message, which was read to the assembled delegates. The message re- ferred to the treaty concluded between France and Germany, to the negotiations which had taken place regarding the Commercial Conven- tion between France and England, to the new military law, and to the general reorgani- zation of the administration. It avoids, how- ever, all purely political subjects of immedi- ate moment, and offers no suggestions as to prospective constitutional chan-es, Such is the telegraphic outline of the message. We are not told how the message was re- ceived. When we take into account the actual condition of France—a condition which, to use no stronger language, is the reverse of satisfactory—and when we recall to memory the recent statement of the President to a Heratp correspondent, to the effect that when the Assembly met he should have something definite to say regarding the establishment of the republic on a solid and permanent basis, we must pronounce the mes- sage a failure, or, rather, ablunder. Isis only a couple of days since Rossel and two of his associates were shot. Since then Crémieux, one of the most prominent leaders of the Com- mune, has shared a similar fate. The execu- tions have been conducted in a manner which recalls the worst days of the first revolution- ary republic and the cruelty of the first empire. These men bave been stealthily led out in the early morning and executed by a blind and brutal soldiery, the public learning the result only hours after the horrid work bad been done. This day commemorates the famous 2d of December and the coup d'état ; but, un- less we mtstake, and mistake greatly, history will have to confess that the government of President Thiers was quite as much, and more dimisiaxasry, stained with blood thet Were the first days of the 86-called usurpation. The absence of any reference to these military exe- cutions must be regarded as a bad omen. It does not argue well for the continued exist- ence of the present government. The absence of all reference to the future policy of the government in regard to the empire, the mon- archy or the republic is quite as discourag- ing. At the same time we are willing to ad- mit that the President showed his usual amount of caution and cunning in skil- fully avoiding offensive and dangerous topics. It was his special business to hand in a message which should not unneces- sarily ruffle the Assembly. If in this he has succeeded he will, we suppose, be satisfied. It is another proof of M. Thiers’ skill as an astute statesman ; but that is all. It is possi- ble to admire the skill and yet despise the man and his policy. It is our privilege to suspend judgment as to the effect of this message on the French people. It is now before the Assembly and the world. So far as we know it from the mere telegraphic outlines, we cannot say that it is at all equal to the requirements of the situation. It is not what thieking men who have been watching France and French affairs expected. It does not assure the French mind and give them confidence in the immediate future. The members of the National Assem- bly and the press of France will soon reveal the national sentiment; and we shall not be surprised if President Thiers finds that the greatest trouble of his life has come. It is more likely than not that in a few days Marshal MacMahon, with the French army at his back, will be master of the situation, and that the French people will be asked by a plédiscite to decide under what form of goverment they wish to live. We cannot doubt that a pléhiscite would restore the empire. Trensurer Spinner’s Report. The first of the batch of departmental reports which are regularly sent to Congress when that body assembles in December of each year was published exclusively in the Hmratp yes- terday. This is the report of the United States Treasurer, addressed to the Secretary ofthe Treasury. True, there is not a great deal for Mr. Spinner to say of a strictly official character—simply, in fact, to show how the books ofhis department stood at the conclu- sion of the fiscal year; but the Treasurer has made, notwithstanding, a pretty long report. Nearly all of it is taken up with a defence of Mr. Spinner upon the charges which news- papers have made against him, and another portion in defending the policy and action of Secretary Boutwell with regard to the Syndicate and disposing of the five per cent loan. To put a good face on the Secretary’s management of our national finances is up-hill work even for such a faithful friend as Mr. Spinner; still this gentleman has made the best effort in his power. When we get the more complete and detailed report of Mr. Boutwell we can judge better of our financial condition and the management of the Treasury Department. The best feature in Mr. Spinner’s report is in his comments on the shortcomings of the na- tional banks and the necessity of compelling them to do their duty. One of the worst is the urgent recommendation to increase the percentages of the Syndicate agents and other financial agents of the Treasury Depart- ment, as well as to raise the salaries of the Treasury employés. This is not the time for increasing the expenditures, and par- ticularly to lavish money upon banking or other favored agencies. On the whole the Treasurer gives a very rosy hue to everything connected with his office, promises a great deal for the future, and congratulates Mr. Boutwell that the Treasurer's operations have been conducted without the ioss of a penny the whole year. Tae Water Was Stoprep in Boston yes- terday by reason of the choking up of the screens across the reservoir mains by ice. Everything run by water in the city was stopped, and the citizens felt that a water famine was imminent. The ice was finally cleared away, and the water commenced run- ning again. On, ror tHe Goop OLp Days or GRanp- raturr Weires! for then the United States had some sort of a navy. Now it has literally noue. Oh, dear, I grieve, I grieve For the good old days of Adam and Bye. Better a Nowh’g ark than nothing The Prince of Wales’ Mincse—Lord Chos- terficld’s Death. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is still prostrated by fever at Sandringham. The disease retains its hold stubboraly, although the patient has so far made, as is quite apparent from our cable reports, & firm resistance to its assaults, The medi- cal bulletins are not of a reassuring character. The disease is fitful in its alternations, par- ticularly so during the hours of the night— moments when the invalid needs a brief time of rest absolutely. A bulletin which was issued at nine o'clock yesterday morning stated that there had been an increase of fever early Thursday evening, but that the disease subsided partially as the night ad- vanced, and that the Prince remained com- paratively quiet throughout the remaining hours to the moment of the date of the paper, yesterday forenoon, The words ‘‘compara- tively quiet” are very indefinite; they mean, in truth, that the sick man may have been better or may become a great deal worse. It is exceedingly difficult to fix a point of time for comparison during the progress of typhus or typhoid fever in the same suaf- ferer, so that we muy take it thus: that the Prince of Wales had been alarmingly illand was somewhat more quiet yesterday morning. Queen Victoria left her seat of watching in the sick room-and proceeded to Windsor. Her Majesty may have boon hope- ful of a favorable issue of the ailment, or, on the contrary, she may have been advised to avoid the contagion, particularly near the hour of the fever crisis, at which time it is said to be—indeed, it is conceded that it is— more active and virulent, The Court was ia gloom. London was anxious. The markets were gull gnd flat during the day yesterday, and Britain acknowledged with a grief- stricken countenance that princes will fall, though they may have towered even as the cedars on Lebanon, The news of the death of fhe Bart of Chesterfield fornished quae {pr additional alarm to the people. His a tp had been a constant friend and very intimate associate of the Prince of Wales, He was stricken with typhus fever about the same time and in the same locality as the Prince. Earl Chesterfield succumbed to the .baneful influence; why not the Prince? Such was the case which was presented to the Bri ish people, and in such shape were their inferences thereon, It is to be hoped that His Royal Highness may have received a salutary warning and may escape the dire eartily penalty which has just removed his friend Stanhope, of Chesterfield. Spain, Cuba and the United States. Thirty thousand fresh troops are to be sent from Spain to Cuba to endeavor to bring the rebellious Cubans to terms. As if this was not enough Captain General Valmaseda is to be removed and a new Governor, whose name is not yet announced, is to succeed him. This is the latest Spanish programme of arrange- ments for the management of Cuba. Since 1868 the rebellion has dragged its slow length along in the ‘‘Ever Faithful Isle,” and the end seems to be as far off as ever. Thé guerilla system of warfare adopted by the Oubans, while accomplishing little or nothing, has the effect of keeping the island in a perpetual state of unquiet. The shelving of Valmaseda will not be calculated to improve matters. Valmaseda has for a long time occupied a prominent place in the hearts of the volun- teers, and the substitution of another to fill his position will not be regarded by them in a very favorable spirit. For more than threo years Cuba has attracted the attention of the United States, and yet the American people are at a loss to know the exact standing of our government ia relation to the matter. In fact, they do not know where the government stands, We have put up with snubs, quietly taken insults and submitted patiently to such indignities as the Spanish government has seea fit to inflict, and yet nothing has been done. No other government under the sun would have taken half as much without some decided remonstrance. It is time, therefore, that President Grant should announce what he ‘‘is going to do about it.” The people want to know it; Con- gress will, no doubt, be auxious on the subject, and public interest generally is excited on thé matter. Already there is astir in the Navy Department, and vessels of war are to be de- spatched to Cuban waters, merely, as we are told, for ‘‘prudential considerations only.” Ru- garding the Cuban question, it is necessary that we have a policy plain and explicit, and we trust President Grant will strictly define the course the government intends to pursue, so that the people may know what to expect of his future treatment of this question. TENNESSRE AND Rerorm.—The Bedford (Tenn.) Bulletin speaks of the people of that State as having discarded party leaders, and asserts that they are now for themselves. “The downfall of the corraption attaching to the New York Tammanyites,” says the DBul- letin, “will not stop in that city. It will spread from one end of the country to the other, and those who have heretofore been considered ‘leaders’ will have to succumb to the inexorabie logic of events.” The Dyers- burg (Tenn.) Gazette declares that ‘‘the party whip has lost its terrors, and old whippers-in may as well, first as last, submit to the new order of things.” The Nashville Republican Banner approves of this doctrine, says it has a healthy ring about it, and ‘‘out of the old ruts” is now its political motto. . Tor Granp Duke ALexis and suite, accom- panied by a distinguished party of ladies and gentlemen, representing the élite of New York society, visited the United States Military Academy at West Point yesterday, where he reviewed the cadets and inspected the build- ings coanected with the Academy. Page's picture of Farragut in Mobile Bay will be pre- sented to the Prince this morning, and the New York Yacht Club entertain him at dinner at Delmonico’s this evening. He will leave for Philadelphia to-morrow. Tne Betatan Partiament was informed of the resignation of the King’s Ministers yester- day. The Lozislature adjourned to permit the formation of a new Cabinet, M. de Theux, a leader of the conservative party, has been entrusted with the porifolio of State. The people appeared to be satisfied with the change, the streets of Brusscla were clear of crowds, and quiet was restored in the muni- oipalitz. Frightfal accumulation of Matioual Dobts in Europe. The North Germain government yesterday succeeded in passing its project for the par- liamentary vote of a triennial army budget to a second reading in the Prussian Dict, The arguments of the opposition, cogent and rigor- ous as they were, were overruled by the Ministe- rial idea of a probable attempt at avengement by France and the existence of a pressiug necea- sity for preparation to meet it. Some persons inferred that Prussia wishes to arm against Russia, so that the occasion was unusually important. The Kaiser William justifies the money burden. It is thus more than probable that the productive industries of the Continent of Europe will be disturbed and contracted both in their profils and operations by the military furor duriag the next couple of years to come. The exhibit just made of the national finauces of France, which appeared in the Hgratp recently, with the facts which we have published from time to time with re- gard to the constantly augmenting debts of other nations of Europe as well, show an alarming state of things for the industrious classes, We need not wonder that the labor- ing people flee from these crushing burdens, from the ever-recurring demand made upon them for military service, and from the fright- ful prospect before them, to this happy and prosperous country. If millions more had the means of emigrating there would be, no doubt, such an exodus from all parts of Europo aa was never dreamed of and that would astonish the world. The debt of France at least $3,000,000,000, which makes au annual charge for interest at five per cent of 150,000,000, Thig burden has been con- constantly accumulating since the fall of Napoleon 1, in 1814, and through all the successive and different governments up to the present time. When the first empire was grerthrowa, in IST, ihe yearly inferost om the consolidated debt amounted to 63,000,000 of francs, After the Tundred Days it rose to 165,000,009. In 1843 it was 177,000,000. In 1852 it was 231,000,000, Just before the late war with Germany the annual interest was 860,000,000, Now it is over 719,000,000, with the interest on the indemnity to the departments and other obli- gations raising the total yearly burden to about 750,009,000 frances or 150,000,000 of dollars, Thus, we see a constant tendency ta the augmentation and burden of debt through all the changes of dynasties and republican government, It must be said, however, that the short-lived republic at different times has had to bear the crushing weight of the falling dynasties, besides enormous expenses to defend itself. And what is the cause of this vast and continually increasing debt? War, war, inspired in the first place by dynastic ambition, and in the next by the insane desire on the part of the foolish people for national and military glory. It has been so with France in a more marked manner than with the other European nations, and dearly has she had to pay for it, but the enormous. debta_ of most of them have been accumulated in the same way. National debts are sometimes created in defence of a couniry or to preserve its govern- ment, The vast debt of over $2,000,000,000, which our own government piled up within is four or five years grew out of the gigantic struzgle to preserve the Union. While the expenditures were very extravagant and the debt unnecessarily aug- mented by bad financial management the cost was for a proper object, and not, as in Enrope, for dynastic ambition or military glory. The enormous debt of Great Britain was created for the most part to preserve what has been called the balance of power, a bal- ance that has been always changing and con- tinually disturbed—to maintain, in fact, a fiction—but all in the supposed interests of dynastic or monarchical governments, The smaller, though very large, debts of the other nations of Europe—of Russia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Germany and the rest—have been created by similar causes and for similar ob- jects. Tbe whole amount of the national debts of Europe can hardly be less than twelve thousand millions of dollars, and this increasing all the time. Of course the bur- den falls upon the industrious classes, and it is this which keeps the masses steeped in poverty. Then we add to the annual burden of the interest on this stupendous indebted- ness the cost of enormous standing armies, numbering, probably, near three millions of men in all, besides the cost of vast navies and expensive royal establishments, How is it possible to prevent national dbts continually increasing uader such a state of things ? It is evident there must be some limit to the debts of nations, as there is to those o individuals, There must be a point at which indebtedness can go no further. [n this coun- try we pay off the debt, never think of making it perpetual, and have abundant resources for paying it; but in Europe they do not expect to pay the principal. Every fresh war or uou- sual expenditure, therefore, adds to the prin- cipal, and the different nations, as shown in the case of France, get deeper and deeper in debt. Sooner or later revolution and repu- diation must come; for, as was said, there is a limit to endurance and the means of paying debts, if the system of continually augmenting indebtedness be-kepi up. Yet the people are taxed to such a degree now that, in the event of war or any other great emergency, there appears to be no way of raising money but by increasing the debts. The vast and costly military establishments and governments of Europe call for all the money that can be raised by taxation in what are called peace times, and the debts consequently must accu- mulate at every fresh war. War comes, too, very often. No one can say how long this state of things will last, but nothing is more certain than that the end must come. Europe must either abandon the luxury of dynastic wars and enormous standing armies, or revo- lution and repudiation, sooner or later, is inevitable. Tox Governments or Curva ann Saran appear to be drawing closer towards each other by treaty relations. Jealousy of foreigners may be one of the moving causes towards Asiatic consolidation, The Chinese have suf- fered severely from the consequences of the river inundations at Lien-tsin and by @ storm on the southera coats errr