The New York Herald Newspaper, January 16, 1872, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, Volame XXXVII AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of 8h av. and 23d sL— No Tuoxovcurane. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway. corner 36th st, —Performe ‘ances afternoon and evening.—LirTLE RED RIDING Huon, FIFTA AVENUE THEATRE, ‘Tuk New Drama oF Divonce. Twenty-fourth etrect. — WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and 13th street. — JouN GaRtu. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, beti a streets, —BLACK Croom. aterm sae BOWERY THEATRE, Bor —| — ¥ regan, ATBR, wery—BRIGANDS OF CALARIA. ST. JAMES' THEATRE, Twenty- - r. JAMES" TE ‘wenty-elghth street and Broad. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Tur B. E - Tomix or HumPry Dour. nee Fae AIMEE’S OPERA i ~ or La Pemouone BOUFFE, 72 Broadway.—OPERa BOOTH'S TH 7 sRQOTH'S THEATRE, Twenty-third at, corner Sixthay. — MRS, F. B. CONWAY'S - COMEDIES AD Funcce BROOKLYN THEATRE. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—| 18M8, NEGRO sere ae MITE Croox, Pore on ee UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Fourteenth - way.—NEGxo AcTs—Buninsaun, Batixr, do.) 8 oSTEINWAY BALL, Fourteenth street.Gzaxp Con- PARK THEATRE, opposite City Hall, Brooklyn.— DARLING; 02, WOMAN AND HER MASTER, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— NxGRO ECOENTRICITIRS, BURLESQUES, £0. Matinee at 234 BRYANT'S NEW OPERA HO and 7th ave.-Buyant’s MINSTREL. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL Haul B — THE SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, ee ewer EB, 23d at., between 6th 8. ST. PETER’S HALL, West Twentieth an i Far ConTHIUUTOR” ON “TNsUN MEAL Nee} TAE NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteentn str ‘THE RING, AoRnoBATS, 40. emake eee NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— SGIENOK anv ART. LEAVITT ART RO . .-EXHinr- aBEAVITT ART ROOMS, No, 817 Broadway.—Exuror TRI New York, Tuesday, January 16, 1872. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. Hh — Advertisements, * 2—Adverusemenis. 3—Washington: Sumner on Sambo in the Senate; The Fate of the Amnesty Bill, with its civil AKights Deadweight; Catacazy and Clay Com- + pared; Excitement Caused by the HwaLp's ren from st. Petersburg—The State Capi- Important Measures Introduced in the siature; The Qualification of Jurors in Oriminal Cases; Previous Formation of Opmion or Impression of a Prisoner's Guilt or Innocence Not to Disqualify a Juror; Proposed Repeal of the Classification Act, und a New Plan of Electing Railroad Directors; The General Sessions Grand vury bull Mind Reported; Trouble in Store for County Clerk Loew and Register Sigel—A Talk Mit Sigel: His Explanation of the Little Arrangement with O'Donovan Rossa—Japan and China: Arrival of the Japanese Embassy Extraordinary at San Francisco; Great Fire and appalling Loss of Lue; Telegraphic Communication Opened Between China and Europe. 4—Congress: he Amnesty Bill Passed in the House and Discussed in the Senate; Sumner on Civil Rights for All; Shipouilding Materials and Import Duties; The New Orleans Troubles— Poor Litue Watts: The Foundling Asylum; How the Children of Sin and Shame Are Cared For—House of the Good Shepherd, Brooklyn—Pigeon Shooting—Aquatics—Fire im Lispenard Street—Fire on Staten Istand— Fatal Termiuation of a Quarrel—Reckiess riving. &—Europe : the Feeling in France Over Bismarck’s Threat of Ketaliation; Senument in the Freucn Army; Consular Convention Between the Ger- man Empire and the Uniied States; An Eng- Ish Estimate of Fish; English Opinions of the , Treaty of Washington and the Geneva Con- Terence—Foreign Personal Gossip—Benjamin Franklin: Captain De Groot’s Bronze Statue— Attempted = Assassination — Ex-Comptroller Connolly: The Alleged Insanity of Mr. Con- nolly Denied by His Relatives—Sangunary Row in Hoboken—Smallpox in Brooklva. G—Editorials: Leading Arucie, ‘Custom House Abuses—Simplication of the Tarif and Revenue Laws and Rules the Necessity—The Snglish System”’—Amusement Announce- ments, y—Editorials (Continned from Stxth Page)—Euro- in Cable Telegrams—The Revolution in lexico—A fairs 1a Cuba—The Impertal Burfalo Hunter: General Sheridan and the Grand Duke on the Prairies; Splendid Ride to Camp Alexis; Budalo Bill as a Guide, Tutor and En- tertaining Agent; Banquet m the Wilderness; Alexis Kills the First Horned Monster, and Telegraphs the News to the Czar at St. Peters- burg; Incidents anu Accidents—Louisiana: The New Orleans Troubles; Warmoth Master of the Situation; President Grant's Instruc- tions to General Emory; Cost of the Faction Fight $350,000—Business Notices, S—The Courts: Interesting Proceedings in the New York and brookiyn Courts—Important Decision in Bankruptcy—The Two | Grand Juries—The Lega! Tender Question: A Majority oi the United States Supreme Court Affirm the Consututionality of the Legal Tender Act—Indicument of Stoces—Fisk's Episties— The Grand Central Hotel and the Late Mr. Fiak—The Third Avenue Savings Bank—I'he Bleecker Street Savings Baok—A Lady's Ad- vertising Experience—Allegea Homicide—A Negro Frozen to Death, O-The Custom House Committee: Another Ex- posure of the Political Strategy of Mr. Murphy's Custom House Ring; More About deizures—Meeting of the Board of Aldermen— Financtai and Commercial Reports—Domestic Markels—Marrlages aud Deatis—Advertise- ments. 40—The Wharton Trial at Annapolis —Amuse- ments—Obituary—The Seventh Ward Mys- tery—Snipping Inteliigence—Advertisements. 43—Tue First Avenue Fire: The losurance on the Burned Block—The Wooster Street Fire— Methodist Preachers—The Western Peach Crop and the Frost—Advertsements. A2—Advertisements. Tue TromporNg Baronetoy Cains trial has entered another phase of the case before the Court, Itis that of the defence. As will be seen by our oable telegrams from London to-day, counsel is not very compli- mentary to the claimant, Mr. Freeman Crarge’s Bit, TO PROMOTE Spgom Payments, which has been sent round to the press in advance of being submitted to Congress, is a measure to relieve the national banks from paying specie and to throw the whole experiment and burden upon the Treas- ury Department. This is a new scheme in favor of the national banks, and looks as if intended to prevent specie payments on an en- @uring basis. The plan is a complicated one ‘and would place the government in an embar- sassing situation. In tax Norra oF Mexico the revolution- fists are decidedly in the ascendancy. General Cortina, the commander of the government troops, who go long observed an attitude of “masterly inactivity,” has been compelled to raise the siege of Mier, which is defended by the revolutionists under Quiroga, the latter having received reinforcements, Cortina has made a hasty retreat, but is so closely pursued by Quiroga that o battle appears to be imminent. Tue VoLuNTegRs or Havana are jubilant over the official announcement from Madrid that Captain General Valmaseda is not to be removed, but, om the contrary, is fully sus- tained by the government. Valmaseda is no gaint, but considering the fact that Concha, who was to be his successor, distinguished himself by the most atrocious cruelties while Captain General of Cuba, no regret need be folt at this news. . NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1872—TRIPLE SHEET. the Tarif’ and Revenue Lawes and Rules the Necessity—The English System. When the Senate Investigating Committee shall have completed its labors it will prob- ably, as we have indicated, talk very gravely about general order stores and dishonest in- spectors ; it may even hurl a pointless anath- ema against persons high in power, cut off a few official heads, and then leave the case much as they found it, effect of official dishonesty will be left to themselves, and then civil service reform will come in to do its tinkering. any system which will make the present hap- hazard plan’ of appointments and removals a thing of the past will be a move in the right direction, A Custom House officer in these days approximates closely guerilla chieftain, and the whole Custom House management is as irregular as guerilla warfare. the officer feels that to-morrow or the next day may bring a decapitating pronunclamento from somewhere, and his only chance is to “levy on the merchants” while he rules, chaotic mass of regulations, patched, rent and repatched during seventy odd years, until they would puzzle a German philosopher, tend only to make the successful practice of disbonesty the more simple, and make a journey down the broad road to moral obliquity enticing enough to tempt a saint. that the deep mines of corruption, theft and trickery into which the committee has been descending, as Dante descended in inferno, exist, duced, too, only that here they are called “tings”"—from the inspectora’ ring to the weighmasters’, deputy collector's, from the general order ting to the collector's, and who knows how many others, we gravely doubt, that every scoundrel found a traitor in his trust will be punished not merely by removal but by the law where it can reach him. The cause and We admit that to a Mexican In power for a short period only, The No wonder, then, The very ‘‘circles” of hell are repro- from the weighers’ to the We sincerely hope, although But what is wanted is a radical change in the laws governing the importation of foreign goods anda simplifying change in the duties imposed on them. Protectionists will imme- diately raise a howl when their darling tariff is threatened ; the association between import duties and their successful collection is intimate. first place we have too many articles taxed whose profit to the government does not pay one-fourth the cost of collection. officials is maintained, could be disbanded if the range of taxable articles was forty instead of four hundred. The mercantile community would be relieved of an, annoyance and no branch of industry here at all injured. Let raw material of all kinds in free, and retain only the duties necessary to a moderate revenue, with these on manufac- tured. articles alone. sweep and with no impairment to American wealth or industry, a profitless system, fruit- fal only in demoralization among merchants and corruptness in officials, would be brushed out of the way. but it will be found that In the An army of one-half of which Thus, with a clean The great means through which dishonesty creeps into the Custom House is, as we have said, the incongruous mass of laws and rales which have descended from administration to administration, each one tinkering, but none attempting to remodel or reconstruct them on a plan in consonance with the extension of our interests or the increase of the population, which means of consumers. As our commerce expanded we were given new complications instead of greater simplicity, the authorities in their carelessness taking the inverse course to the rational one. mittee, then, wish to mark their work by prac- tical results, let them recommend to Congress that all the old cumbrousness of regulations give place toa clear, simple system, as plain to the public as the present heterogeneous ab- surdities are incomprehensible. If the Senate com- We shall take an instance. In the United States imported goods are accompanied by an invoice bearing the certificate of the Ameri- can Consul at the place whence they sre shipped. officials overhaul them, otherwise value them. be undervalued they are confiscated, and then follow tedious, expensive lawsuits, ending frequently, as we have seen, in disgraceful illegal ‘‘compromises,” where the law is broken and somebody makes a thief’s profit. If, as in rare cases, the goods are condemned, acorrupting “moiety” goes to the officials. In either But the worst effect of the system, and that by which the revenue suffers most, arises from its cumbrous defectiveness, which takes manifold precautions at the back door only to leave the front door unguarded. plan, with its great risks, causes the dishon- estly inclined merchant to reach out bis means of corruption to the other side of the Atlan- tic. Numbers of large manufacturing houses abroad will not sell goods to American mer- chants except through their special agente here, and why? In order that they can evade the revenue law at both ends of ite precau- tion. sul on a salary of four hundred dollars a year may be induced to certity an invoice of goods at half their yalue? Twenty thalers often does it. goods worth five thousand dollars in duty to On their arrival the Custom House weigh, gauge or If they are found to vase the result is dishonesty. The confiscation Need we explain how a miserable Con- And this may be as true of an invoice of the government as five bundred. Thus the fraud is introduced at the foreign end of the transaction; the special agent here of the foreign manufacturer sees that the domestic end of the fraud is glossed over by corrupting the Custom House officer. This is not a goli- tary case, but the working of a system, and we proclaim it without malice to any man or set of men, Let only the galled jades wince, The English system is much more rational, and certainly more effective. There is, first of all, no consular certificate required and no con- fiscation for undervalued invoices, while the law against absolute smuggling is stringent, visiting offenders with fine artd imprisonment, Here the distinction between the two offences is very loosely drawn, When an invoice of blame. side by the energetic and persistent pressure of this doubtful claim on the Russian govern- ment by the State Department, through the influence of a set of schemers within and with- out the social or political circle of the govern- ment at Washington, and on other side by the temper, resistance and impradence exhibited by the Russian Minister, led to other com- plications and to charges and counter charges of wrong on both sides, Custom House Abusen—Simplifcation of | the merchant receives $5,500, the balance of $4,500 being the penalty he pays for his at- tempt to rob the revenue. There is no law- suit, and if by any error of judgment the offi- cials make a mistake in the seizure the mer- chant is protected by his ten per cent excess of the invoice, which ia, in reality, a fair profit. Illustrating the latter possibility it is related that an American in London imported some new Yankee piece of ingenuity in the shape of a housebold ornament, The low price of the goods startled the officials, and they paid him his ten per cent profit, A month after an invoice of double the amount, at the same rates, came along, and that was seized too. The American called on the Custom House people and asked how much they wanted next time, as he was thoroughly satisfied with the trade, Such a system, administered by a body of officials looking to have their vigilance re- warded by the true prize of promotion to the worthiest, could not fail of its mark. In pri- vate firms men are employed in the necessity of trade in whose hands large trusts are laid, and the reason that there is less defalcation in private business than in public is because the man knows that his tenure of office is on good behavior, and that a well-earned competency for life is worth more, apart from the moral consideration, than a temporary gain with a strong chance of State Prison and a blackened character for life. government official must found hia honesty on the purest moral motives, which, however, are not always safeguard enough. To the merchant, Your guerilla too, the system would be ablessing. His goods would require no consular certificate, and they would stand on their absolute value alone, without the help of a signature, which is a farce in itself. Seizure would bring an honest merchant no great harm, and the gov- omental profit on goods seized with proper cause would be direct. The circumlocution of the courts would be avoided and the loss to the government and the merchant in law- yers’ fees saved. Simplified, both as to tariff and import regulations, our revenue laws would prove to be a true economy to the government and peo- ple. We should have less dishonesty, by re- moving the cause—an irregularly graded and unnecessarily extended tariff—and the oppor- tunity—a labyrinth of defective laws and regu- lations, The seizing of this presentment of the case by Congress, examining it and testing it, is at once desirable, and soon will be a necessity with them. The general order and cartage exturtions, the breaking and robbery of packages, the bribes accepted and blackmail levied in the shape of threats or compromises, are only what appear on the outside. ‘Ob, reform it altogether!” The Catacazy Imbroglio. The diplomatic sparring botween the United States and Russia over Mr. Catacazy and his removal shows how much evil might grow out of one questionable step in“ the beginning. The original cause of the unpleasantness exist- ing between the two goveraments—and we hope it may amount to nothing more than uo- pleasantness, which will soon pass away—was the Perkins’ almost been lost sight of by circumstances claim. That, however, has evolved from it, in which both the State Depart- ment at Washington and Mr. Catacazy were to The bad feeling engendered on one Not long after the close of the Crimean war, about sixteen or seventeen years ago, Captain Perkins, claim against the Russian government for war supplies, which, he alleged, an agent of that government had contracted for, but which were never received by Russia and never shipped from the United States, claimed to have been put to expense in pre- paring to fulfil the contract when the Russian government, through its Minister here, Mr. of Worcester, Mass., made a Perkins Stoeckel, denied the authority of the pre- tended Russian agent to make such a contract and refused to recognize it or the claim of Perkins. The claimants never pretended that anything was supplied to Russia or had been shipped from this country, Perkins was a poor man, a sea captain, and if there was any loss arising from the repudiation by Russia of the pretended verbal contract it could only fall on those who might have made an agree- ment with Perkins to supply the war mate- rials. It is questionable if any or much damage resulted to any one, But, admitting that there was a contract made by a duly authorized agent of Russia, though only a verbal one, the amount of damage would have been small comparatively, The Russian government has, however, denied the contract all throagh, and refused to admit the claim. Certain parties in Wash- ington took up this claim, and have persist- ently urged it through all the changes of government in this country and in Russia. Our own government took little notice of it or action about it, except as fa the ordinary way of assisting American citizens to have a fair show in presenting a case against a foreign government, until Mr. Fish entered the State Department. There is reason to believe, in- deed, that all of his predecessors had some doubt about the validity of the claim. At any rate, it was never pressed before. It appears now that the amount of the claim has grown enormously with time, and that the original damage, if any, of a few thousand dollars, swells up to over half @ million. There was a suspicion that persons having influence over the Secretary of State, and that some, in fact, in the State Department, have been co-operat- ing with the combination of agents to force this claim, believing that Russia would yield goods is presented at the English Custom House the proper officers overhaul the goods, and if it is seriously believed that there is an actual undervaluation, with an intent to defraud, the government seizes the goods, but pays the merchant the amount stated on his invoice, with ten per cent additional. Thus, ifa batch of goods worth $10,000 be {invoiced at @5,000 the goods are seized and rather than risk a difficulty with the United States. But the Russian government is so convinced of the want of foundation for the claim, as it always has been, and that it is a stupendous Washington job, that Mr. Gata- cazy’s opposition to it has received the approval of the Czar. Out of this, then, a3 we said, other difficul- ties have arisen, Mr, Catacazy may not have acted wisely in his intercourse with the State Department, and may have allowed himself to be provoked into con- duct that is to be regretted, but it does appear to us that the State Department, in forcing the doubtful Perkins claim againet the Russian government, has manifested an un- seemly eagerness to get Mr. Catacazy out of the way. His reported interference with the treaty project between this country and Great Britain and some other things that have been charged against him seem to have been an afterthought to sustain the hostile attitude of the State Department. The President has been led evidently into taking strong ground on this subject, and to the unfortunate and undig- nified mention of Mr. Catacazy in his Message to Congress, by the influence of the State Department. The withdrawal of Mr. Catacazy by the Russian government at the desire of the President should have been satisfactory and the end of the matter, There was no necessity for another word. We have no cause of quarrel with Russia, and if we have blundered into a diffi- culty the Secretary of State must be blamed. Mr. Fish can see with composure our flag insulted, our ships fired at and searched on the high seas, and our citizens murdered or imprisoned by Spain. Yes, he can see unmoved every principle of humanity and civilization grossly violated on our border by that Power ; but he bristles up like a porcupine over a little red tape difficulty between himself and the representative of a nation with which there is no cause or possibility of war. We disconnect General Grant with this little im- broglio with Russia, The blame must be attributed entirely to the imprudence of Mr. Catacazy aud the incapacity of the Secretary of State. If Mr. Fish will retire from office as Mr. Catacazy leaves the country there will be an end of the trouble. The Literary Yachtsman. Commodore Ashbury makes a practice of coming out, like the birds, in the spring. Just as the vigor of winter is passing away, when their little notes are heard in the trees, the English Commodore’s notes—not always little ones, by the way—are read in the London newspapers. Ashbury’s letters are as familiar to the lovers of light literature as are Chesterfield’s letters to the students of the etiquette and elegancles of life. The Com- modore must, in fact, be regarded as the Ready Letter Writer of the century, and, if he sometimes fails in fast sailing, he can never be beaten in profuse writing. His opening production this season appears in the Field of December 3, and relates to the unsuccessful attempt of the Commodore to carry off the America’s Cup last season with that highly respectable yacht, the Livonia, built espe- cially for that purpose. Unlike most of his literary productions the letter is brief. It does not even contain the accustomed division into firstlies, secondlies, thirdlies, &c., with which the Commodore’s readers are now so familiar. But as it promises to ‘‘the com- mittees of twelve clubs,” in a few weeks, ‘a résumé of the negotiations generally, and the reasons which induced me to sail under pro- test for unfairness and unsportsmanlike pro- ceedings,” we may anticipate another flood of yachting literature from the gallant Com- modore’s pen, as far ahead of all that has pro- ceeded it as the Livonia was behind her several competitors in New York waters. ‘Tug Granp Dugg AND THE BUFFALO.— We publish to-day an interesting account of the doings of General Sheridan's hunting party in the West from the time they left the railroad on Saturday until yesterday moroing. After a pleasant ride of fifty miles in a wagon, the Grand Dake and General Phil, headed by Buffalo Bill, the renowned Western Indian scout, and followed by a distinguished party, arrived at Willow Creek, Nebraska, and were most sumptuously entertained in the Camp Alexis. On the following morn- ing the announcement was made that fifteen miles distant were a herd of buffalo, and in a short time the Duke and party were armed, equipped and started for the scene of the sport. General Custer and the Duke made the first charge, and thougha huge animal had made up its mind to “go for the Prince,” he very soon despatched him with lead and steel; and no sooner was the brute laid at his feet than out came the Duke's hunting knife, and—‘Tally-ho!”— off came the animal's tail, which was carried to the camp as a trophy. The Duke was delighted and telegraphed to St. Petersburg the intelligence that he had killed the first “horned monster” that met his gaze. Bressep AR& THE MERCIFUL.—The perfec- tion of kindness in killing was reached yester- day at the Astor House restaurant, where the following humane notice attracted the attention of voracious crowds in the search of huitres en coquilles :—‘‘Oysters chloroformed and opened a la 8. for the P. of C. to A.” The blissful bivalves awaiting the approach of the coma- tose state whistled plaintively among their little ice-Berghs. Some of them wept for joy. One old Saddle Rock was deluded into the thought that it was happy childhood with him once more, and he warbled, ‘“‘Pat me in my little bed.” He was rudely awakened by a voice proceeding from the cavernous mouth of a lean-jawed, long-faced individual, with the expression of an undertaker out of place, de- manding ‘‘a dozen on the half shell.” Bergh was happy ; the oyster wasn’t, which was un- grateful. He thought of where he was going after death. SEIGNIORAGE ON Gop Co1n.—Senator Cole, of California, has introduced a bill into the United States Senate to abolish the seignior- age or coinage charge in the Mints of the United States for converting gold bullion iato coins. This is a good idea, for, however trifling the charge may be in particular cases, in the aggregate it forms a considerable tax upon our gold producers. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Finance, A Timety Rerorm.—Mr. Judd, in the As- sembly last night, introduced a bill which strikes at a great evil in our system of trial by jury. . As the law stands now none but persons who are too ignorant to read newspapers or too stupid to form an opinion can act as jurors in capital cases, Mr. Judd’s bill abol- ishes this absurdity. It is recommended by Recorder Hackett and City Judge Bedford, and no doubt will be made law. It will not go Into force, however, until six months after ite passage, clumsy in its provisions. full, general and unconditional amnesty and forgetfulness, it provides for a system of oaths of loyalty, to be taken before United States Commissioners or clerks of United States Courts, and it excepts from the benefit of its provisions all members of Congress and officers of the United States Army and Navy who went over to and aided the rebellion. And yet this is the lame and impotent measure of mercy which Senator Sumner seeks to weigh down still more with his Supplementary Civil Rights bill. generosity as well as of good policy displayed by Congress in this whole matter. that universal and unconditional amnesty is délayed so much the longer will discontent, uneasiness and bad government prevail in the unfortunate South. The effect of protracting the present condition of things, which keeps out of public life the best men of the late rebel States, and hands over the government of those States to the camp followers of the army, is seen all over the South, and chiefly now in Louisiana, where there exists a Congress Yesterday—The Shipbuilding Bill— Pasenge of Another Amscaty Bill—A Se- lect Committee om tho Louisiana Civil War. The House of Representatives yesterday was a gulf into which flowed for an hour a tide of bills which will know no retiring. Every Monday the same scene is performed, with the same invariable ending in nothing. None of the bills introduced yesterday and re- ferred to appropriate committees deserve any special mention, except, perhaps, the follow- ing :—To repeal the Tenure of Office acts; to provide a currency in coin and paper that will be of uniform value throughout the United States; to consteuct’a national rail- road between this city and Chicago; to admit tea and coffee free of duty; to re- peal all laws imposing duties on distilled spirits and tobacco; to promote immigration to the United States and to allow American registration to foreign built vessels. mentioned bill was introduced by Mr. Cox, of this city, and it embraces the only feasible method of reviving American commerce. bill which was introduced last Monday by Mr. Hale, of Maine, and which has the same general object in view, is insufficient to attain the end sought. yesterday, and was laid aside after a very brief discussion, in which Mr. Hale traced the decay of American commerce—first, to the operations of rebel cruisers, which deterred merchants from sending freight in American vessels; and next, to the imposition of high protective duties, which have added at least thirty per cent to the cost of building and running ships. abolition of duties on all materials en- tering into the construction, repair and use of ships; but that, although very well and proper as far as it goes, does not go far enough. be bought cheapest and best, and until the general ship market of the world is thrown open to our citizens, as it is to the citizens and subjects of all other great commercial nations, we must be content to lag behind or to fall entirely out in the rivalry for the carry- ing trade of the world. The two bills, Cox's and Hale’s, ought to be passed at the same time—the one for the bonefit of our mercan- tile interest and the other for the benefit of our shipbuilding interest. them is singly adequate to the emergency, but both together would have an immense and immediate effect in restoring our com- merce and shipping to the position which they have occupied in the past and which they should be occupying in the present. The last The That bill came up also Mr. Hale's remedy is the We want ships wherever they can Neither one of No less than three distinct bills for general amnesty came up before the House and were voted on yesterday. by Mr, Acker, of Pennsylvania, providing for the removal of all legal and political disabili- ties arising out of the rebellion, and for gen- eral amnesty. tions on the part of Mr. Dawes, of Massachu- setts, and failed to receive the requisite two- thirds majority, the vote being 106 to 93. Then Mr. removing all political disabilities incurred under and by virtue of the third section of the fourteenth constitutional Butler, of Massachusetts, was dissatisfied with the exact phraseology of that bill, and desired to substitute for it one concocted by himself and introduced in the earlier part of the day; and there were enough republicans influenced by Mr. Butler, or opposed to any measure of politi- cal amnesty, to defeat this bill of Mr. Dawes also, but by a closer vote, the vote standing — yeas, 131; nays, 70. The nays included three of the Massachusetts delegation—namely, Buff- ington, Butler and Hooper—nearly all the re- publicans of the Pennsylvania and New York delegations; Mr. Eames, of Rhode Island, the eulogist of Roger Williams the otherday in the House, and his colleague, Mr. Pendleton ; all the republicans of the Indiana delegation, ten of the republicans of the Ohio delegation— namely, Ambler, Beatty, Bingham, Monroe, Peck, Shellabarger, Smith, Sprague, Upson and Wilson—and only six Southern members —namely, Butler and Maynard, of Tennessee ; Porter, of Virginia; Rainey, of South Caro- lina (colored); Wallace, of South Carolina (white), that vote a third Amnesty bill was intro- duced by Mr. Hale, of Maine, being the same passed by the House at the last session, and still pending in the Senate; and this bill was passed by the requisite two-thirds majority, the vote being—yeas, 170; nays, 31. Southern Representatives, or, rather, members of the House, were recorded in the negative— namely, Maynard, Porter, Rainey, Wallace and Walls. The first was introduced This bill met with some objec- Dawes himself came in with a bill amendment. Mr. and Walls, of Florida. After Five The bill itself is partial in its operation and Instead of declaring We are ashamed of the lack of The longer state of civil war which may at any moment previpitate in the city of New Orleans one of the most bloody conflicts that ever disgraced that city and horrified the entire community, The House yesterday ordered a select com- mittee to inquire into the circumstances, But of what use can that be? Is it not known to all men that the shameful state of affairs there, and in all the other Southern States, is the direct and inevituble result of the Congres- sional policy of reconstruction, and of the ex- clusion of the ablest and best citizens from publie life? The true and only remedy ts in a direct reversal of that policy and a re- turn to the first principles of American govern- ment. The Amnesty bill was also up in the Seaate yesterday for consideration, and Mr. Sumner made a speech in support of his amendment, which is, to tack on to that bill his Supple- mentary Civil Rights bill, entitling colored persons to occupy drawing room saloons oa steamboats and palace cara on railroads, and to be accommodated at the most aristocratic hotels. That is the boon which the imprac- ticable Sumner must have in exchange for general amnesty. Several bills were Introduced in the Senate for railroad grants and other matters, and, contrary to parliamentary practice, a petition from Chinese residing in California for a reduction of duty on rice was presented, re- ceived and referred. The Japanese Special Embassy at San Francisco—The Social and National Reve- lution in the Far East. By steamship at San Francisco and thence overland by telegraph we have the news report from the far East, which appears ia the columns of the Hgratp to-day. The detail comes in continued and actual con- firmation of the anticipations which we have expressed so decisively in our columns during @ period of time just immediately passed, to the effect that the vast empires of Japan and China were being actively revolutionized towards the perfection of an everyday com- munion with the peoples of the outside Ohris- tian world, and that Japan would lead the way in the positive consecration of the grand and clvilizing event. The idea has become » reality. An imperial Japanese embassy, made up of men of the highest rank in their native country, arrived at San Francisco from Yokohama yesterday. There are also @ number of Japanese princesses, The mem- bers of the commission and the ladies of caste were received with demon- strations of marked honor by the citizens of the capital of the Golden State. This was as it should be. The Japanese embassy is commissioned to confer with the treaty- making governments on the subject of a treaties revision, This is a very important duty, pointing to consequences which demand the most serious consideration before they are solemnly incurred. We have little doubt that the Japanese will approach our states- men in a candid, open and honorable manner; but, notwithstanding all this, it is well—indeed, it is patriotic— to recollect that ‘‘their ways are not our ways,” and that the diplomacy of the White House may not be sufficiently subtle for a system of official tactic which is tinged deeply with the religious theory of the Sin-Sin and said to be illuminated directly from the sun, The great successes of Admiral Rodgera” recent interview with the Mikado and Minister De Long’s diplomacy at the Eastern court afford substantial ground for the expression of American national confidence in the hope that our relations with Japan will become still more friendly— if that is possible—and still more profitable to the governments and peoples in the future, Minister De Long accompanies the mission, indeed, and the distinguished party will arrive in New York within a very brief period of time. A Japanese naval squadron is about to visit Europe. The Mikado acknowledged the advent and force of the grand moral and social revolution which is upon his country in an imperial edict, by the issuance of which he breaks down and sweeps away the ruins of the traditionary custom wall which has heretofore separated his coun- trymen from the peoples of the outside world. He urges, indeed, the necessity of foreign travel for the Japanese of both sexes. Five of the Japanese princesses who have just landed will enter as students in Vassar College, and the entire party willbe in New York in a very short time. China has opened telegraphic communica- tion with Europe. The Celestials were still visited by fire and flood. Freights were upward, and the tea market quiet, The Viceroy paid a visit to Shanghae, and expressed himself deeply interested in the operations of the telegraphers. So does the world move, away out in the far East, Cheap Jack Journalism—Its Jealousies and General Discomfort. The Cheap Jack journal is an unhappy and disagreeable institution. Pinched in pocket, cramped in enterprise, yet not wanting in am- bition, it sees the great success achieved by the more solid and sensible portion of the newspaper press with feelings very much akin to those a half-starved Bohemian may be im- agined to entertain as he stands outside the windows of a well-filled restaurant and con- templates the feasting going on within. The HeERacp is, of course, the forbidden Delmoni- co's of the hungry Cheap Jack journal, which stands outside the pale of real newspaper life, starving and sbivering, and views with jealous anger the tempting display in its envied rival’s columns—dishes varying from the substantial pirce de résistance to the highly seasoned entrée and the delicate haut d'euvre. It licks its longing lips with rage at the sight of the well-contented crowds who devour the daily feast served up to them from the Heratp larder with a relish and satisfaction to which the few famished boarders at the Cheap Jack establishment are strangers. On Sunday last the Hezatp procured and published exclusively the long- looked for letters in the Fisk-Mansfield case, which led to the suit between the late Prince of Erie and his frail inamorata, as well as to the cowardly assassination of the principal actor in this curiousdrama. Courts had inter- vened to keep the correspondence from the public eye; convenient judges had made all sorts of extra-judicial orders in reference to the letters, but the Hrratp, with true news~ paper enterprise, obtained possession of them despite the efforts of the beach, the bar.and the bullies, and laid them before the world. The following day the city journals transferred the correspondence to their columns, giving the Heratp credit for it either directly or indi- rectly, as newspaper courtesy and fairness demand, and as is always the practice of the HeEratp towards its contemporaries in similar cases, But an English Cockney paper, of the Cheap Jack order, published in New York, could not make itself as comfortable over the affair asthe circumstances would permit, and serve up to its few starving readers a solid Heratp dish one day old, which would have been infinitely preferable to their ordinary