The New York Herald Newspaper, November 7, 1872, Page 5

FRANCE. Marie Antoinette’s Anniversary--- A Solemn Mass in the Chapel of Expiation, THE BONAPARTISTS AND LEGITIMISTS. ‘A New Reason for Prince Napo- leon’s Exile—Louis Blano and His Republic. POLITICAL AND SOOIAL QUESTIONS. Monuments and Decorations to the French Army. THE RETURN OF MR. WASHBURNE Dees It Mean a New Departure in Washington. € ACTS AND FANCIES IN PARIS. Jealousies and Intrigues of the Various Political Cliques and Parties. Paris, Oct. 17, 1872. Our American Minister here, Mr, Washburne, sailed for America in the Deutschland. His depar- ture wag rather sudden, his intimate friends only knowing of his intention a day or two before he sailed. Madame Washburne is in Germany, educat- (mg the younger children, Colonel Hoffman, the eccomplished and amiable secretary, remains in eharge of the Legation, assisted by E. B. Wash- Dburne, the Minister's handsome, bright-eyed, ‘@greeable and competent son. Mr. Washburne has fot been home since his arrival in 1869, He came ander ashower of criticisms and sneers, and has proved himself to be the one Minister of all Grant popointed who has gained a world-wide fame. So, what was deemed to be a weakness to Grant has feally been a strength; and the American name is more respected and, perhaps, feared because of Mr. Washburne’s courage, energy and skill. When the other Ministers left during the siege he remained. When the Commune wasin power he still remained and did all that was possible to save the life of the poor Monseigneur Darboy. ButI need not repeat what is known to all, and to his countrymen more than all. His sudden returns has generatea a swarm ofrumors, Some say he will be offered the State Department, others the Treasury. The gen- eral belief is that the President has sent for Mr. Washburne to counsel with him as to the new ad- fministration, and especially as to the welfare and perpetuation of the republican party. But whether the Minister goes into the Cabinet or not his pres- ence in Washington will exert a useful and salu- tary influence. Mr. Washburne will be a safe and Severe counsellor. There can be little sympathy between a man of his stamp and many of the men who surround Grant. And I am confident that Many of the mistakes which the President made, and the consequences of which have been so bur- densome to his party and his friends, would be avoided were the President to listen in patience to this far-seeing, brave and honorable man. ‘THE MEMORIAL DAY OF MARIE ANTOINETTE, ‘The rain was falling ina spray—just enough to Annoy the fastidious lounger on the Boulevard— and the day was solemn and sombre enough for the anniversary, as your correspondent walked down the Boulevard Haussmann to “assist” in cele- brating the mass that was to be offered up by Monseigneur Ségur for the repose of the soul of Marie Antoinette. Those of your readers who know Paris will remember the Chapelle Expiatoire, aquiet, quaint, silent little chapel of the Doric order, shaped like a Greek cross, that seems to hide itself under the trees. This chapel was erected by Louis XVIUL., in memory of his brother and sister, asan ‘expiation” for their death. The legend is that the ground it covers, and which is now a pretty little park, with cypress trees and walks, and greeny,and seats inviting to children and nurserymaids, was, in the time of the Revolution, the burial ground of the Church of the Made- Jeine. When the King was guillotined his re- mains were here interred at night. When Marie Antoinette was executed she was buriea near him. A friend of the unfortu- mate monarchs purchased the ground and planted it as an orchard, carefully distinguishing the spot where the royal remains were buried; and when the Bourbons came to their own the ashes were taken up and conveyed in great pomp to St. Denis to rest with the long line of kings and queens who there find peace. For over twenty years the dust of Louis and his unfortunate queen reposed here, and the chapel, which somehow or other, “expiates” their execution, is a mole) of taste and beauty and religious repose. Monseigneur Ségur was the celebrant of the mass, and when we entered the chapel we found asmall gather- ing—a hundred perhaps—just enough to fill it com- fortably. The assembly was of the old and respect- able legitimist class, with a few American tourist Gameels thrown in, who made a point of sitting down during prayers. In the front benches was Isabella, the former Queen of Spain, her famil; and attendants at her side. Her ex-Majesty an family and suite were dressed in deep mourning. She was met at the door by Monseigneur and es- corted to her devotions with a little quiet cere- mony, which looked pleasant, considering that she was u queen and is now & woman and an exile. lends of Isabella will be glad to know that she looks remarkably well, with a full, handsome, pleasing, healthy, maternal face, and .that the children were as vivacious and busy as children generally, with manifest tenderness towards bread and butter. The little chapel on this solemn occa- sion was shrouded in mourning, the celebrant wearing the faneral vestments. ‘On one side, ina small transept or arm of the Greek eross, is a statue of the King, with uplifted arms, as though about to ascend heaven, while an angel points Immediately opposite is a statue of the The .attiuude is one of despair, the hair falling dishevelled over her shoulders, her royal robes trailing and torn, the crown fallen at her feet, an angel pointing to the cross; husband, family, crown, happiness, life itself—ail gone— and nothing to the poor unfortunate but the cross! On the pedestal of the huge monument is his will in letters of gold, while the Queen's bears an extract from her last letter to her sister, coun- Selling peace and forgiveness to those who took away their lives. You know the history of this solemn Les crime, how seventy-nine years ago this morning the dreadful summons came to the Queen in her prison of the Conciergerie, She re- ceived it without a murmur, and proceeded to the last offices. At eleven the executioneer came, She had cut off her own hair, and attired herself in s blue dress. Her hands were tied behind her back, and ata quarter past eleven she mounted the cart and crogsed the Ponte Neuf into Rue St, flonoré, over the route which the King had taken q@hen he went to die; past the Church of St, Roche, where the mob stopped the cart to insult the vic- tim, and, slowly moving, for it took nearly an hour to traverse a route that could be easily waiked in twenty minutes, until it came to the guillotine, which stood then where the famous Dbdelisk of Luga now stands, in front of her tome at the Tulleries, And so she died, and we sat ‘im the littie chapel praying for the repose of her soul, The monuments were strewn with flowers, crosses of violets and immortelles, and wreaths of ivy and roses, white and pure. It was a brief ser- vice, and when over Monseigneur ied Her Majesty ‘@ the carriage and we strolied away. THE ‘INCIDENT’ OF PRINCE NAPOLEON, What is called the “incident of Prince Napoleon” fas of course been told ice by the cable. The news- papers are fuli of it. The general feeling is one of fegret, People say that if the Republic is not strong fuough to withstand the intrigues of the Prince Napoleon, it rests upon an insecure founda- tion. ‘The radicals do not seem to care very much about it, andare prevented from condemning M. een they remember how Gambetta treated the Orleans Princes, John Lemoinne, in the Journat débats, replies % the Prince’ tha name # a crime—“a crime against justice, inst the it, against public morality, against even faith; against oaths twenty times renewed; arime against the nation, to whom this name has NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1872.-TRIPLE SHEET. destro ) M, Lemotnne - se teow Det it, ¢ custom, the government, repr ie Tiina om eran to remove one from wi presence threatens order, and that in doing so it pleases. Lenell, Cae. little aa to the opinions of its neighbors. the other band, it is remembered volution of 1848 this very Prince, then exclusion against houses be repealed. Some print the letter addressed by ‘on the occasion of the House of Deputies. e Prince that but for the bent hs Jeon by the he would - en and came pass- he had e of the government to re- » His brit the Princess Ulothilde was sus- peor ‘The is daughter of the King of pa The King is in close relat with France— relations just now a little sensitive on account of the old alliance with which may still exist, and of the King’s treatment of the Pope, whieh M. ‘Thiers has esa pine because he could not help it. Now, order the daughter of Victor Emmanuel to leave France would, under any cir- cumstances, be an unpleasant a and just now would be apt to irritate the Ki Prince Napo- Jeon were actuated by motives of high he would not submit the President to of a Daeongereianding. with an; u France recove! wounds and when, as all M. ig necessary to her pei the dent, Of course, if we were to imitate the exam- ple of your political writera and go into the re- usiness and dig up “records,” you would find that Napoleon banished the Bourbons, that the Bourbons banished Napoleon, that the Orleans banished Bourbons and Bonapartes, while the republicans banished all three, when they did not cut their heads of. An English or an American statesman would not have banished Prince Napo- leon; but, then, am English statesman did not hang Smith O’Brien and an American bailed Jetter- son Davis. France would have behaved differently. ‘THE LEGITIMIST-BONAPARTE ALLIANCE, ‘There is another reason, however, for the action of M, Thiers, here have been drifting, towards an alliance between the Bonapertia the legitimists! Strange as it may seem at the first blasn, when you come to analyze it you will see how natural and almost necessary this alliance has become. M. Thiers is a partiean: of the house of Orleans, He was a Minister in the Cabinet of an Orleans king; in his council of war a prince of the house of Orleans has a seat and other princes command in the army. If he cannot ground the Republic firmly he will certainly aid in elevating the Count de Paris to the throne, The legitimists claim to role by divine right, the Bonapartes by a plébiscitum, and, althor one is the contrast to the other, each means something, while Orleanism means nothing. The legitimists look upon Bonaparte and Orleans as pretenders; but the name of Bonaparte has a military record— @ splendor in history, and has been admitted to the family of kings by Socongn and marriage. The nouse of Orleans came into power by a trick, by an act of gross disloyalty, if not perfidy, to the head of the house on the part of Louis illippe, The gentlemen and clergy want the Bourbons, the army and the peasants want Napoleon—only the tradesmen want the Count de Paris, Of course, one Napoleon shot a Bourbon prince—the Duc D’Enghien—but then Bourbon princes were paying money tomen who were seeking the life of Na- poleon. So that, if one did murder the other was paying the wages of murder, and there is peace and silence on that score, Above all—and this is the practical circumstance—M. Thiers is the enemy of both houses, their common enemy, and so they mean to make a common alliance inst him, Many shrewd observers translate the President’s course towards Prince Napoleon asa reply on his part to those who mean to fuse the imperial and royal parties in opposition to his government, 4 UTOPIAN REPUBLIC. The “incident of Prince Napoleon” has quite overshadowed in the public mind the “incident of Leon Gambetta.” ie silenced dictator has ro- turned to Paris, while the Prince’s friends are obout to have the Minister of the Interior before the Courts, to see, as they phrase it, if there is any liberty in France ‘for a Frenchman ‘who bears the name of Napoleon. After curbing Gambetta the overnment has ced a gentle restriction upon ouis Blanc. Louis Blanc was to have delivered a lecture, but Thiers would allow noone to hear it. So the historian prints the lecture in the republican journal, the Rappel. There could scarcely be a more harmless document, as any one familiar with the views of Louis Blanc may imagine. Louis Blanc wants @ utopian republic, and, although he acts with Gambetta poliucally, by no means agrees with him. The difference between Louis Blanc and Gambetta is that one isa thinker, an essay- ist—dreamer you may say—whule the other {s a poll- tician, Louls Blane’s platform is interesting as a hase of what may be called the romantic side of mch politics. He would havea republic that would rest upon universal suffrage, and look after the morals, the education and the health of the people. He contends that there should be frequent elections, so that universal suffrage should have its will constantly expressed, and he would have the Legislature supreme. He would free education from the clergy and make it compulsory, and would make the Degen te arms a ant. on the part ofall citizens—not without the hope that universal peace will do away with arms as a profession. outs Blanc’s republic there will be no capital punish- ment, and people may go to law without being rained by the costs of Courts and lavyer’s fees. There shall bea communal system, securing the people life and liberty; but over all a strong politi- cal central power, which means strength. He would abolish all taxes and tarifs, and have one single direct tax for the support of the government. He would gradually efface all ranks and privileges, and ensure freedom of the press, of conscience, of suffrage, of assembly and of association, so that the minority may always have a voice against the power of the majority. Finally, he would introduce a system of co-operation in labor by which capital and labor trad come as- similated, and in time the right of labor shail lead to the right of property, and those who toil shall have an interest in the profits of the toil. SOCIAL QUESTIONS RIPENING IN FRANCE, You can imagine how sensitive M. Thiers must be to fon fren that may affect his conserva- tive Republic when he would suppress an inuocent, dreamy action of this kind irom a man as univers- ally loved and Feapscted tor simplicity and probity of character as Louis Blanc. But the horror of M. Thiers and his class is “socialism.” They have fancied it to be like the fabled Afrite in the Arabian ples which upon creeping from the bottle suddenly became a wnt and a ry. 80 when @ ruler of Trance, be he Emperor or President, wishes to terrify the nation into com- pliance with his demands, he points to the demon “Soctalism,’’ and says, ‘Beware!’ Napoleon, when he proclaimed the Empire, said he meant io con- solidate order and perpetuate peace and repress socialism, M. Thiers said peices the same thing when he announced that his mission was to ‘“‘save society.” Andyet there are no real questions here in France but social questions. Just now everybody mourns aloud for Alsace and Lorraine, and vows in bated breath revengeupon Germany. But under this, which is a sentiment and a passion and must soon die out, there are no questions here but social ques- tions. You can make up your own mind about the beautiful programme of Louts Blanc. That is the idea of one man, & man of eloquence, enthusiasm, ee ience and honor. But what all men must see is that France has no questions but social questions, Educa- tion—labor—proverty—military service—freedom to print, speak, pray and assemble—poverty—wealth ; these are the questions that now occupy the thinking minds of France, They are social questions. But, because they aré social, there is no reason why they should not be peaceably settied—ne reason at all why their postponement should compel o standing army, and, perhaps, a return of the hor- rors and crimes of the Commune. THE EVACUATION OF FRANCE BY THE PRUSSIANS. The disposition to celebrate the evacuation of the champagne country by the Prussians with a series of feves has been abandoned. France thinks that alter all “the attitude of calm defiance and self- respect,” or whatever it may be called, is the proper frame of mind, and that any rejoicing must reserved until the picklehauber is well across the Vosges Mountains. In the meantime subscriptions are constantly made for the relief of the territory, and the Prussians express themselves ag very much pleased with the huts that have been built for their 6 In soldiers, The whole aim of Frange gow is to free the territory from the Prussians, hers is re- jorted as having said that in May or june last the Prussian government offered to evac- uate the occupied provinces, provided that a syn- dicate of European bankers would be found willing to guarantee the payment of the remaining three thousand millions of francs. M. Thiers dia not accept the offer, feeling most pcan that it was impossible to find in Burope financial guarantees for ® sum 80 enormous, the same time it is to be certain that by the end of 1873 the territory wili be com- pletely evacuated, the Cabinet of M. Thiers being unanimous in the belief that the Prussian govern- ment will execute their part of the treaty in the most conscientious manner, and that France thus delivered by a republic will remain republican, But at the same time the people do not forget what was really meritorious in the last war. The French you find monuments of glory, fame, afection or sorrow. Well, we are to have @ monument near the Opera House, in the open See to the left, to the valor of those Frenchmen who died for France, The nd ee! of the Seine has set apart certain sums to build monuments in commemoration of the sorties during the siege—four monuments in all— to be erected outside of Paris. The monument to Lille, in Place Concorde, which was destro; ing.’ the Commune, is re-erected a bright and cold. At the side of her sad sister of Strasbourg, at whose feet sentimental Parisians deposit wreathes of immortelles (I saw a dozen this morning) a8 a token of their grief for Alsace and Lorraine. The Vendome monument is still unfoished, 1 am told it is soon to be erected, love & monument, and wherever you turn in France | with a monument of “France” on the summit in Le of the’ 2m Napoleon. You see that ce Joinville in a speech recommends that the figure of a simple private soldier of the French army be erected in place of the Emperor. Ww times change! Why, this is the same Prince Joiville who, as Admiral of France, disinterred the Emperor at St. Helena and brought the ashes back with so much pomp to repose on the banks of the Seine. And thia is the President Thiers Oy as an Orleans Minister, did so much towards inducing . Palmerston to consent to the disinterment, But in towaras he memory of Napoleon, und ‘now. Napo- Ww e memo: fapoleon, Jeonism turns towards the Bourbons. Well, this Vendome column may again be raised, but what- ever figure surmounts it it must ever be @ monu- ment to the fame of in. ANOTHER SUBJROT FOR “GERMAN IMITATION.” ‘The order of the German government compelling all Frenchmen who enter the Kaiser’s-territory to Rave passports has been followed by an order from the French withdrawi! exequatur from all consuls of France of German nationality. ae very much surprised that M. Theirs, with taveness towards Prussia, should do a thing which wilt, as the journals say, ‘cause imitation” in Ber- lin,’ In the meantime the Germans who used to live here have gene! returned, and we have @ steaay emigration the Fatherland, It is rather a mark of patriotism and martyrdom to speak German new—as in the minds of the im- uisive Faenchmen it is proof positive of Alsatian rth, and exposes one to a fraternal embrace, or an offer of alms on the Boulevards. The Germans —— @re understood to be all Alsatians or FACTS AND FANCIES, Let me close with a handful of facts and fancte: that we er from the newspapers and salons:— A well-known Californian, who made a princely fortune out of the Central Pacific Railway, has purchased & tiara of diamonds for his wife, costing $176,000 francs. It goes home this fall. . John Hoey returns November 6, He has pur- chased pictures and quaint old furniture to the amount of 100,000 francs, Edmund About is a candidate for the Assembly from the Vosges Department. His woes are ex- pected to elect him. He is a conservative repub- 1 ican, Gambetta is now giving a deposition in the Bazaine trial. ern ” B. Hoppner, the friend and correspondent of Lord Byron—and bis friend when in Italy—died the other day, up in the eighties. Five hundred Alsat left yesterlay for the French colony in Airica. A new street has been named Alexander Dumas. ‘This ia the last and highest honor paid by Paris. Boulevard Haussman, which was named “Boule- vard Victor Hugo” by the Gambetta people, has rest its old name. ‘Mr, Sumner, your Senator, is bu @ good time. His health ia much better, and ne has been overwhelmed with attentions, spending a good deal of time with the Duc d’Amale and M. Thiers. The rs cite the killing of a wolf the other day within thirty miles of Brest, in the extreme west of ce, wolf made his way to a wood ast Pleyler-Christ, and was pursued and slain by the peasan' Speaking of the anniversary of Marie Antoinette, Figaro tannts the radicals with this ‘ingenious translation from Shakespeare :—‘*7ous les parfums de VArabie n' cette jel e pas tahce-la.” very red republican journal calls attention to fact that Ninon I’Euclos died this day. and that it would be a day of sorrow accordingly to the demi- monde. The Rappel states that the courts martial at Ver- sailies have condemned seventy-two Communists, Twenty have been shot, thirty-seven banished and imprisoned, while fifteen, like Cluseret, under sen- tence of death, remain out of the country “in con- tumacy,” and will not return to be shot. Thiers’ house, pulled down by, the Communists, 1s building, and will be dnished in four months, The Council of War have resolved to modify the mitrailleuse. Here is a joke which only a Frenchman would make :—‘‘Never mind,” if the angry Frenchman, “the hour of vengeance will strke.”’ “Never,” re- plies the calm and well-informed Prussian. “Never ;” you have no more clocks in France,” THE SAN JUAN AWARD. British Comments on the German Em- peror’s Decision. [From the Saturday Review.} The immensity alike of the British Empire and of the difficulties and dangers which beset it is strikingly illustrated by the fact that at the same moment Englishmen have to consider the decision with regard to the San Juan boundary, the advance of Russia on Khiva and a Spanish proposal for the cession of Gibraltar. The decision in the San Juan case is simplicity itself. The Emperor of Germany has, we are told, in the tersest possible language, decided that we are entirely wrong and the Ameri- cans entirely right, Fortunately not a single principle of international law is involved in the decision, and no one can possiply think that our government was in the wrong either in adhering to the English interpretation of the treaty of 1846 or in submitting the matter to arbitration. We have only to accept the decision; and if the Emperor of Germany has been wise enough to give his decision without giving his reasons we are saved the necessity of hiiving to show that his judgment ought to have been different, All that we necd say is, that the point at issue was so exceedingly doubtful that we have no occasion to express regret for having so long contested with the United States the possession of @country which has now been pronounced bya competent authority to have been all along right- fully theirs. The words of the treaty of 1846 were 80 obscure that two interpretations of its language seemed fairly admissible, and it is well known that this obscurity arose from the simple fact that neither the British nor the American negotiators had at that time any trustworthy map. tween Vancouver's Island and the mainland of the United States there are two channels, enclosing between them a group of nds—of which San Juan is the chier—the one channel passing by the English shore of Vancouver’s Island, and the other by the Ameri- can shore of the Territory of Washington. To the negotiators of 1846 the southern or American chan- nel alone appears to have been known, and there- fore it was quite natural that England should con- tend that this must be the channel through which it was intended the boundary line should run. On the other hand, the main intention of the treaty was that the boundary fixed at the forty-nint! arallel of latitude should deflect so as to include Vancouver's Island as British, As turned out that there were two channels, the Americans insisted that the ay, should be interpreted so as to effect its main object and no more, and that the boundary should run through the channel which, passing close by Vancouver's Island, would leave San Juan American, As the island has been for some time occupied on its northern side by British and on its southern by American troo it was necessary, if possibie, that a state of things so likely to lead to a danger- ous collision should be terminated. It been terminated by what in such a case has long been the recognized mode of settlement, that of refer- ence to arbitration; and we may consider this ref erence to arbitration,:and the judgment of the arbitrator against us, with an equanimity which fails us when we think of the abandonment of our claims for the Fenian raids in deference simply to the exigencies «f American home politics, and of our adoption of new rules of law expressly framed soas to secure us the opportunity of appeasing American wrath with English gold. The Americans were principally impelled to in- sist to their claim to the San Juan group because these islands will afford to an American fleet a ost of great advantage in case of a war with Eig aad. They avowed this to be their motive, and, as it has been decided that the islands belong to them, it is quite right that they should make any use of them they please, however annoying to us, But it is one thing to own this and another thing to conceal regret that we have one more difficulty added to the innumerable difficulties of our empire. We have undertaken to guard British Columbia, and the Americans have now a group of islands which command the access to our remote colony. We can only try. as a nation to do our best, but our best becomes every day more difficult to do. Much the same thoughts are suggested by the news that Russia is intending to attack Khiva. We could not prevent Russia doin this if we wished, and we have no sort of groun for trying todo so. The Khan of Khiva is, no doubt, a petty despot, who fully deserves to be punished. He has given Russia as much provoca- ‘ion as the Emperor Theodore gave us, and proba- bly more. When the Khan recently sent an am- paseo jor to ask help {rom the Viceroy of India Lord forthbrook most Property answered that the only help he could giye wag offer the advice that the Khan should atone for his crimes ag pogn As Pec and try at the last hour to avert he anger of Russia. When they have conquered the Khan the Russians will be guided solely 4 a consideration of their own interests in deciding whether they should or should not annex the con- quered territory. They are fully as much entitled to annex it as we were to annex the territory of the Sikhs. Nor do we for a moment that Khiva and _ other misgoverne landish places have, much to gain by being brought under Russian dominion, or that the advance of Russia brings some security for civilization and prosperity to Western Asia. But none the less can we affect to be blind to the extreme probability that this constant advance of Russia creates new dangers to our Empire in the East. The chief of these dan and it is @ most serious one, is the effect which the proximity of Russia will have on the imaginations, the hopes and the ambition of the natives of India. Our rule in India depends in a large degree on the uni- versality of the impression among the people u no use in think ng of con- ing with us; and this impression is pro- duced not only by the ability with which we vern them and the spirit with which we have fought them, but also by the fact that there is no other great Power ssed of the weapons and the organization of the West that comes into com- tition with us in their mental horizon. It will hy different when Russia, far more powerful than England by land, is known to be coming nearer and nearer towards them, and when they begin to think of England as only one of the two juestion out. Euro} Powers with which they are concerned. if, ir advancing to the borders of India, Russia were at war with ‘land, and obtained some tem- porary success, which no reasonable man will pro- nounce ray the of a new Indian muti germinate, and shoot into in might be sown, leaf with inconceivable rapidity. It ig not that, wherever attacked, we might not towin. We might subdue another mutiny in India at even a less cost than we subdued the last. ‘We might silence the forts and ships of San Juan and keep open our maritime access to British Co- Jombia. What preases upon us seems more severe. Aust has Ly, when invited to uiesce in the new rules of internation: law embodied in the Washington Treaty, we should acquiesce in & vate property at sea. We do not like to arene advantage of the present rule, which pe! while our supremacy at sea remains, at once to se- oure our carrying trade and to annihilate the carry- ing trade of our enemies. But it becomes every - &@ greater task to assure the safety of our car- tying trade, War and protection have almost ied the Cassi AGS of America and France, and we are now the ocean carriers of the world, To retain this trade, on which so large portion of our mercantile prosperity Ki ord would im the event of war with a naval Power of the second order tax severely the strength of our navy. We have, indeed, only one way of prepa ng, meet the ganegrs that are pressing on us, and that is by keeping on foot anavy of enormous strength; and no money can be so Well laid out by England as that devoted to anavy which ‘will place our supremacy at sea beyond question, We cannot afford to abandon a single advant: that we which can help our navy. We possess must say “No!” in a very plain mannner our Spanish friends when they ask us to give up the key of the Mediterranean, No one denics that the Spaniards have in our retention of Gibraltar @ sentimental grievance: We know how we should fret if a foreign Power held a spot of English land that commanded our seas,, We are sorry to have to keep Gibraltar, but our surrow does not in the least diminish our intention of keeping it. We cannot afford to let it ne into other hands, We keep it as the Germans keep Metz, not because ikeaprenns Pleasant to us to keep a Spanish town than it is for them to keep a French town, but because we are not prepared to forego the possession of a stronghold Which offera enormous advantages in time of war. After being obliged to allow Russia make the Euxine the nursery of her southern navy, we are not going to throw away our chief means of keep- ing her out of the Atlantic. We must admit that while our long possession of Gibraltar makes its occupation a very different thing to Spaniards from what the novel irritation of the occupation of Metz is to Frenchmen, the occupation of Gibraltar is in one way more galling, because it is not as Against the people to whom it geographically be- longs that we hold it. The French have at least the satisfaction of thinking that itis fear of them that makes the Germans hold Metz. We have no excuse of the sort. We cannot pretend to be in the slightest fear of Spain, and we hold Gipraitar to iad us in wars with which Spain will robably have nothing todo. Our justification is, hat we have wars to fear in which the possession of Gibraltar wiil be of tne greatest advantage to us, and that we cannot afford to abandon this ad- vantage ; and therefore, having a good title by the law of nations to Gibraltar, we mean to stick to our rights. the Economist.] The tone of querulous discontent with which the award in the San Juan case has been received in this country is both unbusiness-like and unworthy, and will be seen to be both the moment the facts are carefully examined. By the Treaty of 15tn June, 1846, it was arranged between the American and English governments that the line of boundary should be the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude— &@ somewhat rough method of demarcation often adopted in America when surveys are still in- complete, and accepted in England out of ignor- ance of local geography. It was found, however, that this parallel ran through Vancouver's Island, and as @ division of authority in an island is in- convenient, Lord Aberdeen asked for an alteration and the government of Washington agreed to one. The line selected, in order to save Vancouver's Island, was to be “continued westward, along the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, to the middie of the channel, which separates the Continent from Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly, through the middie of the said channel and of Fuca’s Straits, to the Pacific Ocean.’ The geographica: ignorance of our Foreigh Cilce still leit the description indefinite, for, as it happened, the “channel” was divided by a group of islands, usually called San Juan. The British Commis- sioners, relying on geographical conclusions, maintalned that these islands, which contain magnificent harbors, were ours; while the Ameri- cans, relying on their impression that the new boundary was bast intended to give us Van- couver's Island, claimed them for their own. So high did feeling run upon the subject that in 1859, General Julian ace of Oregon, seized the istands, and a war would have begun, but that President Bachanan, full of the internal troubles of his country, consented to postpone a decision, and submit a joint occupation of the islands, which has ever since continued. When, however, we had resolved to make up all quarreis with the United States, the question of San Juan was taken up again, and it was mareed: that the right of property in the islands should be referred to the Emperor of Germany, who, however, was bound to decide in favor of one channel or the other, and not of any medium course. His Majesty, after consulting experts, has now decided that the meaning of the treaty was to give the islands to the United States, which will accordingly take pos- sessign of them. We can see nothing whatever in this decision to call for any hostile comment. It is quite clear that Lord Aberdeen’s motive in asking for a revision was to save Vancouver’s Island, which was saved by the award; and quite clear, also, that the Em- peror, who 18 a statesman rather than a lawyer, may have considered Lord Aberdeen’s despatch explaining his motive the best guide to the mean- ing ofa somewhat obscure phrase. It ts true that had Lord Aberdeen known the facts he woula have included San Juan; but neither the American gov- ernment nor the German Emperor are responsible for his ignorance, or bound to interpret his agents’ action as intended to secure any result except the one avowed, which is by this decision finally se- cured. It is also true that the possession of san Juan by the Americans might, in time of war, render the defence of Vancouver's Island very diMicult, and that our access to British Colombia is much hampered; but so also does the sion of the Channel Islands render the defence of St. Malo difficult, while our rights over Gibraltar are intended to hamper access to the Mediter- We have by the treaty a joint right of Pa | the channels, and the decision there- fore will in no way affect trade. Even, however, if it did, we referred the matter to arpitration of our own free will, and the true meaning o! the objectors is that we should not have referred it. What then should we have done? We should have hela it in m cangernce joint occupancy, until the time had arrived when the United States wished for & cause of quarrel, or an ambitious President wished to become popular, and then have fought for it. In other words, we ought to have pre- ferred a great war for an object of which most men know nothing, toa great suit before a tribunal of our own selection. Is that sensible or business- like, or even commonly moral?. If the Americans had seized the island by violence it would, of course, have been right to fight, because nations which submit to violent wrong injure their national character; but the Americans did nothing of the ind. They agreed to the “reference,” and they would, had it gone against them, have retired, as we must do. The language of the New York papers upon that point is, of course, most injurious and unpleasant; but the new lesson nations have to learn is indifference to newspaper comment, how- ever annoying or unfair. Peace could not be pre- served for an hour anywhere if it could be dis- turbed whenever an unscrupulous journalist chose to create a sensation by preaching war. In the present instance the motive of all this bitter- ness in the HERALD is sufficiently apparent. Presi- dent Grant has made reconciliation with Britain part of his policy, and any event which seems to throw discredit upon that policy throws discredit upon him. The statement that we were resisting the award by a preposterous personal intrigue was eminently calculated to discredit him, and it was therefore made with that indifference to facts which distinguishes electioneering campaigns within the Union. All that is provoking, but it furnishes no reason why serious English politicians should object to a method of settling disputes much preferable to war, or should carp ata judg- ment to which they had agreed, with their eyes open, to submit themselves. Whether arbitration is better than negotiation on a subject like this may be a doubtful Caples becanse arbitration ex- cludes compromise and mutual concession too com- pletely; but that it is better than war we have no doubt whatever, Our honor was not involved in the San Juan dispute, and a war for a mere ques- tion of property is, at all events, a very wasteful and very uncertain method of arbitration. NEWARK'S BLOODY OHASM. Contractors Held to Bail to Answer a Charge of “Criminal Misconduct.” The inquest touching the cause of Charles Bauhman’s death in Newark, last Satur- day night, was resumed yesterday and the facts sworn to, as already reported in the HERALD, that deceased owed his broken neck to the, dangerous, unprotected man- trap at the head of Mills street, into which he fell, A verdict was rendered “That the contractors for the sewer, Rodman Backus and F. 8. Underhill,are guiltyof criminal mis- conduct by leaving said excavation unprotected, either night or day.’’ They were required to give Re each to answer complaint of the Grand Urys NEWS ITEMS, Staten Island (Richmond county) contains onl, 30,300 acres of taxable land. n i Since the abolition of the gallows in Iowa there has not been & murder in the State. The old fort of St. Augustine, Fla, is to be re- paired and put in order by the government, Large quantities of tobacco have been destroyed ee Virgala. Rains succeeded by hot weather vere The United States juces annually 130,000,000 junds of wool. e year World ia about emilee tan” ee REVIEW AND DECADENCE OF THE NAVY---1829 TO 1872. Report of the Secretary of the Navy—The Actual State of Our Navy at the Present Time— Namber of Vessels in Commission—The Rotten State of Our Iron-Clads. The deplorable condition into which the vessels comprising the United States Navy have fallen docs not appear to be generally known to the enlight- ened citizens of a country which, from its forward state in the march of civilization and advance- ment, should be able to place before the eyes.of the world and of its own people a naval force fully able to guard the interests of the flag it represents at home and abroad. Tne American people seem to be unaware of the actual state of affairs, and many who have hitherto indulged in golden visions of the great naval force which we have at hand in tor- pedoes, monitors, line-of-battle ships, &c., will have their dreams dispelled by a glance at the real condition of the United States Navy. It appears scarcely credible that we have not a single vessel that may really be called a man-of-war; but such is the case, the few veasela we are possessed of being built after old models, andjmany of them have gone through the process of rebuilding 80 many times that the words of Gideon Welles himself may be quoted in this instance. Unfortunate indeed would be our condition should the country be suddenly involved in hostilities with any one of the principal mari- time Powers of the world, In 1866 the navy of the United States was composed of 206 vessels of all kinds, mounting an aggregate, if in commission, of 1,743 guns. In 1868 there was a reduction in the number, and in the last report of the Secretary of the Navy the following statistics represent the total naval force of the United States :— Vessels on the navy list, of all classes and sizes, 148, of which twenty-nine are sailing ships, and the remainder sidewheel steamers or sailing vessels, with auxiliary screws. Filty of these are in service, attached ty the several fleets or stations as cruis- ers, despatch boats, hospital, store, receiving and practice ships, and these, including the tugs and small tenders in use at the various navy yards and stations, constitute the force im commission for all the purposes of the naval service, Of the above number only 28 are in foreign service. Of the remaining 125 vessels 6 are getting ready for sea, 52 are moni- tors, only two of which are now in commission, the balance being laid up at various stations, princi- pally at League Island, where in the water of the Delaware their iron bottoms deteriorate with far less rapidity than in the salt watcr of the other stations; 17 are under repair at various yards, 13 are on the stocks, never having been completed, and the balance are laid up in ordinary, for the most part unfit for use, having been built of un- seasoned wood, and, as the Secretary of the Navy i his last report says, ‘‘Uniess something is done in this direction our cruising navy, now by no means respectable for a nation of our rank and re- sponsibilities, will soon almost wholly pass out of existence as an arm of our national Power.” ‘THE DECADENCE OF THE NAVY. Since t,he year 1829, when the navy, during the | existence of the Board of Navy Cormissioners, may be said to have started into life, the service has but for a short time increased in efliciency, and that period was during the rebellion. As far back as 1829 we had in commission twenty-two vesseis, RUS guns; in 1843 we had forty-one vessels in commission, mounting 998 gun; in 1852, tnirty- seven vessels, with 626 guns; in 1863, forty- six vessels, with 967 8; In 1854, thirty-six vessels, mounting 634 guns; 1859, forty-three, mounttn; 676 guns, From 4829 to i870 in guns we fell o an average of about six per annum, or about 240 gone in all, and we bave now 609 guns less than we ad in 1843. There does not seem to be any fs reason for this decadence of the navy. ce 1829 the population of the country has increased more than twenty-six millions, and the value of property has advanced in a@ cor- responding degree, Our citizens are engaged in commerce in the most distant countries, and the United States have gained a position among the Powers of the earth that they did not hoid when our fleets were much superior to what they are at present. These are the facts from which statesmen can judge whether there is any reason why our navy should carry 600 guns less than in 1843, Of the twelve first rates five are bullt of white oak frames, and are now on the stocks incomplete and somewhat decayea. It will be necessary to com- plete and launch those that are in the best state of reservation very soon, or the cost of replacing he rotten wood with sound material will be ver: expensive. The Guerriere has been so much damaged by accident and decay that she is not worth repairing. The __ Iili- nois, now on the stocks at the Kitter, Yard, 1s not considered worth completing, and will be broken up. The California, Fontias in the Pa- cific, will not, at the expiration of her present cruise, be worth the cost of the repairs required, In the second rates, the Albany may be considered condemned, the lowais very much decayed and cannot be repaired, the Congress, Severn, flagship of the North Atlantic fleet, and Worcester will not be worth the extensive and expensive repairs re- juired at the expiration of their present cruises, ‘hose of the third rates, twelve in number, have nearly all been repaired and been made available for the next two cruises. Of the eleven vessels of the fourth rate, the Dacotah, Kearsarge and ‘Tusca- rora require expensive repairs. ‘There are nineteen vessels of the fifth rate, of which #ix are sailing ships, two captured blockade runners, valuable for special service, seven butit of white oak timber, very much decayed and requir- ing thorough repairs; the remainder are in service. Of the receiving and practice ships a number have been condemned, some are in commission as prac- tice ships, store ships and despatch vessels. These vessels can only be called auxiliaries to the navy, fen could be supplied trom the merchant ma- rine, CONDITION AND EFFICIENCY OF SHIPS ON STATION: Of the vessels composing the several ficets commission not more than eighteen are in condi- tion for real service. Some have been condemned as unseaworthy, and almost all require consider- able repairs to bring them to their most efficient state. After the present cruise the following named ves- sels will have to be thrown aside as unit for active service. They were hurriedly built for a special purpose during the late war, and being constructed of unseasoned white oak timber, could not be re- aired to any advantage. ihese vessels are the Vongress, Nantasket, Quinnebaug, Kesaca, Wor- cester, Albany, Delaware, Guerriere and Severn, vessels, Carrying 128 guns; and there is not one ship building to supply their places. o American steamers run on the Atlantic route, two only to Brazil and three or four to China, All ol these are unfit for war purposes. Nearly every nation of consequence is outstripping us in the race for naval supremacy, The Turks are going largely into the building of tron ships-of-war, torpedo ves- sels, &c., and increasing the number of their arse- nals and docks. Prussia, which two years ago was not considered a naval Power at all, lias commenced the increase of her navy on a grand scale and is laying out large depots and constructing yards. While England is rapidly attaining pertection in her iron-clads she is also devoting much attention to a very fast class of vessels designed to cruise against an enemy's com- merce, Besides the 100 iron-clads, home and reserve vessels on duty, she now has in commission 191 fast screw frigates, sloops and gunboats on the various stations, giving protection to British subjects in all parts of the world, TRON-CLADS, In reporting the condition o! the iron-clad ves- sels very little can be said in their favor. Forty of the filty-one vessels are of less than 660 tons meas- urement, cannot carry a modern battery, have very little speed and consequently cannot be of much use in fighting an enemy in an offing or in protectin, aharbor, They are built in violation of establishe principles of naval architecture and have been ofno practical service to the country. The deck beams of almost all of the small claas are acy, much de- cayed. Four of the largest c! built In the navy yards, of white oak, are now ou the stocks, and too inuch damaged to be completed. Hulls, turrets and machinery, the most eed d and powerful, have been exposed without care to the action of the elements, and are fast losing their value; and of the whole fleet of monitors relied on by the country for defence, not one can be made ready in time to re- sist a sudden attack. TORPEDOES. There are at present two torpedo steamers build- ing—one at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the other at the Washington Yard, appropriations having been made by Congress for the purpose, The one building at the aren ster from plans by Admiral Porter, will be about feet long, and will be anim- mense vessel of her class. When complete she will carry a crew of about one hundred men. It is not intended that she shall go under water. The gov- ernment officials are very reticent about giving in- formation, but it is reported that she will be divided into numerous compartments to prevent her sink- ing if struck by sho¢ or shell, and will present bat 8 small portion of her hull above water. She will carry arified gun in her bow for offence and de- fence in case of accident to her machinery or other emergency. She will bristle around with small tor- pedoes, which can be run out twenty-five teet Her electrical apparatus and the torpedo machinery will be of the most perfect description, There have been a series of experiments with a small torpedo Doat at the Brooklyn Navy Yard lately, butit has been pronounced a failure, as it is unmanageable when under water, but hopes are entertained of remedying the defect, and a board of naval officers fre at present engaged in making experiments on he We have seven regularly es navy yards, Not more than four of theee are capable Ht iting In two years, then, the navy will lose ten eficient | 5 In ali is In our seven navy gut but two or three vessels at one time. felt the want of more docks, yards we have but tnree dry docks. In the event of a maritime war this deficiency would be se riously felt—perhaps to a greater extent than any other of our pressing wants. The dock yards at Cherbourg and Toulon, France, at Portsmouth, in Great Britain, each contain @ greater number of dry docks than all our yards combined, and some of the other dock yards of these Powers are but slightly inferior to those named. OLD COMEDY. Tue Fourth Season at the Fifth Avenua Theatre—“The Inconstant.” The fourth play of the old comedy revivals at the Fifth Avenue Theatre was produced last evening. 4¢ was Farquhar’s famous comedy, “The Incon- stant”—first produced in 1782, No piece nowon the dramatic stage begun under more adverse cir- cumstances and yet lasted so long as a favorite acting play. It was withi dimiculty saved from con- demnation in the beginning, but it is to-day the best and almost the only picture of English society and manners two hundred years ago holding a place in the esteem of modern play-goers, Its suc- cessful presentation last night is only another proot of ita singular merit. This will be the last of the present series of revivals, excepting “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” which is still in preparation. The whole has been a popular success, and, but for the crudity inseparable from a hurried change from new to old comedy, an artistic success also, In the selection of the plays for this season Mr. Daly exhibited rare good taste and judgmex‘. “The Inconstant” pic- tured the very olden time. “The Road to Ruin’? and “Belle’s Stratagem” occupied the middle ground between the beginning of the eighteenth’ century and the age caricatured in Sterling Conye’s plece of sterling fun—“Everybody's Friend.” No better selection could have been made, and none embracing a wider range of char- acter and acting in the somewhat confined fleld of English comedy, And it had another advantage, namely, that ia a single fortnight it enabled the manager to exhibit the full strength of his com- pany in parts where the merits and faults of his leading artists could not be overlooked. Mr. Fisher, Mr. Davidge, Mr. Griffith and Messrs. Clark, Lewis and James all had excellent opportuniiles, and the: ladies of the company, Miss Fanny Morant, Mrs.. Gilbert, Miss Clara Morris, Miss Davenport, Miss Deitz and Miss Jewett appeared in parts sulted to. their talents and ambition. If the present season of “revivals” at the Fifth Avenue Theatre was the beginning of a represen- tation of old English plays by Mr. Daly’s company the performances of last Week in “The Road to Ruin” and “The Belle’s Stratagem,” and this week in “Everybody’s Friend” and “The Inconstant,”” might be considered remarkably successful. But, seeing that this is the fourth season of the kind, and that from the production of “Twelfth Night’? in 1869 to the expected representation of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” as the crowning glory of this year, the company has been Cee Into the strongest comedy company in the world, we are compelled to withhold a part of the commenda- tion we should otherwise bestow. Mr. Davidge, Mr. George Clarke, Miss Fanny Davenport and others joined the company at its formation, and, with the exception of the juisitions ior this win- ter, its members have all had an important share in Mr. Daly’s achievements. These have not been by any means meagre, for both the manager and his company have come to be generally recog- nized as earnest and intelligent servants of art. Still it does not follow that they have established @ standard of acting or that they are to be ac- cepted as the unerring exponents of society and manners in the present and the past. If this were the case criticism would be useless and the actors’ oan ates of themselves tantamount to the popular verdic! What is generally regarded as the standard drama is in itself of much less worth than pecrie are apt to attribute to it, The comedies of the last quarter of the last century are cumbrous and complicated. Their literary merit is of an inferior order and their sentiments and situations far from harmonizing with modern taste, ‘fhe same in- congruous elesnents for the society o! this age—Sir Benjamin Backbite, Goldinch and Flutter—run through allof them. Old Dornton, the forgiving father, is quite as impossible now as his spendthritt son. Doncourt differs in all things, and especially in his affectations, from the young Englishman or the young American of the present day. Widows were pretty much the same in all ages—a wrinkle more or less is the sole difference. Because of this neither Mrs. Gilbert, as the Widow Warren, nor Miss Fanny Morant, as Mrs. Rackett, is taxed as the other members of the company have been taxed this season, There is bo material difference between the Mrs, Vandycke, of “Diamonds,” and the part assumed by Miss Morant in “The Belle’s Stratagem.’’ We are not surprised, therefore, to see them played alike in the new and the old play, for there is no age in widowhood. The same thing is not true of mere girlishness. Nobouy expects to find in Sophia War- Ten or Letitia Hardy a Fifth avenue belle, nor in the young wile of Sir George Touchwood, enticed into the pleasures of London society, anything like the “lady” of a New Yorker taking the lesson pre- paratory to becoming a Broadway pad. The youn; gentlemen of the last century differ in manner au: address, in sentiment and in thought, from the young men of to-day. Our Kee ais of the acting at the Filth Avenue Theatre {s based upon the thorough disregard by the actors of this distinction, and until it is remedied and made at least as com- plete in its excellence as Mr. George Clarke’s Flutter we shall continue to condemn itas falling below the domain of high art. We cannot, of course, take up the actors one by one and point out either their merits or their de- merits. Miss Fanny Davenport and Miss Deitz differed only in their Americanisms; but, separated from these faults, which seem inseparable from youth and vivacity, we have no more promising actresses on the stage. These defects, however, are not the sum of Mr. Louts James’ ofiending. He igan actor full of mannerisms, and these often bral Oh pe charm of his best performances. In “The lle’ =Stratagem” they were especially noticeable; but as we pointed out his deficiencies at the time we need not dwell upon them now. Asa whole, the performers and the performances were worthy of the American stage and the lead- | ing place held by Mr. Daly’s company. Much could | be said both for and against the style of acting adopted at this theatre, and we could dwell with especial pleasure oh such exquisite bits of senti- ment as Mr. Ringgold portrayed in the first act of “Everybody’s Friend; but as ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor” may be expected to show the very best phases of everybody's triend in the company we can well forego 4 nicer discrimination till that long-expected picce is produced. All that remains, then, 18 to summarize in the fewest words the salient features of last nigtit’s performance. Mr. Grimith played the part of Vid Mirabel, and he layed itacceptably, though he lacked somewhat in perfecting the illusion of his personation. The Young Mirabel of Mr. George Clarke was also an acceptable performance, but it was deficient in force and carnestness and cannot be comparea with some of the other parts of this actor inold comedy. Mr. B.'T. Ringgold was too inane for an ollicer of the Burgundian Guards No. 1,000, and he fell far below the exquisite bit’ of act- ing for which we so heartily praised him in the art of Iccbrook, in “Everybody's Friend. Misa Fanny Davenport wus in ‘her element ag Bisarre, and the name itself is a complete de- scription of her acting. The part, as she interprets it, is thoroughly bizarre, and though she does not give us a Very agreeable woman she portrays a thoroughly individualized character, The tault of the performance was throughout a lack of the sincerity and earnestness which alone can make a play as old as one of Farquhar’s a ee per- formance, and it was in thi respect that Miss Clara Morris as Oriana showed her supe- rior art. ‘Ihe feeble plots of the play and the com- plete transitions from one mood to another, which can alone save them /rom betraying the baldness of the vricks, required very great command as well a3 very great talents, In this Miss Morris was perfectly successful, and she gave by her acting a roundness and energy to the performance without which it would have dragged as heavily as when the Eng- lish playgoers of 170 acne ago were inclined tocon- demn the play. She brought to bear upon the piece & sweet and natural clocution and showed a training so thorough and a culture so refined as to make of the part a character wholly her own, There were in it few of the faults of which we have had occasion to complain in other per- formances. Either her reading of the times when Miss Fanny Burney evolved he- roines for court ladies and cou'tly ntie~ men is unusually extensive or her conceptions of the Evilenas of the past are the creations of an inspiration very much like genius. A more intel- telligent interpretation of a complicated re has not been seen on the sf this in- ind it is greatly to her credit that howed it in the difficult attempt of making an old play young again. The young irl of the seventeenth century bloomed once more in her representatson of Oriana, and the dead past lived again. In spite of the dreary evening an the depressing influences of the Presidential storm of the previous day a good house greeted the performance. If proot were wanted that the theatre-going people of this city appreciate the old comedies when well repre- sented it would have a complete and satisfactory amu in the production of “The Inconstant” lane nl BURNING OF THE STEAMSHIP GRANADA, The steamship Granada was completely “gutted” by fire, which broke out in her hull, on Tuesday night, The loss is estimated at about $18,000, The vessel, which was lying at the foot of Partition street, South Brookins was ere, repairs. ‘The fire was of accidental origin. was owned by Murphy, & Co., of New York, and plied between city and Charleston, 8, .,