The New York Herald Newspaper, November 19, 1873, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1873.—TRIPLE SHEET. NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. —_+— JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR Volume XXXVI. AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTEANOOH AND EVENING, ACADEMY OF MUS! Tratias Ovena—IL TROVATORE. WALDACK’S THEAT etreet.—Ours, , Broadway and Thirteenth UNION Union square, near St mand even Y THEATER: New Macnacen. GRAND OPERA HOUS ghth av, and Twenty-third 6t—A Fuasn or Licnrsin BOOTIS THEAT Buurtus, ow, THE F a! MLTROPOLITAN THEATRE, 585 Broadway.—V artery Enreetaisaent. Matinee at 2%, v. and Twenty-third st— ARQUIN. MRS. FB, CONWAY'S Pautine—Cuaries tax T PARK THEATRE, Brook! Fancuon. THEATRE COMIQUE, No. Sit Broadway.—Vantery Enrweratsxint, Matinee at? BROOKLYN THEATRE.— OLYMPIC THEATH and Bleceker sts.—Rir .' Matinee at. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Bro between Prince and Houston sis.—Ta: Buack Cxoos. QGERMANIA THEATRE, Mth street and 2d avenue.— Insreorox Braxsic. TONY PASTOR'S 0} Vanity Ex retainer: ER INSTITUTE.—Laveuine Gas anv, Macicas NENT. ROBINSON HALL, sixteenth street.—Caanity Coy- | cert. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, No. 618 Broad- way.—Scrence ann Arr. Now York, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 1873. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. | To-Day’s Contents .ot the Herald. “THE VIRGINIUS OUTRAGE AND SYMPATHY! AN AM FOR AMERICA TO ARTICLE—SIXTH PaGE. ARRIVAL OF THE VIR NADO AT HAY BUTCHERED! FOREIGN QUESTION LE" —LEAVING IUS AND THE TOR- NAMES OF THE DISPOSITION 0. FEAR! WHAT OUR HONORABLE SETT! CUBA TO BE F a ADVICE! VIEWS OF PROMINENT MEN— THIRD PAGE, STORMY DEBATE IN THE FRENCH 4 OVER THE PROLONGA’ ‘ 3 TENUR: Fi S$ OF A DICTATOR COMMUNISM 3 Pag ANARCHICAL OUTBREAKS IN MEXICO! THE SOLVED TO Ip THEM IN | vy RAILWAY GR. : PEACE REIG TROOPS WITHDRA BAKU’S MISSION PAGE. A FURTHER LARGE S BULLI, . COLrTc PERILS OF GENERAL KAUF. MR, O'KELLY NARR ATE HIS K-TW YS FATE IN HANDS OF THE JURY—Firrit Pace. THE SIGNAL OFF AND WEATHER MORE TRE DEPR Tae Mexican Goverxment will, as we are specially informed by telegram from the capital, submit the subject of the railway contracts to Congress on the 20th instant, despite the fact that the Executive is troubled by the existence of a provincial revo- lution and the difficulty of the Church ques- tion. Tux Presrpent’s Virws on Ovn Rena- tions wita Sparn.—According to the Wash- ington M[epublican, ‘‘the President is free in his utterances concerning his duty in this | matter, and only yesterday said that the government will take care that the na- tional flag shall be everywhere respected, and American citizens everywhere protected in all their rights.’ According to the Washington Chronicle, “the President entertains the hope that by the time Congress assembles a definite result will be reached, and he expects a peace- able settlement of our Cuban troubles, but thinks it best to be prepared-to protect the American flag and citizens at all hazards, And if war becomes necessary we shall be better prepared for it than many suppose.’ These reports from the Washington journals are « sentially the same as those that have hereto- fore been published in the Hrnaxn, concerning the President’s views on our relations with Spain and Cuba. ‘Lhe President, itis evident, strongly sympathizes with the overwhelming public sentiment of the country; but does Mr. Secretary Fish appreciate the duties and the opportunities of the situation? That is the em- barrassing question. Tur Dury or THE ALDERMEN.—The Board of Aldermen meet to-day to pass upon the appropriations for 1874. They will find that the salaries of the Finance Department have been increased $33,000 over 1873. At the same time the contingency fund for the Finance Department this year is $700,000, while last year it was $250,000—an increase of $450,000. Every dollar of this can be spent by the Comptroller for such services as those embraced in the vouchers recently unearthed from the contingencies and Board of Audit funds. Ata time like the present, when the poor laborers of the city are likely to starve and freeze for the want of work, it is the duty of the Aldermen to cut down thege extrava- Gant and unwarrantable expensos, Mth street and Irving place.— | and 730 Broadway.—Tae | r. between Houston | THE | | ance witha European Power in that which Sympathy—An American Question for America to Settle, ‘The cable brings us additional and gratify- ing evidence that England shares the indigna- tion felt in the United States at the atrocious crimes of the Spanish authorities in Cuba, and at the insult offered to our national honor by the illegal seizure of the Virginius and the murder, without proper trial, of the persons who were found on board under the protection ot the American flag. We could not haye ex- pected less from a nation whose power has been so often felt in the vindication of her own honor and the protection of her owa citizens, and whose str: aym has dono so much to advanee civilization and uphold the | cause of humanity ull parts of the world, Despite the prejudices and jeal- ousies which frequently. display themselves ween the two countries, our citizens cam 1 a glow of generous pride at the glorious wchievements of Old England, and we can well understand how the indignation of the British people may be aroused by a flagrant outrage on the American Republic, We ap- preciate the marked kindness of the English press and the value of the moral support afforded us by the decisive expression of Eng- lish opinion in the justice of our quarrel. | But we have to deal with a question purely | American in its character and bearings; with a question which pertains to ourselves alone, and in the settlement of which we cannot, consistently with national honor and dignity, allow our independent action to be paralyzed by an alliance with England. The American inter- est in the Antilles supersedes all other nations. We are the natural guardian of the island | ot Cuba whenever it may be in need of occn- pation and protection. Our position on this point is known to the world, When the Lopez expedition called forth trom France and Great Britain in 1852 proposition that we should join those Powers in a treaty guar- anteeing to Spain the possession of Cuba, he conservative administration of President Fillmore refused its consent on the ground that the condition of Cuba is mainly an Amer- } ican question and only to a limited extent a European question. Prior to that, n 1825, when Spain herself offered valuable | commercial concessions to the United States, on consideration that we should guarantee | her possession of the island, Mr. Clay, then Secretary of State, declined the offer. Although ! diplomatic courtesy placed the refusal of the proposition on the plea of a disinclination to enter into entangling alliances, it was well known that the real principle underlying onr action was that subsequently stated by Mr. Webster on the rejection of the proposed tripartite treaty. it is not, then, in any discourtesy to Eng- land, but in pursuance of a settled principle long maintained by our government, that we must respectfully but. firmly avoid any alli- in t has now become our duty—the immediate | occupation of Cuba, After we have taken the island under our protection it will then be time to confer with England as to our future action, and our government will, no doubt, be well pleased to be allowed the benefit of her statesmanly advice. But we must assert our national dignity and deal with the Cuban | question first as an American question, now that the necessity of action has been forced upon us. The justice and expediency of this | | adherence to en established principle are the | clearer since’we have had no part in bringing about the coming change in the condition of Cuba, the responsibility for which rests upon Spain alone. We cannot be justly ac- cused of any anxiety to acquire the islaud. Indeed, the history of Cuba, especially for the | past fi 3, effectively disposes of the charge sometimes made—probably sometimes credited—that the American Republic is a nation of filibusters. The importance of | the island to American interests cannot be | denied, and its proximity to our coast seems to indicate that its natural relationship is | | with the United Sta Spain has long been | in o distracted condition at home; seldom | with a government strong enough to insure its | own existence for a single year. For five years | a revolution has existed in the colony formid- | able enough to defy the efforts of the Spanish government to subdue it, if not powerful enough to win the freedom of the island. It is well known thgt the insurrection has been stronger than it appeared in the field; that | many thousands of the inhabitants sym- pathize with the insurgents, and have only been deterred from active co-operation with them by the dread of Spanish power. With | all these temptations to the acquisition of | | Cuba we should have annexed the island long | | since if we had been regardless of our national obligations, for we have time and again had fair justification for such action. The popular sympathy would at any moment Lave been on the side of an acquisition that would destroy slavery on the island and drive objec- tionable political institutions from our imme- diate neighborhood. But the fact that we have borne from Spain, a weak and distracted government, indignities that we should have resented to the extremest measures if offered by so great and powerful a nation as Groat Britain, is of itself sufficient proof that we have nothing of the filibuster in our national character. We might, indeed, not unjustly ask if the governments of the Old World have at any period of their histories displayed an equal share of self-denial and honor when the acquisition of the territory of their nei has been regarded as necessary to their inter- ests, safety or power? Even in the excitement of this crowning Spanish outrage the action of the American people, when read by the light of history, will astonish the world. With every incentive to an outburst of passion fierce enough to sweep away all obstacles to a swift and terrible re- venge for a crime as savage as ever dis- graced the darkest ages of the world, we have restrained our anger and taken no posi- tion that we are not prepared to justify to the calm judgment of our fellow men. The hot blood has rushed through every heart, it is true, and the flush of indignation has man- tled every cheek; but neither in the press nor through the voices of our public speakers have wo suffered passion to overshadow reason. theless, feel that we have reached a period when further hesitation as to our action in respect to Cuba would be degrading to us as 8 nation and criminal in us as a Christian people. The cause between the United States and the Spanish government has been tried and the oase is closed, Our witnesses have been the murdered Speakman snd Wyeth, the outraged Consul Phillips, and a long list of others, until we end with the victims of the last massacre. Tho judg- ment has been rendered, and we have now only to proceed to enforce the execution. There must be an end to Spanish authority in Cuba. We may regret to do an act that may bear the appearance of hostility to the govern- ment at Madrid, but Spain must admit that she has justified such extreme action by her own weakness; by her utter inability to govern those who pretend to govern her colony in her name. Cuba is now without a legal government, and we must so regard her. She is an islaud held by pirates and assassins; by outlaws, who acknowledge no authority, who reoognize no law but their own unbridled will, and who prey on the prop- erty and lives of our citizens and of those who are under. our protection. Wo must stamp out her lawless rulers as we would stamp out a nest of hornets. We must oc- cupy Cuba as the natural guerdian of the island for the protection of our own rights, as we would enter and occupy aneighbor's house to save it {rom the flames, This will be no act of war against Spain, for the Spanish govern- ment has no authority that sne can enforce in Cubs against the will of the lawless men who hold possession of the territory. It will be simply an act of self-protection and within the constitutional power of the President. An administration that would oceupy Cuba within the next ten days would insure the en- dorsement of Congress and the approbation of the whole American people. We corfess to some apprehension of a timid, hesitating policy on the part of our government. We fear that the plume which will decorate the bonnet of the adminis- tration will be the white feather of the diplomat of strong words and weak heart. The Secretary of State beats about for apolo- gies for Spain, and Spain is ready, it is said, to surfeit us with apologies for the outrages and murders she could not check in the past and cannot prevent in the future. We have even heard the degrading hint from Washing- ton that if the Virginius was captured in English waters it would be England's quarrel and not our own. But we tell Presi- dent Grant, as we tell England, that this is an American question and must be settled by Americaalone. England's flag has not been in- sulted. The lives of some of her subjects have been taken, but taken while they were under the protection of the American flag, which we hold sufficient to protect them. It is for us to require atonement. It is for us to cleanse the stain trom our national honor. It is for us to take possession of Cuba for the safety of our own territory, for the protection of our own citizens, for the vindication of our own principles, in the cause of civilization and humanity. In the action which has been forced upon us we can seek no alliance, we can brook no interference. It is, as we have said, an American question, to be settled by Amer- ica, and if our government is true to the people and true to itself we shall occupy Cuba without delay. That done, we may take counsel with England, or with any other friendly nation, as to the future; but for the present the work is our own, and we must do it single handed. Marsnal MacMahon! and the French Assembly. There are so many startling possibilities involved in the game now in progress at Ver- sailles that a crisis even of moderate intensity excites a peculiar interest ; while, as the natu- ral inference from our news is that there isa crisis of the first order imminent, the interest is proportionately greatér. Indeed, it is prob- able the case may prove exciting before many days. It was reported yesterday that Mac- Mahon had asked that his power be prolonged to a term of seven years, and it is reported to-day that the committee charged with this subject has refused to make the required con- cession. It was a false step on the part of MacMahon to call for the prolongation of his power. It is a very great blunder in the tactics of the Duke de Broglie that he has put his puppet President in the false position of making some requirement of the country when the secret of moral force im his position was that the country should require something of him. His indif- ference to position—his aversion, real or assumed, to the office that was thrust upon him—was MacMahon’s great strength La the beginning of his political career; and when he seemed to yield his own inclinations and accepted the Presidency, not as one who takes a dignity, but as one who performs an onerous duty that the welfare of his country demands at his hands, conservative French- men were in ecstasies, becanse they believed that they had an Executive that would not en- courage the growth of dangerous parties, and who had so little personal ambition that he would be ready to leave office at any moment the country would give its consent to his re- tirement. But now that bluff soldier asks for ten years of office and is refused ; renews his request, with an abatement of three years, and is refused again, and has it currently whis- pered about that he will accept five years if he can get even that little. All this is fatal to his prestige. lt does not help one to have to ask such little favors as these in France, while to ask and be refused is sim- ply ruinous. But the republicans are gaining all that the royalists lose in position before the country, and they must have already ac- quired great confidence to thus calmly put aside the man who was, at least, an acceptable middle term between two impossible ex- tremes. The demand for seven years was proposed by MacMahon somewhat ag an ulti- matum. He required that term as a guarantee, without which he could not undertake to pre- serve tranquillity and govern the country; #0 the term is refused, and ‘‘What is he going to do about it?” This is the important point— Will be resign, or will he simply take tho guarantee that others refuse to give? Accord- We have argued as to our rights in the matter; ing to the republican logic he ought to resign, we have counselled no act unwarranted by | and this might re-establish his prestige and those laws which bind all nations together and which all ought to respect—those laws which, if violated by the degraded Span- prove as effective a rod to hold over the As- sembly, in his case, as it was with Thiers. But, perhaps, a resignation is less likely than ish rufians in Cuba, must not be infringed |» coup Péat Ty may suit the monarchical Tne Virginius Outrage and Foreign | by the American government. But we, never- game to say that the republicans are obstruc- tive and that it is impossible to organize a government with them. So the Marshal may lock up the little theatre, send the Deputies home and organize a government himself—a fact for which preparation is mature and for which there aro famous precedents, The Russian Advance in Khiva— How Modern Journalism Circles the Globe. ‘Those who have carefully watched the prog- ress of the Russian power in Asia will read with intorest the Hxranp contribution, which we publish elsewhere, from the pen of our special correspondent with the expedition to Khiva. We may note, also, as a coincidence not without interest, the simuliancous return of our correspondents from Ouba and from Khiva. Each set out on errands of unusual adventure, and thoy come home at the same time. The cosmopolitan churacter of Ameri can journalism is shown in their adventures. A year ago it became necessary to follow the Cuban insurrection. About the same time it became also necessary to observe the expedition to Khiva, In some respects there could hardly have havpened two events of less consequence to tho Amori- can people. What did we care, with our money-making and business activity—the necessity of reconstructing our finances and bringing peace to the South—for the quarrels in a Spanish island or the adventures of a Russian column in the deserts of Central Asia? And yet, so closely connected have modern nations become by the progress of science and the arts, that these two events, trivial as they seem, may be of the utmost consequence to mankind. Cuba is our neighbor and Spain is our triend. For a long time it has been a tradi- tion with us that the possession of Cuba was necessary to our political future—that, in a well known phrase, it was “‘manifost destiny.” So, when the island became a volcano, throw- ing out smoke and fire, disturbing our peace and exhausting the resources of Spain at a time when that nation needed all her strength for self-protection in Europe, it became of the utmost consequence to the American people to know what the revolution meant. For, with the volcano in full flame just over the narrow sea that washes our Florida coast, there was no knowing but that a stray spark would fall upon our own territory and bring fire and war. And, although the movement of a Russian military column through the country of the Turcomans and by tho banks of the Oxus could have no interest to us, except, possibly, of a geographical character, still it was @ move in the gigantic game of Russian and British ambition. Whatever Rassia may do to-day on the Oxus, or what- ever England may do to-morrow on the Indus, are matters that, in themselves, can only have a secondary interest to mankind. But in the future there is no question that in- terests Americans so gravely as the struggle of the Englishman and the Cossack for the do- minion of Asia. We seo England steadily marching, with the sea as her base, from one province to another, until the rich and ancient empire which excited the envy and ambition of Alexander is at her feet. We see Russia, with her empire as her base of operations, steadily moving over Central’ Asia, enveloping one province after another in the folds of, her pro- digious military system, resolutely . moving towards Persia and the mountain frontiers of Hindostan. Thus far Russia has been un- challenged by any Power, except the nomadic tribes of these Asian plains. These she has swept away almost without war, as it were, by a wave of the sword. Eng- land, on the other hand, has had to fight for her dominions. She fought the French, and was only saved by the genius of Clive and Hastings. She had to fight the Sepoys, and but for the valor of Havelock and Colin Campbell a hundred years of dominion would have terminated by the massacre of every Englishman in India. It was long a dream of the first Napoleon that Asia was the scene for the exploits of an- other Alexander. When he went to Egypt, at the outset of his career, uncertain about affairs in France, remembering Lafayette and Dumouriez, fearing his own future with the Directory, he seriously thought of leading a French army into Asia asa field for his am- bition, which would not excite the jealousy of other French commanders. The idea pur- sued him through his imperial career. He dreamt about it at Elba; he talked of it at St. Helena. Althongh fate had given him gigantic tasks, and gilded his name with a glory which will last for ages, he seemed to feel that he had done nothing to be compared with what he would have done in Asia, and, extraordinary as his fame had been, there was a glory beyond which he might have won. What Napoleon dreamed we, of this genera- tion, or probably those who come after us, will most likely see. Therefore every step in the development of this Asian problem is of commanding interest. The results of our correspondent’s observations in Central Asia will throw a flood of light on an unknown land—a land that sooner or later must be the scene of great events. For sooner or later the Englishman and the Cossack must meet in India. It may be on the banks of the Oxus or within the dominions of the Shah, or in the wild Afghan country, where England rests her power on the rude valor of dependent tribes. Will the meeting bea peaceful one? Will these two mighty nations be content to divide Asia between them? Will they consider that for centuries at least there is enough to do in India and in Central Asia to tax the resources of Russian and English civilization without war? It is almost impossible, however, to hope that there can be this meeting without war. Power is always aggressive. We rarely see power with- out ambition. A struggle for supremacy in Asia between Russia and England will result in the greatest war of modern times. It will not be fought by fugitives, colurons of dis- ciplined troops and hordes of barbarian allies on these Central Asian plains. Nor will it be anaval fight on the Black Sca or the Baltic. It will be » war in which there can scarcely be any neutral except America. And while America may remain neutral, so far as actual war is concerned, we are so closely bound by our trade and commerce that there can be no war that will not toa great degree affect our welfare, ‘This is the mission which the Hznawy has performed in Central Asia—namely, to make our ogntribution to the knowledge of this hitherto unknown land. while Spanish tyranny was persecuting our agent in Cuba, Russian jealousy was throwing obstacles in the way of our correspondent’s progress in Khiva. This gentleman was the only correspondent of any journal in Europe or America who accompanied the Russian column. We attribute it to his tact and en- ergy, and perhaps to that good fortune which rarely abandons courage, that he was not sent back from the banks of the Oxus to the Euro- pean frontier of Russia undor the guard of a squadron of Cossacks, The Revolution in Cuba—Release and Return ot Our Correspondent. We publish in another column another letter from Mr. James J. O'Kelly, who will be remem- bered as one of the special correspondents of the Hunanp sent to Cuba to investigate the exact condition of affairs in that island. If aay of our imaginative writers should care to publish a work on the romances of journalism the adventures of Mr. O'Kelly would form an interesting part of the narrative. The pur- poses which inspired the mission of this gentleman will be remembered by those who take an interest in the policy which controls the Hxrasp. Fora long time Cuba had beon a mysterious land. Wo knew that there was a revolution or some kind of military trouble; at least that there were fighting parties moving up and down the Island of Cuba— some carrying the flag of Spain, others a flag representing the Cuban Republic. In New York we had a large Cuban and Spanish colony whose members fought the battles of their country through the newspa- pers, in the hotels and clubs on Fifth avenue and Broadway. This colony being a noisy aggregation of ladies and gentlemen, given to assembling in public and addressing long let- ters to newspapers on the wrongs of Cuba, it so happened that the revolution occupied a large share of public attention. {t did not seem to move. It was difficult to understand. We could not give ita history, a topography, or oven a geography. But it was always pres- ent, like a smoke burning ona hill Woe had one set of stories from Havana generally— inspired by some creature of the Captain Gen- eral—telling us of the immediate overthrow of the rebellion. ratives, written generally in extravagant and florid rhetoric, telling us that the insurrection was sweeping like a tornado, and that in a day or two we might expect to hear that Presi- dent Cespedes had arrived in Havana. Now and then this monotonous insurrec- tion, which had come to be as much of a bur- den to the judicious editorial mind of New York as the Schleswig-Holstein question ora revolt in Poland, was diversified by some terrible and atrocious cruelty. We were told of outrages upon private rights by irresponsi- ble bands of militia; the persecution of alien residents, as in the case of Dr. Houard, the shooting of prisoners taken in cold blood, or some inconceivable transaction, like the execu- tions of Havana students—an act recalling in its atrocity the merciless career of the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands. And as there was an incessant public opinion driving the United States into a position of active interference in the affairs of Cuba, threatgn- ing us with war, it became the duty of the Hxratp to pierce this mystery, to find out what really controlled and inspired the insur- rection; what life it possessed, and whether it was the duty of our government to put a strong hand upon Spain and insist that Cuba should be free. We were served by many gentlemen in the prosecution of this inquiry. Some of our correspondents reached Havana and took easy excursions within the Spanish lines; others went as far as Matanzas and various outposts, but returned to Havana under the threat of the Spanish military authorities that they would be execuied as spies if they attempted to enter the lines of the insurrectionary army. What the Henarp desired was precisely the character of information which could be found only within these lines. And so a cor- respondent who accepted our commission carried his life in his hands. Many gentle- men accepted it; but it is to the credit of Mr. O'Kelly, as well as of General Francis F’. Mil- len—who was more fortunate in the end—to say that he did not turn back, that he went ahead, entered the lines of the rebel troops and saw for himself the extent and value of the Cuban insurrection. These reports have been given from time to time to our readers, and they have the value of being the only narratives furnished to any journal in the world by a correspondent who really saw the army of insurrection. The persistent and perplexing interference of the Spanish govern- ment paralyzed the usefulness of Mr. O'Kelly asan impartial observer of events some time ago. Since his arrest by the Spanish authori- ties his career has not been that ofa corre- spondent in search of news, but a citizen under military surveillance and persecution. In the many romances of journalism there is none more interesting than that which per- tains to our correspondent. From the rebel fastness of Cespedes, in the deep, luxuriant wilderness of tropical Cuba, to a Havana prison; from this prison over the seas to the little Biscayan town of Santander; from Santander to Madrid—there weary weeks of expectation during the midsummer days of that most uninviting metropolis—thence through the country made famous by the ad- ventures of Don Quixote, through the smiling valleys of Andalusia, a fugitive and almost a prisoner, until he found freedom upon the deck of an American war ship,- under the folds of the American flag. This has been in brief the story of our correspondent’s adven- tures. With the letter which Mr. O'Kelly has ad- dressed to us, and which we publish else- where, the mission which he performed with so much zeal comes toa close. The Hmnanp desires to express its obligations to General Grant and Mr. Fish for the interest they took in the welfare of our correspondent. The in- terest shown by the eloquent and illustrious Castelar in Mr, O’ Kelly's fortunes will be ap- preciated by the press of America as a new evidence of the great Spaniard’s desire to be well with the American Republic and recog. nize in its fulness the importance of a free and enterprising press as one of the bulwarks of republican institutions. Ovn Grear Novemsrrn Sroum, which has just swept over the country, from the great Plains to the Atlantie seaboard, and from the Gulf of Mexico to and down the basin of the arent lakes and the St. Lawronce, inay be re- It will be seen that | corded as one of the heaviest Then came another set of nar- | we have experi enced in this month for many a year. DB marks, perhaps, the inauguration of anothes cold and stormy winter, though, for the sake of the poor and the destitute thousands in ous great cities, we hope that this winter, sa rudely coming in, will be. much milder and shorter than was the last. The Notes of . Prepa: m for War. 'The country will be rejoiced to notice that the government are practically acting on the assumption that the prospect of force being shecessary to settle our account with the Span ish butchers and robbers in Cuba is very great. With that pleasant fiction of diplo- macy they do not proclaim that they are pre; paring for war; but if they do preparo car nestly, promptly and completely the people wiil not trouble themselves what character the administration gives the making ready. The alacrity with which the Navy Department haa entered on this work and the result achieved in a short space of time reflect great credit on Secretary Robeson. We should be greatly, gratified if we could pass the same ecomium on the military branch of the service ; but we fear that the same promptitude and wise precaution have not been exhibited by the de- partment under the control of the Secretary of War. At Washington, Brooklyn, Charlestown, Chester, Wilmington, Newport and Norfolk the greatest activity is displayed, and before the troubles are another week older the coun- try will doubtless be astonished at the rapidity with which the low peace footing of our navy has been changed for a footing of war. Tha noiselessness with which the government's torpedo system has been organized promisea well for other portions of the naval prepara- tion. What is greatly to the point is, that aa fast as the vessels are got ready they are de- spatched either to Cuba itself or to a general naval rendezvous whence they will be ready to swoop down on the Spaniards in the event of war. All preparations, indeed, should be proceeded with as if war were absolutely cer- tain. The regular army should be concen. trated, as far as available, in military camps, ready to be transported to Cuba, However important a part the navy would take in a war with Spain, the great business will be performed on land. It will be necessary to throw a force of from forty thousand to fifly thousand men on the Cuban coast, and as there appears to be no preparation with such an end in view in the War Department we would point out the instant necessity therefor. It is argued that the regular army should be left to its duty of watching the frontier and guarding the peace among the Indian tribes, but it can hardly be urged that the entire thirty thousand are ne- cessary for these works. A certain contingent could be spared to organize military camps at Key West, Savannah, Charleston and New Orleans. If war were declared we know that the call for volunteers would be heartily re- sponded to, and that from the war veterans on both sides of the late ci¥il conflict offering their services a sufficient invading force could be recruited in a week. No better fighters - could be found in the world. If camps were previously formed at the points indicated the volunteers for Cuba could be ready to wipa out Spanish rule in Cuba within a fortnight from their recruitment if sea transportation were provided. The unanimity of public sentiment as seen in the press of the entire country; the majestic force of the great meeting at Steinway Hall; the strong but dispassionate, vivid but ac- curate words of the learned legist, William M. Evarts, whose natural, prudent conservatism and fresh studies of international law in con- nection with the greatest peaceful arbitration of modern times did not prevent him from claiming the fullest measure of satisfaction for the wrongs we have endured, all point out to the government their justification for the strongest measures they can take. ‘The military and naval departments should at least run abreast in their preparations. At present, owing to Secretary Robeson’s activity and foresight the Navy Department is far ahead of its sister service. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. The Rey, Dr. H. G, Batterson, of Philadelphia, is at the Coleman House. Congressman John A, Kasson, of lowa, has ar- rived at the Glenham Hotel. State Senator D. P. Wood, of Syracuse, is stay- ing st the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Assemblyman George S. Batcneller, of Saratoga, is registered at the Windsor Hotel. General Nathaniel P. Banks, of Massachusetts, yesterday arrived at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Naval Constructor Hanscom, Unired States Navy, is quartered at the Fiith Avenue Hotel. Paymaster A. J. Clark, United States Navy, is at the Union Square Hotel, bound for Key W General K. 8. Otori, of the Japanese service, is among the recent arrivals at the Gilsey House. Ex-Congressman T. M. Pomeroy, of Auburn, N. Yo has returned to his old quarters at the St. Nicholae Hotel. OBITUARY, Peter D. Vroom. Peter D. Vroom, ex-Governor of the State of New Jersey, died at his residence, in Trenton, at two o'clock yesterday morning, after a lingering ill- ness. He was in the eighty-second year of his age, having been born in the township of Hillsborough, county of Somerset, December 12, 1791, and was the youngest son of Volonel Peter D, Vroom, an old and much respected citizen of Somerset. Colonet Vroom, his fatier, was born m 1746. Barly in lle he lived in New York, whence he went to reside on the Raritan, near the junction of the north and south branches, living there until his death, tn 1831, a x-Governor entered the Somer- The deceased ex-G Ao RM es Ville — Academ, in 1806, at Columbia College, New York, in 1808, He became a law. student with George MacDonald, of Somerville, and was licensed as an attorney in May, 18133 ounsell in 1816, and called to be @ sergeant-at-law in 1828, He practised ‘8 Mountain, Morris county; Hacketts- Bt ee eon tn Sussex county, and in Flemington during his early days. Up to 1824 ho had taken but little part in political atairs, be baiet | been, as & federalist, attached to tho party in the minority. In this year he espoused tue support of General Jackson in common With iis fatner and many of the leading federalists of New Jersey, who objected to Adams for having deserted their party and joined that of Jefferson, He was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1829, and re-elected in 1830 and 183). He was again elected in 1834, and re-elected in 1835. He was United States Minister to Prussia from 1853 to 1857, and was recalled at his own re- auest. He filled many other important oficial positions in New Jersey, Eminent a8 @ lawyer he was called on to atd in the work of a thorough revision of the statutes of New Jersey, which was satisfactorily accomplished, As # Presidential elector he cast his vote for Franklin Pierce in 1862, His efforts to prevent the secession of the Southern States from the Union, and the consequent war of rebellion, were ener- getic, sincere and patriotic, In 1864 he laborea earnestly tn support of General McClellan for the Presidency. Consul Lewis. Mr. Martin Lowis, Consul for Denmark 4 den at the port of Baltimore, died in that terday. W. P. Millen, Mr, W. P. Millen, who served as Supervising Special Agent of the United States Treasury und Seoretary Ohase, died on Monday, 174 Wat, tm Cincinnati.