The New York Herald Newspaper, November 24, 1873, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1873.—TRIPLE SHEET. NEW YORK HERALD ,BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR Volume XXXVIII. = AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. MRS. F. B, CONWAY’S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Gunava Cross. THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 54 Broadway.—Vaniery ENTRRTAINWENT. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston ‘and Bleecker sis.—ENoch ARDEN. NIBLO'S GARDEN, ‘Houston sts.—Tus Buac roadway, between Prince and Croox, WALLACK'S THEA’ Broadway and Thirteenth etreet.—Tux Lian. UNION SQUARE THRATRE, ‘Broadway.—Tux Wickxp Woxto. Union square, near BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Montague st— Bewexs or rax Kitoukx—Owp Pui’s Bixtapar. WOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st— ‘Vicrims—SoLon SurnGue. Afternoon and evening. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, 14th street and Irving place.— Trauias Orvna—La Traviata, BROADWAY THEATRE, 72 and 730 Broadway.—Tax New Macpaien GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Eighth av. and Twenty-third st.—Humery Dumpry Asroap. BOOTH'S THEATRE, Sixth ay. and Twenty-third st— 4 Oruxit1o. PARK THEATRE, Brook!, Maggie Lirs—Lirtix Motnes. , opposite City Hal.— LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street.—itaniay Oruaa—Ii Trovatorx. METROPOLITAN TH Enreetainuxnt. 585 Broadway.—Variety TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— ‘Vaniety ENreRTAlNMENT. BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner Sixth av.—NxGxo Minsrreisy, &c. BAIN HALL. Great Jones street, between Broadway and Bowery.—Tux Pucrim, STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street.—Srave Sones ov TEx Sours. COOPFR INSTITUTE.—Lavourxc Gas anp Macicat | ENTERTAINMENT. | ASSOCIATION HALL, 23d street and 4th avenue.— Uaorvge—“Diarecr Howor.” NEW_YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, No. 618 Broad- ‘way.—So1gNck AND ARr. TRIPLE SHE ET New York, Monday, Nov. 24, 1873. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. | ‘To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “SHALL WE HAVE AN ELASTIC OR A CON- VERTIBLE CURRENCY ?”—LEADER—Srixru Pace. THE PROBLEM OF THE PRESENT! AN ELASTIC CIRCULATING MEDIUM! THE QUESTION | FULLY CONSIDERED—SEVENTH PaGs. | A KEY TO THE FINANCIAL SITUATION! THE | CONVERTIBILITY OF THE FEDERAL BONDS! POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS! THE BANKS’ REPORT! GOLD AND STOCKS— | Nina Pace, | ADMIRAL POLO DE BERNABE ON THE COMPLI- | CATIONS BETWEEN SPAIN AND AMERICA! | THE VIRGINIUS’ NATIONALITY! SPANISH | DENIAL OF THE REPORTED VIOLENCE TO THE AMERICAN MINIST PRESIDENT CASTELAR AND MINISTER LAYARD CLOSETED TOGETHER! ARBITRATION PRO- POSED AS A BASIS OF PEACE! OPINIONS OF PROMINENT AMERICANS—THIRD PAGE. ASSASSINATION IN HAVANA! COUNT SAN FERNANDO THE VICTIM! SAD RESULT OF DOMESTIC TROUBLES—SgvENTH PaGeE, WHAT THE PREACHERS HAD TO SAY ON THE CUBAN QUESTION AND THE CHAOTIC CONDITION OF SPAIN! “SHALL WE HELP CASTELAR, OR CRUSH HIM?” TWEED’S WARNING FATE—EIGHTH Pace. THE PEOPLE ON SPANISH MISRULE IN CUBA— A BLAZING EAST INDIAMAN ENTERS AN IRISH HARBOR UNDER FULL SAIL— | ELRVENTH PAGE. MR. DISRAELI ON THE EUROPEAN STRUGGLE! UNMASKING 1RISH HOME RULE AGITA- TION! ANARCHY FEARED—SEVENTH PaGe. OME RULE FOR IRELAND! AN IMMENSE OUCT- | POURING IN ITS FAVOR IN THE IRISH | CAPITAL! 60,000 PERSONS IN PROCES- | SION—SEVENTH PAGE. ON THE TRAIL OF KAUFMANN! THE PERILS OP DESERT TRAVEL AMID HOSTILE BARBA- | RIANS! THE BATTLe OF SHEIK-ARIK ! CARRYING THE KHIVAN WORKS—Fovrrn | Pace. | THRUUGH THE CENTRAL ASIAN SAND WASTES ! MAP OF THE COURSE OF THE HERALD CORRESPONDENT—FourtH PaGE, PRESIDENT LERDO DE TEJADA PRESENTS TO | THE MEXICAN CONGRESS THE PROJECT | FOR AN INTEROCEANIC RAILWAY—SBv- | ENTH PAGE. FOUR REVOLUTIONIST GENERALS SHOT BY | THE DOMINICAN PRESIDENT! | ADHERENTS ORGA HOSTILITIES | FOR THE RECEPTION OF MINIS POLITICAL PLOTTERS ARI VENEZUELA—SEVENTH PAGE. | THE FINALE OF THE FAIR AT VIENNA! AMER- | ICAN PRESENTATIONS! DECORATIONS | AND HONORS—Virtu Pace. | Mx. Disrazr1 Propuesms the advent of a terrible struggle between the spiritual and temporal powers in Europe, and expresses a fear that anarchy will result from the conflict. Curiously enough the ex-Premier appears to attribute great importance to the home rule agitation in Ireland as a motive, yet masked, | force impelling towards the crisis. Sixty thousand Irishmen assembled in Dublin yes- | terday in advocacy of a home-rule govern- } ment. The Hibernians and the ex-Chancellor | of Britain differ widely in their points of cal- | culation. | namely, a convertible currency. | | tradition. Shall We Have an Elastic or a Con- vertible Currency ? We print this morning a long and able letter from a correspondent who signs himself “Necker.” In this communication our cor- respondent discusses with great ability and sagacity the question of an elastic currency— that is, a currency which shall expand or con- tract of itself, according to the necessities of business and trade. If an elastic currency is possible at all we know of no better way to make it so than by the plan suggested in this communication—namely, by making the four hundred and eighty millions of five per cent gold-bearing bonds out- standing convertible into greenbacks at the pleasure of the holders and reis- suable at the request of purchasers. Whero the money is to come from with which to re- deom these bonds, in case they should be offered in larger amounts than the currency balance in the Treasury, is not very clearly in- dicated in our correspondent’s letter, and we hope he will continue writing to elucidate this and many other points which a writer s0 able and so well informed can discuss to great advantage. Opinions so clearly put, and argued with so much force and acumen, must prove of great advantage to Congress and the country. Ifall the plans which have been submitted for consideration in the last few years had been so forcibly and ably set forth there would be little trouble in forming a con- clusion as to the proper policy to be pursued. The more discussions of the kind that we have, and especially at this time, the better it will be for all. Our correspondent writes with the clearness of Hamilton and Robert J. Walker, our two great financiers, and his views will be eagerly canvassed. The currency question is one in which the entire country feels a very great interest. Money is the life of business, and the people are only too apt, with our correspondent, to regard currency as money. Ever since the first days of the war it has seemed a necessity that our national issues, both in greenbacks and bank notes, should be the money of the country. One class of statesmen, generally representing the dominant party in Congress, | have always manifested a profound respect | for the currency issues, and in any crisis have | always favored expansion rather than con- | traction. It is to be feared that these men, on the plea that there is not money or currency enough in the country to do the business of the country, will favor an increase in volume of the national issues at the coming session of Congress. Increase in the volume of the cur- rency is with them the panacea for every financial ill. The remedy is not only ineffec- tive, but positively hurtful. It not only puts off the day of resumption, but makes it impos- sible to equalize gold and greenbacks. If this policy is continued direful calamities will spring from it in the end, for it is impossible that public confidence should not ultimately be weakened with an immense volume of cur- rency representing only the national credit. This is a tower of strength, we know, but no treasury seal is sufficient to make irredeem- able promises to pay a safe currency fora country. The republicans of a more liberal school— those who were not educated in the policy of the old line whig party nor taught to vene- rate the United States Bank—hold on to the greenback system, but seek by various de- vices to make the legal tenders assimilate in value with gold. General Butler's plan of making customs duties partly payable in cur- rency was among the most notable of these. Tf it could be made to work the desired end in practice it would answer every require- ment; for then we should have what is more desirable than an elastic currency or a cur- rency convertible into interest-bearing bonds— The term convertible currency can have only one mean- ing, and that is a currency convertible into gold without the payment of heavy discounts. The trouble about this plan is that to the ordinary Congressional mind it is a mere the- ory—an abstraction that may be argued, but | never realized. If we wait for Congress to bring about an end so desirable as the equal- ization of greenbacks and gold, we shall have | to wait a very long time. Unlike the states- men of an earlier era our public men no longer understand finance and taxation, and it is to be feared they will not learn wisdom | in the present generation. Another plan is that of a few democratic leaders who cling to the hard money basis as a These would sweep every national bank note and every legal tender note out of | existence, and depend simply upon gold and silver for currency. If this plan could be | carried into effect it would not be resumption | merely, but the attainment of something which never was attained before; for then, if we had any paper money at all, it would only represent on its face the gold upon which it was based. This may be disposed of with- out a word of comment—it is a dream. It is plain, then, that we shall at least be compelled to retain our greenback system. In retaining it we have two especial duties to per- form—to prevent its expansion beyond the present volume of the currency, and to equal- ize it as nearly as possible with gold. As we have already remarked we should then have practically a convertible currency, and with the national bank issues out of the way, and the entire seven hundred million dollars of currency in legal tenders, we might apply the principles suggested by our correspondent with advantage to the country, and se- Scznzs or Broop rm St. Domco.—From St. Domingo we have news of the execution | of four revolutionist generals by order of | President Baez, Six other officers were held | in prison and would be shot to death at an | early day. Politico-revolutionist conspiracy the cause. Almost as bloodthirsty as in Cuba. Tue Jaranesz Caprnet has experienced a profound ministerialist sensation, caused by the discussion of the question of the propriety and policy of a war against Corea. There was & resignation of portfolios and a retirement of statesmen, youthful and fossilized, from the service ot the Mikado. ‘he crisis was only of temporary duration, however, and the Council ‘was reorganized on the peace principle, pn atacenass tetris. fi Govenxor Bunnwr, of Santiago de Cuba, in his admitted detention of our Consul’s de- Spatches touching the Virginius outrages, adds but another to the numerous proofs of his exercise of the authority of a despot com- bined with the bloodthirstiness of a barbarian, | currency. cure both an elastic and a convertible Sooner or later we shall be compelled to abolish our national banking system. As our correspondent wisely points out, itis already a monopoly; but itis not only a monopoly in the sense in which he suggests it, but a pampered and favored monopoly. Every national bank receives interest on the bonds which secure its circula- tion, and is thus paid for being favored by | the franchise, which is a monopoly. And the evil does not stop here. Financially, the soundness of the banks is, to say the least of it, questionable. The banks not only are not required to redeem their own notes, but upon the slightest alarm they are unable to honor the checks of their depositors. They are paid ® premium to enjoy the profits of a monopoly, and yet they not only fail to be useful in times of trouble, as in the recent panic, but add to the alarm and distrust of the entire business community. The system has proved itself un- just, cumbrous, unsatisfactory and dangerous, It even adds to tho financial difficulties of the country by making the “locking up’’ of groen- |; is. " Almanach de Gotha to find out the colors of backs possible. Two classes of currency, one a legal tender and the other an irredeemable , promise to pay of a bank, but both dependent upon the faith and credit of the government for their circulating value, are avomalies which in themselves should bea convincing proof that the baleful system ought to be swept away. In this connection we have a word to say to Mr. Blaine. Congress meets a week from to-day, and it may be regarded as certain that ho will be the Speaker of the next House of Representatives. In naming the Committee on Banking and Currency this time he must consult the real interests of the country. Heretofore it has been under the direct in-4 fluence of the national banking system. Its chairman wasa banker and some of its leading members were bank officers. From such a committee it was impossible to obtain a fair report on any financial proposition; it was particularly impossible to obtain any recom- mendations inconsistent with the interests of the national bank monopoly, however neces- sary to the interests of the country. With such a committee controlling the currency question, and more anxious to legislate in favor of the banks than of the people, reform is impossible. If the banks did not believe they had Congress in their power they would not have dared to show the recklessness they have exhibited. If the Treasury Department did not believe the banks controlled Congress it would have done its duty in enforcing the law, and the majority of the banks would have been compelled to go into liquidation for failing to make currency payments in the late panic. This failure on the part of the banks did more to extend the effects of the panic than any other single cause. The attention of Congress must be directed to this subject, and Mr. Blaine owes it to the country that the committee shall be so constituted that its deliberations may not be entirely in the interests of the banks. While these institutions remain constituted as they now are there is no business safety for the country. The banking business must bo left to the people just as the fishing business or any other business is left to them. Con- gress has no right to create a special class of monopolists, and it is especially unjust that the credit of the government should be hypothecated for the franchise with which these monopolists are clothed. If the United States are responsible for the currency of the country they should have the benefit of the whole, and not merely of a part of it; while, with the national bank circulation in the way, it is by no means certain that we can have either a convertible or an elastic currency. Tne United States Navy=—Its Rela. tions to Our Commercial Prosperity, Honor and Future Political Gran- deur. All nations which have been rich have been maritime. They have made their wealth in commerce. Phoenicia, Carthage, Syracuse, Venice, Portugal, Spain, Holland, and to-day England, are examples of this almost forgot- ten truth. The moment that the maritime strength of any one of these nations has declined and has gone into final decay the nation itself has all but passed from the political family of the earth. When the rebellion burst sud- denly upon us like a tornado, sweeping our commerce from the seas, we were unprepared to protect our carrying trade, and England, with that keen appetite which has always dis- tinguished her statesmen, hailed the day of our commercial despair and saw in it the triumph of a long-cherished hope. Her Ministers have always fought for the commer- cial supremacy of the seas. In their diplo- macy with us they have been cool, cunning and audacious, binding us at every point by treaty stipulations which can only expire by their own limitation. The result has been that all legislation must take place within the area of a circle, the circumference of which is British supremacy on the seas. England aspires to be the shop of the world, and she But she must also carry her own wares to market, and this she does too. Before the rebellion we shared this important trade with England, and we grew rich and prosperous. Wise maritime laws regu- lated our commerce then, and the Western influence had not made us an inland Power—a nation of grain-growers, ironmongers and cotton spinners. When the fatal day came and our ships had to fly toa foreign flag for protection the decline and fall of our com- mercial prosperity were almost hopeless. Ship- building became mane, our steamship lines passed into foreign hands, and the Atlantic States saw themselves shorn of that power which had made their seaboard the busiest coast line in the world. Zealous men made frequent efforts to recover this lost ground, but all attempts were in vain. Our skilled arti- sans became dispersed, seamen rare, and to-day we cannot obtain sailors to man our ships of war. Naturally enough, when our commerce was flattened in this manner the argument prevailed that we no longer needed a navy; and hence our deplorable condition to-day. The navy fell because our commerce fell—that is the story. Now, when an American, travelling in foreign countries, visits a seaport, say Havre, he finds a sixth class Power represented by a more formidable war vessel than the United States, and the commerce of the country by a time- worn hulk. What a palmy day was that when the American flag could be seen at the peaks of hundreds of vessels along the shores of the Mediterranean! Now the rising generation ot Southern Europe will have to turn to their our national ensign! Can it be, in view of these facts, that Spain cares a whit for the naval prowess of the United States? Do we, indeed, inspire the respect of any Power which exists by virtue of the fact that all nations which are maritime are strong? We think not. Spain has defied and insulted us, and her officials in Cuba have treated American citi- zens and American ships with more contempt than they would dare display toward Greece or Denmark. Thus it follows that, while the navy’s most intimate and natural rela- tion is to our commercial marine, rising with it, falling with it, its subsidiary relation is to our national honor, which it is powerless to protect. Our argument, then, is, foster ship- building, widen our commerce, compel our trade to be carried in American bottoms, built in American yards, andthen we will have a navy of which we need not be ashamed. The hour has como when this great question must be resolved. Congress must meet it boldly and with intelligence, as it must make an imme- diate provision for strengthening our wretched iron-clad service. We read in the columns of asneering contemporary that wooden walls are stronger than iron sides. This may be an amusing way of treating a serious question, but we do not think that the occasion is timely for the exposition of such labored wit. Our present dignity and our future poli- tical grandeur depend upon the possession of powerful iron-clad squadrons, which must not be towed like canal boats to the scene of war ; and it would be well to remember that if the amiable diplomacy of Mr. Fish succeeds in a néld settlement of the pending dispute with Spain, the West India Archipolago and the South and Central American States, to say nothing of Mexico, will always compel us to keep on a naval footing ready for war. The loud voice of ‘Manifest Destiny,” which says that the whole North American Continent must be ours, admonishes us with a warning note that we cannot work out this future with a mosquito navy. Latest from Madrid—The Proposition for Arbitration. Our latest despatches from Madrid inform us that the reports that violence had been offered by the populace to our Minis- ter are unfounded; that on Saturday Presi- dent Castelar had a long conversation with Mr. Layard, the British Minister, the result of which was regarded as favorable to the continuance of good relations. Next, it appears that in the Spanish capita! the idea of submitting the case of the Virginius to arbi- tration is much talked of, and that, should this alternative for a settlement be agreed to, the Emperor of Germany is indicated as the probable arbitrator. Arbitration in most of the disputes arising between nations is now, we believe, univer- sally desired as a judicial mode of settlement, which, while avoiding the horrors of war, may be made more satisfactory than war in the restoration of good will and fellowship be- tween the high contracting parties. Such have been the results of the Joint High Commission, the Treaty of Washington and the Geneva Conference in the settlement of our Alabama claims and various other recent troublesome matters of controversy between the United States and England. One of these trouble- some matters was our northwestern boundary dispute, which was submitted to the arbitra- tion of the Emperor of Germany, and which, from the convincing evidence submitted in behalf of the line claimed by the United States, he decided in our favor. If, therefore, the case of the Virginius could be considered as within the pale of arbitration the examples of this mode of settlement resulting from the Treaty of Washington would bind our govein- ment, we may say, to arbitration. Nor in the adoption of this plan of adjustment could a more satisfactory umpire be named to the United States than the honest and impartial Emperor of Germany. But there are offences to nations, as there are insults to individuals, which donot admit of arbitration, and the proper redress for them, cannot be reached in a suit for damages. Such was the Trent affair, in. which, for the forcible taking away of two passengers from the protection of the British flag on the high seas, England could find no other rem- edy against the United States than immediate and ample reparation or war. Such is the case of the Virginius, with the accompanying catalogue of our outstanding accounts against Spain, and that ‘imperium in imperio,” her provincial government of Cuba. In the set- tlement of these grievances we may even deal with these Cuban provincials as with a tribe of savages, held by the law of nations as subject to the flag of the civilized State which may first be raised over such tribe in evidence of the pre-emption right of occupation; for do not these Cuban provincials defy and deny the authority of Spain over the affairs of the island, and have they not fallen from civilized usages and re- straints to the atrocities of savages? In any event this Virginius outrage will not admit of arbitration, and no intervention is wanted from third parties in our settlement with Spain and her Cuban provincials. Nor can there be any settlement of these never ending but still recurring Cuban complications short of the retirement of Spain from the island. The Vienna Exhibition—The Lessons and Hopes of the Exposition. We print this morning the closingchapter in the history of the Vienna Exhibition. The substance of this report has been anticipated by telegraph, but we cannot permit this stu- pendous effort of Austrian enterprise and in- dustry to pass into history without giving some thoughts that occur to us. The progress made by the Austrian people during the last forty years is so marked that we cannot but congratulate the Emperor and the liberal and wise men by whom he is surrounded upon the important changes he has made in his Empire. Perhaps the most instructive feature of the Exhibition is international. Austria has shown every desire for sympathy and com- merce with other nations. Apart from the mere display of wealth and industry in the Industrial Palace we have had convocations of scientific men, the results of whose deliber- ations will be a valuable contribution to scien- tific literature. As we are about to have an Exhibition of our own we shall do well to learn the lessons of her failure. We see in the first place that, while the Industrial Palace, as an architectural contrivance, was unsurpassed in its way, for purposes of observation it was a failure, What our builders in Philadelphia must do is to make an exhibition building that will not exhaust the interest of the visitor be- fore he passes through one-fifth of its corri- dors. It must not be a long day’s journey from the modern industry of the United States to the older industry of Turkey. There must be none of those police restrictions which took all comfort from the visitor and made a day in the Prater as perplexing almost as an initia- tion into a secret society. Nor must our fel- low citizens of Philadelphia fall into the error of building a new city at the expense of their visitors. We do not expect in Philadelphia an exhibition as large os as varied as in Austria. Before we can expect any foreign exhibitors to be really serious and anxious about coming to Philadelphia we must mend our protective laws so that the tariff will not be virtually a dyke to prevent German or French taste and English ingenuity from com- ing ond making themselves manifest. So far from hoping to mgke any money in a pecu- niary way from the Exhibition at Philadelphia we should feel at the outset that if every dol- lar is lost that is given to the Fairmount Pal- ace, and if there are large deficiencies to be paid by the national government, wo shall have true success if we make upon the world as fair an impression as Austria has made, if we can show that our industry is as far advanced as that of the people who only a few years ago were despised by us for their super- stition and ignorance and apparent decay. Admiral Pole on the Outrage. The Spanish Minister at Washington, in an Interview with a Hznanp correspondent yes; terday, gave what may be substantially taken as the orthodox Spanish view of the Virginius outrage. Of course, Admiral Polo has felt the American pulse, and finds that the indigna- tion here is limited to a very small number—particularly, no doubt, the entire American press. He is careful to think that the regularly documented Virginius was not entitled to American protection. Her cap- ture on the high seas was, he considers, all right, because, as he remarks, “the American Consul at Kingston did wrong in clearing her."" This is exceedingly cool, but it is Spanish. We had better, indeed, remove the Consul at once and appoint the butcher Burriel in his place if we wish to learn how to administer our own laws, of which we have hitherto supposed ourselves the judge. Then, as to the butchery at Santiago, it was all right also. They have a municipal law, and if they sent a man-of-war to New York and captured the Cuban Junta on Sandy Hook, they would calmly butcher them as soon as the man-of- war entered a Cuban port. Then we are to think of the “sister Republic” if we still find it in our hearts to saya word against the bloody minded ruffians who slaughter our citizens «at ~— will We confess that all this is very poor pleading in a bad cause, but then the Spanish Minister must be respected for doing the best he can for it. It is, however, something quite re- lieving when the brave Spanish sailor throws off the diplomat and tells us, there is Cuba; “take it if you can.’’ He is hardly certain that we could not take it; but then there is a tough fight in store for us. When we have got it, he asks, what will we do with it? He has learned from some intelligent Americans, possibly marinés, that ‘the Cubans are incapable of self-government,’’ but there is little uso in discussing that question just now. It will be settled in its own good time, even if we aro compelled to take Cuba for ourselves, The Private Bargainings of Buchu Diplomacy. Our great Buchu diplomat, whom we intro- duced to the public yesterday in his proper colors, sometimes plays a very sinister game. This occurs when he has succeeded in com- municating his plan to the diplomat of a foreign country with which America has a difficulty. It is not every diplomat who would stoop so low as to take part in such degrading exercises as Secretary Buchu would propose. It is not every diplo- mat who would consent to make the honor of his nation a scarecrow, ‘a thing of shreds and patches,’’ without body or soul. But the diplomat who would act a leading part in one of Secretary Buchu’s farces must do this. The Buchu diplomat, like the Scotch beggar of Burns’ cantata, has no scruples for his part. His motto is, ‘‘Let them cant about decorum who have characters to lose;”’ and his argument with the other diplo- mat amounts to this:—‘If you only knew how comfortably I can _ get along without dignity you would sec the force of Falstaff's philosophy, that honor is nothing ‘to him that died o’ Wednesday.’ Let us get up a little stir upon a proper under- standing that nothing but ink shall be shed, and you and I shall be the best of friends and keep our places; this last, I take it, being | the great object all diplomats should have in view.” If this argument is successful the for- eign diplomat speedily becomes, to all ap- | pearance, a very haughty and passionate fellow indeed, Secretary Buchu fires off despatches which make the welkin ring; he flaunts our flag in the face of the Buchuized foreign diplomat. The short sighted people are thrown completely off their guard. The whole thing, they imagine, must be in earnest, for they behold the Buchuized foreigner hurling back defiance at a fearful rate. Unused to anything like backbone’ in Secretary Buchu, they are convinced that the national honor is safe in his keeping for once. He takes every occa- sion to tell everybody that as a guardian of national dignity he is without a peer. His brow becomes terrible, but as the public cannot see his “lily liver” it cannot fathom | the disreputable fantasy of Buchu. Public in- dignation, which has been excited by a fiendish | outrage, is ata high pitch. Our flag has been insulted, our citizens murdered and our ships | captured. Men meet each other in the streetand | the first thing on their lips is the expression | of firm intentions to demand of our rulers that reparation be obtained. The wrong suffered is one that cannot be endured unrequited. The calm, dispassionate men, who are gener- ally behind the populace in the expression of strong opinion, become emphatic in their cry for prompt reparation. The country blazes with the sense of an un- righted wrong. Secretary Buchu is now in his glory. His flaming de- spatches are evoking fiery rejoinders from the Buchuized foreigner, and in the cool of the evening Buchu and the foreign diplomat meet like rival lawyers or mutual-masticating country editors, with sniggers and sneers over @ bottle or two of iced champagne. Then they talk over their plan. It is now time to bring the goodly Buchuism into full play. ‘You see, my dear Don,’ says Buchu, ‘we must begin to tone down. I'll abate my demands to-morrow, and you must become reasonable the day after. Then, for home consumption, I shall make the eagle scream over your temperateness, and be still more pacificatory the day following. You must then accede lottily to about one- quarter of my original demands, and I shall howl over the victory. We shall fix the day for the apology at a year from now, and you can scuttle the steamer or have her burned. You had better let the prisoners escape, and, if I am compelled to ask the degradation of the murderer, you may reprimand him and move him somewhere else, with a promotion. situdes of those best Isid among mice ané men. There are times when a nation will nol be turned aside from its just purpose bys thing of tricks and hollow bombast. Spain and the United States have been raving ab each other through their respective diplomats, and Secretary Buchu has begun to turn and run. He is somewhat dismayed to find that the indignation roused by the Virginius outrage will not down at his Buchu bidding. Ho must do something to gain time, and he querulously whimpers, “The country has given itself up to passion.” He finds that while his crescende pleased the nation, his diminuendo is scouted as the sign of oa trimmer and a craven. He may sneer and _ snigget in his sleeve, but if he loves his place he will change his tune. To Secretary Buchu national honor is noth- ing. He will endeavor to save as much of his plan as he dares, and we may not be surprised if we learn that he agrees to take the word of impotent Spain for the fulfilment of all his de- mands, except the abolition of slavery. If he succeeds in palming off this upon the coun- try he will triumph so far that, as Spaim is unable to give us any redress in Cuba, the country will be left with an empty apology in its ears, amid the renewed rejoicings of the savage Spanish wretches who dragged the mutilated corpsea of Ryan and Varona around the streets of San- tiago de Cuba. We shall see how Secretary Buchu acts, and if his quackery can cheat the nation out of its due the people will put thia latest humiliation, along with the others they have suffered, in the museum, where will be gibbeted for ajl time the shameful doings we have seen perpetrated in the age of Buchu. Spain’s Objections to Our Demands Some notion of the character of the Spanish answer to the demands of our government, and of the grounds on which they base their refusal to comply with them, may be gathered from the points given in our Washington telegrams yesterday. Five points were pre- sented, three of which denied that the Virginius was entitled to our protection; the fourth denied that Ryan was a citizen of the United States, and the fifth alleged that the Virginius at the time she was taken was engaged in an unlawful expedition, contrary to the neutrality laws of the United States, under which laws all on board might hava been convicted without reference to the ques- tion whether or not war existed in Cuba. We pay in this country some millions of dollars annually to keep up a government and the machinery of administration, courts and judges and functionaries of all sorts; and we may see by the above how absurd and useless it is to do all that when the Spaniards stand willing and ready to save us all our expendi- ture and all our trouble in the premises, and take the whole business off our hands by simply administering our government for us. Hereis a ship that, it seems, has violated our neutrality laws. The Spaniards save us the bother of having this point judicially determined by determining it for us off hand in the office of their Minister of Foreign Affairs, or, perhaps, even in Cabinet council. Not only so, but they save us the expense we might be at in catching the ship; and, having caught hea and killed all the dangerous fellows on board, and thus made a descent on their coast im- possible, they have, of course, saved us enor. mous prospective damages; for if the Vir- ginius has violated our neutrality laws we might, in case she had landed an expedition, have had to pay for her depredations. But that is not all the trouble the Spaniards have saved us. There is much more of the same sort of favor from them included in the three points that deny the right of the Virginius to our protection. They say she is not an American ship, as she is owned by Cubans and registered falsely in the name of an American; that, even if owned by this American now, her register is false, as since it was made she has been owned by other per- sons, and that she has frequently sailed under other flags than ours. There is a tremen- dous complication, therefore; but it is a complication that nations ordinarily have te settle for themselves in regard to their ships; | and, in fact, it is common between nations for these things to be regarded as domestic con- cerns, for inasmuch as every nation fixes for itself the conditions upon which it gives a ship the right to carry its colors, it is ordi- narily thought to be the only competent judge whether the conditions have been complied with, But our friend, the Castilian, in his ardor to do us a service, has not been tram- melled by any such small comities, and has | settled with airy ease what he knew might seriously annoy us. In fact it seems open to consideration whether we might not as well, nationally speaking, shut up shop; for, as the Spaniard gets the habit of doing such things for us, what will be the use of our keeping up a govern: ment? If one part of the legitimate duty of our government is done by the Spanish gov: ernment, and we seem to like it, amother part | will doubtless be done by some other gevern ment, and this will render it finally altogsher superfluous and absurd for us to have any government of our own. It will be a great economy, and economy is and ought to be in great favor. It will be hard on the poor olé American engle to be thus turned out in the cold, but who would be ill-natured to Spais A Good Word for a Christian Hero In the appes] of Captain Fry, of the Vir ginius, to the council of war at Santiago de Cuba for the lives of his crew, we have the ap peal of a brave man, worthy the heroism ot “the brave days of old Rome’’—of a here whose courage, chivalry, tenderness and fidel ity towards his followers is hardly surpasseé by any of the glorious examples of history, And what an unhappy life was his, and what a melancholy death! How saddening are these words of his ap peal for his unfortunate crew :— The council well know that I'am not pleading fot my life. Ihave neither home nor country. A victim of war and persecution, I have been shut out from the road to prosperity until am unable to provide bread for my wife and seven children, who know what it it to suffer from the vicissitudes of my life. My life is onewpf suffering, and it is not for myselt that Limplore. The poor Bosa, a poor gen tleman, with a heart os tender and compas sionate as that of a woman, who thought mort of others than of himsolf—pardon him. Thv Will you have a little more ice with yours ?'’ But the plans of Buchu must share the vicis- poor fellow is my servant, hired to wail unon ‘mo in por avd,ia not inscribed