The New York herald. [volume], December 29, 1854, MORNING EDITION, Image 4

About The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920

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-*EW YORK HERALD.
IAIBI SOB now ?????**,
PROPRIETOB AND EDITOR.
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MMTI mi fi?TIC('L4*I.T tm^HTlD TO IBAl* AM
kTTtll AND PAOKASSa ICMT VI.
NO N'OTICK t iken at atvaymm ronmanit .i'iow. '''? J<
Wt*rt*mrn thair rtjtrtld.
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AM 02JM A.VTS THIS 1VRNIWQ.
WMAPVAT THKATHK, nroAd*?? -Sophia's Si ppin
BKCili l OpBKA? LA r*TL DC Daxcs,
?0W11T THBATBB. Uowrry? *v Nnuiok'i Win
Whitx Hot? IIimaoii op Mjchilumajcihac.
KBLO'S GABDEN, Bro?dw?r? Bohbmiab Girl.
BVITRN'l TH1ATRB, Uhtakm airMt-CrriR Tbn
abb Lowbr Twkkt* ? Nicb Youbo Mai.
WALLACE'S THIATRK. BroAdw?y? Thb Sistbbs
finTDXAR prom I a blah d Wipb's Sbcobd Vloob
?BTBOroLITAy THBATBB. *t*Mwa?- Nick or tub
Woods-Robbr* Macaibb BBrpTiA.f Fribcb
AUUOAN MD8BDM? AAbtbmb? Bv?tachb. Imiif
?bb Bot.
WOOD'S TABIXTIBS ? MtahRBios' HbII, 473 BrwUwAJ?
NWLBTS OPBKA H0C3B, 030 BtBftdw*7-Bco>
Mrr's Btmiopiah Opbba Troupb.
?tow York, Friday, December 90, ISM.
The New*.
The steamship Atlantic, now In her fourteenth
dayoot from Liverpool, had not been telegraphed
. W bandy Hook at tirelve o'clock last night Tne
?nnsnally dense fog. chat have prevailed for several
?BJ? past sufficiently account for her delay.
to another column will be found Secretary Marcy'a
wply to the protest which we published on Wednes
day from Mr. Molina, the Minister from the repub
le of ?osta R.ca, against the projected colonization
acheme of Col. Kinney. Mr. Marcy states that hi
woes not perceive upon what grounds the govern
ment of the United States can interfere with the
proposed expedition, which appears to bs apeace
W enterprise, involving possibly agricultural.
?Jtotog and commercial speculations, bat contem
flattng no measure which will render them amenable
to the neutrality laws of the United States. The
question of validity of lands between then an I
?Jher claimants is a matter to be adjudged, not by
government of the United States, but by the
IribenaJs of the State within which the dispute
?ball wise. The Kinney expedition is accordingly
officially endowed by onr government.
We have received our letters and files of papais
lrom Havana to the 24th instant. The latter
?ata nothing of any interest. In the former will b^
?H?d an aceouit of another of those cases of o ,
wkiZh hj *** Co,lector of the Port of Havan'i,
Which shows a continued disposition on the put of
thrffH! 0ffiC'aU t0 lDterTnPt- b* every means in
S' pef.' 0Ur trade with the The trial of
ftC08,e' in the Biru
fw affair, was expected to take place shortly.
By way of New Orleass we iuve advices fro u
Mexico to the 19th in?t. Gen. Santa Anna has, of
aoorae, been elected President by nearly a nnnni.
moos vote. Reports were prevalent at the capitd
of additional victories of the government troop*
ovar the insurgents; and it was likewise stated tint
wen. Alvarez had approached within eighteen
league* ot the city.
In another column will bo found an iuter-'stius
?win>uni:?ion in reference to the effect of Mr.
Adams proposed Eaturalizct.on bill on the foreign
*wnent in the volnnteer force of the United State*.
We publish this document less from concnrrcnce
with the views of the writer, than for the inform 4.
Won which it famishes regarding the proportions
of natives ar.d adopted citizens which make up the
ranks of uur hti'e militia. Our correspondent
evidently labors under * misapprehension re.-p ot
'Bfftbe provision* of the proposed bill. They are
atrietly jr 'spe tlve.in their operation, and will not
?fleet ?hcW foreigners who happen to l? in the
country previous to the passage of the bill. All
mch p, rsons will be entitled to the rights and pri
?ikges granted by the old law, and, therefore, so
?ar as regards the present constitution of our vo*
lnateer o< upanies. the apprehensions taat he ex
presses will prove Kroundless.
It appears that there is nothing new in the
decision of Judge Dean, of the Supreme Court of
we 3'ate of New York, published in Wednesday's
paper. We understand that, so far back as 1839,
?M of the Judgts ot the Common Pleas of this city
decided that the exsmination of parties aeekrag
naturalization should be made by the Judge, and !
bis initials should be affixed to the affid4vits I
which arc placed on file. This method of proceed
?g is adop'ed in all onr courts, and never has been
depaifen from since. The clerk only prepares the
Papers, and administer* the oath to the applicant
for citizenship in presence of the Judge.
Yoter^ay evening the Board of Aldemen held
the last n eetlnsr bat t ?o which can be convened by
them as at preeer.t constltnted. They donated
?1,000 to tie WomsB'j Association for a home for
discharged female convicts. The report of the
oomxittte respecting the re purchase of the Fort
Uaawvoort property, wm made a special order for
Friday ev?nirg. The subject of the lease of the
public markets wan brought up and discussed, but I
Doihirg rewwus advanced beyond what has been
ntteied on the Fame matter on former occasions.
The further crnsideiation of the subject was p>t
port(', and 1 e Board adjourned to Friday evening.
The proceedings of ??-e Board of Cooncilmen las'
?wairg w. re unusually interesting. In our report
will be found ihr crdio icce autooriziog the <stoe
ot bor^s Uf-on t, p<yabu, by assessments.
Th ? >..1 ?? ? VI M ?*? ,.,(U? af rmo .n acted ur?on
a novtb-r m id's, at, I ad.pt. da report in- Tear
iryt'o F.i? u, 0. c;.rkj Ju the ConQt QIerk-8
office.
Elishs tvfcaW, Nothing caudidate for As
sembH >n th^Orlesrs district, to fill the vactncy
occ?sioB?d bv 'ho doat of Alexia Ward, is reported I
as eleceil. There tu no whig csndidat*. j
* '?biy* luvr, arrived yesterday from Havre
with 6M) passengers, had fourteen deatta and two
Mrtbs or, th* passage; ard the ship St. Nicola-,
reo* the same port, had seven deaths aud two
Wrtbfl. I
*?" flu"r maI*' tysterday continued firm for all
grades. The sales tr, eluded about 1.200 bbh.com.
aaon State 1 brands, at $n 874, 500 of which were for
export Canad, an was qniet at about f 10 per bbl..
?'v BTHn WM with Mie? *9 25
a $10 the latter for Georgatow?. lodian com
!". |J CUlge P?rk was
e^ady. with moderate sales. Cotton was quiet
with small transactions, as dealer, were waiting the'
aewH by the AtUnt.c. (Iroceries were more active
The sales embraced about 2.5u0 hags Rio cofleo at
96. for skimmings to 10J ?. for go,d ,iaality. There
was al>o mote doing in su^ar and molasses, without
ma'etlal aiteiation i . quotations.
SPAsmi Auf.st is Sa.vta Domixoo.? We un
derstand that Don Edtiarrio Sa 1 Just, Commer
cial Agent of the yueen of .Spain to the Domin.
lean republic, ha* arrived in the city of Santa
Domingo, and by onr last advices from that
r.ify had entered upon 1 he duties of his office.
What's in the wind now T This is the first case
of an agent being sent to the Domin can repub
lic by Spain; and it look* ** f the ? triple al
. twice" were concocting m-n not very
iuvorablc I9 00. We must bt 00 u^. civt>
Extraordinary and Mm! Important 0|Imup
tk IntettgcRMMllMCnba A*?f
tlen of Um Ostend War Polky-JjMt Card ?f
ttie AdMlalatnOon.
Our special telegraphic advices from Washing
ton, of this morning, touching t' e latest move
ments of Soull and the Cabinet and the Ostend
diplomacy on 'he Cuba question, are of the very
bighes interest and importance. They are spe
cific and circumstantial and we are fully as
sured of their authenticity. The intelligence
which we are thus enabled to lay before our
readers, is, therefore, of the utmo t m m*nt,
involving, as 1 ooe?, the abandonment by
Marcy of his conciliatory Spanish policy, and
his surrender to the war coalition of ? he Ostend
convention. The result is that in behalf of
the President, the Secretary of State is pre
paring an extraordinary message to Congress
upon our relations with Spain, of a decisive and
belligerent character.
Thus our Cabinet and diplomatic intrigues
and entanglements upon Cuba, of the last twelve
months, are brought to a crisis, ?nd the admin
istration, in its present extremity of distress,
has resolved <o play its last card, and stake its
det-perate fortunes upon the venture. The un
meaning and scanty allusions to our affairs
with Spain in the late annual message to Con.
gress, led us to Buspect at the time, that
Spain aod Cuba were held in reserve, the plan
of Mr. Fierce being first to try the experiment
of the soothing system. It failed ? iignally
failed; the annual message, for all purposes of
political capital, proved an abortion. Now,
after much wrangling and a hard struggle
with Marcy, the radicals have succeeded in
whipping up the old moderado to the wgrk,
rather than resign his place to their substitute.
The Ostend, the Cabinet and Kitchen Cabinet al
liance have thus prevailed in making Marcy the
active agent of Buchanan in the adoption of his
Ostend Cuba platform for the Presidency ; and
we Lave only now to wait patiently for the war
message wnich is to be thrown into Congress,
and the explosion of the bomb.
It appears from our despatch, which corro
borates all our previous inlormatiou upon the
subject, (hat the (Mend convention was a Pre
sidential caucus, with Buchanan for its cham
pion and Soul6 for its manager ? that they
agreed upon a decisive war policy towards
Spain, and that a leading object of their pro
ceedings was to hoist Marcy out of the Cabinet
and put Buchanan on the new Cuba platform,
in the high road for the succession. It also ap
pears that Marcy, from the beginning, has been
the great obstacle in the way of this Ostend
coalitiou, and that Caleb Cushing, in his letters
l'rom Washington, all along, has been an active
co- laborer in their efforts to supplant the un
suspecting Premier.
Their scheme was too brilliant, however, to
admit of any nicc scruples in regard to Marcy
A policy which comprehended "the acquisi
tion of Cuba m less than six months," or a war
with France and Spain, embodied so much of
grandeur and glory as to excuse almost any
conspiracy which would remove the only ac
tive enemy in the administration to the plan.
Ambitious of distinction, and bold and ad<oit
in the prosecut:on of his game, SouU has bent
all bis energies to a belligei ent issue with the
Spanish government. He has found in Mason
an aspiring and willing instrument, and in
Buchanan a credulous believer in Baltimore
conventions and in the capital of a war-cry for
the Miccession. Sustained, also, by Kossuth.
Sickles and Sanders, in London, and by the ac
tive co-operation of Cushing and tin Kitchen
Cabinet at Washington, we cease to wonder at
? he success of Soull, or at the credulity of
Buchanan, or the final submission of Marcy.
The decouement is at hand. The whole plot
will come to its grand developement in the
message which Marcy is preparing for Con
press. Meantime things are going on at Ma
drid precisely to the heart's desire of Soule.
He has been received, upon his return to the
Spanish capital, with indifference, and has been
treated with contempt. Kspartero professes to
be too much engrossed in home affairs, or in
tiding out with the ladies, to re-open negotia
tions with our Minister upon the Black War
rior, or the purchase of Cuba, or anything else.
Of course this is insufferable. Soul6, therefore,
writes home for definite instructions, and we
may now divine what they arc to be. Our bel
licose ambassador may yet achieve his desired
ultimatum of a rupture with the Spanish Cabi
net, a demand for his passports, and a trium
phant return to AV asbington as a flaming mes
senger of war.
According to our Washington advices of a
few days ago, the Cabinet have abandoned for
the present the idea of prosecuting negotia
tions for the acquisition of Cuba. The special
mtssage which Jinicy is drawing up will most
probably confirm this information. The recom
int ndations of this rues r ago will, we suspect, be
limited to the unsettled affair of the Black
Warrior, and a considerable schedule of
similar outrages upon our commerce and
our citizens, by or with the connivance
of the Spanish authorities of Cuba. Sp
on these unliquidated grievances a strong
case may be built, strong enough to make the
can* of Young America and the Order of the
Lone Star tingle with delight. Unless, too.
Marcy again disobeys the wishes of the Cabi
net. as be appear# to Lave done in his S'ate
papers, in repeated instances heretofore, such \
case may be expected soon to be lalib fore
the two hou:es. It will be an easy matter
to drive Spain to the wall upon the un
sttfled balances of these aforesaid Cubm
outrage*. The E>partero government could
bordly venture with safety to answer a posi
tive dtinand for justice, with prompt and
fatisfactory reparation, withou' exciting a dan
..gerous reaction among the inflammable revo
lutionary Spanish people.
Yes: The Black Warrior and other Cuban
outrages will do. Make a case of them of posi
tive. prompt and full reparation and indem
nity, with security for the future, and Soule
will get his passports, and the fill ibusteros may
I prepare, as volunteers, for a cescent upon
i Havana Bat no time i* to be lost. There
? may be peace sooner than we expect in Europe.
J We say there may be. The administration
I appears to be aware of this ; and of the ne
cessity of precipitating the Ostend coup d'ttat
with Spain while England and France
are absorbed in Sebastupol. Wo must
strike while the iron re hot ; for. 1
should France and England be re
lieved of Rn?sia before we shall have male a
final settlement with Spain, that settlement may
go over, with our unfinished business, to the
| next generation.
I repare, then, for the message ? a strong
message- -a war message, npoa our relation*
with Spa.n. It is tbe last card of the adminis
tration?it is th?> rou p d'ttai of Son 1^ and the
| Oatend league? it is the last ho* piewje.,
I y?id the lit Bt hope of Buchwao, The l?te elec*
tions have le't the administration and id finatl
remaining party in a des erate state o des
pondency! The furor of a war policy is the
last ebanoe. Curious coincid nee, that whil-i
the House C. mmittee oa Foreign Affairs are
engaged upon the ; r j(t of a peace commission
to the European belligerents, Mturcy, the peac ?
man i f the Cabin t, M ould be engaged in con
cocting a rupture with Spain! It is the last
caid. Let it be pl.yed. The proceeding* ot
Congress have becoa.e flat aud stut> d. Give
them som hing to ?:o. Give them themes
sage. Don't flinch aid f all back. We have had
enough of that. Sen*] up the message.
The Corporation AdTerttalnf-PUgg'i Ov
tad)
The cen&ure that haa been showered from all
quarters upon Mr. Flagg's leport on the Corpo
ration advertising has *t last driven him to
attempt a defence in the columns of the Jour
nal of Commerce. We give the docunent
elsewhere, as it appeared in that new spa >er;
that is to say, in the disguise of an editorial
article : and now, the public may judge be
tween Mr. Flagg and ourselves. The question
at issue lies in the smallest possible compass.
The law ? whose merits may pass unnoticed
at present ? pays that the advertising shall be
given to the five Journal* which iffertodoit
at the lowest rate per thousand copies circu
lated in the city.
Thereupon the Herald, Timet and Sun,
with two German papers, offer to publish said
advertising at a lower rate per thousand papers
circulated in the city than any other journal ?
the Herald's bid being the lowest of all? ami
claim the advertising accordingly.
Yet the Comptroller, moved by hatred of the
Herald, which has exposed his mismanagement
of the city finances, makes an award in favor of
four of said five journals, excluding the
Herald, whose tender was the lowest, and
substituting the P?st, the or>?anof the political
clique to which Azar.ah C. Flagg belongs.
When this award was made, Mr. Flagg gave
as his reason 'or breaking the law in this
flagrant and barefautd manner, the following
tabular statement
1 l? fe b I- ??
? a, r < 3. S 5 - v. a.
? : & : H *3 5*2 TI
?*> ? <? ? a 3 " : * s ? -?
3 : ? : ? Qs, : 9- s? s s.
Herald 53,260 40,004 8 $19,024 32
Sun 42,670 ;J4.709 iy% 11,272 oO
Times 26,440 23,473 5 7,615 20
Demokrat n'tgi'n 7,000 1J< 2,430 32
Staats Zeitung. .. ? 10,900 2 3,000 OS
Evening I'ost.... ? 3,000 1?{ 1,127 28
The gist of this w to show that, if the law
were c< mplied with, it would cost the city
$12,024 a year for having its advertisement in
serted in the 40,004 copies of the Herald, where
as it would only co?t $1,127 to have them in the
3,000 copies of the Post. H 'nce, said Mr.
Fiagg, I think it would be more economical to
violate the law than to obey it, and therefore re
commend ihc advertising to be given to the
Pott instead of tie Herald. If, instead of
being the leading journal of North America, tho
Herald had been a s ckly organ oT an effete
political party, leading an obscure existence
with one-thirteenth its present circulation, the
aggregate amount of its bills against the Cor
poration would have been lesB than those ot
the Post, and then, according to the Comptrol
ler's reasoning, it would have obtained th"
award. But as it is, being thirteen times -s
valuable at; the Post, as a vehicle of publicity.
Mr. Flagg ruled it out on account of its great cir
culation. He had the unparalleled impudence
to write over his own signature that 40,000 ad
vertisements printed and distributed for eiglr
cents a line were dearer than 3,000 advertise
ments printed and distributed at I 3-lc. a line,
or in other words that two mills were a larger
sum than two mills and a half.
Driven to bay by the uproar created by this
audacious endeavor to gratify his private
spleen, Mr. Flagg now shifts his ground, and
urges fresh excuses for his conduct, through
the medium of the Journal of Commerce. He
says that "suspicion at once attaches to the
statcmeot of ihe Herald of its city circulation.
Much of it, sold at its counter, finds its way
immediately through express and steamboat
lines to distant parts of the country; and yet it
is present d, but improperly, as city circu
lation."
We are surprised that a respectable paper
like the Journal of Commerce should lend It
self to the propagation ot such scandalous im
putations as these. Personally it is impossible
that we can have any accurate knowledge of
the city circulation of the Herald : but the
persons who made the affidavits have ample
means of ascertaining what that circulation is,
atd their cbarncter. we will take leave to saj*.
is full ns good and their oath as worthy of reli
ance as those of Mr. Flagg himself, or the edi
tors of the Journal of Commerce. It is be
neath a respectable journal to seek to gain pri
vate ends by casting calumnious aspersions oft
honorable men. If ihe Journal of Commerce
cannot defend its friend Flagg without insinu
ating that the rest of the world are addicted to
perjury, it had better let him alone, or at all
events it should wait until the individuals it
maligns have been openly chtrged with false
oaths in print over the signature of a responsi
ble man, and no prosecution has followed.
The quibble as to the distribution of the city
Heralds by express and steamboat lines is
worthy of the author of the Comptroller's report
The circulation stated in the affidavit to tho
Comptroller is exclusive of the papers we sand
by mail and to distant agents; what becomes
of those wo pell over our counter neither
we nor any one else can tell. The presump
ticn is that a large proportion thereof,
after being read in the city, are sent by
mail or other convej ance to frieods of the
subscribers in the country; but to argue that
thereby our city circulation is diminished is
ridiculous. Our employes have sworn in com
pliance with the law; to go beyond that is
neither the province of Mr. Flagg nor of the
Journal of Commerce.
There is. more in the article In question about.
Americsns "blushing" for the Hf.rald ? our
" upholding licentiousness and corruption, "
" using our whole power to degrade the morals
of tbe community,'' and so forth. Our excel
lent cotemporary is behind the age. All this,
and much more of the like tenor, used to b > said
commonly enough before the Herald attained
its present position, and wbile it had rivals; but
now that we think we may say it has passed
the point when serious rivalry was feasible,
everybody but very old fogies has ceased to
think it necessary to abuse us. Mr. Flagg must
brush up; wc arc near 1855. Then as to ' up
holding licentiousness and corruption,'' if the
Journal of Commerce or any other paper had
fought a quarter as fiercely against corruption
of all sorts as we have, it would have more em
mice and a ore f ut-cribtrs than it pow counts
It ii possible, as the Journal hints, that the
Common Council may reiec Flagic's report.
Bat if they do s >, affection for us will h ve no
share in their motives. If ire have teen their
friends, where in the name if goodness are their
enemies?
There is one suggestion in t*e Journal in
which we entirely concur. It says: ?
The e?ur?e to be pursued by the city, instead of em
ploying Ave or t?wn papers, i* that adopted at Wa*h
mgton. and by tvery State in the Union, to bar* a * ngle
pajier rtnployf) in this service? on the agreement that a
sufficient number of copies of the city adverti ruienta
sball be furn< bed to each department, to be o!)t:>iued
by nny cit zen. Thin course will diminish tht> expense,
produce fuir c mpetition cn the part of the pre ?, and
p event the combination* and arrangfmonts now made,
aud more than all, the corruption to which the present
mtasuro will give rise.
Undoubtedly. The city should act just a-?
any private individual does, and endeavor to
obtain the greatest publicity at the smallest ex
pente. For ourselves we care not whether the
Corporation advertisements appear in our
columns or not: in a business light, they would
be no advantage; and tbey would consume
space which we can employ more profitably.
We had far rather resign all claim to them
thau see the city mulcted in a hundred thou
sand a year lor advertisements in live "journals
two of which are in a foreign language. Bat
to see the whole Corporation patronage ased as
a tool in the hands of Flagg to gratify his pri
vate pique, and reward bis personal friends, we
shall never submit; and, if we know the pub
lic, it shall not be done.
Santa Anna Turned Slavedkalkr. ? If any
thing were wanting to complete the despicable
portrait presented to us by the man who, at
present, exercises so fatal- an influence over the
destinies of Mexico, it would be found in our i
correspondence of to-day. A letter which we
publish from a well informed correspondent in
the Mexican capital gives the finishing touch to
a character which nothing but the last extreme
<>f political and social demoralization could
bave brought prominently upon the scene.
Various as have been the aspects under which
the present ruler of Mexico has appeared to us,
in the many desperate shifts to which he has
been reduced by his own incapacity and want
of principle, we have seen nothing as yet which
equals in cold blooded inhumanity and atrocity
the villanous part ascribed to him in the com
munication to which we refer. The statement
of our correspondent amount* to this? that for
the paltry consideration of $20;000 General
Santa Anna has authorised his former aid-de
camp, Col. Jimenez, to proceed to Yucatin to
wage war against the Indians of that State for
the purpose of making captives, who are to be
sold at the rate of fifteen dollars a head to
Mest-rs. Goicuria & Co., a Spanish firm at Ha
vana, for a term of years. It is needless to
say that the object of this compact is to sup
ply the deficiency of slave labor in the island,
caused by the compliance of the Spanish gov
erbment with the requirements of Great Britain
and France as to the suppression of the tratlic.
Once introduced into Cuba, under cover of this
forced apprenticeship, these unfortunate Indians
will be immediately re-sold to the planters, and
like the Bolz is and Emancipados, will be re
duced to a condition infinitely worse than that
ot the recognized slave. As to the recovery of
their freedom at the end of the stipulated term,
they have as Utile chance of it as the miscalled
lrte laborers who have either under the appren
ticeship system voluntarily delivered tbeoi
selves into bondage, or been brought withia tbe
operation of the foolish measures by whic'i
twaddling philanthropists have endeavored to
mitigate what they call the evils of slavery.
Without entering, however, into the discussion
of these questions, there can, we think, be but
one opinion as to the cupidity and wickedness
ol this pioc^ediBg on the part of the Mexican
Dictator, tespaeian once asked if the coia
wrung from an odious tax smelt of its origin.
We can tell Santa Anna that wealth thus ac
quired win j-tink i'j the nostrils of humanity.
Kossrra and Other Refugees.? -We have
not filled our columns with the speech recently
delivered by M. Kossuth, at St. Martin's Hall,
Longaore, London; partly because other mas
ters of more pressing interest required tbe
space, and partly because we see no sound pur- j
poso to be gained by disseminating the senti
ments of the Hungarian exile. It is easy enough
for M. Kossuth or any one else, seated quietly
by a fireside at home, to criticise the move
ments of the allies and to argue on paper or
in a speech that they have gone to one place
when tbey should have gone to another, and
that they have done what they ought not to
bave done, and that they have neglected the
things which tbe interest of Europe and the
war requir d them to do. Centuries ago, the t
old poet told us that criticism was easy, art
difficult. Hence, when a man undertakes to
criticise the acts of another, he is only entitled
to a bearing on one of two grounds, either be
cause he say 3 things which are obviously true, j
or because, the truth of his assertions being
less apparent at first sight, the character of the
critic invests them with a show of plausibility.
Now the reasoning of M. Kossuth is not obvi
ously true. The allies have certainly failed
hitherto at Sebastopol; but on what grounds
ore there any reasons for supposing they would
have succeeded better elsewhere ? Sir Charles
Napier had a Jalr trial in the Baltic, and came
beck without having done anything. As to a
descent on Poland, in the first place, it
could not be made without an invasion
of the territories of Prussia, which was
not to be thought of, and secondly,
Russia had, besides a garrison of 100,000
men or thereabouts in the cities, an army
of 300,000 men on the watch on the iron
tier. The allies have never been able to
muster over 110.000 men; what could tbey
have done against a force four times their own
strength, and fighting on a home base, sur
rounded by every munition of war, and receiv
ing reinforocments whenever required? M.
Kossuth's criticism is clearly not one of thjse
where accuiacy strikes the mind at first sight.
Next as to the character of the critic. There
was a time, not many years ago, when Louis
Kossuth had a chance of testing his ability as a
general. He was then the leader of a large and
powerful nation in arms against an oppressive
government: he had right on his side, the sym
pathies of all Europe except Russia, and a
strong and staunch army. In the ranks of his
enemies w? re many who, had the war been con
ducted with skill, would have joined tbe rebel
cause. Vie na was fre>h from insurrection,
and Italy only waited a blow to be struck to
rise and operate a diversion in favor of Hun
gary. Tet with all these advantages, this same
Louis Kosouth, who now upbraids England aid
the allied generals with what he calls their
blunders, could hardly hold oat a few months,
and finally fled from bis country into the arms
of the Turks. Surely this Is not the sort of
ntan whone ?harao?er 4Brests*hi?r erMctan with
value, If be knows what should be done bq
mack better than Lord Raglan and Canrobert,
not to speak ef Lord Aberdeen and Napoleon,
why did 1? fall so is gloriously himself? Why
did he not nee a little of hie super-eminent
science and fkill to save Hungary?
A man may fail, and be none the less capable
on sccouut thereof. The most successful men
have been at times on the brink of ruin : Louis
Napoleon could not pay for his wa-hing. But
if in such cases the world generously consents
to make allowance for misfortune, and acquits
such men of want of ability, it has a right to
expect that they will not prerame on its good
nature to speak and act as though perfect
triumph bad crowned their endeavors. An
author who having published a bad novel
would at once set about showing that neither
Mitchell nor Hawthorne nor Melville knew any
tning of novel writing, and that their books de
served not to sell, would be likely to meet with
severe and merited castigation. Just so with
M. Kossuth, Mazzini, Ledru Rollin and the other
exiles. Tbey all had their chance ? in some
cases a fair and promising oue ? but not one
ont of the number had the tact or the sense
or the prudence to maintain himself. Common
decency should remind them of this, when they
feel impelled to cavil at the acts of others. It
is quite likely that the expedition to the Crimea
may prove a total failure; and that, as Kousuth
says, not one in Ave of the men sent out wili
return to his home. But could any one
have done better ? Would the allies have met
any different reception anywhere else? at Riga
or Cronstadt for instance ? Is it not plain to
demonstration that, as was the case in our own
war, the extent of the Russian territory, its
distance from Western Europe, and the nature
of the climate will alone defeat every invasion'/
On* Sew Acquisition of the Galapagos Islands
?Another Dead Bargain for our Spare Mil
lions.
Galphin was a mere private, and Schuyler
hardly a brevet above corporal in the spoils divi
sion of sappers and miners. It requires a general
to push the trenches undtr and Into the walls
of the citadel, and General Pierce, the rumor
is, has eclipsed them all in doing the clean
thing at a tingle bound.
Three millions, the story goes, are to be paid
by a recent treaty, for the Archipelago of Ga
lapagos, an arid pile of rocka and lava, radi
ating from about 30 minutes south latitude and
72 or 73 west longitude, embracing some two
degrees of latitude and five of longitude, and
distant same six or seven hundred miles from
the Pacific shore of the Western continent.
Pletfty of fish, few and rare animals, tolerable
harbors, more Spanish convicts, a scarcity of
fresh water, showers few and far between, tall
rockfe in the middle and deep ocean outside all
for three millions of dollars 1
Cheap as dirt? No; there is not even dirt
enough to form a soil; and the dirty convicts,
the oi>ly types ot humanity in the group, would i
not be entitled to vote the administration
ticket under our penal statutes. Cheap as
rocks and lava? cheaper than the Galphin dead
horse stock, and far cheaper than Schuyler's
certificates of no stock at all !
The public treasury is uneasy under the
weight of specie, and it must be relieved.
Needy and seedy agents, politicians, hangers
on and gentlemanly friends, need funds for
their board bill, or will be compelled to seek
new quarters in this inclement season. Ecuador
will gladly accept of one-tenth part of the sum
The Ecuadorian Minister, Gen. Vilamil, is said
to hold the fee of the finest pile in the group ot
rocks, and has been anxious for some time to
exchange it for a pocket full of dollars. He
will accept of one-tenth, and the remaiuing
eight-tenths, $2,400,000, divided among the
outsiders, will buy them warm clothes, good
dinners and bad wine until some new " Pilli
coddy turns up with barnacles" to resuscitate
the adage concerning "a fool and his money."
It is said that the purchase is prompted by
the discovery of rich deposits of guano on one
or more islands in the group. The value of the
guano to the farming interest, it is rumored,
will more than compensate the country for the
three millions of dollars.
The mountains, hitherto supposed to be rock8
and lava, may prove to be guano; but the fa
cetious Darwin, a careful and generally accu
rate writer, says the sea fowl do not inhabit
these islands ; and, as fish are not in the habit
ot climbing dry rocks to deposit their bones,
we are at a loss to account for the origin of
guano at the Galapagos. If every square or
cubic mile in the group should prove to be
guano, the lack of rain described by all who
visit the group, would warrant the concl usion
that like the deposit on the Chincha Islands, a
few degrees south, the accumulation of ammonia,
poisonous alike to plants and animals, would ren
der useless the small remaining amount of phos
phates that constitute the chief value as a
manure in guano of any kind. Ammonia must
accumulate in guano deposits, unless there is
sufficient rain or moisture to evaporate or
wash it away. Men of science say we cannot
increase the fertility of our fields by a supply
of ammonia or by nitrogen. We need only the
phosphates of the fish bones; and when the
phosphates are encumbered with over fifty per
cent of nitrogenized and ammoniac al matter
as in the rainless districts of the Chlnchtw and
other islands, they are poisons instead of ma
nnres to vegetation. Ammoniacal guanos,
such as must occur on the Galapagos, if guano
exists there at all, have ceased to be of any
value where science and correct practice have
observed their effects and counted the cost. The
markets are well suppli ed with a much superior
quality of clean phospate from rainy
districts, where showers have washed and car
ried off the poisonous ammonia. The Peru
vian government, by a system of cheap certifi
cates, such as are used in the sale of patent
medicines, have sold large quantities of the
ammoniacal guano. But it has been used most
ly for experiment, and is not likely to be fur
ther employed where its pernicious effects are
known.
The Cabinet have been gulled by the selling
agents certificates concerning the ammoniacal
guano, and have busied themselves in nego
tiating wiih Peru for the Chincha Island trade;
and failing in that, they have no doubt con
cluded to set up for themselves in the Galapa
gos rock trade. They need not be in a hurry.
When the poisonous properties of the ammo
niacal guano become generally known, as they
must before the close of the present administra
tion. its Fale must cease, and then they may
buy the Chincha Islands for one-tentb part of
the three millions of dollars.
If the Galapagos rocks should prove to lie
guano, phosphatic, washed and purified from
pois; nous ammonia, how could the government
aid agriculture with cheap maanre. when, as
the Btory goes, the treaty is for sovereignty
only, and when, as is probable. th? f?a 4o every
i iovt of k will have previously passed to sub- i
negotiator* of the treaty, who will of com*
control th*? price of their own laya, whether
retailed to agriculturists as manure, or to the
government an a substitute for marble for the
extent ion of the Capitol ?
The Last or Mb. Mitchel. ? We regret to
learn that Mr. Mitchel, from various causes, has
abandoned the newt* paper he founded tome time
since in this city. In doing so he complains,
we understand, that lees liberty is enjoyed
bere than he expected: having himself lost
thousands of subscribers by wishing for a plan
tation in Alabama, and nearly as many by hi*
controversy with Archbishop Hughes. We
submit that Mr. Mitchel misapprehends the
subject of liberty. He is free, as every one
else is, to say that he would like to drive
niggers on a plantation; likewise to flagellate
archbishops, as and how he pleases. But the
liberty Is not nil on one side. The public to
free on theirs to buy the newspapers they like
best. They are not bound to spend their
money as Mr. Mitchell pleasea, any more than
he is bound to write the articles they please:
both parties are free agents, and neither has a
right to complain if in the exercise of this mu
tual liberty they do not suit each ether. We
have usually held a tolerably plain eourse in
regard to slavery, though we have not sighed
for Southern plantations or an overseer's whip;
but the public have not withdrawn their sub
scriptions from us in consequence. We also
have rapped ^rQhbiihop Hughes pretty severe-,
ly 6ver the knuckles when he went ?o CarroU
Hall, or exceeded the proper limits of his au
thority in other ways; but his Grace's parish
ioners did not think it necessary to "stop their
Herald" as they " stopped their Citizen." In.
retirement, Mr. Mitchell may learn tact.
Progress or the New Party. ? Itiastertling
to see the strides which the Know Nothings are
making towards power and popularity. The
telegraph has been constantly occupied for the
paBt year in recording Know Nothing victories;
other evidences of the wide spread success of
the doctrines are found In the tone of the press.
The following are a few of the journals in our
exchange lint which are favorable to the new
party: ?
NBW 10U.
Xamt. Place.
Courier and Enquirer New York city.
Express
Seutinel
Crusader
Mirror ^ "
Democrat Buffalo.
AdvertUer '
Register ^njrI
Advertiser Rochester.
Union Cattaraugus county.
FKKN aYLVA NI A .
gun Philadelphia.
American Banner "
Valley Times Northampton county
MASSACHUSETTS.
Bee Boston.
Herald'. Newburyport.
Journal Worcester.
KKW JSR8RT.
Sentinel Uty.
Gazette
Adverti ser Newark.
VIRGINIA.
Whig Richmond.
Sentinel Bedford county.
Republican Staunton.
Greenbriar Era Lewisburg.
LOUISIANA.
Delta New Orleans.
Creole - "
]3ee 14
MARYLAND. I
Clipper Baltimore.
American Trumpet Westminster,
Miners' Journal Cumberland.
True American New Windsor.
omo.
Times Cincinnati.
WORTH CAROLINA.
Commercial Wilmington.
Halcyon Beaufort.
NEW llAXreilTRK.
American Manchester.
Exporter Concord.
Chronicle Portsmouth
MAISK.
Northern Tribune Bath.
MISSOURI.
Intelligencer Ht. Louis.
Reporter Weston.
MICHIGAN.
Tribune Detroit.
TRJf JSTE80itf!.
American Memphis.
ALABAMA.
Adveitiaer Mobil*.
MISSISSIPPI.
Southern Herald Coffleevllle.
Republican Brandon.
TEXAS.
Advertiser Bastiop.
KANSAS TERRITORY.
Pioneer Klckapoo City.
It must be remembered that among other de
viations from the conventional policy of politl*
cal parties under the old system, the Know No
things have not employed newspaper organs to
puff them, or to disseminate their doctrines
among the people. They have left them to
work their own way," and relied on the good
sense of the masses and the independent press to
promulgate them. The net result will be seen
more completely than people Buspect, a few
months hence.
The Cazneau Mission to Saint Domingo.?
We print to-day, two interesting, and, if true,
very important letters, from Saint Domingo
It seems that the fruits ot the Caznean mission
are nearly ripe, but that there willbeiome
trouble about plucking them. Why not bay
out Hayti, Soulouque, the crown jewels and
all?
THE LATE8T NEWS.
BY MAGNETIC AND PRINTING TELEGRAPHS.
Hon>Azrlval of the Atlantic.
Sakdy Hook, Dm. 28?10 P. M.
We hare no tiding* of the steamer Atlantic, now in
her thirteenth day from Liverpool. The fog continued
very dense, except at intervala, whan it lighten* up for
a few momenta. The wind ia very high from tfceN.N.R.
Bawdy Hook? 12 O'clock.
We hear nothing of the steamship Atlantic up to this
hour. The weather continue* thick and foggy.
Very Cm-low and Important from Wash
ington. 1
HIGHLY INTERESTING AND SIGNIFICANT INSIDE DIS
CLOSURES, CABINET AND DIPLOMATIC, IPON THE
OBTKND LEAGUE AND THE CUBA QUESTION ? PROBA
BLE WAR POLICY ? FORTHCOMING EXTRA MESSAGE
FROM THE FRKHIDHKT, ETC.
WASinnoTO*, Deo. 38, 1864.
I hasten to communicate to the Hkrald the following
curious and highly important disclosure* in relation to
the official movement* of Sonle since hi* return to Mad*
rid, the inaide history of the Oatend Convention, the
final submission of Marcy to the war policy of that Con
vention, and the laat card which the adminlatration is
about to play to regain the *ympathies of the American
people.
An official letter haa been received from Mr. Sonle, in
1 which that gentleman tell* of hia aeveral interviews,
aince hi* return to Madrid, with the chief officer of her
Catholic Majesty'* government, on the nubject of Cuba,
but which met with no favor from that functionary, fur*
tber than that the suggestions should be placed before
hi* colleague*. The next day this wan followed up
by a demand for another interview with Kapartero
i by Mr. Soule. This could not be given, aa the home
affairs of Spain would require for *ome time to
come the undivided attention of the Ministry. Ear
ly that afternoon E> partem was seen in a calacho
with a fashionable lady of Madrid, some mile^oulside of.
the city. Again an interview was asked for, relative to
the Black Warrior affair, but with ne better success. Mr.
Soulr now asks from onr government definite instruc
tions in tlie matter. A majority of the Cabinet is in fa
vor of an immediate negotiation for the purchase ot
Cuba, with Cnshing as the champion.
It is stated, also, to me, that a regular confidential I
correspondence baa, for some time past, been going on
between Cashing and 8oule ; that the exhibition of tk?
letter* from Cuahing was made at Ostend ; that copies of
lilt same before this had been sent by hira (Soule) to
Buetywa ajKt M??m; aUv a* confidential, that these let