The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LO.N LION. WWII/1Y EVENJNG, DECEMBER 23, 1867

MISCELLANEOUS FOREIGN NEWS.

From the " Westminster Gazette."

ROME, Dec. 14.

The Holy Father went as usual to the Church of
the SS. Dodeci Apostoli, one of the oldest founda-
tions in Rome, on the Vigil of the Immaculate
Conception ; he sang out the first notes of the
Te Deum with his usual clear firm tones, and
afterwards gave Benediction of the most Holy
Sacrament. The Church and Piazza were thronged,
though it happened to be one of the few dull days
we have had this winter, and I never remember to
have seen the people give him a more. enthusiastic
reception.

Ile has been giving a great many public audi-
ences lately, and none seem to afford him so great
pleasure as those in which the young and devoted
men of every class and from all countries, who have
come to Rome to maintain his cause in arms are
brought for the first time to his feet. There are
occasions on which the naivete of these earnest-
minded recruits is only to be exceeded by his pater-
nal goodness and thoughtfulness.
Many have been on the look out this week for
tidings that the summons for the General Council
had been issued on the day of the Immaculate
Conception. This has certainly not been the case,
however, and I am told there is a vast amount of
work yet to be got in order first.
It is expected a Consistory will be held very
shortly at which the new Bishop of Bagnorea, the
Bishop of Pernambuco, and the Coadjutor of Bo-
logna, will be preconised, and it is not improbable
the Pope may pronounce an allocution on the
state of affairs. He has lately pardoned Cavaliere
Fausti, whose process it will be remembered made
some noise in 1863, when he was condemned to
twenty years' incarceration. It is thought the fact
that he was led into the commission of the breaches
of trust with which he was charged through the
folly of having compromised himself, iu unguarded
youth, with dangerous men, whose secret orders
he was too weak to resist, when unexpectedly called
on to act later in life, rather than through evil. in-
clination at the time; his present advanced age and
the term of punishment he has already undergone
have afforded sufficiently extenuating circumstances
to bring this about.

The three months given Cardinal d'Andrea in
which to appear in Rome are drawing near their
expiry, and there seems little likelihood of his
coming. He wrote to the Pope, but as the order
to appear in person was peremptory in the Brief,
the letter was, of course, not accepted. lam told
it has been published in the papers, however ; and
it would seem that he assumes to take a high tone,
comparing his conduct and circumstances to those
of St. Bernard, and endeavouring to show that he
owns no opposition to the Holy See, but that his
controversy is with Pius IX.

He is reckoned by many to have been lost by
ambition, and being son of a Secretary of State of
Francis IL, to have entertained expectations of
being made Secretary of State to the Pope. There
are others here who excuse him by reason of an
alleged excitable temperament, of which I under-
stand there have been other instances in his family,
and which might be supposed to lessen his respon-
sibility over his own acts. I cannot say, how-
ever, that 1 have observed any solid grounds for
this, though certainly, under the circumstances
which led to his resignation of the office of Prefect
of the Index, some years ago, his conduct was
childish, to say the least. He has nothing to com-
plain of on the part of the Pope, however, who had
always shown him great affection and regard, and
had made him Bishop of Sabina, Perpetual Abbot
of la Farfa, and Commendatory Abbot of Subiaco—
the different appointments from which brought
him an income of about £2,000.
A sale has been going on this week at the
Palazzo of the late Cardinal Altieri, who fell so
nobly a victim to his devotion to his diocese of
Albano at the time of the cholera. It was melan-
choly to see curious strangers and Jew brokers
turning over the effects which but lately adorned
the scenes he abandoned so suddenly at the call of
duty, never to revisit them. His will seems to
have been dictated by a spirit of great generosity ;
the family is by no means a rich one, and he had
no large fortune to dispose of. A considerable
share is devoted to the benefit of the poor, and
several personal debts are remitted altogether in
favour of relations on whom the payment might
have pressed heavily.

It is expected that Mgr. Deschamps, Bishop of
Namur, will succeed Cardinal Sterckx as Arch-
bishop of Mechlin and Primate of Belgium. Two
more cardinals have been very ill this week—Car-
dinal Ugolini, the oldest member of the Sacred
College except the Archbishop of Toledo, and
Cardinal Pentini, who only received the purple
within the last three or four years, though not
much younger, and whose uncertain health has
often given his friends anxiety. Both are cardinal-
deacons. The prospect of a further decrease in
the cardinalitial body has set men reckoning that
in case these two should die now—a calculation
which will, probably, not be realized in the case of
the former ; at least as I heard last night from one
who had just left his bedside that he was pro-
gressing very favourably—that then the Sacred
College would be reduced to fifty, the lowest num-
ber reached during this century. But, it is said,
the Pope wishes to establish an equilibrium be-
tween the Italian and the foreign elements in it ;
and there are those who, building on the report of
this, dream that it may ultimately lead to laying
open the chair of St. Peteritself to foreign cardinals.
The French troops are still absent from Rome,
but order is perfect here, as, indeed, throughout
the whole of the State. It is expected, however,
that they will return ere long ; the arrogant con-
duct of Menabrea will drive on this movement.
And, indeed, the weather is too cold for remaining
with any comfort at Civita Vecchia, as there is no
accommodation for half the division, and the men
have accordingly to take it by turns to encamp in
the open air. A company is said to have passed
through Rome on the night of the 11th on their
way to take up a position of observation on the
frontier near Correse.

The Roman Legion bids fair to become as
popular with the French volunteers as the Zouave
battalions, and an excellent spirit pervades it. The
Archbishop of Besancon, Cardinal Mathieu, is at
the head of the committee for receiving recruits,
and only picked men are sent out ; about 700, how-
ever, have arrived lately, and by means of this
accession the original legionaries who have finished
the time they had to serve under the French flag
can be alloWed to return to their homes if they are
so minded, while the corps is strengthened by the
infusion of new blood.

There was a report rife here last night that
the Menabrea Ministry had already fallen. I
should not think, however, the Chamber could have
divided yet. There seems every chance, however,
that the general will be out of office before you
go to press.

Many people seem astonished to find Rattazzi
ranged on the side hostile to the French Emperor,
reckoning that the advocate of Alexandria and the
husband of a Bonaparte ought to belong heart and
soul to imperial policy. But 'in all that he has
hitherto done in furtherance of the schemes of
Napoleon he has been furthering his own schemes
also, only it so happened that all their plans for the
spoliation of either the whole or part of the Pope's
territory fell through, partly on account of the
successful bravery of the Papal troops which they
had not taken sufficiently into account, and partly
because at the eleventh hour they discovered that
it was Mazzini and not they who was likely to enter
into the fruit of their labours. We may well
interpret M. Rouher's speech to allude to this
when he says that the Revolution has three stages
—Rome, Florence, and Paris. And then, with re-
gard to Rattazzi's marriage : that was not calculated
to render him more agreeable at the Tuileries. The
antecedents of Madame Rattazzi's private life, both
as Madlie. Wyse, daughter of Madame 'Wyse, son
of Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Cankto, and in
her widowhood as Madame Solens, are known to
the world. But many may not know that she has
always been the strenuous enemy of Napoleon
111., whom she accuses of not doing enough for
his family. Her language was so intemperate at

one time that the Emperor had her arrested and
conducted to the frontier, forbidding her to return
upon French territory. Though her marriage may
have afforded the ground for a certain kind of re-
conciliation, she has certainly not been received
into cordial relations. It is not strange, therefore,
that Rattazzi, having failed in his attempts to act
in concert with the Emperor in developing the
politics of Italy, should now try his luck at follow-
ing the adverse advice of his wife, and by giving
public evidence of hostility to the French Emperor
make to himself friends with the populace of
Florence.

This allusion to Madame Rattazzi leads me to
mention a fact which shows how deep her husband
was in the confidence of the Garibaldian party.
When their " mercenaries " (we may as well use
the term where it belongs of right) were over-
running the province of Viterbo, it was remarked
that they scrupulously avoided meddling with any
part of the property there which the Prime Minis-
ter of Victor Emmanuel holds in right of his wife.
It is so clear to all now, indeed, that the Italian Go-
vernment had the chief direction of that invasion,
that it is tedious to cite further proofs of it, though
they are cropping up every day. I hope, however,
Massari's speech in the Florence House, on Wednes-
day, will not have escaped you. He quotes a tele-
gram from Crispi at Terni to Rattazzi, dated 18th
October, bidding him send no more " volunteers "
to the depot there, as he found they impeded in-
stead of advancing the cause. So he knew at least
that the First Minister of the Crown wished the
cause of invasion advanced.

The following letter to the editor, given in a
late number of the Courrier de Lyons, shows what
was in store for us had the invasion succeeded :

"Sir,—l am glad to be able to put you in pos-
session of a fact which I hold from an unimpeach-
able source.

" By the terms of the loan recently contracted
in London by Garibaldi's son, Lit was stipulated
that the sum advanced should be repaid in Works
of Art, after the " taking of Rome" by the noto-
rious Condottiere. So, it was by means of an
anticipatory alienation of the artistic treasures of
the Church and of Rome that these " patriots "
obtained the funds for maintaining their preda-
tory bands, and the Rome which they proposed
to present to Italy to be her capital was to be
Rome despoiled and shorn of her glories. . . .
Late events have thrown this iniquitous conven-
tion to the winds, but the bond remains, and with
it the hope, in certain minds, that it may be turned
to good account yet.

(Signed)

" FONTAINE."

I do not like to withhold the account of a re-
markable incident which I have heard spoken of as
undoubted more than once, and which, as it may
be true, cannot be devoid of interest. It is said
that on a certain day towards the close of October,
when the determination of the Florence Govern-
ment to support the Garibaldians became evident,
and it was clear that without the help which the
French Emperor hesitated to send, the Papal army,
already exhausted by its unprecedented fatigues
and anxieties, must be swallowed up by the thou-
sands which Italy could pour out upon it, General
Kanzler considered it his duty to state plainly
to the Pope how matters stood, and explain the
position of his men. The Holy Father, though
moved even to hear of the recital of the sufferings
of his soldiers, gave no word of opinionas to what
should be done until he had retired into his ora-
tory ; then he returned, and without a !shadow of
hesitation, directed a telegram to be sent to the
Nuncio in Paris, desiring him to demand his pass-
ports without an instant's loss of time. The Papal
Nuncio, of course, complied to the letter, and ob-
served, as he did so, 44 Before I have been out of
Paris five days, the throne will no longer hold its
present occupant." Promptly as everything had
been conducted, it was night before the news reached
the Tuileries, but the lateness of the hour did not
prevent the issue of an invitation to Mgr. Chigi to
remain, or of a telegram to Toulon, ordering the
immediate departure of the fleet. Within forty-
eight hours of General Kanzler's application to the.
Pope, the French troops were far on their way,
Romeward bound.

I give you the story as I have heard it, but
without claiming credence for it ; perhaps its in-
herent credibility will do that.

And now, while something like peace seems to
reign for a time, at least, in the moral world,
everybody is attracted southwards by one of those
convulsions of nature which never fails to com-
mand a crowd of admirers. Vesuvius is in full
play again, and as fast as our winter's visitors ar-
rive—and they are coming in pretty thick now—
they are draughted off to Naples to enjoy this
new sensation.

The Benediction of the Holy Father has been
again asked for the WESTMINSTER GAZETTE, and
granted with all his usual goodness of heart. The
French contributor, for whose additions to my
letters I am, as you know, often under obliga-
tions, and who supplied my place while I was on
my travels, was admitted to an audience this week,
and wished me to mention here that he thus re-
membered your journal.

VIENNA, Dec. 14.

While the moral decay of Austria is going on
at a rapid rate (of Count Chorinsky's story I will
spare you the details, for such scandals quickly
run the round of all the papers)—while the mob
of Vienna, stung to madness by the inventions of
the Jewish press, hurry forward in masses to sign
addresses for the revocation of the Concordat (the
other day one of those who had just signed was
asked what he knew about the Concordat, and
his reply was—" Oh, don't you know ? That
is the nickname for the Emperor's mother-in-
law, and she must be sent off. I am posi.
tively told !she is quite a worthless personage),"
—whilst thus in the streets, in the houses, in the
Chambers, and in the press of Vienna, the shriek
of that eternal charivari, busily played off against
the Concordat, is for ever splitting one's ears,
the faithful here, last Sunday, mindful of the
needs of their chief Pontiff, made collections in
all the churches ; ladies of the first families were
among the collectors of these offerings of filial
love and fidelity towards the Holy Father.
Nor did the Empress keep back. She made
her offerings through the hands of the
youthful Prince ludolph and the Princess Gisela.
The Protestant King of Hanover also, by a liberal
offering, took part in this act of homage. Thus
we have had, at least for a moment, a ray of
sunlight in these dark and dismal days. But the
eye is not allowed to rest long on a pleasing ob-
ject. New infamies quickly press themselves on
our attention, which we would gladly leave unno-
ticed, but which must be considered, if we wish
to form a perfect and just conception of the move-
ment which is threatening Austria with a speedy
downfall., I will confine myself to-day to the
history of . how a member of the Chamber, an
advocate, a certain Dr. Schindler, has contrived
to save his honour ; that is to say, to save his
honour, imperilled at the hands of justice, through
the intervention of an Austrian Minister of Jus-
tice. Your readers may, perhaps, remember the
name of this Dr. Schindler, who last summer, as
is well known, dexterously took advantage of a
certain likeness he has—a Napoleonic profile—and
with a forwardness that would take no denial, ob-
tained at last an audience of the Emperor, which
he turned into a political speculation, reporting
what passed between the Emperor and himself in
the newspapers according to his own good pleasure.
It is the same person who, as I wrote to you in
my last letter, hid hiniself the other day behind a
distinguiShed ecclesiastic and professor, Dr.
Greuter, when in the Chamber, and cheered the
abominable speeches of a Miihlfeld, so as to make
it appear that the cheers came from the above-
mentioned worthy priest. Now, this swindling
Schindler is it who has lately fallen into the hands
of justice, from which he has been rescued by the
Minister of Justice. The history is as follows :
An Hungarian Jew, Karolyi by name, who kept
an hotel in Alexandria, was accused of being an
accomplice in an enormous theft, was convicted
of the crime, and thereupon condemned to eight
years' imprisonment. The Jew desired to have
Schindler for his advocate, and upon his wife's
writing to beg him to undertake her husband's
defence, and at the same time enclosing thirty
Napoleons as part payment in advance, he will-

ingly undertook to do so, and gave her his word of
honour to advocate the cause of her husband, the
Jew Karolyi, to the best of his ability. He only
called once, however, on the prisoner, and troubled
himself no further about the matter until just
previous to the trial, when being himself in Steyer,
he wrote to his assistant, immediately before the
appointed time for the trial, to demand the pay-
ment of 1,000 florins from the Jew, as a condi-
tionof his undertaking the defence. Karolyi was
unable, on such short notice, to muster this sum,
and the magnanimous Schindler left him in the
lurch. On being required to return the thirty
Napoleons he refused point blank to do so, and
made no answer to the reiterated orders of the
court to refund the money. At length compelled
by the authorities to put in an answer, he alleged
the money was received for other purposes un-
connected with the defence ; but, on his papers
being subjected to a search, this was proved to be
an utter falsehood. Upon this he at last refunded
the money, but made a charge of 280 florins for
preparing the Jew's defence ; one item was 152
florins for a journey from Steyer to Vienna ; but,
on examination by the court, this allegation of a
journey from Vienna also was proved to be a
Schindler falsehood. It was further proved that
Schindler had never written a line for the defence.
More than half-a-dozen practising lawyers of high
standing in the higher and lower courts main-
t tined this to be a criminal offence ; they only
hesitated as to placing it in the category of theft
or fraud. But now, when the affair had been thus
far brought to light, and the inquiry was in full
course, lo ! two of the chiefs of the Liberal party
—the Castor and Pollux of the Civil Marriage Bill,
and other similar virtuous attempts—viz., Miihl-
feld and Berger, made their way to the office of the
Minister of Justice. Thereupon, in rapid succes-
sion, three messages are sent down, each sharper
and more peremptory than the other, to the official
prosecutor to hush up the inquiry! At the same
time any fresh proceedings in the case were for-
bid len. This is not the first time that this famous
member of the Austrian Chamber has shown
himself to be an expert swindler. Not long since
he was convicted of having received from the
Braunauer Railway Company the sum of 50,000
florins to look after its interests, which, however,
did not deter him from further demanding the
sum of 5,000 florins from one of the members of
the same company. This scandalous proceeding
was made public some time since, and has never
been contradicted. The history of this second
scandal, which, on account of the Minister of Jus-
tice being mixed up in it, is of a far, indeed of
an infinitely higher degree, is warranted by the
Historisch-Politische Blotter to be drawn from docu-
mentary sources, a guarantee which is perfectly
satisfactory to every man of honour. Nothing is
more loudly called for, or would be easier, if this
history were false, than to contradict and refute it.
But this is not to be thought of. The Minister
of Justice, with the rest of his party, will seek and
find his strength and his consolation in his un-
blushing audacity.

From the Ahglo-American Times.)

A supplemental report on Impeachment, contain-
ing the testimony of James M. Ashley, has been
presented by the Judiciary Committee. Mr. Ashley
was examined at length touching his accusation
charging President Johnson with complicity in Mr.
Lincoln's murder, repeated not only on the platform
and in newspapers, but also in Congress. He ad-
mitted that his only evidence came from Canover,
and that with Gen. Butler he visited the perjurer
in gaol to ascertain what proof he could supply. He
acknowledged the letters sent by Canover to the
President were written by him. Mr. Ashley figures
very disgracefully in this affair, and deserves the
strong condemnation of all honest men. It is too
much the habit iu the United States for leading
politicians to trump up such charges against their
opponents, and the present case is one of the worst
instances of this infamous practice. To the last he
declared that Impeachment should be put through
Congress in spite of the cowards. How he put it
through the cable told us, and the sooner this little
bantling is buried out of sight the better it will be
for his reputation. The gross charges, supported by
such miserable testimony, against the Chief Magis-
trate of the nation has been one of the heaviest blows
to the Radical party.
The injudicious course taken with the freedmen
in several States is producing its natural and ex-
pected fruit. In Bullock County, Alabama, the
coloured loyal leagues organised a government en-
forcing the submission both of blacks and whites.
A strong force of the leaguers assembled at Union
Springs, and threatened the extermination of the
whites, who banded together for self-protection,
when the war of races would have commenced had
not General Swayne marched a detachment to re-
store order, who arrested 15 of the black insurgents.
The negroes drove all the white men from the polls
on some of the Sea Islands, destroying much pro-
perty. A. mob of coloured men, armed, marched
into Columbus, Mississippi, where they demanded
food, but they were dispersed by United States
troops, and their leaders arrested. In Louisiana the
loyal leagues are armed, and a memorial from in-
fluential citizens sets forth that the negroes refuse
to work—that they are waiting to receive the pro-
perty of the whites promised them by their leaders,
and they are threatening, at the delay. If the winter
be severe serious disturbances are apprehended, the
more so as the negroes will regard themselves as
deceived, as the infamous promise, so generally made,
to distribute the land among them, cannot of course
be carried out.

In Minnesota the Equal Suffrage Amendment was
defeated by 1,298 votes. The California Legisla-
ture has commenced its session. The President
of the Senate, Mr. Coyness, is a Republican,
and the balloting for his successor was to have
begun on December 17. Tho New York Con-
stitutional Convention was to adjourn about
Christmas, leaving its unfinished business to
a revision committee. The Tennessee house
has passed an Act to permit coloured men to hold
office and sit on juries, and the Southern Presbyterian
General Assembly, in Session at Nashville, has re-
scinded the Act of last year excluding coloured men
from the Ministry.

The United States Supreme Court assembled
at Washington on the 2d December. Chief-justice
Chase, Justices Nelson, Clifford, Davis, Swayne,
and Miller -were present. The Chief Justice an-
nounced that the Court would adjourn and make
the usual call on. the President, when the Judges
proceeded to the White House, whore cordial greet-
ings were exchanged. Justices Grier and Field
were expected. at Washington on the following day.
At a meeting of the Bar on the 3d, in memory of
the late Jw.stice Wayne, Secretary Browning pre-
sided, and the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, chairman of
the committee to announce his death to the Court,
delivered a u oration.

The Alabama Convention is getting through a
considerai amount of African legislation, which, it
is fortunate for the State, cannot be effective until
sanctioned by General Pope. General Swayne,
acting rander his orders, endeavoured to induce the
Convex ttion to adjourn, urging, as a reason, the in-
calcula.ble injury their legislative attempts were
doing -to Reconstruction, but they did not adjourn
till De 1. 6, when all business was transacted and
the lie w Constitution adopted. The Convention and
Genle.d Pope will probably soon be at open war,
as the me-nbers consider hip interference insulting,
and ; has already disallowed the ejection of the
pres Nit State Government., which they desire to re-
plac s by one of their own creation. They have no
min sted a State ticket to be voted for when the
Con stitution is submitted to the people on the 4th
Febi vary, with William H. Smith, Superintendent
of R egistration, for Governor, and A. J. Applegate,
of ( )hio, for Lieutenent-Governor, with several
Non ;hero men for other posts. One Act provides
for the organisation of a strong militia force
of -known loyalty, the officers to receive large
sal: Aries ; a second exempts a homestead and
$l,OOO of personal property from attachment for
debt .3 a third suspends a large part of the
State's. court; and a fourth stays the collection
of deb is till January ; and many still more
curious Bills were before the Convention.
They have declared void all contracts made dur-
ing tiro re4,ellion, unless the monies paid were in

the lawful currency of the United States, and
have annulled all contracts for the sale or purchase
of slaves. The Louisiana Convention has not done
much beyond decreeing to its delegates $lO
per day, and 40 cents for each mile travelled,
to defray which direct taxation is imposed, and all
acts repealed that obstruct the collection, while a
resolution to reduce the pay of the delegates has
been rejected. One was also brought forward to
prevent the building of the Mississippi levees ; ano-
ther was laid over, thanking God for Radical vic-
tories ; and here is the text of one we are unable
to comprehend : —" Resolved, that the loyal people
of the State of Louisiana, from a long experience
under the white man bondage in this State, present
our thanks to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Con-
gress ; and, further, that we endorse every delibe-
ration for the oppressed races of the State, and are
also thankful to the Radical friends throughout the
United States and elsewhere on the face of the
globe. We furthermore pray that the Conven-
tion assembled to deliberate thoroughly upon the
poor oppressed people under the same basis of
Congress of 1867, that all men are created
equal, and, therefore, citizens." A multitude of
measures have been introduced, as the members
labour under the same delusion as those at Mont-
gomery, that they are a Legislative body. It is also
said that they have recommended that the present
system of laws in the State should be replaced by
the common law of England. The Virginia Con-
vention was organised at Richmond on the 4th inst.,
with Judge Underwood as President, who defeated
the Conservative candidate Nelson by 65 votes to
32. The Judge made a moderate speech, advising
the exercise of all Christian charity consistent with
safety, and Congressmen have earnestly advocated
moderation with the leading delegates, from which
it is hoped that the Convention will escape the mis-
takes committed in Alabama.
AMERICAN MAILS.—The United States' Post-
master-General having concluded a contract with
the Hamburg-American Steampacket Company for
the conveyance of a mail to Great Britain, that
company's steamers will, on and after the 10th of
January next, leave Southampton every alternate
Friday, and New York on and after the 14th of
January next every alternate Tuesday, up to the
Ist of April. From the Ist of April the steamers
will leave Southampton every Friday and New York
every Tuesday.
St. Thomas's, Mr. Seward's latest purchase, has
been the scene of further desolation. On the after-
noon of the 18th November, after a few severe
shocks of earthquakes, a wave rolled in upon the
island, appearing suddenly from the ocean like a
wall that threatened to sweep over the land. It
was fortunately broken by the outer bays, and it
flooded only the lower part of the town, where the
sea rose above fourteen feat above its usu it level
As the marine monster approached it sucked up all
the water as a wave does before breaking on the sea
shore, leaving everything momentarily dry ere it
dashed in overwhelming destruction on St. Thomas.
The structures that had weathered the hurricane of
the 29th October were demolished, and the ruin
completed. The announcement in the House of
Representatives warning the world, and more espe-
cially Denmark, that the United States were not
the purchasers of all cast-away territory, has been
followed by a denial at Copenhagen that the Wash-
ington Government had taken possession of the
Danish Islands, the Rigsdag not having yet con-
sented to the cession. It is reported in New York
that the vote had been taken, and that the people
of the island were in favour of annexation to the
United States. The New York Citizen says—" Mr.
Seward having purchased an iceberg, and secured
the refusal of an earthquake, proceeds to negotiate
for a volcano." Cuba has been terrified, know-
ing the fate of its little sister St. Thomas, by the
rumour that Mr. Seward had turned on it his greedy
eyes on that island. Spain, it is alleged,had offered to
sell her possession for $200,000,000 in gold. The
negroes are prone to superstition, and, judging by
the experience of St. Thomas, they imagine that
Mr. Seward's approach is heralded by earthquakes,
hurricanes, and inundations. The alarm is prema-
ture, as the semi-official papers at Madrid charac-
terise the rumour as abiurd, although Cuba is in
truth the only island in the West Indies worth the
while of the United States to make a strong effort to
secure. Another suggestion is that Mr. Seward
should negotiate the purchase of Ireland !
There can be no doubt that if the people of the
United States desire to appropriate any bit of terri-
tory, that territory is the Sandwich Islands. We
believe they would have cared little if their Foreign
Secretary had been standing on the beach at St.
Thomas looking at the ocean wall as it rolled in.
But if that veteran statesman really desired to carry
the people with him he should studythe report of the
committee of the San Francisco Chamber of Com-
merce on the acquisition of the Sandwich Islands.
It sets forth, first, that any strong naval power
fortified on said islands would hold the key to the
commerce of the Pacific Ocean ; secondly, that
France, England, and the United States are striving
for their possession ; thirdly, that a treaty appears
to be the best if not the only way of preventing any
hostile Power obtaining them and of securing them
to us, and that it will effect the object desired;
fourthly, that the commerce of the Pacific coast and
of the United States will be benefited immediately
and largely by such a treaty.

John T. Hoffmann has been re-elected Mayor of
the city of New York by a majority of more than
40,000 over Fernando Wood, candidate of the
Mozart Hall Democrats, Mr. Darling, the Republi-
can candidate being nowhere. The returns were
as follow :—Hoffman (Tammany, Dem.), 63,000 ;
Wood (Fernando Wood, Dem.), 23,000 ; Darling
(Republican), 18,500. Fernando 'Wood boasted
that he would be elected by a large majority, but
the Republicans, knowing that they must have a
Democratic Mayor, preferred Mr. Hoffmann to the
well-known Wood, and therefore aided in re-seating
him. It is noticed that the Republicans cast 25,000
votes in the elections in the city of New York for
their candidates. But on this occasion the number
had dwindled to 18,500, a loss of 6,500. This is
explained by the fact that it was known that their
candidate had no chance.

General Butler, having failed in his disgraceful plot
against the President, has devoted his energies to carry
to a success his plot against the credit of the United
States. Massachusetts is not proud of its member,
and its citizens are beginning to inquire how a per-
eon failing so totally to represent its people could
have carried the nomination. They find that he
imposed himself on the Essex District, where he did
not reside, in violation of law, and by an unblushing
impudence deceived the electors into the belief that
it was necessary for him to be returned to the House
of Assembly, as he could prove the President to be
an assassin, and make himself useful by some grand
reforms. The collapse of the Impeachment charges,
and the advocacy by their member of a measure
they abhor, have shocked and disgusted his consti-
tuents, as well as the general feeling of the State,
and the Massachusetts Congressmen repudiate the
General at Washington, and declare that he has no
constituency in their State to back him in his no-
tions.

General Hancock's first measure, on taking over
his cc:lli:nand at New Orleans, has been to revoko
Sheridan's order of August 24, providing for the
exclusion of all unregistered voters from the jury
list. He has reinstated several officials removed by
General Mower, and announced that he will main-
tain the just plwersof the Judiciary and that he will
not permit the civil authority and laws to be em-
barrassed by military interference. Commenting
on the paragraph he annuls, he states that it is au
established fact that it has greatly shackled the
administration of justice. Trial by jury will be
henceforth regulated and controlled by the Consti-
tution and the civil laws, without regard to any
military order hitherto issued from the Department
head-quarters. It is clear that the proceedings of
the Negro Conventions are not without their in-
fluence on the District Commanders, who are an
men of sound sense and ability.

There has been a great fight among the pro-
prietors of one of the greatest and most successful
steamship lines in the world ; indeed the only
truly great ocean line the United States possess. The
Pacific Mail Steamship Company have six vessels
between New York and Aspinwall, and six between
Panama and San Francigsco, all magnificent ships.

From San Francisco, four of the largest and finest
steamers ever built (two not yet complete) are Or
ing, or will ply, between San Francisco, Japan, and
Hongkong. Although the company is an immense
success, some of the shareholders were so dissatis-
fied with the management, that the directors were
so far compelled to give way as to admit to the
board three elected by them. It has been noticed
that the bullion import from Sau Francisco to New
York has lately much diminished, although the
yield of the mines is increasing. The reason, as
already given in these columns, is, that San Fran-
cisco now sends the precious metal direct to China,
instead of by the old lumbering route through London.
The steamer which sailed on Wednesday,
the 4th
instant, for Hongkong, carried $1,360,000 in trea-
sure, besides $325,000 worth of freight. Indeed
the line is creating traffic on both seaboards,
and an opposition has been started by the North
American Steamship Company from New Yolk to
Aspinwall, to which the Arago and Fulton have, at
least for the present, been transferred.
Red Indian outrages are still reported, thou,4ll
mach less frequently than formerly. Red Cloud
attacked a suttler train, escorted by forty soldiers,
at Peann Creek, 20 miles above Fort Philip Kear-
ney, and succeeded in capturing six waggons con-
taining $20,000 worth of goods. Lieut. Shirley
was shot through the foot, and two of his men were
killed. The Indians numbered about 300. On the
15th November fourteen Indians, led by a son of
Big Bear, took 70 head of horses and mules from
within two miles of Fort Laramie. Major-General
Custer, Lieut.-Colonel of the 7th Cava'ry, has been
suspended from rank and pay for one year, a sen-
tence which the President has approved. He was
found guilty of being absent from his command
without leave, and of not making an effort to rescue
some of his men who had fallen into the hands of
Indians ; also of making undue baste on his return
march, whereby be damaged the stock, and preju-
diced military discipline. Generals Hamer and
Sanborn arrived at North Platte on November 27,
via Cheyenne. Spotted Tail was there with 300
of his people waiting for the commissioners. 11°
has expressed his willingness to visit Washington if
allowed to take five wives with him. The Indian
Peace Commission has been broken up, and the
Commissioner, Col. Taylor, has returned to Wash-
ington, and reports favourably of the peace being
maintained. The chief danger he considers to be
from white ruffians, who, disguised as Indians/
commit outrages. The expenses of the Commission
amounted to $150,000.

The following is Mr. Greeley's card, published is
the Tribune, in reply to his nomination and confir"
mation to the post of Minister to Austria, made
without any intimation to him from either the Pre-
sident or the Secretary of State :