Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-05-22
wAsHIHsT JAWS AND GOSSIP.

wAsHIN6T xkws AED GOSSIP.
The Contest in he House to the Last No
incentive have srely time to call attention
to our report Of ,he House proceedings of to.
day to the last moment. As our report wa.
| closed, great excitement existed in the Hail
and the bill was in a fair way of being passed
to-day, having been taken out of committee.
Colonel Benton's Private Mail Arrange
ment.-On looking closely into the law on the
subject, We are inclined to believe that the
parties who have stepped forward to play mail
carriers for Colonel Benton between st. Louis
and Washington city, have got themselves into
something Of an ugly scrape. 1t is mistake
to suppose that private expresses have the
right, under the law, to carry any letters
either with or without compensation, except
such as are inclosed in the stamped envelopes
provided for the purpose. Nor can they law.
fully carry newspapers, books. magazines, OF
any other printed mail matter over any mail
route, except as merchandise, (" not marked
directed, or intended for immediate distribu.
uon to subscrib ers or others, but intended for
SAFE as merchandise, and transported in the
usual mese of transporting merchandise over
the particular route used, and sent or consign.
ed to some bona .fde dealer or agent for the
sale thereof tit
The law now in force lsee Sec 9, Of the act
Of ls45,lis explicit on this point. It says ::
THAT it shall not be lawful for any person or
"persons to establish any private express or
expresses for the conveyance, nor in any
"manner to cause to be conveyed, or provided
" for the conveyance or transportation, by reg
"ular trips, or at stated periods or intervals,
"frou0 one city, town, or other place, to any
"other city, town or place, in the United States,
between and from, and to which cities, towns
+" or other places, the United States mail is
regularly transported under the authority Of
:" the Post Office Department, Of any letter,
packets or packages Of letters, or other mat
ter, properly transmittable in the United
States mail, except newspapers, pamphlets,
magazines and periodicals" (which latter
must bs conveyed only as merchandise, as
above explained The penalty for each of.
fence Is $3.50
The provisions In the same act allowing
letters, &C., to be sent g by private hands, no
compensation being rendered or received there.
for in any way" is intended, of course, only to
apply to such letters, &C.. as may be placed in
the hands of passengers to be delivered to the;r
address. In like manner, there is a proviso
introduced with reference to the restriction as
regards the conveyance Of newspapers, books,
&C., to the effect that nothing in the law shall
" be construed to interfere with the right Of
any traveller to have and take with him or
her, for his or her own use, any book, PAM
phlet, magazine or newspaper"
Such Is the law; and we give it for the ben.
eft of any who might otherwise unintention.
ally violate it. To those, if there be sach,
who knowingly violate it, We will only say
Look out
From Havana-Important and Interesting
Our opportunities for obtaining reliable infor
nation from Cuba are better than those Of
most OF our contemporaries of the American
press, having personal friends among those
having business relations with parties on the
island, who, while they scrupulously refrain
from forfeiting any obligation of their politi
cal position of mere spectators of passing
events, are in every way capable of forming
cool and accurate opinions Of what NAV be
transpiring around them. We have more thar
once already spread before the readers of the
Star, information reaching US from such
sources. Again We have been favored by oul
friend in New York with sight of importan
Havana letters, to the 18th instant, which
say that lit is difficult to describe the appee
hension prevailing through the city, and 1 I'M
derstand, throughout all the interior towns
The various incidents related of the grnwi M
insolence Of the negroes is startling. The Mar
quis goes by the name of Papa Juan, the pat
ron Of Liberty and Equality One see
them in knots all over the city, discussing tn.
DEGREES. The alarm and excitement ia a.
great in the interior as in the city. The era
'osH soon be revolution, and to arms; and
rest assured, it will be bloody and horrie
warfare. A high officer Of the government ha!
just told mo that he knows of coming decree
which will cause bitter tears to flow"
From another writer to the same CONNER
eisl source in New York, We learn that 1.-THE
registration to the end of setting free all ne
groes arriving since 1920, is being pushed witt
une1ampled vigor throughout the whole
island. England, while pretending to oppose
the slave trade, has withdrawn all her ship,
ifou .ns Affie"n "oaat and openly permits ex
tradition as apprentices, to Africanize Cuba. &"
According to the best information we can ob.
tain, we shall by no means be surprised if i,
turns out that the government DEGREES all the
negroes Of the island virtually free, after 6
short term of years, except about $50, OOO.-
The signs Of the times point to this result o.
their present labors and plots. This, we pre-
sumo to be the coming decree" which is te
''cause bitter tears to fow,'' referred to above
And we'll it may; the free citizens thus to b,
made, being nine-tenths Of them African borr
negroes, almost as barbarous, and quite as in
capable of successful self government, a. OF
the days on which they were landed from tn,
slave ships.
1t is curious and interesting problem with
as to know how far the Government Of til.
United States will permit Spain to 90 with tn,
work of making Cuba-ninety miles only from
our Gulf coast-a second St. Domingo. We