The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-12-10


this city in procuring the arms and ammunition
which were quietly sent off on board a clipper
some time ago. 1t is now stated that about one
thousand men will rendezvous on the Colorado
river, from where is not stated. May 1t not be
that the steamer Scottish Chief and several
schooners that were said to be fitting out from
Key West as Spanish expedition to Mexico,
are destined for Walkers The Scottish Chief is
mall river beat that used to run on the Chesa-
pr axe, and was purchased to run on the Coat
zacoalcos river in Mexico, but for some reason
failed to reach there. She is just the craft
Walker would need on the San Juan river now
that the Costa Ricans have possession of the
river steamers.
We shall probably have some news about this
matter on Wednesday or Thursday next week,
when the Aspinwall steamer arrives, and shall
not be at all surprised to learn that Walker has
joined his forces with those of President Marti-
nez, and that the two are marching upon San
Jose, the capital of Costa RIGA. With half
million of dollars and the number of men
Walker can easily obtain from this country,
they will be able to carry out any scheme of
conquest that Martinez Walker, or any other
leader in Nicaragua may originate, in the pre-
sent exhausted condition of those countries.
The Grand Alliance Against the Administra-
tion-Thc Battle Opened In Congress.
With the conclusion of the reading of the
Presidents Message in the Senate on Tuesday
last, the Kansas battle against the administra-
ton was fairly opened. In the beginning of
the late Russian war the Allied feet hauled up
in front of Odessa, and the steamships moving
round, as in the circle of waltz, fired each its
broadside into the town, as it came within point
blank range. Thus it was in the Senate on
Tuesday-Mr. Douglas opening the ball, and
Messrs. Stuart, Hale Seward and Trumbull fol-
lowing close in his wake. And as the interest
and destiny of every State of Europe were in
volved in the gigantic struggle over the estates
of the ''sick man. of Turkey so are the vital
interests of every State of this Union, and
of this continent, involved in this new and
ominous Northern alliance against the admins
tration.
We have no recollection of a more formida-
BILE combination against any President during
the last thirty years than this which has so sud
denly developed its huge proportions against
the Kansas policy of Mr.. Buchanan. To the
tremendous forces of the Northern opposition
camps, as disclosed by the last Presidential
election on this Kansas issue, there are
now added the democratic contingents which
have gone over to the enemy, with Governor
Walker and Senator Douglas. The balance of
power commanded by these contingents may be
conjectured from the simple statement that, from
the Boston Post to the Kansas Lecompton Demo
crat, the democratic newspapers that have taken
sides in opposition to the Lecompton constitution
may be counted by tens and twenties. Promi-
nent among them are Col Forney's Philadel-
phia Press, the Detroit Fro Press dong known
as the home organ of Gen. Cass), and the Chi
cago Times, the devoted home organ of Senator
Douglas. These sudden accessions to the North
ern anti-administration camp, with all their ex-
tensve ramiications, are full of mischief, disor-
der and confusion. They foreshadow the swift
destruction Of the democratic party and most
terrible CONFUSION among all the elements Of
sectional discord, North and South.
The revolutionary political movements of the
last ten years have been full of the most Won
derful surprises. The running of Old Hickory's
private secretary on the same ticket with Mr..
Fillmore for the Presidency, the running of
Fremont as the Northern candidate against the
South, and of Mr.. Buchanan as the Southern
candidate against the North, are among these re.
markable things. So, too, is the election Of son
Of Henry Clay to Congress, as democrat, from
under the shadows of Ashland. But the last of
these political surprises is the most wonderful
of all; for who could have dreamed, in his
widest vagaries, that during their natural lives
Robert J. Walker and John p. Hale, Stephen
A. Douglas and w. II. Seward could ever be
brought together, side by side, to fight for the
same distractions, under the banner Of 'popu-
lar sovereignty" Yet so it ia And thus the
all-healing compromise of Mr.. Douglas-the
Kansas Nebraska bill-has pushed the demo-
cratic party to the very brink Of destruction,
and is mastering all parties, cliques, sections
and factions to the most fearful sectional strug-
gle in the history Of the Union.
The public mind at this crisis is in the best
possible mood for revolutionary excitements
and agitatons. The demoralizing influences of
the late financial and commercial collapse have
sapped the foundations of all political organi-
cations; and the shattered rank and file of the
democracy, with the remains of the dead wing
party, and the dispersed Know Nothings and
the missing squadrons Of black republication
are all adrift upon the waves. At this critical
conjuncture Of financial ruin and political de-
morslization such movement as this Kansas
rebellion on the part of Walker and Douglas is
quite sufficient to rekindle the flames Of sec
tional strife into consuming fire. II Is, in
fact, the deliberate opening of the last grand
battle which is to determine the absolute supre-
macy at Washington of the North or the South.