The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-04-17

No testimony f general interest was taken yes
terday in the Sickes The session OF the oour'
was gain occupied by counsel in ar4uments upo"
the admissibility of evidence OF adultery on .u0
mart fKev wit Ms Sickl, decision on .''s
point will be rendered by the Judge on honoay
morning. =,
We have news from Beliz', Honduras, 10 tne
as, Mt. The Leg sative session had closed. The
i'm ort duties were raised from three and hall to
eight and half per cent nd valorem on cost
| charges. besides a specific duty OF twelve and
half cents pou placed on tea, and fifty cents
| an soap. rice and bread. tax was imposed ON
horses and dogs in addition. heavy gale from
the southe as had done much damage to property
ON land, and rendered the harbor quite rough. Dry
weather had prevailed for six weeks, and the peo-
pie suffered for want of water.
In the Court of General Sessions yesterday, the
Recorder sent George DUR, who was convicted of
assault and battery, to the Penitentiary for ninc
months. John Hodge, guilty of petit larceny, was
sent to Blackwells Island for six months
The sales of cotton yesterday embraced about 2,lOo
bales about half Of which, or more were from store
The market At the close very quiet and sales proba
bly, could not have been forced without concession
in favor Of buyers, while dealers seemed dsposod to
await the receipt Of later foreign news due the Europa
before doing much Flour In fair demand aud
rather better for grades VI State and Western.
Southern In good request and the market for mixed
brands rather frmer. Wheat heavy and prices
favored purchasers while the sales limited. Corn
WAS heavy, and sales small at s6hc 8Sc. for
Jersey and Southern yellow, with Southern white
at SIC. q $50. Western mixed nom'usl.
Pork was lower, but 'olerably active at
the ncession. Sales Of mess made at 81
SIT l2k, and Of prime at $l2 37h sl2 So Beef
active and steady, while lard less buoyant Sugars
active, with sales Of about 100 200 hhds in
cuiing 40 New Orleans by auction and 900 bags Per-
nsmbucos sold for refining all at full prices. The
stock Of all kinds comprises Al 700 hhds besides 900
do moado, 5000 boxes and about IS 900 bags while
the stock Of moasses comprises 800 hhds and about
| 5000 bbs OF all kinis. Coffee was firmly held, with
sales Of $50 mats Java at 144c Freights heavy
aud easier TO English ports. To Liverpool 100 bres Of
uncompressed cotton engaged at 5-l6d. and some
bacon Us 3D. Acargo of slaves engaged for Lon
don and another for Cadiz, both on private terms.
| The Democratic Party In Ruins-The Penn
syIvania Rupturc-The Louisiana Rebel
hon-Political Signs Of the Times.
The political despatch which we publish this
morning from our Harrisburg correspondent, in
com ection with the late Pennsylvania Demo
cratic Boilers Convention, and the late terrible
proceedings Of the Sonl6-Douglas faction of
the Louisiana democracy, and other matters,
taken altogether, constitute the most inte-
resting and important chapter of American poll
tics that has been published since the last Presi-
dental election. We thus perceive that the de-
mocratic party in Pennsylvania is cut in twain
beyond the reach of restoration; that the party
is also divided into two hostile camps in Louisi-
ana, aud that while rebellion, confusion and dis
solution everywhere prevail among the forlorn
democracy, the republicans are adopting Jefier
SON the patron saint Of the old democratic
church-as the great apostle of the overshadow-
ing Northern anti-slavery camp.
Our Harrisburg correspondent links this Hiek-
man and Forney Convention with an extensive
Douglas movement for the next Presidency.
There is something in it, and this New Orleans
anti administration meeting, under the manage
ment of Pierre Soule, is doubtless part Of the
same game. We may also remark that. as if
aware of this movement in the South,
the Charleston Mercury the ablest, most consis-
tent and most sagacious Of the organs of the
Southern fire-eaters, has Of late kept upa par
ticularly hot and raking fire against Mr.. Douglas
and "squatter sovereignty" and against any fur
Their recognition by the South Of any such princ
pies or representatives of Northern democracy.
In fact, the Mercury earnestly recommends the
formal reorganization of the Southern democracy
as purely sectional party; and we have no
doubt that very large body Of Southern ultras,
who believe in the policy of secession and
Southern confederacy. in the revival of the Afri-
can slave trade and in the Southern flibusters'
programme ofexpansion and manifest destiny"
are equally in favor Of this proposed Southern
sectional party organization.
But there is also large body of Southern de-
mocrats who believe in the Union, and in the
strength of the national democratic party to
rise from the dust and to recover the ground
which it has lost. Among this class of men are
many Southern democratic politicians who turn
in dismay from the misty mirage of Southern
Confederacy to the inviting odors of the flesh
pots of Egypt. With such politicians the avail
able candidate and platform for the democracy
| in 1860 constitute the first and last considera-
| ton. And thus it is that to recover their lost
footing in the North, these Southern availability
men stand ready to recede from the extreme
proslavery demands of the fire-eaters, and ready
| to fall back upon Mr.. Douglas, "squatter sove-
| reignty" and all. We understand that this is by
no means an imaginary picture, but tina. at this
moment a Douglas organization exists, from
Washington to New Orleans, of very plausible
character, in reference to the Charleston Conven-
| ton.
Perhaps this thing may partly explain the
doleful confession of the Richmond Enquirer,
that sin more than half the Congressional districts
of the South, where vacancies are to be supplied
for the next Congress, issues have arisen full Of
peril to democratic success" What does this
mean, explain it as we may, but universal dis
affection, divisions and dissolution?
According to this democratic outline, and all