The New York herald., 1869-06-26


From the tenor of the daily news reports Of
arrests of persons by the United States Mar
shals for violating the neutrality laws, of the
departure of steamers from our various ports
with men, arms and munitions of war, or pre-
pared to take on armament of war character,
and of the landing Of expeditions in Cuba to
assist the patriots, it is evident to all that
movements of very active kind are on foot
among the private war circles, and great
| anxiety is entertained in many quarters to
know what position the government at Wash
ingtOn will take in view of the events which
receipt of letters asking for further informa-
ton on these subjects, from persons who are
not satisfied to know the development of
events as it transpires from day to day, and
who evidently belong TO that class of readers
| who wish to know what is going to happen.
To these we have only to say that so far as
regards the government at Washington, its
members are evidently more in rne dark and
more puzzled than anybody else as to what
! they are going to do and what position they
will find themselves to hold towards any
coming event. Without political chart or
the guiding needle of policy they will con-
tinue to drift on in the eddy Of events, ac-
cepting the results that may accrue. On
other points general review of affairs will
present many points Of interest.
The principal islands of the West Indian
Archipelago are to-day in crisis of great
ohio ft,a ;rn tuf Of iob
lies in the abolition of African slavery by the
United States. Cuba is undergoing an
armed revolution, with emancipation and an
nexation inscribed upon its banner; the
Dominican republic is agitated with the
proposition of a peaceful admission to the
American Union; Hayti is divided into three
hostile camps, in one of which at least the
idea of an American protectorate is enter
tanned and Porto Rico is reported to have
caught the fire in a way which greatly
alarms the colonial officers of the Spanish
monarchy. The various parties involved
in all these movements have their
active partisans in this country who are en-
gagged in pushing their respective views in
every feasible way. The cooperation of the
press is assiduously sought; diplomatic and
extra diplomatic communications are pressed
upon the government and the people; arms
and munitions Of war are pushed forward
through every possible channel; steamers are
being built, chartered or purchased and pre-
pared for naval armament in behalf of several
of the combatants, and parties of the enter
nrisjnp and advant,Irous amonp Oyr nonuIation
are being sent of to the various exciting scenes
of events.
So numerous are these operations. and so
conflicting is the inform alton in regard to
them which is laid before the administration
that the government thus far, with the best
disposition to preserve the majesty of the laws
has not been able to convict or even detain
any of the many enterprises that have been
denounced to it as infringing the neutrality
act. The Quaker City steamer was detained
aud released in this city another steamer
was denounced in Boston and escaped; seve-
raj are reported to have departed from South
ern ports without suspicion; others are ru-
mored to have left New York recently without
the knowledge of the officials, and finally seve-
raj members of Cuban junta known to exist
here have been indicted for supposed partici-
patton in the sending of an armed expedition
which undoubtedly landed in Cuba. In these
operations we are able to trace to greater or
less extent the agents of Cespedes and Duce
in Cuba, Baez and Cabral in st. Domingo, and
Salnave and Dominique in Hayti. These
names respectively represent existing and re-
volutionary powers in each Of the islands
| named.
The existing governments appeal, of course,
| to the administration at Washington to enforce
the neutrality laws, and the revolutionary
agents, with equal pertinacity and perhaps
greater skill, claim to avoid their provisions.
Among the flibuster elements here there has
always been present large number Of astute,
| keen and audacous men who have ever found
| it feasible to carry out their projects without
coming in conflict with the law, particularly
when public opinion has been favorable
to their designs, and hence since the
passage of the present neutrality act
| in 1918 we believe no conviction has been
obtained under it. In fact, the law assumes
too much to be effective, and the popular SYM
pathy is most generally opposed to the party
that appeals to its exercise in their behalf. We
do not hesitate, therefore, to believe that the
government will fail in all its attempts to en-
force It in the future, as it has done in the past
| in the well known cases Of the Cuban fill
busters under Lopez and Walker and the
Fenian flibuster operations against Canada.
From these premises II will readily be seen
that the movements now going on in the West
India islands will continue to receive assistance
from this country, in proportion as their pur-
poses merit the sympathy of the people and