Year: 1873

system that our great railways, which are as
much part of the strength of the Republic as
the great highways Of Rome were Of the
Roman Empire, shall be an advantage and
not burden to the people. Do not double
the price of Pennsylvania iron at the expense
of Indiana corn. Let every government energy
be given to the funding Of our loan and the
consequent decrease Of taxation. Then let
Congress pass law declaring that, in ten or
fifteen years-say 1880, at the furthest-the
nation will resume specie payments


We believe that if q law of this kind were
adopted, that if we were to thus solemnly
pledge the credit Of the nation to the resump-
ton of specie payments on certain day, the
effect would be that we should reach that
point at much earlier period. It is quite
possible in our American fashion of doing
surprising things when we make up our mind
to do them, that we would be able to resume
in the centennial year of our Independence.
Anyhow, there will be enough poetry in that
coincidence to make our people labor without
stint to achieve resumption in 1876. What
ever we do, there is only one way towards
solvency and that is the way that leads to re-
sumption. Mr.. Chase used to say that ''the
way to resume was to resume" We have
made too many mistakes to do that immedi-
ately. The only way to resume is to make up
our minds to do ito pass law pledging the
nations honor to il, and to labor to that end
with honesty, industry and courage,



Bombastes Furioso in Havana-Wil


the Nice Little Arrangement of Mr.


Fish and Admiral Polo Be Consum-


mated:


There is every likelihood that the pleasant
little arrangement agreed upon between Mr..
Secretary Fish and Admiral Polo in the mat
ter of the Virginius, by which the United
States government was expected to occupy a
very unenviable position in the eyes of the
world, will not be brought to satisfactory
conclusion, owing to the insanity Of the Don
Quixotes of the "Queen of the Antilles.
Probably this much vaunted protocol was in
tended as an ante-holiday joke by our grave
Secretary of State. 1t has certainly
produced the same effect with the lords Of the
''Ever Faithful 1sle' as would matadors S
scarlet cloak faunted before the eyes of on in
furiated bull during the Christianlike enter
tainments given in honor Of the butcher, Bur-
riel. Our dispatches from Havana are star
tling enough to satisfy the most inveterate SEN
sation monger, and yet they are of a tenor SO
perfectly consonant with the Bombastes Furi-
oso character of the members of the Casino
Espafiol and their satellites as to excite no
surprise in the minds Of those acquainted with
such madmen.


First of oil, we are informed that Captain
General Jovellar, the political Governor and
Senior Soler, the Colonial Minister, have ten
dered their designations to President CASTELAR,.
The former asks for successor to carry out
the orders of the Madrid government as he is
unable to do so. He says that ''the high
minded people over whom he is placed
want ample time for reflection" and that
the fiery, patriotic spirit Of the great ma
tional party in Cuba must have leisure
to cool off. This doughty knight of La Mancha
declares that the protocol of Mr.. Fish and
Admiral Polo will produce result similar to
that of the Treaty of Bayonne, which brought
around the war of Independence against the first
Napoleon. The immediate delivery of the Vir-
ginius to the United States authorities will, it
is argued, produce frightful commotion
throughout the island, resulting in successive
catastrophes


With these defiant trumpet blasts from Jo-


IL ~.
quences by the merchants of Havana if Mr..
Fish persists in asking for the Virginius and
those of her crew and passengers who escaped
the slaughter house of Santiago. One colonel
offers to arm and equip six steamers as cruis-
ers against Yankeeland, and public feeling is
excited to q most unwarrantable degree. In
fact, the Spaniards in Cuba must not be
counted upon in case President CASTELAR,
insists upon the immediate delivery of the
ill-fated steamer. The worthy President of
the Spanish Republic, it seems, made
inquiries of the Captain General as to the
state of popular feeling in Cuba on the ques-
ton of the Virginius, but did not wait for the
latter gentleman's answer. Surely this Gov
ernor of the modern Barataria, who unites in
himself the apparently incongruous qualities
of Sancho Panza and his master, deserved bet
ter treatment. Although he does not say
what period of time might be sufficient to
complete the delicate work of Investigating
public feeling on this subject among the
barbarians over whom he is appointed, yet no
such violence should be done to his feelings
as is conveyed in the obnoxious protocol of
Mr. Fish and Admiral Polo.


Our Washington dispatches give a glimpse
into the arcana of our Spanish Department of
State. But this glimpse is like peep into a
kaleidoscope. We are told that the govern
ment is about to put its foot down-no offence
whatever to Spain-and that certain people
in Cuba who do not entertain proper re-
spect for the Cabinet at Madrid will be