i SPIRIT OF TEE PRESS. EDITORIAL OPINIOHS oP THB LBAMNO JOURNALS VT09 OTBBINT TOPICS COMPILED BVKHT PAT Vol TH1 KTKSma TELKOBAPH. rancUl Tinkering n CoBJ"l-Tk Morilll Bill. fVOtn A iV. 3'. Herald. Mr. Morrill, the Senator from Vermont, has It bill before Congress to resume specie pay ments after July, 18G9, or, la other words, to lompel the Secretary of the Treasury to re leem the Interest-bearing legal-tender notes and to par the bondholders in coin after that date. This bill provides also for the sale of gold in the Treasury at that time, for which the Government is to receive paper in the Chape of the three per cent, interest com pound notes. It also requires the national banks to redeem in coin their currency of fire dollars and under; but permits them to re deem bills of a higher denomination In green tacks. The Government is first to part with all the gold in the Treasury, aud then, after having farted with it, is to redeem the legal-tenders in ooin, while the national banks are not re quired to pay in specie their notes over five dollars. Suohlsthe confused and impracti cable legislation to whioh Congress is invited ly the Vermont Senator. The mountains of liia State are not as green as is this scheme for reaching specie payments. A bill to dry up the Mississippi or to stop the llow of Niagara would be quite as reasonable. Is ought to be called a bill to bankrupt the Treasury, to add to the wealth of the bondholders at the ex pense of the people, and to turn over to the national banks all the gold, while it allows these favored institutions to circulate an irre deemable paper currency. It is an insidious measure for the special benefit of the national lianks and the bondholders, from whioh both the Government and the mass of the people Vrill be the sufferers. But it is impracticable, find if Congress should be stupid enough to pass it which, if we may Judge from the action of the House lately on the currency question, it will not the consequenoes may Le serious, while the object will not be reached. The British Parliament tried to force specie payments after the wars with Napoleon by guch measures as this, but had to undo what Fas done several times. From 1S15 to 1821 Several efforts were made to force resumption, lut the Government had to abandon its pur pose in consequence of the suffering produced find difficulties in the way. Finally, when re sumption was forced through the clamor of the boudholders and capitalists, which was not fully reached, however, till 1823, the coun try was plunged into terrible financial revul sions and appalling distress. Similar results will follow here if the same disastrous policy lie pursued. If Mr. Morrill cannot be taught Ly such lessons of experience, it is to be hoped the majority in Congress can, and will reject the impracticable and dangerous bill of that Senator. Let the circulation of the currency remain as it is, except to make it uniform, by Substituting legal-tenders for national bank notes, and the country will reach a specie basis gradually, without serious revulsions. Another absurd proposition made by the financial tinkers is to raise another and a foreign loan to pay a portion of the debt that is, to create one debt to pay another to place ourselves still more at the mercy of British and other foreign capitalists, and to make a big job for some speculators. The British wisely kept as much of their debt as possible at home, eo that the interest, when paid, should not leave j I the country; and Louis Napoleon, when he raised a large loan, was careful to spread it among the French people; but our sapient financiers want to make us the debtors of foreigners, to bind us hand and foot, and to leave our finances and trade under foreign con trol. The debtor nation, like the individual debtor, is always more or less at the mercy of the creditor, and the foreign creditor from year to year drains a nation in debt of the specie or money which is the lifeblood of inter nal trade. Suppose, according to the theory of these financiers who want a foreign loan, that the whole of our debt could be sold or transferred to Europe, we should have to send upwards of a hundred and twenty millions in gold abroad every year to pay the interest. The capital on the purchase money would soon be swal lowed up as in a vortex, and after the first stimulating effect passed away we should be left dependent and helpless. The Government wants no loan, and, least of all, a foreign one. As the debt falls due, if there be not money enough in the Treasury to pay it, let Congress provide for changing one form of indebtedness for another by the simple process of substitu tion. That is all which will be needed, and we can dispense with foreign loan negotiators Or the assistance of foreign capitalists, so far as the United States Treasury is concerned. If these financiers are desirous of getting foreign capital, or the foreign capitalists of UBing it here, let them apply it to the hun dreds of profitable euterpiiaes in the country to the development of our vast undeveloped resources and to the creation of wealth among us. It this way loans would be profitable both to the country and foreign capitalists; but it would be better to keep the national debt at home amoBg our own people. Rather pay off the debt as fast as possible than to cre ate a new one. We are not among those who believe a national debt a national blessing, and we are quite sure it would be anything but that if held by foreigners. Ftlluri of h Roman Conference Tht Situation In Italy. Front the JV. Y. Herald. By a telegram through the Atlantic cable, dated in Paris on Saturday evening, we are in formed that Napoleon's plan of a general Euro pean Conference on the subject of the Italo Roman and Papal temporalities questions has failed, the great powers having finally refused to take part in the assemblage. The subjeot baa been ia a state or dipiomatio negotiation for some time, and Munich and Paris have been respectively named as the place and the Pth of December for the day or meeting. The tili;,.r.Tw,.i rt ia nnmnlntrt failure of tlia lillOlllgnuuv v w i - rial nrnnnxiLion. furnished bv our Special correspondence, is of a very important .L..,,. NannWri' invitation for the Con- cress was addressed to all the powers of Jiurope, great ana sman, ana m u8mo ,t tl.a nruat nnvnrn will not OUlV hu miliate the Emperor deeply, but reaffirm the royal dlsunotion oitue vaiue oi uuvwunicu. votes on subjects of general interest created by the treaty of Vienna and maintained ever since. The agitation on the subject of Rome will, maut likelv. be renewed with treat intensity. tartleularfy in France and Italy. In the . . , i ... . i. i Italian luamuers a sirong utunn un mrwi) aken place, the liberals assailing the ininU erg in the most merciless manner for sub THE DAILY BVEMKG TELEGRAPH F II 1 L mitting as they bad done to the dictates of I Napoleon. A fresh vote, similar to that of I 18(il, declaring Koine to Y e the natural capital of Italy, was considered probable. Such a vote would amount to a vote of want of con- lidence, ana migui necessitate a change of ministry. A change of ministry might bring back Itatazzl to power, and the return of Iiatazzi, in present circumstances, could Bcaroely fail to bring Italy and France into open oollision. A t ranco-Italian war would be disastrous to Italy aud to the Govern ment of Victor Emanuel; but it might also be disastrous to Franco aud to the Govern ment of - Louis Napoleon. Napoleon has no desire to go to war; but revolution in Italy, which is now by no means impro bable, would drag him into war whether he would or not; and a war between these two powers on the Homan question would at least arouse the slumbering republicanism in both countries, if it did not prove the signal for a general European conflagration. It ia difficult to see what good a Congress could do, even if got together. The Italian Government is in sore perplexity; so is the Government of Louis Napoleon; and so far as it is possible, in pre sent circumstances, to judge, the perplexity in both cases is likely to continue until events of themselves shape a solution of the difficulty. There are some who are of opinion that Napo leon really wishes to make an end of the Pope's temporal power, with the exception of "the Vatican and a garden;" but the recent declaration of M. Rouher, and the consequent gratification of the Church party, render this view of the case for the present untenable. It will be, perhaps, best and wisest for all the European powers to acquiesoe in the deoision of the great ones, and leave Napoleon to settle the question as best he may. Reconstruction and Its ICnrmln-Th ltaiurtlug Element In the Republican Partj-. From the JV. Y. Timet. Wendell Phillips was not far wrong when, with the fate of impeachment before his eyes, he affirmed the presence of conflicting ele ments in the Republican party. He was evi pently right, too, when, in the same connec tion, he predicted the renewal of an attempt on the part of the extremists to control the Republican policy, and to engraft upon it views at variance with the scheme of recon struction now in progress. Tne current reports of interviews held within the last few days by Southern deputations, black and white, with sundry leaders of the extreme faction, afford a timely illustration of the forces which are at work to prevent the restoration ot the Union. They show that the Southern opponents of the law who meet in Conservative Conventions aud bewail the de parture from the cardinal article of their faith that "this is a white man's government" are not the only or the most dangerous foes of the pacification whiuh the country most anx iously awaits. They prove that whatever be the result of pending operations in the ex cluded States, the finality of the scheme is threatened by politicians who do battle under the Republican standard, and who will renew in Congress the delays and disturbances which have already bten so productive of mischief. According to the statements transmitted from Washington through different but in the main concurrent channels, Messrs. Sumner, btevens, ana iiutler severally declare them selves dissatisfied with the alleged moderate character of the present law, and counsel the Southern deputations who call on them for ! 'advice" to adopt more prescriptive measures. Thus, Mr. Sumner advises the conventions yet to be held to widen the disfranchising clauses of the Congressional plan, and to impose disa bilities which would have the effect of ex cluding the great body of Southern intelli gence from participation in the Government. Sir. Butler favors, substantially, the same course. Mr. Stevens, as usual, is not behind either. He would allow a bare mijority of those icAo vote to determine the matters submitted to them instead of a majority of the registered voters, as required by law. lie proposes to increase the Congressional representation by allowing to the two-fifths hitherto excluded, members to be voted for on a general ticket or as Congressmen at large; and he contemplates the organization of provisional governments, to be established by the conven tions, and to take the place of the distriot commanders. This last proposition is in tended to secure the existence of "loyal gov ernments" to rule the States in whioh the measures of the Conventions may be voted down or otherwise defeated, and is a foretaste of what gentlemen like Mr. Hunter may ex pect as the alternative of "negro rule" under the law as it stands. Mr. btevens clings, moreover, to his old idea of "mild confisca tion;" and Mr. Butler suggests that for the better securing the supremacy of the "loyal element" the disfranchised class shall be de barred participation in the management of banks, railroads, or other chartered commer cial .enterprises, lo crown the whole, Mr. Sumner insists that the problem of nation ality which he has striven profoundly to elucidate, shall be solved by the enactment of a Political Rights bill, making political co extensive with civil rights In all the States oi the Union. It is not easy to speak with patience of pro- ieots so obviously at variance with the polioy 01 tne ttepuuiicnn pany, bo lujuiiuuo w vuo country, or so caleulattd to add to the dangers and difficulties ol the south. Ana yet notning is gained by refusing to look at plans and pro positions which indicate the purposes, and throw some light upon the probable tactics, of the faction whose confidences are shared by Messrs. Sumner, Stevens, and Butler iu com mon with the special contributor of the And- Muvtry Stamlanl. The folly and enormity of what these persons propose is not a reason tor passing it over unnoticed. The epirit it re veals cannot be 6afely disregarded, since its influence will be felt, immediately, throughout the South, and again in Congress when the question shall come up for final adjustment. The first effect will perhaps be the worst. There can be no doubt that the absence of faiih in the finality of the Constitutional Amendmect contributed not a little to the failure of that measure in the Southern Legis latures. They declined to acquiesce ia un palatable conditions, which, after all, might not be the ultimatum or tne national uov ernment. The distrust was, ia our Judgment, unfounded, and the refusal unwise, but we must nevertheless admit the plausibility of the reasoning in which both originated. A similar argument against the Reconstruction law is now furnished by the extremists ; though the effect may not be so distinctly traceable the tendenev ii unauestionably the same. It will put a powerful weapon iu the hands of luutie wno aweu upon tue uau unu ui w gress as a motive to opposition. On the more violent members of the Conventions the innuenoe will be still more mischievoui. From the Carolinas and from Virginia they have 6ent to Washington to learn the views of politicians who claim to be considered leaders.' The trio whose extravagances now come before us have been visited for this our- rose, and their opinions will be renortad to the Conventions with all the weight of gospel. Th delegates who reached Washington la search it may be an honest search after in for mation, go back to Richmond and the Caro linas assured that the action of the Conven tions cannot be too extreme for Congress. In this manner, Btrength will be imparted to th demand for prosoriptive measures, to the de light and profit of the demagogues and Incen diaries with whom "loyal" pretenses are a cover for every outrage. Nor can the Republican party afford to ba indifferent to these exhibitions of the temper which animates its extreme members. We do not apprehend that Mr. Sumner, or Mr. Ste vens, or Mr. Butler will be more potent when the time for revising the work of reconstruc tion shall arrive than they were when the law was passed. Harsh as it is, it had been much worse were they able to dictate the course of the party. They were beaten then, however, as signally as they have since been beaten on the subject of impeachment; and we believe that they will not appear to better advantage when they shall attempt to fasten their fanati cism and intolerance on States seeking ad mission under the law. But, notwithstanding their numerical weakness notwithstanding the fact that they are a mere corporal's guard compared to the great army of Republicans their projects, so impudently paraded and so persistently renewed, entail disaster and dis grace upon the party with which they are un ortunately allied. It suffers in every respect from their proceedings. A regard for its own usefulness and welfare, then, not less than for the interests of the South and the honor of the country, seems to suggest the most summary disposal which the practice of Congress per mits of whatever measures they introduce for giving effect to their disorganizing policy. The appointment of a Reconstruction Committee in the House, with Mr. Stevens at its head, opsns the door to nuisances of this nature, and we may expect to hear of them often. But the duty of the ruling party is clear. It cannot, without imperilling its power, even entertain the propositions which the Sumners and Stevens and Butlers of Congress stand ready to introduce; nor can it without dis honor lend encouragement to those who in its name are plotting for supremaoy and for offi ;e in the Southern States. It may not, perhaps, be politio to proclaim in advance a readiness to be more liberal than the law; but the party does o we to itstlf aud to the people who re pose confidence in the capacity of its states manship, such a display of firmness and mode ration as shall free it from the suspicion of complicity with the violence which assails its peace and endangers its unity. The Nearest Duty. From the If. Y. Tribune. Conversing last; week at Washington with one of the keenest and most determined radi cals in the South, we inquired as to the pros pect of carrying his State in the ensuing eleo tion. "Very much depends," he replied, "on our candidate for Governor. If A be the man, I shall fear the result; with B, the chance will be better; but the man we ought to run, if we could, is General X. He was a Rebel, and fought gallantly through the war; yet, the moment it was over, he said he had fought for slavery, because he believed in it; but, now that it was gone, he was for Recon struction and lasting Union on the basis of equal rights for all. From that hour, he has steadily, openly advocated the enfranchise ment of the blacks, not merely as expedient, or politic, or inevitable, but as eaueutially right a logical, necessary result of emancipa tion. If he were only enfranchised, so that we could run him for Governor, our success would be certain." Is there one man on earth not a born idiot who can imagine a reason for not enfranchis ing such a man all such men f What sort of policy, or justice, or common sense, oau there be in keeping under the ban men who are not merely with us and of us, but whose restora tion to political rights is essential to our own success and ascendancy T We do not seek to disguise the fact that we favor a far more generous and comprehensive restoration to political rights; but that cannot affect the wisdom of enfranchising our own people. It is on this point that we would now hx attention. The Alabama Convention has sent up to Congress a long list of the disfranchised in that btate who, because they are earnest, active radicals, the majority desire to have restored to the fullest rights of citizenship; and we do not doubt the ultimate success of this demand. But why not affirm a principle rather than establish an exoeption f Why should not Congress enact, in six lines, that every Southron who has, tor at least three months past, supported reconstruction on the basis of equal rights for all citizens, and still supports it, shall, upon making and filing his affidavit to the fact, be restored to all political rights and placed on the registry of his district as a voter f " What is the need of squandering paper in printing long lists of names when the principle involved is so dear f Admit that a few unchanged Kebeis might commit perjury in a matter so plain as to render exposure aud infamy, if not legal punishment, inevitable, we insist that their power lor evil would be fatally crippled by the notoriety of their crime And it is never possible to preclude absolutely all chance ot such abuses. Colonel Donu Piatt nsed to insist, in his Ohio stump speeches, that the Republicans must haste and get a principle to stand upon before V nllandighein should die and leave them bankrupt. In that epirit, we hold that the insaue folly wherewith the ex-Bourbons of the South insist on arraying the blacks in solid phalanx against them cannot possibly be expected to outlast the next two years. And whenever the old masters shall have wit enough to say to their ex-slaves, "We oou cede to you all the rights that we claim for oui selves; why should we be antagonists any longer ?" they will carry a large part, if not most, of them away from those who now run the Republican machine at the South. The recent conservative negro meeting at Mobile is ominous of what must surely come, bo long as the reactionists who absurdly term themselves "conservatives'' shall see fit to stand on the platform of "a white man's gov eminent," whereof blacks must be serfs, this gravitation of the negroes towards their old masters will amount to nothing more than the Irish vote for Know-nothing tickets; but the moment the old aristocracy of the bouth con cede the right of suffrage to the blacks, the whole situation will be changed. And that they will do, as Boon as they are satisfied that they can do no better. Every consideration of policy and we ar now looking no further demands that the re construction of the bonthern btates be has tened so far as is oonsistent with the mainte nanoe of political rights for their lately em an oipated people. Congress will doubtless amend its late acts so far as to rende a majority of those voting, instead of requiring a majority of all who are registered, to adopt their reno vated Constitutions. That it will also enfran chine at least all the fire-tried radicals who were once Rebels, is bo obvious a dlotate of common sense that we cannot Imagine a pre text for postponing it even a week. AD ELPIII A. TUESDAY, .DECEMBER 17, 18U7. The Presidency. From tht If. F. Tribune. ' ; We do not propose to hold General Grant responsible for the utterances of any of those who favor his eleotion as our next President, preferring that he should speak for himself, and take bis own time for so doing; but, as General Dent is commended to publio atten tion as a brother-in-law of the General and a member of his staff, and as his letter, embodies the views of a considerable section of General Grant's present supporters, we submit it to publio attention. It is as follows: U(ar 8.! To be oulto franlt with you. (General Grant doe not wIsu lo ellner the Republican or the Deiuocnulo candidate ltr tuo rrekiueucy. tie would prefer to be el eole 1 by Uie people, without auv reference lo Ilia irc- Sent party ormnlaallons. If It U posnlble. Jet tune una ucw upuiinuou, repregemiuff lue people aud nol the poilliciaua. Tne Ueneral la now iu a boslllon which sulla him vt rv wli- and be will not give U up uuless he thinks he cau be of more service to his country. He will tot taxe the i r mucucy it ue cannot enter upon lie cilice unpledged aud uueiuharraMsed by parly artlllaUouH and platforms, lie does not wan t lo deolde upon questions of puollo policy until they come up lr settlement, and henoa his reluolHuce to be questioned as lo platforms, or confined to certalu Hues of action, lie hai uelloite views of his own, whioh are tolerably wen expressed in au article written uy a yoiiu f i lend of bis lor the January number of lua Galaxy. Oi course he must not be held resDsn. sible lor oil the views therein expressed; but it gives aDout wuai ne minus oi ine present politi cal situation. "While demanding perfect freedom of action for himself, General Grant does not wish to aol Independently or the people, ills care would De, if elected, to study their Interests aud wishes, and do for them about what they wanted to do for themselves. Jet parly ques tions enter Into the canvass for Congressmen, and, whatever the will of the people Is, the General will try and loyally ooey It. "Un one point, the General is quite dear. If elected, he will make no appointments on account of politloal servlous. He believes that a reform of our civil service, such as that em bodied in Mr. jeucnes' Dili or last session, is of vital moment, and all he will ask of any candi date for position 18 honesty and capacily. "xou may use mis note ainonK iriends, ami, If they thliik General Grant oau be elected without reference lo either of the existing parties, let mem go aueua; out i again repeat, General Grant does not care for the Presidency, if 11 is to be the Klft ol a parly. "X ours, etc., u." In palpable contrast with General Dent's programme stands the declaration of the pow erful organization known as the Union League of America, which, at its sessiou in Washing ton on Thursday last, unanimously "Resolved, That the National Council of the IT. L. A. Is utterly opposed to any departure f om the sacred principles of its oiicauizatloj, or li om those of the Republican party; aud that we do hereby resDeoilully, but earnestly and firmly, nrge the .National Republican Conven tion to place no man in nomination for Presi dent ol the United Hiatus la 18U8 wno is not in himself an irreversible punrautee that he is a true lrieud of the cause of Uu ion and Liberty, the equal rlghis of all m--n before the law, and of universal manhood suffrage." We believe a considerable portion of those who united in this resolve are supporters of General Grant, regarding him as just such "au irreversible guarantee" as their resolve calls for. And we cannot doubt that, if General Grant shall be nominated for President at Chi cago next May, it will be substantially on the platform embodied in this resolution. There have been times in which a President could be fitly chosen with small regard to his political convictions; but these are not such times. For, while many voters are doubtless more intent on the election of their favorite than the triumph of any distinctive principles, there ia a far larger number who will support the man mainly for the sake of the principle which his election is to establish. Many of these are for Grant; others for Chase, for Wade, for Colfax, or for Stanton; but their choice is guided by a belief that the principles which they cherish may thus be most surely subserved. No presentation of candidates will be generally satisfactory which does not re cognize and respect this truth. Shall We Buy a New African State From the N. Y. World. Only one hundred and fifty millions in gold for the two islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, with, as we presume, all the "Spanish Virgins" thrown in. Was ever such a bargain offered to mortal nation before f That it has been offered even now, and to us, we, at this writing, may not over-confidently assert, since the news comes to as from the same quarter from which we, some short time ago, reoeived the startling information of ftie entire submersion of the Island of Tortola with all its inhabitants. It is furthermore remarkable that the Spanish Government, never in a hurry to take the oolo nies into its confidence, should announce this news to Cuba before its publication in Wash ington. At the price named Cuba and Porto Rioo, with their adjacent dependencies, certainly could not be regarded as dear. Porto Rico, it is true, costs the Spanish Government rather more than it comes to, but taken "in the block" her West Indian possessions yield Spain a yearly income of nearly twenty mil lions of dollars, so that in selling them out for a hundred and fifty millions she parts with them at about a seven years' purchase. Yet, when we reflect how weak Spain now is, how troubled and cloudy is the near future of Christendom, and how extremely convenient a thing to the Spanish treasury would be so large and available a Bum as one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, it must be admit ted that a Spanish ministry might do many things much more foolish than to part with the "gems of the Antilles" even at this seemingly inadequate rate. It is not at all likely, of course, that the plots and con trivances alleged to be hatching in Mexico against the Spanish authority in Cuba will speedily, if ever, come to much. But unlikely as it is, it is still possible that an enterprise nominally originating in Spanish America, but really supported and made formidable by the cooperation of adventurers from the United States, might result in compelling Spain to fight for her dominions in the Caribbean Sea, aud that on a scale and in circumstances which, whatever the immediate issue might be, would rapidly put the balance of her ac counts on the wrong side of the ledger. Then, too, it must be obvious now, if it was so never before, to all Spanish statesmen who are capa blo of looking be-fore and after, that the eventual absorption of Cuba and Porto Rico into the continental system of the r.ew world is inevitable. And, finally, the over throw of slavery in the United States opens directly before their eyes the fast-approach ing hour in whioh emancipation must con front Cuba also with the social and po litical problems which the British West Indies, after years oi nnanciai depression, have not yet worked out, and which the peo ple of our own Southern States have not yet been permitted by their radical rulers at Washington to rationally take up. bo con fused and threatening are the aspeots of her own home politics, that Spain may very wisely Shrink from the thought oi grappling with new and monstrous difficulties of this kind in re gions remote from her shores. The old Cas UUan pride, It may be supposed, is still too OLD RYE W H I S K I E S. ' THE LARGEST A"ND BUST STOCK OF FINE OLD RYK Wtl I 8 K I G 3 In the Land Is now Possessed by HEN 11 Y S. IIANNIS & CO.; Nos. 218 and 220 South FRONT Street, WHO Om R THE HAMK 10 TUB TRADE, IK LOTS, OS T BT IDVANTAOKflt TSBlHi Their Stock of Rye Whiskies, in Bond, comprises all the favorite brands extant, and run through the various months of 1SC5, 'CG, and of this year, up to present date. Liberal contracts made for lota to arrive at Pennsylvania Railroad Depot, Ericsson LI Wharf, or at Bonded Warehouse, as parties my elect. ENGLISH CABPETINGS. KIW (,Ot)DS OF OUR OWN IMPORTATION JUMT ABBIVEO. ' ALSO, A. CHOICE SELECTION OF AMERICAN CARPETINGS, OIL. CLOTHS, ETC. EbrIUIi Drnggetlng, from hair yard to four yardawldei Matting, Rati HkUt Onr entire stock, including new goods daily opening, will be offered at LOW PRICES FOR CASH, prior to Remova' in January next, to Kew Store, now building, Ho. I'titZ Chesnut street. REEVE L. 11 Hthtu2m vivid andereot in Spain for these considerations to produce their full effect upon her rulers. But since the Czar and the Russians, whose boast for years it has been that their terri tory has always advanced and never reoeded, have brought themselves to part with their American domain, Isabella and her subjeota may, perhaps, be satisfied to give up decently, With dignity, and of their own free will, the remnant of an empire, all the rest of which has been wrenched from Spain by the huinili- ting hand of triumphant rebellion. Whether Spain would do well or III to part with her West Indies, however, is neither so interesting nor so profitable a matter for Ame ricans to reflect upon as whether the United States would do well or ill to purchase them. In a general way and under the ordinary con ditions of our national life, therewould be little or nothing to be said against the acquisition in a friendly spirit and for a reasonable sum of possessions so noble in themselves, so near to us, and so important to our complete supre macy in American waters. But for the opposition oi tne men now most oonspicuous in the Republican party, indeed this acquisition might already have been made, for successive Democratio administra tions pursued it through many years, and President Pierce brought negotiations to ac complish it up to a point at which they must have succeeded had not the whole force of the then incipient Republioau organization aud sentiment been thrown against the work. The annexation of Cuba was thus prevented pre cisely as Mr. Seward and his confederates in the Senate, by collusion with Mr. Toombs and other Southern revolutionists, defeated the treaty for a Mexican protectorate which was successfully negotiated by a Democratio envoy to President Juarez seven years ago. But just at this precise time it may be fairly ques tioned whether there are not other territories even more noble in themselves, still nearer to us geographically, and far more important t9 us, both in peace and war, which it behooves us to secure before we lay hands upon the Queen of the Antilles. Between the Potomac river and the Missis sippi, the Ohio and the Rio Grand, there stretches a vast expanse of fertile and desira ble regions, the possession of whioh has been thought to be so essential to our national greatness and prosperity, that to retain them we have incurred a national debt practically equalling that of Great Britain, but which are to-day as much out of our control for all bene ficial purposes as if they belonged to the king dom of Spain or the republio of Mexico. An area half as large as that of all Europe, in habited by a population not foreign to us, like that of the Spanish Americas by race and speech, but of our own blood, and bred in our own traditions, is steadily and swiftly slipping away from us into decrepitude and anarchy. What with the Freedmen's Bureau, the "military governments," the centralized administration generally, and the taxation system now extended over the South, we are spending annually more than the amount of the interest on the proposed purchase money of the islands of Caba and Porto Rico, to alienate and make worthless to us the superb territories on which the vast fabric of our commercial wealth and importance once most surely rested. As a measure ef praotioal statesmanship, then, which should take pre cedence, the outlay of millions to make Cuba valuable to us, or the retrenchment of mil lions to keep the South from being valueless to us f This question is the more timely, that if we buy Cuba at this moment, and under the domination of the temper now paramount at Washington, in what we call with saroastio courtesy our National Legislature, we simply buy an enormous reinforcement of the centri fugal and disintegrating forces which the radical policy is generating at the South. Under the radical reconstruction theory the ten Southern States of the Union are being rapidly converted into foreign republics, to be inhabited by a mongrel rase as foreign to the white population of the rest of the Union as are the present inhabitants of Cuba aud Porto Rico and Mexico. To suppose that the white inhabitants of the South will remain in the South under the supremacy of the ne groes is simply childish, aud to do the more intelligent of the radicals justice, they are not so silly as to suppose that this will be so. They look forward avowedly and with exulta tion to the creation at the South of new com munities to be as predominatingly African as those by which the British West Indies and Hay tl are now occupied. All things under the existing rule at the South are working out .this result. But those who most noisily clamor for it do not seem to have reflected that so soon as it has been attained these new parti-colored republics will find themselves drawn by natural affinities away from the white States of the Union as it now exists, and into close political sympathy with the mongrel inhabitants of Spanish America and the West Indies. Ten Atrican States most assuredly will not long continue to be repre sented at Washington by Americana not "of African descent." Senators and Representa tives of their own complexion will at no dis tant day be despatched to meet en the floor of the National Legislature and on a footing of perfeot equality with the white Senators and Representatives of the North and West. Does anybody in his senses suppose that the people of the North and West will tolerate such a spectacle or submit to la ruled by the legisla KNIGHT & BON, HO. 807 mENNCT STRKKT. tion of such a parti-colored body ? It may be proved to be their duty as philosophers aud philanthpistB bo to do, but that will matter little. The instinctive repulsions of race are not to be restrained by any such cobwebs of theory. And these repulsions, be it remem bered, will be felt at the South as well as at the Noith, by the African as well as by the American. The parti-colored States will re sent the joint rule of the white as much as the white States the joint rule of the parti-colored. The more sharply this state of things defines itseif the more strongly will the Southern or African States find themselves drawn towards that great hybrid population which inhabits the shores of the Caiibbean Sea aud the Gulf, which makes Mexico what Mexico is, and which is gradually repelling the whites from the Antilles. Is it very difficult to forecast the immense impulse which would be given to what we may fairly call the African secession by the sudden introduction into our system of an island like Cuba, with its seven hundred thousand negioes and its quarter of a million of mulattoes, all of whom, of course, must be at once admitted to the "boon and blessing" of universal suffrage f Cuba is a chaiming thing to have, no doubt, and dirt cheap at a hundred aud fifty millions of dollars. But ought the taxpayers of the North and West to be entirely wild with joy at the prospect of paying a hundred and fifty millions of dollars for the pleasure of accele rating in the interest of the African raoe that disruption of the Union which they have just been spending three thousand millions to pre vent? GREAT REDUCTION, FOR TIIK HOLIDAYS, IN Oil. FAINTIKfiK, C'lIROSIOV, AND i:URAVIKUS. MANTEL AND PIEU LOCKING GLASSES, IN CiBKAT VARIETY. NEW ART GALLERY, F. DOLAfID & CO., 11 1 2m2p No. 14 ARCH Street. BOOTS AND SHOES. "I'HE' LATEST STYLES IN CUSTOM-WADE BOOTS A.TSI SHOES, FOR GENTLEMEN AND HOYS. CALL AND EES THB NEW BOX TOES. PBIIES FIXED AT LOW FIUUUEM. DARTLETT, NO. 33 KU11II KJXTII ftTBEKT, H2tf ABOVB CHKSiffUT. PATENT ELASTIC TENTILATINO INN EH SOLES. They are PERFECT KKMEDV 'ul OOLJOR BWK4TY FEKT OKI ORNS, Tliey relieve Il KU HATIfM AMI NK UK ALU I A, They liorb rrmove the rKHaVlMMTlOS lnsida ot KUBBJtlt lioo'ltl. To know their merits they muat be worn. luull Price. 1 no pet jtlr. bold Of all retail Boot and bhoe Ialeia K. A. HILL Proprietor, Botorj, MM. Henry Klllott, No. lOWerrtfii mreef, N. Y.: V. & J. M. Jones. No m Commerce ireet,i Philadelphia. Wholel A genu. m Ua CLOTHS, CASSIMERES, ETC. RETAIL AND WHOLESALE CLOTH HOUSE. ti . WE T. SNODGRASS & CO., NO. S4 fcOlTTH SECOND STUEET, . Announce a fresh importation o LADIES' VELVET CLOIUI, FUH HEAVERW, ANIHAClliNS, .VELVETEENS, C11IMOI1LLAS, TDrTEU HEAVES., ' ETC. ETC, ETC Alao, a Urge and varied aaaortmeol of UOODS adapted for Men's aud Bora' Wear. 11 1 lmro A.
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