The New York Herald Newspaper, December 16, 1865, Page 4

4 _— NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. FOFFICE N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. Money sent by mat! will be TRRME cash in advance. “atthe risk of the sender. None but bank bills current in New York taken. Ve THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year, ‘Pour cents per copy. Annual subecription price, $4. HE WEEKLY HERALD, every Saturday, at Five Annual subscription pric wonie pel ne Copy Any larger number addressed to names of subscribers $1 50 each. An extra copy will be seut to every club ‘often Twonty copies to one address, one year, $25, Sand any turger number at same price, An extra copy pwill be sent to clubs of twenty, These rates male the Wreeacr Henanp the cheapest publication in the coun'ry. Postage five cents per copy for three months. ‘Tho Kusorwan Epon, every Wednesday, at Six cents \per copy, $4 per annum to anyepart of Great Britain, or 96 to any part of the Continent, both to include postage. ‘The Carsvornta Eprmon, on the ist and 16th of each month, at Six cents per copy, or $3 per annum. AbvAurIuMENTS, to @ limited number, will be inserted futho Westy Heracp, the European and California Editions. VOLUNTARY CORRESPONDENCE, containing im- Mortant nows, solicited from any quarter of the world; if usod, will be liberally paid for, sar Ovr Forney Cor. RASPONDENIS ARE PARTICULARLY REQUESTED TO SEAL ALL LETTERS AND PACKAGES SENT US, NO NOTICE taken of anonymous correspondence. We dy nol return rejected communicat ns. Volume XXX. - oe AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND E a PROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway. Saw. Matinee at SAN FRAN Matropoli 4s APRICK MINSTRELS, 535 Broadw: Ermioriax Sinatxu, Dan TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HO. ing, Daworna, BuRLE Qu’s. &¢.—T! Teetand Feee ar Last, Matin Bowery. —Stna- F Tax EERE ES on, GEORGE CHRISTY’S MINITR up Sonoon or Mixsterusy, Bait. SICAL heats eC, the Fifth Avoune and 4 Wesi Tw fourth st. Matinee at Two o'Clo "NEW NATIONAL CIRCWS. 37 TRAN, Gywxastic aNp AcRovar axp Lowtow Ox THE TRAPEZE. eat Bs . BRYANTS’ way —Daw Br ming, Buruesgves, &c.—JEEas 1 wntes’ Hall, 472. Broad- VEOH —N GRO COMICALI- Port. —-Provessor WiseWan's Matinee at Two o'Clock. HOPE CHAPEL, 720 Sroidw: Feveninos or Mystery axp Vis ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Irving place,—Sxconp Concent Or tax PuiLHARMONC Society OF New Youx. (RVING HALL, Irving place.—Mx. Avraxp H. Pease’s OMxouxsreas Concert. COOPER INSTITUTE, Astor Place.—Davunrort Bro- wasas Kxvosep uy H. M. Mar. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn. -E ru:orias Mix- ecnwist—BatLans, BuRLEsQues AND PANTOMIME: NEW YORK NUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— Open from Wy A. M. till 10 WITH New Vork, Saturday, 2 a SUPPLE December 16, 1565. " NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION. Receipts of Saics of the New York Daily Newspapers. OFFICIAL. Year Ending Mane of Paper ‘1 169,427 World 100,000 Bun 161,079 Express. 90,548 New Yor Henarv.... a vete cece ee eee M1,095,000 ‘Kaen, Tribune, World and Sun combined,, 871,220 Washington despatches state that the recent spirited manffestations of sympathy with the republican cause in Aioxico displayed in Congress and by the people of all lasses in this country, together with the appointment of General Logan, an oatspoken advocate of the immediate enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine, to the goverament of Prosidont Jaarez, have Jed to fresh correspondence on Mexican matters between Count Montholon, the French ™ aistor, and Secretary Seward, and induced the former o despatch his Chief Secretary, who sailed on Wedne:- day last, 4» Europe for definite instructions from Louis Na poteon. There tsa rumor that M. Monthotow has intimated thal ia ease a Minister is accredited by our government to that of the Moxican republic the French Legation will bs withdrawn from Washington, It Is ‘also reported that yesterday's Cabinet meeting, which was « longer one than “sual, aud which was also attended by Genoral , Was devoted to the consideration of Mexican ading points of the decree of President Juarez, athe Sth of November, and briefly noticed in sturday's Herann, are given in our present issue es that, though his term bas expired, as there bas tunity, in consequence of the disordered the country, to elect his successor, and as has invested him with exiraordinary powers, he sit as his daty to continue to actas Aregident until such time as another election can be held. fa the Coiled States Supreme Court in Washington yesterday argument was commenced in the case of the pplication of Mr. A. H. Garlond, of Arkansas, a pardoned rebel, to be allowed to practice in sald court with- out taking the oath prescribed by act of Congress, ‘The question involved is the constitufionality of this oath, which requires every applicant for admission to the bar of a United States court to swear that he never voluntarily aided the rebellion. Mr. M. H. Carpenter, counsel for Mr. Garland, took the ground that the Presi dent's pardon restores his client to all his former rights, snd that this bar to his entry into nations! courts as a practitioner is therefore unconstitutional. Attorney Geaoral Speed replied, maintaining the constitutionslity of (he oath, The argument was listened to with much soloredt jorge assemblage of legal gentlemen. Th wilt be continued on Friday next. Chief Justice Bowie, of the Supreme Court of Mary. tuod, has rendered a docision sustaining the Registry jaw of that State which excludes from voting all who ‘ake the test oath prescribed im the new constitu no eoadition the Congress ann tion Tho Keatucky Legislature has passed a bill pardoning fi! porns who during the rebellion committed treason against (he Commonworlth and removing the legal dis abilities impoved on rebels by previous legislation. Governor Worth, of North Carolina, was inaugurated fn Raleigh yesterday, but it is not likely that he will as- wame the exercise of executive functions for some time yet, ag the President has heretofore instructed Provi- sonal Governor Boiden that he is to continue to held phe office until specially relieved by ordera from Wash- ‘ington. {Phe oficial motifeation of tho ratifeation by the Ia- Giaus Legislature of the anti slavery amendment to the smational constitution was yesterday fled in the State Department by Speaker Colfax. | Som, Devis, we aro, informed by our Fortress Monroe correapoodence, has doen visited in bis case- mate prison at that by his of spiritual adviser, the pastor of St Pay!'s ghureb, Bishinond, who passed an satire dog with the t ox bresidont tel igious read aE ing, conversatiém and other exercises, and sdmiaistered | y°sterday at 111 Broadway, over three thousand bales to him the sacrament. be'ng disposed of. The attendance was large, aud the Asa matter of interest both as a reminiscence of the | Bidding was animated; but there was a slight decline m metropolis and as showing the inanguration by the | the reccived from those of a month ago. Maddling Herap of newspaper enterprise i this country thirty fair New Orleans and Memphis cotton sold for fifty-three years ago, we republish to-day, the anniversary of the | Con's per pound, and strictly middling at from fifty and great fire in this city on the 16th of December, 1835, the | @-half cents to fifty-one and one-fourth cents. full reports of that disastrous conflagration which were | The steamship City of New York, Captain Leitch, of given in our issues of the two following days. The story | the Inman line, will sail to-day at noon for Queenstown NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1865~WITH SUPPLEMENT, ceasury amendinent of the constitution. The pro- position took root, it was acted upon in Congress, the amendment by the re- quired two-thirds vote in each house was adopted and passed over to the States for their ratification; and now, three- fourths of all the State Legislatures having favorably responded, the thing is fixed. bce circumstance, M J.uiguce uae enverea we mai ‘ket and offered some of the best artisis such ,*ood terms that they have agreed to come to this ¢ity next year. They are admirable actors as well as capital singers, and we shall see such lig*ht operas as Fra Diavalo, Le Dom- ino Noir and La Dame Blanche produced in a atyle altogethe¥ superior to that of the Acade- will be read with deep interest by both old and young The mails will Now York, not only as a record of the past, but also as one of the early specimens of that energy and apprecia- tion of the live matters of the passing day that revolu- tionized American journalism and placed the Henao in that advanced position of newspaperdom which it has always maintained. The reports are accompanied by the game engravings of the burned district that originally appeared with thom, In the Board of Aldermen yesterday a report from the Finance Committee was read in favor of leasing to the Sisters of Mercy for ninety-nine years, at a nominal rent, the plot of ground lying between Eighty-first and Eighty-second strects and Fourth and Madison avenues; but it was laid over, A motion was made to obtain the 4nd Liverpool from pier 44 North nver. close at half-past ton A. M. at the Post Office, The Que steamship Matanzas, Captain Liesegang, of the Attantic and Mississippi steamship line, will sail at three P. M. to-day from pler 45 North river, just above Canal street, for New Orleans direct. ‘The steamship San Salvador, Captain Atking, of the Empire sidewheo! line, will eail to-day for Savannah at three P. M. from pier No. 2 North river. The steamer Galatea, which did good service for our government during the rebellion, and was afterwards sold to tho government of the Haytien republic, salled yesterday from this port, where she had been for some time undergoing the process of being fitted out as a Hay- tion man-of-war, for Portau Prince, She has an arma- ment of one fifty pounder and ten thirty-pounder Parrott my catacombs. The French artists know how to act such ope tas. An Italian singer may he briefly defined as vox preterea nihil, He can sing, but he se areely knows the meaning of what he sings, a.vd@ is generally too awk- ward te express the sense of the words even should he be fortunate enough to understand ft. Buta French artist is s man of intelli- gence, of saciety, capable’ of achieving a repu- tation as aa actor quite distinct from the repu- tation he has acquired by his‘fine voice. When such artists as these appear here and bring out It beeomes a part of the supreme law of the land. And here we may mention the remark- able fact that the words slavery, slave, slaves and slayeholders were carefully excluded from the constitution by its framers, and that “slavery” will first appear in that great charter with the abolition amd prohibition of the institution. We are contending, however, against these unconstitutionst radical schemes of reconstrac- tion as practically good for nothing, and as in- volving a worse than useless waste of time opinion of the Corporation Counsel on the subject of au- thorizing the issue of seventy-five thousand dollars worth of market stock because of a mandamus served upon the Board to that effect; but this was also la'd over. ‘The Board of Councilmen met yesterday and disposed of a large number of unimportantpapers. An ordinance was adopted appointing an Inspector of City Railroads, whose duty it will be to see that the various railroads are kept in a proper condition, His salary was fixed at three thousand dollars per annum. The Commissioners of Charities and Correction met Yesterday and received a paper from: Mr, ‘Bigelow, our Minister in France, enclosing the regulations of the Parisian Morgue. Another from the Comptroller, au- thorizing the Board to use 1444 West Tonth stroet as an addition to Jefferson Market prison. The Court of Appeals, in tho case of the Board of Com- missioners of Pilots versus John H Clark and others, brought in the Supreme Court to recover penalties, im- pesed by a statute passed in 1858, for encumbéring ono of the piers belonging to the city of New York, has con- firmed the jndgment of the court below, holding that the defendants are liable therefor. The Court of Appeals decisions, heretotore alluded to, in the cases of the city of Utica against the stock- holders of the Second National Bank of that place and the Horlem Gaslight Company versus the city of New York, are given in our paper this guns, and is officered principally by white men who served in the Union fleets during the late war, Herorew is composed chiefly: of celored seamen who also have completed their terms of service on board United States naval vessela. The City Counoil of Wasbington, inconsequence of the measures introduced in Congress to extend the voting privilege to the colored people of the District of Colvm- bia, propose to hold an election om Thursday next to do- cide the feeltng of the white voters fn the matter. There were large fires on Thursday in the towns of Nowburg and Oswego, in this State. In the former a sash and blind factory, a car factory, a millwright shop and two dwellings were destroyed, involving losses aggre- gating nearly forty thousand dollars, all of which were covercd by insurance. In Oswego the steam gawmill and shipyard of Chandler & Wilmot were partially consumed, and the fire caught the shipping in the river, but did no great damage to it. Thirty thousand doilars is the estl- mato of damages. William Willis, who was to have been hanged yester- day in Kingston, N. Y., for the murder of Mra, Rock- well, has had his sentence commuted by Governor Fen- ton to imprisonment for life at Sing Bing. The stock market was active and strong yesterday Governments wero a fraction higher. Gold closed at OX. morning. In the former case the court decided, as it | The advance of gold yesterday orcasioned increased has also done in other similar cases, that the individual }| buoyancy and firmness in trade circles, and both foreiyn stockholders of nat‘onal banks are liable to taxation by | 4nd domestic goods generally sold at an improvement. municipal authorities on their shares in the stock of said | There was more speculative inquiry than for some time institutions. The other case involved the question | Previously. Groceries wore dult, but rather more steady. Cotton was less firm, with a fair demand. Petroleum was a shade easier. On 'Change flour was again higher, ‘Wheat and corn were also in seller's favor, with a fair demand. Oats were somewhat firmor. Pork was irre- gular, closing Tower. Beef was wachanged, Tard was steady. Whiskey ruled decidedly more active: and higher, closing firm at the improvement. whether the Harlem Gas Licht Company was justified, as it did in September, 1864, in Increasing the charge for gas supplied to light the city above Seventy-cighth street to fifty dollars per year for cach street lamp, and was decided in favor of the company. A suit of E. J, Genet against Howland & Aspinwall for alleged loss sustained in # business transaction relative to @ loan of money was yesterday before the Snpreme Court, special term, Plaintiff borrowed the sum of six thousand five bundred dollars from defendants, and de- posited as collateral secarity one hundred shares of the Pacifie Mail Steamship Company’s stock, valued at ten thousand dollars, giving the privilege of salo in case the money should not be paid at the proper time. Itis cla'med that the sale was made improporly, and that plaintiff lost by the operation. The case is atill on. The developments in the Strong divorce trial yesterday were of a most interesting character, During tho con- tinued examination of Mrs. De. Walsh an affidavit signed by her was pat in evidence, revéaling a brief but dread- ful history of the Adams abortion case in the house in Waverley place, which had been so often hinted at in the carlier stages of the trial. Mary Smith, # soldicr's wife, who had been an Inmate of the house al the time of Mr. Strong’s alleged adultery with Mrs. Potter, testi- fied, toward tho close of the day, to sone startling facts, designed to substantiate that charge. The case has been adjourned until Monday next. The trial of John Hackett for the murder of John Green was concluded yesterday in the Court of Oyer and Torminer. Several witnesses were called to testify as to the good character of the prisoner. The case was then given to the jury; but they had not agreed up to a late hour Inst evening. An aetion was brought in the Court of Common Pleas, before Judge Cardozo, yesterday, by a man named Hart- zog, to recover two hundred and fifty dollars from the corporators of Gallagher's Evening Exchange. It was alleged that this money had been paid Gallagher on the 18th of August last, for a scat for one year in the Ex- change, but that the action of the Board of Brokers pro- hibiting the eale of stocks in the building bad closed up the institution in eight days after the money had been paid. Reconstraction—The Constitutional and the Radieal, the Right and the Wrong Way. Tt The proceedings of the first two weeks of the present Congress have pretty broadly dével- oped the reconstruction schemes and* par poses of the leading Northern radicals. The sweeping caucus resolution of Stevens, which | has been substantially adopted as the rule of action of the two houses, indicates, so fiiras the radicals have the power, the exalu- sion of the late rebel States uritil they eliall bave complied with other conditions in addi- tion to those. laid down by the President for the guidance of the new Southern conventions and legislatures. What these other conditions are likely. to be we may conjecture from the propositions introduced into the Senate- by Messrs. Wilson and Sumner, the two autheri- tative radical leaders from Massachusetts. First, we have the bill introduced by Senator Wilson, declaring null and void all laws here- tofore in force or held valid in the late insur- rectionary States, making any inequality of civil rights and immunities among the inhabi- tants of said States on account of race and color. Next, we have a resolution from Mr. Sumner, declaring, in reference to the exchaded Southern States, that “it is the full duty of Con- gress to take care that no State declared to be in rebellion shall be allowed to resume its re- and agitation. We contend, too, that all the schemes of reform which these radicals have to offer beyond the anthority of the constitu- tion should be proposed as amendments to that* instrument. Good or bad, there can be tio ob- jection to putting them to this test, for it isa test which nothing really pernicious can survive, Hence, when the Union State Central Commit- tee of Pennsylvania ask Congress to’ start amendments to the constitution against the payment of the rebel debt or the repudiation of the national debt, or for the power to ool- lect duties upon exports, or for a provision de- barring any State from secession; or when Mr, Jenckes, of Rhode Island, proposes in the same way to secure the election of the President direotly by the people, or when Mr. Delano, of Ohio, by the samo authorized method proposes: to“make it the duty of each State to provide’ for the rightful pursuit of happiness of all its inhabitents, without distinction of color or race,” we bave no objection tovinterpose. If the thing you offer be good, bad or indifferent, seasonable or premature, it will’ 40 appear in running the gauntlet of two-thirds of each house of Congreas and three-fourths of all the States. Entertaining the opinion that the country | has outgrown it, we think that upon various important subjects the federal constitution needs enlarging or a clearer definition, both in regard to the powers of the general govern- ment and the reservations of the States and the people. We think that some amendments have become necessary from the tremendous revolu- tion in the old order of things which has re- sulted from the late rebellion. We believe, too, that, whatever may be proposed, it'is only that which is beneficial that will pass the ordeal of three-fourths of the States, what- ever absurdities may be proposed by two- thirds of the present Congress. At all‘events, if such radicals as Wilson and Sumner:are sin- cere in their schemes of reform for which there is no authority imthe constitution, they ought to seck to gain thent in.a constitutional way.. If, in their extravagant and fanatical designs, they are simply laboriag to. embarrass the adminis-- tion and to lengthen indefinitely the exclusion of the late rebe? States from a voice in the general government, we still say, let them go ahead, so that the people may know how to. deal with them: im the elections for the next. Congress. The Theatrical Reform in thie City. The Managers’ Association has lest another- member. A minstrel ball, which has been.a disgrace to the whole profession, and recently scandalized alt theatrical people, is to be quietly superseded by a new and elegant thea- tre, under the management of Mr. George Wood, of the-Broadway. Mr. Wood will carry on both his:mew and his old establishments The renowned Solon Shingle will appear at the the gay, lively, sparkling and eharming one act and two set operettas, in which the Pazis- fans so much aight, this metropolis will be obliged to' adimi thet it has secured anew sensation. But the sensation will’ be, alll the tore agreeable wien it is enhaneed by an elegant little thestap, divided into- coay and convenient private boxes, filled with happy and refined’ family perties and musical, not only with the’ most delicious melodies, but withthe merriest and heartiest laughter: Senator Santi and the Classtes. Senator Sumner’ lias come to grief ow his “Curiosity of Literature,” in the December number of the Aflantic’ Monthly. General'Gar- field, having helped 'to: finish the rebellion and laid aside his sword'and revolver, has taken up his classical spear,. and, by a single towch, has demolished the Senator’s fanciful fabrio’in the Straits of Messina—with tho Sirens singing themselves hoarse, Charybdis bellowing to Seylla, Scylla howling to Charybdis, and Ulys- ges stopping the ears of his companions witli wax, all at the same time and in the same’ locality—a piece of literary mosaic work with’ mere unities in it than’ the old classical drama. How the distinguished Senator got so mixed up is a marvel. We wonder now that he did not get in something: about the political status of the Roman freedmen: Bat General Garfield did’ not finish up bis works. as thoroughly as Grant did with the rebels. We read the Senator's article cursorily, and not only noticed the geographical blunder about the Sirens, but several other inaccura- cies, which we proceed to peint out. At the foot of page 748 lie speaks of “the Monastery of St. Gall, in’ France.” We have heard of the great Benedictine Monastery of St. Gall, in the Swiss canton of that name; and we believe the French, in the Revolutionary or Consult: period (we forget which), when they were knocking things into :pi'all over Europe, had something to do with socuiarizing its. bene- fices.. But when the Senator says St. Gallia in France; he is as much out ofthe way ashe was in:anchosing the Island of the Sirens alongside of Scyli#, and we are constrained to say to him:—Mr. Sumner, you are weak in geog- raphy, both ancient and modern, and you must goxdown to foot.” At page 753 he speaks of “Palestine and Jerusalem, where a God was:born of a virgin,” &, Where? In Palestine or at Jerusalem? This ie-very loose writing, Mr. Sumner, and is unwortliy of you. We do-not pretend to be strong-in ecclesiastical ‘history, but we have long Had tho impression | that the Saviour of ‘mankind was born in Bethlvhem. We fear the Senator has neglected his Mew Testament as *well'as his Odyssey. But, after all, his mistake is not more remarkable than that of his Brother Beecher, who (with less excuse, being in the After hearing evidence in the case, the jury gave a ver- dict for the plaintiff, allowing him two hundred and forty dollars, The trial of John Ward, charged with the homicide of policeman Walker, was continued yesterday 1 the Court of General Sessions. Officer Robertson testified that tho accused had a pistol in April, four months before the killing. The statement of tho prisoner, taken by tho Coroner, was offered in evidence by the District Attor- ney, but subsequently reserved. Edward Donohue, a comrade of Ward on the night of the ocenrrence, was ex- amined by counsel for the defence, and testified that a party of young fellows attended « bail in aid of a btind prostitute, after which some of them proceeded to the house in Seventeenth etreet from which the accused ‘s charged with escaping just asthe policeman was shot, The witness caw no pistol with Ward, and did not see who fired it. In consequence of a death in the fumily of the counsel for the prisoner the ease was postponed tll Monday, when it will be concluded, The proceedings of the naval court martial, of which Vice Admiral Farragut was president, in the cave of Commodore Thomas F, Craven, have been made public, Commodore Craven was charged with neglect of duty, while in command of the steamer Sacramento, off Corunna, in not attacking the rebel ram Stonewall white the latter was making its wey out of the horbor of said port, The court at first found the Commodore guilty in a less degree than charged, and sentenced him to be euspended from duty on leave pay for two years; but, the Secretary of the Navy pro- pronouncing the results of the cou deliberations un- warranted by the circumstances of the case, the mem- bers again took the matter under consideration, and found the accused guilty, except in relation to that por- tion of the speciiication which declared it was his duty to have engaged the Stonewall, ‘Their sentence im this instance was the same as in the first, and their proceed ings were again disapproved by the Secretary, who there- upon set them aside and relieved Commodore Craven from arrest. : In the case of Lientanant Colonel Ward Marston, of the Marine corps, found guilty by a naval court martial of having failed to return to men under his command moneys deposited by them with him, and sentenced to be dishonorably dismissed, forever disqualified from holding position under government, and to forfeit his dues, President Johnson so far modified the punishment of the accused as to subject him to three years’ suspension, & reprimand the Secretary of the Navy, and deduction of one-half his retired pay till the whole amount of his indebtedness to the marines is dis- charged, The Secretary says that the extract from the record ig the best reprimand that can be given in the ont last, though rather late in the season, we have been visited by weather of a decidedly winterish character. Yosterday the atmosphere wis cold and crisp, ond of a kind very appropriate to the month of December, It the same temperature continues many hotirs the impatient skatere, who were beginning to fear that they would have no opportunity te enjoy their favorite sport this winter, will have all the icy fecilities they can desire, Two of the previously abeent Fenian Senators have arrived in this city, but baye not yet shown their hands. ‘The Irich military delegation go decidedly with the non- O'Mahony men, The Irish organization is reported as diseatistied and disappointed by the old system. An cn- thusiastic demonstration was held in Chicago in favor of the Senate and President Roberts. The Sieterhood has issued an address, The city circles are still parsing O'Mahony resolutions. The West is reported for the fouate. No semion of the Senators took place yester- day, ‘They wil! next meet with the two hitherto absent mombers added to their body. The canvacs for the respective systems continues brisk. ‘The sixtieth annual meeting of the New England So- clety of this city was held lest evening at Delmonico’s, corner of Fourteenth street and Fifth avonue, The business of the meeting consisted of an election of off- cers for (he énsuing year, the reading of reports from the treasurer and the vartous committees, the increasing of initiation and annual dues, and tho reception of thirty new members. ‘There was another eale of government captured cotton lation to the Union until after the satisfactory performance of five several conditions, which conditions precedent must be submitted to a popular vote and be sanctioned by a majority of the people of each State respectively, as fol- lows:—The complete re-establishment of loy- alty as shown by an honest recognition of the unity of the republic and the duty of allegiance to it at all times, without mental reservation or equivocation of any kind; the complete sup- pression of all oligarchal pretensions and the complete enfranchisement of all citizens, so that there shall be no denial of rights on ac- count of color or race, but justice shall be im- partial, and all shall be equal before the law; the rejection of the rebel debt, and at the same time the adoption in just proportion of the na- tional. debt and the national obligations to Union soldiers, with solemn pledges never to join in any measure, direct or Indirect, for their repudiation or in any way tending to impair the national credit; the organization of an edu- cational’ system for the equal benefit of all, without distinction of color or race; the choice of citizens for office, whether State or national, of constant and undoubted loyally, whose con- duct and conversation shall give assurance of peace and reconciliation.” These propositions of Southern reconstrac- tion, it will be seen, would reduce the States directly concerned to the Massachusetts stan- dard of political equality, which goes far be- yond the standard of loyalty required of the several States by the federal constitution. But, granting, to shorten the argument, that, under the war power, the general government may impose upon the late rebel States the condi- tions of Mr. Sumner, including negro suffrage and a common school system, upon a footing of white and black equality, shat would it all be worth, after the readmission of the States concerned, with the federal constitution un- touched? It would be worth nothing. The Southern States, repossessed of the same pow- ers as the Northern States, could and would immediately proceed to reconstruct their local aftairs—such as the elective franchise, their cttureh,) thought the Feast of the Resurrection aame on Good Friday. At page 751 the Senator quotes an anony- mous Latin poet, who speaks of Lucan as sing- ing “the praises of Cesar” in the Pharsalia.. Mr. Sumner ought to.know that Lucan was one: of Cvsar’s chief traducers, and he should net have allowed this. misrepresentation to pass without notice. Pompey was Lucan’s hero. Of Pompey he says:— —Stat magni nominis umbra; end Prosiluit busto, semusiague membra relinquens, Degenoremque rogum, sequitur convexa Touantia, And of Cwear-he says :— ——Non in Gresare tautum ‘Nomen erat nec fama ducis; — Broadway early in January, and take charge of that theatre and “that barrel of apple sass,” while Mr. Wood devotes his special attention to. the new concern, which is to be named: after himself. His new theatre will seat about two. thousand: persons ; the scenery for it ie noarly ready ; the alterations will be commenced next week ; bg the aid of an extra force of mechanics the house will be ready for occupancy in @ fortnight after the cemmencement of the new year, and a large stock company will'be en~ gaged for the opening. Thus, at a single stroke, this metropolis is twice blessed—once in the abolition of the minstrel hall, which isto be cfosed, and again in the new, elegant and commodious establishment which is to be inau- gwrated. With Miss Rushton’s New York te- atre, which begins business next Thureday, and with Christy’s new hall, near Fifth avenue, and ‘with Montpellier’s cireus, in the Bowery, this will make the foarth place of amusement which has been started since the associated managers began their foolish crusade against the inde- pendent press, and severa) ethers are in con- templation, Theatrical reform in this city is thus an accomplished fect, or rather a fuct in process of accomplishment, and_ the efforts of the assoviated managers to prevent it are wholly impotent. We expect to see the time, and that at no distant day, when all our im- moral places of amusement and thelr corrupt and ignorant directors are superseded by new theatres, properly conducted by able and en- terprising men and women. The Legislature should aid us in this reform by imposing a license tax of five thousand dollars upon the badly managed establishments which now inteat the metropolis. The new French theatre is being pushed rap- idly forward, and will be ready for Managers Juignet and Davenport by the time that they have concluded their present engagements. M. Suignet’s troupe is now in Boston, where it has been very warmly welcomed by appreci- ative audiences. As we anticipated, the idea of small, closed boxes for the French theatre has proven most popular, and it will he car- and —Gaudeasaue viam fecisso-ruina. What should. we think at this day of a writer who should place Pompey above Cesar as a military leader? Niebuhr says:—“There can- not be a move unfortunate epic than Lucan’s Pharsalia;” and his opinion is worth quite as much as the anonymous Latin poet’s. Some of Lucan’s comments on Cesar’s liaison with Cleopatra in his tenth canto ensis the delica~ cies of the Strong case into the deepest shade. After ail, what did he know abontit? He was born eighty years after Cxsar’s assassination; and his narrative no doxbt consists of sean- dal picked up in the Roman Forum a century after Cleopatra’s festivities with the great con- qneror, Besides, Lucan was in bad humor when he wrote the last cantos of the Pharsalia, He and Nero were at loggerheads, like two school-hoys, about their verses. Mr. Sum- ner’s anonymous Latin poet onghi to have said that Lucan sang the praises of Pom- pey; and if the Senator had been a thorough scholar, or had even read the Pharsalia, he would have corrected him. The truth is, Mr. Sumner should give up the classics as long as he is burdened with the foreign affairs of the country, or else he should take time to ‘beaccurate. By the by, we see that Mr. Speaker Colfax has put General Banks at the head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the lower House. Now that Massachusetts has a monop- common schools and police lawe, to suit them- selves—and Mr. Sumner’s Massachusetts fabric of political and social equality would be speedily demolished. Our readers will remem- ber that when, in the progress of the war, it became manifest that President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamations would prove something more than “the Pope’s bull against the comet,” we contended that even if slavery were practically abolished by the war, it could, with the restoration. of the rebellious States, bo immediately re-established by them, and that nothing could prevent its revival ex- cept a probibiteny amendmgnt of the federal constitution. What course did we then recommend upon this question? Believing that the time had come, and that it would be the very best thing that could be done for the fature peace and harmony and prosperity of the country, to make good and permanent the abolition of slavery, we earnestly led off in favor of the ne- oly of Lord John Russell, Louis Napoleon, the Emperor Maximilian, President Juarez and Senor Ortega, besides the cotton factories, we hope that indefatigable community will be suf: ficiently occupied without coming on here at short intervals, as has been their custom, to see whether our underpinning is in order, One word more to Senator Sumner before parting. We do not intend to interfere with his vovation in the Senate. We leave to him all modern international matters, But in that it of our foreign relations which con- cerns the ancient Greeks and Romans we feel licensed, on general principles, to take an active part; and if he will go out of bis proper domain and venture on classical ground, he must walk with cireumspection or he will be tripped up, as we understand he has been once or twice in the Athens of America. He should bear in mind that he cannot make many more. such false steps without getting the reputation of 9 superficial scholar. ‘ ried out by the management. The double boxes of the Opera Comique at Paris—that is to say, the boxes with a small private parlor at the back—have always been extremely ad- mired, especially by Americans, and we have often wondered why this feature was not adopted in our New York theatres, The new French theatre will probably open with a vaudeville company, Mr. Davenport’s English artists playing four nights of the week, and M. Juignet’s the other two. But arrange- ments have been made to import ® num- ver of French comic singers of the very eat class, such as have never been heard in this country before. The decree of the Emperor, abrogating the theatrical license and giving every one liberty to open such places of amuse- ment, has reduced the salaries of French ar- tista by rendering it impossible for the few leading artists and establishments to regulate wages as they did when they had an exclusive 1 monopoly, Taking advantage of this fayora- _ 4 SE ee ee di the Newspaper Press od ? try~The Great Fire. Iu another part of the paper we reprint the original Herat report of the great fire that < happened in this city on Deeember 16, 1835— just thirty years ago to-day. We give aleo the diagram that we then laid before our readers of the burned district and the view of the Merchants’ Exchange. We reproduce this ac- conut of an importasit event in the history of our city because of its peculiar interest im a journalistic point of view—as one great turn- ing point between the preas of the past and the press of the present, At the time of the occurrence of the great fire the Hexarn was in its first year. It was @ new idea—an attempt to bring the newspaper press nearer to practical life—to popularize it, and to make @ newspaper a grand success by making ii the absolute orgam of the people. At that time the papers of the old class were great, dull, lumbering maebines, fall of adver- tisements sad jity—truly, as they were called, “blanket sheets.” They hardly touched those events that are‘of the most general in- + { terest in‘ the life of \the masses, because suctz events were bensath thie “dignity of the press,’” ‘The editorials were tremendous sermons that ne one could read.. The confrast betweem those sheets and one full’ of life, encrgy and enterprise—one iat gave beside other news a dagmerreotzpe of the Iecal life— was clear from the first, and the Hexsup was a sticcess. That success brought down apon it the anger of its lumber- ing opponents, and originated the torrents of abuse that were poured! on us; for, though it was beneath the dignity of those heavy fellows to give’ reports of current events, it was by no means beneath \_fleir dignity to’ call hard names. be Our escount of the great fire was then with- out paraife? in the efforts of the pres, and our cuts published, wheiit was hardly possible to get a wood engraver,.were the first attempts of the kind today distinct information before the people. Aléogether it was one of our great pieces of enterprise—ane of the succeses of the Heravp--and with swch successes came in the new era of journalism—the change which originated the:imdependemt press of the coun- try as it now is. All our opponents were forced by our auecess to follow us—to modify their dull, heavy sheets tiff they were all more or less like onns, as they now are:- They fol- lowed us, but. always ata distance:. This was so-not only in the city, but all over the coun- try; and it was through the impulse and shape F that we gave it that the press of the country grew into its present: position of pawer as & national. institution, Tire Star or Ongcon Loomwo © Ur.—The first practical endorsement of the policy of President Johnsoweecurred in ‘the House of Representatives om: Thursday, in tite unani- mous adoption of the - resolution offered : by: Mr: Henderson, of Oregon-—to wit :“Treeson” against the United States government is a crime, and" ought to be punished.” This was Presi- dent Jobnson’s doctrine from the start, and we ‘ are-glad to sce this emphatic endorsement of ; it by Congress, The State of Oregon,-therefore, ’ begins to loom up itrthe councils of the nation. But'why should sie not?’ It may‘seem scarcely credible, but it is mevertheless a fact, that with. in the past eix-months treasure ix gold and silver bullion to the amount of tweive millions of dollars has passed through its pertals on its way from the richgold and silver-highlands of Idaho, the westerm portion of Momtana, anda bit of British Columbia. This is at the rate of two millions per month, to say nothing about the great amount of treasure cazried away by the gold and silver digging boys in person. Well may the star of Oregon loom ap. Ax AMENDMgNT TO THE ConsTITUTION Wante ED.—There is great deal said in Congress about negro. saffrage, negre.equality, negra. rights and al? that, and ameméments to the con-. stitution are-effered to meet the several points, We have no doubt all parties will agree that. negroes should be on am equality with the whites in, one respect, and that is that they / should have the privilege of working for a liv~ * ing like the whites. Therefore am» amendment to the constitution is wanted whica will make the nigwers work. Here is a chance for Sam~ ner, Wilson, Wade, Thad Steveus and all the’ rest. The sugar plantations im Louisiana, to say gothing of the cotton plansations alk over, the South, are anxiously awaiting: an. amend- ment to the conatitution. thet will reach this subject, ~ ; —E Personal Inteliigence. ‘The Hastien maa-of-war steamer Galatea sailed yester- day from New York for Port au Prince, baying on board General Roumaws, the Haytien Minister, who, by in- struction from his government, loft Goorge F. Usher, Esq., in charge. of the Haytien legation,at Washington during his absence. The numerous friends of Consul Frederick Kuhue of this city with be pleased to tearn that tho. Duke Erast of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha bas decorated that geatieman, on hix recent visit to Coburg, with the cross of the Saxon-Ernes- tine Order of Knighthood. ‘ Liewtonant Alfred M. Raphall, of the Sixth rogimer gt Veteran Reserve corps, formerty adjutant of a N ow York regiment, and a son of Rev. Dr. Raphall, the diy. tinguished Jowish Rabbi of this city, has been brew: sted captain and major of United States volunteers. ‘these brevets are the first recognition of services which Licatentant Rapball has received during the war. They both bear date from March 13, 1865, That of ¢ sptain is “for distingnished services at the battle of Gett ,yshurg,’? where he lost an arm, The brevet of major i 4 the only one of ite character over granted by the gover! ment, and reads that it is granted “for h’ghly metitorio ns services in the field and while detached on foreign se ¢vice.”” Thi service was performed while on the sty # of Gencrat Sickles doring the visit of the General to the United States of Colombia, Major Raphall wast! ¢ secretary and interpreter of the General, and did exce! fent cervice. The votaries of terpsichore in our fa Aionable up town circles have sustained a great love mt Ae death of Mr. F. B. Helmsmuller, the leader of the celebrated band of that name and one of our most p> spular composers of dance music, He went to Germar gy in May last, in the hope of recovering his health, baty returned in the fal? so much worse that his physicie ms at once pronounced bis cage hopeless. Mr. Helmsm aller was not only an ac complished musician, but an “amiable and upright mau, and he will be very generally tagretted. He will be anc ceeded in the leadership of hife hand by Mr. Lander, who 80 effloiently conducted his ¢mepeags during his absence. 4 of the Swivs Benevolent Soo We : SWITZRRTAND At WASH- INGTON 1%/BE PRESENT. Mr. John Hitz, Consul @¢ neral of Switzerland at Wash- ington, will be present. atthe banquet of the Swiss Bo- nevolent Society at ‘nonicofs to-day. He ts much esteemed by the Swire residents of this country, and those im this city WAN glad’y avait themselves of this opportanity to pay their respocts to him. ——— Explosion “fa Steam Boiler. At a. few. minutes, ‘pefore oven e'tooh thie morn i the polier att. ster Co.'s brush fostory, Lay N. Y., exploded, killing Philetas Ward, the gngineer. is guy he was the only person in the bullding, whiels was shattered. The tothe lk ug ype $9 AUD.900 to 490,000.