The New York Herald Newspaper, November 27, 1866, Page 6

Lm | NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, OFFICE N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS, Volume XXXL. .......66 ceeeeereeeee wassink endl Ne. 331 AMUSEMENTS THIS RVENING, BROADWAY THEATRE, Broad: near Broom sirect. Tax WonpeR—Awroxr AnD CUnOparma. 3 NEW YORK THEATRE, Broadway, York Hotel.—Gairrita Gaunt, on sr a aeaad nee ae THEATRE evenue.—Tax Ri THA! Brosdway.— pONRMAN, THALIA, THEATRE, No. 514 way. GERMAN 87. THEATRE, \l 47 Bowery.— ‘Mus. Orta Cures um Four Dirveuent CusnacTuns. way. —-Prorsssor Harts DWORTH’S Broadway. Do! 806 —Tus MrsteRy. Irving piace.—Mx. Du Convova's Luo. woany Suites Beat (Stm0NG Minot). Hue Counrsute.® re eA Fourteenth street.—Hanpet's Ona- RANCISC! TRELS, $85 Broadway, oposite M4 tan Rotate uae Bll “A Or Tax bags Alissacnusurrs. AVENUE OPARA ROUSE, ae FROM Nos. ous 4 Wes ‘street. —Buowontu's NivsraRcs,—Eraiorias israeusy, Ballads, BuRLesques, &c. A Tair to tun -ANCATS, ‘Fourteenth street. Sixth LD Qeran Ruqueast. ome LEON'S MINSTRE! 7 Broadway, oppo. site ins Move Yoru Hotel —In Tats Bowes, Danors. coun. gmorims, 20.—Be.issRio—TaMina 4 BUTTERFLY- PregiaN Revivat. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Coxro Yooatiam—Necko Minsreatsy Baier Diveatissexcnt, 40.—Tus Faizizs oF THE Hupson. COMBINATION TROUPE, at CHARLEY WHITE'S Hall, 473 pl y,.? Ls ae A Canine oF Laas Mechaaies’ amp Lavguasis Enregrain Famacs Cisaus mt Wasninoton. MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— Lavy Avpiey’s Sxcrst. HOOLEWSOPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn.—Ernrortay Mine = Battaps, Buriesqves anp Pantomimes. On! SEAVER’S OPERA HOUSE, Willlamsburg.—Erutorran INSTRELSY, BaLLabds, Comic PaNntomimes, &0. GRAND MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT—By Mrs, Apeuia fer iy cy at Alanson M. E. Church, Norfolk street, near NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY. 618 Brondway.— RCTOI wits tux Oxy-Hyprogen Microscorg | twice daily. Heap ann Rigat ARM or Propst. ad 4. Mull 10 P.M. RIP f, New York, Tuesday, November 27, 1866. ‘Open LE SHEE THE NEWS. EUROPE. Our news report by the Atlantic cable is dated to Mon- day evening, November 26. ‘The Alabama claims have been reopened and Secretary Seward has demanded their immediate settioment, Fighting has been renewed in Candia. The Turks are said to bave had three thousand men killed in ore battle. The Fenian agitation continues in Ireland. ‘Suspects’ are arrested, and the “national troops” —English, it is to be inferred—are ready to move at any moment. ‘The new Nicaragua transit scheme is likely to be pre- sented.as an international one to the governments of France, England and the United States. The Empress Eugenie and Prince Imperial of France Will, it is said, visit Rome, . Prusaia is to appoint a Consul Genoral in New York, Our special correspondent in St. Petersburg states that the Czar has relieved Baron Stoekel from the post of Russiai Minister in Washington. His successor had not ‘deck appointed at date, The Spaniards in Cadiz were jubilant to an extreme Gogree in doing honor to the “brave mariners’’ just re- turned from the war in the Pacific, 4 Consols closed at 89% for money in London yesterday. United State five-twenties were at 10K. The Liverpool cotton market was quiet, with middling uplands at fourteen and one-sight pence yesterday. Breadstuffs unchanged. THE CITY. The eighty-third anniversary of Evacuation Day was duly celebrated yesterday by a parade of the First divi- sion of the National Guard and its review by Governor Fenton. In the evening a serenade was given to the Governer at the Fifth Avenue Hotel; a short speech was Gelivered by him, anda good display of freworks wound ‘up the celebration. ‘The investigation of the charges against Comptroller Brennan was commenced yesterday at the Police Head- quarters. Anson Herrick was the principal witness ex- amined, and his evidence went to show that his bills for advertising. were not paid because the Comptroller ‘was unfriendly to him. Some light was also thrown on a bogus clatm of Fernando Wood and its payment, and other points of more or less interest brought out. Two employés of the Comptroller's Department were among the witnesses examined. The case was adjourned tll this morning at ten o'clock. Judge Whiting, the Governor's Commissioner, tho Deputy Attorney General and all the officers necessary tothe investigation of charges against Street Commis- sioner Cornell were present in the Supreme Court, Gene- ral Term, yesterday afternoon, but Mr. Corneil did not make his appearance. The Deputy Attorney Genoral then declared that the Investigation could not proceed, and Judge Whiting thereupon declared that proceedings against Mr. Cornell were ended. ‘The ferryboat Idaho was burned to the water's ergo in East river last night about seven o'clock, while making her regular trips from the foot of South Seyenth street, Brooklyn, E. D., to New York. There were only about thirty persons on board, and they were all saved, the ferryboat Canada coming to the reset and taking all but four of them off. These four, among whom were two women, jumped into the water and were picked up by small boats, Tho value of the Idaho is estimated at $00,000, The cause of the fire is unknown. Farther discoverissof illicit distilling continue to be made in Brooklyn, and seven seizures of liquor, alleged to have been smuggled in without paying the usual duty, ave been made in that city since Saturday. Before Commissioner Osborne, yesterday, Patrick H. Resson was charged with the manufacture of counterfeit plates. The only witness against the accused was a ‘woman named Margaret Atkinson, who stated that she bad seen the defendant working on the plates; that her husband has been engaged in the counterfeiting business, and that she knew he was a counterfeiter when she mar- tied him. In pleading for the defence Mr. Spencer said that three-fourths of the detectives engaged to break up counterfeiting were in league with the counterfeiters, The Commissioner sont the case before the Grand Jury and reduced the bail from $5,000 to $1,600. ‘n the Supreme Court, Chambers, Judge Sutheriand Decided yesterday, im the case of Darnell va. the Board Of Registers, that the question of color, ombracing also the question of how much African blood is necessary © determine whether # man is colored or not, was a question to be desided by 8 jury, and directed the coun- fel in the cage to file the cause on thé Circuit calendar. Tho examination of witnesses in the cases of Frank Hollen and W. R. Babcock was continued yesterday before Justice Dowling at the Court of Special Sessions. Thomas Lord, a brother of Rufus 1. Lord, from whom tho bonds were stolen, and Thomas Barron, a partner, ‘were oxamined. Their testimony referred mainly to ‘the number and denomination of the bonds lost and the Alleged culpable acts on the part of certain officers on- Gaged in ferreting out the bonds and those who com: mitted the theft, Hail was again suggested for defend. Gate but refused, and the further oxamination finally Postponed until Friday morning next. “aon a of Thompson va. Speight, a police captain, was Qf action for damages for an alleged illegal ‘arrest and prosecution, the jury yortorday reported they sould not agree on a verdict and were diecharged, ‘The Roard of Counsiimen heid no meeting yostere Gay, there not being & quorum prosent at the call of the roll. The steamship L0, Captain Dearborn, will eal! pre- cisely at three o'clock this (Tuesday) atternoon for Sa- vannab, from pier 16 Kast river, foot of Wail strent, ‘The stock market was buoyant yesterday. Gold was strong, and aged to 141 jy. Business very quiet in most departments of trade yesterday, and the amount .f merchandise which ehanged hands was small. Cotton was owiet. but orm NEW YORK HERALD, TUKSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1866.—TRIPLE SHEET. against the United States in that shape—or| A Spurious Professer Among the Falling ; Coffee | On ‘Change flour was dull ag gall anid Wheat deglined 2c, a 8c., with but fittle doing. Corn was dull and easier. Oats were unchanged. Pork was in limited demand, and favored the buyer. Beef was quiet aud heavy, Lard was more active and a shade drmer. Freights were steady, Whiskey was dull and nominal, ‘There has been increased activity ip the market’ for beef cattle, though no advance bes been established, in view of the continued heavy receipts, amounting to 6,100 head. Extra cattle sold at 163¢0. a 16%0. per Ib., ‘and choice az high as 17¢., while fair and good realized 15c. a 16¢,, and common 400, a 12c, The market closed steady, with about all the offerings sold. Milch cows were slow of sale, but comparatively steady, at prices ranging at from $50 to $120—the Tater price for fancy. Veal calves were without particular change, the demand being moderate and prices firm at 180. a13%e. for prime, though occasional sales were made as high as ldo, Com- mon grades gold at 10¢. a 12c. The market for sheep and lamba, notwithstanding the large receipts, bas ruled active, and previous prices were readily obtained, the former selling at 5c, a 63c., and’the latter at 60. .a 80. ‘The hog market has ruled quite irregular throughout the Week, opening with sales as low as 7c..@ 73<¢., but with ® failing off in the receipts, closes firm, with an.upward tendency, at 8%0. a 9c. for best quality, 83¢c. a 8c. for fair to good, and 80. a 8540, forcommon.and rough, in- dioating an advance of 2c. a 2%<0. perlb. Light weights sold ap high as 94%. The total receipts were 6,100 Deeves, 67 milch cows, 1,246-veal ‘calves, 26,100 sheep ‘and lambs and 11,129 swine. MISCELLANEOUS. ‘The Rev. J. A. Allan preached at Kingston, C. W.,.on Sunday, in favor of the annexation of Canada to the United States. A meeting is called for Wednesday in’ Montreal to discuss the same question. Bitter feoling is exhibited between Catholics and Protestants in Cauada East regarding the recent Fenian trials. The Catholics denounce the conviction of McMahon and the release of Lumaden as showing partiality to the Protestants. Itis believed that if tho condemued are hung a riot will ensue. A raid from Stephen’s faction of the brotherhood is now expected. No judgment respecting the application fora new trial in the cases of Lynch and others has yet been given in the Court of Common Pleas, Applications were filed for four of them, and as Saturday was the last day allowed for making such applications, no rule can be ap- plied for in the case of the others, ‘The opening of the new route to Norfolk from Phila- delphia by the Baltimore and Wilmington Railroad, and the completion of the grand structure which now spans the Susquehanna river at Perryville and Havre de Grace, was the occasion of a festal excursion of railroad and commercial men from Philadelphia and Baltimore yes- terday. Tho bridge is an immense structure, and will make the time between Now York and Washington shorter by thirty minutes than heretofore, Its cost is estimated at $1,500,000, and it has been in process of erection for four years. General Sherman and Minister Campbell, who arrived in Havana on the 18th inst, on their way'to Mexico, were tendered a warm reception by the Captain General of Cuba, Afcer seeing what is to be seen in the city, they ‘will make a short visit to Matanzas, Quarantine on vessels from all United States ports has been abolished at Havana, provided the bills of hoalth are clean. A fire in Leavenworth, Kansas, on Saturday evening, destroyed five buildings, in the principal business por- tion of the city. Highway robberies and garroting are occurring with alarming frequency in Boston. The negro who is supposed to have assassinated Adolpus Crafton, of Petersburg, Va., in that city not Jong ago bas been arrested, He attested his innocence before he was accused. It is stated in financial circles in Washington that the cause of the recent monetary excitement was owing, to ‘a demand of Secretary McCulloch on the National Banks for the government funds on deposit. The government has, however, now ceased drawing on these balances. Tho Virginia Legisiature meets on the first Monday in December. It is probable that it will reject the consti- tational amendment, The tenor of the Governor’s mes- gage on the subject is unknown. The Lower House of the North Carolina Legislature yesterday referred @ resolution declaring It to be the sense of that body that the constitutional amendment ahould be ratified. The South Carolina Legislature met yesterday, and the Governor's message will be sent in to-day. It strongly opposes the ratification of the constitutional amend- ment, The United States Circuit Court was to hold its November term in Richmond yesterday, but neither Chief Sustice Chase nor Judge Underwood put inan appearance, A list of the Collectors, Surveyors and Naval officers tm the United States is published in our columus this morning. William Wales has been sppointed Surveyor of the Port of Baltimore. Asketoh, descriptive of the great lake tunnel just completed at Chicago, is given ia our columns this morn- ing, from our correspondent in that city. It runs two tiles out in the lake, and is capable, when the engines and machinery are finished and in operation, of furnish- ing two-thirds of a million of people with fifty-seven gallons of water each per day. The elections for town officials in Hartford yesterday resulted in a majority for the republicans. The Meeting of Congrese—-A Speedy Settle- ment by Three-fourths of the Loyal States, From the emphatic and decisive popular endorsements which the reconstruction plan of Congress has received in all the recent State elections from Maine to Oregon, the opinion preyails that soon after the reassembling of the Congress thus endorsed summary measures will be adopted by the two houses to bring this Southern difficulty to a speedy and decisive solution. This opinion we beiieve to be well founded, and from certain information which has lately come into our possession we think the initial point of a new line of action bas been discovered whereby this whole question may be substantially settled before the ad- joarnment on the 4th of March next, and settled upon the basis of the pending constitutional amendment. The key which unlocks this difficulty and all its complications is this:—that three-fourths of the loyal States, or the States represented in Congress, are competent not only to carry on the government, but to change the organic law of the government. Why not? The fede- ral constitution provides that “the Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the application of the legis- latures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amend- ments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this consti- tution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States or by con- ventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress.” Now, acting upon the letter of the constitution and upon the theory that the lately insurgent States were restored to their constitutional relations in the government with their compulsory ratification of the amend- ments abgjishing slavery under the President's experimental efforts at reconstruction, the Seo- retary of State, when a sufficient number of Southern States bad joined in the ratification to make up three-fourths, or twenty-seven, of the whole number of the States of the Union, proclaimed said amendment part and parcel of the constitution. Thus from the Executive Department the doctrine was officially promulgated that the insurgent States, in accepting the President's conditions of reconstraction, were restored to their voices in the government, But, by the itutjon, and as pleaded by the President himself in the outset to several of his provi- sional governors, all his proceedings in the way of Southern reconstruction and restoration were only provisional, and were subject to ap- proval or rejection by Congress. We see that the President had shifted his ground with this aforesaid proclamation from the State Depart- ment; but-this did not change the fact that un- less accepted by Congress all his proceedings and lamations in this business must go for ne » That proclamation, nevertheless, so far blished"the idea that three-fourths of all the States, inside and outside, are necessary to 4 ratification of a constitutional amend- ment as to lead to endiess embarrassments and stultifications in regard to the status of the de States, It was perhaps as much as Congress could do at the last session to avoid committing itself to the ratification theory of thé Executive; but now the two houses have the authority from the people of the loyal States to take de- cisive ground against it. The lawand the logic of the matter may be briefly stated. As the outside States were disabled by a regular rebel- lion, in which they cut themselves loose from the government and combined in arms to over- , throw it; they cannot be reinstated except by Congress, and are now really in the condition of unorganized territories, not having’eveti the right to s voice in the national councils, which is possessed by Montana or Utab. ‘Yot again, a3 the national government as now repregented by the constitutional quorum in both houses of Congress is valid to all intents ‘and pur- poses, the States thus represented and thus making I¢ws for the whole Union, we repeat, are competent to change the organic law of the Union itself. Ina word, the States represented in the government are, in law, the United States. Otherwise all our federal legislation of the last five years is null and void. Divested of petty technicalities, quirks and quibbles, it is thus apparent that three-fourths of the States now represented in Congress are competent to make the pending constitutional amendment part and parcel of the constitution, the supreme law alike to the outside and the inside States and territories. This is the con- clusion which, we understand, will be acted upon by Congress. When three-fourths, or twenty-one, of the twenty-six States now rep- resented in Congress shall have ratified the amendment, the Secretary of State will be required, by an act of Congress, if necessary, to proclaim the ratification complete. Then, while the ratification may be held as the con- dition of Southern restoration, the amendment consummated will still be binding upon them as the supreme law of the land, and Congress may enforce it from Virginia to Texas by “appropriate legislation,” as in the terri- tories. This is thé solution which awaits the ex- cluded States. Itis a solution perfectly con- sistent with the rights and powers assumed by the loyal States in suppressing the rebellion of the late so-called Confederate States, and with all the legislation of Congress since the first bombardment of Fort Sumter. The only question therefore remaining to the excluded States is whether they will make a virtue of necessity and come forward to the ratification in order to participate in the Presidential con- test ot 1868, or remain outside to be subjected to the terms of the amendment by the action of the loyal States and of Congress. Dr. Smyth, the Black Crook and the Cooper Institute. It appears that the trustees of the Cooper Institute refused permission for Dr. Smyth, the reformer of the clergy and severe pulpit critic of theatrical immoralities, to preach in that edifice on Sunday, upon the grounds that his discourse was of a seodlar and not a religious character. What nice distinction Peter Cooper and the other managers of the Institute can find between preaching for reli- gion and against immorality we do not see. The object of religious teaching is to inculcate morality and subdue vice, and the fact that the pulpit has been so often used to teach politics and degrade religion is no argument to prove the contrary. The object of Dr. Smyth’s dis- courses is to expose, and, if possible, put down, one of the grossest immeral productions that ever was put upon the stage. Men go tosee it, but they leave the theatre worse in morals than when they entered it. Thescenes enacted there in the public gaze are but preliminary to scenes followed up elsewhere that do not come before the public. This theatre, as now conducted, is but the vestibule to other houses where vice seeks no veil to conceal its dangers. If the Cooper Institute people fail to see the relation between an attempt to suppress such an exhi- bition and the practical worth of religious teaching, they must be very dull indeed, and a little behindhand in their Bible studies, not- withstanding their propinquity to the Bible Society’s building. The truth is that such a crusade as Dr. Smyth has entered upon is very much needed, and we are glad to observe that an eminent clergyman of Philadelphia, Rev. T. De Witt Talmadge, is also denouncing the same theatrical exhibition. We are living in the midst of all the elements of demorali- zation and barbarism, and it is time that the churches should interpose their in- fluence to counteract them. Free love and Fourierism, with their phalanxes and gen- eral abominations, and Mormonism, with its polygamous sacrifices of female virtue and happiness, gained headway at a period when the pulpits were dumb. And how much worse were these innovations upon Christian faith and public morality than the effects of the in- decent exhibition nightly displayed at Wheat- ley’s theatre, against which Dr. Smyth and the Rev. Mr. Talmadge are protesting? If we con- demn Brigham Young for haying twenty or thirty wives in Utah, he will justify himself by pointing to New York civilization and saying that we are worse here, because men have new wives every week, for whom they do not pro- vide as conscientiously as the Mormon prophet does. In this light the Black Crook is just as demoralizing as Mormonism, and Wheatley is as bad as Brigham Young, because he encour. ages the evil spirit and practices of Mormonism without {ts restrictions,in the midst of a vast civilized community. We are glad to see that a movement for the civilization of society in this direction is spreading and that some portion of the clergy are devoting themselves to the prevention of vice by exposing such incentives asthe model artiste’ exhibition on Broadway furnishes, The effect is already felt in that establishment by the absence of respectable audiences and the paucity of women as spectators. The seats are now usually ocompied by the rougher portion of the male sex, for whom this kindof perform- ance possesses an eaual charm with (he cock- pit and the prize ring. Pulpit denunciation has accomplished this much good, and we hope that the reverend gentlemen who have: under- taken the task of reform will not be deterred in their work by the crotchety distinctions of the Cooper Institute trustees between secular and religious gubjects, The founder of Chris- tian morality illustrated his most glorious teach- ings| by subjects and incidents which were purely secular, and very often on the Sabbath day. Have the managers of the Cooper Insti- tute ever read the parables? France, England and the United States—A New Holy Alliance. In the present relations between France, Engiand and the United States there is one distinctly visible fact—England and France find it very dificult to struggle against the con- sequences of the great error in relation to the United States to which they committed them- selves some few years ago, At the very begin- ning of the war against the Union the probable result of that war was fully discussed between the Emperor Napoleon and Lord Palmerston, and the deliberations and conclusions of those | distinguished politicians were reflected with more or less fidelity in the English papers, which at’ the same epoch informed the world in lofty periods thatthe great republic was no more; that the United States was no longer to be numbered in the.catalogue of nations; that there was nothing left of us but a congeries of discordant communities which would soon an- nihilate one another and that the great expe- riment of popular sovereignty had ended in sudden but positive collapse. French policy and British policy were immediately shaped upon notions of that stamp. It was assumed that our power was gone; and in Europe it is the morality of great nations that where there ‘is no power there must be no respect and is no law. Any one may seize what the owner can- not defend. France began her proposed spo- liation upon us by taking up a position and concentrating troops in Mexico; and England, more practical and blunt, gave us the benefit of her neutrality, by which she drove from the seas @ commerce that had already made her the second maritime Power of the world. But, after all, the great republic did not go down. So far from the collapse of our govern- ment ensiing we came out stronger than ever, and the facts that forced us to battle and to the exertion of our power first taught to us and to the world thd unimagined extént of our development. Peace might have hidden for another half century the important truth that under our free system we had grown to be the first military nation of the earth, if measured by the power that we were capable of apply- ing to the purposes of war. This demonstra- tion of our vitality—of the vitality due to our republican system—-reacted terribly against those who had been so eager to determine our quietus under the “crowner’s quest law” of their ambitious views. Its great lesson as to the power of popular government tended to shake down thrones. This was so felt in Ger- many that the arbitrary Minister of the Prussian King’ deemed it worth while to commend his policy to the nation by proposing to base it on universal suffrage. How it was felt in France we may dimly guess when we see that in spite of the whole fabric of police and the infinite surveillance exercised, the Latin quarter is now fall of secret societies and that arrests are being made every day. Its effect in Great Britain is seen in the impulse and intensity it has given to the movement of the masses against the aristocratic system that appears in the thin disguise of a movement for Par- liamentary reform, and also in the spread of Fenianism that at this hour endangers English rale in Ireland. Our European enemies did what they could to escape from their false position. France made the fairest protestations in relation to Mexico, and England declared, with all the ve- hemence and volubility of which she was capa- ble, that the injuries done us Were ‘not inten- tional, but only the inevitable results of defects in her laws; and ehe promised to amend the laws. But there were in the case some scarcely surmountable points of dignity and national pride. It was hard for them to swallow the draught that circumstances commended to their lips. They made wry faces. France has de- layed till the present hour the fulfilment of her promises, and is just as much in Mexico as ever. England is just about naming a commis- sion to revise the laws that offended us; but she is doing it in a spirit that promises no remedy for the evil. She is apparently determined that if her laws are revised it shall be done in the face of all the argument against it that un- compromising hostility to the United States can suggest. Such is the significance of the appointment on the commission of Mr. Har- court, the “Historicus” whose utterances on in- ternational law seemed so admirable to the London Times. In what other light could any one regard the appointment on the same com- mission of Mr. Gregory, the member for Dab- lin, whose advocacy in the House of that kind of neutrality illustrated by the Alabama can- not have been forgotten ? It is an important question just now how far these powers will go in their efforts to es cape the retraction of their acts against us. Many circumstances indicate that they are in collusion—that there is a new secret under- standing with special reference to their respec- tive attitudes towards the United States. If England refases that satisfaction on the Ala- bama claims that has been categorically de- manded, France will see her way clear in Mexico. Will those Powers carry their mutual support so far as to venture s war with the United States? The Prince Napoleon, who is once more said to be in the Emperor's confi- dence, has just returned to France from Eng- land, and as apropos to his return there is somo whisper of the extension of the ideas in- volved in the addition of Austria to an alliance between France and Italy. Is England to go in alsot The Emperor of France classes Russia and the United States together as the enemies of Europe and fears the demooratic spirit of Germany as much as his uncle did. Is the next move to be a grand league—a new holy allianceof all the conservative elements against democratic principles everywhere? and is this league to make its first stand against what will be called the outrageous demands of our government. Pushed to the wall by our persistance, France and England can only escape the consequences of their great error by some desperate venture; and though the venture of such a league and programme as seems to be now sketched out in Europe ap- pears at first glance too incredibly desperate, there is gome good season to believe that war nearly that shape—is a topic now under serious discussion. The Charter Election--Who Shall be City Comptroller? The charter election takes place ane week from to-day, and the electors will then be called upon to make choice of a city Comp- troller, oné of the most important officers in the city government. The fight has at length settled down between three candidates, and one of these will have to be selected as the head of the Finance Department for the next two yoars, It is most important that the tax- payers and all the friends of an honest and in- dependent city government should make the best choice left to them, since whatever re- forms may come from the Legislature, the Comp- troller now elected will necessarily be left with some power and influence, and it is desirable on all accounts that the most competent man should be chosen. ‘The question of politics will have very little to do with the election. The “ring” is entirely exploded and demol- ished. ‘The retirement of Brennan and Cornell, who are fully ocoupicd in defending fthem- selves against charges of official fraud and cor- ruption, has left the Tammany ramp and the city “ring” ontirely unrepresented in the charter election, and the only questions to be decided by the voters are as to the capacity and the character of the several nominees. The candidates for the Comptrollership are Richard B. Connolly, Michael Connolly and Richard Kelly. The first of these, Richard B. Connolly, has been State Senator, and is at present one of the principals in the Fourth National Bank. The second, Michael Con- nolly,is a police justice, familiarly known as the “Big Judge” and as “Blarneying Mike.” The third, Richard Kelly, is also a police jus- tice and a strong republican politician. Richard B. Connolly has been nominated by the Tammany democracy, Michael Connolly by the Cooper Union party, and Richard Kelly by the cold water, anti-lager beer, Sunday liquor law, blue-bellied radical republicans. The real fight lies between the two Con- nollys. Richard Kelly is no doubt a very good sort of man in his way; but his way is not the way of the citizens of New York. He is put up as a strictly partisan candidate by a political organization that does not number much more than one-fourth of the voters of the whole city, an: is We re tive and embodiment all their ultra views and fanatical notions. He has no claim upon the democratic voters and no qualifications that commend him to the taxpayers and the indepen- dent citizens. It is a little more than suspected that he has a good understanding with Comp- troller Brennan, Acting Street Commissioner Tweed, Manager Sweeney and other autocrats of the “ring,” and that a bargain has been made by which Tweed or his successor is to be left undisturbed in the Street Department, pro- vided Kelly is elected Comptroller. Recent events, however, have proved that the old “ring” leaders are powerless now to control their own organization, and Kelly may there- fore be considered as out of the race and without any chance of success. The choice of the taxpayers and independ- ent voters, then, lies between the two Con- nollys. The “Big Judge,” Mike Connolly, is a good natured, jovial sort of a man, but utterly unfit for the office of Comptroller. He has not a single qualification for the position, and many of his personal friends, who might gladly support him for the office of Sheriff, for which he is well enough qualified, will hesitate to stultify themselves by voting for him for the office of Comptroller. He has, moreover, only secured the nomination of an insignificant fac- tion, and will not be able to get his ballots into the field without a considerable outlay, He and his friends will do better to keep their money in their pockets and walt for some more favorable opportunity than to throw it away upon a wild goose chase after the office of Comptroller. Richard B. Connolly is the only candidate in the field who js really properly’ qualified to discharge the duties of the office. He isa shrewd, prudent man, a good financier and wholly independent of all cliques and factions. He has been put forward by the best men of the democratic organization, and his nomina- tion was concurred in by the Tweed and Sweeney faction only because they believed that by a confusion of names they could cheat him out of his party votes by turning them on to Mike Connolly, and thus slip in the real “ring” candidate, Judge Kelly, between the two. The trading politicians know well enough that they cannot use Richard B. Con- nolly for their own purposes. He is possessed of all their shrewdness without their dishonesty. They have an understanding with the blue- bellied radical candidate, and they could easily manage the easy Judge Mike without any difficulty. They will, therefore, do their best to defeat Richard B. Connolly, by putting Michael Connolly’s name into some of their boxes, in the hope, not of electing “Blarneying Mike,” but of defeating both the Connollys and electing Richard Kelly. But,as we have sald, their efforts will be vain. The partisan vote of the radical republican candidate, with all the ald the Sweeney and Tweed ring can give him, will not reach that of either of the other candidates, and the real fight lies be- tween Dick Connolly and his competitor, Mike. As between these two no taxpayer and no citi- zen who isin favor of an honest and independ- ent city government can hesitate in his choice. Mr. Richard B, Connolly will receive their sup- port as the only competent candidate who has been nominated, and bis success is certain if proper precautions are taken to defeat the trick of the “ring” manipulators, who will seck to put Mike Connolly’s name into the Tammany boxes in order to give the radical candidate, Kelly, a chance of success by splitting up the democratic vote. ‘ As to the nominations for Aldermen and Councilmen, we have nothing to The candidates for the most part are men unknown |’ outside out of the grog shops, dog kennels, gambling rooms and political “rings” of their several districts. They are almost all dug up out of the gutters and sewers of the wards. We advise the respectable citizens to vote for | Btv8a the worst men they can find in their districts for these positions, and, if they cannot find any there who are bad enough, to seek their can- didates in the State Prisons or on Blackwell’s Island. They cannot well choose a much more degraded set than they have at present, and by stdin waged sean: tm more these rotten bodies out of existence Stars, The newspaper reports from England, which we published yesterday, and from Havana, which we publish to-day, completely squelch Mr. Professor Loomis, of Yale College, who has fallen from public estimation as rapidly as the meteors fell from the sky. All of our astrono- mers have been at fault; for they-predicted that the meteoric showers would be visible here and not in England, whereas it turns out that the phenomena were visible in England and Havana, but not-here. The other astrono- mers have accepted their failure in silence, however, and will do better next-time; but Mr. Professor Loomis, of Yale College, has sur- passed Dogberry and written ‘himself dowm as an incorrigible ass, Now that his ignorance and his malice have been fully exposed, Yale ” College, which professes to be the principal institution of learning in the country, ought to” be no longer disgraced by so incompetent a professor. Of course ‘he will not have sense enough to resign ; but he should be summarily and ignominiously expelled. What confidence can students have in the lessons which they receive from such teacherst How long oan a college maintain its reputation if such spurious professors are employed in its departments? These are serious questions for the considera- tion of the faculty and the trustees of Yale, and the facts by which these questions are backed render them worthy of prompt atten- tion. The meteoric showers were announced to take place on the 13th or 14th of November. Previous to that date, thinking that it might be of interest to the public to know whether any display was visible in England, we telegraphed to ‘our London correspondent to send us the information. The display ocourred, and on the morning of the 15th we published a special despatch from Greenwich Observatory describ- ing the number, location and direction of the meteors, This telegram was not only inter- esting and valuable to astronomers, but to the te whole reading public, and it gained additional importance from the comparative failure of the meteoric display as observed from this part of the globe. On the same day Mr. Professor Loomis, of Yale College, after perusing the Herato’s special telegram, wrote a letter to ond of our contemporaries, in which he stated that “the grand display, which it was supposed might possibly occur this year, has not been Witnesaéd in the United States and probably notin Europe, or it would have been announced to us by telegraph.” The English of Mr. Pro- fessor Loomis is remarkably similar to that of Sairey Gamp, whose “which it was” has become proverbial; but his logic is even more shaky than his syntax. He argued ‘that there had been no display in Europe because we had no announcement of it by telegraph; but there was the Henao, under his very nose, with the telegraphic announcement of the display! Te escape from this fact, which overthrew all his theories, Mr. Professor Loomis then added that “the telegram in this morning’s Heratp, pur- porting to have come from Greenwich, is evi- dently spurious.” Why “evidently” spurious! Simply because it conflicted with the absurd theories of Mr. Professor Loomis! Me Well, ten days passed and a steamer arrived from Europe. In the London Times wo found letters from Herschel predicting that the me- teoric display would ocour on the 13th or 14th, and in the London Telegraph of the 14th inst. we found « brief report—not so complete, Scientific and elaborate as our telegram—de- scribing the meteoric shuwers ts vee wy we people of London. The evidence of spurious © ness is, therefore, decidedly against Mr. Pro- fessor Loomis. It is the Yale College profes sor, not the Hzratp telegram, that ts “evidently spurious.” In addition to the nows from Havana, which we publish to-day, we shall receive by the next steamer files of the English papers with full accounts of the meteoric showers, and they will give still further confirmation of the accuracy of our despatch from Greenwich. We hope ‘ that the other papers which copied the silly letter of Loomis will print the facts for the in- formation of, their readers. The letters of Herschel and the report in the Telegraph are quite sufficient for Mr. Professor Loomis, how- ever. He must go upon the record as “evi- dently spurious,” like spurious coin, like spue rious Manager Wheatley, like the spurious politicians of Tammany Hall and like the 5 p spurious Christians who object to the sermons of the Rev. Dr. Smyth because he preaches too practically. Ignorant of astronomy, he hes shown himself equally ignorant of the Harato and of ordinary courtesy and decency. To trust such a person with the education of our youth, now that bis true character is developed, would be @ blunder worse thana crime. The faculty and trustees of Yale College cannot afford to retain him in @ position where he not only makes himself ridiculous but actually in- jures the institution which he is employed to serve, Let him retire to the rural districts and cultivate cabbages, beginning with his owa caput, or come to New York and join the Tam- many “ring,” the Peter Funk “ring,” the hack- drivers’ “ring,” the copperhead newspaper “ring,” the theatrical managers’ “ring” or any other “evidently spurious” association. Gretiey vs. Brrant.—The poet Bryant has found the weak spot in the philosopher Greeley as a candidate for the United States Senate. Itts Greeley’s kink of a protective tariff, the crotchet of free trade being the weak spot in Bryant. Let Greeley have his way\ and he would probably try his plan for the encouragement of American indus try to the extent of an absolute pro hibition of all foreign manufactured goods ; give Bryant his way and he would doubtless abolish all our Custom Houses, and put oor home manufactures under the hammer, by the absolutely free introduction of the pauper labor manufactures of Europe. Greeley would tax us two dollars or ten dollars on « ard of English stuff to secure a bounty of so tuch to a yard of Massachusetts linsey-woolsey. , Bryant would abolish the Massachusetts fnc- tory to get the English erticle ten conte cheaper. If could have carried t over to the rebellion it is his Calhoun hobby of free trade ; if anything could have carried Greeley over to Jeff Davis it would have been a Confederate import duty of ton dollars a yard on English muslins. The happy medium between these two oxtremista, the medium of ® revenne tariff, can never be reached by either. With absolutely free trade Bryant believes we can square the circle, while with @ rigid protective tariff G: » thinks we oan solve the problem of a ee