The New York Herald Newspaper, December 12, 1866, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR OFFICE N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS, Volume XXXI Nees AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, BROADWAY THEATS Bioadwoy, near Broome street.—S7, Mane, ok THE Sout Forrune. JERMAN TH cB, No. 64 Broadway.— Png te oe - aus om Lenen Eines Yuwestex. GERMAN STADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.— Onvaxus ix pen UnrkRW eit. STHINWAY HALL. Poruar Concent. Marinas at Three o'Clock. Fourteenth — street.—Wepnespar J. A. Dawsoy's Piast GRanp BAN PRANCISCO MINSTRELS. 585 Broadway, opnosite the Metropoliian Hotel—In rain fraioriAN ENTeRrALNe ments, SINGING, DaNcin@ ann Boxuxsques—Tae New Conciuss. FIFTH AVENUE OPERA NOU! Pwenty-fourth street.—Bupworri’s Binmreror. Batuape, Bourcswes LACK. and 4 West 5. —~EPMLOPLAN Tae Maw ww ko, KELLY & LEON'S MINSTRELS, 720 Broadway, oppo- aite (the New York Hotel.—Iv ravi Sonus, Dances, Booun- emvorms, Borursgurs, Ac.—MATRIMONT—APRICAN POLK A— Tex Buaox Statux. Rowerv.—Conra Divertissewent, Nuaro Minsrsensy, 4 OW loek., = Newsaoy. Math WHITE'S COMBINATION TROUPE, at Meehauies’ Holi, s7% Broadwavein a Vaeuery ov Laeicr Sarees DHENeT, Corrs ve Batten &o IGGER, HOOLE PEOPRRS HONSE, by ae —“retortan Mime arunisy, Hatiaps, BURLEoyse 4xD PaNtomiMns, ER'S OPERA HOUSE, Williams! , Battans, Come Paxtomuers, »—Ermiorian PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, corner of Grand and Crosby atreets.~Gueat Masonic Fart iN Atp or TH® HALL AND Asvium Fund. ST, STEPHEN'S CHURCH, Twenly-clghih stroot, bo. tween Lexington and Third avenues,—GRand Fatk, Pastis VAL AND PROMENADE CONCER NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 613 Broadway.— Lecrones wrre tue Oxy-Hyproaks Mioxoscore twice daily. | Heap axp Kigwr Ama oy Puonst. Open from & New York, Wednesday, D. NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC. ‘The public are hereby notified that the silver badges. heretofore used by the regular reporters of tho New ‘York Heratp have been recalled and will no longer be used as @ means of identifying tho attachis of this office, THE NEWS. EUROPE. By special telegrams through the Atlantic cable we have very intoresting intelligence dated in Rome, Berlin and Dresden yesterday, December 11, The general news report embraces the eveuts of the evening of the 10th instant, with the financial and commercial advices of Tuesday. John H. Surratt was informed against in Rome bys French Canadian named St. Marie, who, it is said, was actuated by jealousy, arising from disappointed love, ‘This man alleges that Surratt told him that the assassi- mation of President Lincola was the result of a plot arranged by the Jeff Davis Cabinet at Richmond, and that he (Surratt) carriéd the orders for its execution thence to Washington. A bi ‘The French flag was run down from the tow?r of the Gastle of San Angelo in Rome yesterday and replaced by the Papal ensign. The French evacuation of the city is complete, and serious disturbances are anticipated, ‘The Saxon naval officers have unanimously refused to serve Prugsia, and resigned their commissions. United states Minister Wright is seriously ill in Berlin. The Hanoverians complain of Prussian “oppression.’’ Anumberof Canadian Confederation delegates are in council in London. Our special despatches and correspondence by steam- ship and mail, with the extracts from our newspaper files, published in the Hsnavp to-day, contain very in- teresting details of our cable despatches to the 30th of November, with some points of news not had from that source, ‘The London Globe professes to furnish the bases of ar- rangement by virtue of which the United States govern- tment and Napoleon agree to American futervention in Mexico, and p!un an early settlement of the difficulty. A quantity of Fenian arms have been discovered at Cardiff, and the steamer Bolivar was seized in the Medway on suspicion of being in the service of the Feniana. . Maximilian, it is anticipated, will. after nis arrival ia Europe, annoy Napoleon considerably by the publica- tion of letters addressed to him in Mexico from Paris. The London 7im-s complains that the “loyat’ men of Treland do not come forward to aid the government against the Fenians. Consols were firm in London at noon yesterday at 88°, ex-dividend. United States five-twenties, 1862, were at ‘71, the game hour. The Liverpool cotton market was active yesterday at full rates. Middiing uplands aver- aged fourteen pence. CONGRESS. In the Senate yesterday the Committos on Territories repérted-in favor of the bil! for the agmiseion of Colo- rado; The House bill fixing the time for ihe meeting of Congress was referred to: the Judiciary Committes. A resouition was adopted instructing the Jwliciary Com mittee to inquire what additional legislation is necessary to provide for the succession of tho President's office in case of the death or disaliitity of all thoee wpon whom it may now devolve by the constitution and the laws, and to report by bill or othérwiee, A bil st ing com. penration to owners of slaves eculiated in the service Was reported from the Finance Committee. The District Suffers bill was then taken up, the question being on Mr, Cowan's proposition to strike out the word “maie,’ A spicy debate ensued upon it, in which Mr, Cowan advanced biv arguments in favor of female sullrage. Pending tho consideratiow of tho amendment . the Senate sdjourned gM the House the bill to regulate the duties of the Clork in preporing for the roorgaulzation of the House was passed by @ vole of one hundred and twenty-three to thirty-one. It provide the roll of members of the House fn the noxt s& shall contain only the names of those elected in t represented. The bili to prevent the rece counting of elec toral Yotes Of the lately rebellious States in (ire election of President and Vice President was, after considerable debate, postponed and made a «pociat omtor for Thurs: day. A bill was reported from the Judiowry Committee repeating and modifying parte of un a0 for ihe panieb- ment of orimes ogo ingy 1 9 it bill pro- vides that pM ions gui ie Sl a ont . May at any timo be indieted, tried and punished ghero- for, and repeals the clause limiting the time of suck in- dictmont to three years. Mr. Stovens, of Ponnsylya. va opposed the bill on the ground (hat it was not safe make laws to try men who could not be tried undor the laws under whic» the criine was committed. He said that the offence was continned while the war con. tinned, and there is still no peace, This nation is still in a belligerent condition, and the conquered bolligerents are ta the powpr of the conquerors, to be dealt with as aplives, aad Nol as criminals The morning hour hav. ing oxpired, the bill went over. Mr. Ingersoll asked Jeave to introduce a bill to reguiate the sale of coln and bullion by the Secretary of the Troasury. It directs the Secretary to sell, after thirty days’ notice, to the highest bidder any amount of gold in the Treasury, providing the amount on hand will not be reduced below fifty miilions& Objection was made, and the bill was not in- troduced. The bill reported from the Judiciary Com mittee, Decomber 5, for the regulation of appointments +1 removals from office was then taken up as the ape. “o! onter, atid discussed ae in Committee of the Whole. ~ eral aineadinonis wore offered, among them one by M stevens to the effect that any person who has boon Sev ivated to office by the President and rejected vy the senate shalt be of holding oes vit the government foF one year. Mr. ‘ows spoke tn favor of his amé@ndment, and said — Hanon! Class of men whom God had ever over. I ‘0 tanking men, had been appointed by the Prosi. * howe natura! wards they were, and who well ap “staking care of them. He proposed to punish ‘soho lrongh gush altine Mtr Hale opponed «1 dit ib pocnaap g lay hy Preaidouy er might nominate Mr. rpg cites rg de we the Senate might reject and 80 House would be lost The gnendment was rejected, and. the bill went over until to-dhy. THE (ITY. ‘The start in the great oceanracy from Sandy Hook to Cowes took place yesterday, The day was a very glorious one, and some twelve steamers Were presont with exeur- sionists to witness the eveat. The yachts were started at ous o'clock precisely, the Hendetta being tha first onthe way, ‘The respective positions/of the vessels were, how- ever, several tines changed bdfore they were out of sight. Atameeting of the Board of Aldermen yesterday a communication was received ‘from the Mayor nominat- ing John N, Hayward for the oitice of Street Commis- sioner, The Board then adjourned.to Monday afternoon. A very lengthy session af the Kpiscopal Convention, extending throughout the ontire day, was held yesterday atGrace church, Brooklyn,’ at which resolutions were passed favoring the formation of a xew diocese for Long Island and expressing the belief that the proposed en- dowment can be raised. The steamer Henry Chavacey sailed yesterday for Aspinwall, carrying the mails for China and Japan. At Panama a steamer of the Pacific line will convey the mails @ San Francisco, and thence another steamer of the same line will convey them to Honolulu, Yoko- ama and Hong Kong. This te the first time these mails will have been conveyed the whole way by American vessels. An inquest was held yesterday at the Seventh pro- Cinet station house on the bodies of the persons who were soffocated at the fire at 215 Division street on Mon- day night. A verdict was peturned that the parties came to their death by suffocation, and the Oause was from an incendiary Gre. A series of systematic thefts, by whioh an oil firm in Maiden tano was robbod to the amount of about $8,000 by aconfidertia) porter, and which has been going on fora year or more, was yesterday brought to Nght by the detectives, and the delinquent porter committed to custody, Itis supposed that other parties, as yet un- known, are also mixed up in this affair, Another body was recovered from the ruins of the Walker streot fire yesterday, It is supposed to be the body of John J. Birmingham. The case of Messrs, Develin, Tilton and Levan, cha: with branding liquors on whieh it 1s alleged no taxes had been paid, was commenced before United States Com- missioner Newton, in Brooklyn, yesterday. The testi- mony }was of a very direct and positive nature, and ro- vealed the extent to which fratds have been carried, and the manner in which the work was conducted, Yesterday Commissioner Newton pronounced his deci- sion in the case of James H. Greatrex, who is accused of having forged at Glasgow, Scotland, a large number of the notes of the Union Bank of that country. The Com- missionor granted a certificate for the rendition of the prisoner. Giovanni Tinnati was yesterday found guilty in the United States Circuit Court, Judge Smalley presiding, on acharge of pissing counterfeit currency of the United States. Sentenoc reserved. ‘The stock market was strong yesterday. at 13734. Business was moderate, and prices for both forgign ‘and domestic merchandi+e generally favored the pur- chaser. _ Cotton was more active and firmor. Coffee was dull, but steady. On ‘Change flour was without decided change, though inferior grades were quoted 5c. lower. Wheat ruled dull aud heavy. Corn was in limited request, and fully 4c. lower, Oats were active and 2c. a3c. higher. Pork was highor, with, howover, byt litle doing. Beef continued hoavy, while lard ruled firmer, with an active demand. Freights were moderately active and firm. Petroteun though quiet, ruled firmer, Naval stores generally quiet, but firm. MISCELLANEOUS. A heavy snow storm prevaited in Buffalo yastorday. ‘The ground was covered to the depth of twenty-four inches. No trains were going West on the Lake Shore or Grand Trunk Railroads. In Chicago the therinometor ranged fourteea degrees above zero, In New Orteans the weather was cold and snow was looked fer. The ponds ia the vicinity of Poughkeepsie were frozen over. Ifthe cold wenther continies to-day the Fifth avenue _Rink will be ready for skaters. Our Havana letter is dated December 6. Quite an ex. citement prevailed there on the arrival of an American vessel from Now Orleans with six hundred aud fifty colored soldiers on board ex row tor their homes in the North. The Captain Genorai’s country house is being fitted ap, and the report was prevalent that Maximilian would soon be its occupant. The report ‘s, however, unfounded. 5 In the court at Sweetsburg yesterday the indictments against seven of the Fenian prisoners were quashed, they claiming to be Amcrican citizens, but they were remanded, and will be tried for robbery and inciting a riot. A member of the Canadian Cabinet remarked that the respite of the condemned prisoners was only tempo- rary, and they would not be pardoned as long as the Fenians threatened the provinces. Our correspondent in Raleigh, N. C., givas a gloomy account of matters in the “Old Nortn State.” The regu- lators are at work cleaning out Yankees and negroes. A gin house belonging to a Northerner was burhed by them, with all his cotton, nearly impoverishing the owner, Another Northerner was shot, and negroes are shot and hung every day in the eastern part of the State, A genornl desire is expressed for Northern emi- eration and Northern capital, and‘ complaints aro loud and loug at the continued exclusion of the State from the Union. Our Milledgeviile, Ga , correspondence says that pri- vate debt is the great incubus on Georgia. Tho poople seem determined to work, and do so with a will, Hershel V, Job dlegted United States Senator by the Georgia Engitature yostorday, on the firs: ballot Our Alabama correspondence gives asketch of the doings of the Legislature of that State, The hope is very generally expressed that Congraas will not act pre- cipilately in the matter of reconstruciton plans, Tho poople feel that they are complotely at the moroy of that body, and wish a few weeks’ grace. < cancer, delivered a lecture at Galves- on the 4th inst., ia which he defended the Alabama, comparing her to Vaal Jones’ ship during the war of the Revotntion. Beruard Sprangk, the Treasarer of the Philadelphia @, jiding Association No. 2, disappeared on Friday tast, it Is alleged, with all the assets of the institution, amounting to $14,000. The Tr » Logistatars appointed a committee yesterday to make arrangouents for a proper colebration of the anniversary of tho Battle of Nashville. General Thomas and staff will be present, The Governor was vosted with fall powers to perform all acta necessary to the recovery of the funds looned in Jane ‘ast to the Tennessee National Bank of Memphis by the State Treasurer, A man, named Captain Jenkins, was asxanited by three men if Sweet Water, Tenn., on Sunday morning, and mortally wounded by a pistol shot, Before dying, how. ever, ho fired at bis assailants, killing one instantly and mortally wounding the other two, ‘The wounded mon died soon afterwards, 4 A disastrous tornado visited Northwostern Toxas on the 4th Inst, destroying a large amount of proporty. Six persons were kilted and numbers injared, A metoor was visible at Poughkeepsie Inst night. A boase at Davenport, Iowa, war buroed on Sunday, and an old Jady and two boys were burned to death, Gold closed Dent tv Conaress.—A resolu- Tue Natiovac ton by Mr, Kelley, ov Pennsylvania, has been refered to the Committee ee. Ways and Means, declarNag that the proposition thas ad national ~ > con debt shox}d be paid by the generatto. = - ‘racting it “Js not sanctioned by sound prina- Ples of natiottyl economy.” Mr. Kelley might have added, “nor ia it sanetioned by the expe- Fence oF usages of other nations.” The Secrg- tary of the Treasury has shown that undor our present external and intetnal revenue or tax laws the national debt can be paid by the present generation ; but it bearing all the imilediate riflges and burdens of the late four years’ civil war, aurely something of this remaining debt may be justly turned over to the generation which is to follow and which is to reap the grea! ‘est of all the precious fruits of the war. The lightening of our present burdens of taxation, in this view, is an impor- tant duty which Congress owes to the present generation, and whatever may be the incidental financial considerations involved, they ought to be shapog (9 Wis end From the’ unexpected and unprecedented disasters suffered by the democracy in the recent clections they stand confounded and demora- lized. From Maine to Oregon the popular ma- Jorilics rolled up against (hem rise to the grand aggregate of halfa miflion. We may aptly com- pare this triumphant campaign of the repub- licans to the grand march of Sherman, sweeping everything before him, through Georgia arti the Carolinas, or to those terrific seven days of General Grant from Petersburg to Appomattox Court House, in which he demolished the army of Lee and crushed the rebellion. And yet in the sum total of more than a million of votes polled by the democracy in these late elestions they have still the nacleus for a powerful reor- ganization. But as with the lately insurgent States, go it is with the disjointed, defeated and disorganized democratic party—the first thing needed to set it upon its legs again is reconstruction. How can itbe reconstructed so as tostand? Its old blundering copperhead leaders and controlling newspaper organs are casting about, right aod left, and shooting off here and there in various directions for some new road out of the “Slough of Despond.” Thus while the Itading copperhead party trumpeter in the West blows a blast for universal suffrage, negroes and all, his copperhead brethren of the East ate con- soling themselves with the idea of a dead lock on the Southern question, and propose ta wait, like the excluded States, and do nothing, in the hope. that “something may turn up.” But this is a sorry expedient. It promises nothing, and if adopted it will resultin nothing hut the rapid disappearance of the remains of a party which will have given ap the ghost. Something better than this may be done upon the Northern democratic nucleus of 2 million and a quarter of votes, The exigency, however, requires nothing less than o recon- struction of the party on a new foundation—a foundation of the practical ideas and practical issues thrown uppermost by the great political earthquake which has swallowed up the things of the past, And what is the leading issue be- fore the country? It is the pending conslitu- tional amendment. That is the settlement for the South, decreed by the popular voice of the mighty North. It cannot be evaded. It must be enforced, because it is the will and the ulti- metum of the North. Upon this platform the repubiicans have triumphed beyond their most sanguine hopes, and yet now there are signs of discords and divisions in their camp on this very amendment. Here, then, is the oppor- tunity for the democracy, by a dexterous flank movement, to seize this republican thunder and turn it against “Old Thad” and his radical fol- lowers. The plan of action required is very simple. ‘The chiefs of the Manhattan Club, who, as we understand, have been for some days revolving this problem over their oyaters and champagne, have only to provide for the calling of a na- tional convention and to bring such ¢onven- tion, when assembled, to the adoption of the pending constitutional amendment as the future platform of the reconstructed democ- racy. The wreck of the Chicago plat- form can never be raised; but the man who protested against fighting upon it as the democratic candidate for the Presi- dency is the man to lead them for the amendment, We are satisfied thal a demo- cratic convention on this platform and In the name of Gencral McClellan would result in reviving the party into active and vigorous lifo again; that the movement in bringing all tho excluded Southern States back into the govern- ment and into a “happy accord” with this new Northern organization would apeedily give it a balance of power in Congress and perhaps in the next Presidency, looking at these afore- said elements of discord and dissension now wisible in the republican camp. On the other hand it is apparent that unless the Northern democracy take thig new depart ure the managing politicians of the exclude States Will remain intractable, obstinate nnd defiant against tho amondment, and that Con- gress, In consequence of this Southern obsti- nacy, will, ag a last resort, set these States back to the condition of Territories and go through, not only the Presidential election of 1868, but probably that of 1872, withont them, To regain something of thelr old presiige tn the North and recover the balance of power with the restoration of the South, the true coarse for what remains of the late great democratic party is to call a nationsl convention and endorse the constitutional amendment. Bold measures alone can revive the party—such measures as will bring it from the mar into the front rank with the new order of things. And so we call upon the Manhattan Clab to provide at once for a National Democratic Convention and the new departure suggested. A Berowet Genera Rovrep py tim Fe- eneral Sir Thomas Larcom, .under- Secretary of Ireland, abandoned bis official residence in the Phenix Park, withit. a few miles of Dublin, and fixed his headqusrters in the castle, which is within the city, and wes being rapidly fortified against the Fefians on the 28th of November. The English govern- ment at the same time offered a rewartl of five thousand pounds sterling to any persos, “man or woman, young or old,” who would deliver James Stephens, “dead or alive,” intothe cus- tody of its officers. This looks as if General Sir Thomas Larcom is vastly afraid of the Fo- nians and has retreated from his snug rooms in the Park to within the works of the éastle, General Larcom never had any reputation asa military man. He at one time cq@ducted a topographical survey of Ircland. When en- gaged in that duty he ofganized, utder the classification of “ Civil Assistants,” a band of the moat abject flunkey toadies that ev@ served the British crown against their owneountry- Soon after its experience of the first ‘»nian alarm in the sumnter ‘of 1865, regular » tive commissioned Sit, Thomas the Irish ex®ox— Yeneral of the , and as Provost Marshal v. * directed move- since that period he hm menis and received the repore ish spies employed both at home United States. From these sources Larcom is enabled to form a pretty estimate of the gravity of the impendi in Ireland, and his hasty race io tl strong-works indicates very clearly thinks it one of serious moment. 1}; looks as if Stephens had already “ bottd up” General Sit Thomas Larcom. of Representatives excluding from the next or Fortieth Congress all Representatives that may offer themselves from the States not recognized by the present Congress. The. object of this bill, we presume, is simply a law for the Clerk of che House in making up his roll of the mem- bers of the next Congress, ‘The Pope and the Czar. The Atlantic cable has announced a signi- ficant historical event in the fact that an’ im- perial ukase has been issued by the Czar, de- claring all the relations of Russia with the Pope abrogated, and annulling all the special laws which have heretofore been made in accordance with those relations. This may mean, we presume, that Russia, as one of the greatest continental Powers, leads off in ceasing to recognize the temporal authority of the Pope. So far as Alexander is concerned, it formally excludes Pio Nono from the circles of sovereign Princes in Europe. His example cannot fail to have great weight. The Em- peror Joseph, of Austria, @ the only monarch of considerable power whose recognition of the Pope as a temporal prince has lately been regarded as unqualified and sincere. But Austria, humiliated by its recent reverses, can- not interpose effectually in behalf of the tem- poral sovereignty, and is even reported to have abandoned it. The French Emperor, although he has succeeded to the title of “Eldest son of the Church,” is not too much inclined to inlerpose, notwithstanding the influence of the Jesnit advisers of the Empress Eugénie, “Wor,” a3 a Catholic writer remarks, “he has been the determined but politic enemy of that sovereignty ever since, With his elder brother he engaged in a conspiracy, in 1831, to destroy the Papal government; and Russia, Great Britain ang Prussia, all anti-Catholic States, willabandon the Papal throne to the logic of evenia,”” ‘ This telegram from St. Petersburg at least implies that in the weakened temporal condi- ‘ion of the head of the Western Church the antocrat of all the Russias, who is likewise the head of the Eastern Church, sees and seizes an opportunity of abrogating the conventions with Rome extorted from Nicholas, his late futher, by Gregory XVI, and the concurrent force of royal and public opinion in Europe, soon after attempts had been made to “stamp oul” Polish nationality by violent interference with the united Greek and Roman Catholic Churches in Poland. A letter from our correspondent at St. Petersburg, published yesterday, states that the Russsian Emperor has followed up his great emancipation ukage by a ukase abolish- ing the feudal ties which have hitherto bound the gerf t the land and the landlord in the kingdom of Poland. This is @ aew step in the progressive policy which the far-aighted and mighty ruler of Russia has adopted. Such a policy must tend to strengthen the empire by elevating and enrich- ing the people of Polafd, attaching them to him and his dynasty, and uniting more closely tho destinies of Poles and Russians, At the same time it indicates that he has not lost sight of the aggressive policy bequeathed to him by his predecessors, One of the strong motives which Impel him gus to develop the resources of the nation is his wish to wield its increased wealth and power in furtherance of his ambitious projects in the East. He may suspect that the Jesuits have lately shown but Mitte gratitude to Russia for the protection accorded to them in that country alone when Pope Clement had suppressed their order everywhere else in Europe. They may have ‘been secretly influential in favoring the French imperial policy in opposition to bis own, not only within the limited jurisdiction of the metropolitans of Warsaw and Mohileff, but also within the patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria. There, as well as wherever else Greek Christians are to be found, the spiritual supremacy of the Czar aa the head of the Greek Church has been tacitly acknowledged. It is not impossible that at no very distant day. the old quarrel be- tween the Greek and the Latin Churches as to the custody of the holy places in Palestine may be revived. The Greeo- Russian Church already numbers about fifty millions, without counting the millions of Kastern Christians who would readily unite with all the scattered families of the Slavonic race under one common head, revering the bulbous ¢npola which is a distinctive ornament of Russian churches, and adoring the Czar, according to the commandments in the eate- chism of Peter the Great, as not only Emperor and King, but High Priest, Pope and Vicegerent of the Lord Godon earth, Such he is acknow- ledged to be by the first articte of the Russian’s potitico-religious creed. The Emperor of Russia in linking his fate with that of “the resurgent, ignorant and colossal democracy over which he rules, rises and spreads with them, strength- eus them and is strengthened by thema@ By his schemes for ameliorating their condition, and by his determination to cut off all relations with the Pope, he is perhaps preparing for a struggle for supremacy in the East. And this may result in a war stimulated by religious passions as well as by political and commercial motives. Tin Larest Taxmwent House Disasree.— The last shocking disaster, the result of our tenement house system, was the death by suffo- cation of three famities, in Division street, on Monday night, The fire by which these nine individnals met a terrible death was a com- paratively instgnificant one—a fact which brings more forcibly to view the constant dan- ger to human life from the want of necessary means of escape in tenement buildings. The victims in this case were not reached by the fire, which occurred in the lower part of the house, but, being left without any available mode of egress, were literally smoked to death in their apartments. It is useless to bewail calamities of this kind unless some measures are adopted (o avert them. Public sympathy with the sufferers is of no avail if the public do not insist ups tion of that clu » are compelled by their stralteped circumstunces to domicile in crowded tenementa. We absolutely need a building law of the most stringent character to restfin landlords from constructing buildings of this «| without providing every facility tor kin “* case of fire, The Legislature, which escape mw ~ weeks, should give their cartiest meets in @ fs. enactment of sich a law, to attention tg the , — ‘¥, now that buildings of take effect are being erected in the most unsafe character . have bad warn- all quarters of the city. We °» be lost, Ings ouguah, ead there g op time & lovistation for the protec- | The Ocean Yacke Bt Yesterday will he memorable in our aquatic annals, From our harbor went forth on a trial of speed across the Atlantic three pleasure yachts of a tonnage so small and of a con- struction apparently so light that they seemed fitted only for fair weather contests, They confront in this experiment all the perils that try the strength of the largest and strongest built vessels, The boldness of it bas struck most people with wonder, not unmixed with anxiety. It is asked, what occasion is there for this tempting of Providence? The owners of these vessels have no mere motive of gain to tempt them, no scientific object to promote. This is all true; but there is something beyond even these influences to operate as induce- ments. The spirit of national rivalry, for in- stance, is not only legitimate in itself, but often leads to important results. The English have long enjoyed preeminence as yachtmen—a pre-eminence justly earned by their intense love and ardency for the sport. It is natural that our young men should desire to prove to them and to the world at large that whatever can be accomplished on the ocean by skill and daring Americans are not to be excelled in. We can judge of the effect that will be pro- duced abroad by this race by that which it has already created here, There was not @ person who witnessed the start yesterday—there is not one who reads the account of it to-day who does not feel as if he had himself a stake in the result. The safe accomplishment of the trip by these three small vessels, no matter which of them wins, will be a fresh triumph for American enterprise. : On the impetus which the event will give to yachting, not only here, but on the other side, it is unnecessary to dwell. We have no doubt that the example set by our brave young yachtmen will be speedily followed and that we shall have as regular periodicag visits from the foreign yacht squadrons as any of the Eng- lish ports, The good feeling and friendly rela- tions thus engendered cannot but be produc- tive of the happiest results. To those who have viewed with apprehen- sion the venture that has given occasion to these remarks we would .say that the risk is formidable only because of its novelty, and that with good seamanship there is no reason why these small craft should not prove as safo as rogular ocean going vessels. As everything that experience could suggest has been done for them in the way of preparation, we may anticipate for them, with a continuance of the favorable weather with which they started, a safe and speedy arrival at their destination. The Juggling of Our City Rings—A Disgrace- = ful Spectacle. We invite the attention of the Senators and members of Assembly from the rural districts to the disgraceful spectacle presented by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of this city in their efforts to secure the patronage of the municipal “government for their several “rings.” It is well known that charges of fraud and corruption of a serious nature have been made -against Street Commisstoner Cornell and bis deputy, Wil- liam M. Tweed, and that to avoid an inves- tigation, ordered by Governor Fenton, Cornell some time since resigned his office. His resig- nation left Tweed in charge of the department until a successor should be nominated by the Mayor and confirmed by the Board of Aldcr- men. Ever since Cornell by this trick evaded trial and set the authority of the Governor at defiance, Mayor Hoffman has been playing the farce ofsending in to the Board of Aldermen the name of Tom, Dick and Harry for the office of Street Commissioner, and the Board of Alder- men have been referring Tom, Dick and Harry to a committee, hanging them up for a few days and then rejecting them one after another. Several rumors have been set afloat in refer- ence to the causes of this juggling. Some say that the Mayor wants all the patronage of the Street Department himself, and refuses to divide with the Aldermen. Others say that the Al- dermen want a pledge from the new Commis- sioner that they shall control the department, and that they refuse to divide with the Mayor. The only fact that is certainly known to the people is that while all this juggling and thimble-rigging is going on the Street Com- missioner’s Department remains precisely under its old management, except thet instend of being as formerly, Cornell, with Tweed behind him, it is now Tweed, with Cornell at his back. If corruption existed formerly in the office, it remains there full blown at thé present time. Tf frauds were perpetrated there under the Cornell-Tweed management, they are perpet- uated under the Tweed-Oornell management. Not an employé has been changed, not a job suspended, not #n expense curtailed, not a single alteration made in the running of the concern. The curious feature of the affair is that while an apparent ficht has been going on between the Mayor and the Aldermen, they are all smiling and happy and seem to be very well satisfied with the general result. As « new phase of the business, the Mayor overrides the last Legislature, extending the term of office of the Croton Water Commis- sioners, and nominates a board of his own. The Aldermen hold these nominees in their committee, and it is now rumored that they seek to lump the two departments together and make a bargain with the Mayor that shall em- brace the patronage and jobs of both. Under this arrangement the Croton Aquednet Depart- ment, which has hitherto been held aloof from the corruptions and tradings of the “rings,” is to be handed over to the men who have made the Street Department, the Finance Depart- ment and the old City Inspector's Department notorious as sinks of jobbery ang corruption. This is the sort of juggling and buckstering our representatives at Albany may discover if they will throw their eyes in the direction of New York. It is about time that they should take | some steps for the protection of the citizens, Tar Sarery or Passunotes on Steawpoars.— ‘The Secretary of the Treasury has issued a cir- cular to inspectors of steamboats, instructhg them to carry into effect at once the provisions of the law providing for the safety of passen- gers. With the evidence before us of the late disaster to the Williamsburg ferryboat Idaho, the investigation of whicf is now progressing, Mc. McCulloch’s assurance that all neglect of this law will be punished by the fullest peoal- ties comes in good time. There is not a single steamboat on the Now York ferries, over which hundreds of thousands of passengers are con- veyed every week, that has the appliances on board to save one soul out of the vast mass in case of accidegt or panic. We hope the in- epovtors WHA do hols duty wishawt dolar ip @ bd . carrying out the law. Every boat on tho Brooklyn ‘and Jersey ferries ghould be over. hauled, and the absence of proper lifeboats, dis- engaging apparatus and life preservers su‘ti- cient for the passengers carried should inevery . instance be punished to the extent of the la: provision, which is a fine of five hundred dot lars for each and every case of negligence in this respect. * The Mexican Kettle of Fish—Funny Doings and Complications. Mr. Seward has at last got the Mexican ques- tion into # beautiful kettle of fish, Instead of two Dromios in the play, their name is legion, and “the ery is, still they come.” Our Florida wouble with Billy Bowlegs, and our Nicaragua negotiations concerning the British Mosquito King and Billy Walker, “the gray-eyed man,” were mere bagatelles compared with this Mexi- can kettle of fish. The nearest approach to it that we can find is in our own plundering Cor- poration “rings,” where we have wheels within wheels, and all sorts of plotters and their jobs inexplicably mixed up. Cable despatches don’t begin to reach the difficulty. A cable to the heart of the Chinese rebellion might! but nothing shorter will do in the way of cables. Only look at some of the latest facts in this Mexican mixture. It was but the other day that with the approach of General Castelneau direct from Napoleon, Maximilian stole off from the city of Mexico, intending to take tho Austrian frigate Dandolo, waiting for him at Vera Cruz, and to sail home. He was inter- cepted by the French and sent back. Wo next hear of him at Orizaba. Next, that Napoleon has instructed him to abdicate; then that he has prepared his abdication and made arrango- ments for a French triumvirate to take his plage; then the French authorities at Vora Cruz, in the name. of the Emperor Mex and his empire, proclaim their joy that he has made up his mind to stand his ground and die liko Jeff Davis, “in the last ditch;” and this is our lates! news of poor Max. We shall probably next bear that he has issued a draft’for a bun- dred thousand soldiers, to be paid out of tho .proceeds of one of the Hon. Ben Wood's lot- teries, the French lotiery game being played out. Meantime it appears that a United States ves- sel of war, the good ship Susquehanna, having on board Minister Campbell'and General Sher- man, touched at Vera Cruz, with the expecta- tion of hearing that poor Max, the French, Austrians and Belgians, bag and baggage, with a good lot of movable ‘plunder, had cleared ot. But we may imagine the disgust of Campbell gnd Shorgan on hearing that the French were still in full blast, that poor Max had resolved to fight to tho death, and thet Vera Oruz was in a blaze of imperial glory. Of course, as this was not the road to q Juavez,Minister Campbell and General Sherman, tarning in silent contempt from the French hos- pitalities offered them in the city of the Truo Cross, tacked about and sailed up the Gulf coast for Tampico, or the mouth of the Rio Grande, as a starting point from which te begin, like “Japhet in search of a father,” their explorations in search of Juarez and his Mex- {can republic. e At the same time, it appears, the late terrible kettle of fish in Matamoros between Caravajal, Cortina, Canales, Escobedo and General Sedg- wick, hoving been partially adjusted by the retirement of Canales with his plunder and the dismissal of General Sedgwick, we find that General Sheridan has turned Ortega loose again—that dangerous claimant of the Mext- ean republic against Juarez. But the worat of it is that Miramon, a French-Mexican, with bis pocket full of money, has got back into Mexico from France, while that old and cunning revo-* lutionist, Santa Anna, has mysteriously disap- peared from New York, and Juarez, @ full-blood- ed Indian, can’t be found. How are we to set- He this business ? can Mr. Seward do with It, with all bis cable despatches? No wonder General Grant declined to go on the wild goose chase undertaken by Sherman, with a Westera lawyer instead of a Western army at his back. And then there are those French claims, and poor Max’s contingent expenses, and ceriain railroad, telegraph, land and express com- “panies’ speculations, each job having « faction at its back, each faction a Mexican general or two; and then there are numerous independent guerilla factions; and, while most of them are opposed to Juarez, none of them care a snap whether he is superseded by Ortega, Escobedo, Canales, Miramon, Santa Anna or Dr. Gwin. Lastly, the fighting Mexicans still entertain the Chinese idea that the Yankées are “outside barbarians,” ond that if they once get in they will gobble up their movables faster than the French, and settle down to stay. Js itnot absurd to suppose that Mr. Seward, even by writing day and night, can write bla way ont of this imbroglio? . Cougress ought to take the maticr in hand and declare, first, that Mexico is a sepublic, and that Juarez, if still alive, is President thereof; second, that Maximilian and the French must vacate the premises and leave no agents in occupation behind them; third, that General Sherman or Sheridan, with an escort of twenty-five thousand men for Minister Campbell. shall move as soon as practicable from Matamoros for the city of Mexico, to make there a new treaty of friendship and commerce with the Mexican republie. Why not, as to this com plexion this Mexican entanglement mnet come at last? —enceentinemenaym sean Mr. Spanptno’s Resovurtion—A Fare Puever.— On motion of Mr. Spalding, of Ohio, republi- can, the federal House of Representatives has adopted a resolution instructing the Committee on Reconstruction to inquire into the expedl- ency of declaring it to be the purpose of Coa- gress to admit Senators and Representatives from the excluded States respectively upon the basis of their adoption of the pending consti- tutional amendment, It is to be hoped that some such resolution will be passed, In order to spike the guns of those implacable Southern rebel politicians who are now making effective use of the plea that if tho unreorganized States adopt the amendment it will avail them noth. ing, but that they will only be subjected thereby to other and hagher conditions. Let Congress definitively make the amendment the basis of restoration, with the alternative in the background of a territorial reconstruction, and we guess that the saving virtnes of the emend- ment will soon be accepted even by the Legie- lature of Texas, which lately rejected this overture as an insult to the dignity and sove- reignty of the State. Tas Couwrey Parsrs snp ran Amoguatss -