The New York Herald Newspaper, February 11, 1867, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERAL D. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR OFFICE N, W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS, THE DAILY HERALD, published every day im the year, Foorcents per copy. Annual subscription price, G14. JOB PRINTING of every description, also Stereotyp- tng and Kngraving, neatly and promptly executed at the Lowest rates. malene XXX AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway, near Broome street. —ALavpiN, THE WONDERFUL SCAMP—CINDERELLA, NEW YORK THEATRE, Broadway, opposite New York Hotel. —Tae Ticext or Leave Man. THRATRE FRANCAIS, Fourtesnth streat. near Sixth avenue.—Iratian OrerA—La Traviata. QERMAN OPERA, Olympic Theatre, Broadway.—Meeey Wives or Wuxpsor. STRINWAY HALL, East Fourteenth street.—Prase axp Sxveaini's Morning Concert at 3 o'OLocK. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Brooklyn.—Tanta Mowpay Porv wan Concert. DODWORTH'S HALL, 806 Breadway.—Prorasson Hants wit Pearoum His Minactss—Tur Heap uf tas Aim— ‘Tum Inotan Basket Trick—Paorkus, BAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS. 585 Broatway, opposite the Metropolitan Hotel—In rasta Eraoriay ENTERraty- eames, ee Daxcixe ano Bunumsquas.—Tuz Ocean aca Cus. KELLY & LEON'S MINSTRELS, 720 Broadway, oppo- Site the New York Hotel.—Ix taxi Soxas, Daxons, Ecc EN- ‘raiorrivs, BURLESQUES, &C.—! Prima Donxas—cin- pen-Leon—MapacascaR Batat TRovr. FirTil AVENUE OPERA HOUSE, Nos. 2 and 4 West Twenty-fourth street.—Guirrit & Cubiery’s MINSTRELS. Erniorian MINSTRELSY, BALLADS, BURLESquEs, &c.. Berous tax Brows oF Day. ust TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Comrc Vouauism—Neoro Munstretsy, Batcet Divertisemnr, 4c.—Suan Mac Cuttom, tue Inisn Rerccee. ca Hall, 472" Broad Wanery or Licut UGHABLE ENTERTAINMENTS, Corrs’ Dk BALLET, &c. ae Stace Brevce CaamBermarD, MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— Maxeten Lire—Tae Ocean Yaout Rack—Antrun Dovorr. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn.—Erniorian Min- freeisy, BaLtaps aND BURLEsques.—A Huxrig Trip Anoonn tar Wort. THE BUNYAN TABLEAUX, Union Hall, corner of ‘Twenty-third street and Broadway.—Movinc Mimrog oF Pivanin's Progress—Sixry MaGniricunt Scexes. COOPER INSTITUTE. Eighth street.—Dr. Heasann's Incosateo Lecrures on Heatra to Lapixs, at 2 o'CLoce. HXEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY. 618 Rroadway.— a La 7rnomt— Tae WaAsuincron AepRAL Hisrosy, SCvENOR AND ART. from 8 4. M. we. “ es 8 NEW ART ROOMS, 85 Broadway.—Graxp or Paiwrings.—Rosa' Boruxun's Howse Fate, New York, Monday, February 11, 1867. THE NEW s. EUROPE. The Atlantic cable news report of yesterday has not Yeached us. By mail we have interesting details of the cable de- Spatches to the 24th of January. The letter of our spe- Cial correspondent in St. Peteraburg on the subject of the Eastern question, and the present policy of Russia towards the Porte and the neighboring Christian great Powera contains matter of very considerable impor- tance MISCELLANEOUS. Our Panama correspondence is dated February 1, Mr. Bertoa, the American Minister at Colombia, was ex- pected on the Isthmus with his baggage, the breach Ddetween President Mosquera and himself having be- ome more irreconcilable, Mosquera was to be placed a trial before the Congress, which was to assemble on the Ist inst., but he had said it should not assemble. A story was in circulation that the capitalist of the canal surveying party had been victimized by Mr. Gorgoza, the geatioman whose discovery was to h: been tested. ‘The project has for the present fallen through, snd it is believed that no canal route will be surveyed on the ‘Isthmus unless the government takes the matter com- pletely in hand. Dr. William B. Little, American consul at Panama, died on the 29th ult., of yellow fever. This iseaso was raging on the United States steamer James- town, at that port, and the deaths average one or two per diem. Panama was full of pestilence, and the yel- low fever was epidemic on the Isthmus. The Central American dates are two weeks later. Generat Lawrence, Minister Plenipotentiary from our government, had arrived at Costa Rica’ The contract for the construction of an interoceanic railway had been ratified by the Costa Rican Congress with cettain New York capitalists. The revolution in Nicaragua had died out. Don Fernando Guzman had been declared Presi- dent elect for four years, The cholera had appeared at Grenada and Rivas, but was disappearing elsewhere. A bunared United States troops are said to have died of 4. The cotton crop is a failure. Our Lima (Peru) letter is dated January 22. The American steamer, Joseph Clark, was in port with yel- tow fever on board, The poll tax was being rigidly en- forced in order to raiso funds for the government, and General Prado, the President, was becoming decidedly unpopular on account of it. Colonel Bolta bad received Permission to come to the United States, but it is be- lieved that he would put himself at the bead of a ravo- lation against Prado, assisted by General Castillo, A decree had been issued regarding the establishment of an agency for charvering ships, An early movement of the allied fleet was expected. A body of Mendoza revo. Jationists were marching on San Juan. An exploration through tho Mayro, Pachira and Ucayoli rivers to the Amazon had shown that river communication with the Atiantic Ocean was feasible. Considerable trouble was experienced with hostile Indians by the exploring party. Our Darango, Mexico, correspondence is dated January 12. The intelligence regarding the march on San Luis Potosi is confirmatory of despatches received somo days ago. Mejia was at Dolores, having determined to im- itate the oxample of Lozada and remain neutral. Ho had fifteen hundred men, with whom be intended to hold the mountain fastnesses about Queretaro. The cholera ‘was prevailing in Eastern Durango, being on the steady march westward. Large numbers of French and Austrian deserters were serving in the republican ranks, and many Mexican imperial oficera were applying for employ mont in the same place, but were not received. Our Havana correspondence is dated Fobruay 1. The Harriet Lane and Pelican were nearly ready tor sea. ‘Tho United States steamer Memphis was in port, and the Spanish monitor Tetuan was coating. The smailpox at Mazatian had considerably abated. The pecuniary stringency fs so great in Pitt county, N. C., that the people recently compelled the sheriff to burn up all bis writs and executions returnable at court, Tofusing to be ejected from their homes and being ana- ble to pay. Destitution is evident all over the State, The Legislature yegterday passed a relief bill postpon- ing the payment of debts for twelve months, The Mogroes wore greatly troubled by the exploits of a band Of regulators, who had made oath to dispossess every hogro in the State of his property, and with that end in ‘view wore stealing their horses, The Rev. N. L. Rice preached on the subject of “The Theatre” before the Young Men's Christian Association ; Rev. Dr. Dowling delivered a sermon on “The Expulsion of Protestant Worship’ from Rome at hhis church in Bedford street, and the Rev. Day K. Lee delivered @ lecture on ‘The Serious and Comic in Life.” Arrangements have been made for the establishment of another line of steamships between this country and Europe. Solomon Johoson, # colored man, formerly President Lineota’s barber, has been appointed a first class clerk io the Treasury Department at Washington, with 9 desk in the Secretary's office. Important changes will probably be made in the In. ternal Tax bill by the committee which has it under consideration, by which the necessaries of life will be exompted from taxation, and manufactured articles. also on the raw material of which the tax has been already paid, More stringent penalties will be axed to viola- tions of the law in the distillation of whiskey. A Congressional Temperance Society was organized at ‘Washington among members of both houses yosterday, ‘with Mr, Wilson, of Massachasotts, as President. ‘The Excise law was vigorously enforced yesterday in this city and Brooklyn. Only a few dealers wore ar- Faigned Lofore the courts in the morning, and sixty-four Atreats for violation of the law were made during the NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY LIL, 1867. jay, the largest percentage being among the retarning seekers after boverages in Jersey and Westchester, ‘The ship Dashing Wave, trom “an Franetsco, struck on Barnegat shoals yesterday, and being got afloat again, sumk fuside Sandy Hook. No lives were lost, An English ship is reported ashore near the West Bank. Two trains came in collision on the Hudson River Railroad yesterday at Tubby Hook. Both engines were damaged, and several cars were thrown from the track. No persons were injured. ‘Two or threee trains ran off the track owing to the slippery condition the rails, The late heavy fall of rain bas caused a freshet of con- siderable size in some of the Northeastern States. In Connecticut several of the rivers ran outside their banks. Dams and mills were destroyed and ratiroad communica- tion was seriously interrupted. The damage to property in the vicinity of Norwich is estimated at $160,000, In Rhode Island the flood surpassed any that had occurred there in thirty years, The railroad bridgo at Woonsocket was partially swept away, aud the damage in the State, asfaras heard from, foots up $200,000. Old Bridge, over Lehigh river at Allentown, Pa, was also carried away. Statistics of wages paid to farm laborers throughout the Union, published by the Bureau of Agriculture on reliable data, show that the average rate of white labor im the North is fifteen dollars and fifty cents per month with board, and the average for freedmen’s labor in the South also with board for the same time, is nine dollars ‘and fifty cents. The Halt on if at—Gencral Banks and His Flag of Truce. Five hundred thousand Union soldiers of the war, we are informed by the “Peeping Tom” of a copperhead journal, have been organized as a benevolent society to back up Congress, if necessary, in the impeachment and removal of President Johnson. This halfa million of “boys in blue” is doubtless designed as an offset to the round million in gray promised by Captain General James Brooks in support of the Executive. From present appearances, however, there will be no occasion for the services of these warlike legions on either side. While the House chairman on the Judi- ciary is at work upon his impeachment inves- tigation the chairman on Foreign Affairs, Gen- eral Banks—who ought to know—is satisfied that Mr. Johnson begins to see the error of his ways; that his backbone, like that of the rebellion, is broken, or is beginning to break; that he is ready to meet Congress more than half-way; that a satisfactory capitulation can be secured before the 4th of March, and that, accordingly, that last cruel resort of impeach- ment may be indefinitely postponed. Allah mashallah! God be praised! In this view the compromise proposed by General Banks is offered and it really involves the conditions of a complete surrender. His bill, avoiding the technical difficulty that the rebel States, beaten in the battle field, are in the condition of Territories wrested from a foreign Power, and starting with the State of Louisiana, simply assumes that its present local government, not having been recognized by Congress, is illegal and calls for reconstruc- tion. He next proposes a special commission of three members, one to be appointed by the Senate, one by the House and one by the-Secretary of War; that this commission shall proceed to Louisiana and get up a registry of voters, including whites and blacks ‘heretofore admitted as voters, or who have served in the Union army or navy, and all other loyal men, of all colors, who can read and write, or who own property to the amount of one hundred dollars ; but excluding from the suffrage all those classes of rebels excluded by the pending constitutional amend- ment. Next upon this registry of voters and the iron-clad oath of loyalty a convention is to be elected, which is to reorganize the State, and then, with the election of a Legislature and with the ratification by it of the great amendment, the State, with the approval of Congress, shall be fully restored to her.consti- tutional relations and rights in the general government. Such is the plan of General Banks, and, if proposed by authority from the White House, it does involve the surrender at last of the President to Congress. The plan which he lately submitted, with the advice and consent of his Southern Governors, proposed that sort of impartial suffrage, on a reading and writing and property qualification, which would ex- clude nearly all the blacks and most of the “poor whites,” and further proposed to re- move all restrictions against rebels, great and small,so that they would reign again more powerful than ever, from Virginia to Texas, yea, from Bull Run to- Brownsville. Now, it would appear that Mr. Johnson falls in with the restrictions of the amendment against lead- ing rebels ; that he gives up his Southern Gov- ernors and sends them adrift, hangs out the white flag of submission, and is ready to turn over this whole business into the hands of Congress, We read all this in a free transla- tion of the speech and plan of General Banks in behalf of a treaty of peace. Rarey, the tamer of fractions horses and mules, has evi- dently revived, and, disguised as General Banks, has been with “the man at the other end of the avenue,” Ashley meantime holding the sword of impeachment over his head as by a <" hair. “Well, well,” as the old farmer said to the boy in the apple tree, if “Andy Johnson” has at last agreed to come down we can cheer- fully forgive him. He might have done better by coming down earlier, but the good book. tells us that even the eleventh hour man got his penny. Moreover, after playing the réle of an Emperor in pulling down and setting up States and Governors, and in punishing his enemies and in receiving and rewarding his worshippers, Mr. Johnson shrinks from the idea of exchanging the White House and its glorious excitements for the solitary confine- ment of his cottage among the mountains of East Tennessee. “Old Dick Johnson,” who had seen the troubles of Jackson, said that the Presidency was not a thing to be sought, bat it was not to be devlined. John Tyler in the White House was “the happy man,” and he had reason to be; poor Pierce in “the old barn ” was troubled with the summer draw- back of fever and ague; but still he wanted another term. “Old Buck ” set down the estab- lishment as an almshouse where broken down Politicians swarmed for the spoils, and asa public hotel where the traveller had nothing to pay; but etill “old Buck” left it with many sighs, groans and lamentations. Even “Honest Old Abe,” who cared nothing for its silks and satins, belles and butterflies, “foss and feathers,” finery and flummery, cheerfully accepted his election for another term. And Row, since it has been furnished and frescoed more splendidly even than under Van Buren, flow can Mr. Johnson be expected to- give up the White House for bis policy, when his policy, like one of the Hon. Ben Wood’s lotteries, is played out? The first lesson of a Tétinessee politician, since the time of old Felix Grandy, has been—remember the dog who lost his beef by grasping at the shadow. “Andy Johnson” learned jt at the foot of old Felix, We are promised by General Banks the sur- render of Sebastopol, Seward and all, withio the next two or three days, Considering the fears of the Chase men, Butler men, Stevens men, Sumner and Wade men, that with the removal of Johnson it will be impossible to keep out General Grant, the chances are in favor of the flag of truce of General Banks. If Johnson is as wise as Napoleon he will promise the most liberal concessions in order to work out his main designs and to recover his ground as master of the situation. But if his ideas are not Napoleonic he may still escape by adhering to the solid instructions of stout old Felix Grundy, “never give up some- thing for nothing, but remember the dog and the shadow.” The Grant-Parker Scheme for Our indians. Our Indian affairs are fast becoming an im- portant feature in our national legislative policy, and very properly so. Those untamed nomads of the Western plains are a part of the national population, occupy territory which belongs to the United States and live beneath the shelter of the same flag that waves over Faneuil Hall. We should be false to our creed of progressive civilization, in contradic- tion with our declared determination to extend justice and equal rights to all, and act a strangely inconsistent part were we to make no proper and humane effort to lift the red man from out his barbarism and show him how hu- manity can be subdued, softened and made happy. He has never had a chance to absorb the influences which bring forth the lustrous fruits of human happiness. Constantly driven westward, heartsick and sorrowful, from the hunting grounds and graves of his fathers; constantly isolated from everything that could redeem him, ever in the silent forest or path- less prairie, with no other promptings than those of his wounded feelings, is it any wonder that he remains a savage and nurses his wrath, as Burns has it, “to keep it warm?” We are a great, civilized and Christian people, and that Providence which gave us dominion over this teeming country and placed the Indian in our keeping, will hold us accountable for the manner in which we discharge our stewardship. Our management hitherto has been abomina- ble. We were contented with providing a few square miles for each transplanted tribe, fur- nishing them annually with allowances of cloth, arms, implements and money, and there we left them to the mercies, which were ruthless, of Indian agents. It is time such a system were changed. There has been submitted to the Senate a plan, proposed by Colonel Parker, of General Grant’s staff, and probably improved upon by the General, upon which a bill has been framed by Mr. Wilson, containing these four proposi- tions :—Transter of Indian affairs to the War Department; establishment of Territorial gov- ernments for the Indians; appointment of a board to inspect accounts of Indian agents, &c.; and, lastly, a commission of whites and educated Indians to visit all the tribes, hold talks with them, show them “the benefits of peace, &c. The Américan’ government, say the projectors of the plan, “can never adopt the policy of a total extermination of the In- dian race within her limite, numbering, per- haps, not less than four hundred thousand, without a cost of untold treasure and the lives of her people, besides exposing herself to the abhorrence and censure of the entire civilized world.” Every right-minded person will endorse this humane sentiment ; but it reveals the startling and horrible truth that the total extermination of the Indian race has been seriously contem- plated by some. Now, to speak in detail of the proposed plan, matured, as we suppose, by General Grant, a man of good, practical com- mon sense, we would say of the first proposi- tion that it is an excellent retorm; that the second contains the germ of something emi- nently beneficial; that the third is useful in its way, but that the fourth is altogether use- less. Without details ot the second proposi- tion relative to Territorial governments we cannot say more of it than that it appears to be the most important of all four. We must begin the civilization of the Indian by prac- tical lessons in government and industry, not by sending persons to talk to him. The Canadian Indian is never troublesome. He is in the midst of civilizing influences. The red man of our prairies is as fur removed as possible from all such. The Canadian Indian has some ideas of his relations to the society around bim. He is a very creditable citizen. He has gradually absorbed industrial ideas, and he is notthe nomad his fathers were. Above all, he has been Christianized, through the efforts of French Catholic missionaries, aided more than is generally supposed by the irresistible facts that he was permitted to live in the midst of the white race, and tat he had the example of the civilized, industrious and Christian white man constantly before him. We in the United States adopted the opposite system and drove the red man away irom civilization and away from all chance of becoming better by intimate contact with us; and then, wondering that he remains in the state of nature in which he has ever been, we conclude he is an in- corrigible, unreliable and treacherous savage, and nine-tenths of us exclaim with Kit Carson, “The Indian must be exterminated !” In conclusion, we would say, give the Grant- Parker scheme a trial; but if that be not adopted, wipe out the present system altogether and give the Indians settlements here and there within the borders of civiliza- tion east of the Mississippi. Scatter the four hundred thousand aborigines in villages on government lands among millions of whites, and-we shall have no more Indian wars, no more wasteful expenditures of lives and trea- sure, no more dangers to deter settlers from our virgin Territories, and no more risk of the fearful responsibility and indelible stain upon our name asa Christian people by the exter- mination of so many weak and helpless fellow creatures, The news which we publish to-day from our correspondent at Durango, the present seat of the Juares government, looks toward 9 pos sible clearing up of the mist and confusion which have so long enshroaded Mexican affairs. There is at least a probability that an armed issue will be soon reached, which may put us upon a defined track by which to follow the course of Mexican affairs intelligently, which we have not been able to do for a long time past. A battle seems to be decided on at Queretaro—a city lying northwost of the capi- tal—between the imperialists and the republi- can forces, which, whether decided in favor of either party, will give us some point to start from in our interesting but somewhat clouded study of the Mexican melée. Juarez has ordered Escobedo to march from San Luis Potosi with his troops upon the city of Queretaro. Another liberal chief has received similar orders to march to the same point from Zacatecas, and another from Guadalajara, on the west, to the same objective point. Juarez, meantime, is to follow southward from Durango, and concen- trate four corps d’armée at Queretaro. In all probability he will have a force of from fifteen to twenty thousand men there in a very short time, which will be sufficient, if properly handled, to compete with the six or seven thousand imperialists with whom Mejia and Miramon are moving up from the city of Mexico. It is thus evident that a stubborn battle is contemplated at this mountain strong- hold, which will decide the fate of the capital and may impart an entirely new aspect to the confused state of affairs in Mexico. Tho State Constitutional Convention. The Legislature of this State is required at its present session to proyide by law forthe election of delegates to the convention to revise and amend the constitution. Two bills have been introduced tor this purpose—one in the Senate by Mr. Folger, and one in the Assembly by Mr. Hiscock. They are similar in their provisions, except that the former extends the privilege of voting to all male citizens of the required age, while the latter retains the property qualifica- tion for persons of color. The principle of allowing all citizens a voice in the choice of delegates to a convention to alter or athend the organic law is established in this State, as well as in others, and in this respect the Senate bill is preferable to that of the Assembly. Both limit the number of delegates to one hundred and twenty-eight, rejecting Governor Fenton’s proposition to elect thirty-two additional dele- gates on a generalticket. The election is fixed for the 23d of April,and the convention is to meet on the first Tuesday of June next. The proposition of Governor Fenton met very general approval, as it was believed to be calculated to secure the return of the best men of both political parties to the convention, independent of office seekers, wire workers and local politicians. The importance of the work to be done cannot be overestimated. The experience of the past twenty years has proved the wisdom of allowing none but men of sound, practical sense, comprehensive intelligence, integrity and independence to meddle with the organic law. The constitu- tion of the State should not be committed to the hands of tinkers or jobbers. The interests it embraces are too vast to be sucrificed to ineompetency or narrow-minded partisanship. Any provision should be embodied in the law that is calculated to raise the standard of character and ability in the convention, The Constitutional. Convention of 1846. met on June 1 and adjourned on October 9, during which time it was in- actual session oné hun- dred and ten days, It numbered among its mémbers some able men., . William C. | Bouck, of Schoharie, was elected Governor of the State in 1842, and had previously filled the offices of Assemblyman, State Senator and Canal Commissioner. Churchill -C. Cambrel- ing, of Suffolk, was Representative in Con- gress from the Second and Third Congressional districts for nine successive terms, from 1821 to 1839. Michael Hoffman, of Herkimer, had enjoyed eight years’ experience in Congress. James Talmadge, of Dutchess, and Blijah Spencer, of Yates, had served both in the State Legislature and Congeess. Stephen Allen, of New York, and Calvin T. Chamberlain, of Alle- gany, had filled the offices of Assemblyman and State Senator. Among the prominent mem- bers of the convention were Ansel Bascom, Robert Campbell, Levi S. Chatfield, James M. Cook, Richard- P. Marvin, of Chautauqua; Arphaxed Loomis, Gouverneur Kemble, Am- brose L. Jordan, David R. Floyd Jones, Ira Harris, Hiram Gardner, James C. Forsyth, David Munro, of Onondaga; Henry C. Murphy, George W. Patterson, of Chautauqua; Jobn K. Porter, Elijah Rhoades, Charles P. Kirkland, D. B. St. Jobn, Lemuel Stetson, Charles H. Rug- gles, Horatio J. Stow, Moses Taggart and Aaron Ward. The New York representatives were Stephen Allen, William S. Conely, Benjamin F. Cornell, John H. Hunt, David R. Floyd Jones, John A. Kennedy, George S. Mann, Robert H. Morris, Henry Nicoll, Charles O’Conor, Lo- renzo B. Shepard, John L. Stephena, Samuel J. Tilden, Solomon Townsend, Alexander F. Vache and Campbell P. White. These names sound very unlike a New York delegation of the present day. The convention was pre- sided over by John Tracy, of Chenango, who had gained his legislative experience as Lieu- tenant Governor of the State and presiding officer of the Senate. There was in the convention a distinguished array of practical ability on the important subjects of the judiciary, the finances, banking, currency and canals, Some grave errors were, however, made, as time has shown; especially in respect to the principle of an elective judiciary. A large number of plans of a judicial system were placed before the convention, some originating with members and others with outside parties. The com- mittee on the judiciary and the appointment or election of judicial officers and their tenure of office and compensation was composed of Messrs. Ruggles, O’Conor, Kirkland, Brown, Jordan, Loomis, Worden, Bascom, Simmons, Patterson, Hart, Stephens and Sears. Four reports were made to the convention from this committee, by Messrs. Ruggles, O’Conor, Kirkland and Bascom, respectively. While there was a general disposition in the conven- tion to.favor the popular idea of giving as much power as possible to the people, opinion was much distracted on the question of an elective judiciary. Charles O’Conor de- nounced the new judicial system as certain to prove « signal failure. Charles P. Kirkland miade a vigorous opposition to the election of judges, and proposed as a compromise that they should be in part elected, in part ap- pointed by the Governor and Senate and in part chosen by joint ballot of Senate and Assembly, Charles O’Conor voted against the new constitution in consequence of the judicial provisions, as also did Judge Stow and Messrs, Huntington, Spencer, Tallmadge and White, . Experience has proved that thesé delegates were correct in their judgment. New York, {n following the example of Mississippi, has in some instances fowered the character of her Judiciary to the level of the grogshop politi- cians of the municipal rings, The reform most loudly demanded of the approaching convention is that the present judicial system shall be swept away and the judges appointed for life, removable only for cause. Such of the judges now in office as are found to be capable and upright should be contin- ued, By this means alone can the judiciary be purified and rendered independent of the influence of politics. A fearless and independ- ent judiciary is the only real security against lawlessness and crime. There are other provisions in the present Constitution which the convention will be called upon to revise and amend. The sala- ries of our public officers should all be raised from the present beggarly allowance to a respectable amount. From the Governor down they are paid now less than a competent clerk or bookkeeper receives in any responsi- ble house in this city. The fact is a disgrace to the State. The members of the State Legis- lature should in like manner be paid a decent annual galary, and not be driven to the neces- sity of selling their votes to pay their board bills, washerwomen and bootblacks. The legislative term of one hundred days should be abolished, and biennial sessions held, The members would then do the public business as promptly as possible and adjourn, and we should escape an annual dose of unnecessary and harmful legislative tinkering. The convention will be called upon in the absence of legislative action to lay down a good system of municipal government for New York, and to save the city from grogshop rule and from an inefficient multitude of expensive and irresponsible commissioners. This could be done by providing for the election by the people of a council of mayors, consisting of three, one of whom shall go out of office each year, giving to this council the power to ap- point and remove every head of every sub- ordinate department of the city government ; abolishing the Board of Supervisors, and leaving the Common Council only legislative power and the right of investigation. The convention should also provide in the new constitution for the speedy and certain investigation of cases of official corruption and misconduct, and for the swift removal of all unfaithfal officeholders; so that charges of malfeasance and investigations into the offences of officials shall no longer be useless and farcical. In fact, the convention will have plenty of important work upon its hands, and the people should elect none but their ablest and purest men as delegates. The Italian Opera To-Night. We understand that the commencement of a season of Italian opera at the French theatre to-night, with the new company and the new and grand prima donna, Giuditta Altieri, has created a great sensation both in fashionable and musical circles. When almost every one had begun to despair of see- ing Italian opera again for some time, as wo used to.see it in former times, it has suddenly | of, this ia.found. in the arrival among: us of the truly’ great artiste we have mentioned. Naturally, too, she has had the power of at- tracting to the management the firat talent to be found in the country. . The critics, singers and musicians, especially, are in a state of ex- citement, Those who have heard the rehearsals are delighted, while among others there is a great deal of rivalry and jealousy. The old wornout. singers and performers, many of whom have been living upon a false reputa- tion, because really we have not had such a star as Altieri to throw them in the shade, are afraid of being eclipsed. Altogether this new Italian opera promises to afford a refreshing excitement as well as a delightful entertain- ment at this dull season of the year. The selection of the popular opera of Traviata, with Altieri in her surpassing réle of Violetta, for the opening night, shows the good sense of the management. To hear it there will be, doubtless, a brilliant and fashionable audience The Admiasion of Nebraska. President Johnson’s veto of the Nebraska ad- mission bill has shared the fate of many of its predecessors. The bill having been duly carried over the veto by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, the President has no choice but to issue his proclamation formally admitting Nebraska as a State of the Union. The third section of the bill provides that the measure “shall not take effect except. upon thé fundamental condition that within the State of Nebraska there shall be no denial of the elec- tive franchise nor of any other right to any person by reason of race or color, excepting Indians not taxed; and upon the further funda- mental condition that the Legislature ot said State, by a solemn public act, shall declare the assent ofsaid State to the said fundamental condition and shall transmit to the President of the United States an authentic copy of said act, upon the receipt whereof the President, by proclamation, shall forthwith announce the fact ; whereupon such fundamental condition shall be held as a part of the organic law of the State, and thereupon and without further proceedings on the part of Congress the ad- mision of said State into tlie’ Union shall be considered as complete.” The admission of Nebraska will make the number of States composing the entire Union thirty-seven, and will increase the number of States now actually in the government of the Union to twenty-seven. Eighteen of these twenty-seven States have already ratified the constitutional amendment. It requires to be ratified by but three more to make it the su- preme law of the land, and to which the States out as well as in the government will have to submit. The addition of Nebraska to the States already in the government of the Union does not substantially alter the con- dition of affairs. The number of States, as we have said, now in the government is twen- ty-six. Three-fourths of that number is twenty. By the admission of Nebraska the number of States in the government will be twenty-seven, of which three-fourths is tweity-. ‘one. Three States, therefore, are still requi- site,’ as before, to make the constitutional amendment the law of the United States, In 80 far, however, as the struggle between the President and Congress is concetned, one very important point has been gained—a point of sufficient importance to explain the opposi- tion of the President on the one hand and the determination of Congress on the other— the new State of Nebraska, it is certain, will secure to the radicals two additional votes in the Senate and ofe additional vote inthe House of Representatives. a High Art in the Provinces. When it was announced that Ristori waa coming to this country it was predicted by our theatrical: managers that her visit would be a failure. After a few nights in the me. tropolis they said people would tire of tisten- ing to performances carried on in a language foreign to them. As to her chances in the provincial cities, they ridiculed the very idea. Now, how have these anticipations been borne out? In the three months during which this great actress performed in New York and Brooklyn she cleared, for her share of the receipts, over one hundred thousand dollars. Never in alt her experience bad she seen such crowds assembled to do her honor. At the Brooklyn Academy, one of our suburban places of amusement, the amount taken at the doors on a single night exceeded the highest she had ever received in any of the great European cities. But there was something more gratify- ing to her than even this, in the circumstances attending her New York season. The close of her performances eo far from betraying any diminution of interest, exhibited, on the con- trary, a marked increase of it. She could have remained here a couple of months longer, if her engagements had permitted of it, without impairing at all the pecuniary results that had thus far attended her enterprise. Extraordinary as these were they have been cast into the shade by her successes out West. There, where it was said there were not audi- ences sufficiently cultivated to appreciate hee genius, she has been received with even atill greater enthusiasm. In Detroit, where she played on the 11th and 12th of last month, a liberal subscription was made by the citizens to enable their local manager to carry out hia arrangements with her, and for reserved seata five dollars was cheerfully paid. In Cincinnati she gave five performances to houses closely packed. In Chicago, where she opened on the 22d, she gave four performances and a matinée. For these the receipts amounted to the enor- mous sum of twenty thousand seven hundred dollars, or about four thousand two hundred dollars for each performance. Never in the scenes of her greatest triumphs had she suc- ceeded in drawing consecutively such houses. At St. Louis, where she opened on the 28th, the receipts would have been as large if the size of the theatre had admitted of it. On each occasion crowds of people were sent away disappointed. In Memphis similay enthasiasm was manifested in her regard, and she is now on, her way to New Orleans, where her last per formances in this country will be given. As soon as she closes her engagement there, ehe leaves for Paris, where she is announced to appear during the International Exhibition. We have thus briefly recapitulated the facts of this lady’s provincial tour in order to show how ready our people are to appreciate every- thing that is really‘ artistically good and high toned. Only charlatans have cause to com- plain of their indifference. “The people “bave ‘been’ 6o imposed upon by ‘theatrical and operatic humbugs that they have learned to distrust everything in either’ line that does not « bear the genuine stamp. ‘Hence it was that” the amusement caterers who had used up the, provincial market predicted a failure for Ristori. They had formed such a low estimate of the taste of their audiences that they judged of her prospects by their own. They have had. their eyes opened. They now see that in future they will have to give to the so much despised “provincials” entertainments of as high an order as any that are presented on the metropolitan boards, The effect of all this on the intellectual progress of our people can- not be sufficiently appreciated. We shall havo to thank in a measure for it the great artist who felt such confidence in their intelligence and quickness as to hazard her reputation among us, notwithstanding the discouraging assurances she had received as to her prospects. France in a New Position. The new position in which France has been placed by the results of the recent European war and by the very recent reforms inaugu- rated by Napoleon ILL presents her before the world in a waiting attitude. France stands with her sword still sheathed, but with her hand on the hilt, The Emperor bides his time, but likewise prepares, by even ex- traordinary measures, for all eventualities. In his etter to the Minister of State, Napoleon says that “to govern is to profit by the experience which has beea acquired and to foresee the wants of the fu- ture.” Knowing well how to govern, he listens to the lessons of the past dnd fixes his eye on the future—a near as well a8 a distant future— while apparently fulfilling his old promise that he would one day crown with 1 the edi- fice erected by the national will. The substi- tution of “the privilege of putting questions to the government” for “the sterile discussions” occasioned by the debate on the address of the Emperor will prevent inconvenient assaults upon his unlucky German and Mexican poli- cy--aseaults that might aggravate irritation and humiliation on account of the loss of na- tional preatige abroad. The concessions of the Emperor, extending (within certain limits “de- mande@ hy public safety,” and as far as is consistent with the a hag intrusted to him by the nation) the privileges of the press, the right of meeting and other “ public liberties,” are probably more serious and important than they might at first seem to an American or an Englishman. To the Frenchman they may prove sufficient to awaken him from the lethargy into which he has fallen under former restrictions. With a new sense of enlarged freedom he will be the more susceptible to the appeal which ; will doubtless be made before the close of this | véry year to the national sentiment of the French: Bismarck rallied around him in: the late German war the most violent of bis radical opponents in Prussia, Why may not Napoleon do the same with his own in France? French- men of every party are all impatient of seeing their mother country descend to a subordinate rank in the scale of nations. They are all jealous of » German empire of millions which Prussia perhaps aspires to blish on their borders. They will all agree that for France no less than for Prussia the treaties of 1815 were annulled by the recent war. The claims presented by Napoleon to the Prussian government shortly after the war ended have, never been formally withdrawn, No doupt they will be reasserted with force so goon as the World’s+Fair at Paris shall have ter. minated and the French army and navy shail have been completely reorganized. At sent, indeed, the Parisian prose, accordii tho extracts translated and pulytished ia Wedneas cn, Colt ee ta'| ee ee r le