The New York Herald Newspaper, December 20, 1867, Page 4

BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Heratp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications wil! no! be re turned. THE DAILY HERALD, pubiisted every day in the year. Four cents per copy, Annual subscription price $14, THE WEEKLY HERALD, every Saturday, at Five Currs per copy, Anoval subscription price:— ‘Three Copies Five Copies... Ten Copies... : Any larger number addressed to names of subscribers $1.50 each. An extra copy will be sent to every club of ten, Twenty copies to one address, one year, $25, andany larger number at same price, An extra copy will be sent to clubs of twenty. These rates make the Wrextr Heraup the cheapest publication in the country. Volume X XML... cece cceeeeesereeeeee No. 354 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Brace Croox. NEW YORK THEATRE, opposite New York Hotcl.= ‘Unper tHe Gasticut. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—A Mipsummen Pras 's Dream. GERMAN STADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.— Fiorre Burscus—Freunn Scuuirs, £0. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and 13th street. — ‘Tax Bevie’s SteatacEn. BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway.—Dora. BOWERY THEATR: Bowery.—Heant or tux Great Cirr—Taming or tux 8: ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street.—Tue Granp UCMESS. STEINWAY HALL.—Cu. Diceess’ Reapixas, NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street.—Grunastics, Eqursrrianism, &c. FIFTH, ENUE THEATRE. Nos. 2 and 4 West 24th street.—Yu Graxn Quaxy Buss. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Watrs; Corrox & Suanrier's Muvsteecs, KELLY & LEON’S MINSTRELS, 730 Broadway,—Soxas, Dances, Eocantaicitizs, Boriusques, &c. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 5% Broadway.—Eraio- riax Ewrertainmants, Singing, Dancing aNd BURLESQUES. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Comic Vocatisu, Necro Mixstracsr, &c. BUTLER'S AMERICAN THEATRE, 472 Broadway.— Bauisr, Fance, Pantomime, &c. BUNYAN HALL, Broadway and Fiftecath street.—Tux Picomis. DODWORTH HALL, 66 Broadway. —Caricaturs Paint- ines, wire Lxcturs, HOOLEY'S OPERA ‘Murstascer, Baccaps am EB, Brooklyn,—Ernorias e9QUES. any YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway. — ani New York, Friday, December 20, 1867. ————————— THE NWiwW s. EUROPE. ‘The news report by the Atlantic cable is dated yeater- day ovening, December 19. Tt to said that the Fenians in England had « plan for the assault and plunder of all the voluntecr militis armories in the coustry and that the paper has been seized. The Sheriff and town Surveyor of Newcastle-on- ‘Tyne died from the effecta of the nitro-glycerine explo- sien. Another of the persons wounded at Clerkenwell died, The Italian army reserves are being called into active service, Dano-German negotiations of an im- portant character are looked for in January. Consols closed at 923 for money in London. Five. twenties were at 72 in London and 76 13-16 in Frank- fort. The Liverpool cotton market wae quiet, with mid- dling up'ands at 7344, Breadstuffs steady, with market rather dull, Provisions quiet, CONGRESS. Ta the Senate yesterday @ petition from various citi. sens praying for protection to naturalized agd native ‘born Americans In foreign count: licited remarks from Messrs. Conness, Sherman, Johnson, Conkling and Sum- ner, all of whom agreed that some action should be taken to maiatain the dignity of the government, The peti- ton was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. ‘The House dill vo supply deficiencies came up, and an amendment that no member of either house shall be allowed stationery or newspapers was adopted, and the Dill passed. In the House leave was asked to introduce @ concur. Tent resolution of thanks to General Hancock, but ob- Jection was made. The consideration-of the bill in ref. erence to deserters reported on Wednesday was again resumed, aud the bill was recommitted. A call for the correspondence relative to the cession of Russian America was agreed to, The Deficiency Appropriation bill, after some debate, was passed. It appropriates $12,€67,000 to supply deficiencies in recoustraction ex- penses and the Quartermaster’s supplies. After some ‘animportant business the House adjourned uaiil this morning. THE CITY. In the Board of Councilmen yesterday the resolution Aonating $1,000 to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund was finally agreed to. Permission was granted to the Hariem Railroad Company to use dummy engines ‘Detween the passenger and freight stations im the city. Im the Board of Health yesterday the vaccination queation was again discussed. A communication from the atiorney of the Board, relative to the Tenement House ordinances, was read and filed, An address was delivered last evening at Brooklyn Academy of Music by Wendell Phillips on “The Surren- der of Congress.” The attendance was not very large. ‘The coroner's inquest in the (ase of the nine viotims Of the Jate tenement house burning in Second avenue was held yesterday at Bellevue Hospital, It was the opinion of the jury that a German named Maximilian ‘Muller 20 the house on fire, and a verdict was rendered to this effect, and the accused committed to prison with- out bail to anewer the charge. The jury in their ver- dict also charged Charlies Hoffman, the owner of the Duilding, with culpable and crimiual negligence in sot Providing suitable meant of escape, and be was required wgive bail to await the ection of the Grand Jury, ther day, ihe fourth day thus far, wae coomtmed yesterday by Coroser Lynch im imvestigating the facts copnecied with the recent mysterious deaths of Mra Fall and daughter in Brookiyn. An additions! mass of testimony was taken, but no additional light was Shrown upon the subject of the mystery. A party of burglars entered private residence in YWil- Nemeburg on Wednesday night and stole $15,000 in bonds, stocks and Treasury notes, The indications were at they had been very isisurely about their work, emoking numerous cigars and drinking several bottles of wines during their stay in the house, Crispin Cadena, a Cuban negro, who murdered bis wife th September last, was yesterday sentenced to imprison ment for life, ‘The Inman Line steamship City of Boston, Captain Row ‘well, wit! sail from pier 45 North river at n00n to-morrow M@aturday) for Queenstown and Liverpool. The mails for Greet Britain, Ireland and (he Continent will close at the Post Office at half.past ten in tbe moreing. The National Line Steamship Company's steamer Virgnia, Captain Prowse, will leave pier 47 North river ab goon to-merrow (Saturday) for Liverpool, galling at passengers. e » r i. steamship Columbia, Captain Car. ‘Mo, @ North river to-morrow ts Ooh te Livemen 8nd Glasgow, touch. log at . the dae Hal Sy Het! wea, Rt F. M, e-morrow (Satarday) for New Orieans direct, NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1867. ‘weather, aail from pier 20 East river tomorrow yy) afterdoon for New Orleans. = popular steamabip Se Captain M, B. Crowell, of Arthur Leary’s line, will sail at three P, M. to-morrow (Saturday), from pier 14 Kast river, for Charleston, 8. C., connecting at that city with steamer tor the Florida ports and all pointe South and Southwest. ‘The stock market was frm yesterday morning, but afterwards declined. Government securities were strong. Gold was steady and closed at 134, MISCELLANEOUS. Our special telegrams over the Cuba catile contain in- telligence from the various, West India islands. Cabral was marching on Hayti. A General Baez is reported to have been shot by Cabral, but which one of the Baez brothers is unknows, The mi of Montes is further confirmed, the details bein, His brother was captured and chained down to the bed where he was slain, Our dates from Mexico are to the 17th inst. by way of Sisal and the Cuba cable, The British subjects were to be left under the protection of the Mexican govera- ment after the departure of their Minister. It was expected that all the European Legations would with- draw, Several valuable gold mines had been discovered. AD attempt was made at Jalapa to create a revolution in favor of Diaz for President, but It failed. In the Constitutional Convention yesterday resolu- tions were reported from committee favoring the ac- ceptance of a hall in Troy for the holding of sessions and an adjournment on Friday, the 26th inst., to Tues- day, January 14, when the reassembling shall take place in Troy, They were adopted. A resolution to amend the article on corporations so that the Legislature is Prohibited from authorizing a consolidation of railroad companies, whose lines run parallel or are competing lines, was laid on the table. Another favoring the establishment of a home for disabled soldiers and sailors of the State was served the same way. In the consideration of tho Judiciary re- port, amendments classing the Brooklyn city courts with the New York local courts and providing that | no judges sball hold office after reaching the age of seventy years were adopted. Pending further consider- ation of the report the Convention adjourned. In the Virginia Convention yesterday the committee reported adversely to the proposed aullification of debts ineurred in the purchase of sla A resolution re- questing General Schofield to abolish distinction of color on public conveyances was referred. The Georgia Convention have resolved in caucus to support Chase for the Presidency. The Manufacturers’ Convention at Cleveland yester- day appointed a committee to wait upon Congress in the Interest of the Convention, and organized a national association of manufacturers, Eighteen of the bodies burned in the Lake Shore Rail- Toad accident can be recognized, and twenty-three aro considered past recognition. It will possibly require a surgical examination to determine theirsex. A coro- ner’s inquest will be held in Buffalo to-day, The boiler of the steam tug Unit, lying at a dock in Jersey City, yesterday exploded, killing one man in- stantly and seriously injuring three others, A portion of the Paragon Oil Works, on Pen Hom creek, two miles back of Hudson city, N. J., was des- troyed by fire yesterday, occasioned by the explosion of a tank in which a carboy of vitriol had been emptied. ‘Three men were badly burned, and the pecuniary loss on the buildings amounts to $25,000. The New Southern Reconstruction Bill— The Grent Issue Before the Country. In the new Southern Reconstruction bill which has just passed the House of Repre- sentatives, and in the close party division of the House—yeas 104, nays 37—upon the final vote, the intelligent reader may readily per- ceive what will be the. great controlling issue in our approaching Presidential contest. The tinkering of Congress upon bonds, banks and currency signifies nothing. The passage of this new negro Reconstruction bill, on the other hand, is equivalent to a formal procla- mation of the republican platform for the Presidential campaign. And what is this bili? It is simply a bill to facilitate and expedite the reconstruction and restoration in Congress of the ten outside Southern States on the basis of negro supte- macy. Under the Reconstruction laws as they now stand there must be in all these Southern elections a majority voting (both sides counted) of all the voters registered; otherwise the election falls through. It has been demon- strated, however, that under this system there is danger that the opposition party may con- trive to keep a majority of the registered voters from the polls, and thus defeat the object of the election. To avoid this danger this new bill provides that s majority of the votes cast in these elections shell be decisive, though less than one-half or less than one-tenth of the registered voters of the State come to the polls. In the next place, the new bill provides that, instead of waiting till after the adoption of a new State constitution, each of the States concerned may elect members to Congress in the election on the constitution. This bill will doubtless (over the veto) be- come a law; and under its provisions during the present session of Congress we may look for the restoration of the ten excluded rebel States. They will be entitled, altogether, to fifty members of the House, twenty members of the Senate and seveniy electoral votes in the Presidential election. Their admission into the House will admit them into the Presiden- tial contest ; and this is the special object of” the bill—a Southern negro radical electoral balance of power for the Presidential succes sion against a possible Northern opposition majority. We say that under this new bill we expect these ten outside Southern States will be reinstated in Congress during the present session; but whether there will be any negroes among their representatives, or not, it is diffi- cult to conjecture. In any event the restora- tion of these,ten States on the basis of negro supremacy will inevitably become in the North the controlling issue in the Presidential cam- paign. The restoration of the rebel Statos under this programme can only be maintained by o standing army; and with a standing army over the people as a fixed institution in the South, how long will it be before we are blost with the supreme authority of an army over us in the North? In these ten excluded States there was in 1860 a population of some seven million six hundred thousand whites and blacks, of which the whites held a majority of nearly a million over the blacks, But under the peculiar circumstances and antecedents of these two races in the South, if the blacks were in majority of @ million or (wo millions their political supremacy over the white race would be impossible without a standing army. Negro domination, if maintained In any one of those os means a standing army and the removal of the white rage born upon the soil ; but negro domination even in South Carolina, set up through the devices of universal negro suffrage and “shite disfranchisements, will not be tolerajea by the North. Radical fanatics on popular rights, when in oot power, always push their extreme theories to we ae ve The French Jacobins, the Way for Napoleon the empire, and the Baglish Rou who pains and pensltics of @ restoration of fhe monarchy, sre ‘conspicuous among the Samples of the energy and ruinous excesses of radical fanaticism. We bave another example of those radical excesses in these Southern reconstruction laws of Congress, embracing scheme of Southern negro ascend- ancy utterly impracticable without a standing army, and utterly demoralizing and revolu- tionary in ite tendencies if maintained by an army. And this ie to be the great issue of our approaching Presidential struggle. Sball this Souther negro reconstruction policy of Con- gress be ratified or rejected by the people of the United States? The proposition is atrongly suggestive of a political reaction and revolution against the radical excesses of the republican party as decisive as that of 1860, which brought this party into power. England and the United States-The Ala- bama Claime. History, it has been often said, repeats itself. The saying, it is true, does not amount to an absolute truth; but it 1s scarcely the less, on that account, pregnant with suggestive lessons. Pity it is that these lessons have been so often neglected by nations and by individuals. There is one lesson which history has taught and which is likely soon again to recelve fresh illustrations, but which, like so many of the others, has been little heeded—this, namely, that small beginnings oftentimes lead to great and disastrous conclusions. It will not surprise us if the present diff- culty between England and the United States, arising out of the Alabama affair, furnishes some such illustration. The original difficulty between the Greeks and the Persians was 4 small matter, but it led to a protracted struggle—a struggle which resulted in the humiliation of Persia and the building up of the magnificent empire of Alexander. It was so afterwards with Rome and Carthage. A trifling Sicilian difficulty brought the Cartha- ginians and the Romans into collision. The bad passions which this first struggle engen- dered lasted long after the original difficulty was forgotten. The Punic wars occupy & prominent place on tho page of history, and the third Punic war ended only with the destruction of Carthage and the conversion of the then Great Sea into a Roman lake. Great Britain and the United States have sllowed themselves to drift into a position which, to say the least, is ominous of war. The original cause of quarrel, if good sense and reason had been allowed to prevail, might easily have been got over. The stubbornness of England, however, has mightily aggravated the difficulty, and it is now extremely difficult to foresee to what disastrous conclusion this small cause of quarrel may lead. To us the payment of the Alabama claims is a compara- tive trifle. The money is nothing ; the princi- ple is everything. The refussl on the part of Great Britain to pay the Alabama claims may give rise to a struggle which will assume pro- portions unparalleled in the past, which will sink Persian and Punic wars into the shade, and the only result of which can be the triumph of the American flag and the conversion of the broad Atlantic into a grand American lake. We can never regard the recognition of the South by the government of Great Britain in any other light than as an open and wilful vio- lation of the principles of international law and as an insult offered to the great American people. We have not forgotten and will not soon forget the conduct of the British govern- ment or of the British press during our late civil war—a civil war which ended s0 glori- ously for the Union, and which so marvellously revealed our resources and the power of our republican institutions. France is scarcely less culpable than England, but we have already had our revenge in that quarter. We have seen her eat humble pie quite to our satisfac- tion, and there are few who will refuse to admit that she waddled down the hill a little more quickly and @ little less to her own com- fort than she waddled up. It is England’s turn to eat humble pie now, and our advice to her is to avoid a collision with the great republic by paying down the Alabama claims ‘at once. Schike and the Judges—Injunction and Pi- - rouecties. When Phryne was accused before the court the pleading of her counsel was.a simple ap- peal to the eyes of the Judges. He pointed to \the charms of his client; and those wise old fellows were of opinion that a woman so beau- tifal might believe what she chose. So Phryne went free. Some such ideas of law scem -to govern in the case of Sohlke, who is, perhaps, as beautiful as Phryne, and can no doubt dance a great deal better. Sohlke was one of the choice creatures brought from Parls to give the world an idea what sort of articles are knocked down by the Dovil at his auo- tions. It was, perbaps, thought that men might be thus reconciled with the future. Sohlks danced and smiled, and emiled and danced. Her pas were marvels of grace ; but, alas! the fanciers of fancy drama did not run in that direction. Even Sohlke could not make them, and the “Devil’s Auction” came to an un- timely end. Even to this hour it is not known but this was because Soblke danced too well aad with too pure a sense ot art for the masses who had been brought fip éf the “Black Crook,” which is strong stuff. Sohlke was out of business. Here begins trouble. It seems that dancers must eat. Those hiry creatures, balf silken tights and half gauze, that float before the public eye, with the faces out of Raphael's pictures and the rest from Rubens, consume beef and mutton, and such timber; and these things must be bought, and with money. So Sobike listened to the tempter from the Black Crook establishment, and was to dance for the enemy. But lo! a Judge appears on the scene. He wields the terrors of law as a Chinese demon does blue lightning, and in » thunder- ing voice he commands Sohlke to stand still. She stands atill, of course. Whatshall be done with this terrible Judge? What was done with him nobody knows; for here is a mysterious hiatus in our knowledge. Was he moved gs Paris's judges were? Did Sohike perfopai « pds with euch splendor that the enraptured Jadge declared that she who o , dance Tike that might dance anywhere? thaps! No matter! Never mind! Who shall say! It is only certain that the injunction was loosed ; it was suited to the circumstances; it por- mitted the danger to dative; it was put on to ng, and to parmit it she dances the injunction is, of cours, on hée till, but “justice is satisfied and Rome ie free.” . General Grant’s Sheridae Letter. Since the publication of General Grant's private letter to the President on the re moval of Genéral Sheridan from the com- mand of the Fifth Military District a great deal bas been said for and sgainst Grant, Teletive to this communication. Gen- eral bas been too reticent with regard to bis political views to please the politicians. With all their devices and probings they could get little from him. Jhe republicans want to take bim next fall as thelr candidate for the Presidency, seeing the necessity of having his popular name to help them out of their grow- ‘| ing unpopularity and to perpetuate their power ; but the radical leaders feared he was too conservative, and might Tylerize the party. Under this state of things they were anxious té get hold of the letter to the President on Sheri- dan’s removal. The democrats, on the other hand, while they bad no serious thought of making Grant their candidate, believed he was conservative. They looked to bis early record before the war, when he was an avowed demo- crat—to his general expressions of patriotism, to his character, to his liberal conduct toward the rebels, and to the fact that he accepted the position of acting Secretary of War on the re- moval of Stanton, the big gun of the radicals. They, consequently, were desirous of knowing what the General had said about the removal of the favorite Southern military commander of the radicals, Everywhere there was a great deal of curiosity, though it was generally known Grant remonstrated against the re- moval of his heroic friend. Upon the pressure from parties in Congress and to satisfy this curiosity the President gave up the private letter of General Grant We think he should not have done so. He could have refused to make it public, it having been intended for his eye alone and marked private. But it has been published, and everybody knows its contents. Well, what comfort can the pMticians getfrom it? What is there in it to make so much fuss about? It is the letter of an honest man, expressing his honest con- victions at the time it was written. He may think differently now. He remonstrated against the removal of Stanton in the same letter; yet he afterward accepted Stanton’s position, and we have no doubt that now he believes the President did a good thing in making the change. General Grant’s conduct all through, toward the rebels and with regard to the Re- construction acts of Congress, has been any- thing but radical, and therefore it is not to be supposed he favored the radical policy of Sheridan or anybody else. The truth is, he loved Sheridan as his friend and companion in arms, and valued highly his great services in the war. He knew Sheridan to be patriotic, and was not willing to believe that distin- guished soldier would act Imprudently. Be- sides, be has always been anxious to ace the Southern States restored as soon as possible, and thinking Congress, as now constituted, had absolute power over the subject, it would be impolitic or dangerous for the President to oppose the policy of that body. He looked upon Congress as representing public opinion in the matter, and thought that was the high tribunal to which all should bow. The recent elections may have changed his opinion in this respect, and though we have no direct evidence of that, we think it likely they have. In short, there is nothing in the Sheridan letter to show that Grant is not conservative, or that ho had ahy dther object in view than to serve his dis- tinguished friend and the country, under the peculiar circumstances of the case and the times, Reduction ef Exports. We see by our Washington gorrenondence that the domestic exports of the Onited Stnles forthe fiscal year ending July, 1867, to all countries, not reckoning the exports which were under half a million dollars in value to any country, were about forty millions less than in 1860, the year before the war. The amount is reckoned in specie, and was for 1867 over three hundréd and thirty-four mil- lions, against three hundred and seventy-three millions in 1860. This falling off of forty mil- lions is to be attributed in a great-measure, undoubtedly, to the decline of Southern pro- ducts. The war and the destructive measures of Congress have paralyzed the ‘industry of the South, although the pressing necessities of the Southern people forced them to make extraor- dinary efforts to raise crops last year, Next year we may expect, under the same ruinous’ policy of Africanizing the South, a still greater falling off in’ cotton and other staple producta. The balance of foreign trade, as a conse- quence, will be heavier against us, and there will be a greater drain of the precious metals. Yet, strange to say, the very men who are raining the South by their radical policy cry out for immediate specie payments, They force away the gold to pay balances abroad, which would help us to approach a specie’ basis, by making the country unproductive, atthe same time they clamor for immediate resumption. Such stupidity is almost incredi- ble. To make the country prosperous, to reach specie payments, and to prevent the drain of the precious metals, we must restore the South under » more liberal policy than is now being followed, and increase its valuable ‘ on Congress. Wendell Phillips is assuredly right in his criticisms on the Fortieth Congress. His strictures upon {ts incessant activity in ad- journing are fully justified. It neglects almost everything else—‘finance, acquisition of for eign territory, reconstruction itself”—and is intent only on finding and improving occasions to adjourn. Mr. Phillips says, in bis latest ful- mination against it, “The Thirty-eighth Con- gress will live in history as the one which ini- tiated the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. The Thirty-ninth Congress will be renowned for that great abortion, the Civil Office Tenure act. But of the Fortieth Con- gress it will simply and grandly be recorded that it adjourned.” Before adjourning,’ how- over, it has betrayed every day ite manie for harping oh the same old negro question which basso long monopolized its etjention. This question has'slways been the of the day, fo The éxclusion of all other urgent questions of vital national Wendell Phil- at ney fs mene upon 6 variety of other questions on which the life and prosperity of this great republic depend. A Nomination for the Presidency from the White House. From the White House we receive the name of a man who, it is thought, should succeed to the Presidential honors. This name is not given es the rulers of the easy East once pamed thels ors, but quite in repub- lican form. The President abd his Cabinet constitute themselves a nominating conven- tion, and they thus signify at once that Mr. Johnson is out of the field and that General Hancock is welcome to all official good graces in the struggle against a radical oandidate— Grant, Chase or any other. It is a good nomination. Hancock is a man of high character and good record, and is in a posi- tion to let the country know what his ideas are on the important point of our political life. This is a shrewd move on the part of the President, and also on the part of Mr. Seward, if he had any hand in it, though we suspect he was too busyin buying the very cold coun- tries in Russian America and the very hot one in the West Indies to give this matter much thought. All necessity for an opposition con- vention is, of course, done away with by the movement, or, if such convention should ever meet, it will only have to go through the mere formality of endorsing the good work already done in the White House. The great difficulty in this matter would seem to be the training in the New York democracy, who have been so much in the wind with Sher- man, McClellan, Seymour and Pendleton nomi- nations that they hardly know where they are. Fortunately, however, they are in strong hands. For many years, as all well know, that fine turnout called the democraty was owned and driven by Dean Richmond; and then the Dean died. John Van Buren then tried the management, and it killed him soon. But next came that weather-beaten commodore, the illustrious Vanderbilt, a man who has been roughly handled in all sorts of storms, atmos- pheric and financial, and who experiences his sweetest slumbers only when lulled to rest by the rocking of earthquakes. Vanderbilt holds the ribbons for the four great lines of rail that have this great city for their objective—the Harlem, the Hudson, the Erie and the Cen- tral, a very pretty tour-in-hand. Driving this tarnont, he, of course, carries the democratic party in the coach. On the box beside bim goes Belmont, who, with the inherited sagacity of thirty centuries and the name of Rothschild, manages Wall street as easily as if it were a patent snapper ona brand new whip. The Manhattan Club goes along also (in the boot) with its two half Scbells making one great shell together. Nobody knows exactly what is to be done with Tammany Hall, but if it behaves it may have a back séat On tép. For a party thus mounted, managed and driven,. General Hancock is exactly the candidate, and will make the prettiest possible run. The Stockjobbing Legisiation ef Congress. Instead of adopting measures to promptly restore the republic te harmony and to pro- mote industry, Congress is legislating for stook- jobbers and gold gamblers. The report of the Senate Committee on Finance in favor of funding the national debt and for other pur- poses, and nearly all the other. movements in Congress relating to our finances, have a stock- jobbiog character. They will, if carried out, give plenty of employment to the Jay Cooke financial agents of government and to the brokers and stock gamblers in Well street, Tho only sensible measure proposed ig that to provent the further contraction of the currency. The test ard crude, ted, M6 cal. culated to throw she Cane yt = fo taoxtrlcable difficulties. What we want now is the prompt restoration of the productive South in such a liberal manner as to stimulate its industry, in- stead of attempting to push through the de- structive Africanizing policy, and to take off the burden of taxation everywhere to the low- est point possible with the necessities of gov- ernment, and under the strictest economy. That is what we want, and little else should be attempted at present, The debt should be funded and made of a uniform character, but there is time enough to do that. There is no necessity to rush this business through; it re- quires time-and deliberation. Restore the country, establish economy, reduce taxation, and let the currency alone. This is the work for Congress to attend to, and anything else can be better deferred than attempted. BOARD OF COUNCILMEN. Donation to the Commissioners of the Sink- ing Fund—Permission Granted to the Har- tems Railroad Company to Uso Dummy Ea- aines. This Board met yesterday afternoon, the President, Mr. Brinkman, presiding. 4 resolution was adopted donating one thousand dol- Jars each to the Commissioners of the Sinking Funda. Previous to it adoption, Mr, Gituone vigorously opposed it, stating that Mayor Horrmaw and the City Chamber. 4 loo & resolution donate $s,000 10 the Industrial School in. Forty. ee street, which resulted in ite defeat, Om motion, the The following resolution, which was vetoed by the Mayor, was called up and Resolved, That fasion te hereby granted to the New You and iierlem Riaiiroad Com; x4 use dummy engines to draw care thetr and freight Stations In the city of New Yorke durii ty oi their charter, ition y in each a foe of Ofty dollars for each o: on ‘by them di f and to lay ‘awitcbes and turnouts along thelr route, and at their sev: eral It meceseary for the Convenient traueaction ef thelr ousluess, = The Board adjourned till Monday. . WATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN. A large aumber of artiste and their friends enjoyed ast evening at the Academy « private view of the first annual collection of the American Society of Painters in Water Colors, This society, of which Samuel Colman \e President, Gilbert Burling Secretary, J. 8. Smillie CHARLES DICKENS? READINGS. een enne ore If we wore to judge frow the number of vacant chair@ scattered here and there in Steinway Hall last night we ehould say that the game of the speculators in ticketg! for the Dickens readings was somewhat spoiled; not thas the audience was pot nearly as large and quite a@ respectable as usual. In fact, no artist, author or reader ‘need desire any better; but, nevertheless, the thing wag patent that the house was not crowded and that tickews ‘Were sold by the army of speculators on the sidewalk ag low as seventy-five cents, Mr. Dickens selected for hig subjects, “Nicholas Nickleby at Squeer’s School,” and “Boots at the Holly Tree Ina.” Dickens is more of ag actor than an elocutionist, and we were strongly im- pressed With the idea that there are many people who could have read his stories better than be does himself; and we were further led to the idea that his books can be better enjoyed by Feading them than by hearing them read by ickent ‘The only characters, for example, in Nickleby which he gave in a completely pictorial form were Squeers and Joba Brodie, In Squeers we had not only the voice ‘and manner of the illiterate despot of Do-the-boys Hall, but Mr, Dickens delivered his sayings with one eye closed so as to complete the picture, The lisp of Miss Squeers, which is one of the catching points in the de- lineation of that unamtabie young Iady’s character, was, if we may use the term, artistically done, and Johm Brodie’s dialect brought the rude and kind hearted | countryman before us, But we must say that poor | Smike suffered sadly, No one who heard Mr. Dickena? efforts to portray in speech the character which he bas #0 admirably described in print bus must have felt lees-sympathy with the unfortunate | outcast boy than the written description haseft with all who read “Nicbolas Nickieby.” The reading of the lete ters was an inimitable touch of humor, and the scene the card table between Nicholas, John Brodie, Squeers, and Miss Matilde Price wasa representation of the author's idea with which we are not dise one to find fauit. We have seen the picture end ard the dialogue many a time in the printed pages of the story, ‘and hereio lies the tmequality of Dickens* reais. power, Now and then he literally reproduces himself, and you see his characters before you; somes times he disappoints one’s im; og of the most sub- tle and agreeable idea of the impersonations which he bas drawa. In the second of the reading, “Boots at the Holly Tree Ino,’ Mr. Dickens was more at home than in Nickleby, In reading, as in writing, Dickens ig not always affluent in pathos. Caricature is hia forte, and beis absolut without’ s master when he guia oon henge “boots” and the lower strata of English life, Mr. Dickens has now given us the finest illustrations which he has written of English society in its various phases as he has seen it Why not treat us with a sight | of Martin Chuzalewit, Mark 1 Elijah Pogram, Jef= ferson Brick and Mrs. Todgers ey all exist » perbaps with the sharp angles lished off by our “ad~ ‘vanced civilization,’’ but they “‘atill live.’ The sensi< tiveness of twenty-five yoars ago has vanished, and bir. Dickens need not fear that we will welcome bis pictures Of thése distinguished American worthies with as muck pleasure and complacency ag those of sam Weller, Mr, Pecksnifl, Sairey Gamp and ‘Mrs. Squeers, my dear." THE EARTHQUAKE IN NEW YORK, | SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE HERALD. Trot, Deo. 19, 1867. Since the announcement made last evening that thore » had been a streng and terrifying convulsion of the in the early morning of yesterday in a region of coun! beginaing at Montreal, in Canada East, and Béllovilie, Canada West, and reaching as far south as this city and Albany, including large portions of Vermont and North: | ern New York, I have been diligent in investigations as { the nature and extent of the phenomenon !n this sectt ‘and surroundings, In this county (Rensclaer) the sh was most sensibly felt in rittstown, Hoosac Cor on the Grafton Mountains, Nassau East and Middl Lansingburg, adjoinmg this city, and Speigletowa: In Albany county the rumbling was felt, and at Woed Troy, and as far west from the Jatter point as Schenede same, tog tgitian aes okt tt alte Twas sit! fo my the BE. D., had his left foot badly crushed by besmage D.) car on jumping off the front platform, was taken to his home by officer Fisk, of tho Forty-fiftm DARING BURGLARY IN WILL:AMSBURG, - i“ i A Private Resideuct Robbed of Stocks, and Treasury Notes te the Amount of Near! $146,000. A burglary of unusual audacity, even for Will burg, was perpetrated between twetve o'clock W. Gay aight and daylight yesterday morning, at residence of Mr. Heary Rogers, situated at the section of Bushwick avenue and Moore sireet, Brookly E. D, The entrance to the residence was through a rear window of the extension, and the Glare (‘t is believed there were two of them) then their way from dies they saw, ing Inmates, 3 sett sHipiieettl He iE 2