The New York Herald Newspaper, March 30, 1868, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. rey Dumery. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway. -Hvu NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tux Wuitr Faw WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Lith street.— ROSEDALE, BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.-Two BEDDED It SHELAG, THE COLLEEN BAWN—BROWNIE OF THE bi BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway.—Jox. NEW YORK THEATRE, opposite New York Hotel. — Hippex HaND—No. ? FRENCH THEATRE.—La BELLE HELENS. RANVARD'S OPERA HOUSE AND MUSEUM, Broad- way and Thirtieth street.—RAG PICKER OF Panis, &c. STRINWAY HALL.—Gzanp © PRT, NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street.—Gyaxasrios. EQugSTRIANISM, e. , THEATRE COMIQUE, 14 Broadway. —BALLrr, FARO, KELLY & LEON'S MINSTRELS, 720 Broadway. SONGS, Eoorntaicrrtrs, &c.—GRAND Duren “Ss.” SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 585 Broadway.—E1H10- PIAN ENTERTAINMENTS, SINGING, DANCING, &e. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Conzo VOCALISsM, NEGRO MINSTRELSY, MERICAN THEATRE, 472 Broadway.— , PANTOMIME, ae. HALL, 82 Fifth avenue.-Lacosre’s RE- CITAL OF JULIUS CaBAR MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn.— Pasion. HOOLEY’S OPERA HOUSE. Brooklyn,—ErH1oPiaNn MINSTRELSEY--BURLESQUE OF THE WILD FAWN. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— SOURNOE AND Arr. New York, Monday, March 30, 1868. _ # in riots, were made in different parts of in against a pro-Prussian policy and any attempt at union with North Germany. Napoleon is said to be engaged in the preparation of an important manifesto on the foreign policy of his government. ‘The Garde Mobile of France hus been increased to five uutred thou. sand men by the hew Army bill. MISCELLANEOUS. By special telegram through the Atlantic cable, dated in London March 29, we are informed that the British War Ofice received despatches from Major General Napier in Abyssinia confirmatory in the main of the report of the special correspondent of the HERALD attached to his command which appeared in our columns yesterday. King Theodorns’ position is defended by gunsand mortars. The British captives were in good health on the 17th ultime, We have special despatches from Cnba, Jamatea and Hayti by the Gulf cable. The Military Comiis- sion in Cuba had sentenced two watchmen to death for highway robbery. A beggar won the $100,000 prize in the Lotte: The De Soto had returned to Jamaica. In Hayti Salnave had threatened punishment to both ¢eifrard and Salomon if they tril into his hands, Advices from Crete report that another victory had been gained over (he Tur wo hundred of them being killed. ‘The Cretans have called upon the European sovereicns and the Presi for aid, The Pope and the King of Greece already re- sponded. A statistical list of outrages perpetrated by the Turks has been published by the provisional government, showing that 290 w outraged and 604 persons massa Six months of 1867. In St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday Re’ McNerney preached a lengthy sermon. Bishop Pot- ter in the church of St. Joim Buptisic yesterday afternoon administered confirmation to twenty can didates. Rev. Dr. Weston, in Christ Church, Fifth avenue, preached on the Interchange of Pulpits, Rey. Dr. Chapin preached in the chureh corner of Fifth avenue and Forty-Hith street on the Pharisee and the Publican. Gigantic whiskey and tobacco discovered in Galveston, Texas, Several governent omiciais are implicated, and it ix supposed the ramt- fications of the villany have extendel to New Or- leans and other cities. The McCardie case only awaits the de Supreme Court to be comple Sides are inclined to deny that Court bill affects this particu’ Mr. Butler, for the Manage open the case to-day by a three hours’ speech. Lake Erle is clear of ice, and navigation will be resumed during the week, being earlier than has been known before for many years. The United States steamer Sarai Francisco on Saturday for the Mex men have been during the Last Francis wuds have been on of the Lon bowh ecent Supreme sailed from San n coast, Disraeli on Church Establishments. Inthe Heratp of yesterday ertenso the famous speech delive Disraeli in the House of Commons on the 16th inst., at the close of the debate on the Irish question raised by Mr. Maguire's resolutions. The principal points of the speech communi- cated by telegraph have already been printed and commented upon in the pages of the Henarp. It is impossible for any one to read the speech without feeling the great intellec- tual force of the author, nor can it be denied that the skill and dexterity with ‘which he meets the attacks of his assailants justify the reputation he has won as one of the greatest debaters of this or indeed of any age. We cannot endorse all the arguments he advanéed in favor of State endowments of religion. His defence of such institutions is unquestion- ably able. More, perhaps, cannot be said for them than he has said. In this free country of ours, where all religions are tolerated, we have no word to utter in defence of institutions which have been 4 fruitful source of misery to mankind in every age, and which, more than anything else, have marred the beauty and counteracted the wholesome influ- ences of the religion of Jesus Christ during these fifteen hundred years. Mr, Bright, in the course of the same debate, revealed, if not a higher philosophy, at least a larger honesty of utterance when he said, ‘my remedy is pre- pared and prompt—disendow the Church, and the whole thing is settled.” Increased ta tion for the purpose of enlarging the number of State endowed religious denominations is a burden to which the British people will not bow the neck. It is to be borne in mind, how- ever, that the Jew Premier is grievously tram- melled, and that he can do nothing without the consent of his party. His followers are stub- born and full of prejudice. gency and before he can act with effect he bas to educate them up to his own stondard, We are not, therefore, without the hope that Disraeli will yet take other and more satisfac- tory ground in relation to Church establish- mente, ‘‘Endow all” is Mr. Disraeli’s watch- word for the present. ‘‘Disendow all” is the watehword of Mr. Bright. On at teast one ocension Disraeli has stolen Brizht’s thunder, He may do 80 again, In each new emer- Sonthern Reconstruction and the “Obfus- ticated” Hepublican Party. Thad Stevens acknowledges that the whole republican party is “‘obfusticated” in its ideas on reconstruction. It does not know where it is, or what it is driving at, or what it wants. He himself is ‘‘not altogether clear as to what we ought todo,” while every one else is “acting in the interest of slavery.” In short, the whole Congress is incapacitated from legislation by ignorance such as that member ‘‘will not pre- sume” to exist—by an effort to enlighten it. Congress is so far in agreement with Stevens on this point that it has proposed to declare the same fact to the world at large by statute. It has been for several days debating a bill that, if it had passed, would forever have stood asa monument of Congress’ stupidities and a confession of its failures. This was the bill proposing to admit Alabama to the Union as one of the sovereign States, provided it would relinquish its sovereignty, Alabama, says the radical Congress, may come in on the consti- tution the Convention has just made; but as we positively know by the result of an elec- tion that the people disapprove of that consti- tution we must suppose they will change it immediately, and we must provide against such change by affixing to the act of admission a condition that the people of Alabama shall not make what laws they like, but only such laws as we like. And that is to “‘gna- ranty a republican form of government.” Con- gressmen, of course, know that Congress has not the power to make such a condition, and, therefore, that it would be ridiculously without force; that such a law would answer to Mr. Lincoln's description of one of his own pro- clamations, being, ‘‘like the Pope’s bull against the comet, necessarily inoperative.” And in making reconstruction, as a last resource, rest upon a point that it has not the power to im- pose Congress simply acknowledges its inability to deal with that political problem—assents that all its past efforts must end in absolute failure unless it be permitted to transcend its powers. Having thus relieved its conscience, it does a thing even more humiliating, and proceeds to enact that Alabama shall practi- cally stay where she is, and gives her a ‘‘pro- visional government.” Why, that is what Andy Johnson did two years ago. ‘‘By that sin fell the angels.” Provisional governments were the President’s first offence. They were the first incidents in the bitterness between the Executive and Congress that have brought on this great impeachment farce. Congress upset the President's provisional governments, has muddled hopelessly ever since in the effort to found a new edifice with the nigger for a cor- ner stone, and comes to the old machinery at last, only with new men of its own in all the places and a nonsensical rigmarole of nigger notions instead of the good, sound constitution the State originally had. Such is the stupen- dous genius of our rulers, 5‘. os And what is the trouble at the bottom of all this shameful, mischievous, disastrous failure ? Why is it that after all the agitation and excite- ment that has disturbed the nation on this head reconstruction is at last indefinitely put away to the future? Itis because it was a sham and a pretence from the first. Even the very necessity for reconstruction was a fiction put forth to deceive the country into giving the people of one section up to the tender mercies of politicians and fanatics from the other section. There was nothing to be re- constructed in the South but things that are not to be reconstructed by law. Nothing needed reconstruction but the opinions, the sentiments, the sympathies, prejudices, pas- sions of the people ; and how long will it take law to change these among men bred with such ideas as prevailed through the length and breadth of these States before the war—ideas favoring the utmost license of thought in re- gard to government, developing such an un- limited intellectual independence and reliance of every man on his own opinions as never existed before in the history of the human race ? It was purely intellectual reconstruction that was necessary, and this being naturally be- yond the limit of law was not touched by Con- gressional enactments; but, on the con- trary, every meagure passed by Con- gress, every step taken by radical leaders as they irritated, embittered, mad- dened the Southern people put farther away the very possibility of the only reconstruction that would have made the sections one. This is the reason why we are to-day an immeasur- able distance farther from « true restoration of the country than we were on the day of Lee’s surrender. General Hancock's remarkably able, well reasoned and earnest letter to Mr. Pease, ef Texas, is full of the wisdom of a practical man on this head. Pease had pub- lished a denial of the General's statement that Texas was in a state of ‘‘profound peace,” and in support of his denial, while admitting that “there no longer exists any organized resist- ance,” yet urged that there was not peace be- cause many of the people ‘‘are embittered Ngalnst the government and yield to it afi un- willing obedience.” They obey, but unwil- lingly. How long will it take force to make them obey willingly? They are “embittered,” too, and so the very results of reconstruction furnish the reconstructors with arguments. General Hancock rightly says:—‘‘Woe be to us whenever it shall come to pass that the power of the magistrates, civil or, military, is permitted to deal with the mere opinions or feelings of the people. I have been accus- tomed to believe that sentiments of respect or disrespect and feelings of affection. love or hatred, so long as not developed into acts in violation of law, were matters wholly beyond the punitory power of human tribunals. 1 will maintain that the entire freedom of thought and speech, however acrimoniously indulged, is consistent wiih the noblest aspirations of man and the happiest condition of his race.” The gallant soldier who ‘‘nsed up Early” and then ‘went into Johnson” thus goes into Pease and the whole party of Congressional reconstruction: — “I have found little else in your letter but indi- cations of temper, lashed into excitement by causes which I deem mostly imaginary; a great confidence in the accuracy of your own opin- ions, and an intolerance of the opinions of others; a desire to punish the thoughts and feelings of those who differ with you, and an impatience which magnifies the shortcomings of officials who are perhaps as earnest and con- scientious in the discharge of their duties as yourself; and a most unsound conclusion that while any persons are to be found wagting ia NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1868. Affection or respect for goyernment, or yielding it obedience from motives which you do not approve, war and not peace is the status, and all such persons are the proper subjects for military penal jurisdiction.” This is a picture of the radical party, for the same intellectual character pervades the whole mags of the men who, sympathizing with the puritanical nature that made the first trouble, would now oblit- erate our very civilization ina pure spirit of egotism and intolerance. The nation should rejoice that such a party is obfuseated ; for its blunders, its most mischievous, errors, must prove less injurious than the accomplishment of its purposes, Progress and Fature ef American Influence in Asia—Mr. Burlingame’s Mission. The British press, we notice, has been com- menting freely on the mission of Mr. Bur- lingame as envoy of the Emperor of China to the United States and the European Powers, and in a very different spirit to that ex- hibited by the jealous and narrow-minded French Minister and the British in China. The London Post, the organ of the English aristocracy, particularly takes a broad and liberal view of the mission. In an article recently copied in the Heratp it says:—‘‘We rejoice, therefore, to see the negotiations of the Chinese empire with us and other Euro- pean Powers entrusted to an ambassador who, it may be confidently anticipated, will explain them in a clear and simple manner, go that our dealings henceforth may be placed on a sound and sensible footing, An hour's conversa- tion between Mr. Burlingame and any of our prominent men would do more tg clear up Chinese difficulties than ten years of mere despatch writing.” Preceding these sensible remarks the writer pays a high compliment to American diplomats and the American style of diplomacy. He says:— “American statesmen have for many years past taken deservedly high rank in diplomacy and have grown accustomed to success in their undertakings. They possess the inestimable advantage of plain speaking and generally come to the real point at issue in a truthful and manly way.” The contrast is very striking between the libe- ral spirit and broad views of these remarks and the vanity and stupidity of the French Minisier in China, who made a formal protest against Mr. Barlingame’s mission, and the petty jealousy of the British at Hong Kong. English statesmen and the metropolitan press of Eng- land look at things in a practical business point of view, and though they may be apt to look with a jealous eye upon the increasing influ- ence of other nations in Asia, they will not throw away promised advantages for a mere sentiment. Besides, they have lately learned to appreciate the power and prestige of the United States, and have the good sense to see that it is our destiny to take a leading position in the trade and affairs of China and Japan. They see, too, that our policy is a liberal one, that we seek no exclusive advantages, and that whatever we do in the way of opening a more free intercourse with those populous empires of Asia will be to their advantage as well as our own. The French Minister, in his silly protest against the appointment of Mr. Burlingame to the most important mission ever sent from China, had no such comprehensive views. He, with characteristic vanity, looked only to the éclat and influence it might give to the United States by the honor conferred upon one of our citizens. He thought this was eclipsing the glory of France in @ measure, and that was enough to excite his indignation. The value of the mission to France, as to all the other great commercial nations, the commerce and material interests of France which might be promoted by it, were nothing to him com- pared with the sentiment of national pride or glory. Does not the French nation assume to control Europe? Did not its Emperor under- take to regulate the affairs of the American Continent and to establish an empire and the supremacy of the Latin race here? Ought not “the great nation” to control the destinies of Asia and the imperial ‘Son of Heaven” him- self? The magnificent theory of French supremacy, influence and glory overshadows all questions of utility or practical advantages in the mind of a Frenchman like this Minister in China. However, we do not think the Emperor Napoleon will be as silly as his representative at Pekin. He, as well as the British government and other governments to which Mr. Burlingame may be accredited, will probably receive with due honor this representative of China, though he be an American and though he has not three tails. All these European Powers will find, probably, as the London Post says, that Mr. Burlingame, with his plain speaking and manly way of American diplomacy, will do more to clear up Chinese difficulties than ten years of mere despatch writing. Mr. Burlingame will come to the United States first, we understand, and we may expect him goon, He wi} find go djfigulty in his mission here, though he may have become a Mongolian and a mandarin of the first water and should be found to have a dozen talls.- We shall feel a certain pride and like it all the more that the imperial ambassador is an American; but if he were a Chinaman, a Frenchman or an Englishman he would be well received, and we should make the most of his mission for ourselves and the civilized world. We have no idea that France or any other European nation will let us reap all the advantages of this mission, and refuse to enter into negotia- tions for the same, because the am!) an American. The Chinese government has shown more sagacity in the appointment of Mr. Burlingame than the world has been disposed to give it credit for heretofore. It evidently wnder- stands the power and greatness of the United States, and foresecs the magnificent future of our republican empire. Doubtless it sees also that it can be sufely on the most in- timate relations with ns, that we have no de sire for foreign conquests or colonization he- yond this Continent, that we have an immense and ample territory and that we are more am- bitions for the conqnests of peace, commerce and civilization than for those of war. It can- not help comparing favorably to us the peace- ful conduct of our government with the war- like and ambitious conduct of the British and French governments. No doubt it sees, too, that the rapid growth of California and other States on the Pacific, with regular steam navi- gation direct from these States to Asia, and with the vrosvect of teleeravbio commynica- lor is ee SS Sa ei ee SS tion between the two continents within # short time, must make China and “America near neighbors. These developments will make the Pacific Ocean like a mere lake lying between the vast and vigorous population of the great Ameri- can republic and an empire containing a third of the human family. In the course of a year or two the Pacific Railroad will be completed; then, with Europe on one hand and China and the other countries of Asia on the other, this country will become the centre of commerce and ideas, Nature has placed this Continent in that position, and science, trade and enterprise are fast bringing its people to the grandest destiny. It will not be long before the magnetic telegraph will put us in instant communication with Asia, as it has with Europe. The privilege given to an American Company (the East India Felegraph Company,) to lay cables along the Chinese coast to connect Canton, Macao, Hong Kong, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, Shanghae, and the other vast and populous commercial cities of the empire, show both the progress in China and the favor with which Americans are re- garded. There is no doubt that within a few years telegraphic communication will be made direct from America to China and Japan, and that ere long it will extend over these Asiatic empires. The influence of this republic in Asia must become paramount. Our superior civilization will penetrate and spread over the populous empires there which have been closed from the rest of the world {gr thousands of years. The vast wealth of Asiatic commerce, which all nations have sought, will flow to and across America, and San Francisco on that side of the Continent and New York on this will become the greatest cities in the world. The Political Campaign in Connecticat. Next Monday the election for Governor, other State officers and members of the Legis- lature will be held in Connecticut, and just now the rival parties are in the heat of the campaign. Although there is considerable excitement and a pretty thorough canvass, there does not appear to be as much enthusi- asm or hard work on either side as there was in the recent election in New Hampshire. Yet both sides boldly assume the best prospect of success, The great political campaign of the year, which will end in the election of Presi- dent next November, commenced in New Hampshire, and there, consequently, the great- est trial of strength was made. It must be re- garded, too, as a fuir test of the current of po- litical sentiment in New England up to the point in which the people are enlightened on the great issues of the day. Though the demo- crats lost the election they gained relatively in the vote. The same gain in the State of New York in proportion to the population would increase the demo- cratic votes ten thousand. The contest in Connecticut will be nearly as close, proba- bly, as was that of New Hampshire, except that the democrats have the prestige of suc- cess in the last election for Governor, which, however, was carried against that miserable woolly horse candidate, Barnum. Against this prestige of the last success on the part of the democrats, arising from the republican candi- date being so obnoxious personally, the repub- licans have this time a far more respectable candidate. Upon local issues, therefore, the chances of the two parties are pretty even, But there are broad and highly important national issues involved in the campaign in Connecticut, and if the democrats know how to make use of them they may be successful. They must, however, show more skill than they did in New Hampshire. They must not send to Connecticut sich hidebound copper- head orators as they sent to New Hampshire. However good the cause or arguments of such men may be they are personally obnoxious to the loyal people, and they drive more into the ranks of the radicals from disgust than they win by eloquence. Then they have stupidly permitted the radicals to cover up the real and great issues before the coun- try by the claptrap humbng about rebels and the rebellion. Negro supremacy in the South and a negro balance of power in the republic; the placing of a barbarous race over the superior whites of our own flesh and blood ; the military despotism established over the South at an enormous expense for the pur- pose of Africanizing ten States of the Union, the revolutionary usurpations of a radical Con- gress, and the infamous corruption and extrava- gance of the radicals, are the real and vital issues before the people. The dominant party is fast destroying every vestige of the principles and former action of our admirable republican government. It has brought the country tothe verge of political and financial ruin. Yet in New Hampshire the radical orators were able to ignore all this and to blind the people through the claptrap cry of rebels and rebel- lion, and through using the popular name of General Grant for the Presidency. If the dem- ocrats would succeed better in Connecticut they must p the true issues before the people, and that threwgi: able speakers of whose loyalty or war record there caf be no question. And as an offset to Grant as the radical Presidential candidate they should take that grand old naval hero, Farragut, for their standard bearer. Connecticut being nearer and more subject to the influence of the reaction that is going on in the great Central States, there is more hope of a larger conservative vote than in New Hampshire, but proper means and energy must be used to bring it out. There is one more week in which to work, and if the work be done well Connecticut may have the glory of leading off in that great reaction which will consign the Jacobin radical party to oblivion and to that infamy which it deserves. The National Banks in Congress Again. In the course of a debate in the Senate on Friday upon the Sapplemental Currency bill, which is a bill to regulate the distribution and use of the reserves of the banks, Mr. Cattell remarked that “his friend from Missouri (Mr. Henderson) would probably, before the session closed, introduce some measure look- ing to an increase of the volume of the cur- rency for the benefit of the West.” By this we suppose is meant an increase of the na- tional bank currency. If 80, the proposed measure will be all wrong—it will be beginning at the wrong end. If more currency be needed let us have legal tenders, and with them buy up and cancel a portion of the in- terest bearing bonds, Instead of incroasing ——— the national bank circalation, and thereby adding to the enormous profits and overgrown monopoly of these institutions, the present cir- culation should be withdrawn and greenbacks issued in its place. The government makes a clean gift of about twenty-five millions of dol- lars a year to the national banks in the profits on their circulation, and yet it seems the amount Is to be increased. Looking at the corruption of Congress and the enormous power of these banks, we should not be sur- prised to see them get as firm a grip upon that body as the Pacific Railroad monopoly has got. The way to give the West and South currency enough—and no doubt there is a scarcity in both sections—is to issue greenbacks in place of the national bank rags, and let as many as please bank upon this substantial currency all over the country. A uniform legal tender cir- culation, without contraction or expansion, is all we want at present, and that would become properly distributed all over the country. It is the artificial national bank system, with the different kinds of currency in use, that makes a scarcity in one place and a superabundance in another. We hope Congress may have sense, honesty and patriotism enough not to entertain any such monstrous proposition as that men- tioned by Mr. Cattell. BOOK NOTICE. THE NILE TRIBUTARIES OF ABYSSINIA AND THE Sworp HUNTERS OF THR HaMKA ARABS. By Sir Samuel White Baker. M. A., F. R. G. 8. Philadel- phia: Lippincott & Oo. London: Macmillen & Co. The earlier works of this author, as well as the dis- coveries of Speke and Grant, have sufficiently estab- lished the localities of the sources of the Nile in the two great equatorial lakes fed by the heavy rainfall which, for ten months in the year, pours down upon this region of country. But there was a mys- tery remaining to be solved, and that was by what contributions the Nile was enabled to overflow its banks at certain periods, and thus produce the fertility in the arid lands and deserts of Egypt which could be obtained only by pe- riodical irrigation. While the two lakes named by Speke and Grant. Victoria and Albert, when they struck the sources of the Nile in their expedition from Zanzibar to Central Africa, manifestly sup- plied abundant water to carry the majestic river thousands of miles to the sea, it was reserved for Sir Samuel Baker to discover that it was the numerous tributaries flowing into it from Abys- sinia that supplied the surplus water which caused the inundations so all-important to the cultivation of Egypt. These aMuents are the Atbara, Settite, Rozan, Salaam, Angrab, Rahad, Dinder and the Blue Nile, all Mowing northwards and making their con- tributions to the White Nile, or Nile proper, and all of which the author traced from their sources, This is the main result of Baker's travels, but his expedition and the account he has left of it contain details of the highest interest, enhanced just now by the events transpiring in Abyssinia, It is worth something to learn froma conscientious and intelligent traveller the character of the country and the habits of the people ruled over by King Theodorus, the present English “diMiculty” in Christianized Africa. Sir Samuel W. Baker and his pretty heroine of a wife undertook to investigate the causes of the inunda- tions of the Nile, and it would appear that instinct directed him to the rivers of Abyssinia. In the early gunmer of 1861 he started southward from Cairo and traversed the country in search of the tributaries of the Nile, which he found, as stated above, in the eight rivers whose names are given. While former travellers have furnished descriptions of savage life in Central Africa and recounted many extra- ordinary stories of uncivilized chiefs and princes, oriilas and other inhabitants of that wild domain, it was the fortune of Sir Samuel Baker to travel through a country more advanced In civilization. Hence we have a faithful description of the Arab population of Abyssinia and Soudan, from which he chiefly obtained his body guard, guides and hunters, ‘The superstitions in connection with medicine and surgery of this primitive people will amuse many minds trained to our “modern improvements” in these sciences, That portion of the book which we perhaps might approprial call the *“Nhnrod pe- riod” is rich with stories of rare sport in which the smallest game were herds of elephants, an occasional rhinoceros, droves of buffaloes, colonics of hippopo- tami and crocodiles, and the common hangers on of the camp, lions, rs and leopards. Ail this is pleasant reading for sportsmen, and might make one’s blood hot to be in these luc. tive jungles with a grinning hippopotamus at very long range and safe distance, and Baker's batter of rifles at command. Most agreeably told is all this part of the story, but the real value of the work is to be found in what may be calied the moral, ‘That is the utilizing of this vast flow of waters jnto the Nile from the Abyssinian rivers, which occurs regularly in the months of July, August and Septem- ber. “The Nile,” says the author, “1s a pow horse without harness, but with a bridle in its mouth; the fertility of Egypt might be increased to @ vast extent.’ He proposes @ system of artificial irrigation, by beep 3 the bed of the river at certain points by means of dams, Taking it altogether as a contribution to science, and a pleasant story of travel in a strange region, a most acceptable book is this “ Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia.” Although pub- blished later than the author's book “ Albert N’Yanza,” describing his voyage on the White Nile, his meeting with Speke and Grant and the discovery of the lake sources of that river, with which we are already familiar, this account of his experiences in Abyssinia at a previous period is fresh and racy as we find it written in the present volume. PUBLIC EDUCATION. New Primary School No. 12 in the Fourth Ward. Undismayed by the threatening array of figures which young attorneys and antiquated taxpayers have prepared and promulgated, and with which they threaten to annihilate the system of education as at present established in this city, the Board of Education is steadily prosecuting the work which the local boards in several of the wards have de- clared to be absolute necessities, and have prepared plane for improvements to be made and new build. ings to be erected for the purpose of affording school accommodations to the large number of children who are dally necessarily refused admittance to the schools at present. In the Fourth ward the young children have been obliged to crowd themselves into miserable, iit lighted, badly ventilated, crazy crannies, and the school oficers have been trying for some years past to obtain a piece of ground on which to erect a primary schoolhouse. They finally succeeded in effecting an arrangement with the trustees of the Martner’s charch, and purchased the property Nos, 85, 87 and 89 Roosevelt street for $33,008, anda few days singe the fi) na votyally begun. ‘The lot is seven- ty-one feet for Inc) nt by sixty-three feet deep, and this surface will be entirely covered by the — proj ing. The crowded con- dition the and the ge ‘that t nO. very day — the of Roosevelt gtreet wil! be raised necessitated a change from the generd: Plan of the building. In the centre of the /allding. k, an acute-angled alcove will be constfficted, go that light may be secured to the rooms at the back if the joining property should be covered with buildings, At each end of the building at the neon id of seven feet ban are left so as to secure additional light room. The pupils’ entrances on the front are each to be reached by @ short flight of stone steps, so that when the grade of the street is ratsed the playground wili be level with the street. ‘The infants’ gallery, on the second floor, with the reception room, will be constructed so that there can be no crowding on the seats, Ample space will be allotted for each child and iron arais will be used to divide the seats, as in the ferryboata. A new and desirable feature will be introduced on tix floor. ‘This consisis of retiring and totlet rooms for the tea of whom there will be pertiaps thirty to forty engaged in the building. There will be eight class rooms on the third floor, so laid ont that one side of each room will be a brick wail. This arrangement will assist the ventilating, whic ai by means of stationary incl in the walls, Through these ven lators the air will enter the wail, and b; proved method of construction will first p ward and under @ section in the wall aud then ape ward and into the rooms through the ventilating registers, while large Archimedean ventilators roof, with which each room is also connected assist the work. An improved astipit: and con- ductor, Which bg aye ~ dent. of School Buildings: has invented, and by means of which the janitors ryiug Ue ashes down are saved the labor of house to the street, from ali parte of th will be introduced, The plan prepared by Mr, Miller, and to be introduced into as many of the achools as is practicable, proposes large ve located in the cellar, into which cond from each story will be constructed; into these com- ductors the person making the fires will empty the ae , there is no amuse ie about them unt mes necessary er e asi Ls. ‘The proposed internal arrangements of ike entire on arenes whi ao. weute ae of speek ‘The balldis no Will be three storie fhe frome pwite A—— brick, trimmed wih Connecti- ‘The style of the front) to be en- 2 4 id gs awarded to the lowest liders, as follows:—Mason work to ‘Moran carpenter work to James et ahr ant Neate for $34,000, the painting to John Gardner $820, Edded'to the price of tte lot ‘wilt mete the building, without the furniture, almost $70, NEW YORK UNDERGROUND RAILROADS, The Bills Before the State Legislature—Tie Arcade, the Central and the Broadway Tus nel Railways. ALBANY, March 28, 1868. The race between the various underground bills before the Legislature is now confined to the three foliowing:—The Arcade Underground, the Centrak Underground and the original Broadway Tunnel roads, The Arcade is away ahead in the race, having been passed by one house (the Assembly) and. being iu Committee of the Whole on the other, where if was referred upon a favorable report from the Rall- road Committee. Whatever the eventual fate of the bill, it is very certain that if the arcade plan fails to meet the requirements of an underground rail- way Broadway is wholly incapable of any under- ground means of rapid and commodious transit, The scheme is one of must magnificent proportions, and will require the expenditare of an enormous outlay to put it in operation. ‘The route of this road, as defined in the bill, will be as follows: Said company are hereby authorized and empow- ered to locate, construct, maintain and operate, in pursuance of the powers and provisions in this act contained, an arcade underground rallway for the transportation of passengers and property, in oon- vyeyances to be propelled by air, steam or other mo- tive power, under and along certain streets, avenues and squares in the city of New York, commencing the southern extremity of Broadway, thence alon Broadway to Fourteenth strect, thence throug! Union square to Seventeenth street, thence along Broadway to its junction with Ninth avenue, thence to a junction with the Hudson River Railroad. Said company is also authorized and empowered to extend the tracks of their said railway in open excavations or on the surface, as the grade may require, fron the point of commencement before mentioned, at the southern extremity of Broadway, along the easterly side of and in the Buttery, to @ place on said Battery,! near the South ferry, and to make on the routes aforesaid the necessary connections, turnonts,’ switches and other conveniences for the proper work- ing and accommodation of said railway. Said com-, pany shall have power to enter upon each and every, street crossing the routes of said railway, subject to, the same regulations and vers, in this act con-' tained, as to the routes specified for said railway, and excavate each of said cross streets Its entire width, but not to exceed one hundred feet on each side; constructing the surface or roadway of said cross, streets as far as excavated substantially in the same, manner as over the main line of said railway, and appropriate said cross strects #0 excavated for tie purpose of depots, storehouses or otherwise, THR CENTRAL UNDERGROUND RAILWAY. The route proposed in the bill incorporating tue company to construct this road is as follows:— Commencing at a point ou the easterly line of Broadway, in City Hall Park, and northerly of the rojected southerly line of Park place, runnii Rience easterly, and under ground, passing in front of the old City Hall, southerly of the Nagging in front of the same, and northerly of the proj eral’ Post Ofiice, crossing to the left, passing w ly of the Comptroller's office and southerly of the Superior Court building, corner of Chambers and Centre streets, to Centre street; thence under and across said Centre street to City Hall place; thence easterly under said City Hal! place to Pearl street; thence across said Pear! street und running northeasterly in a curved line to Mulberry street, at a point on said street between Bayard and Park streets; thence northerly under said Mulberry street to Bleecker street ; thence northerly under and across said’ Bleecker street in a straight line, as near as practi- cal, to Lafayette place; thence northerly under said Lafayette piace to Astor place; thence under and across said Astor hago and Kighth street to the nor- therly side of sald —— street; thence across the block between said Fighth street and Ninth stroet, and easterly of St. Ann’s church on said Eighth street, to Fourth avenue; thence northerly under the westerly side of sald Fourth avenue to Fourteenth street; thence under and across said Fourteenth street and said Fourth ayenue to Union square; thence north- erly under said Union square to Seventeenth street; thence under and across said Seventeenth street and through the blocks, as near as possible ina direct, line, to Twenty-third street; thenco under Madison: re, Or Madison avenue, to Twenty-sixth streot; p northerly under and across said Twenty-sixth strect to Madison avenue; thence under said Madi- gon avenue as now opened to Eighty-sixth streets thence under said Madison avenue, as declared by chapter 403 of the laws of the State of New York of 1867, to 120th street; thence northeasterly, continu- Ing the same line to the Harlem river; thence and westerly along said Harlem river, and connect ing with the Harlem bridge at the terminus of Third! avenue. Incase the lowness of the surface at any, point north of Ninety-ninth street is such as to ren- der tae construction of a tunnel impracticable, said main line may be constructed and L aecherr by am elevated railway from said Ninety-ninth street to and: along the said Harlem river. The bill for this road was favorably reported in the Senate and has been committed to the Committee of the Whole. A combination was made against it, however, and its lobbyist backers and friends generally have gone over to the arcade plan, whick promises to be the winning road this winter. It waa introduced by Senator Cauldwoll, of Westchester, zealously for some feasible an ravel between his county New York. THE BROADWAY KRGROUND TUNNEL. The original Vanden! th Broadway tunnel plan! is also before the Legislature, and is the last of poses a simple tunnel, on rallway! Battery, then iy and under the westerly’ side of the City Hall Parks thence to and under Broadway, northerly to and. under Fourteenth street to Union square; thence northerly under Union square to Broadway,” at its junction with Eighth avenue at Fifty-ninth street; “thence by such route or line as may be most convenient, westerly of Kighth avenue, ton connection with the Uadson River Railroad at the rt of the city.” A branch is also authorized 4 with the Hariem Railroad, but it shall not of Lexington avenue, ' of incorporators embraces the names of Marshal ©. Roberts, Isaac Bell, A. M. Bliss, C4 hard Kaapp, General Henry W. Slocum, George W. McLean, and about sixty others, The bill_ by many, however, is supposed not to have been offered with a genuine purpose of completing the road if the franchise be granted, not that a.majority of the in- corporatora Are aware of what is on foot, but they are in ee ofa bh alte ype for the urpose of defeating any underground Broad-, ahi which thoroughfare is tobe rsatvel Yor a sur. face railroad, controlled by the Jake Sharpe party. It is, therefore, stigmatized as a “dummy” by who pretend to have a deep insight into the intrigues: f the present session. Whatever its real character, Meially and regalarly on the files of the Legis- 4 will receive attention in its order, or ‘he will of the requisite majority 0 decide, Tun ea! ‘The list ~ BROOKLYN INTELLIGENCE. ‘THE Kast Riven Barpar.—The Alderinanie commit tee having charge of the proposed loan of $3,000,000 to the Bridge Company, it is understood, will submit: their report to the Common Council this afternoon. From what can be ascertained ther favor of the certain trif_ing condi- tions whieh ny will undoubt- edly accede . reful estimate shows that the proposed loan and other expenses attending the erection of the bridge will not Increase the taxes on real estate more than one and a half per cent, while the enterprise would unquestionably enhance the value of property in every section of the city. The amount of capital required for the work $4,000,000, and those who have already taken a large amount of stock say the bridge shall be constracted Whether the city advance the loan asked for or not, Bure Lary.—A small frame building, situated in the rear of 105 Gold street, was broken into on Sat- uray night, and five barrels of whiskey, valued at $186, stolen therefrom. It was owned by Edward br Ronvery oF ‘Tonacco.—Pourteen barrels of to- valued at $200, and owned by Fletcher & Co., ists, of No, 190 Water street, were stolen on Saturday night from the cellar of a wheelwright's shop at No. 105 Nassua strect, where they had been left on storage. FUNERAL OF ASSISTANT Eseieen Bark.—The funeral of Mr, Robert Bart, Assistant Engineer of the Five Department of the Western District, took place yesterday afternoon from his late residence in Orange sireet. It was attended by the entire De- partment of the Wostern District, as well as the inembers of Fortitude Lodge No, 1%, F. and A. M. and a large nitmber of relatives of the deceased, At the close of the solemn services over the remains the firemen, who were designated by the bad worn apon the lappels of their coats, formed in line, together with the members of Fortitude Lodge, and followed the body of their late brother to Green- wood Cemotery, where it was Interred in accordance with the anciout rights nnd ceremonies of (be Ma~ aonto Oriet.