The New York Herald Newspaper, November 18, 1868, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. wenn JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR All business or news letter and telegraphic espatches must be addressed New York Heravp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Silica Mee Weaseiah Be THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the wear, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $14. . JOB PRINTING of every description, also Stereo typing and Engraving, neatly and promptly exe- cuted at the jowest rates. Volame XXII. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Tuz Laxcasurae Lass. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broudway.—ArrRs Darx, OR LON- DON bY Niel BOWERY, ATRE, Bowery.—AFTER DARK—Youn Lirs's 1x De Re PIKE'S OPE » corner of Fighth avenue and ‘23d street. —3 ATRE, Fourteonth street and Sixth ave- * vE BRasant. roadway.—Huarry DUMPTY, nee at 1g. FRENCH nue.—GF ACADE F MUSIC, Fourteenth strect.—GERMAN Orera—Rosert Le DiABLE BROADW TEATRE, Broadway.—Mes. F. W. LAN DER AS NA WVART. GERMAN STADE THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.— Dox Brore ToN—Din SCHAUSPIELERIN. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth strect.--M1ss HEN gigtTa Mau 's Finst Co. MRS. F. B. CONWA Evizacerd, QUEEN OF KELLY & FIAN MiNSTx: 85 Broadway NG, DANCING, &e. TONY PAST: Vocariax, NEG Tr COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Tat q@inat Lixndagp aNp Vaupnvitte Compan APO} LO TALL, Twenty-c TAM 10k AND ALF bs. Gi EUROPEAN C1 way and ath ot, EQUESTRIAN AND GYMNA) 8. ALITA \, No. 616 Broad: PRorEssog Ronert NioKkLr, TUE Magician. HOOLEY'S OPERA HO —Hoouer's Minsreki.s—LovE iN ALL TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Wednesday, November 28, 1S86S. WwW Ss. was won by ments have been made to the Sees of Lon- a are fowlug « ck will resume bis duties ia De- ne w ported, will r m to Wastungton acto will succeed him in the Cabinet. of eartaguake were felt on the th and and Cth instont, in Mexico city aud Puebla, and at Tiurbttde, ne: aa Luis. Coogreas had approved of the contract for the Vera Cruz Railroad, ‘The treaties between the United States and Mexico bad been su) ited to Congress and referred toa especial com ‘ce. The government authorities were jubilant over the ciection of Goneral Graut, The American citizens at Mazatlan believed that he would ina: 2 & vigorous policy for the protec- sin Mexico, The anthorittes on the o1 suspicions of the presence of Gen- % and other military Americans in the of turee American war vessels in the an. <A storm lasting three days bad northwest, causing considerable of ivfe, Alamos, ® city of 7,000 in- ‘a, aad several smaller towns ia 2 deatroyed. end Rivas Slight st Our Havana @ sterday. The steamer Siar ¢ Orleans for Havana, was wrecked ne ia onda, Thecrew and passengers are safe. The Penobscot has been ia a tO assist her, ordered to & crans bad arrived in Hava) Captain General Lersaadi, in ¢ Hom. Miscellaneous, safe, on M ew York. It w crew, in the out the fire, failed to provide fo 1 when vhey found themselves in | mouthful of ¥ tally, howeve re without a water. Providen- 1 up early the next Court Richman A to the Poniten is contending for his release on @ Sheffrey, before whoin he under the fourtee The decision in the c iil anect 2 of nearly all the judges tn the Vian., Cio od about twenty-five wags tound near N. ¥., ga Sun- n two bullet holes in her bead. She inte and is very handsome; bi is or who committed marderous a uspicion regia on @ clerk in Hilenyiile. ‘The nan id not yet ceaad. Mrs. J. J, Audubon, the wide of the naturalist, the viil day morning, w * ‘Was apparen it is not Know for whom an appeal was cotten up in Savannah, ewrites io the editor of a paper in tut city that ene knows nothing of vie aly of tl ud is in no neod of mauietance, as she ts oultorts aoly in Ne ork city, and her (hirte axon are it ent ot her. The haat orids are enctber with 7”, eno Glass to ibe exciasive recognition of the peo, Both of them have seals of the State, which they aM@x to their documents, Governor Holden, of North Carolina, sent his mes- sage to the Legislature yesterday. He recommends the encouragement of immigration, the education of the masses by a thorough system of free schools and afi early attention to internal improvements, ‘Tae debt of the State is a little over $19,000,000, The St, Stephen's bank agency in St. John, N. B., closed on Monday, and the notes of the Commercial Bank have declined to sixty per cent owing to the defalcations of an absconding cashier. A general run for gold has taken place om the other banks, Ip the Cole-Hiscock case at Albany yesterday no more jurors were obtained, but one of the nine sworn in was discharged on proof of his having expressed. an opinion about the matter and visited General Cole in prison, General Grant has ordered all mounted recruits at Carlisle Barracks to be sent immediately to the Plains, Admiral Farragut by order of the Navy Depart- ment 1s detached from the command of the European squadron and placed on waiting orders, Attorney General Evaris ia understood to have prepared an opinion to the effect that employés on pub!lc works are entitled to the same compensation for olght hours’ laber as they received for ten before the recent law of Congress fixing the time of labor at cight hours was passed. In the forthcoming experiments with ordnance at Fortress Monroe a Photographer is to take photo- graphs of the target after each shot. The City. Attorney General Evarts was entertained last even- ing by the members of the bar of New York at a complimentary dinner at the Astor House, Mr. Charles O’Conor presided and some 300 guests eat down to table, Speeches were made by Mr. O’Conor, Mr. Evarts, General Grant, Admiral Farragut, Gen- eral Schotleid, James W. Gerard, Judge Daly, John T. Hoffman, Rey. Dr, Hall, Henry J. Raymond, ex-Gov- ernor Clifford, of Massachusetts; Attorney General Brewster, of Pennsylvania: Richard A, Dana, of Massachusetts; Gunning 8. Bedford, City Judge elect; Mr. Black, of New York; Wm. E. Dodge and A. Oakey Hall. Great enthusiasm was manifested towards General Grant and Admiral Farragut. It was half-past twelve when the company broke up. August Belmont and Ernest C, Lucke have com- Menced a suit against the Erie Railway Company, n which they charge that the common stock of the company has been illegally increased from about $17,000,000 to upwards of $65,000,000, and that this has been matnly effected by James Fisk, Jr., Frede- rick A, Lane and Jay Gould, who, being a majority of the Executive Committee, have controlled the company and have made large purchases of prop- erty with tue tunds of the corporation, taking the tiles thereto in the names of Fisk and Gould, Pike's Opera House is mentioned as one of the purchases for the sum of $850,000. A receiver of the company is asked for, and an injunction has been granted and served on the company. ‘The “After Dark’ litigation between Henry D. aimer and J, E, McDonough was called up before Judge Neison, in the United States Circuit®Court, yesterday, but was subsequently postponed until this morning. Dennis Creamer, charged with being concerned in the Royal Insurance bond robbery, in 1866, was brought before Judge Barnard yesterday on habeas corpus, and the hearing of the motion to admit to bail was adjourned until to-day at ten o'clock. In the Court of General Sassions yesterday Charles Sinclair and John Cairo, on pleas of guilty of grand arceny, Were each sent to the State Prison for four years. John Sproul, alias John Gray, pleaded guilty of attempted burglary in the third degree, and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. George , indicted for robbery, pieaded guilty of petit ‘rom the person of Peter Holm and was re- for sentence, ational Christian Convention met in this pity yesterday morning and permanentiy organimed. joward Crosby, D.D,, was elected President . R. Tyler Secretary. The attendance was id the services deeply interesting. 'The ses 8 of the Convention are to be continued day and uing and thro’ Friday, and will be addressed by numerous distinguished clergymen and laymen, Madame Olympe Audouard held her second “con ference” at the Union League Ciub theatre last even- ing. The andience Was not so numerous as on her ‘ance, which was ascribed to the rain, Ver tueme was the “History of Comedy and wedy,” and the criticisms pronounced on tie vorks of authors, ancient and modern, were re- ceived with eral approbation, " In the Excise trials before the Board of Excise yesterday Sergeant Fitzgerald, of the Twentieth stated while on examination that he had an arreat for burglary, larceny, arson or ault for three months, but watched of the Liquor dealer then on trial, by superiors. It appears there is no fund or appropriation to defray the expense of removing the Loew Bridge, and vill remain where it is probably until the next tux levy 13 passed. ‘There were 334 deaths In New York and 141 in Brooklyn last week. There were also in New York 215 births and 504 marriages. ‘The Cunard steamship Java, Captatu Lott, will sail this morning for Liverpool. { ‘The steamship Thames, Captain Pennington, of the Black Star line, will leave pier 13 North river at three P. M. to-dey for Savannah, Ga. The steamsitp Empire, Captain Price, of the Ex- press line, will sail from pier 15 East river at four P. M, to-day for Alexandrta, Va., and Washington and Goorgetown, D.C. Prominent Arrivais fu the City. Judge W. 8. Dayton, of Philadelphia; Colonel G, Howard, of the United States Army; Cfionel J. w. Lyon, of Genoa, and W. 8. Gilbert, of Japan, are at the St. Charles Hotel. Dr. Jos. Anderson, of Philadelphia; General A, McCook, of the United States Army, and John Jay Knox, of Washington, are at the Fifth Avenuo Hotel. Colonel Curtis, of New York; S. W. Gerrish, of Massact 18, and Judge Cullom, of Indiana, are at the St. Julien Hotel. The Ponbtful Condition of Europe. Our latest news from Europe is of a singu- lar and in some respects doubtful character. Spain is still unsettled, although it may be taken for grauted that reconstructed Spain, in the first instance, 1s to be a limited or, as some would put it, constitutional monarchy. This of course will be a triumph of liberalism, and will on all hands be #o regarded. We should have been glad to see Spain making the experiment of a republic; butif such an experiment is as yet dangerous we shall rejoice | to find that Spain has made some substantiat and good | 1} progress and that she has not encountered all the risks of a revolution for nothing. We are, as we ought to be, grateful to see the popular | cause progressing. it is manifest from our latest despaiches and | letters from Europe that the success of the Spanish revolution is already producing its natural frit in Franee, The French govera- ment is notoriously ill at ease. The prosecu- tions of the press, of which we gave so full an account yesterday, indicate at once the state of | the popular pulse and the sensitiveness of the | French government, If these prosecutions mean ing they mean that a large section of the people are dissatisfied and that the | government is afraid. If the prosecutions | do not inean so mach they mean nothing at | Napoleon is not the man to apply the | screw unless he considered it a necessity. A few days ago we were told that a conspiracy hai been discovered and that the object of this conspiracy was to overthrow the existing | government. Wither there was some such dis- or (here was not, If there was, France If there waa not, France is in for in the latter ease the government od Lo suevathon their position and to jus- all, | have tify tyranny. One of our latest telegrams Paris informs us that the official journal, La France, has found it necessary to object to the language used by Lord Stanley a few days ago at King’s Lynn, and to speak of his speech as not reassuring as to the peace of Europe. If any proof were wanting to con- vince us that the general situation in Europe is doubtful the attention paid by the official organ of the Emperor to the speech of Lord Stanloy furnishes that proof. The truth is that the extraordinary sensitiveness of the French Emperor and of his government to every touch of public sentiment shows that the empire, powerful and well organized as it is, rests on a slumbering vol- cano, which may any moment burst forth and destroy it. It is unneces- sary, however, to reason further upon this subject. Where the free expression of opinion is so much dreaded, or rather where it is 50 much held in check as it isin France, there can be no true liberty; and where there is no true liberty, the people being enlightened, there can be no permanent safety to the gov- ernment. The unavoidable inference from this view of the situation is that the second French empire, though now some sixteen years of age, cannot be safely left to lean upon its own strength, Tt is an old and now oft-quoted saying that when France is satisfied the nations are at rest. The saying, though somewhat flattering to French vanity, is not wholly untrue. The peace of Europe does toa large extent depend on ti peaceful disposition of the French government. It is manifest from what we have already said that contentment is at the present moment a characteristic neither of the French people nor of the French government. It is not to be denied that this discontent will be increased if the Spanish people succeed in establishing either a republic or a well guarded constitu- tional monarchy. Frenchmen will naturally ask why that liberty which has long been enjoyed in Great Britain, which is the birth- right of every American and which is now the property of every Italian and of every Spaniard, is still to be denied to them? Europe is rapidly enfranchising itself. France is the proudest nation in Europe ; but Frenchmen are not free. Manifestly this state of things ‘cannot continue. Revolution is in the hearts and homes of the French people, and every wave of popular feeling, come from what quarter it may, is dreaded as the probable occasion of a popular outburst. This it is, therefore, which makes the situa- tion in Europe doubtful and critical. If do- mestic questions become serious, so serious as to threaten the stability of the present govern- ment, it may be regarded as a certainty that Napoleon will distract the attention of his people by a foreign war. Foreign wars have been useful to him in the past. By a war against Russia he made good his position; by a war against Austria he greatly strengthened it. Ifa foreign war is now necessary to main- tain that position he is not the man to shrink from the undertaking. With the French peo- ple a foreign war at the present moment would not be unpopular. Nor is there any lack of questions which might easily be worked up into casus belli. There is trouble enough in the East. There is possible dificulty with Spain, There are war clouds lowering over the Danubian Principalities. There is a grudge against Prussia, and the conditions of the treaty of Prague are still unfulfilled. Any one of these might without difficulty be manip- ulated into the Emperor’s opportunity. Such a course of policy is not the less possible that the French army is fully equipped and ready for action at a moment's notice. Thus looking at the situation in Europe we dare not say that continued peace is a cer- tainty, It is not without good reason that Baron Beust is reorganizing the army of Aus- tria and putting it on a war footing. Nor was the language of Lord Stanley unjustifiable when he epoke of the ‘overgrown armaments of France and Prussia,” and of the dangers to be apprehended from their ‘“‘mutual jealousy.” If war is not a certainty it is safe at least to say that continued peace is doubtful. Another Erle War in the Courts. Wall street is an interesting locality these days. ‘he great fight between the financial giants has been renewed, and the object in dispute is the oft-litigated Erie. Unusual pro- portions are given to the present struggle by the prosence of the fabulously wealthy August Belmont, the champion of number of foreign banking houses, who, with Daniel brew, was caught “short” inan Erie speculation. The clique of Erie directors who produced the recent stringency in money, broke the stock market and then made a raid on gold and gent it up to 137 have been suddenly arrested in their career by an injunction of the Supremo Court, issued by Judge Sutherland. The alle- gations on which the injunction was issued embrace an affidavit of Mr. Drew confessing his connection with the breaking of the Erie “corner” last winter ‘and with the cliquo in making money tight to accomplish the receat break in the stock market. Mismanagement on the part of these directors is charged in all tho affidavits and the secret of the purchase of Pike's Opera House at eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars and like real estate transac- fions unravelled. The injunction was served during the day and there was the wildest excitement over the eventual effect in the value of Erie stock. The price of the latter flucts from 53 to 47, and closed between 49 and 50, The clique are said, however, to have got the etart of their opponents by ob- taining an order for the appointment of a re- ceiver out of their own number, which order was grented four days ago. Nothing is known definitely of this order; but, if received, it is probably held to await further movements by the Belmont-Drew party. To guard against any trouble from the injunction itis farther stated that the cliqne sold all the gold with which they made the “corner,” deposited the greenbacks in the banks, used certified checks with which to purchase seven millions more of gold, and then transferred the precious metal to Jersey City yesterday to place it beyond the reach of the New York courts. Such are the reports and rumors concerning the great muddle, out of which it will be impossible to extract the truth until the courts get under way with the legal proceedings which are to evaue, It is a very interesting fight as it stands, and will lose nothing as it develops before the legal tribunal whence redress has been sought, NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1868.—TRIPLE’ SHEET. General Grant and Our Diplomatic Ser- viceIs the Army Going to Eurepet One of our newspaper contemporaries, who has kindly undertaken the office of the grand almoner of both our political parties, urges, first of all, the claims of the editorial frater- nity. In this philanthropic veln he recom- mends to General Grant the appointment of Horace Greeley, by way of a beginning, as his Minister to England, subject to the court regulations in the matter of diplomatic coats and breeches. But we have another hint from a different quarter—a hint that the claims of the army to these nice places abroad cannot be and will not be overlooked by General Grant. We have the opinion of General Blair before us that if General Grant once gets into the chair of the White House he will never leave it while he lives; that he is substan- tially an Oliver Cromwell or a Bonaparte in disguise; that there is no end to his ambition ; that he will make himeelf a dictator ; that thus our blessed constitution will be trampled under the iron-shod feet of a military despotism, and that Grant’s election, in fact, will be the last glimmer of the great republic. Now, General Blair, if we are not mistaken, went into Vicksburg with General Grant and down to the sea with General Sherman; and, therefore, he ought to know something of the President elect, But assuming, at any rate, that General Grant’s programme is to estab- lish another empire and another line of the Ceasars, is it not -his policy to have some one of his army officers at every court or govern- ment in both hemispheres, as well as in every important office at home, from the Cabinet to the Custom Houses and so on down to the whiskey gaugers? Just so, According to General Blair's theory, then, of Grant's ad- ministration, the ‘Boys in Blue” must rule the roast, and the poor civilians who did the rough work of the late canvass will have, like Andy Johnson's rebels, to take back seats till they ean “‘swing round the circle.” But again. Assuming that General Blair was only talking for buncombe in this theory of his before tho election, and assuming that in his administration of the government General Grant will adhere to the constitution and cast about for the best men to represent the government at home and abroad, the claims of the army and of his subordinate officers in the war must still be respected. What does he know of the politicians? Very little. But he thoroughly understands such men as Sherman, Thomas and Sheridan, and hundreds of others of his tried and trusty fel- low soldiers, Therefore we may look for a liberal ‘infusion of army officers among our representatives abroad under General Grant. It is already rumored that General Meade will be sent as Minister to France. And why not fill up the whole European schedule with shoulder straps? This would give the crowned heads on the other side of the water some conception of the magnitude and results of our late civil war. They would be impressed, too, with the idea that the United States have become a nation of soldiers and are no longer to be trifled with anywhere. A hint from General Thomas, with Grant to back him, as our Minister at London, would to Lord Stan- ley be worth more than all the dinner speeches of Reverdy Johnson put together in the settle- ment of the Alabama claims, And so with regard to every other European government, from the Seine to the Golden Horn. It would be a good thing, too, for the anti-Butler repnb- licans to send off General Butler to China; and we shall want such a man out there before long. Lastly, in diffusing our army officers all over the world under Grant we shall get rid of a good many men who may other- wise turn up as candidates for the succession or for Congress. As for the navy, Admiral Farrafft, in the place of old Mr. Welles, will take care of that. We are dealing with the army; and in view of the fact that Europe is drifting to a general war we approve the suggestion of a strong military representation over there from Gen- eral Grant’s adiinistration. Thus our modest but strong-willed soldier President, not only in the work of reconstruction at home but throughout the world, may be the great peace- maker, and thus victorious as that of the immortal Constantine may be the motto of Grant, ‘‘Let us have peace.” General Grant in New York. Like ‘‘all the world and the rest of man- kind” who have had a taste of the metropolitan and cosmopolitan attractions of this city, Gen- eral Grant seems to like it. It is a subject for study to him, we suspect, hardly less _interest- ing, though less exciting, than the movements of a great army in a grand battle; for here it is the battle of life, in all its combinations and complications and ever-changing phases, fast horses and all. Moreover, the General, no doubt, enjoys here a welcome respite from the pertinacious and never tiring office-seeking, new President worshippers, who await him at every door and every street corner in Wash- ington. But how long this exemption will last here is another question. We fear that at the end of a week, with the General still here, we shall have an exodus from Washington this way equal to that which went out to the Penn- sylvania October election, But the man who flanked out Buckner, and Beauregard, and Pemberton, and Bragg, and Lee, and Jeff Davis will, perhaps, be equal to the tack of flanking the office-seekers. He may have a good deal of travelling to do, at the rate of two-forty, but the General has Bonner’s Dexter at his service, and when Dexter fails he can try Vanderbiit’s Mountain Boy—‘‘a rum un to look at, but @ good un to go.” Meantime, who is to, pay the travelling expenses of all these pilgrims in pursuit of the great hero of the war, the chosen champion of peace, and the man who is soon to be made master of the Tue Mavorarty Qvestioy.—Some republi- cang are anxious that their party shall make no nomination from their own ranks for Mayor in the approaching charter election, but shall disregard mere partiean considerations for the public good, and elect to that office the best man they can find on the democratic side. This is a very commendable and timely sug- gestion, Grant is about to take control of the eneral government, and it is well to show him that in making selections for office the re- publioans ignore mere party considerations, and are willing to go outside the narrow limits of a political organization in their selec~ tion of the most fitting man to fill a public position. The Advance of the Cuban Revolution. Our Spanish and Cuban advices relative to for years awaited the proper moment to strike form, still they hold one-fourth of the island, have already in several engagements de- foated the regular troops sent against them, and are now maintaining a severe guerilla warfare against which the Spanish regulars in small numbers stand but little chance of suc- cessful encounter. Well may Spain despair of holding her crown gem. It is quite useless for them now to send General Dulce, however full his powers, to crush thé liberal movement, They have no force at home which at this moment can be spared for such a purpose. Five thousand ‘troops, which it is reported aro to take part in the expedition, will be of little value opposed to the rapidly organizing army of Cuban independence. So near as it is possible to ascertain, the insurgent detachments already number some twenty thousand men. By this time they are well armed with the ne- cessary rifles, which, in concert with the revo- lution, have been shipped to them from all parts of the world. From Peru, from Vene- zuela and Mexico they have received many military commanders, who are rapidly putting the mass into a more warlike shape. The movement, too, is stirring the lethargic blood of the other islands, which are lending all aid to support the cause. We would not give a feather for the revenue which Spain may derive from Cuba after January 1, 1869; and every- thing which she expends in the forlorn hope of now trying to hold the island will be a dead loss to her and an addition to her already crushing national debt. As to tickling the Cuban people with the idea that certain colonial privileges will be conceded to them, Yt is simply the old Spanish game of gaining time which was played in 1810 upon the main- land while Spain was in liberal revolution, and the colonies, through long misrule, were forced into the same irack on their own ac- count. Cuban grievances are the same old story over again which has characterized those of every colony Spain ever possessed. We might copy some colonial protest of 1800 to 1810, head it Cuba and wonder at its exact appli- eability to this island—misrule, complaints unheeded, progress hampered, the last dollar crushed out of the prodigal generosity of the people by the Spanish crushing machines—the Captain Generals—education hampered, the liberal mep driven to the mainland to escape persecution, the whole island chained down under the tread of from twenty to thirty thou- sand troops supported by the* very people whom they are placed there to oppress. And this is Cuba governed, or rather misgov- erned, from a distance of four thousand miles— in contact, too, with our own grand civilization. Only one hundred and twenty-five miles from our coast and still held from us and from sharing in our progress by similar laws and institutions which were wrapped in their grave- clothes and laid away by us three centuries ago. The world receives its impulses by com- parisons; and the Cuban mind, however weighed down by Spanish oppression, is not averse to creeping out of a dilapidated mo- narchial barn to step into the temple of Liberty, jgWhose doors are facing her and wide open to receive her. Spain may as well try to hold the moon as to try to hold Cuba any longer. The revolutionary moveiment is culminating to success—Cuba sirikes for independence, repub- licanism. Within s few months we shall see her knocking for admittance into the nation- ality ofnations—the United States. General Butler 6n the Democratic Mun« agers and Bondholders. We published yesterday a spicy and inter- esting conversation of General Ben Butlor with our correspondent. His exposure of the tricks and objects of the bloated bondholding democracy of this city in the National Demo- cratic Convention hits the nail on the head and shows that he thoroughly understands the acheming politicians of that party. He asserts that it was the influence of the foreign and native bondholders, working through Mr. Belmont and the Manhattan Club ring, that threw overboard Pendleton and the Western democrats in the Conven- tion. Belmont, a8 the agent of the forcign bankers, was acting for his cents in making a dead set at that wing of the party which advo- cates the payment of the five-twenty bonds in legal tenders; for if specie payments be forced and these bouds be paid in gojd, that will, as General Butler remarks, increase the value of the bouds held abroad about two hundred millions. He shows that this schem- ing New York ring in the interest of the bond- holders cared nothing about the Presidential election and was anxious only to carry the State. On the subject of reconstruction Gen- eral Butler intimated that he should hold the President elect to carrying out the measures of Congress. Asto this there will be no dif- ficulty, probably; for General Grant admits it to’ be his duty to execute faithfully the recon- struction laws passed by Congress. General Butler is bold, talented and origi- nal, and, in «pite of the opposition to him in his own party, will probably be the leader in Congress. Ho is irrepressible and cannot be kept down. By the force of superior ability, tact and will be must take that positign. Col- fax aims at being the leader of tho Mey aud mouthpiece of the new administration, but he is of too light a weight, Butler is a Hercules which he cannot wrestle with. Some of the radicals, and the chief radical organ of this city’ particularly, would read him out of the party; for this radical organ says, ‘‘We deeply regret that he chooses to make himself useful to the party he seems to oppose rather than to that whence he derives his political support.” But it cannot be done ; he will be the foremost man, We should not be surprised to see Gen- eral Butler and General Grant bury the hatchet and become friends and the former become the champion and mouthpiece of the new ad- ministration. It will be very interesting to watch the rivalry and fight which has just commenced between Butler on one side and the other radical chiefs and radical bondhold- ers’ organs on the other. Looking impartially at the contest we are imelined to believe this enfant terrible of tho radical party will beat his opponents, ,, Opera Bouffe and Opera Italian, If any one supposed that the many signal failures to give Italian opera a permanence here were to deprive us of our usual musical enjoyments they were mistaken, for the magic power of Offenbach and opera Louse have created an enchantment which seems to have spellbound the’ community, For many years Italian opera was regarded as a necessity, and the decline of the old Academy was bemoaned by many as a misfortune. But it would ap- pear that this notion has been dispelled by “La Grande Duchesse,” ‘“‘Genevitve de Bra- bant,” and that musical Mormon, “Barbe” Bleue,” each of whom, under the influence of Bateman and Grau, ‘has fully supplied the place ofthe heavier works of the Italian com- posers. As long as the people are willing to crowd the Théatre Frangais and Pike's mag- nificent Opera House, to enjoy the sparkling music and delightful absurdities of Offenbach and his librettists, they have no reason to com- plain that the few late attempts at establishing a spasmodic Italian opera have proved such dismal failures. Itis evident now that we have educated ourselves inte doing without it. Whether that be a good or an evil education we presume not to say. The votaries of opéra bouffe are perhaps the best judges of that. We know, however, that the latter class of amusements has taken immensely; that although the ‘Grand Duchess,” when repro- duced at both theatres, at the beginning of this season, halted a little for a few nights, it was not because the public had tired of opéra loujfe so much as that the work had for a time been hackneyed. But we see now ‘‘Genevitve de Brabant” refreshing the public taste in this direction and filling the French theatre every night in spite of the trenchant attacks made upon that opera by the very straightlaced and very, very moral critics. We observe also thatthe “Barbe Bleue”—hideous wretch as he is, but done up to such charming music—has his thousands of admirers at Pike's Opera House. No doubt when people begin to tire of him Bateman is quite prepared to substi- tute Offenbach’s last wild ebullition, ‘“Péri- chéle,” which is a late sensation in Paris, and J. Grau, always on the qui vive, will follow “Genevitve” with something fresher still. Offenbach’s busy brain can furnish enough new operas to keep both of our Louffe theatres employed for the whole winter season, and we may therefore manage to survive the loss of Ttaljan opera, for a time at least. Scientific Lectures. We must call special attention to the an- nouncement that 2 course of scientific lectures of unsurpassed interest.and value will begin on Wednesday evening, November 25, at Stein- , way Hall, The trustees of the American In- stitute have eccured for this laudable purpose the services of twelve distinguished scientists. President Barnard, of Columbia College, will lecture on the microscope and its revelations; Professor Alexander, of Princeton College, on the telescope; Professor Guyot, also of Prince- ton College, on the barometer ; Professor Sil- limaa, of Yale College, on the philosophy of the teakettle; President Dawson, of McGill College, Montreal, on the primeval flora; Mr. James Hall, of Albany, State geologist, on the evolu- tion of the North American Continent; Pro- fessor Horsford, of Cambridge, on the philo- sophy of the oven; Ur. T. Sterry Hunt, of Montreal, on primeval chemistry; Professor Deremns, of the College of the City of New York, on the photometer; Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, of London, on comparative zoology ; Professor Cooke, of Harvard University, on the spectroscope, and Mr. William J. Mec- Alpine, President of the American Society of Canada East, on modern engineering. These lectures will appear successively on the 25th of November; the 4th, 11th, 16th, 23d and 20th of December; the Gth, 13th, 22d and 27th of January, and the 3d and 10th of February. It is an auspicious sign of the times when our most thoughtful and learned college presidents and professors thus present in a popular form the results of their studies and experiments. We have often adverted to radical changes requisite in our system of education, and par- ticularly to the increasing and desirable pre- ponderance of the scientific element in the culture demanded by modern life. We are glad that the movement in this direction is headed by the very men most capable of wisely directing it. Street Accidente. The obstructions on Broadway, Fifth ave- nue and other streets from heaps of bnild- ing materials and débris, from excava- tions for gaspipes, waterpipes and sewers, and from the tearing up,of one style of pave- mont to put down another sort upon a fat con- tract, are impediments to the city’s general business, which have increased, are increasing and ought to be removed. Every hour in the day, at the narrow passes made by these obstructiona, there ia dangor of the crushing of vebicles, the mangling of horses and the loss of human life. Cannot Mr. Hoffman, in bebalf of this too much abused, too much taxed and too much enduring community, do something before exchanging the mustache of the Mayor for the big whiskers of the Gov- ernor? Cannot the Street Commissioner con- descend to look into this business as a matter of duty? Is there no way by which the Alder- men ean make a good job of it, to the relief of our principal thoroughfares? We have made some such inquiries heretofore, buthave had no satisfactory answer from the parties concerned, and 0, ag n last resort, wo now appeal to the Board of Health, to the Police Commis- sioners and to Mr. Bergh; for all these officials have a duty to perform in the abatement of | naigances, in which public rights, the public peace, the public health and the prevention of cruelty to animals are all involved. Ta Baxquet go Arrorxsy Genera, Fyants.--Mr, William M. Evarts, os will bo seen by an extended report givea in our columns, was entertained last evening ata grand banquet given to him hy his colleagues ot tho New York bar in recognition of his forousic talenta and of nin natriotic services.