The New York Herald Newspaper, January 10, 1869, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN & STREET. 4AMES GORDON BENNETT,” PROPRIETOR All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yore Huagavp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Yau THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. Annnal subscription price $1:2. Volume XXXIV. RBLIGIOUS SERVICES TO-DAY. ANTHON MEMORIAL CHURCH.—Rav. Dx. Newrox, Evening. BLEECKER STREET UNIVFRSALIST CHURCH. — Ray. Day K. Lee, Morning and ovening, CANAL STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.—Rev. Davin Mereuris, Evening. CHURCH OF THE RI Morning and after: cut THE Movain; nig. CHL TEU. URRECTION.—Rev. Da. Frage. EDEMPTION.—Rry. N. Scort. Ht OF THE HOLY APOSTLES.—Rev. Dr. Por- THE STRANGERS. —Rrv. Dr. oH OF MUNSEY. COOPER LNSTITUTE.—Leororr By THe Rev. Farner Pursroy. evening. EVERET! ROOMS,—SrrmTCALists, Mans, BYRNES Morning and evening. r FORTY-S! TREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. — Rev. D. if ruRoP. Morning. or HOLY LIGHT.—Rev. East- Morning and evening. YTERIAN CHURCA.—Rev. NORTH Dr. Win- LEYS. Morning and evening. PIKE'S OPERA HOUSE.—Morning Srax SUNDAY Bonoo1. Afternoon, UNIVERSITY, Washington square—Bisuor SNow. Afternoon. WESIML Mornin; ‘HU RCH.— “Rey. Grorar MCECKRON. ng. TRI PLE SHE ET. MONTHLY ‘SUBSCRIPTIONS. The Dat.y Heraxp will be sent to subscribers for one dollar a month. The postage being only thirty-five cents a quarter, country subscribers by this arrangement can receive the Heratp at the same price it is furnished in the city. THE NEWS. Europe. The cabiec telegrams are dated January 9. Advices from Candia confirm the previous reports relative to the submission of the Cretans to Turkey. A statement in the Greek blue book, Just tasued, gays that the Russian Ambassador assured the ‘Greek Minister at Constantinople that the Sultan ‘would not repress any action of Greece in reference ‘Yo Crete. A banquet was given in Seville last evening and during its progress Espartero was announced as the choice of those present for the head of the govern- ‘ment. ¥ Thirty-nine of the passengers and crew of the ‘Hibernia, who were given up as lost, are reported’ safe. They were picked up by the ship Ocean Spray ‘bound for this city. Mexico. A terrible earthquake occurred in the city of Colima on the morning of the 20th of December, which threw down many buildings and cracked from top to bottom the wails ef the cathedral and J ly every house in the city. Several persons ‘were killed by the falling of the walls of the National Hotel. The shock was felt a long distance in the interior. At Manzanillo the cathedral, which had “tood earthquake shocks unharmed for over a cen- tury, was riven from roof tp base. Some eigiteen or twenty persons were killed by the falling of the ‘walls of the American Hotel. Three others were kiWed Heueath the ruins of a warehouse, Cuba. Advices have been received from Santiago de Cuba to the Ist inst. General Cespades, the Pro- visionai President of the Cuban republic, ts with the {nsurgents and has proclaimed the emancipation of the slaves. General Quesada is said to have landed from Nassau with eighty men and 3,000 rifles. Puerto Principe is still surrounded by the insurgents. ‘Business in the city is suspended, shops are closed ‘and many arrests have been made. On the 18th of ‘December a fight occurred at Casualidal Yeguas be- tween 700 insurgents and 590 Spanish troops, in ‘which the latter were defeated with heavy loss. Hayti. Jusurun, the Curacoa banker, who went to Europe to contract a loan for President Baez, of St. Domingo, Bas returned unsuccessful. The failure to secure this Joan 1s expected to lead to the downfall of the Bess administration. Sandwieb Islands. ‘The advices from the Sandwich Islands are to the 26th of December. The funeral of his Royal High- pess Keknanaoa, father of King Kamelamaha, took Place on the 22d ult., and was of the most solemn and imposing character. The marines and sailors of the United States steamer Ossipee were in the yn, C. H. Lewis, a merchant at Honoiniu, Das failed—tiabilities, $135,000. The missionary "packet Morning Star arrived at Honolulu from a cruise among the Micronesian Islands, and reports ‘the slave trade to be actively carried on between those islands and the South American coast. A large ‘brig, the Waterly, Captain Benjamin Pease, fying American and the English fag by turns, and Wily armed and fully manned, is hovering around the Micronesian Islands. The object being unknown, causes cousiderable alarm among shipmasters at Honolutu. Miscellaneous, General Grant dined with Attorney General Evarts On Friday. Rumor vow has it that Mr. Evarte will ontinue in the Cabinet under the next administra. dion as General Grant's law adviser. Last evening General Grant gave a dinner party, strictly private, to a number of gentiemen. Among those present were Moses Grinnell and General Wickham, formeriy of the rebel army. Representatives from 400 Comanche lodges arrived at Kert Bascomb, New Mexico, and offered to sur- rendez; but they were notified that no surrender would be received except at Fort Cobb, the ovject being to have all the tribes on the plains within watching distance of General Sheridan. Chief Justice Scott, of the Supreme Court of Mary- Jand, has decided that the laws of that State for- bidding nou-residents from exposing for sale goods, wares, &c., without first taking out @ State license Go not contravene any article of the constitution of the United States, and are therefore constitutional and must be enforced. Late advices from Alaska say that Sitka has lost mearly its whole Russian population, some 300 hav. ing left for St. Petersvarg darmg the month of De- comber. The garrison bulidings at the mouth of the Stickeennou were recently destroyed by fire. Cap- tain Henry, of the United States Army, committed suicide by shooting himself thro ich the heart. ‘The Grant and‘ Colfax Club of nicnmond, Va, have adopted a memorial to Congres, asking that no further steps be taken to remove disa'y\itres from prominent Virginians until the applicants have proved that they favor reconstfetion of ‘heir state by voting for it. ‘Tho funerai of General Rousseau, which ‘ok NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY JANUARY 10, 1869.—TRIPLE SHEET. Place at New Orleans yesterday, was a fitting token of respect to the memory of a gallant soldier. The escort was composed of soldiers—infantry, artillery and cavalry—the Masonic fraternity, city omoers and Council, State oMcers and Legisiature and @ large concourse of citizens. The Legislature and City Council each adopted resolutions of sympathy “ty respect for the memory of the deceased. remains of J Botts baad mond, Va., lust os say Be id in ae the Senate Chamber, They will - interred this afternoon. A meeting was held at the Capitol last night, when eulogies were delivered on the memory of Mr, Borts by Governor Wells and others, A white man named Upton and three negroes, who confessed having murdered a man named Martin and his two sisters, in Columbia, 3. ©., two weeks since, were taken by the populace from ‘the jail in which they were confined and hung. The Board of County Commissioners of Memphis, Tenn., yesterday subscribed $300,000 in aid of the Mississippi River Ratlroad, from Memphis to Padu- cah, Ky., on the Ohio river. Three counterfeiters, with a lot of nickel coin and their manufacturing implements, were arrested at Cincinnati yesterday and committed to prison. John Dixon, formerly a clerk in the Oriental Bank at Melbourne, recently arrived in California from Australia, was arrested at San Francisco yesterday on a charge of forgery. He had upon his person forged letters of credit and bills of exchange to the amount of $85,000. ‘The schooner A. Crosby was wrecked Friday night near Santa Cruz, on the California coast, and the whole crew, five in number, were lost. The receipts of fractional currency at the United States Treasury during the last week amounted to $711,500. Amount of mutilated currency redeemed and destroyed daring the week, $624,400, ‘The Custom House receipts at New York trom the 2ist to the dist ult. amounted to $2,048,338, The customs receipts during the same period at Boston Were $387,822; at Philadelphia, $143,063, anu at Balti- more, $117,094. Alarge portion of the money stolen by Bogart from the receiving ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard has been recovered in Canada, The consumption of water in Montreal exceeds the present supply, and a loan for $75,000 has been asked for to enlarge the capacity of the dity water works. Silver coin of the smailer denominations has accu- mulated in Canada to such a degree as to become a nuisance. In order to obviate (his evil the mer- chants of Montreal have resolved to export $2,000,000 of the objectionable currency. Tho City. Owing to the non-arrival of the steamship Etna, the European mails which were to have been de- spatched yesterday are detained until next Tuesday, when they will go forward by the Hamburg-Ameri- can steamer Allemannia, if she arrives in season to return on that day. In no previous winter has bad weather on tne Atlantic so seriously interrupted mail communication. The Dupuy whiskey case, which was to have been resumed yesterday morning before Judge Benedict, was adjourned until Monday, on account of the sud- den illness of a juror. The case of George B. Davis, charged with perjury in his testimony on behalf of the whiskey ring against Collector Bailey, was called yesterday in the United States District Court, but was ordered to stand over until Tuesday, in order to enable the de- fendant’s counsel to make necessary preparations. The Supreme Court yesterday, in the case of Fred- ericks vs. O'Neill, sustained the decision of Juige Sutherland grasting an injunction restraining the defendant from putting up, keeping or using the name of Fredericks & Co., photographers, as a sign or advertisement, as indicating a place of business. John Laidlow, committed in Brooklyn for obtain- ing money under false pretences, hung himself to the door of his cell in the Forty-second precinct sta- tion house about ten o’clock last night, but was cut down before life was extinct and fully resuscitated atter considerable exertion. The weekly statement of the associated banks of this city shows a highly favorabie condition of affairs, there being an increase in the item ot specie of over $6,500,000. Deposits have increasea over 37,000,000, ‘The coroners’ annual record fot 1863 shows that forty-eight homicides were committed in this city during the last year and thirty-nine infanticides. During the same time thirty-one women and sixty- seven men committed suicide. The favorite mode of suicide is by hanging, twenty-two men and ten women having ended their earthly woes in that manner in the last year. Of the suicides forty-eight were natives of Germany, twenty-four of the United States and ten of Ireland. In the Brooklyn City Court yesterday Catharine Stecle recovered a verdict of $2,500 against William G. Mott, a policeman, for beating her with his club, Aman named Bernard Gallagher dropped dead yesterday afternoon at the corner of Sixteenth street and ighth avenue, Gowanus. ‘The annual report of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Academy of Music show that the entire cost of the property to the first instant was $226,105. ‘The receipts from all sources from January, 1861, were $181,140; expenditures of every kind, $146,589; leaving a balance or gain for the elght years of $34,759. The stock market yesterday was marked by a dle- cided revival of speculation, prices reaching we highest for several months. Gold was firmer ou ac- count of the war news from Europe and sold as lich at 13524, but closed at the quotation 1951;. The markets, with but few exceptions, were char- acterized by extreme quietude yesterday. Cotton was in active demand, chiefly from speculgtors, and prices were ‘sc. a \c. per pound higher, closing at 28\c. for middling upland. Coffee was in fair re- quest and prices were firmer. On ‘Change flour was dull and heavy, while wheat, though dull, was firmly held. Corn was in fatr demand at about former prices. Oats were slow of sale anda trife easier. For pork the market was dull and rather low'r, Beef was steady, while lard was dull and heavy, Whiskey was moderately sought after at $14 $1 01, duty paid. Naval stores, though quiet, were vers firm. In petroleum the business was light, but the market was strong. Freighta were quiet, but firm. Prominent Arrivals in the City. Colonel George E. Randoiph and 8, M, Carpenter, of Washington; John H. Kemper, of Albany; Colo- nei W. S. Fish, of Connecticut; 5. K. Williams, of New Jersey, and D. Trimble, of Baltimore, are at the Metropolitan Hotel. Congressman J. G. Blaine, of Maine; General Starring, of [Hinows; M. B. Beatmis, of Pennsylvania; Benjamin Fieid, of Albion; Major L. L.. Daconson, of the United States Army, and Bradley Barlow, of Vermont, are at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Jos Galrez, of Peru, is at the Clarendon Hotel. C, J. Morrill, of Boston, ts at the Brevoort House, Colonel J. R. Davia, of the United States Army, and Professor ©. M. Major, of St. Louis, are at the Julien Hotel. Judge Stewart, of St. Alvar; Bara Danielson, of Hamilton, C. W., and Captain Donaldson, of Lon don, C. W., are at the St. Charies Hotel. General Grant and the Bohemians, The Bohemian journals have been engaged since election In publishing sensation stories of conversations with General Grant on the subject of his policy and his Cabinet. Tyese accounts have naturally been colored in ac- cordance with the interests or proclivities of their authors. The various, ‘‘rings” of the whiskey stills, the tevenue department and the lobby have been assured by the President elect that the services of Secretary Seward will not be overlooked ; that Morgan has the inside track for the Treasury, and that the faithful republicans who have been in office for the past three or four years, in internal revenue collectorships, assessorships and the like, will not be interfered with, The “‘outa” have been equally reliably informed that Gene- ral Grant will put his foot down on all jobs with which the aforesaid outs are mot associated; that he will ignore radicalism in the selection of his Osbinet, and call to his counsel statesmen of the type of Charles Francis Adams and General McClellan. Some politicians have received the most positive proof that the coming man will draw ebout his Cabinet Ben Wade, Ben Butler, Zach Chandler, pr Greeley and others of the extreme radical} kjdney ; while others have heard from his Own lips that the conservative element will Preponderate in his administration. By one set he is represented as declaring his deter- mined opposition to the Pacific Railroad grants and all other Congressional jobs; but this statement has scarcely made its appearance before we have a full and explicit denial of its authenticity in a graphic imaginary conversa- tion, in which Grant is made to avow his ap- preciation of all railroad enterprises and his profound respect for all the measures of Con- gress. We have the highest authority for pronounc- ing all these reported conversations and reli- able statements, whether emanating from Con- gressmen, lobby politicians or Bohemians, fabrications out of whole cloth. There is not one word of substantial truth in any one of them that has heretofore appeared, nor will there be any truth in any of them that may appear for some time to come, and for’ the good and sufficient reason that General Grant has not yet, and is not likely for several weeks, to determine definitely in his own mind what particular line of policy he shall pursue or who will be called upon to take seats in his Cabinet. The President elect does not profess to be a politician, nor has his past life ren- dered him familiar with public men until with- in the past two years. He has sufficient practical sense to know that in these days a month brings forth important developinents, and that events may occur within a few weeks which may entirely reverse the calculations and projects of to-day. General Grant will, therefore, wait and watch, in order that when the proper time arrives, with the whole field spread out before him and the position of all the forces known, he may intelligently deter- mine upon his line of action. Whoever knows more than this of General Grant's policy and Cabinet appointments is better posted on those subjects than is the General himself up to the present moment, and we can ease the minds of all restless politicians by the assurance, on very reliable authority, that the conversation stories of the Bohemians are all bosh. Popular Theatrical Taste. Certain of our theatrical managers have given currency to some erroneous notions by the habit of putting their own shortcomings to the score of public taste. They produce a great deal of dramatic trash, and when reproved for it tell us that nothing else will pay; that the en- deavor to present what is agreeable to metro- politan audiences compels them to run to sen- sation and the naked drama. But a glimpse at our several theatres proves the falsity of this charge. Popular perception is so far right in regard to the stage that year in and year out the best theatres are best supported. At Wallack’s theatre good plays are always given, with a most exact regard to dramatic propri- ety, and the care of the management is well rewarded by constant success. This theatre, indeed, is almost like some refined and ele- gant social circle, and recalls those times, traditional in the theatre, when the whole world of men of wit and taste were jostled and seen within the walls of a single temple of the muses. So long as the metropolis supports as it does theatres like this—and wher the managers gave it a chance it supported three or four of the same character—we cannot justly reproach its taste. soon to present “Much Ado About Nothing,” and we shall then see more real enthusiasm among playgoers than all the sensation mana- gers could excite in a century. Ifis knowledge of the taste of the town justi- fies Mr. Booth in the splendid adventure of his new theatre in Twenty-third street. None ean know better than he does that the au- diences that responded so handsomely to his grand productions of ‘TTamlet” and “Richelieu” st the Winter Garden are always within call to a manager who de- pends upon legitimate means for the effect he produces, Neither Booth nor Wal- lack can ever appeal to the New York public in vain; but it is certain that the attraction of seusution runs ont, The naked drama is dead. Gaslight, tinsel and blue fire no longer blaze with whole stages to them- selves; but where they a sbort time since were supreme and alone a ghastly effort is now making to amuse with sensations of another sort. Popular love of amusement has its vagaries and weaknesses, but is never obstinate in adhesion to anything not really good. At one time it will be mad for “Solon Shingle ;" «at another time for the Irish drama or French bailet; again it can hear no music bot ‘Walking Down Broadway” or ‘Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,” or the screaming of tenth rate artists in the now abandoned Academy of Musie. This is only the expression of volatile fancy. On the score of true taste it is always right and sticks to the managers that are the same, and of these it only makes one demand that is not readily met—the demand for American plays. Somermina Hap to ue Dons.—The Sheriff, it seems, possesses power to prevent a com- mittee of Congress examining witnesses in this city, as he so unceremoniously seized, on Friday, those before the Commitiee on Elec- tion Frauds. But does it not appear from this cireumstance that the democrats are very desirous to suppress and prevent investigation on that particular subject? What is the rea- son of this anxiety ¢ Conscious honesty has no fear, Tr Don’t Pay—Plymonth church, The legitimate receipts last year were fifty-five thousand dollars, the expendjtures sixty -two thousand dollars, There is a prospect, at this rate, that Beecher may follow Cheever, and have his church sold for a jeweller’s shop ; and this, too, with an organ worked by water power. Soomry Yor THR Prevention or Creenry to Murprears,—This body should immediate- ly strike a medal to the man who gave chloro- form to the murderer Carswell on the gallows, since he has triumphantly shown that where it is impossible to abolish capital punishment ft can at loast jae deprived of its terrors to the criminal. Manager Wallack is" The Course of Events in Cuba, Our inteiligeace by telegraph from Havana to-day is of a grave character, The policy of the revolution has been formally announced in the proclamation of the emancipation of the slaves, and the two parties to the contest have. now each a distinct character before the world. The insurgents aim at a complete social revo- lution, and, as a natural result, this policy places the government in the position not only of defending the rights of Spain in Cuba, but also in that of being the conservative element of society. It has boen the instinctive dread of this result which has restrained the people of the Western Department from embracing the revolutionary cause hitherto, and rendered them indisposed to contribute money for the purchase of arms, as complained of by Generals Cespedes and Aguilera. These facts mark the distinctive interests of the people of East- ern and Western Cuba. In the first named grazing is the leading industry, and slavery is less intimately woven with the social fibre. In the West, on the contrary, and particularly in the large cities and towns, the family support de- pends largely upon the possession of one or two slaves. The institution pervades all classes, and in immediate emancipation thousands of families behold only immediate hunger and ruin. It must not be forgotten, however, that the great majority of Cubans are in favor of the gradual emancipation of the negroes, and the announcement of the policy of free birth by the Spanish government a few months since was received in Cuba without a word of complaint. The movement at this moment of time is a critical one for the republicans in Cuba, and its acceptance or rejection by the people of the Western Department will depend upon other issues than the intrinsic merit of the policy. A people unused to habits of self- reliance and unaccustomed to privations will naturally be slow, if not entirely averse, to accept a cause which insures only immediate poverty, however great may be the promise of profit to future generations. The com- plaints of the republican leaders against the revolutionary inertia of the West are hardly calculated to remove it. We have referred to these complaints before as indicating a diver- gence between the two sections of the island, and we have seen no evidence that they do not spring from natural and uncontroflable causes. A spark, however, may light another train and decide the success of the revolution. An incident which occurred on Thursday shows the feeling against Spain which exists among the Cubans. A street affray and a secret burial very nearly involved the city of Havana in a revolutionary movement, which was only prevented by the prudence of the new Captain General. This feeling is the fruit of the unwise traditionary policy of the Spanish government, which, since the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, permits no officer to govern in his native province. This policy has been nurtured in Cuba until every office of any importance is filled by a Spaniard. As few Cubans reach position in Spain the natives of the island are practically excluded from interest in the government. We clearly com- prehend the conflict which exists under this state of things in the Cuban mind between material and moral reason. The material counsels caution, make haste slowly, save the family, while the moral incites to immediate war upon the intruder, come what may. Pas- sion, once aroused, will side with the moral reason to the utter disregard of material in- terests. Herein lies the danger to the new Captain General and the promised concessions from Spain, and the next advices from Havana will bo looked for with much interest. An Example fer the Judiciary. The newly-elected City Judge, Gunning S. Bedford, Jr., has given notice to landlords and all others interested that he will not in future entertain proceedings in his court under dis- possession warrants. Up to within a recent period these proceedings were taken in the courts of the civil and marine justices; but by a special act of the State Legislature, of ques- tionable expediency and not demanded by any considerations of public interest, they were transferred to the Court of Sessions. The in- crease in the emoluments of the City Judge through the monopoly of this business was important, reaching twenty thousand doilars a year; but Judge Bedford voluntarily gives up this large addition to bis salary, in view of the fact that the return to the old sys- tem will facilitate the legitimate business and raise the character of his own court, will save the time of litigants, and is nothing more than equitable and fair toward the marine -and civil justices of the city. Judge Bedford has a proper appreciation of the dignity and honor of his position on the bench, and it would be well if this sentiment were more general among the judiciary. It is the evil of the elective system that it too frequently elevates td the highest courts politicians whose ‘object is to make all they can during their term of office. If onr civil and criminal judges were appointed for life, retaining those of the present judiciary who have proved themselves worthy of the distinction, we might look for more dignity, independence and unselfishness than are at present to be found on the New York bench. some ConstitrtionaLtry or tak Wriexry Tax Law.—We publish to-day an important decision in a test case given by Judge Drummond, of the United States District Court for the Chicago district, in regard to the constitutionality of the Congressional Whiskey Tax law. It will be seen that Judge Drummond has decided that those portions of the acts of Jnly 20 and March 31, 1868, imposing restraints upon the free manu- facture of spirits, and giving extraordinary powers to the revenue officers to protect the revenue from fraud, are clearly constitutional, This is an unfortunate decision for the whiskey ring. What will next attempt? More Barrnquakes on THe Wast Coast. — We learn by telegraph that a severe earth- quake has been experienced tn Colima and Manzanillo, on the western const of Mexico, creating great destruction in those cities. According to the advices the event was co- incident with a commotion in the volcano of Colima. The shocks extended over #large area of country, aod have doubtless caused How ro Broome Unrrep Starrs Senarar, — Go to Albany, and take a trank wilh you, full of greenbacks, Thia is the surest way to do it, and there is no time to be loah Festivals and Prayer Mvotings. There are few subjects fuller of interest than the origin and development of religious festivals. How the fast has become a feast, how in the feast the prayer has been forgotten, how, in short, we have clung to the forms while we have wandered far from the spirit of early religious customs, would form the theme of along and, if properly treated, interesting and instructive essay. It is not our purpose to go formally into the subject at present. The week which has just ended, however, has, though unknown to many, been so much of a religious week, so much a week of festival and prayer, that it demands a passing notice. By general consent and in obedience to the instructions of the Evangelical Alliance, the past week has been a week of prayer all over Protestant Christendom. During the course of the week there has been celebrated by the Latin, Greek, Anglican and all other Episcopal churches the ancient feast of the Epiphany. We have thus had, nominally at’ least, all over Christendom dur- ing the course of the week solemn and special religious observances. Remembering that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence,” and that ‘“‘the effectual, fervent prayers of the righteous avail much,” it is not-unnatural to conclude that the weeks that are to come will be benefited in no small degree by the week which is ended. In hundreds of thousands of churches millions of worshippers have done homage fo the religion of Jesus, and in earnest tones have called upon Almighty God to bless and prosper His own cause among the sons and daughters of men. Much of this was no doubt a purely formal service, but much of it also must have been genuine and sincere. Such celebrations show us that Christianity is yet a living thing among men, and encourage the belief that for the sake of the righteous who remain the world, wicked as it is, will for a little longer be spared. The Epiphany is a very ancient religious festival, Among the primitive Christians the feast of the Epiphany lasted twelve days, the first and the last days being ob- served with more than usual solemnity. The first day of the feast was called the Greater Epiphany. The last day of the feast was called the Lesser Epiphany. The word, which is purely Greek, and which signifies ‘‘manifesta- tion,” or ‘“‘appearance,” aptly explains the ceremonial. The first of the twelve days, or the Greater Epiphany, commemorated the in- carnation—the manifestation of God in the “flesh.” The last of the twelve days, or the Lesser Epiphany, commemorated the appear- ance of the star which led the Magi to Bethle- hem, the descent of the spirit like a dove on Christ at baptism, and the miracle performed by Jesus at the marriage in Cana of Galilee— a triple manifestation confirmatory of the divinity of Jesus. In course of time, however, the Nativity and the Epiphany began to be re- garded as two separate festivals. Pope Julius is said to have insisted on a distinction of the two feasts as early as the middle of the fourth century, and in the year 813 they were observed, some say, for the first time, certainly then generally, as separate feasts. As Twelfth Day the Epiphany occupies a prominent place in early English history, although Twelfth Day in England, and, indeed, all over Europe, was a day of feasting and revelry, of cakes and ale, rather than a day of ‘prayer. Prayer, however, was never wholly neglected, and it is gratifying to know that in this far away land and in these late ages of the world the day, so far as ob- served, was rather a day of prayer than a day of feasting. The week of prayer is of com- paratively recent origin. It is said to owe its origin to a band of Presbyterian missionaries in India, who, in the year 1858, resolved henceforward to hold the second week in Jannary as a week of special prayer. The idea was laid hold of by the Evangelical Alliance in 1861, and was recommended to the churches. ° Epiphany and the Week of Prayer have thus united the whole of Christendom—the Greek, the Latin, the Anglican, the Catholic and the Protestant churches. With one and all it has been a week of prayer and solemn festival. Considering the iniquity which abounds in the Old World and the New, it is not to be denied that all the violence of which prayer can pro- perly be made the vehicle is needed. Let us hope that the prayers will not be in vain, that the world generally will benefit by them, and that New York city in particular will be ‘saved from the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the plain, The Paris Conference and the Eastern Question. At the last hour, when the Conference was about to meet, the Sultan asked delay; but delay was refused, and the Porte had no choice but to bow to the decision of the great Powers. The representative of the Greek government, we learn at the same time, will have no vote in the Conference. So, no doubt, will it be with that of Turkey. The great Powers, therefore, will take the entire question into their own hands, An arrangement in all like- lihood will be come to ; the Porte will be called upon to withdraw its ultimatum, and then Greece will have to accept the terms pre- scribed. Such is the programme so far as we know it. Turkey seems firm and determined to yield nothing to her rather puppyish and impertinent little neighbor. If the great Powers agree both Turkey and Greece will be compelled to yield. That the Western Powers will be of one mind there can be no doubt. A great deal depends on the course which Russia may take. If Russia demands too much from “Turkey it may be very hard for the combined wisdom of Europe to prevent another war. War once begun, where will it end? Com- bustible Barope is in great danger. Even M. de la Valette must now be seeing specks on the horizon, | AN AwwaNt ‘Ro ston—That Speaker Young- love will not appoint the House committees uotil after the election for United States Senator, A clever plan, perhaps, to further the Fenton cause, but a very unpopular move for Speaker ‘haat Musrorrar, Diamonps. Halt a million dol- lara’ worth of diamonds blazed at the ball of the Americus Club, they say. That club assembly represents the aristocracy of muni- cipal corruption, and the diamonds represent the taste that city nlunder develops. A Now Municipal Government. It is, perhaps, the least of the ‘compliments of the season” to congratulate the city upon the possession of new municipal machinery— new Boards of Aldermen and Assistant Alder- men and a new Mayor. Familiar by some considerable observation with the readiness and ease with which new boards step into the places of old ones and adopt their ways and vices, we are not hopeful for much im- provement through any mere change in the personality of a city government. One Board of Aldermen is like another, and the attempt to improve the quality of the second Board by changing the name from ‘‘Assistant Aldermen” to “Councilmen” and then back again to “Assistant Aldermen” has brilliantly failed. All the boards come from the same source, and, therefore, cannot differ. An election that is certain weeks before election day comes on— that is, the regular and inevitable consequence of a nomination secured and determined in the viler penetralia of the city slums, in the back rooms of rum shops and on the dangerous stairways that lead up or down to the “‘pri- maries”—such an election, as it does not in- volve any discussion of principlé or any in- vestigation of a man’s worth, can never give a true expression of the public intelligence. It is a mere swindle of the electors and cannot produce governing bodies such as the people of this city would choose, and certainly can- not produce a better body one year than another. These boards, therefore, may be looked upon as proper to con- tinue the same old vein in our municipal history that is our scandal, and reproach. In the Mayor's office we have what is rather new material in city politics, of that level in which mayors are made. Mr. Hall is not exactly the sort of man from which Tammany as a rule makes its candidates. Neither is he like those patent humbugs that have been from time to time elected Mayor in freaks of spas- modic virtue that have taken the name of reform. He is a better sort of man than either. He is one who may look upon the Mayoralty rather as the beginning than the end of his career, and thus may have an in- centive to identify himself with the better interests of the city and the citizens, In a resolution to do this on his part there might be some promise of advantage in his adminis- tration. Surely a man might have a much worse incentive in the world than the ambition to stand in the record as the first honest Mayor of thig great city—that is, the first honest one since those memorable days when it was the fashion to choose the Mayor from the ranks of citizens prominent for their virtues and their abilities, Moved by such an incentive, and acty ing in accordance with the suggestions of such an ambition, Mr. Hall, as Mayor of this city, could accomplish one of the greatest revolu- tions of the age. The “Glorious Eighth”—The Failure of ‘Tammany. “The glorious eighth”—the 8th of January, the anniversary of General Jackson's victory of New Orleans over the British in 1815—as a democratic celebration, has gradually died out, Down to our Southern rebellion it was a great day with the democracy, and the mighty battle from year to year was fought over again with all the honors as the corner stone of the Jacksonian democratic party. But when Grant's victories over the great rebel- lion began to come in, with more prisoners captured from the enemy than all the forces put together on both sides at Old’ Hickory’s New Orleans fight, the military magnificence of that affair dwindled into a bagatelle and ceased to be regarded as entitled to any further special notice, So it was that instead of opening the new Tammany Hall on the 8th of last January, it was held back for ‘“‘the glorious Fourth” of July, in Monor of the Declaration of Indepen- dence, which declares that ‘‘all men are cre- ated equal,” and in honor of General Grant's capture of Vicksburg and General Meade's great victory of Gettysburg. So, too, for several years past there has been no 8th of January blow-out by the St. Tammany Society of the Columbian Order. This year, as if de- liberately to give the 8th a final goodby and go-by, the Americus Club of democratic Pot- tawattomies, big Indians, little Indians and strikers, held their grand ball on the night of the 7th. On the night of the 8th, instead of a m grand festival powwow and war dance of the Tammany Arapahoes and Blackfeet, of the Sachems, Sagamores and Whiskey-skin- skis, in war paint, feathers and grease, in tho great temple of the faithful, it was all ablaze with Jarrett & Palmer's enlarged and diver- sified medley of entertainments, from the new attractions to the ‘Black Crook” up stairs, down to ‘Punch and Judy” in the basement. So the 8th of January, as the great anni- versary of the democratic party, has gone the way of ‘‘Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” So fade away the Indians—all the glories of this world. “Old Hickory” is too far back in the past to answer for the democratic figurehead of the present day. The chasm between Grant, the President elect, and Buchanan, or Limping Buffalo, the last of the Wampanoags, or democratic regulars, is too wide to be jumped with the ghost of General Jackson. We guess, moreover, that his famous declaration against the South Carolina fire-eaters—‘‘By the Eternal! the Union must and shall be pre- served!” has operated among our latter day democracy of the copperhead order to the dropping of the 8th of January. At all events, as these old democratic landmarks pass out of sight, it becomes a question of mighty moment what new landmarks will be set up in their places, The democratic party is adrift; and this is the moral of | our story. Prtunencesto Bratner. —There is no great- er bosh than the stuff we hear from sentimental politicians about Crete. We ought to sympa- thize with the Greeks because the Mohamme- dans are such dreadfal fellows and wage war with such atrocity! Nonsense! Obria- tians need not attempt to claim any snpe- riority over Mohammedans on the score of humanity, All the annals of Turkish barbarity cannot more than match Andersonville. More Gieaxtio Raitroap — Swinpnits.— We publish further disclosures respecting the gigantic swindles of the railroad rings in Washington. These frauds are absolutely ap- palling. They already have absorbed a fourth of the national domain, and harpies aro still hounding the lobbies at the Capitol for atill | turthor grants of land and anbaidios,