The New York Herald Newspaper, September 7, 1869, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1869.—TRIPLE SHEET, Of his family after partaking felt all the symptoms of poison, but timely assistance had brought them found again, A fire broke out in the State Prison at Auburn yes- terday morning, which destroyed some lumber sheds and store houses. Several contractors 108¢ about $25,000; the State loss ts small, Mrs, Catharine Washingtea, who claimed to be Grelation of President Washington, died at her re- sidenge in Deihitownsnip, Onto, on Saturday, aged eighty years, She was born and married on the Washington estate, in Culpepper county, Va. On the night of the Slat ult., at Malade station, Utah Territory, Wells, Fargo & Co.'s coach, which left Helena, Montana, three days before, was stopped by highwaymen and robbed of $30,000 in gold. About $40,000 tu the hands of the passengers escaped NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, Allbuainess or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Herat. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Letters and packages should be properly respectable and influential democratic papers in the South casting aside their old preju- dices. and pronounging unreservedly in favor gf méasures heretofore hated and smizned; while we see all these evidences of the intentions of the Southern democracy to let the dead past bury its dead, to recognize the positive fact of the progress of the age, and to aim at the realization of the rich fruits and blessings of a time of peace, the rewards of frugality and industry, the introduction of new energies into the whole industrial system of the South by the ald of capital and labor from the North and other more distant placos— sealed. No. 250 Volume XXXIV.... — AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENID a. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and ish street GOLON SHINGLE—Liva INDIAN, THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—BLow ¥or LOW. | THE TAMMANY, Fourteenth street.—Tur QUERN OF BRawte—TuR OLD WOMAN Tuat LiveD IN 4 SHOR, WOOD'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE, Thictioth atroot and roadway.—-Afternoon and eveniag fer(ormancs, FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Fifth avenue and Twenty- fourth streot.—Dngame. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Fonwosa; on, Tae BalLRoad To Rvin, BOWERY THEATRE, Bo: AND OUT OF PLAGR. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, coraor ot Bighth avenue and ‘966 slyeet.—THE Ska oF lor. tc —Tux Soortisu CulRYs— WAVERLEY THEATRE, No. 280 Broadway.—A QRAND Vanitry ENTERTAINMENT. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Tus Drama or UNOLE Tow’s Canin. BOOTH'S THRATRE, 23dat., between Sth and 6th ave.— Bir Van WINK)E. CENTRAL PARK GARDEN, 7th av., between S8th and ‘SOthats.—PoruLaR GARDEN CONORRT. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, Wl Bowery.—Comto Vooaitam, NEGRO MINSTERLBY, &c. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 585 Broaiway.--ETa10- PlaN MINSTRELSY, NEGRO ACTS, £0. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUS! Brooklya.—HooLar's MingreRLs—Turk Lapy Kit, 40. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— @OiRNOE AND Ant. LADIES’ NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 620 Broadwi 'RMALES ONLY (N ATTENDANCE. TRIP New York, Tuesda: rec THE NEWS. Europe. Cable telegrams are dated September 6. Napoleon was in decidedly weak health, but the Gespatches, generally, go to show that a fatal result Was not anticipated. The Paria Bourse was con- glderably excited, Tne French Senate adopted the Senatus Consultum. Spain proposes to reduce the Humber of bishops. Cardinal Cullen orders a thanksgiving for the disestabliahment of the State Church in Ireland. The Protestant prelates of Ire- land are engaged in reorganizing the Church, By steamship at this port we have mail details of our cable telegrams to the 27th of August, embrac- ing 8 variety of useful matter. Had Eugénie visited Constantinople she was to Dave had a brilliant reception and been taken all ‘over the harem, as shown by the Turkish State pro- gramme. The Cunard steamship Russta, from Liverpool the ‘Mth and Queenstown the 29th of August, arrived at LE SHEET, September 7, 1869. day, and with only moderate arrivals prices were quite steady at 153;0, a 164;0, for prime and extra, 1440. @ 15 ‘<c. for fair to good, and 110. a 14c, for n- unchanged, prime and extra being quoted $90 a $125 each; fair to good, $75 a $85, and inferior to common $40 @ $70. Veal calves were in fair request and firmer, prime and extra gelling at llc, a 1230.; common to good at 10c.allc., and inferior 9c. @ 93g. Prime and extra were quoted at 65c. a74<c., com- mon to good 5c. a 6c., and tnfertor 4c. a 434d. Lambs were selling at from 74;c. to 90. Swine were quiet at 9c. a 10c. for common to prime, with arrivals of 6,203 head, chiefly for slaughterers. Unitea States Army; Colonel Crawley and Frederick Walker, of London, England, and De B. Randolph Kel, of Washington, are at the Astor House. Army; ©. D. Sigsbee, John J. Homerly and Charles W. Ray, of the United States Navy; Colonel E. H. Cohen, of South Carolina, and Colonel A. H. Chabot, of San Francisco, are at the Metropolitan Hotel, mer, of the United States Army, and George Toland, of Philadelphia, are at the Hofman House. Bushnell, of New Haven, are at the #ifth Avenue Hotel. ‘Washington, and Manuel de Argumauz, of Lima, are at the Clarendon Hotei. Cushing, of New York, are at the Coleman House. Statea army, and Professor 1, Williams, of Massachu- Sets, are at the St. Charles Hotel. the notice of the freebooters, ‘The British bark Ezra ran ashore on Body's Island, below Norfolk, Va., afew days since, and is a total loss, A small boat, containing the captain and his wife, the chief mate, one boy and two seamen, in at- tempting to make the shore was capsized and all hauds were drowned. A great fire occurred in Richmond, Va., last night, the Logs amounting to $175,000. The City. In the Coroner’s investigation into the alleged outrage on Jacob Berkie, the German emigrant, by policemen, Captain Petty and his doormen testified yesterday that Berkle was very drunk when brought to the station nouse, and that he recetved his bruises while trying to escape, runming his head against the wall and the giass door in the corridor. ‘The persons who were supposed to have been lost in the bay by the capsizing of a sailboat off Fort Richmond were all picked up and are now safe, The stock market yesterday was weak and de- clined. Gold rose to 137%, fell to 1364, and closed 187 a 187. Beef cattic were ta colerably active demand yester- while we ave these things, we say, it is both shameful and mortifying to witness in the democracy of the North a desire to revive a spirlt of hostility among the Southern democ- racy against the North, to hold out to them a hollow prize in the shape of a hope of over- turning the decisive national legislation of the past four yoara, It will not be long, we dare say, before the South, with ite expectant revenue of three hundred millions this year from its great staples, will be in s condition to dictate terms to the democracy and all other parties in the North. And when the Southern democracy gay they are fn favor of negro suffrage, now that they cannot well get rid of it—and from experience thus far, they are more disposed to like it than dislike it, believing that it will in the end become an element of strength to themselves rather than to their enemies— when the Southern democracy say this, it is manifest that any attempt on the part of the ferior to ordinary. The major part of the | Northern democracy to make them change offerings was fair to good in quality. Métch | their purpose, or to interfere with their plans, cows were slow of gale, but prices were is both mischievous and dangerous. It ia even insinuated in political circles that the radicals begin to apprehend that they have caught a Tartar in this question of negro suffrage, and that, Instead of the enfranchised negroes in the South clinging to them like wax, they are likely to drop them like hot potatoes and return with their old affections to their old homes and adhere to tho interests of their old masters. Therefore the rampant Northern democracy should listen to the significant voices as they come borne upon the genial breezes of the Southern clime, beseeching them not to disturb the South in its present career towards unexampled physical and pecu- niary prosperity, and eventually to a reunion with their Northern brethren that will re- establish the power of the democracy upon a national foundation that will endure for half acentury, Meanwhile let the old democratic locomotives keep on whirling until a proper time for recoupling arrives, when, again united in bonds of steel, they can fly along once more upon the same broad guage track to victory and glory. As matters now stand the game for the suc- cession is in the hand of General Grant, and the only hope for the Northern democracy lies in a reunion with their advanced brethren of the South, Another Terrible Coal Mine Disaster. Sheep were steady, with @# fair demand. Prominent Arrivals in the Clty. Major Generai White and Major Rodney, of the Lieutenant G. W. Hooker, of the United States General Brayman, of Springfleid; Lieutenant Hos- Judge Nelson, of Poughkeepsie, and Colonel C, 8. ° W. Bodisco, Secretary of the Russian Legation at Goneral Albert Pike, of Washington, and A. Loring Colonel Stewart and Major F, Taylor, of the United Judge Connolly arrived yesterday by the steamer City of Washington from Europe. Peter B. Sweeny was expected by the same vessel, but did not ar- this port soon after one o’clook this morning, ead Turkey and Egypt. Cable despatches trom Constantinople and London Indicate an anxiety on the part of the Kuedive of Egypt to maintain friendly relacions with tue Sultan tf possible. Our special correspondence by mati from Con- @tantinople gives an interesting resumé of the causes which have excited and infuenced the dimi- oulty between the Sublime Porte and the Viceroy of Egypt. Prominent Departures, Cleon Rangabé, Chargé d’Afaires for Greece, for Long Branch; Major Marchanta for Baitimore; Judge R. Dickinson for St. Josephs, Mo.; General G. 1, Alexander aud General Cavender for st. Louts, and General Cavanaugh for Albany. The Administration—The Northern ana Southern Democracy. The administration of General Grant, all through considered, is getting on very well. It is reducing expenditures and the debt, in- creasing the revenue receipts, ferreting out frauds and lopping off excrescences from the Treasury; it is going smoothly and in a conciliatory spirit with the work of Southern reconstruction, and is keeping withal a sharp eye on the Cuban question, notwithstanding the fact that the President has, apparently, been devoting the whole summer to pleasuring excursions to the seashore, the mountains and the springs. We expect that he will make a good report of his stewardship in his first annual message to Congress. Meanwhile the republican party, excepting a few disappointed spoilsmen and carpet baggers, is satisfied with General Grant; but what of the democracy? What is the prospect for them? The national democracy is like a couple of exhausted locomotives on a patr of railroad turntables. The Northern and Southern wings having switched off on separate tracks, after a time they find themselves whirling around a cir- cle in order to discover a point at which they can again join, and, once again on the same track, getup steam and dash away as they did of yore, which means the days before the war. But time and the progress of the last few years have made wonderful changes in the essence and activity of the pure democracy. In the South ten years ago it was high treason to talk against slavery, and the idea of nogro suffrage would have suggested a wholesale human bar- becue of those who should dare to entertain the horrible heresy. The old hunker democracy of the North at the same time joined hands with their brethren of the South, and, if not quite so bitter and vin- dictive, they were fully as intolerant as the Southern Hotspurs and fire-eaters. During the time that has since elapsed, however, the Southerners, educated by the inexorable expe- riences of the war, have cooled their blood, toned down their high temper and been brought at last to look their position fairly and squarely in the face, Beaten on the field and their foes in full possession of the govern- ment in all its branches, they have been obliged, however unwillingly, to yield to the pressure of circumstance and to accept and ac- quiesce In the new order of things, And it is strange to see that while the old Southern leaders, like Lee, Joe Johnston, Wade Hamp- ton, Longstreet, Beauregard and many others, have announced themselves content, even though perforce, and that while the rank and file in Virginia have been marching to the polls in the same line with liberal republicans, and electing a Governor and a State Legislature of their own, and that while in the State of Mis- sissippi, the home of Jeff Davis—who hasn't yet “been hung on @ sour apple tree,” but is living in clover like a nabob across the water— we have seen old democrats coming forward, accepting the situation as it stands—ffteenth amendment, negro suffrage, a hearty endorse- ment of General Grant's administration, and all—and uniting with the moderate republicans rder to defeat the radicals; and further- mofe, while we see numbers of the most The Arctic Seas. Our correspondent with Dr. Haeys' exploring ex- Pedition writes from Ivigtut, South Greeland, under date of July 27. Dr. Hayes’ ship, the Panther, was cordially received by the Esquimaux at~Jullans- haab, where ball was got up in its honor. The Mosquitoes and flies were in olerable, The letter wil be found extremoly interesting. Cuba, The foreign residents of Havana are enlisting to take the piace of the volunteers after the latter go to the front. General Quesada attacked Las Tunas on ‘the 10th ult. with a large force, and a severe battle ensued. The Spaniards lost 100 and the Cubans 250 Killed; but the resuit of the victory is not stated. Miscellaneous. General Rawlins died yesterday afternoon. The President arrived at bis bedside too late, death hav- ing ensued before be could reach tt. Senator Fessenden remains tm the same critical condition as during Sunday night. ‘The report of an appalling casualty comes from the coal mining regions. The coal breaker and ont- Duilldings of the Avondale mine, at Plymouth, Pa., caught fire yesterday, and 200 persons, men and boys, who were working in the mine beneath were cut of trom all mode of es- cape and were suffocated. Upto a late hour last night the fire was still burning, and the black damp prevented any attempt being made to open a way to the victims, Two men wiv went down the shalt to find a way were almost instantly su‘ocated, and were found dead by two others coming after, A welcome rain storm visited Philadelphia last evening. It has not iad much effect on the thirsty olty yet, but strong hopes are entertained that the water famine is drawing to a close. The Susquehanna Raijroad election takes place at Albany to-day. Fisk is there. Governor Hoffman has appointed a long list of @istinguished New Yorkers delegates to the South- ern Commercial Convention to meet at Louisville, Ky., on the 12th of October. Among the lambs ana lions apt to lie down together under the appoint- ment gre Horatio Seymour, Horace Greeley, William Caulien Bryant, William M, Tweed, Marshall 0, Roberts, Freoman Clarke, John Tracy and others, James J. Brooks, a special revenue eficer in Pnil- adelphia, was shot and mortally wounded yesterday morning by a party of ruMans in a cigar store which had been seized and placed in charge of Brooks for violation of the revenue laws, $5,000 reward is Offered for the arrest of the assailants, who fled to Fairmount Park and disappeared. Argument was commenced yesterday In the Phila delphia Court of Common Pleas in the contested lection case involving all the municipal ofcers of Philadelphia’ elected last October. The evidence taken fills 4,000 pages. The State Department at Washington recently no tifled Governor Bowle, of Maryland, that informa- tion had been received at the Department to the effect that seven convicts and paupers had sailed from Bremen on the German bark Atalanta, for Baltimore. The bark arrived at Baltimore on Satur. day, and the alleged convicts and paupers were de- tained until yesterday, when, on investigation, it was shown that the parties were all respectable farmers, possessing considerable means, and that the charges were instigated by a rival emigrant line in New York. The American steamer Hornet 13 still discharging her coals at Halifax and no contraband goods have been discovered. Oharies R. Buckalew has been nominated by the @omocrats of the Northumberiend (Pa.) district for Btate Senator. At Lowell, Maas., yesterday, Miss Louisa Miner ‘was examined on the charge of attempting to polson Dr, L. W. Jennoss and hts family. The evi- Gence for the prosecution went to show that Miss Miner was a frequent visitor at the doctor's house, @nd becoming angry becaise another young lady about to visit the family, had made several pies | (0 ‘pot arsenic in them. The doctor aad twe iadies aS occurred in this country. most recent catastrophe is at the Avondale mines at Plymouth, south of Scranton, Pennsylvania. reported that in the coal mines at this place the burning of a ‘“‘coal breaker” threatens with one common death, through suffocation, no less than the appaling number of two hundred human beings. This number of persons—men and boys—it is known were in the mine at the breaking out of the fire. The minegis described Our telegraphic despatches bring us a heart- rending account of another of these frequently, of late, recurring disasters in coal mines here at home and in Europe, This last reported, if the results, when all the factsare known should prove as fatal as the despatch unfortunately leads us to fear, must be accounted the most harrowing and fatal to human life that has yet The scene of this about twenty miles It is as the Steuben shaft—a mine owned by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company. The fire broke out in the flue at the bottom of the Steuben shaft, and spread with such rapidity, and was at- tended with such devastating effect, that the whole ‘‘breaker” was immediately ignited, the outbuildings enveloped in flames and in an incredibly short time consumed. The hoisting apparatus, the only avenue for escape for the unfortunate men whenever its use could be made available for that purpose, shared the same fate, The greatest excite- ment prevailed, and the whole country round had hurried to the terrible scene. A large staff of physicians, summoned from Scranton and surrounding towns, were on the ground prepared to render all the aid in their power should the unfortunate men not be passed all such humane offices. A number of fire en- gines were also present, and vigorously worked by the excited people. The latest despatch from the scene reports that the shaft was cleared, and that two men were lowered in 8 bucket into the shaft, They had descended sixty or seventy yards when they came to a closed gangway door, which resisted all their efforta to force open. They found three dead mules outside the door. No signs of life were discovered, and it is feared that all the miners have perished. Here is another, the saddest chapter of horrors to those which have lately so shocked humanity, These accidents, or by whatever other name they may be called, have followed in quick and disastrous succession. Among the most terri- ble of them may be enumerated’ the coal mine explosion at St. Helen's, near Liverpool, on the 22d July last, which resulted in the death of fifty-three men, The Ferndale col- liery disaster, on the 10th June, in South Wales, in which a like number of victims—fifty- three perished; that at Lancashire, England, twenty-eight killed; the coal mine explosion, near Dresden, Saxony, on the 2d August, in which 321 perished ; the colliery explosion at Firminy, near St. Etienne, France, whereby fourteen persons lost their lives, And to this sad recital we fear that this later disaster at the Avondale minos now reported must be added with the sad reality that all in the mine at the breaking out of the fire, two hundred persons, have perished by suffocation. Here is sad cause enough to raise the queation and to have it discussed in all its bearings—is there no means that can be devised to prevent the terrible loss of life in coal mines, 80 subject to explosion? or, better still, cannot means be devised to prevent these explosions altogether. The Gorman Bishops im the Roman Counc, The bierarchical assemblage of German bishops in Fulda, and the programme adopted by these prelates as indicating the course which ‘they will observe in the Ecumenical Council in Rome, reported by our special cable telegram yesterday, stand forth as subjects of very considerable importance when viewed with reference to the politico-religious condition ex- istlug in Europe. The German episcopacy ex- presses complete fealty to the Holy See, couched, however, in words of cltizen inde- pendence and fraternal toleration. They keep, consequently, well up with the spirit of the age, and will, therefore, assume a very prom- inent part in the assemblage. This will be disagreeable to Napoleon—bad for Bonapart- ism. Napoleon the First, in the year 1809, said ‘‘he deemed it proper for the securlty of his empire and of his people to resume the grant of Charlemagne,” and subsequently, in his interview with Popo Pius the Seventh, in Rome, proposed that France should ‘‘wield the sword” and his Holiness ‘‘carry the keys of St. Peter.” The Pope described him as a comedian (comediante). Yot, nothwithatand- ing this, Napoleon the Third has frequently on- deavored to elaborate the ‘‘idea” into a reality, Plus the Ninth is very shrewd in his percep- tion of men and motives and inflexible in will, although mild in manner. He apprectates modern Germany—distrusts modern Bonapart- ism. Hence it is very probable that both in and after the coming council the oustody of both the sword and the keys will be in the hands of the Germans, Is it like the writing on the wall? Napoleon to the Viceroy—Peace on Any Terms, We have the news from London that the Khedive or Viceroy of Egypt has promptly telegraphed to Constantinople his aasent to the severe conditions of the Sultan, military, financial and tributary, insisted on in the recent ominous letter of the Sultan, thus leaving no excuse for any hostile action on his part. At the same time the Khedive was on his way to the Sultan, to make assurance doubly sure. This of itself would simply signify that Ismail Pacha is not ina position to defy the Sultan; but it means much more in connection with what follows. It appears that the French Minlater at Constantinople had telegraphed the main points of the Sultan’s letter to the Khedive before he reached Alex- andria, at the same time urgently advising him to submlt to its terms, From this we perceive that Napoleon de- sires peace for the present between the Sultan and the Viceroy, however offensive to the latter the terms may be. And why? Because, it may be said, Napoleon is apprehensive that & rupture between Turkey and Egypt at this crisis would not only involve all the great European Powers, but might be followed by serious internal embarrassments in France. All such conjectures, however, touching this Egyptian question are trifles to Napoleon now compared with the very delicate question of his health, and the crisis which his death may bring upon France. It is doubtless in view of this possible crisis that the Emperor of all things desires peace with his neighbors and peace on the Eastern question. He wishes to reserve his strength intact for the conflict with the radical republicans of France and all the factions opposed to the empire. Hence this advice of the French Minister at Constan- tinople to the Egyptian Viceroy. Hence ‘‘the empire is peace" because the internal condi- tion of France and the convulsion threatened in a certain event demand it, There has never been an occasion in which peace in France and peace in Europe depended so much upon the slender thread of a single life as they de- pend upon the life of Napoleon at this crisis, Tennessee Politice=One Wing of the Re- publican Brethren atished.”? Daylight appears to be dawning through the almost impenetrable fog of Tennessee politics, A short time since the Stokes faction of radi- cals published a manifesto, in which they de- clared the late election to be a fraud or some- thing worse, and that Senter’s election by some seventy thousand majority was a cheat upon the republican party. Stokes and Senter both galloped off to Washington, and the re-~ ports about what each accomplished with the the Executive and heads of departments have been variously reported by Washington corres- pondents and commented upon by newspaper editors. At one time it was Senter, at another it was Stokes—pull Senter, pull Stokes; pull Dick, pull Devil. But, whatever may have been done by Stokes, it is clear, from an arti- cle we give to-day from the Knoxville Herald and Press—Senter organ—that Governor Sen- ter has won the race, having entered the home- stretch and crossed the score many lengths in advance of his adversary. Governor Senter, on his return home, reports that in his inter- view with the President he was voluntarily assured by General Grant that he recognized him asthe Governor de facto and the lawful Governor elect of the State; that he had no more right, and thought no more of doing s0, to inquire into the regularity of the Tennessee election than he would have to take cognizance of and set aside the elections In Ohio, Pennsylvania or New York. He further stated that no federal officer in Tennessee should be removed for having voted for Senter or for universal suffrage candidates for the Legislature. This declaration will prove a generous nervine to those who, in defi- ance of Secretary Boutwell’s radical edict in favor of Stokes, went for Senter and the new Legislature, And to put @ climax upon this triumph of the Senter wing of the Tennessee republicans, with its admixture of democracy, the Governor utterly repudiates the idea of re- convening the defunct Legislature, from which the Stokes men anticipated so much, Senator Brownlow, in a letter we published yesterday, endorses Senter as good enough republican for him, and proceeds to disclaim any responsibility for the return of ‘democratic, conservative or rebel members to the Legisla- ture,” and for any unlawful, anarchical action they may take, The Parson, like a physi- olan who has just written a powerful pre- scription for a patient in extremity, con- cludes :—‘‘In the event that the Goneral Assembly—the one recently elected—shall refuse to adopt the fifteenth amendment, which I do not believe, and shall clect a United States Senator boatila to the ee ? government and the administration, my ac- tions will be determined by my convictions of duty.” This is something like applying the antidote after the poison has had ite effect and after the corpse has been lowered fnto its Grave, It means simply this:—‘‘If e3-Presi- dent Johnson should be elected United States Senator in place of Fowler I, Parson 3rown- low, his colleague, will shake hands with him, present his credentials and welcome him into the Senate Chamber, no matter whit may have been our previous misunderstanding, and those who do not like it may say or do what they blessed please.” With Andy John- gon and Parson Brownlow yoked in the same team and Ben Butler in o tandem rig of his own, the Senate Chamber during the sessions of 1871-72 is likely to prove the areva of ex- traordinary and piquant political ccntrover- sies. Meanwhile the Senter men congratu- late themselves that the lifting of the fog shows them to be, like the mystified mariner, in go eligible a position for a good land-fall, and declare that so far as their wing of the republicans of Tennessee is concerned the “brethren are satisfied.” — Our Summer Resorte—Tho Clearing Out. President Grant left Saratoga at six o'clock on Sunday evening and hastened to the bed- side of his dying friend, Secretary Rawlins, at Washington. The sudden departure of the President will be followed, not only by that of all the place-hunters who have dogged his steps throughout the summer, but also by that of all the other more or less disinterested visitors to the once famous springs. The win- try weather which prevailed last week at Long Branch has dispersed nearly all the “summer boarders" at the Continental, the United States, the Metropolitan and the Stetson House. These houses closed yesterday for the season. Cape May has been burned out. Newport itself, and West Point, and all the other favo- rite summer resorts of New Yorkers will soon be abandoned by them. Preparations are, however, being already made for rendering these resorts still more attractive next year. ‘* Marble halls” aro in some of them to replace the vast wooden caravansaries which almost temptingly invite the incendiary’s torch. But those who are so fortunate as to have enjoyed the delightful social freedom of the cottages at the watering places of Virginia and Alabama, as well as at Saratoga, will hardly believe that any amount of architectural splendor can com- pensate for the old fashioned privacy and com- fort which will henceforth only recall pleasant but mournful memories, It is noteworthy that while during the past season a larger proportion than ever of our city population has been absent, their usual summer resorts have been, with few excep- tions, comparatively dull. The exorbitant charges of landlords and the indifference, not to say the insolence, of some of their subordi- nates, have conspired to drive many of our pleasure-seekers either to Europe or to quiet, secluded nooks in our own ooun- try. Not # few have availed themselves of the recently opened Pacific Railway to try a trip across the Continent, They have been amply rewarded by witnessing the novel glo- ries of Rocky Mountain scenery. No doubt they will be followed by a yearly increasing number of adventurous tourists, and it will not be surprising if splendid hotels shall ere long be built for the accommodation of sum- mer visitors from the Atlantic cities and from Europe to Pike's Peak, the Arkansas springs, Salt Lake City, the wonderful cafions of Col- orado, the gold and silver districts in the Sierra Nevada, the Yosemite valley and the Pacific coast. Troors ror Cusa—A Dovsrru, Re Porr oF Footish Pouty.—A_ telegram from Madrid says that four thousand troops are to sail on the 9th and 10th of this month for Cuba, and that six thousand more are to follow in a few days, We doubt this report, because negotiations are going on with the United States witha view to the independence of Cuba, and because Spain has neither the troops nor money to spare for such a Quixotic movement. The report may have got out through the government for the purpose of making a show of zeal, and to hurry up the United States to a bargain; but we have no idea that Spain will or can send ton thousand additional troops to Cuba. Should we be mistaken, however, and the Spanish government be foolish cnough to spend so much money and sacrifice its soldiers in’ that way, the end must be the same—the independence of Cuba will be attained though the war should be prolonged. We hope the report is not true, and that the Spanish government will have the wisdom to accept the proposition of the United States for the settlement of the Cuban difficulty. Toe Fire Fiexp.—The losses by fire throughout the United States during the month of August, just passed, amounted to $6,438,000. This is a startling statement, The loss is nearly double that of August, 1868, and much exceeds the total of any month during the past or present year. The value of property destroyed by fire since January 1, 1869, already amounts to $27,100,000, while the total losses in 1868 were legs than $35,000,000, The fire of August 5, in Philadelphia, when property valued at $4,000,000 was burned, he most destructive one that has occurred in the coun- try since July'4, 1866, when the city of Port- land, Me., was devastated—the loss amounting to $10,000,000. The widespread drought has, of course, been one of the principal causes of this great destruction of property. In this connection New York has especial cause for’ thankfulness, The total loss by fire in this city during the month of August was less than $8,000, and at no one conflagration was pro- perty valued at $10,000 destroyed. So much for the blessings of our never-failing Croton and the efficiency of our Fire Department, DeatH or SgcretaRy or War Rawtixs.— Our telegraphic despatches from Washington report what had been so long anticipated, the death of General Rawlins. The sad event occurred at four o'clock yesterday evening. As our readers are aware, President Grant hurried from Saratoga in compliance with the wish expressed by the dying Secretary, and conveyed to him by telegraph, to see him before he died, This last wish, unhappily, could not be gratified, as the Seoretary bad expired before tho President could roach Washington The Philadelphia Water Famine—A Remedy, In the groat distress of the Philadelphia people we have seut them oneof our fire and wrecking steamers to help pump water from the Schuylkill into the Fairmount reservoir. She can do it at the rate of eight thousand gallons a minute, and thus relieve the turbine wheels fora little time, which are exhausting the waters that might bo supplied to the city by working the machinery. If we had not two fire steamers on hand here we could not sup- ply our Philadelphia brethren with the efficient aid of the John Fuller. In addition to furnish- ing the steamer we can furnish some good ad- vice to the managers of the water works in Philadelphia, and that is to use steam engines in pumping water into the reservoirs instead of wasting thousands of gallons of water on their turbine wheels. There is an abundance of the fluid in Philadelphia, but as long a8 four-fifths or thereabouts of the Schuylkill river is used in turning the machinery em- ployed to keep the reservoirs full, and then is Permitted to run worthlessly to the sea, a water famine must be inevitable when a dry season comes, We are very kindly disposed towards our sedate representatives of brotherly love, but we cannot always spare them a fire steamer. to keep them in cold water on an emergency like the present. And such a mis- fortune may come upon them at any time if they do not take our advice and economize their water for city purposes, by using steam engines for pumping it into the reservoirs. Coal is cheap in Pennsylvania. Recent events have proved to the residents of Philadelphia that it is cheaper than water. Auvother Change iu Postage Stamps. ° It appears that another attempt is to be made in the fine art department of the General Post Office to give us a respectable, intelligible postage stamp. The present miserable experiments in blue, with a meaning- less legend, are to be recalled, and something new, in red, is to be substituted. The old heads of Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Frapklin and Lincoln are to be restored. It is about time that some definite form and design of postage stamp should be adopted, so that people may know to a certainty what mucilagated square of paper will carry @ letter to its destination or what will not, If there is not genius enough in the Post Office Department to invent a good design, which may be permanent, let the authorities advertise for one. They will find plenty of people able to supply them; ond whea once adopted, let the new design remain in use. Every other country has been able to. fix upon an intelligent postage stamp, recog- nizable all the world over. Can ft be that the spirit of jobbery so prevails in our Post Office Department that we must have a new design every six months or thereabouts? Rienr aNp PropeR—The abandonment by General Grant of his proposed visit to Senator Conkling’s hospitalities at Utica and the General's immediate departure from Saratoga for the bedside of his dying Secretary of War in Washington, and the General’s letter on the subject is that of the faithful friend and fellow soldier, City Entertainmente—Palmo. Eighteen entertainments, more or less, mu- sical or dramatic, are advertised in the HERaLp, here at what seems almost midsummer for play- goers; and in the same number is announced the death of Ferdinand Palmo, the little, quiet, yellow, old man, whose youth and hope and enthusiasm had passed away many, many years before any of our present theatres, save only the Bowery, were built, How unmerciful disaster followed that altogether kindly spirit, who, blending the merchant and the artist— and a true Italian in both—mingled music and confectionery with such bewildering propor- tions in hiscareer! How the buffet of fortune had softened him, too! Not that he was ever other than a gentle mannered man, as remem- bered by those who sipped coffee and played dominoes at his little marble tables and listened to the music that made his establishment, in all decent senses, a forerunner of the concert hall. Talking of his little marble tables, &o., how much better it might have been for morals and manners {f refreshment establishments in our midst had, in their growth, taken the type of the café in Palmo’s style rather than the type of the ‘“‘bar” from the Western steamboat landing. This fire and fall back plan is just a test of who can stand longest his devotion to our social vice; but the other plan, bringing together men likely to have something to say, gave them a chance to say it, and wreathed the bowl with flowers of soul. Men of the right sort met at Palmo’s. We wot of the time when a journalist of this town, who has lived to be famous as a maker of the most fearful jokes, sat at one of Palmo’s tables and sipped his pleasant glass with two associates, One of the two was a fiddler in the orchestra, the other was the present Emperor of France, Palmo cannot be compared to Columbus, although both were Italians, for he did not dis- cover this country with respect to Italian opera. Nay, if we speak chronologically, ho came even late in its history, for so brilliant a name as that of Maria Garcia goes nineteen years earlier in the story—goes with financial collapse, too, for even the power and splendor of the future Malibran in Desdemona and Cin- derella did not prevent the failure of her father’s venture to this barbaric shore. Could not all the wrecks with which that operatic coast was strewn have warned the speculative apirit of the caterer to more material tastes? He had a generous devotion in him, and some cool calculation, too. He had made fortunes enough to believe thathe was alba galling filius, and, perhaps, he thought that he was to reap the harvest prepared by all those losses in their education of public taste. It was a fatal error to him, for his grand enterprise of the opera in Chambers street was his ruin; yet the city reaped some advantage in a hand- some theatre, Its contemporaries were tho Park, the National, or Chatham, the Bowery and the old Olympic—that is, Mitchell's, In those days there were still private residences in Wall street, and the ele~ gant neighborhood of St. John’s Park, now overlooked by Commodore Vanderbilt’s brass hodge-podge, was the equivalent of the modern Murray Hill, People went to Vauxhall Gar- den in the Bowery on holidays, instead of going to Jones’ Wood—Vauxhall Garden, in one corner of which now stands the Astor .isorarv, There was another gardon—yone SS ES SS. ‘