The New York Herald Newspaper, December 25, 1869, Page 4

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4 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Haratp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Volame XXXIV... NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broaaway.—Tuk DuAMA Lirtie Em'ty. Matinee at 2. or WOOD'S MUSEUM AND MENAGERIE, Broadway, cor- ner Thirticth st,—Matinee daily. Performance every evening. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—-Tut GUNMAKER OF MoscowW—BAKED ALI &o, Matinee at 2, WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and 13th street,— ERNESTINE—IRYING IT ON. THE TAMMANY, Fourteenth street.—Ta® BURLESQUE or Bap Dickey. ba GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of Eighth avenue and 23d street.—LINGARD'S BURLESQUE COMBINATION, BOOTH’S THRATRE. 2 Tax Meary WIvEs or Wi etween Sth and 6th avs.— Re OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broacway.—Unper THR Gas- Ligut, Matinee at 2. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth st.—Tux Duke's Morro. FRENCH THEATRE, I4th st, and 6th av.—LONDON. Matinee at 2. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Mth street.—HERRMANN, THR Guear PRESTIDIGITATEOR. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery— La BEiue HELEN, MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklya.— 4 MipsumMeER’s NiGut’s DREAM. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC.—Troppen Down; o8, UNpgR Two FLaGs. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street—Tuk ORATORIO ‘OF THE MEssiAu. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Comic VooALism, NEGRO MINSTRELSY, 40. Matinee at 259. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Comio Vocat- 16M, NEGRO Acrs, &c. Matinee at 2. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Tammany Building, Mth @t.—BRYAN1'S MINSTRELS. Matinee at 2. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, 585 Broa !way.—Eraio- Plan MINSTRELSY, NRGRO AcTs, &0.—“HasH.” WAVERLEY THEATRE, N 720 Broadway.—Erito- PIAN MINSTRELSY, NEGRO AOTS, &o. Matinee at 2. NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth strect.—EquestRtan AND GYMNASTIO PERFORMANCES, &C, Matinea at 2, E, Brooklyn.—Hooury's ON, &C, Matinee at 2g, HOOLEY’S OPERA HOU: MINSTRELS—A TRIP TO APOLLO HALL, corner 28th street and Broadway.—Tur Canvirr Giant. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 613 Brosdway.— BOIENOE AND Act. ‘, EW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618}y FEMALES ONLY IN ATTENDANOK. New York, Saturday, December 25, 1869. Europe. Cabie telegrams are dated December 24. By special cable telegram from Paris we learn that the French Minister of Foreign Affairs entertained General Banks at a grand diplomatic banquet previ- ous to the departure of the General for America. There were eighty persons present, Minister Sickles has, it 18 said, obtained the ap- Provai of Engiand to his project for the neutrality of ocean telegraphs, as submitted to the Spanish Min- isters, The Christmas weather was delightful in England. The Emperor of Austria and King of Italy are to meet at Ancona next month, Victor Emanuel visiting Vienna subsequently. The ex-Queen of Naples gave birth toa daughter. The names of the members of the Committee on Discipline of tue Ecumenical Council have not been yet pudlished. The London Times “rejoices” that the Irish in America have abandoned the idea of an Irish republic, and ad- vises the Irish in Ireland to do the same. The hold- ers of Erte Ratiroad stock in England are about to soek redress in the law cour's. British oficiais aepy that the government fears the efforts ol the Irish radicals in Manchester. Miscellaneous. General Terry was yesterday assigned to the com- Mmand of Georgia as a district, in addition to his duties as Commander of the Department of the South, The new postal convention between the United Staves and Great Pritain, which was officially pro- claimed yesterday, goes into effect on Saturday next. The Secretary of the Republican Executive Com- muitee of Texas telegraphed yesterday that Davis, repudiican, was elected Governor by 800 majority and would assume nis duties in a few days. Secretary Fish has notified holders of claims against Mexico that the same must be presented before the commission, now in session in Washing- ton, On or before the 3ist day of March next. A convention of temperance men was held at Syracuse, N. Y., on Wednesday last, at which it was determined to put in the political field a new party upon # broad and strong temperance platform. The new party will wage Its war principally against dramshops. Important changes are soon to be made in the management of tue Great Western Railway of Can- ada, By an arrangement with the English directors the road will be placed under tne contro! of the Michigan Central and other connecting railroads. ‘The appraisers of the estate of Lochy Ostrom, the Poughkeepsie maiden miser, who recently died under circumstances of great destitution, have al- ready discovered vaiuabies to the amount of $25,000, and it is supposed much more will be brought to light. James Galvin, an employé on the Harlem Railroad, on Thursday night, while intoxicated, fell upon the railroad track at Ghent station and was run over by & passenger train and killed, his nead being severed from his body. » General Salomon, of Chicago, was yesterday noti- fled that he had been appointed by the President Governor of Washington Territory. The Montgomery Opera House at Lafayette, Ind., ‘was destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon. Loss $40,000, The City. The mystery in the Galler-Wedekind mystery had all che mystery taken out of it yesterday by the Coroner's jury, Though it was not ascertained how Mr. Galler came to die, It was pretty clear he was not potsoned, Mrs. Galler was discharged from any survelliance, Dr, Wedekind, who is released on bail, will come up next month, at the General Ses- sions, to answer the charge of blackmalling. Henry A. Allen, janitor of the Sub-Treasury in this city, was yesterday arrested on the charge of de- frauding the government, and also of having de- stroyed a book of disbursements belonging to the United States. He was heid in $10,000 to await examination on Wednesday next. ‘The counsel of Remsen and Hannigan, the police robbers, yesterday moved for a writ of error and wtay of proceedings, before Judge Cardozo, on the grounds that certain instructions of Jadge Hackett to the jury were erroneous, and also that the charac- ter of the money was pot proven. Judge Cordozo Teserved his decision. A young man from the country attempted to obtain | $2,068 im gold from the Unon National Bank yesterday on a check purporting to be drawn by Messrs. James Rowland & Son. The check waa pronounced a forgery and the young man waa arrested. George Francis Train has commenced sult against the Cooper Unton for the recovery of $4,000 damages becanse the Institute building was not opened to him for a jectare on Sunday iaat. NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25,: 1869, a lt nO cian eet nema * ‘William F. Gray and others in the alleged forgery Of | the rebels again in front of the national capi- bonds in Wall street. ‘The stock market yesterday was dull and steady. Gold was quiet between 120% and 120%, closing tinally at 120%. Prominent Arrivals in the City. Congressman B. F. Butler, of Lowell; Secretary G. S. Boutwell, of Washington; James T. Ames, of Chicopee, Muss.; Colonel W. A. Roebling, of Long Island; J. 8. Parker, of Plymouth; Captain Nichol- Son, of the United States Army, and D, Lyman, of Connecticut, are at the Astor House. General E. Downey, of Texas; Dr. H. C. Oliver, of Massachusetts; Dr. A, F. Clark and Dr. R. S. Haw- ley, of Connecticut; eral J. E. Beattie, of South Carolina; Judge C! es Daniels, of Buffalo, and Paymaster J. 8. Gorand, of the United States Navy, are at the Metropolitan Hotei. ‘ Charles Eaton, ex-United States Marshal of Minne- Sota, 1s at the St. Charles Hotel. General D. C. Buell, of Kentucky; W. K. Hyer and Peter Knowles, of Pensacola, and H. L. Bateman, of Philadelphia, are at the New York Hotel. Major General Doyle, of St. John, N. B., t3 at tne Clarendon Hotel. Jacob Sharp, of New York; C. N. Yeamans, of Massachuseits, and Joseph Lowrie, of Hartford, are at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Colonel Hy. Harley, of Pennsylvanta; J. A. Schroe- der, of Bremen, and Colonel A, Garloff, of the Rus- sian Army, are at the Hoffman House. Prominent Departures. P, H. Field and Colonel 1, B, Parker, for Philadel- phia, and N. Aubrim, for Montreal. Death of Edwin M. Stanton, “Like the sound of the fall of a mighty pine in the stillness of the woods,” as an Indian orator once said of a chief of his tribe, comes to us from Washington the news of the death of that heroic and conspicuous patriot and public servant, Edwin M. Stanton, Elsewhere in these columns we give a sketch of his life and public services; but the occasion is emi- nently fitting for some passing general remarks, which we here propose, on the important part which this extraordinary man so well per- formed from the beginning to the end of our recent terrible and momentous struggle for the life of the nation. There was a crisis in our national affairs toward the close of Buchanan’s deplorable administration, the dangers of which can hardly be exaggerated. In this crisis there were four men on guard, each equal to the demands of the hour, who deserve especial remembrance. They were General Winfield Scott, whose wise military precautions defeated the first intended coup of the Southern con- spirators, the capture of Washington; and Edwin M. Stanton, General Dix and Judge Holt, who—on the retirement of the secession conspirators, Cobb, Floyd and Thompson, and in the reconstruction of the Cabinet, which followed—it so happened were called in among Buchanan’s new advisers, and just in time to save him from an unconditional capitulation to the projected Southern confederacy. These three men (Stanton, Dix and Holt) held up the feeble arms of Buchanan, where otherwise he would have, fallen in his drivelling imbecility ; while Scott, with his hastily collected troops and improvised defences of the Capitol and Trea- sury Department, held at bay the rebel volun- teers organized and lying in wait in Maryland and Virginia for the assassination of the incoming President Lincoln and the seizure of Washington. The patriotism and intrepidity exhibited by Stanton in this crisis marked him out to Presi- dent Lincoln as his man for the War Office in another crisis with the retirement of General Cameron. At this point in our history, January, 1862, the city of Washington and the army of McClellan were invested by the rebel army of Joe Johnston, and the Potomac river by his land batteries was held under a rigid blockade. The national cause looked s0 unpromising that England and France were itching for a pretext for an armed alliance with Jeff Davis in order to put an end to the “Great Republic” and a stop to the march of popular institutions and popular ideas. At the same time our national treasury, depleted by Cobb and his associate conspirators, and left on the verge of bankruptcy by Buchanan, was threatened with ruin. Thus the prospect for the Union cause, in a diplomatic, finan- cial and military view, was dark, dubious and discouraging. But in this fearful crisis, asin the first, it so happened again that there were three men in the Cabinet, each in his department the very man for the emergency—Seward, Chase and Stanton. A war with England and France at the time when Washington and McClellan's army were held under siege by Joe Johnston, or atany time in the interval to Lincoln’s second election in 1864, would have broken up the Union for a division among the spoilers; for did not the Chicago Democratic Presidential Convention of that year pronounce the war against the Southern confederacy ‘‘a failure?” It was imperatively necessary then on our part to avoid a rupture with England or France, for a break with ¢ither would have been a war with both. How our Secretary of State, Seward, kept the peace with them we need not here repeat. In his humiliating concessions and special pleadings, from time to time, he sorely tried the patience of our Northern people, but, much against their will, he kept off England and France. In the next place, without money we could not have maintained for a twelvemonth the war against Jeff Davis and his cotton and English cotton loans, The paper money sys- tem, organized and put into operation by the Secretary of the Treasury, Chase, met the exigency, and in making the banks and other corporations and the great body of the people of the North the holders and endorsers of his paper he made them an active, earnest and resistless phalanx in support of the war for the Union, Thus we may say that if Seward saved the Union in his diplomatic apologies, concessions and special pleadings, in keeping off England and France till the danger was over, Chase also saved the Union in providing it the sinews of war against the most gigantic rebellion in human history. But the war, meantime, was only a record of chaos, waste and disastera—a waste of time, money and men, and fruitful only of confusion and defeats. The war remained still to be organized ; and here Stanton, generally recog- nized as the American Carnot, steps in upon the scene. He organized war on a grand scale, He furnished arms, ammunition, pro- visions, clothing and transportation with a liberal hand in every quarter; but his first reward was a series of terrible defeats, which tal. Next Grant is called to the rescue, in the command of all our armies, and his grand combinations, with Stanton’s supplies of men and materials, diffused over an area equal to the half of Europe, culminated in the flight and pursuit of Jeff Davis and of Lee, in the light of their burning Confederate capital, and ended in the collapse of the rebellion, Through all these vicissitudes the courage, the constancy, the wonderful industry, capabilities and re- sources of Stanton never failed and never flinched. There he stood among the breakers, a strong lighthouse, through all the lashings of the storm, always shining out only the more clearly when apparently threatened with de- struction. An ‘honest, earnest, active, firm, resolute, decisive and efficient man was Stanton in the War Office—the man of all men for the part he had to play. It may be gaid that he was rough, imperious, despotic, cruel and offensive in many things, Measured, however, by the hatred of the implacable adherents of the rebellion, in his services to the Union he stands first in the list of the great champions of the cause. Eminently distinguished in the charac- ter of Carnot, he has left the additional fame of a lawyer fully qualified for the high position to which he was but the other day appointed and confirmed, as a judge of the Supreme Court. His name will live and his memory will be revered while the enduring principles of Union, liberty, equal rights and law survive in the minds of men. His friends, in view of his services as a public man, are millions in number, while the enemies he leaves behind him, with a few exceptions, are the unhappy mourners over the “lost cause.” Christmas. The memory of eighteen centuries of Chris- tian civilization comes back to us this day. That civilization has not been all unspotted. Many harsh and cruel things have been done in the name of the Christian religion ; nor have its professors always been as true as the Apostles, as meek as the confessors and vir- gins, nor as self-sacrificing as the martyrs ; still we welcome with hallelujahs the annual return of the day when the corner stone of that civilization was laid in the stable at Bethlehem. In celebrating Christmas in our joyous and worldly fashion we fear that many people do not follow in their mind’s eye the Babe of Nazareth through the ethical phases of his career. We do not recall so much as we ought the teachings in the temple, the won- drous miracles illustrating the power of the Father, nor the sublime doctrine of the Ser- mion on the Mount. But if we forget these essential lights‘of the Christian faith it cannot be said that the Christmas festivities are not right royally kept in this community. Our market stalls groan with all luscious viands which the farm, the garden and the poultry yard can supply. The tables of the ancient barons in the days of Bluff Harry, with their famous boars’ heads and giant flagons of wine, did not excel in hospitable show the tables of our citizens in these less barbarous times, Jewels from the Orient, pearls from the Indian seas, gold from our own California and silver from Nevada sparkle in the Broadway win- dows, booka with costly bindings heap the shelves of the publishers, and at this festive season these gifts find their way into thousands of households to make glad the hearts of mothers, wives and children—dutiful and loving reminders that Christmas has come again, and that home is not forgotten in the general joy. There may be a reverse to this picture, and we know that, in a large community like ours, there must be a dark side to every picture. “The poor always ye have with you,” said He who preached charity to all men. Let those whose households are illuminated with happi- ness to-day forget not, when the church bells call them to worship—to join in the glorious anthem which belongs to this great festival— that there are many homes around them where but little Christmas festivity will enter. Let them remember, also, that all the duties of the day are not limited to prayers and preachings, God help the poor little ones whose fathers went home last night with diminished purses ! No joyful jingle of Santa Claus’ merry bells for them. No comtort for their sad young hearts but the smiles and whispers of the | angels who minister to Him who said ‘Suffer little children to come unto me.” Be ye who revel in the exuberance of this Christmas fes- tival, welcome its bright, auspicious skies, who share the pleasures of its matinées in a dozen theatres, who gather around the domestic altars where thousands of turkeys are sacri- ficed, who recall old memories beside the yule log, and smile beneath the Christmas holly— be ye the angels to these little ones—remember- ing the memorable words, ‘‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Thus we finish our Christmas sermon with the benediction—a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all the world. A Leapina Britist Jovrnat rejoices over the political attitude which it says the Irish in America have just assumed towards the ‘Old Country.” The Irish in America, particularly after the democratic triumphs in New York, will be very apt to rejoin with the timeo Danaos. A Birv wy tHe Hanp.—We advise Hoar not to be sensitive. Some peculiar politicians want him to leave the Cabinet. They suppose because he cannot be a judge of the Supreme Court he ought not to be anything, but only go to Massachusetts, put his head in a corner and pout. His virtual rejection for one place is regarded as a reason why he should give up another, We trust he will not yield to any such nonsense, but will hold on to the place he has and rely upon the Tenure of Office bill to help him. Tux Resutt or A Swinpte.—In 1863 a dealer in firearms in this city sold a package of goods, to be sent to Indiana and paid for there. He entrusted them to an express com- pany. They were never called for in Indiana, but after the box had been kept for a time by the company it was opened and the discov- ery made that the firearms had been taken out, Doubtless the man who ordered the goods had his arrangements made for empty- brought the enemy upon the heels of onr routed ermies to the gates of Washington. Eugene Finck, a broker, was yesterday arrested end committed on charge of being implicated with Then follows a hopeful victory or two, and then another catalogue of defeats, which bring ing the box when it came along the line, and be got his pistols, as the courts have just de- cided, at the expense, not of the dealer, but the expresa company. No Entangling Alliances with Europe. There is generally danger in over much talk- ing and in long drawn out diplomatic corre- spondence, and Mr. Fish has shown this in his lengthy despatch of September 25, 1869, on the Alabama claims, He has gone in direct opposition to the cherished policy of this coun- try, of making no entangling alliances or enter- ing into no unnecessary international obliga- tions with the governments of Europe. From the time of Washington, who first cautioned his country against entering into entangling alliances with European Powers, and who desired this republic to have a policy of its own, to within a recent period our govern- ment has avoided entering into general treaties having a political bearing. Yet our present Secretary of States says to Mr. Motley, the American Minister at London, to be communi- cated to the British government, that import- ant changes in the rules of public law regard- ing neutral rights and belligerency are desir- able, and that this has been demonstrated by the incidents of the last few years. Mr. Fish intimates, consequently, that in view of the maritime prominence of Great Britain and the United States it would befit them to mature and propose to the other States of Christen- dom such changes in the rules of pub- lic law. Lord Clarendon, of course, seized with avidity this proposition or intimation, and remarked, that “her Majesty’s government fully agree with Mr. Fish in considering that it would be desirable to turn the difficulties which have arisen between the two governments to good account by making the solution of them subservient to the adoption, as between themselves in the first instance, of such changes in the rules of public law as may prevent the recurrence between nations that may concur in them of similar difficulties hereafter.” England and the other Powers of Europe would be very glad to make any general treaty on the subject of neutrality or belligerency that would arrest the progress and destiny of the United States in this hemisphere, that would tie up the hands of our government in such a case as that of Cuba just now, or in the caseof any war for independence hereafter by any of the American colonies of European nations. It is the very thing they want, for they are jealous of the expansion and growing power of the United States and fear the spread of republican institutions and ideas. It will be remembered that they wanted to bind us in this manner relative to Cuba and other European possessions in America by the pro- posed famous tripartite treaty which Mr. Edward Everett, when Secretary of State, knocked on the head. He spoke like an American statesman when he declined to enter into this treaty, because, as he said, ‘‘Cuba, territorially and commercially, would in our hands be an extremely valuable possession,” and that ‘‘in certain contingencies it might be almost essential to our safety;” and also because ‘‘by the proposed tripartite treaty the United States might disable themselves from making an acquistion in the’ natural order of things.” Yet Mr. Fish now proposes to enter into a general treaty with European governments on the subject of neutrality and belligerency which would assuredly bind the United States from expansion or annexation, and which would prevent us from extending sympathy or giving aid to any colonial people struggling for their independence. This is the kind of statesmanship which rules in Washington now. How have the mighty fallen! How degraded 8 position has this great republic assumed in its foreign policy under the shortsighted and weak men now atthe head of the State De- partment! But does Mr. Fish suppose he can bind England not to foment wars and to inter- pose in them for the sake of territorial expan- sion or aggrandizement in different parts of the world? Does he think France, Prussia, Rus- sia and other European Powers will be deterred from annexation, or from carrying out their ambition or destiny whenever an opportunity occurs? Neutrality will be observed just so long as it suits their policy and no longer. We want no such treaty or alliances. We want a policy of our own, applicable to America, and adapted to the peculiar conditions of our na- tional position and existence. We want no treaty that will prevent the citizens of this republic from sympathizing with or giving aid to any colony that may be struggling for independence and to throw off the yoke of an odious. European despotism. Mr. Fish has a very limited vision, and does not comprehend in the least what should be the policy of this country. It is lamentable to think we have no statesman of larger and comprehensive American views at the helm of affairs. The Temperance Movement—A Third Party. The temperance men of this State have again met in convention and ventilated their peculiar ideas of the special evil. The Convention met at Syracuse on Wednesday last, Gerrit Smith in the chair. A full report of the proceedings is given in another place. A series of resolu- tions were adopted condemning the laxity of the government in dealing with the most preg- nant cause of all the demoralization and crime from whick the country suffers. The platform on which the party pre- sents itself to the country has many good “planks” in R, not the least being that the party attacks the evil in its most vulnera~ ble point—the political—pledging itself that the war to be waged is not one solely directed against the dramshops, but against the sys- tem of primary and general elections. This is as it ought to be. Purify the politicians and subvert their schemes, and the rest of the work will be easy. However Utopian the result hoped for may be, or the impossibility of attaining it may appear, we wish the tem- perance organization God speed in the good work they have undertaken. Tae Axcient Mariner WaKino Up.—That was a very ridiculous and inconsequent old sailor who met some gentlemen on their way to a wedding and gave them fora real state- ment of facts a yarn of something that had come to him in one of his fits of delirium tre« mens—about ships and moonshine and lizards and Mother Carey's chickens, and =“ Water, water everywhere, but Not @ drop to drink; that is to say, plenty of water, but no grog. He was no more ridiculous, however, than Old Gideon proves to be, jumping up from a long slumber, with the argument that the navy doc- uments of bia administration are his private property, Modern Egypt by Our Fashions Writers. We present Egypt in its modern garb and in the presence of European royalty to the American public again to-day, by means of a special fashions correspondence from Cairo. The letter, which is dated on the 28th of No- vember, and will be found elsewhere in our columns, is replete with romance by the mere narrative of some of the many strange events and exciting incidents which occurred at the mo- ment when the representatives of the agencies of modern progress were brought into everyday contact and a social festive commingling with the children of the Egyptian soil, the descendants of a hoary lineage. The writer, after a brief reference to the concluding report of the late ball and banquets at Ismailia (already published), takes the reader from Ismailia to Cairo, and that, too, by railroad, with ladies in the car, a royal special train in the rear, and all the promovants to a collision and “smash up” just as numerous and in as active commotion as may be found on any of the iron lines in the United States towards the periods of the Fourth of July, a Presidential inauguration day or after the adjournment of Congress. The tourists in the land of the Pharoabs arrived safely at their destination, however, They were at once entertained with the performance of the native dance of the ‘‘awalim,” an amusement in the execution of which not a figure, step or gyration has been varied in the slightest degree during four thousand years—a fact which goes to show with what wonderful pertinacity the in- habitants of some nations continue to ‘walk in the footsteps of their fathers.” Reading further on we are dazzled by the lights of a metropolitan illumination, pleasingly be- wildered amidst pyramids, ruins and pastoral river scenes, and then again composed and consoled by the services of religion ministered near the fountainhead of faith and hope. Modernizing again, there are ball toilets from Paris, refreshments from all parts of the globe, and a ‘“‘mysterious” lady—the per- sonage described in the former communica- tion—found, and every one made happy, as we no doubt render our readers this morning by the fruits of our press enterprise. The Galler-Wedekind Case. The developments following the investiga- tion of the charge preferred by the German Doctor Wedekind against Mrs. Galler of poison- ing her Husband, the full particulars of ‘which appeared in the HEeRaLp reports on the pre- liminary examination before Justice Hogan, have had a most satisfactory result as regards the charge against Mrs, Galler. It will be remembered that Wedekind made represen- tations to the Coroner of the district within which the parties resided which led to the arrest of Mrs. Galler and the exhumation of the body. Pend- ing the proceedings a counter charge of an attempt at blackmailing was preferred by the widow against Dr. Wedekind, On an analysis of the stomach of the deceased by Professor Doremus no traces of organic, acid or mineral poison were discovered, but there were sufficient evidences of the poisonous action of lead, which the Professor said might be fairly attributed to the use of Croton water, but not to any atudiad design on the part of the deceased or others to destroy life—that, in fact, the ‘‘attainment” of lead in this case in the stomach was not suflicient to cause death. The Croton lead pipes, the Profes- sor said, were avenues through which acetate of lead finds access to the stomach, but it was not stated that it was ever known that the lead thus imbibed caused death, Mrs. Galler was, of course, honorably discharged, while her accuser is held to answer the charge of blackmailing and perjury—two crimes calling for the severest punishment. But what about the Croton lead pipes? Enough is now known to cause a scientific investigation to be made as regards the dangers arising from their use, and what other healthier description of pipes can be substituted in their place, This is an impor- tant question, and ought to enlist the imme- diate attention of the Board of Health, Our Postal Relations with France. ‘The excitement occasioned by the announce- ment that our present postal relations with France will expire on the 1st of January next was alleged by the Emperor's expression during his recent interview with General Banks of an earnest wish for a satisfactory international adjustment of postal affairs between France and the United States, This wish was doubtless father of the imperial decree which has since been promulgated, establishing new posta? arrangements between the two countries, Letters of ten grammes weight, sent direct, require prepayment of sixty centimes; sent by way of England, seventy centimes, Stamps are to be obtained of the French administration, Insufficient prepayment under the postage, null, The pre- payment of all letters carried by the French steamers is obligatory. In the decree an advance is made towards cheap ocean postage, the advantages of which must ultimately be recognized by the French as well as by the English and German. The interruption to,the French trade which even a brief suspension of our postal relations with France would cause would be more seriously felt there than here. General Banks seems to have effected what Senator Ramsey failed to accomplish on his late mission as a special agent to secure a new postal treaty. A Paris paper, Le Parle- ment, echoed public opinion both in France and in the United States when it said there is reason to hope that the negotiations between Mr. Washburne and Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne relative to the French-American cables will soon reach a conclusion satisfac- tory to all. Tne Rerorrep Friant or Lorgz.—The report comes to us from Rio Janerio, via Lon- don, that the flight of Lopez is confirmed. Lopez has disappeared 80 many times that we should not be at all surprised to hear of his reappearance when least expected, So long as Lopez lives and is at liberty he will prove a thorn in the side of the allies. Is Iv A Sutn?—The revolutionists in St. Domingo are making haste to overthrow the government of Baez before the United States Congress can ratify the arrangement for the lease of Samana, Unfortunately for their little game the United States colors are already on the ground and a garrison is in possession, | law from Congress ? 4s the Days Begia to Lengthen the Col: Begius to Strengthen. So says ‘‘Poor Richard” (Old Ben Frank- lin) in one of his almanacs. The days are now lengthening, and have been since the 21st instant, the shortest day in the year, as the following table will show:— sun Sun yeh Date. hises, of Day. December 21 4 December 16 December 15 December 24... table, that, while from the 21st of December to the 7th of January we gain fifteen minutes in the afternoon, we lose four minutes in the morning, so that the actual lengthening of the day is only eleven minutes, Again, on December 12, the sun went down to us of this city at 4:32, giving us the shortest afternoon in the year; but on the same day the sun rose at 7:15, or six minutes earlier than on tho 2Ist. How is it that from noon, supposed to be the exact middle of the day, we have first for several weeks, as the shortest day fs coming on, the forenoon longer than the afternoon, and then, from the shortest day, the afternoon longer than the forenoon? While rolling its annual circuit round the sun of six hundred millions of miles the earth has not its axis or its poles placed at right angles with the line it pursues, but in an oblique or slanting direction ; first, beginning with the year, careening so as to present the northern hemisphere more directly to the sun, for half the year, and then careening back so as to give the other half of the year to the southern hemisphere. Thus, when it is mid- winter in New York it is midsummer in the same degree of latitude south of the equator, and vice versa; and as for the month or so of irregularities between the forenoons and afternoons, at the turning point of the earth from north to south, or from south to north, in its daily revolutions at these times, we may compare the earth to a ship in tacking about, It takes a little time in making the tack before the ship gets under full sail again; and so it is with the earth in rece“ering the equilibrium on her axletree. By the 8th of January,@ having made the turn, or rather the lift, which is to bring fier northern hemisphere back again to the sun, she will i all right again, and our days will go on lengthening, morning and evening the same, till the sum- mer is again upon us. But how is it that as The days begin to lengthen, ‘The cold begins to strengthen? For the simple reason that (excepting in the event of an early and general cold snap) the heat absorbed by the earth through the summer does not with us here wholly pass off till about Christmas or New Year. Then, however, the heat imparted to the earth through the summer being all gone, ‘as the days begin to lengthen,” we find that the ‘‘cold begins to strengthen.” Jack Frost, having at length thoroughly chilled the ground, and having covered all the great mountain ranges and most of the land with snow again, and frozen over the lakes and rivers above the immediate influence of the sea, the air is also chilled and winter reigns once more. A broadly extended ‘‘cold snap,” followed by a deep snow, over a wide range early in the season, almost invariably brings usa hard winter, with a long succession of heavy frosts and snows. On the other hand, if we have no heavy snow that sticks till ab6ut the middle of January, the chances ara that the winter will pass away without much sleighing or skating; for then the sun, with the reduced area of snowfields to operate against him, is apt to’ gain the mastery over Old Boreas. As the winds from a snow covered range of mountains are always cold, so are they in proportion chilled in passing over a snow covered continent, talk as you may of the latent heat of snow. Hence the terrible freeze which comes to us with a regular nor’wester over an unbroken field of suow from the Rocky Mountains. Hence, too, luok- ing to the interests of this crowded metropolis, where a deep snow is a dreadful nuisance and a bard winter a serious misfortune, we shall not complain, our late snow having disap- peared, if the general hope of a comparatively soft and pleasant winter is realized. Shaking Up the Shakers. The decision of Mr. Delano in regard to the “communities” is disturbing the souls of those quiet and would-be perfect men, who, having turned out in rebellion against our social laws, have yet a properly keen eye to finance. Tho communists, who make an income return of their whole society, claim that they are entitled to a thousand dollars exemption for every member, but the Commissioner decides that they are only entitled to a single exemption of one thousand dollars, If thera isa community of a hundred members, this will, of course, make ninety-nine thousand dollars difference in the amount subject to tax. They argue that this is disfranchising their members. We do not see that there is any disfranchisement at all. The Commis- sioner does not in this case act with, or for, or against persons. He acts for @ “return.” All he can see is that there is but one return, and on one return the law allows him to make but one exemption. If there is any disfranchisement it'is the consequence of what the communists have themselves done and began when the several members agreed. to relinquish for certain purposes their per- sonal individuality, and, in the collective mass, to stand before the world as one social entity. Makino an Exampre.—Upon the recom- mendation of Governor Bullock and several radical Senators the President has issued an order abrogating the civil authority in Georgia and placing the State once more under military rule. Where is the power to do this in the absence of a special No military districts are known, save in the original reconstruction laws, which were abrogated for Georgia by the Congressional acceptance of her constitue tion.

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