The New York Herald Newspaper, December 31, 1870, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERAL BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, All business or news letter and telegraphic be addressed New York despatches must MENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, G D OPERA HO Les URIGANDS. M orner of Sth av, and 23d st,— OLYMPIC THEATRE, Were Wuate WINKLE Rroadway.—Tur PANTOMIME OF Matinee at 2, Wood's M ances every a! JM Broadway, corner 30th st.—Perform- oon wait eventns, GLOBE THE: TAINNENT, £0. Broadway.—Varrery Entrm at 25. FIFTH AVENUS® THEATRE, Twenty-fourty street.— SARATOGA. Matinee at 2 BOWERY THEATRE, Bo THERS—FOX AND GOovk-C —THR CORSOAN BRO- AU K YD. BOOTH'S THBATRE, 25d erwoen th and 6th avs.— Riv VAN WINKLE. Matinee at 1g. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, 46 Bowery.—Genman OvERA—RIGOLELYO. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broad Tue Buack Cxoox. Matinee re s SPeCTACLE oF WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway ana (8th strect.— Tax SkRIOUS FAMILY. LINA EDWIN'S THEATRE, Ja0K SuePraup- FRA DIAVO! MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brooklya.-- FEBNANDE. . BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC.—OPrRA BoorrR— Le Petit Faust. Matinee wt 2 TON® PASTOR'S OPERA MOUSE, 201 Bowery.-Va- RINLY ENTERTALNMENT. Matinee at 23g. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Comto Vooar 16M, NEGKO ACi6, &O.—JOLLY SANTA Matinee. : — BAN FRANCISUO MIN NEORO MinsTetusy, Fax BL HALL, 586 Broa ‘Way.— BOR IRsaues, ho. BRYANT'S NEW OPERA ROUSE, ‘and 7th avs,—Nxuno MINGTRELSY, APOLLO HALL. corner 28th street and Broadway.— Dr. Couny's Dionama OF IRELAND, st., between 6th DORNTRIOITLRS, &0. BROOKLYN OPERA HOUSE. I -—WeLou, Hoonrs & Warre's Minerrens, -Coun MAS PANTOMIME, &0, NEW YORK CIRCUS, SUBNRS IN Tue Rina, AonouATS, DR. KAHN’S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM, 745 Broadway. — SOLENOR AND AKT NEW YORK M°SEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway,— SCIENCE AND Ant. New York, Saturday, Vecember 31, 1870. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S USRALD. Pacy, pein aos himan—New York ge—The Tunnel “Fre sstchester Atrocity—Real ‘arviages aud Deaths —Advertise- ? Again—T tite No meni A~ Editorials: Leading Arti n Agiln—More pressible Oon- Intelligence—Army Intelii- lutelligence—Amusement An- Trouble in Europe—The In fict’—Person , nounceinents. S—"he War in o—Siluation of Affairs im Spain—The un Congress Indefinitely Fostponed—Kuropean and — Miseellaneous ‘lelegraphic Reports—Business Notices. 6~—Canadian Annexation: A Blast from Ben But- ier—The Fisheries Quesiion—Amusements— General Sche: His Views in Relation to his Misstou—ser r Wilson Interviewed—The nother Victim of the Klack 4c Notes—A Convicted Mur- The Truth About the Indig- eorge Holiana’s Remains— ‘Tvat Bursied Boiler: The Fire Marshal's In- vestigation in regard vo the Williamsburg Ex- plosion—New St. Aun’s—The Crispins Pro- er—Crime and lis Punishment—A Fraitless Jump for Life—Heavy Diamond Robbery in on—Financial and Commercial Reports. 8—News from Washington—1870-18T1: The Old Year Going Out and the Ni ming In—Fires— Indian Frauds: How e Old Thing is Workea—The Weather—Shipping News—Aad- vertisements. Tuk VaGariss or WALL Sreaesr.—Money fn Wall street is worth from seven to ainety- seven per cent, yet the stock marke! rises with & buoyaney that would not be surprising with money at three per cent. Tue Corresponpents for the London papers in France have been threatened with banisiment from the Prussian camps for telling contraband news. We don’t know how the English papers will get along at allin this event unless they depend altogether, as they already do ina great measure, on the New York Herarp. Joun Surrart did not lectura in Washinz- ton last evening, the Mayor having advised him privately that it would be apt to provoke trouble if he appeared on the platform. This kind of thing is all Surratt needed to insure his success. He can now visit the Seutb, where his engagements take him, with tie prestige not only of the son of the martyr whose uneasy corpse he resurrects with great unction at each entertainment, but with the more reasonable and direct glory of being a martyr himself. And his fortune as a lecturer is made in consequence. GENERAL SoneNncK, our new Minister to England, is in the city, and in an interview with a Heratp reporter yesterday gave a somewhat guarded statement of his opinion on the important matters now pending between Great Britain and the United States. He thinks that there will be something mere than dollars and cents required in the settlement of the Alabama claims. The fishery question is one of the wrinkles that he expects to smooth out. He has not received his instructions yet, but he has no doubt that they will leave him a very fair margin for his own discretion, A Parzr Biocxave.—Bismarck has de- élared all French ports that are or may be occupied by the Prussians wader blockade. As Prussia has no ships of war to enforce such a decree it must be emphatically a paper blockade, and as such is in direct violation of international law as expounded by the great Powers ef Europe on the question of our bleckade of the Southern poris. Bismarck won't care a soap for that yiew of the case; for he can afford to laugh at this cliuse of international law even more securely than at the Treaty of Luxembourg. A Raw By tHe Cuban Insurcents.—By telegram from Santiago via Havana we hear ofa raid bya party of insurgents on a village near the former city, in which its defenders were driven out and the place burned. A number of half baked bodies were discovered after the rebels had retreated. So the war goes goes on; the sword and the torch are still employed in the - destruction of life and desolation of the land. When will the end be? When will the Cubans succeed in establishing their independence, or lay down their arms and submit to the tender f N#W YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 187M i rd Priui Agaiu=Slore Trouble in The Irrepressiblo Conflict. The attempt to assassinate General Prim and the renewed revolutionary ferment in Spain, more details of which are given through our special telegrams from Madrid published to-day, vorifles what we said of that restless agitator and monarchical intriguer some few days ago. Prim is, indeed, the devil lot loose to disturb tho nations and !o plunge them into war. The dreadful and bloody con- flict between France and Germany was the re- sult of his king-making intrigues. Kvery one is familiar with the history of the Hohenzollern affair which led to the Franco-Prussian war. After having set the north and west of Rurope in a blaze by attempting to put a Northero prince—a foreigner and a Prussian—on the throne of Spain be turned his eyes to the South—to Italy—for another alica und foreign prince to eccupy that position and to create more trouble. The attempt to assassinate Prim, atrocious as the act may be, is the natu- ral consequence of this man’s reactionary and monarchical schemes. The republicans of Spain see that his conduct and as- sumption of power are rendering the revolution against the Bourbon dynasty abor- tive. They see that if he be permitted to carry out his views they will only change masters; that instead of a native monarch and a descendant of tho old royal line of Spain to rule over them, they will have an alien in blood, race and language for a master. It is evident now that beth Spanish pride and the republican sentiment are aroused against the schemes of this royalist Mephistopheles. To all appearances the Duke of Aosta will have a rough road to travel, and it may be that Spain will be thrown into another revolu- tion, and Italy into war, should the Prince persist in taking the crown that Frip offered him. cor Burope— | of the Old World have much to unlearn as well as to learn. They have a mighty .power of prejudice, habit, privilege, caste, rank, taleat and colossal standing armies to resist, [tina terrihje conflict, But the progress of intelli- gence and those potent agents of modern civill- zation, the press, telegraph and steam power, aro working great changes and rapidly remov~ ing the barriers to republican freedom. France is fighting now, not only for her own salvation, but for principles that are dear to the people everywhere—yes, even to the Ger- man poople who are arrayed against her, She may have to succumb in this fight, but the republican principle will live and spread. The very means the monarchs are taking to destroy it will react against them as the people reflect upoa the object of such frightful slaughter, But republican France is doing what impo- rial France could not do. Tho old spirit of the first republio, which made all the nations of Europe tremble, is reviving, The situation of the combatants has greatly changed, and ,appears to be changing every hour. France rises with a vigor and heroism that inspires confidence. Crushed as she appeared to be under imperial rule, she has developed surprising resources and shown extraordinary energy under the repub- bc. ‘The pows we arg publishing from day to day makes her case much more hopeful. The people are ral'ying from every quarter to aup- port the government and to break the coil with which the enemy had enveloped them. The pubtic sentimont of the world daily grows stronger in their favor and against the Prus- sians. Such conservative and moderate monarchical statesmen as M. Guizot ate com- ing eut of their recesses to support the repub- lic in the present crisis. If Gambetta and his colleagues prove as moderate and sensible in political matters as they are energetic in the war they may establish republican govern- meni, Should thei his, jally if they be able to reg t arena ect ‘France, Europe must soon become republican, The sentiment of liberty would flash from this cen- tral focus to all parts of Europe. Nation after nation would follow the example of France, as they followed before, while monarchs and their satellites would flee from the face of the revo- lutionary Nemesis. This is tho irrepressible conflict that has been brought on by the crowned heads themselves, and which, in its first stages, is now being fought out in France. The old saying, that “whom the gods would destroy they first make mad,” seems to be applicable now to the monarchs, princes and royalists generally of Europe. Louis Napo- leon fell from the highest pinnacle of power through his insane desire to check the growth of German unity and nationality and to per- petuate his dynasty through war and by flat- tering the vanity of the French with military glory. It was not France he cared about, but the Bonaparte dynasty. The blood of Frenchmen and hecatembs of slain weighed as nothing in the mind of this selfish autocrat when his own ambition and the interests of his family were in question. He was at war with the laws of the moral world and the moral forces of tbis enlizhtened age, and he fell, like Lucifer, from his bizh estate. Look, too, at the conduct of the King of Prussia and of the priaces, royalists and aris- tocracy of Germany in the present war. Tho war was commenced ostensibly and properly to defend the fatherland against the aggres- sion and assumption of the Emperor Napo- leon. The only object avowed #: first, and prebably no other was thea contemplated by Prussia, was to defend Germany and to remove, if possible, the cause of the war. In other words, the subjugation of the Napoleon dynasty, or the deposition of it, was the first object after successfully defending the father- land. This, as is well known, was accom- plished at Sedan. Then, however, new issues arose. The surrender of Napoleon aad the flight of the Empress Regent loft the French people to improviso a new government and to defend the nation. The republic was the only thing possible then. There was no ether party than the republican to form a govern- ment of national defence. This alarmed the old Prussian monarch, the most determined representative of monarchy and absolutism in Europe, and the princes and aristocracy of Germany. More than that, the proclamation of the French republic left France utterly isolated. The monarchs and aristocracies of Europe dreaded this mighty spectre of revolution and republican propagandism. Prussia then de- termined to carry on the war to squelch the rising republic of France, and the ruling Powers of Europe looked on complacently. The latter would rather see Prussia over- whelmingly powerful, and would submit to indignities even from that Power rather than have France a republic. England, notwith- standing her boasted freedom and liberality, stood aloof; Russia became the fast friend of Prussia; the King of L[taly was afraid of re- publicanism crossing the Alps from France ; Austria had no sympathy with the French republic, and the pretended liberal leaders of Spain were plotting to perpetuate monarcli- cal government, Yes, even the Pope and the hierarchy of the Church stand forth as the champions of monarchical privileges against the republican ideas and aspirations of the people. Apart from the masses of people in Europe the new-born French republic had no friend except republican America, and, perhaps, Switzerland, The ruling princes and classes in Europe everywhere have been against it. Here, then, we have the secret of the fright- ful war that has been prolonged in France and of the profound agitations that are upheaving society and spreading over the Old World. It is the irrepressible conflict between republi- canism and monarchy—between the kings, princes, aristocracies and privileged classes and the people. We had our irrepressible conflict between Southern African slavery and the progressive ideas of freedom and republican equality, which also led to a frightful war. Will there be a similar result in Europe? Will freedom triufiph? Wiil the masses be emancipated and obtain self-goverament? These are the real questions of the day. On one side stands France as the champion of re- publicanism, and on the other Prussia and the monarchists. Wiatever may be the faults, extravagant theories amd want of practical ideas about republican government with the French, they represent the principles of liberty, as well as of national integrity, in this con- test; and however much King William and Bismarck may talk of German patriotism and appeal to the Almighty for His support, they are shedding rivers of blood solely in the in- terest of monarchy and aristocracy. It is a most interesting problem that is now being solved, and one in which the American people feel deeply. This republic has led the Tke War Strategy—The Checkmate ‘Tureat- éned by Bourbaki. The news this morning from France con- firms us in the views we Lave hitherto taken regarding the probable strategy of Bourbaki during the recent interval in which he has disappeared from the public despatches, his intended advance on the Prussian line of eommunications, the policy of the Crown Prince’s sudden movement northward, and the general demoralization threatening the Prussian armies throughout Frauce. It is stated this morning that the Prussians made a fierce assault on the eastern forts of Paris on Wednesday and carried one--Fort Mont Avron—an outpost of no great strength, and so far ahead of the regular line of fortifi- cations as to be easily flanked by the enemy. The mere fact of attempting to storm such heavy works as Forts Nogent and Rosny shows that the German commander is impressed with the sense of impending danger, which we have foreshadowed once or twice in these col- umns heretofore. It weuld never have been attempted unless he felt sure that something desperate was required by the situation. It has disclosed also the fact that the city of Paris is beyond the reach ef Prussian shells, and that these forts must be taken before the German artillerists can make a target of Notre Dame. The movement of Bourbaki continues as rapidly and noiselessly as heretofore, and it is announced somewhat authoritatively that his mission is to cut the Prussian lines in all di- rections. We have heretofore shown that this is the best French mové on the great chess- board, and that if it is made soon, and with a force enough to hold the needed square, it will amount to certain checkmate of the Ger- man King. The German forces in the Vosges continue to withdraw before the advancing army of the Rhdne, and it is believed that all the outlying troops are to be concentrated at Versailles. Such a supposition, however, seems to be ridiculous. We shall doubtless yet hear of a stout defence of the Strasbourg Railway. General Chauzy bas retaken Montoise, and thus advanced his line nearer to Blois, with the intention of keeping the troops in his front too busy to reader any aid to their friends about Paris, and, probably, with a hope of cutting off the force at Tours. The movement northward goes on as before. Havre is to be stontly defended as a possible new base of supplies for the Prussians, and General Faidherbe contiaues his Fabian manceuvre of withdrawing before the enemy, He is at Cambrai, at which place, it is said, he intends to give the German forces the decisive batile they are seeking. ~ The End of the Building Murder, As might have been expected, the jury have rendered a verdict in the case of the building murder in Thirty-fifth street exculpating everybody and everything except the wind. The wind it was that did ali the mischief. The law, too, they fiad is to blame; and certainly, according to the testimony of Mr. McGregor, it would seem to be a most lame and imperfect statute. He says that he obeyed the law striclly, and, we may add, nothing seems to have been adduced in evidence to show that he did not follow it out to the very letter. Here, then, comes a suggestion aa to the remedy, and we are glad to see that the jury have embraced it in their verdict. The law regulating the construction and repair of build- ings Is ‘miserably defective. If McGregor fulfilled the obligations of the law, as he swears he has, then the remedy is clearly in the hands of the Legislature. We want a new law, which will not only enable but compel the Superintendent of Buildings to guard against such calamities ag thislate one. That seems to be the whole gist of the matter as it is developed by the Coroner's investigation and the gentle verdict of the jury. mereies of Spanish rule? How long must this butchery and incendiarism that are ren- dering waste one of the earth’s gardea spots be allowed? Can our government auswer? way to political liberty and equality. It is the beacon light to the nations of Europe, and they are trying to follow the example we have set, And what ig the prospect? The people ReMarxaBee CovrateraL Eventa—The close of the year and the close of Mr. Gree- ey's “What I Kuow about Farmiug,” Highly Important from Kurope—The Lon- don Conference Indefinitely Postponed. By cable telegrams, special and from other sources, dated in the British metropelis last night, we have the highly important intelli- gence that the Londen conference of the great Powers on the lastera question will not meet in session. The plan has failed. The project has been postponed indefinitely. France refused to take part in the assemblage. The absence of one of the co-signatories to the Treaty of Paris is considered fatal to the idea of such an assemblage. The resolutions of the other members would be useless and un- available in consequence. This intelligence is of very great moment, It goes to prove that the monarchiats have really acknowledged that a nation cannot be obliterated because its people may change the form of goverament. Republican France is France still. The con- ference men dare not go back to the empire and the radical democracy will not go to them. Hence the failure of the conference. The peoples of Europe are now placed fase to face with the aristocrats. When 6r where will the foal iggu9 bo taken?” ‘ Ty ig ombarrassing to attempt a reply © this question. Difficulties bad existed ab initio, These difficulties are now stated openly. They were difficulties of anticipation of the probable scope of action of the members, difficulties of cabinet clalma and diffigulties of etiquette, with the whole capped over by a resolute assertion of some of the Powers, Rus- sia and Prussia particularly, to have the status remain just as it is, and thus really te render the consultations inoperative as to conse- quences. < & fi Russia remained imperiously resolute as to her ‘‘rights” of navigation on the Black Sea. the Gar ynsclalaned that the Treaty: oj Paris is already abrogated so far as the clause which relates to this subject is concerndd, Prussia protested against the introduction of extraneous subjects, Bismarck stoed firm in his deter- mination to exclude the ‘parole-breaking” nation, France. Europe must, we think, be left to itself—to the peoples—for the present, Antiquated diplomacy has experienced the effects of the revolutions. The ‘Divine right” of the monarchs is in danger. The claim of hereditary wisdom on the part of the aristocrats is set at naught by the soldiers in the field, The Great Flood at Rome, As a brief despatch published this morning in onr telegcaphic columns informs the reader, “the Eternal City”—the residence of the Poa- tiffs and the new capital of Italy—-has just been visiied by an inuadation of unusual volume and extent. This phenomenon is by some ascribed to an overflow of ‘the Yellow Tiber,” which runs in a cirenitous route for a distance of nearly three miles through Rome, and by others to a sudden rising of the Mediterranean Sea, the shore of which is only about seventeen miles distant, to the south- eastward. The former contingency is much the more probable, as the river is frequently swolien by heavy rains to as greata height as thirty feet above its ordinary level. The width of the Tiber is oaly three hundred and eleven feet at Si Angelo bridge, leading across from the main to the Leonine city, in which are situated the church and square of St. Peter's, the Vatican Palace and the Pon- tifical garlens attached to the residence of Pius IX. The Roman dwellings and edifices are very close to the banks of the stream, and hence any excessive overflow of the latter would instantly begin to invade them, and, owing to the peculiar sinuosities of the ground, spread broadly over the lower dis- tricts within the city limits, and mach more 80 on the low-lying and undulating region of meadows and marshes outside. The winter showers in Central and Southern Italy are tre- mendous when they do pour down, and in the latitudes of Florence and Rome are of almost tropical fury and duration. Their effect in and around the City of the Popes is, under such exceptional circumstances, greatly heightened by sudden torrents descending from the Alban and Sabine hills and accumulating toward the water shed of the Tiber. Tho old Latin poets and historians make frequent reference to the.e floods, which, in their time, when the Cam- pagna was studded with forests and-gardens, often swept away farm houses and groves, with herds of live stock, and sometimes even the un- fortunate rustics who had not beea sufficiently onthe alert to make a timely escape to the city or to the mountains. In modern times the Campagna in its nakedness is much more ex- posed, and a less inundation than those of ancient days is apt to make a greater impres- sion, Hence it is likely enough that the present flood, preceded by heavier rains than usual and rising but two or three feet higher than its predecessors in recent years, may have occasiened extravagant alarm, particu- larly since it occurs ata moment when the minds of the Roman populace are agitated by the striking political eveats that have signal- ized the past year and by the predictions of awful chastisements with which many have de- nounced the suspension of the temporal power of the Papacy. However, should the inundation turn out to be really an invasion of the sea the incident is grave indeed, since ils spread and dura- tion are as uncertain as its causes, The Campagna, extending all aréund Rome and from the mountains to the margia of the sea, with a length of sixty and a width of forty miles, although it rises in places nearly two hundred feet above the dead water level, is a volcanic concavity full of depressions that chaage from year to year. Hot sulphurous springs are numerous on its surface, and the Iakelets dotted over it have, in most instances, distiact cone-formed, cratex- like openiags. In fine, the Romaa fils gs Pontine Masues; the Solfatara, near the city of Naples; the Herculanean region bayond it ; the islaads in its bay; the Calabrian and Sicilian heighis and valleys, and even “the isles of Greece,” are but parts of a vast vol- canic area, beaeath which the tremendous subterranean fires of Vesuvius, Etaa, Strom- boli and the Cyclops of Santoriao and the Morea are incessantly at work, Jt may be remembered, too, that the sages of Canada predicted a terribly destructive tidal wave that was to beat upon the nertheast coaat of the American Continent as the direct result of reaction against the attractive force exercised upon the opposite hemisphere of our planet by the Moon during the receat solar eclipse, But that eclipse waa total over certain regions of Southern Europe, and the riso of the sea which did not reach our hemisphere may have played a more im- portant part in the other. This is a point on which we can, as yet, form no decision, and we must await further and more explicit advices before treating of it as we could readily do with precedent and parallel fact. We cling to the opinion, however, that heavy rains in the mountains and over the Campagna will account for the flood at Rome, which, happily, at last accounta was subsiding. A Good Opportusity for Italian Opera— Who Stops the Way. The people have been hungering for a long time for first class Italian opera. While we havo been surfelted with opéra bouffe—-which is really not opera at all, but a painful conflict between legs and vocal organs, a kind of gla- diatorial contest between the two for the ap- plause of the multitude—the legitimate opera has been allowed ‘to pass quietly away. This fact is to be regretted. The cause, however, is prolly well known to every one. We have ‘an Opera House — established with ® partionlar object, and that object the male one of the enco ont of Art. The Academy of Music, ins’ of being an aasist- auce to the cultivation of music in ffs highest form, has become an obstruction to the pro- gress of Italian opera through the selfish con- duct of two hundred stockholders, who hold on to their privileges of the best seats in the house, regardless of the fact, which experience has established, that no manager can afford to foep ®& company of first Artiste on the boards dr present the operatic worka of the great Italian and German composers in a suit- able manner in the face of such an obstacle as the selfish stockholders insist upon presenting. Manager after manager has tried the experi- ment, but each of them in turn Ang! been van- Guighed if not bankrupted, Pre Na a Aad act, 2 ios ere is a splendid opportunity. at the pre- sent time for establishing Italian opera here. We have the material in our midst. There is Nilsson—such an artiste as this country has not seen or heard since the days of Jenny Lind. We remember bow she impressed Now York audiences with the magnetic power of her voice and the exquisite fascination of her manner, We have read lately of the enthusi- asm which she has created in the West—some- thing, indeed, almost unparalleled. No one who has heard her but must feel that her genius, subdued as it necessarily was in the concert room, would burst forth splendidly on the operatic stage. That is her proper sphere. It waa there that she woa the guerdon of her European fame. There are many other artists available to make up a first class opera company, whom a shrewd manager could easily obtain. Indeed, the Nilsson troupe alone comprises a nucleus for a superior opera company. We are not wanting iu the material if we only had the facilities to use it, which an available opera house alone can furaish. Patti will, probably, be here soma time within the coming year. The theatres in many of the principal cities of Europe, now shut up by this dreadful war, have let loose an abundance of talent which might be secured for this country. But the stumbling block in the way of the recuperation of Italian opera is the stolid selfishness of the steckholders of the Academy, an aristocracy at which the public naturally rebel. If they were only liberal and enlightened enough to forego their claims and give a manager a fair chance to make an opera season profitable, there would be no want of enterprise to restore Italian opera to that position which it occupied in the days of Malibran, and Grisi, and Sontag, and Alboni, and Jenny Lind, and Catherine Hayes, when Italian opera was ‘‘a thing of beauty anda joy forever.” But the stockholders of the Academy stop the way. Ifthey would only surrender their claim to the best seats in the house there would be no difficulty in finding a manager to undertake a season of opera, which would probably lead to a permanency of Italian opera as we ought to have it—a fixed in- stitution for the metropolis. The public are certainly not illiberal in supporting epera or anything else in the musical or dramatic line worthy of support, and in this country managers have to depend solely upon public patronage. Art appeals to the people, for she has no crowned heads to bow to or from whom to accept eleemosynary aid. Ths opera ia the leading cities of Europe is sustained by a subsidy from the government. It is a significant fact that, on the contrary, in New York Italian opera, so far so far from receiving any pecuniary support from the government or any other outside sources, is actually taxed by the monopoly of stockholders, who, by their stubborn illibe- rality, have not only driven opera’away, but have brought the Academy of Music so low in public estimation that it is more suitable for a circus than a temple of art—a dreary cata- comb in which Art might shiver if Genius did not supply its fire to keep the goddess warm. As it’stands now the best use it cruld be applied to would be an arena £? a sparring match to illustrate * tig 5ble art of self-defence. Indeed, if “Ki Burn lived we should not be surprised te see it turned into a dog pit one of these i. Yet these were not the purposes for which the Academy of Music wae established. Nor is there any reason why it should fall so low, except the blockade which the two hundred stockholders have declared against the man- But we repeat that there never was a more favorable time for re-establishing Italian opera than the present. There ia to be a brief season at the French theatre, to commence on Wednes- day, with some excellent artists, and we hope it may be'a success; but the French theatre is not the place for grand opera. A nightingale of song might warble there deliciously, but a grand artiste like Nilsson must have a wider scope for her voice—a larger field for her fine dramatic genius, Whether we shall have an opportunity to sve and hear her in opera, and to witness the restoration of Italian opera inits pristine glory a3 a permanency here, de- pends a good deal—and for the sake of the art-loving public we are sorry to say it— upon the liberality of the stockholders of the Academy. Tux Exovrive Reoxvrions in Washington on New Year's Day have been postponed on acoount of the death of Mrs. Belkaap, the wife of the Secretary of War, Our Next Domecratic Candidate for Gerd orncr—O'Brica Versus Tweed. = | Our brilliant contemporary, the Sun, bas declared itself in favor of the nomination of William M. Tweed as the next democratic can- didate for Gevernor of this State, And, nomi- nations being in order, we propose to name our’ present worthy and modest Sheriff, James O'Brien, for the same distinction, We will proceed to give our reasons for thus presenting the name of Mr. O’Brien before the democracy for the honor of the gubernatorial nomination. Let us first review the charity recerd of the twe gentlemen. What do we find? Against Mr. Tweed's fifty thousand reasons why he Should be the democratic candidate for Gov- ernor there are sixty thousand reasons— counted in dollars and cents—why O'Brien should. Therefere the Sheriff sees the Boss’ ifty thonsand and goes ten thousand better. Against Tweed’s three or four uptown churcheg O'Brien can put up half a dozen Lackawanna coal yards. Thus, while Tweed’s Gharch charity is calculated to send fe. tad to the ‘‘other, place,” O'Brien's charity will warm them when they get there. “Moreover, and abovo all, Simin; "Brien don’t drink a drop of any art o an am liquor, and never bas since thé @ay he was born, while Tweedie took to itas a duck does to water before he could chalk “Big Six” on a Seventh ward board fence; and, what is more unfortunate, as he grew older he never abated the quantity of his libations a jot, but improved the qualtity thereof immensely—all the way frem rifle whiskey to the smoothest of Burgundies, the ojliest of Gognacs and the most exhilarating and sparkling of champagnes. Furthermore, Jimmy O’Brien never in his life smoked a cigar er took a chew of tobacgo. Twoedid does both, the only interval betweén his perioda of speting being when he takes hig gigar out of his mouth to “bless” some pétiinacious office beggar. Therefore, as regards the moral virtues, it may be said that Jimmy O’Brien haq them all, while Tweedie is beget with several of the common vices. As for pérsonal popu< larity, O’Brien is as popular in every ward in the city of New York as Daniel O'Connell was in the city of Dublin, while Tweedie’s popu- larity {s fast narrowing down to the confines of the old Soventh ward. This is the natural regult of his ‘close corporation” charity policy, which does not look beyond the purlieus of a single ward out of the twenty-two wards in the city. It is true Tweedie’s notions about religious matters are not so very marrow. In this respect he has been as liberal a giver aa he has been a liberal taker; in other words, he is as much to be admired for the liberal way he gives for religious purposes as for tha liberal way he takes for personal objects. Ho endows a red-hot Presbyterian church with as much unction as he does a true Catholic one. In this he keealy recognizes the impor- tance of making his election sure hereafter, as it is for him to make his election sure in thia land of heavy taxation. On the other hand, Jimmy O’Brien is satisfied with one Church and one religion. He thinks that’s enough for one man in these sinful times, unless he be a Mormon. And as for personal anecdotes about liberality, Jimmy can give Tweedie a pile and beat him all hollow. He has been known to give a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in a single evening to an un- fortunate and indigent gatherer of chips. He has even been known to offer to lease a lumber. yard and circular saw mill for an evening's entertainment with his friends. Can Tweedie say the same, or any of his friends eay the same for him? We guess not. On the acora of politics can Twoodia show« hatter record than Jimmy? Not by a long shot. While Tweedie has conflaed himself to the narrow and proscriptive limits of Old Tammany Jimmy has gene through Tammany and is able to show a full hand of the rough and tumble dz- mocracy on a new deal for the szoils. To sum up all, the weight of reasoning— philanthropic, moral, religious and political— is against the Sun’s candidate for the demo- cratic nomination for Governor, William M. Tweed, and decisively in favor of Sheriff James O'Brien, the mest modest and most popular democrat in New York. Extension oF THE GoveRNMENT WEATHER Rerorts.—From after to-morrow, the Ist of January, the United States telegraphic weather signals will embrace reports daily from Sa- vannab, Charleston, Wilmington, N. C.; Nor- folk, Baltimore and Philadelphia—an important coast line to our shipping interests and skippers north of Norfolk, in reference to coming nor’- easters. Norfolk being equivalent to Fortress Monroe, we calculate, will prove especially valuable as a point for these observations and warnings to tue North, believing, as we do, that most of our heavy nor’easters come in from the Gulf Stream between Cape Hatteras and the outlet of Chesapeake Bay. Personal Intelligence. Governor R. K. Scott, of South Carolina, 14 among, the recent arrivals at the Metropolitan Hotel. Senator Trumbull, of Llinois, reached the cily yesterday afternvon, aod put up at the St, Nicholas ¥ Sold dese mares i Commodore Ben Holladay, owner of the fleet of steamers plying along the coast of California, Mexi- co, Oregon, Sitka and the Sandwich Isiunds, 13 sojourning at the Metropolitan Hotel. Mr. J. M. Townsend, of New Haven, member of the Legislature of Connecticut, ts at the Alpermarie Hotel on a brief visit. Senator Matt. H. Carpenter, of Wisconsin, 13 stay- ing at tne Metropolitan Hotel. Professor M, B. Anderson, of the Rochester Uni- versity, arrived at the Albemarle Hotel yesterday, Senator Rice, of Arkansas, ts at the St, Nichoias Hotel. Professor Devito, of Orange, N. J., has alighted at jue Astor House. Mare SSS a Thy iNTELL'GENCE. n By direction 0: the President, on the recommen dation of the Board gonvened under section eleven of the act approved Joy 15, 1870, the following named oMicers are mustefed Ont of the service sor cause other than injuries incurced or disease cou- tracted in the line of thelr duty zs. Major John F. St.ervurne, Assistant Adjutant Gen- eral; Captain Dudley Seward, and First Lieutevant Rodert Carrick, Eluhith cavairy; First Lieutenant George F. Rauiston, Tenth cavairy; Second Lieutea- ant Charies F. Roe, Second "rari Secoud Licu- tenant Thomas G. Tracy, Ninth ictantry; First Licatentant William P, Batubritge, Tuird cavalry. NAVAL INTELLIG 21.62. Lientenant William IH. Emory, ordered to the Na val Observatory, Washington; Passed Assistant Sur- geon John B. Ackley, to tie Navy Yard, i’htladet- pia; Chief. Kugineer D. Be Macomb, trou the Portémouth Navy Yard to the Tenucasee, the order assigning Obief Engineer Wiliam &. Brooks to 6 vesse! having been revoked. Chief Engticer David Macotnble 13 detached from the Portamouth Navy Yard und ordered to the Ten- nessee, fitting out al tha New York Navy Yara for St, DogUaKar 4