The New York Herald Newspaper, January 23, 1871, Page 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 Volame XXXVI AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway ana 18th street.— ‘Tae SOHOOL FoR SCANDAL. LINA EDWIN's THEATRE, 720 Broadway.—HuNnTeD Down. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of 8th ay. and 234 st,— La Pretonoie. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Bro: Wer Wiuire Winkie, BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—R1owanp IIL—SEr- Baw—MAniac Lover. .—-THE PANTOMIME OF WOOD'S MUSEUM Broadway, corner 30sh st.—Perform: ances every afternoon and evening, GLOBE THEATRE, 728 Broadway.—Vagizty ENTer- TAINMENT, £0. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, 45 Bowery. nh EW, YOR 45 Bowery.—SrEB acu FIFTH SaRatoe. BOOTH’S THEATRE, 23d s1 ROME rev. AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— A. sween th and 6th avs.— NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tas SPROTACLE oF ‘TuE BLAck CRoox. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Va- RIELY ENTERTAINMENT. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 18M, NEGRO AC?6, &¢,—THE adway.—CoMIO VOOAL- FIEND. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL, 585 Broa iway.— Nrono MINSTRELSY, Fanogs, BuR:.esQues, £0. BRYANT’S NEW OPERA HOUSE, 284 st., between 6th and 7th avs.—NEGuO MINSTRELSY, oor: NTRIOITLES, £0. APOLLO HALL. corner 28th street and Broadway.— Dx. CouRY's DIORAMA OF IRELAND, NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street.—SoENES IN THE RING, ACROBATS, £0. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn.—HooLry's AND KELLY & Leon's MINSTRELS. BROOKLYN OPERA HOUSE——Wrios, Hoanrs & Wurrr's MinsTRe.s. -Canny THE NEWs TO MARY. DR. KAHN’S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM, 745 Broadway.— SOIENOE AND Ant. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— MENT New York, Monday, January 23, 1871. ee CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. Pace. 1—Advertisements. 2~Advertisements, . 3—“That Awful HeRav:” Ant!-Annexation Cana- 5 op the Gyeat merican Journal—Loss of einaw—Senator Frank P, Blair's speech uks to the General Assembly of Mis. Sourl—Voice of the People—Death of a Miser— The Coal Miners’ Strike—Journalistic Notes— Advertisements. 4—Elttorials: Leading Articte, “The London. Con- ference—Questions Upon’ Which the United States May be Required to Speak’—Amuse- ment Announcements. 5—Eiitorials (continued from Fourth Page)—Per- sonal Intelligence—The War in France: Sorues from Paris; Faidherbe Beaten; Inside the Doomed Oity; General War News—The Eu- Topean Congress—Dificuities in the British Cabine!—Neutral Rights at Sea—Miscellaneous Telegraphic News—Views of the Past—busi- hess Notices, 6—Collector Murphy: What He Has to Say About the Collectorship—Growing Movement in the Real state Market—The Eclipse: Report of the Observations of the American Astronomers at Syracuse, Siclly—The Ice Crop of the Hud- S0n—Financtal and Commercial Reports—Mar- rages, B rth and Deaths, '7—Advertisements. 8—Religious: The Walk of the Christlan and the Beauty of Holiness; Child Schools in Heaven; Brother Beecher Gives a Verbal Photograph of St. Paul's Personal Appearance; Various Views of the Devil; The Sorrows of the Fatthful and the Fate of the Wicked. 9—Religious (continued from Highth Page)—Lec- e@ by the Rev. Dr. Braun on “Italian Unity"—Theatrical Doings of the Week—Art Notes—News from South America—Funeral of the Late General Wright—“Jumper Lively’’ Again in Quod—A Pickpocket Nabbed in Hobo- ken—Row Beiween Militiamen in Hoboken— Court Calendars This Day—A Newark Physician Arsaultei—An Alleged Negro Rencontre—New York City News, 10—News ‘rom Wasnington—The Exiles’ Sabbath— Missouri Politics—Funeral of the Late Peter Richings—Affairs in St. Domtngo—European and Havana Markets—Murder in New Jersey— Shipping Intelligence. Tue Day or Prayer for colleges occurs this week, and the Hvangelist timely reminds its readers that this is the time for taking up subscriptions in aid of the cause of efucation. Tre Coxp yesterday was most intense. We bad been baving such unusually pleasant weather that a sudden cold enap, such as we had yesterday and last evening, finds every one unprepared and is consequently felt only the more severely. The temperature, com- pared with that of the corresponding date last year, will give a substantial idea of the inten- sity of the co'd, the mercury yesterday stand- ing at 21} degrees above zero, while on the 22d of January last year it stood at 423. Bercner’s Lirrte Joxe on St. Pavri.—Mr. Beecher yesterday, in his sermon, called St. Paul an ‘‘insignificant blear-2yed Jew.” What did Saul of Tarsus ever do to Mr. Beecher, or is this an unprovoked attack on one of the best of the apostles? Or was the remark about St. Paul's visual defect a side thrust at General B. F. Butler, who is looking in two directions for the next Presidency? Let Mr. Beecher explain next Sunday, or cast it out with his congregation in the meantime. Tne Lext (Ky \postolic Times says preachers (Baptist, we imagine) are wanted in Clarksville, Tenn., and in Leavenworth City, Kansas. Spread the Gospel. Tur Irish Exries visited the Grand Opera flouse last night, at the special invitation of Fisk, Jr., to hear some sacred. music from opéra bouffe. They went, but discovered early in the evening that the invitation was merely a stroke of politics to win them over to cone side as against the other, and they with- drew. They have come to the conclusion by this time that they cannot eat a hearty meal without it has a political significance, and they are consequently likely to be perse- cuted by their friends into indigestion. Toe ArasaMA Cratms—Wuat ENoianp xprors FRoM Mg. Sowenck.—The English people are expecting great things from Mr. Schenck. Mr. Otway, the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, bas just been telling his constituents at Chatham ‘‘that the new Minister from the United States, Mr. Schenck, would settle the American question. Englatd,” said Mr. Otway, ‘‘is averse to qnarrel, and any Ministerial policy would be cowardly that re- fused to renew negotiations looking to a peace- ful settlement with America.” If Mr. Schenck succeeds in satisfactorily settling the Alabama affair and all other outstanding questions be- tween the United States and Great Britain we shall rejoice, avd rejoice heartily, It must, however, be such a settlement as shall do no violence to the public sentiment of the United Biates, NEW YORK The Lendon Conterence—Questions Upon Which the United States May be Re- quired te Speak. The war in France on the part of the French has reached the point of exhaustion, The end, we cannot doubt, will come with the capitulation of Paris, and whether tbis capitu- lation is to be preceded by some desperate and bloody sorties or by a few days more of stub- born endurance against the pressure of famine and the terrors of a bombardment, the crown- ing disaster to France, beyond a few days more, can hardly be avoided. Nor can we doubt that the capitulation of Paris will bring peace, inasmuch as the fall of Paris will open the gates to the Germans of all the other cities and every department of France. Mean- time the London European Conference called by England upon the Russian Black Sea ques- tion will reassemble to-morrow, in pursuance of its list week's adjournment. In the absence of France we presume that, after a short sit- ting, there will be another adjournment for a week or so, in view of expected events at Paris which may bring France inte the coun- cil, In short, we think that England will delay any decisive action on the part of the Conference until she has the support of France— republic, empire or kingdom—against the ex- treme demands of Russia. Assuming, then, that France through her government recognized by Prussia—whatever her government may be—will be a member of this London Conference, ‘the question then recurs, will the deliberations of the Conference be confined to the Black Sea question? We think not. The great Conference at Paris in 1856, at the close of the Crimean war, was called to settle the terms of peace as between Russia and Turkey; but its deliberations took a much wider range, and embraced the estab- lishment of a new law among the Powers con- cerned in reference to belligerent rights and neutral rights upon the high seas, the aboli- tion of privateering being among these new engagements. The humiliation of Russia involved, first, the ‘‘rectification” as it was called, of her southern frontier, whereby she was shorn of a strip of territory at the mouths of the Danube, about the size of New Jersey, including the fortified city of Ismail, captured from Turkey by the savage Cossack, Suwarrow, in 1790—a capture which was followed by the inhuman butchery of the brave Turkish garrison of thirty thousand mien and six thousand women and by the sacking of ee city. Secondly, Russia was humiliated in the distiantling of Sebastopol and others of her Black Sea fortressés. Thirdly, in her limita- tion to half a dozen small Vessels-of-war in the Black Sea. To the historical reader the mere mention of Ismail will recall that notorious despatch of Suwarrow to Catharine at St. Petersburg—‘‘Glory to God and to the Empress! Ismail’s ours!”—or, as Byron renders it in his Satanic ‘‘Don Juan :”— “Glory to God and to the Empress !—Powers Eternal, such names mingled !|—‘Ismail’s ours !"’ Russia, however, does not complain of the restoration of Ismail to Turkey, but of the demolition of her Black Sea fortresses and of her restriction in that dividing inland water to half a dozen police vessels of war. Her demands, excepting Ismail, prac- tically amount to her restoration to the posi- tion she occupied before the Crimean war— that is, she demands the right to restore the forts of Sebastopol, the key to Constantinople, and the right to establish another fleet on the Black Sea, competent, if required, to repeat the destruction of the Torkish squadron at Sinope. Nor can we perceive how these de- mands are to be denied. They must be con- ceded; because Russia, otherwise, is ready for war, and because peace on these terms to the Western Powers and to Austria will, for the present, be safer than war. Nor does the old danger to Turkey from a dominating Russian fleet in the Black Sea any longer exist; since for the protection of her coasts, inlets and har- bors, Prussia, with her new torpedo, has ren- dered utterly useless against her the most powerful iron-clad war ships of France. But other questions, with this Black Sea difficulty, will have to be met and adjusted by this London Conference. We think it proba- ble that its sittings will continue until France shall have secured a regularly established government, and that then the work of the Con- ference will be enlarged to the reconstruction of Europe, including a settlement for the Pope; an agreement upon the Danubian principali- ties; the security of Turkey ; the independence, perhaps, of Egypt, and some general conces- sons and conditions touching the Suez Canal; a compact providing for the settlement here- after of international disputes, not by war, but by a European Conference, and new engage- ments in reference to commercial rights and privileges and reciprocities in the waters of the several contracting parties, and in reference to belligerent and neutral rights upon certain inland waters and upon the high seas. In this broad and comprehensive view the question arises, may not some questions be considered in this European Conference upon which the United States will be bound to speak? Granting that American non-inter- vention in European affairs and European non- intervention in American affairs—our good old rule—is still the safe rule for us, how far will it serve us in the regulation of the general com- mercial and naval interests of the civilized world? How far can we -exclude ourselves from the general maritime and commercial engagements of the great Powers of Europe without bg Saat EH athome and abroad ur government declined to be- come a party to the resolution of the Paris Conference declaring privateering abolished. Remembering, too, the good service rendered by our privateers in our wars with England, the country approved this decision. But, nevertheless, it is possible, had the United States assented to this Pafis engagement, that England, in our late Southern rebellion, would have been a little more cautious than she was in the matter of those Anglo-rebel privateers and cruisers, from which has arisen the diffi- cult question to both parties of those Alabama claims. Possibly, in this view of an honest British application of neutrality and belligerent rights, 1a our late civil war, from our ratifica- tion of that Paris agreement on privateering, we might have saved a tiousand millions or more of our present national debt. At all evenis, our decision on the subject was turned against us by England and France, in their recognition of those marauding vessels, the privateers of the so-called Confederate States, We «av privateers, or virates, for puch they HERALD, MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1871.—WITH SUPPLEMENT, national Confederate cruisers. Again, it is morally certain that this London Conference will not diminish, but will rather enlarge, this Paris European interdict against privateering. Suppose, then, we atill stand aloof, and that next, getting into a war with England, we turn looag our privateers upon her commerce. May not the European com- pact be held as binding and bring all the parties concerned to make a common cause the suppression of these privateers? Or, in any event, is not the age of privateering gone? But, even in the future navigation of the Black Sea, this London Conference may limit its commercial and naval concessions to the ratifying States, or to conditions in the framing of which it may be our interest to have something to say. And so with regard tothe Suez Canal. Non-intervention as between the two hemispheres is a good thing; and yet it fs not likely that we shall be per- mitted, or will undertake, to dig a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien, or Nicaragua, or even at Tehuantepec, without some sort of understanding with England, France and Germany. In short, the United States have become too intimatety identified with the general interests of the civilized world still to adhere rigidly to our ancient policy of a Chinese isolation. That policy has had its day even inChina. Her great wall is now useless. We think, too, that our government and people will have an interest in the pro- ceedings of this London Conference, as it goes on, much greater than that of an outside spec- tator who has nothing to gain or lose from its decisions, We think that its deliberations may extend even to China. We presume that ournew Minister to England, General Schenck, will have the privilege of attending the sittings of the Conference; but, as he will for the time being have nothing else to do, we think he should at least be instructed to keep hia gov- ernment well informed of this Conference, its doings and the drift of its proceedings; for who knows but that St. Domingo or the main- tenance of Spain in the island of Cuba, asa European balance of power in the Gulf of Mexico, may be among the questions which will be considered by this world-embracing Conference? We really consider the subject in all its possible bearings upon American in- terests as eminently worthy a thoughtful con- sideration by General Grant. The Situation Outside the Walls of Paris and Within the Besieged Gapliai. The French Army of the North has been beaten. Faidherbe, like Chanzy and Bour- baki, is retreating, after severe losses, before General Von Goeben. The news does not surprise us. A few days ago we expressed the belief that Faidherbe’s army was not suf- ficiently strong in numbers or in discipline to give the Germans serious concern. The defeat of Faidherbe shows how powerless the French armies are in thelr resistance to the Germans, On all sides we hear of nothing but disasters to the French. The Army of the Loire, the most efficient army yet raised by the republic, though superior in point of numbers to the forces of Prince Frederick Charles, proved to be no match for the Germans, In the same way Bourbaki finds himself unequal to-the task he set out to accomplish in the East. Von Werder forces him not only to abandon his idea of raising the siege of Belfort, but com- pels him to retire and save himself and his army by flight. Now comes the news that Faidherbe is beaten, driven from all his posi- tions and compelled to retire on St. Quentin. Can the prospects be much more gloomy for France than what they appear at present throughout the provinces ? Within Paris matters stand much in the same condition. The bombardment continues, the wreck of public buildings goes on, discon- tent prevails among the citizens, Trochu is falling in publio estimation, and general dis- trust is everywhere observable throughout the city. Tbe picture which the special corre- spondent of the Hgraxp within the walls of the doomed capital draws is gloomy indeed. The pinchings of hunger are fast beginning to tell upon the populace ; the destruction of the magnificent buildings which adorned the city stimulate the citizens to cry out against their leaders and complain in bitter tones of the inactivity of their Governor. For months Trochu has been perfecting his army, and for what? His sorties have proved useless. His hopes that the armies which were raising in the provinces would come to his aid must now be dispelled, and the prospects are that the story of Metz will again be repeated, but on a grander scale. The latest news tells us of the destruction by the German bombard- ment of the splendid conservatory in the Jardin des Plantes, the most magnificent collection of exotics in the world. We can hardly blame the Parisians for being infuriated at the de- struction of their beautiful city. That they have made a heroic struggle the world will acknowledge, that they have submitted calmly and patiently to the hardships of the siege none will attempt to deny, and while a hope remained they clung to that hope with a per- sistency which claims admiration and com- mands respect ; but since struggles prove use- less, sacrifices go for naught, and there is nothing left to hope for, it seems to us that it is clearly the duty of those who assume to be the leaders in France to bring this dreadful war to a close by acknowledging defeat and making the best terms they can with the conqueror. The question arises, do the French leaders possess the moral courage necessary for such an act? Tar Jewisn Times states that a great com- motion is prevailing just now among the mem- bers of one of the oldest Jewish orthodox con- gregations. The old congregation has a young minister, and his young mind, in the course of his studies, is drawing conclusions not alto- gether warranted by real orthodox principles. So, on one or two of the last Sabbath morn- ings, he startled his audience by asserting, in very plain language, that ‘‘Balaam’s ass” was not altogether a reality. The inference is that the you'hful divine ought to know. “Sy, Peter” is the significant name of a new and handsome sixteen page Roman Catho- lic weekly jast staried in this city. It is stated to be an “enterprise of faith.” Faith may do very well so far as the Church is concerned, but it has very little to do with newspapers nowadays. ‘‘Cash” goes further than faith in settling printing expenses Dread of a Grand Diplomatic Farce. We are assured by a special cable telegram from London, under date of yesterday, that the British people have come to regard the matter of the European Conference—its assem- blage to maturity of deliberation or other- wise—with indifference. The politicians of the London clubs and lobby ‘‘whips” of the Parliament scarcely mention it as a matter of party calculation, The Heratp correspond- ent denies the report which has beon circulated asserting that the ministerial representatives of the different Powers have initialed an agree- ment to the effect that no one of the Powers which were signatory to the Treaty of Paris has a right to abrogate or annul that instru- ment per sé, or of its own action. As this is the very essential, the core, of the point in dis- pute, we hesitated to credit the rumor when it reached us first by oable. The correctness of our view is confirmed by the special tele- gram despatch this morning, in which it is affirmed that the Conference is regarded as a “stupendous farce,” designed by Great Britain with the intention of blinding the English people, under a ministerial cover, to the national humiliation which they have sus- tained at the hands of Russla on the subject of the Black Sea navigation question. St. Petersburg proclaims that the obliteration of the treaty is a ‘fact accomplished.” The fact is that the diplomatic wiseacres of Europe have found out that the day of govern- ment conferences is past, and that the Euro- pean peoples have, just at the same moment, become convinced of the truth that the art of governing nations is not hereditary with a class and cannot be transmitted according to the rule of first entail in estate. Premier Giadstone’s Cabinet Dificultice— Tory Organization for the Parliamentary Campaign. A spectal Herap telegram, forwarded by cable from London yesterday, makes patent the fact that Mr. Gladstone has a very uneasy seat as Prime Minister of England. It is be- coming more so every day. The members of the great tory and powerful High Church party of Great Britain feel cold in their continued exclusion fromthe Treasury bench. They first experience their loss of patronage sorely. Marriage jointures have to be paid as usual, while the sinecure system of transmission of Office, under which the untitled offshoots of the descendants of the Conqueror—‘“‘the valiant warriors who 1 never drew a sword,” and “noble gentlemen who never kept their word”—multi- ply towards positive pauperism during their want of plice, is being steadily obliterated by legislative action. A vigorous attack will, consequently, be made in the Gladstone Ministry when Parliament meets in February. The system of management of the army and navy will be directly impugned in the House of Commons and sapped and mined by aristocratic inuendo and the infe- rences of class jealousy and ingratitude in the Lords. Premier Gladstone is preparing to meet the enemy. Like a prudent man, as he is, he has commenced to ‘‘set the house in order” at home. He will reorganize, and, if necessary, reconstruct, his Cabinet. The Right Honorable the Secretary of the Ad- miralty, Mr. Childers, will, it is almost certain, retire from the Ministry. He will be invalided by his own action. This will produce an excitement in political cir- cles. There will be a new ‘‘deal,” a new First Lord, new appointments, fresh patronage, and expectations of the ‘‘great recompenses” and ‘“‘great pay,” which have been “always scorned” by really ‘great men.” The Pre- mier will thus gain an additional and new sup- port, taken from the seedy fringes of the tory party in Parliament, and will, it is thought, be enabled to meet a most bitter first attack of the hostile leaders successfully. Having accomplished this he will retire Mr. Secretary at War Cardwell, and repeat his plan of patronage agitation and hope at Horse Guards. Under this system the British Premier may” tide over a very troublesome opposition to the moment of the marriage of the Princess Louise, and thence on to the recess, the summer, and the Queen in the Highlands. Where will the tory aristocrats be then, with Mars, Neptune.and Venus allied and arrayed against them, and heathen mythology called to attest the wisdom of the British Church reforms? And echo answers, where? Tae Repemprorist, Father Henning, at the Church of St. Charles Borromeo, in Brooklyn, yesterday gave one of those logical, practical, comprehensive, instruc- tive and interesting discourses for which the missionaries of his order are noted. Dur- ing the past two weeks some half a dozon Re- demptorist Fathers have been conducting a mission, or religious revival, at this church, and, according to report, it has been attended with most gratifying success. The sermons, if that of yesterday be a fair sample, are cer- tainly most impressive and cannot fail to doa great deal of good. Father Henning showed the necessity of a conjunction of agencies— the divine agency and the agency of man—to secure salvation. He also dissected the vari- ous religious s2cts as opposed to Catholicity; he demonstrated that truth could never change, explained the formal promulgation of the doctririe of infallibility, and berated those Catholics who ‘‘put on their Catholicity as a man might a new coat, or a woman a new bon- net, for Sunday, and never again wear it dur- ing the week, but keep it safely locked up in a press or bandbox until the next Sunday.” Cottectok Murpuy AND THE CvUSsTOM Hovsg.—One of our reporters had an inter- view with Collector Murphy yesterday, the details of which we publish in another column. It appears that the Collector has no thought of resigning, but believes that his enemies are con- spiring for his removal, and are thereby working into the hands of the democrats. He remains a thorough republican, and would be willing and glad to shake hands with Senator Fenton. Cannot this unseemly and useless quarrel among the republicans of the @ty be made up by this free and full offering of the biggest office-holder among them ? Tux Reticiovs Press the past week had very little to say about the scandal at the Methodist Book Concera. In this refused to follow the example of some of tbo city dailies on private matters and decline’ to + wash their soiled linen in publia ey wisely | Yesterday. Faith, muffled up in furs, shawls and over- Coats, defied the freezing weather of yesterday to do homage to God. It is a pleasant sight to watch the throng of worshippers entering a church, We may see the same fashionably dressed women and eye-glassed young men with nosegays in the buttonholes of their coats going intoa theatre, but the thoughts which enter one’s mind in the latter cass are quite different from those which instinctively arise in the former. The calm and quiet of the day, the sombre aspect of the church and the know- ledge that in a few minutes prayer will begin, alike impart to the spectacle a pleasure which is only heightened by the pious meditations it provokes. For though it may be, unfortunately, that many of those who walk into the church are drawn there from mere habit, curiosity, desire to while away the hours, or, perhaps, from more condemnable motives, it is difficult to associate irreverence and ungodliness with a sight so outwardly pure, tender, pious and beautiful. Yesterday, wo regret to say, the piercing winter wind was provocative of some luke- ‘warmness on the part of the congregations at several of the churches. There are, however, many Christians who seem to think that they possess indulgences and can with impunity abstain frem worshipping God whenever the thermometer is higher or lower than is inevery respect conducive to physical comfort. We have known persons who attended church on a clear, fine day, and endured the infliction of & gloomy sermon, delivered by a drawling preacher afflicted with chronic catarrb, who declined attending on another day, when a dis- course was delivered abounding in originality, eloquence and saving influences, because it happened to be very warm or very cold, or the sky was overcast and threatened rain. Cer- tainly it must be admitted that there is much to admire in the physical and pecuniary benc- fits arising from fair-weather Christianity, but it is evident that unless Christianity is a great error the spiritual part of it is exceedingly small. Of course these fair-weather Chris- tians mean well. That is the worst of it. All their good intentions only add so many square feet to the pavements of the infernal regions. Appropriately enough, that faith which makes all weathers alike to the true Christian was the subject of several sermons yesterday. Rev. J. 8. Cotierre illustrated it by recount- ing the troubles of a Christian. We would have preferred if he had been a little mora cheerful. Undoubtedly it is ‘better to go to heaven alonga road rough and thorny—full of trials and sufferings—than to ride in a coach ona macadamized road to hell.” We doubt, however, if itis necessary for one to be always plunged in trouble and misery to obtain salvation. Dr. Dix also described what the life of faith is, taking for his text the pil- grimages of Abraham and Lot. Father Bryce described its great advantages, and told his hearers what it ought to be. Rev. Mr. Harrover indirectly discoursed on the samo subject. The attainment of perfection through the love of God was his argument. Rev. Mr. Richardson delivered a sermon on the fundamental truths of the Bible, showing that God holds man to obedience by means of rewards and penalties, Rev. Dr. Adams assured his hearers that implicit belief in the Saviour was necessary to defeat the Prince of the World, Rev. Dr. Forbes depicted the beauty of holiness, Rev. Dr. Houghton, at the “Jittle church around the corner,” discoursed on the duty of every person dispensing charity according to his means, and Rev. Mr. Butler assured his colored congregation that the kingdom of heaven was like unto a net, into which he advised all colored souls to get caught. To close the array of sermons in New York we report Mr. Frothingham en- lightening mankind upon the subject of who and what God is, his idea of the Almighty being, of course, diametrically opposed to that of ninety-nine out of every hundred Christians. Passing over to Brooklyn, we heve the Rev. Mr, Gallaher discoursing upon the proper method of studying the Bible; Brother Beecher, dull on the whole, but displaying an intimate knowledge of the defects of St. Paul’s counte- nance, in language which would be considered decidedly coarse, if not absolutely sacrile- gious, in ordinary mortals, but which is quite pious and proper in the Apostle of Plymouth church. At St. James’ Cathedral Father Turner was quite eloquent in his sermon on the leprosy of the soul; and at the Church of the Pilgrims Rev. Mr. French showed the necessity of man being a free agent. It will be seen that from the array of ser- thors we present (his morning, and which we have merely tonched upon in the foregoing, the reader will undoubtedly be able to derive that moral and spiritual support and conscla- ; tion which are so necessary to mankind. Eneuiso Cainer Dirricuttigs.—From a special cable despatch, to be found elsewhere in these columns, it will be learned that a sort of crisis now exists in the British Cabinet. All over the three kingdoms a feeling prevails that Mr. Gladstone, in his excessive desire to work out great domestic reforms, has been some- what neglectful of the position which the Bri- tish empire ought to hold among the nations. When Parliament mets, in February, it is ex- pected that a vigorous onslaught will be made on the Mioistry for their ‘‘peace-at-any-price” policy. The Ministry, according to our special despatch, expect to make a good and success- ful fight. The army ia not, perhaps, what it onght to be; but the navy is in splendid con- dition. The presumption is that the retirement | of Cardwell from the War Office and of Chil- ders from the Admiralty will satisfy the nation and save the Gladstone Ministry. The first few weeks of the Parliamentary session of 1871 promises to be long. Lyrio Haut Serviors.—The Rev. Mr. Frothingham, in one of his characteristic ser- mons yesterday, informs ua that, though na~ ture is not God, it contains the visible evi-~ dence of Hie presence, and man, living in thy midst of it, nestles to the bosom of the Great Father. He also adds, with considerable per- tinence, that virtuous and sober living among men and women, and a refusal on the pari of | the latter to use certain drugs now popular, will go far towards making the earth we live ona neat approach to <he paradise we sigh for, red? Tweed and His Little Decoy Gaue. It fs @ wonder that some one among the large number of divines who preached in this city yesterday did not think of the following text for a sermon :— echoes ae Maret, be tne es er the Lord: wherefore it 1s sal 'VOD as Ni the mighty hunter be‘ore the Lord.”"—Genests x., 8, 9, It will be remembered by those of our readers who are versed in biblical history that Cush, the father of Nimrod, was the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah. It will net be necessary for us in discussing this branch of the subject before us to ascertain whether the Cush referred to was*a progenitor of the distinguished publicist Caleb Cushing of the present age, or whether the Ham mentioned concerneth our own Hamilton Fish, or, finally, whether the ancient gentleman mentioned by the name of Noah was a relative of a former well known Hebrew magistrate in the criminal courts in this city, It is sufficient for our purpose to know that Nimrod was in his day as great a hunter, perhaps, as Robert B. ~ Roosevelt, Congressman elect, {s in our own day, and that he came of an ancient and very respectable family. Now to our point and its application. The great hunter of our day is to be found in the Albany Legislature. His name is Wil- Mam M. Tweed, otherwise known as Boss Tweed, Big Six Tweed, Americus Club Tweed, or, a8 we propose at present to call him, “Nimrod” Tweed, the mighty hunter of the biggest game to be found in our public manors and Corporation preserves. And it would not in this connection, we think, be straining a biblical point to say that, if he be uot a lineal descendant of the sorely tried Job of early Scriptural days, he at least can claim the credit of being the father of many a sorely tried “job” of the present day. Nimrod Tweed, knowing a trick or two in the way of bagging game, adopts the old hunter's dodge. He lays his traps and hoists his decoy flag— red or black, as the case may be. The poor, unsuspicious victims, seeing the signal, aro led, just as wild ducks are decoived by decoys, into the meshes of the wily hunter, and aro slaughtered or bagged at will. In this manner is our Albany Nimrod decoy- ing the callow deer of the municipal reform or citizens’ party in this city, headed by that hoary but credulons old buck, who ought to be up to such small tricks—the venerable Peter Cooper. Nimrod Tweed has hoisted a decoy signal, in the shape of a proposed reduction in the city taxes, and the deluded Buck Cooper, as leader of his herd, dashes on, believ- ing it is a ‘‘good thing,” until he finally falls into the trap and h'mself and his fellows are at the mercy of Tweed and his wary marksmen. This is the intent and meaning of Tweed’s new tax bill. It proposes 8 reduction of taxes; but it places their appor- tionment and fixes the standard of values in the hands of three or four gentlemen—highly respectable gentlemen, no doubt, but who will have opened before them such enormous temp- tations that to resist them could scarcely be expected in these days of legislative corrup- tion. Although there may be a variety of opinions in regard to the tax levy, the present system works well enouzh. The Legislature as a body is supposed to have a more general and conscientious supervision over the items of extravagant expenditure in this city than a quartet of worthy gentlemen who may or may not have axes to grind, but who, whether they have or have not, will always be open to suspicion, The immense pecuniary power proposed to be vested in the hands of these few gentlemen is one that should be jealously guarded and should not be bestowed ina hasty manner nor at the dictation of any one man. Nimrod Tweed may crack his whip over the heads of the democrats in the Legislature, and the Albany correspondent of our con- temporary, the Times, may aver that Tweed himself has no interest in this contemplated radical change in the mode of assessing and collecting taxes in this city. But we hope in the one case the lash will be disregarded, and we do not be- lieve at all in the correctness of the latter statement. There is too much of the Tweed interest involved in the proposed new bill to allow it tobe given the go-by through a feel- ing of indifference; and as to shame having any influence in its disposition, that is a quality not yet known to tingle the blood of men who are after such stupendous game as that for which they are preparing at Albany to give the ‘view halloo!” The members of the Legislature are the re. cognized guardians and protectors of the people. In their hands is placed the power of seeing that an equitable system of taxation is. adopted for the metropolis. To them do the people look for protection against the en- croachments of those who would interfere with their political liberties or pecuniary, interests ;. and as they act in the matter now under con- sideration so will they be held and esteemed by their home constituencies. They will re- turn to their official duties at the Capitol, to- day no doubt much refreshed and fortified by: vheir religious exercises and devotions of the Sabbath. And after the prayers of the chap- Jains have prepared them anew.for the con- adlentious discharge of their official duties let them cast a thought upon the text at the be- ginning of this ariicle and warn all game hunters of the Nimrod Tweed stamp to.“‘be~ ° ware of steel traps and spring guns.” Prussian and American Flings. at Sea-Tho. Contrabands of War Question,. If we are to accord complete credit and literal intexpretation to a cablo telegram which reaches us from London—purporting to, aet& forth the-eontents of a semi-official newspaper declaration uttered in Berlin—-we max-soom have our attention engaged in a very serious, manner on the highly important subjects. of the! right of search at sea and the aetual designation of contrabands of war undor neutral flaga, as between the Noxth Gorman navy and Aweri- ean merchant trading ships. We sre told that according to the treaty made in 799. between | Prussia and the United States Prussian men- of-war cannot capture American merchant ships, even when carrying coutrabands of war, but that they may board the vessels and “take possession of the contraband portion of the cargo,” giving bonds for future payment, It is | said that the North German naval comyaand- ers will be instructed to act in conformity j with = the provisions of this — treaty immediately, This ‘Subject ja of the {