The New York Herald Newspaper, February 12, 1871, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY A ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York © ROOTH'S THEATRE, 230 RIOHELIRG. between 5th ang 6th ava.— .Y@URTEENTH STREET THEATRE (Theatre Francais)— Kine Lean NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—TaB SPECTACLE OF ‘THE BLack Croox. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and 18th street— Home—Bio® DEviLs. LINA EDWIN'S THEATRE, 130 Broadway.—HuNTED Down; OR, THE Two Lives OF MARY LEIGH, GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of Sth ay, ana 23d st.— GRAND OPERATIO CARNIVAL, OLYMPIC THEATRE. Broadway.—Tue PANTOMIME OF RIOAFLIEU OF THE PERIOD. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Pomp; on, Way Down SoUTH—MAN AND TIGRE: FIFTH AVENUE TH: SaRaTOGA, RE, Twenty-fourtb street.— GLOBE THEATRE, 723 Broadway.—Vanretr ENTER- TAINMENT, &0.—GREEN BANNER. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, 45 Bowery.—ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street—In Tno- VATORR. WOOD'S MUSEUM Broadway, corner 80th st.—Perform- ances every afternoon and evening, MRS, F. B. CONWA\"S PARK THEATRE. Brooklya.— Nvow ADO ABOUT A MERCHANT OF VENICE. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—Va- minty ENTERTAINMENT, tat Netes THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Comro Vocat- 18M, NEGRO AoTs, &o. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL, 585 Broatway.— NEGRO MINSTRELSY, FAROES, BURLESQUES, 40. BRYANT'S NEW OPERA HOUSE, 934 st., between 6th and 7th avs.—-NEGRO MINSTRELSY, KocENTRIOITIES, &C. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn,—HOOLEY's AND KELLY & LEON's MINSTRELS. UNION LEAGUE HALL. 188 GLYNN's READINGS, APOLLO HALL, corner 28th DE. Coxny's DioRAMA OF IREL. treet and Brondway.— NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth street.—ScENES IN vu RING, ACROBA D. OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— DR. KABN’S A _DR. KA TOMICAL MUSEUM, 745 Broadway.— SOmENCE AND New York, Sunday, February 12, 1871. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. PAGE. ch mpage aT Advertisements. gress—An Ice cation Between Sutfocating m Mid-Ocean—The Foundling A‘ lum—Dominion 0: \la—Eurepean Mar- Millen Divorce Case— epublican Ripples—The Trenton cunatic—The Railroad | Horror—Personal Intelligence—A Man Trap at 109th Street—Horse Notes. 4—Judaism : A Review of Its Present Condition— | Religious Inteilige! ; Murderer Howari! 5—The Wars of '64 and ‘70: The Prassian Inva- sions of Denmark and France Compared—In a | Shell: Remarkable Feat of a HERALD C respondent; He Goes Inside a Shel! and is Fired Into Paris—The ow Season Abroad : Travelling Through Europe in Mid-Winter— | Custem House Atfairs—Shocking Suicide in Brooklyn—Judge Barnard Indignant. G—Editoriais: Leading Article, “The Conflicting Synagogues’’—Amusement Announcements, 7—Editor.als (Continued from Sixth Page)—France: | Result of the Elections in the Provinces—Im.- | portant from Hayti—The Joint High Commis- sion—The British Parliament—Miscellaneous Cable News--The Yacht Cambria in American Waters—Criticisms of New Books—Business Notices. S—Amherst’s Romance : The Sheree: © of Mitzkie- wic7, the Russian Count, and His Conflict with Tyler, Professor of Greek; How He Loved, Wooed and Won an Heiress—A Leap for Lue—New York City Items—Skating—In- ao Revenue Affairs—Marriages, Births and reatiis, 9—Financial and Commercial Reports—Advertise- ments. 40—The Steamer Tennessee: A Vessel, Supposed to ve the Tennessee, Passed on the 19th of Janu- ary—Amusements—Jefferson Market Police Court—St. Valentine’s Day—Shipping Intelll- gence—Advertisements, 14—Advertisements, 12—Advertisements. A Useress Prack Propostrion—That which it is rumored in Brussels England has made to Prussia to submit the question of peace with France to arbitration, so that it may have the ratification of all the great Powers. Prussia will make her terms of peace with France, and if the terms she will have to propose to this newly elected French National Assembly are rejected she is pre- pared to renew the war. We think, however, that this new Assembly will come to a treaty of peace on the basis of the terms of united Germany, and perbaps within the present week. The armistice expires on the 19th at noon, and the Assembly will have no time for trifling. Tae STEAM FRIGATE TENNESSEZ. —We enter- tain no fears whatever regarding the safety of the Tennessee. She has doubtless reaehed her destination, and in all probability the Commissioners are enjoying a summer tem- perature under the shade of the magnificent foliage of that part of the world, little think- ing of how much uneasiness is felt at home by reason of their not being heard from. We publish in another part of the paper a state- ment from parties who are thoroughly informed regarding the means of communication with St. Domingo, and it shows how impossible it is that we should have heard from the Ten- nessee before this, even if her passage had been a quick one. We repeat, that we have no fears whatever, and those who have friends and relatives on board may rest easy and feel assured that they will be heard from in a few days—all well. ANoTHER CALAMITY To THE FRENcH— The cattle plague. It has broken out among the immense dreves of cattle gathered at Brest for the relief of the half-starving popu- Jation of Paris, and is doing such havoc among those herds that it is impossible to bury them as rapidly as circumstances require, A cordon has been drawa around the cattle affected with the disease, and as they die off they are carted to the water side and tumbled into condemned war ships, which, when filled, ‘ bilities of their forefathers. NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12. 1871.-TRIPLE SHEET. The Conflicting Sytagogues. It will be seen by the interesting review we publish to-day of Judaism, that the dissensions which disturb the various sects which branched off from the parent tree at the Reformation, and which the New York Heratp strives to soothe, seem also to disturb the harmony of the Hebrew congregations in this country and to call for our mediatien. It will be remem- bered that differences of opinion prevailed in Judea itself from the days of Moses and Joshua; but in that infantile period of humanity no New York Heraxp existed to heal the wounds of conflicting theeries, and Moses and Joshua were obliged to appeal to the prophets to escape from their belligerent dilemmas. At this early period of history the prophets were the only recognized organs of public opinion. In point of fact they were the journalists of that day. Any one nowa- days who has a grievance to redress, or a con- viction to express, er a controversy to settle appeals here to the New York Heap, or in England to the Zimes; but Jerusalem, not- | withstanding all the innumerable blessings of the Holy City, was by the inscrutable decrees of Providence doomed to struggle with des- tiny witkeut the assistance of any analogous organ of public opinion; and if she eventually succumbed to the Romans and afterwards to the Moslem the catastrophe obviously befell her because when they took to stoning the pro- phets—who were the only organs of public opinion—there was ne mediator to step in and save the Holy City frem destruction. Thanks to the genius of progress, all this is changed in the present day. The Hebrews, scattered all over the globe, have become identified, like the Celts and Teutons, with all the various nationalities of Christendom, to such an extent that it has become as obsolete and invidious to designate an American citizen of Hebrew descent as a Jew as one of Irish or German origin as a Celt or Teuton. In France espe- cially, with the delicacy and gentle tact inhe- rent to that mation, the practice of calling French citizens of Hebrew faith Jews has disappeared since the emancipation of that ancient race from all civil and religious disa- bilities. There are some countries of Europe, it is true, where the prejudice against their superior genius for money making and their traditional opposition to the divine claims of the Saviour slightly isolate them and prevent their being classified, like other great historic races, with the nationality amid which they | have been born; but in this country the desire is to designate them simply as Americans and to make them in every sense forget the disa- In point of fact some of the highest and most important posi- tions in this city are held by members of the Hebrew faith without any one especially regarding them as Jews, no more than they would regard a German asa Hun or a Goth because in remote days his ancestors may have | descended from the Vandals, Holding, as we do, these liberal views, and having im our time contributed in no small degree to the extirpation of every shred of invidiousness as against the Hebrew or any other faith, our fellow citizens who feel pride in claiming descent from that historic race will be, we trust, the more inclined to accept the New York Heratp as a mediator in the discord which has sprung up in their midst, and ef which we give a detailed account in another column. It is manifest, from a perusal of the special organs of the Hebrew faith, which are pummelling each other with a frantic passion about small points, that sec- tarianism is making as much havoc among the congregations ef the rabbies of synagogues as among those of the pastors of Protestant churches. The orthodox rabbies, who worship the social and culinary practices of their remote forefathers as cardinal tenets of faith, regard the violation of the Sabbath, the inter- marriage with non-Israelites and the indul- gence in pork as irreconcilable with a sincere allegiance to the Hebrew religion. The heterodox rabbies and congregations, on the other hand, take as the only test of their religion the recognition of Jehovah as the only God, and as long as they remain faithful to that worship they may eat what they please, marry whom they choose aud join in every respect in the social, culinary and general practices of non-Hebrews. The orthodox Hebrews fear that this, as they deem, heterodox corruption will prove the beginning of the end of the Mosaic faith and gradually tend to disintegrate the synagogue and pave the way for the Chris- tianization of their flocks, or at least for identifying them with that large and powerful sect of Unitarianism which regards Christ only as a moral reformer and not as the Son of God. There are other minor trifles of difference detailed elsewhere, but these are the cardinal points of controversy, and the New York Heratp deems it its duty to confer the same evangelical services on the synagogues which it does week after week on the churches, by stepping into the place of the prophets of eld and throwing a soothing balm on the troubled waters of religious strife. We ask, then, the conflicting synagogues to reflect that the differences of opinion which have split Protestant Christendom into such a variety of creeds are in many respects more serious than those which divide them, and yet, thanks to the New York Heratp's influence, the bond of sympathy which unites all humanity in the same fellowship becomes stronger from week to week and soars over all dissensions of dogma, Let us impress on them, as on other conflicting sects, that, whatever may be their discord on social or culinary tenets, they all bow down with the same zeal before the one Heavenly Father and cling with the same devetion to the Old Testament as Christians do to the Old and New. The members of synagogues are like those of cburcbes, and even mosques and Brahmin pagodas are naturally subject to those out- breaks. of freedom of conscience and intel- lectual ferment which characterize the age. Exemption from them might only exhibit are towed out to seaand sunk, It is to be | effeteness and vegetation, while their exist- feared, however, that when these carcases, in | ence is a symptom of vitality and buoyancy. the process of decomposition, rise to the sur- | Even the Roman Catholic Church, which face, they will be washed ashore and create heretofore seemed alone among all others to another pestilence. Truly, the cup of misery | stand steady and immovable, is showing some to poor France bas been filled to the brim and | symptoms of uneasy agitation, and while many she is drinking it to the dregs; but from the | good Catholics regard the temporal power of very extremity of her sufferings there is at | the Holy Father as indispensable for the sta- Jeast this hope—that she will give up the fight, | bility of St. Peter’s throne there are not a few, and that her victorioas enemy will not be | no less pious, who look on the separation of without generosity in his exactions, the religious from the political power as a great advantage to the future of Catholicity. But these differences of opinion, so far from weakening religion, should rather contribute to strengthen its power by disclosing more and more the sublime Christian fact, of which the New York Heraxp is the gespel, that tolera- tion is the tribute which religion is bound to pay to individual liberty, and that diversity of opinion in small points is not inconsistent with a grand catholicity of sentiment and thought, and may prevail without poisoning the great fountain of universal love and charity from which all men and women of all sects draw their inspiration. Espe- cially since the New York Heratp began to publish the sermons of pastors of all de- nominations has the conviction sunk into the public mind that differences of religion repre- sent only the various idiosyncracies of human character, and do not exclude the existence of the mest perfect harmony as regards the most salient and essential truths of religion. This conviction will appeal, we trust, with the same eloquence to the conflicting synagogues as it did to the divergent churches. This is the more desirable as sectarianism is sure to increase in proportion to the increase of their power and the intellectual vitality of their congregations, This growth of sects has been the invincible result of the direction which civilization has taken in the last three cen- turies. At one time Christendom was re- ligiously controlled by but three great religious powers—the Roman Catholic, the Eastern orthodox and the Protestant. At the present day, while the two first alone maintain their unity of discipline and organization, the last is divided and subdivided into a hundred diver- gent denominations, The synagogues are now, in their turn, in the throes of that strife which, until the New York Heratp stepped in as a mediator, did so much to engender bitterness in evangelical bosoms, where love and charity alone should dwell. This division into orthodox and heterodox synagogues is, in our opinion, but the prelude to other even greater divi- sions and subdivisions, As there are High and Low Episcopalians, Old School and New School Presbyterians, and Book-concerned and book unconcerned Methodists, and, in fact, in the Protestant Churches almost as many denomi- nations as there are phases of human charac- ter, the synagogues cannot escape from the same multiplicity of sects. No doubt there are not a few of the followers of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in this city, for instance, who differ in their respective estimates of Aaron and Joshua, Solomon and David and Saul; who held conflicting opinions with regard to the feelings of Jonah while boarding in the belly of the whale, or of Daniel while occupy- ing temporary lodgings in the den of lions. With the progress of mental fermentation new sects must arise frem this seething caldron of conflicting opinions. Nor can the culinary aspect of the existing theological discord be expected to end in anything but further subdi- visions. In Chicago and Cincinnati—where pork has acquired such a hold on the public affection that the honor of calling either of those cities Porkopolis is frequently conferred as a tribute of gratitute, net so much to that | distinguished member of zoology, the pig, as to the beneficent influence bis packing has on the prosperity of these places—the elements of division are strong; for some of the West- ern synagogues may hold that pork killed by an orthodox butcher is good food, and others hold not. The social question is equally beset with antagonistic elements; but as Catholics and Protestants intermarry without interfering with each other's faith, orthodex and hetero- dox synagogues will probably, after a time, unite on the basis that a mixed marriage is not necessarily a breach of faith. But amid whatever conscientious differences or varying social practices may arise to animate existing sects or lead to the establishment of new ones, all will be well if the synagogues, like the churches, will follow the gospel of the New York Heratp and cultivate the virtues of amenity and love. In the differences be- tween conflicting synagogues we will play the part of the prophets of old in the antagenism between Joshua and Moses. Let them come to us like little children, and in our soothing teachings they will find a balsam for all their wounds. The British Parlinment—Tho the Princess Louise. On Friday night last, in the House of Lords, a message was received from the Queen ask- ing fer a dowry for*the Princess Lonise suitable to the dignity of the crewn. The message was read and made the order of the day for Monday (to-morrow). What will bea dowry for this amiable Princess ‘‘suitable to the dignity of the Crown?” Twenty or thirty thousand pounds sterling a year, we suppose. The British people are becoming somewhat dissatisfied with all the costly royal appendages of their Church and State establishments; but, considering the popularity of the match which has been made between the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne, the son of Argyll, we presume that “‘her Majesty's royal subjects” will not complain should the dowry ef this Princess be made even forty theusand @ year, inasmuch as instead of going, as usual with these royal dowries, to the support of some impecunious German prince, it will go to strengthen a home establishment of the nobil- ity and one of the most popular aristocratic houses in “‘the three kingdoms.” There will be a change, it is widely believed, in all these things by and by; but meantime the Princess Louise may be set down as sure of ‘a dowry suitable to the dignity of the Crown.” Tae CANADIANS take a hopeful view of the future, and congratulate themselves upon the prospect of an early settlement of all dif- ferences between themselves and the United States. If thisbe done the Kanucks will soon sink into hopeless stupidity. The only causes of excitement which have kept them alive for several years have been Fenian invasions and the fishery question. These matters quieted, our Canadian neighbors will be at a loss for first class sensations to stir their sluggish blood and keep them wide awake. Dowry of Tn Coat Miners of Pennsylvania begin to evince some glimmerings of reason. At a meeting of their secret association held at Tamaqua, Pa., yesterday, it was decided that the miners in all the counties should resume work on Wednesday next The Great Religious Movements of the Age-The Herald Among the Preachers. We live in a practical age—the age of war, of conquest, of brute force, of steam and pow- der force, The thundor of war fills every ear and dismays almost every mind. It is not less true that we live in an age of ideas, of big and fruitful ideas, of ideas which disturb almost equally political, social and religious life; of ideas most penetrating and most revo- lutionary. We can afford for the moment to pass by the Franco-German war and the many unforeseen, but most sweeping, revolutionary resnits which must flow from it. Outside of the war arena we have noreason to complain of a limited field or of any lack of revolu- tionary ideas, sentiments or exponents. If it ever was true it is true now that all old things are passing away and all things are becoming new. Look where we may, on this Continent, in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in Australia, we find society unhiaged, politics chaotic, reli- gion at its wit’s end. Not to speak of tho northern part of this Continent, look at the chaos in South America, Look at Russia, at Austria, at Turkey, at Italy, at Spain and Portugal, at Great Britain. Look at Asia, where, under the combined influences of the great maritime nations of the New World and the great maritime nations of the Old Werld, the institutions of many centuries are crum- bling to pieces, Look at the youngest of the Anglo-Saxon settlements, Australia, where liberty, backed up by unquestioned strength, is creating a new and happy home for the en- terprising and disaffected of all lands. The railroad, the telegraph, the newspaper are everywhere disturbing the venerated cobwebs of antiquity and carrying light and thought and sentiment into the dark places of the Earth. Among the many evangelizing forces of the time the newspaper must be accorded the foremost place; and to the agency of this latest voice crying in the wilderness the marvellous revolutions of this revolu- tionary age must be mainly attributed. Our attention for the moment, however, must be cenfined to religion, and chiefly to religion on this Continent. We cannot wholly overlook the fact that the religious sentiment is still a very vital force among the sons of men all the world over. The Papal question—the question as to whether or not the sacred and repeatedly guaranteed possessions of centuries can be ruthlessly and without compensation wrenched from the one man who represents at once the dignity and anti- quity of the Christian faith—has created almost a greater amount of the old Crusade sentiment in republican and Protestant America than in any part of the old monarchical and Catholic countries of Europe. The Papal question is essentially a religious question, and as a religious question it touches every Christian heart the wide world over. We see day by day how religion is stirring Russia and Austria, and (without specially noting the southern countries of Eurepe) of the British Isles. We know how generally Father Hyacinthe, a good Catholic, a Romanist of the right type, is » favorite in France, and we are not left much room to doubt that in recon- structed France Father Hyacinthe may prove a mightier force than Gavazzi has proved in reconstructed Italy. Away in the far East, on the plains of Hindostan, among the devoted fellowera of Brahma, of Buddha, of Confucius, of Mohammed, a voice has been raised—a voice which recently startled the religious doctors of the British metropolis, and the voice of Baboo Chesut Chunder Sen, which is neither Pagan nor Christian, but which is as little Brahminical or Buddhist, Confucian or Mohammedan, threatens to make the populous and thoughtful fields of Southern Asia once more the birthplace of a new and world-conquering faith. As we said, however, we must limit our horizon and confine ourselves to a sphere which is more particularly related to our own land and to our own home. We have always felt that the Americans were essen- tially a religious people and a liber- ally religious people, and that in the moulding of the great Catholic faith of the future—the faith which must prevail when the human family speaks a common language and knows no national barrier lines—they must take a prominent part. When the parliament of man becomes a fact, when the federation of the world is no longer a prospective myth, we must have the unity of the faith, and if we judge rightly the bringing about of the unity of the faith is to be in a very special and very emphatic sense the religious mission of this people. We have already in our brief history solved many problems for the benefit of the futare of mankind. Particularly have we solved two—we have practically {lustrated the worthlessness of monarchy and the absurdity of nationalities. In other words, we stand before the world as a great people, who have grown and prospered by self-government, and who have refused to recognize any barriers which were not wide enough to embrace the family of man, All men on our soil, after reasonable probation, are equals, and every citizen of these United States is sovereign. We are rapidly solving another question— we are making an end of the curse of Babel. Here we have representatives of all languages, as we have ofall peoples; but our grand pub- lic school system and the universal demand for simplicity and directness make short and sharp work of the confusion of tongues. A mixed people, yet a powerful unit; a poly- glot people, yet rapidly yielding te the in- fluences of a common language—behold the United States! What we have done for race and for language, and are still doing, we must now begin to de fer religion. In this new task the HERALD is a willing, earnest, and, as we have reason to know, not an impotent helper. ® We have no lack of the religious sentiment in the midst of us; but all honest, thoughtful men must admit we have too many religions, Religion, in fact, in the United States is net unlike politics in France. In France, as we have had most unpleasant, but most unmistak- able proof, every man has a political system of his own, In the United States every man may be said, not unfairly, to have a religious system of his own. Catholic unity is a something which we never liked. A unity of form without a unity of spirit is not desirable ; but Catholic unity, Protestant anarchy, and here we have Protestant anarchy in perfection, Our isms are countless as the sands by the sea shore or as the stars of heaven. Every ism has: its own little following, its own little chapel, its own little idol or its own little priest. Amid all our divisions we are a professedly Chris- tian people ; but how the Master who prayed that His peeple might be one even as He and His Father were one can look approvingly on American Christianity is more than we can comprehend. Our divisions beget rivalry ; rivalry begets jealousy; jealousy leads to strife, and to-day we have in all con- seience rivalry and jealousy and _ strife enough, We have been striving for some time past to exhibit American Christianity to itself, to exhibit every party to itself and every other party to every other. In other words, we have been holding the mirror up to the churches in the hope that the churches, seeing themselves as they ought to see themselves, would feel ashamed and begin te mend their ways. We are glad to know that we have already heen somewhat success- ful. Like Elijah, like John the Baptist, we have raised our voice in the wilderness; and it is our pride this day to know that promi- nent ecclesiastical leaders in all sections of the Church look to us gratefully and give us geod assurance that they will fight in the new and holy cause. As we are already one people, speaking a common tongue, let us hope that we soon shall be one people, worshipping ata common shrine. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, with no isms. Let that be our motto, Disastrous Storms Around the British IslandeA Terrisle French Shipwreck. We have the painful intelligence from Lon- don of the shipwreck in the English Channel, off Cape La Hogue, of a French transport, heavily laden, and with upwards of twelve hun- dred and fifty French troops on board, all of whom, with the ship’s crew, are reported lost. The vessel foundered among the recks off that dangerous coast; and in those significant words “heavily laden” we have, no doubt, the key to the disaster. Water-logged ina heavy sea the ship became unmanageable, and, drifting with the waves upon the rocks, she went down with allon board. This, we infer, from the brief details given, is the explanation of this fearful shipwreck, equal in its destruction of human life te the slaugh- ter of a heavy battle. It is probable that the French troops on board were being transported to some military camp in view of the possible resumption of hostilities with the termination of the existing armistice, which has not quite ten days yet to run. At all events it is evi- dent that culpable carelessness and stupidity in this heavily laden vessel are among the chief causes of this disaster. Heavy storms, involving great commercial losses in numerous shipwrecks along the western coasts of Great Britain, are also reported--a half dozen near South Shields alone. Lying in the track of the warm Gulf Stream the British islands are indebted to it for their genial climate and fruitful soil; but they are also subject to the violent storms which mostly prevail at sea in and along the course ef these equatorial currents. Thus we think it probable that the strong gale in which the United States steam frigate Teu- nessee is reported as having been sighted on the 19th of January is the very storm which has brought these marine disasters along the French and British coasts, The Elections in France. The despatches from France published in this morning’s Hzratp show that, although the conservative republican candidates have made a fair exhibit of their strength, the general tone of the people is in favor of a return to a monarchical form of govern- ment. The rabid utterances of Gam- betta and his faction are to be blamed for this, as had they shown a mode- rate tendency and a desire to secure peace at the price it might be bought a different result mizht have been expected. Jules Favre understood it. He knew France was powerless and unable to take a decided stand in opposition to the wishes of Germany, and, therefore, he endeavored to make the best terms he could with those who held, wo may say, the destinies of France in their hands. With the Bordeaux republi- cans the case was different. They affected to believe that they could carry France through the desperate situation in which she is at present on the bombastic utterances which they expressed and the unpractical theories which they cherished. By this time, perhaps, they have discovered how sadly they have erred and how grievously they overrated their ability to establish a republic of their making in France. Premier Gladstone in Corroboration Herald Special Telegrams. The Right Honorable the Premier of Eng- land made a statement to the House of Commons on Friday evening in explanation of the ab- sence of the representative of France from the London Conference. He presented the case as itis reported in our columns to-day. It will be seen that in his report of M. Jules Favre’s trouble to get out of Paris and final abandonment of the attempt Mr. Gladstone used the very words—almost literally—of the HERALD special cable telegrams in which we recounted, at the moment, the causes which impeded the French statesman and thus produced a diplomatic disappointment. Premier Gladstone has had plenty of hard work during the recess. We incline to the opinion, therefore, that when he was ‘eagaged in making up his points of state- ment relative to the Franco-Prussian Confer- ence, and other matters connected with the war, he availed himself liberally of the con- tents of the pages of the Heratp. Perfectly welcome. Glad of it, as we wore in the case of our Abyssinian war news having reached the Horse Guards and Buckingham Palace “ahead” of the Queen’s despatches, and just in the “nick of time” for the enlightenment of her Majesty relative to the grand triumph of her troeps in Africa, of Woman is duly appreciated in Missouri. The Senate of that State yesterday passed a bill exempting the property of a wife in executions levied against her husband. <A just law, that. Make the “tvrante” pay their undesirable as it is, is almost preferable to | own bills, Anniversary Outlook. Within a very few weeks hence anniversary time will be upon us, when all those religious and benevolent associations and clerical bodies will gather in our city to discuss the interests of the Church of Christ in their respective spheres, This ancient and honor- able custom has of late fallen greatly into dis- favor among the oldest associations, since the occasion has been availed of by the gathering together of other bodies of well-meaning but mistaken people to discuss impracticable pro- positions and schemes only remotely con- nected, if at all, with Christianity. Graver questions than ever before presented them- selves to any considerable bedy of American Christians will come up before the mission, Bible and tract societies of the different churches and denominations. The very favor- able condition ef the world at present, as it appears to the American Church, and the high and respected position which this Church and nation maintain toward all other nations, Christian and heathen, call for greater mis- sionary efforts than have ever been put forth. The events which have transpired in Europe during the past and present years are deemed by most of the Protestunt denominations in this city and country to be Divine calls to duty and diligence. Already the Methodist Church has enlarged its mission field for 1871, and has taken in Italy, Spain, Mexico an&-por- tions of South America, besides aitend- ing to its home missions and foreign stations in India, China, Africa and Central and Southeastern Europe, The “Chinese question” has taken a very practical shape for this denomination, It has built a Chinese mission heuse in San Francisco, aided largely by Chinese residents there; and recently the Foo Chow Methodist Conference sent a native missionary, with his wife, over to California to help his American brethren there to convert the ‘heathen Chinee.” His arrival in San Francisco has been announced in the reli- gious press of that city. The Presbyterians have not fully realized the marriage consummated between the Old and New Scheol bodies last year, and their five million fund for educational, church extension and home mission purposes has not yet been subscribed. The iaterest in it, teo, seems to flag, and now, within three months of the time limited for the ingathering of the whole amount, there are two millions lacking This is not the best that might and ought to be done by the denomination, which, now united, numbers 446,561 members, and 4,238 ministers, connected with 259 presbyteries. The average tax per member is but a fraction over eleven dollars to realize the whole amount, and it ought to be subscribed before the May ‘nniversaries. Until it is assured the denomination cannot extend its mission work as it would like, and as its members and prominence seem to indicate it should. It, however, did nobly last year in giving $695,121 to its foreign and domestic mission work. The Baptists feel the missionary spirit upon them also, and their ecclesiastical bodies will be called upon to devise means whereby they may ‘‘go up and possess the lands.” Tho de- nomination in this city is perhaps at present more largely interested in Church extension than in any other Christian work. Owing to the congregational independence of each indi- vidual church and their irresponsibility to any other, there is a lack of unity of purpose and of effort in all their under- takings. This defect is sought to be removed ‘by a union not only of the Baptist churches in this city, but in the State and the New England States, so that they can render common aid to each other and work the betier together for the common end. Similar unions will doubtless be formed also in the Middle, Western and Northwestern States. The Bap- tists maintain missions in heathen lands as well as at home. The denomination, of every shade of opinion and form, numbers in the United States 1,563,630 members, over whom are stationed 9,553 ministers, connected with 783 associations. The Protestaut Episcopal Church regards home missions with much more favor than foreign, though it also maintains some of the former. It has in this country thirty-nine dioceses and fifty-one bishops, 2,512 parishes and 2,762 clergymen, and 200,000 communi- cants, The Reformed Dutch and the Protestant Episcopal are the only evangelical Protestant denominations in the United States who have more ministers than churches. The Methodists have but 9,192 ordained preachers for 18,373 churches; the Presbyterians, 4,238 ministers for 4,526 churches, and the Baptists, 9,558 ministers to 18,605 churches. It will be seen that the Baptists build churches twice as fast as they can supply the pulpits, and in this respect they are ahead of every other denomi- nation im the United States. These figures, however, embrace all of every name in this country who call themselves Baptists, whereas the Presbyterian and Methodist figures do not embrace the several branches of those denomi- nations, The Episcopalians have already held their Diocesan Convention here, but in the spring their missionary and other societies will meet. The Triennial Convention will assemble in Baltimore in May. The Baptist Home Mis- sionary Society will also assemble here, and the Presbyterian Board of Missions and Reformed Church Mission and Publication societies will also gather in council here. Bat the two Methodist conferences, which met here last April, will hold their next sessions in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and Stamford, Cunn. The American Bible and Tract societies, the National Temperance Association, and a few minor miscellaneous gathefings of Friends, Women’s Rights and Peace people may be seen here in April and May; but the great importaace which formerly attached to anni- versary week has departed from among us, at least for a time, perhaps ’tis forever. ConGRESSIONAL BLUNDERING sometimes pro= duces good results, The bill recently pasged by Congress for the partial repeal of the test oath is a remarkable instance of Congressional stupidity and carelessness; but notwithstand- ing its glaring defects it is likely to prove of great importance to the country. The bill is altogether in favor of ex-rebels, but does not cover the case of Union men who were forced into the service of the confederacy. The President favors the total repeal of the test oath, believing that the Southerners would behave themselves much better without euch