The New York Herald Newspaper, February 22, 1871, Page 6

6 ~ BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, Volume XXXVI... = - AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, OLYMPIC THEATRE. Broadway.—Tut RICHELIEU OF TEE PERIOD. Matince at 2 |, BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Powr; on, WAY Down Sour. Matinee at 2—Crapie oF Livery, £0. sree No, 5S FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— BaRaroea. GLOBE THEATRE, 738 Broadway.—Vanirty ENTER- TAINNENT, £0.—GREEN BANNER, Matineo at 2, NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, 4 Bowgry.—Dim RILLE. BOOTH’S THEATRE, 23d st., veiween 5th ang Oth ave,— RIOwELIEU. ' WOOD'S MUSEUM Broadway, corner 30th st.—Perform- Snces every afternoon and evening. ‘| FOURTEENTH STREET TUEATRE (Theatre Francais)— Broweuizy. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Bro: ‘THE BLACK Caook, Matin (ial SPROTACLE oF WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway ana 1th street.— Tox Heim at Law. LINA EDWIN'S THEATRE, 720 Broadway,—HonTep Down; On, 1Hx Two Lives or Many Lerch. Matinee. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of 8th ay. ana 23d st— | Les BRIGANps. MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brookiyao.— Sawaroga. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC—Fant HEarr Nrvew Won Fain Lapy—Usep Ur. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSR, 201 Bowery.—Va- Riv1Y ENTERTAINMENT. Matince at THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Comto Vocau- ns, NFGNO ACTS, &0. Matinee at 2. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL, 585 Broatway.— Nerono MINSTLELSY, Fanos, BuRLEBQUES, bc. BRYANT'S NEW OPERA HOUSE, 234 st., between 6th and 7th avs.—NeG@uO MINSTRELSY, RoomNtkICiTIES, &0. HOOLEY’S OPERA HOUSE, Brooklyn.—HooLer’s AND KELLY & LEox's MINSTRELS. APOLLO HALL. corner 26th street and Broadway.— Dx. Couny's DIonaMA OF IRELAND. arveenth atrest,-SoENES IN Matinee at 234. NEW YORK CIRCUS, THE RUNG, ACROBATS, £0, SOMERVILLE ART GALLERY, @ Fifth avonue.—Ex- DIwITION OF Wonks OF ART. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— BOIENOK AND Agr. DR. KAHN’S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM, 745 Broadway.— BOrmnok AND ART. TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Wednesday, February 22, 1871. CONTENTS OF TC-DAYS HERALD. PAGE. L—Advertisementa. ‘2—Advertisemente. 3—News from Washington—The Southern Pacific Railroad Charter—Ice-Boat Racing on the Hudson—The New Hamburg Disaster—The Joint Hign Commission—The Fishery Question in Canada—New Jersey Legislature—Com- Inencement of nev ig ate Colles Tornado in Californla—“Mary Jane’ in Con- necticut—Reception of the Brooklyn Thir- teenth—Crushed to Death. é—Frememage William H. Seward’s ‘Travels—Funeral of Doc Simmons—A Dead Beat Laundryman—Pater Patrie: How Wash- ington’s pores Wilt Be Celebrated in the City and Elsewhere—Ine New Governor of Utah—Too Much Roast Mutton—Suspictous Death—Christian Need, Fiche oe of or. Hyatt—Coal Famine in Jersey—Naval Intelli- geuce—New York City News—Another Boy Assassin—Burning of the Cincinnati Union Loaner ey fy ¥ i tsa ee : gai —, fe Hunt—The Cust House Muddle, san S—Europe: The English Press on the Anglo-Ameri- can Difficulties; M. Thiers and the Republic; A Frane-Tireur Buried Alive by the Prussians; The French Army in Switzerland; Turkey Re- o Her Army System— General Sigel 0 fanion—The Fire Department Steamboat—Feast and Fast: Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday—The Palette Festival. G—Editoriais: Leading Article, “The Joint High Commission—Its Duties and Its Difficulties” Personal Intelligence—The HERALD in Mary- land—Amusement Announcements. '7—The Peace Question—The French Government— HERALD Special Report from Paris—Luxem- bourg—General Reports from France—The Spanish Crown—Spanish Consptracy—Miscel- laneous European Despatches—Amuseniéhis—= Bas Notices, S—Proveedings in the Courts—The Case of the Snip Neptuae—Internai Revenue Decision—Female ancing: Woodhull & Clafin in a “Cor- ner”’—Atleged Bribery at the Custom House— John Allen’s Success The Murderer Jonn- son in Prison Again—Another Horse Stealing Case—Whiskey “Makes the Mare Go.’? 9—Financlal and Commercial Reports—Our Foreign Trade—The Pennsylvania Railroad Company— Real Estate Matters—The Late Blasting Ca- ner Marriages and Deaths — Advertise- meni 10—The Carnival in Washington—Obituary—Ship- ping Intelligence—Advertisements, 11—Advertisemenis. 12—Advertisements, “Cuiprpewa” is to be the name of a new Territory to be taken from the northern part of Dakota. Uncle Sam had better be looking after his new Territories ; for if the Western land grabbers keep on at their present rate he will soon not have a chip nor an inch of soil left, Tas Is a Great Day IN THE CALENDAR of 1871, as Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and as the 22d of February, the begin- ning of the glorious life of Washington. In both respects, by all good Christians and patriots, let it be duly remembered and honored, Tue Mone Register says it has been ascer- Yained that the difficulty with the Havana cable is that the loggerhead turtles—a huge sea shell fish, with jaws like sharpened shears—bite it off. The trouble usually with most ocean cables is that the managers get so frequently at loggerheads, Farse Wricuts IN Tee Custom House.—A suit for four hundred thousand dollars has been commenced by the government against the firm of Weld & Co., for alleged frands to that amount by false weight of im- ported sugars. It is charged that they bribed a weizher of the Custom House to return their weights at figures much less than the trae ones, Doo Simmons, the engineer, who died at his post in the New Hamburg disaster, was buried yesterday with no show nor parade nor panegyric beyond that bestowed by the presence of a church full of people, who came to do honor to the memory of a humble, unpretentious hero, whose dying act will adorn the hard realities of his everyday life like a bit of evergreen upon a rugged wall. Tae Sreamsare Vittz pg Parts.—The steamship Ville de Paris left this port on the 21st of last month for Bordeaux, and as yet we have had no news of her arrival out. Doubtiess she reached her destination on time, but possibly in the confusion caused by the recent important military and civil events in that part of France, particularly in Bordeaux, telegraphing her arrival has been neglected. Should any private despatches have been re- ceived here announcing her safety it would be well t© make them publio for the benefit of those who may have friends and relatives on board. NEW YORK HERALD |™*" St MEE, MAE op PARAS oT OL MOM OEE NUe toe eT eR ETT CAT ORNAYY SS RMIPTST SPE SER CMa Ry A cha ay oe ee V NEW YURK’ HEKALD, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22. 1871—TRIPLE SHEET. High Commission—Its Duties and Ate Didicaltics. In another place in this day's Heratp we print a despatch giving a condensed account of the debate which took place yesterday in the New Dominion Parliament at Ottawa, We refer our readers to the despatch. It speaks for itself, It shows that the New Dominion legislators are seriously exercised about this Joint Commission; that they are afraid of it; that they distrast it; that their conviction is they are betrayed. Our New Dominion friends have got titles. Sir A. T. Galt brought forth a motion on the fisheries. Sir John A. Mac- donald feplied. Sir John admitted that the Treaty of 1818 was still a power, The Ameri- cans recognized the three-mile boundary line. But Sir John eould not refuso to admit that the headlands, which had not been sufficiently looked at in 1818, made a new question, which was still in abeyance. Ia the course of the debate it was stated that the Canadians had been slightly snubbed by Sir Edward Thoraton ia the negotiations which led to the enlargement of the powers of the Commission. It will be scen also from our despatch that our New Dominion friends are encouraged in the belief that this Joint High Commission, with its enlarged powers, must consider, along with the fishery question and the Alabama claims, the damages done by the Fenians in their territory. a So far so good for Canada, or the Now Do- minion. On the part of the British public, as | we know, a very general opinion prevails that this Joint High Commission is a glorious affair. | And why? Bocause it is to put an end to American buncombs, to make all outstanding questions plain and intelligible, to counterbal- ance Alabama and other claims by ciaims as solid, as substantial and more easy of proof, and otherwise fo bring about on easy ierms a final and satisfuctory settlement between ; the two great English-speaking péoples. In other words, it is the conviction lin Great Britain to-day—a conviction shared by Britishers here and elsewhere, and | all the world over—that, whatever claims we | may present, these can and will be counter- balanced by claims equally heavy on the other side, The reasoning in consequence is that Great Britain can admit all and pay all with- out paying anything at all. Our New Dominion friends and the Britishers, wherever found, are equally at fault in their calculations, We have distinct and unmistakable ends in view. We have suffered, and suffered severely. In our four years straggle our greatest enemy was Great Britain ; and British North America, as part of the British empire, shared the sin and folly and shame, and must share the consequences, We want compensation for our losses—losses unjustly inflicted upon us—and we have no other end in view in connection with this High Commission than to have these losses repaired. At the commencement of the civil war in this country our shipping was scarcely second to that of Great Britain. The war ruined our carrying trade and drove our ships from the high seas. But for the course pursued by Great Britain this loss on our part could not have happened. Vessels built and equipped and owaed in Great Britain preyed upon our commerce, and under the thinnest veil the world has ever known claimed irresponsibility while wickedly destroying our ships and surreptitiously enter- ing our ports. Asa nation our loss has been irreparable; but, while the nation can bear the burden, thousands upon thousands of our citi- zens have been hopelessly and irretrievably ruined. We have sought no revenge. Twice sider and report upon our claims, The fishery question is a small affair and can be easily sottled. But if the New Dominionites present claims for losses sustained by Fenian raids; if Southern rebels and English merchants pre- sent bills for cotton losses, we must openly and honestly say, before the Commission com- mences to deliberate, that the American peo- ple will not abide by its decisions, and that it must and will prove a failure. Let it not be forgotten that the Joint High Commission can only approve and recommend—that Congress must decide. Whatever the Joint High Com- mission may do, bowever wine and good dinnera and pleasant talk may influence the members and mould or modify their sentiments, the American people will look to Congress and hold Congress responsible. As we have faith in the American people, so have we faith in Congress. At the same time let it be under- stood that if the Joint High Commission acts wisely and well we shall rejoice ; nor shall we be unwilling to give President Grant a fair share of praise. If it does not well we shall show it no mercy. We shall take note of all its doings, and according to the evidence of | each successive day we shall praise or blame. Let us have peace, but let us have peace with honor and dignity. V February in St. Domingo and in Now York—Mark the Coatrast, Our correspondents’ letters from St. Do- mingo furnish the strongest evidence in sup- | port of the Rev. Dr. Vinton’s capital idea of securing that island asa place of refuge on American soil for American invalids from the severe trials of our hard continental winters. Mark the con- trast between February in New York and February in St. Domingo! Here the coldness, whiteness and death of winter are over all the land, and our rivers are charged with fields of ce, as if they had drifted down from the Arctic circle, white dowa in St, Domingo per- petual summer reigns, Here, saving oar hardy firs, pines and cedars, our melancholy woods stand like groups of frozen skeletons on the hiils; there the hills, covered with palm trees and orange groves, and a thousand tropical fraits and flowers, and gay with birds and butterflies, give us a living picture of fairy land, Here the toughest Jersey fisher- man wouldfreeze to death in the aitempt to pass one of these February nights in slum- bers On the beach at Long Branch, while one of our St. Domingo correspondents tells us that in an overland trip from Samana Bay to St. Doming. city he and his party passed in sleep 1 delightful night with nothing to protect the m from the dews but the overshadowing trees. Here the winter's struggle for existence in thousands of cases isa failure, from the dearness of pro- visions, clothing and fuel, and from the want of employment; there, even in our winter months, neither fuel nor clothing gives a mo- ment’s anxiety to the happy natives, and their provisions may be gathered from the woods, fiolds and waters, with no other labor than to take them. Here the hard, cold, piercing wintry winds from the nor’west try the strongest lungs, and our damp and chilling nor’easters bring a bountiful crop of colds, con- sumptions and rheumatisms; while there old men of ninety in a single cotton garment sit at their cabin doors watching the gambols of their great-grandchildren, naked as they were born, playful as kittens and fat as butter. The Rev. Dr. Vinton is right. We want St. Domingo as a winter sanitarium, and we want itasa place of refuge for thousands of our destitute poor. And what a paradise it over a section of our people, Irishmen by birth or by descent, believing that the New Domin- ion was part of Great Britain, have attempted invasion, conquest and revenge, and twice over, in place of encouraging folly and wrong, which we might easily have turned te account, we have put down the Fenians and saved to Great Britain her North American provinces, We have not nursed or aggravated or tried in any way to avenge our wrongs. We have only not forgotten them; and, with the magnanimity which characterized our treatment of ‘the South, we have dealt with our British cousins. We have waited long, but we have waited patiently. We have reasoned long, but we have reasoned wisely. We have had our opportunities for revenge, but we have, with a magnanimity becoming our cause and our strength, uniformly refused to take any unjust advan- tage. We want nothing but reparation for our wrongs, compensation for our losses. When this Joint High Commission was appointed we, speaking in the name of the great American people, whose sentiments we have rarely misinterpreted, hailed it as an omen of good, and believed we saw in the not distant future a satisfactory solution of all the out- standing difficulties between the two great English speaking peoples. We still believe in the Joint High Commission; but we still stand also by the American people, by their wrongs and by their losses; and our voice to-day is still loud, emphatic and imperative for redress, if not for revenge. This was our position when the announce- ment of the Joint High Commission first reached us. This is our position to-day. It was our belief that the Commission was appointed for the purpose of redressing our wrongs, not the wrongs of Great Britain. When, however, our New Dominion neigh. bors, through the mouths of their coroneted baronets, began to howl, and when, in addi- tion, we learned from British sources that the Commission was expected to examine British claims against the United States as well as our claims against Great Britain, we with be- coming consistency spoke out; and, as is our wont, we used no measured language. What we have said we repeat. If the High Com- mission has for its object the settlement of our claims against Great Britain we hail it, rejoice in it and wish it God speed. But if the High Commission has been appointed by the British government, with or without the consent of our government, with any arritre pensée, with any idea of meeting and balanc- ing our claims by counter claims, we do and will and must denounce the Joint High Com- mission as a grand fraud, a huge swindle. We will not, we cannot have it. We do not despise the couleur de rose in diplomatic action, but no smooth-facedness, no soft language can deceive us or drive us from our purpose. The Joint High Commission can only have one vurvose ; it must only do one thing—con- will be to all our Bohemians, who have all their lives been dreaming of such a place, where eternal summer smiles ; where bountiful nature provides all the food, clothing and shelter that are needed; where men may live and dream their lives away in fairyland with- out capital or labor, and where, by taking to the mountaiis when ‘‘Yellow Jack” is around, even he may be avoided! Ob! we must have that wonderful island of St. Domingo! Alaska wasa sell; but St. Domingo, on the terms proposed, will pay for Alaska, Crus Lire IN Parws.—The Paris Jockey and Rue Royale Clubs have adopted a resolution which declares that ‘“‘all candidates of Ger- man birth shall be excluded” from member- ship of the associations. This is a poor sys- tem of Know-Nothingism—a spirit which we have hitherto regarded as being entirely foreign to the French character. It may be that the cable report is not exactly correct, Should it prove so it must be said that the action of the city clubs tends to indicate how keenly the Parisians feel their humiliation, The Germans will most probably retort by the assertion that they have ridden the winning horse, notwithstanding the Freach sporting ban. Tue Arrest oF Boyp, the counterfeiter, on Saturday, is claimed by the secret service men to be the most important haul that has yet been made of ‘‘shovers of the queer,” not ex- cepting the recent capture of the famous Pete McCartney in Illinois. Only seventeen bun- dred dollars’ worth of the spurious money was found upon bis person, but he is thought to be the shrewdest and sharpest counterfeiter in the country, and is believed to be the leader of the gang of which McCartney, Biebush and Gurney were shining lights. One cheering feature of the arrest was the scientific way in which our detectives worked it up, luring the victim to New York and “shadowing” him patiently and vigilantly until they secured him with proofs of his guilt upon him. It shows that our detectives are learning their business. Ir 1s ALMost ENoovraaine to read of an English elopement such as had its finale in this city the other day, when a wronged English husband, chasing his runaway wife and her friend across the Atiantic, captured them here and persuaded her to go back with him. We have so many of these little incidents in the social life of our own country that it is a matter of some congratulation to know that our misery is not wholly companionless, Tak Marion (Ind.) Chronicle thinks Thomas A. Hendricks would make a strong democratic candidate for the Presidency, but that it is hdrdly possible for him to secure the nomination, owing to the supreme power of the corrupt New York politicians in the party, The Chronicle is probably not aware that what it calls the “corrupt New York politicians” have withdrawa their candidate The Queen of spain at the Point ef) The Wenpons of the European War—Amert- Death—Alarms and Dangere of the New Royalty. By a spocial cable telegram letter from Mad- rid, dated on the 20th inst., we are informed of the existence of a new and sudden alarm, as well as the advent of another and fresh danger to the Spanish crown, The HgRALD correspondent announces that her Majesty the Queen, Maria Victoria, wife of King Amadeus, was prostrated by disease and laid at the point of death ona sick bed at midnight of Monday and to an early hour yesterday morn- ing. The Queen, who had journeyed from Florence to rejoin her husband in the Spanish capital, was soized with sickness in the town of Alassio, soon after landing on the Spanish soil. The first symptoms were decidedly febrile and announced the advent of a severe attack of millary fever—an eruptive disease of the skin, and one whioh is very likely to terminate fatally by congestion in some of the great internal cavities of the body, particu- | larly when the patient has been previously excited and thea again depressed by conflict- ing mental, emotions, as. must haye been the ase with the youthful sovereign after she learned of the tragic circumstances under which her husband had assumed the crown of the Bourbons, with Prim stretched dend almost gloriously beautilul tropical | in bis very presence, Queen Maria, who had | been consoled and fortified by the clergy and the reception of the sacraments of the Church, ‘remained in charge of the physicians at the moment when our despatch was specially for- | warded from Madrid to London for transmis- | sion to New York. “ From the same source of information we are told of the continued existence of crime, | springing from political demoralization and the social disorganization whio?, Fegults from the encourage: of péciy faction in Madrid. A conspiracy had been formed against the life ‘Of Seiior Ruis Zorilla, the President of the | Cortes, Many persons had been arrested charged with combining together for the put- | pose of accomplishing the murder of that gen- \ tleman, and as they have been committed to | prison we are to presume that the life of the distinguished parliamentary functionary was, for a moment at least, in danger. Spain is, as it appears to us, in an exceed- ingly unhappy condition, notwithstanding her really fine efforts for the attainment of a national rehabititation. Whether the advent of a foreigner to hor throne will aid her healthily in this direction remains to be seen, The late Lord Lyndhurst, speaking in the British Parliaméat, in the plenitude of his senatorial wisdom and with all ‘the solemnity of his baronial and judicial honors and age, declared that there existed an “alienism of language and of blood” between certain peoples which rendered their homo- geneous fusion an etinological impossibility. “The Irish,” said the venerable Lord Chan- cellor, ‘“‘are aliens in language, in creed and in blood” from the British. The utterance of this pronunciamento of divorce by the then ‘keeper of her Majesty's conscience” enabled the Irish people to understand the difference of race, as with the English, in the light of science, and as, being, consequently, insuperable. They wandered away from Great Britain in greater numbers, and have found a home everywhere except near the scene of the parent extradition, It may be so to a certain degree between the Italians and Spaniards, although in this in- stance the peoples have branched from a com- mon Latin @ock. A slight ‘“alienism” may prevail notwithstanding. PEERS SI EES THE PENNSYLVANIA CoaL Consprraoy.—In spite ef the fact that the coal ‘‘operators,” as they are called, had a surplus of two million tons of coal stored away—that is to say, just that amount over the average stock—we find that the strike of the miners in certain parts of the coal regions is made a pretext for the advance in price to twelve dollars a ton, which was the retail market price yesterday. There is no plausible reason for this, unless it is to be found in the rathless determination of the coal men to inflict an extortion upon the peo- ple anyhow. The conspiracy has been, so far, adroitly manipulated between the coal monopo- lista and the railroads. The latter have, nomi- nally, perhaps, advanced the cost of trans- portation to an exorbitant sum, thus giving an excuse to the coal operators to raise their prices. We know how easily these things can be managed by affiliating monopolies, and, therefore, we are not convinced that the pre- sent rise in the price of coal is a necessity of trade. On the contrary, we are satisfied that it is a deliberate extortion. Joun Moriarty, the Fenian, of Philadel- phia, has put a hard conundrum to Secretary Fish. He wants to know if the Joint High Commission is empowered to pass upon the claims of the Fenian exiles for damages by imprisonment in British bastiles. Fish had to give it up. Quire a Racy Sozyg occurred in Judgo Gross’ Marine Court yesterday when Mrs. Woodhull, the untiring advocate of woman’s right to suffrage and the Presidency, was tried on a charge of speculating unwisely with a Miss Swindell’s money in Wall street. It would appear that she took five hundred dol- lars of the complainant’s money, at complain- ant’s urgent request, and invested it in gold. The five hundred dwindled to eighteen dollars and sixty-two cents in one or two turns of the indicator, and Miss Swindell concluded that she had been swindled. Thereupon she brought this suit, and the jury, apparently thinking pretty much as she did, allowed her three hundred and fifty odd dollars. Taz War AMoNG THE Women is becoming bitter. It will finally become a war to the knife and the knife to the hilt if this style of thing goes on much longer. Here is Mrs. Beecher Hooker about to open on Washington as a faithful follower of Mrs, Woodhull on the lecture rostrum ; and here is Mrs. Phelps about to call upon all women to put down this suf- frage movement. The next thing we know there will be names called and hair pulled, and then where are we? Tue Fo.towie is the result of the town meetings in this State thus far this year:— Broome county—republicans 138, democrats 7; Steuben (in part)—republicans 15, democrats 11; St. Lawrence—republicans 24, democrats 4; Tioga—republicans 8, democrats 2. Very little excitement was manifeated at the meet- ings cam Superiority axd Deficiency. There are some lessons taught us by the present war in Europe which should be care- fully borne in mind, and one of them relates to the weapons used by the contending armies, We have no large standing army, but our sys- tem of military defence, defective as it is in many essential features, enables us to rapidly raise and organize hundreds of thousands of men familiar with the use of firearms, and, more or less, acquainted with the discipline of asoldier, In these scientific days, however, much depends upon the weapons used by an army—more, perhaps, than even good general- ship and perfect discipline. We doubt if the French would have gained any victories in the present war had they been as well drilled as the Germans and remained wanting in the ter- rible breech-loading fleld artillery used by their adversaries, and whioh has, on almost every battle fleld done more to defeat them than the strategy of Von Moltke and the im- becility of their own generals. It is, therefore, of some importance to inquire into our ability to enter a war upon equal terms with other great nations. (es NB AEC? One fact developed by the European contest is the defyotiveness of the French aud German ‘Bystem of gmall ar. Although proven at e old muzzle-loader, the Sadowa superior to needle-gun has been an ordinary weapon when opposed to the Chassepot. At Mars le Tour and Gravelotte the superior range and initial velocity of the French weapon almost neutral- ized the advantage possessed by the Germans in artillery, numbers and generalship. Never at any time during these battles did the Ger- mans succeed in breaking the French line. At Gravelotte, especially, it was not until the right wing of Bazaine’s army had been turned - and its rear threatened that the French re- tired, in perfect order, upoi the fortress of Nevertheless the Chassepot, which is only an improyement on the needle-gun, is also a defective weapon. Both guns are, in fact, constructed on a false principle. The breech mechanism works by means of a bolt, which moves backward and forward in a channel in order to open and close the breech. This occasions great friction, and as both guns use paper cartridges there isa general tendency for the gas to escape, thereby fouling the piece and obstructing the operation of the bolt. In addition, the channel in which the bolt acts frequently conducts the gas back to the face of the soldier fre the gun, render- ing it dangerous to handie, But, as we have said before, the superior range of the Chasse- pot has been a decided benefit to the French, and accounts ina measure for the desperate resistance Douay’s brigade at Weis- senburg and MacMahon’s corps at Woerth were able to offer to the immensely superior forces which attacked them. It must be borne in mind, however, that the Chassepot, though superior to the needle-gun, has been proven inferior to many American and English breech-loading rifles. As we remarked before, the system on which both the French and German guns are made is bad. Experience has demon- strated the defectiveness of all breech-load- ing small arms in which paper carttidges are used, when opposed to similar arms charged with metallic cartridges, and simply because it is difficult to prevent the fouling of the breech apparatus with the first, and next to impossible for there to be any fouling with the second, if the breech piece be constructed on sound scientific principles. Io the matter of small arms our government has displayed much wisdom in selecting a weapon which is not only superior to the Chas- sepot and needle-gun, but also to the English Snider and any other breech-loader yet tested. One hundred thousand Americans armed with the Remington rifle, which has been adopted by the United States Navy, and officially reported for adoption by the Army, would be more than a match for a similar force of French, Germans or English, armed with their present weapons, if both armies were equal in artillery and generalship. The simplicity of its mechanism, its durability, its strength in resisting the recoil of. the charge, its facility of execution, rapidity of firing and accuracy of range combine to make it proba- bly the best military arm in the world. Such is the opinion of many of our army officers, in- cluding Generals Sherman, Sheridan and Scho- field, and such also is the opinion of the Span- ish, Swedish, Egyptian, Danish and, though too late, French governments, which have ordered large numbers, while rejecting native or European inventions. But if we even had no Remingtons we should still possess an ad- vantage over the principal European nations in the matter of small arms. The converted Springfield, which is also used by our govorn- ment; the Peabody, the Spencer and Win- chester repeating rifles, and half a dozen others whose names we cannot recall to mind, are asmuch superior to the Chassepot, needle- gun and Snider as these latter are to the old muzzle-loader. But while we are as safe as science can make usin our small arms, we are deficient in ar- tillery. During the rebellion the favorite field pieces in our armies were the rifled Parrott and the Napoleon smooth bore. Both are undoubt- edly good guns, but neither can compare with the breech-loading cannon used by the Ger- mans, The correspondents, in their reports of battles fought between the French and Germans, have invariably stated that ‘‘before the French could even catch a glimpse of the enemy they were compelled to sustain a fearfully effective artillery fire,” so great was the range of the German guns. In fact, the war in France has been decided by artillery. Formidable as is the French mitrailleuse, it cannot compete with the German rifled breech- loader. It certainly can fire a great many balls in an incredibly short space of tims, but it is incapable of spreading the missiles which it discharges. These follow a single line and do not diverge; hence, unless the mitrail- leuse be parked on a battle field, its effect is scarcely greater than that of canister thrown from a twelve-pounder Napoleon field piece at easy range. At long distances it is powerless when opposed to the German gun. We have in the Gatling gun adopted for the army © mitrailleuse superior to that used by the French, but we have no breech- loading cannon, Of what avail, then, would be our superiority in small arms if our army went into battle supported by rifled Par- et rotts and Napoleon emooth-bore guns, if, aq has been the case in France, it was opposed by a force armed with the same arlillery used by the Germans? Clearly none. At the Springfield Armory the government is manu- facturing Remingtons and converting the old muzzle-loading rifle on the Allin system ; but it is doing nothing, so far as we are aware, to improve our artillery. It is true that there is no immediate prospect of our engaging in war with a foreign Power. The Alabama claims and fisheries questions will doubtless bo amicably settled. But we know not at what time questions may arise and involve us in war. It will not do to wait till the con- test is ypon us bofore preparing to meet it. Our goveriment should at once have our artil- lery recast and made equal to, if not better than, the German breech-loading cannon. In our artillery lies our military deficiency and our military weakness, which, if not remedied, may involve us in serious disasters, Congress Enjoying a Hulf-Hollday—The Southern Paciflo Railroad Bilt Passed. The masquerading folly to which the citt. zens of Washington have been abandoning themselyes the last. two days invaded the pre- ginols of the Capitol and succocded yesterday in luring away both houses from thelr legis- lative duties. First the pages were dis< charged from attendance, and then yrave Sena- tors and Representatives yiolded to the temp- tation and adjourned in time to witness the grand procession of masqueraders. The House, however, was long enough in session to pass the Southern Pacific Railroad bill, granting away some thirteen million acres of the public lands. The bill provides for a gin-, gle trunk line from the eastern boundary of Texas to the bay of Sap Dis45, Oz\ornia, The — ‘while in session, was engaged on the Legislative Appropriation bill. The proceedings were without interest or impor- tance. bah esa > dis : _ A Looat anp.a Danazvovs NUIsANoE.-* A son of our Superintendent of Police the other day had one of his eyes nearly knocked out by a snowball hurled at his head. Why don’t Superintendent Kelso issue an order prohibiting the dangerous practice of saow- balling in the public streets and avenues? Daring tho height of the sleizhing it was aa much as one’s life was worth for a man to take his family out on a quiet sleigh ride, in con- sequence of the discharge of volleys of these { Pplssiles, some. of them gomposed of some- thing heavier than snOW, by gangs of va grants. A number of accidents from runaway horses have been occasioned thereby. It was the late Superintendent Jourdan, we believe, who suppressed baso ball playing in the public street, Why not put dowa the equally daa- gerous practice of deliberately pelting people with balls of snow and ice? Pedestrians and others have rights which the city authorities ought to respect, and this is one of them, It may be like locking the stable door after the snow is gone; but ‘‘better late than never.” Western GAME AND WESTERN GAM Laws.—How is it that while the Western game laws have been in force fora month or more our markets have been for some time overstocked with prairie chickens and other Western game? By the way, is the buffalo to be counted in aa “game?” Buffalo meat is as plenty in New York at this time as common beef, and sells for less, Any one inclined to get up an extem- pore prairie dinner can go to Washington Mar- ket, buy his prairie chickens, his buffalo and antelope steaks, and, selecting a raspiog, cold, wintry day, ride in the horse cara to Central Park—and camp ont. The local authorities of the Park might furnish the ne- cessary cooking utensils and some neighboring grocery the corn juice. Sertously, if these Western game laws are worth observing at all this is the time to enforce them; for the im- mense influx of immigrants into that section of the country, the building of railroads and other attendants upon the march of impfove- ment in the present day will soon cause the valuable game of the region to disappear. Tot New West Point Boarp or Vust- Tors.—President Grant has appointed two mer of peace—Rey. Mr. Sunderland and the Rey. Mr. Vincent—among the Board of Visi- tors this year to the West Point Military Academy. The names of no “wise men from the East” appear in the Board. It is probably the first time in many years that a New Englander has not figured in this annual West Point flummery. By the way, where is the report of the Congressional branch of the Commission last year, one of whom was General Logan? It has not yet been laid before Congress. Will it ever be? Personal Intelligence. Ex-Senator T. T. Davis, of Syracuse, has arrived at the Fifth avenue Hotel, State Senator George H. Sanford, of Oneida county, is sojourning at the Metropolitan Hotel. Archdeacon Bond, of Montreal, is staying at the Brevoort House. Mr. J. Fora Kent, of the United States Army, has taken quarters at the St. Denis Hotel. Mr. Joun Dodson, ex-Mayor of Peteraburg, Va., ta stopping at the Grand Central Hotel. Ex-State Senator 0. A. Bills, is registered at the Metropolitan Hotel. General Wickham and General Echols, of Virginia, are at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Colonel ‘Jonas H. French and Colonel Seth E. Perker, of Boston, are temporarily at the Grand Central Hotel. Mr, J. Condit Smith, of New Jersey, is at the Fitth Avenue Hotel, Colonel D. C. Houston, of the United States Army, 1s quartered at the Metropolitan Hotel, Mr. John B. Gale, of Troy, is at the Fifth Avenae Hotel ona brief visit. General Adolfo Varona is still at the Union Place Hotel. He was to have left in the steamer for St ‘Thomas yesterday, en route for Cuba, but failed to get on board in time. He will go to join his com panions in arms by the next opportunity. THE HERALD IN MARYLAND. (From the St. Michaels (Md.) Comet and Advertiser, Feb. 18.) ‘The Naw YORK HERALD continues to be the lead- ing oewspaper of the United states for enterprise and success in all its news departments. It has had many competitors for the leadersnip, and thousands of money have been squandered in the vain effort ta outstrip it in the race for the latest and moet reliable news {from all quarters of the globe. This leader. ship in the newspaper business has been earned by skill and enterprise ond the most liberal use of money for correspondence, for telegrams, for ex: presses and for all the appliances by which time and space may be annihilated. May success con- tunue to crown with laurels the darivalled newa vaver—the Naw YORK HBRALG