The New York Herald Newspaper, February 23, 1871, Page 4

‘ NEW YORK ‘HERALD SROANW AY: AND ANN | STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York snoweer THEATRE, Bowery.—Powr; on, Way Bows Pt skal AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street, — ABATOG, GLOBE THEATRE, ™ oadwav.—VARIETY ENTER. TAINMENT, &0.—APTER THE WAK. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, 45 Bowery.--Many STUART. BOOTH'S THEATRE, 5d st.. vetwaen Sun ano 6tn ave, — Wear Marineg at 2. RicueLtru. WOOD'S MUSEUM Broadway, corner B0xb st. Perform. ances every afteraoon and evening, NTH STREET THEATRE (Theatre Francais)—- YOURT! ROB ELIE NIBLO'S GARDEN, ‘Brosaway. WHE SPECTACLE OF ‘THE BLACK CRooK. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Rrosiway ang 15th street A MORNING CaLL—Woopcock’s LITLE GAME. LINA EDWIN'’S THEATRE, 720 Broadway.—HUNTED Downs; On, THE TWO Lives OF Many LEran. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Oprnatio VARIETY. orner of 8th av. ana 2éd at.— OLYMPIC THEATRE, vax PERIOD. MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S SARATOGA. y. THE RICAELIEC OF ARK THEATRE, Brookiyn.— TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, RinTyY ENTRRTAINMEN? THEATRE COMI mas, NFGRO ACTS, &C 201 Bowery.—Va- 514 Broadway.—Comio Vooar- SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL. 65 Rroatway.— Neqno MINSTeRLSY, Fanoes, Bue raQueEs, &o. BRYANT'S NEW OPERA UO: and 7th avs,—NzGRo MINSTREL between 6th SUBICITIES, &c. HOOLE Kenty & 1 APOLLO HALL. corner Dx. Couer's Diozama ov T -HOOLEY'S AND street: and Broadway.— CAND. NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fouricenth THE RING, AOHOBATS, £0. VILLE ART G ALL ERY, & Fith ov Wonas oF street. SCENES IN avenue, EX EW YORK MUSBUM OF ANA NE OMY, 618 Broadway. SOLENCE AND Ant, NATOMICAL MUSEUM, 745 Broadway.— AND ART. WITH SUPPLEMENT New York, tarisita: February 23, 1871. CONTENTS OF TO-pAY’s HERALD, Pack. L—Adv allies and. Prospect for —The British Mi Navy—Amus t Marine— t Announce- aving the Way for Monarchy—The raMie!) ue Peace Question—The General Reports irom Miscellaneous Tolegrams—Lecture on “the Aposiles"—Views of the Past—Busimess Notces. 6—News from Washington—Proceedings in Con- nadian Reciprocit Pacific Japanese in Pate Celebration of Washington's Schoppe Case. 7—Aavertisementa, S—Sufocated: Shocking Occurrence on the “Steamship Ismala—Coliision 1 the Harbor— Champagne and (i Courts—New York City News—Atmadeus : The Young King Winning Honorable Notoriety Among the Spaniards—Base Bali in France—Napvoleon ; ¥, “Let there Be —The Saiety of r Cent Stamp Tax erced With a even Vase—Ash esterday in the —the Birthday—The 3 Contest for the Double Ping litcal and Gene- ambarg Disaster—The ersity—The Coal Famime in counter With @ Mad Dog—The Hamilton (pera Lottery—Rapid Transit— Fires—the Trenton Drowning Case—Financial amin and Deaths—Aavertise- er ras bp ie ate a mmission ¢ hana of the nets—Disraeit on the Euro- 2 k Patores on—E Bes pplog Intelligence—Adver- nisemen Tae Sreawsui Virzz pez Panis, about which some anxiety has been felt, arrived safe at Brost on the 6th instant. Fentixs at tHe Warre Hovse.—Yester- day the Fenian exiles visited the White House and were formally presented to the President. It is to be hoped that this affair will not add another to the mauy delicate questions to be settled by the Joint High Commission. Tne Svesipy Lospyisrs have commenced giving social dinners to Senators and Repre- sentatives—‘‘Just a small party; nobody but ourselves, you know.” These are always fatal. Invariably when a free and independent Sena- tor attends one of these social dinners he puts his foot in it. Tue Rup Repvs.icans of Europe appear to be preparing for an important movement. The president of the “Frires de la Répub- liqne Universelle” association in Hungary has issued orders to the brotherhood in America to hold thenrselves in readiness for immediate action. This sanguinary society numbers nearly seven thousand in the United States. Tre Hamavec Disasver.—The ver- dict of the Coroner's jury in the case of the recent railroad disaster at: Wappinger Creek, which we publish this morning, may be sum- med up in a few words. It acquits the employés of the oi! train and the signal men of all responsibility for the collision, asserting that they signalled the express train as promptly as they could and in time to have prevented the accident. All the blame is laid ‘upon the express train, which, to use the lan- guage of the verdict, ‘‘could have been stop- ped provided all appliances had been effective,” but that, ‘from some reason, to the jury unknown, the patent brakes were not effectively applied.” Jt seems to us that this verdict treats the question of responsibility the very gingerly. Jt censures somebody by implication, bat by implication only, and withoul naming anybody. ‘A Boers “REPCBLIO iw Sovurm Arrica.— The Cape (C. G. H.) Argus of the $d Janaary publishes what purports to be ‘av official communication from Secretary Fish to “F. K. Horne, Esq., Secretary to the Gov- ernment of the Orange Free te, Bloemfou- tein, SSuth Africa,” in which the American Secretary of State announces that the govera> ment of the United States ne ow ledges the arava ra stiilt independence of the ropa ie of the aforesaid “Orange Free State.” Is it not rather queer that we should receive Washington news by the roundabout way of the Cape of Good Hope? We regard the whole thing as a siliy dioax, NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1871. -WITH The Meeting at Versailles and Frosprot for Peace. We conclude from our latest cable despatches that M. Thiers and Jules Favre, ef the com- mittee from the French National Assembly at Bordeaux, were closeted yesterday at Ver- sailles with Count Bismarck upon the import- ant business of a treaty of peace between France and Germany. The 22d of February, as the day for this meeting, we regard as a good omen, and, from all that we hear, France will be spared at least some of the extreme exactions heretofore reported as the German ultimatum, A French journal of some repute (the Rappel) expresses the opinion that by Saturday next a treaty will be submitted to the National Assembly for its consideration, from which we infer that M. Thiers and his committee will conclude a treaty upon the best terms they can obtain, and that they have had in advance some general information of the terms that will be demanded. Among our latest rumors of the demands ef Germany, it is said that they will embrace the restoration ef Nice to Italy and the neutralization of Savoy, the neutralization of Alsace and Lor- raine, or the German occupatien for a time of these provinces, as ‘‘material guarantees,” and the transfer of the present neutral terri- tory of Luxembourg to Germany. Of course all these ramors are mere conjec- tures; but from time to time during the last six months we have had, from well authenti- cated conversations of Count Bismarck, and from the German political press we have had such hints and suggestions as to ju:tify the opinion that the bill of peace to France will include at least one thousand millions of dol- lars as the cash indemnity for the expenses of the war to Germany, the continued neutrali- zation of Luxembourg, the independence of iatism—americanism | Belgium, the cession to Germany of the whole of the province of Alsace (which covers the whole Rhine frontier of France), the cession of part of Lorraine, and the teiiperary occu- pation by Germany of Metz and other strong places on the military line of the Moselie as “material guarantees,” or the dismantling of those fortresses before their abandonment by the Germans. It has, also, been repeatedly given out through the Belgian and the English journals that Count Bismarck, in compensation for the German merchant vessels destroyed or captured during the war, will demand the surrender of halfa dozen or more of the best iron-clad ships of the French navy, and and in view of some such demand we have heard of no objections from France. Indeed, it has been suggested by certain French journals representing the present republic that if Prussia will accept, in lieu of Alsace and Lorraine, a fair equivalent in ships of war, France will no doubt consent to supply them, but that she never will consent to the dismem- berment of her territory—‘‘never—never !” Thisis the great difficulty. Napoleon the Third and France did not enter into this war with the remotest idea that under any contin- gencies it would or could result in curtail- ing the fair proportions of France. On the other hand, so eager was France for this con- test, in view of the Napoleonic idea adopted and cultivated among the French people by the late Emperor—his idea of ‘‘the rectifica- tion of our Rhine frontier’—that, on this wretched Hohenzollern pretext, the voice of Paris and of France gave to Napoleon no alternative but the fulfilment of his promise. He had his doubts of the march to Berlin; but it was the will of France that he should undertake it, and even “the reds” in the Corps Legislatif, so far as they opposed the war, op- posed it, not from apprehensions of defeat, but from the fear that it would strengthen the empire from its conquests, and make easy and popular the transmission of the imperial government from father to son. In trath, Napoleon was in some daiiger of a French Fevoiution in 1867 in peaceab!y go oupromising the Luxembourg difi- culty with Pruasia, when France was clamor- ous for war. Since 1814-15 the French peo- ple bad been encouraged with the idea of the restoration of their boundaries as they were established under the first republic, covering the whole line of the Rhine from Switzerland to Holland and including Belgium. This territorial restoration of France was the grand idea of the empire and “its people under Napoleon the Third, and it extended to the reclamation on their southeastern frontier of Nice and Savoy. The acquisition of the Island of Sardinia, in an exchange with Italy for Rome and the Papal States, was, also, in the imperial programme of Napoleon. His scheme was to make of the pretty little Island of Sardinia a little kingdom or vice royalty for the Pope, under the pretection of France. The acquisition of Nice and Savoy, by what we would call in New York a wholesale sys- tem of election frauds, was accomplished ; the scheme for a transfer of the Pope to Sardinia, in connection with the transfer of the Italian government to Rome, was said te be under way when General Prim, with his amiable Hohenzollern as King of Spain, spoiled every- thing. But France was eager for the reclama- tion of her old Rhine boundaries as the first Napoleon found them, not as he left them. She did not ask for the first empire; for that empire, with its vassals of the German States embraced in the ‘Confederation of the Rhine,” was more than France. The third Napoleon plunged into this war of 1870 to restore France to her old Rhine frontier all the way down. A year or two before this he had attempied some negotiations with Bismarck covering the absorption of Belgium into France, For all this it was France that rusbed him into this war. All these things make the removal of Freace entirely from the Rbive an inevitable condition of a treaty of peace. Having avewedly gone into this war to despoil her German neighbors of a large slice of their most valuable terri- tories, France, with the tables turned against. her, must consent to take the consequences, it is only the old story of the poisoned chalice returned to her own lips. Furthermore, the South German States in this conference at Versailles will listen to no substitute for this surrender of Alsace, whatever they may con- Sent to in reference to Lorraine. They will tell M. Thiers that this province on the Ger- man Rhine, with its city of Strasbourg and its great cathedral, is German; that its sub- divisions, its cities, towns sah villages, its streams and mountains are German; that its people are German and still retain their native German tongue, though for pearly two hua- dred years under the rule of France. They will tell M. Thiers that this province was stolen from the Fatherland, or that, through a despicable swindle, it was taken from Ger- many, with the city of Strasbourg, by Louis XIV.; and finally M. Thiers will be told by these South Germans, through Count Bismarck, that while Alsace, with the strong places of Stras- bourg and the Vosges Mountains in the hands of France, is a perpetual menace of war to Germany, it will be, in the possession of Germany, a bond of peace. In a word, as the Rhine was the object of this war on the part of France, this war for the Rhine was the union of Germany, and German unity will require the removal of France from the Rhine in this treaty of peace. We anticipate, then, a treaty of peace which will make peace and the triumphs of peace the future policy of France—republic, king- dom orempire. For two or three generations to come France will be occupied in the recov- ery from her fearful prostration by this war. Her only open gateway into Germany of 1870 will be closed, and thus hemmed in by difficult mountains, hostile fortresses and neutral ter- ritories and States, it is quite possible that her revenge against Germany may be post- poned until it shall have become an unmean- ing tradition, like the revenge for Waterloo. As the only serious difficulty to an immediate treaty of peace we have thus dwelt upon this vital question of the Rhine frontier. From the lights in which it presents itself to us the German ultimatum to France will be to fall back from the Rhine and behind the Vosges Mountains or run the hazards of a deeper humiliation from the resumption of the war. Inasmuch, too, as seven hundred thousand unwounded French soldiers have been dis- armed by this war, while seven hundred thousand active German soldiers are still on the soil of France, we think that upon this ultimatum there wiil be peace. The German Entrance Into Paris=General Trochws Bad Advice. The Germans have determined to march through Paris previous to returning to Ger- many. The old King, now the Emperor of United Germany, has resolved on this course. Paris must witness the German triumph and see the Germans standards wave in the triumphal march through its streets and boule- vards. In the despatches from London which we publish this morning it is stated that Gen- eral Trochu in a letter condemns the proposed eniry of the Germans into Paris, and advises the people to close the gates and let the enemy open them ‘with cannon. If Trochu has written such a letter we think he has acted most unwisely, The world accords to Paris a full measure of admiration for the heroic struggle which she made under the most trying circumstances, and an act such as that which General Trochu is attributed to counsel would tend to tarnish the fame won by the noble, self-sacrificing course which she pursued all through the siege. We hope that no violence in any shape will be attempted by the Parisians. Let the Germans have their holiday, let Emperor William parade his cohorts through the streets of the capital—at dest it is but a “vain, unnecessary show—and while the German Emperor and his soldiers glory in their parade let the Parisians prove by an orderly demeanor and quiet deport- ment that they can meet misfortune and sorrow with calm resignation, and finding consolation in the thought that they did their duty when the demands of war eal oo to battle. The Imperial Crown of Germany=Bis- mark’s Caution and Regard to Eti- quette. A special telegram report from Berlin, for- warded, through the gable hich appears in onr columns to-day, ones in complete con- firmation of the anticipations which we have “already 6: expressed in the HERaxp to the effect that Premier Count Bismarck considered, and provided for, even the most minute technicality which might arise near the im- perial crown of Germany after the consolida- tion of power in the hands of his Majesty, Williom.\, The King of Saxony, as will be seen by our despatch, has written to Berlin ex- pressing his own personal hope, and the wishes of very many German people that her Majesty the Queen of Prussia should be solemnly crowned Empress of Germany on the occasion of the formal assumption of the national diadem by her illustrious consort. Bismarck ob- jects to this. When we recollect the excellent spirit which the Queen of Prussia evinced, her courage, patriotism, charity and every- day personal sacrifices in Berlin during the progress of the war, this course of action appears, at first sight. a little strange on behalf of the Count. When we reflect, how- ever, on the complete circumstances of the case we find, first, that the honor of imperial - ism will really be reflected on the Queen from her husband, so that her coronation is unne- cessary; and, secondly, that Bismarck may wish to reserve the splendor of the occasion for the moment of the accession of the wife of the Crown Prince—the Princess Royal of England—as Empress Consort of Germany. The present title of this lady. is “‘Her Imperial and Royal Highness the Crown Princess of the German Empire and Crown Princess of Prussia, Princess Royal of Great Britain and Ireland.” Thirdly and lastly, it may be that Bisyarck indulges slightly, but naturally for him, a spleen against Queen Augusta, with whom the famous statesman has not been a favorite, and who opposed his war policy. Count Bismarck, as it is alleged, helieves in worldly avengements. He is not a ready, forgiving man. THE ETERyiry 0 oF CHANGR, ~—A cable tele- gram, dated in Paris yesterday, says “the Bourse is stronger; rentes are quoted at 51 francs 95 centimes”—another symptom of France preparing fora resurrection and a fresh evidence of the eternity of ‘Change. The Bible informs us of the first heavy moral force blow which was struck against the money changers in the Temple. The fraternity lived throngh that, however. They endeavored to tempt its author into treason against Caesar by means of a specie currency question, in revenge. Next they carried on their little dealings even in the Garden of Gethsemane and near to Calvary, flourished in the Crusades, were depressed under Oliver Cromwell, made money on the field of Waterloo, and “here they are again” on the Paris Bourse, yesterday, at 51 franca 96 centimes. Congress Toeweaved Series of Engage- ments in the House. The House yesterday was in one of its most belligerent moods from the opening of the session, at eleven o’clock in the morning, until its adjournment, at six in the afternoon. There was a constant succession of skirmishes carried on with more or less acrimony and with more or less damage to the disputants. First came the conflict between Farnsworth, of Illinois, and Butler, of Massachusettsa—those unrelenting antagonists—in which Farnsworth charged Butler with having au interest in a fraudulent contract for supplying granite for the Boston Post Office, and with having pro- cured expensive mirrors from the Treasury Department with which to grace his Washing- ton mansion. Butler indignantly deniod both allegations, and applied to his opponent the perfumed epithet of a ‘‘mud machine,” whose business it was to scatter filth on decent peo- ple. After this pair of worthies had retired from the scene a more amusing comedy was introduced by our friend Brooks, who, for want of a better subject, got up another dis- cussion on the question of the interference of military at the elections last fall and in aiding the revenue officers to suppress illegal distilleries in Brooklyn, The idea of the gov- ernment doing anything to thwart repeaters or contrabandists is something so repugnant to the State rights democratic instincts of Mr. Brooks that he loses no opportunity of expressing his horror of federal interven- tion, and so he struck in upon that favorite topic yesterday, apropos of some army items in the Deficiency bill. Mr. Dickey, of Penn- sylvania, came to the rescue of the adminis- tration, and said some severe things about the New York democracy and its readiness to create a riot whenever any movement was made to stop its supply of whiskey. As soon as that discussion was got out of the way another sprang up, in which demo- cratic New York and republican Massachusetts were pitted against each other. The cause in controversy was some items in the Deficiency bill for the Freedmen’s Bureau. Mr. Fernando Wood opened his batteries upon General How- ard, whont he “Straigned for ‘all manner of misdeeds connected with bis management of the bureau, A democratic member from Ili- nois—Mr. McNeely—aided him in the attack. But Hoar, of Massachusetts, came to the de- fence of General Howard, and pointed to the speeches of Wood and McNeely as two addi- tional illustrations of the malignant hatred of the democratic party toward all the poor and oppressed and downtrodden. Then Sunset Cox moved to the rescue of the “fierce democracie,” and said all manner of disagreeable things against the people of Massachusetts for the treatment of their paupers and their insane and for their peculiar idiosyncracy of poking their noses into other pecple’s business. He insinu- ated that in the discussion Massachusetts was not defended by her ablest man, making a classical allusion to Troy and Hector. But Hoar made a brilliant flank movement upon him, and turned his classics against him by the remark that Troy did not need to put for- ward Hector against an attack that was led by Thersites. This turned the fortunes of the day against our doughty little champion, and he did not turn up in the fight any more. But his colleague, Fernando Wood, did not so escape. The veteran Townsend, of Chester, Pa., assailed him in connection with his famous telegram to Toons, of Geor- gia, and his proposiiion “the “New York Common Council to sei up this city as a free port, independent of the general government. The stately Fernando parried the attack, and asserted that in the trying days of the rebellion his | public acts bespoke the ardor of his loyalty. Dawes, the chair- matt of of the Commit on Appropriations, was so worried and W6Fn b by y the continuous con- flict that he found bimself constrained to interfere and put an end to it by a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill without further discussion. This movement was suc- cessfully carried out, and then the House adjourned, after a seven hours’ session. The proceedings in the Senate were without interest, the session of the day being devoted to the consideration of the Indian Appro- priation bill. Washingtou’s Birthday. It isa noticeable fact that the 22d of February is more generally observed asa holiday through- out the United States than it was before the war. This indicates a growing, healthy public sentiment—a patriotic feeling which underlies all communities, and which will ultimately restore those friendly relations formerly ex- isting between the North and the South. Io this city the day was celebrated in the usual manuer, by a general suspension of business, a gtand display of bunting and parade of the veterans of the war of 1812. The shipping along the wharves and in the stream were decked in their holiday garbe, gay flags floating from every topmast. Jersey did not forget her revolutionary history; and, if flags and streamers are gauges of patriot- ism, that noble passion bad entire pos- session of the people of Hoboken and Jersey City yesterday. Staid Philadelphia, pragmatic Boston, fussy Cincinnati, Bust- ling Chicago and sprightly St. Louis vied with each other in honoring the memory of the great American, and even from across the Atlantic comes the intelligence that the day was duly honored in Berlin and Vienna in traly American style. The North and the South have at least one sentiment in common— reverence for the memory of Washington and his revolutionary comrades—and yesterday showed that this feeling was increasing in both sections. EXTRAORDINARY PRockEDINGS. ing paper contains a report of @ partial inves- tigation by the Grand Jury into the matter of the Broadway widening project, and just as some damaging disclosures were being made against certain parties the jury, at the instigation, it is alleged, of Tammany leaders, were cited to appear before Judge Sutherland, who dis- charged them from any further duty. This is a very extraordinary proceeding. The Tam- many Regency should be careful how they be- come identified with such matters. They are going too far and too fast. They have a great game at stake in the next Presidential contest, and they should not furnish ammunition for their enemies by engaging in operations, of such extremely doubtful propriety a8 the one we now refer to, SUPPLEMENT. The Decay of Italian Opera—The Reason and the Remedy. Italian opera may be almost regarded as one of the “ost arts” in this community. It is so long since we have heard it in its purity that it remains with us only in the misty but golden memories. of Grisi and Mario, of Alboni and Sontag, of Lind and Bishop, and the other great artists who gave a high European tone to opera in this country nearly a quarter of a century ago. But, in proportion as we have advanced in the other branches of art, as our theatres became more numerous, our dramatic writers more fruitful, our scenic effects more elaborate, and our theatrical audiences larger, perhaps, than any city in the world, Italian opera, the highest branch of all, has fallen into utter decay. Why is this? Is it because the American people de not appreciate that high- toned class of amusement? Is it because they are not willing to pay for it? Not atall; because there is no community on either Con- tinent that entertains a keener sense of appre- ciation of all that is really good in art than the people of our own city, and assuredly there are none so lavish in their expen- diture upon everything that deserves a generous recognition as well as a good many things that de not. They spend money libe- rally upon tasteful equipages, on horses of the finest bloed. They spare nothing in the deco- ration of the public parks and the construc- tion of grand drives and boulevards. They do not stint their purses even in patronizing opéra bouffes and Black Crooks. Therefore the decay of Italian opera is not attributable either to parsimony or want of taste on the part of the people. The cause is very simple. Italian opera is an expensive luxury. It costea large amount of money, as well as of labor and enterprise on the part of the manager, to pro- duce it properly. This fact is recognized in Europe, and hence in Paris and other great capitals the opera receives a subsidy from the government, In New York it is directly the reverse, Here a heavy tax is laid apon Italian opera by about two hundred citizens who hold stock ip the Academy and monopolize the bed tae Ts ia the” hi Sits toate The fésult of this selfish policy of course is that every manager, from the incipient struggles of Ullman down to the present time, who undertook to give opera in the Academy of Music, came to grief, and many of them te financial ruin, We cannot expect European managers to surrender the douceur they receive from their own governments, which secures them a fair margin of profit, to come over three thon- sand miles of ocean only to lose the money they have made at h home, Zot this has | been the caso with every wnpresario who risked his fortunes with the stockholders of the Academy. Now we believe that there is a remedy for this, and it is not at all out of reach. We have very little doubt that a large number of the stockholders—probably, if they were canvassed, two-thirds of them—would ba found willing to relinquish their claim to the choice seats, or at least consent to some com- mutation or arrangement whereby Italian opera can be restored in this city, We think also that many of the stockholders compre- hend the idea that such contributions as they have made, or are making, in the loss of interest on their investment, are contributions | to art for which they are amply repaid by the | consciousness that they are doing the duty of good and intelligent citizens. Besides, they must be consoled by the fact that, although they Teceive_p no dividends, , owing partially to their own selfish Policy, ‘the’o original stock has actually doubled in value through the increase in the value of property generally. There never was a more opportune time for reviving Talian « opera in Now ork than the fresent. The "war in Europe “has” thrown | * hundreds of excellent artists out of employ- ment, They would, no doubt, be willing to make favorable terms wit any manager pro- posing an engagement in the United States. But what manager would be rash enongh to | venture upon such an enterprise, with past experience before him, unless he had a sure guarantee that the stockholders of the Academy would so far modify their claims upon’ the house as to give him a fair chance to make the undertaking profitable? Thus, we perceive that the public is actually dependent upon the liberality of the two hundred stock- holders as to whether we shall have Italian opera or not. The public have begun to look upon this Academy business as a very gross monopoly; in fact, as a public wrong, because, unfortunately, we have no other ra house to rely upon. It is not too late for the stockholders to exhibit a little mag- nanimity, and, as we have said already, we believe that many, if not a majority of them, are quite ready todoso. We hope, there- fore, that they will not let the opportunity | pass unheeded. The [Infamous Coal Conspiracy. The successfal combination of the coal operators of Pennsylvania and the railroad companies is bringing the city of New York and its poor almost to a coal famine. The price of coal yesterday went up to twenty dollars a ton, How much higher it will go depends entirely upon the dictum of the coal monopolists. We can imagine how terribly this advance must be felt by the poor who are compelled to supply their households in small quantities, by the bushel or sometimes even a smaller measure. The price of fuel, which at this season is almost the price of life to the poor, has been run up toa price a8 unprece- dented as it is exorbitant. advance is no mystery. Itis the result of a conspiracy between the coal operators and the railroads ; their object probably being to ope- rate upon the strikers in the coal mining dis- tricts. This is partially avowed by the Penn- sylvania papers. Bot whatever the cause we are the principal sufferers here in New York, and we very naturally are wakened up upon a & question which affects every intevest in the community. The stubborn fact before us just now is, that the avarice of the coal monopo- lists of Penusylvania has almost brought » coal famine upon New York. In the midst of a severe winter the poor of this city are brought face to face with a terrible misery. These are facts which we have to consider, We must be protected against Pennsylvania monopolies. How can this be done? The remedy must be immediate if we would extend relief to our poor. Would it not, then, be wise for Congress to remove at once the duty on coal imported from the British provinces as the speediest mode of relief. tt could The cause of this | be done by legislation in a few anys if Congress weuld take the matter earnestly in hand. The news that the import duty on coal was abolished would reach Nova Scotia and all the coal regions in British America almost instantly by telegraph, and within two weeks we should have a million tons of coal delivered here by every available vessel that could be employed for transporte- tion in all the ports from which coal is shipped, This, we say, would be an immediate remedy for the pressing evil of a coal famine. But More permanent measures shoold be taken by Congress to render the recurrence of this present fraud impossible. Congress should enact such laws as would place the railroads and the telegraphs under the control of the government, and regulate them so that the public should not be always placed at their mercy. Congress ought to see from this action of the railroads in Pennsylvania how éasily a combination of monopolies can reduce the poor of the city of New York almost toa state of pauperism ; how its commercial and manufacturing interests can be crippled by cutting off the supplies of coal. And coal is only one article out of many the transportation of which these railroad monopolies can control. As a mode of immediate relief, then, sup- pose we try the abolition of duty on foreign coal, As a permanent preventive of such a condition of things as now exists on this coal question, of course, the only effective way to reach itis by the government taking the control of the railroads into its own hands. Then, it is to be hoped, we shonld have less extortion to complain of and possibly fewer railcoad disasters to lament over. Meantime some- thing should be done, and promptly, too, to save our poor people from the suffering at- tendant upon the high cost of fuel in this cold season. ANOTDER "Disaster For SPECULATORS.— About a week since a British steamer called the Zoe sailed from this port with a cargo of proyisions fo for France on private account, and Dhig it oF “two ayo ‘the Was totally wrecked near the entrance to Halifax harbor. Here, we have another sensation siory to! Lae wrecked. No British Ship a named 143 Zoe sailed from Bos fon tor Frange Ww g cargo of provisions contributed by Americans for the relief of suffering Frenchmen, consequently France has not suffered another disaster; but a steamship of the same name did leave this, port for France with a cargo of beef, by the’ sale of which some speculators Toned to pocket a handsouié front, and she has been lost, thereby causing a loss to the underwri- ters, probably, and a serious disaster to those who expected to profit by the wants of huagry Frenchmen. We repeat—don’t be deceived by sensational matter. AN ApsurD Rumor ABOUT THE Pore.— One of the latest and certainly not the least absurd of the ramors now afloat regarding the Pope is that negotiations are pending-between the Court of Rome and the Catholic party for the transfer of the Holy See from Rome to Belgium. If the Pope will not content himself in Rome let him make some sensible change. Let him come to New York. We extend to him our ancient invitation. = 5 Personal Intelligence. The High ‘Commissionars or ‘England, consisting of Karl de Grey, Lord Tenterden, Viscount Gode- rich, Professor Bernard and Secretaries Howard and Cremer, arrived last evening by the steamer Cuba und are now sojourning at the Brevyoort House. J. Halpin, one of the Fentan exiles, arrived last evening {rom Boston and 1s a, at Sweeny’s Hotei. BRITISH ROYALISM. Re Queen Victoria’ 6 Got—Ameion Presentations TELEGRAMS TO THE NEW YORK HERALD. LONDON, Feb, 22, 1871. Her Majesty Queen Victoria held a court yester day at Buckingham Patace. Among the persons presented by Mr. Moran, the United States Chargé de Affaires, were Mrs, Nicho- las Fish, Mrs. Wickham Hoffman, Mrs. Augusta Hamilton, and a daughter of Commodore Rodgers. OFFICIAL RECOGNITION. The Queen has approved of the appointment of Mr. Livermore as United States Consul at London derry. THE BRITISH _ MERCHANT MARINE. Premier Gladstone’ iat ‘Gocuriseeta Raval Reform Bill—Its Provisions, Debate and Rejection. TELEGRAM TO THE NEW YORK HERALD. LONDON, Feb 22, 1871. A vers powerful interest—the Commercial Marine and Shipping Capitalists—has been legisiatively arrayed against the Cabinet, and successfully, In the House of Commons to-day the Merchant Shipping bill of the government, which has been framed with the assistance of various Chambers of Commerce, was read. ‘The measure requires the reinspection and. classt- fication of merchantmen, the determination of the maximum load tine of every vessel and the limita- tion of the number of passengers which each may Mr. Rathbone, member tor Liverpool, and other gentiemen denounced the bill ‘as belng likely to aggravate the evil it was intended to remedy, and a8 untimely and deceptive.” Mr. Fortescue sald it would be impossible to fix the maximum line of loading for all vessels. Other objections were made, and the resnls wags that the bill was withdrawn. THE BRITISH NAVY. Increase in the Cabinet Estimates for the Service. TELEGRAM TO THE NEW. YORK HERALD. Lonpon, Feb. 22, 1871. My report of the proceedings of Pasiiament, so far as the legislative business relates to the cost of the public service, goes to confirm the special exhibit of the national condition of the United Kingdom which was recently published tn the HERALD. 1 have toannounce to-day that the navy estimates. about te be presented to the House of Commons show an ‘increase of £386,000 as compared with those Of 1870, 'T he increase is mainly in the tems of steam mae chinery aud in ships built by contract. DEATH OF “TELL.”—The famous Mount St. Bere nard dog “Tell,” who has won every first prize English exhibitions since his importation in 1864, 1 dead. He belonged to the splendid Kennel of the. Rey, J. Cumming Macdona, and was well known’ pop ty England, France, Germany and America asthe fluest type of the rongn-haired St. Bornard breed in the world. Tlis age at the ime of his death: Was only sevep vears