The New York Herald Newspaper, March 26, 1871, Page 8

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic wlespatches must be addressed New York Hizna. Letters and packages should be properly Wolume XXXVI a AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING. “ BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.-ON HAND—SuppEN @uovgats. pew ical FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— | phd oS {GLOBE THEATRE, 738 Broadway.—Vaninty ENTRR- ALIMENT, &0.—DAY AND NiGHT—KENO. BOOTH'S THEATRE, 25d st., between din and 6th ays.— OTHELLO * WooD's MUSEUM Broadway, corner S0h st, —Performe ances every afternoon and evening, _ OLYMPIC Honirox. THEATRE, Broadway.—Tar DRAMA oF NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tae Srrerac.e oF uF BLAoK ChooK. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway ana 13th street.— Bern. i STREET THEATRE (Theatre Francais)— WS THEATRE, 720 Broadway.—LiNcARD SKETOHES—NaVAL ENGAGEMENTS, &0. NEW YORK STADT THEATRE, 45 Bowery.—GERMAN Orzna—Tur Memny Wives or WINDSOR. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of Sth av. ana 23d st.— ‘LES GRORGIENNES. MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S PARK THEATRE, Brootiyn. — mir Van WINKLE, BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Montague street— NILSSON IN GRAND CONCERT. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL, 58) Broatway.— NeGuo MINSTEELSY, FARCES, BURLESQUIS, 0. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowers.—Va- RIRTY ENTERTAINMENT. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Com1o VooaL- 1M8, NEGKO ACTS, &6. . BRYANT'S NEW OPERA HOUSE, 254 at., between 6th and 7th ays.—NEGRO MINSTRELSY, &c. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUSER, Brooklyn.—HooLEr’s AND KELLY & Lyon's MINSTRELS. NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenth stroet.—Sozxzs IN THE RING, ACROBATS, kc. DR. KAHN’S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM, 745 Broadway.— SOLENCE AND ART. Qu EET, New York, Sunday, March 26, 1871. ADRUPLE SH CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. ‘Pace. Advertisements. 2—Advertisements, S—Advertisements. 4— Advertisements. 5—The Rouge Rebellion—News from Wasnington — City Intelligence—Miseellaueous Telegrams— Weather Report. G—The New Empire: The Liberal Party in Ger- Many and Questions of Reform—The New Re- jel The Plots and Intrigues of Men and Parties in France—Prim’s Memoriam—Queen Victoria as a Vocalist—Manufacture of Iron— | An Unfortunate Smith—Tne Riverside Park—A Thoughtful German. '7—Religious Intelligeuce—The Priesthood—Thirty- fourth Street synagogue—Criticisms of New Books—Another River Mystery—The Cente- nary of Sir Walter Scott—Jei Davis in Mont- gomery, Ala. S—Editorials: Leading Article, “The Temporal Power of the Pope in Its Salient Points — Amusement Announcements. 9—Editorials (continued from Eighth Page)}—Per- sonal Inteiligence—Aimusements—Fine Arts— Railroad Matters—Business Notices. 10—Proceedings in the Courts—The Erie Railway Luigation—Melodious Beats—“Luny” Luen- | berger—. Horses cal Review—The Defaniting Paymasters—A Sea of Flame—A Procession of Lets. 21—The Street: The Money Thoroughfares of ,the Metropolis—Music and the Drama—A_ Sad Brida’ B Spirits Spirited Away—From Beer to Bier—Financial and Commercial Re- ports—Real Estate Matters—Marriages, Births and Deaths, 12—Altairs at the State Capital : Proceedings in the New York Legislature—Fires—shipping Intel- higence—Advertisements. 13—Monmouth Park Race: entries for the July Meeting—A Singular Will—Death of a Lake Day of Refoicing—Women ani ‘heir Relative Value in Cuba—Mus!- Erie Hero—Ireland as It 1s: Parliamentary Advocacy of the Cause of the Pope; Land- | lords and Tenants and Agrarian Outrage— | Miscellancons Foreign ltem#—Advertisements, 14—Advertisements. 15—Advertisements. 16—Advertisements. Tne Ext Ratwway Liticatiox.—Our columns to-day show that the Erie litigation ls sweeping along like a torrent. Jay Gould has entered an appearance in the suit, and states that he was owner of a number of shares mentioned at the commencement of the cause, in which Mr. James H. Coleman was appointed receiver, the same being, as he says, in the possession of ‘his London agents or resting in proposed contracts of sale. These shares are a portion of those claimed as belonging to Heath and Raphael, English shareholders of Erie Railway stock. The quarrel is a pretty one as it stands. It goes on bitterly ; it has had a tumultuous begin- ing, bat its end may be spasmodic and even destructive. There is danger ahead. Let “somebody” look out. Moxmovtn Park Races.—We give in another part of this paper the entries for the swéepstakes at Monmouth Park for the July meeting, together with the state of the odds of the field against each horse entered. Mr. McDaniel’s colt Harry Bassett is the favorite in the Monmouth Stakes, being quoted at four to one; Mr. Sanford’s Madame Dudley and A. Buford’s Hollywood being next in favor, at eight to one each. Swigert’s Stockwood has twelve to one laid against him, and all the other entries range from fifteen to twenty to one on the field. In the Hopeful Stakes Messrs. Hunter & Traver’s Buckden is the favorite at eight to one on the field. In the Monmouth Cup Longfellow is the highest in favor, at three to one. The entries are very large in all the stakes, and the running will be highly attractive, as finer fields could not pos- sibly be selected. Tor Dericie: Appx 1ATION BILL. — The generosity of the United States Senate is proverbial, but in the passage of the Defi- ciency Appropriation bill yesterday, that body fairly eclipsed all its former instances of liberaliiy. The bill, as originally passed by the House, appropriated only a few hundred thousand dollars to defray expenses unpro- vided for; but the Senate, far more munificent, run up the amount to about ten millions, The House, it is supposed, will refuse to concur with most of the Senate amendments, espe- cially those in the interest of jobbers and speculators, The most meritorious amend- mout to the House bill is that appropriating two hundred thousand dollars for the main- tenance of life-saving apparatus of the Jersey coast during the ensuing fiscal year. This NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 1871—QUADRUPLE SHEET, Tho Temporal Power of the Pope in Its Salieat Points. Our liberality and good will toward his Holiness are well known; it is equally no- torious that our friendship for him has no tinge of superstition. This is the feeling with which we now take up the subject of his tem- poral power. Discarding all mere sentiment as well as sectarianism, we shall consider the Popes as sovereigns, for, if Pius IX. is with- out any territory just now, many kings and emperors have been in a similar predicament, not to mention the late Emperor of the French, who is now a fugitive. If we regard the Popes as a dynasty we shall find that, independently of all disputed points, theirs is, above all comparison, the most ancient in Europe. Did the antiquity and duration of their rule give them any right to its continuance, no reiguing family in the world would have a stronger claim on the throne of their ancestors. This we shall show presently ; but it should be remembered in the meantime that precisely in proportion as it is right to compare the Popes with other sovereigns is it right that the former, as well as the latter, should be held amenable as rulers to the public opinion of the world. As the king or the emperor is bound to keep pace with the enlightened progress of the age, so is the sovereign Pontiff. If there be any differ- ence it ought to be in favor of the latter, since in addition to teaching his subjects how to live he also undertakes to teach them how to die. Great doctors of divinity, as well as great jurists and statesmen, tell us that those who are well trained for this world are much more easily and more effectually trained for the next than those who recsive no training further than whatever they may give themselves, As for securing for people the glory and joy of heaven, while leaving them to shift for them- selves on earth, we could quote the most pious as well as th@ most learned of the fathers, including St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aqui- nas, to show. tliat that mode of government was exploded many centuries ago. If it has been practised, however, at much later periods, we need neither saints nor angels other than Gibbon, Guizot, Niebulr and Lingard, to tell us that it has invariably failed, at least in its mundane bearing. It is as well for all to admit that sovereign Pontiffs are no more exempt from the opera- tion of cause and effect than any other sove- reigns. They may be infallible as spiritual rulers. At all events, we are quite willing that they should be; nor do we raise any ob- jection to their having received mythical keys from St. Peter, or to their binding and loosing (in a spiritual sense) to the full extent of their claims in that regard. But that they are not infallible as temporal sovereigns, or exempt from the consequences of their fallibility when carried too far, is so obvious a fact that even the Jesuits cannot dispute it. Were there no history to refer to, the ultramontane habit of attributing all the temporal troubles of the Pope to Protestant influence might do very well as an argument; but it is not necessary to consult any Protestant historian in order to ascertain that before there were any Protestants the Popes were quite as often and as deeply in trouble as they have been since Luther's time. Any one who has the least turn for in- vestigation can easily satisfy himself that long before the Reformation Popes were not only deprived of their temporal power, but that some of them were reduced to a state of poverty bordering on destitution—a state of things which could not occur at the present | day; for if there were none to relieve the dis- tress of Pius IX., in such a contingency, but the Protestants of the United States alone, his Holiness would be in no danger of suffering for the necessaries of life. The truth is that it is only bigoted Protestants—those whose views on any subject are not of much value—who have evinced any real enmity either agaist the Pope or his temporal power. As for the Protestant Powers, it may easily be ascertained that they have much oftener saved the Pope and his power than they have sought to injure either ; ‘but let that pass for a moment, So far as the source and tenure of power are concerned it is very much with the Pope, even among his own people, as it is with the school- master. In every enlightened community the latter is respected and exercises a certain aniount of influence; but this respect and in- fluence are proportioned to his knowledge and his ability to communicate that knowledge—in a word, to his general talents and intellectual activity. If one of this characjer is evena little eccentric many of his eccentricities will be overlooked if he knows how to secure the attention and the obedience of his pupils and to give them solid, useful instruc- tion at the same time. By doing this he can continue lord and master as long as he wishes. But, supposing that, when he is dead, somebody is put in his place who has ! neither learaing nor talent, and who is as ignorant of human nature as he is of science, art and literature, is it to be expected that the latter could command ss much respect or exercise as much influence as the former? Assuming that both his pupils and their parents get tired of him, and even wish to get rid of him, would it not be a little unreasonable for his friends to raise the outcry that learning is insulted, that civilization is driven back, and that if those pupils and parents are not over- whelmed with the execration of mankind, or something still worse, we may all regard ourselves as returning to the barbarism of our nomadic and pagan ancestors? Again, some- times the pedagogue has proved a good teacher, but, not content with exercising absolute sway in his seminary, he has sought to extend his sway over the affairs of the out- side world, and then he has occasionally been addressed somewhat as follows :—We respect and like you as a teacher of our boys, but please to excuse us if we do not wish you to rule our- selves also; in other words, we are willing to pay you a fair price for instructing our chil- dren, but if you persist in forcing your instruc- tions on ourselves too there must be a rapture between us. If the Popes have not been addressed in these words it is certain that they have more than once been treated in this spirit; but it will be suflicient for us to mention an instance or Every intelligent student of history will femember the quarrel that broke out be- amendment is so manifestly just and called for that no doubt can be entertained that it will be agreed to by the House without serious OpRositdvie tween the Normans and Leo IX., in 1053. His Holiness ordered the Normans, who were a stiff-necked race, to do certain things; but, having flatly refused to obey, Leo resolved to force them, not by bulls or allocutions, but by battering rams, pikes, javelins and such other approved weapons as were availahle in his time. Unfortunately it so happened that in the first general engagement the Papal armies were completely defeated. His Holiness had taken the precaution of avoiding the battle- field, awaiting the issue at a small neighbor- ing village. But the Normans did not hesitate to besiege the village, nor did they fail to cap- ture the Pope. Having thus routed his armies and made a prisoner of himself, their first care was to throw themselves on their knees and implore pardon for their sins in warring against him. It was in no mockery they did this, but as good Catholivs, who had ample faith in the spiritual power of the Pope, but very little faith in his temporal power. All historians agree in giving Leo IX. credit for excellent qualities, and he bas been canonized as a saint by the Church, yet he spent nearly four years in close captivity, and was released finally and reinstated in his temporal power only on his agreeing to a treaty by which he bestowed the ‘sovereignty of Naples and its territories on the Normans, f Had there been fanatical Protestants at this time they would have had time enough to exalt in the downfall of Popery and predict that no- body would ever again see a Papal army ; yet before the close of one decade the sov- ereignty of the Pope was stronger than it had ever been before, although the power and glory of the Popedom did not attaln their climax until the time of Leo X., worthily called Leo the Great. The Constable of Bourbon (Charles) proved a still worse enemy to the Pope than the Normans; for in 152$ he sacked Rome and captured his Holiness. Taking advantage of the feeling excited by the preach- ing of Luther he procure a large reinforcement of Germans who clamored to be led against the Pope. He was in such a hurry to seize on the States of the Church that he crossed into Italy in the depth of winter, and arrived before Rome early in May. It was in vain the Pope implored him to desist. Bourbon did not hesitate for a moment; not content with giving orders to assault the walls at day- break, he insisted on planting the first ladder himself. He had scarcely mounted three feet when he received a musket ball and fell back into the fosse mortally wounded. This, how- ever, did not save Rome. The fanatical army assaulted the ramparts, slaughtered the garri- son without mercy, and imprisoned the Pope in the Castle of St. Angelo, treating him asa common malefactor, for whom no insult or in- dignity was too grdss. Those who wished the downfall of the Papal sovereignty did not hesitate to conclude that now at least there was an end of it. But who was at the bottom of all this? Will the masses of our Catholic friends believe that no Protestant or heretical prince had any- thing to do with it, but one who claimed to be the most pious, as well as the most orthodox, of all the Catholic sovereigns—namely, the Emperor Charles V.? Although the Reforma- tion had made considerable progress in England, the English people, with characteristic gene- rosity, were horrified at the barbarities perpe- trated on the helpless pontiff and his.capital. Whatever were the faults of Henry VIIT., the conduct of the Emperor excited his indigna- tion, and he entered into an engagement with the King of France to send a joint expedition as quickly as possible for the liberation of the Pope. Under one pretext or another Charles persisted in retaining his Holiness in captivity until the allied armies appeared before Naples, Even then he did not liberate them until paid aransom of two hundred and fifty thousand ducats, although on their way to the rescue of the Pope the allies had captured Alessandria, Pavia and Genoa, each of which was garri- soned by imperial troops. As for the treatment of Pius VI. and Pius VII. by Napoleon, it is familiar to all. First he overran the States of the Church, plun- dered Rome and garrisoned it with French troops, who occupied the city for ten months, until forced to capitulate by the combined armies of England, Russia and Austria. Still determined that the Pope’s temporal power should end, Napoleon formally deposed Pius VI., in 1798, and had him literally dragged out of Rome; and the unfortunate pontiff died the next year in exile and captivity. On his successor being elected, he too was de- throned, and he remained a prisoner at Fon- tainebleau until the overthrow of his oppressor. Then, too, Protestant England—represented by Lord Castlereagh—was foremést in secur- ing to the Pope the fall restoration of his temporal power. Although within the limits of an article we could only glance at the subject, we think we have shown that those who are satisfied that the temporal power of the Pope has been finally disposed of by Victor Emmanuel may live to see that they are unduly credulous if not thoughtless. But those in favor of his Holiness’ temporal power might learn from the same facts that if it be restored and per- petuated it is not by miracles or dogmas of infallibility, but by human ideas. Napoleon learned one useful lesson from his experience with the Popes; and he has placed it on record for the benefit of others. Addressing himself one day to M. de Fontanes he says :— “Savez vous ce que j’admire le plus dans le monde; c’est Vimpuissance de la force a fonder quelque chose.” Tue Gariwatpr Ncisance.—The Garibaldi family have always been a nuisance, and an ulcer upon the body politic of Europe. They have wever been busy anywhere that mischief did not come out of their interference. The elder Garibaldi spent a few years of his life in honest industry when he was manufacturing candles on Staten Island, and making a decent livelihood thereby. Since then he has been a noisy adventurer in Europe. His whole course has been utterly contemptible. He has made trouble in Italy, but has achieved nothing for Italian independence. He assumed a com- mand in the French army during the recent war, but the French troops would not serve under him. He was regarded as an inter- loper, and an enemy to that kind of liberty which France desired. Garibaldi, therefore, was compelled to retire from the French ser- vice in disgust. We are surprised to find his son, Menotti Garibaldi, at the head of the in- surgents of Montmartre, What business have these Italian oullaws to meddle in the affairs of France? They are a nuisance which should be wiped out at once. The sooner the better, Our Latest Advices from Paris—What will Follow in France ¢ The cable telegram reports, special to the Heratp and from other sources, which reached us yesterday to a late hour last night, are not by any means reassuring to the cause of law and order in France. The intelligence is, on the contrary, discouraging to the peace of the Old World civilizations as they are in- fizenced in the present, and may be eventu- ally inoculated to taint and gangrene from France. Paris runs riot in the demoraliza- tions of an unreasoning, ignorant domo- cracy. Law has been trampled under foot ; order, affrighted, cowers in the presence of public tumult, the first result of disorder triumphant. The telegrams state that the republican authorities had made many at- tempts to obiain quiet by the application of force. The efforts were ineffectual. The mob was organized. Rioters were still in arms at many points. The mob attempted to govern in the name of the people, and the people— the men who represent industry and its fruits— endeavored to strangle the mob before it laid hands on their wealth, made a division of the spoils, and thus emaciated the nation to the condition of a general leprosy of com- munism. France appear to have attained the ‘gloom of her glory” in Paris, as it was prophesied by the great Napoleon that she would, with the, genius of true liberty hidden away in her rural valleys. Marseilles, Lyons and Bordeaux reel and surge to change hourly, the popular fluctua- tions ‘‘marking time,” not as do citizen soldiers in the ranks, but to the apparently inebriated signals which are given from Paris. The Francs-treurs have attempted to rob the metropolitan banks of deposit. They hope to realize for themselves the enjoyment of that bygone earthly paradise of the moment of the city soup kitchens, of food without labor, no one greater than the other, and “theaven’s firat law” trampled in the dust or rolled in street gutters running with blood. An insurgent committee prevents the municipal authorities from the execution of their duty ; go that Paris insurrection goes on, as we look at it, to change its color and skin every night, and thus to appear on each succeeding morn- ing still more unrecognizable as the representa- tive of true democracy and still more repul- sive tothe classes who have anything in the way of property to lose. The Mayors of Paris have represented officially to the National Assembly in Versailles that they dread the advent of the ‘horrors of a civil war” inside the city. There are “loyal” and “disloyal” French Mattalions. Italian carbonarism has been invoked by the insurgents. Menotti Garibaldi has ‘assumed the command of the demoralized populace, his foreign nationality—his Italianism—being overlooked by these Frenchmen, perhaps in the hope that he may bring forth a still more effectual recipe for violence and pillage from the répertoire ot his father, and in accordance with his practice in Rome and Naples, The Paris insurgents have an artillery, and the Montmartrites stop all railway trains bound to Versailles and seize all the ammunition found in the cars. The rule of the Paris Commune has been established in Marsailles, where, as weare told, the Mayor and General Prefect have been made prisoners by the people. The authorities at Versailles and in Havre called for army volunteers to march to Paris to at- tempt to restore order, but the response was very feeble at the moment when our despatches were forwarded.* The Southern cities of France are reported as being completely dis- affected, and the nuclei of petty, selfish, local organizations are apparent on every side. Such was the condition of France, such the situation in Paris, yesterday. Europe is alarmed. A man cannot continue to look on at his neighbor’s house when in flames and not feel excited for the safety of his own dwelling. Switzerland has placed her soldiers under arms and despatched a heavy army force to guard her frontier line against outrage by those who have attempted to parody the republic in France. France has three sources of consolation open for Paris and the French nation, They present in M. Thiers, in the return of the Prussians, in a Bonaparte restoration, Two of these have been accomplished. M. Thiers is in power in Versailles, Fecamps has been reoccupied by a force of six hundred Germans, and the Prussian march of evacua- tion has been halted in the country. M. Thiers is an ornamental statesman; too much so for the present crisis. He can theorize—philosophize—on the science of gov- ernment; but he is unable to deal practically and effectually with mobs. His government is too weak. His system has been discounted beforehand by the French; his influence and moral force authority in the crisis are lost. M. Thiers is not able to act vigorously in an executive capacity; he cannot seize ‘“‘the deadly asp” of cily riot in ‘a steel gloved hand,” and thus smother it. The ‘‘reds” can overpower him, and thus become, if possible, still worse by a victory over education and the honors of age and virtue. The ven- erable statesman does not comprehend rowdyism; he has not studied the philo- sophy of suppressing insurrections, not- withstanding all be has written and seen concerning revolution and radical outrage, and of the healing influences of judicial authority, peace, order and public obedience. Thiers’ organism is far different from that of Bonaparte. Napoleon dealt with Paris riot and Paris revolution in 1851 as the repre- sentative of order. His action was sharp, incisive and decisive. City riot breeds rapidly and revels to still larger proportions momentarily under civic impunity. During the period of the riois in New York the mob men had it all their own way in the morning; they were more bold and more aggressive towards noon; they were uproarious in their successes at noon, and vehemently murderous during the hours of the. afternoon. In the evening, near and in the Fifth avenue they met the troops. They experienced a slight ‘‘baptism of fire ;” but they repudiated and denied it, just as they had previously abnegated the healing influences of the Church. They ran away from it. The law was vindicated; New York reassured, M. Thiers and the French Cabinet present a government of peace—of peace made with Germany subsequent to German conquest in France. It is a weak govern- ment—as a government peace under such circumstances always is, During the pro- gress of our own war here in America the copperhead party—the peace party—was monstrously unpopular. Its name and memory are unpopular to-day. This comes from the difference which is felt to exist between suc- cessful patriotism and aimless politics, Thiers is unable to grapple with the crisis in France. As a consequence France, as a nation, turns her eyes in search of a materialistic saviour of her life blood, of ber property and her money capital. For this office Napoleon has no chance personally. His name, his family traditions and the remembrance of his really solid services to the country in the past, when contrasted with the fruits of the de- mocracy of the ‘‘reds” and the servile and selfish politioal nondescripts of France just now, move a powerful agency in his favor. This feeling may find a pleasing fruition in the person of his son. It may pave the way for the restoration of the Prince Imperial to the throne of France after some years. If legiti- mate France, successful over insurrection, can get rid of the bad elements of French society, can slough off the sore of French riotous radicalism, she may become France renovated, and thus set out on a new career of fixed government, for peace and the exercise of law, the Frenoh people respecting the rights of man, while conserving the indus- trial rights of the French nation, Then, and only then, will France ‘crown her edifice” of wholesome government, rescue her power from the hands of mobs, and place it con- fidingly and legitimately in those of a ruler who can assure her in return that she stands before the peoples ef the world ‘“‘redeemed, regene- rated and disenthralled by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation,” guided by 8 public honesty and re-enlightened by the fire of true patriotism. The President’s South Caroline Proclama- tion—The Condition of the South. In pursuance of his dwty under the consti- tution and laws of the United States, as de- fined in the premises, the President, in his South Carolina proclamation, says :—'‘I do hereby command the persons composing the unlawful combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date’—the 24th March, and there he stops. What, then, if these “‘unlawful combinations aforesaid” (the Ku Klux Klans) do_not regard this command of the President? The command is a warning that if they have not dispersed within the time specified they will be dispersed by the United States Army. Several regiments of cavalry and infantry will be on the ground at the end of the twenty days, ready, if neces- sary, to proceed to business. So far, then, so good. We dare say that at the end of the twenty days no Ku Klux will be visible to the naked eye within the boundaries of South Carolina; and if after that time, till otherwise provided for, they shall show their beads in “anlawful combinations,” the United States Army will hunt them down. There are other Southern States, however, afflicted with these ‘‘unlawfal combinations,” from which there is no application from the Legislature or the Governor for relief, and in which ‘‘life and property are insecure, the carrying of the mails and the collection of the revenue are dangerous,” and in which the State authorities are powerless to restore order. To meet these cases the President has applied to Congress for a general law, giving him authority sufficient for all emergencies, and the two houses remain in session to con- sider and to act upon the President’s applica- tion. But some of our learned contemporaries say that the suppression of these local disor- ders (which do not amount to insurrection) belongs to the several States and not to the United States. These learned expounders, however, look to ‘the constitution as it was.” Let us call their attention to the constitution as it is, The fourteenth amendment ordains equal civil rights to all citizens, and declares that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens thereof, and of the State in which they reside; and it gives to Congress the power to enforce these and other pro- visions of this article by “appropriate legisla- tion.” The fifteenth amendment establishes equal suffrage or political equality for all citi- zens of all races and colors, and gives to Con- gress the ‘‘power to enforce this article by ap- propriate legislation.” The outrages referred to by the President in his message are toa great extent outrages against these civil and political rights of citizens of the Southern States of African descent. Congress, therefore, has the power to enforce these citizens’ rights by “* appropriate legislation,” and Congress is left to its own judgment as to the legislation which will be ‘‘appropriate” in such cases in any part of the United States, The power of Congress, then, invoked by the President, is clear and comprehensive, But at the same time the continuance of rebel disabilities under the fourteenth amendment is a fruitful source of these Southern disorders. These disabilities, directly and indirectly, alienate from the government and array against the President, Congress and the re- publican party thousands of Southern white men who, under a universal amnesty, would be reclaimed. While, therefore, Congress is legislating to give the President the power he asksfor the suppression of these Southern Ku Klux disorders, let the bill embrace a general re- moval of all rebel political disabilities, and the sting will be taken out of it. The last excuse for the Ku Klux Klans will be taken from them, and they will be abolished by a general sentiment of justice, equal rights and fair play among the Southern people. Empire—Oar Correspondence from Berlin. We publish in another page of the HERALD this morning a number of interesting letters from our special correspondents abroad. Among those deserving, particular notice are the letters from Berlin, These communica- tions furnish food for serious reflection. Though Germany has been eminently success- ful in the field, q greater task remains to be completed, which, until thoroughly perfected, leaves the fature of Germany in doubt. In the enthusiasm which at present prevails throughout the empire we can make allow- ance for the German people losing sight of the many restrictions which limit their liberty, There are under the rule of the present monarch, the Emperor-King, many unusual The New German Special restraints imposed upon the German nation, These restraints, to a thoughtful and edue cated people as the Germans are, must receive attention; and the liberal leaders who now do battle for greater liberty in Germany will continue the fight until some result is accomplished. In these days of en- lightenment—the era of the press, the tele- graph and steam—the will of one man, ora government representing the views of a class, rather than the interest of a people, cannot maintain itself in opposition to the longings of the majority of a great nation who have learned what freedom has accomplished for other countries. Germany, to be great, must be more free; and, to secure this freedom for her citizens, the statesmen of the empire must direct the abilities they undoubtedly possess, if they desire to secure the happiness of their countrymen. The letters from Berlin to which we have before referred enable the readers of the HERALD to perceive the posi- tion of Germany as it is to-day. The Methodist Confererences. The spring Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church are being held all over the country as fast as the bishops can meet them. Next week the New York and New York East Conferences, whose chief appointments lie in this city and Brooklyn, will meet—the former in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and the latter in Stamford, Conn. Among the many im- portant interests which will come before these bodies is one relating to the support of super- annuated preachers, on which subject commit- tees were appointed at their last session. It is well known that very few Methodist ministers get salaries large enough to enable them to save anything against sickness and old age— so that when either of these come upon them they are found in great straits and dependent upon Christian sympathy and benevolence for the ordinary necessaries of life. When minis- ters become old and broken down in the service of the Church they receive an appor- tionment annually for their support; but this is sometimes so small as to be hardly entitled to the name of a benefaction. Should a minister die while in the active work of the Church his family become claimants upon the Conference of which he wasa member. Both they and the superannuated preachers are thus sup- ported by collections in the several charges of the Conference, and at its annual session dis- tribution is made by a committee of ministers appointed for that purpose, and who listen to arguments and appeals for or against an in- crease or reduction in each individual case, provided tbere are any interested persons present to advance or oppose such claims, This burden grows heavier from year to year, while the support from voluntary church col- lections grows less, many churches not raising anything for this object. The matter of pro- viding conference homes for such ministers and such families was brought up in the New York Conference last spring, but at too late a date to do anything more practical than to appoint a committee to confer and act with a similar committee from the other body of min- isters. A dozen such homes established in either Conference would greatly benefit those who have claims on them and would very largely relieve the churches. The pighest salary paid to a member by any Methodist church in either of the two Confer- ences named is $5,000 a year—paid by St. Paul's, in this city. There are six which pay $3,000, about twenty pay $2,500, and the great majority range from $800 to $1,500 a year. The highest salaries are paid in New York and Brooklyn. A few years ago a min- ister presented his case to the New York Con- ference, asking for a supernumerary relation. He had served two weak churches on the out- skirts of thia city, and had received for his year's labor, in money and value, $500, where- with to support a family of seven persons. Such cases are not isolated, and provision should be made by the Conferences in some way to secure a living salary to their members proportioned to their necessities. There is money and wealth enough in the Methodist churches of those Conferences to secure to the poorest preacher at least as much as an ordi- nary mechanic can earn—$1,000a year. In this city and Brooklyn and the immediate vi- cinity there are eighty-two Methodist churches and thirty-two parsonages, of the aggregate value of $3,790,000. Of these fifty-six churches, valued at $2,067,000, and twenty- two parsonages,, valued at $220,000, be- long to the New York East Confer- ence; and twenty-six churches, valued at $1,350,500, and ten parsonages, valued at $153,000, belong to the New York Conference. One of those churches is valued at $200,000, another at $140,000, and very many of them range in value from $50,000 to $100,000 each, and indicate very clearly that the congrega- tions who have built them are fully able, were they so disposed, to make suitable provision for the aid of feeble churches and less favored ministers than their own. The total number of churches in the New York Conference is -864, and their aggregate value $3, 131,800, and in the New York East Conference 259, of the value of $3,587,700. The former has 152 par- sonages, valued at $526,575, and the latter 116, worth $575,650. Under the itinerent system of Methodism a very large number of ministers in this city and Brooklyn will change places next month. Among the most notable of those which have come to our knowledge are the following :— The Rev. Dr. Ridgeway, of St. Paul's, goes to the new and beautiful First Methodist Epis- copal church of Harlem, which has been built under the persevering industry of Rev. H. G. Corey. The edifice is hot yet finished, and will not be dedicated until May. The Rev. John E. Cookman will success Dr. Foss in Trinity Methodist Episcopal church; Rev. Dr. Crawford leaves Eighteenth street church ; Rev. A. D, Vail, Thirtieth street; John E. Gorse, West Twenty-fourth street; William Goss, St. Jo2n’s, Fifty-third street—a new edifice which he has helped to erect—and Alexander McLean, Duane church, in Hudson street. Dr. Ferris will cease to be Presiding Elder of the New York District, New York Conference, and will probably take the pas- torate of a city church, In the New York East Conference the Rev. W. McAlister, now of Allen street Methodist Episcopal church, will succeed Rov. Dr. H. F. Pease in the pre- siding eldership and the latter will take an appointment. Rey. Dr. E. G. Andréws will leave St. John’s church, Brooklyn, to take charge of the Central Methodist Episcopal