The New York Herald Newspaper, August 20, 1871, Page 6

HERALD, SUNDAY, AUGUSI 20, 187.—TRIPLE SHUHET. 6 NEW YORK NEW YORK HERALD gpa 3) aed Stern Dury. BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. In the beginning of September the birds of wes N a fashion will begin to flock towaward, and within JAMES GORDON BENNETT, | another fortnight Broadway wili be again full PROVRIETOR. of beautiful women, Already some of the theatres have opened their doors for the gay multitade ever bent on being pleased. Tue churches, or at least the fashioaavle parsons, are a little later with their annual reopenings, All business or news letter and telegraphic | Gespaiches must be addressed New York Mera. 1 mould ‘ve propert but with the return of fashionable life to the Swgatbera gers papi Prover'Y | metropolis we shall find also a revival of fash- sealed. ionable metropolitan piety. Up to the pres- ent moment such of the clergy as find their “summer's rest” a necessity are still resting. None of them have yet returned to town; they may be found in mountain retreats far away Rejected communications will not be re- | turned. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in me rear, Your cents per copy. Annuat snnscription | from the city, and even in the ballrooms at Bata a = Long Branch, Saratoga and Newport. But, Volume XXXVI as we have before remarked, the parsons will = | soon be back in their pulpits, and then, for a short time at least, we shall have a lively sea- son of sensation preaching. This question of summer rest for the clergy has a number of delicate points for the discus- sion of which there can be no better time than the eve of the return of the parsons to their spiritual work. The mission of the Christian teacher is one requiring such extreme devo- tion and such complete gelf-abnegation that it may be asked, with much show of reason, whether the clerzy are entitled to the long vacations they give themselves every year. Souls are as precious in summer as in winter. It is as necessary to expound the Gospel AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING. ! WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broatway, coraer 80th st.—Perform- ances aiternoon and evening—LoTa. BOOTHS THEATRE, LIrr.k NELL AND THe St, hetween Sth and 6th ava.— ARCHIONESS. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. { 1 Me ST LASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery. LINA EDWIN'S THEATRE. No. 720 Broadway.—KELLY & Lron's Minsveria, BOWERY THEATR! LIERS AND RouNDHEAn: NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Houston sts.—sur DRAMA oF FRirz. Bowery,—-Surw FANE—CAVA- GLOBE THEATRE, 125 Broadway.—-Nrer) CITES, BURLESQUFS, £0. CENTRAL ARD: Ecornrni- Tazopors THOMAS’ “summer's rest” tn which 60 many fashionable clergymen indulge. Jn another fortnight the Saratoga races will have ended and the hegira from the watering places will have begun. Society is even now on iis return to town, but it is painful to think { that in its train are the fashionable preachers who left the city in its wake. only to minister to fashionable people? This is a question which each one of them may well ask himself gs he again takes his place in the sacred desk. Something nobler and better than this is demanded, and it would be well for the canse of Christianity if the answer could be different from the response which we fear is inevitable. It is singular how after great names there are In even the preaching of the Gospel. the lesser pulpit lights would dare be absent from their churches, gether, and as the mansions of the rich are enlivened by the presence of their gay occu- pants the churches rustle and flutter with the pride of thoughtless worshippers. All this is in strange contrast to the Christian worship of a bygone age or with those unpretending tem- ples where the poor only gather in humility and sincerity to beseech the Throne of the Most High, All these things are fraught with the most important lessons, They explain the tenden- cies of the age toward infidelity, the unloosen- ing of domestic obligations, the disobedience PA 0 Suswen Nienrs’ Covornrs, GLOBE THEATRE, Brooklyn, opposite City Hall,—VA- murry BsTetrasMeNt PP ws in August as in December. Men sin and suffer at every season, and at every season they need the consolations of religion. It is not the rich, the gay and the proud, flying wherever fashion is maddeat in its intoxicating devices, but the poor and the lowly, tied all the year to their humble homes, who most need, or most fervently accept, the ministra- tions of the altar. The most insignificant of God’s children left uncared for by those who profess to do God's work, though they may not put their petitions into words, will appeal powerfully to Heaven against the neg- lect of the spiritual shepherds. The clergy- man who forsakes his work, even for the gravest of reasons, takes upon his shoulders an immense responsibility; but wken he does it to follow in the wake of fashionable dissipa- tion and to sip the gay delights of society’s rosy cup, there is no estimating the injary he is doing not only to himself, but to the holy cause whose badge he wear3. St. Paul at Saratoga and St. Peter at New- port would bave proved themselves most New York, Sunday, pee Aegust 20, 1871. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY'S HERALD, PaGE. VON cwoar reso a 1~ Advertisements, W— Advertisements. B—Ancther Boiler Explosion: One More Staten Island Steamer Ho:ror—The Westfleld Dis- erument Inspectors cause of the Explosion—Saratuga Fourth Dar ot the Angust Meeting— ous isappearunce—Capturing the Con- ¥ects—Penpsvivudia War Claims—Weather Repori—The National Guard, 4—Relizions —tniellizenc np Meetings—The D Unger Movemen Interviews with the Spirits oi the New Reformation in YY; Ail Christan Communities to be Reounciled, S—the Dollinger Movement (continued from Fourth Paze)—Our Sammer Resorts—The syn- dicate: An Intesesting Pmancial Hisiory—No —_ in New York—Political Faction Fight- ing in y. 6—Editori: ading Artiele, “The Return of te ci mer Rest and Stera Duty’— Amusement Aunouncemen: 'Y-Endiortal (Continued trom h Page)—Per- sonal Latelligence—Kussia_—Beliicose: ‘The Golomsus of the North Die matigfied = unsuccessful fishers of men. It would be very Situation ita France England | refreshing, probably, but it is doubtful if it sington—-the Atlantic Washinuton — Mise ianeous rapuie News—amusements— New York City Rews—Forewn Topics—Views of the Past— c. would be very edifying to read in the New Tesiament that while the Rev. Dr, Paul was spending his summer vacation at one of the from Business Notices. : fashions: Preparations Behind the | fashionable resorts at Athens he was induced forthe Fashionable Fall Campaign— to make an eloquent speech to the multitude from Mars Hill, The second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles would be less significant and beautiful if we had been. told that the accomplished linguist and eloquent divine, the Rey. Dr. Peter, having just returned to Jerusalem after a month’s delightful stay among the aristocratic residents of Cesarea Philippi, preached a remarkable discourse on the Day of Pentecost, speaking to every nation in its own tongue and startling the vast multi- tude as much by the beauty of his language as the boldness of his imagery. Coming down to a later period we would lose much of our faith in the good works of St. Charies Borremeo if we were told that he annualiy forgot the poor and the suffering while seeking for “‘summer rest” among the Alps or the Appenines; and Martin Luther spending the gay season at Baden-Baden would be ao picture of the stern and hard-working reformer which would not be grateful to the minds of his followers. Isit any better that a Methodist or Presbyterian or Episcopal diviae should be recorded as among the dis- tinguished arrivals at our watering places? Many persons of sincere piety would be offended to hear that their pastor was seen at a gay ball at Congress Hall, the Clarendon or the Grand Unioa, The scenes of fashionable folly and dissipation are not fitting places for the teachers of a religion which is the exempli- fication of humility and self-sacrifice. Nothing can be more melancholy than the closed doors of our city churches on a fine Sunday in summer, When nature puts on her brightest garments and the feeblest creatures which came from the hand of God sing their loudest pwans of joy to the Father of the uni- verse, it is sad that man alone should forget that Sabbath rest and worship ordained for Chit. -hai—New ril—Art Matters. at Broaliway ravansarie Metamor- ) mpson, tite SC ier —The Lord, the Lady and the Mysterious Telegram—For- eign Personal Gossip and Miscellaneous Notes, 4 Varger Poisoning Case: Arrest of . Colburn; Interview with One of the Rela- tves of \r. Buffenbarger—Proceedin:s i the Courts—Jo'hen and His Juliet-—Fatal Case of Sk larking—Morder Will Out—Canada on Fire-M rriages, Birth and Deaths—Adver- “The Cruise of New York Yacht Yachting mm — England—Brook- i8—Suipplug latelugence—Advertus- A ments, 12-Advertisements, “sTERDAY Morstne the boiler of the tug- boat G. H. Starbuck, employed in towing coal barges from Port Johnson to this city, exploded near Staten Island, killing the fireman, a colored man named George Williams. The boilers of the Starbuck were inspected in April last, and certified to be all right. The engineer was not at his post at the time of the explosion, and as be has since kept bimsel’ concealed the amount of steam he was carrying is not known, and it is consequently impossible to arrive at the cause of the accident. Tne Doiincer MoveMeNt.—Ja the Heratp this moraing we print a very interesting résumé of the Dollinger movement in Germany. Dr. Dollinger is an old man, and though his asso- ciates—Huber and Friedrichs—are young and enthusiastic, he is the life and strength of the movement. The idea of fighting the dogma of infaliibility in the Church instead of out of it is a good one; but, with Roman Catholics generally agreed upon the decrees of the Council of the Vatican, the task they have set for themselves seems Ss one. To Rioco.—The eral Baldrich in re A Spanisn Trapt resignation of Captain Porto Rico is announced from in, and | the children of men. The closed portals of a General Pullido has been appointed in his | church are the voluntary sealing up of the place. This is the triumph of despotic | fountains of grace. God's temples oughi Spaniards over the people and a liberal | always to be open to God's people, and we Governor. Nothing can be more inappeasi- | doubt if the fasbionable preacbers who ble than the batred of Spanish carpet-baggers | are soon to take their places once fo the West India colonies toward the creoles, | more in their pulpits will wot feel, and we shal! not be surprised at any time to hear that they have begua in Porto Ricoa crusade against the native population which wiil end in revol as they open the Sacred Book, that the spirit of asolemn mockery pervades all their peti- tions and sets at naught all their counsels, They may come back to their people in- vigorated in mind and body, but they will scarcely feel that all are gathered together, with one accord, in one place, while there appear cloven tongues, like as of fire, speak- ing as the Spirit gives them utterance. The dust of the race course and the mingled scents of the paraphernalia of the ballroom will cling about th atill, and insincerity pervade their sincerest efforts to teach and preach in the simplicity of truth and righteousness. This toying with the dissipations of the world is dangerous, and we deprecate it, because it is fraught with so much evil in these evil times. We would not deny necessary rest to the Christian teacher and preacher, We are ready to welcome all of them back again to their churches, If they have brought back with them fresh thoughts and new graces the HeraLp is as ready as ever before to help them sow the good seed. But teaching and preaching are not all of a clergyman’s work, and we would prefer that our clergy should rest where they can always hear the call of duty, The bedside of the dying, the visitation of the sick, the re- lief of the needy, the counselling of the erring and distressed are duties too important ever to be left undone. A closed church door even for a short season in summer indicates an absence of the means of grace and a failure in the performance of duty toward some of God's children, These are what we deprecate, nd this is why we deplore that fashionable Tat Question SzttLED.—The ‘‘Baron De Camin” on Friday last did deliver his lecture at Ogdensburg ‘‘on Popery,” and the opposition of certain over-zealous Irish Catholics, carried to resolution thut he should not speak bis piece in Ogdensburg, had the effect of giving the lec- turer 4 splendid house, whea, if he had been “severely let alone,” he would have harangued to empty benches. The Professor ought to be thankful to his Irish friends. Jn their foolish attempt to suppress him they made him the champion of free speech, filled his pockets with greenbacks and sent him on his way rejoicing. AN Oprmion tHat Brats Buxssy—The opinion of Judge Botts, of California, an old line democrat, of Governor Haight, the candi- ate of the California democracy for another term and a new line democrat. The Judge says that Governor Haight ought not to be re-elected, because, first, his political views are crude and fluctuating; second, he is disin- genous and unreliuble; third, he is a delibe~ rate violator of the constitution; fourth, he halts between God and Mammon and tries to serve both; fifi, he gives aid and comfort to the radical party; sixth, he is a jumping-jack of politicians and # butt of ridienle to the enemy; seventh, his course is shoving from tbe democratic platform the best men of the party. Now, we can only say that if this opinion of Judge Botts is according to the law nd the evidence Governor Haight will have a road to travel in the coming election of children, the want of faith in men and women and the prevalence of crime, Every pastor can do a deal of good for his people and for the whole community if he does his duty humbly and unceasingly. Now that our clergymen are returning like stray shepherds to their waiting folds, almost as prodigals to a welcoming father, we want to impress these truths upon them, and to suggest to them that the true “summer rest” of the faithful is in the Summer Land beyond, their task here being to allure to brighter worlds and lead the way. Such was the example the disciples and the apostles set, and they were men who avoided all fashionable follies and displays, lest thereby they should offend some. Paris Fashions. Perhaps no more signal proof of the irre- pressible vitality of the French people could be afforded than the letter which we publish to-day from one of our Paris correspondents, disclosing the preparations for the fashionable fall campaign, Vanquished by the needle gun the French seize the needle and rally in fall confidence that they shall pluck victory from defeat and regain their wonted ascendancy in at least one field of world-wide influence. It is not unwarrantable for them to anticipate that successes in that field may be followed by successes in many another which they feel bound to reconqner. They believe in what Carlyle, in his ‘‘Sartor Resartus,” calls ‘‘the omnipotent virtue of clothes,” or, at any rate, in the advantage of setting the fashions for the world. Carlyle’s hero, Teufelsdréch, under- takes no less than to expound the moral, po- litical and even religious influence of clothes; he undertakes to make known, in its thousand- fold bearings, this grand proposition—that man’s earthly interests ‘“‘are all hooked and buttoned together, and held up by clothes,” Cons-iously or unconsciously the tailors and dressmakers and milliners of Paris act ac- cording to bis theory that ‘‘society is founded upon cloth,” and aspire to make the French capital again the ruling capital of the civilized world. Our correspondent tells a story of Thiers, which shows what significance and importance the actual head of the French nation attaches to the difference between a bit of red ribbon in his buttonhole and a yard of widest watered ribbon across his breast. We are also informed of the humble alacrity with which the Empresses of Prussia and Russia, as well as Christine Nilsson, the Queen of Song, and many wives and daughters of our American sovereigns, have already saluted the restored empire of Paris over the fashionable world. Women everywhere are waiting for Paris patterns to adopt as ‘“‘brave Cleopatras sailing in their silk-cloth galley, with a Cupid for a steersman.” So far as silks are concerned, it is more or less encour- aging for those who must foot the bills to learn from Harper's Bazar that although all silks, and especially black silks, have ad- vanced in price abroad, there will probably be very littie increase of price here, as most of next season's silks were ordered at war prices. Bonnets and Paris hats, however, our corre- spondent says, far from lowering in price, have increased, The birds and plumes and layers of lace, which are the coveted orna- ments of these hats, are very expensive. In fact, nothing seems to be cheap in the varieties enumerated by our correspondent except the suspiciously cheap goods which have been hidden away in underground premises daring the war. Against the general tempting sell- ings-off of these materials American pur- chasers are specially warned by our corre- spondent’s letter. To this letter we must refer our readers for a vivid description of the present styles in vogue at Paris, the summer toilets and promised autumn costumes, their material, color, cut and trimmings, the para- sols and gloves and other accessories or essentials that compose the paraphernalia of Dame Fashion in Paris. Neither Berlin, nor London, nor Vienna (despite the marvellously brilliant costumes of Rullman’s Viennese troupe), nor even Brussels, to which last city so many Paris modistes fled on the eve of the Franco-Russian war, have proved worthy successors of Paris, as the arbiter of fashion since its temporary abdication. Now that it again ascends the throne, its sway will doubtless be recognized at once, Never- theless, American ladies began so long ago to resist its tyranny—intelligently and tastefully modifying its decrees and adapting them to the necessities of our own climate ;and cus- toms—and, moreover, they have got along so well since the Franco-Prusian war without depending wholly upon Paris importations, that we may hope their own acknowledged ingenuity and taste will hereafter render them more and more independent of “ Paris fashions.” Before the war it was a notable fact that several ladies of the American colony at Paris actually had to set their seal on the so- called ‘Paris fashions” before these secured universal imitation, Grave moralists have Do they come. i h mien oF, feniton Oud DOM esas aE eho | rial sanctums is improved by actual contact Woen Mr. Beecher | resumes his place in Plymouth church few of | They all return to- | even held some of these ‘‘beliea Americaines” | of engineer upon his boat, and knowingly responsible for no small share in the luxury and extravagance which marked the latter days of the second French empire. If there be any foundation for such a charge let the fair sinners do penance by imparting simplicity and elegance to whatever Paris fashions they may approve. Review of the Religious Press. The editors of religious papers, like other mortals of the quill, pant for summer recreation. lack the'r usual amonnt of original and instrnc~ tive matter. It is gratifying, to know, however, that their period of absence from their edito- with nature in its pristine garb, and that they will return to their labors with spirits re- fresbed and m ‘nds im>uod with a kindlier feel- ing toward brethren of opposite religious sen- timents, One of the principal writers for the Ob- server is visiting Catskill Mountains, and makes it the occasion for contrasting some of the romantic scenery there with that of foreign climes he has travelled in, and of which he has made many a delighiful pen pic- ture. “The snowy peaks of the Alps, the great gorges of the mountains of Lebanon, the Himalayas, crowned with everlasting saows and reaching some four or five miles heavenward, the lovely Cashmere vales have,” says the writer in the Observer, “much more striking scenery; but,” he continues, “with all these contrasts I | know of no single view in all the world that has such o vast extent of quiet and superb beauty, of rich, cul- tivated country, as that from the colonnade of the Catskill Mountain House, or from the North Mountain, half a mile distant.” The fact is, it would be well for Americans before “doing” Europe to travel a little rmong the picturesque regions of their own country. They would probably find as much to admire here as they would in making a tour through almost any part of the O1d World. The Odserver is still urging reform in the city government, It talks to its rural friends in the following strain :— Let us in the State of New York, and tn all the States, these points, known and read ol ali men. aul elect them toowce., tf the rural districts will take ihe work m hand they cau save tne Legislatures, The cities are 1a the hands of demagogies and traders in jobs and votes, Our hope, under God, 18 in the country, There is so little editorial of a religious nature in the Observer this week that we are unable to clip out an original idea. The Lvangelist puts the question, ‘Will the Pope leave Rom??” and says ‘‘there are many and powerful reasons why he should not abandon Rome. His predecessors who have done so have almost always had sad occasion to lament their mistake.” The couclusion of the Hoangelist is, that the Pope had better remain in Rome, inasmuch as there is no suitable place for him to go. The Independent declares that ‘‘the arraign- ment of the ring at the bar of public opinion isa great boon to tho small politician. To him it means a new shufile of the cards, a new deal of the offices and a chance for the hungry outs at the public crib.” The Independent does not go far enough. It is not only the small politicians but those of larger growth that are clutching the throat of Tammany for the purpose of making it disgorge or make a new ‘‘divvy” of the spoils. The small growlers can be quieted by a small bone, while the big ones want the whole porcine, bristles and all. The Independent, like the Observer, is barren of religious topics this week. The Hebrew Leader regards as ‘‘the most beautiful and sublime word which was spoken at the Angsburg Synod” that which Joseph Knight, of Wertheimer, uttered in protesting against the separation of Judaism under the titles of Orthodoxists and Reformers, St. Peter (Catholic organ) mentions a re- port that a committee—of whom does not appear—has offered tha Pope the title of Pius the Great and a throne of gold. The Pope, it is stated, declined the honor during his lifetime, and suggested that the money which has been subscribed for a throne be employed in procuring the exemption of students of the Catholic colleges everywhere from military service. St. Peter does. not vouch for the truth of this announcement. The country religious press are unusually dult the present week, Reason—editors all away enjoying themselves, like the parsons, dabbling in babbling brooks, reading sermons in stones, and, we hope, finding good in every- thing. | Our batch of religious correspondence in to-day’s Hxraxp will be found extremely in- teresting. The Westfield Explosion—The Cause—Some- body to Blame. The report of the ‘board of inspectors ap- pointed by Secretary Boutwell to inquire into the cause of the Westfield explosion is pub- lished this morning. The report embraces a detailed description of the Westfield, her pe- culiarities of construction, her engines, boiler, &c., and the circumstances of the explosion. The investigation was commenced on the third day after the disaster and continued nine days, during which time fifty-three witnesses were examined. It was thorough and im- partial, and conclusively established the fact that the primary cause of the explosion was a defective sheet located on the lower side of the boiler, near the forward end, but in such a position as not to be seen by any internal ex- amination or developed by the usual hydro- static test. Constant use during nine years increased this defect and weakened the boiler, rendering it unable to sustain the excessive pressure to which it waa frequently exposed. The maxi- mum amount of steam allowed by the United States Inspector for this boiler was twenty-five pounds, but the engineer almost daily carried an excess of from two to five pounds, and his gauge afew minutes before the explosion indi- cated a pressure of twenty-seven pounds, Itis evident from the appearance of the boiler after the accident that at the moment of the explo- sion the steam must havo been raised to thirty- five pounds. Alter duly weighing all the facts elicited the inspectors find that the responsibility of tho Westfield disaster rests equally upon “Mr. Braisted, superintendent of the ferry com- pany, and Mr, Robinson, the engineer. Mr. Braisted employed an ignorant cand carcless person to fill the position Therefore it is not surprising that | | their columns, in these days of the canine star, seek out mea who are true and soand on | permitted him to violate the requirements of the laws regulating steamboats, and Robinson, not duly appreciating his responsibilities, and being ignorant of many of his duties, became careless in their discharge, and was in the habit of carrying steam far above the pressure allowed by the inspector's certificate, It is a satisfaction to the public that the inspectors have so fuithfully performed the duty assigned them and fastened the blame of this disaster where it properly beloogs—upon the incom- petency and inattention of the superinten- dent of the ferry company and the engineer of the Westfield, Let these men, therefore, be held to strict accountability for their criminal ignoraoce and wanton negligence in the discharge of their duties. Abuses of the Car Lines=The Car Mo- nopelists and the People. Ifthe cliques of car monopolists who have gained exclusive permission from the Legisla- | ture to lay down their tracks in our main ave- nnes display ‘d the faintest s nae of their duty j to the public it would be only @ast to temper criticism with mercy. But this is not the case. With a few exceptions every line ia the city is managed with the grossest and most impudent disregard of the personal comfort of its passen- gers, The officials of these vast corporations seem, indeed, to imagine that their charter was @ contract only on one side, and that only one | party to it was to derive any bonefit from its clauses, It would be interesting reading to peruse at the present time the glowing prom- | ises these men made when they first applied to the Legislature to legalize their schemes, | People were to be transported about the city ‘cheaply and safely in luxuriously appointed | vehizles. Every regard was to be had for their convenience and comfort. The ride up and down town was, indeed, to be a pleasant oasis in the dreary routine of daily toil, The exhausted shop girl, the tired artisan and the harass:d merchant were to enjoy each day a sort of spin upon rails—a five-cents’ drive in a people’s carriage over a | smoother road than Bloomingdale. Such were the pictures which we doubt not the promoters of the car lines presented to the minds of a | listening Legislature, . But, the charters once gained, these persuasive pledzes of good con- duct have been utterly forgotten. ‘Taese car monopolists give us, indeed, another and a sad illustration of what we bave had frequent occasion lately to denounce—the reckless, greedy and unscrupulous spirit that seems to animate our home-grown miilionnaires, It isa melancholy fact that such obstinate and persis- tont indifference to popular rights should spring up under ‘ree and just political institutions, Last week we gave a list of a few of the abuses that rankly flourish on the Third and Madison avenue lines. The latter is by far the better of the two, and we have not charged, and do not charge that its cars are dirty, or that its con- ductors are speciaily impolite, though they are certainly not extravagantly courteous. But in addition to the constant detentions to these cars in Centre street there is another grave error in the administration of the lina. This is the changing of cars at the entrance to the tunnel on Fourth avenue, There area few through cars, but fre ntly the vehicles indicated as ‘‘Central Park,” without change, stop at this particular spot. Tuis is wrong as wrong can be, and arises chiefly from the care- leseness of the management. Aud why do not the Madison avenue cars run later? Even the Fourth avenue stop at midnight; but the Madison avenue line ceases running s0 soon that one cau never catch a car after the closing of a theatre, especially if he lingers half an hour in some festive oyster saloon, and indulges in one of those delightful, if not luxurious, suppers that to some people form half the charm of an evening visit to the Halls of Thespis. As to the Third avenue, we repeat all that we said last Sunday, and add, further, that they are getting worse rather than better. These cars are unendurably filthy, and all, except the new ones with wooden seats, are infested with every variety of repulsive vermin, And the overcrowding is simply horrible. A ride in one of them up town about six o'clock on a week day evening would have enabled Dante to have invested Holl with a new horror. He would have pictured a City of the Shades, in- tersected with car tracks and traversed by spectral Third avenue cars, in charge of ghostly, bat still, as in life, brutal and un- civil Third avenue car conductors; and in .these moving dens of discomfort the poet would have fixed for an endless eternity the forms, shrunken and withered by avarice, of the very greediest among our American Princes of Mammon. And on this Third Avenue line we have to complain also of the same trouble about the through cars as on the Madison Avenue, The printed sign on the car itself is no indication whatever of its destination. Over and over again, after waiting ten minutes in the cold on a January night at one o'clock in the morming, to get an inside seat in a through car, some unfortunate night-worker down town has been startled by the voice of the conductor at Sixty- fifth street crying ont, ‘‘Change cars for Har- lem!” With a shudder and a growl the poor wretch has then had to make his way to the other and already full car, and to stand shivering on the platform for perhaps fifty blocks, catching on the road a life- long attack, may be, of rheumatism or asthma. This hanging out of falso sigus is, indeed, one of the most frequent and favorite contrivances of torture as yet devised, even by the Third avenue officials, various and patient as seem to be their untiring efforts to annoy, incommode and disgust their pas- sengers. We had intended to have this week exposed the most crying abuses upon some of our other car lines, but we defer such criticism to another occasion. We give forth, therefore, a general counsel to flagrant offenders to set their houses in order and amend their ways. The public are determined to force the com- panies to observe the pledge upon which they obtained their chartors—‘‘sufe, speedy and pleasant transportation about the city.” And in such a fight the public are sure to win, Taz Cap Mretixa Szason was in all its glory last week, North, South, East and West; but the Ocean Grove encampment below Long Branch, under the encouraging eye of General Grant, hos been the greatest success of them all, The National Academy of Desiga ; The explanation offered a few days ago by an artist correspondent touching the causes which contributed to the unsatisfactory result of this summer's exhibition at the Academy of Design throws some light on the managemen& of that institution, We do not think that the explanation succeeds in relieving the president and council of the academy from responsi«= bility to the public for the want of discrimina- tion shown in the selection of works for admige sion, Thé plea put forward in behalf of the academicians, that the power of selection or re= jection has been virtually taken ont of their, hands and given to an irresponsible committee of three men who are uoknown to the public, is unsound, Because tho academicians must have been consenting parties to this arrange- ment, and no complaint or protest was made to the tribunal of public opinion until the candid criticism of the Hzratp warned the neademicians that the press, as a faithful guardian of public interests, would no longer. submit to sham art exhibitions whore foolish little people might air their vanity, We hold that the president and council of the National Academy of Design had no rizht whatever to abandon their duties to a committee without first warning the public that they were no longer answerable for the quality of the works which might be exhibited, It is to the academicians that the publie naturally look for guidance in art matters, and upon the judgment exhibited by that body de- pends in great part the growth of a healthy art taste in this country. Nor is it possible te regard without grave inquietuds the possible continuance of such “art exhibitions” as the one which at present disgraces this city, The result must be the vitiation of popular taste and the total abandonment of the patronage of American art by people of taste, This ie where the stupid vanity of some and the care- less egotism of others are rapidly leading us, and artists who are most likely to be affected by the decay of national pride in native art- work seem not to perceive the danger, or, like Louis XIV., think that patronage will last their time, and after them the deluge may coihe if it have a mind. But we, who look on art as something higher than a trade or means to make money, take exception to this narrow view,.and mean to insist that the deluge shal not be allowed to come, but that the artists of to-day will faithfully discharge their ap- pointed task, in all humbleness and faith, of clearing the ground for the great American art of the future. This is their destiny, and they will find it their interest to work it out steadily and hopefully. Art cannot become a private speculation without being debased and the founts of in- spiration being poisoned at their very source. We cannot, perhaps, expect that human selfish- ness shall be absolut:ly excluded from this pursuit, but-all experience teaches us that this vice has a most damaging influence on the progress and development of art, which, ia its higher aspirations, is entirely sp‘ritual and elevating. True greatness in art is always allied with purity of subject-thought, and though we have many clever works devoted to unworthy subjects, those that have taken the highest rank and that will live eternally have ever been the expressions of pure and noble feelings. All this is, no doubt, known to the academicians, but we want them to act on their knowledge and secure to the public an exhibition of art works where people of taste may go without having their suscepti- bilities hart. It is plain that the present arrangement of having the works selected by an irresponsible committee of three will not answer, and that some change must be introduced. What we would suggest is that a committee of three artists, who are not academicians, should, with the president and council, be charged with the selvction of all works to bo ex- hibited. This would at once satisfy the public and the artists, and would go far to save us from the infliction of a lot of rubbish. One thing is certain—reform must be introduced or the sham art exhibitions must be closed. We have treated with leniency and the greatest forbearance both the managing council and the artists whose hasty and unfinished worka called for the severest censure ; but there isa limit to our forbearance, and should the same faults be repeated at the next exhibition we shall undertake to speak out plainly without consideration for individuals. The interest of art is too sacred to be sacrificed either to vanity or selfishness, and our duty to the public demands that we shall not be silent im the presence of a dangerous abuse. It is the duty of the National Academy of Desiga to aid us in our crusade against worth- less art, and we know that the academicians feel the justness of the strictures we have been obliged to pass on the present exhibition, and that many amongst them desire such a change in the management as would put an end to the evils of which we complain. It rests with these gentiemen and the exhibiting artists to take some steps to raise the status of the Academy of Design by insisting on @ fair standard of excellence in the works which shail be honored with a place No matter how small the resulting exhibition may be, it will produce better results and give more general satisfaction to the public than the gathering together of a number of miscel- laneous works of all degrees of badness, re- lieved here and there by the presence of a re- spectable work. There must be no encourag- ing of ambitions amateurs, even when they happen to be generous patrons; but a hard and severe line of excellence must he drawn, and no work be allowed to pass unless it comes up to the standard of merit which shall be de- cided upon. We are not so unreasonable as to expect that the standard of admission shall be as high heroasin the academies of Europe ; but we want to see some line laid down which, year by year, may be drawn closer as Aimeri- can artists advance in skill. Under the pres- ent system art in this country is very likely to remain stationary, as young men are en- couraged to neglect. their studies under the delusion that they have passed the artist's Rubicon when their tirst faulty, half-finished sketch has been hung on the walls of the academy. This amiable self-delasion is just what we cannot afford to indulge in, In truth, America is sufficiently backward in point of art not to be able to afford further loss of invaluable time and waste of possible talent. Time flies away, and the nations of the world are progressing, or are striving anxiously and