The New York Herald Newspaper, December 31, 1871, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. 4AMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic Gespatches must be addressed New York AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW AFTERNOON AND EVENING, pRowERy THEATRE, Bowery.—PEDESTIN—TuE Two OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Tnr BaLueT Pan- ‘TOMIME OF HUMPTY DUmPTy. Matinee at 2, BOOTH'S THEATRE, Twenty-third st., corner Sixth av.— JULIUS UASAR GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of Sth av. and 234 st— TRE COLLEEN Bawn. AIMEE'S OPERA BOUFFE, 72) Broadway.—Lz font DES Souris, WOOD'S MUSLUM, Broadway, corner 3Rh st, Perfor: ‘ances afternoon and evening. OUT OF THE FIRE. FIFTA AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fonrth street. — ‘Tux New Drama or Divorce. Matinee at 13. WALLACK'S Joun Ganru. NIBLO’S GARDEN, Broatway, beween Prince and Houston sreets.—BLACK Crook. Matinee as 2. THEATRE, Broadway ani 13h street. — 7 MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Monts Cristo. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Montague street— Seniovus Famity-.BLuE Devits. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadwar.—Couro Vooat 1sM6, NEGRO ACTS. &c. Matinee at 234. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Four-eenth st. and Broad- ‘way.—NEGRO ACTS—BURLESQUR, BALLET, &c. Matinee. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE. No. 201 Rowery.— NeoRo ECORNTRICITINS, BURLESQUES, 4c. Matinee. BRYANT’S NEW OPERA HOUSE, 334 st, bet end 7th ava.—Brrant’s MINSTRELS, Liliana SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL, 58 B — ‘THE SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS. - seer NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteentn sreet.—ScENES UN ‘Tur RING, ActowaTs, 20. Matinee at 2}. NIXON'S GREAT SOUTHERN CIRCUS, 728 Broadway. RS IN THE RING, &C. Matinee. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ‘NATO! 4 — PES oc eh MY, 618 Broadway. DR. KAHN’S ANATOMICAL MUSEDM, 74 — Science anv Art. pelt ada TRIPLE 8S H inday, December 31, 1871. New York, CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. Pack. < 1— Advertisements, 2—Advertisemenis. 3—The Mayor Enjoined: All OMclal Intercourse Between the Chief Magistrate and the Old City Fathers Prohibited—Affairs Around the City Hali—Tweed’s Kellef: Examination of tne Bundsmen—Connoily and Tweed: The Late Comptroller to Spend His New Year's Day in Ludlow Street Jai!—tweed’s Successor; The Commissioner of Public Works in His New OMfice—The State Capital: Gathering of the Clans for the Coming Legislature; ‘the Speak- ership Contest— Secretary Fish’s Resignation— Jealousy in Jersey—Views of the Past, 4—New Year's Day: How it is Celebrated Aproad and at Home; Le Jour des Efrennes; The Theory and Practice of New Year's Valis; Ancient Ceremonies Peculiar to the Day— Watch Night—A Dualin _Explosion—The National Bank Examination—Reli- oe Intelligence: December 31, Sunday ithin the Octave of the Nativity; Religious Announcements. S—Religious (Continued trom Fourth Pare)—Tne Hunter's Point Bible War—The Amertcan college in China—The Roman Catholic Urphan Asylums of the Metropulis—Fourth Avenue Kailroad Abuses—Justice to Whom Justice ts Due—News irom Cuba: An Ameri- can Citizen Sentenced to Eight Years in the Chain Gang, for What’—Tne Cuban Chief of Arllery—Interesting from Peru: Assassina- tion of General Melgarejo—Newark’s Demor- alized Police—The Colgate Mission Battied— New England Wife Butcher, G—Editoriais: Leading Article, “Our African Ex- Corea nt Comparative Geography of uatorial Africa—The Probable Movements of Dr. Livingstone and Our Explorers’— Amusement Announcements, Y—Editorials (Continued trom Sixth Page)—The Frigate Wabash: The Vessel Entering Ville- franche Harbor—Cable Telegrams from Rome, Portugal, Roumania, Rus- ngiand and scotiand—Tne Prince of Health—Tne War im _ Mexico— ‘The Florida: The Report of Her Capvure by a Spanish War Vessel Contradicted—Allairs in Cuba—News from Washington—Miscellaneous Teiegrams—The Weather Reports—Personal Intelligence —business Notices, @—The Brookivn Election Frauds: Judge McCue’s New Year’s Action—English Art Notes—Music and the Drama—Musical Review—Elopemeot Extraordinary—Scandal in Newark—The Fraokiin Stat A Bold Burglaz—James Henry Hackett ineral of the Veteran Ameri- can Comedian at Jamaica, L. 1.—Barnegetters on the Long Island Coast, @—New York City Courts—The Callender Case— Board of Police—Lost his Money—old Burg- lary—Captain Alexander’s Bonds—Klection of Onicers of the Grand Street and Newtown Raliroad—German Emigration Setung Kan- sasward—A Cheap Way of Seeing Nilsson— Frozen to Death—Iucendiary Fire in New- burg—Financial and Commercial—Marriages and Deaths. 20=—The Wharton Trial—Williamsburg Christmas ly: A Man Knocked Down and Stamped Bpon ina Barroom bignt—The Paterson Mar- der—Miscelianeous Telegrams—shipping In- telligence— Advertisements, 41—Europe: The Tichborne Ciaimant’s New Wit nesses and Additional Identity; Jules Favre's New Book; The Reception o: the German Prince in St. Petersburg by the Czar—Tne “Terrors” of Caroliva: The Lawless Low- reys and their Liege Subyects—Life in the ‘Wilderness: Arrest of a Notorious Indian Smoggler—The Miner Counterfeiting Case— ‘The Arctic Regions—Cnristmas Frolics in Ten- pnessee—A Christmas Frolic in Maine—English Racing. 12—A Government Home for Seamen—An Expen- sive Chicken—The City Government—Adver tusements. Tox Exreeme Fivcrvation 1s Gow during the year 1871 was just seven per cent, the highest price having been 115% and the lowest 1083. Tue SMALLPOX IN PHILADELPHIA, as set forth in our columns to-day by the report from the Health Officer of that city, has reached alarming proportions. From five in the month of July the deaths this month reach the enormous aggregate of one thousand and winety-four. A Diasotioat Trick—The cutting of the giver levee at Marysville, Cal., by a band of @isguised and armed men, from which, it is Seared, the city will be inundated and much waluable property destroyed, to say nothing of the perils involved to human life. They have some awful ruffians still in California. Toe War w Mexico is still going on, in Bpite of the recent assertion of the Juarez government that the backbone of the rebellion has been broken, According to our special despatch from Matamoros the tow nof Mier has been captured by the revolutionists under Quiroga, the government troops falling back without resistance. This is an important victory for the revolutionists ‘and a great blow to the government of Juarez, Tom Lasr Dax or THE Oxp Year bas ome and will soon be gone. The year 1871 has been a year of great and momentous events in both hemispheres ; but in this city it will be henceforward most memorable as the year of the awful disclosures, the great agita- tion and the terrible revolution against the Tammany Ring. The new year approaches with the promise of better things; and so to our taxpayers and bonest people, high and low, rich and poor, it ought to bea happy Bow Year, NEW YORK HEKALD, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31, 187.—TRIPLE SHEET, Our African Expeditice—The Comparative Geography ef quaterial Africa—The Probable Mevements of Dr. Livingstone and Our Explorers. On this last day of the year, in looking back over its memorable events in the affairs of men and of nations, and in calling the roll of our numerous agents scattered about over the world, gathering ‘the never-ending but still- beginning harvest of news with which our readers are supplied through all “the rolling year”— From Greenland’s icy mountains To India’s coral . Where Afric’s sunny 1ountains Roll down their golden sand— our thoughts are irresistibly drawn to our adventurous traveller detailed into the heart of savage Africa, and under its burning equa- torial skies, in search of Dr. Livingstone. We have great faith in our experienced Oriental campaigner who conducts this expedition, and strong hopes of his complete success. We think that by this time, having accom- plished his appointed journey to Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, and having found Dr. Livingstone, our man, with his caravan, is probably back again at Zanzibar, or is, perhaps, pushing through those mysterious regions of the great equatorial lakes, from which the mighty river rises, to join Sir Samuel Baker on the Upper Nile. In any event, with all the rest of our faithful harvest- ers, we wish our courageous African ex- plorer “a Happy New Year.” Meantime, from the newspaper extracts on the subject which we transfer to this paper, it will be seen that our African expedition is attracting much attention. The comparative geography of Central Africa at this time is a matter of intenso interest to the whole civilized world, so deeply interested in the fate of Dr. Livingstone and his fellow explorers. It was said of a great physiologist that, having given him any bone of an extinct species of animal, he could tell the kind; and it is the office of physical geography to apply its principles to the solution of just such a problem as presents itself in Central Africa. Glancing at a Mercator’s Chart of the World, we see that Africa and South America strik- ingly resemble each other in their configura- tion, and it is plain they were once portions of one vast continent, which has been rent asunder to give an ocean channel for the waters of the Atlantic. Could South America be floated eastward its eastern shores would accurately fit into the western shores of Africa, the east- ern angle of the Brazilian coast just filling in the Gulf of Guinea. There is this difference between the two Continents, that in Africa the loftiest and most extensive mountain ranges appear to skirt the northern and east- ern coasts and sides, while in South America the Andes skirt the western coasts. But it will be noticed that on the southeastern coast of Africa there is a comparatively level coun- try in the valley of the Zambezi and north- ward. In South America so level is the country from the Atlantic to the Andes that navigation is possible all the way from the mouth of the Amazon to Nauta, in Peru, on the Eastern Andean declivities. In Africa the level expanse seems to extend from the Atlan. tic eastward into the regions of Central Africa. The geographical key to the character of Cen- tral South America is in the phenomenon of the southeast Trade winds, which sweep the whole valley of the Amazon; and by the moisture which they bring up from the South Atlantic, and which the Andes rob them of, they feed the perennial and overflowing foun- tains of the Amazon. Were the Andes on the eastern coast of South America there would be no Amazon. This reasoning, which is un- questioned by physical geographers, furnishes us a clue to the climatology of Central Africa. Through all the region on the southeast of this Continent, where not interrupted by high mountains, the southeast Trade winds sweep all the year, and bear towards Equatorial Africs the enormous evaporation of the Indian Ocean—the most vapor-marked ocean of the globe—and also the still greater evaporation from the superheated Mozambique Gulf Stream. In South America a far smaller quantity of vapor is sufficient to keep ever swollen the immense valleys and river beds of the Orinoco, the Amazon and the Rio de la Plata; and we are conseqnently forced to the conclusion that there isan immense rainfall in the regions drained by Lakes Tanganyika and Albert Ny- anza. It is very improbable that the Congo River can carry off such a drainage as must be rendered necessary by the precipitation in Equatorial Africa and for some degrees of latitude north and south of the line over which the belt of greatest precipitation and the rainy seasons vibrate with the sun in declination. The Congo River, it is true, has not been very fully explored, but its mouth is in a well-known region of Africa; and the mouth of a river tells an unquestionably re- liable story of the extent of its drainage. It may be that this stream shares with the Nile in bearing to the sea the precipitation of Equatorial Africa. But it is comparatively a small river, The Zambezi is known to drain the southern declivity of the same tablelands or the divide which the Nile is supposed to drain on the northern side, So far as the physical geograpby of Africa is now known, we seem to be absolutely shut up to the conviction that the Nile does, as we had formerly supposed, actually carry off the surplus waters of the interidr of this yet unex- plored Continent for a great distance around its established equatorial lakes. If not, we are reduced to supposing, what may be called ®@ geographical impossibility—viz., that all the surplus precipitation mot accounted for is evaporated by the sun. This is possible in the latitudes of the Caspian and Mediterra- nean, where the raiofall, &c., is small. But no equatorial lake sitaated as Tanganyika and Albert Nyanza or Equatorial Mediterranean on the globe has ever been discovered capable of giving up the surplus water it has received from both the clouds and its tributaries. We know, from the explorations of Speke and Grant, that the great equatorial lake, Vic- toria Nyanza, is discharged into the Nile; we know, from the explorations of Sir Samuel Baker, that the annual inundation of Egypt cowes from the enormous spring rainfall on the lofty tablelands and loftier mountains of Abyssinia, discharged by the Blue Nile and Atbara into the main river; we know, too, from Baker, that, lying emoug the mountains weat of the great lake of Speke and Grant, is | Tho Letter of Queen Victoria another great lake, the Albert Nyanza, which is discharged into the Nile. But south of this there is another great lake, reported to be from six to seven hundred miles in length, Lake Tanganyika, and the outlet of this lake is the great mystery still to be solved. The discovery of this outlet has been the main object of Dr. Livingetone all these years, during which he has made Ujiji his head- quarters, South of this lake, in his previous explorations, he had settled the river system of Africa drained into both oceans ; but, when Inst heard from, he had not yet ascertained whether the Tanganyika is discharged through the Congo into the Atlantic or through the Nile into the Mediterranean. But has this Lake Tanganyika any outlet? Yes; a river flows from it into the Nile or the Congo, for it is fresh water. Lakes which have no outlet are salt, from the evaporation of their fresh water and the precipitation of their mineral properties. Such are the Cas- pian, the Aral, the Dead Sea, our Great Salt Lake of Utah, and a thousand others in both hemispheres. If Dr. Livingstone had found Lake Tanganyika salt water he would have known at once that it was a lake with a basin of its own, and his only object would have been to discover its length and breadth. But, finding it fresh water, he knew it was but a head spring of some mighty river, and hence his persistent search for its outlet. We hope that our African expedition in search of Dr. Livingstone will be identified with the settle- ment of this interesting question. If settled in favor of the Nile, as we think it will be, some of our readers may live to make a trip up that famous river to its sources through forty degrees of latitude. By Sir Samuel Baker's light metallic steamboats, which can be taken to pieces and put together again, this pleasure trip from the Pyramids into the heart of Equa- torial Africa may yet be made by the Nile and its great lake sources. As yet, therefore, we may dismiss other hypotheses of the movements of Dr. Living- stone and the Heratp explorer, and retain the first, which we expressed on Saturday last, that they are probably moving northward with the course of the Nile. Tae FreNcu FINANCES AND THE FRENOn ASsEMBLY.—As will be seen from a cable despatch in another column, the séance of the French Assembly on Friday last was more than usually long. The main question before the house was the aug- menting of the circulating mediten of the Bank of France. The discussion took a wide range, and on several occasions Presi- dent Thiers found it necessary to mount the tribune. Some of the members had spoken violently regarding the insolent and intolerant threats of the Germans; but President Thiers, amid the uproarious applause of the house, made an end of that part of the debate by declaring that silence was the best reply to the harsh words of Bismarck. The Presi- dent, in the course of the debate, declared himself opposed for the present fiscal year to burdening tbe people with fresh loans, The result of the debate was that the Assembly voted to increase the note circulation of the Bank of France by four hundred millions of francs, The Assembly now stands ad- journed until the 3d of January. A more decided course or policy may commence with the new year. Tae MynicrpaL Muppte—Tae O1p Com- mon CounctL ok THE New?—Through the People, ex rel. Peter Gilsey, vs. A. Oakey Hall, Mayor, &., Judge Brady, of the Su- preme Court has granted a writ prohibiting the Mayor from appointing the old Boards of Aldermen and Assistant Aldermen for the coming year, which means that under the law there is a conflict between the old Boards aod the Boards elected in November which itis feared the Mayor, if not enjoined, will settle by keeping in power the old Boards. Both Boards will meet and organize to-mor- row, and then a test question will be raised, which will carry the case into Court. All things considered we are getting on with the reform movement very well; and, now, if this conflict between these old Boards and new Boards cannot be settled here it will be settled at Albany, doubtless, according to the general verdict of our November elections. Steam Expiosion in A Street 1n Scor- LAND.—A fatal and exceedingly melancholy accident occurred in one of the streets of Glasgow, Scotland, yesterday. A road wagon, propelled by steam, was being driven in the city, when one of its boilers exploded. The vehicle was surrounded at the moment by a crowd of children. Five of the little ones were killed instantly and seven others fatally injured, the bodies of the sufferers being frightfully mutilated inevery case. The news telegram is not clear on the point whether the wagon was used on a trip experimental for the introduction of steam carriages on common roads and city thoroughfares, or whetber it was being taken from the foundry for final shipment to India for trucking purposes on the great system of highway which is being con- structed there by the British government, Tax Rovmantan Ratmways.—During the session of the Roumanian Legislature yester- day the Minister of Foreign Affairs read a despatch which had been received by the British Consul General from London, in which the Principalities government was “urgently counselled to a prompt settlement of the rail- way question.” This is excellently friendly advice. John Bull foresees danger. He also wants to travel eastward that way himself, in accordance, perhaps, with the rule of the old fashioned, contradictory maxim which says, “The farthest way out points the nearest way home.” New Enotanp Wire Murpers are becom- ing common, Indeed, all the chief murders of late have been perpetrated in the province of the Pilgrims. To-day we publish a despatch from Boston giving an account of the manner in which a husband, half maddened by the retained influence of a long debauch, seized his anoffending wife, while in the act of pro- viding for the necessities of her family, and nearly battered out ber brains with a kitchen utensil, Ovr Preacusrs of THR GosPEt to-day, we hope, will not forget the events of the old year as lessons of waraing and eacouragement for the aew, to the British People. Not since the death of the late Prince Con- sort has Queen Victoria so happily and so successfully struck the chord of popular feel- ing as she has just done in her now famous and ever-to-be-remembered letter to the British public in the case of the Prince of Wales. It is not difficult to write a letter; bat there are circumstances in which letter writing, as well as speech making, is perilous. It is 80 easy to say the wrong thing—to say too much or too little. The Queen has had daring enough to break the golden silence, and she has been singularly successful in saying what it was necessary to say without saying either too much or too little. So far as the contents of the letter are known to us, it is impossible for us to refuse to admit that the Queen has, more or less unconsciously, no doubt, made one of the very happiest political strokes of her whole life. Nothing could be more happily conceived or more skilfully put. The illness of the Prince of Wales had revealed an amount of sympathy with the governing family which the Queen was not without good reason for believing did not exist. The Prince of Wales—her ‘‘dear son”—was notoriously unpopular. Even the highest and most powerful journals of the country had growled because of her long- continued retirement from public life, and clamored for her reappearance. It had been stated that the Prince of Wales would never be allowed to ascend the throne. Her own death or resignation was to make the end of the monarchy. All of a sudden, however, the loyal sentiment of the people is put to a severe and unexpected test. The Prince of Wales, as the eldest son of the nation, and the nation’s future King, is found to have a strong hold on the national heart. With the sorrowing Queen and the sorrowing Princess of Wales the nation sorrowed. It would have been unwise to remain silent under this almost unparalleled expression of sympathy. How beautifully, however, the Queen puts it when she ‘‘desires to express her deep sense of the touching sympathy exhibited for her family by the whole nation at the illness of her dear son, the Prince of Wales!” How gracefully, too, she speaks in the name of her beloved daughter, the Princess of Wales! And what could be finer than her allusion to the late Prince Consort? She had found the same sympathy before, when death took from her the ‘‘mainstay of her life—the best, wisest and kindest husband that ever lived.” It will not surprise us to learn that the Queen’s letter has made short, sharp and de- cisive work with the Bradlaughs and the Odgers and the Dilkes. If the Queen can open the next Parliament in person we shall hear no more for a long time to come of British republicans. The Prince of Wales is likely now to have a fresh start in public life, It will be his own fault if the golden opportunity is lost. Our Religious Press Table. Our religious contemporaries seem to have been too much engaged in holiday festivities this week to have bestowed their usual care upon their editorial columns. Most of them are heavy and prosy, instead of being lively and vivacious with the merry meetings of these happy Christmas times. The Independent expresses a high opinion of General Grant’s efforts to improve the character of the civil service, and says:— We do not claim that General Grant nas made no mistakes, or deny that the overwhelming party power of auevi! system has influenced his action; yet his record shows most conclusively that he has Tuliy seen the evils of the system and endeavored to correct them by attacking them in their source, He bas been tar in advance of his own party, and of all parties, on this suoject. He 13 in earnest to secure this much-needed reform, and has given to it @ more substantial and practical support than any other mau in the country. The Independent, like most of the religious weeklies, has appropriate obituary notices of the late Sidney E. Morse, who is justly re- garded as the father of the religious press in this country. The Observer, of which paper the deceased was the founder, mourns for him ‘‘as one who mourneth for a father dead.” In the course of an extended biographical sketch the Od- server introduces the following feeling epi- sode :— He recognized and welcomed to his home, ere he left it, a ttle grandcliid, born during the hours of his iast sickaess. Only a few days before, whue in perfect health, with some premonition of what was coming, he said to a member ot the family, “It would not be strange if when the new life came in the old went out.” He was spared to see the cuild, and as he held it fora few moments on his arm seemed more affected than at any other time during hus brief iliness, ‘he following beautal Imes were written by @ friend on hearing of tls touching in cident: . MEETING ON THE THRESHOLD. In that home was joy and sorrow, where an infant first drew breath, While an eS ee was drawing near unto the gate of de: jeath; His feeble pais wee failing, and bis eye was grow- jag dim— He was standing on the threshold when they ‘brought the babe to him. * * * * * * ” An awful — resteth on the path they both begin, Who thus met upon the threshold—going out and coming in. Going out unto, the triumph, coming in unto the git; Coming in unto the darkness, going out into the ibe Although the suadow deepened in the moment of eclipse, When he passed’ through the dark ports’, suient blessing on his lips: And to him who bravely conquers, as he conquered in the strife, Life ts but the way of dying—death is but the gate ol je! Yet awful Fo: ain fresteth om the path we all ‘gD, When we meet upon the threshold—going out and coming in. “How to Run a Congregation” is the rather curious title for an editorial in the Observe, in which a synopsis is given of Dr. John Hale's address before the students of Union Theological Seminary on the 18th inst. This reminds us of a little anecdote. Some years ago a stranger visited an interior town in Maine, and wishing to attend church asked a queer looking individual, who sat on an empty dry goods box whittling a shingle, “My good friend, can you tell me of what denomination yonder church is?” ‘‘Waal,” was the drawling reply, accompanied with an energetic rip into the shingle, ‘‘she used to be run by the Hard Shell Baptists; I don’t know who runs her now.” These is but little differ- ence, we imagine, between “running a con- gregation” and running a Down East church. The Hvangelist comments upon the “‘Ger- man Reform movement,” ‘Provision for the Laboring Classes,” ‘“‘An Ecumenical Presby- terian Council,” and, of course, upon that great map of the Presbyterian Church which, it says, seems to meet with universal accept- ance. Ia regard to the reform movement in Germany the Heangelist says :— It rematos to be acen whether a success(ul revolt from Wome 4 ROPEDIC GR any Other taAg A substan: ieee A E ESEEESE Erie tt abe tae | i a. ge8 aeseevee will not go to the Rome of 1859 and 1871, ana yet if any great re- sult is to be secured, there must be an issue raised for which some at least would be willing to meet the fate of Huss or Cranmer, The Mreeman's Journal and the New York Tablet (Catholic) both indulge in Christmas carols, and at the same time enjoy a tilt with their opponents of the Methodist persuasion, The Christian Union presents a handsome new face and is filled tothe brim with season- able matter. Under the title of a “Victory and a New Campaign,” Mr. Beecher extols General Grant for his initiative movement in favor of reform in the civil service, adding :— ‘There is but one addition that strikes us as desir- able. Removal from oifice snould be regulated by the same principle as admission to it—that 1s, re- movals should be allowed only for dishonesty or in- efficiency. We Rope, in time, to see this made part of the reiorm, wuich is hardly complete witnout it. At fs to be noted, however, that the great motive to improper removals has been the desire to substitute that fhe latter cause would’ be. greasy impedsa by the examination test, The Methodist is also pleased with the prospect of civil service reform. How would it do to have embraced among the Board of Examiners, whose duty it will be to ascertain the qualifications of applicants for office, a cer- tain number of the broadcloth and white cravat gentry? Then the offices will be filled by capable and honest men—and no mistake. The Board might occasionally become a little schismatic, if not dogmatic; but so much the better—the real truth might, for that reason, be more readily reached. The Boston Pilot has a timely article on the foolish custom of “‘standing treat” in return for a drink from a friend, whether that friend wants to be treated or not, Says the Pilot :— Remember this, and it is better to remember tt on this New Year’s Day than when your hair is white— the god of the treating system never closes his jaws but he grinds from five to ten feet of good land that might ve yours and your children’s forever, if you only had courage to stand out against this custom. Remember—one grind of the jaws—one glass of ale or whiskey—is 2 foot of land, This is a practical way of taking hold of the temperance question, and it is gratifying to find so appreciative a pilot in the good cause as our Boston contemporary. There are signs of revival in some parts of the country, although the spirit of grace does not appear to spread as generally as we might wish. But it is only necessary for the purely pious and truly good to lend a helping hand to insure the continued progress of the good work. In the words of an eminent divine, ‘Let it go on,” and let the new year be marked by the beginning of a wholesome reform in the moral and religious, as it is pro- posed shall be done in the civil, service of the country, The commercial interests of the country have recently been severely tried by the ca- lamitous results of the Chicago fire. How to avoid in future such suffering and losses as were occasioned by that disaster is a subjevt for serious consideration. The favorite idea of patronizing home institutions has been one of -the errors committed. The motto should be free trade in insurance( as in other branches of business. The real interest of the mer- chant is to have his goods insured in the soundest and best managed compaay, whether it be established in the United States or in Europe. The American people are sufficiently intelligent to judge of this for themselves, but it must be evident that an important element of safety consists in an extended business, where the risks are more divided and spread over a larger territory. We deduce this from an illustration afforded by the history of the fire insurance companies of Chicago, which were mainly patronized in that city upon the principle of their being home institutions, The Spectator states in its December number that the total available assets of twelve fire in- surance companies were only $5,351,294, while the losses incurred by them amounted to an aggregate of $32,550,000. This startling fact is alone enough to convince the public that corporations organized upon the system of purely local business may become inaolvent when reached by such a conflagration as lately laid waste that great city. The same rule will apply to a life insurance company. Ifits business be confined to one spot it runs a disproportionate risk from the chances of any epidemic that may rage there and in the vicinity. If its business be diffused throughout the Continent no losses could occur in any one instance that would imperil its stability. Two important considerations should, there- fore, be borne in view by the public :—First, that if they insure either their property or their lives they should select a company inde- pendently of its local interest, as the trader buys bis goods in the beat market, whether it be in New York, Chicago or San Francisco; and second, that a company confining its busi- ness to any one of our large cities cannot be so safe as those companies the transactions of which are extended over the whole country. There is an additional feature in favor of companies which enlarge their business by distributing their risks, They are thus en- abled to make a better selection of lives and property by declining risks that are doubtfal, while smaller institutions feel tempted to accept them with a view to keeping up the volume of their transactions. Now that the storm is passing over and we see the destruction that has marked its path, we can take a calmer view of some of the mistakes made by our insurance companies, The public has been taught in what class of institutions to place their greatest reliance, Tue Paris Exeotions AND A New Party Pratrorm.—The electors of Paris are to be called to vote for representatives to fill seats which have been lately made vacant in the National Assembly. Marshal MacMahon de- clined a nomination for parliamentary honors. M. Victor Hugo accepted. In his reply to the people M. Hugo outlines » reform bill in the shape of platform of principles. Many of its points are old, none of them ex- actly new or in the least beyond the positive everyday demands of the people. M. Hugo wants a vote for the non-restoration of the monarchy, for a general amnesty, for the rais- ing of the siege of Paris and for another gen- eral election, Measures of very considerable importance, more particularly if carried into Eassine Imperial Thanks to the The Journal of St, Petersburg, the official Dewspaper organ of the Russian government, published an frticle Yesterday on the subject of the reception which has been accorded to the Grand Duke Alexis by the American people during his tour in the United States. The expression conveys an idea of the sense of ‘profound satisfaction” which our national action and popular compliments have brought to the mind of the people of Russia and to the heart of the Emperor, their sovereign, It tells, indeed, of more than satisfaction ; ity speaks of gratitude, of continued friendship, and an enduring international amity. The Russian writer anticipates a speedy realiza- tion of the idea which’ we have long since fore- shadowed in our pagee, the advent of a moment when and from which the great gov- ernments of the American republic and imperial Russia will move unitedly in the interests of general peace and for the pro- gress of humanity in both hemispheres. Thus do Americans discharge the duties which freemen owe to mankind. We elevate the peoples; we instruct the princes, theories of a democracy which would destroy— assassinate has been spoken of—tne represen- tatives of the royalisms find no fosterhood amongus. The Heap is thus enabled to re- fiect the civilizing consequences of the onward “« march of enlightened popular ideas in ite’ a pages; to show forth Americans converting emperors and kings. We gave an instance’ of the progress of this grand press movement a few days since in a special letter from Japan, in which we recorded the reception of Admiral Rodgers by the Mikado. We repeated it yes- , terday by the publication of Queen Victoria's. % letter of personal thanks to the people of the British nation. We affirm it to-day by our telegram outline of the pleasing points of the Czar’s pronouncement of his gratitude to the United States. Education, citizen courtesy — and the fraternity of governments will soon obliterate the traces with which ignorance, the violence of conspiracies and the hatreds engendered by mobs and mock revolationists have afflicted the civilizations of the earth, “New Yoar’s.’” We publish to-day an interesting article on New Year's day, giving the manner of its celebration in other lands and times as well as among ourselves, and describing its more pleasant aspects. It is in New York, how- ever, that New Year's day has reached its culminating glory as a festival. It has grown to be to the good people of Gotham even more of an institution than it is in Paris, thanks to our growing respect for Knickerbocker times and customs. No doubt this year will see the old practice of ‘‘calls” carried out with the same enthusiastic heartiness as in the past. Now and then a voice has been lifted against the gross license that among ill-bred people has sometimes marred the exercise of this ancient and fondly cherished custom; but no one has ever yet dared to propose its abolition. We trust that this year ladies will temper their hospitality with mercy and allow their gentlemen friends to pledge them in bum- pers just as weak as they choose to take them, Indeed, if a little wholesome feminine influence were exerted in this‘matter drunken= ness would soon be abandoned to the exclus sive enjoyment of men utterly lost to self- respect and absolutely free from any preten- sions to refinement. And that is just what should be the case in a community as enlight- ened and civilized as our own. Perhaps, however, New Year's Day at Washington is even livelier than in New York. There the ladies have, to some extent, the same privileges as gentlemen. All through the morning callers of both sexes are wel- come visitors at the White House and the residences of the Secretaries and Foreign. Ministers, and it is only after two o'clock that private social visiting begins. Then, of course, the ladies are at home to receive their friends, and the day assumes mach the same character as with ourselves, RETRENCHMENT IN THE Pusrio WORKS.-- Mr. Van Nort, the new Commissioner of Pab- lic Works, begins operations in this important department in the style of a man who means business. His order, which we publish to-day, addressed to the heads of his various bureaus, is a new departure in said department ‘on civil service reform.” It means retrenchment, economy, the lopping off of deadheads, and» general system of pruning to the closest margin consistent with the public interests concerned, **A new broom sweeps clean.” A good begin- ning, Mr. Van Nort, and practice makes perfect. Tar New York Evenwva Mar has jost added to its already prosperous establishment a weekly edition, which will vie—for typo- graphical beauty and literary excellence— with any other of our New York weeklies, The editor of the Mail is 4 gentleman who considers literature a high art, and aims to cater for his readers with that end in view. It is also a “newspaper” in the progressive mean- ing of that term, and in every department a de- voted tone and an enterprising spirit are mani- fested. We cordially wish the Weekly Mait abundant success. Tue GATHERING aT ALBANY of the mem bers of the Legislature, State officers, lobby, &c., makes the little city very lively. The canvassing of the members of the Assembly and the Senate for the Speakership and other legislative offices is very brisk. So far Alvord, for Speaker, is evidently ahead, Nothing, however, will be definitely known upon this question till to-morrow evening, when @ republican caucus will settle it, and no doubt all other questions touching the organization of the Assembly and the Senate. Tae BRooxiyN Cxarrar or ELeorion Fravpe has ended, so far as the minor actors are concerned, satisfactorily to the public, Pity it is that when the five choice specimens of would-be murderers of liberty were brought up for sentence before Judge McCue yester- day their number did not include at least one of the ruffians in whose interest, or at whose bidding, the vile deeds were perpe- trated, so as to make the thing complete. The five prisoners represented, respectively, a ree peater, two fraudulent ‘election inspectors and two rowdies, whose busineas was to assault and batter the inspectors of the opposite party. The repeater went to the Penitentiary for four months, The two inspectors were also semi The wild { a - ¢