The New York Herald Newspaper, January 4, 1872, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphit despatches must be addressed New York Herat. Volume XXXVIL.....eececseessssseeeees NOs & AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNIIN AND EVENING, GRAND OPERA HOUSE, f 8th av. _ Gurticnesax seers, corner of 8th av. and 23d at. AIMEE'S OPERA BOUFFR, rt Bourre—Lrs Noors Seanneren Per ‘WOOD'S MUS}:UM, Broadway, corner 33th st, Perform: ances mn and evening.—OUT OF THE FIRE. +8 FIFTA AVENUE THEATRE, 1 fourth street. — Tue New Drana or Drvoxor. 9 eee sae WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broad 413% 5 Joun Gartu. Lakes Sheeley — MIntO'R GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and juston streets,—BLAOK CROOK. anne THEATRE, Bowery.—PEDrsTIN—TuE TWO OLYMPIC THEATRE, Bi rT - TOMIME OF HUMPTY DuMPT pine eae emcee ROOTH’S THEATRE, Twa ity-third st., —— adcbee Omen nty-third st., corner Sixth av, MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BROOK _ ¥. OKLYN THEATRE. PARK THEATRE, Farr; on, THE New THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Cowio Vooat- 16M6, NEGHO AC1B, &0. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Fourteonth st. and Broad- way.—NEGEO AOTS—BURLISQUE, BALLET, &o. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— NEGRO ECcENTRIOCIIES, BURLESQUES, £0. BRYANT’S NEW OPERA HO33K, 231 at., andTihavs--BRTANrs Mineruxie, |" between Gt SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL B — THE SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, nine Bree Eey, ite City Hall, Brooklyn.— BBOY. NEW YORK OFROUS, Pourteentn strost.—SOBNRS IN THE RING, AOROBATS, LO. Matinee at 2), NIXON'S GREAT HOUTHERN CIRCUS, 7: — SOENES LN THE RING, &0. Matinee. mye rigs NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, roadway.— (OB AND ART. ota Reatieean DR. KAHN'S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM, ee BOUNCE AND Art. at deal fh TRIPLE SHEET, New York, Thursday, January 4, 1872. = — oon VENTS OF TO-DAY'S HEGALD, Pace. A— Advertisements, ZoAdveriisoments. The State Capital: The Work of Reform Act- ively Commenced; Another Ring Smashed; Short Work with the Infamous Buffalo Char- ter; Tweed and Fields in Tight Places; Mayor liall, Corporation Counsel O'Gorman, Chamberlain Bradiev and Tom Fields To Be Deposed—Mrs. \Vharton’s Trial: Maryland Politicians in the Annapolts Court Room; The Mysterious Drama Enacted Be- fore tue Bench; Haggard and Worn Appear- ace of the Accused; Professor Aiken's Oficial Reports General Brice Bei! the oc —News from Washingtoa—“With re) ‘ashing thout 4—Canada: Total Withdrawal of English Troops; A New Aru Organized Across tue Frontier; Disgraceiul Scene at a Meeting—The Cuban Excitement in Spain—The Municipal Depart- ments—Tweed’s — Ball—Petroleum-Gas _ Eix- piosion—0 bituaries —Harbor Reform—Kall- road Matters—Mysterious Drowning Case— Important Alcohol Seizure—Jersey's Generous ee Guilty Chicago Municipal iclais, G—Political: Meeting of the New Hampshire Re- puslican Convention; Connecticut Labor Cou- Veution; Poiitical Movements and Views; State Legisiatuves—New York City News— Brooklyn Affairs—A Family Feud—Increase of pee cx smallgee in Paterson, N. J. Biaten island; The Reform isovement in Richmond County—Another Temperance Lecture—Grocers’ Board of Trade—Pennsyl- vania and Long Branch Railroad Coutro- versy—Struck on the fiead. G—Editoriais: Leading Article, “Chaos Triumph- aut—The World at Odds and Ends—Trouble and Change Everywhere’—Amusement An- nouncements. YeeEuitoriais (Continued from Sixth — France: Free Trade a3 a Cabinet Question and Munistertal Moditications—Germany and France: Bismarck’s Ojicial Exposition ot the Relations to the Republic; Millcary Retaliaiion for French Outrages In the Host- azed Territory—Movements of Alexis—Mu1s- cellaneous Cable Despaiches ana Domestic Telegrams—Itatian Opera—Business Notices, $—The National Capital: Growth of the City of Washington; Its Systematic Public Improve- ments; Sketches of the Leading Citizens— Music and the Drama—A Mysterious Murder: How Men Are Made Away With in Brooklyn— Bistiop vs. Priest—Literary Chit-Chat—New Publications Recelved—The Hunter's Point Bible Question—‘Thieves at Work—A Police- man Shot—Sad Drowning Case—Giris’ Lodg- ing House—Pneumatic Power for Quick Tran- sit--The Burroughs Poisoning Case—Desper- ate Stabbing Afray—Williamsburg’s Christ- mas Travedy—A Prisoner Hangs Himself, @=—The Tiird Avenue Savings Bank: Depositors Rushing for Their Money—The Bowling Green Savings Bank—Charies Callender on Trial~ Tne Custom House: First Meeting of the In- vestigating Committee—Insane Asyium_ for New Jersey—Newark's New Council—High- waymen at Work—Fatal Accident—Death from Fracture of the Skull—Financtal and Commerctal Reports—Domestic and European Markets—Marriages and Deaths, 10—Kioting in Rochester: Great Excitement and Further Atrempts to Lynch Howard; Planung Cunnon In the streets; the Negro Indicted for Outraging the Litte Girl; Fut Particulars of the Whole Atiair—Another Outrage—Shipping Intetligence—Advertisements. 41—The Courts: Interesting Proceedings tn the New York and brooklyn Courts; Criminal Cases in the United st Jourts; The Case of the “hee ned 3 Alleged Assault with Intent to e Raliway Litga- tion; The snip ~ig versy; Dis: Belligerent Ratiroad Cory Rescue Movement—The § Disuionest Domestte—vity vertisements. 12—Advertisemen usticeship Coutro- ATANMAtION of se Twins—A eroment—Ad- Communism AND INTERNATIONALISM «oy Evropgare both specially noticed iua Hzratp telegram from Paris to-day, Tse Frenxcn Canryet remains divided on the subject of free trade or protection. M. Casimir Pereire resigns his position in the Ministry ds a free trader, according to our “special telegram report from Paris, Pruxoz Bismarck is not at all at ease on the subject of the relations between France and Germany. He does not approve of the gov- ernment policy of President Thiers, This is made plain bya Heratp special telegram from Berlin which we publish to-day, Arrorney GeneraL WitttaMs writes that it is the determination of the President to use all the power which the constitution and laws have placed in his hands to suppreas the Ku Klux, and that reports circulated to the con- trary are unfounded. This is a cause of con- siderable rejoicing to the friends of law and order in the Southern States, according to the Washington Chronicle. Raptoa, Baranomsa oF tak PoriticaL Pouz in Paris.—M. Vautrain, candidate for seat in the French Assembly, accepted a nomination from the radicals of one of the electoral districts of Paris. He became slightly “shaky” on the platform, however. He went for the republic, but “refused to place the republic above universal suffrage.” His would-be constituents smelled a mighty large ‘“‘mouse” in M. Vautrain’s political “meal tub.” They classed it as a tendency towards imperialist reaction under the guise of mental reservation, M. Vautrain was con- sequently given up. He sits, no doubt, ona very high fence, looking perhaps towards : Ohiselburst._ NEW YORK H#KALD, THURSDAY, JANUAKY 4, 1872,—TRIPLE SHEET. Ohaecs Triumphant—The World at Odds and Ende—Trouble aud Change Every where. It is written in Dante's immortal poem that when Virgil and the poet were passing throagh one of the spheres of hell they looked and saw a broad, dark lake, miry and forbid- ding. The surface was covered with bubbles, which rose and sank and kept an uneasy motion, When the poet asked his ghostly companion the cause of the strange unrest he was told that under the waters were impris- oned those oppressed by many griefs, and that their sighs, ever rising upward and seeking escape, made this strange commotion, Something of this we see as, at the outset of the new year, we look at our beautiful metrop- otis, When the last year came there was no sight more peaceful and happy. The Mayor stood in his chamber, while thousands of his fellow citizens swarmed around, full of cour- tesy and congratulation, The silent, mysteri- ous Peter Bismarck Sweeny slowly moved from point to point in inscrutable majesty, like some immorial charged with command of the thoughts and will of men, whose beck was the enchanter’s rod of Prospero, The mighty Tweed reigned with the pomp of old Nebuchadnezzar, and surrounded his per- son and bis family with Oriental and barbaric splondor. The imagiantion is corried away with ecstasy as it dwells upon the glories of the jewel-emblazoned chief. Oh, the memory of it! What diamonds threw their enticing rays over his noble face, radiant with the light of Golconda and Singapore! What hoops and bands of purest gold encircled his sacred form! What rolls of linen and purple and eider down enveloped his tender limbs and soothed himto happy dreams! Like Cwsar, he declined statues and monuments. When he went abroad upon the highways chariots did his bidding. When ho went upun the sea it was in a yocht that rivalled the magnifi- cence of the famous burge in which Antony sought Cleopatra, When he came to show his “love and affection” to his kin he gave millions as his guerdon. He waxed proud and fat and royal. But if Nebuchadaoezzar reigned, so he fell, and went out into the ficlds to live m ;rass, even as the kine. And where is Tweed? The master of New York in 1871 is dodging the Sheriffs in 1872, The man whom all men feared is now of all men despiscd. His own Tammany casts him out, and the men whom he took out of the mud and e dowed with millions are eager to remand him to jail. And so with the satellites of the king. In exile, in prison, in despair, hiding in the orange groves of Florida, in dismal isolation at some German watering place, or shivering on the confines of Canada—was there ever such a rout since the Master forced his way into the Temple and did His will upon the money changers? Why go to the play to see the transformation scene ? We pass from the ruins of this shattered Ring, wondering as we go when the next will be formed, and who will be tho heads of it. Why here we have mediwval Venice over again! Yes, even as if it were the ghosts of the old Council of Ten. We have a mysteri- ous power that seems to be immortal, omnipo- tent, omnipresent. Truly a Council of Ten! Secret, swift, implacable. The jury comes into court, the Judge receives a secret paper, he signs a secret document, the Sheriff steals away, aud behold the prison doors clang harshly behind a citizen who an hour before was secare in his Mberty and peace. Not only one Council of Ten, but two, with other coun- cils behind them. Here is Judge Bedford's Grand Jury doing the work of reform. Here is the other, simply so many Tammany Ring crows sitting on a bough, waiting for the carrion. Here is the great Oommittee of Seventy (are there really seventy?), which seems to have a semi-monthly existence, going to sleep and waking up again only to fallasleep. ‘he dear eld Committee, what a fine show its members would make in some geological museum! Above the Committec— pauseless and intense and unappeasable as the Greek furies—we have O'Conor and Tilden— giants showing a giant's strength. Yea, more—for why should the little things escape attention ?—we have following hard in the trail the crowd of jabbering Cheap Jacks with their notions for sale, in the shape of unread and unreadable newspapers, fliling the air with their denunclations—one noted Jack from Islington or Bethnal Green leading all, claim- ing that he is the magician who conjured up these scenes and actors, and that Providence has failed to reward him by not calling him into society. And if we have two Couacils of Ten we have two Doges! Thereis the Doge Oakey Hall, who sits in stera and spectacled seclu- sion at our city palace of St. Mark’s, his hand upon the municipal sword, surrounded by his trusty henchmen, Van Schaick, Coch- rane, Hart and the remainder. Oakey, may the Muses do you honor for this one act of nerve for having had the genius to see and the courage todo, and may it be a lesson to you, and an incentive, and keep you from the Philistines and the snarers, and those who stand upon the corners, Yea, even the strange women who lie in wait for ingenuous Mayors and lead them into the shame and misery of Tammany, And there {s the rival, Doge Tommy Coman—in his lodge, we sup- pose—with his dismal retainers standing around the stove, their diamonds in pawn, their raiment well worn, their beards of a painful green flush, as lacking dyes and chemicals, their ringlets uncurled and un- anointed. Well, the Doge Tommy made a sorry mess of it. He meant to give us a tragedy, and we have a diverting comody, Let somebody write the play ‘The Mayor of a Night,” with Doge Tommy as the hero, and {t will be well worth seeing. And since we bear so much of it let us note, as another phase of this strange melley, the wrangle of the Cheap Jacks upon the question of society, As we have shown to our readers, journalism in America is divided into two classes—the press, represented by the HeraLp, and a number of Cheap Jacks-- mainly from Islington and Bethnal Green— who sell papers for a living and attract cus. tomers by standing up in their carts and abusing each other, Whether this abuse is feigned or sincere, whether it is true or not that after the day's jabber is over they gather at the same tavern and drink and dine, we have no means of know- ing, But they add to the chaos of the year by their proposed reformation of society. Well, sogiety does need reforma- tion, we admit; and we can well imagine how poor Jack must feel about it as he rides up the avenues and sees the splendor and decoration and comfort of the mighty city. “Why am I not of these?” he asks, “Am Inot a moulder of public opinion? Am I not a great editor? Have I not printed a noble newspaper, mainly, itis true, out of Tammany advertisements? Did I not detest and denounce Murphy and hold Grant up*to scorn? Didn't I print Jimmy O'’Brien’s vouchers and pay O'Rourke seven dollars for copying them? Haven't [ told all about Grant’s relations, and am I not really a benefactor of my race? Then why am I not in society? Why am I not asked to dine, to dance, to sit in the opera? Iam an ornament to society, When I stand up in my cart and call the other Jacks scoundrels and liars and villains, don’t the people gather around? Yes, even the policemen and the Politicians cheer me. And yet society knows these things and don’t seek me, nor will it permit my seeking it. So I will reform society by abusing it, and begin to-morrow morning, as soon as I open my cart.” So we have had this Jack and other Jacks wrangling about society, and perhaps vexing some good people with their noise, Good people, do not be vexed, It is easy enough to call in the police- man and have Jack moved along; but that will be hardly necessary. To-morrow there will be @ new attraction—a circus or a fair or a Ken- tucky Glant—and Jack will be In its van, for getting society’s wrongs in the new emotion. What a play it is with which we begin this new year! Victor Hugo tells us of a play which his mountebanks acted, called ‘Chaos Conquered.” This of ours is “Chaos Tri- umphant.” How long shall it triumph? There is no end to it as yet; for while the elements are at war in New York Albany looms up with its Conkling-Fenton rows; Wash- ington, with its wars of Grant and the office-seekera, and, over the seas, Germany and France rising in anger; England, with the lowering of the repub- lican storms—over the world trouble and change. What will the end be? When chaos really triumphs we may look for the millennial days, and it would not surprise us to be told by the expounders of strange theologies that Satan was about to be bound fora thou- sand years, and that, knowing bis time was at hand, he was giving the world trouble all around. If chaos will bring peace, then wel- come chaos; but for the present we are at its mercy and must wait and hope. Bergh and the Pigeon Shooters. Mr. Bergh, the kind and tender hearted President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, evidently lovos a little sensation. To show that he is no respecter of persons he has left for the time the hard- hearted Jehus who torture hack horses, and the butchers and marketmen, who make inno- cent calves bellow with anguish, and has gone for higher delinquents. The pigeon shooters— the gentlemen who practice upon the doves with their rifles for the purpose of attaining skill in shooting—have been followed and inter- rupted in their sport. This is something new under the sun, a genuine sensation, one which will prove highly gratifying to the butchers and hackmen, The great Bergh shows his indifference to rank, caste or wealth when the lower animals are concerned. In his zeal he invades the private property and private en- joyments of people to save birds from the pain svot inflicts. How precious antmal life is to him! His enthusiasm in the cause of the dumb creation grows daily. The next thing we shall hear, probably, is that he forbids fish being caught by hooks, and oysters being opened till they are pronounced dead by com- petent authority. In fact, the use of the net may be deomed questionable unless the fish caught be carefully kept in water till the mo- ment they are required to be sacrificed. It may be, indeed, that before long we shall be’ called upon to give up all flesh or fish food in the interests of the lower animals. We live in a wonderful, progressive age, and the great Borgh leads the way. Tag Lex Tationis oF PrusstA AGAINST Frexon Ovrrace.—Tho Prussian War Office authorities maintain a very threatening mili- tary attitude towards the people resident in the portions of the hostaged territory of France, where murders and murderous assaults are alleged to have been committed on German soldiers during the army occupation. It is said, indeed, that the Emperor William's officers will enforce the lex talionts of the war code against French prisoners, whether the individuals be guilty or not. An English au- thority states that this extreme resolve is being moderated in Berlin. It is to be hoped that this is true, despite the cases of Prussian accusation against the French which we report to-day, in Mlustration of our telegrams, special and otherwise, from the German capital. Tue RePvBLicaN NATIONAL CONVENTION. — The National Executive Committee of the republican party meets in Washington in about a fortnight to fixa day and select a place for holding the next National Convention. It will also, probably, have something to say about the proper persons to be sent as delegates; and bere arises a question—What is going to be done about the suggestion of the Baltimore American, that no office-holders shall be ad- mitted as delegates? Has Fulton burst his boiler ia his experiment of working the machinery of politics by steam, or has he been overslaughed in bis endeavors to make the “venomination of General Grant come as nearly ag possible direct from the hands of the people?” In either case the proceedings of the Executive Committee will be of some public interest. How Wers. re Sours might point to the recent unspeakably horrible tragedy at Roch- ester in extenuation of the severities of lynch law, or Ku Klux law, or any other law that avenged similar outrages in their comparatively unprotected communities, Rochester is the centre of the old abolition spirit, the home of the great apostle of the black man, Fred Douglass; but his teachings do not seem to have made much impression upon the ‘‘Dandy Jims” of his race like the miscreant Howard. ts A Sensipre FreNnow Prosgct,—The plan of a regular steam ferry between the towns of Calais and Dover, ag recommended by the committee of the Nationaal Assembly to which the plan was referred. The Rochester Riots—Mob Violence and Militia Firing. The terrible occurrences at Rochester— growing out of the outrage committed by a negro—has created a widespread feeling of horror at the resalts which are always likely to follow outbreaks of mob vivlence when the restraining power is vested in a military body untrained to patience and the command of temper necessary in deal- ing with the trying exigencies which may call for their armed ministration, The duty of the militia is protective, and the dis- play of force by their presence is meant to overawe the would-be disturbers of the peace rather by moral power than actual counter violence. The resort to decisive measures should in any case emanate from the proper authorities and have a reasonable justification. The subject altogether is one of 80 delicate a nature, involving such serious consequences from intemperate action, and into which so many irritating causes enter on either side, that in face of such an emergency the greatest cool-headedness and firmness are necessary on the part of the commanding officers as well as ® perfect discipline among the men. On this subject there is one point which forces itself into painful prominence, and which, in its consideration, cannot be over- looked—namely, the provocation which rightly or wrongly calls forth the passion of the mob, We cannot tilustrate..this, better. than by the history of the deplorable events of Tuesday and yesterday at Rochester. There are some nameless crimes whose commission awakens the horror of every man or woman worthy of the name; crimes at whose depth of unnatural wickedness humanity stands aghast, no matter to what olass or station the perpetrator may belong, But the gyersion and horror which sicken the hearts of the most refined take form among the vulgar and unenlightend in maddened rage and thirst for a swift and bloody revenge. While we admit that this state of mind rapidly ferment- ing into murderous action throws rather a sinister light over our civilization, which is ever supposed to be able to protect itself against crime, we cannot help recognizing that the wildness of the passion of the populace has its roots in a sentiment of honest human nature. In the case before us another, and, though abstractly false, yet fearfully strong, element entered into what wo have termed the provocation—namely, that the atrocious crimival had around him the curse of race. He is a negro. To say that this should have no weight in the case is futile; we are speaking of facts. With all our level- ling and pulling down of legal inequalities to place the colored man on a_ level with white men, the fact remains which no supplement of civil rights can annihilate—the idea that he belongs to an inferior race. You cannot legislate away sen- timent, or if you try it you will fail. A crime in one of such a scorned race appears more criminal and revolting than in one of any other, and it would be hard even for the most rational white man to deny to himself that such is the case. On Saturday last the unnatural crime was committed upon the little girl Cecilia Ochs, outside Rochester, under the inhuman circum- stances published. On Monday, from the de- scription given by the girl, the police arrested Howard, the negro, in the town of Penfield. He was brought to Rochester and identified by the girl, who was suffering from the injuries she had _ received. The announcement of the arrest spread like wildfire, and an attempt was made to lynch the miserable pris- oner on his way to the jail. Tbe police only succeeded in bringing him safely to the prison by drawing their revolvers. The excitement increased the next day (Tuesday), and open threats were made that summary vengeance would be taken, The announcement that the poor little sufferer had died of her injuries, although not founded on facts, lent an exasperation to the public mind which the evening papers, reciting the conclusiveness of the evidence against the prisoner, raised to fever heat. It may not be out of place here to give credit toa belief which is lately taking hold of the popular mind, and which we state before attempting to ex- plain—viz., that trials for capital crimes are becoming farces in which lawyers seek to gain a noisy prominence, and that the ends of justice are persistently defeated by mere quib- bles. The hasty verdict of the populace in such a case as the present with regard to the guilt or innocence of an alleged criminal is merely their instinctive hatred of the crime concentrated on the accused, and, a3 such, biassed towards condemning him, The safe- guards placed by law around a citizen on trial they regard as stumbling blocks and needless delays, and they look back tothe days of ‘‘a short shrift and a long rope” with a fierce scorn of ‘‘modern improvements.” We have dwelt upon the growth and intensi- fication of these exciting causes in this negro’s regard td show that the authorities at Rochester must have known and felt the danger which was arising there. We are assured that they were conscious of their duty to protect the wretch in their keeping at all hazards; but itis not so certain that while feeling their responsibility as officials they recognized the full measure of their duty as men dealing with a mob of fellow citizens, maddened by an unusual, abhorrent crime. The police assembled at the jail and the mili- tia were assembled under arms at the arsenal. As evening drew on about one hundred of the National Guard were marched to the prison, At eight o’clock the police charged on tho crowd which had assembled and were uttering loud threats; they sacceeded in dispersing it for the time being. An hour later found a mob of one thousand persons about the jail, some of them throwing stones at tho soldiers, At this time the order was given, “Forward!” and a detachment of the militia advanced at the charge, evidently to clear the streets, which could easily have been done, Then while still advancing, some stones were thrown, and two companies fired a volley into the crowd, killing two men and wounding a man and 4 boy. The moral of the whole story lies in this last act, and it suggests the very grave question, Are there no rules to be observed by military bodies, no precaution to be observed, no warning given before life is ruth- lessly sacrificed in this way? It has almost always been considered due to humanity in givilized countries that blapk cartridges should be first firea on a crowd before proceeding to fire bullets, Unfortu- nately in this case, annoying as the yelling and stone throwing may have been, it docs not appear that there was any necessity for firing at all. It is undoubted that there should be some clear, simple rules laid down to guide the military in dealing with civil disturb- ‘ances, outside of which it would be criminal to go; but they could only at best be such as would suggest themselves to any cool-brained officer who knew how to restrain as well as lead his men. Recent events have shown that our citizen soldiers, unused to being brought face to face with these abnormal occurrences, are apt to be too hasty in the use of thelr weapons. If the officers need coolness, the rank and file need a discipline of patience and self-restraint to which they are evidently strangers, We sub- mit these things to those high in authority to see if there cannot be formulated some regula- tions whereby the soldier's inestimable virtue, self-control, may be enjoined, and some line drawn between firing as duty and rash, irre- sponsible slaughter. At the latest accounts cannon had been planted around the jail, and all the reserved military force culled out. The police made a charge on tho rioters yesterday afternoon, dispersing them, The prisoner had been in- dicted by the Grand Jury, and the necessity of removing him from the jail was avoided. Fortunately for ‘the peace of,the city the heavy rain of last night did much to preserve quietness by sending the mob home. These people must learo that they cannot take the law into their own hands, and they and the military must remember that we cannot afford to let the freedom of our fustitutions, gained and preserved at such cost, be frittered away before toh law or military intemperance. The corpses of the two respectable citizens killed on Tuesday night should be a lesson to both, The Herald as a Medium of Practical Benevolence. The reputation of the Hmratp as the lead- ing newspaper not only of the United States, but of the world, is already well established. It is conceded that no other journal equals it in enterprise, We have lately given several signal confirmations of the fact that we spare neither energy, vigilance nor expense in fur- nishing interésting and important information to our readers in both hemispheres, And we are pleased to see the numerous acknowledg- ments which come to us from all quarters that our efforts are appreciated. The HERALD is not simply an individual enterprise, but an important institution—an institution universal in its scope and influence. As the leading representative of the independent press it is coincident with human intelligence and modern progress, One of the many ways in which the HzraLp is useful to the public is as a medium of prac- tical benevolence. People who desire to .donate money to charitable and benevolent purposes frequently find it convenient to send their contributions through this office. The receipt of the same appears promptly acknowl- edged in the Heraup, and the funds are for- warded to the proper persons to be applied to the purposes intended. . This is eminently satisfactory to those who contribute of their means to alleviate the sufferings of their fellow beings. As a consequence, whenever appeals for aid are made to the public we are daily in receipt of contributions for the objects for which such appeals are made, Sometimes as soon as the news of a calamity which suggests assistance is read in the HgraLp persons whose hearts are touched by the intelligence pause not for formal appeals, but immediately remit to us material assistance for the sufferers, This shows the importance of the medium used and the confidence reposed in it. Perhaps the most remarkable illustration of the point in question was furnished in conse- quence of the Chicago and Western forest fires, While the flames were still destroying private dwellings, public buildings and busi- ness establishments in the stricken city, and sweeping away the fruits of rural industry, the homes of thousands of sturdy settlers and the lives of hundreds of inhabitants in other Western Siates, contributions for the relief of the suffering survivors were sent to us from all sections of the country; aud as the extent of the calamities and the needs of the sufferers became known the donations of the benevo- lent increased with commendable rapidity. From October 10 to December 11 of last year the New York Heratp relief funds alone amounted to nearly twenty-seven thousand dollars, The“ following figures show the ag- gregate of the donations and the disposition made of them :— NEW YORK HERALD CHICAGO RELIEF FUND STATE- ME! NT. Dr. To donations from citizens October 10 t DeCeMVET 7... e000. vee 21,557 74 New York Herald donation. 900 TOtAl veveseseeeeer or, By Mayor of Chicag ©, W. Rouse, sufferer. NEW YORK vr. To donations from citizens October 16 to December Li. $4,490 00 Cr. By Mayor Of MILWAUKCO..ssscereeerereere 4,490 00 We have received the subjoined communi- cation from Mayor Medill acknowledging the receipt Wf the funds forwarded for the relicf of the sufferers in Chicago :— Curoado, Deo. 23, 1871, JAMES GORDON BENNETT; Esq, EpIvOR OF THE New YORK bERALD:— DEAR lg tg f to your request { hand you herewith the Ce of George M. Puilman, Treas: urer Ohicago Relief and Aid society, for $22,875, of which $600 Was donated by Miss Maggie Mitonell for sutferors in the dramatic profession. In our re- foe of November 18 the sum of $21,600 Was ac. nowledged to that date; $775 has been receivea since that report, which latter donation will appear in the society’s next report of cash subscriptions, Very truly yours, JOSEPH MEDILL, Mayor. The Mayor of Milwaukee, in the following letter, acknowledges the receipt of the con- tributions forwarded for the relief of the sufferers by the fires in Michigan and Wiscon- sin, and in their behalf conveys his thanks through the Herarp to the generous donors :— MILWAUKER, Dec. 26, 1971. JaMEs GORDON BeNNetr, HsQ,, EDITOR OF THE New Yor«K HERALD;— Sin—lnclosed piease find a receipt from the Hon. Alex. Mitchell, Treasurer, for ‘Sacato, being amount received from you as ‘Treasurer of New You« HERALD fund for the relief of suderera by ein Wiscousin and Michigan. Please to convey to the donors my sincere thanks for the liberal and gen- erous donations in aid of the sufferers. Yours, With reapect, H, LUDINGTON, Mayor, We are happy thus to have been the means of assisting our generous citizens in the | exercise of their oragtical benevolence. And rd In the future, as In the past, on ordinary as well as extraordinary occasions, the Heatp institution fs at the service of the public, to perform the duties of a universal aid society in giving succor and assistance to the poor and the unfortunate everywhere, The State Legislature=The Commeacement of the Business of Municipal Reform. The war upon the Tammany city officials was commenced in the State eLegislature yos- terday. In the Senate a petition was pre- sented from O'Donovan Roasa asking for the seat in that body claimed by William M. Tweed, together with two memorials from the district represented by Mr. Tweed, the one asking for the expulsion of the Boss from the Senate, and the other praying that the con- tested seat may be declared vacant and a new election ordered. The latter would no doubt be the most fair and proper method of settling the difficulty, No one will be disposed now to question the fact that the Boss is not a fit person to sit in the Senate of the Stateasa ~ representative from the city of New York, and while o district must be held to have the right to choose its own representatives from what- ever olass or character of its citizens it may desire, there is enough evidence of illegal con- duct in this election to warrant the Senate in declaring it void. At the same time, andon the same principle, it will hurdly be believed that the fair vote of the district would be in favor of O'Donovan Rossa, as its representa- tive in the Senate of the State of New York, however willing a portion might be to confer upon that patriotic Irish refugee the duties of a delegate to a Fenian conven- tion, Hence the best settlement of the matter would be to turn out Tweed and suffer the electors to hold anotber election to fill the vacancy. It was the intention of Senator Benedict to have introduced yesterday « bill prepared by Comptroller Green to provide for carrying on the financial business of the clty government for the ensuing four months, or until fe action shall have been taken by the Leg turo on our proposed new city charter. Ac- cording to our Albany correspondence the bill as originally prepared conferred - very great powers upon the present Comptroller, It not only makes him the inheritor of all the money-raising and money-spending power conferred by the present charter on the famous Board of Apportionment, but it sought also to create in him a second temporary Board of Audit, with authority to settle all outstanding claims against the city at his own will. If he were aman so disposed there would be no difficulty under the proposed claims clause in the way of his paying out another six millions of the people’s money in as many days. No person suspects that he would do any such thing, or that any of his official acts would be of a questionable charac- ter so far as the pecuniary interests of the olty are involved; nevertheless, it is of very doubtful expediency to confer upon any single officer, however bigh his reputation for in- tegrity may be, such extraordinary and unjim- ited powers. The republican Senators, it appears, are of this opinion, and they desired @ modification of the bill in these provisions. The consequence is that its introduction has been delayed until to-day, when it will no doubt be pushed through under a suspension of the rules, The necessities of the case demand immediate action, and there should be no delay in its passage by the Legislature, even though all reference to the claims against the city should be stricken out. In the Assembly the first raid upon the Tammany officials yet remaining in the munt- cipal government of New York was com- meuced by the introduction of a bill to turn out of office Mayor Hall, City Chamberlain Bradley, Corporation Counsel O'Gorman and Corporation Attorney Thomas C. Fields, and to remove the latter also from the Public Parks Commission. This bill will no doubt be pushed through both houses without un- necessary delay, since whatever quarrels may arise over the subsequent division of the spoils, the republican majority will be united on the policy of stripping democrats of office, especially as they have no longer any solid arguments to offer in favor of their retention, Assemblyman Fields, as he sits in the House watching the gradual descent of tho legislative guillotine, and meekly awaiting its final stroke, must recall with painful feelings the halcyon days when he and his Tammany friends were accustomed to lead the amiable opposition representatives, one by one, into a Delavan House parlor, and send them ont again fully impressed with the virtues of the New York democracy and the patriotic duty of rewarding them with addi- tional honors and increased power. Probably not a few republicans look back with no less regret upon those profitable hours, especially when they reflect upon the heavy bills which the modest Albany hotel kecpers never forget to present to them at intervals during the ses- sion. But this is the age of Roman virtue and legislative purity. With an honest lawyer in the Speaker's chair, incorruptible mombers on the floor and not a dollar in the Tammany exchequer, a whirlwind of legislative retribu- tion and reform will doubless sweep unob- structedly through the Assembly Chamber of the State. The most important bill introduced yester- day, however, was one presented by Colonel Hawkins, to legalize the several extensions of time, made by Judge Bedford, of the Novem- ber term of the Court of General Sessions and of the term of the Grand Jury then empanelled, and to legatize all the acts of the Grand Jury done at any of its meetings, not- withstanding the coexistence of any otlier Grand Jury. This bill, when passed into a law, will settle the question of the legality of the indictments already. found by the General Sessions Grand Jury and of the power of Judge Bedford to extend the November term. Very few per- sons and no competent legal authorities have doubted the right of Judge Bedford to extend the term ; but the present bill will prevent any appeal on this point, and will thus avoid the delays otherwise likely to occur before the indictments for the city frauds can be brought to trial, It also seeks to legalize the indict. ments found by the General Sessions Grand Jory during the sitting of the Grand Jury of Oyer and Terminer; but this, we are inclined to believe, is of questionable consti- tutionality, . The indictments in question were found while the statu ora-,