The New York Herald Newspaper, January 7, 1872, Page 6

—— NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street. — ‘Tuk New Drama oF Divorce. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway anit 2th street. — Joux Gavin. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, beiween Prince and Houston sireets.—BLack Crook. “BOWERY THEAT Bowery.-Housr, Dog—Tur Watre oy Naw von” zit oh OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—tae Bauuer Pan. TOMIME OF Hoxrry Dumpty. BOOTH'S THEATRE, Twenty-thira st,, corner Sixth ay, — SULIUS UenaR, GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of 4tu ay. and 93d s— No TuonovGur ane, WOOD'S MUSLUM, Broadway. corner sith s!, -Parfor-n- ences aflernoon and evening. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. ST. JAMES’ THEATRE, Twenty-eighth street and Broad- way.—MONALDI. STADT THEATRE, Nos. and 47 Rowery.—OrgKa OUNFR—LA GRANDE Ducanssr. MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE, Donte Cxssto. PARK THEATRE, hy Hall, Brooklyp.— UMPS; On, HiGi, Low Jack AND THR GaMne ee STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth st.. Turopone THomas* Grany Conoxel. THEATRE COMIQUE, 414 Broadway. Cowie Vooar JMB, NEGRO ACTH. AL. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Fourteenth st. ant Broad- Way.—NKGRO ACTE—BUELESQUR, BALLET, AO. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HO! Nx@Ro EccENTRICITIEG, BURL BRYANT'S NEW OPERA tH B, Wd at, and 7th ava.—BRYANT's MINGTUELS, SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL, 58 Broadway.— ‘TRE Say FRANCISvO MINSTRELS, NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenta mrces. BME Ring, Ackovats, 0. \, NEW YORE MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— Pormxox anv Anz. . No. 201 Bowery.— Fa, Ac. between éth SCENES IN LEAVITT ART ROOMS, No. 817 Broadway.—Exnter * BION OF PainTiNos, TRIPLE SHEET. — eee om New 872. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. ‘Sien, (ee ae 1— Advertisements, @—Acvertisements, S—Fisk’s Fatality: The Colonei Shot by Kdward EF. stokes: A Fatal Termination to silly Fisk Shot Twice by the Would-ve Assassin; The Colonel’s Dying Statement; Excitement Throughout the City and Country; Was Mrs. Manstield Says About the Assassl- 4—Australasia: Christian Conficts with the New Zeaianders and Murders of White Men by the 3; American Whalers and a Good “Cateh’—Atiaira in Utah—Mrs, Wharton: ‘the Case Adjourned till To-morrow—President Grant: The Presidential Party ut the Quaker Cuy; Secretary Boutwell Addressing the Mer- chants on the Financial Condition of the Coun- try, Present and Prospective—Rorrible Marder in Baltimore—The Kussian Proce: Great Entnu- siasm at St. Louis; The Public’ Recepuon—The Tammany Primaries—Weaiher Report—a Bi, Fire in sewark— jug by Sample—Railro: @ Orphan Ball—Corrupt Literary CMI! Bank- wk, Sunday, January 7, Chicago Alder ing Luterests, 6—Pigeon Sucoting: Don Quixote Takes Another FUE at the Windmill; the Great Monomaniac Goca Back on His Word--Proceedings in the Courts—Mrs, Dutt ys. M Clutt—Reddy the Blacksmith’s ‘Tenants — ‘VYacklebury Arson Case—City Hall Changes: Resignauon of Mr. Bradtey trom the Oftice of Chamberlain—Ke- ported Flight of Ex-Comptroiier Connoily— New York Prinung Company: Another Legal Kaid on the “Ring” Property—Obituary— Paris Fashions: The Modes in the French Cayital at the e of the Year—A Sneak Thief Arresied—Clearmg Out Niggers—sSnow- biocck on the Western Rattroads—Naval In- telligence. @—Euitorials: Leading Article, ‘The Herald as the Representative Newspaper—Journalism Past and Future’’—Amasement Announce- ments, Q—Eaitorials (Continued from Sixth Page)—Dr. Livingstone: Engiand’s Opinion of the Her- ald’s Expediuon to Africa—France: Napo- Jeon’s Opinion of Thiers’ Position and the Prospects of Imperialism—The War in Mex- 1co—Ihe War Cloud: Great Activity in the Navy vepartment—The ‘trouvies in New Or- Jeanis—Miscellaneous Cable Despatches antl Domestic Telegrams—Bi ess Notices, G—Religious inteliigenc Religious . Pro- ramine for To-Day; The Week of Prayer; The spiphany—The Russian Christmax— Another Station House Mystery—A Remarkavle Kace— Goverament Buildings for Trenton-—Smashing a Bank Run—Sing Sing Matters—Ariny Officers aud the Honors of War. 9—The Custom House Committee: Mr. Stewart's Opinion of the General Order Business; More Complaints; the Theory and Practice of Con- stractive Half Storage—Brooklyn Aifairs— Brookiyn Reform—A Wililamsburg Mystery— The Smallpox in Hoboken—Financlal and Commercial Report—Marriages, Birth and Deaths — Advertisements, 40—Fisk's Assassination (Continued from Third Page)— ‘The Fisk-Mansfield Libel Suit av the Yorkville Police Court—Avivertisements. 31—Advertisements. 12—Advertisements. Inportant iF TRoE—The rumor that ‘‘Slip- pery Dick” has slipped off to South America, But how about the “Boss?” Will he go up the river or down ? A Country Like Spain, that is obliged to borrow a King from another country, is not fit to govern provinces and dependencies on the American side of the Atlantic, Naro.ron Lease To Taiers—A six months’ tenure of office, so as to arrange for the acces- sion of Gambetta. So said the ex-Emperor in Chiselburst at New Year, as we are specially told in a HeRatp telegram. Tne Exerish Pottoy in Ikktaxp.—The Marquis of Hartington, speaking, no doubt, of- Gcially, assured his constituents at Radnor, yesterday, that the government will be firm in “repressing rebellion” in Ireland, and should ‘get its face against leaving education in the hands of the priesthood.” Just so. Free schools, a tree church, and the exercise of in- Gustry. Professional revolutionists will be apt to steer clear of the Marqu Gop aNnp THE Spanish Question.—The Gold Room, which has been so sceptical of trouble with Spain all along, became uneasy yesterday, particularly after the nomination of the Spanish Admiral Barnabé to succeed Sefior Roberts as Minister to the United States, he agitation being further excited by the re- port that the Brooklyn Navy Yard bad orders Be fit out all its vessels for sea forthwith, The pre, which fell off to 108% on the Roths- chills’ offer to take $600,000,000 of the new Hoan, advanced to 109}. Lame ann Capital aNp InpuerRY and Jpieniss 1x Berarum.—Belgium is agitated again. This time it is by a renewal of the strife letween labor and capital. The men @emand more pay and shorter hours of work. it authorities look out for the tion of the peace by despatching to the different centres of discontent, Turbulence and disorder prevail. The little kingdom must lose in its industrial profits heavily. The request for more wages sppears ‘Spply equally to all workmen—the skilled th the ignorant, the moral with the vicious andthe ‘‘loafer” with the man who flesires to earn fair wages. It is the ‘‘one opportunity” of the incudi who hang persistently around the outer edges of the busy circles of material production, ‘NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1872.-TRIPLE SHEET. The Herald as the Represe: fe News- paper—Journalisem Past’ and Future. The astonishment shown by the newspaper press of the country over the success of the Heraup in its expedition in search of Dr. Livingstone suggests some reflections upon journalism asa living, present, growing power, and its probable future as connected with the future of America, Before entering upon this one word may be spared to the Cheap Jacks of the press, who have been decrying this enterprise to the rabble around their carts that they call ‘‘customers” or ‘‘readers,” intermitting their abuse of one another by disparagement of the Hrratp. We do not quarrel with them for their rhetoric. The Cheap Jack is a good, honest creature in his way. And, although bis English has the Cockney dialect so often heard among the ‘’eads” and costermongers at Chelsea and Bethnal Green, he is a poor devil, who only kept ont of the Almshouse in his own country by accepting public charity in the form of a steerage ticket and throwing himself upon the hospitality of the country, and deserves encourage- ment, We do not interfere with his calling. One has his Collector of the Port and his Custom’ House victims, which, with a fine Dublin frenzy, he calls ‘“‘vampires.” Another has his vouchers, which are really an old stock of attractions and have lost their novelty. And while not calling their wares, these Jacks call each other liars and villains and decry the Heraxp in a sort of supplementary chorus, If the people will oot crowd around their carts we are not to blame. When the Punch and Judy people have bad times in London, and Toby's receipts are only a handful of halfpennies, the showmen drown themselves in beer and ‘‘organize” against the monarchy. Of this fashion is the Cheap Jack fuss about the Heratp. But the people know that the Heratp is the Heraxp, just as they know that the throne Is the throne, It is an institution of the country. It has grown with its growth and strengthened with its strength. Every acre of land reclaimed from the wilder- ness, every bushel of wheat brought to the seaboard, every ship that goes from our ports or brings to us the products of other lands, every road or boulevard that adds to the at- tractions of the city, every mile of telegraph wire that encircles the earth, like the nerves in the human body, instinct with life and strength; every building that lifts its stone and iron front on Broadway, every foot of land that is enclosed for public uses with bronzes and marble and greenery, every rail- road that unites State to State and town to town, is only so much advantage to the Heraip. With these material improvements there are moral and mental advantages. Every schoolhonse with its swarm of eager and stndious children, every published book that adds to our sum of knowledge, every church that lifts its spire to the honor and glory of God, every academy of art and science and literature, is only a contribution to the rush and influence of the Herarp. We are in sympathy with these phases of a nation’s thought and progress. What are kings and emperors and presidents and parties and administrations in comparison? The Heratp sees them, writes their life, their death, their epitaph. Like the magical mirror looking out upon many-towered Came- let—before which the Lady of Shalott sat from day to day, weaving into her tapestry the visions of life that it reflected—the abbot on his ambling pad; the troop of damsels; the lovers creeping to their tryst; the gallant knights riding two by two; the bold Sir Laun- celot—so the Henan reflects the world from day to day, and when one vision passes another comes, and we feel something of the meaning of that eternal movement of the spheres with the daily rising and setting of the sun. Administrations, for instance. Look out on the world, and harken to the voice of bysteri- cal politicians, and one would believe that the nation’s peace rested with the success or failure of the administration. Why should the HeERaxp descend from its throne and join in the mad outcry? Twelve administrations have passed in review before this throne, and a hundred more are coming like the line of phantom kings that Macbeth saw in the vision, What is Grant to the Heratp? It has seen Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, each with the crowd of hungry troopers and champions. What are thege “great statesmen” now in wordy conflict at Washington, that the Henan should descend from its throne and carry their pennons? Why, it has seen a hundred statesmen, all “saviours of their country,” ‘‘leaders of their party,” the Adams, Websters, Clays, Calhouns, Wrights—giants in their day, idols now in the mouldy niches of party temples, all gone into silence and dust. The Heraup did fts duty by them in @ royal, just, candid manner, and when they passed away it admin- istered reward and censure to those who came, as it will to all who may come in the future. The future! Well, it would be curious to consider what it will bring to the press. In our time we have seen the press grow from nothing. Go into the musty libraries and look at the newspapers of the past. In the begin- ning there was the small, clumsy letter-sheet, which came with the weekly post-boy, and told of the court and the fashions and the news from the American plantations, ‘‘by packet, in forty days.” Then came the essayists, like Addison and Steele and Johnson, with their graceful comments on literature, art and man- ners, Then came the pamphlets, when “Bru- tus” and ‘Publicola” vented their wrath upon aministry. Then came “Junius,” with his mys. tery and his fierce, implicable rhetoric, and magistrates sitting editors in the pillory or locking them in jail for daring to mock His Royal Highness George, Prince of Wales, Then came The Times, quietly creeping foto life and growing into lusty vigor to become the New York Hrxanp of Great Britain. 80, to come to our own coun- try, we had the Revolutionary news- papers, which were dismal, stupid and false. Then came Freneau, with his livels on ‘Washington, and Duane, with bis mournful dirges over our finances, and the feeble, mali- cious presses in New York which libelled cach other in the interest of Burr and Hamilton. Then came Father Ritchie and bis Richmond newspaper and his idolatry of Jefferson, and Blair with his Globe, which defended Jackson them and go with them, hand in hand, ally, sham, cant, corruption and false pretence—in politics, religion, government and society. To use every agency of science and’ nature in scouring the world for news—to make the Herap of to-day the perfect history of the world of yesterday—and, above all things, to worship Truth and serve it with courage and independence—as the one thing altogether lovely in the eyes of God and precious to mankind. The history of this work is written in the history of the republic. It is the history of the republic. despised in its day by the surrounding gourds and weeds and rank newspaper growths has grown to be a mighty tree, and the birds of heaven cluster in its branches, and the people gather under them, and wherever the flag of our country floats, upon land ‘ar sea, the citizen of America sits onder it a gn the New Yor Syeraun the latest chapter and assailed his enemies, while Duff Green and the Calbonn pampbleteers covered him with abuse. Then we’ had Leggett with his pamphlets--a great man as greatness went, but gone into oblivion with all that he did. Where are those “‘able editors” and ‘powerful writers” and ‘‘moulders of public opinion ?” And what do we think of their work as we read it in the yellow, dusty volumes of the old libraries, All passed away- their chetorie—their screams—their denun- ciations—their fears for the party—their hopes for the country—their dreams and agonies. All gone, with scarcely a sur- vivor, A few years ago Gales and Seaton went from the stage carrying their immortal: National Intelligencer with them over the Loethean waters. The other day Prentice fol- lowed them. Far off in Alabama we see A. Hi. Stephens trying to revive the past, Here we have Weed, now reduced to stories and fireside chat, and Bryant, with his Greek and English ballads, and Greeley, with his tariff recollections of fifty years ago, trying to build a party out of the bones of Henry Clay. .So have we read of gray and blind old minstrels, with their creaking harps, sitting under the damp arches of baronial castles, chanting of the wers and loves of another century to knights and maidens who never hearkened to the strain, but sent the servants out to give them largess, and meat and wine. The Heratp came in ita time. It was a revelation, and floated over the skies like the cloud that was no larger than a man’s hand. Or, to use an apter illustration, was it as the grain of mustard seed that was cast into the earth, What was the Heranp? Simply an idea, and as ideas have ruled the world ever since Moses climbed up shining Sinai and wrote ten of them on his tablets of stone, so the Hxrarp has come to be a'ruler in the world. What was thisidea? To print @ newspaper that told the truth. To fear no man and no party. To pay cash and receive cash, To destroy the devil credit. To treat politicians as they were, mere hucksters in the market place eager to sell their eggs and but- ter. To be one with the wishes, hopes and fears of this city and this nation, To aid in their advancement, rejoice in their triumphs and mourn over their sorrows. To grow with champion, counsellor and friend, To war upon The mustard seed which was the history of thegporld. ef Looking back upon this growth, we find in the Hkratp the full fruition of the centuries. Here the old party continues his newsletter chronicle of gossip, town news and court news and the small chat of the coffe houses. Here writers as graceful as Addison and Steele and Johnson contribute essays on literature and art as brilliant as were ever read in the pages of the Rambler or the Spectator, Here ‘Bru- tus” or ‘‘Publicola” comes with his complaint or his criticism, and we give him a hearing. Here essayists as brilliant and terrible as “Janius” make war upon political corruption, protected by that mighty arm of the Heraup, which no pillory and no prison has ever stricken down. Presidents no longer hire their Blair's and Ritchie's, like literary footpads, to lie in wait and assail their foes. ‘hey do their duty like Grant, and the Hxratp stands in front anddefends them. When they fail as Pierce or Johnson did, the Heracpv turns and rends them as allogether unworthy. All this while honor and courtesy and good-breeding and kindliness attend it. When combat is neces- sary it remembers the old knightly maxims, and makes chivalric war. The Cheap Jacks may cry from their carts that all who buy from another cart are liars and villains and slaves, The HERap, conscious of its strength and integrity, shows courtesy to all—kindli- ness, good humor and friendliness. This must be a law to our modern journalists. Nothing comes from defamation and scandal. Why should men who write for the press assail each other? The world is large enough for all, and the same ethics should be established that we observe among other professions. The Hera of the future would be an in- teresting speculation. The law of its life is progress. When we stand still we die. Now steam and lightning do its bidding, and its ministers go over the world withthe devotion, fearlessness and zeal that are recorded of the followers of the Soctety of Jesus. Is it any marvel tbat the Hrratp should penetrate Africa, and, at the head of an expedition that cost money enough alone to keep all the Cheap Jacks in tobacco and bread and beer for years, seek to read the mystery of that dark, forbidden, unknown land ? Is it any marvel that it should astonish the civil- ized world by doing what great nations have failed to do? This is simply a law of its being, a duty of to-day, forerunning o similar duty to-morrow. The Heratp did this as it fol- lowed our own war at an expense of more than half a million dollars; as it sent over the cable the first real despatch of news, at a cost of seven thousand dollars in gold; as it campaigned with the great armies of France and Germany in their late wars; as it now watches the revolution ia Cuba, the pronunciamento in Mexico, the famine in Persia, the opening of Japan to civilization, the investigation of the resources of St. Domingo, the great social and political movements now stirring the waters in Europe, and soon to burst into a storm as great as that which floated the Ark to Ararat. While brave men do these deeds gifted men comment upon them; so that the enterprise of the mews- seeker is illuminated and explained in the spirit of prophecy. So it will continue. The great newspaper will become to America what the old Oxford University is to Bneland. Grave mon have atudiad in its cloisters for a thousand years and filled the world with the fame of their learning. Wise men sit in the councils of the Hrraup and write their thoughts in its columns; and this they will do from generation to genera- tion, The progress of intellectual thought will be seen in the ‘press. The literature of the next century will be newspapers and text books—the newspaper absorbing the wisdom and genius of all who feel called upon to instruct mankind, Be it our proud mission to do in the future what we have done with so mach honor in the past—to make our journal keep step with the enterprise and genius of the age, so that the Hera.p of 1972 will be as much in advance of our paper to-day as it isin advance of the Cheap Jack prints all about us and the newsletter sheets carried in postbags from London a hundred years ago. Our Religious Press Table. The Observer (Presbyterian) has an elabo- rate article upon the ‘‘New and Old School Romanists in the German Parliament,” the gist of which may be gathered from the fol- lowing concluding paragraph :— We may object from our American standpoint to any interference of the Stave in Chureh matters, Sodid aiso many conservative Protestants in the German Diet, who would not allow the government to restrain the absolnte freedom of the pulpit, and voted, therefore; with the Uitramontanes. It can, however, hardly be denied that it has become very dangerous for the State to treat as a mere religious institution an international organization like the Church of Rome, which strives by ecclesiastical means for political ends, and openly clauus suprem- acy over the State, The Independent (Congregationalist) has opened an ‘‘educational bureau”—a bureau which some of its contributors may find profit in visiting occasionally. It also dashes at “Mr. Samner and the one-term principle,” and in an article upon that topic remarks :-— There is no prospect that Congress will, by a two- thirds majority, vote to submit this proposition to the States, ing notaing aboul tte merits, it 18 inopportune and unth » Those who are desirous of securing the nomination of General Grant will naturally regard it as designed, in its moral effect, to prevent this result. The prevalent senument of the republican party 1 In favor of his renomination, as 1t was in 1864 in favor of renominating Abraham Lincoln; and, surely, a republican Con; with full knowledge of this fact, will not so far stultify itself as to endorse @ principle which would vir- tually say to the next National Republican Conven- ok that General Grant ought not to be renominated, The Hvangelist is more especially devoted this week to its ‘‘Map of the Presbyterian Church” than to any thing else, But it is glad to understand that its Church enterprise in Salt Lake City is beginning to receive dona- 4s from such as feel an especial interest in the rescue of Mormon women and children from the sad toils of error. The Golden Age publishes a very agreeable article upon the text of the ‘True Spirit of Public Discussion.” The following reference to one of the purest of American matrons is well worthy of reproduction :— A few days azo we spent some hoars of remin- {scence with an houored and revered woman who now sits like a queen at the head of her sex in this country—the most venerable and beloved of all the public women of our land. We mean Lucretia Mott, Just entering her eightieth year, she 1s still as able, sagacious and eloquent as when she was in her more primal prime of life. In giving her views of the current questions of Church and State, and of the great world of thought that ties outside both State and Church, tue sweet aud charitable spirit with which her faculties seemed to be surcharged, and her whole mind permented and baptized, made upon us an impreasion never to ve forgotten. The Protestant Churchman is out in a new and more elegant attire, typographically. It discusses the ‘Philosophy of Protestantism,” and defines the term ‘*Protestant” in this wise :— The necessity of negative terms in describing any Particular Church resuity from the fact that the Church of Christ, as visible in che worid, is imper- fect and lable to corruption. It 18 therefore neces- sary to protest and contend against the errors into Which the visible body has Jalien; and those who do this, while they are at the same time members of the Holy Catholic Church, are asso- ciated together in a Church both Protestant aad muitant, There have, therefore, been Protest ants in all ages, in the Charch, from the time of the aposties, men who have valiantly defended the faith, men who have trodden the thorny and bloody path of confessora or worn the dery crown of mar- tyrs, and the giorfous succession will not cease until there shall cease to be fatal errors against which the protest and the trath of God shall everywhere prevail. When that time shall come the Church will cease to be Protestant, just as it wilt cease to be militant, and be henceforth triamphant forever. The term Protestant, however, as applied toour Church, has a more special signification. It indt- cates its position as protesting not only against all the perversions of truth which spring up in the bosom of the visiole Church, but especially against the spiritual domination of the Church of Rome. The Methodist refers to a ‘‘Pan-Presbyte- rian Council” and says :—‘‘The Presbyterians have robbed us of our pet idea. We have, it continues, advocated these several years the assembling of an Ecumenical Council of Methodists, and have found no second, and now the English-speaking Presbyterians are calling for just such a gathering of the mem- bers of their faith. Singularly enough, the proposition comes from the other side of the water, and from no less a personage than Pro- fessor Blaikie, of Edinburg. The Christian at Work is doing good ser- vice among the masses, and should be encour- aged in its labors. The Freeman's Journal (Roman Catholic) does not seem to like the idea of a ‘‘Protestant judge trying to settle Catholic law,” and ani- madverts rather tartly upon the decision of Judge Gamble, of Lycoming county, Pennsyl- vania, continuing the injunction against the Bishop of Scranton. The country religious press furnish nothing new this week. Why do they not arouse them- selves and bring their readers to a realization of what they should do toward spreading the truths of the Gospel? Our Largest Apvices From Uran, ff not very encouraging in behalf of law and order, are very interesting. Thus, we are glad to have the opinion from Great Salt Lake that the Territory can get along well enough for awhile yet with its Territorial government, and that it would be unwise to give Brigham Young and his cunning Mormon chiefs a State government on the condition of their abandon- ment of polygamy, because, if admitted as a State, they will snap their fingers at Congress and make polygamy the supreme law of the Commonwealth. We think, however, that there is no danger of the admission of Utah as a State while Mormon polygamy continues there to flourisl. General Grant has under- taken to put it down in the Territory, and Con- gress will rather assist him than do anything to embarrass him in the good work. Mean- time it appears that robbers, garroters and desperadoes of all sorts abound and make night hideous in the sacred city of the Saints; all of which signifies that by the Pacific Rail- road the border ruffians, the advanced guard of the Gentiles, are crowding the Mormons, and that polygamy, as the solid law and order Gentile elements next come in, will, if not re- moved, be speedily abolished. Tus New Boarps of Aldermen and Assist- ant Aldermen must firat arrange their slates for the division of the plunder, you know, and then they will bo ready for tha work of reform, ‘The Attempted Assassination of James Fisk. It is probable that since the nows of the assassination of President Lincola reached this city the community has not been so much exercised as on last evening, when the fact spread like wildfire that Fisk had been shot in the Grand Central Hotel. It appears that Fisk had just come down from the Grand Opera House, and must have been followed to the Grand Central by Stokes, for the latter arrived. in‘ coupé about the same moment as Fisk. Stokes, it appears, gained the head of the ladies’ stuir- case, at the first landing, before Fisk could, and when the latter was two or three steps from the foot of the stairs fired twice at him, striking him first in the right of the abdomen and then on the left arm, each shot taking effect. An examination in the Fisk-Mansfield libel case at Yorkville Police Court had terminated about two honrs previously, and it will be read with much won- der that Stokes there declared he never had any intention of doing Fisk any physical injury. People who read all these spicy de- tails of the loves of a loose woman and the contentions of her admirers laughed at them as if there was no deviltry in all the page, no real passions behind all the cold, calculating move and counter-move of the wily counsel on either side that sued out injunctions or moved to quash them, The story of the ‘fair but frail” in this relation we-do not choose to touch. Rumor, that draws its conclusions in haste, says bitter things, and a woman's anguish, if she has any heart, would be condemnation as deep as tongue can utter had she any part in feeding the fire of anger that promises to have culminated in murder, The cowardliness of the act which struck down Mr. Fisk has reaped its first fruits in the public mind by awakening for him a wide- felt sympathy. He was not dead at the hour of writing, and we are happy to be able to state that there are many chances of his wounds not proving fatal. De mor- tuis nil nisi bonum is a sweet motto, and to Fisk, stricken suddenly down, this charity of good words was extended by thou- sands and thousands who had never, perhaps, thought well of the man in the busy prime of his eventful life. They remembered that he had once been a poor, toiling lad, who had wrought his success out of hard, earnest effort; that his steps up- ward, while decked with a gaudy, semi-barbaric show, were marked by strong traces of liberality and generosity of spirit that threw for the time the faults of his nature in the shade. Error is human, and there is a potent agency in life which seldom allows evil to go unpunished; but who is there so rash and blasphemous as to say that the assassin, impelled by his coarse or blinded motivds, u the chosen instrument of Heaven to avenge ythe gins of a man? The public fnstinct’ reasons quickly; but when it jj in matters of this kind it is seldom ig The very men who have clamored against the victim of yesterday evening's sa\ work were among the first to denounce the act. The right or wrong of the Erie RaiJroad management was forgotten, and peoplé; remembered = rather = that Fisk drove a four-in-hand around the streets of New York to collect help for the suffering thousands camped in the prairies after the Chicago fire. They recalled not whether he ran the Erie Railroad in the in- terest of the shareholders or his own, but that he ran the relief train to Chicago at lightning speed. The cynicism of Marc Antony, that the “evil men do _ lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones,” may have some truth in it at long distance of time from the, demise of a man, but the reverse is the truth in case of a sudden ‘‘taking off,” whether that man be a Cesar or a Fisk. Those, too, who recollected how they joked and gibed over Colonel Fisk’s part in the terrible affair of last July; who mocked at his wound and doubted his courage, were prone to forget all that, and honestly pity the sufferer so nearly ushered to his grand reckoning with the Omnipotent at such short notice and in so cowardly a way. On the part of him whom Colonel Fisk bas identified as being the man who fired the shots we ask for no motires, The fact that he was engaged. in this law suit or that intrigue against the man .who fell beneath his fire will bring no palliation to the public mind for the crime which he will have to answer for in a Court of justice. The day of private revenge is past between man and man in civilized communi- ties. There are, nevertheless, cases in which juries have disagreed and have even gone dead against the facts in a case to acquit the maddened husband who avenged the dishonor to his hearth. There are, doubtless, times when a common sentiment may cause all men to re- volt from hanging a man really guilty of mur- der; but no element of that kind can enter into this case. There was no sacred right invaded which society can take cognizance of. and no justification which a jury could con- sider valid. Those who have marked the career of Fisk will have regarded it from different points of approval or otherwise. There have not been wanting men who stigmatized him as a great public evil. Others have denounced him as a deteriorator of public morals, In bis theatrical and social connec- tions a still larger class have looked on him as a “bad example” to youth, We enumerate these things to point a moral, Granted for an instant that this man was all that his enemies could paint him, we affirm that to no private individual belongs the judi- cial right to punish which is vested in our courts of justice. Wedo not for a moment imagine that Stokes believed himself a public avenger in striking down Fisk, but we wish to cut away the fallacy that an assassin is any the less guilty of murder be- cause his victim was a man of bad reputation. Fisk is, as we have said, reported not very dan- gerously wounded. Yet in abdominal wounds there lies often very grave danger, which may not exhibit itself at first, Stokes will, of course, be held to await the result of Fisk's injuries, and itis out of place here to say for what particular grade of offence he will be indicted. If Fisk dies there is nothing in the case to distinguish it from murder, for which a death on the gallows is the penalty of the convicted, The lawless spirit that aopeals to 1 al an unexpected deadly attack is something that must be banished from our midst, Bo- cause @ man may be under a ban of socioty is no excuse to murder him; must prepare for a relapse to that barbarism where life is held on that tenure which depends on a ready hand and a loaded pistol. News from Australasia, By steamship at San Francisco and thence overland by special Heratp telegram we have , 8 news report from Australasia dated at Syd- ney the 25th of November, and in Auckland, New Zealand, the 2d of December. The intelli- gence is of a varied character, and in interesting detail of the despatches which we published yes- terday, The antipodal colonies appear to be progressing steadily and quietly under the influence of local legislation, directed to 8 very great extent, but not controlled, from England. ‘The Victoria Legislature passed alaw protect- ing property in press news telegrams by copy- right for a space of twenty-four hours, Meas- ures of postal intercommunion were being matured. The wheat crop was seriously in- jared by rust in some districts, but generally flourishing. Railway extension and the colo- nization of the ‘‘back lands” by actual holders of cheap small farms were attended to dili- gently, The mercantile marine of several foreign countries were in active employ- ment on the coast. American whalers re- ported a good “take.” A plan of aa expedition westward from South Australia was under consideration. Tasmania had « new Cabinet. Fresh discoveries of coppér and tin had been made, and the sugar cultivation interest was in ao favorable aspect. The natives in the interior of New Zealand were, speaking generally, quiet, Sorrow was expressed for the murder of Bishop Patterson. The abo- riginal measure of repentance was not of a very enduring character, however, as will be seem by our advices from Fiji, A number of white men had been murdered by the New Zealanders. The terrible’ punishments were inflicted in retaliation for attempts which have been made to take away natives under the guise of apprenticed laborers, but really, ae the chiefs allege, to sell them into slavery. Be this as it may, it is quite apparent that very many years must elapse before Macau- lay’s idea is realized, in the light of the edu- cated New Zealander sketching the ruing of St. Paul’s, London. It is said that a Tichborne family ring has been recovered from the hands of a band of gypsies wandering in the colony. The Legislatures were actively at work, whem in parliamentary session, the members giving proof of zeal, diligence and ability. Heavy purchases of coal were made on American account. Judging from the facts which are supplied by the HrraLp news reporters we have no doubt that the Austral ian Continent will be completely ‘‘civit- ized” within a very sbort space of time by the efforts of the same great power which announced a few years since to the world thet Her Majesty’s ship Rhadamanthus was taking in shot and shell at Portsmouth, prepara- tory to setting out to convey the Lord Bishop of Jerusalem to the East, on bis way to the acene of bis episcopal labors. Ler rue State Lecistarures Spra®.—fa it not about time the State Legislatures now in session took some action in regard to our relations with Spain? Let the Legislatures speak. Let the voice of the nation be heard. Congress must then respond. and Military Movoe- moats. According to our despatches from Washing. ton which we publish to-day the preparations in the two great defensive departments of the State now being made have, to say the least of the matter, a decidedly strong pre- cautionary, if not a warlike appearance. The Secretary of the Navy has given orders for the reorganizing and equipping of several ships-of-war, besides the monitors previously ordered, and in the navy yards, wherever there are vessels to be repaired or stores pro- vided, the men are working almost night and day. Yet Secretary Robeson says this is in the ordinary course of routine business. In addition to this General Humphreys, Chief of the Corps of Engineers, has called bis assistants together, and, after consultation in the capital, despatched them to inspect all the coast and har- vor defences aud report immediately their condition, and what will be necessary to put them in a state of defence. General Abbot, Significant Naval commanding the battalion of engineers for - the construction of torpedoes at Willet’s Point, has also been summoned to Washington ; and matters have even gone so far as for an ex- pression to be made public that the adminis- tration and the officers prefer the torpedo plan devised and carried out by the Austrian gov- ernment. ConoressMan Banxs, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Relations, must wake up on the Spanish question. The people do not want any Red River collapse now this vexed Cuban matter is again bruited. Tus SNow Brookapg on the Pacific Rail- road continues to hold up the railway trains at varions points between Omaha and Sacra- mento valley, although it appears from yes- terday’s despatches on the subject that the road is at length opened from end to end, but fiable in many places to be drifted over again at any time by a high wind. But for all this these heavy snows will be worth millions of money to our new States and Territories, in reference to their crops and their mining operations of the coming summer and autama. ‘ar New Orteans Leancative Squapsie is a disgraceful affair to all concerned, and the worst of it is that both the republican factions involved seem to rely upon the support of General Grant. His shortest way out of thie muss is to leave the fighting factions to settle it among themselves. they ck Jaxvar’ Tauxpge Storms nt Esoran are something out of the usual order of thingr in “‘the tight little island ;” but they have had two or three such storms there within the last week, the latest being the terrific thunder, storm ‘which passed over Portsmouth on Friday night, during which “‘hail fell to the depth of two inches,” and by which “all the windows in tbe city exposed to the storm were destroyed.” They have had heavy snows and a rough winter, go far, in the Netherlands, France aod Germany; and from the Pacific tis otherwise men. '