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

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, Volume XXXVI sseeesseeeeseresesesesees NOs 35 AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING, BOOTH’S THEATRE, Twenty-third st,, corner Sixth ay. — JULIUS CasaR, FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fc ~ ‘Tux New DRava OF Divonos? OR Saree GRAND OPERA HOUSE. corner of Sth av. and 98a st— EUROPEAN HIPPOTHRATRICAL COMPANY, Matinee at a WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Pert ances afternoon and evening.-OW Hamp. term WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broad Ha ghan Gagee: way and 13th strest. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street. Orsea—UN BALLO IN Masonmeeee feeb Feta GARDEN, Broad: ween uston streets, —BLAO: ie Gnook. Sig eon BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery—Wiu se TONY AND CLEOPATRA. 1 BATUat-ky, ST, JAMES' THEATRE, Twenty-cighth street and Broad- way. _—MONALDL. BADE THEATRE, Nos, 45 and 47 a jos. 45 anc Bowery.—Orzra oF OLYMPIC THEATRE, Brosdway.— a TOMIME OF HUMPTY DUMPTES yee BALLET Pan GLOBE THEATRE, 798 and 730 Bi ny ou, CUTE THE RELIABLE. Matinee at hoe ees MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Man AND WIFR, PARK THEATRE, opposite City Hall, Brooklyn.— DAuino Dick, THe BRooKLYN DETECTIVE. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Couro Vooat- 16M8, NEGKO AC 18, 4C—Di-VOROE, UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Fourteenth xt. and Broad- Way.—NEGRO ACTS—BURLESQUE, BALLET, £0. THIRTY-FOURTH STREET THEATRE, near Third ave- Due—VARINry ENTERTAINMENT, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE. No. b. 201 Bowery. - NEGRO ECOENTRICITING, BURLESQUES, & BRYANT’S NEW OPERA HOUSE, 204 at, bolt and Tihave,-BRYANT'S MINSTRELS, ~ |“? between Oth SAN FRANCISCO Tax Ban FRancisco MINSTREL HALL, 685 Broad _ MINSTRELS. a Pll No, 688 Broadway.—Tae Vienna Lavy On- NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteentn sirect.—SOENES I” ‘Tum RING, AcRouATS, £0. rai MUSIC HALL, Harlem.—Mra, Japzxr's NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, _ Sormnon AND ART. capi cereale neha TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Buaday, anaes 4, 1872. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD, PacE. 1—Advertisementa, 2—Adverusements, $—The City Government: Important Meeting of the Board of Audit; The Comptroiler and the City Clauns; Halt a Million Dollars on the Way to be Distrivated; The Injunction Removed on Tammany Hall; Judge Bediord’s Grand Jury; ‘twenty-three ‘Indictments Presented and More to Come; ‘the Nemesis of the Law in Hot Pursuit of the Tammany King Fugitives—The Grand Jury Grantea a Farther Extension; The Snow Storm Yesterday; The First General Storm of the Winter; Detenuon of the East ern Mails and Railroad Blockade; Signal Ser- vice Cautionary Siguais; The Atlantic Tier of States om Main to ‘fexas Affected; Perils of, the Pactiic Road; Prevalent Gales, Sleet, Wind * and iain—Peril tn Brookiyn—News from Washington—Smuggting for the Administra. tion—Fire Marshall’s Keport—English Fugi- tives trom Jusuce. 4—Sherman’s Tour: Events of Travel from Ma deira to the Spanish Capital; Tne Fortifica- tions of Gibraltar; The Hero of Kars and the Hero of the March to the Sea; A Visit to the Grand Mosque of Cordova; srrival in Madrid; Graciously Received by tne King and Queen of Spain; Grand Banquet, Reception and Ball at the American Legation; The Visit to the Royat Palace Keturned in the King’s Name—The Schoolboy Homictde—Music and the Drama— The London Stage—The Custom House Inves- tgauon —The sleepy Hollow Horror—Charged With Robbing His Empioyer—Nearly Another Switch Disaster in Newark—corrupt Chicago Aldermen Sentenced, S—Religious intelligence ; Programme of Services To- Vay; HkRALD Kelivious Correspondence; Religious Notes, Personal and General; Ser- Vices in the Synagogues; Brooklyn's Beautiful and Devout Quakeress Preacher; saking the Vell; Art and Religion; ‘hose Three Dark Days—The_ Brooklyn Whiskey Katd—Frey Feariuily Forked. G—Editoriuis: Leaving Article, “God and the Constitution—The Late Farce at Cincinnaul”— Amusement Announcements, Y—Editoriais (continued trom Sixth Page)—Mex- ico: Quiroga’s Pronouncement of Success Over the Juarests; Revoiutiouary Bulletin of the Fall of Camargo— Telegrams from France, Spain, England, Ireland and Cuba—The Japan: ese in Utan: The Municipality of Salt Lake City Greets them—Miscellaneous Telegrams— Personat Inteiligence—Movements of the Presideut—{he Grand uke'’s lour—Literary Chtt-Chat—New ublications _Received—The HEKALD and (he Missionaries—The Irish Glant Chailenged—business Notices, S—Biras: Flying Flowers and Feathered Gems; Our Housenold Minstrels; ‘their Numbers; How to Care tor Them; Their Value and Pecu- arities—The Strikes: Trades Untons Versus Emplovers; Beginning of the War—Proceed- ings in the Courts—Army and Naval Inteill- gence—Those Sales—Meeting of the Fire Vom- missioners. 9—Finaucial and Vommercial—New York City News—The Ninth Regiment in Moaroti Newark’s Municipal Matters— Brookiyn Are fairs—Marriage aud Deaths—Advertisements, . 10—The State Capital: Saturday's Stale, Flat and Unprotitable Legisiaiion; Graud Inquisitur General Barlow as a Legal Highdyer; Legis- lative Lieform tn its Proper Aspect; the House of Verention Bill; Sectarian Appropriations; Receipts aud Expendiiures of the Brooklyn Ferry Company; Screaming Farce of the Erie Pewutions—The Democratic Reformation: Pre- partog for the Presidential Battle at Apollo jall—Obituaries—A ‘lug Race—A Novel Breach of Promise Case—Falling of Floors—Billiard Tournament 1m Hoboken—Fatal Car Casualty— Suipping Intethgence—Advertisements, 21—Advertsements, 12—Advertisements, Our Bia Snow has come at last; but as he is a visitor who brings cruelty to animals, we hope (especially for the sake of Mr. Bergh) he will not stay long. Tus Wee in Watt Street was a dull one, but the “bulls” and “‘bears” are all san- guine of more lively times before spring is over, Ratner Roven on tae Piovs Purrrans— Congressman Biggs, of little Delaware, in his alphabetical list of the crimes of Massachu- setts, General Butler was right last fall. They want reform in the old Fay State, and they need it badly in Boston. Tuzy Keep Ir Up.—The cable informs us that all the leading London morning journals of yesterday have articles on the Alabama claims, ‘‘criticising the American case with great severity, and urging the government to declare its opinions and purposes in reference to indirect damages.” Ver; good. Let them keep itup. But the matter isnot before the British government for a settlement, but before the Geneva Board of Arbitration. Let John Bull, therefore, comport himself with decorum in this business, or he may exhaust the patience of Brother Jonathan. Avexis BurraLozs.—It is reported that the teat of three hundred buffaloes, killed by the Grand Duke in his late buffalo bunts, has been sold in the single town of St. Josepb, Missouri, to say nothing of the numbers dis- posed of in other places. At this rate a few more such visits of the Grand Duke to the buffalo plains will reduce Red Cloud, Spotted Tail and their Indians to raids upon a * cavalry for their wiater supplies | 8 BW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1872—-TRIPLE SHER, FEBRUARY 4, 1872—TRIPLE SHEET. Ged and the Constitution—The Late Farce at Cincianati. We are a great people for holding conven- tions. That particular one which assembled at Cincinnati during two days of last week, having for its object the securing a religious amendment to the constitution, has dissolved into its individualities of college professors, parsons and zealot laymen, without doing much more than demonstrate its absurdity. Its collective enthasiasm of that mildly gush- ing type for which parsons and professors are famous has disintegrated, and a number of little rills of religious amendment eloquence may be expected to bubble furtively here and there over the country for a week or two, and and then no more will be heard of it for a year orso. As a harmless amusement, gratifying a human vanity of strutting before the public eye for a day or so, we have no objection to this performance of theirs; but it may surprise them to learn that there are one or two elements in their proposition which, in their cant and flippancy, they have never touched upon. The fanfaronade about the Christian character of our institutions we can pass over and come to the avowed object of the convention—namely, to place the august name of the Supreme Being in the constitu- tion; in other words, nationally to recognize God and the Bible. Now, before advanving further with this proposition, let us recall that it was by no acci- dent that averything concerning religion was left out of the constitution as framed by the |’ fathers. Solemnly impressed with the neces- sity of founding a government covering the largest possible political equality, they knew that no better means could be taken to that end than leaving room for the broadest reli- gious freedom the world has ever seen. It was recognized fully by them as one of the necessi- ties of the liberty they invoked for mankind. And the result has justified them. Upon this free field of religious belief or disbelief the country has prospered beyond precedent, and the people are as much Christian to-day and more proudly so that there is no human law telling them in religion to do this or that, We have given the same rights to the Jew, the pagan and the materialist as to the Christian, and while allowing the former to feel themselves free, Christianity has in nowise suffered from the fact. It is to force by law on these men what is a sentiment of the soul, and if this step once be taken where will it stop? The enthu- siastic or earnest gentlemen who advocate it may not foresee the consequences, but there is so much danger in the proposal that in the name of the freedom of conscience which is our boast, and the vigorous tree of Christian- ity which has grown and blossomed upon that healthy soil, we oppose the movement, This proposition to patronize the Almighty Giver of All by tacking His name on our con- stitution, after the fifteenth amendment, is one of those curious paradoxes whereby cant, in its smiling egotism, becomes an enemy of the religious sentiment on which it is a libel. The ground from which the materialist hurls his iconoclastic thunder at the clouds may be narrow as a grave, cold as a stone and hard as hatred; but what improved idea can he have ef the Ruler of the Universe when he sees His ministers on earth writing Him down to an election ticket at a ward primary? Do they think that there are none in the land but Jews, infidels, positivists and atheists who would shrink from such an affirmation ?—not that they believe less in the God of Heaven, but that they respect His name too much to link it with every political nostrum of the day. Materialism is nothing if not aggressive, and the only value of such a movement would be to concentrate and combine the various “schools” of that sad belief and strengthen them by the antics “f those who propose the amendments. When we look back over the turmoils of the last century to the scenes which took place in France in the days of ‘“‘the terror,” these mild white-chokered gentlemen would hardly expect to meet their historic parallels in such pitiless bloodspillers as Robespierre and the restless spirits round him. And yet to such a level does their self-complacency bring them. In 1793 the religion of reason had been abolished, after a short and dis- graceful existence, and as the National Con- vention, which, though proclaiming a separa- tion of Church and State, took care to sup- press religion, the people, led by the atheist party, ran into such extremes that even Robespierre became alarmed, and early in 1794 we find him take up the subject of a divinity, in the same light as the divines at Cincinnati, as a political expedient. He said :— “The idea of a Great Being who watches over oppressed innocence and punishes tri- umphant crime is popular with all. * * * Iam but the more attached to the idea I lay down, ifa God did not exist it would become necessary to inventone.” And shortly after we find the same men who instituted the religion of reason hail the monster of the guillotine with acclamation when he presents his proposition—amendment to the constitution—as follows :— Arricte I.—The French people recognize the existence of the Supreme Being and the im- mortality of the soul. Art. Il.—They declare that the religion most worthy of the Supreme Being is the prac- tice of the duties of man, It was odd enough, too, that just at that period the atheists of the Convention repre- sented a political faction, and the animus of Robespierre is the more visible when we see that in the chansons, or ‘campaign songs,” of the period especial condemnation of that fac- tion is artistically blended with the praise of the Supreme Being. To-day those who may object to the Bible in the public schools repre- sent the faction hatred of the white chokers at Cincinnati, and, awful as it may seem when nakedly stated, the name of the Most High is tobe made a very shibboleth that sectional ends may trinmph, as the opponents of Robes- pierre were burried to the scaffold under the declaratory articles quoted above. It would be hard to say how much of the ruthless spirit of Torquemada, of the Inquisition or the witch-burning Puritans of New England lurks beneath these spotless white chokers, but we can scarcely think it improbable that were such an amendment ever before the people that the intolerance which is at the root of this zealotry would de- velop itself in a manner that might as- tonish those who believe the ministry of the bumble Nazarite to be the path of with the change of a name or two, we should have campaign songs on the model of those we allude to, adapted as then to popular airs where the sacred name of God would be ban- died about with sly references to thelr polili- cal opponents, and garnished with the slang of the day, as in the powes translation :— igoatter heeinaere an ea dusky legions, Tu happy. browed and fairer still ; Shall smile our free republic’a peeipass If the Supreme our foes has smo! And watched our laws with eye fe all-seeing, Brave citizens without a vote Proclaim to-day the Supreme Being. The objection which the mild people of the Convention believe to be the strongest to their course is that it would introduce a tyranny of belief; but this, though forcible in its way, is a small one beside the grave one we have pointed out, of bringing down the sacred prin- ciple of a divinity from the austere eminence whence the soul contemplates it, to be dragged in the mire of passions and politics to subserve the little expediency of sect and cabal. We are not at all frightened at a long list of vice presidents. The weak sentimentalism which captures a Judge of the Supreme Court, the claptrap which draws out the Governor of a Puritan State, the eye to business which finds the President of a sectarian University among the Chadbands, Sleeks and Tartuffes who lead the few well-meaning men, lay and cleric, in a movement of the kind, are all things of so common occurrence that we can smile at the parade of their names, Of all the forlorn crusades this last presents most points wherein the comedy of nose- twanged cant sings its flippant familiarity with all we revere. Do those white- chokered enthusiasts think that planting the name of the Most High on every fence in the land in flaming letters, six feet high, between the latest nigger minstrel burlesque announce- ment and the newest opéra bouffe, would conduce to piety any more than hanging it in the constitution between negro suffrage and woman's rights, Back to your pulpits, then, ye mild parsons, and read again the great words of St. Paul that ‘‘the letter killeth.” If you wish to make this land in reality what it is in oame—a great Christian country—look to the souls of those around you and waste not your short lives in airing white chokers and sectarian special pleading at Conventions where all is vanity and self-conceit, not to speak of their danger to the freest government in the world, General Sherman in Spain. We publish this morning another letter from the Heratp’s correspondent in Madrid, detailing the progress of General Sherman’s travels abroad, and particularly the honors ac- corded him during his stay in the Spanish cap- ital. This letter follows, but should have preceded, the correspondence describing the visit to the Escurial, which was published in Friday's Heratp—a circumstance due to de- lay in the delivery of the mails here. The tour of the American visitors is full of incident, Places famed in song and story, and men whose brilliant deeds find their record in his- tory, were visited by the transatlantic tour- ists. The meeting between the old hero of Kars with the no less distinguished hero of the “March to the Sea,” in the rock-bound fortress of Gibraltar, is an incident worthy of record. Afier bidding adieu to General Williams the Americans directed their progress toward the capital of proud Spain. Ere they arrived there they visited Granada and the Alhambra, passed over the field of Alcolea, and made a pilgrimage to the gran4 »ld Mosque of Cordova, In Madrid their rec.ption was all that could be desired. The party were most graciously received by the young King and Queen io the royal palace. Amadeus met bis visitors with that characteristic gallantry and unaffected- ness which belong to him, and Her Majesty in ber conversation with General Sherman showed an acquaintance with American affairs, and especially with events relating to our late war, which must have been gratifying to the old hero, Their Majesties returned the visit of General Sherman next day in the person of General Gandaro. The General, who had travelled extensively in this country, found a congenial acquaintance in old Tecumseh. Brief as was the stay in Madrid, a grand ban- quet, reception and ball were given in honor of the visitor at the American Legation, at which the élite of the Spanish capital were present, The English Ambassador also gave a reception in honor of the Americans. Alto- gether the visit to Madrid may be regarded as a brilliant holiday, in no respect influenced by he war cloud which but a short time since threatened to disturb the relations between this country anc and d Spain. A Fioop oF Bunoomsg Oratory.—The Senate was not in session yesterday, and a few members of the House wandered into the hall of that body and remained only long enough to give a sort of countenance to the silly and stupid farce of having some half dozen essays on various subjects partly read by other mem- bers, who availed themselves of that oppor- tunity to get leave to print speeches to be dis- tributed among their respective constituents, and to be embalmed in the great mausoleam of Congressional eloquence, the Globe and Appendia—only that, and nothing more, Tag Patace Car System is anything but objectionable to passengers who prefer to pay an extra sum for extra accommodations; but the danger is that, unless limited and regu- lated by law, the convenience may be enlarged into an outrageous extortion. The subject, therefore, properly comes within the scope of reform in our State Legislature, though no man can tell what they are ‘going to do about it.” Tae Reourar, on, RaTHER, IRREGvtaR Qvarrerty Wwiskey Raw in Brooklyn commenced on Friday last, with some profit- able seizures, and was continued yesterday with remarkable vigor by a powerful posse of officers, and greatly to the indignation and consternation of the contraband extractors of the corn juice in the Fifth ward. In behalf of the cause of law, order and regulation whiskey, Brother Beecher would do well to preach a wholesome sermon this day on Brooklyn's contraband distilleries, Ovr Market Ptaces,—The Comptroller has broken ground in the work of refy.ming our city markets, Something, anything, ia fact, in this direction is better than nothing; but is there no way, Mr. Comptroller, whereby that shocking nuisance known as Washington Mar- ket can ha abated? That is what we want “good will among men.” At the very least. | to know, The Race with the London Rowing Club. Long ago the members of the Atalanta Boat Club, of this city, spurred on, doubtless, by the intense and universal interest awakened by the Oxford-Harvard contest, challenged the London Rowing Club (the crack amateur oarsmen of Europe) to a six-oared race on Awerican waters, and very generously offered to defray all the expenses of their journey and stay. But the lack of the requisite number of “trustworthy men,” (so we understood that thelr answer was worded), prevented the strangers from coming; and there the matter seemed to have ended. But by their card in our issue of Friday, our countrymen, nothing deterred by one rebuff, have again thrown down the gauntlet, and now offer to go all the way to England, right to the very threshold of its mighty metropolis, and there try conclusions with them on their own stamp- ing ground—the very track they know every foot and inch of by heart. Unless the restric- tions imposed stand in the way we scarcely see how the Londoners can again decline. *These condition are two: First, that our men must be allowed to dispense with a cox- swain, while with the others chis is optional. Tradition, usage and England’s narrow and crooked streams, have all conspired to make the little steersman a necessity, so they over there have always held, though the Harvard men would have eagerly seized the opportu- nity to show them what their own professional oarsmen have found while over here—that this burden of a hundred pounds or so in the stern of the boat is utterly superfluous and a severe tax on the rowers. The challenged party, then, will have to first learn hew to do without him and to guide their craft entirely by the rudder yoke at the feet of one of the oarsmen; and, with English deliberation in introducing innovations, there would seem hardly time between now and four months later to become properly acquainted with this mysterious device, thoush we have seen one of our oarsmen become an adept in its use inside of three weeks, The other condition is that the race must take place “either in June or early in July,” and this because of present engagements of the Atalantas for the rest of the season. But where races come so thickly together as in England it is highly probable that the London men may, for the same reason as our own, find it inconvenient to bring about the con- templated meeting within the period named. Certainly we trust not; for, if the present offer is declined, we shall probably have to wait jong before another nearly so accommo- dating—indeed, magnanimous—in its terms will again be sent across the water; and if no better excuse comes back than came before we ought surely to hear no more boasting about the superiority of the English oaraman or athlete, which, by the way, the Wards have done so much to dissipate. Harvard yielded every single point, trav- elling three thousand miles, meeting their opponents in their own climate, on their own track, in their own fashion, one entirely new to them, and with a crew sadly out of condition, and though she fought terribly for every inch of those long four miles and a quarter, met with defeat at the hands of men better trained, entirely used to just the sort of race they were rowing, and sixteen pounds per man heavier, and these no pounds of use- less weight, but of the very choicest bone and sinew among all the hundreds of tried and proved oarsmen of Oxford’s famous Univer- sity. Xna now four more Americans essay not only the same, but, in some respects, a more difficult task. The London Rowing Club, from its proximity to the city, its location right on this famous Putney-to-Mortlake course, its grand opportunity to gather in the very best of the 'Varsity oarsmen as soon as they graduate, and, chiefest of all, from the fact that, not as at the Universities, its crews may be kept together even for years, and hence more and more nearly perfected, may well justify the belief expressed of them in this same card—that they ‘‘stand at the head of amateur oarsmen throughout Europe,” Is there, then, good and solid ground for be- lieving that these Atalanta men can meet them with reasonable hopes of winning? The four specified are four out of a six-oared crew that average when trained but about one hun- dred and forty-five pounds a man, manifestly light—eleven pounds apiece less, for instance, than the famous champion professional crew of England which came over here last season to see its best man row his life away by the banks of the Kennebecasis. And what have they done? Their record in the regattas of the Hudson Amateur Rowing Association shows no re- markably fast time, their best up to 1871 being beaten when they were by the Gulicks, And last year they easily beat the crews of Harvard and Yale. But the former, at least, were weaker than any Harvard has turned out stnce 1864; while, at about the same time, some Amherst farmer boys who were never heard of before or since made the dis- tance, if the timekeeper’s statement is cor- rect, in over a minute and a half less than these same victorious Atalantas. And if they are as cramped for time as they state they will run a serious risk if they hope to become acclimated in England so quickly, Atleast the Harvard men asserted that the five weeks between July 20, 1871, the day they landed in England, and the 27th of August, the day they rowed thelr race, were not enough to make them feel entirely themselves. We have no wish to dampen the ardor of the men who have issued this manly chal- lenge, but rather only to call their attention to what seem to us some facts important to be considered, They doubtless have better rea- sons than any we have heard for taking the position they do, and they deserve the thanks of both countries for their persevering efforts to bring together the leading organizations of their kind of each. If they can surprise us, as the Wards did, and prove that the best amateur as well as professional oarsmen in the world infest the broad waters of the Hudson, they will be more than amply repaid for all the difficulty they have had and their superb pluck in facing such an undertaking. Dopeine THe Main Question.—It seems to be generally understood that Congress will adjourn May 29, as proposed by Senator Morton, and that little or nothing will be done meantime in the important business of a re- duction of our external and internal revenue taxes, ‘Women in the Ministry. Many things have conspired during the present century to bring the Christian pulpit and ministry into disrepute. The advance- ment of the masses in general intelligence and literary culture, whereby priestcraft has lost its hold upon the people; the sensational character of many of our so-called ‘‘Chris- tian” pulpits, and the practical and actual atheism and infidelity taught by many others, tend to bring the sacred office of the Gospel ministry into contempt. But it is likely to be ‘rendered more ignoble by the elevation of women in very great numbers into the pulpits of the land. Not, indeed, that we object to women teaching religion or morals, law or physics, or anything else that the sex is capa- ble of, but rather that we object to the time and place and manner of such teaching. Women have pushed themselves into the pro- fessions of law, medicine, music, art and so forth, and itis perhaps only natural for the sex to aspire to become public teachers of morals and religion also. Their advocates insist, as an element of their fitness for this work, that women are and always have been more devout and holy than men, and they are therefore better fitted to teach godliness to mankind. If the premise is true, it shows that the mental calibre of women is inferior to men, and the conclusion is, therefore, not a safe one to deduce, Women who have been always devout are not likely to be the women to grapple with modern infidelity, and the fact that they have been pious above men is evidence that they have not had the mind to raise doubts, and they dare not and cannot meet infidelity in their own hearts nor in the hearts of others. And this inferiority of woman's mind, we think, is manifested all through history, whether sacred or profane, The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life which induced Eve to commit the first aot of disohedience, have since to keep them following where she led. We take it that the fact that the Lord never called a woman to be a public teacher of His religion is evidence that He considered the sex inferior to men for such purposes. And where we have one Deborah or Anna in sacred history we have scores of men prophets and apostles, martyrs and confessors, held up before us as teachers and exemplars of the very highest forms and manifestations of piety. Christianity is a manly religion, and it re- quires men of strength and nerve and will to proclaim it and to contend against the prince of the powers of the air—against spiritual wickedness in high places. And it is this manliness and nobleness in the Christian religion, above every other known system of morals, ancient or modern, which has elevated women so as they had never been exalted before. And in the ratio in which the Chris- tian religion advances women will rise higher and still higher in the social scale and in the scale of morals, But there is a tender and sympathetic feature of Christianity which women are certainly better adapted to preach and to teach than ‘men, and this they should do everywhere and at all times, The religion and morals of the world are committed to wo- men to teach in the home circle. If they fail there they should have no claim upon us to stand up as public teachers thereof to pro- miscuous multitudes; and that they have failed there, and because they have failed, God has appointed’men to do this work. And from the earliest ages of organized societies we have no record of women acting as teachers of morals outside of the family circle, save in a few instances, which the attendant circumstances made exceptional. But God declared by the Prophet Joel that in the last days He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, and our sons and our daughters should prophesy or teach; our young men should see visions and our old men dream dreams. And under this dispensation of the Spirit which is now coming in upon the Church and upon the world we suppose wo- men will have as good a right as men to teach and preach Jesus Christ, That some of the ‘fair sex” are already practising in the pulpits we have seen and heard, and do testify. Mrs. Lucy Blackwell, Mrs, Celia Burleigh, Mrs. Mott and Miss Antoinette Brown and others are thus engaged in the ministry of the Gospel, and, we believe, are serving congregations very acceptably. Instead of throwing 9 straw in their way we would bid them God speed. If they can make men better in the Church than at the hearth- stone or the family altar let them doit. We are more anxious about the end than the means in this regard. The latest acquisition to the ministry of women is a pious Quakeress, Miss Sarah F. Smiley, a native of Philadelphia, who has almost literally taken Brooklyn by storm. In her presence and under her ministrations prejudices vanish like the dew before the rising sun. Having spent more than two years teaching and preaching to immense audiences in all the chief cities of the British Islands, and having occupied the pulpits of Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian churches there, she has been cordially welcomed by the ministers of different denominations in Brooklyn. For the past three weeks Miss Smiley has preached every night in the Simpson street Methodist Episcopal church, of which Rev. R. Meredith is pastor. She has also preached for Drs. Budington (Congregational) and Cuyler (Presbyterian), and there is a rumor that the Apostle of Plymouth is to invite her to occupy his platform and preach to his three thousand hearers. It {is said that her sermons are models in every respect. As logical as Jona- than Edwards, as fluent as Chalmers, as sim- ple and earnest as Spurgeon, as fervid as Summerfield, she entrances her audience from first to last. For real power and efficiency in the pulpit it is said that Miss Smiley has hardly an equal in the Christian ministry to- day. Her personnel is charming. About thirty years of age, she is healthy, cheerful and good looking. She dresses neatly in the conventional costume of the Friends. Her movements are all graceful, defying the criticism of the most fastidious. One en- thusiastic individual exclaimed, at the close of one of her sermons recently in Mr. Meredith's church, “I thought I was in heaven, listening toan angel.” This church has been greatly benefited under her preaching. Maoy have been revived and blessed, and not a few have been converted to God ‘“-outh hex inatru- / mentality. Dr. ee ne ae ios as tae Si a eh ee a ee ee Ce en eee gana De Chgler ye menipiey OP ge Presbytery is to pat him on trial to-morrow for his violation of church discipline in allowing a woman to preach in his pulpit. We sincerely hope these brethren will not allow themselves to be ea- snared as their Philadelphia brethren were who condemned George H. Stuart for singing hymns and sacred songs not found in their stereotyped books. If this work be of men it will come to naught, but if it be of God it cannot be overtbrown; and in advancing the cause of truth and righteousnces we are will- ing that women should have a hand as well as men. The Grand Jury of the Genoral Sessions and Its Work. The Grand Jury of the General Sessions yesterday brought into Conrt twenty-three indictments, all of which are understood to be against persons charged with implication im the municipal frauds, and through their fore- man, Dr. Comstock, asked a further extension of time to complete their momentous labors. Judge Bedford unhesitatingly acceded to the request and appointed to meet the Grand Jury again on Saturday, February 17, with the understanding that should they be pre- pared to request their final discharge before that day they shall notify the Court of that fact. The Sheriff, acting with the concur- rence of the District Attorney, refrained from making the arrests called for by the warrants yesterday, on the humane, if not generally respected, consideration that those of the prisoners: who might be prepared with bail would be unable to perfect the necessary bonds before Monday, and would hence be subjected to the hardship of imprisonment in Ludlow Street Jail for some forty-eight hours. To-morrow, however, Justice will lay her hitherto lenient hands on all the indicted par- ties who are still within her grasp, and from that time may ha dated. tha = commatizemeat of Se ‘practical solution of the intricate problem of our municipal frauds. The Committee of Seventy, with the best intentions, has failed to do more than con- found the confusion that has prevailed for the past six months. The politicians, with the worst intentions, have helped to befog the Committee of Seventy, for the purpose of screening the culprits. The Legislature has already given indications of the adoption of a do-nothing policy. It has remained for a resolute and fearless Grand Jury to accomplish the work in which so many have failed, and to bring to the sharp test of a criminal trial the men who are charged with one of the most comprehensive systems of public plunder that the history of the world can furnish. The Amusement Season. As we approach that gloomy season of Lent, so much dreaded by managers, musio and the drama seem to put on the gayest attire, and managerial promises assume more ambitious proportions. During the interval of rest that the public have enjoyed from opera & score or two of concerts served to keep alive the popular taste for music which Parepa, Nilsson and Wachtel developed in the early part of the season. Opéra bouffe and grand German opera were also fortunate enough to find such artistic representatives as Mlle. Aimée and Madame Fabbri. The future is bright with promise, and the close of the musical season will be even more brilliant than the commencement. This week Madame Parepa-Rosa and Mrs. Jenny Van Zandt, with their well appointed band of English opera artists, return to the Academy of Music fora short season, during which a fresh opera will be given every evening. The début of the distinguished baritone, Santley, in opera will be an interesting feature of this season. Mile. Nilsson will then bid farewell to New York, appearing in those favorite réles that won her enduring laurels before Christmas. Here we must give expression to a feeling of disappointment that this gifted artiste should not be heard tn her very best rile—that of Ophelia, in ‘‘Hamlet.” We understand that there is not the slightest probability of hearing this master work of Thomas, although it was promised ia the beginning of the season. The reasons alleged for the non-fulflment of this promise are that there is no-baritone in the company capable of undertaking the dle of Hamlet, and that the cost of bringing out the opera is too great. Both reasons are insufficient, as a baritone might be secured, and the public have already shown their liberality in patron- izing true art. At Easter comes the’ crowning feature of Italian Opera this season, A com- pany, comprising such artists as Madame Pa- repa-Rosa, Mrs. Jenny Van Zandt, Miss Ade- laide Phillips, Herr Wachtel and Mr. Santley, will take possession of the Academy of Music for four weeks. No stronger combination of great artists could be found, even in Europe. Then we may expect the avalanche of music that Gilmore proposes to hurl upon the world from his Boston Coliseum—a thundering and pyrotechnic finale to one of the most brilliant musical seasons on record. Even in the far East the divine art has enthroned itself and finds a host of worshippers in the temple erected for it by the liberal and cultivated tuler of Egypt. The enterprise of the Khe- dive, varied as are the objects to which it is directed, never was more powerfully exhibited than in the production of Verdi's last work, “aida.” The directors of our Academy of Music should give the New York public aa opportunity of hearing the last composition of the most dramatic of the Italian composers. In the dramatic world there a vi singular et gratifying placidity, nearly e princi- pen iin having secured pieces that will run for a considerable space of time. There- fore the changes are few and far between, A ripple of novelty in the way of changes in a cast or new appointments constitutes all. Mr. Wallack finds it hard to take ‘John Garth” away from his patrons. He can only succeed by promising them an attraction of equal strength, This he has discovered in “The Veteran,” which had a seventy-night run thir- teen years ago at Wallack’s old theatre, This play has been selected as the successor of “John Garth.” We leave for some future his- torian to write the decline and fall of “Humpty Dumpty,” as that period of deca- dence ia very remote. When the public tire of Fox and the Martens there will be a revolu. tion in the amusement world. “Divorce” is. gradually drawing towards its two hundredth, night at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, with qrowded houses. and ‘‘Jullua Coans.” in ite ‘a