The New York Herald Newspaper, March 17, 1872, Page 8

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. All business or news letter and telegraphic Gespatches must be addressed New York erat. Volume XXXVIL. «100+ sceeseseseceseereree NOs 97 = AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING, LO’S GARDEN, Broadway, NIB! Houston sts.—LA BELLE SAVAGE. heals mpcdipeadiveds ‘WOOD'S MUSKUM, Broad corner J0th st. —Perform- ‘ances afternoon and evenin; RKINGMEN OF NEW YORK, ST, JAMES’ THEAT! QM z - weetaonee 'RE, Twonty-cighth street and Broad- BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery—Burrato BiLt—JAOK ROBINGON AND His MONKEY. oe FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fc atreet.— ‘Tux New Daa or Drvonce.” a la OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—THR BALLET PAN- omime oF Humpry Domprty. LINA EDWIN'S THEATRE, 720 T Oy New Yorx. J Broadway,—Wircurs BOOTH’S THEAT! ‘Twenty-thira: — preg ear RE, ity-third st, corner Sixth a ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street—_ITALIAN Orxga—Favst. WALLAOCK’S THEATR! ot - Ps tt ng E, Broadway ani 18th street. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, corner of 8th av. and 23a at— Lata Rookn. MRS. F. B, CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Peer 0’ Day. PARK THEAT! ‘Opposite klyn.— burnt sae Sie Prac THEATRE COMIQUE, 614 Broadway.—Com 10 Vooar- ‘28u6, NEGRO ACT. AC. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Fourteenth st, and - ‘way.—NEGRO AOTS#—BURLESQUR, BALLET, £0. bai \. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE. Ni —_— FNxe@Ro EooRNtRICITIES, BURLESQUES, Need Pane 'BRYANT’S NEW OPERA HOUSE, S84 st. pend Tth ava.—BRranr's MINSTRELS, Dalat THIRTY-FOURTH STREET THEAT! ueaVAMinrY ENTERTAINMENT. Te DOS Third ave. \,8AN FRANCISCO MINSTREL nae uk SAN FRANCISCO Minormnca te a: + emer ay HALL, Fourteenth street—Gnanp Con- \ PAVILION, ¥ 5 PaeoeLTON, No, 685 Broadway, near Fourth st—Gnaxp NEW YORK CIRCUS, Fourteenta = “ERE RING, AcROBATS, £0. ae MORNE OF NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— (ENOE AND ART. \, DR. KAHN’S AN, ~ orcs rok NAR ATOMIOAL, MUSEUM, 745 Broadway. QUADRUPLE SHEBT. New York, Sunday, March 17, 1872. ee CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. Pacs. 1—Advertisements. 2—Advertisements, 3—Advertisements, 4—Advertisements, G—The State Capital: Excitement Among the Lobbyists Over the Wood Committee Revela- tions—Amusements—a Newark Mystery Ex- loded—The Newark Theatre Panic—News m Washington—Political Mace ana O’Balawin—Racit Notes—Bo- gus Medical Practitioners—Weather Re- Dorts—New York City News—Municipal Affairs—Newark Methodist Conference—The The Murder of Detective Lambrecht—The Women’s Institute—The Philadelptia Bur- giary Case—Misceliancous Telegrams, G—Religious Intelligence: March 17, Passion Sun- day; Religious Programme for To-Day— Thirty-fourth Street Syuagogue—Holy Ghost of Scripture. Ye—Another “Old Catholic: The French Abbé Michaud Interviewed by a HeRaLp OCorre- spondent—Literature: Criticisms, Chit-Chat and New Publications Received—An Eastern Treaty: Articles of Alliance Between Japan and Ohina—Obituary—What Newark Wants— A Double Burglary—Fire in Marion Street, S—Eaitorials: Leading Article, “Congress—The Tariff—American Oommerce—The Subsidy * System vs, the System of Buying Ships Where We Can Buy Them Cheapest’)—Amuse- ment Announcements, @—Editorials (continued from Eighth Page)—A Prisoner of War; Tae Swamp Angels and the HEAL; One of Our Correspondents Said To Be Captured by the Outlaws—Uable Tele- grams from Franea,. Engiand, Germany, Spain, Italy and Caba—Miscelianeons Tele- peor es Inteliigence—Business No- ices. 40—St. Patrick’s Day: Sketch of the Life and Work of Ircland’s Patroa Saint; The Pro- gramme for To-morrow—The Judiciary Com. mittee: Further Investigation of the Charges Against Judge Barnard—Interesting Proceed- ings in the New York and Brooklyn Courts— Mr. Miuer’s Defence—A Marrying Man—A Parcel Thief—Sink the Track—Another Aavo- cate of Quick Tranosit—Strange Fatality in Hoboken. 11—Financial and Commercial: Extraordinary Activity in Erie; Orders from Sau Francisco, London, Amsterdam, Frankfort and Berlin; Two Worlds Speculating in the Stock; The Bulls and Bears—The New York Custom House Investigation—A Mysterious Affair—A Merciless Husband—A Common Standard of ‘Time—Marriages and Deaths. 12—The Petroleum Ceara A New Departure by Pennsylvania Oil Producers; The Agita- on in New York—Shipping Intelligenco— Aavertigements, 413—Afric’s Golden Strand: Auriferous Discoveries in Southeastern Africa by Carl Mauch—sport- Ing at Nice and Monaco—The University Boat Race—Foreign Miscellaneous ltems—Adver- tisements, 14—Advertisements, 15—Advertisements, 16—Advertisements. Intelligence—- A Ctorster Voice rrom CoLocne.—The Archbishop of Cologne has issued an edict of excommunication against four professors in’ the University of Bonn for the offence of their having rejected the Roman dogma of Papal infallibility. It would be better for His Lord~ ship if he attempted to complete the building of the Cologne Cathedral, which remains un- finished since the year 1248, and thus prove that the Church is really infallible in the spirit of the Great High Priest, who said, “*Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up.” Tae June Estate Case.—The trial of the case of George Washington Bowen vs. Nelson Chase, which involves the title of the defendant to the estate of the late Madame Jamel, was brought to a close at a late hour last night in the United States Circuit Court, before Judge Shipman. The canse occupied no less than eight weeks, and during that time a large number of witnesses were examined on both sides, The investigation bas been without a result so far, as the jury disagreed and were discharged without being able to agree upon a verdict. Toe Present AND THE GeNERAL Orpen Busivess.—Ex-Collector Murphy’s testimony before the Custom House Investigating Com- mittee yesterday clearly demonstrates what we have maintained all along, that President Grant was in no wise responsible for the con- duct of Leet and Stocking in the general order business, It was quite unnecessary to prove the President’s innocence of complicity in the Custom House frauds, notwithstanding the clamors and misrepresentations of the partisan press; but nevertheless Mr. Murphy’s testimony will be read with pleasure by all whose respect for the Chief Magistrate of the nation is not lost in party rancor. It appears that last fall the President told Mr. Murphy that there was so much noise and scandal about “the young man Leet” it would be as well to get rid of that enterprising youth, Tbis Ought to be @ olingher. NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 1872QUADRUPLE SHEET. Oongrese—Tho Turif—Amorican Commerco— The Subsidy System vs. the System of Buying Ships Where We Can Buy Them Cheapest. During the last week there were some remarkable and hopeful proceedings and dis- cussions in both houses of Congress on ques- tions of the highest practical importance to the country. Mr. Sherman, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Senate, delivered on Friday last, in that body, the powerful and instructive argument published in yesterday's Hzratp in support of his new bill forthe modification of the existing tariff laws. He may be called either a moderate protectionist or a conserva- tive revenue reformer; for his aim is to relieve the countryas far as the necessities of the Treasury will safely allow, in reductions of ourexternal and internal taxes, with careful discriminations in favor of home manufactures, That he is on the right path in his half way policy between the extreme protectionists and the out-and-out free traders, can hardly be doubted, with the abundant evidence before us that without some compromise between these extremists weshall-have no reduction what- ever from this Congress of our internal or external taxations. But the substantial value of Mr. Sherman’s speech lies not so much in his particular system of-reductions as in his statistics of the national revenues, expendi- tures and liabilities, with his explanations thereof. In this exhibit he clearly shows that fifty millions at least of our present tariff and internal taxes may be wisely out off, and to this end we would suggest, while a com- promise is the only course of safety to the protectionist, it is a good step forward to the revenue reformer. Wise men adapt themselves to the conditions of the existing political situation, and solid reforms are gained only by gradual ap- proaches. From Mr. Sherman's clear and careful exposition of our superfluous revenues we hope that on the tariff and internal revenues we shall yet have some measures of practical relief to the country from this session of Con- gress, notwithstanding the serious drawback of the Presidential agitation. We have already discussed the great and encouraging victory gained in the House over the powerful land stealing coalition concerned in a notorious Wisconsin railway bill with an enormous grant of public lands attached. We are inclined to the belief that this vote means the absolate abandonment of these railway land jobs, although the land stealers are still a powerful party and appear to be strongly entrenched in the Senate. The casting out of this Wisconsin land-plundering job by the House is nevertheless a deadly blow to all the rings of land stealers, and we cannot believe that the House will betray the country by retreating from the strong position it has gained in dislodging these Wisconsin land grabbers. After this defeat of the railway land subsidy alliance we hope there will be a vigorous effort made to put an end to these cash subsidies to steamship monopolies, There was an interesting running debate in the House of Representatives the other day on an amendment to the Post Office Appropri- ation bill, increasing the subsidy to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for its China line from five hundred thousand to one million of dollars a year, and making the service fort- nightly instead of monthly. The argument advanced in support of this increased subsidy was that, having been completely cut out of the Atlantic traffic by the superior subven- tions of England, Germany and France to their steamship lines, the only fleld left open to us is that of the Pacific, with its inviting trade of China and Japan, and that even in this field, without liberal subsidies, we cannot compete with England. Mr. Brooks flatly tells us that this Pacific Mail Steamsbip Com- pany of ours cannot maintain itself against the subsidies of England unless it is supported by Congress. Nor is this all that Mr. Brooks tells us touching this conflict for the mighty trade of the Pacific. He is ready to live or to die in support of this steamship subsidy system. He will go down to posterity in its support with Clay and Webster and Crittenden. He could tell gentlemen that the Collins line failed with its subsidies because of its bad management, and that this is a war between the Stars and Stripes and the Cross of St. George for the trade of six hundred millions of people; and he could tell the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Morgan) that the democratic party never could be maintained and never ought to be main- tained when it arrayed itself against the com- merce of the country and in support of the Cross of St. George. Now, bearing it in mind that Mr. Brooks has just returned from his interesting and instructive travels in China and Japan, that he knows from actual obser- vation the value of the trade of those swarm- ing nations and the activity of the Cross of St. George in those parts, from Hong Kong to Shanghae and Yokohama, we must admit that “he speaks as one having authority.” And yet the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Morgan) makes some telling points on the other side. He says that the first subsidy of Collins—three hundred thousand dollars—was used up in the lobby before he got it. Of courae no man would charge corrupt practices upon members ; but they all knew that the lobbies were packed with plunderers, and that, in short, this thing was not democratic, was not republican, but would be believed by the country to bea scheme of plunder devoid of shame. These are strong words; but can it be said that the gentleman from Ohic has overdrawn the picture? Who can estimate the pickings and perquisites of the last ten years of the men and women of the Washington lobby? ‘Have they not their fingers in every pie?” Some seven millions two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in gold, for instance, was the price we paid tor the boundless ice-bound and snow- covered Territory of Alaska, of which the Czar got seven millions, or less, and the Washington lobby the odd change of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, put in the bill to cover these contingencies, And why did the St, Domingo scheme, at the cash offer of the republic of Dominica for less than two millions fail? Not because Fabens and Caze- neau and their fellows had staked off all the valuable town lots on the seacoast; nor because of Mr. Sumner’s fears of a war with Hayti; but because there was little or no cash in this thing for the Washington lobby. But these steamship subsidies are all cash, and they are pil engineered by the Jobby. On the other heavy dotations between the Parliament and the royal mail steamship lines in the English subsidies, and, therefore, as we cannot com- pete with the Cross of St, George over this subsidy system, we are in favor of a substitute. What shall it be? We like Mr. Coburn’s proposition to admit foreign built vessels to American registration, to buy ships where we can buy them cheapest; and we can buy them at Glasgow at one-half the cost of building them here. We agree with Mr. Beck, of Ken- tucky, that this proposition submitted by Presi- dent Grant to Congress two years ago, is one of the most sensible recommendations he ever made. We are glad to see, too, that nothwith- standing the ignoring of this recommendation 80 long by Congress, the President has not abandoned it; but that the Secretary of the Treasury (doubtless under the President's in- structions) has prepared a bill to give registers to foreign built vessels owned by citizens of the United States under certain restrictions. We are gratified, also, to learn that the Senate Commitiee on Commerco are preparing a bill providing to take from bond all material and supplies that enter into shipbuilding without tax, to allow a re-registration to American ships which changed their flag during our civil war to escape a registering with those Ala- bama claims, and to allow the purchase of foreign built ships and their registry as Ameri- can ships, on the condition that they enter into the foreign merchant trade. These prop- ositions cover the system which, we think, may be wisely adopted in lieu of the steam- ship subsidy system, upon which we have spent many millions to little profit except to the lobby. Subsidy is an offensive term in a republican system of government. It applies to the hiring of the Hessians by King George to fight us in our War of Independence ; and hiring ships to revive American commerce is not much better, for the object in view, than hiring Hessians. And if we admit the prin- ciple of subsidies where is it to stop? If we give a subsidy to a steamship by what princi- ple of fair play and equal rights can we deny a subsidy to a sailing ship, a Hudson River barge or an Erie Canal boat. And if, in admitting the equal right to subsidies to every- thing on the water, salt water and fresh water, where is the constitutional provision which limits us to railroad subsidies on the land? The truth is, that if an Erie Canal boat has— and it has—just as good claim to a subsidy as a steamship, the Academy of Music, the Bowery Theatre and Bryant's Minstrels have as good a claim as arailroad. The United States mail dodge for steamships and rail- roads will not do, for you may apply to it everything, This subsidy system properly belongs to the Czar of Russia, to the Brother of the Sun and Moon of China, and it wag a becoming feature of the imperial system of Louis Napoleon, in his subsidies to kings and princes, and to steamships, opera houses and theatres. To be perfectly fair in the subsidy business we must adopt the imperial system of Napoleon or the more comprehensive system of the Paris Commune, the grand idea of which was everything for everybody from the government, and a fair division all round every Saturday night, And so are we opposed to the favoritisms of this steamship subsidy system, and in favor of liberty to buy ships in every market, and of equal rights to all our people onthe Jand and the sea, President Thiers’? Personality and Protece tionism in Parliament. M. Thiers continues to exercise his personal citizen right of debate in the French Legisla- tive Assembly independent of the executive impersonality which attaches to his official position with respect to the proceedings of the Parliament. It may be said, indeed, that the French Chief of State violates a pledge which he was understood to have given the Assem- bly, to the effect that he would not interfere in the business of the House committees, and that he does this through his ceaseless anxiety for the public weal—the most reasonable and patriotic excuse which can be rendered in his behalf. President Thiers delivered a speech to the Assembly yesterday on the subjects, or twin subject, of the financial condition and commercial policy of the republic, The facts are that M. Thiers wishes to raise the sum of one hundred and eleven millions of francs for ‘Treasury purposes, and that he thought it better to explain the modus operandi of the project viva voce than to entrust the -elaboration of the scheme to the brain and tongue of a Minister of Finance. In this he was, it may be, right, for he certainly came to the point in very brief order of nar- rative. He proposes to raise fifty-five millions of francs by the taxation of textiles and fifty- six millions by taxing raw materials for use in manufacture, the weight of the de- mand falling, of course, on the industrial productive interests of France and against the trade profits of most of the sur- rounding nations. President ‘Thiers wishes to go back to protection. Great Britain wishes the French people to advance to the perfection of free trade, according to the principle of the treaty inception of the theory arranged by Bonaparte and Cobden. In this is to be found the real social difficulty of France just at present—perhaps we may say the governmental danger of the republic also. A Common Sranparp oF Timg.—An in- telligent correspondent sends us a communi- tion on the necessity of a universal standard of time. The suggestion, though novel, Is by no means trivial, and we doubt not that the day will come, perhaps soon, when all nations will be guided by a single chronometer. ‘‘The enormous extension of railroad systems, to- gether with the danger to them of varying standards of time,” is one among many reasons assigned by our correspondent, and certainly, if we reflect on the annual loss of life alone due to watch mistakes on our great lines of railway, his ideas are of practical value, if they can be carried out. The diffi- culty of using the proposed meridian of Greenwich as the initial one for such a universal standard would ‘seem to be very great. But if each nation could use the time of its own central meridian but little confusion would arise. America and Russia, in consequence of their great breadth of ter- ritory, would be most embarassed, but in this country the change from the old to the new would, even on opposite sides of the country, only be that of one and a half hour, Or if wo took the Washington time aq the standard hand, this third house does not come in for its | the change would be at greatest only about three hours. The sabject is certalaly worthy of ventilation, Another Outrage by the Lewery Gans. Another curious chapter in the romantic story of the Lowery gang is furnished in the despatches reporting the capture of our enter- prising correspondent, who sought an inter- view with the outlaws, and was professedly taken by them on suspicion of being a spy. If we may trust this report, the swamp angels purpose detaining him for a week until his identity as a Hxratp corre- spondent is to them satisfactorily established. At present we do not undertake to vouch for the veracity of this story. A great journal like the Hggatp is the receptacle of informa- tion from a variety of sources, and must, of necessity, employ all those who are likely to serve its purpose. We may have honest and dishonest correspondenta—corre- spondents who to further some private object of their own might impose upon us. We therefore give this report for what it is worth. But taking it to be a truthful account, if such a combination as the Lowery gang can exist in a State of the United States beyond the reach of justice it is time that people should be shocked at this disgrace to Ameri- can civilization. What, such a squad of ban- ditti capturing victims with impunity within two seconds from the capital by telegraph and twenty-four hours by rail, and these victims laced without the reach of succor! t is monstrous. The annexation of Mexico to the United States is rightly considered to be manifest destiny. But, with these reports about the Lowery gang, it is idle to talk about the United States extend- ing a protectorate over Mexico. We must first be able to protect the people of North Carolina, This state of affairs in a State which {s in the centre of civilization seems scarcely possible. Now, compare the enterprise of the Hraxp with the inanlty of the government, Asin the case of Livingstone, when it senta correspondent to Africa, morally compelling the English Royal Geographical Society to send an expedition at the expense of about thirty thousand pounds in search of the great explorer, so in the case of the Lowery band it leads the crusade for the honor of civilization. A Disciple of Saint Dominic. The Roman Church, which has given us so many pulpit orators of the highest school, again claims our attention in the name of a friar of the Order of St. Dominic, hailing from the land of his namesake—Burke, of Curran, Grattan and Sheridan—that is, from Ireland. As a churchman, he comes to us from the sanctuary of St, Peter's, at Rome, with the stamp of orthodoxy engraven on his record, and when, therefore, his full, melo- dioug voice is lifted we can feel that it utters the teaching, bound within rigid dogmatisma, which for so many centuries has echoed within the basilicas of the Eternal City. It would be a superfluous task to compare the eloquent Galway man with the mighty preachers whose names glitter like stars of various magnitudes through the night of the perished centuries; but the thought is unavoid- able, and the Roman churchman of to-day must suffer from a comparison with such great Fathers as Chrysostom, Augustine or Bernard, or the more modern names of Bossuet, Massillon and Lacordaire, because they can with difficulty be removed from’ the plane of vision, But we can speak of Father Tom _ Burke's oratory as it strikes the ear and appeals to the sense and the mind. With much of the classic dignity, whicb, in his case, does not mean classic coldness, he approaches his subject—so old a one—and with a perfect grace of gesture and rich modulation of tone, tinctured pleasantly with Hibernian roundness, attracts the attention of his hearers, Then, with that magnetic fervor—the true talisman of genius—presently he dilates forcibly, flo- ridly if you wish, on his theme, and thencefor- ward carries the aroused, excited sympathies along over a full river of thought, with a mas- tery of tht chords of the heart, touching as he goes, the lively, the passionate, the sad and the severe, until he seems to have exhausted the range of impulse, all blended dexterously in the doctrinal lesson he seeks to inculcate. It will be remarked on hearing him that the stock in trade of our best popular preachers here, the anecdote, the allusion to living facts in the changing world around us, is made by him to subserve the immatable didactics of Roman theology, illustrating vividly a maxim for which that Church contends—namely, that in spite of changing thoughts, habits and skies, itis ‘‘not for an age, but for all time,” President Thiers and the Pope. Ata reception given yesterday President Thiers spoke of the Roman q uestion, and in the course of his remarks took the ground that Catholicism was a tradition and an ele- ment of strength to France. What the Presi- dent means by tradition is not exactly clear; and how a mere tradition can be an element of strength to France we do not pretend to know. It is probable that when the full text of the President's speech is before us we shall find that he spoke something slightly differ- ent, What M. Thiers really thinks about the Papacy is nosecret. It is known that he him- self is now and long has been a disciple of the school of Voltaire. But he believes, as did his great hero, the first Napoleon, that religion must not be ignored in the construc. tion of any government machine. Inthe past the history of France has been linked with the history of the Papacy; France has often been helpful to the Papacy and the Papacy has often been helpful to France; and President Thiers is not willing that France should lose the proud position which she has so long main- tained and honored as the champion of the Church. How the Papacy is to become what it once was we do not see. What France can do to help it we do not know. The Pope, we know, still looks to France for help; but Bis- marck and Emperor William must be consulted before President Thiers takes the first step. A French republic restored the Pope in 1849; but what was possible in 1849 is not possible in 1872. Toe “Gzip Catnonio” Movement im Franoz.—The Abbé Michaud, a priest of con- aiderable prominence in France, is the latest dis- tinguished recruit to the Dullinger movement. Discontented and restive ever since the last Goperal Council at Boma, thig French prigat at length severed his connection with the eternal Church, and is now enrolled under the “old Catholic” banner of the venerable German re- former. Ina letter which we publish in an- other part of this morning's paper we give the sentiments of the Abbé himself as expressed in an interview accorded to a HERALD corre- spondent in Paris, In this he explains why he left the Church of Rome, bis alarm at the power of the Pope, future plans for the purifi- cation of the Church and other important points which have entered into controversy between the Catholic Church and the party known, or desirous of being known, as the “old Catholic” party. The interview is very Interesting, and proves that the Dillinger movement has supporters and advocates on French as well as German soil, The Wonderful Success of Italian Opera in This City. Crowded houses in the middle of Lent, with such hackneyed operas as ‘‘Trovatore,” “Martha,” “Traviata,” ‘Faust’ and “Lucia,” show the eagerness of the New York public for Italian opera, and the field of triumph open here for 4 really great artist like Nilsson. Asthe engagement of the Swedish Nightin- gale draws to a close and the date of her final farewell to her myriad admirers in this city draws near, the enthusiasm of the public seems to be on the increase, and every one rushes to the Academy to enjoy for the last time the grandest impersonations of well known réles ever presented to an operatic audience. One would think that the enthu- slasm of the public would close, or at least cool down, after the final exit of this peerless prima donna; but the subsorip- tion books for the Easter season of opera, in which Madame Parepa-Rosa, Miss Adelaide Phillipps, Wachtel, Santley and Herrmanns appear, tell a different story. The subscription for that season already reaches the high figure of twenty-seven hun- dred dollars for each performance, and every day increases the amount. The people have now become thoroughly awakened to the impor- tance of Italian Opera as the highest and most enjoyable form of musical entertainment, and it will be only the fault of future managers if this feeling be allowed to die out. The Easter season will be one of unexampled brilliancy, not only on account of the immense strength of the company, but also in relation to the works to be produced. “The Huguenots,” “William Tell” and ‘Don Giovanni” represent the chefs d'euvre of Meyerbeer, Rossini and Mozart, and certainly none of Verdi’s other Operas can campare with his ‘‘Rigoletto.” It will be a change for the better from the worn- out 7épertoire of the present season, and in respect to the representation and mounting of these operas the enterprise and business talent of the manager, Mr. Carl Rosa, will be a sufficient guarantee that every detail will be attended to, and that chorus, orchestra and mise en scene will be eminently satisfactory. The prospects for the fall season are also bright and hopeful. The announcement of the engagement of Mile. Pauline Lucca, Baroness Van Rhaden, has created quite a stir in ope- ratic circles. It is to be hoped that the di- rectors of the Academy will do all in their power to support and encourage the manage- ment, and that no petty obstacles will be per- mitted to interfere with the plans for the season. The genius of Nilsson has proved a potent talisman to awaken the dormant ope- ratic public and dispel the Rip Van Winkle torpor that prevailed so long in the opera house ofthe metropolis. The stock of the Academy has advanced over fifty per cent in value since the Swedish Nightingale first commenced to sing there, and the most eager and enthusi- astic spirit is evinced by the public to uphold and make permanent the good work she began—namely, the establishment of Italian opera on a firm basis. At the matinée yester- day, as an instance, there was such a crowded house as has very rarely been known before, and ‘‘Mignon” was received with more than usual enthusiasm. Seats were sold in many cases at the high figure of eight dollars, and hundreds were unable to obtain even favorable standing room. But to keep up this popular recognition of the importance of Italian opera the stockholders of the Academy must, first of all, select a manager In whom they can have confidence and then assist him by every means in their power. An im- presario should be given complete con- trol in an opera house, and should be permitted to exercise his own judgment in re- spect to engagements, arrangements and other details of management, The public alone are the rightful judges of operatic talent, and no individual efforts can force them to endorse aught but first class talent. With Lucca it is not unlikely that the no less celebrated prima donna, Ilma Di Murska, may be engaged, so that we shall have at the Academy two of the greatest artists in the world in the same troupe. Mr. Jarrett, into whose hands the business management of the season has been entrusted, has already made arrangements in London by which he can secure the principal members of Her Majesty’s Opera Company, in order to make the ensemble as complete and agsatrong as possible. It may come to pass, and at no distant date, that the queens of the operatic stage will divide their time between New York, London and St. Petersburg. Cer- tainly the public here are willing to patronize to the fullest extent even the most costly ope- ratic enterprise. A British Iron-Clad War Ship Ashbore—The Chemistry of Nature and the Compass. ' By telegram from Malta, through the cable, we are informed that the British iron-clad war ship Lord Clyde is ashore in the Mediter- ranean, near the island of Pantellaria, The Lord Clyde is a naval armored monster of four thousand tons burden, mounting twenty- three guns. Great Britain is not exactly for- tunate in the experimental voyages of iron ships of this class in the waters or latitude of the Mediterranean. It may be that she is not more unfortunate than would be any other Power under similar circumstances in the same direction. In the very earliest days of the development of iron-clad navies in Europe it was urged by some of the Old World scien- tists that the ships would be liable to the re- ception of sudden accident when in the neigh- borhood of land of volcanic formation—In- deed, when off the Mediterranean islands and coast generally—in consequence of the de- rangement of the compass by magaetlo attrac- tion, no matter how completely, spparently, the ingtrament may have heen leolsted. even "a if at an elevation. It will be seen by thd Heratp to-dsy that the island of Pantellaris is of volcanic formation completely, Are the hidden laws and forces of nature still impene- trable to mortal ken, or was Isaac Newton himself deceived when he imagined he saw the light of the arcana in what he regarded as the lua vera which enlightened humanity? Our Religious Press Table. In resumiog our weekly review of the relf- gious press we have the pleasure to state that the Hzratp’s suggestion in regard to reports of revivals has been generally responded te all over the country. From the statements we give it will be seen that this precious work of grace has not been confined to particular localities, nor to have been the result of momentary impulse or special infatuation, It has been the fruit of a generous growth of good seed sown by patient hands. It may seem an anomaly that oar leading religious journals do not confine themselves, in their special editorials, to the discussion of prominent religions topics, but diverge inte the muddy pool of politics whenever an oppor- tunity occurs to advance a particular sectarian interest, Yet it is unfortunately the case. For example, the Golden Age (Theodore Tilton) asks, ‘‘Is it malice or madness?” and thus discourses upon that text :— ‘The self-conatituted champions of General Gi take every opportunity of representing the: It! republicans as bolters irom the and determined enemies, and insinuating that they, have formed a secret alliance witn the demoorats,, in whose interes: they are carrying on & merciless crusade. And goes on to say :— The conduct of the administration party in regard tothe French arms scandal has done more to arous® and confirm the worst suspicions against its hon- esty and more to defeat the renomination of Gen- eral Grant and more to disorganize the republicam party in the event of his renomination than any- thing the liberal republicans have ever done or pos sibly can do. The ChristiaN™ Union (Henry Ward Beevher) takes a different view of General Grant and his administration, and talks in this wise :— We firmly believe that, under General Grant’s administration, the republican party has conducted the country through a period of resettlement at ccess Which are not un- worthy of the reputation achieved by it in the stormy days of civil convulsions. What correction of abuses comes to be demanded will be achieved. It is the force of public opinion outside of the govern- ment which fills its sails and gives it power to move. We do not deprecate the criticisms of able journats. Just as fast as they can raise the tone of puulic sen- timent in the community they will secure the exe- cution of that sentiment by the administration. {n short, the republican , In our judgment, represents ideas and policies indispensable to the growth of justice and liberty in this great Common- wealth, It was never more fitted to carry out the bess thoughts of our wisest men, And in looking about for a leader in the coming campaign we know of no one So likely to secure success as the man who in his miiitary life, however slow or cumbrous in his methods, seems to have invariably come out vic- torious in the end. When the politico-religious tournament is te be settled by such champions as Tilton and Beecher there can be but little doubt about how the engagement will end, so far as they are concerned, The Liberal Christian (Dr. Bellows) bravely abjures politics, and gives some timely suge gestions in regard to the duty of parents in culturing the minds of their children, and giv- ing those tender minds a proper religious direction. Dr. Bellows says :— We are wholly convinced that the tender minds of young children require the influence of domesuc affection mixed with religious elementary tstruc- tion to make it suitabie, and to adapt it to their wants. No! can at all take the place of mothers,) except fathers, and they poorly. The folly of leav- img. young minds before eight and ten years old without gentle, attractive and tender views of re- lgion, of God's 1atherhood and the simple duties of truth, obedience, gentleness, the example of Jesus, the use of simple prayers, is sufictenuy proved by discovering that early impressions and negiects survive all others and have an influence for good when wisely made, for evil when neglected or per- verted, that nothing can parallel, Dr. Bellows should deliver a public lecture upon this interesting subject. No doubt it would have beneficial results. The ‘Twin Serpents of Tenedos” is the chief topic of the Independent. It is not ex- actly a scriptural article, because it has wrought the Tammany and Erie rings into a Laocoon, and preaches from that standpoint. Our American Laocoon, proceeds the Indepen- dent, has been more fortunate than the old. The twin serpents, Tammany and Erie, which had en- twined his limbs, have been removed, and our in- terest is now centred on them, rather than on their victim. The first was months ago torn away, and leit writhing and bleeding and almost dead on the sands, The latter, more MT eat if not more ven- omous, maintatned till Monday last its hold, though fighting at evident disadvantage since its slimy twin had been dislodged, After referring to the deposition of Jay Gould and the elevation of General Dix the Independent remarks :— It was a bold and successful conspiracy in the interests of the stockholders, and mainty of the Englisn strckholders, led %, Mr. McHenry, Tae defeat of Tammany answered the demands ot poeti- cal justice. It was secured by a square fight before the bar of the popular judgment and of the courts of law. The deleat of the Erie robbers was fore- boded by an assassin’s bullet, and was achieved by adark conspiracy, which, we will hope, used none but honorable means to accomplish its iaudaple end. It does not satisfy our moral sense, like the over overthrow; but we equally hail the result. The Methodist is startling upon the subject of “Romanism and Methodism Among the Blacks,” beginning thus:— The great scheme of the Roman Church for prose- lyting our freedmen hus excited profound concern among our Protestant bodies. [¢ will, therefore, do some good. It will rouse the zeal and liberality of the churehes, and will probably farther tend todo away those unchristian repugnances toward colored Christians which still disparage them in our eccie- siastical organizations, and naturally dispose thera toward bodies which, like the Papal Cburc’, dis- own any individious discriminations on account of color or caste. Bad as Popery ist deserves credit in this respect. And closing thus pery has been lavishing its money on the eccles inaneoal training of colo ated in Europe for ite present American scheme, t American men and means meet them here inthe open fleld. Romust ecclesiastics, writing home to Europe, have ao- knowledged that Methodism is their most formida- ble antagonist in the New World, They and other observers have looked for the mightiest religious contest of the country between tae two antagonistic forces, That contest, like the greatest civil war of Ego seems now to be connected witn the fate of the Africo-American race. Our men, therefore, and our money and the deliberations and elections of our highest councils should be wisely and energet~ ically directed to this grand emergency. Let the colored race rejoice. They have excited an entertaining discussion between the two prominent religious sects in America— the Roman Catholics and the Methodists. The Methodist is savage upon the late Tame many Ring-masters. It says :— lothed in prison ‘Tnese luxurious culprits must be c tne State Prison, by the costume and set to more excusable ignorant, mise ho there expla' uct Bay tg wilt vindicate the laws more than all the preaching of the land. This will be bad for the Methodist preach- ers, and will not, probably, do much toward the salvation of the sinners of the Tammany stripe who still live. The question of the “Great Discussion at Rome” is the theme of an elaborate and well prepared article in the Observer. The great question is, ‘Was St. Peter ever at Rome?” It was discussed alike by both Catholics and Protestants, and, says the writer (Dr. Prime) in the Observer, the strangest thing of all is that the debate occurred in the city of Rome itself. Dr. Prime continues:— ‘The Catholics have been tremendously worsted. TL hear, om very peed authority, chat some of thea mit that tney have adi hada fearful blow. But per- bapa the moa Wonderlul nari of the discussion ia