The New York Herald Newspaper, April 18, 1872, Page 10

8 EW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. N THE DAILY HERALD, pudlished every day in the ear, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $12. Volume XXXVIL AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and 13th street.— Lonpow AssuRANcE, LINA EDWIN'S THEATRE, 72) Broadway.—ALappiy— Vow-au-Vent. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, La.ta Rookn. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Houston sts.—Pour a ACADEMY OF M Fourteenth —street—Musican AND Dramatic ENTERTAINMENT, * WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broad formances FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— Annex 47. ST. JAMES THEATRE, Twenty-cighth street and Broadway.—MacEvoy's Nzw Hinersicox, ROWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—A. 8. Bounouaws—tax Jouy Gommux OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway.—Tax ‘omic Ov Humery Domety. BOOTH'S THEATRE, Twenty-third st., ay. x HuNoinack, ‘ner of 8th av, and 234 st.— etween Prince aud corner 30th st.—Per- Ska or lex, .—New York Batuer Pan. corner Sixth MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN Divowcn. PATER THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway. mic Vouat- asus, Neco Acts, &¢,—Buack Even 5 UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Fourteenth st. and Broad- away.—Necno Acts—Burixsaur, BaLLer, &c, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA I eGno EcoRNtRIciTiEs, BURLES: E, No. 201 Bowery.— c. BRYANT'S NEW OPERA HO: nd 7th avs.—Bryant's Mrxste SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HALL, 585 Broadway.— Tux San FRancisco Minst STEINWAY HALL, Fi BTRVMENTAL Concent, ASSOCIATION HALL, 23d ‘str Grand Concent, NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— MENCK AND ART, QUADRUPLE SHERT. New York, Thursday, April 18, 1872. 3d st., between 6th | nth street.—Vocat ann Iy- t and Fourth avenue.— CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S HERALD. The Solid Men of New York at Cooper | ment in consequence to Mr. Belmont’s Institute and Their Endorsement of | National Committee and the waiting demo- General Grant’s Administration. We devote a large proportion of our avail- cratic party—waiting, like Mr. Micawber, for “something to turn up,” and looking for their able space this morning to the speeches and | 4liverance to the anti-Grant republicans. other proceedings of the mass meeting last night at Cooper Institute in vindication of the administration of General Grant and in his support as the people’s candidate for another Presidential term. Our report of this meeting will show that it wasan assemblage largely representing the intelligence, the capital, the business interests and the substantial citizens of New York; that they fully comprehend the good work for the city and the country achieved by General Grant as the head of the national government, and that the speeches and the resolutions of the meeting speak the common judgment of the country, as far as made known in the recent State elections and in the conven- tions of the republican party. A meeting such as this, in advance of the nom- ination of the Presidential candidate of either of our two great political parties, is an extraor- dinary event; but when revolutionary dis- turbances are afoot our solid and responsible citizens are quick to take the alarm and come to the front, in the expression of their judg- ment on public men and public affairs, Such were the elements and the spirit and such the proceedings of this administration meeting. It was an assemblage of tho solid men of the metropolis, its capitalists, mer- chants, manufacturers, mechanical, profes- sional and working men generally, who are satisfied with General Grant's administration. Tt was not a meeting of office-holders in opposition to a meeting of disap- pointed _office-seekers. it was an affair contrived and _ controlled outside the Custom House, though in opposition to the late affair of the anti-Grant liberals, or reform republicans. These malcontents were nevertheless present in considerable num- bers, and did what they could, in their cheers for certain leaders of the Cin- cinnati movement, to neutralize the endorsement of General Grant. But still the overwhelming pressure of this assemblage, inside and outside the building—as a pub- lic demonstration for Grant, against a small eh ek PAGE 1—Advertisements. R—Advertisements, 2—Advertisements. 4—Advertisements. 5—Washington: A Civil Service Reform Bill in the House; The Treaty of Wuashington—The Money Lock-Up: The Little Four Million Freak of Ursus Major; What a Bear Does When Short of Stock; Evidence of Henry N. Smith Before the hank ing and Currency Committee—Grant: Monster Administration Meeting at the Cooper Institue Last Evening; Philadelphia vs. Cincinnati; All the Acts of the Administration Reviewed and Eulogized, 6—Grant Meeting (Continu vom Fifth Page) — Serious Accidents in Jerse J—North Carolina: The R » Conven- tion—Illinois: Gor ‘3 Letter Creating a Stir—Tl State Con- vention at New Orleans—The Movement—Miscellaneous Political Notes— Amusements—Art Matters—Street Cars: A Sweeping Reformation to be Enforced; Meet- fog of the Board of h—The Comptroller and the Excise Mo! e Comptroller's Payments—*Lord Geor; ordon” in Minne- soia. 8—Editorials: Leading Article, “The Solid Men of New Yark at Cooper Institu and Their En- dorsement of General tion” —Amusement Announcements, 9—Editorial (Continued from hen Alabama Claims—Cabdle Tel Jand, France, Spain, German) War in Mexico—Misceilaneous Telegrams— Business Notices. 20—Fanny Hyde: Yesterday's Proceedings in the ‘Trial of the Alleged Murderess of George W. Watson; The Defence Hereditary Insanity— Lydia Shermat the Prisoner Before the New Haven Court Plot: Thickens—Lonisiana Jockey Club: Third Day of the Meeting; Grand Attendance and Exciting Contests—An Un- founded Charge ental Hallucination—Res- cuing Prisoners from Ward's Island—Railroad Slaughter in J ¥ B1—Louisiana Jock ab (continued from Tenth Page)—Financial and Comme 1: Money Still ier, with Loans at § per Cent; Stocks Active, Higher and Strong; Mr. Bout- we Contribution to the Serenity of the Day; The Pi of Averages 1l11—Meeting of the Board of Education—The Normal Col- lege Alumni—Suicide by Taking Poison—Foot- pads at Work—Stricken with Death—Mar- riages and Deaths, 12—The State Capital: Backdown of the Senate be- fore the Seventy Solons; The Charter to be Reported as It Passed the Assembly; Vander- bill's Peculiar Rapid Transit Bill on Its Pas- sage—Shipping Intelligence—Advertisements, 13—Disraeli’s Manchester Speech: The Cost of English Royalty and American Republicanism | Compared; The Alabama Claims; The United States Cannot Recede—Inte ings in the United Stat York Courts—Yorkville Will—The E: fe in Asylum. Advertisementa. 14—Proceedings in the Boards of Aldermen and Assistant Aldermen—Advertisements, 15—Advertisements, 16—Acivertisements. Cineynnati sting Proceed- | upreme and New | rt—A Stolen | York Lying- | Robbing a Safe— | Tae Warn Srreer Sprcunators were in eestasies yesterday over a report that the administration at Washington had backed down on the question of claims for consequen- tial damages and would not insist upon their admission at the Geneva Conference. It seems that the Cincinnati movement contemplates | opposition to these indirect claims on the ground that the sentiment of the commu- nity is against enforcing them. It would bea shrewd move of the administration did it fore- see the tendency of public opinion and get the inside track of the sorcheads after all, body of disappointed and over-ambitious politicians, ventilating their petty grievances to the amused and sympathizing democracy— will be apt to have a good effect upon these anti-Grant reformers even in their Cincinnati Convention. It may be said, however, that political mass meetings in New York city signify little or nothing as expressions of the public sentiment of the country; that here not only can the managers of a powerful political party, with the aid of fireworks and Chinese lanterns, muster at any time a grand mass mect- ing, but that an adventurer with a new idea of any sort, or a mounte- bank whose notoriety has come before him, or a feminine apostle of woman's rights, with a little advertising, can draw a multitude of thousands, and frequently with a requisition of twenty-five or fifty cents upon the spectator. But there have been, nevertheless, on great | occasions in this city, from time to time, such | demonstrations of the public sentiment of this community as have fairly awakened or reflected the prevailing popular inspiration of the city, of the State or of the nation. Such was the spontaneous and overwhelming popu- lar assemblage in Union square in April, 1861, on the announcement of the fall of Fort Sumter, and in support of Abraham Lincoln's proclamation calling for volunteers to main- tain the authority of the national government in the rebellions Southern States. That meeting was the signal for the gen- eral uprising of the loyal States in support of Lincoln as the leader of the Union-cause. In 1856 the initial meet- ing in this city at Cooper Institute, in advo- cacy of ‘Fremont, the Pathfinder,” as the first Presidential candidate of the republican party, distinctly foreshadowed, in its spirit and enthusiasm, the near approach’ of our great anti-slavery revolution. And, without multi- plying examples, we need only revert to the anti-Tammany Cooper Institute meeting of | September last to remind this people of the sweeping revolution then and there inaugnrated in reference to the administration of our city government. As distinctly as that meeting of September last expressed the indignation of the honest masses of this community at the astounding disclosures of the corruptions and crimes of the Tammany Ring, this meeting of last night was an expression of the confidence of the great body of our substantial citizens in the honesty of General Grant’s administration and in the safety of all the great interests of the people under his management of their nations! affairs. At the late anti-Grant meeting Messrs. Trum- bull and Schurz presented a schedule of reforms as among the good intentions of the EXPERIMENTAL Cuarnter.— | The Conference Committee at Albany have agreed upon the shape in which the charter of the Committee of Seventy shall be passed, | if passed at all. The Senate amendments are | receded from, the Comptroller and President | of the Department of Public Works go out and | take their chances of reappointment after the | May election; the Commissioners of Public | Safety are to be appointed by the Mayor, | with the approval of the Board of Aldermen, instead of by two of the, Judges of the Superior Court. The charter as it now stands fastens the experiment of cumu- | lative voting on the city and abolishes one of the best boards in the city—that of the De- partment of Docks. If the Senate and Assem- | bly agree to the report of the Committee of | Conference the bill will go in this shape to the Governor. If he gives it his signature it will become a law, and if it becomes a law the people of New York will in two years’ time | clamor for its repeal. Pourrican Conrrpence Games. —The Chicago Inter-Ocean (administration) reviews the sev- | eral counts brought against General Grant by | its contemporary, the Trilune, and concludes that “the feeling of confidence in President Grant will re-elect him.’? And that feeling of confidence does not appear to be any sort of a “confidence game’ either—unless the game at Cincinnati may be so regarded, But there arc | ® good many little “private games’ going on | ainong politicians about these d. some 80 artfully conducted by the political thimble- riggers that it is difficult to tell where the new party which is to be ushered into life at Cincinnati. Against these shadowy promises this Grant meeting presents the substantial performances of the administration in civil service reform, in revenue reform, in reforms | in all the departments of the government and in all the measures thereof at home and abroad. But with all the complaints and all the promises of Messrs, Trumbull and Schurz, and with all the reforms which they have undertaken, it appears, from the ning Post, that their Cooper Institute meeting was a failure in fail- ing to break ground boldly and strongly in favor of free trade, From the same authority last evening this Grant meeting was warned that free trade will save or destroy the republi- can party in the impending contest. This timely warning was wholly disregarded by this administration gathering, and we may, therefore, prepare for the consequences in ‘a general disintegration and reintegration of | parties’’ on free trade, beginning at Cincinnati. | But if free trade is to rule at Cincinnati, what will become of Mr. Greeley, Mr. Scovel and Mr. McClure and their protective tariff dele. | gations from New York, New Jersey and Penn- sylvania? We know that the Missouri call for this Liberal Republican Convention is a call for free trade ; we are informed that the Free Trade League are actively engineering the movement in favor of their grand idea, and that they regard Mr. Greeley as the Trojan horse designed for the capture of the city by the high-tariff Greeks, and we are apprehensive | that in the efforts of the free-trade liberals to J little joker’’ is, remove this Trojan horse there will be another bolt among the bolters, and a great disappoiut- Now, if the democratic party were dis- banded and dispersed among the people as was the old federal anti-war party in 1620, or if it were utterly broken up as was the old whig perty, with its “crushing defeat of 1852, there would be sonie danger to General Grant from this projected coalition of anti-Grant republicans and democrats upon a common Presidential ticket. But the democratic party is still a powerful and cohesive organization, and still adheres toa line of policy in violent antago- nism to the policy of the administration, and particularly upon our financial affairs and upon State rights. The new departure of this party has been too recent and too sudden, and too much hedged about with reservations and ex- ceptions to satisfy that great body of the people who are resolved that the issues settled by the war shall be firmly established, so that any movement in this canvass contemplating the restoration of the democracy to power will fail to bring about a political revolution. It was said in the New Orleans Colored Conven- tion the other day that all roads that lead out of the republican party lead into the democratic camp, and _ this is certainly the inspiring idea of the Jincinnati Convention. Hence the general rally of the Grant men of 1868 for his re- election in 1872. Connecticut and Rhode Island, in their elections, respond to New Hampshire ; New York city responds in her Grant mass meeting to the republican conven- tions of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, in the voice of Florida and of Louisiana, responds to New York. The country is for another term to Grant; the Cincinnati Convention, as a coalition move- ment, will fail to reverse the country’s judg- ment, and the democratic party will have to fight its own battle, and be content from the results, with the inviting prospect of a political revolution in 1876. The Alabama Claims Question—Publi- cation of the English Counter Case. The British government, acting in accord- ance with the promises made by Premier Glad- stone and Earl Granville to the Parliament, pub- lished the national counter case to the American demand for payment of the Alabama damages in London yesterday. The statement is a copy of that which was forwarded to Geneva for sub- mission to the Arbitration Court in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The main points of the English argument, as they are put forth in the concluding portion of the legal defence, reached us by cable last night, and appear in the Hera to-day. They allege nothing that is new on the part of Great Britain. Indeed, it may be said that the counter case is made up by a careful collection and rearrangement of all the technical items of English jurispru- dence, and of all the chop-logic assertion sen- tences of the English press writers on the subject of the fitting out and equipmeat of the Alabama, as they have appeared in the London journals and Parliamentary reports since the first week after the privateer put to sea. The only material difference which we find in the matter which we print this morning is that, instead of being handed to us over the signature of “Historicus,’’ or in the shape of a judicial de- cision in the London Admiralty Court, the various statements come as a whole, under the solemn sanction of the seal of the Green Room in Downing street. The document is toned and shaded by the use of a few words which may be classed as constituting the general plea of a sententious and somewhat nervous sentimentalist. Mr. Bull argues as the father of neutrals—a vener- able, aged conservator of constitutional rights, according to the doctrine of the old school, but who is “harassed” and made ‘“anxious’’ under novel circumstances, evolved in a far distant land by the sudden occurrence of an unexpected war calamity. He almost requests the arbitrators to tell him what he shall do in the future should the principle of the American case be sanctioned and fostered into the form of a precedent. He will have sleepless nights and a continual trotting round in the effort to watch his subordinate officers in the event of the breaking out of a foreign conflict. Then he will have a continual fear of ‘‘penalties’’ before his eyes. His private commerce—whatever that means, but we hope it is not “blockade running’’—will be subjected to inquisition and incessant supervision ; individuals will be tracked by spies and informers ; the trade of belligerents will be fettered—this smells of contraband cotton—and the hospitalities of a country—here we have an indication of the Trent and San Jacinto search ease—will be guarded with impossible precautions. And so goes on the English counter-case, ne doubt, to the end, pleading to the past and seeking to constitute a new position to be held under future contingencies, and, if possible, against all comers. What will the arbitrators do? Goop Apvick to THe Sovrn.—The Mont- gomery (Ala.) Stale Journal mentions the fact that a citizen of Wilcox county has made a contract to deliver to planters in that county one hundred and twenty thousand bushels of corn at one doliar and twenty-five cents a bushel. As thisjeorn will come from the West it will require fiftéen hundred bales of cotton, at prices now raling, to pay for it. The Journal thinks that the planters should prevent this heavy draft upon the money which cotton raisers should reeeive for the staple, by rais- ing their own corn, even if they produce a little less cottom. This advice is the soundest that could be given to the planters. It has been urged by the most enlightened Southern statesmen, and jn some instances has been cordially receivet and acted upon. But it should have a most wide-spread acceptance, and then we should not hear our Southern planters complain so frequently of ‘hard times.” A Pat on tm Back anp A SLAP ON THE Cneex.—The editor of the Baltimore Ameri- can (administration) pats the editor of the Philadelphia Press (quisi administration) on the back by calling him “shrewd, experienced, able and loyal to par' In the same breath the American gives the Press a slap on the cheek by referring to its “wretched grum- blings'’ as “aniignified, ill-timed and ill-na- tured.” If this is to be regarded as “backing your friends,” is it not buffeting them at the sume time? The Tariff and Revenuc Tinkers at Washington. After all the time spent in the committees of Congress and in speechmaking in both Houses on the subject of the tariff and taxa- tion, there is no prospect of any such result as the country needs. Mr. Sherman, chairman of the Finance Committee of the Senate, tried his hand at revenue reform and reducing the burdens of the people. He proposed to cut down the revenue some forty millions, and the Senate, acting upon his report in the main, passed a bill to that effect. The House of Representatives demurred to this action of the Senate, as an infringement of its privileges in introducing revenue measures. ‘The House protested by a very large majority against the action of the Senate. It was not likely, therefore, that the Senate bill would be taken up by the House. At last a report has been submitted by the Comumittee of Ways and Means to reduce the revenue about thirty-one millions. But this report is not in accordance with the views of the chair- man, Mr. Dawes, and is opposed by other members of the committee. Though it is the report of the majority it does not seem to satisfy any one, Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, wanted a minority report favoring a high protective tariff, and Mr. Brooks and another member desired a minority report of a very different character. From this incongruity of views in the committee, and the dissatisfaction of the chairman with the action of the majority, it is supposed Mr. Dawes contemplates killing the ‘Tariff bill, if possible, and to favor the passage of an Internal Revenue bill only. The con- sideration of this matter by the House in Com- mittee of the Whole is set down for Tuesday next. From present appearances there will be as great a muddle in the House, or as much difficulty in agreeing upon tariff or revenue re- form, as there has been in the committee. ‘The difficulty lies with the protectionists of certain sections, and particularly with those from Pennsylvania and New England. They pertinaciously resist any reduction of the tariff, or yield under pressure to such a slight modification of it as would be little felt by the people, while they are ready to reduce internal taxes or take the duty off articles which do not compete with home productions. Indeed, they are rather anxious to reduce the revenue in this way, in order that there might appear to be a necessity for maintaining high duties on foreign manufactures. Hence we see this in- geniously concocted Ways and Means report, in which it is proposed to take off about ten millions of duties, merely from iron, woollens, cotton, steel and other things, and the manu- factures of these, which enter so largely and generally into the consumption and indus- try of the country. On tea and coffee and other articles which we do not produce there is no other tax than the government receives, but on iron, steel, woollens and cot- ton goods the people pay enormous imposts that go into the pockets of the manufacturers, and that many times over the amount that goes into the Treasury. The price to the con- sumer of every yard of cotton or woollen cloth and of every pound of iron and steel of domes- tic manufacture is raised in proportion to the duty imposed on like articles imported. For every hundred millions the government receives from the present tariff the people have to pay in the enhanced price of domestic manufactures four or five hundred millions at least. The people of the great West, the South and all the agricultural sections of the country, begin to understand how enormously they are taxed for the benefit of the manufacturers; and, as a consequence, the members of Con- gress from these sections are moving for lower duties and revenue reform. It is in this con- flict of interests mainly that the difficulty rests about reforming the tariff and cutting down the stupendous income of the government. Instead of reducing the revenue forty mil- lions or so, as Mr. Sherman proposed, or thirty-one millions, as the Committee of Ways and Means reports, there ought to be a sweep- ing measure of reform to reduce the revenue a hundred millions. Duties should be made much lower, the free list largely increased and a revenue raised at small cost, comparatively, in the collection, from a few articles of luxury chiefly. There is little doubt that the revenue this year will amount to four hundred millions, or nearly that. Three hundred mil- | lions ought to pay all the expenses of goyern- | ment, pensions and interest on the debt, and | leave a margin of seventy to eighty millions to be applied to the liquidation of the principal of the debt. In fact, three hundred millions | is much too large a revenue. It leads to ex- travagance and corruption. Nor is there any necessity to pay off the debt so rapidly. The great object should be to relieve industry of its burdens and to stimulate production, The wealth of the country will be doubled in less | than twenty years, and the population nearly twice what it is now. It will be much easier to pay the debt then. A sinking fund to keep the process of liquidation going on at a moderate rate is all that is necessary now, and all that should be expected of this generation. This tinkering with the tariff and taxation in | Congress will produce little effect. A boldand comprehensive measure of reform and relief would give a surprising impulse to the coun try, and would be felt from one end of the re- public to the other. Mr. Disraeli’s Manchester Speech, On another page of this morning’s Heratpy we publish the speech, or at least those por- tions of it which relate to this country, which Mr. Disraeli delivered at Manchester on the 3d inst. The hall in which the ex-Premier spoke was crowded to excess, and thousands, we are told, were turned away from the doors, unable to gain admittance, The speech of the distin- guished statesman touched on almost every prominent topic now attracting the attention of the British people. He may be said to have boxed the political compass, and with a | will which a fondness for the task he | essayed would prompt him to attempt. | The recent attack of Sir Charles | Dilke in the House of Commons on | the extravagance of the royal household was combated by comparing the Civil List of England with the cost of running the whole machinery of government, State and national, of the Urthed States. Of course Mr. Disraeli made out a good case for his own side, and republican extravagance, we are led to believe from the tory statesman’s figures, is something that England should not desire to covet on the plea that it would prove more economical. Relerring to the recent diplomatic under- NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1872—QUADRUPLE SHEET. takings of the Gladstone Ministry, and partion- larly to the Alabama Claims Commission, he made a fierce onslaught on the blundering in- competency which, he claims, characterizes the manner in which the Commissioners trans- acted the business entrusted to them. He considerately acknowledges that in the United States there are very clever men whose ability, acuteness and energy are undisputed, and who avail themselves largely of commissions ; but these commissions, he tells us in the same breath, prove failures, because the government from which they emanate ‘‘is a government in which there is no fountain of honor.” This is very unmistakable language, and cannot fail to cause surprise when we place this expression by the side of a subsequent one, where Mr. Disraeli points out that the only course for England to take under the present circumstance is ‘to appeal to the good feeling and good sense of the United States, and, stating the difficulty (in relation to the inter- pretations of the Washington Treaty), to invite confidential conference, whether it might not be removed.” The speech, taken alto- gether, will prove sufficiently interesting to repay attentive perusal, The Musical and Dramatic Triumphs of New York—A Brilliant Prospect. The present theatrical season has been by far the most advanced ever seen in America. In saying this we do not speak merely of the advent of the lone stars who, in the good days gone, shed each sufficient light for a season. Our grandfathers and grandmothers, and even their sons and daughters (with all possible respect to our immediate parents), hug them- selves with delight over the ‘old school,” which, if occasionally a good one, had not too many pupils worth bragging about. The passion for amusement in the theatre is not always a safe test of national prog- ress and vitality, because the most stagnant and corrupt peoples have, in the fad- ing days of their prosperity, shown an inordinate love of stage display. But we can gather a great deal more from the character of these amusements than from their mere extent; and a fortiori when the quality is high and the quantity large and increasing, we can con- gratulate ourselves on the spread of the esthetic among the people. While there is a large class to whom inane doggerel, helped out by heathenish semi-nudity and profuse tinselry, give a preposterous idea that to be on the verge of indecency is to approach the classic, the mass of the public have shown that the purer and better styles of amusement need only be properly presented to be lavishly patronized, Foremost among our late experiences is the season of Italian opera. The Nilsson engage- ment at the Academy showed how even one divine singer could induce an enthusiasm which never flagged while the clear, pure timbre of her voice was to be heard and fhe grace and power of her acting to be seen and felt. Although it savored a good deal of the old ‘lone star’ affairs, it was the initiation of a revival which has found its operatic apogée for the season in the combination at present filling the Academy nightly. Not by any means perfect in all its details, and leaving great scope for improvement in important points, it is useful in showing how magnifi- cently the wealth, culture and taste of New York will pay for Italian opera. It has blotted out the old régime and announces the new era for which we have so long prayed, wherein the operatic ménager who comes before the public must provide complete companies of first rate artists or learn a doleful lesson. We know now that Italian opera needs no further nursing, and, as in the Ingoldsby Legends, we | say woe to the impresario who will ‘then fob us off with a fal-de-ral-tit.”” In the dramatic entourage the prospect is equally encourging. At Wallack’s, which has always been noted for a conscientiousness in presenting the higher school of comedy, we are promised an astonishing array on to- morrow evening in the production of, per- haps, Boucicault’s best piece, ‘London Assur- ance.” The cast will include Charles Mathews, in the company of whose father New York laughed itself sick half a century ago, and who has stood himself at the head of the high comedy school for thirty years ; then, too, John Brougham, the wit and author, whose acting has an enlivening, mellowed, rich turn like the flavor of crusted port on the palate; Les- ter Wallack himself, easy, polished, effective and elastic as a Damascus blade, and sturdy John Gilbert like a fall measure of Whitsun ale. At Booth’s Theatre, with an average company, in which at present Miss'Leclercq has most of the entertaining to do, we are promised ‘Richard II.”’ on a scale of especial grandeur, which, we hope, will be artistically what it will doubtless be as to appointments and mise en scéne, ac- cording to the generous traditions of the theatre. The French drama, with its intense morbid passions, finds a place on the Fifth Avenue boards in ‘‘Artiele 47,’’ and illustrates, both in its meretricious brilliance and false sentiment, the loose morale of the lower cm- pire, so like the decadence of the Roman empire, a4seen in the Byzantium of Justinian. We have Laura Keene finely fretting her life away every evening at Woods, with a spectacu- lar compromise in the afternoon. The barbaric has its votaries in many places, as “Lalla Rookh,’’*at the Grand Opera House, and fun and burlesque break out im half dozen smaller | theatres all over the city, mot forgetting the dash of blood and thunder at the Old Bowery, | Opéra bouffe has disappeared from the boards for the present, and we can well afford to miss it. We have not enumerated all, and some of those we have are not exactly of the kind we wish to see permanently among us; but the support which the betier,and higher reeeive indicate the growth of # liberal taste, greater | in proportion to size than any city in the world, With this state of things still spread- | ing out its friendly arms for inusical and dra- matic talent, and willing and able to pay for it, we shall not have long to wait before seeing this city a capital of the beaue arts to rival any city in the Old World, Hevry N. Sacra Was Bxasmep, before the Congressional Committee on Banking and Carrency yesterday in relation to the recent “lock-up” in this cify. Mir. Smith's story in substance was that the money was his own; that he drew it from the bank, did what he | chose with it, held it for the fall of stocks, accomplished his object, and there was an end of the matter, He denied that the Tenth Natioysl Bapk, { | or ite officers had anything to do with the affair, or that he bad any associates in the transaction. Nevertheless it is to be hoped! that the committee willrecommend some legis- lation that will effectually prevent these peri-. odical Wall street tricks, by which the whole business of the country is disturbed and through which the public interests are inju- riously affected. The Men Who Go for Grant—The Lessom of Last Night's Meeting. A marked feature of the great gathering at the Cooper Institute last night was the ab- sence of the professed ward politicians gene- rally prominent on such occasions. If any of them were in attendance they were so com- pletely outnumbered by citizens who seldom take any part in political demonstrations as to escape observation. It has been said by the opponents of the administration that Grant's supporters are to be found only in the public offices; but out of the thousands inside and out- side the Institute last night probably three- fourths were solid business men of the city, who never sought an office and who hold themselves independent of party. Merchants, | shipowners, bankers, lawyers, mechanics and. laborers filled tho hall or stood patiently round the outside platforms in order to evince their confidence in the President, and to show their desire that he should continue at the head of the nation for another four years. At the recent sorehead meeting the begrimed finger of Tammany pointed at you from every spot, and the cropped hair and broken noses of the old Pewter Mug mingled about equally with the well-known chronic office beggar to make up the audience. Last night the quiet men who won the victory of last November were out in force to back up the work they commenced so well at the ballot box five months ago, and the meeting was a ‘“‘reform” meeting in more than one sense of the word. General Grant's strength lies in this inde- pendent, non-political element among the peo- ple. He is the candidate of their choice, not because he is a republican, but because he is a patriot and an honest, well-meaning man. ‘The Heratp supports Grant on his own merita and not from any party considerations, and the people give him their voices and will give him their votes on the same grounds. The HeERatp would advocate Grant’s re-election if he were a democrat just as readily as it docs now, and so would the people. The com- mander who saved the government from dis- ruption and carried the Union arms to victory seven years ago is honored by every man who loves his country and rejoices at the overthrow of rebellion. The President, who has striven to do his duty in an honest, manly manner; who has brought order out of chaos, restored tha public credit abroad, promoted the nation’s prosperity at home, purified the administr- tion of the government, and substituted wise economy for wasteful extravagance, is trusted by all who have a stake in the welfare and regard for the honor of the country. It is idle to assail such a man because he selects A for an office in preference to B, or to endeavor to turn the heart of the nation against him because John Doe makes a little too much money out of a custom house perquisite or Richard Boe sells a few hundred worn-out old muskets to French speculators. This is the lesson of last night's meeting. Grant is now the candidate of the people—of the men who rose in their might and scattered Tammany’s fifty thousand majority in this city. He was never a party man, in the political acceptance of the term, and he is not now the candidate of a party, except of the party that fought for and saved the Union. The political leaders hava failed to bend him to their purposes, and many of them have deserted him, as they would have deserted the Union banner, and are now arrayed against him. ‘The people have taken him in their arms and intend to carry him to victory next November, as the brave boys in blue went with him to victory from the Rappahannock to Appomattox Court House. This is the reason why the Cooper Tustitute was filled last night, not by the men one meets at primaries, in saloons, and taverns and ward club houses, but by citizens who are to be seen every day during business hours in banking houses, counting rooms, stores, offices and law courts; and why the outside platforms were surrounded by faces never beheld before at a political gather- ing. If the Cincinnati soreheads and growlers will study this sign of the times intelligently they may save themselves froma great deal of unnecessary disappointment and vexation of spirit. They can no more stop the tide that is setting in for General Grant by their puny Custom House and French arms dams than their old asso- ciates of Tammany Hall could turn back the tidal wave that broke over them last November and swept them out of existence. As New Hampshire and Connecticut have gone, so will go all the States in the Union, and when the election is over the bolting republicans will find themselves wrecked on a copperhead shore, in company with the old hulks of the Southern chivalry and the Tammany braves, The Gladstone Ministry in a Minority— A Bad Omen. In the British House of Commons on Tues- day the Gladstone Ministry sustained a defeat. A resolution was introduced by Mr. Henry Charles Lopes, member for Launcestcn, bearing upon local taxation. The govern- ment took strong ground—we are not told whether for or against the resolution ; but the rowult was that when a division was called for the supporters of the adminjgtration were de- feated by a majority. of one hundyed In or- dinary circumstances there would not be in this defeat anything deserving of passing no- tice, But there are many indications that the Gladstone Ministry has ceased to command the confidence of the peoplo of the three king- doms, as it did three years ago. Mr. Disraeli’s speech at Manchester made it plain to all the world that the tory gentlemen of Engiand, after long and impatient waiting, begin to dis- cover possibilities of an early restoration to place and power and pay; and it left little room to doubt that the tory gentlemon were determined that nothing should be wanting om their part to make such restration as certaim and as early as possible. This defeat of the Min- istry, although on a local question of compata- tively trifling importance, lends encourage ment to the opinion that the opposition ia organizing its forces and putting forth ite strength. Mr. Gladstone, during bis tenure.+; of office, how proved himself, an able and auc-.