The New York Herald Newspaper, November 15, 1872, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERAL BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, OUQMPIC THEATRE, Broadway. between Houston and Bleccker sts.—ALADDIN THE SECOND. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirticth st.— Borrato But, Aiternoon and Evening. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— Beiue's StRATAGEM. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway ara Thirteenth street.—Ock Amwentcan Cousin. ACADEMY OF MUSIC. Fourteenth stzcet.—Itauian Orena—MARu1ace oF Figaro. . on COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Acapvin No. NK. BOOTI'S THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth avenue.—Kerny—Jessik Brown, GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Third av.—Insrector Braxsic. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Countearsit; on, Truk Np Fause. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st, and Eighth av.—Ro1 CaRortre. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Thir- teenth and Fourteenth streets.—Aanxs. MRS. F. B, CONWAY'S OKLYN THEATRE.— Saratoca. BRYANT’S OPFRA HOUSE, Twonty-third st.. corner @th’'ay.—Nacuo Minsraxisy Eccentricity, &c. 718 BROADWAY, EMERSON’S MINSTRELS.—G@raxp Ersiorian Eccexrniciries. WHITE'S ATHENAUM, No. 585 Broadway.—Srienpip Vanrery or Novertizs. Matinee Wednesdays only. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Granp Vaniety ENTERTAINMENT, &0. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, St. James Theatre, corner of 28th st. and Broadway.—Etaiorian MinstRxisy. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth st.—Vocat anp Instav- MENTAL ConcERT. BAILEY'S GREAT CIRCUS AND MENAGERIE, foot of Houston street, East River. ASSOCIATION HALL, 234 street and 4th av.—Lxc- rors, “FLvoRescent Lignt.” NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, 23d st. and 4th av.—Geanp Exursition oF Paintings. AMERICAN INSTITUTE FAIR, Third av., between 634 and 64th streets. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway. SCIENCE AND ART. TRIP SHEET. ork, Friday, Nov. 15, 1872. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1872—TRIPLE SHEET, ‘The Approaching Session of Congress— Jobbery and the Annual Appropria- tens. % In little more than a fortnight Congress will have reassembled to complete the work of its two years’ legislation. The annual jobbery and the old-established, well-known jobbers will again occupy the attention of our states- men. Already the Committee on Appropria- tions is at work laying the ,groundwork of corruption. In this we intend no reflection upon the committee, for while the necessary money for carrying on the government is an- nually voted in twelve or fourteen appropria- tion bills, and latitude is allowed in them for every species of legislation, it is impossible to guard against fraud. A case in point is the increased subsidy to the Pacific Mail Steam- ship Company last session. Though included in the Postal Appropiation bill, and nominally for carrying the mails, it was, in fact, only a To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “THE APPROACHING SESSION OF CONGRESS! JORB! Y AND THE ANNUAL APPROPRI- ATIONS”—CHIEF EDITORIAL ARTICLE— SixtH Pace. HONORS TO THE HERALD BY THE ENGLISH ROYAL GEOGRAPHERS! SIR HENRY RAW- LINSON’S LETTER AND THE SOCIETY'S RESOLUTION: THE VICTORIA GOLD MEDAL VOTED TO STANLEY—SEVENTH PaGE. TERRIBLE GALE ON THE PRUSSIAN COAST! TWELVE VESSELS SUNK IN THE HARBOR OF STRALSUND, THE TOWN ON FIRE AND INUNDATED! FURTHER DISASTERS PROB- ABLE—SEVENTH PAGE. EUROPE! ENGLISH AID FOR THE BOSTON SUFFERERS: THE STORMS ON THE BRITISH COAST: THE GALE AT HAM- BURG: KING AMADEUS AND PRINCE BISMARCK ILL— SEVENTH PaGE. CUBAN PLANTATIONS ATTACKED BY THE ‘3! ONE BURNED AND FORTY MEN KIDNAPPED! REPORTED DEFEAT BY THE SPANIARDS—SEVENTH PaGE. RECONSTRUCTING BOSTON! THE WORK BE- GUN: OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE: BOSTON’S WEALTH SUFFICIENT: THE KILLED, WOUNDED AND MISSING—Tarrp PaGR. ‘KOUR OF THE VICEROY OF INDIA? SPLENDID RECEPTION AT BOMBAY: FURTHER CERE- MONIES—SEVENTH Pace. A MAN MORTALLY WOUNDED IN A JERSEY CITY BARROOM! THE MURDERER, A NEW YORK ROUGH, ESCAPES !—SEVENTH PaGE. NEWS FROM THE CUBAN PATRIOT CAMP! HOR- RIBLE SPANISH OUTRAGES! BATTLES AND SKIRMISHES: MEDICINE AND CLOTHING NEEDED—TENTH PaGE. BURKE AGAIN ANSWERS FROUDE! TUDOR RULE IN IRELAND: WHY HENRY VIII. WAS POPULAR THERE—THIRD Page. SURVEYING THE GREAT PLAINS! VARIATIONS OF THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE—ACCIDENTAL POISONING—FirtH Pace. THE COUNTY CANVASS: THE WORK FINALLY BEGUN BY THE BOARD—STEAM CARS ON CITY RAILWAYS: WILL STEAM AGAIN TRIUMPH '—Firrn Pacer. FIGHTING FIRE! THEORY AND PRACTICE OF BLOWING UP BUILDINGS: USING SALT WATER: FEARFULLY SCANT FRESH WATER SUPPLY: OPINIONS OF PROMINENT MEN: OUR DANGERS—FourtH Page. PROCEEDINGS IN THE LEGAL TRIBUNALS! SEIZURE OF WHISKEY AND SILVER LEAF: BOSS TWEED'S PROSECUTION: GREEN'S CONTEMPT CASES—Fretn Pace, BUSINESS, FLUCTUATIONS AND QUOTATIONS IN'TRE WALL STREET MARKETS—EURO- PEAN FINANCES—RESOURCES AND LIA- BILITIES OF THE NATIONAL BANKS— NINTH Pace. NEWS FROM THE ANTIPODES! FAILURE OF THE ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN CABLE: MAIL SERVICE: INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS: A DISGUISED SLAVE TRADE— Escatn Pace. MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH! $800,000 REQUIRED FOR 1873: LIVINGSTONE'S EFFORTS: NEW MISSIONS NEEDED—EIGuTH Paar. - AUSTRALIAN AQUATICS ! PROPOSED mAerna. TIONAL REGATTA—FOREIGH YACHTING NOTES—RENFORTH’S MEMORIAL MONU- MENT—HIPPOGRAPHS—EIGHTs Paar. EXPERIMENTS WITH A NEW FIRE ENGINE— THE INSURANCE STATUS AND LOSSES BY THE BIG FIRES—THE GREAT FIRE IN BOSTON—FourtTH Page. Barrisa Rove m Invua.—By telegram from Bombay we learn that Lord Northbrook, Governor General of India, has just visited that city for the first time, and that he will, on Saturday next, there give audience to many of the Indo-Asiatic sovereigns and princes, the ceremonial of State being con- ducted with a most gorgeous display of royalist magnificence. The occurrence of a British crown event of this description is not by any means unusual in India; but it must be borne in mind that the royal govern- ment always endeavors to hold the native princes more firmly to its side whenever there is any alarm prevalent in the territory, the circulation of which might operate in- juriously to the authority of the throne. The Indian sovereigns and chiefs may have just now heard of the Russian imperial movements in Central Asia and of the St. Petersburg Cabinet diplomacy towards Khiva, subsidy thrown away upon a great corporation. Other companies have claims for subsidies almost or altogether as strong as those of the Pacific Mail. If Congress is constantly to ex- ercise the privilege of voting away the peo- ple’s money on pretences of this kind the steamship companies will all be subsidized in time and the steamship lobby become more powerful year after. year. The Brazilian, the Havana, the Mexican and the Australian lines are all seeking subsidies, and. new companies will be created with no other purpose than to “work’’ Congress and the Treasury. Tho voting of money to carry the mails is likely to consume the greater part of the last session of the Forty-second Congress, and this, too, while no feasible legislation for the revival of American commerce is undertaken. We have a word to say to the dominant party in Congress on this and kindred legisla- tion. General Grant has been triumphantly re-elected. The next Cohgress will be even more overwhelmingly republican than the present one. The second session of the Forty- second Congress will be more thoroughly in harmony with the administration than the first. The Senate has not been weakened by the State elections, and most of the leading republican Senators whose terms expire in March are certain of another term of service. In the House the recalcitrant element has been turned over to the democracy. Banks, Farns- worth and Blair will no longer be regarded as leaders, except by the opposition. New duties come with the new conditions—duties which commend themselves to the Executive as well as the Legislature. The first of these is honesty. The President cannot expect the record of his Presidential life to go down to history unblurred and unsullied if he allows a departure from a rule so necessary by his sanction to the jobs which may receive the en- dorsement of Congress. Neither can the dominant party hope to retain power much longer if the majority in Congress is untrue to the people. The country will not hear with patience of any more subsidies, under what- ever guise they may come, nor of further land grants tor railroads, however speciously they may be urged. This is the time to throttle all corrupt schemes, big and little, and to begin anew era of wise and beneficial legislation. There is much useful and conscientious work to be performed in the next three years, and if itis not well done the men who have been chosen to perform it must be held to the strictest accountability. Jobs in Congress do not take a very wide range, but limited as they are in kind they are boundless in their power for evil. A sub- sidy is not only the robbery of the Treasury but the groundwork for gambling in Wall street, and in the end the certain prostration of the business interests of the country, especially the shipping interests. A land grant is a premium upon corruption and a bounty to monopoly. Because these truisms are not heeded Washington is overrun every Winter by an army of lobbyists intent on stealing the public treasure and the public domain. The jobs come down from session to session and from Congress to Congress as an inheritance of evil, and they live till the ob- jects of their promoters are accomplished. Their success is the encouragement of other schemes and schemers. If the Pacific Mail had not succeeded last session in taking half a million dollars a year from the Treasury the disasters of the Summer would only add to the piteous character of their appeals this Winter. As it is we are not sure that Congress will not be asked to indemnify the company for the acts of God by voting a still larger subsidy than is now paid for carrying the mails to Japan and China, In any event the success of the one makes the success of all possible. The same reasoning applies to land grants. If the Bayfield and St. Croix job had gone through the House last Winter in anything like its original shape its passage would have been the signal for pressing other schemes even more objectionable. Now, however, its friends are very quiet, and profess an intention not to revive it this Winter. But if it is not Bayfield and St. Croix upon which the lobby chooses to fight its first battle it will be on some other job equally objectiona- ble and aided by even more powerful combina- tions. The intention to carve up the Indian Territory for the benefit of railroad corpora- tions will be revealed before long, and we may expecta renewal of the tactics of the Union Pacific by its hungry rival, the Northern Pacific, in the next Congress, if not this Win- ter. The whole situation is best described by saying that the battles of last year are to be fought over again, perhaps even without change of commanders. Congress has more important work to per- form than to give up the short session to ap- propriation bills and nefarious schemers. The finances, if any legislation is attempted, can- not be lightly or inartistically touched. Mr. Boutwell's policy has not satisfied the country, and Congress cannot expect to meet the wishes of the people by simply doing Mr. Boutwell’s bidding. The shipping interests, too, are sadly in need of legislation which will enable Ameri- cans to buy ships abroad for both the home and foreign trade. As they now stand the Treasury regulations are a standing order against Americans owning. ships at all, giving force and emphasis by years of trial to the old how?: —‘‘You will not let us build and you will not let us buy."” Legislation on either of these questions is the work of a whole session. Be- sides all this, the army and navy are both needing the aid of Congressional wisdom to make them worthy of the Republic, and in many other ways can Congress effect good for the country by timely and well-considered measures of public policy. But most of tha session will, as a matter of course, be devoted to the appropriation bills which General Gar- field and his committee are now preparing. The short session is scarcely long enough to consider and pass them. Everything else will be set aside in their favor, except the jobs which fail to find a ready place among the multifarious items which go to make up the annual budget. ‘Thus there is danger of nothing being done outside of the appropria- tions except in the way of jobs, and that the appropriation bills themselves will be the chief vehicle of jobbery. All this brings us to new question, which we earnestly urge upon the attention of Con- gress. These annual appropriation bills are not only becoming a great nuisance but a grave danger. As the country increases in wealth the expenditures of the government in- crease also, so that in a few years it will require the whole time of Congress to mature plans for spending the people's money. Both houses are fast becoming mere appropriation committees. Some way out of this difficulty must be found, and that, too, very soon. We must have an annual budget—luminous, com- prehensive and exact—which can be disposed of in as many weeks as the present system re- quires months. The loopholes for the lobby must be closed and the jobbers be taught that there is no place for them—in the annual ap- propriation bills, at least. To give us sucha system—wise, statesmanlike and practical— would be the glory of General Grant's admin- istration, for it would make the task of run- ning the government comparatively easy and destroy the chief vehicle of corruption. Till something like this is done Congress will not have time to mature important measures af- fecting the financial, industrial and commer- cial interests of the country. We want the committee of appropriations to be only a check upon the disbursing officers, and not, as it is fast becoming, the great power of the country—opening the doors to corruption and closing them to necessary legislation. President Thiers’ Message the French Assembly. In all the great centres of population in Europe and among the reading public on the American Continent the message of President Thiers to the National Assembly of France is commanding attention and giving birth to much earnest and serious talk. It is not won- derful that it should be so. For some months past all kinds of rumors have been in the wind asto the intentions of the President of the French Republic. It was the expectation of many that his message would startle the world by the announcement that the Executive had resolved to propose such changes in the con- stitution as would place the government of France on a more solid and enduring basis. The anxiety was all the greater that the charac- ter of the rumored changes was unknown. On Wednesday, in a full house, the. Presi- dent’s message was formally received and read by deputy. In many essential points the mes- sage was all that could be wished. Thanks were expressed to God for the work of repara- tion and for the general prosperity of the country. In speaking of the extraordinary to success which had attended the last loan the message, not without good reason, says ‘“‘tho whole available capital of the commercial world was offered to France.” It was some- thing to be able to say that half of the loan had already been realized; that, within three months, Germany had been. paid eight hun- dred millions of francs of the war indemnity, and that in the month of December she would receive two hundred millions more. The budget for the past fiscal year shows a deficit of one hundred and thirty-two millions of francs; but according to the President's mes- sage the equilibrium will be restored in 1873, and a surplus may be con- fidently looked for in 1874. The next point touched upon by the President was the late war with Germany. In allusion to the disasters which had followed the war he spoke ot “the cruel dismemberment of the country, the frightful burden it had to bear and the sudden establishment of the Republic.” These things might have led to national ruin if order had not been maintained. Republicans were asked to make sacrifices for their own interests and for the present to set their theories aside. Events had given them the Republic; it was the legal form of govern- ment; any attempt towards a different form of government would lead to revolution; but the formal proclamation of the Republic the Presi- dent depreeated. And so on the message goes, admitting the success of the Republic, but full of hesitation as to the course which should be taken towards its establishment on a firm and durable basis. There is not in the message one word, so far as we have it, regarding the creation of an Upper House, the creation of a Vice Presi- dent or the dissolution of the present Assem- bly, to be followed by a general election. All that he says in this direction is:—“To the As- sembly is left the initiation of constitutional measures; the decisive moment for such work has arrived ;"’ and for himself he promises deference, co-operation and devotion. The message concludes by invoking the blessing of God on the work they had on hand and to render complete and durable a consumma- tion which had not been attained since the commencement of the century. We are not displeased to learn that the message was ap- proved of by the Left, and that by some it is thought to encourage the hope of an early dis- solution of the Assembly. As has been said above, the message is, in some respects, all that could be wished. It is gratifying to us to know that France, which was found so much wanting in her last war effort, is conducting herself so grandly in the hour of her misfortune. It was wont to be said of France that she, was grand only when success was following her banners. It is not disagreeable for tho world to know that this opinion must be reversed, for it must be admitted that France has never so much revealed her strength and her resources as she has done since the close of her latest, and, perhaps, her most disastrous war. No-nation in the days of her humilia- tion and sorrow has ever in the whole history of the world behaved more nobly than she has done during the last two years. All this we admit, and so far we are pleased with the President’s message. But further than this our approval of the President's message can- not go. The first part of the message is the condemnation of the latter. All the wonderful things which France has done have hean accomplished under the Revublic. It was to the Republic that the available com- mercial capital of the world was offered. It was the Republic which saved France from herself. The Republic hag been and still is paying the war indemnity. According to President Thiers himself the Republic is the legal form of government, and any attempt to restore monarchy or to re- establish the Empire would result in disas- trous revolution. Such being the case, why should President Thiers hesitate? Why should he not at once take active steps to make the Republic an assured success? No one knows so well as he that it rests too much on his own shoulders. His sickness or his death might plunge France into all the mis- eries inseparable from a fresh war of the fac- tions. Does he really wish to delay in order to be able to restore the House of Orleans in the form of a limited monarchy, or is he afraid that any radical change such as might favor a dissolution and a general election would place his great rival, M. Leon Gambetta, at the head of affairs? With all his great and ‘unquestioned ability it must be admitted that President Thiers is giving the world good reason to doubt his strength of will and his decision of character. By declaring that the initiation of measures having for their object constitutional changes resta with the Assem- bly he has given the Assembly its oppor- tunity. If the Assembly will not act, and act at once, the French people should, as one .man, rise and call for an Assembly which will fairly and fully represent their thoughts and wishes. The New Proposition for a River Water Supply in Case of Fire. The proposition which we put forward that the inexhaustible supply of water furnished by our rivers should be utilized so as to guard against the danger of fire has been received with general approval. The best mode for carrying out the suggestion is, however, a matter for discussion. Our first idea was to employ at intervals force pumps connecting with a regular system of pipes. On reflection, however, we have adopted a modification of this plan, which, at less cost, will give us a more effective and permanent means of com- bating the spread of fire. This new proposition contemplates the building of a new main on the west side of the city similar to the one at pre- sent in course of construction by the Board of Public Works on the east side. By means of these independent mains a constant and enor- mous supply of Croton water would be fur- nished in the lower part of the city. In order to secure a powerful head of water the east main will not be tapped for public use until it reaches Chambers street, and we propose that the one on the west side should be tapped about Canal street. The cost of building the additional main would not much exceed the cost of laying the pipes for the river water, which we at first proposed, and the main would have the advantage of being available not only in case of fire, but forall the ordi- nary purposes of life. The increase in the water supply would be a blessing to the west and east sides of the island, especially in the downtown districts. So far as the utilization of the river water, in case of great emergency, is concerned, this can be nt more effectively by the simple or- ganization which we proposed in our article of yesterday than by the more expensive and elaborate means we at first proposed. In cases of ordinary fires the existing supply of water, strengthened by the new mains which we propose, would be amply sufficient to meet all i i Should need arise, the power which we should have of concentrating thesup- ply of water from the steamboats would be a hundred-fold what any fixed system could give. As the steamboats would, in case of great emergency, be under the orders of the Chief Engineer, we could rely on having them used to the best advantage. The volume of water derived from this source could neither be leasened nor cut off by the progress of the fire, as must be the case where a conflagration ex- tends over a wide area and the water supply ig derived from fixed hydrants. Another important advantage that cannot be too much insisted on is, that if, as we suggest, the ferryboats were compelled by law to carry donkey engines of a certain power, with nozzles affixed of a regulated gauge, they would be as available in case of fire in Brooklyn and Jersey City as they would be in New York. This consideration alone ought to decide public opinion to adopt the new plan which we propose. The common interest of Brooklyn and New York in the measure would be a farther inducement to the Legislature to act promptly in revising the charters of the ferryboat companies, so as to compel them to place powerful donkey engines on every steam- boat, and so contribute to the safety of the cities from which they derive such large revenues. This is the least return they can make for the many valuable privileges con- ferred on them by the people. Ocean Te.ecrapns.—The great work of uniting the continents and islands of the globe by ocean telegraphic cables goes on. We are informed that the government of Portugal has made a concession to a responsible com- pany fora submarine telegraph line between Portugal and Brazil by way of Madeira and St. Vincent. While the European nations are 80 progressive in this respect, our country and government are rather slow. A vast trade lies open to us in China, Japan and other countries across the Pacific Ocean, and yet we neglect to facilitate that trade by telegraphic commu- nication. When shall we have cables under the Pacific from San Francisco to Japan and China? That is the most important line now needed. Fara Visrrations to Pzoruzs m Ev- norg.—The electric cable brings news of the sudden visitation of very many of the European people by storm, shipwreck, fire and the inundation of floods, Fatal conse- quences have ensued and very many lives, perhaps over # hundred, have been just now already lost. Portions of the German coast suffered very severely. The scene, caused by wind, fire and water, which was witnessed in Stralsnnd, was at one moment exceedingly alarming, but it is consoling to know that the more immediately afflicting gravity of the occasion had abated just previous to the for- warding of our despatches. Hamburg was alarmed. Lubeck sustained heavy damage. The loss of property generally by shipwreck is of very heavy amount. The avenge- ment, or calamity, was felt deep down in the bowels of the earth, The Pelsall coal mine, in Staffordshire, England, was inun- dated yesterday while the men were employed at work. Eleven of'them were rescued, but twenty-two of their fellows remained in the Underground chambers at a late hour last night, and it was thought they had then ished , The Absorption of Canada in the Union. The question of the annexation of Canada to the United States has lain dormant for several years past, but dormant only, for its agitation among the Canadian people them- selves is at any time likely to take place, and take practical shape as well. The Fenian raids had much to do with obstructing the course of calm on the subject .of annexation. In the bitterness of their wrath against the authors of those abortive predatory raids upon their territory our neighbors showed a disposition to confound the Ameri- can people with the wretched filibuaters who attempted to make of this soil a base of hos- tile operations against Canada. A few years have sufficed to show the people over the border that the American nation har- bors none but the kindliest feeling towards them; that in their progress and prosperity we find nothing whereof to he jealous, but much to rejoice at and applaud. If Canada should ever become annexed to the Great Republic it will only be after s calm, peaceful consideration of the mutual benefits each is likely to derive from ‘the compact. Our ‘manifest destiny’ is to be worked out by the logic of a wise and commanding example, by a clear showing to the nations around and to the world that our form of government is the best adapted to secure the liberty and pro- mote the happiness of the largest number of people—the best.adapted to give scope and en- couragement to all the varied energies and abilities of mankind. In the brief duration of & decade of years we have demonstrated the tremendous inherent strength of republi- can institutions based on intelligence. We have drawn upon us the envying atten- tion of the world and the scepticism of Europe in regard to the stability of re- publican government, and its adaptability to a congregation of heterogeneous races and nationalities has given way to a convic- tion, year after year deepening into an article of earnest faith among honest arid independ- ent thinkers, that government of the people, by the people, for the people is alone conso- nant with the spiritand genius of the age, and alone capable of securing a full and per- fect development of man’s capabilities. Our late election, interesting the minds and hearts of forty millions of people, passed off more quietly than a holiday of national thanksgiv- ing. This of itself shows how thoroughly the American people realize and guard their re- sponsibilities. With the expansion of the nation is begotten a deeper sense of the preciousness of popular government, and a more earnest feeling for the preservation of its integrity. The spread of intelligence keeps pace with our material growth, and as intelli- gence is the sustaining power of our institu- tions we find in this facta glorious guarantee for the perpetuity of free democratic govern- ment. Our neighbors, the Canadians, cannot but be close observers of the marvellous spectacle this Republic now presents to the gaze of the wqrld. They cannot fail to see that the institutions of the United States, more than the genius of the people, have made this Republic the wonder of the earth. From Maine to Texas, from the Pa- cific to the Atlantic, they may perceive a de- velopment of material resources going on, hand in hand with a cultivation of art and science and a higher education of the masses in the duties of citizenship, that cannot but strike them as something worthy of study and imitation. The question as to the annexation of Canada to this country can only be decided when a majority of the Canadian people decree that it is for their own best interests to form part and parcel of the Republic. . That they will ultimately reach a conclusion favorable to the incorporation of the Dominion in the Republic is inevitable. Canada is at a standstill to-day. She is being drained, year after year, of the very best of her skilled labor. As our correspondents inform us, the immigration from the Dominion into the northern part of this State and into all the States bordering on the lakes and the River St. Lawrence is visibly increasing. Skilled labor is an important element in the material prosperity of any country. It is valuable because it is difficult'to replace, In many factories of our own State and in most of those in New England Canadian operatives may be found, attracted hither by a higher scale of wages than obtains in their own country and by the prospect of a wider field for their industry. A drain like this on a population of limited numbers must tell dis- astrously in the long run. American capital would flow freely into Canada and help to develop many of ita great natural resources if the two countries had a common nationality. Canadians know this ; and now that President Grant is re-elected for a second term, and that his administration promises a solid and abid- ing peace along with an increased prosperity to the nation, the people of Canada will do well to take up and seriously consider the thousand advantages that would accrue to them from annexation to tite United States. Fireproof Buildings—The Only Secarity Against Disaster. The best way to provide against disasters like the Boston fire is now a question of the greatest interest. We print this morning a number of suggestions emanating from differ- ent quarters, but all bearing upon the point so prominently brought forward by this great calamity. One of the correspondents who writes to the Hzratp suggests a ‘calamity fund” in the principal cities of the country ; another wants our Fire Department supplied with blankets to smother the flames in case of fire, and another thinks a corps of sappers and miners a necessity. One of: these writers, assuming what is quite probable, that the Croton supply would be insufficient in case of 4 a great fire, proposes the necessary machinery for making the North and East Rivers pour themselves on the devouring element. Other writers suggest other means of averting a like calamity in New York. In all of these sugges- tions there may be the germ of a practicable idea, though few things appear more gro- tesque or impracticable than wrapping up a block of immense buildings in wool- len blankets, After all that can be said on the subject, and we fear after all that can be done to make great conflagrations impossible, they will occur again and again 60 long as combustible structures are erected on narrow and tortuous streets. Fireproof build- ings and wide, open thoroughfares are the only security; for human power is powerless before an immense burning mass, and human devices are insufficient while there is food for the flame. The only remedy against the de- struction of cities by fire is to build go that ik will be impossible to burn them, The Committee of Seventy At It Again. The Committee of Seventy are said to be tinkering away again at a charter for the city of New York, Last year they tramped to Al- bany with their bellows and furnace, and ham- mered away at cumulative voting, minority’ representation, mixed commissions and other old pots and kettles all the Winter; but tho bottoms fell out as fast as they were put in, the handles came off one after another, and every- thing they touched was bound to be full of holes and cracks and unfit for use, tinker away as much as they pleased. The time of tho seasion was thus wasted, and an excuse was afforded to the legislative acalawags to make: their profitable bargains and to carry out their corrupt achemes, We see no prospect of any better legislation at Albany next Winter than we had last Winter. The Senate is the same,- and many of the old notorious Assemblymen will be back in their places. There will prob- ably be as much trading, trafficking and ras- cality in the State Capitol the coming session as ever before. But, at least, we should not be subjected to any more of the exploded ex- periments and impracticable projects of the Committee of Seventy. They can do no good at Albany, and may again do much harm. The notions of half a score of visionaries will never give us a good, sensible, efficient char- ter, and as the committee has outlived its rep- utation it had better now keep its meddling fingers out of the legislative pie. ’ ‘There will, of course, be propositions for charter amendments before the Legislature, but they will come from the New York repub- lican “Ring,” and, if passed at all, will be put through under the party lash. It is in- tended to revive the dead caucus system, so as to compel every member to vote as party leaders desire and not as his conscience dictates’ ard his oath of office requires. The object of the amend- mente to be thus forcedthrough will of course be to get rid of the few democrats and objec- tionable republicans still remaining in the city departments and to hand the offices over wholly to the new republican ‘‘Ring.”’ There is no objection to this; the republicans who have won the victory demand all the spoils and are, according to party morality, entitled! tothem. They will take the Fire Department, the Police Department, the Health Depart- ment and all the other fat offices and positions of patronage in the city, and will then be wholly responsible for the character of our future government. This will at least be an advantage over the present disorganized sys- tem, with constant squabbling and litigation’ going on all round. If there were any honest desire to give New York a good city govern- ment independent of political considerations,; it would be easy enough to accomplish the work by the passage of a newcharter, making’ the Mayor the actual head of our municipal affairs, with absolute power over the subordi- nate departments and direct responsibility to the people for their faithful and efficient man- agement. But no such reform is contemplated, and the fight in the Legislature will resolve itself into one over the spoils alone. The best thing the Committee of Seventy can do is to stand aside, and not again incur the responsi- bility of having aided the lobby in their cor- rapt and selfish schemes. Father Burke on Froude. The eminent Irish Dominican delivered his second lecture last night, taking as his subject “Ireland under the Tudors.” As in his former lecture, Father Burke opened his discourse by an attack on the credibility of the English his- torian. Taking up Mr. Froude’s description of Henry the Eighth, and examining it by the light of history, he showed that the quality of seeing things as he wished them to be was such a marked characteristic of Mr. Froude’s mental organization that we could not safely accept either his facts or his deductions from’ them. Under the skilful dissection of the Dominican the thin veil which the English historian had drawn over the character of Henry was torn to pisces, and Mr. Froude’s hero stood revealed the elegant monster that impartial readers of of Irish history is so mixed up with the relig- ious questions which at the time agitated Europe that it would have been impossible for even a secular lecturer to have passed them without devoting to their elucidation a con- siderable part of his discourse. It is not therefore to be wondered at that a church- man should have regarded the religious aspects of the period as more worthy of minute attention than the strictly political events which agitated the people. But Father Burke never once lost sight of his antagonist, and fact after fact, either of a religious),moral or political nature, was eloquently stated, sup- ported by the authority of English State papers or of interested English writers, which swept away the statements upon which Mr. Froude based his arguments in support or jus- tification of English rale in Ireland. Tho charge made directly by Mr. Froude that “home rule’ had been tried under Henry and had proved a miserable failure was shown to be o very disingenuous argument, based upon the fact that the government of Ireland had been entrusted to a few of the Anglo- Norman families, who had always bedén the deadliest and bitterest enemies of the Celtic people, and who on this occasion showed they had changed in nothing by immediately using their newly acquired power to make war on the native Irish. These facts were presented with great ability and address, but, owing to the time devoted to the examination of Froude’s. reliability as a historian and the dissection of the character of the much-married English King, that most in- teresting period of Irish history, the struggle against Queen Elizabeth, had to be passed over with very bricf reference. This was disappointing, as the fight against Elizabeth was the first trial of strength between tho two peoples that could be dignified as a national struggle. It would have been inter- esting to hear what Father Burke had to say