The New York Herald Newspaper, November 20, 1872, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yore Sepa. Letters and packages should be properly sealed, S Rejected communications will not be re- Jurned, THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $12. ADVERTISEMENTS, to a limited number, will be in- zerted in the WEEKLY HERALD and the European #Aition. JOB PRINTING af every description, also Stereo- tuping and Engraving, neatly and promptly exe- Wuled at the lowest rates. AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street.—Itanian Drexa—Tax Huaornots. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Kine or Car- Bors. Matinee at 2s BOOTH'S THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth @yemue.—Romxo anv Jur BOWERY THEATRE, @exat—L, 0. U. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st, and Eighth av.—Ror Canorre. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Thir- Secnth and Fourteenth streets.—AGnas. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Third @y.—Das StirrUNGsFEsT, OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway. betweon Houston @nd Bleecker sts.—ALaDDIN THE SecoND, Matinee at 2. wory.—Pirgins’ Rustic Re- WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broad: corner Thirticth st.— Dinu. Alternoon and FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— eRey Wives or Winpsor. ‘WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway ara Thirteenth Btreet.—Our American Cousin. TERRACE GARDEN THEATRE, 81h st., between Lex- Angton and 34 avs.—Orrra—Manrita, MRS, F. B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Banatoca. ' BRYANT'S OPERA HOU €th av.—Necre MinstRELsy WHITE'S ATHENAUM, No. 585 Breadway.—Srt envio Wanwety or Noveities. Matinee at 2'4. . Twonty-third st, corner CCENTRICITY, &C. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Granp Vantety ENTERTAINMENT, &C. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRI corner of 28th st. and Broadwa’ BARNUM'S MENAGERIE AND CIRCUS, Fourteenth Btreet, near Broadway. BAILEY'S GREAT CIRCUS ANB MENAGERIE, foot ‘ol Houston street, East River, \, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, 234 st. and 4th By.—Guann Exursition oF Paintines. St, James Theatre, PMIOPIAN MINSTRLESY, \, ASSOCIATION HALL, 23d street and 4th av.—Mrs. januey’s Wax Works. \ AMERICAN INSTITUTE FAIR, Third av., between 634 And Gith streets. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— E&CIENCE AND ART. “TRIP New Yerk, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 1872, ——— = THE To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. LE SHEET. NEWS OF YESTERDAY. “4 CRISIS IN THE FRENCH REPUBLIC! THE THREATENED RESIGNATION or M ‘THIERS"—LEADER—SIXTH PAGE, THIERS' THREAT! THE VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY: EXECUTIVE PERTU BATION AND THE ACTION OF SHE OPPO- SITION: THE ARMY: AN “OLD CATHO- LIO" RECRUIT—SEVENTH Page, BY CABLE! THE LONDON POLICE MUTINY: EMANCIPATION IN SPAIN: THE NEW SPANISH MORTGAGE BANK—SEVENTH Pace. SHOT DEAD ON THE STAIRS! A BULLET FOUND IN O'NEILL'S STOMACH: THE DIARY OF THE DEAD: KING IN THE TOMBS: THE POST-MORTEM—IirTH PAGE. BROOKLYN'S BURNED STOREHOUSES! POUR- ING WATER ON THE SMOKING RUINS: NARROW ESCAPES BY FIREMEN: THE LOSSES—FirTa PAGE. LEGISLATIVE RELIEF FOR BOSTON! THE CITI- ZENS’ COMMITTEE BEFURE THE MAS- SACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE—PERSONAL NOTES—GENERAL TELEGRAMS—Srventu Pace. ‘FEDERAL CAPITAL NEWS! THE PRESIDENT'S PEACE PROJECTS: SHERIDAN AND THE INDIANS—Turep PaGE. BURKE ON CROMWELLIAN RULE IN THE “GREEN ISLE! THE REBELLION OF I FROUDE: THE IRISH —THIRD PAGE. AMUSEMENTS—PIGEON SHOOTING—ROUMANIAN EMIGRATION—THIRD PaGE. THE VIENNA EXPOSITION! WARNING TO AMERICANS: AUSTRIAN PATENT OFFICE SCHEMES—TentH Pace. A CANTANKEROUS KANUCK! CANADA'S FU- TURE : ABSORBING THE UNION—MARINE NEWS—Tentu Pace. FUTURE EXISTENCE OF THE SEVENTY SOLONS! THE BODY UNWILLING TO EXPIRE: HAVEMEYER ON THE REASONS—TestTu PAGE. CUBAN SLAVERY! LAVISH EXPENDITURE FOR ITS PERPETUATION: NURSING INSURREC- TION—Firrn Pace. THE LEGAL TRIBUNALS! VIOLATING THE PEN- SION LAW: CAHOONE’S DEFALCATION: CAMDEN AND AMBOY HEAVILY MULCT: DAMAGE BY OROTON—Fourts Pacg.. ‘CHANGE! WESTERN UNION IN THE CABINET : POSTAL TELEGRAPHS : TIGHT- NESS IN MONEY: GOLD DOWN—mourn Pace. STEADY INCREASE OF THE HORSE DROPSY— “VIC DEFIES THE WORLD AND STATES AER CASE—BEATING A PAUPER—A CONFT- DENCE DETECTIVE—LOCAL—Firta Pace. CONCERT SALOON KEEPERS AT THE BAR OF JUSTICE | THEIR RIGHTS AND THE LAW— THE “GRAND GIF1" CONCERT LOTTERY— NintH PAGE. INSURANCE TROUBLES! ST. LOUIS SENSA- TIONS: FIRE UNDERWRITERS’ MEETING— EIGHTH Pace. REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE—RELIEF FOR DANISH SUFFERERS—UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT—A NEW CROTON RESER- VOIR—REPORT OF THE UNION FERRY COMPANY—REFORMED CHURCH CLASSIS— Fira Page. ON Sronmm at tax Antivopes.—The Gipps Land, Australia, papers just to hand by mail, state that the cold weather which was experienced in that portion of the Antipodal territory on the 9th of August last was the most severe, and the quantity of snow which fell the greatest that has been felt or known in the district during twenty years past. This is getting NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1872—TRIPLE SHEET. A Grisis im the Freneh Republic— The Threatencd Resignation of M. Thiers. There appears to be @ crisis in the affairs of the French Republic, or at all events in the affairs of M. Thiers, who at present seoms to be all there is of the Republic, Our cable despatches from Paris, published this morning, indicate a stormy time in the Na- tional Assembly, and we are not only furnished with the startling intelligence that the venera- ble President has passed a ‘“sleepleas night’’— 0 fact which in regard toa man seventy-five years of age is by no means insignificant—but thai he is resolved upon demanding another vote of confidence, and that, in the event of being refused a larger majority than that which may be said to havo barely saved his official life, he will resign his position and retire from the head of the government, This is certainly serious and alarming news. We can conceive of no means by which the present form of government in France can be preserved in the event of the retirement of M. Thiers. As there has always been found a Frenchman for every crisis in that singularly changeable nation, the present Chief Magistrate has appeared to be the very man fitted to hold the reins of gov- ernment in the stormy and uncertain period succeeding the national defeat and the occu- pancy of portions of the territory by the con- quering power. His peculiar qualifications, his advanced age, his previous history, his immediate associations, the posi- tion he had occupied during the war, freo from the necessities of active service yet consistently evincing patriotism and loy- alty to his country—all these tended to recon- cile Frenchmen to his rule and to conciliate, if only temporarily, the conflicting interests of faction. ‘Thus he was allowed to take and has been enabled to retain power up to the present time, and if he should be driven to resign the Presidency there will, we fear, be but a sorry prospect of peace and stability for the F'rench Republic. Our despatches represent that the members of the Left held a meeting yesterday, and sent a deputation to the President to dissuade him from his purpose. It is evident from our report of the proceedings of the government party that they have no faith in the sucocss of a direct vote of confidence in the present ad- ministration, In their interview with M. Thiers, they are represented as assuring him that they would introduce in the National Assembly to-day or to-morrow certain consti- tutional projects in harmony with his views, upon the passage of which they appear to rely and which would be equivalent to a vote of confidence. In other words, they pro- pose to bridge over the difficulty, probably by a legislative act to make M. Thiers President for life, with a provision for the creation of a Ministry at his back simi- lar to that of the Empire. They evidently believe that the Right would be compelled to give their support to such a measure. In- deed, the members of the opposition, who also assembled in caucus yesterday in great force, resolved to oppose any formal proclamation of the Republic, but signified their willingness to grant to M. Thicrs the life Presi- dency, provided. he would take conservative ground, constitute a responsible Ministry, and give up his right to participate in Parliamen- tary debate. The Loft probably would not go so far as this, for M. Thiers would not be likely to assent to yield the privilege of watching and operating upon the National Assembly. But they evidently hope to overcome the diffi- culty by meeting the Right half way, and for the sake of peace leaving the Presi- dent for the few remaining years of his life in the enjoyment of the power he has thus far used discreetly and to the advantage of the country. , While it is probable that some such compro- mise as that we have foreshadowed may post- pone the crisis, it seems evident that unhappy France trembles on the verge of another revo- lution. The very proposition by which alone the present difficulty appears capable of being ‘overcome carries with it the evidence of the instability of the present form of government. The Re- public, if suffered ‘to exist, is not to be for- mally proclaimed; it is to be, in fact, a mon- archy under the name of a republic, with a citizen instead of a legitimist or an adventurer at its head. M. Thiers, now in his seventy- fifth year, is to be left in the enjoyment of the Chief Magistracy during his life, which cannot be much longer pro- tracted, During his few remaining years the rival factions will be prosecuting their intrigues and perfecting their plans, and at his death each doubtless hopes to be ina position to seize the succession. Bourbons, Orleanists, Bonapartists and republicans seem to be equally contented to abide the proffered time and test; but their very willingness to ac- cept this compromise is, as we have said, an evidence of the disordered and unsettled con- dition of the public mind. If M. Thiers should remain obstinate in his apparent resolve to force a direct vote of confidence from the Assembly, or, in the event of failura, to resign his office, it is impossible to see how a peaceful solution can be expected. Who is to be his successor? The alleged inflamma- tory speeches of M. Gambetta in the pro- vinces during the recess formed the basis of the attack of the fiery Changar- nier, which gave origin to the present trouble. Against such a ruler there would probably be open revolt. An attempt to restore © monarchy under whatever head could not now be successful, whatever may be its prospect in the future. It is said that the Right would propose a triumvirate; but this would only be the prelude to a revolution and would give encourage ment to the men who are plotting for their several leaders, M. Thiers, it is true, pledges the army to the support of his suc- cessor, whoever he may be; but is M. Thiers himseli confident of the power that has re- cently been bold td express its sympathy with the fallen Empire? ‘One thing, at least, is evident—that the President has exhausted his old resource of alarming the National Assembly into a formal endorsement of his policy by a threat of resignation. The experiment, once 80 effective, has now lost its force, and the Right is evidently less alarmed than formerly at the idea of a political convulsion, Wo have our own ideas of the expediency of M. Thiers’ action. We have feared that he would tempt fate once too often, and that his waspish and irritable attacks ahead of New York with a vengeance! uvon (he repronentatives would sooner or later involve bim in just such a dilemma as he has now drawn upon himself, Should the proposition of the Left be endorsed by the President and prove acceptable to the opposi- tion, as probably will be the case, the present trouble will yet leave its bad effect upon the fu- ture, The authority and power of M. Thiers will begone, never to be recalled. Should he insist upon retaining his right to take part in the legislative councils and debates he will have lost the influence he has heretofore wielded. A threat from his lips after this would meet only with derision, It would in fact be safer and moro dignified should he accept the proposition of the Right and confine himself hereafter to his executive duties. It may be that he will do so, although obstinacy is a distinguishing trait in his character, and his belief in his own power will not easily be shakea, The prospect is at least full of doubt and not without its threatening clouds. Should they not be dis- persed by the sunlight of a compromise we fear there will be stormy times in store for France. A Cuban Journal on the Herald, That journals published in Cuba by the courtesy of the Spanish government should marvel at tho Hzratp for having despatched a special commissioner to tho, island, whose difficult mission was to inquire into the state of the insurrection, is very natural. The necessity of writing, if not thinking, within certain police limits would take up so much of their editors’ time that they could not be expected to comprehend at once the spirit of enterprise which would induce an American newspaper to send its representative 80 far from home on such a perilous errand. There is, apparently, so much peril in writing, except according to the Spanish army manual, that they cannot discover why any journalist ina free country could desire to share their danger. Much more difficult, then, must it be for them to explore the reason why the Hxratp should demand the liberation of its imprisoned correspondent or aver that Spain should take the consequences of refusal, even to the necossity of a war, for the maintenance of our citizen's rights. ‘The Heraup,"’ ex- claims I Comercio, “is not a power ora nation. At most it is a popular periodical in the country where it sees the light.” The very denial of this journal that the Hrranp is a power ora nation shows that it has an inkling of the difference between the independent journal that boldly speaks for national interests without fear or favor and the restricted class to which it belongs. The Huraup may be ‘‘a power or a nation,"’ but it is in as much un- certainty thereanent as Addison makes Cato when soliloquizing on tho locality and time wherein the virtuous are to be happy. He clearly thinks the conjecture must be answered in another world, as “this world was made for Cesar’’—i. ¢,, the Spanish police. For thé information of I! Comercio we may say that the independent journal is a power, and that in proportion as its width of grasp takes in the wants, aspirations and interests of the people 80 it approaches being the mouthpiece of the nation in its most popular sense, This is a dignity too great for the narrowed minds of some journalists to imagine, and lence we have the Cuban papers endeavoring vainly to define the Hrrarp. An effect altogether odd in its way of this journalistic abasementis the insistance that the Heratp should have sent its commissioner with the understanding that he was to be imprisoned if suspected, and shot when the authorities had an inclination for a reportorial battue. This is comical as well as deplorable. It is, of course, the condi- tion on which I! Comercio exists ; but with all the daring a Heratp writer must occasionally bring to bear on the duties of his profession, we must decline respectfully to accept it for our correspondents, as we firmly denounced what appeared an attempt to put it in practice when our commissioner was ‘detained’’ at Havana. But the suggestively bloodthirsty Comercio has another very brilliant idea. It pictures the awful results which would accrue if every newspaper in America sent an ex- plorer or emissary to Cuba. Cespedes then would (horrid thought!) ‘form an army of correspondents, who could handle the pen or the musket at their choice.’’ Sublime Comer- cio, you should be forthwith prosecuted, basti- nadoed and garroted for disclosing such a feasible plan to the Cuban revolutionists! If every newspaper in America sent a corre- spondent thus doubly armed there would, we fear, be little left of Spanish rule in Cuba, if we could judge from what they would be in numbers and intelligence. Leaving our read- ers to ponder over the wonders of a campaign where every soldier ia one army was a “‘spe- cial,”’ we will refer them for further amuse- ment to a translation of the article from Il Comercio, which we print in another column. Trouble Among the London Police. Strikes aro not unusual among the badly paid laborers of the Old World, nor are they much to be wondered at; but an organization to demand an increase of wages by the legal guardians of London's peace is a decided novelty. Sucha movement exists, and in fur- therance of its object a public meeting of dis- contented policemen was held in the British capital a few days back. In consequence a constable who acted as secretary was dismissed from the force. This naturally called forth remonstrance from his brother officers, and now the cable tells us the existence of the police as an organized body appears to be threatened. Yesterday morning's despatches stated the discharge of eighty members, and to-day we are told of dismissals by hundreds, so that prominent streots are left unguarded. No doubt the excessive supply of unemployed men in London will enable the authorities to fill up the ranks of the watchmen, but it is more than questionable whether a more liberal payment of the force would not be found bet- ter economy for those who need police protec- tion and who pay the bills. London's citizens and tradesmen can ill afford to be left at the mercy of the thieves and roughs, and they would hardly be better off if guarded by cheap and inexperienced policemen. Prices of many of the necessities of life are largely advanced within a few years, and there seems good rea- son that the members of the polico should complain of the poor pay they receive. They may have gone the wrong way about demand- ing it, but surely of all pubiic servants none more truly deserve fair treatment than good policemen, . General Grant and: His Second Presi- dential Term—The Questions of Am-~- mesty, Civil Service and Other Re- forms. The overwhelming popular endorsement of General Grant in his election for another Presidential term has turned the attention of the party press to the wiilely enlarged prob- abilities and possibilities of his future course. As master of the political field, and having no longer anything to ask or to fear from party leaders or their followers, he is certainly ad- vanced toa position of independence which is well calculated to awaken the apprehensions of intriguing politicians. If it can be said that the results of the late Presidential elec- tion prove that Mr. Greeley was weaker than the democratic party, it can as truly be said that these results establish the fact that Gon- eral Grant among the people is stronger than the republican party. Hence his opportunity fora broader administration programme than that of the Philadelphia platform. He may play King Log or King Stork to the frogs in the pond; but it is already evident that he is more likely to prove tho master than the servant of his party en- gineers. Upon this point that recent little affair of the Philadelphia Post Office and the President's intimations in reference toa general amnesty are very suggestive. Nor would it be a matter of surprise if, stealing Mr. Greeley's special thunder, General Grant, upon the leading ideas of the Cincinnati plat- form, should build the highest achievements of his administration. In this connection it is not a little strange and remarkable that some of our contempora- ries of the party press, such as the New York Tribuneand World, which were most conspicu- ous through the late Presidential canvass in their earnest and violent advocacy of the cause of Greeley and Brown, are now heading for the broader and deeper channel of indepen- dent journalism. But quite as remarkable as this new departure of Mr. Greeley is the re- mark in regard to General Grant of the Wash- ington Chronicle, that ‘it remains to be seen whether the prospect of having the Hmatp as his champion is a sufficient inducement to turn his back upon a republican Congress.”” What can this mean? Are we to understand from it that while the collapse of the late oppo- sition alliance has left democratic and liberal re- publican journals free to take their own course, their late occupation being gone, the great triumph of General Grant may render him independent even of the republican managers of Congress in the future distribution of the loaves and fishes? If such is the apprehen- sion of our Washington philosopher we hope tor its fulfilment; for, indeed, the time has gone by when it was the chief duty of tho President, as the head of a political party, to reward his frierds and punish his enemies. At the opening of his first term General Grant certainly: manifested no desire to enter into this distasteful business, yet he could not avoid it. Now and henceforth, however, he is free for a general enforcement of civil service reform. Marcy's demoralizing party maxim, that ‘to the victors belong the spoils,’ has cost the country rivers of blood and millions of treasure, and General Grant, in casting it utterly aside, will win the lasting gratitude of the country. Not less in its national importance is the new line of policy which it is said the President in his forthcoming message will recommend for the pacification of the South, embracing complete removal of rebel disabilities. Again, in the management of the national finances, we want a better policy than Mr. Boutwell’s game of bluff with the gold gamblers of Wall street. We want a fixed and regular Treasury system, which, while carefully guarding against shocks and panics, will still push forward to the goal of specie pay- ments. In this view the late action of the Boston merchants, in declining the relief of a paper money inflation, was wise and oppor- tune, and their good example, we trust, will not be lost upon Congress, Our relations with Spain and Cuba continue unsatisfactory to the country. A definite and decisive line of executive action is here demanded for tho establishment of law, order and liberty in the revolutionary.island, whether the issue is to be annexation or independence, Mr. Seward’s great idea, with which he opened the Lincoln campaign of 1860, and which he cherished to the end of his life, was the enlargement of our boundaries till they embrace the whole North American Continent and its islands; but a system of independent and co-operative re- publics will, perhaps, serve us just as well. In any view, Spain, with her slavery system in Cuba, “lags superfluous on the stage," and Mr. Fish, in our State Department, as an apologist of Spain, and as, to this extent, an upholder of slavery in Cuba, has fallen behind the spirit of the age, and should, therefore, be gracefully transferred or retired. In all these suggested measures of reform and national progress General Grant, with his late splendid endorsement by the people, may freely go forward and shape the action of Congress through his annual message. In some quarters, however, it is hoped, and in others it is feared, that he will be a strict party man in being a candidate for another term, and perhaps for still another. Indeed, Parson Brownlow frankly says that he would rather see General Grant elected President for life than to see the restoration of the old unrecon- structed democratic party. The Greeley re- publicans, on the other hand, in the late cam- paign, made the one-term principle one of their Jeeding arguments saings Grant; and we see how the argument ended. But since the election the old appeal for the aboli- tion of the method of electors and electoral colleges, and for the election of our President and Vice President directly by the people, has been revived in certain quarters. Nor is it improbable that during General Grant's sec- ond term a constitutional amendment to this effect may be carried through; for the country and the people have outgrown our present complex, indirect and cumbersome method. In any event, we have no fear that General Grant will be a candidate for a third term; and we anticipate such great results from his second as will amply vindicate the wisdom of the people in acting upon the rule in his case that ‘one good term deserves another,”’ The one-term principle, in short, is a one-term ab- surdity. The principle of two terms to a satisfactory President has worked well for the country. The people held it necessary in the case of Washington, in order to get the gov- orgmcat fairly in operation, aud they would have given him a third term bad he not posi- tively declined it, There wore, also, certain Great measures at stake in the cases of Jeffer- son, Madison and Monroe, which made a second term to each of them needful in the public judgment. In the case of Jackson, he made the prosecution of his war against the old United States Bank, ‘Biddle’s monster,’’ his appeal for a second term, and the people accepted it and re-elected him. In the case of Lincoln, some of the leading politicians of his party endeavored to supplant him for a second term ; but the people held him to be impera- tively necessary as President for the prosecu- tion of the War for the Union to a successful issue, and so he, too, was triumphantly re- elected. The same supremo law, the will of the people, touching the safety of our national debt, banks, bonds and currency, under General Grant, and the hazards of a change in the White House at this time, has given him a second term, and with a popular em- phasis which cannot be misunderstood. Experience, therefore, has established not only the safety, but, in several cases, the wis- dom and paramount necessity of two terms to a President whose good work commenced re- mains unfinished at the end of his first term. Accordingly, whatever amondments in the constitution may be made within the next four years in reference to the election of the Presi- dent, we presume that tho absurd one-term principle will be repudiated, unless the Presi- dential term is enlarged to six, eight or ten years. The constitution of the late Southern Confederacy provided for a Presidential term of six years; for those Southern politicians had had enough of the never-ending and still beginning agitations and confusion incident to a term of four years. This period is so short that one term is required to give the President a knowledge of the routine duties of his office, and hence the force of Mr. Gree- ley’s remark in 1871, that General Grant would be better qualified for his great office in 1872 than he was in 1868. But while the spirit of reconstruction, re- form and progress during the next four years may be expected to reach from the appoint- ment to the post office at the Confederate Cross Roads, in Kentucky, to the elections for the White House, we trust that the question of some special training for our diplomatic service will not be overlooked. Without special training wo have had some excellent ministers abroad, such as Franklin, Clay end Irving; but we have had many others of very inferior quality. We have now in Jay, Marsh and Bancroft ministers of learn- ing, study and experience equal to all the subtleties of European diplomacy, and in Washburne, a self-taught diplomat, whose genius, tact and patriotism have carried him through difficulties which would have per- plexed a Metternich or a Gortschakoff. But a born diplomat isa rare bird, and your Bis- marck is a precious stone which has been polished on the diplomatic grindstone. But behold what he has done! He has taken up the incoherent and wrangling German States and welded them into the potential German Empire. We may want diplomats of this stamp hereafter, and we ought to provide the training required to produce them. The whole budget of reforms and measures of progress we have touched upon comes fairly within the horoscope of General Grant's second term. He comes in again with the éclat of President Monroe, but his opportunity and his means for # grand historical record from his second election are hardly inferior to those of Lincoln. The Reign of Murder. Murder seems to grow more common day by day, perhaps because murderers are too often allowed to escape punishment. There are in the Tombs to-day thirty porsons accused of homicide, all of whom, except Foster, the con- victed car-hook* murderer, and Stokes, the slayer of Fisk, have been committed within the last seven months. The jail at Washing- ton contains nearly one-third this number, and the prisons in other cities are filled with persons charged with the shedding of blood, The pistol, the knife and the bludgeon are fast becoming the arbitrament of every quar- rel and the fancied remedy for every wrong. Foster, in the frenzy of drink, strikes down an inoffensive gentleman, without anything like provocation, and, though he is convicted, he still asks for clemency after nearly two years have passed since the crime was committed. Stokes’ case is too fresh in the public mind both as a fact and as a moral to require comment now. The Scannel tragedy is much more recent and even less justifiable. Latest on the list is the mur- der of O'Neill by King for the offence of testi- fying against a brutal husband's treatment of his wife. In many of these cases mere hate and the nourishing of evil passions prompted the offence; in others it is the old story of jealousy and revenge. For these offences only one remedy remains—swift and certain pun- ishment. It is useless to bewail the prevalence of crime, for till crime brings its own retribu- tion the base and the depraved will think lightly of murder. The indicted murderers in the Tombs—we say indicted murderers, for many of them are known to have committed the crimes with which they are charged—are living proofs of the weakness of the adminis- tration of justice in this city and a constant incentive to murder by other men who are already criminal by will if not in deed, The Pope and the Jt e of Ro- manoff—Promise of Reconciliation. On Monday, at the Vatican, His Holiness Pope Pius the Ninth gave an audience to His Highness the Grand Duke Nicholas Constan- tinovitch, nephew of the Emperor Alexander of Russia. The presentation, it seems, was conducted with some pomp. What invests this affair with some little importance is the fact that for some years past relations have not been cordial between the Holy See and the goverament of the Czar. It is quite possible that to this audience there attaches no politi- cal significance. It is probable, however, that it has a political meaning. In the event of a great war, in which Russia should be con- fronted with the German Powers, Russia might find the Pope a usefal friond. It will be well if one of the results of this meeting of the Holy Fatber and the nephew of the Czar should % the amelioration of the con- dition of the Russian Poles. Russian Poland is another Ireland, only the wrongs of the Poles are greater and their sufferings are more severe, At all ovents the friendly interview of Monday gives prowiae of frioudly relaxions between the head of the Oatholic Oharoh and the chief of the Mascovite Bmpire. The Value of History as Been in the Irish Controversy. Pie Burke made another oratorical om slanght last night on the English sented by Mr. Froude in his review ot Eglisls policy in Ireland under, Cromwell and during the terrible penal days. The arraignment of Ireland's oppressors was complete. If the Trish people had no other reason for undying hatred of England and ali her belongings than the terrible record of Cromwell's crimes thers would in that history be ample justifica- tion. Wo are more than ever convinced that in tearing away the veil which covered from view the jwounds inflicted on Ireland in past ages Mr. Froude has damaged the cause of England more than ten thousand Fenian ora- tors could do. For itis impossible for any man with one drop of generous blood in his veins not to feel it boil with indignation as the history of the savage, atrocious and unrelenting porse- cutions to which the Irish nation was seb- jected is brought vividly before him. Woare apt to forget or to pardon easily the injuries which others suffer if only they are allowed ta become dim memories, but in making America the jury to which England appeals Mr. Froude compels us to take note of the pleadings, an@ Treland has already made a case that enlista not alone the sympathies of the American people but must arouse the indignation of every honest man the world over agains her oppressors, At the same time thia Trish war which is being waged in owe midst furnishes us an admirable opportunity of studying the philosophy of history. Twa gentlemen, learned, eloquent, and, according to their own account of each other, both “honorable men,”’ are each showing us how differently the same fact may be viewed by people whose interests happen to differ. I¢ we may trust the protestations of the dis- putants, and we see no reason to doubt that they are thoroughly convinced of the truth of what they assert, we must come to the con- clusion that all human beings see certain sub- jects through a medium of prejudice which not only obscures but distorts their vision. In his eagerness to prove that England was justified in the robberies, persecutions and massacres by which, during seven hundred years, she has ondeavored to make the Irish people love her, we see a grave historian ignoring not alone the research of his con- temporaries, but facts which aro genorally acknowledged by good authorities. But Mr. Froude cven went so far as to ignore what he himself had written, forgetting, in an access of modesty, that the American public are at least moderately acquainted with his writings. In his desire to clinch an argumont againss the ancient civilization of the Irish people he ventured to make very daring assertions, and some future Lever will hand down the story of his famous Kerry “rath’’ as rivalling in brilliancy the won- derful archmological discovery of the ‘rat hole’ by the learned and never to be for+ gotten Frank Weber. This is but a small example of the shifts to which the ‘impartial’ historian is driven in his efforts to defend a bad cause. While the outside intelligent world of the nineteenth century is listening and making its own comments the only person who is unconscious of the general illumina- tion seems to be the ‘impartial’ person who, with the very best intentions, by a kind of mental color blindness, is unable to recognize any beauty or good except it is clothed in his favorite hue. Beoause the Irish have beem unfortunate Mr. Froude thinks they deserve whatever has befallen them. He says ‘they are no good to handle a rifle,” and yet con- fesses that after an almost continuous struggle of seven hundred years they refuse to acqui- esce in defeat. We might be inclined to doubt the correctness of Mr. Froude’s con- clusions even if we had nothing but his own statements to guide us, The man who comes before an American audience and boldly tells them in effect that the Irish soldiers who fought through our war were ‘no good to handle a rifle” must have a low opinion of the intelligence of average humanity. We were under the impression that Itish soldiers had somewhat contributed to the glory and renown of England; but with the aid of Mr. Froude’s lamp wo shall probably see these matters in a new light. American soldiers will now be able to discover that the comrades who fought beside them, as they thought, gallantly through the war, wera in reality a miserable set of poltroons, Such is the value of impartial history. ‘ Father Burke, on the other hand, gives us » pretty fair example of how much a man may be influenced in his judgments of events by the nature of his surroundings. As Mr. Froude, in his worship of England and hatred of Catholicity, boldly perverts history to suit his argument, so the learned and eloquent Dominican, in his care for the interests of hia Church, glides over and softens facta that it were better to meet boldly. Two notable instances of this have occurred in his lectures, Dealing with the Bull of Adrian he dex- terously showed that in all probability it was a forgery. The arguments he brought forward had at least the merit of novelty, and tha Dominican was honest enough to acknowledge that there was room for a difference of opin- ion. But what we look for is a broad survey of the historical field, not caring much who’ was right or wrong seven hundred years ago, but anxious to know the truth, whatever it was, We want not alone the truth but the whole truth spoken, and the deductions based on principles of justice and humanity. Instead of wasting time arguing whether or not Adrian gave or did not give the Bull to the English King, we should have desired Father Burke to dismiss the question by announcing the broad principle that the Bull or rescript was invalid; not because it was not dated, but because the Pope had no more right to give what was not his than tho Normans had to take it. His natural anxiety to save the Papal reputation caused him to base hia defence on other and less worthy ground, So, in his attempted palliation of the massacre of the English and Scotch set- tlers in 1641, he evades the great question at jssue and weakens his own case. Mr. Frouda has charged that the Irish massacred. gome thirty thousand Protestants, and Father Burke replies that there were only two thou sand = five hundred, thus admitting that thera was a Protestant massacre, but trying to make it appear rathor o small