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6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. ‘ +eeNo. 337 ARUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. "S$ GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Bouston sirett LEO AND LoTos: y UARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Thir- overs and Fourteenth strects—AGNES IFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— Mane? Wivas oF WanDs0m. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway ana Thirteenth street.—Our American Cousin. THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Amznica, on Livingstone AND STANLEY. BOOTH’S THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth avenue.—Roxko AND JULIET. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway. between Houston and Bicecker sts.—KextLworts. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Lorrery or Lirz—Tor Litris Daisy. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirticth st.— Tux Wanpenine Dutcuman. Alternoon and Evening. GRAND OPERA TIOUSE, Twenty-third st, and Eighth av.—Rounp THe CLoce. ACADEMY OF MUSIC. Fourteenth. street.—IraLian Orera—Micnon, TERRACE GARDEN TI ington and 3d avs.—OrERa- TRE, 88th st., between Lex- Diavouo. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Thit av.—Das STITUNGSFEST. , MRE, F. B, CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.~ Son or tnx Nicnt. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street.—Lecrore on eax Battisu PanuiaMent. BRYANT'S OPERA HOU: 6th av.—NxGRO MinsTRELSY, WHITE'S ATHENAUM, No. 58 Broadway.—Srienpip Vanisty or Novetiss. TONY PASTOR'S: OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Granp Variety ENTERTAINMENT, &C. Twenty-third st.. corner ENTRICITY, &C. FAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, corner 28th st. and Broadway—Etutorran Minstrersy, &c. ASSOCIATION HALL, 24 street and 4th av,—Lec- ruRE ON FRENCH. BARNUM’S MUSEUM, MENAGERIE AND CIRCUS, » Fourteenth sireet, near Broadway.—Day and Evening. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— Ecuence anp Arr, DR. KAUN’S MUSEUM, No. 745 Broadway.—Ant axp Scrmice TRIPLE SHEET. New Yerk, Monday, Dec. 2, 1872. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “THE MEETING OF CONGRESS! THE DEATH OF MR. GREELEY IN THE ELECTORAL COL- LEGES: THE TWO HOUSES AND THE ADMINISTRATION” —LEADER—S1xTH PaGE, A STEAMSHIP WRECKED! THE DALMATIAN GOES DOWN, WITH THIRTY-FIVE OF HER PASSENGERS AND CREW—SEVENTH PGB. GONE DOWN IN THE GALE! A SCHOONER WRECKED OFF SANDY HOOK! THE STEW- ARD FROZEN IN THE RIGGING: THREE RESCUED—FirtH Pace, THE FALLEN PILLAR OF THE STATE! LOOK- ING UPON THE FACE OF THE DEAD: ELOQUENT EULOGIES: THE OBSEQUIES ON WEDNESDAY—Tairp Page. FRANCE STILL AGITATED! COMPLICATED POSITION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS! THIERS’ RESIGNATION! A CABINET CRISIS— SEVENTH PaGE. WASHINGTON AWAKING! CONGRESSIONAL PRO- JECTS: GLOOMY PROSPECTS FOR THE LIBERALS: THE TREASURY PROGRAMME: RECEPTIONS: A LETTER FROM MR. GREELEY—TENtTH PAGE. EUROPEAN AND GENERAL TELEGRAPHIC NEWS—PERSONAL PARAGRAPHS—SEVENTH PaGE. FIRES AND INSURANCE! TWELVE CONFLAGRA- TIONS: FLAMING TORNADOES OF DE- STRUCTION: TABULARIZED STATISTICS: THE RATES ADVANCE: LEGISLATION— E1cuTH PaGs. WALL STREET AND THE LEGISLATION OF THE COMING CONGRESS! CHEERING INDICA- TIONS OF THE HOME AND FOREIGN MAR- KETS: THE “PULL” IN MONEY—FirTa PaaE, OUR NEW AFRICAN LION! A CINCINNATI JOUR- NAL ON STANLEY'S ACHIEVEMENTS— LOCAL PARAGRAPHS—Firti Pace. SECRETARY DELANO’S REPORT! EXHIBIT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TH INTERIOR: INDIAN AFFAIRS: THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: AID TO RAILROADS: EDUCATION—Nintu Pace. THE NATIONAL CURRENCY! REPORT OF COMP- TROLLER KNOX: THE NATIONAL BANKS— THE AMERICAN INTERNATIONALS— STEAMER SUNK—E!cuTH Pace. SYNOPSIS OF THE REPORT OF THE HEAD OF THE PENSION BUREAU—ARSON—ELEVENTH Paces, AMERICA’S FIDELITY TO THE “BARD OF AVON!” A REVIEW OF THE DRAMA AND OF A BOMBAY PARSEE—ARTISTS AND THEIR WORK—Fovrtu Pace. CHURCH SERVICES YESTERDAY! THE FRA- TURES OF THE VARIOUS DISCOURSES: PLYMOUTH’S MEMORIAL—IS TENISON IN- SANE ?—Fourtn Page. IMPORTANT LITIGATION ABOUT WHEAT— DROWNED IN THE HUDSON--LAURA FAIR'S LECTURING—ELEVENTH PaGE, Tex Monta Rewics or Horace Greerey were laid yesterday in the house of his friend, Mr. Sinclair, where hundreds of those near and dear to him united in sincere sorrow for the illustrious dead with those of his blood who mourned their truly irreparable loss, Strong men wept on beholding the white face of the departed sage, beautiful in death. The contrast between the sturdy, hopeful, intel- lectual giant of a few short months ago and the silent shrouded form before them was too much for dry eyes. It is announced that the remains will lie in state throughout the day on Tuesday at such place as shall be given in to- morrow’s papers, and that the funeral will take place on Wednesday at eleven A. M, Tae Socta Srrvation mx Spamn remains in an exceedingly troubled condition; but the Treasury provision of the King’s government appears hopeful notwithstanding, if the finan- cial facts which have just been officially stated to the Cortes, with respect to the project of a new government loan, are reliable. ‘Wan Acamer the liberal republicans in the Senate is already declared. It has been pro- claimed that Schurz will be removed from the Committee on Foreign Relations, Trumbull from the Chairmanship of the Judiciary Com- mittee, Tipton from the Committee on Pen- sions, and Fenton will be obliged to take a back seat. These Senators, it is averred, will lose nearly all the patronage they have hitherto possessed, which, by tlic way, has not amounted to much for some time, NEW YORK HERALD, MUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1872—T'RIPLK SHEET, | Tho Meeting of Congress—The Death of Mr. Greeley in the Electoral Col- leges—The Two Houses and the Ad. mintstration. ¥ The third and closing session of our Forty- second Congress begins at Washington to-day at noon, and will close at noon on the 4th of March next, when the constitutional term of this Congress will be ended. As the two Houses are organized, and as quorum will doubtless be present in each with their call to order, we expect the reading of the President's annual Message before them among this day's proceedings, and that the contents of tho Mes- sage will be generally known throughout the country during the afternoon and evening. We have already given an outline from a well- informed source of the leading subjects dis- cussed and recommendations embodicd in this Message, from which it ‘appears that the foreign and domestic policy of the administra- tion will continue to be that of peace, and that no startling transformation scenes will just yet be attempted at home or abroad. Nor do we expect much in the way of legislative action or discussion beyond the regular appro- priation bills and other routine measures in the brief interval to General Grant's second inauguration. From the immense enlargements of our boundaries, the increase of population, and.of our national resources, taxations and expendi- tures, and from the vastly increased sectional and local interests, ordinary and extraordi- nary, to be considered, thera is matter enough in the regular appropriation bills for a month or two of active work. It is probable, there- fore, that definite action upon all such meas- ures as civil service reform, a universal am- nesty and civil rights bills, and changes in our financial system and new departures in our foreign relations will be deferred to the new Congress, the first meeting of which, by a revival of the law repealed last session, may be on the 4th of March, but which otherwise will not take place for a year to come, or till the first Monday in December next. It is supposed, however, that in order to have the two houses organized and in readiness for any contingency that may occur in the interval to next December, the late law requiring the new Congress to meet on the 4th of March will be revived. ‘ Meantime the paramount and most con- spicuous fact in our present political condition of affairs is the fact that the President is mas- ter of the field. He has received a popular endorsement in his election for another term, which gives him all the advantages that could be desired for shaping and directing the action of Congress upon all the leading ques- tions of the day. Moreover, the death of the opposition candidate for the Presidential suc- cession, Mr. Greeley, in the interval between the election of November and the meeting of the electoral colleges of the several States, which will be on Wednesday next, makes a vacancy which leaves these colleges free to fall back upon General Grant, and thus to make him their choice as by the unanimous vote of the nation. The constitution pro- vides, in reference to the election of the Presi- dent, first, that each State shall appoint a number of electors equal to its representation in both branches of Congress, These electors, as between Grant and Greeley, were chosen in the several States in our late Presidential elec- tion. Next, it is provided in the constitution that “the electors shall mect in their respec- tive States (and» by law the day is fixed for Wednesday next) and vote by ballot for Presi- dent and Vice President,” and that they shall send the results to the President of the Senate; that he, in the presence of the two houses, shall open the certificates, when the votes shall be counted, and that the person having the greatest number of votes for President, if a majority of all the electors, shall be the Presi- dent, &e. Novw, as the electors by the constitution are left perfectly free to vote for whom they please for President, and as there is no provision for a case like this of Mr. Greeley’s decease, the question recurs for whom are those electors to vote who have been chosen in the name of Mr. Greeley, representing the electoral vote of the States of Maryland, Georgia, Tennessee, Ken- tucky, Missouri and Texas? With u proper regard for the will of the people, they should (Mr. Greeley being dead) vote for the next highest candidate in the popular vote of each of these States, and General. Grant is this man. They cannot vote for a dead man, they cannot properly vote a blank, they cannot change the result by voting for some new man, and they may very materially modify the policy of the President in many things in electing him for his second term by the unani- mous vote of the Electoral Colleges, as repre- senting, with the death of Mr. Greeley, the unanimous voice of the people, This will, indeed, give us the revival of President Mon- roe’s “era of good feeling,’’ in which all par- ties were merged in the party of the adminis- tration. Or, in other words, with the re- election of General Grant by the unanimous vote of the Electoral Colleges, the people will become all republicans and all democrats, as in the time of Monroe they were ‘‘all fed- eralists and all republicans."’ Party lines will be obliterated, and Sumner, Trumbull and Banks, with Hendricks, Cox and Brooks, will be as free to support the measures of the administration as Morton, Sherman and Dawes. But, leaving this subject to the discretion of the Electoral Colleges concerned, we pass to the relations between the President and Con- gress. The Washington Chronicle is appre- hensive that, from certain views we have ex- pressed on this matter, our design is to revive between Grant and Congress something ke the ‘‘irrepressible conflict’ which existed throughout the late constitutional administra- tion between Congress and ‘Andy Johnson.”’ But this idea is simply preposterous. We de- sire harmony between the President and Con- gress; but we apprehend, if the President has no policy to urge upon Congress, that Congress will enforce its policy upon the President, and that it will fall far short of the just expectations of the people in regard to the civil service, Southern reconciliation and our relations with the independent republics and the colonial dependencies of European Powers on this Continent. The President's declaration that he has “no policy to enforce against the will of the people’ is good; but this does not absolve him from his duty of urging upon Congress those foreign and do- mestic measures which are manifestly the will of the people, His duty hero is plain, and his advantages for taking the initiative aro such as no other President has possessed since Monroe. General Grant is expected to establish a civil service reform which will put an end to the demoralizing scrambles for the spoils and plunder which, since the time of Jackson, be- tween the outs and the ins, have been the especial scandal of our popular institutions. Give us a civil service in which fitness for the office will be the law of the appointment, and the basor elements of our political conteste— tho idlers, hangers-on, vagabonds and ruffians who do the dirty work of scheming and reck- less politicians—will be disbanded and dis- persed. Give the Southern States the gencrous peace offering of a universal amnesty and you may at once, in our judgment, remove the army from the supervision of their local affairs. Proceed to that broad and fraternal line of action in reference to the New Dominion and Cuba and Mexico and Central America, which will have for its ultimatum an American league of independent republics, and our “manifest destiny’’ will soon be developed. to our government as the fountain head and the defender and moderator of this true American system. The Monroe doctrine of European non-intervention in American affairs removed Louis Napoleon’s French protectorate from Mexico; but now we want a declaration of the new’ doctrine from General Grant that the American policy of the United States is not the absorption of Canada, Cuba or Mexico, but such assistance and influence as we may properly give to make those countries independent and self-sustain- ing republics. None of these questions, we presume, for the reasons given, will be acted upon during this short session of Congress. But, as it is ex- pected that the law will be restored for the meeting of the new Congress on the 4th of March, it will be wise for the President to pre- pare for this contingency, because the country desires that he, too, with his inauguration for another Presidential term, shall take a new departure, embracing not only a new Cabinet, but a new, positive and progressive policy upon all tho leading issues of the day touching our relations and our interests at homo and abroad. Geman Impentan Creation oy New Prus- stan Perrs.—His Majesty the Emperor of Germany has, by the issue of a royal decree, created twenty-five new Prussian peers. The gentlemen who have been ennobled have al- ready served the State either in the army or the civil departments of the government,-or contributed to the sustention of the monarchy as land owners and taxpayers. This vigorous action of the Emperor was made an absolute necessity in consequence of the defiant atti- tude which the members of the Prussian Chamber of Peers assumed and maintained toward and against the wishes of the people and the policy of the government by their class opposition to the passage of the Counties Reform bill. Emperor William found that the alternative was made to lie between the destruction of the Upper Chamber or the humiliation of the throne and people. He has solved the difficulty by a wise and timely exercise of his prerogative, and thus illus- trated the working of the German system of government in a manner very favorable to the wholesome conversatism of checks and bal- ances, particularly when they are fairly ad- justed and wisely weighed. Great Britain has tided over public crises of like gravity in a similar manner on several occasions, previous to the final passage of the Reform bill and since. The Prussian peers of the ancient régime have damaged the cause of feudal class privilege almost irreparably by their course of opposition to healthy democratic progress. Sxnatorn Sumves aT His Posr.—Senator Sumner is at his post in Washington, with re- newed health and strength after his European trip. In a conversation with a Heraup corre- spondent, published to-day, he avows his de- termination to push through his Civil Rights bill, defeated by his republican associates last session, and declares that it shall yct have a place in the statute book of the nation. He also intends to advocate the abolition of the Electoral College and a direct vote for Presi- dent by the people. After the steady and united support given to President Grant, by the colored voters of the United States, it will be difficult for any republican now to oppose the Civil Rights bill, nor can the democrats consistently fight it in view of their Cincin- nati-Baltimore platform and their support of the lamented Mr. Greeley. We shall there- fore be prepared to see Mr. Sumner succeed at last with his civil rights for the Southern blacks, and we shall not be surprised if his proposition for a direct Presidential vote meets with popular approval, Tue Dancers or THe Drer.—A distressing casualty occurred in the Bay at an early hour yesterday morning. A five-hundred-ton schooner, the Charles H. Mollett, foundered in a gale of wind, and of her crew of five men one was drowned, a second frozen to death, and the remaining three were only rescued after they had undergone intense suffering from the cold and when life was almost extinct. The poor fellows were within signal of Sandy Hook when their vessel went down. Those who were saved clung to the rigging ; but the schooner had sunk on her beam ends and was lurching over from side lo side with the force of the waves, plunging them at intervals into the water. When morning dawned the land was discovered close by, but was only mockery to the survivors. One unfortunate froze to death in the rigging. The story of their sufferings is graphically told elsewhere. Suovrp Sznator Fenton Restox?—Some Washington politicians are advising Sena- tor Fenton to resign his seat’ in the United States Senate and go home. Senator Fenton should do no such thing, He is o shrewd, sharp legislator, and his experience in legislation, as woll as his intimate acquaintance with tho policy and motives of his former political associates, will be of much value in the opposition ranks. As an old republican he will act with Senators Sumner, Tipton and other liberals; and if they can make up their minds to give President Grant's administration a genuine, disinterested support in all good measures, and to oppose and expyse all corrupt legislation, they will do 4 good service to the country and help to lay the foundation of a political organization that may yet become a power in the land The Puilpit’s Tribute to Mr. Greeley. The death of Mr, Greeley has touched the pulpit almost as deeply aa it has the press, and ministers, as well as journalists, have hastened to honor his memory and to pay their tribute of respect to one who, in his lifetime, had preached more eloquently than many of them and to larger audiences than any of them. Mr. Greeley’s position brought him into intimate contact with scores ‘Of the best preachers in the country, by whom he was respected, if not loved. And to those who fill the pulpits of New York and Brook- lyn his name was as familiar as a household word, and several have attested their ap- preciation of his character and moral worth, as well as of his journalistic labors in be- half of hid race. . Touchingly simple and beautiful are the words of Dr. Chapin, his esteemed pastor for a quarter of a century. He knew the deceased journalist as few men could know him, and his declaration that Mr. Greeley, who, by his incessant mental labors, might be excused for absenting himself from the house of God occasionally, was always in his pew at the appointed hour for service ; that he was not a fair-weather Christian, but in the storm as well as in the sunshine he was there, and\not only as a hearer, but ready with purse and voice and pen to advance any Chris- tian and philanthropic project—such a decla- ration is the best eulogy that could be pro- nounced over his remains, And Mr. Greeley’s sympathy for mankind and his efforts to elevate his race were the natural outgrowth of his firm conviction and faith in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, And his dying words, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,”’ were but another form of expression for this, his life-long convic- tion. Two continents are to-day speaking about the dead journalist. The homes and hearths of those who knew him best will keep his acts and words in tender remembrance. The political world will Inment a leader, the workingman will miss a fellow workingman who labored by his side and for his cause. The freedman will not for- get him until he forgets the record of his scars and the breaking of his chains. There is not # noble cause or work of man that will not feel his loss and send its echo of regret. Not less eloquent and touching was the tribute of respect paid by Dr. Armitage, of the Fifth Avenue Baptist church, to the de- parted journalist. ‘The man whom we had loved for years,” said he; ‘whose name, influence and power had been a life among us, is stretched out in the image of death.’’ Some of his hearers. had felt that this affliction was a personal one. Some of them remembered the struggles of his early life when he came to this city, ‘‘poverty- stricken, unsurrounded by friends, lonely as a stranger, yet trusting asa child.’’ But now they thank him for the nobleness of his nature, the power of his intellect, the en- durance of his sensibilities and the purity of his life, Dr. Armitage had known Mr. Greeley for thirty years. They had both come to the city about the same time poor and empty-handed. It was the struggles of Mr. Greeley’s carly life to make bread and honesty meet for himself that had been his success and had given him so much sympathy for the suffering and the struggling everywhere. “Honors,” said Dr. Armitage, ‘can only be won by actions such as those of men like Franklin, Greeley or James Gordon Bennett, no matter whether their busi- ness is simply putting up types or in the harvest field, or by work at the anvil.’’ The Doctor also made a touching reference to the tender watch care of Miss Greeley at her father’s bedside. Mr. Frothingham, referring to Mr. Greeley’s death, said it had caused a general chill. His life illustrates the enthusiasm of humanity. “A great teacher, an earnest reformer, a st m- ulator of honest thoughts has passed away. He owed his death to the same principles that made his life illustrious.” Mr. Hepworth, too, failed not to cast his crown of immortal honor and respect at the fect of departed greatness, Mr. Greeley was a man of whom America should be proud, and when we forget his eccentricities, Mr. Hepworth said, we shall erect a monument to his name. Mr. Greeley’s motives were as pure as any that ever throbbed in a human bosom. Every one felt the presence of this warm-hearted man. He was a thoroughly good man, and his errors were those of judgment and not of heart. He sought to pour fhe balm of Gilead into the public heart of this country, and how sadly true are the remarks of the preacher, that ‘we never know how to measure greatness until it has bidden us ‘goodby’”’ and gone forever from our midst! Such are some of the utterances of our metro- politan pulpits on the life so soon and so sud- denly taken from among us. Not less eloquent, tender and true are those of the leaders of pulpit thought in our sister city. Mr. Talmage forcibly presented the lessons of Mr. Greeley’s life and death to his vast audience last evening. His life is an illustration of what indomitable energy, deter- mination and pluck will do when coupled with close attention to business. His death develops the doctrine of brotherhood. And though few States were willing to accept him as a political leader all the States will vote for him as a man worthy of honor, and by the electoral college of the world he will be proclaimed Presi- dent of the great reformatory movg- ments’ of the world and of the intel- lectual unfon of the country.” This sentiment of Mr. Talmage was applauded by the audience, and shows the hearty ac- cord in which they were with everything that had been said concerning the deceased man. Mr. Talmage also referred to the high tone of Mr. Greeley's journalism, to his religious faith and his expression thereof with his latest breath, and urged literary men, and especially newspaper men, to slack up in their express speed ; for he believed that overwork killed Mr. Greeley, and not so much sorrow over his domestic loss or his political defeat. Mr. Beecher, too, closed an eloquent sermon by a reference to the dead journalist—a man who was the light of our dwellings, and whom he greatly loved. A man of enormous energy, who did not undertake anything except that which, in his judgment, was to benefit the generation in which he lived. His death has brought death nearer to the thoughts of men, and to-day men’s thoughts and conver- sation turn into one channel, Mr. Beecher's tecommendation, therefore, was to put our- selves in the hands of God in all storms, and trust Him to the end, <= — ro a Report ef the Secretary of the Inte- rior. We publish in another part of the paper the report of the Secretary of the Interior, ad- dressed to the President and to be laid before Congress. It is an exhibit of the operations of the department during the year, with sug- Bestions as to what is needed in the way of Congressional action. The Secretary says he has made this report as concise as possible. While ‘this is an unusual merit in such public docu- ments, and we are willing to give Mr. Delano credit for not being unnecessarily diffuse on some topics, we think he has been too concise on others, Indian affairs are first. referred to in the re- port. The Secretary claims that the present Indian policy of the government has proved successful. In setting this forth he asserts that for three years the extension and develop- ment of our railroads and frontier settlements in the far West have been attended with far less loss of life and property and less obstruc- tion from hostile and roving tribes than under any other mode of treating the Indians, He is in favor of forbearance and uniform kind- ness, as far as practicable, in the treatment of these ‘wards of the nation,” and of the policy of feeding, civilizing and Christianizing them. The percentage of increase in agricultural pro- ductions, in schools and scholars, in stock and in everything that shows progress was very great, The Secretary speaks of the good done by missionaries from the different religious societies, and invites their co-operation on a more extended scale with the Executive and the department, Still he thinks the agents se- lected by the religious bodies at the instance of the government might have been in many cases more suitable; that they ought to be, in fact, not only efficient business men, but good, earnest Christians as well. The Secretary re- commends, at the same time, that the military posts adjacent to the Indian country shall be kept up, as it will be both necessary and use- ful for the government to show its strength while pursuing a kind and humane policy. Under the head of public lands the report shows that 11,864,975 acres had been disposed of during the last fiscal year—1,370,320 acres were for cash sales; 4,671,322 were taken under the Homestead law; 3,554,887 acres were grants to railroads. This wasa greater quantity disposed of by 1,099,270 acres than during the previous year. The cash receipts, under various heads, amounted to $3,218,000. There were surveyed 22,016,608 acres, which, ‘added to the quantity already surveyed, amounts to 583,364,780 acres, The public domain remain- ing unsurveyed is estimated at 1,251,633,620 acres. Wo regret to say we do not see in the Secretary’s report any suggestion as to the necessity of preventing the public lands, which are the precious inheritance of the American people and future generations, being squan- dered upon railroad monopolies and gigantic lobby schemes, Congress has been far two lavish in this respect. Some remarks of the Secretary on this subject would have been appropriate. Of the different bureaus under the Interior Department that of the Patent Office is the most successful and unexceptionably good. It pays its own expenses and has a surplus over of $77,400. The Pension Bureau has expended for the year for pensions of all classes, including the cost of disbursement, $30,169,340, which is less by $2,908,043 than the amount paid the previous year. It is estimated that $30,480,000 will be required for the pension service the next fiscal year. The grand total of pension- ers on the rolls the 30th of last June was 232,229. The number of pensions granted during the fiscal year was 33,838. There were 82,518 claims remaining unadjusted—namely, 37,176 for invalid pensions, 33,762 claims of widows, orphans and dependent relatives and 11,580 claims of soldiers and widows of sol- diers in the war of 1812, The Secretary gives a hearty endorsement to the object and operations of the Bureau of Education. Speaking of the report of the Educational Bureau he says :—‘‘No previous volume contains such a mine of educational facts and statistics for the guidance and infor- mation of the country. I recommend increased appropriations for the office.”” The report of the Superintendent of the Ninth Census announces the completion of what the Secretary terms “that great national work.’ It.is mentioned with pride as tho most complete report ever made. A census is recommended to be taken in 1875, on the cen- tenary of American independence, and every five years thereafter. One feature of Pacific Railroad enterprises worthy of notice here is the vast amount of money loaned by and owing to the government and people of the United States, Besides the enormous amount of land given to the several railroads we find that the Union Pacific owes the United States $27,236,512, the Central Pacific, $27,855,680; the Central Branch Union Pacific, $1,600,000; the Kansas Pacific, $6,303,000, and the Sioux City and Pacific, $1,628,320. In all, the amount is nearly sixty-five millions, Of course there is little or no prospect of the railway companies: ever paying the government. Worse than that, the government is respon- sible for o much larger amount, and has to pay annually the interest on bonds which the companies ought to meet. Need we wonder that so many Congressmen and others con- nected with the Pacific railroads have become enormously rich? ay ey TR Tad Purmovre Memonzaz.—The very prac- tical and philanthropfc direction in which the members of Plymouth church intend to com- memorate Mr. Beecher's quarter of a century pastorate received its first tangible advance yesterday in the subscription of thirty thou- sand dollars toward the fifty thou- sand dollars to be raised, It was @ noble subscription, but not more noble than the purpose for which it is de- signed, and the cause and the cost must cer- tainly commend themselves alike to the hearts and to the pockets of the rich men of Ply- mouth church .and congregation, And we have no fear that the remain- ing twenty thousand dollars will not be forthcoming in time. Men of wealth cannot spend their money better than by erecting liv- ing monuments to themselves which they may rejoice in years before they die, and Ply- mouth church has set an example that might be profitably imitated by others. Ir 15 Srarep that Gratz Brown’s Thanks- giving proclamation was the briefest. He probably had the least to be thankful fore ~ _ Whe French Crisis. | The resigfation of Minister Lefrand’ om account of the vote of censure of Saturday in’ the French Assembly and its acceptance by President Thiers indicates. the seriousness which that vote pixces upon the condition of affairs there. The monarchists, it would seem, are resolved upon pushing matters to the bitter end, and hence have po compuuc- tion in rendering the situation dangerous for the nation as well as insecure for the Prest« dent and his Ministry. The statement that M. Thiers again talks of resignation would evince his present hopelessness of inducing the royalist combinators to consent to oblitera- tion of their pretensions. Stung to the quick by the announcement in his speech of Friday that “the monarchy is impossible,” they are now evidently anxious to precipitate a struggle outside the Assembly and take their chances in the conflict. Should M. Thiers resign we may be prepared for stirring times, of which, alas! France has had so much within a couple of years, Without the aid of foreign bayonets it is scarcely possible that either the Bourbons or the Orleanists could gain an ascendancy. The republicans of the Left, of which the able and hot-headed Gam- betta‘is the head, with their following through out the land, will not sit tamely by to see the republic blotted out. The ex-Dictator, kept within proper bounds by the force of the con- servative republicans of the Left Cen- ‘tre, “may develop in a day or two of popular excitement into the leader of the masses instead of the front of a comparatively small section in the Assem- bly. All this time the Bonapartists in the background are grimly waiting, and if a rup- ture be brought about through the suicidal im- * prudence of the monarchists an imperialistio coup in some quarter may be expected. It may be that the monarchists, valuing the repeated threats of resignation as the shepherd in the fable crying ‘wolf, wolf,"’ have grown into the belief that no wolf, communistic or imperialistic, exists at all. It might, there- fore, be worth the President's while to carry out this threat just once, and perhaps a glanco of the open jaws of the real political lupine might bring the old gentlemen of the Right and their clerical supporters to their senses. The Fire Insurance Business—Necessity of Greater Protection for the Pub. lie. The enormous requisitions made upon fire insurance companies by the great fires at Chicago and at Boston, in addition to those imposed by the other fires which have oc< curred in the United States during the past thirteen months, have awakened in the public mind, as well as among the policy holders, stockholders and insurance brokers, an in- tense interest, especially as to the actual condi- tion of those companies and agencies which are doing business in the city of New York. We, therefore, present elsewhere in our columns to-day an article on the sub- ject, together with tables chiefly com- piled from official sources, giving the names of those companics and agencies, the dates of their incorporation, their paid up capital, their net assets, their fire risks in force, their liabilities to policy holders at the opening of 1872 and their recent losses by the fire cyclone at Boston. We are, of course, dependent in a great measure upon the com- panies themselves for the statements we pub- lish, and it is by no means an unusual custom with insurance officers, by an ingenious array of figures, to make their condition appear to the best advantage upon paper. Thus we do not suppose that the actual present condition of those companies chartered or doing business in New York is even yet accurately known or will be known until their annual exhibit is made in accordance with the law. It isa fortunate thing that as yet but few companies have become bankrupt in conse- quence of the Boston fire. But while this isa gratifying evidence of the general prosperity of the business, it does not alter the fact that there is far too little security for the public in the present insurance system. In ordinary times we are accustomed to see annual exhib- its, setting forth large profits and heavy assets and leading us to suppose that our insurance companies are as safe as the United States, Treasury. But as soon as some destructive conflagration occurs, when the people are more than ever interested in the solvency of the companies, we find them either bankrupt or put to all manner of shifts to save theme selves from ruin. It is evident that some radival reforms are needed. There are too many companies in existence too much anxi- ety to make large dividends, and too much competition. The system of agencies is per- nicious, A company pays an agent in some distant city or village a certain percentage on all the policies he issues, and the agent is not very particular as to the description of prop.’ erty he insures or the amount of the insurance, The greater the number and the higher the sums the larger the income he realizes. There should beyond question be some restriction on the amount of risk each company takes in’ a single city or village. Some persons favor the idea of a single national insurance com- pany, by which alone policies should be issued, and which, monopolizing the business all over the United States, would of course always be as solvent as the nation itself, Others, not prepared to go so far as this, advo- cate a national system of insurance companies somewhat gimilar to our national banks, ' chartered by the general | government, limited in number, and arranged under such strict’ regulations as to securities and risks os to insure policy holders against loss just as cere tainly as the holders of national currency are now protected, While these and similar propositions are all worthy of consideration, our own State should not be idle in a matter of such great and general interest, The present laws could be much improved. Companies chartered in the State should be limited as to number, and should be restricted as to the amount of risks they take in any one locality. At present none of our own companies and no companies doing business in this State are allowed to expose themselves to loss on any one fire or inland navigation risk toan amount oxceed- ing ten per cont of its paid up capital. This is not enough. No company should be per- mitted to accept risks in any one locality above a certain amount. A large fire anys where, such as those of Chicago and Boston, could not then affect its solvency. The sub- ject is one of great importance to the public, and when we reflect upon the havoc a destruce,