The New York Herald Newspaper, December 10, 1872, Page 4

4 “THE MUTUAL LIFE. Revelations Growing Out of the In- surance Companies’ Fight, SERIES OF CHARGES AGAINST OFFICERS, Alleged Misapplication of Funds by the President. ARE THE TRUSTEES WHITEWASHERS ? ‘Evils and Dangers of the Proxy Vote System. ASTORY OF THREE POLICIES. Stirring Appeal to Policy Holders—Will They Assert Themselves? To THE PoLicy HoupErs :— It is well for you that the late action of the Mu- tual Life in reducing its rates has become a subject Of public discussion, and aroused the attention of its policy holders throughout the country; for it is ‘time that you looked after your interests there With fidelity to yourselves and the determination to discharge your own duty in the premises. The temple was built by the policy-holders, should be dear to them, and they should not allow it to be profaned by unclean things. There is work to be done, and you are the ones to do it; and asa fel- low policy holder, who has striven earnestly against what he knows to have been mismanage- ment and infidelity in that company, I hope by this communication to arouse your energetic co-opera- tion in proper efforts to rescue our interests from the control of unworthy custodians, Ishall speak to you only of that which I know; ‘that which has been proven from the records of the company and by witnesses under oath; that of ‘which I possess the undoubted evidence, and which can be established in any fair tribunal in the land, _ In the Heraxp of Saturday last appeared a letter over the signature of Mr. George S. be, a trustee of the company, wherein he uses the following | Janguage in relation to charges of infidelity against | NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1872.--TRIPLE SHEET, Vice President McCurdy, by withholding the facts from the members of the Insurance Oommittee— a8 two of them were forced to admit under oath— procured the passage of a resolution restoring ali three of these policies, amounting to $11,600, with additions of $733 63, upon payment of “back pre- miums and interest; and @ policy (No, 66) for $12,000, payable in semi-annual instalments, was issued, and is now being paid to the heirs. The gross illegality of this transaction and ita outrage of the rights of the policy-holders, need no com- ment irom me, The plea of poverty ana eminent services, since advanced in justification of this transaction, is not only @ pitiable excuse, but it is unfounded. Some other policies were shown to have been illegally restored or improperly purchased, but the above is, probably, the most glaring abuse ever perpetrated upon the policy holders of a mutual company, A It was charged that large sums of money wero used at Albany and elsewhere to influence legisla- tion and falsely charged as “taxes.” It was shown from the books that over @fteen thousand dollars was so charged to taxes, out of which one noted Ppolitieian of this city received $6,000, and that $2,500 so used was charged to ‘‘office rent’ of an agent. But the officers strenuously and success- fully resisted all efforts to ascertain the true ob- jects and purposes for which these expenditures were made, pretending that it was to prevent taxation. Some of it may have been, but the re- port of the chairman of a legislative committee would seem from the following extract to have iad reason to think otherwise :— Your committee believes that at no time since the insurance department was organized has it been necessary to use money to secure the pas- sage of Just and proper laws to further the best interests of insurance, whose humane purposes, when rightly carried out, commend it to the good will of all. The fact that such large sums have been thus used in an illegal manner discloses not only corrupt and selfish motives but an abuse of the various trusts Tepoaed, which must sooner or later destroy all conildence and effect the over- throw of the entire losurance interest as at pres- ent administered, Other charges were made and proven, such as the withholding of post mortem dividends from the representatives of deceased policy holders; thus depriving them of thousands of dollars to which they are legally and equitably entitled, But Ihave probably given you enough already, and I therefore pass on to a matter of the greatest importance to you—one, as I believe, involving the safety of your interests in the company. I refer to tho proxies held by President Winston and Vice Presi- dent McCurdy. Every holder of a policy of $1,000 or over is entitled to one vote for trustees, Through the agents selected by themselves these officers have gathered and hold enough proxies to prevent the possibility of electing any trustee not of their own selection, and to turn out any who oppose or thwart them. This is a most dangerous power to possess, and where millions of dollars are involved no two men living should be so entrusted and President Winston :— ‘They have all been long sin:e made the occasion ofthe fullest investigation by the trustees and by | legislative committees, and have resulted 10 | nothing sufficient to impair confidence in his character as a safe custodian of so high a trust. ‘The trustees have again and again expressed this opinion of bis fidelity. The present eminent position of the Mutual Life Company is, in their opinion, the most unanswer- able testimonial of his zeal, fidelity and eficiency as an officer, 1 can only reafirm, in the strongest terms, as an individual member, what the trustees have unitedly done under their signatures, that the company is in the best possible condition tor the | security of its members, The “eminent position of the Mutual Life’ 13 far better evidence of your liberality and prosperity than of President Winston’s eminent ability or fidelity. Without you it would have been nothing; | without him you would have been better off, as you will presently see, and, being informed of some | ofthe facts which the “investigations” referred to have disclosed, you will be able to determine for yourselves what must be the standard of fidelity | and probity by which these trustees have measured | the character of President Winston. President Winston was charged with having legally loaned & trustee of the company $30,000, and that he had concealed the loaning by a false statement to the Finance Committee, It was proven that the $30,000 was furnished to | the trastee June 30, 1564, and returned by him, witn interest, July 15, 1864, and that the transac- tion was for a time concealed by means of a false Btatement, rrepared by a clerk, under the dire tuon of President Winston, and delivered to the Fiuance Committee. President Winston claimed the transaction to have been a purchase and re- sale of government securities; but the weight of evidence shows that from its inception to its liqui- ation it was a temporary and illegal loan, and its concealment gave evidence of conscious guilt. It was charged that he had furnished certain State agents with large sums of money without | Quthority and illegally, and had concealed the fact by falsely representing the funds so used to be “cash in the cashier's drawer.” ‘The facts that he made such use of the funds of the company in his individual capacity—at one | time to the extent of $18,491 86—that he had no | security other than the individual responsibility of i the persons whose drafts he pald; that no record | of any kind appeared on the books of the Company | relating to those transactions, but that they were concealed in the manner charged, were all fully established. bi When these things first became known they were investigated by'a Committee of Trustees. The facts were proven or admiited, yet the ma- jority whitewashed them. One member, however, ‘with courage and fidelity, denounced them as “in- tentional and designed deceptions,” and ‘deserv- ing of serions condemnation.”’ When unauthorized, illegal and secret transac- | tions were thus brought home to him; when he not only made faise representations himself, but in- | duced his subordinates to do so, the trustees should | surely have found therein evidence of something | other than “fidelity a3 the custodian of a high | trust." President Winston was charged, together with Other officers, with having received large sums as | “bonus,” which were illegal and a grievous wrong upon the policy holders, and concealed from them by charging the payments to “dividend account.” ‘The statement in my possession, made and sworn to by the bookkeeper of the company, shows he total payment of such bonus during the years 1867 to 1870, inclusive, to have been $189,822 94, | and it was proven that this enormous sum was charged as dividends paid to policy | holders, tiereby concealing its payment from them; trom many, if not most of the trustees, making an actual expense to the policy holders | appear to have been a distributed profit to them and falsifying the ratio of expenses of the company. Of this sum Mr. Winston and his sors received | $63,600 89. Remembering that all this amount ‘was superadded to the ample salaries paid the oMcers, can you believe that any commensurate | service was rendered, or can you absolve the trustees from severe censure for permitting your money to be thus lavishly bestowed ? It was charged that three policies of insurance on | the life of President Winston’s son were illegally | restored and paid after his deatu and that their restoration was procured by Vice President Mc- Curdy through a concealment of the truth, The facta, stated briefly, are these:—F. M. Winston, formerly cashier of the company, insured his life July 1, 1859, for $2,500 (policy No. 22,146). On the | 2d of October, 1862, he surrendered it and received its cash surrender value. On the 22d September, 1962, he insured again for $4,000 (policy No. 27,286), which he surrendered February 15, 1864, receiving the cash surrender | value. . ‘Thus both of these policies were surrendered, paid for and no longer binding in law or in equity. Again, on the same 15th February, 1864, he pro- cured a policy for $5,000 (policy No. 30,964), On this policy not one cent of premium was ever paid, for the first quarterly premium was simply credited by cash book entry to “premiums,” and offset by a debvit‘of the precise amount to “brokerage,” and no other premium was ever paid. This policy was forfeited, as the record shows, on the 28th Novem- er, 1864, for non-payment of premiums, and 60 tered in the policy register. On this 25th day o November, 1864, all his rights as a policy holder ceased, by his failure to pay his premiums. In the month of July, 1866—nearly two years after the foriciwure of this AW ~*""v—he died: | they do not. | Joseph's church oyer sixty-flye priests an: t i a friends, | parti, tempted, They have used the power before, and will most certainly do it again. True it has been done skilfully, shrewdly and with professions of disinterested devotion to your best interests; but do you believe that any set of men, even those so high in social and business life as many of the trustees of the Mutual Life are known to be, when thus at the mercy of those whom they should direct and control, can act with that independence ahd firmness which alone can ensure the safety of your interests ? I knew that they cannot and that Talso know that many of them per- form their duty in a most perfunctory manner, and lalso know that some in that Board are not worthy of your confidence. These are hard things to say, but they are true. Ihave been, and shall doubt- less again be, soundly abused; called blackmailer, accused of improper motives, warned not to pub- lish the evidence in my possession, and which the officers sought to suppress by copyrighting it; but I believe that the day is now dawning that will arouse you to the performance of your duty, and by the light of which you will see things in their true colors; that you will ere long insist and en- force that the affairs of that company shall not be examined by committees of trustces appointed to whitewash; not by a corrupt State Superintendent, who pockets his $2,500 fee for not secing; not bya committee wined, dined and entertained to a proper degrce of faith in their entertainers; but by those of your own selection—capable, honest cap fearless—sent there to get at the truth and the whole of it, and make it known to you all. When that is done I dare assert that you will not endorse the opinion of Mr. Coe nor consider that ‘the “eminence of the Mutual Life’’ is sufficient guarantee of the officers’ fidelity, but rather that you will agree with me that it has become “eml- nent” in spite of them. It is your imperative duty to revoke at once the | proxies you have given these officers and to re- sume the control of the election of trustees by placing your proxies in the hands of those whom you know to be trustworthy and independent of all connection with the officers, their agents or coadjutors. Then to replace those whom you find derelict and unfaithful by trustees who are not afraid to see things as they are, nor to call them by their trne names, who will brook no unfaithful- ness and tolerate no wrong, and who will con- svlentiously labor to place the ‘Mutual Life” above reproach. Then, and not till then, will you have performed your duty to yourselves and to those whom you are striving to protect from want when you shall have been called from this world. JAMES W. McCULLOH, New York, Dec. 9, 1872, 60 Beaver street. THE LATE REV. WILLIAM O'DONNELL, The clay of Calvary Cemetery, hailowed for the repose of the Catholic dead of our sister cities by the prayers of the late lion-hearted Archbishop Hughes, has been lately reballowed by the sacred interment ofall that was mortal of a young Irish priest, whose memory will be long affectionately revered by a large circle of devoted relatives and friends. Poor Father William O'Donnell, pastor of Roslyn and Manhasset, L. I, after four years’ struggling from constitutional debility, fell a vic- tim of malignant fever last month, tn the twenty- ninth year of his age and fifth of his sacred minis- try. Set apart in childhood by pious and very respectable parents as @ votive offering for the sanctuary, he grew in grace, manners, knowledge and years, principally under the fostering care of the brilliant and accomplshed sons of Loyola, in Limerick, Ireland, and was specially marked by collegiate superiors at All Hallows, Bruges and Niagara as a student of singular professional promise before the completion of his canon- ical years for ordination, Though pater- nally “invited by «the reverend chief pastor of Limerick, is native diocese, to take art in bis own field of pastoral labor, fe hesitated not to sunder ties of country, family, home and friends for the spiritual interests of his dear expatriated countrymen. After canonical | adoption he was ordained missionary priest for Brooklyn diocese by the venerable and estimable Bishop Loughlin, who had the melancholy satisfuc- tion last Thursday morning of Jel at St. aM oyer a con- gregatiot Of relatives a uite exce) tonal in number and respectability, who gather to the celebration of @ solemn requiem memorial mass, their last public tribute of religious honor. At the close of four years of missionary services, in Brooklyn, partly in Rosiyn and Manhas- | set, his bishop proudly referred in his pathetic | eulogy to his social and professional career. He had no hesitation in characterizing the relations | between this deeply lamented young priest and his | own and other charch members as peculiarly cordial and gratifying, even to admiration. His efforts in church-bullding for the sorrowing people of Rosiyn and Manhasset, so cheerfully sus- taiped by the counsel and substantial sympathy, } Dot only of his own large circle of generous rela- tives and friends, but of sectarian liberal-minded | brethren of various denominations, will be long re- membered with pride by the kind atrons of his | Valuable parochial labors, Among the many Irish | priests ‘whose clay lies far away’ nobody will be more faithrully or feelingly remembered than the zealous, tender-hearted and disinterested spirtual | son who has been summoned so prematurely from | an already atficted brother and ily in the ding circle | “poor Old Country” and a datly exp: of admiring friends in the land of his adoption, to | share the rewards of a stewardship so gratifying to | bis Bishop, his brethren in the ministry and the | many grateful friends, whose prayers will keep his memory long enshrined in their aMlicted souls. EYES PUT OUT BY HOT TAR. Saturday afternoon Patrick Woods, employed by the Warren Company Roofing Manufactory, at Hunter's Point, while rolling a barrei of hot tar up aplank from the heating tank, lost the sight of both eyes, a stream of the hot fuid pouring upou him, His face and neck were also badly burne THE DOMINION. What the Premier Thinks of 5 Her Prospects. Sir John A. Macdonald and His Feeling for America, A Pleasant Solution of the Fenian Raid Claims— The San Juan Decision of No Consequence— Annexation and Independence Below Par. — Orrawa, Ont., Nov. 30, 1872, Though Lord Dufferin be Governor General of Canada, and as such the representative of the Queen of England, his influence on politics is com- paratively nil. The man of real power in the Do- minion is the Premier, Sir John A, Macdonald, It is the Governor General's prerogative to sign all bilis that pass through Parliament, and there, it may be said, his functions practically begin and terminate. This government is te all intents and purposes a constitutional monarchy, leaving out a house of peers and the privilege of conferring pat- ents of nobility. SirJohn A, Macdonald occapies an anolagous position to Gladstone. His Cabinet Ministers hold seats in Parliament and feel them- selves bound to adopt and urge all the measures of their chief, = I found little trouble in making my way to the presence of the Premier though A BRITISH MASTODON, with enormous whiskers and the legs of an elc- phant, had prior claim to an interview, but being acontractor and having an axe of large dimen- sions to grind, Sir John thought he could afford to wait. The Premier made a favorable impression When he came among us about two years ago as @ member of the High Joint Commission. His frank, hearty democratic manner had more of-the Ameri- ean flavor about it than the cautious, conservative dignity of Secretary Fish. SIR JOUN'S APPEARANCE. He is a man advancing on fifty-two years, but full of the nervous energy of youth, He entertains a religious aversion to wearing hair on his face, and the result is the expressive mobility of his features shows to better advantage. He is a soft-voiced, pleasant-spoken man, combining these rare quali- ties—the suaviter in modo with the fortiter in re. Judging from the tone of the papers that oppose him, he is an unscrupulous vagabond, who never had a particle of principle and who is leading the country to the devil. INTERVIEWING THE PREMIER, T found him in the midst of a mountain of corre- spondence, larger undoubtedly than President Grant isever troubled with, and though all this ‘was on his thoughts, together with the irrepressible suggestion on @ neighboring tray of luncheon, smoking hot, he threw himself back in his chair and entered into conversation as freely as though his duties were mere pastime. I said.to him— “Sir John, the opposition presa accuses you of having shamelessly neglected the interests of Canada and acted in collusion with America by failing to provide for another decision than what has been rendered in the San Juan boundary case, and in allowing the Fenian claims to drop out of sight.” Sir John, without permitting himself to be in the least degree disturbed at mention of the opposi- tion press, which has abused him with unstinted violence, calmly answered— “It is absurd to blame me for the San Juan deci- sion. If persons or peoples consent to leave a vexed question to arbitration they are dishonest if they complain of the verdict. England and America went into this matter of arbitration with their eyes open. We might wish the decision was different, but who will accuse the arbitrator of having ar- rived at anything but a disinterested conclusion? As for me I consider the surrender of the island to America as of no material'consequon tO Camada. As for 3 " THE FENIAN RAID CLAIMS, they were not before the Commission. By mutual consent they were laid aside, as not coming within the scope of our joint mission. There was a strong disposition on both sides to introduce as little as possible calculated to embarrass the settlement of the principal question the Alabama claims, Con- ventions for the disposal of differences arising from time to time between the two nations must be held at more or less regular intervals, and if the Fenian raid damages received no attention from us at this time, they may on another occa- sion.’ “Do you think, Sir John, that England is disposed to press for the payment of these damages !"” “[don't think she is—at least not now. Eng- land is doing her best to promote an entente cordiale with America, and she wants 49 little opening of old sores as possible.”” » “But, then, isit not Canada that loses all this time ?”" “Well, yes, Canada, through the Fenian raids, lost $2,500,000, but we hope to get it all, and even more, back from England in an indirect way.” “How is that 7” CANADA'S BIG JOB. “You see, we are about to build a Pacific Railroad next year. It will be 2,000 miles long and will work wonders for Canada. England will go security for us on the Stock Exchange, and with an issue o, twenty million bonds, five per cent interest, prin. cipal payable in forty years, we shall be placed ina way of carrying out the undertaking successfully. The English government in this way will repay us ten times over for our losses by the Fenians, and we can, therefore, leave England to settle the matter with America at her own convenience, which, no doubt, she will do.’” NO CUTTING LOOSE FROM ALBION. “But suppose England takes the advice of the London Times and cuts you adrift. How then ?” “I have no fear of that. England never shook off acolony yet unless she was compelled to—not a single colony, whether worthless or valuable. Now why should she shake off Canada? We cost her nothing; but, on the contrary, through means of free trade between the countries, we give her a wide field for the sale of her export products. As for what the 7imes said I feel sure that at the open- ing of Parliament it will at once come up for dis- cussion. You willthen see how unanimously the representatives of the people, liberals and con- servatives alike, will repudiate the sentiments of the 7imes. You will hear such a@ discussion as must convince the most sceptical that the whole weight of English opinion is in favor of retaining the connexion," THE ANNEXATION GANG. “I suppose you ignore the presence of an annex- tion element in the Dominton ?"” “Not entirely. We have annexationists in Can- ada as they have repubitcans in England, but their presence is scarcely seen or felt.”’ “But you have a party anxious for independence, Sir John, and some of the opposition tell me you belong to tt?” The Premier smiled and looked incredulous. “J doubt,” said he, ‘df you will find such party; or, if you do, I think you will discover they belong to a class of idle, worthless people, who have no stake in the country, who are in opposition to the government, or who have been disappointed in fortune.” DRAINING THE DOMINION. “There is no getting over the fact, however, that your population is undergoing a perpetual drain, and that the young men of the country are constantly looking to the United States as to a second land of Canaan."’ “| differ from you there. It ts true many of our young men cross over annually to the United States; but you are not aware of the fact that the best part of them return, settic down in Canada and say there is no place like it. I admit there is much attraction’ for them in the high rates of wages at the other side; but when they begin to find out that board, clothing and ail the details of living are a hundred per cent higher there than ere, they gee they have made nothing by the ex- change, and they come back because Canada has something more solid to give them.” “How is it, Sir John, that the emigrants will not stay with you?” “That is another error. The emigrants whose destination is Canada do stay here; but many land at our ports bound for the far western States, and they pass through accordingly, just as many tmi- grants for Canada land at New York and pass through for our provinces, When our Pacific Rall- road is completed we shall have a territory opened up for settlement much superior to any lying on your Northern Pacific. Singular as it may seem, there is less of a snowfall on the proposed route of our new railroad than there is on the Northern Pacific, though it be 80 many miles farther South.” THE HAPPY FUTURE. The Premier spoke in raptures about the pros- pecta of bis railroad, and of the wild, unknown country through which it is intended to pass, I have given you enough of his conversation to show that he takea a genuine pride in the Dominion and in being the temporary ruler of her destinies. Sir John has a kindly feel- ing for the United States, There are some things in our institutions he admires, and, above all, he thinks the business energy and enterprise we show are the very marvel of the age. He cannot overlook the fact that the people of his country are behind Americans in material ad- vancement, and it may be he cherishes a secret hope that some day Canada willbe an indepen- dent Republic, free from the drag chain of British connexion, which tends s0 much to cramp the energy and self-reliance of the people. If Canada were @ Republic there would be more respect tor labor, and the respectable loafers who now crowd her cities and squander the fortunes of their fathers would be compelled, by force of public opinion, to go work for an honest living. ART MATTERS. Boughton’s “Idyll of the Bird There is on exhibition at Goupil’s gallery a series of three pictures under the title of ‘Idyll of the Birds." The name is certainly poetical, but the interest of the work has little to do with the in- habitants of the grove, but touches on chords of fecling intimately human, It would have been better to have called them an “Idyll of Life,” for it is their appeal to human sympathy that imparts to them their chiefcharm. We have in these works another proof that the scarcity of figure painters in America is due to the want of facilities of study rather than to any lack of genius on the part ot American artists. Like most Americans who have distinguished themselves aa figure painters, Mr. Boughton belongs rather to the Old than to the New World. His excellence, however, depends more on the poetic feeling of his nature, as ex- prensed on canvas, than on the technical merit of he craitsmanship. The individuality of the artist becomes more strongly marked as he increases in skill and knowledge, so that the influence of the European schools which was 60 marked a few years ago is gradually giving piace to earlier associations and ideas, but chastened and made strong by a long course of study, It is rather the thought than the manner that is returning, and this must be re- garded as an immense advantage. Boughton’s earlier works gave evidence of a perception of the quieter harmonies of nature, and, though crude enough in execution, these early works breathe a spirit of poetry that makes us forget all but the sentiment of the scene. In the present work all this old charm is revived, Whether we look at the young girl amid the pale pink blossoms of early Spring or the two riper forms in the Summer or life, looking out on the unknown expanse of sea, or into the future, knowing nothing, and, perhaps, caring nothing, except for the enjoyment of placid and sunlit expanse, or gaze on the forlorn form exposed to the keen and biting blasts of Winter, we see only the seasons of the heart. The appeal is to the imagination, and is most successiully made. The ‘Idyll of the Birds"’ will increase the fame ene POD BISrIEY, of Mr. Boughton with the American public, “BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE.” Mr. William H. Powell’s Painting and the Statements Regarding Its Comple- tion—The Payments Made—A Correc- tion. To THE EpiTor OF THE HERALD:— In the Washington correspondence of the HERALD Sunday morning an allusion is made to Mr. Wil- Nam H. Powell's painting of the ‘Battle of Lake Erie,” as ordered by Congress, a few years since, and designed to be placed in a panel over the broad stairs leading to the Senate chamber at the Capitol. In the paragraph it is asserted that the artist has already been engaged on the picture eight years, and received $22,000 out of $25,000 agreed to be paid for the great work in various instalments, and that sum, already handed him, is more than commensurate for the amount of labor bestowed upon it up to this time. Itis also intimated that Mr. Powell has been purposely negligent In finishing the picture, it being his object to leave it in its present state in order to more readily obtain further payments, the amounts of which are named. It is then stated that the unfinished picture is now in the basement of the Capitol, rolied up like a piece of oilcloth. To these assertions and insinuations Mr. Powell briefly answers in this wise:—That the statement that he has been engaged upon the picture eight years is not the fact, as the time of com- mencing the work is but little over six years ago. Should eight years, however, have been consumed it would not be too long a period, when the extraordinary character of the painting is taken into consideration, its proportions being | colossal, thirty feet long and twenty feet in height, the largest oil painting in America. The second statement, that Mr, Powell has re- | ceived, at various times, $22,000 o1 the sum appro- priated is not the fact, as the payments made will | not exceed between $18,000 and $19,000. If he had received, however, the sum stated it would, in his jndgment and that of other artists, scarcely be | one-half of the value of the picture in its present | condition, The next statement, that Mr. Powell was ex- cted to put the finishing touches on the picture | last Summer, and, neglecting to do so, is answered | by the fact that he was held here in the city by do- mestic altlictions of no ordinary nature. He was by the bedside of his dying wife for months, and, in addition to her great loss, the burial of a favorite son, disqualified bim for the work which he expected then to do, But Mr. Powell is now ready to proceed | to Washington in order to finish the painting as soon ag such arrangements can be made with the Congressional Committee that will enable him to do so, The picture is 80 far advanced that it will require but two or three months to fully complete it. From the inception of the work | Mr. Powell has labored earnestly and zealously to. make the ‘Battle of Lake Erie’ something worthy of American art. Every faculty which he possessed | was centred upon this object, although, so far as | his pecuniary interests may nave been concerned, it would, no doubt, have been better had he cen- sidered Jess the requirements of and more the Strict limitation of time as the all-important con- dition of his engagement. W. H. POWELL, 45 East TWENTY-SECOND STREET. THE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, Meeting of the Society Last Evening— | Dr. Walz on Monnier’s Process ot Benc- ficiating Poor Copper Ores, A number otf scientific gentlemen connected with the Lyceum of Natural History assembied in the hall of that institution, 64 Madison avenue, last evening, for the purpose of hearing a paper on “The Chemistry of Alfred Monnier’s Process of Beneficlating Poor Copper Ores,’’ prepared by Mr. Isidor Walz, @ chemist of note and secretary of the | society. Mr. H.C. Bolton oficiated as chairman. Mr. Walz opened his discourse by giving a concise yet lucid account of the principal methods and systems advanced for, the treatment of “lean” copper ores—that is to say, those yielding only from three to six per cent of copper, and drew particular attention to the fact that this | country abounds in such ores that cannot be ad- vantageously treated by the usual metalurgical pro- cesses. He explained that the two principal methods adopted in this country are those of Hunt & Douglas on the one hand and Monnicr’s on the | other. The former consists in roasting the copper- bearing pyrites and LT es 3 the copper by treatment of the calcined residue in a bath of pro- toxloride of iron, while in the latter the ore is cal- cined at a jow red heat with sulphate of soda (com- | monly called “salt cake”), and the copper thus transformed into soluble suphrate of copper. The roasted ore is then lixivated in large tanks of | peculiar construction and a strong solution of copper salts and sulphate of soda is thus ob- tained, from which tne latter is separated by erystalization. The ‘mother liquor’’ is evaporated to dryness aud subjected to reduction. his re- duction process is very ingenious; the dry salts are heated by contact with burning charcoal; the copper and copper-oxide is precipitated on the charcoal, separated by levigation and melted and refined by the same processes as cement copper, Dr. Walz’s description of the various phases through which the ore has to pasa in order to. pro- ——— LECTURES LAST EVENING. DANIEL O'CONNELL, Lectare by Wendell Phillips at Sfein> way Hell Last Night. To a large audience, mostly American, and only here and there dotted with representatives from the land of Erin, Wendell Phillipa delivered his well-known lecture on “Daniel O'Connell.” It was THE OIL TRADE. ‘Important Movement for a Fusion of Producers and: Refiners, . freshened up by the criticisms, here and there, of | The Associations Already Existing—Meeting ot Mr. Froude, and in this respect only differed from the Lyceum oration of several yeara ago, It waa delivered im connection with the Mercantile Library course, and the next lecturer of this series will be Bret Harte, The oration was commenced py the assertion of O'Connell's claims to the introduction of that cle- ment of agitation that resulted in great political reform, Whatever Cobden had done, whatever Gladstone had done, they had taken their iaurels from the brow of O'Connell, O'Connell did not con- fine himself to the great question of repeal; all the Great subjects occupied his mind, including educa- tion, the tenure of land, the compara- tive strength of the two religious establish- ments of Ireland. Mr. Froude had been blamed for introducing to our attention the rela- tions between England and Ireland. He, Mr, Phillips, did not s0 blame him. Every thoughtful Englishman knew that England occupies but a sec- ond rate place iu the chess board of Europe. She has gradually sunk to @ second rate Power. Mr. Phillips said that he had said that eight years ago in the Cooper Instittte—and it had occasioned much surprise—two things had brought this about, in Engiand very largely, namely, the lect of the British government to its own British masses and the injustice of seven centuries towards Ireland. The England of Chatham would have drawn the sword many times, but she was afraid that Ireland would stab her in her back. (Cheers.) After a few remarks in this direction the lecturer traced very Bene the history of Ireland from the time of the code in 1692, A long recital of the wrongs, and cupeclay the penalties imposed on the Irish Catholics, here followed, and then Mr. Phillips re- ferred to the observation of Mr. Froude that the frishman was @ “chronic rebel.’’ He (the lecturer) thanked Mr. Froude for that, for it showed that they were determined to resist, and that they knew that they were oppressed. The public life of O'Connell was sketched from the pe- riod when the relaxation of the code enabled him to practice as a lawyer. At this time O'Connell sought to arouse the people to a sense of their wrongs; but the hierarchy of the Church were op- posed. to it, for the Church said that they had led their flocks already to the scaffold, as it were. For twenty long years O'Connell threw three millions of the Irish people at the British government at every critical period in its history. This was largely owing to his eloquence and his energy. He had always said that nothing in political lile was worth one drop of blood. He also said that nothing was Politically right that was morally wrong. These were the two corner stones of his political creed. He (the lecturer) thought that for the purpose for which O'Connell lived God had raised no man so owerful since the days of Demosthenes. All the lew England orators rolled into one were not equal to the great Irish chief. He had a majestic physique. God had put that royal soul into a noble body, He was like our own Daniel in that respect. Mr. Phillips then related a number of well-known anecdotes about O'Connell, such as the celebrated hot cross-cxamination and the speech delivered in Irish, to the dismay of the London Times’ reporters. ‘The lecturer, however, spiced the narration of the anecdotes by slight departures from accuracy, in order that his audience might be more thoroughly tickled, and closed by a graceiul tribute to Mr. O'Connell's political integrity. “HOW WOMEN LIVE IN NEW YORK.” Lecture by M. Vanderpoc!}. Mrs, Vanderpocl, whose lecture, announced to take place at Association Hall some time ago, but postponed, lectured last evening at Cooper Union on “How Women Live in New York.” The audience was smail, yet they patiently waited twenty minutes beyond the hour for the fair lec- turer to arrive, At last she opened her discourse by speaking of the suiferings and vicissitudes that many honest and industrious women are sub- jected to in this great city. A great deal of poetry had been written descriptive of her sad lot, but there had been little or no action looking to the amelioration of her condition. Woman's lot, she declared, was harder than man’s in that when she had finished her day’s labor often she recurned home to sleepless watches over sick chil- dren. while man could rest his weary body. There was atime when Americans were chivalrous, aud aided and sympathised with Women striving to be industrious and honest, but the in- troduction into society of foreign elements and the cregtion of a mock aristooracy hud made Ameri- cans of the present generation coarse. After de- tailing narratives of what some women had sul- fered in this city to support themselves honestly, the lecturer complimented women upon having more power of endurance than men, as shown in the many instances where they had nursed and labored for husbands who had fallen under great reverses Wiat prostrated them. She charged that many men in this city were engaged in the ignobie work of crushing women, in preveuting them from obtain- ing an honest livelihood, which she claimed was every woman's privilege. So Jong as society failed to act for, as well as sympathize with, women so long would tuere be bad women, bad men and suffering and sin. The lecture was listened to with much attention, and Mrs, Vanderpoel delivered it al of manner and with.much seil-con- ence, SISTERS OF ALL SAINTS. A New Order of Protestant Nuns, Who Labor for the Good of the Poor=Three Distinguished Ladies Coming to America by the Stcamer Celtic to Establish a Convent at Baltimore—Their Noble Work in England and France. By the steamer Celtic, of the White Star line, there have been expected since Saturday three distinguished ladies of the Protestant Episcopal Order of the Sisters of All Saints, or, as they some- times are called, from the character of their mis- isters of the Poor.” The prin- cipal of the gentle visitors is Sister Helen, who without doubt, in consideration of her pure-hearted devotion and her noble services in the past, will | be made the Lady Superior of the new establish- ment in this country. The two accompanying sis- ters are younger than she, THE HEROIC SISTER HELEN, Sister Helen is a daughter of the late Captain Rowden, of the Royal Navy of England, and from her first taking of the veil, in which she was the third member of the order, she has signalized her modest and unassuming self by acts of the most wonderful nature and of the kindest womanhood. In London her name has been very well known for some years, and has more than once peen graced with enthusiastic praise from the lips of her lady sovereign, Victoria. About six years ago she had charge of THE FEVER HOSPITAL IN MANCHESTER, where no one else could be got to brave the almost fatal dangers of the position, At that time the nurses and doctors were all dying, and none of the former who were under her supervision survived. The resident surgeon, however, who was very ill, recovered. She was aiterwards at the Edinburgh Hospital and, indeed, seems to have accepted and sought service in the most difficult and dangerous trusts, which she discharged with zeal and heroic courage. She was at the University Hospital in London during the time that the cholera was rag- ing with such terrible fatality. This institution | isin the most miserable part of the metropolis, and she remained there performing her duty when almost ail the other attendants fled in terror of the sweeping pestilence. THE QUEEN'S APPRECIATION. The Queen sent to Sister Helen to thank her for what she had done at Manchester and to ask her services at the bedside of that old friend of the royal family, Earl Deveraux, of Knowle, who was dangerously sick. She accordingly nursed the dis- tinguished nobleman, who is a crabbed old auto- crat, and whose triends scarcely dare approach him without permission. She treated him like a spoiled child and he speedily recovered his health. After this the requesis from distinguished persons to be nursed when fll by the skilful Sisters of the Poor incessantly poured upon them, and the head of the Community at length felt obliged to establish a stringent rule whereby they could en! perform their ministrations of charity in London in the hos- pitals and workhouses. THE FRANCO-PRUSSTAN WAR. Sister Helen followed in the bloody path of the Franco-Prussian war, beginning at the great battle of Saarbruck. THE ORIGIN OF THE ORDER, The order of the Sisters of All Saints has not been established more than a dozen of years, being the second one within the fold of the English Church, Its Home is in Marguerite street, London. It has thus far, it is believed, been entirely Ig thn by the generosity of private individuals who are in- terested in its weliare. Its principal! object ts that of ministering to the sick, and the system of nurs- ing followed by the Sisters 1s probably the best and most intelligent ever used; THE AMRRICAN MIGRATION. A leading Episcopaiian minister of Baltimore, recently wrote to the Lady Superior of ihé Community in Isondon, saying that there was, great field for ‘heir labors here. ‘Ihe presentyani- gration is @ result of this incident, The Celtic Sailed from Liverpool on the @gth of last month and fs 8 mewhet overdue. 46 sisters duce pure copper at a small cost was elaborate in the extreme, and in couclusion he received a unanimous vote of thaukay will pause here for only @ short tim will then { 1 the Fifth Avenae Hotel To-Morrow— Effect of a Combination. \ For the last three or four years—and, indeed, for’ that matter it might also be said from the days of the first discoveries in Western Pennsylvania—the trade in petroleum has been subject to periodical attacks of “acare,”” Scarcely had the earliest wells been brought into active production than two classes of PETROLEUM CROAKERS began to make themselves known and felt, The first believed that the supply of the crude mate- rial was inexhaustible, and that just as a silver mine grows richer and richer the deeper you go, 80 Would these subterranean fountains of burning fluid run freer and freer the more you pumped oft out of them, Therefore, said they, it follows as @ necessary consequence that the mar- ket will be hopelessly glutted, in spite of the enormous supplies needed for the markets of the world and the groggeries of the great American cities. On the other hand, there were another class of quaking growiers, who upbraided the well-owners with their RECKLESS EXTRAVAGANCE in wasting the bountiful gifts of Dame Nature, an@ who prophesied that the time was not far distant when petroleum oll would be a thing of the past. These latter gloomy predictions have occasionally been strengthened by the giving out of a few wells, but faster than these have been exhausted others have been discovered to take their place, aud the total yield of otf at present, if every producer were to throw all he could pump upon the market, would be very much larger in volume than it has ever been before. Indeed, the SURPLUS PRODUCTION of oil has at length grown into 80 palpable an evik that both producers and refiners have taken meas- ures to protect themselves against a competition which would be, so far as their capital was con- cerned, very much like that famous duel of the Kil- kenny cats, which was waged until nothing but a couple of useless tails remained, The retiuers have several times made attempts to form a TRADE LEAGUB among each other, and at last, after various more or less decided failures, have continued to unite im a tolerably strong combination. Nearly all the re- fining is done in Pittsburg, Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia, in each of which cities there are about a dozen refineries. Of course these are of very different producing capacity, but, taking the present basis of their business a® a standard, they have pledged themselves to in tu- ture manufacture only 80 much oil as the organiza- tion may pro rata permit them to do. Care will be taken, it is said, by the f{rlends of this scheme to always KEEP THE MARKET well supplied; but, on the other hand, it will never be glutted. There will, add they, neither be “cor- ners”’ nor an over supply. Then, again, the producers, as the well owners. are called in the technical language of the trade, have also on their side taken decisive action. About the end of September they periected their organization, and, on the ground that the market. was then hopelessly glutted, determined to stop produciug tor a tew weeks, and then only resume in moderation, veing guided by the APPARENT NEED of the demand. This programme has been.carried out, and the result has been that instead: of oib selling at $2 50a barrel of forty galions, to which it once dropped and at which rate, it is said, that the well owners cannot make even. the smaileat. percentage upon their capital invested, it has risen as high as $4 50, andis now being sold at $3 60a barrel. ‘I'he producers say that they will only be satisfied with a minimum of $5 per barret, and will steadily push on their present scheme until this point is reached. And now, producers and refiners having thue each crystallized into tolerably compact and MANAGEABLE BODIES, have started the idea of fusing into a common ore ganization, or at any rate, working together im Concert. Most of the refiners say that they-are perfectly willing to agree to the $5 per barrel part of the producers’ programme If the latter will con- sult them in regard to the ean tey, of crude oil thrown upon the market, and thus enable them guiliciently to control the trade to obtain a fair and profitable price upon their manulactured oil. In order to discuss these matters and arrive at some deilnite understandigg, a GENERAL MEETING of both producors and refiners will be held to-mor row (Wednesday) at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, But another great body of American citizens— the consumers—who are also tothe full as muctk interested 1n the price of oil as See aaa or refiners, will now doubtless be anxious to Know what the effect of this league, which, if perfected, would clearly convert the whole oil business into a pure monopoly, wil! be upon the PRICE OF OIL. 7 Supposing oll to se'l at $5 @ barrel, the rate of crude oil in New York would be about seventeen or eighteen cents @ gallon—that is, twelve cents a gallon, original price, and tive or six cents for rail- Toad freight. Adding the cost of manufacturing to this the rates would, it is stated, rule somewhat as follows:—Refined oll, in bulk, twenty-six to twen- ty-eight cents a gallon; in barrels, thirty to thirty- two cents a gallon; in tin cases (lor exportation). thirty-seven to forty cents a gallon. This would be a slight advance upon the present average rates, but nothing to particularly grumble about. THE DANGER, however, would be that the trade being for the future thus absolutely under the controt of the pro- ducers and refiners, they would be unable to resist the temptation to gradually raise the rates and enjoy the sweets of a successtul monopoly. They are, like the rest of the world, but frail human nature, and who among us could be trusted to say no to such an immense inducement The prospects of ‘this alllance between. the pro ducers mud refiners are, however, happily BY NO MEANS so bright as they might be. “Do you think,’’ asked a HERALD reporter of the representative of One of the largest refining inte- rests of the city yesterday, “that this union will be: made ¥"" “Well, it may be made,’ was the reply, “but Ido not think that-it can stand for very long, even if it is. The producers are too many in number to loag ee.” “Yes, but sey will soon find out the truth of the lesson in the old table about union is strength and the bundle of fagots.”” “Perhaps so, but I VERY GREATLY DOUBT it. New wells will be fas tthe b and then thera: will be endless disputes ‘as to the basis upon whick they are tobe admitted Within the lines of the.as- sociation. Of courye the jold men will try to. cuk them down as low as possible, and they will be dis- satistied and perhaps refiise to comein at all. And besides there will be a@ great outcry among the outside public, and, I dare say, that would in time have its effect and ash up this combination, which is, of course, @ onopoly that can only ba defended on tte ground that without some such ring tactics the trade will be ruined.” NEWARK’S FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY. ence ihe A New Common Council Committce—The Sins of Commission and Omission by the City Fathers. The statement of Newark’s troubles, financiatly, published in Sunday’s HERawp, created quite a flutter among taxpayers and Clty Hall patriots, to say nothing of the noble army of street and sewer contractors. The local press has either kept mum on the interesting question or, in opposition to tha economic views of the great mass of the people and Alderman Macknet, given its support to the opposite view—the view. entertained by the ma- jority of the Common Council and all the contract- ors. Yesterday the President of the Common Council reorganized the Finance Committee by appointing Messrs. me Baldwin, Al- bert ©, Westervett and J, ©. Ludlow. The impression has long prevailed tn taxpaying uarters that the City Fathers had been,going ea- tirely too fast with improvements.that are nos at all necessary, and will not be for many years to come, which those improvements. which have. for ears and years been @ crying necessity are utterly Ignored, hose improvements, for which 4lderman cknet peremptoriiy declined putting the city any deeper in debt than the resen’ cane of millions, are almost entirely opening and grt sirects On” the meadows and other outskirts of the city, which, in the nature of city growth, wilt not be neeaded for many years, except by those owning prey and anxious only to turn taeir new made lots into lots of money. It adfords the contractors als@ lots of richly paying work, and this latter met is openly charged as being tha mainspring of the desire for outskirt improve- ments, How ‘much greater need there ts of um- provement ‘and near the heart of the city m be readily imagined when tt is stated that ont over two aundred miles Of streets within the cit livaits there are paved but about twenty miles, an these twenty, except, perhaps, haif a milo, with shat most abominable, Commerce destroying and hovse killing of all pavements, the ancient cobbie stones, is very day Broad street, the maio aytery of the city and one of the noviest business fivenues in the country, is disgraced with the un- civilized cobbies, The same remark applies to Market street, another leading business thorough- fare. The opinion of the citizens is that the City Fathers have been shamefully slow in making these Necessary improvements—improvement@ 1» ANA | a ein to their future home in Baltimore, which | which must undobtedly ennance the busingas prow alvcady prepared for their raceoon, perity of the city,