The New York Herald Newspaper, December 11, 1872, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, ROWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Tax Dovate Beppro Boou—Neck anv Neck. * woop's MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st.— pr aore ‘Atlernoon Ta Wena: ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth stroet.—Gerwan Dreea—Tae Meany Wives or Wixvsor, 1 fos GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. aad Eighth py.—Rounp Tux Croce. fe NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince -and Houston streets.—Lxo anv Loros. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Thir- Gecath and Fourteenth streets.—AGNrs. UE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— CANDAL. FIFTH AVE ‘uk SCHOOL F WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway ana Thirteenth ptreet.—OuR Ammnican iN. 4 Breadway.—Arnica; OR, } EATRE COMIQUT, ne Matinee at 2a. avinestone AND STANt GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Third Py.—Sriete Nicay mir DEM Feoer, £0, BOOTW’S THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth @yenue.—Lapy or Lyoxs. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston ee Bleecker sts.—La Benue HiLint \. STADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.—Orsrna— Fea Diayouo. "MRS F,_B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— jAnnan xa Poave. | BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner Bih avy.—Neono Mixstavasy, Eocentuiciry, &c, ATHENEUM, No. 585 Breadway.—Sriespip Varinty sor Novetrivs, Matinee at 234. CANTERPURY VARIETY THEATRE, Broadway, be- ftvcen Bleecker and Houston.—Vanisty ‘ENTERTAINMENT. . TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Wranv Variety Extentarnment, &0. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, cornet 2th ot. and Broadway.—Ermaeriax Mixstreisy, &c. . BARNUM'S MUSEUM, MENAGERIE AND CIRCUS, Fourteenth street, near Broadway.—Day and Evening. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER I, 1872.—TKIPLE SHEET, The Treatment of tho South—Are the Southern People to Have Peacct During the recent Presidential campaign, while predicting the success of Genoral Grant, we announced that we would demand of tho néxt administration, whoever might be at its head, a return to constitutional government in the Southern States and the restoration to the Southern people of all the rights enjoyed by their fellow citizens in New York, Massachu- setts or Illinois, We intend to redeem this pledge, and notwithstanding the apprehen- sions expressed by some republican journals that the Henanp desires to excite a conflict between Congress and the Executive we shall continue to urge upon the President the expediency and justice of a revorsal of that policy which, after four years’ trial, has left the South in a state of anarchy, at the mercy of the worst class of political adventurers and stripped of all semblance of self-government. General Grant has enough sagacity to know that the favorable verdict of November was rendered on his own personal merits, and not on tho strength or popularity of the republican policy. There is sufficient evidence to show that the reconstruction policy of Congress is distasteful to the people. During the canvass the republican organs did not attempt to jus- tify the Enforcement act, but claimed that the President was free from responsibility for its passage. The plea was set up that its provis- ions would never be enforced except in ex- treme cases, and the complaints of the oppres- sion of the Southern whites were met either by ridicule or bold denial. President Grant will, therefore, understand that in claiming tardy justice for the Southern States at his hands we ask of him nothing in contravention of the popular verdict in the recent election. We claim that the confidence of the people in his own generous impulses, as indicated. in his parole of General Lee and his army, and in his famous report on the condition of the South during President Johnson's administration, induced the belief that in his second term of office General Grant would exert himself to PEoence anp Art, "TRIPLE SHEET. — : — rk, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 1872. New [HE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. Wo-Day’s Contents of the Herald. A THE TREATMENT OF THE SOUT! ARE THE i SOUTHERN PEOPLE TO HAVE PEAUE?'— LEADING EDITORIAL THEME—SIx1H PAGE. LAGRATION ERA! THE FIFTH AVE- HOTEL ON FIRE! THIRTEEN LIVES ST! STARTLING SC ‘3 AND INTENSE EXCITEMENT—Turmp Pac MAUD MERRIL SHOT DEAD IN HER OWN ROOM BY:AN ASSASSIN! SUPPOSED BY HER UNCLE! A MYSTERY IN NEILSON PLACE! THE MURDERER ESCAPES UNRECOGNIZ- ED—THIRD PAGE, tae INHUMAN CRIME AND PUNISHMENT! CHARLES JOHNSON, A NEGRO, EXECUTED FOR WIFE MURDER! STRANGE JUDICIAL STATEMENT—Tarmp Paar, ‘ ITS RIGHTEOUS SIX DES BLOWN OVER IN LONDON ! FORTY ERSONS INJU! BY THE DEBRIS! A FOUN! ED AND A BARK WRECKED! OTHER DISASTERS—SEvENTA Pace. PELRTURBED NEW ORLEANS! PUBLIC FEELING t IN' IF YING! WARMOTH ENJOINS PINCH- BAC MEETL 1’ CITIZENS: MILI- TARY RULE RATHER THAN POLITICAL ROWDYISM: KELLOGG FOR PEACE—Tairp Paur. \BUARP CONFLICT BETWEEN ARLISTS AND ROYAL TROOPS SE OF THE CARLISTS—CONVICTION AND SENTENCE OF STRIKING GASMEN 1N LONDON— | SEVENTH Page. arery OF THE STEAMSHIP CITY OF BRISTOL ! ’ SHE HAS ARRIVED AT QUEENSTOWN—THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY'S NEW PLAN OF GOV- ERNMENT AND M. THIERS’ OPPOSITION— SEVENTU PaGE. MYCLONIC INDICATIONS AND PRECAUTIONS! AN OLD SALT GIVES FULL INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ART OF WEATHERING STORMS: CHARTS OF THE COURSES OF CYCLONES— FouRTH Pack, PISASTERS AT SEA! TIE STEAMSHIP SACRA- MENTO A TOTAL LOSS! THE SCANDERIA CERTAINLY LOST! THE CITY OF BRISTOL i SUPPOSED SAFE: THE GUATEMALA CA- LAMITY—FourTH PaGE. WATIONAL CAPITAL NEWS! RUMORED RE- NEWAL OF AN OLD ANNEXATION PROJECT! A MAINE LAW FOR THE TER- RITORIES: THE HEROES' PARADISE~ THIRD PAGE. gue BENNETT BUILDING—Firru Pace. AMUSEMENT ORITIQUES—BANK SUSPENSION— SeVENTH Pace. PAVID DUDLEY FIELD DEFENDING HIMSELF! THE BAR ASSOCIATION AND THE BAR- NARD IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: MR. PECK- HAM TELLS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY—TentH Pace. TU SEDUCER’S FATE! A BRUSSELS DRAMA OF HORRORS—ELEVENTU PAGE, COMPRLLING THE COMPTROLLER TO PAY IN- CREASED JUDKGIAL SALARIES! THE ELSON, THE MAN IN THE JACOB BENDER SEN- Dk. LiciUs B. IRISH’S TRIAL! AN EDITOR | THREATENED: AX S HABITS: DEATH CHAMBER Si MRS. ANDER —THE MUTUAL RUN—Firta ‘BOLD Dr OCKS ACTIVE: PRESIDENT HENRY MITH DEPOSED: SECRETARY BOUTWELL'S MANEUVRES—RAILROAD MATTERS—NINTH PAGE. ‘Tar Sreamsarp Crry or Bristor, from this port for Liverpool, has reached Queenstown Barbor, her appearance relieving the public mind of an anxious feeling of apprehension Aor her safety. Tue Ann Street aND Park Row Corner.— The new Post Office is progressing towards completion. When it is finished there will be ko more important business location in the tity than the north corner of Ann strect and Park row, opposite the Hzrap building. Yet that property is now suffered to remain ina hhalf ruinous condition, either unoccupied or Ynfested with suloons and gambling dens, The public necessity will soon demand the svidening of Ann street to Nassau, and the Bharp, unsightly corner should at once be romoved and give way to « bandsome building ket back a proper distance to meet the require- Ment of the wider strect. Such a piece of Property would be of great value, and would command high rents, besides being an impor- Yant public improvement. No building site in the city offers a more favorable prospect for investment, restore the ex-rebel States to all their consti- tutional rights and privileges and to undo the mischief done by the carpet-baggers and their friends in the republican Congress. We insist that this belief materially controlled the result of the Presidential contest. In the face of the recent events in Louisiana and Alabama no one will deny the evils of the present political condition of the South and the necessity of a speedy reform. In one of these States, through what President Grant calls a ‘miserable scramble for office,’’ the city of New Orleans has been brought to the verge of civil war. Riot and bloodshed have only been averted by a surrender of all the rights of the State. If Judge Durell did not strain the law and exceed his powers in hand. ing over the Executive Office and the State Legislature to the Kellogg party then the Enforcement act really destroys repub- lican institutions and surrenders the States to the arbitrary will of the federal | government. The act in question gives large | powers to the United States Courts. If any | colored citizens are denied the right of regis- tration or voting solely ‘‘on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude,”’ and | by reason of such denial a candidate for any | office except for Presidential elector, member of Congress or of the State Legislature, shall be defeated, the United States Circuit or District Court, ‘concurrently with the State Courts,’’ is given the power to count the votes thus ex- cluded, and if they are sufficient to elect the minority candidate, to award him the office. Acting under this provision of the law Judge Durell granted injunctions against the State Board of Canvassers from discharging its | functions, placed a new Board in power and thus declared Governor Kellogg and the re- publican State Legislature elected. Neither Judge Durell nor the Kellogg Board of Can- vassers has possession of a single election return; no co-operation has been had with any State Court; no evidence has been taken or offered to substantiate the affidavits of thousands of negroes as to the rejection of their votes, and there is not particle of proof that any citizens were dis- franchised on account of race, color or pre- vious condition of servitude. We repeat, if the Enforcement act has been properly inter- preted by Judge Durell the Southern States are at the present moment stripped of all their constitutional rights and’ holding their liber- ties only at the mercy of federal bayonets, At any time, after any election, the popular verdict may be set aside by any political aspir- ants who can command the services of a federal judge and federal troops. The ballot is a mere farce—the constitution of the United States nothing more than waste paper—whilo such an act stands upon tho statute books. In this disgraceful Louisiana fight the par- ticipants are all of the same stripe. It is a battle for the spoils among the carpet- baggers, who have fallen out among them- selves, Governor Warmoth was the crea- tion of the carpet-bag politicians, who gladly availed themselves of his recklessness and boldness to carry out their schemes. They placed him in office by the authority of the | bayonet, and armed him with arbitrary powers to be used in their own service. When his ambition clashed with the aspirations of other leaders there was # division in the party, and while Warmoth endeavored to turn the weapons with which he had been armed, against his former associates they invoked for his destruction the very power they had used for his advancement. This would be a proper | retribution, but, unfortunately, the people of Louisiana are the real sufferers by the dis- graceful contest, in their business, in their prospects, in their civil rights. They have no more sympathy with Warmoth than with Kel- logg or Casey; but they fecl the sorrow and mortification that all citizens of a free govern- ment must naturally experience when they find themselves powerless to resist outrageous ag- gressions upon their rights. The whole of these unfortunate Louisiana proceedings, as well as the attempt of Senator Spencer and his allies to seize upon the Legislature of Alabama in defiance of the will of the people as ex- pressed at the ballot box, and the bare tolera- tion of the outrage by the federal government show at how low an estimate the liberties of the white citizens of the South are held by those who have assumed the work of recon- struction, It is unnecessary to comment on the dan- gerous tendency of special legislation in a country like our own, where the perfect equality of the States as well as of the citi- zeus in all their civil rights, lies at the foun- dation of the governmental system, It might have boen wise and humane to protect the freedinen in their newly-acquired privileges when the rebellion was just at an end and while the Southern States were in process of rehabilitation, But years have passed since the fall of tho Confederacy and of slavery, and it is now time that all tho States of the Union, North and South, East and West, should enjoy the same freedom and the samo exemption from federal interference in their domestic affairs. The Southern people have done all in their powor to prove their alle- giance to the national government, their earnest desire to be at peace and to regain the prosperity lost through the insano policy of their leaders. What moro can they do to enti- tle them to a full restoration of all their rights as American citizens? What more ought we to require of them? Some extreme politicians proclaim the desire to hold the South in chains until the generation living when rebellion was hatched shall have passed away; but so un- charitable a policy fortunately finds no favor with the people of the North, and would be destructive of republican institutions should it be attempted. Others justify the continu- ance of military rule over the Southern States on the plea that should they be left to them- selves the white citizens would strip tho negroes of all their civil rights. No doubt in some localities prejudice might for a timo dis- criminate against the colored voter, but preju- dice in New York declaimed against the nomi- nation of a Catholic for the office of Gov- ernor and would discriminate if it could against citizens of Irish nationality. Why should any one class of citizens receive special protection by the aid of special laws? The evils feared in the Southern States would find their own cure in time, as all such evils do, and should the Southern people be left wholly to themselves to manage their own affairs in their own way without federal intermeddling, negrophobia would soon be as dead in the South as Know Nothingism is in the North. President Grant may be unable to remedy the evils in Louisiana. The Warmoth party has been beaten, and so far as the deposed Governor is concerned his fate will excite no sympathy except as he represents the out- raged sovereignty of the State. But the Pres- ident must now see clearly that the rights and interests of the white citizens of tho South are made the prey of an unscrupulous set of politi- cal adventurers, and that the Enforcement act, instead of being simply a protection to the ne- groes, is used by designing men to destroy the last vestige of liberty in that unhappy section of the Union, As the President received a generous support from the Southern people he is bound to protect their interests, and in so doing he will advance his own. In the war his policy was shrewdly taken. He risked no battles until prepared to strike an effective blow. He drew his lines steadily and carefully round the struggling Confeder- ates, and when they were fairly in the toils dealt blow after blow until their power was utterly destroyed. He seems dis- posed to apply similar tactics to the foreign policy of his administration. For four years he has been quietly measuring his ground, and having settled amicably all our differences with England, he now launches out in warlike preparations. If the building of ships of war foreshadows a decisive movement for the free- dom of Cuba the people will rejoice as heartily as when Lee surrendered and Rich- mond fell. But no act of President Grant's eventful life will win him greater credit and renown than the disenthralment of the South- ern States. It is in his power to restore free- dom and happiness toa large section of our own country. He has already prepared the way by denouncing the acts of the politicians engaged in the ‘‘miserable scramble’ for office at the South, and by deprecation of tho Enforcement act 18 an extreme and undesira- ble law. Now let him deal such a final, sturdy blow at carpet-bag policy as he dealt at the Confederacy and he will win for himself a lasting fame second ouly to that of the Father of his Country. A Report rrom WasuInaTon represents that the President is about to revive the St. Do- mingo scheme; that he interprets his re-elec- tion as an endorsement of a policy which, by the way, was out of existence at the time of the Presidential contest, and that Secretary Delano is bound on a mission of Dominican annexation. So, according to this story, we are to have a new star added to the flag before another year rolls round, and are to welcome President Baez to a seat in the United States Sen- ate. On the principle that no rumor is too absurd for the meridian of Washington, this one may be allowed to pass, But President Grant is more likely to covet the renown of restoring peace and constitutional rights to the States already in the Union than of adding to their number. Mr. Greevey’s Witr.—The contest over Mr. Greeley’s will has occasioned general astonishment and regret. In 1871 Mr. Greeley made a will fitted to his circumstances at the time and while his wife was living. Shortly before his death, his pecuniary position having somewhat changed, and his children having been deprived of their mother, he re- voked the former instrument and substituted in its place another by which he devised his whole remaining property absolutely to his daughters. No more sensible or commendable act could have been performed, and that any person should have been found willing to contest the last bequest is a matter of surprise to the community. Tae Sour Caroniva Senatonsmp,—Jobn J. Patterson was yesterday elected to the United States Senate by a large majority in | the Legislature of South Carolina. Congress- man Elliott, the colored representative of the Third district, having determined to investi- gate the means by which the successful candi- date received so large a vote, came to the con- clusion that Patterson or his agents had been using unlawful means to accomplish this result, and at once had the Senator elect and an asso- ciate arrested on a charge of bribery. The de- fendants were speedily released on a writ of habeas corpus, however, and the hearing of the case is set down for to-day, Tur Ganveston News remarks that when a prominent American dies the first thing we resolve to do is to build him a monument, and the next thing—we don't. How is that memorable relic of the past, the Washington Monument, getting along? Fatet Fire at the Fifth Avenue Hotel—A Terrible Calamity. We are pained to announced tho occurrence of a terrible calamity at the Fifth Avenue Hotel last night. About half-past eleven o'clock the intelligence that the hotel was on firo spread with rapidity through tho city and drew many thousands of people to the spot, It appears that the fire was for some time kept as quiet as possible, appa- rently with the hope that it might be subdued without creating a panio among the guests, This precaution helped to bring about the ter- riblo reault. Tho fire originated on a stairway leading from the landing to the sleep- ing rooms occupied by the female servants, and ran rapidly up the stairs, cutting off the poor girls from escape. As nearly as can be ascertained at the present writing, the fire was discovered soon after eleven o'clock by one of the guests of the house, and by the time assistance could be procured access to the upper rooms by the stairs was impossible, The girls, tired out with their day’s work, were doubtless sleeping soundly, and wore probably, for the most part, suffocated in their beds, or burned in their attempt to escape. In tho early part of the fire two females were taken out of one of the rooms on the fourth floor, badly burned, and were conveyed to the hospital. The bodies of the others were not found until after one o'clock, when the fire had beon subdued. Thirteen bodies were discovered in the sleeping apartments. Wo are unwilling at this time to condemn the parties in charge of tho hotel, but it is stated that gross carelessness was apparent in the condition of the warming apparatus, and that there was too much anxiety to keep the fact of the fire secret and too little effort made to save the unfortunate girls. There appears to have been very insufficient provision against such a disaster as that which has now occurred, and it is probably fortunate that the fire did not break out at a later hour, The whole subject will no doubt be thoroughly investigated, Although we hear at present of only thirteen deaths it is feared a greater number may have occurred. The Fate of the Missing Steamship Scanderia. Up to the present date no tidings reach us of the missing steamer Scanderia, now over sixty days from this port for Queenstown. This full-powered vessel left New York on the 8th of October, in the height of the equi- noctial season. She was well officered and manned and was well equipped with sailing gear, for use in case of the failure or derange- ment of her machinery. The mysterious silence concerning her fate is’ explicable by none of the usual arguments for the deten- tion or drifting of disabled vessels; and the unwelcome inference is forced upon her agents, as well as upon the public, that she has foundered and probably her whole crew perished. The Scanderia had hardly steamed out to Sandy Hook when an eastward-advanc- ing storm appeared on the Great Lakes. On the afternoon of the 10th of October it was rapidly propagated over the New England coast—as shown by the Signal Service reports—and was directly in the wake of the steamer and _ evidently gaining upon her hourly. Although this storm was not very violent along the American coast, under the meteorological scrutiny of the Signal Bureau, it was, doubt- leas, on reaching the vicinity of Newfound- land, where the hot Gulf Stream is encoun- tered by the icy Labrador current, and enormous quantities of latent heat are set free, greatly intensified in cyclonic violence and in the range of its disturbance. It is not improbable that the Scanderia was overtaken by this storm, and, if so, though a well-con- ditioned ship, she might easily have been taken ata great disadvantage by a change of wind and overwhelmed by a stroke from such a sea as often attends the cyclone. The case of the steamer Smidt, which, in March, 1870, broke her screw and was drifted by wind and wave in the vicinity of the Azores, furnishes no hope for the missing Scanderia, The Smidt was only forty-nine days out from Bremen, and, being westward bound, was virtually moving up stream in the faco of the torrential westerly gales that at that season sweep across the North Atlantic, while the unheard-from British ship was in October moving with these gales, and, if disabled, ought to have made some Euro- pean or British port in half the time required by the German to get into New York. The facts are instructive and afford a timely warn- ing to the strongest and most confident steamer to be on the earnest lookout for the great waves of low pressure, as they have been called. The weather reports indicate the gen- eration of these storm centres in the Far West and watch and proclaim their daily advance eastward, so that # seaman, if compelled to leave our Atlantic ports while one is approach- ing, goes to sea fully forewarned and thus forearmed. He can observe the stealthy or the boisterous nearing of the dangerous me- teor and elude it, if he only chooses. No vessel has ever yet been built strong enough to defy these dread phenomena of the ocean, and to allow himself to be overtaken in one of them is either a seaman’s incapacity or his crime. Fortunately, in the present instance, the missing vessel took no passengers; but this does not abate the instruction or warning which probability gives for her fate. Taz Detawarne Horror.—The surrender of Professor Isaac C. West, of Dover, Del., and his confession of the murder of a negro under circumstances of unspeakable atrocity, accord- ing to his own confession, naturally fill that community with horror. In the mutilation of the body the deed bears some relation to the manner in which Professor Webster disposed of the body of Dr. Parkman in Boston some years since, But the result shows that with all their skill and ingennity these oie rage anatomists cannot conceal the horrid evi- ea dences of their crime from eventually coming before the light of day, : The Mutual Lifo Insurance War, Tu another portion of the Henaxp will be found a memorial, signed by a large number of policy-holders of the Mutual Life, addressed to the trustees of the company, plainly calling on them to reconsider their determination rel- ative to the proposed: reduction of rates. It takes the strong ground, based on the opinion of the three actuaries, that it is an experimen- tal revolution of doubtful legality, and tends to hazard the funds accumulated by the pres- ent policy-holders to the benefit of members coming in under the proposed reduction. It concludes by a protest against this action of the trustees, as an unjustifiable exercise of their official functions, These memorialists, then, take up the cudgels for themselves, as well as for the eighteen companies, and we shall doubtless see, under the pressure they will bring to bear, the whole matter taken out of its present field and argued. with more show of fairness and less of special pleading. What we especially look for is an examination into the matter by impartial experts and a final opinion rendered between, of course, the trustees and the policy-holders ; for, no matter hew the regult can affect the other companies, they will scarcely expect to be of the parties at present asking judgment. We are anxious, however, that all sides should fearlessly make their statements. Tho subject takes in a very wide range of clients and touches a great many interests which ‘would not appear at first sight. For our own part we believe that no step should be taken wantonly or under false pretences by which the smaller com- panies would inevitably be ruined and others endangered in the same manner. We are not, however, prepared to say that all the little struggling companies have a perfect raison @étre. They have been ‘drummed’ into existence as Connecticut hats are forced on the market by persistent and able ‘“‘drummers’’ all over the country, who are often rather more apt to grab their commissions than do justice to the company or the individual. Every bad risk taken tends to weaken the company and endanger the policies of the healthy, paying policy-holders. These are some of the ovils that threaten the small com- panies at all times; yet we do not think that an honest reform should begin with bringing inevitable suspension upon them. It lies, we imagine, in a policy of consolidation on some well defined basis, by which a uniform rule and a limited expenditure would result, The evil threatened in this case is the creation of a monopoly, which might, we believe, be checked by satisfactory laws limiting the scale both as to maximum and minimum. It is palpable that the present condition of life insurance is by no means such as its friends would wish, and, if a thorough examination of all the bearings of the subject be achieved, this ambitious attempted innovation by the Mutual Life may work good after all. The City Expenses for Year. The claborate statement of the condition of the city finances and of the estimated expenses of the city departments for the coming year, published yesterday by Comptroller Grean, presents some noticeable features, When compared with the amounts appropriated last year it appears that the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works, Mr. Van Nort, asked this year about two hundred thousand dollars less than he received in 1872, and was allowed two hundred thousand dollars less than he asked. The Department of Public Parks asked this year thirty thousand dollars more than the whole appropriation of 1872 and received twenty thousand dollars more, showing an increase of expenditure. The Department of Finance asked five thousand dollars more than last year's appropriation. For claims and judgments against the city over four hundred thousand dollars advance over last year's amount was demanded. The Department of Public Works makes the best exhibit in the list. This department was largely within the appropriations in its expenditures for the current year; but the low estimate given to the Board of Apportionment was still further reduced by two hundred and eleven thousand dollars, so that the appropriation for 1873 is five hundred and eight thousand five hundred dollars less than for the current year—a reduction of nearly twenty-five per cent. Of other appropriations those for the Fire Department, Police Department, Depart- ment of Charities and Correction and the Department of Public Instruction have been increased in consideration of the growth of the city and the consequent extension of their duties and expenditures. the Coming Miss Nenson, THE “Bricut, Pasricunar Stax’ at Boorn’s Theatre, was among the guests who were disturbed by the fire at the Fifth Avenue Hotel last night. Miss Neilson is so great an acquisition to our dramatic circles, her youth, beauty and genius have made her so deservedly popular, that every one will regret the inconvenience to which she may have been subjected by our mysterious “fire fiend,’’ who attacks a newspaper estab- lishment one night and a fashionable hotel the next. However, we trust the mishap will not deprive our citizens even for a single evening of those admirable personations which have so delighted them, and which have stamped Miss Neilson as an actress of extraordinary merit. AMENDING THE ConsTITUTION or Nzw Jerszy.—A proposition to call a convention to amend the State constitution of New Jersey is being discussed in the New Jersey papers. The Trenton Gazelle thinks there are several particulars in which the constitution needs revising and amending, but doubts if the pres- ent is the best time to undertake this impor- tant work. The charter of the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company has been considered the constitution of the State of New Jersey for so many years that it would be a pity now to disturb the repose the citizens enjoy under its blissful egis. But if it is proposed to amend the constitution of the State in earnest, then the sooner the work is commenced and finished the better. In THe New Onteans Inproato the Times of that city ranges itself on the side of War- moth, the Republican «in favor of Kellogg, and the balance of the pepers according to their political proclivities. In the meantime Uncle Sam steps in, and, after a few ad capi- tandum arguments, settles the whole business by sustaining the legitimate action of the United States Courta—and Pit Kellogg triumphs | mes and the Law of Storms, Tn connection with the late terrible storms disasters on the sea reported by cablo frons England and Ireland, and the losses sustained by shipping within the last twodays on thie’ side of the Atlantic, we print on another page of the Heraxp two interesting charts on the laws of hurricanes and cyclones in the Northe ern and Southern Hemispheres. The services to commerce in this branch of meteorology are incalculable, and that science is now able to say with perfect knowledge how storms upon the great oceans may be met and com- bated successfully is reason for sincere con- gratulation. Accompanying the charts, which are ingeniously and simply arranged, will be found a series of instructions to mariners, which contain all the knowledge on the sab~ ject at present attainable, and in auch handy shape as to impress itself cnsily upon the memory. The storms which have caused such immense destruction are likely at this and other seasons of the year to be re- peated, and we commend these tables, instruc- tions and charts to the shipping interest of the country, that there may be no excuse for. ignorance in those whose duty takes them im responsible positions upon the treacherous deep. With a heavy gale beating upon a lee shore, or with a leaky, back-broken veasel over- taken at sea by such a cyclono as the charts describe, instructions and knowledge might be of little avail. But good stout ships have been lost by hundreds in these cyclones from an utter want of knowledge of the theory of circular storms and the practice to be ob- served when they are encountered. Tue Denax ix THE Sroxes Tarat.—It i seems impossible to account for the repeated postponement of the Stokes trial, except om the supposition that the business of the Dis- trict Attorney's office must be inefficiently conducted. The idea of keeping a prisoner in jail a year when he is anxious for a trial and” where there can be no good reason for delay is preposterous. The witnesses in this par- ticular case could have been more easily obtained by the prosecution eight months ago ~ than they can be now, and there does not appear to be any excuse for procrastination. Tf the prisoner is guilty he should suffer the penalty of the law; if innocent, he should be set at liberty, At all events, both for the sake of the public and of the accused, @ second trial should take place at once, There are plenty of other cases in which similar unaccountable delay has occurred. If this is the fault of the law, the law should be altered. If it is the fault of the law officers, they should Tux Supsrcr or Firerroor Burpmas is now attracting very serious attention, in view of the awful visitations by fire which deso- lated within a year the youngestand the oldest, of our greatest cities. It is now conceded that the buildings called fireproof have beem only so in name, The first principles of rev, sistance to the destructive agency have been neglected by using inflammable material in constructing parts really exposed to danger, such as floorings and roofings. We call at- tention, therefore, to the description elsewhere of the really fireproof building now nearly completed on the site of the old Hunanp building, on Nassau street, between Ann and Fulton, which will be ready for occupancy by the Ist of May next. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Ex-Congressman J. B, Alley, of Boston, is at the Astor House. Troy is to have an increased supply of water— unmixed with malt and hops, Ex-Governor J. B. Page, of Vermont, yesterday arrived at the St. Nicholas Hotel, Congressman Oakes Ames, of Massachusetts, is registered at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Captain Samuel Brooks, of the steamship City ot Brussels, is at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Colonel Robert Lenox Banks, of Governor Hof man’s staff, is at the Clarendon Hotel. Charles H. F. Collis, City Solicitor of Phiiadel- phia, is staying at the Hoffman House. Secretary Fish gave a grand dinner last evening to the members of the diplomatic corps. We go West to learn that General McClellan is suggested as next Governor of New Jersey. State Prison Inspectors Lafiin and Scheu are im specting operations at Clinton State Prison. Captain Digby Murray, of the steamship Celtio, that arrived yesterday, is at the Everett House. Professor Benjamin Plerce, Chief of the Coast Survey, yesterday arrived at the Brevoort House. Rev. Robert Coliyor, of Chicago, ia at the St. Nicholas Hotel. He hasn't got that horseshoe with him, A well-informed Western paper says ‘‘I’rance is 3 tinder-box and President Thicrs ts sitting om the safety valve.” Since the adjournment last session of Congress five employ¢s of the House of Representatives have died—one last night, Robert A, McPherson, of Pennsylvania. The editor of the Louisville Courter-Journal says he has always avoided the Presidency because the salary was contemptible, This has a yulpino-uval smack about it. Portrait models of Mr. Stanley and Kalula, at. tired as they were when they met Dr. Livingstone, have been added to Madame Tussaud's wax figures exhibition, in London. Mr. Francis Kernan, of Utica, isin town, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. He came on from Washing- ton, where he has been practicing in the Supreme Court, yesterday morning. The London Globe says, the oldest ‘living’ baronet died on the 17thult. The anomalous noble meant was Sir Thomas Beckett—not to be con- founded with Henry I's victim of vague ex- pressions. A London paper announces the recent arrest of@ number of the poorer ciass of gamblers on horse races, as a “Raid on Low Class Betters.” Why can- not the virtuous police make a raid on their betters, who are betters also? They have a German servant girl in Brooklyn who is so scrupulously neat that after sweeping of the sidewalk in front of the house she carefully gathers the dirt into a dustpan and marches through the hall to the back yard, whereshe dumps | the pan into the ash barrel. Dr. D. Ernest Melliss, of this city, who is weft known as a mining engineer and geologist, saila to-day on the steamship Henry Chauncey for As- pinwall, He is going to Costa Rica, at the desire of several Central American capitalists, to ascer- tain tne practicability of developing her mineras wealth. George M. Pullman, of Chicago, and Generat Horace Porter, the late Private Secretary of Preai- dent Grant, were at the Fifth Avenue Hotel whem the fire occurred there last night. The General ts to be attached to the palace cars of the former's company. It will then be “Porter, pull man!” He takes, in fact, the great cat man’s place, while the car man goes abroad and will travel free every= where—Porter with a dead-head, PRESIDENT GRANT IN PHILADELPHIA. PHILADELPHIA, Dec, 10, 1872. President Grant arrived here about seven o’cloc® this evening. The object of his visit is to attend the wedding of the Hon, Adolph 0, Borte’s da ter, During bis sojourn he will remain at Mr. Borie’s house, He will return to Waslington to | BOLO.