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

‘NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. ——__——_ JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. )OOTH'S THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth avenue,—Tue Linty oF Faance. MPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston aud Blocokor ots.—La Perit Faust. GERMANIA TRATES. Fourteenth street, near Third ev.—Dur VeRLonxne SouN. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Rooxwoon—Jack Suxerarp on Horsxsack. "3 MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirticth st— sins tax Woop. Aiternoon and Evening. \. RAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. and Eighth fy.—Rounp tax CLocn. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and ‘Houston strects.—Lxo axp Loros. ONION SQUARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Mhirteenth roi Fourteenth streets. —Aanzs. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— Magaisp Lirs. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth Btreet.—Our American Cousin, THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Arnica: on, \ LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY, BTADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.—Orzra— Rogar tux Devin. MRS. F. tm CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Mux Duxe's Morro. j, BRYANT’S OPERA HOUS! ‘Cth av.—NrGeo Minstarisy, Twenty- my st., corner CORN TRICITY, &C, \. ATMH#ENEUM, No. 585 Broadway.—Srienpip Vanistr ‘or Nove. ris. TANTERBURY VARIETY THEATRE, Broadway, be- ‘tween Bleecker and Houston.—Vakizty ENTKRTAINMENT. » IONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Gnanp Vantery ByTacalwocEns, &o. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, corner 28th st. and ‘Broadway.—Eraiorian ‘Minsrreisy, £c. 3ARNUM'S MUSEUM, MENAGERIE AND CIRCUS,— Fourteenth street, near ‘Broadway.—Day and Evening. ASSOCIATION HALL, ‘tune, “DAYBREAK IN SPAIN, JEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— ana? AND Art, TRIPLE SHEET. New Yerk, Friday, Deo. 20, 1872, street and 4th ay,—Lxc- THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. ‘tLo-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “OUR RELATIONS WITH SPAIN AND CUBA! THE DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE LIGHT OF THE HERALD DISCLOSURES”— EDITORIAL LEADER—SIXxTH PGE. WERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM! RIVERS OVER- FLOWING THEIR BANKS AND CONVERT- ING FRUITFUL VALLEYS INTO IMMENSE LAKES! THE QUAYS OF PARIS SUB- MERGED! THREE FEET OF WATER IN THE STREETS OF GHENT!—SEVENTH PaGE. WHE SHIP MATCHLESS WRECKED ON THE ENG- LISH COAST AND ALL HANDS LOST— PERSONAL NEWS GOSSIP—SEVENTH PGE. ‘THE EGYPTIAN KHEDIVE BORROWS TWELVE AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS FROM THE BANK OF CONSTANTINOPLE! THE EGYPTIAN TREASURY EXHIBIT OF DEBT— SEVENTH PaGE. ®Y EUROPEAN CABLE! A FRENCH MAYOR DISMISSED FOR NOT PROTECTING PIL GRIMS TO LOURDES: THE AMERICAN COMMERICIAL EMBARGO IN THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY: MR. R. BOWLES BAILED— SEVENTH PAGE. «# BATTLE WITH UREGON INDIANS—TERRIFIO EXPLOSION IN INDIANA—TENTE: PaGE. THE PRESIDENT AND THE NEW ORLEANS CITIZENS’ COMMITTEE! JUDGE CAMPBELL STATES THE CASE, BUT THE PRESIDENT REFUSES TO INTERFERE UNLESS CON- GRESS SO ORDERS—Taiep Paces, FEDERAL CAPITAL NEWS! CONGRESS AND ‘THE WALL STREET CLIQUES: THE TENTH NATIONAL LOCK-UP: THE CREDIT MO- BILIER ; SUMNER ILL BUT AGGRESSIVE— THIRD PAGE. PERTURBED FRANCE! THE DIFFICULTY BE- TWEEN M. THIERS AND THE ASSEMBLY: WHAT THE COMMITTEE OF THIRTY PRO- POSE: PARTY STATUS—Fourts PaGE, WINE MILLION DOLLARS RESTORED BY JAY GOULD TO ERIE! A HEALTHY DESIRE FOR “PEACE: HOW IT WAS DONE AND THE EFFECT ON THE STOCK: SURRENDER- ING THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE- E1gnTH Pag. SUMNER DENOUNCED BY THE MASSA- CHUSETTS LEGISLATURE! ERASING THE LEGENDS OF UNION VICTORIES—AID FOR THE DANISH SUFFERERS—TenTH Page. * yr. POSTAL TELEGRAPHS AND PROHIBITION CON- | * SIDERED BY CONGRESS! SENATOR SHER- MAN IMPROVES ON MR. POMEROY’S IDEA—FourtH Pace. FLUSHING VILLAGE IMPERILLED! FIRE AND GREAT LOSS OF PROPERTY—DARING HIGHWAY ROBBERY—ELEVENTH PAGE. DR. L. B. IRISH’S TRIAL! ANDERSON’S AT- TEMPTED SUICIDE: THE GENERAL USE OF ARSENIC—THE FIFTH AVENUE FIRE— MUNICIPAL—ELEVENTH Pace. LEGAL! THE ARRAIGNMENT OF E. 8. STOKES: A LEGAL QUANDARY OVER THE DOCK COMMISSIONERS’ CASH: A HOLIDAY PRES- ENT: WHAT ARE “NET EARNINGS;:” THE JUMEL CASE—Firtu Pace. REGENERATED TAMMANY IN SESSION! A NEW GENERAL COMMITTEE: THE 1870 CHARTER DENOUNCED—POSTAL TELEGRAPHS—LEC- TURES—EIGHTH PAGE. ‘CHANGE! CONGRESS LOOKING UP A REMEDY FOR THE MONETARY STRIN- GENCY: GERMAN FINANCES: ERIE RISES FOUR PER CENT ON THE JAY GOULD SUR- RENDER—NI1nTH Pace. A&A PERMANENT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION! MEETING FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF THE PLAN—MARITIME INTELLIGENCE— TENTH Pace. ON Tae Ente-Govrp Surrs.—The suits brought by the Erie Railroad Company against the former President, Mr. Ja¥’ Gould, have been amicably settled, Mr. Gould turning over to the company property to the value of the full ‘amount claimed to have been used in a man- her unauthorized by the powers of a president and a board of directors, and hence improperly Yoken from the stockholders. Mr. Gould is said to have assigned to the company sixty Yhousand shares of Erie stock, the Grand Opera House property and other securities, valued in all at nine million dollars. The settlement isa good thing for all parties. The powers of a president and board of directors are large, and are too loosely defined to render the result of the suits certain, The amount paid over, and the fact that the payment does not interfere for a day with the business trans- Betions of the party making it, show the enor- ous resources of the successful operator on ‘the street," and prove the folly of the little who venture to swim in the wake of the of the deep, Our Relations with Spain and Cubsa—| ig The Duty of the Government in the Light of the Herald Disclosures. Our relations with Spain during the last four years and the position of President Grant's administration on the Cuban question have not won the approval of the Amorican people. An uncomfortable impression has prevailed in the public mind that undue in- fluences have been exerted to induce our gov- ernment to shape its policy too much in ac- cordance with Spanish interests. This idea may owe its origin to the well known relations existing between our Secretary of State and certain special agents of the Spanish govern- ment, and may be altogether erroneous and unjust. A government cannot allow its im- pulses to control its action, and,’ whatever sympathy it may have for a people struggling to throw off an offensive yoke, it has certain obligations towards friendly Powers which cannot be disregarded. It is unfortunately true that the President and his Cabinet ad- visers have been dependent upon tho Spanish authorities and the Spanish rep- resentatives for all the official informa- tion they have obtained in- régard to Cuban affairs, They have had no means of ascer- taining the condition of the rebellion except through Spanish sources, and hence they may have hitherto found it difficult to discover @ justification for interference between the belligerents, however willing they may have been to bring the struggle toa close. At the same time it is impossible to deny that the policy of the administration has been tem- porizing and vacillating to a degree that has greatly aggravated the popular dissatisfaction. The President's Messages have evinced a sym- pathy with the Cubans so warm as to excite the hope that he would exert all the influence of his high office to secure the recognition of their independence by the Republic of the United States. Congress has from time to time adopted zesojutions strongly fayoring the extension of be igerent rights to the revolu- tionists and expressing no measured indigna- tion at the acts of their oppressors, The State Department has occasionally displayed a similar spirit, and has issued brave instruc- tions to our representatives at Madrid to pro- test against the faithlessness of the Spaniards to their promises of enfranchisement to the Cuban slaves. But these demonstrations have passed away without effecting any practical result, and the hopes they have from time to time excited in the hearts of the people have been suddenly dashed by some new exhibition of our practical subser- viency to Spanish wishes and to Spanish interests. It may be, as we have said, that the policy pursued by our government has been necessitated in the absence of any offi- cial information as to the real character and status of the Cuban insurrection except such as has been derived from Spanish sources ; but it would have been wiser to have ab- stained from any expression of sympathy with the Cubans so long as it was unadvisable to ‘back up friendly words by friendly deeds, The important developments made by our Special Commissioner to Cuba have thrown light upon the dark mystery of: the rebellion and have imparted an entirely new feature to our rélotions with the Spanish government. The Hzratp has laid before the administra- tion at Washington information it could not hope to obtain from the Spaniards ;_informa- tion coming from an impartial and disinter- ested source; information that shows the true animus of Spain towards our people; the faithlessness of Spain in her repeated pledges to give freedom to the Cuban slave, the false- hood of Spain in her representations as to the strength and character of the Cuban insurrec- tion, What our government has failed to do the Hzrnatp has accomplished. ‘We have dis- covered the existence of an organized Republic in the heart of the island, with freedom for all as its watchword. We have conveyed to the American nation the thoughts and wishes, the objects and hopes, of President Cespedes and of his people. We have found that the Spaniards, with a well appointed army of from forty to fifty thousand men, are as far now from any hope of speedily suppressing the rebellion as they were four years ago; that the patriots who have been described as a handful of wandering marauders without a resting Place or an organization are in facta people, with a devoted army ten or twelve thousand strong, well clothed and fed, with plenty of ammunition, but not fully supplied with arms. We have learned the ” determined char acter of their warfare against forcign oppression ; their reliance’ upon their own power to win their freedom; their resolve never to abandon the struggle for indepen- dence but with life itself. We have brought to American ears their brave words—‘We ask only for sympathy and recognition. We want no men, for we are strong enough to win our freedom for ourselves, but we do ask that we may be permitted to buy arms in the markets open to our oppressors.’’ On the other hand, the experience of our Commis- sioner in Cuba has been sufficient to show that the Spanish hatred of Americans, despite the friendly acts of our government, only con- ceals its intensity through fear of our power asa nation ; that in their proffered free par- don to repentant rebels the Spanish author- ities especially exclude negroes fighting in the ranks of the revolutionists, who are to be re- turned to servitude in the event of their sub- mission; that the fifty thousand Spanish troops now underarms in the island would have to be reinforced by another hun- dred thousand before they could have any reasonable hope of butchering the last Cuban on the field or driving him into the sca, and thus restoring peace to the island. In view of the facts thus placed before them we insist that’the President and Con- gress can no longer refuse to recognize the belligerency of the Cuban revolutionists with- out lowering the character of the American nation in the eyes of the world, Asa mere matter of right we claim thats people who have for four years maintained a regular gov- ernment within their own territory, who have repelled every force sent against thom,” and who are at the present moment as strong, as hopeful and as far from being subdued as they were four: years ago, are éntitied to claim recognition from a nation that sympathizes with their cause and is interested in their suc- cess, We insist, further, that the voice of humanity calls upon us tostretch forth our strong arm to give peace and freedom to the unhappy island. The picture spread before the American people in yesterdav’s Hzranp one whose horrors no diplomatic sophistry can oblitemte from their memories. Within four days’ journey from this city scenes of carnage and savage barbarity are hourly enacted which would disgrace the darkest pages of the world’s his- tory. A war of absolute extermination is waged against a people struggling for their liberties. “No quarter on the battle field— no recognition of flags of truce’’—these are the cardinal principles upon which the deadly struggle is pursued. In every direction devastated country—large sugar estates that once enrichgd their owners now masses of smouldering ruins or dark wastes, ‘sentinelled by blackened chimneys and crumbling walls. Over this desolation we are carried to the scene of a recent conflict between the Spanish troops and the insurgents, and here we behold the practical horrors of the savage warfare. The bodies of the slain are left to rot where they fell; the air for miles around is foul with the odor of decomposing flesh; the birds of prey look wrathfully at the intruder as they rise unwillingly from their -loath- some meal; there is no burial for the hated dead—hated as bitterly in death as in life. “No prisoners are ever taken,’’ for the wounded are slaughtered after the ‘harder work of the pattleis over. That is an easy and a gratifying task, and 1t i> performed with a refinement of cruelty worthy o: tho | land of the mask and the stiletto, Here is a wretch not yet dead—let him feel the full weight of Spanish vengeance. Tie a rope about the neck and drag the bleeding form around the field to see ‘his slaughtered com- panions; now mangle the traitor, joint by joint—limb by limb; cut out the tongue that dared to wag in treason against Spanish rule; then sever the head from the body and leave the carcase to rot with its fellows. This is the vivid picture placed before American eyes by the truthfal pen. of the Hzrarp Commis- sioner. These are the scenes enacted hourly within four days of the metropolis of the United States. In the name of justice, in the namo of humanity, we call upon Congress and the President to interpose and stop this inhuman butchery. It has already been tolerated too long. Can there be any “rights of nations’ which oblige this great Republic to suffer a tottering monarchy to thus vent its insane wrath upon republican institutions at our very doors? Are we, a free and powerful people, to be compelled by diplomatic rules to remain passive and contented while a people strug- gling only for their liberties are cruelly ex- terminated? Is the republican party, now in power, to be called upon to aid Spain in crushing the Cubans in order that she may restore the liberated negroes to bondage and enrich herself out of slave labor? We point to the Hzraty picture of the Cuban war, with all its horrible features, and wo tell the administration and the republican party that the time has come when the scenes there depicted must cease, and when the Spanish government must be made to understand that the proper theatre for its barbarities is in its own country and not on this side of the Atlantic. The President on the Youtsiana Trou- bles. The Committee of Citizens of New Orleans, deputed to lay the case of the State before the President, wate accorded an interview Ww yester- day. After a representation of the facts they asked that Justice Bradley, of the Supreme Court, and Judge Woods, of the Circuit Court of the United States, might take charge of the Circuit Court sitting in New Orleans, and that the President appoint three of the best men of the: land to examine the Louisiana matters thoroughly for the purpose of submitting the subject to Congress. The President did not feel at liberty to request Justice Bradley to go to New Orleans while the Supreme Court is in session, but signified that if the Court should make the request it would meet with his approbation. As to the appointment of a commission to examine the facts, that could only be done by Congress, as without Congres- sional authority they would have no power to administer oaths or compel the attendance of witnesses. The President | people of at the same time disclaimed having interfered or intending to interfere in the affairs of the State. Thus far, therefore, the committee have gained nothing. The shortest road out of the quity would be for the nisiana to tt temporary mili- tary rule, "suspending the official authority of both the Warmoth and Kellogg factions until a final decree by Judge Durell is made. Upon this decree an appeal would lie to the Supreme Court, and then the whole case would be decided by the highest tribunal in the land, A New Treasury Loan ror Eoyrr.—His Highness the Khedive of Egypt has concluded a treasury loan of the amount of twelve mil- lion five hundred thousand dollars with the Bank of Constantinople. Such is the announcement which is conveyed in our cable despatch from Cairo. The apparently easy arrangement of the viceregal accommodation in the Turkish capital indicates at first sight the present existence and probable perpetua- tion of the most friendly diplomatic relations between His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey and the present representative of the once Suzerain Egyptian power. Such may be the condition in fact. We must not forget, however, that the Turkish system of financier- ing is admirably adapted, and conducted with most exquisite skill for the speedy entangle- ment of imprudent and miscalculating credi- tors in the meshes of money obligations which may tend to their ultimate humiliation by means of the embarrassments consequent on the bonds. The figures which we append to the news despatch illustrative of the pre- vious indebtedness of the Khedive will go far ‘to enable our readers to comprehend the position which we thus set forth. Tue Russian Wan Department proposes to erm its cavalry with a double carbine breech- loader, instend of pikes and lances, Also to ‘increase the number of military schools for officers. There are now sixteen such schools, in which there wore the present year thirty- four hundred pupils, over eleven hundred of whom, having passed their examination, have been drafted into thearmy. Seven hundred other officers were commissioned during the year, and there are still thirteen hundred vacancies in the various regiments of the regu- lararmy. Theso statements show “that the beating of swords into ploughshares is not yet progressing in Northern Europo, Postmaster General Creswell and the Postal Telegraph. Tho interview of our Washington correspon- dent with Postmaster General Cregwoll with regard to tho postal telegraph project, an ac- count of which was published yesterday, opens the whole question and shows the difficulties to be encountered in carrying out this great national undertaking. Mr. Creswell talked plainly, like an honest man, looking only to the public interests, and not having the fear of Mr.-Orton, the President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, or Mr. Orton's political influence with the administration before his eyes, He showed the advan- tages to both the public and the press of the postal telegraph system. Hoe showed, too, in that moderate language and polite way which a Cabinet officer could hot well depart from, the machinations and selfish schemes of the telegraph monopoly to frustrate his purpose and the public interests and to perpetuate its privileges. The commu- nication we publish, too, in another part of the paper, on the subject of the Postal Tele- graph bill, which was reported by the Senate Committee at the last session of Congross, shows in a forcible manner the necessity and advantages of the measure, The conversation of our correspondent with the Postmaster General was induced by the address of Mr, Orton and the evidence of other provident of telegraph companies to the Con- ‘pal Committeg SP Ap ropriations, ape eer by Congiéas t te the subject of the postal telegraph system, these inter- ested parties having made the most plausible arguments possible in favor of their monopoly and against the recommendation of Mr. Cres- well, It will be remembered that the Post- master General, in his late official report, urged Congress to follow the successful example of foreign nations in establishing @ system of postal telegraphs in connection with the Post Office Department. This was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, The evidence alluded to before that committee was taken with a view to furnish Congress with all the facts for and against the project. What the action of the committee or Congress may be remains to be seen. To Mr. Orton and his fellow monopolists must be accorded the merit of perseverance and skill in special pleading, however falla- cious their arguments may be. At the sametime it is to be regretted that the Postmaster Gen- eral had not had sufficient means and the time to collect statistics and to present the matter in the strongest light. Still he had sufficient materials and a sound principle to go upon that might convince any unprejudiced and disinterested Congressman that the postal tele- graph would be a great benefit to the coun- try. Without a single dollar to expend in the matter, Mr. Creswell says “I have, with the assistance of a single clerk, whom I de- tailed for the work, opened a correspondence with the telegraph authorities abroad, and, as for as I could, with the telegraph companies at home."’ The results were presented tn his ——_ While he did n6t claim that all figure were "precisely accurate, he never- thaled ‘ontended that the statements and arguments were substantially correct and suffi- clent to induce Congress to ‘act aie the matter. me The Postmaster General properly fcbuked the President of the Western Union Company for criticizing his motives and for assuming to dictate to the government. He showed, too, that Mr. Orton failed in his two hours’ ad- dress to furnish any of the facts really desired with reference to the expenditures and actual worth of the property of his company. All great monopolies in this country assume ao defiant attitude, and the President of the Western Union seems to be confident in the money power and political influence of his company. He talks like an autocrat. But are the people of the United States of no con- sequence in comparison with this monopoly? Are the great interests of forty millions of people and the progress of this great Republic in the improvements of the age to be ignored at the will and for the benefit of a gigantic monopoly ? What is the real qnestion at issue? Whether the telegraph—which has become of as much importance to the public as the Post Office, and which is destined to become more impor- tant—shall be under the control of a company of individuals, and virtually under the Presi- dent of that company, or shall: be controlled by the government. We refer sometimes to the power of the federal government, secured by the constitution, to regulate commerce among the States of the Union, but no commerce is of such importance or so universal as that involved in the opera- tion of the telegraph. It has become exten- sively the medium of communication from one end of the country to the other and is des- tined to be the principal medium of the busi- ness and thoughts of the whole community. It is absurd to suppose this mighty agent of modern civilization shall continue to be in the hands of a few individuals or one individual, of those who can impose what charges they please. Mr. Orton says a million people in the United States use the telegraph. Five or ten millions, or the whole population, should be able to use it. To restrain the employment of it is to clip the wings of intelligence and to arrest the education and progress of the people. A company does not regard the public welfare and only looks to its own interests. Its chief study is to make the largest income by high rates of charges and to raise its stock in the market. The government would have no such object, but would necessarily bring the charge for messages down to the lowest price, just as it has brought the postage on letters down to the bare cost of transmission. Then, besides the advantage to the people, individually and directly, of a system of cheap telegraphing, the proposed measure of the Postmaster Gen- eral would be a great benefit to the press, and to the public through the press, Any news- paper could have its own wires for exclusive use and vould thus furnish more ample and important news. Considering the power and usefulness of the modern press, we know. of nothing that would tend to extend its influence for good more than this. In every point of view the telegraph, under the control of the government, in connection with the postal service, would be a great benefit to the public. How is this to be accomplished? That Congress has the power to place tho telegraph system under the government no one will venture to deny. Shall it, then, buy the ox- isting lines or establish new ones? Tho tele- NEW YOKK HERALD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20; 1872.—TRIPLE: SHEET. ber and extent of telegraph lines, with all their appliances, as exist now, could be established for twelve millions of dollars. Others, and experts in telegraphic matters, make the sum much less, But, admitting that the total cost would be twelve millions, is it not ridiculous to expect forty or fifty millions should be paid to the companies for their inflated and watered stocks and their partially worn-out materials ? ‘The actual and original cost of the companies’ lines did not amount, probably, to twelve mil- lions. Mr. Orton, perhaps, thinks he can make the government pay an extravagant price by his opposition to the postal telegraph project, and he succeeds, no doubt, in keeping up the. market price of the stock above its intrinsic value by this strategy; but the people will never consent to give forty millions or more for what is not worth « third of that sum, especially when the government can create the same number of telegraph lines and the same amount of property for less than a third of the present stock value placed upon existing tinags Nor will Congress venture to sanc- yg marehesa thouch the political PEs aR em es gy and lobby influence of the companies may be great. Sooner or later we musi have the postal telegraph, for it has proved tobe s sascessful and a great public benefit in other countrics. If the companies will sell their property at fhe actual cost or fora reasonable compensation, all very well; but if they will not, the govern- ment should establish a new and complete system itself, and thus leave the companies to compete for the business of the public if they choose to do so. This is the only alternative, and this must be the solution of the matter at no distant day. Postmaster General Creswell’s opinion is that in time the pegple will become disgusted with the greed of the telegraph companies, and then will compel the govern- ment to exert its incontestable right of con- structing its own lines independent of all others. Congress—Interesting and Important Proceedings in Both Houses, The proceedings in both houses of Congress are unusually interesting and important at this early stage of the session. In the Senate yesterday Mr. Edmunds, of the Judiciary Committee, reported against the bill to allow women to vote in the District of Columbia and the other Territories. The report, however, was placed on the calendar on motion of Mr, Pomeroy, which means that on some con- venient day hereafter he intends to call up the subject and discuss it in favor of women's rights, Mr. Edmun: pubes. ade several other haverse, ), Feports, one on the dill to facilitate internal commerce, we regard as very important at this juncture, when, acting upon the broad pints of. the President's Mes- sage, all sorts of internal i improvement a are springing up at Washington. A prohibitory or Maine liquor law from the United States Senate is a new idea; but the bill reported yesterday by Mr. SherfMan, to prohibit the manufac- ture, importation and sale of intoxicating drinks in the District of Columbia and the other Territories, ought to be satisfactory to the most rigid prohibitionist of even Massa- chusetts. This measure, in addition to the Women’s Rights bill, is in charge of Mr. Pomeroy, who firmly believes that cold water and woman suffrage are destined to be the moral and political salvation of the country. Mr. Edmunds deferred the calling up of the House bill adverse to the erasure of the battles of the rebellion from the Army Register or regimental flags, because Mr. Sumner, who desires to speak upon the subject, was too un- well to speak at present. But the great sub- ject of the day in the Senate was the Postal Telegraph bill, introduced by Mr. Ramsay, upon which our views are given in the special editorial, to which we invite the reader's at- tention, as to a subject of the highest impor- tance to all classes and interests of the Ameri- can people, In the House the resolution of Mr. Wood, of. New York, which was adopted, whereby the Committee.on Banking “and Currency is instructed to inquire into ‘the strin- gency of the money market, as far as caused by combinations engaged in locking up gold and currency, and to report some legislative remedy for this evil, is a seasonablo proceeding ; but the report from the com- mittee which immediately followed covers the ground. The pains and penalties of the bill recommended against any national bank guilty of aiding in the locking up of gold or currency for speculative purposes ate very severe, but very just, and we presume that they will, during this session, become a law, inas- much as leading mén of both parties are moving for the measure. This bill is the result of the alleged misconduct of the Tenth National Bank of New York in the matter of a recont conspiracy to lock up currency with a view of producing 4 money panic. Ona motion from the same committee a resolution was adopted for an eramination into the cause of the loss of revenue stamps from the Assistant Treasurer's office, New York. Let the leak be ferreted out and stopped. We have too much roguery in our public affairs, and it ought to be diminished. Upon the whole yesterday was a day of active business in both houses, Froops m France axp Betorom.—Heavy floods, as will be seen from this morning's news, have occurred in France and Belgium. Tho Seine has overflowed ita banks, and the quays on both sides of the river are flooded, the stores in the neighborhood being closed, and the traffic, whatever therois, being carried on by boats. Beyond Bercy, a suburb of Paris on the right bank of the Seine, the houses in the vicinity of the river are said to be stand. ing in one vast lake of water. Similar trouble has occurred in Brussels, and some of the streets of Ghent are three fect deep in water. These floods, occurring so soon after the disastrous inundations in Italy, suggest some peculiar and unexpected conditions of the atmosphere, and are well worthy the serious attention of the skilled meteorologists. Tho time has not come when science can pre- vent such disasters, but science ought to be able to give timely warning of their approach. The Appreaching Great Cold from the Mortawest and Its Climatic Sigalfi- cance, The most intense cold. of the Winter, ac- cording to the Signal Service reports, pro- vailed on Wednesday in the Northwest, wedging its way eastward. At the most northern frontier town of the United States, lying on the Red River and in the very line of the great polar winds, the depression of the thermometer had reached the extreme figure of twenty-nine degrees (below zero), while at Breckenridge, two hundred miles southeastward, it was twenty-cight degrees (below zero). The Arctic regions seem to have dispensed some of their bitterness and rigor to the narrow belt of country lying west of the Lakes. The thermometric gradient from the Southern States to the far Northwest was exceedingly steep, showing o descent in the mercury of over ninety degrees Fabren- heit, or nearly one degree for every fifteen miles. The prelude to this cold wave—which is now advancing towards the Atlantic sea- board—consisted of an immense snow- storm which enddenly® spread ite hoary mantle over the whole country from the. Lakes to the Ohio River and over the Middle and Eastern States, accompanied by danger- ous northeasters on our seacoast. We have, however, experienced as yet only the front of this great atrial inundation from the Pacific coast and the higher latitudes, and may be pre- mopished of intensely frosty and rigorous = Tor for the next fW6 or three days. It is Neem a very curious fact, vwnudl appears in alt eaS3e violent thermometric changes rican. Winters, that, while the advancing cold, when first reported from the Northwest, is attended with but comparatively little anow in that seo.’ tion lying west of Lake Superior, it produces fieavy precipitation only after it has progressed east of the Upper Mississippi atid reached the slopes of the Alleghanies. Moving-epstward from the Pacific coast the wave, at first aur- charged with oceanic vapor and warmth, moderates and tempers the Winter climates in the regions over which it rolls, and, even when it condenses on the cold elevations of the mountains, liberates its immense stores of latent heat; and in the ex- treme Northwestern sections, as on Wednes- - day, at Montana, thermometers are high. Passing, however, to Dakota and Minnesota, we find that the air-mass, by the time it has reached these sections, is dry and intensely cold, and the temperatures suddenly fall to almost polar severity. It has often been ob- served by Italian travellers that sometimea when on the Alps the snow and rain are fall- ing heavily, ‘‘the waveless plains” of Lom- bardy beneath are overhung by blue and cloudless skies, On the const of Ireland the Kerry Mountains rob the warm and vaporous southwest winds from the Atlantic of theiz moisture, to which the chatming Irish lakes are indebted fot their supply of water and Killarney for its famed and luxuriant verdure ; but after passing a short distance beyond the mountains the same wind is chilled and rain. robbed and its downpour reduced from sixty, to twenty inches of water per annum. The operation of the piysical law which bringa about these so phonoaiaaa is highly imo cant in America and especially in the great North. west, whose Winter meteorology is a matter of public interest. The present Winter fairly illustrates the sub- ject and shows a succession of alternate zones, spread across™he country from shore to shore. Thus from the Pacific to the meridian of one hundred and ten degrees west, between the fortieth and sixtieth parallels, isa region of Winter climate much warmer and more humid than that due to latitude. From the one hun- dred and tenth meridian of west longitude to the ninetieth, and between the same parallels as before, isa zone of intense, but dry, cold Winter, comparatively snowless, except on the shores of the lakes; and the isothermals main- tain, all the way to the Atlantic, the shape of waving or zigzag lines. Nothing could better illuminate the much discussed snow problem which affects the practical success of pro- posed Canadian Pacific Railroad and also that of the Northern Pacific. From the meridian of Duluth to that of Fort Benton they must encounter, at given intervals during the Win- ter, intense cold, but they will practically es- cape all heavy snows on the larger part of tha country they traverse. As we have said before, the winds from the Northwest threaten us with an immediate in- vasion of Winter's biting blast and icy seal, and the sooner we prepare for it the better. Congressional Investigations—An Oute rage on the Liberty of the Citizen. We protest against the further prosecution of the investigation, as it is humorously called, now going on at Washington into the conduct of certain members of Congress in the matter of a few thousand shares in the Crédit Mo- bilier of the Union Pacific Railroad. By what right, we should like to know, foes gay one undertake to pry into the private financial transactions of independent citizens just be- cause they happen to give their services to the country in enacting laws for the good of the community? In the semi-civilized ages, when steam expended itself on the air and elec- tricity was on unknown power, under the curious notions of such respectable fogies ag Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, it was held that a public officer, and es- pecially a legislator, was bound to forego all profitable pickings that might be cast in his way by virtue of his position or forfeit his claim to be regarded as an honest citizen. An absurd prejudice pre- vailed against the acceptance of pecuniary favors and advantages even by the sons, sons-in-law, brothers, brothers-in-law, fathers, fathers-in-law, uncles, cousins or nephews of those in the public service. But all such narrow-minded ideas have gone out of fashion with periwigs and shoebuckles. We now rec- ognize the fact that a Congressman is a free agent and is at liberty to make as much money as he can. To be sure, an honest Rep- resentative must vote in accordance with the dictates of his conscience, but his conscience is his own, and he can do with it as he likes, Of what crime have the Senators and Rep- resentatives to whom Oakes Ames’ stock was “placed” been guilty? They received their shares at par—thoso of them who paid for them at all—and os o one-hundred dollar share was found to be worth oight or nine hundred dollars they made anything from eight or nine thousand dollara to fifty or sixty thousand dollars a piece, ac- cording to tho amount of their interest