The New York Herald Newspaper, December 23, 1872, Page 4

4 NEW YURK HERALD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 23. 187%.—-WITH SUPPLEMENT. NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day tn the year, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription AMUSEMENTS THIS EVEN: ROWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Bonste Fisawire— Heune, tux Wontar. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirticth st— Banus ix tux Woon.’ Alternoon and Evening. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. and Eighth ay.—Rounn THe CLock. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, betweem Prince and Houston streets.—Lxo axp Loros. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Broadway, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets —Loxpow Assurance. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street— New Yan's Eve. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth stroet.—Broturn Saw. + THEATRE COMIQUE, Sl Broadway.—Araica: on, LiVINGSTONE AND STANLET. ‘ | BOOTINS THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth aycuue.—lanay Duxpar, OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston and Bleecker sts. —Tar One Honpkep Virgins. ‘ \ MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE,— Tux Jeavovs Wire—Saranas. \_ BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Montague st.— Romwo anv Jutsixt. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner tb av.—Necno Mixstaxisy, Eccentaiciry, &c. \_ ATHENEUM, No. 585 Broadway.—Sriexpip Vantetr ov Nove.ties. \ CANTERBURY VARIETY THEATRE, Broadway, be- tween Bleecker and Houston.—Vaniety ENreetainMent. \_ TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— ‘Guano Vantsty Entertainment, &c. Matinee at 259. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, corner 28th st. and way.—ETHIOriaN MinstREtsY, £¢. MENAGERIE AND CIRCUS.— —Day and Evening. \" RARNUM'S MUSEU! Fourteenth street, near Broadw: -STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street.—Lecrone, ““Bugninc To Deatu aND Savina From Deatu.” NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 615 Broadway.— SCIENCE AND Apt. New Yerk, Monday, Dec. 23, 1872. NEWS OF YESTERDAY. 'To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. THE .“FOOD FOR MR. FROUDE’S DIGESTION !"—FIRST EDITORIAL ARTICLE—Fourts Page, BURNING OF THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE! A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS IN CHURCH PROPERTY SWEPT AWAY IN AN HOUR! HISTORY OF THE CHURCH: SYM- PATHETIU TENDERS OF AID—Tenta Paces. THE HUNGRY SEA! THE STEAMSHIP ADRIATIC DISABLED AT MIDNIGHT IN MID-ATLAN. TIC! A MARVELLOUS RESCUE! THE LOSS AND THE LOG OF THE FOUNDERED STEAMSHIP ST, LOUIS—Tuirp Pace. CABLE TELEGRAMS FROM EUROPE AND CEN- TRAL ASIA! THE KHAN OF KHIVA PRE- PARING FOR WAR—PERSONAL NEWS GOSSIP—Firtn Pace. NEWS FROM WASHINGTON! PREPARING THE SLATE OF TIE <T CONGRESS: THE AS- PIRANTS: BOUTWELL AND THE MASSA- CHUSETTS SENATORSHIP—FI RES—MARIN * INTELLIGENCE—TENTH PaGE. APFAIRS IN NEW ORLEANS—STATE AND PRO. BABILITIES OF THE WEATHER: HEATING APPARATUSES PXPLODING—FirtH Pace. OAKES AMES AND ALLEY’S CREDIT MOBILIER! INATING THE SfARTLING FEATURES THE HERALD EXPOSURE: A GIGAN- TIC SWINDLE: LOOK OUT FOR A SQUALL— SIxTH PaGE. WHAT MAY BE EXPECTED FROM THE ALBANY | SOLONS! TROUBLE AHEAD: THE SPEAKER- SHIP—MRS. WOODHULL REFUSED A BOSTON LECTURE HALL—Sixt Pace. THE FINANCIAL FIELD AND THE OUTLOOK! THE MONEY PROBLEM: ERIE AND MR, GOULD coUP: THE WEEKLY BANK STATEMENT: PACIFIC MAIL—NintTH Pace. MORE ABOUT THE NORTHWEST “CORNER” — OBITUARY—HELP FOR THE GOOD SHEP- HERD—NintH Pace. ALAS, POOR TENNISON! CLIPPING THE FLY- SIUM OF FREEDOM: IS HE SANE?—MIS- TAKEN IDENTITY—Seconp Pacs. FOOTPRINTS OF THE GOSPEL! MALE AND FEMALE DIVINES PREACHING FREE GRACE TO DIMINISHED CONGREGATIONS: THE COLD WEATHER Vs. CHURCH- GOING—E1anTH Pace. © MCSIC FOR THE HOLIDAYS—FOLLOWING THE RED FLAG—CHRISTMAS BOOKS—Tuinpd Pace. Taat Corp Atmosparntc Wave from the Northwest, the approach of which was pre- dicted some days ago in the Henaxp, came in mMpon us yesterday, with the sharpest cold of ‘the season, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast and from the great lakes to the Southern border States the reports are the same—tho sharpest cold of the season. Indeed, our weather philosophers are getting into the | secrets of our rains and snows and winds and | frosts to a remarkable degree. Pars t Tuters AND THE COMMITTEE OF Panpoys.—On Saturday President Thiers had 8 conference at Versailles with the Committee of Pardons. have been sentenced to death, are to be exe- cuted before the end of the yenr, if the sen- fences are not commuted. It is not stated | whether the President is in favor of commu- tation of sentence. Let us hope that he is, and that his influence will prevail. The policy of revenge has been pursued long enough. At this particular season of the year the President can afford to stretch a point in favor of mercy, Further punish- ment will but defeat its purpose. Centar Conoresstonan ‘Wiskacnes are Greatly concerned lest the United States should havea navy. While ready to vote away mil- | lions of the public domain to speculators they object to putting on the seas ships of war worthy of the flag once respected on the ocean. Intelligent and patriotic citizens are more anxious to learn why we have not fifty first class ships of war than to determine the price of six or ten sloops. Congress is be- hind the poople, and the people know it. By tae Riout Fiaxx.—It has been urged that the possession of St. Domingo by the United States would give us the possession of Cuba in a few years. If Cuba is a desirable possession why not take it now? St. Domingo would be more acceptable as a falling pear in time to come than the Queon of the A number of Communists, who | Feed for Mr. Froude’s Digestion. There is nothing like consistency. It is said by poets to be a jewel so rich and rare as to be well nigh unattainable. For once, at least, poets are not indebted to their imagina- tion for their facts, and we turn to the record of England’s Premier for confirmation of 1 statement more true than fanciful, Clemency to political prisoners is claimed to be a pro- vailing English sentiment. Many years ago Mr. Gladstone won golden opinions by his humane efforts to ameliorate the condition of political prisoners brutally treated by the Neapolitan government. When Orsini and his fellow conspirators attempted to take the life of Louis Napoleon Mr. Gladstone was one of a Ministry that refused to surrender them, on the ground that the offence was po- litical. Ten years ago Mr. Gladstone vehe- mently advocated the cause of American re- bellion, declaring that Jefferson Davis had made a nation, and, because of this sym- pathy, gave great impetus to the cause of Fonianism, which he now is the first to de- nounce. Only a few weeks since a statement was forwarded to the London Times, signed by several Communist prisoners confined in the Chateau d'Oléron, complaining of their inhuman treatment, and the manager of that journal despatched a special commissioner to France for the purpose of interviewing the complainants, and devoted four columns of “The Thundercr’’ to their wrongs. This was noble, this was enterprising ;- but has Mr. Gladstone's government, has the virtuous Times, shown equal concern regarding certain Trish political prisoners, tried as Fenians, and accused of supplying arms to the brother- hood? Does Mr. Gladstone’s soul publicly revolt at it, does the Times publish a state- ment vouched for by two witnesses and made by Mr. Reddin, who, having undergone five years imprisonment for connection with the rescue of Kelly at Manchester, now issues forth freed, shattered in body, though not in mind, his legs paralyzed, his life a burden? Oh, no! And so for the benefit of Mr. Glad- stone and the Times we copy from the Jrish- man the following remarkable evidence of the way in which moral England follows her own humane teachings of the manner in which she tempers justice with merey :— Immediately after my conviction, avers Mr. Red- din on oath, I was removed to Millbank Prison and placed in a cell fastened by a padlock, whereas the ordinary prisoners’ cells were merely bolted. I re- mained here in solitary confinement nine months, without suiicient food. While here I was con- demned to two days’ bread and water for simply looking at Richard Burke; I alsoreceived one day’s bread and watey for 8) akin, to General Halpin, From Millbank I was rémoved in irons to Chatham, ny with Moorehouse and Carroll, and while there, being asked to wheel a barrow full of fifty wet bricks, which I had not strength enough to do, T was in consequence subjected to bread and water for three days, without even a bed to lie upon. Some time alter this I received one day’s bread ang water for simply nodding to O'Donovan Rossa, and because I had the temerity to speak again to General Halpin and Mr. Costello I received an ad- ditional punishment of three days’ bread and water. In October, 1870, I was taken very ill while working at my trade as plasterer at the prison in- firmary. A warder named Taylor, noticing my condition, had me conveyed into the infirmary and brought before the head doc- tor, who, refusing to believe in my illness, peremptorily ordered me out again. ui this took place during dinner, Aiter dinner I was ordered out to work, having received no medical aid whatever. On the following day, being much worse, I was ordered into the casual ward of the infirmary, and left there during the entire evening without food. The next day I was removed into a cell, seven feet long and four feet wide, and con- fined in it for six days on eight ounces of bread and one pint of arrowroot. 1 was discharged from this cell On Saturday and ordered into the regular ward; but, being unable to walk, it would have been an utter impossibility for me to have reached it were it not for the kind assistance of an ordi- nary prisoner, who carried me to it. On the day following (Sunday) I was ordered out on the pa- rade ground to exercise, but being, a3 I have just stated, totally unable to walk, or in fact to stand, the principal warder, named Pepper, and two ordinary prisoners literally dra; me round the parade ground, eventually aragg ing me from the parade oe to ® punishment cell, where I was ales naked from half-past ten in the morn- ing till half-past two in the afternoon ofa cold, bitter day in October, lor no offence that I have any knowledge of other than my inability to erform exercise on the parade ground. This pun- ishment having ended, and being obliged toresume work on the following day, I managed, with the as- sistance of a fellow prisoner, to reach the scaffold- ga where I wes employed, but finding myself un- able to stand, Isat down ona window-sili to rest, my fellow prisoner doing my portion of the work as well as hisown. The principal warder approach- ing rather suddenly, I attempted to resume work in order not to compromise my fellow prisoner, and in trying to do so fell from the scaifolding and severely injured my head. I was then lifted from | the ground and again placed on the scaffold, but the principal oMcer finding me unable cither to work or stand I was, by his order, again conveyed to the casual ward. The eifect of this inhuman torturing was to overthrow my reason, for ut this stage I can remember nothing until I found myseli in the ordinary ward of the infirmary, in com- pany with the other prisoners, change I attribute to the kindly intercession of | Dr. Steele. In the following March I was dls- charged from the infirmary by order of Dr. Burns, and ordered out to labor, and being, as you may well imagine, totally incapacitated for work, again received three days’ bread and water, without even the luxury of a bed. Imme- diately following this punishment I was confined to the solitary penal cell—the same that was con- structed for O'Donovan Rossa, with an open closet | at one end—for no offence that! have any know- ledge of. Atthe expiration of this punishment, as I was growing daily worse, I was again removed to the infirmary, and @ galvanic battery tried to my feet. 1 leave you to imagine, for I cannot describe, the tortures | experienced during tlus terrible or- deal. I only nope my fellow prisoners were not subjected to this fearful punisument. I was re- placed iu the one! formerly occupied, seven feet by four, and remained in it till August. Yovwards tue end of August, Dr. burns being away on leave to the regular ward of the infirmary, where I re- Mained until October, 1871—during which time va- rious cruel experiments were resorted to, to test te genuineness of my paralysis, such as burning with red-hot irons, piercing my legs with necdles, he marks of which still remain. “i discharged from the infirmary and sub- from the cell every morning and placed in a cold bathroom, stripped naked (not with the ob ofadministermg a bath, as you may suppose a3 an additional punishment jor my contumacy), and obliged to remain naked all day, not being at night. On removed to a solitary cell, and while there was sul | jected to a blistering process on wy back and nec A galvanic battery was then applied six times day to the wound caused by the blister, which pro- duced the most excruciating tortures, I remained | im this cell till March, and was transferred on the loth of that month to Millbank, and I was then con- fined in a solitary cell in the infirmary there was subjected to the same exp were resorted to by my medical jailers in Chatham to test the nature and truth of my malady. menting them, however, with considerable tions, which did credit to their fiendish ingenuity. My ljegs were bound with bandages with loose ends, which ends were | side, and in this torturing position I was dragged along to the surgery—stripped naked—ani a gal- vanic battery applied to various parts of my body. I was then raised from the couch (where [had been lying) by two powerful men, and tossed into the air and allowed to drop down on tte couch again, This cruelty was repeated several times. Immedi- ately a ter this I was placed in a cold bath, and my heart held down under water by the warder’s feet until I became insensible. I remember nothing the cold flags of my cell, Previons to this, how- ever (as 1 was being conveyed to the surgery), my hands were forcibly held out by two men, and my | feet tied while a doctor violently beat me about the stomach, causing me to vomit in the corridor, which so enraged him that he ordered the warcer accordingly did, head doctor, I was removed from the regular ward remain there tiil September $ withouta bed. | compiained of this treatment to the director, Captain Fagan, who ordered my removal to quarters somewhat more comfortable, where I remained until my discharge on October 25. Such, you at once perceive, is but a brief and hasty outline of the treatment I experienced as an Irist political prisoner. If time and circumstances would allow me | could furnisi you with a fuller and more com- plete and detailed statement, supported by such an array of facts as would compictely damn the state- Ments of Gladstone and his to the nature of the punishment to which the Iris political prisoners were and are still sul legs Rutoly “ig ik a Saekliog vistuss of which ‘beneficial | moved from this cell in tue following July, and | of absence, Dr. Stecle—my friend—had me removed | Twas at this | pe! fectea to anew punishment by being brought | able to dress myself until they came to remove me | anuary 4, 1572, | was permanently | held by two men who walked before me, while two | other men held me up one at each more until I found myself in the evening lying on | to wipe the discharge up with my face, which they | In August, in the absence of the | in the infirmary to a solitary ceil, and compelled to | frere, Mr. Bruce, aa | ization of the nineteenth century, the com-/ Phe Credit Mobilicr Job—More Light | The Progress of Tyranny im Louisiana. panion for which wo can find in extracts from a letter written by the sister of another Fenian prisoner, now undergoing punishment in an T shall feel grateful,"’ writes the sister, “if you can bring any influonce to bear Ho is the worse treated in the prison. The Governor was kind to him until last Sep- tember. Since then his manner is much altered, by order, no doubt, of the government. I wish to call your attention to tho fact that he ought to‘have been liberated with the other men. I have no doubt he would have been had his case been looked into. He tells me the only thing that has kept his reason has been the exercise of his religion. * * * Bearin mind his youth. He was only twenty-one when he went through that farce of a trial.’’ Evidently Mr. Gladstone andthe Times have been read- ing James Russell .Lowell, and, laying their warm hands upon their warmer hearts, can sayin the classic language of the ‘Biglow Papers,” I do believe in freedom’s cause Ez fur away ¢z Paris iz; Tlove to see her stick her claws In them infernal Pharisees, It’s well enough agin a king To draw resolves and triggers, But liberty 's a kind o’ thing What don’t agree with niggers, Substitute “Fenians” for ‘‘niggers’’ and the parallel is complete. . Nor have we done, In this matter of con- sistency there is absolutely an embarrassment of riches. Turn not aghast, readers of the Henan, if we put before you a mirror wherein to contemplate ‘the most Christian govern- ment of the world.”” “Home Rule,” declared the Attorney General at a Liverpool meeting, ‘aims at an end which I think absurd, impracticable and un- tenable, but an end which they have a perfect right to aim at if they can get it. Home Rule professes to respect the monarchy and to move to ita ends, which I think absurd, by means which they have a perfect right to use, and which are perfectly legitimate. Home Rule has for its head a Queen’s counsel, an able and accomplished lawyer, and not a Fenian centre.” And then, what follows? The met- ropolitan police visit those taverns where Home Rulers resort for the purposes of discus- sion, and warn the proprietors that if such meetings be permitted their licenses will be jeopardized. Mr. Martin, M. P., sits in the House of Commons in order to ventilate the very subject which Home Rulers may not argue in an adjoining tap room—a tap room that must be closed at twelve, while every club ‘in town and taverns on familiar terms with the police authorities burns midnight gas defiantly to prove what a thoroughly impar- tial, consistent animal is John Bull. “Eng- land is the land of liberty, America the land of libertics,’’ said Punch, some years ago. The phraso is neater than it is true. It would be truer, though not so neat, to affirm that England is the land of privilege, America, with all its faults, the land of right. “Tf, then,’’ says Mr. Froude, ‘‘America will counsel England what to do that she has left undone, what wrong sho can yet redress that Ireland may justly complain of, England, I am certain, will listen respectfully, cordially, gratefully.” Mr. Froude reckons without his host. England has told Mr. Froude, in words more plain than polite, that she will not listen at all; but, if we were sure of being heard, we should protest, after the former manner of England’s Premier, against the barbarous treatment of Fenian or any other political prisoners, Yet of what avail to protest? Does not the London Echo—calling itself the people’s paper, because it is cheap—assert that ‘until the Irish are disfranchised in America Mr. Froude has but a small chance of getting an impartial verdict?’”’ Of what avail, then, to protest? Our sympathy with Ire- land’s wrongs simply means an appeal to “the Irish vote,’’ and so we leave one Fenian para- lyzed, another languishing in prison for want of decent treatment, and humble, law-abiding Home Rulers without a tavern in which to dis- cuss a Parliamentary question, until the Irish shall have been disfranchised in this land of universal suffrage’. German Inuicration To Amertca.—A North German newspaper in Berlin has entered on the task of explaining to the Prus- sian pcople and of defending before the nation the recent act of the Imperial Execu- tive for the regulation of emigrant fares, the | advance of tho railroad’s tariff charges for | emigrant baggage, and other edicts of similar import tending to repress the voluntary exodus of the people to America by increasing the cost of travel to the home points of embarka- tion for the United States. This press duty, if it be a duty, is all very fair, and it may be very patriotic. But when the German writer | | comes to charge ‘exaggeration’ and ‘‘dis- tortion’ of facts against the American press | for its manner of recording and commenting on the facts, and also to indirectly accuse | | the Washington government of failing in its | treaty negotiatioas, by a willful delay in the | completion of a satisfactory instrument for | the regulation of emigration during many | years, the whole matter of this emigrant law | movement in Germany is made to become | rather serious ; not oily to the Germans who | | wish to come to the Republic and to their | | friends who await to receive and assist them | on landing, but also to the diplomatic comity | which should always be maintained between | great and friendly nations, Exotaxp anp Russta my Centrat Asta,— Russia, it is again said, is about to undertake the campaign against Khiva, It is under- stood that the British government has de- cided not to interfere in the matter. The subjugation of Khiva, therefore, while it will bring Russia nearer to British India, will | | not for the present bring the two great Pow- ers into conflict. The time may come when the battle must be fought for supremacy in Asia, but that time is not yet. | Tae Pace Presier or NY has just | | shone in grand convivial brilliancy in the | glittering circle cf a ball given by the British Minister serving at the Imperial Court in Berlin, It is gratifying to know, even thus indirectly, that the eminent Chancellor is completely recovered from his recent attack of | B+ 4 bso, for the Union Pacific Stockholders and the Investigating Committee, We publish in the Hzmarp to-day some the Crédit Mobilier, which will no doubt be of interest and value to the present stockholders of the former company, as well as to the Congressional Investigating Committee. The dred miles of the road; the assignment of the contract two months afterwards to the famous ring of trustees and the Crédit Mobilier; the singular conditions attached to the contract and assignment, are now placed before the public for the first time. Taken in connection with the list of shareholders in the Crédit Mobilier, published in last Saturday's Heraxp, and the developments already made before the investigating committee at Washington, they will afford a fair insight into the secret work- ing of the stupendous job, and into the means by which it was made such a magnificent success. The contract was entered into on August 16, 1867, and the assignment was made on October 15 following. It appears from the list of stockholders of the Crédit Mobilier, as already published by us, that the first divi- dend of twelve per cent, in first mortgage bonds and stock of the Union Pacific Railroad, was made as earlyas December 12, 1867, or less than two months after the transfer of the contract was completed. We have no doubt that the facts thus brought to light will be thoroughly sifted by the innocent stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad, and that the question of the legality of a transaction by which the large profits, ap- parently belonging legitimately to that com- pany, were diverted into another channel and shared between a favored few, will be properly tested in the courts. Indeed, Mr. Richard Schell, in a conversation with a Hzraup re- porter, states that a suit is likely to be brought at once against the Crédit Mobilier stock- holders, although he disclaims any inten- tion to take part personally in the litiga- tion. He doubts, indeed, whether the officers of the Union Pacific Railroad will act in the matter in their official capacity; but, as any stockholder has a right to sue, there is no question that the action for the recovery of the amount alleged to have been misappro- priated will be brought, and that the plaintiff, whoever he may be, will be backed up by the whole strength of the corporation. In the meantime ex-President Durant may have it in his power to throw much valuable light on the mysterious and intricate transactions of the managers of the adventure if it should please him to doso, and it would be curious to learn whence came the dividends so lavishly distrib- uted to the stockholders of the Crédit Mobilier so soon after the date of the Onkes Antes con- tract and transfer. i We must insist, however, that no new inter- est in the foreshadowed suits between the vic- timized Union Pacific stockholders and the fortunate Crédit Mobilier ‘‘ring’’ shall be per- mitted to divert attention from the investiga- tion pending before the Congressional Commit- tee. Hitherto there has been no great confi- dence felt in the result of the committee's labors, probably, mainly on account of its un- fortunate determination to hold its sessions with closed doors. As we have remarked here- tofore, some persons familiar with our Con- gressmen have fancied that a committee better qualified to conduct such an investiga- tion might have been formed, but no one has imagined that there would be any dishonest attempt to suppress or distort evidence on the part of its members. Congressman Cox pos- sesses and deserves in an eminent degree the confidence of all parties at Washington and elsewhere, and the fact that the com- mittee was of his selection is sufficient proof as to its integrity: But something more than an honest intention is required of those who have been assigned such an important duty. They have sharp, unscrupulous men to deal with. If the charges made are well founded their own immediate friends and associates are implicated in a disgraceful and illegal transaction. They must bring to bear upon their labors inexorable firmness, stern de- termination and unceasing watchfulness, if they would discharge their trust fully and faithfully, If there has been a doubt as to their qualifications in these respects, they have only themselves to thank for it. Tho Crédit Mobilier scandal was of too important a character to be hushed up or smothered over by a mere whitewashing process, and the people were not satisfied that the evidence should be concealed from them. When the seal of secrecy was placed upon the investigation it is not to be wondered at that an uneasy suspicion crept into the public mind. It is to be hoped that it will be removed by a reversal of the action of the committee and the opening of its sessions, There is no reasonable doubt as to the implica- tion of some Senators and Representatives in what, in plain Innguage, is Congressional bribery and corruption. The trick of allow- ing brothers, sons, wives and sons-in-law to receive the price of a purchasable vote, in the hope of hoodwinking the people and escaping responsibility, is no longer available. It is now thoroughly under- stood and can deceive no person. The com- mittee are bound to discover what members of Congress or other public officers received the favor of stock from the Crédit Mobilier at about one-eighth of its real value, and then | voted for the measures required by those in- terested in the company. If they should fail to do this, and to present the facts without fear or favor, they will find it difficult to per- suade the world that they have faithfully or efficiently discharged their duties. Grasite Forts.—A trial has recently been made at Picklecombe Battery, Plymouth Sound, to test the power of resistance in the iron-plated granite walls of the series of per- manent fortifications which at great cost Great Britain has built to resist attack from the direction of the sea. Twenty or thirty heavy guns were discharged under the observation of high military officers, and yet the walls of Picklecombe Battery still staud. It is sug- gested that a far better test would be to send the Devastation or some other ship to try the effect of a few shots from one of the Woolwich thirty-five ton guns, If such an assault proved harmless it would contradict the opinion of high military authorities and the experience of our late war. as well as recent European There is no new feature in the Louisians trouble to-day, but the longer the outrage is Permitted to live the more hideous and re- volting it becomes. Judge Bradley is not to go to New Orleans; at least that appears to be the present decision at Washington, and it is announced by the republican organs as a Partisan triumph. The people asked that he might be permitted to do so, in order that the alleged illegal and arbitrary action of Judge Durell might be subjected to his calm and fair revision ; but their reason- able request is refused. They are to be left under the heel of a judge who has trodden on the neck of the State, and now holds it help- less under his foot, with a federal bayonet at ite throat. With a refinement of tyranny, the people of Louisiana are told that they have their remedy in an appeal from Judge Durell’s final decision when that shall be reached, while at the same time it is announced that - the proceedings hitherto had before that convenient Judge are only interlocutory, and hence not subject to appeal! Meanwhile the press—the only re- maining safeguard of the liberty of the citizen—is suppressed at the will of those who have already overthrown the government, out- raged the laws and defied the constitution, and the administration at Washington looks approvingly on and issues its edicts that the usurpers shall be regarded as the only lawful authorities of the State. Could these things have happened before the Presidential election? Still More Disasters at Sea. The details of the loss at sea of the steamer St. Louis and the British ship Allan, as well as the injuries to the White Star Line steamer Adriatic, are published in another column. It will be remembered that information of these disasters reached us some days since by telegraph. Happily, we have no story of lost life to add to the dismal record, but of human suffering and endurance, of courage and cool- ness in the hour of danger, there are moving examples. The great mid-winter Atlantic storms have wrought their annual destruc- tion. The total loss of the Allan, of Glas- gow, was one result of these storms. By one of those providential occurrences which we call strange coincidences the steamer Adriatic had two blades of her propeller broken on the night of the 12thinst. This delayed her progress considerably, and at seven on the following evening she came across the drifting wreck of the Allan, with twenty perishing souls on board. It should long be one of the tradi- tions of the seas how, in the darkness of that night, third officer Barker, of the Adriatic, and his gallant boat’s crew, rescued amid the boil- ing surges around the doomed ship every per- son on board. The loss of the iron steamer St. Louis, one hundred and seventy miles from New Orleans, is attributable to a leak discovered too late. In clearing from New Orleans the day before her foundering she touched what was believed to be a submerged wreck. The captain states that she sustained no apparent damage, but it does not appear that any careful examination was made at the time. That she did sustain an injury, probably the starting of a plate, was proved by the sequel. The motion of the ves- sel doubtless widened the breach and increased the leak, and so the vessel was lost. A meed of credit is certainly due to the captain for the efficient means he took to save the lives in his charge. Burning of the Talmage Tabernacle. The destruction by fire of the Tabernacle on Schermerhorn street, Brooklyn, yesterday morning, about the hour when the congrega- tion were preparing to go to worship, was an event which startled the City of Churches. About twenty minutes to ten the assistant sexton discovered a fire in one of the flues connected with the heating apparatus. The alarm appears to have been given as early as possible, and the Fire Department hastened to the spot. It was, however, too late to save the structure. Built exteriorly of a thin sheeting of corrugated iron, lined inside with wood, it was floored with wooden planking and piled with wooden pews and church fur- niture. Kept continually heated by the warm- ing apparatus the wood was dry as tinder. Where the flue passed through the flooring the fire burst out, and despite every effort the entire shell was soon in ashes. In a building of this kind it is almost impossible that any other re. haat ae eee Ria sia & siineieiee one en sult should follow the breaking out of firé. While deep regret must be felt that so popular a place of worship should be destroyed, it is a subject for gratitude to Providence that the fire did not occur an hour or an hour and a half later, when the large congregation would have been assembled. It is difficult to believe that a serious loss of life would not have re- sulted had the catastrophe been ninety min- utes delayed. In the construction of such places of worship this fatal facility for being burned out is something that should not exist. Poverty of means and the extreme desirability of affording to numbers the consolation of re- ligion ata low rate of expenditure may be an excuse, but it is not desirable that the worshippers should be continually liable during the Winter months to be burned at divine service or trampled to death in an attempt to escape on the alarm of fire being given. In our Winter months churches certainly must be heated. How to do this sufficiently in a wooden church and yet be safe from fire is a problem not likely ever to be satisfactorily solved. We are glad that the trustees have determined on erecting a brick edifice instead of the late corrugated innova- tion on ecclesiastical architecture. The action of the reverend gentlemen— Brothers Beecher, Duryea and Cuyler—in offering their respective churches for the use of Mr. Talmage and his church- less flock is highly commendable. Ser- vice was held last evering in Plymouth church by the burned-out pastor as a result of this hospitable offer. The loss will be consid- erable. The ‘big organ,’’ a relic of the first Boston Jubilee, was destroyed with the Paber- nacle. Guass Houses anv Stone Tarowrna.— While the model city of London is disordered by mutiny and strikes among the police, tho postmen, the civil service clerks and the gas- stokers, causing sertous inconvenience and general dismay among peaceful citizens, the Morning Post takes our republican institutions to task on the score of the abuses which marked our late Presidential election. It argues from the startling characteristics of the ' " . - me ores 6 of : n unesampled preponderance of numbers, declared their preference for Genoral Grant for the highest official position in the eountry, that universal suffrage and the vote by ballot would be a fearful curse for England. We know the workings of these institiations pretty well here, and though not anxious to prescribe them as an infallible cure for the irregularities’ of the British body politic, we are fully con- tent to continue their use and fail to discover that anarchy and insecurity over which tho London journal sheds such copious tears, - Christmas and Other Sermons. Considering the near approach of Christmas: and the supposed importance of the event which that dey commemorates there was leas uniformity of thought and topic in the pulpits yesterday than is usually the case on such oc- casions. But if the ministers and their adult congregations affect to ignore this season the children will not forget it, nor will they fail to reniind parents and ftiends of its approach and its arrival. The Roman Catholic and the Episcopal preachers call attention to this event annually in its season. Other clergymen give it little or no prominence. In the Cathedral yesterday the Rev. John M. Farrelly presented the condescension of God in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, as a motive for Christian humility and as 8 marked illustration of the abhorrence with which the Almighty looks upon pride. The folly of building hopes upon or being proud of transient and trivial possessions, the com- parative insignificance of man in creation—‘“‘a bubble upon the ocean of life,’’ the certainty and nearness of death, and other considerations of a like nature, were also presented by Father Farrelly as correlative reasons why men should endeavor to imitate the humble Saviour of the world, and thus work out the great end of their salvation, Father Bjerring told his con- gregation that by following the light which Jesus kindled upon earth, by striving with all earnestness after that virtue which He taught to men, only thus shall we find peace to our souls. But before peace there must be repentance, and the nature of this repentance—not the putting on of sackcloth and ashes, but the putting off of the deéds of the flesh and taking on a new heart and a right spirit—was explained by the Rey. Mr. Bjerring. A man must absolutely be born again of the Spirit, so that old things shall pass away and all things shall become new, ere he can hope to please God. This, said Mr. Bjerring, is the doctrine of the Chris- tian Church. Rev. Dr. Porter, of Brooklyn, had the birth of Christ also for his theme yesterday. The memories of Bethlehem, he said, are revived by the words of cheerful hope and the deeds of generous love which the Christian world fo-day perform. 01 mas is a very hard time for gramblers ae churls. To go through any day without a word of kindness or a smile of encouragement must be a trial to a full-grown, rightly developed man or woman; but to get through a week that was ringing with angel melodies, when the very air was redolent as with sweetness from the paradise of God, in narrow, cold, selfish exclusiveness, must be hard for any one wishing to be self- respectful or to participate in the joys of our common humanity. Rev. Dr. Bellows dwelt on this important theme also, and in his dis- course he contended that as Christ came when the world desired him He would have come sooner had He been longed for. This waiting and anticipation had been the moral education of the world for his coming. But had He come sooner His message would not have been heard at all; for evon when He did come the world was barely ready to receive Him, and He was recognized as the hope and the redeemer of the race by a very small but glorious minority. Christ is really born for us, the Doctor thought, in the beauty and sweetness of His love—in the power and plentitude of His truth—if we strive to copy His life and make ourselves the living temples of his holiness. «Jesus’ love’ isan appropriate subject for contemplation at any time, and especially so at a season like this. Hence Mr. Frothing- ham gave it some attention yesterday. But what is that love worth if Jesus was a Jewish dreamer, as intimated in the discourse? Of what avail is faith in Christ if He Himself asked for it only because He wasa leader? IfHe did not insist upon any belief in His divinity or infallibility, ond sought only sympathy, wherein lies the merit of his life oF death foF 8 siaitlrace? We think the Bible is read to little purpose If it 1s aot séen therein” that Christ never lost sight of His own divinity and of His infallibity also, and that He challenged His opponents to bring forward any man who had done such works as He had performed, and if they could not, then to give a good reason for their unbelief. His con- demnation of Pharisees “and murder- ers, kid-gloved or bare-handed, eighteen hundred years ago or now, has very little judicial weight if He was not God as wellas man. It is this fact that gives point and pertinence to His mortal career and has made Him an object of adoring faith in all ages, and which gives prominence to the fes- tival of Christmas, which we now celebrate. The vanity of worldly achievements which must appear in any thorough retrospect.of our lives and our moral obligations to God were presented by Mr. Hepworth. Three parties “know us better than we know ourselves—God, our children and the world—and it therefore behooves us to know ourselves. Hence the im- portance of retrospective examination, that the value of the soul may become more appa- rent and devotion to God more faithfal and earnest. Dr. Charles 8. Robinson dedicated a Presbyterian church yesterday and preached on the Gospel as a thing not to be ashamed of, Some ribald tongue has said evangelical preachers belong to the ‘‘come-peor-sinner- come”’ style of‘oratory. Is it best to be quite ashamed of the Gospel of Christ? ‘The churches should stand by the preachers in the simplicity of faith; and thus shall the Gospel go on, ‘still achieving, still pursuing,” until it shall have encompassed the world. There is nothing very noteworthy. in Mr. Beecher's pulpit utterances yesterday. His sympathy with Mr. Talmage in his loss was what might be expected. His sermon was de- signed to show the inability of morality to cre- ate Christian manhood. The true man is he who does right because it is easier to do that than to do wrong, and he whose character is only as high as society requires can never be noble. Mr. Beecher did not undervalue morality, lamas but he insisted that it is not enough 1G Ska mop to bicgms ou idbabitant of the