The New York Herald Newspaper, December 25, 1872, Page 4

4 BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, ; PROPRIETOR. r Rs ss AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. and Eighth (@y.—Rounp tax Croce. Matineo at 134. NIRLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and /Houston streets.—Leo axp Lotos. Math at Lg. \ UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Broadway, between ‘Thirteouth and Fourteenth strects.—Lonpow Assuaanon. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street.— ew Yuan's Eve. Matinee at 14. | WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteonth ‘street.—Broruxr Sax. Matinee at 1. THEATRE COMIQUE, 5I¢ Hrosdway.—Avaia: on, Livingstone 4nd 5taNcey. Matinee at { BOOTH'S THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth ‘@venue.—Henry Donnan, ( OLYMPIG THEATRE, Broadway, between fouston ‘and Bleecker sts.—Lxs Cent Vixncxs. Matinee at 2. ( BOWERY THEATRE, Bowe Mixane, tam Hurtan. Matine Taga Fisawire— { WooD's MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtloth st— \Bapxs ue tux Woop.’ Aiternoon and kvening. \ GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Third V.—Das Stirruncsrest. Mutinee at 2, STADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.—Orsra— punt tux DeviL. had BROOKLYN THEATRE.— MRS. F. B, CON’ )Baranas, &c. Matiné 4 BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Montague st.— Want Hxant Never Woy Farr Lapy, 4c. f BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner ‘6th av.—Negro Minstaxtsy, Eccentricity, &c. Matinee, i |. CANTERBURY VARIETY THEATRE, Broadway, be- }eween Bleecker and Houston, —Vauuery "EWrxuralnaent, ‘THENEUM, No. 585 Broadway.—Sruxnpip Vaniety jovELTi“s. Matinee at 2. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— )onano Vantuty Enruprainuznr, dc.” Matinee at RAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, corner 28th st. and roadway.—EtnioriaN Minstreisy, &¢, Matinee at 235. mh te ae me eh? STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth strect.—Oratonio FP THE Musstan. f ‘TERRACE GARDEN THEATRE, 58th st., between Lox- ston and 3d avs.—Macican RerResENTations. Matince. ) DR. KAHN'S MUSEUM, No. 745 Broadway.—Arr aNp Ecrmncy \_ NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— |EcieNcR AND ArT. WITH | New York, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 1872. es = PEE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. SUPPLEMENT. }Lo-Day’s Contents of the { Herald. CHRISTMAS! PAST, PRESENT AND TO COME”— LEADING EDITQ@RIAL THEME—FovrtTa PAGE. ANOTHER AWFUL RAILROAD CALAMITY! A TRAIN PLUNGES THROUGH A TRESTLE BRIDGE, BECOMES IGNITED AND IS CONSUMED, WITH THIRTY-FIVE PASSEN- GERS! NOT A SINGLE PERSON UNHURT! RECOVERING THE MANGLED REMAINS— Firta PAGE. jaARREsT AND CONVICTION FOR LIBEL OF THE . CITY EDITOR OF FORNEY’S PHILADEL- PHIA PRESS! THE PAPER ESCAPES SCOT- FREU: NOVEL POINTS—Firti Pace. EVERE WEATHER THROUGHOUT THE COUN- TRY! THE REPORTS AND PROBABILI- TIES--AMUSEMENTS—FirtH Pace. ERA OF CONFLAGRATIONS ! BURNING OF BARNUM’S MUSEUM, GRACE CHAPEL AND OTHER BUILDINGS ADJOINING | THE ANI- MALS ROASTED ALIVE! ANOTHER MIS- NAMED “FIREPROOF” STRUCTURE! A THRILLING SCENE OF DESTRUCTION! ONE MILLION DOLLARS’ LOSS—Turrp Pacs. BURNING OF THE CLAXTON BUILDING! FOUR WOMEN SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN CON- SUMED: GREAT EXCITHKMENT: LOSS, $400,000 — OTHER FIRES — TELEGRAPHIC NEWS—TuixD Pace. ruRISTMASTIDE! THE JOYOUS TIMES OF THE MERRY ROYSTERERS IN “THE GOOD OLD DAYS” AND IN THESE MODERN TIMES: OBSERVANCES IN CHURCH, AT HOME AND IN THE THEATRES AND THE INSTITUTIONS: THE WORK OF THE JOLLY \ OLD CHRISTMAS KING—NintH Page. )AMERICAN JOURNALISM! MR. FREDERIC HUD- ’ SON'S REVIEW OF THE PRESS OF THE UNITED STATES FOR EIGHTY-TWO YEARS: ITS BIRTH, GROWTH AND TRANSITIONS: HERALD NEWSGATHERING—SixTu Pace. ECRETARY BOUTWELL AND JAY COOKE RE- 1 VEALING THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE SYNDICATE! HOW UNCLE SAM HAD TO “PAY THE PIPER” TO THE TUNE OF ELEVEN PER CENT: TESTIMONY BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE—LicuTa Page. NOE STRANDED STEAMSHIP GERMANY! AN ALLAN LINE STEAMSHIP, NOT A LIVER- POOL PACKET: CONFIRMATORY TELE- GRAM FROM THE OWNERS—Firru Page, ‘EUROPEAN NEWS BY CABLE—EDWARD 0, AN- DERSON’S TAKING OFF—FirTi Pace, SOCIAL GLORIES OF THE NATION'S CAPITAL! THE PROVIDERS AND PURVEYERS OF THE TEMPTING FEASTS IN PROSPECT—A BROKER KILLED—FATAL AFFRAY—SixtTH PAGE. WALL STREET SITUATION! BUSINESS AND QUOTATIONS: GOLDEN PROSPECTS FOR GOVERNMENT BUND OWNERS: THE “HOLIDAY RISE” IN PRICES—SECOND bos QUE Pack QOURT PROCEEDINGS! THE STOKES TRIAL CONTINU! QUASHING TAMMANY RING INDICTMENTS—QUARREL BETWEEN D00- VORS—FATAL RUNAWAY ACCIDENT— E1curTu Pace. ENERAL BUTLER’S CREDIT MOBILIER CARD— MR. HENDERSON'S CUBAN STATEMENTS ENDORSED—THE INDIAN WAR—REAL ESTATE—SECOND PAGE. A Tricutrvn Rarnoap Catastnopne hap- pened yesterday afternoon to the mail train going North on the Buffalo, Corry and Pitts- burg Railroad. Nineteen lives are already known to have been lost, and at least thirty- five persons are badly wounded. The train was slowed down in approaching Prospect sta- Rion. In crossing a trestle bridge, within Righty rods of the latter place, a broken rail Whrew the cars off the track. They crashed Bhrough the woodwork and were precipitated nearly thirty fect. The engine, strange to say, safely over the bridge. The cars'when fallen and overturned took fire, adding the rtures of flame to those caused the unfortu- ge inmates by the shock and the fall. Tax Srconp Day's Examrnation at THE Broxes Tatar, which took place yesterday, was without any novelty, ‘The witnesses were all lor the prosecution, and all appeared on the st trial, The public interest in the case Jeoms to be reserved for the line of defence. , NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBEK 25, 1872—WITH SUPPLEMENT. ‘NEW YORK HERALD ] Christmas—Past, Present and to Come. Kris Kringle is the Jupiter of juveniles. He dwells in an inaccessible Olympus and spends his jolly eternity in the invention of toys and the preparation of gift books. He is more trustworthy than the fairy godmother and less capricious than the fantastic-mooded sprites that haunt the lonely glen. Ho is the authentic patron and abettor of all the favor- ite characters of youthful fiction. He it was who gave Fortunatus his cap and Jack the Giant Killer his seven-league boots; who pro- vided Cinderella with slippers of glass and foiled the relentlessness of Bluebeard. To him we ascribe the realization of all the fic- tions which enchanted us in the nursery and charmed us long after we had left it. Bopeep’s sheop and the wolf that ate Red Riding Hood were not less actual to us than Kris Kringle’s roindeer, and when we wept over the children in the wood we wore glad to think that no leaf with which the birds sought to cover them could have come from a Christmastree. King Cole and he are brothers, Kris Kringle wrote the “Arabian Nights.’ He is the genuine author of “Robinson Crusoe.” None but he could have given birth to “Sandford and Mer- ton.” “The Children of the Abbey’ came from his prolific pen, and there is even @ suspicion that the ‘Moral Tales” of Maria Edgeworth emanated, from the same quarter. There is a Kris Krin- glo streak in Peter Parley and Mrs. Barbould. Many years ago he wrote those ‘Songs for Infant Minds,” which -popular tradition has ignorantly ascribed to Dr. Watts. The amus- ing author of ‘‘How to Be a Man,” ‘How to | Be a Woman," ‘How -to Feel,’’ ‘How to Think’’ and other harmless, self-educational treatises, is only Kris Kringlein disguise. This children’s god invented the velocipede and educed from it the bicycle through processes of evolution which Darwin himself might admire. To him humanity is indebted for the jewsharp, the child's dram and the penny whistle. Tho Fourth of July is merely Christ- pasta basae Sa of ‘dot up"? which the old man is obliged to give himself in order to preserve his festive balance. He devised the shooting cracker and the “snake,” and other blessings to civilization. In the Fourth of July orator wo discern Kris Kringle be- neath the motley livery of politics. Thanks- giving Day is but a preliminary snack with which this great gourmand of merriment whets his anniversary appetite. And when tho twelvemonth has rolled past, and time has cast the cuticle of the year as a serpentits skin and the golden stars glow with yellower fire against the frosty blackness in which they are set, our children sit on Christmas Eve, with finger on lip and listening head, straining after the crack of his whip and the jingle of his bells, as his bounding reindeer paw the crisp and snow-flaked air. Let us take another view of the subject. We are told that we cannot serve God and Mammon; that we cannot make secularism and sanctity coincide. Surely the history of the world does not offer more picturesque and epigrammatic refutation of this doctrine than is to be found in the celebrations during Christmas tide. Upon a religious basis, broader and firmer than mankind had previously known, we build a prodigious: edifice of mirth and laughter. Christ was born in a manger, and so we kill and eat the stalled ox that fed beside Him. The illuminated Christmas tree calls up no image of the radiant altar, and the Cross and Passion are forgotten beneath mis- tletoe boughs and the holly's crimson berry. Charades and forfeits are superimposed upon the agony and bloody sweat, and, while we merrily feast among friends, we forget the fast in the wilderness. The very occasion of the day is ignored in that day's festivities. Centuries ago pleasure began to break the reli- gious shell in which Christmas encased it. People had more sympathy with carols than with masses, and prayers dwindled, by a de- scending spiral, into dramatic mysteries and moralities. The songs of the Judean shep- herds became transfigured into carols, sang from door to door by minstrels who had often taken more than was good for them, and reli- gious realism demanded an objeétive represen- tation of the Virgin and St. Joseph, the Christ- child and the cradle, amid a pro- cession of bulls’ heads, cherubs and east- ern magi. Later, the midnight worshippers in France and England required a handsome collation, named a réveilion, to sustain them under the pious burden of the masses said at dead midnight. This concession probably opened the way for the Feasts of Fools and Asses, which, in some form or other, spread all over Europe, lasted for some centuries, and would have reached this country had they not been sanctimoniously repressed by the Puri- tans. The history of Christmas seems to be the history of the effort made by humanity to shake off pain and sorrow, and make actual, if only for a few hours or days, that happiness which is the ideal of us all. Butcertainly the antithesis between the primitiye significance of the day and the secondary character it hag acquired will strike all who reflect upon it. Looking back for one hundred years, what means this holocaust of capons, hens, turkeys, geese, ducks, beef, mutton, pork, pies, pud- dings, nuts, plums and sweetmeats ; what sig- nify the music and dancing, the conjuring and the riddles, the forfeits and laughter and repartee ; what portend the hot cockles and foot-plough, the snap-dragon and wassail- bowl, the yule logand the soused boar’s head, the evergreen and the mistletoe, but that in simpleanimal enjoyment mankind is striving to forget the sinand misery which wove for Christ the crown of thorns? We hide that crown from sight beneath a nosegay from tho hothouse, and are willing to forget the “It is finished’ with the grace that is said over our roast beef and plum pudding. Some thoughts are due to the Christmas of the Future, for we may feel pretty ‘certain that in time our frosty-bearded friend will pass away and silently take his place among the well-used and exhausted institutions of man- kind. With the change that comes over the popular religion the aspect of Kris Kringle will change too. Possibly another generation shall sce him arrive at the lean and slippered pantaloon, The only pantaloon he now con- sorts with is that which accompanies harle- quin, But allthis is subject to transfigura- tion. If it be true that in Auguste Comte is to be found the religion of advancing centu- ries we must prepare to bid a gradual goodby to turkey and mince pie as distinctively em- blematic of the Christmas season. Positive philosophy will lav our tablecloths and cold abstraction order our bills of fare. The Re- ligion of Humanity—which in our present cal- low stage seems so much like that of Inhu- manity—will wean us from tho selfishness of inordinate appetites and sensual yearnings. Our only refuge is to hope that we shall be as inconsistent then as we now are; that snimal- ism will prove too much for us, and thet in obedience to its dictates we shall continue to make a holiday out of what was originally a holy day. A year without Christmas is like ® cage without a canary and a canary without @ song. It is good that our immured civilization should oceasionally hop and sing. Weare afraid to think what the condition of the world will be when the bells of Trinity no longer give forth their Christmas chimes and puta multitudinous tongue into the mouth of moribund December—when the Post Office is finished and the East River Bridge is built, and the underground railroad completed, and the earth is riddled with pneumatic tunnels, and Tennyson's navies grapple in the central blue, and not @ drop of oil is needed to Christendom's smooth, ubiquitous machinery. The astronomer who watches worlds grow into being and other worlds. expire may be par- doned for anticipating the hour when this revolving atom upon which the human tragedy enacts itself shall perform its last gyration and then drop forever, unregarded, out of sight. But the average man does not look, and does not care to look, through a physical or mental telescope. He believes in the pe- rennity of Christmas, and we have not the slightest desiro to rob him of so pleasant a solace, Tradition avers that during « hurri- cane in Raleigh, England, an old church was engulfed by an immense mound of débris ; but during every Christmas-tide the villager who troads the desolated spot hears, with reverent fear, the church bells ringing fathoms beneath him, faint as the horns of elf-land and plain- tive as an infant's wail. This is the kind of music Christmas makes in the popular heart. Bury it as we will beneath mounds of practi- cality and ghrowdness, you ago sure. to hear the belis ring if you listen for them. And-so we welcome Christmas, confident that it will be celebrated with all the old fervor wherever the English language is spoken and the New Yore The Syndicate Job. The Committee of Ways and Means have had Mr. Boutwell fairly before them in an exhaustive investigation of his operations in placing one hundred and thirty million dol- lars of the new loan in connection with the famous Syndicate. * The general features of the story have been already developed and are pretty well known to the public, but de- rive now interest from their fresh and detailed narration by the Secretary of the Treasury, under the pressure of the committee's inquisi- tion as given elsewhere in our columns. Mr. Boutwell adheres to his assertion that he could not avoid the payment of eleven per cent interest on the one hundred and thirty million dollars during the three months that this amount of the debt was undergoing tran- sition from six per cent into five per cent bonds. The new bonds, he testifies, were paid for with certificates of deposit which bore no interest, but were secured by pledge of six per cent and other bonds pending the expira- tion of the ninety days allowed for the return of the bonds called in for refunding. Here lies the kernel of this very big financial nut, which the Syndicate cracked to their reat profit, Mr. Boutwell protests his inability to have done otherwise than as he did. But why, we will ask, did he not hold the new five per cents themselves as collateral for the subscriptions to the new loan? The pro- cess would have been much simpler and cer- tainly more secure, for, as the Secretary says in his testimony, he was at one time greatly apprehensive as to who should bear the loss should there have been any hitch in the Syndi- cate operation, which by sheer good luck there was not, By holding the new bonds and de- ducting the interest on them until the sub- scribers redeemed their certificates of deposit with coin or with the called six per cents, the Secretary Of the Treasury would have nego- tiated the one hundred and thirty million dol- lars without the loss of the one and one-quar- ter per cent interest thereupon that went to the Syndicate. It is useless to plead that this one and one-quarter per cent was a necessary outlay. Had this commission or allowance been given as an inducement to the sub- scribers to the new loan the plea would have some weight. But every cent of it went to the Syndicate. The subscribers paid the full rate for the bonds, justasif they had dealt directly with the government. The question suggests itself, then, Why can not the remainder of the loan be negotiated without the intervention of the Syndicate and without the repetition of the jobbery of last year? Taat Coup ArmosrHentc Tian Wave— Tux Henarv’s Prepicrion Funriiiep.—On the 20th instant, in an editorial on the sub- joct, we gavé notice of the approach of a creat wave of freezing Arctic air from the North- west—that this wave had passed the Rocky Mountains and was spreading itself over our Northwestern States this side and along the great lakes, and that it would descend upon the Atlantic coast in intensely rigorous and frosty weather for two or three days. And since Sunday morning last from the Northern Mississippi eastward to the seaboard this cold atmospheric wave from the snows of the Rocky Mountains has given us a wintry touch of Dakota. Our editorial prediction was spe- cific and minute, giving in detail the move- ments and the causes of this current of Arctic air, and the fulfilment is as complete as that of a scientifically predicted eclipse of the sun orthe moon. Such are the advances made by men of science, with the assistance of the electric telegraph in discovering the laws of the fluctuations of heat and cold and winds and storms. Tue Inisn-Anperson Triat, which has oc- cupied the attention of the public for some time, was practically concluded yesterday. At half-past two o'clock the jury had heard the summing up of the District Attorney and the charge of the learned Judge, and retired to consider their verdict. Up to the hour of our going to press the result of their deliberation was unannounced. Stxty Locomotives Frozen Ur in Indiana will attest the severity in that quarter of this tidal wave of freezing air from the Arctic re- gions, the approach of which we announced five days ago. ‘| Fires in New York and Milsewhere— ‘The Corrugated Iron-Coated Tinder Boxes. The number of fires all over the country thing cyclonic in the era of conflagrations. The fire yesterday evening in Contre street, which it is yet feared has caused a sacrifice of life, is oply one of aseries which have occurred in the city within the past twenty-four hours. Barnum’s museum, menagerie and circus on Fourteenth street, which succeeded yesterday morning not only in burning itself but the buildings on either side of it, is the very latest example of the criminal folly of permitting the erection of corrugated iron structures in cities like New York or Brooklyn. After the Bos- ton fire Mansard roofs wore anathema, be- cause they were generally wooden tinder boxes perched invitingly six stories high. The cor- rugated iron shells are, when touched with a spark, simply blast furnaces for self-destruction and the burning of buildings in their vicinity. On Sunday morning it was appropriately a church that was consumed ; yesterday morning it was @ circus ; four months ago it was a slaughter house. Tho association of ideas may not be pleasant, but extremes will meet in such cases. Now, whether church, circus or slaughter- pen, the argument against this class of build- ings, which has no advantage that the publie is bound to respect, is the same. Human lives are more valuable than property, whether in pew rents, cirous seat, sales or executions of beasts for food at so much a head. Alimenta- tion for the spirit, the emotions or the body can, we are inclined to believe, be furnished without taking such large risks in favor of a General conflagration. This age is rightly called one of luxury and sumptuousness, One of its most crying evils is that this penchant for the magnificent leads many weak heads to the arcana of cheap imitations. Itmay be imitation emeralds in a lady’s jewelry or imitation diamonds in a politician’s shirt-front. The budding dandy may not think it proper to wait for a real gold chain, so he hastens to adorn his vest with an imitation. The elo- quent divine and the enterprising circus man cannot wait a season to erect ibstantial pry oy eg age rugated iron lest the public should lose a sermon ora show. Oustom, with its slavish- ness, rather applauds this bad taste, as fashion makes outrageous lines and substances in Indies’ dresses and tresses tolerable. Only when it impinges on the public safety can this passion for cheap imitation be met. It would, perhaps, be unparalleled to ask a clergyman or a showman to gauge the precise letgth of time which the public might wait without detriment for a dedication sermon or @ grand opening. The only limitation to be made in either case may be based upon the idea that it would be better to wait till Doomsday than drink in either the service or the performance in wooden fire cages built in the heart of a crowded city, with red hot fur- naces under the flooring. Better trudge to a pair of canvas tents in the wilds of Harlem, where the peroration or the lofty tumbling might securely work their way into our souls or sensations, than battle with either in New York, within a corrugated trap. If the evil was ended with the destruction of Mr. Tal- mage’s Tabernacle and Mr. Barnum’s circus we might have some conplation. Such, how- ever is not the case. The Rey. Mr. Hepworth. who, since his departure from the stone church of the Messiah, has been ministerisg Congregationalist consolation at Steinway Hall, is now hastening the construction of a cor- rugated church near the Union depot at Forty- second street. This is not b&ng done with a view to ultimately burning down Vanderbilt's depot, as might at first be supposed, but simply to have as quickly and cheaply as pos- sible a church of his own to preach in. Wo would respectfully call back Mr. Hepworth from an ecstatic valuation of the good his ser- mons will achieve in the souls of uptown sin- ners and ask him to minister yet a little longer in some substantial edifice anywhere while a new, if more costly, design is being put into brick or stone. As for the showman, we have little hope that a simple appeal would prevent him from preparing ‘with indomitable energy” to be burned out a fourth time— lions, yaks, giraffes and all, If the appeal is useless in both cases we must sternly turn to whatever law can do to call them’ to them- selves. Here, unfortunately, thé outlook is not very encouraging, either. In tho Hznatp of Sunday last an article appeared entitled ‘Blunders in Buildings.” It consisted of a series of interviews with persons whose responsibility and expe- rience in the matter of pronouncing upon what is safe or unsafe in buildings. The first of those persons was Mr, Macgregor, Superintendent of Buildings, whose duty it is to pass tipon the manner of construction or materials used in the erection, alteration or repair of any building in the city of New York. It was a melancholy interview, On the subject of corrugated iron buildings— that is, wooden structures, papered, as it were, with iron—he confessed that he dis- approved them. In defence of his allow- ing such buildings to go up in New York, he could only say:—“Yes; but those are considered by the insurance men to be perfectly safe, And what a terrible opposi- tion I should meet with if I should suddenly begin to fight the architects and owners of these structures!’ This is melancholy, if, indeed, the shattered feclings resulting from this ‘‘terrible opposition’ are the only injuries he would sustain by doing bis duty. The opinion of Mr. Kingsland, Surveyor of the Underwriters’ Association, was much more pronounced on the matter. Mr. Mac- gregor did not allude to the difference in rates at which these buildings were in- sured, and we know very well that fire insurance companies will take risks on almost anything in the shape of a building, if the owners only pay the neces- sary premium. The first part of Mr. Macgre- gor’s defence, therefore, counts for nothing. On the buildings of the objectionable kind in the city Mr. Kingsland said; — “I know only two or three, There is Hepworth's new church at the corner of Forty-fifth street and Lexington avenue, which is partly of brick, partly of wood and eer of fron. The interior of the front wall is built of brick, while the other walls are framed with wooden timbers, All the walls are finished with plates of corrugated tron, both on the outside and inside, The building 42 Centre street, however, is only sheeted with iron on the exterior, the timbers of the frame being bare in- side. This style of architecture is being used to the greatest extent in the erection of churches, In Brooklyn Dr. Scudder's ‘iron temple,’ as it is called. 43 a exeugple, gd also Taluage's Taboroa- cle. The former is nothing more tian @ frame covered with sheets “in eR @ fre, witat chance 60 you think = for these structures to withstand ve Phi Utde ehance, indeed, The heat would pe: Present usurping the to the wood, and the walls would go, there wuss fre oa the opnpeaee side of a street to that upon which one of ti buildings stood, tne ames, when became te Would heat the de; intenge, ) aaa hey rere, red, and then the wood would “Do you remember instance i which a —_ of this character been comsumed by “Ido, There was one not more than fowr months rr house large at the corner of First ue and -ffth street. It went like @ kindling wood withtin. The plates of th wale aot Sta aie rs betas ety just wat I expect those big ci io 2 “4 of Hep g0.!” Tt was, of course, little to be imagined that by the time these: utterances reached Brook- lyn’s breakfast tables en Sunday morning such 6 terribly prompt realization of this gentleman's well-founded fears would be fur- nished in the burning of one of the buildings named—the Talmage Tabernacle. In his wildest dreams he could not have foretold the Barnum fire, which oecurred under exactly similar circumstances. Now that the opinion is so emphatically justified, we demand that the subject be thoroughly examined, and a stop put to the erection of auch firetraps, whether for the saving of souls, exhibition of tumbling, or slaughtering of brates, The Loetsiana Usurpation—The Two Boards of State Canvassers. The people of Louisiana, through their com- mittee at Washington, have shown that the removal of the Secretary of State, Herron, and the appointment of Colonel Wharton was the commencement of the troubles which led to the overthrow of the State government. They assert that while Herron was removed on charges previously preferred against him the action of Governor Warmoth at that particu- lar moment was induced by the discovery that Herron and Lynch, the two officers remaining in tho Board of Canvassers with the Governor and then forming the majority, had entered into @ conspiracy to override the returns of the election officers, and, by rejecting c-rtain fusion districts on the pretence of irregulari- ties, to declare the republican candidate for Governor and a majority of republican Sena- tors and tatives elected, This state- Tent receives corroboration from many cir- cumstances, All the republican papers for some time conceded the election of the fusion candidates for State officers in Louisiana and of a majority of fusionists in the Legislature. The republican organ in this city, in a New Orleans despatch as late as November 17, gave the following as the result: — New ORLEANS, Nov. 17, 1872. The total vote of the parish of Orieans for Presi- dent gives Grant 13,296; Greeley, 22,686. Greeley’s net majority in the State, as far as heard irom, is 6,707, including returns, mostly official, from all but two parishes. Beauregard is elected Administrator of Improvements. Suddenly a change came. over the returns. All manner of frauds were said to have been committed by the fusionists, although the election had passed over without the slightest disturbance or a single arrest, notwithstand- ing the presence of a large and vigilant force of United States Deputy Marshals and Super- visors. Mysterious hints of a republican ma- jority began to be thrown out, The Secretary of State was found to have procured a dupli- cate of the State seal—a precaution that would hardly have been taken had he not been engaged in some act hostile to the State, the discovery of which he feared might de- prive him of his official position. There was every reason, therefore, to suspect that Her- ron and Lynch were engaged in such a con- spiracy as was charged upon them, and their subsequent action confirmed the suspicion. Even if Herron had been illegally removed by Governor Warmoth he had no right to continue to act as Secretary of State until the State Courts had restored him to his official duties. He was himself holding under the same authority with Secretary Wharton. Bovee had been removed about a year pre- viously by Governor Warmoth, and Herron had'been appointed in his place. Bovee did not attempt to act as Secretary of State after his removal, but appealed to the Courts, and the suit to oust Herron- and reinstate Bovee was pending at the time of Herron’s removal by the Governor. Herron had no right what- ever to act as a member of the Board of Canvassers after his removal, and his meeting with Lynch and their appointment of Long- street and Hawkins had not a shadow of au- thority.. On the other hand, even if Herron had been in a position to act le- gally as Secretary of State after his re- moval, it would still have been incompetent for the two members of the Board of Canvass- ers, Messrs. Herron and Lynch, to have met and filled vacancies without the presence of Governor Warmoth. They were not o quorum of the board and could not take any official action; consequently Messrs. Longstreet and Hawkins had no more right on the Canvassing Board than had Judge Durell and Marshal Packard. eee sa ha Re aa The first step in Judge Duroll's usurpation was the recognition of this bogus Board of State Canvassers, who stood pledgad to count the republicans into office, and the enjoining of the Governor and his associates on the reg- ular board. The legal position of the regular Canvassing Board is shown in the following official account of the proceedings on Novem- ber 13, from the New Orleans papers of that date: — When the Board met to-day Governor Warmoth, Acting Secretary of State Herron and Senator Joun Lynch being present, the Governor, after the read- ing of the minutes, presented the certificate of Auditor Graham to the effect that Secretary of State Herron being a defaulter he had been com- Hed by the constitution and the laws to suspend im from the exercise of his 1unctions on charges which would be enumerated to the Senate. Accor- ony, Secretary of State Herron was requested to withdraw from the Board, which he did, The Goy- ernor next presented the commission and the evi- dence of his qualification for the office of Colonel J. Wharton, as the successor of General Herron. Colonel Wharton was in the ante-room, and on being sent for promptly appeared and took his seat in the Board, Gevernor Warmoth then proposed the name of F. H. Hatch as a substitute for Lieutenant Gover- nor Pinchback, which was adopted by the votes of Governor Warmoth and Secretary of State Whar- ton, Senator Lynch voting “No.” It was further moved that Durant Daponte be elected in place of Senator Thomas Anderson. These nominations were adopted A the Board, whereupon Senator Lynch retired. The Board Lg thus completed aceording to law, will proceed to its duties, Judge Durell enjoined this Board, thus reg- ularly organized in presence of Lynch, be- cause he knew that the returns in the posses- sion of the Governor showing the result of the election gave the State to the fusionists, and he recognized and confirmed the Board created subsequently by - Lynch and the removed Secretary of State because he knew that they were pledged to count in Kellogg and Antoine and to give the Leg- islature to tho republicans, Yet we ara ‘told that Judgo Durell’a action slight | was not that of a partisan. The fron plates : rs government beyond appeal, and the sooner they acquiesce in the decision of the authori- ties.at Washington the better. Dramatic Silk and Serge. The reader for whom feminine costume be- hind the footlights has attraction will remem. ber that some days ago a report reached this city from Paris to the effect that some of the more prominent actresses of the French capi- tal had revolted and refused to dress with the extravagance which, under the Empire, had be- come 8 necessity. They boldly proclaimed their rights to pinehbeck and tinsel and flouted the imperial conventionality which demanded of them real Honiton and genuine brilliante. It is easy to imagine the consternation that society and the managers would experience should our leading actresses, foremost as they are in adopting their fashions from Paris, take it into their heads to imitate this reform. When the knowing but sympathetic observer has seen his favorite leading lady appear in five different dresses in five consecutive acts, how has his bosom bled with the conviction that each costume was more than sufficient to devour the week's salary of the wearer! Is it possible that the opportunity for exercising this commiseration is no longer to exist? What if Clara Morris should set her face against gros grain and moiré antique and Fanny Davenport ignore crdpe de chéne and Chambery gauze? Suppose Agnes Ethel should bid farewell to point d’Alengon and Duchesse and Plessy Mordaunt abjure Mechlin pad Valenciennes? Imagine ‘Effie Germon writing a note to Mr. Wallack informing him that after January 1 no gos, tumes with trains need be expected of her, and that dresses made & la Pompadour were not within the terms of her contract! Fancy Aimée asserting paste diamonds and cotton velvet as her glorious prerogative, and con- ceive Mrs, John Wood radiant and triumphant in paper muslin! These are spectacles from which the horrified eye diverts itself as from a sacrilege too impious to gaze upon; and surely the picture we have sketched is one of them. There are fools who fancy, because the three unities of time, place and action were once popular, that we. ought to create another unity—that of dress. Such idiots insist that a Seebach in serge is infinitely bet- ter than Mlle. Sonatine in satin, and that stage toilets of imperial splendor ought to be expected only of actresses who ‘boss their own dry goods.’’ Tae Massacuuserts SenatorsHir,—A great struggle is going on for the seat in the United States Senate made vacant by the election of Mr. Henry Wilson to the Vice Presidency. Dawes is pecking at it and Boutwell longs for it. The former had the inside track, but the Crédit Mobilier disclosures have seriously damaged his chances of success. The people do not relish the flavor of the Oakes Ames dish, and they do not wish that their next rep- resentative in the United States Senate shal? be suspected of having had his spoon in it. Mr. Dawes is understood to have vowed a vow that if he is defeted Secretary Boutwell shall not be his successful competitor. Under these circumstances Dr. Loring appears on the scene asa candidate; but unfortunately the Doctor eat his soup ata dinner in honor of Brooks for the Sumner caning a few years ago, and it now rises to plague him, After all, we venture a guess that if Secretary Boutwell really desires the prize he will succeed in car- rying it off. In Our Crrx Cxurcues and in those of Brooklyn to-day, especially in the Protestant Episcopal and the Catholic churches, the celee bration of the birth of the Saviour of mankind will be unusually imposing and impressive. NAL INTELLIGENCE, General Sherman ts still at the Astor House, Judge J. 11. Bell, of Texas, 1s staying at the New York Hotel. Judge James P. Ord, of California, is at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Mr. S. N. Dodge has been chosen President of the new Boston Press Club. Murat Halstead, of the Cincinnatl Commercial, wants to be the next Governor of Ohio, Sir Michael Costa yisited Bologna, Munich ang Berlin on his way to England from Napies. Congressman Oakes Ames left the Fifth Avenue Hotel last evening for his home in Massachusetts, Right Rev. Bishop P. T. O'Reilly has ariived at his home in Springfleld, Mass., from a European tour. Lord Spencer, in his capacity of Lord Lieutenant. of Ireland, has formally ciosed the Dublin Exhi- bition. - Lord Lisgar, late Governor General of Canada, has left Dublin for his residence, Bailleborough Castle, Cavan, Vice President elect Henry Wilson left the Astor House last evening to eat his Christmas dinner im the Bay State. E. H. Kollins, of New Hampshire, ex-Commis- sioner of Internal Revenue, arrived at the Fifth Avenue Hotel yesterday, but after a short stay left. for home. 7 Mrs. Mary Snyder resides in Leedsville, Pa. There is nothing very remarkable about this lady beyond the fact that she is 103 years old. \ Archbishop Bayley, of Baltimore, is too ill to re- ceive visitors. His complaint is Bright’s disease of | the kidneys, from which no person was ever knows ; to recover. President Grant was detained at Mimin, Pa., by ‘ snow andice yesterday morning. He telegraphed . to Washington that he would probably arrive there . late last night, t In Naples the other day Captain Gordon, an ; English officer, fired a revolver at a young lady on the promenade of the Chiaia and then shot him- self. Both died immediately. i Governor Hoffman will not remain in Albany ' until the inauguration of General Dix. He wilt ° come to the city with his family on the 3ist inat., and reside for @ time at the Clarendon Hotel. A European tour of several years’ duration is pro- jected by the Governor for himself and famity, and it will probably begin in January. Senator Corbet was a heavy loser by the fire at Portland, Oregon, on Monday, &s in addition to the block of brick stores bearing his name he was tho owner of the Oregonian newspaper, the materiale of which were damaged by removal. Attorney General Williams was the owner of @ house whinty, was burned to the grouyds