The New York Herald Newspaper, February 16, 1873, Page 8

8 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. Velume XXXVIII AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING, WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth @ireet—Davin Garuice, BOOTS’S THEATRE, Twenty-third street, corner Sixth avenue.—Ticker Or Leave MAN. THEATRE COMIQDE, No. 514 Brondway.—Sramianps; on, Tax Lone Stax or Cuna. _ BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Pantomime or Witt © tax Wisr. is GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourtecath street, near Third v,—PERNANDE. 2 GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. and Eighth av.—Cataracr oF THE GANGES. NEW FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 728 and 730 Broad- way.—Auixe. "§ MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st.— Guineas New You 1x 1843 Afternoon and Evening. ATHENEUM, No. £85 Broadway.—Guanp Vanrery En- TERTAINMENT. ‘NIB! Houstor "S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and strects.—Lxo axp Lotos. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston and Bleecker strects.—Humrry Dumrry. STADT THBATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.—Der Bau go Errersnuns. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Union square, between ‘Broadway and Fourth av.—Onx Hunprep Yeas OLp. MRS. F. B. CONWAY’S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Diana; on, Love's Masque. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st.. corner Sth av.—Nxcro Minsteeisy, Eccentricity, &c. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Vaniery Extentarnuent. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, corner 28th et. and Broadway.—Erusoriay Minstreisy, &c. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— Ecrence axp Art. QUADRUPLE SHEET. New York, Sunday, Feb. 16, 1873. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. To-Day’s Contents Herald. of the “THE RELIGIOUS PULICY OF THE HERALD! WHY WE PRINT THE SERMONS OF TIE CLERGYMEN! A CONTRIBUTION TO CHRIS- TIAN’ UNITY "—EDITORIAL LEADER— Eiourn Pace. BURNING OF A GULF STEAMER! TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS! TWENTY-ONE LIVES SAC- RIFICED—NInTH PacE. EUROPEAN NEWS BY CABLE—A TROUBLED STATE OF AFFAIRS IN MEXICO-LATE TELEGRAMS—NINTU Pace. SENATORS POISONED! A MOVING RECORD OF DEPARTED HONOR! THE VIRUS OF COR- RUPTION PERMEATING THE UPPER BODY! THAT $10,000 GIFT BY DURANT! SECRET CAMPAIGN HISTORY—Firra PacRr. PROGRESS OF THE SPANISH REPUBLIC! THE CUBAN POLICY! THE ARMY FAVOR A MONARCHY! CARLIST ACTIVITY! MADRID CELEBRATES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC—Ninta Pace. ENCESTUOUS ESSEX! LATEST FACTS OF THE SHAMEFUL STORY! THE LECHEROUS MONSTER APPEALS TO HIS WIFE FOR MERCY—NEWS FROM PERU AND JA- MAICA—FirTH Pace. SPECIAL NEWS FROM WASHINGTON! AN IN- SURANCE LOBBY AFTER THE GENEVAN AWARD! BUTLER PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN! FORECASTING THE MOBILIER SKY—Firra Page. SANGUINARY STATISTICS! ONE HUNDRED HUMAN BF) S SLAUGHTERED, AND BUT FIVE RED-HANDED FIENDS EXECUTED! THE “BLOODY SIXTH!” IMAGINABLE AND UNIMAGINABLE INSTRUMENTS OF DEATH! IS MURDER PUNISHABLE ?—SrxTH PaGE. MODOC CONTEMPT FOR UNCLE SAM’S SOL- DIERS! ANOTHER RECITAL OF THE FIGHTING AMONG THE VOLCANIC ROCKS— Seventn Page. WILLIAM H. SEWARD AND THE ADAMS-COLT HORROR — MARITIME = INTELLIGENCE— TWELFTH PaGs. “STAYING” JHE HAND OF JUSTICE! JUDGE DAVIS GIVES STOKES ANOTHER CHANCE! AN INTERVIEW WITH THE PRISONER— Sixrn Paces. A LIVELY CLOSE OF THE WEEK IN THE WALL STREET EXCHANGES! FEATURES OF THE BUSINESS DONE—ELEVENTH Pace. GLEANINGS FROM THE RELIGIOUS PIELD! THE SERVICES AT THE VARIOUS SANCTUA- RIES! CONTROVERSIAL AND CLERICAL SHEAVES—TurnreenTH Pace. “DAVE” MOORE, THE IRISHTOWN WIFE- BUTCHER, CONVICTED OF MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE—SixTu Pacs. THE UNION OF NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN! VIEWS OF PROMINENT BROOKLYNITES FOR AND AGAINST THE PROJECT! FILL- ING UP THE EAST RIVER BELOW THE NAVY YARD—Teytn Pace. REAL ESTATE OPERATIONS! WEST-SIDE STREET NAMES! THE BROADWAY WIDEN- ING—BUSINESS IN THE COURTS—THE HORSE TRAINERS AND DRIVERS’ ASsO- CIATION—TENTH PAGE. INTERESTING PROCEEDINGS IN THE FEDERAL CONGRESS! THE GENEVA SPOILS! A PASSAGE AT ARMS IN THE HOUSE—FINE ARTS—THE NATIONAL GUARD—SrventH Paar. POSTHUMOUS HONORS TO MAYOR KALB- FLEISCH’S MEMORY—RORBERY AND AR- SON IN BROOKLY SPOTTED FEVER IN JERSEY—EvEVENTH Page. ° = Toe Ween ww Wart et wound up with gold at 114§, the highest quotation since last Summer, the immediate consequence of con- tinued heavy importations of foreign goods. A bad bank statement, revealing a consider- able impairment of the required reserves of the banks, had a depressing influence on spec- ulation at the close. Tne Stxrn Precinct Munper, Museum and ite heaped up story of horrors receives a timely notice in another part of the Hzratp. These collections of the implements of crime are, generally speaking, food for thought only to the detective and patrolman, and an object of proper pride to the captain in whose station house they may be stored. But at proper intervals they deserve a wider fame, and just dow some useful lesson from them is wanting. Tae Day Goons Frvm keeps mging, and &s becoming more intense among the American people. We noticed some time ago the extra- ordinary importations for the Spring trade, and supposed that they would soon fall off, But it appears now dry goods are pouring into ‘the port and market at the rate of five millions of dollars a week. It seems that our people gpend all their surplus earnings in dry goods, Asa nation we buy more than our produce exports pay for. Evidently the Americans are the most extravagant people in the world. NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1873—QUADRUPLE SHEET. ‘The Religious Policy of the Herald— Why We Print the Sermons of the Clergymen—A Contribution to Chris- tian Unity. Some of our exchanges aro dissatisfied with the Henaup for its publication of the sermons delivered every Sunday. We are told by our critics that this must have the effect of bring- ing religion into contempt ; that our clergy- men will become worldly-minded and crave the applause of men more than that approval of the inner conscience and the heavenly powers which is understood to be the full reward of the servants of the Divine Master, and more anxious for the commendation of the press than of their congregations. One criticism is that no printed newspaper report can do justice to the spirit and fervor of the spoken word, and it is argued that, upon the whole, the business of a newspaper is secular, and should not embrace religion within its province. | A few weeks ago, when the venerable and illustrious Guizot. was conversing with a cor- respondent of the Henatp and giving this journal his views on current affairs in France, the question was asked, ‘Is the Henanp a Christian newspaper?’’ When our corre- spondent explained our policy of a weekly pub- lication of sermons and theological essays, reported as fully and conscientiously as the speeches of Mr. Sumner or Mr. Conkling, or even Mr. Guizot himself, the great statesman accepted the fact as an illustration of Chris- tian progress and respect for religion and morality among the American people, contrast- ing sadly, asit did, with the strange, irrational customs of the Continent, We might rest our reply to our critics with the authority of Guizot ; but as the Heraxp accepts and cheer- fully discusses any criticisms made upon its policy, let us see what higher considerations are involved in our course towards the pulpit and how journalism and the public welfare are affected by our custom of making sermons and religious essays matters of news. We may say, in passing, that these objections recall objections made when the Hznaxp, in the earlier part of its career, took new departures in journalism. When the money market report was first printed in these columns the gamblers and speculators on Wall street objected. They had an immunity in their calling. They could make their “corners’'—their financial combinations and conspiracies against national and private credit—and the general outside world had nothing to say. When the Hznaup madea daily record of their transactions théy de- claimed against it as a violation of business confidences—the invasion of a province that did not belong to the press. When the in- come returns were copied from the assessors’ books and printed there was a feverish ex- clamation of horror at the violation of pri- vate rights. But it was observed that in- comes were more carefully paid ond tho government made money. When we began to collect ship news in our own vessels all whose interest was that ship news should not be col- lected were grieved at what was called our persistent audacity. When our war cor- respondents rode with the army col- umns to tell the men and women at home what the bravo boys were doing in the field there were generals who believed in hanging our press heroes as spies. We might multiply illustrations; but the history of all progress is full of them. We have no doubt there are men in England still ative who can remember when it was regarded as a breach of privilege to report Parliamentary debates. Old Sam Johnson was compelled to write his reports as though they were of some imaginary Parlia- ment in Greece or Rome. And even now there is an English law—a lingering remnant of this conservative period—which gives any member of the House of Commons the right to order every reporter out of the gallery. That this law is nota dead letter was shown very recently when a member of the House exer- cised his privilege. Therefore we must not vehemently object to the criticisms of our friends, who think ser- mons too sacred for the columns of a news- paper. We do not think the wise men who disbelieved in steam and telegraphy were sound in their views; but they held them honestly, and so far commanded respect. But how does our course affect the clergymen? With all honor to the clerical calling, we must re- member that the time was when to be a clergy- man was to be something between a servant anda gentleman. History shows that clergy- men attained the eminence and power of Richelieu and Wolsey, but this was when the Church of Rome was supreme. The clergy- man of the last century, as seen in Eng- lish nels and comedies, was a character in- spiring a feeling between contempt and pity. 'To drink ale with the squire. when he was home from the chase, to say grace at table and leave before the custards were brought in, to marry my lady's waiting maid or the damsel who had outgrown my lord's affection, to swear and shoot, and gamble and follow the hounds, and lie in jail for his debts and cheat at cards—this character of clergymen per- vades our English literature from Dryden to Thackeray. In America as well as England the profession has grown. Public respect has increased with higher civilization, and clergy- | men show themselves more and more worthy of public respect. Nor is anything calculated to encourage this more than the Heraxp cus- tom now criticised. We hear no more of sermons taken from the barrel in the garret and preached over again, of essays written to order by literary hacks, and delivered every year or two with a change of text, of dis- courses deliberately adapted from Tillotson and Jeremy Taylor. The honest clergyman finds encouragement in his work—the dis- honest dreads exposure. There is not & divine in this city who enters his pulpit to- day who has an assurance that to-morrow his sermon will not appear in the Henatp, with all New York to pass judgment upon it. In addition, there are clergymen of consummate genius—great orators and thinkers, Tike Mr. Beecher—whose sermons, spontaneous and unwritten as they are, are yet worthy to rank with the classics in theology. But for the Henarp these words would fall to the ground and pass away with the hour in which they were spoken. Literature, therefore, as well as theology, receives a service that cannot be exaggerated. The marvellous power wielded by Theodore Parker during his brief and wonderful life came not so much from his spoken sermons in Music Hall, but from their universal circulation in news- pavers like the Burann, And it would be interesting to speculate upon the influence that such a man as Jonathan Edwards, were he living to-day, would wield upon this generation. Edwards was one of the greatest minds produced in America—in some respects, as a logician and a theologian, perhaps the greatest. Even as he lived in the early days, when these States were sparsely settled colonies, and his homo was a quiet, inland town, his influence was dominant. It still remains with us. What power for good would it have could it reach every Monday morning the hundreds of thousands who read the Hzraxp. f This leads us to a higher thought. What is the Gospel? The word of God, spoken to every human creature. What does Christ teach us as to preaching the Gospel? That it should be spoken to every human creature, even to the ends of the world, that sinners may be saved. Surely, then, if the Gospel is bronght home to the hundreds of thousands of souls who read a newspaper like the Heraxp, is.not that an observance of Christ’s precepts worthy of commendation? It isnot for us to say what is the true reading of the Gospel. That would, indeed, be a departure from our mission. Whether it comes from Rome or Canterbury, or Edinburgh or Jerusalem ; whether it is truly expounded by Calvin or Cranmer, or Jerome, or Knox, or Wesley, or Loyola; whether it is written in the Old or the Now Testament, and in no other form, we do not say. Our opinions belong to our con- science. We recognize that there are eminent and learned and holy men who represent all phases of religious thought, and wo permit them to speak for themselves. We believo that from this conflict and exchange of opinions good will come. In religion, as in politics, dissension nearly always springs from ignor- ance. As light falls upon men’s minds, as science enables us to read the rocks and the mountains and the deep caverns of the sea ; as we come to decipher the strange legends of Babylon and Assyria, and seek for the walls of Solomon's Tomple under the soil of desolate and unhappy Jerusalem ; as the forgotten and darkoned eras of ancient history como nearer and nearer, contested questions in theology are determined, and denominations see point after point of difference fade away. . We have seen the union of the great Presbyterian bodies in this country after a generation of discomfort and strife and division on some minor point of doctrine. We have seen an effort to unite the Roman and Greek Churches, whose differ- ences are mainly on matters of church dis- cipline, and not of faith. All religious people, whatever they believe, pray for this union. Men differ about trath only as long as the truth is hidden. When the light falls there is no more contention, and we are profoundly convinced that we can do nothing better calcu- lated to throw light upon religion and lead the way toa union of religious sentiment than to pursue our policy in regard to the publication of the sermons of our eminent divines. We are, furthermore, confident that the more carefully the reasons leading to this policy are considered by our critics the more gladly and promptly will they approve of our course. The Murder Penalty Postponed. Judge Davis yesterday granted a stay of execution in the case of Edward S. Stokes, convicted of the murder of James Fisk, Jr., and sentenced to be hung on the last day of this month. This stay allows a case to be made on a bill of exceptions for argument be- fore the Supreme Court in General Term. Should that tribunal sustain the rulings and proceedings in the Court below the prisoner will still have the right to carry the caso for review to the Court of Appeals, the highest judicial authority of the State which is com- petent to confirm the action of the inferior Courts or to order a new trial. Thus the man who deliberately slew his enemy without any extenuation of sudden passion or of loss of self-control from intoxication or other cause is granted an unlimited leaso of tho life so justly forfeited to that vindictive law by which alone society can protect itself. He has all along built confident hopes of evading tho penalty provided for the murderer upon what he is pleased to term his ‘‘respectability.”’ For a whole year the expedients for delay available to well-feed lawyers sufficed to with- hold a sentence which should have been pro- nounced within a month after his victim’s death. His conduct in Court on the announce- ment of the awful verdict, ‘Guilty of murder in the first degree,’’ and in the ‘‘condemned”’ cell at the Tombs since his sentence, as well as his whole bearing in relation to the terrible crime for which he is confined, shows that his claims to ‘‘respectability”’ are not founded on stringent moral sentiments or special scru- ples as to what is due to social order. To question the propriety of the decision made by Judge Davis is beyond the province of a newspaper. He is a sound lawyer and pru- dent Judge. No doubt he has founded his opinion upon such legal grounds as at least pre- sent a question to whose benefit the prisoner is entitled. Still, it cannot be disputed that, except in relation to the criminal himself, long delays of penalty lose that wholesome effect which is their chief virtue. While Stokes, about whose guilt no one has a doubt, can avoid punishment through the devotion of wealthy friends whom his loose life had dis- graced before murder followed in the track of vice, other reckless men whose inclinations lead them to violations of law will judge that they have little occasion for self-restraint and small fear of the consequences of crime. A high authority many centuries ago told us that long adjournment of penalty inclines men to guilt. Jack Reynolds translated cur- rent opinion into the language of the roughs when he said ‘hanging is played out,’’ and every such delay of justice as the case of Stokes has displayed affords confirmation of the impression. New York needs most em- phatically the means of more rapid conviction and punishment of capital crime. Stokes, under existing law, has a right to all the de- lay he can secure. It is to be hoped that be- fore the shadow of the gallows again comes near him he will be better prepared than now to appreciate its solemn approach, Tar Finwness or tur Late Governor Sew- arp in the Adams-Colt murder case, some years ago, is ‘the keynote of a communication in another column recalling the closing incidents of that memorable affair, Every influence was brought to bear on the Governor which might be expected to inflpence a man in his position ; but he held tenaciously to the end, in accordance with the verdict of the jury, that the crime was murder and should be pun- ished by death. It was. The hangman was cheated, but John C. Colt died—stabbed to the heart by his own hand. The Governor was applauded by public opinion. Firmness, when the right has been grasped, is one of the grandest attributes of those responsible for order to society. We hope the reminiscence of this case of gubernatorial rectitude will have its influence where murderers are appealing to-day. The Presid s Message on Mormon- dom—Prospect of a Reconstruction Bill trom the House. The President's special message on the af- fairs of Utah was in the House yesterday re- ferred to the Judiciary Committee, on motion of Mr. Bingham, chairman, from which we anticipate an early report of a bill covering the President's recommendations. The Presi- dent says that ‘‘he is advised that the United States Courts in Utah have been greatly em- barrassed by the action of the Territorial Legislature in conferring criminal jurisdiction and the power to issue writs of habeas corpus on the Probate Courts in the Territory,” and that “by their consequent interference with the administration of justice,’ that ‘“mani- festly the Legislature of the Territory cannot give to any Court whatever the power to dis- charge by habeas corpus persons held by or under process from the Courts created by Congress,” but that “complaint is made that prisoners have been discharged in that way by the Probate Courts.” In the face of theso difficulties the two houses are informed that if they close this session without a bill of re- construction for Utah the Executive may find. it necessary, in the absence of Congress, to employ the army in the enforcement of the laws in the Territory. The essential difficulty in this business, how- ever, is not stated in the President’s mes- sage—we mean the difficulty of the decision of the United States Supreme Court, rendered by Chief Justice Chase, some twelve months ago, which was to the effect that under the organic law of the Territory the Probate Courts of Utah are legally possessed of all the juris- diction with which they are invested from the Territorial Legislature. It was ander this supreme decision that Brigham Young anda large number of other leading Mormons were instantly released, although they bad been arrested and held as prisoners charged with the crimes of murder, lascivious intercourse, &c., under processes from the United States Courts ; and this same supreme decision lies at the bottom of all the subsequent difficul- ties experienced in Utah in the efforts of the national authorities in the Territory to enforce the laws of the United States. The fact, then, appears that the military arm of the govern- ment, as the supreme law now stands, cannot be applied to these difficulties in Utah, and that nothing but an act of Congress recon- structing the organic law of the Territory will enable the President constitutionally to em- ploy the army, if necessary in said Territory, in the enforcement of the United States laws. It is sufficient, however, for the President’s earnest recommendations of reconstruction, that, un- der the existing conflicts of jurisdiction and concurrent powers between the national and the local Courts in Utah, the laws and the au- thorities of the United States in the Territory are powerless. We presume, therefore, that a bill of the character suggested by the Presi- dent will be passed within the two weeks re- maining of the present Congress, and that the act will be speedily followed by great and im- portant, and perhaps by some surprising events in the land of the Latter Day Saints. The Spanish Republic. By cable from Europe we havo the latest reports of the progress which is being made by the Spanish people for the perfection and consolidation of the Republic in Spain. The cause of the democracy is, evidently, being treated with care and zeal by its exponents and champions. The labor of clearing awey the official débris which has remained in the de- partments of that State since the fall of Queen Isabella is not by any means light, but it has been commenced with great vigor. It is pro- posed that the Church shall be finally sep- arated from the State ; that the Judicial Bench shall be reformed in the matter of efficiency ; that the system of knightly aristocratic orders and decorations shall be abolished, and that the war against the Carlists shall be maintained actively at all points where the condition of the weather, which is very severe in most of the provincial districts, permits of army operations in the field. We can, however, de- tect a few blotches or drawbacks in the tele- graph history of events in Madrid. The Spanish army is not exactly cordial in its feel- ings towards the system of the new régime. The sentiment of the mili- tary is monarchical. Thon, again, Don Carlos has invaded the soil. The Bourbon prince has many friends and many sympathizers in Spain. Coming in the midst of a great governmental crisis, he has his chance—that is, the chance of perpetuating disturbance of the public peace and distrust in the minds of the people. The question of Cuba looms up also. The despatches intimate—allege, indeed—that the govern- ment of the Spanish Republic will seek to maintain the colonial position pretty much as it is, and the new Ministry will hold on to the Antilles domain as long as pos- sible. The Republic awaits the formal recog- nition of the outside governments—of the great governments particularly. After this has been accorded we will likely have news of a decid- edly important character from Spain. The very latest despatches from Madrid to hand this morning report the cordial recognition of the new Republic by the United States, the Amer- ican Minister in Madrid having conveyed to Sefior Figueras the good wishes and friend- ship of the government at Washington in the speech which we report in our columns. Tur News rrom Mexico, which reaches us ina Matamoros despatch, tells of the exist- ence of an extraordinary condition of affairs among a detachment of the Mexican army— that is, it would be extraordinary in any army not Mexican, The garrison of Cosmata mutinied on account of _ ill-treatment and want of pay. The men de- serted in a body. They dragged the guns of the fort out of position and dis- charged them. The mutineers were pursued by cavalry, but it may be that the cavalry will be made prisoners by the infantry, and be thus unable, if willing to return. We may hear of a provincial pronunciamenta at any momenh About a Pediculus and Other Things. The subject of ventilation in the public schools is one of high importance. Its dis- cussion at the present time has brought many school grievances to the surface which it would be well to abate. Among the rest a medi- cal man, the father of a family, writes at great length to us charging various sins of omission and commission against the lady principal of one ‘of our public schools. We do ndt publish the letter, for it is very one- sided and long-sided ; but we can mention his principal grievances. The first is the presence of a pediculus in the head of his little daughter. This fearful animal, the scientists say, has a flattened body, divided into eleven or twelve segments, to three of which is attached a pair of legs. These legs are short and have cling- ing hooks on the end. It is of grayish color. It has been celebrated by Burns in poerty as a “we creepit thing,"’ and Murillo has immortal- ized its occasional untimely death in his “Spanish Beggar Boy,” a picture over whose pathetic interest scores of tourists have wept at the Louvre. A rare specimen of this creature appeared among his little girl’s locks, and yet he was, not happy, medical man though he be. The little girl’ herself, on affirmation and belief, declares that the specimen was the result of contact with another young lady in her class, whereupon the parent writes in hot anger to the lady principal. He had discovered the pediculus, ha! ha! and he now bellowed for revenge. He makes no mention of its fate, but from his guilty manner and his habitual blood- thirstiness upon the matter we may fear the worst. ‘‘At certain periods,’ he says, ‘my wife submits them (the children) to a minute examination,’”’ in search, no doubt, of the little animals in question, and with no kindly feolings in their regard. The little girl was condemned toa severe course of ‘combing, scrubbing and shampooing,” and yet he was not happy. To the parent's letter the Indy principal crisply and interrogatively replies by asking if the parent imagines she can add an entomological inspection of the pupils’ flowing locks to her other duties? If he does he is decidedly mistaken, she intimates, On the receipt of this reply the parent sate him down and indited a violent letter, much in the strain of Sir Anthony Absolute’s declarations of coolness in the midst of a bubbling passion. The sooner, he thinks, the lady is removed ‘‘the better for the community at large.” All this, too, about a specimen of the pediculus. It is capital offence, thinks the parent, and yet the corpus delicti has not been produced in Court. He appeals to the public, neverthe- less. Now it-is a delicate: matter, and wo agree with the parent to the extent that it is undesirable to have the family of pediculi share to any extent in the blessings of our public educational system; yet we must admit that the lady puts her side of the case very strongly when she declines to make ‘‘a minute examination’ at certain periods of the flowing locks of Young America and his little sister. Our advice on the matter is that all parents having children at the public schools should form a compact to do all the examining, comb- ing, scrubbing and shampooing on the bodies of their little innocents in the bathtub at home. Wash them, scrub them and comb them there. O parents! you cannot afford to hive the pediculi in the schools, whatever your opinions may be about the Bible. The parent has other grievances. One clearly arises from a defective system of venti- lation. When the schoolroom is overheated the only mode they have of lowering tho temperature is by opening the windows. This produces currents of cold air, and should be exchangod by the commissioners for a better mode; but why condemn the principal there- for? Sho and the other teachers suffer from it as wellas the children. He makes certainly one good point, if it be true that his children were dismissed for mot recovering quickly enough from the measles. He attacks the dis- cipline generally as too severe in cases of natural calls—an important matter. The closets are not cleanly kept, the parent avers, and the boys fight in the play- ground. The first should certainly not be so, but the latter business occurs to us as not belonging to any one school in particular, and certainly dates back to our own early days, if it is not still more ancient. The lady, it is admitted, does what she can to check juvenile pugilistic exuber- ance by punishing offenders, The parent thinks she often punishes the wrong boy, par- ticularly his offspring. Now this is altogether too much for good nature. A fond parent is 9 beautiful thing; but how this parent's son must chuckle with delight at the spectacle of his papa writing a long, long letter, because his sister had a pediculus in her flowing locks and he himself was sent home for fighting Dick Somebody about their respective claims to a cent’s worth of candy or some other equally important casus belli! A Harvest of Horrors and Corruptions. The pages of yesterday's Hxnanp revealed some very curious phases of life in America just now. Murders, outrages, scandals, thefts and corruptions loomed up in every direction, telling their stories of moral lapsings. Our legislators, whether from Kansas or Louisiana, or at the national legislative fount at Washing- ton, seem deserving of some sympathy from pious Christians this Sabbath morning. The snares of Satan seem not to have been laid in vain, and if there be commiseration for sin- ners of their description it should indeed be lavished on them. For what is passed in the way of trespass against national honor and public trust we must exact stern justice; but for those liable to be tempted in the future all the priest and parson power of New York and Brooklyn should be used to-day in praying for their preservation. Tend them not into temp- tation, but deliver them from Hoax, Durant, McComb, Pomeroy, Caldwell, Warmoth, Pinchback and all other evils, would be a fit- ting orison. They are so weak—these babes of the baliot box-—that a gushing community should storm heaven in their behalf. This would form an_ agency that might be of more benefit than the platitudes of the chaplains who open the proceedings of the State and national Logisla- tures with such mild, heaven-beguiling unction, in which no dread of the lobbyist, the briber or the bribed ever finds a word of recognition. It would doubtless do the legis- lators of the fature some good to think that they had oll, Christian Now Xork and Brook: | both respects without the warrant of law. lyn praying for them. This, however, only represents the beneficent side of religion for them. Congress should appoint standing committees, one from each House, to take immediate cognizance of all corruption prac- tised as soon as it came to light. Then might evil be nipped in the bud. When the Con- gressman was convicted of malefeasance in office he would be handed over to the body he belonged to, and sent kiting into infamy amid the prayers of New York and Brooklyn for his ultimate salvation. These prayer would come into play as soon as the body of the sinner was as dead as his reputation. This is a deep subject and one we recommend te Congress and our divines. The Spirit and Spice of Our Clerica} Contemporaries. If variety be the spice of life our religious contemporaries this week may claim the dis- tinction of being the spiciest papers published. Scarcely two of them agree upon the same topic for editorial discussion, but they all touch here and thero as the spirit moveth them. The Zvangelist gives us a chapter on “A Gallery of French Caricatures,’’ showing the grotesque and horrible, and how a nation on the brink of ruin danced the dance of death. ‘These caricatures were made in Paris during the late war, especially during the siege and under the reign of the Commune. They are very numerous ; but the most painful feature of the collection is the entire absence which they show of reverence for anything. Many of them are aimed against the priests, all of whom, good and bad alike, are exposed to the same merciless ridicule. Nor is it enough ta make fun of priests and Pope, but St. Peter himself comes in for a touch of the caricae turist’s pencil. The Hvangelist says :— St. Peter is represented standing at the ne of Paradise, on which is posted, in large letters, “Closed for Repairs!” The signees years. dulgence,’? granted ‘in the name of the Father and the Son,’” Meaning the Emperor and the Prince Imperial. Here is a representation of another Last Supper, in the eéntié or whicn, in piace of fhe Div ne ter, sits the red-capped figure o! rty, sur- rounded by a group of familiar faces, all portraits of the leading statesmen of France, of whom she asks, “Which of you shall betray me?” The name of God inspires no more awe than that of Jupiter. Here is a grotesque figure like a Wandering Jew, with flowing beard and long pipe, and underneath the awful words, “Le Pere Eternel !" Other carica- tures there are too horrible and blasphemous to ba described. The Evangelist proceeds thus to moralize upon these evidences of total depravity: — What a ghastly light do these pictures cast on the utter demoralization in the Frencn capital! What an abyss yawns under the feet of a oe thus sunk in gross materialism, It is this which makes us despair of the French nation. It wa nation without God; @ nation that hag lost all religious belief and reverence. Without this what is there lett to build upon? While France is thus sunk in total unbelief who shall reconstruct the Temple of Religion or of Liberty? Fortunately for France all Frenchmen are not caricaturists, Hence there is no danger of the ‘‘othé#' place” being filled with the fanny men of la'belle nation. The Observer declares bluntly that educated dulness is not wanted in'the pulpit, and sug- gests that the surplusage of young men now studying the uses of the scalpel and the ramifi- cations of law be led to the contemplation of divinity with the view of becoming preachers of the Gospel. We hardly think this plan will work. It may sometimes happen that s poor physician will make a good preacher, but how a bad lawyer can be chiselled into an exemplary divine is not so clear. However, the main proposition of the Observer is sound. The time has gone by for dull preachers. The activities of the age, the diffusion of knowledge by schools, books and periodicals, the spirit of inquiry, the spread of infidelity, the preva- lence of doubt, the subtlety of false science, demand live, strong, earnest, capable men ta preach the Gospel. It will not answer to edu. cate dulness or mediocrity, and the Presbyte- rian Board of Education will do well, instead of cailing for money, which they do not get, ta call for men, who ought to be found in abun- dance, eager to jump into the harness of the Lord. The Golden Age is profound on the subject of war between England and Russia. In view of the possibility of such a war, which will cost millions of lives, and all without a cause, the solemn questions arise, ‘Is there no remedy against such a slaughter? Is there na check to such a madness of nations? Is there no tribunal to forbid such a stupendous and continental crime against civilization?” And here is the way this ‘‘continental crime,’’ this horrid game of war, can, according to the Age, be blocked: — In our view the hope of Europe is an Interna- tional Congress, called for the establishment of » code of laws binding upon every nation, and or- daining that all disputes between governments shall be settled by arbitration instead of the sword. Such @ code can readily be carried into effect. It isnot atall Utopian. [t executes itself. It sti requires that any one nation, in seeking to m war against another, shall be confronted not only by that other, but by all others. And therefore, as no one nation can aie all the rest 6f Europe com- bined, so no possibility of war would longer exist. This is all very pretty. But it seems to us that the improvements in warlike material, in the creation of monster armaments, the in- vention of long-range rifles and breech-loading artillery especially, have far outstripped the slow coach suggestions and small talk twaddle of our venerable peace congresses. Govern- ments in the present day seem to realize the fact that in battle victory is likely to be won by the sido that has the heaviest (or longest range) artillery—everything else being equal. The Independent makes but one bite of a cherry in disposing of Kellogg, the present de facto Governor of Louisiana, and his usurpa- tion of the gubernatorial functions. It says: — Kellogg appeared before Judge Durell as the claimant of a State office to which, being a Senator of the United States, it was not constitutionally eats that he shonid be elected, He ought to we been ber phd turned out of court as hav- ing no case; and such would have been the fact if the Judge had discharged his duty. The two objec- tions to Kellogg as Governor of Louisiana, each one fatal, are these :—First, he was not eligible to the office; secondly, he was declared elected by a Board of Canvassers not authorized by the laws of the State. without having the election returns in nis possession. His de facto exercise of power is in It is sheer usurpation, mainly due to Illegal federat interference, The Christian Union proclaims that the sir is full of rumors of public and private cor- ruption and disgraceful getting and keeping of gold. We must purify our legislation, it is said. We must insist on virtue in high places, saith the preacher. “But,” he con- tinues, “reform must begin far back—at the firesides. By example our boys and girls must learn that money is not the supremo good of life. They must grow up in homes so simply and finely ordered that not furni- tare, and not viands, but the quality of mas- ter and mistress, draws many noble guests thercto, contact with whom is the children’s best education, ‘Ihe ornament of a home ia the friends who frequent it.’ The Tablet (Catholic) is in mourning col- wana for the late Vicor General Starrs. and of Napoleon's reign are “Years of