The New York Herald Newspaper, August 10, 1873, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD —_—_—_ BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, paid All business or news letters and telegraphic {despatches must be addressed New Your AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.— Icy Kinc—Tux Movocs. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth, street —Mint. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Tar CrGar Girt or ‘Cuna—Bertua, tax Sewing Macuine Grew WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st.— ‘Turge Years iv 4 Man Trap. Afternoon and evening. THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 514 Broadway.—Vagiery ENTERTAINMENT UNION WARE THEATRE, Union square, near Broadway.—Fon ix 4 Fog—Oup Paws Birtupay, CENTRAL PARK GARDEN.—Souser Nicars’ Con- CERT. NEW _YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broad- rway.—Screnck anv Ant. DR, KAHN’S MUSEUM, No. 688 Broadway.—Scumnce np Ant. nday, August 10, 187: New York, THE NEWS OF 'To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “BRITISH POLITICS! THE IRISH BRIGADE AND THE PROSPECT OF HOME RULE"—EDITO- RIAL LEADER—SisTia Page. \A STEAMER WRAPPED IN FLAMES! DIRE SCENES ON THE POTOMAC RIVER! ONE OF THE WAWASET’S PASSENGERS DIS- COVERS THAT SHE IS ON FIRE! THE ALARM! HEROISM AND SUFFERING! THE DEAD AND THE RESCUED! ANOTHER TERRIBLE LESSON OF TRAVELLERS? IN- SEOURITY—Tuigp Pace, ANOTHER PORTLAND CONFLAGRATION! TWO WHARVES OF THE MAINE CITY SWEPT BY THE FIRE DEMON AND THREE’ VALU- ABLE STEAMERS DESTROYED! THREE WOMEN BURNED TO DEATH—SgvENTH Pace. 4 POUGHKEEPSIE HORROR! WIFE MURDER AND SUICIDE! THE DISCOVERY OF THE BODIES OF THE DEAD—SsventH Pags. SPANISH TURMOILS! THE CARLIST FORCES MARCHING UPON BERGA AND BURGOS! INTRANSIGENTES DISPERSED BY CITIZENS IN MADRID—SeveENTH Pace. WIENNA DECLARED FREED FROM CHOLERA AND PARIS ENTIRELY EXEMPT—RU- MORED RECOVERY OF A LOST ATLANTIC CABLE—SEVENTH PAGE. FRANCE PROTESTING AGAINST MODERN INFI- DELITY! THE GRAND OUTPOURING OF THE CLERGY AND THE MASSES! THE PILGRIMS’ JOURNEYS AND EXALTED DE- VOTION—THIRD AND FOURTH PAGES. GALLANT EQUINE STRUGGLES AT SARATOGA AND BUFFALO! THE BEST MILE-AND- THREE-QUARTER DASH EVER WiIT- NESSED! GOLDSMITH MAID SCORES ANOTHER FREE-FOR-ALL VICTORY—Txeyrit PAGE. “VIC” AT VINELAND‘ A ROUSING TIME AMONG THE SPIRITUALISTS IN JERSEY— SEVENTH PaGE. THE CRUISE OF THE ATLANTIC YACHT CLUB— “MEAVIES” VS. “LIGHTS —SuveNTH Pace. SARATOGA AT ALL HOURS AND IN ALL MOODS! CSARISM, DRINKING, DRIVING, DANC ING, THE LADIES AND THE FASHIONS! THE LAKE—Firra Pages. @HE BEAUTIES, GOSSIP AND ROMANCE OF THE WATERING PLACES ON LONG ISLAND SOUND! JONES’ ONEROUS HONOR! YACHT- ING AT NEW ROCHELLE—FirtH Pace. RELIGIOUS VIEWS AND CORRESPONDENCE— COUNCIL OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC HIER- AKCHY IN THE SEE OF WESTMINSTER ENGLAND—EIG&hTH Paces. MONETARY FLUCTUATIONS! A BRITISH PRESAGE OF STRINGENCY! HEAVY RE- DUCTION IN THE BANK RESERVE! THE NATIONAL AND RAILWAY BONDS STRONG—EicuTa Pages. NO TIDINGS FROM THE MISSING STEAMSHIPS— GLIMPSES OF THE STAGE AND THE FOOT- LIGHTS—FovrtH Page. ‘THE AMERICUS REDIVIVUS—BASE BALL GAMES AND GOSSIP—THE BROOKLYN TRUST COM- PANY RESUMES BUSINESS—Firtu Pace. —— A Disastnovs Free broke out on one of the principal wharves of Portland, Me., yesterday, and was not checked until it destroyed three steamers and a vast amount of property on land. A stewardess on board one of the steam- ers and two young girls were drowned in en- deavoring to escape the flames, and a number of men on the same steamer received Bevero injuries. There is entirely too mouch carelessness exereiged around crowded wharves in our principal cities, and the danger of fire in the midst of piles of combustible goods is hardly ever thought of until it actually breaks out. The Portland calamity should serve as a warning, especially to this city. The prohibition against smoking in such exposed places should be enforced and constant vigi- lance maintained on all wharves and piers where a spark may cause a disastrous fire. The recklessness in this regard that prevails in the wicinity of the docks on either of our rivers Bhould be promptly suppressed, or we may meet with a worse calamity than that which wisited Portland yesterday. THE , Tse Ovrevrsr or Rexiciovs Fenvon m Wrance, as instanced in the pilgrimages to warious shrines, is described with trank impar- Jiality elsewhere. The widespread organiza- Sion by which these demonstrations of piety pre made a living force well merits study inan nge that places these things aside. A month of aniversal prayer inaugurated by national pilgrimages to St. Martin, Patron of France; to St. Vincent de Paul and to Our Lady of (Lourdes is an idea that must require genuine piety among large numbers to be carried out. ‘To know how it is done we refer our readers to the Hunaup correspondent’s interesting story. - Usnrrz Favir claims now the utmost vigi- ance on the part of our sanitary guardians. The Board of Health have taken prompt action against this terrible destroyer of children, but their action will be powerless without active co-operation and vigilance on the part of parents. Fathers and mothers must not allow their children, while they are Playing on the sidewalk, to eat fruit which may be four on stands at every corner. The Police should be instructed to break up all such jAeath-breeding nuisances, and the Prospect of Home Rule, For some time past the political situation in Great Britain has commanded bat little inter- est either at home or abroad. Since the famous defeat and restoration, in the early part of the session, the government has been cautious in its measures, and the opposition has been merciful in its attack. Mr. Glad- stone, nodoubt, felt flattered by the confes- sion that his great rival had no policy; and his recall to place and power, in the peculiar circumstances, was a sufficient reason for self- gratulation, A weaker man "than Mr. Glad- stone might have been injured by so much success. To his credit, however, it must be said, he has been as modest in victory as he was dignified in defeat. It was evidently his intention to make the session of 1872-3 memorable by the passing of another great national eform measure for Ireland ; but that measure failed, and with it passed away the interest of the session. The improved Education bill, the Judicature bill, the Royal Marriage bill—these and other measures have barely sufficed to keep the ses- sion alive. Most certainly it has been the dullest and least productive session of Parlia- ment -since the death of Lord Palmerston. The Queen's speech, which we gave to our readers during the course of last week, was, no doubt, quite equal to the occasion; but, compared with the speeches from the Throne with which for the last three oe been familiar, it was a tomy Rata affair. With the close of the session the conviction was broadened and Geepened that a new Parliament had become a necessity if there Was to be any life in the politics of the Empire. ‘The Cabinet changes which have been made since the prorogation show that Mr. Glad- stone is setting his house in order preparatory to a dissolution and a general election. From the general tone of the British press it is manifest that a dissolution and a general election are looked forward to as early cer- tainties; and, as is most natural, political philosophers are eagerly scanning the political horizon and diligently forecasting the. future, It is on al) hands pdmitted that Mr. Glad- stone cannot do much more with the present House of Commons. That he is still strong as a political leader, and that ho still com- mands a majority of the Hous’, all must admit. But he is not so strong as he once was, and his majorities, compared with the majorities which carried him from triumph to triumph in the first three years of his ad- ministration, have become small and insig- nificant indeed. That such is the fact is not, we think, any discredit to Mr. Gladstone or to his associates in office. In the later his- tory of England no administration has done so much to remove ancient abuses and to in- troduce healthful reforms, In the future his- tory of the British Empire Mr. Gladstone will be remembered as the statesman who honestly and earnestly sought to do justice to Ireland. It will be said to his praise that he abolished, to the grent gratification of the Irish people, an alien and obnoxious ecclesiastical establishment; that he so im- proved the land tenure system as to givo Irishmen a more practical interest in the country of their fathers, and that he boldly but vainly attempted to give them a national university worthy of the name. It will also be said of him that he. was instrumental in effecting a solution, by peaceful arbitration, of serious international difficulties; and the Washington Treaty, while it will continue to be a model to the nations, will be a lasting and honorable monument of the dignified but peaceful character of his administration. That he should during these years have made some enemies is most natural; nor is it at all to be wondered at that the ranks of his followers have thinned In these active times four years is a long life even to a British Parlia- ment, and it is quite possible that if Mr. Glad- stone had accomplished less his followers to- day would have been at once more numerous and more enthusiastic. It is not our business, however, to make apologies for Mr. Glad- stone. It is our business to look at the facts of the moment and to at tempt to divine their meaning. Undeniable it is that with the present House of Commons the popularity of the Premier is slightly on the wane, and that the strength of the liberal party has of late been considerably dimin- ished. Most of the recent elections, both in the larger towns and in the rural districts, have resulted to the advantage of the tory opposition. The tide which has set in is rolling against the administration; and it is admitted on almost all hands, even by the de- voted friends of the government, that a new departure has become a necessity. One of the most singular features of the British political situation at the present moment -is the attitude assumed by what in days gone by was known as the Irish brigade. It would be no new thing for the Irish mem- bers to hold the balance of power in the House of Commons. This they have often done before; but while in the past they have made good use of their opportunities, and extorted favors from both parties, they have generally been found voting on the liberal side. Not in many years have the Irish members been so much of one mind and so persistently united in their action. What 1s even more noteworthy, seldom have they allowed themselves during the last session of Parliament to lose an op- portunity of showing their sympathy with the tory opposition. Gratitude, one would think, would incline them to Mr. Gladstone and the liberals rather than to Mr. Disraeli and the tories. Itis a singular fact that after all Mr. Gladstone has done for Ireland, after devoting the best portion of long period of power to the removal of Irish grievances, the Irish members almost to a man,;should be found in the ranks of his opponents. Of this strange conduct we pre- tend not to offer any explanation. One thing, however, is clear—the Irish members are determined to teach both of the great political parties that united they hold the balance of power, that they mean to remain united and strong, and that they are resolved, at the fitting time, to put forth their strength. The home rule movement, in fact, has taken a firm hold of the Irish mind. It is popular alike with Protestant and Catholic. It gains in favor every hour; and it is the general opinion that in the event of a general clection the advocates of home rule will be consider- ably increased in the House of Commons. This home rule movement is, as we have | said. one of the leading features of { ) British Politics— The Irish Brigade | British politics at the present moment. It cannot be ignored. It presents itself equally to Mr. Gladstone and to Mr. Disraeli. It offers its services, but it demands its reward; and the highest bidder will win. In an able article on this subject, in @ recent number of the Pall Mall Budget, the writer says:—‘‘The Irish idea policy has powerful attractions for large classes of minds. There are all sorts of elements in the thought and feeling of the present day for which such a policy has affinities. It com- mends itself to the sentimental respect felt by numbers of men for the new-born theories of the rights of nationalities. It falls in with the equally powerful laissez-faire, or devil-take-the- hindmost, set of principles. It saves trouble, it appeals to the emotional side of character, and it hasan air of novelty and originality. By one of these characteristics it has laid hold of Mr. Gladstone; by another it may lay hold of Mr. Disraeli.” ‘| It is not customary for dissolutions of Par- liament to take place during the recess. It is probable, therefore, that Parliament will meet fora short time atthe end of tho year for the transaction of routine business. Everything will be done that can be done to defer the dissolution till after Easter. By that time both of the great political leaders will have matured their plans. It will be tho object of each to get hold of the Irish vote, and as Ireland will listefi fo ‘No proposals which i itg demands for home rule the genius 0! Cin tone and Disraeli are likely to be severely tested. Between then and now this and other questions will be freely venti- lated; and the public mind will be prepared for an electioneering campaign such as the British Isles have not known in many years. The Irish vote, for the present, seems the key to the situation. Farther Sanitary Needs—The Herlem It was ono of the argttitionts of the friends of the Second Empire that the personal rule of the Emperor brought with it order, a prompt Lexecution of the laws and the best sanitary administration. They would point to Paris as a sample of the latter excellence and com- pare its hygienic condition with that of other capital cities. General Butler, hated, dreaded and despised, drew even from his enemies the admission that New Orleans was never cleaner than under his proconsulate. The secret of the success of both of these exemplars in this department of government was in the pos- session of authority and the judg- ment and courage how and where to exercise it. We have such an authority in our own city, Judge Pratt, in his recent decision de- nying the application of the marketmen for an injunction to restrain the Board of Health from demolishing their booths, unhesitatingly stated that thé authority of the latter was virtually unlimited, and that should they see fit to declare the City Hall a nuisance they might order its removal. It may be remarked here incidentally that it is to be regretted that some dawning sense of this great responsi- bility seems never to have come to the Board, either in their present or previous organization, that they might have proceeded, in however fragmentary a way, to the Herculean labor of cleansing this Augean stable. We recognize thankfully, however, their good work in other directions, noticeably in the matter of the markets; but simple sporadic action of this kind will not satisfy the people of New York. It is a homely proverb that one swallow does not make a Summer, and simi- larly the removal of a single nuisance does not meet our present sanitary requirements. Thus to cart the garbage of households and the slime of the streets from one part of the city to another cannot be regarded as its removal, nor is it wholesome. Yet this is pre- cisely what the Board of Health have been doing. Commencing at Ninety-third street, between it and Ninety-second street and running north to 108th or 110th street, east of Third avenue, lies a stretch of marsh land subject in part to tidal overflow, which has long been an eyesore to the inhabitants of this part of the island. Of no use whatever in its present condition, it has impeded the growth of the upper district and presented to surrounding property owners the character of @ permanent nuisance. This was bad enough in its normal state; but in an evil hour the Board of Health, moved in their spasmodic sympathy with public feeling to attempt & remedy, chose it as a dumping ground, with the view, it may be charitably claimed, of filling it up. The remedy, however, has proved worse than the disease. Acres of salt marsh may offend the eye, or with their cold, damp exhalations undermine the constitution, but they do not offend the sense of smell. Garnish the same, however, with a top dressing of the city’s sweopings, its garbage and swill, and unless one be favored with an absence of olfactory sense he feels the presence of a nuisance. The inhabitants of Harlem and the neighboring Yorkville dis- trict complain of just this nuisance, The extent of the nuisance de- pends, of course, much upon the prevailing wind and existing atmospheric conditions which stimulate and diffuse the noxious exhalations of this noisome accumula- tion. An idea of its volume may present itself to the nostrils of the Sanitary Superintendent when we add that it has been sensibly experi- enced as far westas Fifth avenue and as far north as 125th street. There is no necessity for this. Ifthe Board of Health insist upon the necessity of using these flats as a dumping ground let them adopt some plan of wholesale disinfection or deodorization that will abate the nuisance in the neighbor- hood. At present the effect is seriously dam- aging to real estate interests, and it is said many former residents of Harlem were induced to remove solely on this account. Surely modern science has provided the means whereby a great city may get rid of its daily refuse without danger to the health of the inhabitants, and the sanitary condition of one section of the city ought not to be jeopardized to improve that in another. The progress of this questionable work of ‘filling’ has been interrupted for the past two weeks, but whether permanently or not remains yet to be seen. In any event the existing nuisance, whether we refer it to the normal geographical condition of this part of the island or its aggravation in the attempt at improvement, calls fora prompt remedy. Heaps of offen- sive material, imperfectly covered, disinfected or deoderized, lie there to-day, a reservoir of disease-breeding vapors, The Board of NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, AUGUST YW, 1873—TRIPLE SHEET. Health have a grave responsibility in this matter. We propose to help them to a proper understanding of how it can be discharged. The Foreign Cookery War—America’s Stomachic Strongholds. To what extent the gratification of a man’s stomach should absorb his attention while in this world is an indigestible problem which has attracted philosophers in all ages. The man who fares sumptuously every day, gloats over the menu of yesterday's dinner before breakfast to-day, and stimulates his cook after lunch to fresh gastronomic triumphs for the evening, may bean ideal gourmand, but he is also likely to be a dyspeptic. There is at present a culinary war in progress between England and Germany which bids fair to shat- ter stewpans, spill blood sausages and scatter calves’ brains all over Europe. Some Cxsar of the frying pan may yet make our warmest soups run cold over his commentaries thereon, The contest bogan, as might be ex- pected, by # violent German aggression into the English kitchen. The ‘Battle of Dork- ing’’ has so fired the Teutonic heart that pre- parations for the occupation of Albion ex- tended readily to the recesses where King Sauerkraut holds his fat fief from the Kaiser. The German cooks could not restrain them- selyes from pushing into the enemy’s terri- tory ahead of the regular army. Why, indeed, should they wait, when the thing was so sure, and would not future generations of the islanders, when their power had been broken like an eggshell, find the German yolk less heavy when it was laid upon shoul- ders whose bones were built by the dishes of Vaterland? Accordingly, chief cook pro- ceeded to Germanize England afresh by land- ing with an army of one thousand one hun- drqg ang eixty German dishes in book form, as the UhlatS of tho “er vongiazors.. | There ig something finely Bismarckian in this idea of capturing John Bull through his powerful organs _ deglutition. The ad- vancing host was met by the London Spec- tator, who commenced to skewers of ridi- cule into the soups and saucrkraut. The former it styled ‘watery compounds,” and the second it advised to be thrown out of the win- dow. The fire was returned by the German stoves with telling effect. ‘Eat partridge with sauerkraut,” replied the irate Father- lander, ‘instead of that mawkish poultice which accompanies your birds, and which civilized nations only use externally.” There was sharpening of spits and mincemeat knives; huge Bologna sausages from behind sauerkraut intrenchments were trained on bastions of English beef and cabbage, and each was ready to pound his enemy to batter and bury him in his own stewpans, when a third party intervened. France might have. lost hér prestige on the field of war, but her chefs were still arbiters of the destinies of ali- ment in Europe, the kings of the kitchen, the marshals of the marmites, the admirals of the sauceboats. In all his glory of white pan- cake cap, white apron and twinkling eyes, aepresentative Parisian chef, worthy to be one of Les Trois Freres—the Horatii of the Gallic gastrolatres—stepped between the forces of the British ond German cooks. His Titanic laughter shook down the opposing fortresses, and he only laughed for the space of three paragraphs in the Spectator. ‘Two deaf men talking music; two blind men judg- ing a picture,’’ he cried, ‘‘would be sensible compared with this war. Chuckle, O English- men, over the egotistical in politics; moon, O Germans, over metaphysics in the clouds, but, de grace, Messieurs, leave questions of gotit to those at home in the business.’’ Had Demosthenes been a French cook he could never have delivered a more stinging rebuke. There is something exquisite in this revenge on the victors of Waterloo and Sedan. He riots in sarcasm more piquant than his finest sauces. ‘‘Whenench condemns the other I agree with both, but when either launches into instruction, absurdity reaches its climax. The German condemning peas with mint (or rather mint with peas) is admirable, but when he vaunts peas with carrots he is simply a buffoon.” With 8 graceful wave of the arm that has mixed a million fricassées, and a look wherein the vinegar of contempt and the oil of pity are mixed with the subtlety of his salad dressing, he says, in conclusion: —‘‘Where a nation bas not a culinary soul it should re- nounee eating and content itself with feeding.”’ This is a crusher. Turning away from the sublime spectacle of the triumph of the French chef over his ancient German and British fdes, we look nearer home. At the last sentence, delivered amid blue blazes of café noir @ cognac brulé, a tremor creeps through our gastric juices as we ask ourselves the awful question, Has the American nation a culinary soul? When English and German cooks, with centuries of experience behind them, are knocked into pot by the mere bouchées 2 maitre d’hotel of a Frenchman, where shall America find dishes to propitiate this Jupiter culinarius ? We have the German in our midst, but sauerkraut, Bologna and Lim- burger cheese must be looked on as a national weakness if the Fronchman’s fiat can stretch across the Atlantic. The Englishman, with his mint and peas, is here too; but is not, thank Heaven, likely to demoralize a whole continent therewith. Let us, then, look about us, and see behind what mortal pabulum we can fortify ourselves to save the nation from being kneaded into French paste by the roll- ingpin of Gallic cookery, Come forth, thou dish of dishes, the unique, the mystic, the mighty American clam chowder! Here, O chef de cuisine, we defy thee. Search thy potages from bub- bling bouilli to seductive sagou, from juggling ienng to the regal a la reine, from the flowery and aqueous jardinidre to the viscous tortue, there is no spicedness, no tough solidity, no tongue-tickling that can approach clam chow- der. Furthermore, we defy you to make French of it. Not all France could build a Rhode Island clambake. Talk of thy unsubstantial crépe for an instant, and we should choke you with buckwheat cakes, but that they would glide down, nourishing and savory, on syrupy pinions into your presumptuous epigastric re- gions. Advance from the sunny South, be- loved chicken gumbo. We would strangle thee with thy vaunted gibelottes,O Gaul, if, after agrab at our gumbo, thou daredst to speak more of ragout or fricassée. From Nahant to the Green Mountains we can call forth as many wholesome American codfish balls as would have ted beleaguered Paris for an age and farnished ammunition enough to the guns of Mount Yalérien to have hurled every Ger- man before the city in parabolic curves back to the gates of Berlin. Hide your diminished head, O cooker of insignificant légumes, as we drown you deliciously in milky waves of hominy, an ambrosial dish for the gods. Why, thou wouldst, like Esau, have traded thy birthright, . though heir to the crown of France, if the mess of pottage was made of succulent succotash. Bah! thy haricots blancs pale even before Boston’s baked beans, garnished as they haply may be with Boston brown bread. The Indian Johnny cake laughs at thee, and hot corn tops rise out of their butter bath, like Venus from the sea, to tell thee that nature here excels art in the convenient presentation of food particles for consumption. No dish of thine can soothe thee with melody in its preparation as can the corn pearls harmoni- ously popping by the fire. The pumpkin pie and the solemn squash rise against thee. The scarlet tomato, whether raw, stewed or in catsup, is here to redden you with the blush ofshame, If all these are not enough we can cover your pretensions and yourself witha single oyster, and send you home cooked in @ box stew or raw on the half shell. But America has gtronger points in this campaign, A johman taunted America with having a hun: religions and only one gravy. We tell Franee, England and Germany that we are the only nation which has in- vented a new drink in one hundred years. Herein we point out to effete monarchies the blessing of republican institutions. Call it, if you are a pedant, caudagali; if a German, Hahnschwanz; if a Fyanchman, queue de cog—the cocktail is hades Uh? Americans. This is our bibulous chef-Tauvre ; but the generic terms of “cobbler,” “sour,” ‘‘sling’? and “smash” attest what the Emperor of Austria the other [ Su eae the distinctive intellectual feature erican handicraft, An Engli cr) said that wo tae la arate bes because we ‘‘’adn’t got the ’ops, you know:”’ We can.tell Englishmen they did not invent any of these delectable beverages because they ‘‘’aven’tgot the hice.” Happy in our position, we look forward to the time when the French éook si té mend his broken English with a savetier du Xtres, when His Holi- ness the Pope will order his sancta crux aspera, as he hears of fresh trials for his Churoh, and will never hurla bull of excommunica- tion without first taking his balista Geneve— stout and stunning gin sling. The French patriot will mourn his distracted nation over an eau de vle en smithereens, and the old- fashioned doctor will prescribe adapium menthe where we would take a soul-perfuming mint-julep. Spirit of the Religious Press. The leading topics of our religious contem- poraries this week are not very varied, nor very full of pith and marrow. The public school question in this country, the disestab- lishment of the Anglican Church in Great Britain and the cost of royalty in the same country, the approaching centennial of American independence, the unhappy con- dition of Spain, and the decline of Protest- antism or Catholicism, with one or two others, form the basis of editorial thought in our sacred exchanges. The Christian Union (Henry Ward Beecher) devotes its talents to ‘‘The Coming Centen- nial,’’ and in its remarks upon that memorial occasion regrets to find that ‘for a whole generation there has been a visible decline in American reverence for its Revolutionary era, * * * whose heroisms have seemed to be thrown back into remoteness and belittled by the colossal agonies and successes of the recent era of the rebellion.’’ The editor is, therefore, re- joiced that the celebration is to take place in Philadelphia three years hence, and hopes it will be observed in manner worthy of the benign attitude of the Republic towards man- kind the world over. For, ‘properly under- stood,” he adds, ‘‘it is not our jubilee alone— it is the jubilee of human nature exulting in the possibility of universal freedom.” He would therefore invite all the world to send representatives. He would also have us learn the lesson, from the memories of the past, that ‘we must return to the civic purity, to the virtue, to the self-consecrating patriotism of 1776; and unless we do that all our centen- nial display will be but a magnificent mockery and a sham.” The Independent has a little tilt with the In- telligencer on the question of heresy, and rather gets the best of its Dutch neighbor. In answering the questions, ‘“What is Heresy ? or What is Orthodoxy?’ the Independent, after citing several authorities on both sides, can- not findeither very prominent anywhere, It says:— "tne fact is, there is not, outside of the Roman Catholic Church, any ee of uniior- mity in doctrine, That Church puts a gag in every man’s mouth and cails the silence unity; but wherever there 18 treedom of thought and of Speech there is and there always will be a wide diversity of opinion on religious subjects. The Independent bas its fling also at the amount of religious property in this State— valued at seventy-five millions of dollars— which escapes taxation, though it has the ben- efit of every improvement made for other property that pays taxes. The Golden Age (Theodore Tilton) is cer- tain that the reason why so few members of either house of Congress have refunded their salary grab is because the President has not set them the example. It has an editorial on the bigotry displayed by Premier Gladstone’s refusal to serve on the memorial commit- tee to honor the name andthe memory of the late John Stuart Mill. Gladstone could endorse, even in this indirect manner, Mill's heretical views. The Observer warns the people who are now politically at ease, here and elsewhere, throughout the State, that the same influences which, in former days, organized rings and robbed the city and State treasuries are still at work, and that after the Summer solstice they will be more actively engaged than ever. “Unhappy Spain” and British royalty also receive the editor's attention. The Methodist rebuts the statement that Protestantism is declining here, and asserts, on the contrary, that ‘‘Popery loses continu- ally in this country;"” that ‘‘everywhere else, except in England, Popery is declining.”” It adds: — In Spain, Italy and Germany its decadence 1s unquestionable; in France {tt has 00 new signs of life, save in the ‘ Se ean ft rimages,”’ got up by priestly mm hese tumultuous scenes are impairing its infu- ence among the intelligent classes. Humanity moves from the past into the future. Protestant- ism should march in its van and lead its course. | The Methodist does not like Rev, Father Dealy’s presentation of the religious education” question before the late Convention at Albany, and cautions Protestants not to be deceived by its speciousness and Jesuitism. Tho Christian Advocate (Methodist) is greatly alarmed at the evidence of a systematic effort to break down our public school system, as shown by the Rev. Father McGuire, of Brook- lyn, in raising funds to build a day school in his parish, which shall supersede, for Catho- lic children, the public schools of the district. The Advocate is not, however, in favor of forcing Catholic children to read or to hear the Bible read in the putilic schools. Indeed, it is opposed ‘to Protestants, when they have the power, forcing their religion into such schools, and concludes that— The only Tigteons, licy must therefore be to make the pul schools simply institutions for pro- moting secular learning, leaving religious instruc- att pena’ Goa has placed it—in the ‘amily and the The Christian Intelligencer applauds the Board of Health for its abagement of the market and other nuisances, dissects Mr. Beecher’s theories of Calvinism, adduces Scriptural proof that marriage is not a sacra- ment, has its tilt with the Independent on “Augustinianism and Fatalism’’ and retaliates on the croakers who affect to see Protestant- ism declining by showing ‘tha decay of Romanism.”” The Baptist Weekly is butting against an old “Baptist usage’ and strongly advocates , the election of church deacons for limited terms, and not for life, as is nowdone. It believes that the life term of the deacons and the consequent want of live deacons in the churches is the real cause of so much suffer- ing in the churches and so many and frequent changes in the Baptist ministry. The Weekly has an article on ‘‘Abusing the World.’’ and it thinks that that is the great danger and tendency of thisage. Itsays:— Many Christians, just now, in choosing, thelr Bommen regoxts are entirely guided by the dicta- Hoot e World, and the benefit of a sojourn in nd Tresh air of the country is secondary to being ata Watering place Whicti is recognized as com- patible with @ position in good society. ane Christian Leader (Universalist) deals also WR fis~{‘Catholio “ih the a Schools,” and thinks that while they may no’ destroy the schools, they may do them serious damage. It predicts that the children thus drawn away from tho public schools ‘will either grow up to prey upon society or be trained to revolutionize it toward medi- myvalism.” The Hvangelist has some “Hints on Prison Refornr” and discusses in a temperate manner the proposed union between the Northern and Southern Presbyterian churches. Our Catholic exchanges devote their columns mainly to the benefits to be derived from a faithful attendance on the triduum ordered by’ the Pope, and which is to be held during the present week throughout the Catholic world. They also touch the question of education. The Catholic Mirror contrasts Pius IX. with Bismarck, greatly to the benefit of the former, who ‘is alive and well and enthroned in the hearts of hundreds of millions of loyal hearts, while Bismarck, the discharged and disgraced Chancellor and Prime Minister, is at Varsin brooding over his fate and beholding the visible and august power of that Church against which neither he nor tho gates of hell are able to prevail.” Our other exchanges, both of city and country, present nothing specially noteworthy in their columns this week. Italian Opera—Its Value in Its Unpo-e etic ‘Aspects. If we turn for a moment from the msthetis and artistic in Italian opera to a more sordid view of the influence of the highest style of public entertainments upon a great city, we shall find some curious results, It is not very poetic to consider the inflence of a fashionable opera season upon shopkeeping and business generally, but no single enterprise puts more of the national currency in circulation. Every gentlemar who goes to the opera needs some- thing new, from gloves and neckties to a com- plete outfit, A man must call on his tailor once a year to prepare for the operatic cam- paign, and at least half the dress coate in New York are the results of opera house necessities. The needs of the ladies are even more pronounced, there being no.place in New York like the Academy of Music for the display of dainty opera cloaks and, elegant and elaborate dresses. In a fashionable season like the one which is rapidly approaching, with a prima donna so thoroughly the pet of society as is Miss Nilsson in this city, the commercial benefits of Italian opera must be even more marked than in ordinary times. So wo see that the business benefits of an operatic season are not altogether confined to managers and artists, but react in favor of those who sell and those who hire. Even the extortions of the hack drivers do some good, for their money finds its way to the corner grocery and the shops in the ave- nues. That which makes all classes‘ rich in culture adds also to the wealth of the tradesman and contributes a large share to the general rity. Patiaving’ premised in the beginning that this is not the poetic but the cammercial aspect of the operatic question, we may add that Italian opera, like any other enterprise, must be managed on commercial principles. Business men may well encourage an enterprise which is sure to increase their trade, especially if they are assured that its business manage- ment will insure its complete success. This is what the Herap has always insisted upon, and the Nilsson season two years ago, where its advice was taken and which resulted in both an artistic and a business success, shows the wisdom of this policy. The next season at the Academy of Music, with a great prima donna and an ensemble that seems in every way strong enough to support her, cannot fail to be very brilliant and very profitable if the promise of the present is realized. We have already referred to tho artists of M. Strakosch’s company, all of whom are in the freshness of their powors and con- sequently to be judged on their merits alone. The répertoire besides the two new operas— Verdi's ‘Aida’ and Wagner's ‘‘Lobengrin”— includes Giovanni's ‘Faust,’’ three works by Meyerbeer, two by Mozart, two by Donizetti, two by Ambroise Thomas, four by Verdi, one by Flotow, one by Rossini and one by Bellini. This list affords great variety, which will add much to the brilliancy of the season, and we are also assured that an efficient orchestra and chorus will be provided. Obtaining all these things, the musical aspirations of New York will be gratified and we shall not spend our glove money or make our contributions toward “dressing the hovse’’ in