The New York Herald Newspaper, September 8, 1873, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $12. ADVERTISEMENTS, to a limited number, will be in- gerted in the WEEKLY HERALD and the European Eaition. JOB PRINTING af every description, also Stereo- ‘typing and Engraving, neatly and prompiy exe- cuted at the lowest rates. ja POE Le ESS Rejected communications will not be re- torned. Volume XXXVIII AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING BROADWAY THEATRE, é OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston and Bleecker streets. —Mernisto. THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 5I¢ Broadway.—Vantetr Ewreetainaent, UNION UARE THEATRE, Union square, near Broadway.—F un 1x 4 Foo—Mitxy Wurte. es NIBLO’S GARDEN, Bi Houston sts.—Tux Buacx way, between Prince and 00K. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Eighth av. and Twenty- ot—Mipsvuaer Nicur's Dees eee BOOTAH’S THEATRE, Sixth Rip Van Winx, METROPOLITAN THEATRE, 585 Broadway.—V agiety ENTERTAINMENT. . BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Tux Suzer Strater— Manxep ror Lirs. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirticth st.— Dice, tax Cuxvatirr. "Atvernooa and evening. ‘satan and Twenty-third st.— WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadwi 7 stree!.—CoLLern Bawy. ‘ Ler dace BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. 6th ay.—NzGRo MinstRELBY, &c. vee Ren Ree ROBINSON HALL, Sixteenth street—Tax Royat Manionxtrzs, Matinee at3 CENTRAL PARK GARDEN.—Suumer Nicuts’ Con- cents. NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, No. 618 Broad- ‘way.—Sciuycx AND Anr. hac DR, KAHN’S MUSEUM, No, 68 B: a Peg hy io, 688 Broadway.—Scrence TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Monday, Sept. 8, 1873. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. ‘To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “CHSARISM AND GRANT! WAR CHARACTER! HOW THE TIME HAS AFFECTED IT’—LEADING EDITORIAL ARTICLE—Sixtu Page. MR. FRANK LESLIE ON CEZSARIZED AMERICA! THE ACTS OF THE REPUBLICANS POINT- ING TO ARBITRARY ONE-MAN RULE! WHAT JUDGE PACKER AND PROMINENT SOUTHERNERS HAVE TO SAY ON THE ALL-ABSORBING QUESTION—FourTH Pace. DISASTROUS FIRE AT HAVANA! $8,000,00. WORTH OF PROPERTY CONSUMED! TWENTY LIVES LOST! TERRIBLE SCENES — SEVENTH PaGE. @REE FRANCE! GERMAN OFFICIAL NOTIFICA- TION OF THE LEGAL TERMINATION OF GERMANY’S OCCUPATION! THE EVACUA- TION OF VERDUN BEGUN—SEVENTH Paces. THE SPANISH CORTES AND THE CABINET » CRISIS! CASTELAR SURE OF APPOINT- MENT TO THE CHIEF MINISTERIAL SEAT! THE SIEGE OF BERGA—SEVENTH PaGE. 4LAS, POOR SPAIN! HER DISTRESSFUL © DITION! CARLOS PLANTING HIS STAND- ARDS ON THE BORDERS OF THE REPUB- LICAN CAMP! WRETCHED CONDUCT OF THE CAMPAIGN BY THE GOVERNMENT FORCES—Tuinp Pace. {RELAND MOVING FOR THE RELEASE OF THE FENIAN PRISONERS! A LARGE MEETING AT CLONTARF FAVORS THE PROJECT—Sgy- ENTH PAGE. HE DOCTORS OF DIVINITY DISPENSING THE GOSPEL! THE SYMPTOMS AND EFFECTS OF AND CURES FOR SIN SICKNESS! THE GEMS OF YESTERDAY'S SERMONS—Firra Page. THE WOLVES AGAIN IN THEIR SHEEP'S CLOTH- ING! THE SERVICES YESTERDAY IN THE CHURCH AT 'ON, L. L, IN WHICH KELSEY WAS WONT TO ATTEND WOR- SHIP—Eicutu Page. THE: PRODUCTS OF THE GREAT WEST! THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM AND THE FARMERS’ SOLUTION OF Ir! RAILWA AND CANALS FOR CARRYING PURPO: SOME INTERESTING FACTS, GLEA FROM WELL-INFORMED SOURCES—Tump PAGE. ENGLISH JUSTICE FOR AMERICAN FORGERS ! BIDWEL ND HiS “PALS CONDEMNE ri f IN A PENAL COLC THE FINALE OF THE TRIAL—TeNtu Page. ‘REAL PROPERTY IN GOTHAM! THE RE FOR THE PAST AND THE PROSPE\ THE MARKET! PROGR’ POSSIBILITY! HOW TROL IS DANGEROUS—Fovrtu Page. THE FINANCIAL SITUATION REVIEWED! A CHEERING PROSPECT—REPORT OF THE STATISTICAL BUREAU—EiGutu PAGE. SOJOURNERS AT AND GOSSIP FROM THE WA- TERING PLACES—AID FOR THE SIUK POOR CHILDREN—THE MISSING BRODE- RICK—Nintu Pace. GRANT AND HIS Fie wm Havana—Heavy Losses or Prop- eRTY AND Lire.—By telegram from Havana we are informed that a square of build- ir@s—the Plaza Vapor—in that city was reduced to ashes by fire during the night of the 6th ist. The conflagration broke out suddenly and almost simultaneously in the four corners of the square. It spread with great rapidity. The loss of property is fstimated at $8,000,000, and it is said that ‘twenty persons perished. The scene of alarm ‘was exciting and terrible. Parents threw their children from the balconies to save them from death in the flames. The fire is sup- posed to have been the work of incendiaries— avery saddening reflection for the afflicted «gurvivors of the sad visitation. Monz Trovetx 1 Mexico is indicated by the last news from Monterey and Matamoros. There appears to be a good deal of excitement over the contest for Governor of Nuevo Leon, and several chiefs of the revolution of last year have congregated at Monterey to show on with the present State governmen' ane Leon, which is opposed to General Garcia Ayolo, the candidate of the federal government. Orders have been given from the City of Mexico for troops to be sent to Monterey. The actual government of Mexico is strong comparatively, but it may not be able to prevent the old feuds breaking out again Letween the State and federal authority and the rival military chiefs and politicians. NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1873.—' Ceosarism and Grant—Grant and His ‘War Character—How the Time Has Affected It, We called attention recently to a manifesta: tion of the spirit of Casarism, as shown in the paucity of our statesmen, the absence of high capacity and character in public life, the con- trast seen between public life and other sta- tions, the activity, the genius, the growth in literature, business, art and industry, while those in authority are meagre and narrow- minded, and at times corrupt and unworthy. ‘We selected Mr. Colfax as the illustration of the age—its ripest fruit—and, in contrasting the treatment of Burr by Washington with the treatment of Colfax by Grant, we showed how the age of simplicity and homely virtues had been succeeded by the age of mediocrity and false pretence. Theinference which came irre- sistibly with this discussion was that Cmsar- ism, which we hold to be the chiefost danger to the Republic, was marching in manifest and unchallenged triumph and was to be seen in these painful phenomena. Since General Grant came into public life we have treated him with universal respect and kindness. We favored his nomination to the Presidency, his renomination and his re- election. When the enemies of his adminis- tration assailed him in the Senate on the French arms question we defended him with all our power—and not without effect, let us add—for if Mr, Sumner had succeeded in that assault General Grant would not now be President. We like General Grant. We like him personally—his character and his achieve- ments. We would hold his name spotless, as ® name which, whether stained or white, must live on and on in our history. Nor did we give heed to the scandals about him, his horses, his relatives, his wines, for these are the miasmas of the political atmosphere that burden it with offence and disease. Nor did we expect from him infallibility in his office, When he made mistakes we felt that the high, genuine, resolute manhood behind all would redeem all. When we speak of the growth of Cwsarism in America we do not attribute it to Grant. In fact, we see no man in the party who is less to blame than Grant. With this view, let us consider tho personal relations of the President to this most important and absorbing question, and let us show how it has swept him and his ad- ministration into what would seem to be an irredeemable position. Remember all the time the history of Gen- eral Grant. Before the war life had many weary, anxious hours forhim. He failed in all of his undertakings. Superior to his sur- roundings, conscious of higher qualities and aims, under bondage to fortune, as Lord Bacon would say, by an early marriage and a family of children—his life bitter, narrow and very dark indeed, and no outlook but years of labor that wanted love and effort without opportunity. But the hour came. From the depths, in one short year he was on the summit. The struggling clerk in a Galena tannery was the first citizen of the Republic, among the foremost men in the world, his name written with those the world would not willingly let die. In this ascent—which might have turned even a Cmsar to giddiness and ruin—Grant showed a beauty and man- liness of character that are not surpassed in our history. His modesty, his genuine sim- plicity, his utter absence of art and pretence, his disdain for the noise and splendor of his new station, his magnanimity to Sherman, his generosity to Sheridan, his spirited and soldierly protection of Lee when it was pro- posed to try him for treason, his surpass- ing good sense and patience, his sincerity and the good fame of his domestic life, his equa- nimity under adversity and prosperity, his affection for his military family, his devotion: to his frends and to all who served him—all combined to make him one of the most win- ning, as he was the most celebrated, character in our history. And we said to the world, see what manner of man the Republic sum- mons to the leadership of her armies and the chief magistracy of her States! We know of few things more touching and manly than the letter written by Grant to his father when he began to rise in the war. All he wanted to do was to win the country’s battles, see peace and go home again. Nor is there any letter of the kind in our knowledge of history that breathes a nobler spirit than his letter to Sherman after his promotion to be Lieutenant General. Reading these letters one might be excused for recalling the men of whom Plutarch wrote, and feeling that we had not forever lost citizens like Phocion and Aris- tides. Great as Grant was and is, he is not superior to his time. The time has tainted him as it tainted others. Grant has shown himself thus far unable to check the tide of Casarism, which rises higher and higher. One of the most extraordinary achievements of the in- genious and daring Gérome is a picture of Cesar in the Coliseum looking on at the gladiators. The spectators’ seats are filled with much that is beautiful and gaudy and attractive in the Empire. A sturdy Dacian stands in the arena over his defeated.opponent, who lies panting and bleeding. It is for the multitude to say whether the barbarian gladiator should die for the multitade Private secrotaries, A cottage at the seaside costs a great amount of money. These young men were only officers on limited pay. Of course we do them the justice to believe that they made their money in an honorable, logiti- mate way, by skilful pursuits of business. It is not necessary for our argument to take from the gutters any stigma of corruption. But is it not a painful evidence of the deadening of the moral sense when officers in the army, on duty with the President, can earn money in business? There are stations in life where it is almost impossible to draw the line between business pursuits that are honorable and those that are dishonorable. This is why the divine would not deal in stocks or a lawyer interest himself in specula- tions to which his clients were not friendly, why army officers do not speculate in supplies and arms. Itmay be a hardship to accept this self-denial, but a man who becomes a soldier, a clergyman or even a Jawyer must make up his mind that life has for him higher things than gold. Therefore, without saying that one dollar was ever obtained by these young officers except in honest business call- ings, we are pained to find the Presidential mansion an office for business pursuits. It is one of those positions where we are afraid it is impossible to draw the line between honest and dishonest acquirement of money. So Mr. Lincoln believed. If his secretaries had been disposed to transact business in an honorable and legitimate manner they might have built palaces on the seashore and lived in gilded saloons. But a different view prevailed, and one of Mr. Lincoln's secretaries now holds a modest place on the staff of the Supreme Court, while the other earns his bread asa writer for a New York journal. At tho risk of being accused of discussing small and indifferent affairs we allude to this, because it is a pregnant indication of the low- ness of tone which pervades the administra- tion of the honest, valiant and high-minded Grant, Is it possible that our Cesar is con- tent with his figs, caring nothing for the arena? We fear, we fear; and yet the proud, mounting hopes with which we welcomed Grant to his office and sustained him there cannot be abandoned as dreams. Are they dreams, shadows only, gone and never to re- turn? Or, if not, why is it that, beginning at the White House, we find the stream of repub- lican patronage and power even muddier and more repulsive than the source? At home we have an attempt at civil service which ends with election day and is destroyed to enable Mr. Conkling to transfer a noisy but gallant officer to the Surveyorship of the port. Louisiana is brought to the brink of civil war rather than offend a gentleman whose claim to recognition is his connection with the Presi- dent’s family. Senators and envoys extraor- dinary establish mining companies and sell their shares under the cover of our flag to English widows and clergymen. Our com- mission to Vienna would be a disgrace to Tammany Hall. Mr. Bingham is sent from the bar of that public opinion which con- demned him as a party to fraud upon the country to represent America in Japan, while Mr. Colfax carries into private life a certificate from the President that it is not inconsistent with his views of probity to admit that he was paid money as a Congressman by a public contractor for government supplies. This, to our mind, is the most painful phase Cresarism has assumed; for, if we are compelled to abandon Grant, what remains? And what must we think of these indications of public apathy and the deadening of the moral sense when we see them in the White House and in every branch of the public service? What can we think when we see Cesar caring more for his figs than for the circumstances around him? Can we marvel that there is so strong a sentiment for his re- election—a sentiment that comes from that controlling human motive, the self-interest of those in power ? . When office brings wealth; when fortunes enough for seaside display are amassed at the very side of the President; hen men may take the bribes of railway cor- tractors and receive honors from Grant, amid the universal condemnation of the peo- ple, what answer can we make? We have no answer; nothing but a hope, which is faint and lingering, that Cwsar may weary of his figs and show himself worthy of the love and esteem which America gave him as she gave no other man in her history since Washington. Tux Canivet Crisis anp Army Commis- sions In Spars.—Telegrams from Madrid announce that the Cabinet crisis, which was induced by the resignation of President Salmeron, had not terminated yesterday morning. The Cortes remained in continuous session from Saturday. Sefior Castelar’s elec- tion to the chief office of administrative power was regarded as certain. His platform of government was canvassed earnestly by the public. It was regarded as highly probable that Castelar would appoint Espartero Generalissimo of the armies of Spain; Ser- rano—who has journeyed to Madrid from France—Commander-in-Chief of the forces operating against the Carlists in the North, and General Concha Captain General of Cata- lonia. These commissions, if made, will be pretty much in the old style of Spanish War unless Cesar should give him life. Men end women are on their feet making the signal of death, while Cmsar, careless of life or death—the robes on his shoulders, on his brow the laurel crown—eats from a dish of figs. The purple hes only brought this Cesar indifference, indalence and sloth. He wants his comfort, let the arena do what it pleases. So we fancy the administra- tion of Grant tobe now.. We see in the sup- porters of his administration the love of wealth and office, a deadening of the moml sense, yearning for money and display, an absence of those simple, high virtues which were so charmihg in the valiant soldier who comnmanded our armics. The eye does not repose on one: man who may be called an ex- ception. In the Cabinet what do we see? Ordinary gentlemen, whose minds, distilled to their residuum, would not yield an ounce of the genius of Jefferson or Quincy Adams. With one exception they were never heard of before General Grant called them to his conn- cil, and, without exception, will scarcely be heard of again—e Cabinet without fertility or expression, and which sinks lower and lower in the esteem of the country. The love of money pervades all. We see in our fashionable journals that among those who own cottages at the seaside are the two | young army officers who served Grant aa his Office routine. But the questions remain—Will they be made? Will Castelar’s Cabinet idea become a reality? This morning the special Heraip correspondent describes the military promenade of Don Carlos, his swearing fidelity to the Fueros under a convenient oak, which now supplies the place of the old tree under which Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1476, took that solemn oath demanded by tradi- tionary Spain; the disposition and evolutions of the 20,000,000 warriors who have banded themselves together to fight for a personal government, and the old, old story—the im- becibility of the republican chieftains. Tue Resvut or tue Execrion 1x Cani- rorsta, judging from the returns of the dif- ferent districts up to the present time, shows that the independent party have been success- ful. It is thought now that Governor Booth, who is the representative man of the inde- pendents, will be chosen United States Sena- tor in place of Mr. Casserly, whose term will expire in March, 1875. Butas Mr. Casserly has been as earnestly opposed to railroad monop- oly as Booth and the independents are, and, in fact, has acted with them in their fight with the Central Pacific Railroad, he may, through some arrangement with Governor Booth, be re-elected to the Senate, In the election of the Legislature the questions at issue were the railroad monopoly and the E SHEET. United States Both the repub- lican and demooratic parties having been mixed up to some extent with the Central Pacific Ring and monopoly, the republicans particularly being odious on that account, the people of California have repudiated these old parties. In the success of the new indepen- dent and anti-monopoly party of that State we see the commencement of a revolution in the politics and political issues of the country. The Rowing at Saratoga—Will the College Races Be There Next Year? The recent college regatta was fraught with suggéstions which other places than Spring- field may well enough heed; for it must occur to any town in Eastern New York or Southern New. England which has near it a broad stretch of lake or river that that reach of water can be made the means not only of a capital advertisement, but of bringing, among other good things, an income, within less than forty-eight hours, of some twenty thousand dollars or more—an ‘‘item’’ which even a well- grown city need not lightly overlook. This year especially presents such an opportunity, for the manifest unfairness of the course recently rowed on the Connecticut—an un- fairness which has impressed itself on more than one other university besides Cornell— renders it simply imperative that they who have in charge the selection of the course for next year’s meeting settle upon some other water. If the choice be made this fall advan- tage can be taken of the winter's ice in staking off and getting ready the: course, while Proper committees can be appointed and trained to look to each aaa of what is rapidly becoming an event of national inter- est, thus avoiding the shameful bungling so fresh in the public mind. The arrangements for this contest could in many ways be made on a far more liberal scale than heretofore, and the recipients of the income named would quickly lend their aid. Why should not every rower and boat and oar be taken to and fro entirely without charge? And, indeed, it might be no mistake to reduce the rates for the spectators as well. To be sure, one large item of expense has been well done away with—namely, that of the professional trainer. But boats and boat houses alone tell visibly on the exchequer of most students, and many of the late contestants, for instance, would grate- fully appreciate the saving thus suggested. Then, again, in finding for each party suit- able quarters, protection for their boats, proper rafts and many other conveniences which quickly suggest themselves to any row- ing man, competent committees might do much, and do it far better than the students— strangers to the neighborhood—to make it easy for the latter to come back again. Already one town, with commendable enter- prise, has gone vigorously to work; and although its rowing course has before this proved an excellent one, when the chosen professional oarsmen of two continents selected it for their sharpest contest, still its citizens are determined not to lose the present opportunity, if they can help it. On Thurs- day and Friday next, on Saratoga Lake, there are to be races for the various sorts of out- rigger boats, open to all who come fairly under the title amateur oarsmen as recently defined. Beautiful and very costly prizes have been for some time past on exhibition at Tiffany's; the entries are now closed, and from the number and quality of them there should, with favor- able weather and proper management, be some good racing. New York and Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan, Ohio, the District of Columbia and the Dominion of Canada are allto be represented, and in one of the races, the single scull, there are expected to start no less than fourteen boats, while seven four-oared outriggers will probably back up to the line together. A delegation from the projectors of these races waited on the Regatta Committee, it will be remembered, at Springfield, detailing the numerous advantages of Saratoga Lake, and eager to learn how they might prevail on the students to come there next summer. We are not aware what encouragement was held out in return, but the meeting of next week is evidently meant to set out anew the good points of their course in their most favorable light. But, while they have accomplished so much, they must not expect a result nearly so brilliant now as the college races would make. In the first place, the contestants, although so numerous, and many of them coming so far, have not been watched and described by the press to one-tenth part of the extent that the men who represented those eleven seats of learning were. ‘his is owing, per- haps, to the greater amount of interesting news now crowding out what would have proved welcome enough in the dearth existing then. But it is due mainly to the fact that every year makes more plain—namely, that there is but one rowing race in this country each year about which the public generally care, and that is the college race. Perhaps no better interests are represented in it than will be at Saratoga next week, but it stands fora larger constituency, and falls at a time of the year when its constituents can and do come almost in a body. And this brings us to the chief point of our remarks, for suppose, as we trust will be the fact, that no foul occurs to mar the pleasures of the coming struggles; that no: diagonal line bars the swiftest rowers from their prize; that the referee has de- cent facilities for his arduous task, and has daylight enough to distinguish the order in which all fourteen scullers, for in- stance, come in; that their uniform is varied enough to render each easily distinguishable— in short, suppose these races prove a complete success, and accomplish their main object— namely, the bringing that constituency of students there next year—will it, on the whole, effect a desirable result? We think it ex- tremely doubtful. And for one simple reason. The students average in age between seven- teen and twenty-five. Whatever other vices they may be well up in, many of them, far more proportionally than when two, instead ot eleven, crews competed, have never been thrown where they could easily be allured into gambling. To bring them at their age, with @ more or less bountifal supply of cash in their pockets, right up to the door of our greatest and most attractive gambling house, and that with enough of reckless ones sprinkled among them to shame the weaker out of their hesitation, is to invite them to o stép almost as hazardous as that of the father who prevails on his son to take his first cup of the wine which no squeamish notions about this matter; but we appeal to the honest convictions of the stadents whose coming is sought—men who are taught to do their own thinking—whether this risk had better not be avoided? And the way we would suggest for its avoidance is to simply remove it. Whether any power exists or can be created sufficiently efficacious to draw the teeth of the “‘tiger’’ during the week of the college races we know not. But unless there is such power, and unless it is applied, it would be better, far better, that the annual college gathering never be at Saratoga. From President Grant to Mayor Have- meyer—A Sketch for Students of Per- sonal Government. : There must be something very infectious in the new grasping after personality in govern- ment, which is the ominous sign of the times. It may be mere imitativeness that causes the lesser to follow the lead of the greater, or it may be merely that the greater has first divined whither the currents of the age are tending, and the lesser discovers later that he can profit by the currents also. Thus the example of the Emperor Napoleon I. might be said to have produced the Emperor Faustin I of Hayti, as well as Napoleon ILL of France. On the other hand, the impartial historian will urge that citizen Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and citizen Soulouque, each fell in with the tendency of republics to be vanquished by glitter and imperial purple. What matters it that Napoleon ruled the mighty destinies of France, and Soulouque peddled out his duke- doms in Hayti? They were both representa- tive emperors of the age of opéra bous’e, and the French negro had at least the precedence in time over the Frenchman, for he mounted the throne three years before Napoleon, and was kicked out eleven years ahead. By plac- ing these two Emperors on a common footing we will be thanked by the critical world for a new illustration of Omsarism in modern times. That Napoleon III, cuts a larger figure in his- tory than his colored brother is altogether due to the fact that France is bigger every way than Hayti, and not, as some might suppose, because of Napo- leon’s superior genius. It could hardly be imagined that we should have in our mind’s eye an American parallel to the big Napoleon and the little Soulouque. But such is the lamentable fact. As we have hitherto at some length given our reasons for the state- ment that President Grant was, to all intents, @ personal ruler, we need not go over the ground in. He, for the nonce, we shall call our Napoleon, and we propose to show how our respected and venerable Knicker- bocker Mayor is Gotham’s Soulouque. We fancy that we see the frown on his massive brow darkening down over his nose and shad- owing his clean-shaven chin as His Honor comes across this ‘‘odorouscomparison.”” But we.cannot help it, He is a sturdy old Knick- erbocker, phlegmatic and strong-headed, and he will, probably, lose sight of the sable em- peror in remembering that President Grant cannot be accused of gush or vacillation. The qualities that tell at the head of the Union should not fail at the head of its Em- pire City, and so our venerable Knicker- bocker Mayor fell an easy prey to his phlegm and his strong-headedness before he was a month in office. We all know that President Grant felt sufficiently grateful at the com- mencement of his first term to bestow a number of important national offices on his personal friends, whom we need not particu- larize now; and whether it was imitativeness or a coincidenee of idiosyncrasies, we find that our bold Knickerbocker Mayor proceeded to do likewise once he had it in his power. We may note also another fact, which is not intended for any reflection on the friends of great men—namely, that in both cases the appointees were stamped with the sign manual of mediocrity. The services which President Grant recompensed were of a recent date, while those which the Mayor rewarded go back so farin the century that it does not thence seem very far to the time when old Gouverneur Stuyvesant mused and munched under his pear tree after the Dutch had recap- tured New Amsterdam. There is a constancy to friendship in all this which should move the sympathetie to tears, no matter how the public service may suffer. There are simple- minded people, who, thus touched to the heart, will believe that the city could afford to lose the genius of General McClellan from our Dock Commission because it gave this grate- ful old Mayor of ours a chance to place one of his ancients in a becoming position. This is only one from many instances. He loves the antique and serves it, and in this age it is well to love anything, whether mum- mies from Egypt or fossils of the political Ichthyosaurian period. Many of the latter owe their reappearance on the surface of things to the Mayor's grate- ful remembrance. To make his posi- tion more like the President's, the charter gave him a burlesque Senate in the honorable shape of the Honorable the Board of Aldermen. In the early days of his new-fledged honors he attacked this Senate as General Grant went through the Wilderness. Phlegm and strong- headedness served their turn admirably, and for a time all went well with him. Grim and ancient, he made the Board tremble and give away like a deal scantling under the tread of an elephant. He made Police Commissioners, Dock Commis- sioners, Park Commissioners and Excise Com- missioners at his sweet will, and looked as tranquil as a clam at dead water the while. ‘Then came the Police Justices, and the Board resolved to put a bar across his wild career. They made their ‘‘combination,’’ with its lean but sufficing majority of one, and stopped his onset at all points. Now, we cannot strengthen our parallel more than by asking what would General Grant have said under the circumstances? He would have said, quietly, “I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” His Honor the Mayor, when he heard how matters stood—that is, stock- still—solemnly proposed to continue the fight on the same line if it took him to Doomsday. As ho has lived for so many ages there seems no strong reason why he should not havea chance to fight until the Valley of Jehosaphat holds its great mass meeting, unless victory falls to him in the interim. If the terms of office all round lasted as long as the occupants lived wo should not, indeed, be at all sur- prised if the Mayor grimly proposed to wait until the present majority of the Board went the way of all flesh. It might be considered h ‘does inebriate, Wo bate | by tbe Aldecpen aa ingult, from many voints of view, to the Board's intelligence if we com> pared it with the Senate of the United States, under the hand of President Grant. We have seen Senator Sumner degraded and read out of his party, and we have seen Carl Schurz vote with the opposition. These were triumphs for the administration of the kind that lackeys are wont to admire, for the victims of displeasure were injured and in- sulted, and no bones broken in return. Itis odd, therefore, that Mayor Havemeyer should have managed to estrange republicans from him in his short career, and probably in the same way that the Senators were forced away from President Grant. As it happened the Presi- dent could spare Sumner and Schurz and the rest, though they cost him St. Domingo; but it is doubtful whether their ability to cramp him permanently would have changed the determi- nation to squeeze them through the rails of the party tence. So our worthy Mayor, we have no doubt, will bate neither jot nor tittle in his ten-barrelled demand upon the Alder- men to surrender at discretion. We cannot follow him into the small details of his fights and his appointments, but phlegm, strong- headedness and gratitude pervade them all. These are the main characteristics, however, of the typical personal power of the day. In the microcosm of New York we can better trace how these qualities are calculated to suc- ceed than on the wider stage of the nation. If Soulouque found his Dukes de Marmalade and De Lemonade and his monopolies only hurried him out of Hayti in the end, perhaps phlegm, strong-headedness, gratefulness and mediocrity of following may end no better for our worthy Knickerbocker Mayor. It would bo premature to prophesy how Mr. Havemeyer will close his political career, and, a fortiori, it would be folly to speak of the future fortune reserved for our respected President whom the Mayor happens in many points to resemble. It suggests the query, Is this class of man the result of all our reforming? Levelling the Lorgnette—The Coup @oil of the Operatic and Salvini Seasons. That flutter is in the amusement air which presages a musical and dramatic storm. The final engagements have been made by man- agers, the last contracts have been signed, the ultimate proposals have been made and ac- ceded to or rejected, as the case may be, the advertisements have been printed, the placards are ubiquitous, the libretti are publishing, and through the early September lull steal the stir and rustle of along-expected emotion. Let us try to believe that the impresarii who appeal to us have been unwontedly industrious dur- ing the summer of which the golden bowl has just been broken. To pique public taste and then to satisfy it are not such easy feats as may at first appear. Each of the gentlemen who during the pending season intend offering a strong attraction has had experience which should qualify him for the task. It is not for us tocompare the relative risks and predict tri- umph for this one or failure for that. All that we are concerned with is whether the attraco- tion in each case is as strong as the claims put forward by the manager represent it to be. In one or two instances the decision imposes no burden; in the remainder it is not so easy. It requires little discernment, for example, to foretell that an artist who was greatly and deservedly popular here a season or two ago, and who has had every opportunity since of perfecting her method and deepening her culture, will resume her old sway the moment she steps before an audience not one of whom. forgets her. This is Mme. Nilsson’s preroga- tive. We all remember the charm of her first season among us, the enchantment of her second. Her concert season in the United States was but a stay to public appetite, bid- ding it content itself awhile until the fall operatic repast was spread. We all remember what were those fascinations which secured her an exceptional rank as a lyric artist—the purity which lifted a réle like Violetta beyond its voluptuous level, and preserved to one like Mignon tho artlessness and intensity native to its temperament. It was natural to expect that the vicissitudes of years, by en- riching the experience of the artist, would provide her with more valuable material for those sub-creative processes which an original individualization may be said toemploy. It was inevitable that those who admired her intelligently should look forward to the time when the creative powers of her genius should have acquired stronger impulses and exercise themselves upon a wider variety of themes. That time has now arrived. The more pas- sionate experiences of a maturer womanhood, when used to serve a well-defined artistic purpose, never fail to give additional strength and decision to the vague virginal touch. The outlines of the artist’s impersonations are af once more delicate, more distinct, less capable of being mistaken; the inspiration takes exacter shape, flowing into a more perfect mould, and the deeper personal experiences of the woman lend a richer and subtler poetic color to a gradually widening circle of ideals. Work commensurate with these expecta- tions is what the public has a right to ask of Mme. Nilsson; and if a corresponding ad- vance is offered by M. Capoul, and if Signor Campanini justifies the reputation which two seasons in London have conferred upon him, the season of the Messrs. Strakosch at the Academy of Music can searcely fail to rank among the most memorable in America. The hour has not yet arrived for establishing any comparison between the engagements secured for the Academy and those made for the Grand Opera House. Of the natureand extent of Mme. Lucca’s accomplishments the pub- lic has too recently had an opportunity of judging for more thana remark to be neces- sary on that head. Probably there will be as. much interest in going to hear a singer who, like Signor Tamberlik, is nearing the end of his career, a8 one who, like Lucca, has only lately crossed the bright, precarious threshold. We do not know that any who are familiar with Tamberlik’s present capability as an artist belicve that they have any cause to re- gret the lateness of his visit, other than that it is pleasant to have enjoyed genius in the flower of its youth, and to have accompanied it in its progress toward mellowness. Finally, amid all the applauso bestowed by New Yorkers upon bad acting and worse plays, there is a strong sentiment in favor of that sterling histrionic power which performa for the thought of the dramatist what Provi- dence performed for the dust of the earth, and gives it human form and breathes into it the breath of life. Jf Salvini can do this he is tha