The New York Herald Newspaper, December 7, 1873, Page 8

« ares > 8 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR jo. 341 Volume XXXVIII. ¥ AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW EVENING, NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Houston ata—Tuk CHILDREN IN THE Woop, WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteentn strect.—Homx, UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Union square, near Broadway.—Lep AstRay. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st.— Evwaynopy's Friznp,'&c, Afternoon and evening. BROADWAY THEATRE, 728 and 73) Broadway.—A Duns. GRAND OPERA HOUS: ighth ay. and Twenty-third 6L—Humrrr Dumrry Aaron. PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn, opposite City Hall.— BICHELIRU. FIFTH AVENUF THEATRE, 28th st and Broadway.— Oxp Heaps anp Young Heanrs, LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth st.—Stitt Warers A Buve in 4 Cua Sav. BOOTH'S THEATRE, Sixth ay. and Twenty-third st — Biren Vox. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Mth street and Irving place.— Zama METROPOLITAN THEATR Bwrenrainaent, ps MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE,— Gannva Coss, 885 Broadway.—V artery THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 514 Broadway.—Vanietr Eqremrainment. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston end Bleecker sis.—Tus Marsix Hrakr, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Vanusry Extentainuent. BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner Sixth av.—NxGuo Minstreusy, &c. RAIN HALL, Great Jones street, between Broadway and Bowery.—Tax Pucria. THE RINK, 8d avenne and 64th street,—Mrxaceris AND Moseum. Afternoon ani evening, QUADRUPLE SHERT. Dec. 7, 1873. New York, Sund THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. | To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. ‘THE FRENZY OF THE SPANISH OUTLAW: WAR WITH THE SPANIARDS AND FR DOM FOR CUBA"—LEADING ARTICLE— E1cntH Page. WAR WITH SPAIN MORE IMMINENT: GENERAL SICKLES RESIGN HIS POST! THE SLAVEHOLDERS’ HELLHOUNDS IN CUBA RESOLVE 70 RESIST THE ORDERS FROM MADRID, AND TO HOLD THE VIRGINIUS, DELARE WAR UPON AMEKICA AND HANG CASTELAR! IMM PERIL OF RESI- DENT AMERICANS, WITHOUT NAVAL PRO- TECTION! A RUMORED AMICABLE AD- SUSTMENT—Firti Pace. SPANISH INSURGENT SORTIE FROM GENA! THE LEADER OF THE BE: FORCES REPLAVED BY @ VALA—NINTH Pace, BAZAINE'S DEGRADATION AND EXECUTION DEMAN CUTORS—IMPO. NINTH Pace. “DEATH TO PROT. ATTACK UPO. SUBSEQUENT | TURICE DOOMED TO DEATH! A VERY SINGU- LAR MURDER CASE IN ILLINOIS—Tsy7H Page. SPECIAL ITEMS FROM THE NATION CAPE | TAL—THE BANQUET OF THE ST. NICHO- | LAS SOCIETY—TentH Pace. | ITALIAN OPERATIC SUCC IN AMERICA ! | PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS! THE DRA- MATIC AMUSEM S$ OF OUR ENGLISH | COUSINS — LITERARY RESUME — Sgventu Pace. THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL REFORMATION ! DR. THOMPSON ON BISHOP CUMMINS, THE SCHISM, AND RITUALISM—SixTH PAGE. SERVICES 1N THE NEW Y(@iK AND BROOKLYN SANCTUARIES TO-DAY! BISHOP CUMMINS’ REFORMED CHURCH! CHANGES AMONG THE DIVINES—SixTH PaGE. A LIBERAL REFORM MOVEMENT AMONG THE | QUAKERS—THE ANTIPATHY TO MR, GEORGE H. WILLIAMS FOR CHIEF JUS- TICE—PASSAIC'’S FATAL BUILDING RUIN— TENTH PAGE. THE ELDRIDGE-MAcMAHON I. PED BY MUTUAL CON: THE LADY'S TESTIMONY! THOSE LETTERS TO BE BURNED--TENTH Pay, FINANCIAL AND COMM. YE STRONG—LHE NEWARK RING Page. THE CURRENCY PROBLEM—A DOUBLE SALAR GRAB LEGALIZED—THE OLD “Ri AGAIN SCARED--SHARKEY’S ESCAP THIRTEENTH PAGE. EL SUIT DROP- NAL MOVEMENTS Sravery rm Cusa exists under and is main- | tained by Spanish authority. The Cuban patriots have abolished it in their constitution and as faras their power goes. By support- ing Spanish rule we rivet the fetters of the slaves, By helping the patriots, even indi- rectly through recognizing thera as belliger- ents, this remnant of barbarism will be swept away. Tae Kansas.—The United States steamer Kansas, which sailed for Cuban waters under the command of Commander Allen V. Reed, has undoubtedly suffered some serious acci- dent to her machinery. In naval circles it is hardly believed that she has foundered, and | We see no reason for unnecessary alarm. Com- mander Reed is a fine officer, having gradu- ated No. 1 in his class, and he would he com- petent for any emergency. It seems prob- able that the Kansas has put into some port | @nder sail, and into one not in easy commune cation with the ordinary routes of travel. She | was, in every respect, @ seaworthy vessel when she sailed from the Brooklyn yard. Spams Is Sxmrcn at Dreromatic Fravps, and it is doubtful if evon the distinguished Castelar is not acting in accordance with the spirit and practice of the nation. While ap- pealing for support in his efforts to establish republic, and asking the forbearance of the United States in the Virginius affair, is he not, as a Spaniard, first and above every thing else, humbugging the government at Washing- ton? All governments in Spain, the most liberal, 60 called, as well as the most despotic, have pursued the same atrocious policy tow- ard Cuba, It is doubtfut if Castclar has the will or the power to change that, There can ‘be no guarantee of peace with Spain in the fature, or of avoiding continual difficulties about Cuba, but through the independence of the island. | honor, and we declared it to be the duty of ERDAY! THE BANKs' REPORT! GOLD | ELEVENTH | J NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, DEUEMBER 7, 1878—QUADRUPLE SHEET. Whe Frenzy Of ene spanish Outlaws— | There must be no furthor delay for diplomatic War with the Spantards and Free- dom tor Cuba, When the intelligence of the seizure of the Virginius and the swift murder of some of her passengers at Santiago de Cuba first aroused the indignation of the American nation the Henatp called upon our government to take such decisive action as, under like cireum- stances, would have been taken by England, Germany or any other great Power. We in- sisted that it was within the province, as it was the duty, of the President, without the previous authorization of Congress, to reclaim our property, to guard our flag from further insult and to protect the lives of the unfortu- nate beings who still remain alive in the hands of the Spanish butchers. We urged that this could not be effectually done unless such vessels as could be immediately pressed into service were sent to Santiago to en- force the demand for the surrender of the Virginius and her people, The President and his advisers preferred to at- tempt the accomplishment of these ends through diplomatic negotiations with Madrid, and forthwith we were assured from official quarters that the Castelar government repu- diated the action of the Cuban authorities, had despatched orders to the Captain General to suspend further executions, and was pre- pared to make reparation for the injuries we had suffered, While the partisan organs of the administration and the Hessian press, sub- sidized by Spain, were glorifying this prospect of a peaceful and honorable termination of the difficulty, we cautioned the President and his advisers that any paper settlement they might make with the authorities at Madrid would be torn to pieces and scattered to the winds by the volunteers and the ruffians of the Casino Espaiiol. We insisted that the only way to insure the safety of the remaining prisoners, to secure reparation for the present outrage and protection for the future, was to oceupy, with our own forces, the island of Cuba. The first proof of the soundness of our posi- tion came in the intelligence of the slaughter of poor Fry and his fellow victims; the next through our valuable special despatches from Madrid, which set forth the demands made by our government and disclosed the opposition | they had encountered from some of the mem- | bers of the Spanish Cabinet, as well as from the Spanish mob. Our citizens will recall the stupid efforts of the Cheap Jack journals to discredit our information ; efforts which were not abandoned until the recapitulation of the | demands in the Preside it’s Message confirmed our correspondent’s despatches. When we knew the terms that had been submitted to Madrid as the conditions of a peaceful settle- ment we applauded the honorable position taken by our government and professed our willingness to do all in our power as the lead- ing journal of the United States to strengthen its hands, We decried any further criticism of the acts of the administration, since it seemed resolved to maintain the national all good citizens to give the government in the hour of danger a generous, confiding and hearty support. Atthe same time we had no faith in the power of the Castelar government to enforce | the terms of the proposed settlement in Cuba, even if they should be accepted in Madrid. We again cautioned Mr. Fish that Spain holds | | no real power in Cuba; that the volunteers and the pirates and slavers of the Casino Espafiol—as has been said in the Spanish Senate—are the real rebels of the island; that after the settlement had been made on paper it would still have to be enforced with can- non and bayonets at Havana. When the Fish- Polo protocol appeared ; when it was known that we had retreated from our demands and made a compromise unsatisfactory to the | people, insufficient for the vindication either of honor or justice, damaging to the princi- ples we bad upheld at the cost of war, and destitute of security for the future, we saw | with pain that our government had degraded the nation for the sake of securing a hollow truce. Peace it could not be called; for the outrages and insults for which it | was to be an insufficient atonement might be | negotiations or through erroneous notions of expediency. It would not be creditable to the American Republic if she were not prepared ata short notice to deal with an island close at her doors, whose authorities have been un- able in five years to suppress a rebellion such as has existed in Cuba, and an effete nation, three thousand miles away, whose hands are already tied by the cords of civil war, Our government appears at last to have become convinced of the fact we have long insisted upon—that Castelar and his friends are utterly powerless in Cuba and unable to enforce their paper decrees. But the same infatuation which led to a long diplomatic correspondence, in the hope of preserving peace, now seems to drag us back and hold our arms when war is inevitable. Why is our administration thus palsied? Do the authori- ties at Washington fear that we are not pre- pared for hostilities? We must certainly bo in a better condition for war than Spain or Cuba can be, and if we are dallying with tho Spanish government for the purpose of gain- ing time we must not forget that we are also affording our enomies an opportunity to make preparations to meet our attack. This policy of hesitation is deplorable. The blow we have been driven to give should be dealt at once. With as little delay as is required for their transportation we should land twenty- five thousand men at Matanzas, holding that port as our base of operations. The railroad from Havana to Matanzas being in our pos- session, we should at once isolate the former city, and our fleet would do their proper work outside its harbor. A proclama- tion of freedom to the slaves should be our first act of possession. Our government should place in the hands of the Cubans and the colored population still held in servitude fifty thonsaud stands of arms, with sufficient ammunition, and should land on the eastern part of the island such Cubans and volunteers as may select to fight under the Cuban ban- ner. A strong colored force could be raised in New York at once; men who would do good service in the field and incite the rising of their own race against the Spaniards in all parts of the island. The President should place the fasts before Congress without delay, and ask for power to protect with the army and navy the lives and property of our cit- izens. The policy of diplomatic procrastination for the sake of making preparations is a fatal error and may cost us many valuable lives. A war has been cruelly and brutally forced upon us. Letit be made short, sharp and decisive; and while we deplore its necessity let us re- member that its sacrifices will not be without some recompense if it sweeps from existence the last vestige of human slavery. Actrvr Preparations are still the order of the day, we are gratified to report, at our navy yards, fortifications and arsenals. Secretary Fish and Admiral Polo may fail in getting out the Virginius, and if they do fail the country will expect Secretaries Robeson and Belknap to take the matter in hand. Captain Fry’s Letter. It is a matter of no common occurrence for a man in the full flush of health to be called suddenly to take an eternal farewell of all that his heart holds dearest. When this demand is made and the circumstances are such that the world’s attention is directed to it, that world is apt to listen respectfully to the words and watch the conduct of the man, and feel for the moment the empti- ness of life compared with the beauty of a heroic death. Sneh a spectacle as this was presented on the evening of November 6. The scene was the Bay of Cuba, over which the moon peacefully shone. The locality was the Spanish man-of-war La Tornado, The man was Captain Joseph Fry, and the transaction was a letter which Captain Fry was writing to his wite. There are very few personages in this little tragedy— a man about to die, and his wife hundreds of miles away, unconscious of his fate. The scene is one of those paradoxes which Provi- dence brings about, contrasting the beauty | and peacefulness of nature with the distortion and agony of man. That letter has since been repeated by the Spanish Cubans before the ink with which the protocol was written had | dried on the page. But we repeated our warnings to the administration at Washington | that the conditions of the protocol, tame and | dishonorable as they are, would not be com- | plied with at Havana, and that the outlaws who had insulted our flag and butchered those who had trusted their lives to its protection | would not hesitate to resist forcibly the orders | of their own authorities. What picture is presented to us to-day? | While our people have been surteited with | | | rose-colored ‘lies diplomatic’’ from official | sources at Washington, and nanseated with | the fulsome praise bestowed upon the admin- istration by its organs for its ‘‘honorable set- tlement’’ of the Virginius difficulty, our special despatches from Havana and Santiago | de Cuba afford us a glimpse of the condition of affairs in those cities. The people in | open revolt against the home government ; | the Colonial Minister told that the orders he brings from Madrid will not be obeyed ; the volunteers holding councils of ‘war and dictating terms to Spain and the United States; the American Consulate | guarded by troops; the life of a Henaxp corre- spondent openly threatened; the American sidents at Havana in danger of being mas- sacred as relentlessly as the Virginius captives were butchered at Santiago, and no United States war vessel in the harbor to protect them from the fury of a bloodthirsty rabble ! The froth and bluster of the Spanish Cuban press and of the ruffians of the Casino Es- pafiol may well pass unnoticed, for they are the bombast of fools and cowards ; but we can no longer close our eyes to the fact that the orders of the Madrid government cannot be enforced in Cuba; that the humiliating | terms upon which we have agreed to settle | this crowning outrage are cast back in our faces with words of defiance, and that even if we should succeed in obtaining possession of | the Virginius bya trick which would be no | surrender, we cannot hope hereafter to re- | | main at peace and to live in good neighbor- hood with the outlaws who rule in Cuba, The time for words has gone by—the mo- ment of action has arrived. he fiat must go | forth, “Cuba shall be free!'’ In that alone shall we secure satisfactory indemnity for the past and complete security for the future. The blood shed at the slaughter house wall of San- tiago must consecrate the soil to freedom. published, and very touching it is. It will be republished wherever the English language is | understood, for it strikes one of the tenderest chords in the harp of home affection. It is full of that poetry which sometimes comes to the most commonplace man or woman in the sudden prospect of death. It is the purest breathing of conjugal and parental affection, at a moment when all the dross subsides from earthly passion and the heart is left clean and pure upon the brink of the grave. At that sad hour, with all that is grand and sweet in life fading away, and the amazement of the tomb confronting him, Captain Fry com- pressed his thonghts with a simple eloquence that is not always attained by a practiced writer, even under the inspiration of a sympathetic theme. He avers that the angnish of his wife is his sole regret in dying, mentions with a very pardonable pride the proofs of respect and attachment he has re- ceived, even from the president of the court martial, expresses the satisfaction of a gentle- man in having been recognized as one, com- mends himself to the children whom he is forever leaving, adjures his wife to turn for consolation to Him alone who permits this fearful agony, bids her not dread death, for that when it comes it will come as an angel of rest, and announces, with the dignity of a man whose face is damp with the breeze from the unknown world, that he dies in the religion of his childhood. Wherever the story of the Virginius outrage shall go the story of this letter will go too. It is o letter that many an eye will weep to read, and that any man at such an extremity might envy the power of being able to write. Tue Anarrivs.—The Spanish iron-clad which has been undergoing repairs at the Brooklyn dry dock, being at length ready for sea, would have been off but for some unfore- seen accidents that have resulted in hor deten- tion. For instance, on Friday last the flood- gates of the dock were out of gear and conld not be made to work, and yesterday, as bad luck would have it, at two o'clock in the morning, a barge laden with two hundred tons of coal sprung aleak and went down right in front of the gateway of the dock, com- pletely blocking the passage. We presume thatthe barge was drifted against the dock by the tide; but we have not heard ag yet that | any of the sailors went down with the sinking vessel, The Would-Be Martyr, De Couto, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of tho Chureh."” Some ecstatic minds in all ages have aspired to suffering foran idea. They longed to be “planted,” that their bone dust and blood might be the manure of their idea, if not its actual seed, to seek sunlight in future ages. This is pleasant for the idea, but it is the death of the man, Life has its allurements, and if a man can give his cause the benefit of martyrdom without actually suffering it, so much the better for the man. it involves a delusion some- where to accomplish this. Circumstances beyond the man’s control may place the spurious crown of martyrdom upon his brow, or he may manufacture it himself. Unfortunately, circumstances are not to be trusted, and the man who would have a martyr’s crown and live is reduced to the somewhat felonious level of counterfeiting the martyrdom. ‘This is sad, when the cause is as deserving as that of the brutes of the Casino Espafiol, and when the man already carries so many claims, to the astonishment of humble humanity, as Don José Ferrer de Couto, Knight of the Order of Santiago, Commander of the Royal Américan Order of Isabel la Catélica, Knight of the Order of Charles III., Honorary Member of the Mexican Geographical and Statistical Society, Fellow of the Commission of the History of Spanish Infantry, of the Royal Academy of Archrology and Geography of Madrid, and High Cockalorum of Spanish chivalry generally, This extraor- -dinary creature occupies the unpreten- tious position of editing a Spanish sheet in this city. This isa shame on the face of it, for the Casino Espafiol might easily give its exhaustively titled champion more glorious occupation than furnishing fun for the Ameri- can people, who occasionally split their sides over his lucubrations when the Heratp gives them circulation. Don José Ferrer de Couto sees the ridiculousness of his position; as a Knight of the Order of (Butchers ?) Santiago he wishes himself well out of it; as Com- mander of the Royal American Order of Isabel la Catélica he would get out of his attic chair by finding an excuse that would hold water at Havana; as Knight of the Order of Charles IIL he thinks of impending martyrdom ; as Honorary Member of the Mexican Geograph- ical and Statistical Society he approves of the idea and looks about for a chance; as Fellow of the Commission of the History of Spanish Infantry of the Royal Academy of Archeology and Geography of Madrid he writes such tirades on America that he thinks we must be mad to be rid of him; but finding that nobody will take any notice of him whatever, he resolves to spread the report that the Presi- dent has asked somebody to ask his lawbooks if the High Cockalorum of Spanish chivalry generally cannot be imprisoned for writing peppery nonsense at the dictates of his mas- ters. Too bad, too bad! That ever a man so gifted with titular appendages should find himself in such grievous plight for martyr- dom is sore distressing. He feels bad. So, indeed, did his illustrious brother, Don Quixote de la Mancha, feel as he sat watching his rusty armor by night, hoping vainly against hope that he would be arrested for any thing but lunacy; so may a veteran “bummer” feel who, wanting ten days’ board and lodg- ing on the Island, shams drunkenness only to find that the sergeant at the station house detects the fraud and orders the wretch to have the restoration of his liberty, accelerated by the patrolman’s boot. A hard world it is for the homeless vagabond; a harder world it was for the forlorn and crazy Knight of Cervantes; but who shall say with what heavy fardel this life of disappointment weighs upon the unsuccessful aspirant to spurious martyrdom embodied in that polyonomous «entity, Don Jose Ferrer de Couto, Knight of the Order of Santiago, Commander of the Royal American Order of Isabel la Catdlica, Knight of the Order of Charles III., honorary member of the Mexican Geographical and Statistical Society, Fellow of the Commission of the His- tory of Spanish Infantry, of the Royal Academy of Archeology and Geography of Madrid and High Cockalorum of Spanish chivalry generally? We cannot help sympa- thizing with him, and we are certain that the great heart of the American nation will give him a throb of condolence. Why, the alliga- tors of Florida will shed silent crocodile tears for him if he only breathes to them the secret of his woe. What makes our condolence more painful is that we can do nothing to help him. He is harmless, and he knows it, and we all know it. He may rave in Spanish, but we can only smile at that. It is too good a joke to have o real, original champion of the Casino in our midst to be angry with him. We would give him some advice if we knew to which of his titles we had best address ourselves. His entire being would take too long to absorb it. This may account for his quaint misunderstanding of our institutions, which led him to thmk that a threat of imprisonment would be believed in America for no other offence than using ugly words in Spanish. The advice, however, is to give up all ideas of martyrdom in New York. Let him go to Havana and wait the arrival of our ships of war, when, if the Casino Espafiol want martyrdom, he and they can have it together. But he really can- not be accommodated otherwise, although the invitation to immure him comes from a series of hidalgic individuals claiming one body which calls itself everything in the calendar of bombastic falutinism from Don José Ferrer de Couto down to that cramming of swashbuckler- ism intoa phrase which struts, frets and pines for cheap glory under the stunning guise of the High Cockalorum of Spanish chivalry gen- erally. How the Cuban-Spanish Trouble Might Have Been Avoided. A weak and trimming policy on the part of great governments is sure to lead to trouble, and most likely to war. History shows this to be true, Nations, as well as individuals, presume upon the exhibition of weakness in those with whom they have difficulties. Had General Grant followed the generous and pat- riotic impulse of his nature, which accorded with the sentiment of the country, five years | ago, and had recognized the Cubans as bellig- erents, the war would bave been ended, prob- ably, and Cuba would have been an indepen- dent American State, His friend and Secre- tary of War, the damented General Rawlins, ty showed both wisdom and Liberality in this matter; but after his death the President succumbed to the timid, un-American and pro-Spanish policy of Secretary Fish and the coterie of Spanish agents that influenced the State Department. The recognition of the Cubans as belligerents would rot have been a cause of war, and it would only have been even-handed justice to Spain for her recogni- tion of the confederates and the aid she afforded them during our civil war. But that opportunity was lost, and we are now suffer- ing the consequences. May we hope the les- son will not be lost? The time has come for decided and vigorous action. If even wo escape war, which seems hardly possible, the way to settle the Cuban question is to recog- nize the Cubans as belligerents. Cusan Hirauutin.—There is an editor in Cuba who says that if the Virginius is given up he will leave the island forever; and he clearly supposes that this is equivalent to giving it up to desolation and ruin, In his notion of his own importance he somewhat resembles General Grant's editorial bull pup in this city ; but we fancy that his readiness to leave the islynd if the ship is given up will, be‘as nothing to his eagerness to get away if she is not given up. The Religious Press on the New Epis- copal Departure and Other Pertinent Topics. Our religious contemporaries devote more attention than usual this week to the current topics of the day. Among these may be enumerated the new departure in the Episco- pal Church, led off by Bishop Cummins; the polity of the Plymouth church, the new Chief Justice, the war with Spain, the Presi- dent's Message, the vindication of Justice as exhibited in the case of Tweed, Ingersoll and Company, the wreck of the French steamer and other matters of present interest. The Methodist, commenting upon the Cum- mins departure, remarks that ‘in the nature of the case the controversy cannot stand still. The Anglo-Catholics are thoroughly logical, and accept fearlessly every logitimate con- clusion from their principles. They are not Protestants, nor do they wish to be. The whole sacramental system—the sacrifice in the Eucharist, the mediatory priesthood, the priestly supremacy over the laity—is in the ideas which they profess to draw from the Prayer Book. In this country the confra- ternity of the Blessed Sacrament has already taken a distinctly Roman Catholic po- sition, and, though its proceedings are only known to us through the medium of the English papers, they have none the less excited consternation among moderate High Church men. The Evangelical Episco- palians are a declining party. They make no headway in their own Church, Timid and spiritless, they are easily swept down by the courageous assault of their antagonists. In Philadelphia, their centre of power, they have declined concurrence with Bishop Cummins, and, unkindest cut of all, they have repudiated him for doing what they themselves ought in consistency to da” The Melhodisi con- cludes: — It 1s said that Bishop Cummins has not the ele- ments 0: character essential to such leadership as he has aseumed, We do not know as to that, but he has ionesty, and that is much—a good record, and that is much; above all, he has courage, the quality in which Evangelical Episcopalians have hereto‘ore shown themselves deficient, Sometimes beginnings which are ridicuied accompish the greatest results. Bishop Cummins may fail—he ceitainly has the odds against him—but te will have successors, who will effect the reformation on which he has set his heart, The Methodist--which, by the way, since its typographical transformation, has become one of the ‘‘livest’’ religious papers of the day— also touches on ‘‘Mr. Beecher and his neigh- bors,’’ aud is not surprised that Plymouth church has resented the letter addressed to it by its two congregational neighbors. The Christian Union (Henry Ward Beecher) has nothing to say in regard to the present Plymouth church congregational imbroglio. After quoting Judge Davis’ remarks in pro- nouncing sentence upon Ingersoll, the editor says :— Words such as these, from a court of justice in this city, so long under the rule oi thieves, are like the introdaction of wholesome air into a building long befouled with unwholesome and deathly vapors. To Judge Davis are due the grateiul thanks of all good citizens for the firmness and im- partiaiity with which he has held the scales of jus- tice, and for the courage which le has shown in vindicating the outraged majesty o1 the law. The Christian at Work thinks there is some- thing to be thankful for in the conviction of Ingersoll and Farrington. ‘The citizen will breathe freer as he reads the news, and the protection of the courts will be no longer the meaningless thing it so long has been.’’ The Independent celebrates its twenty-fifth birthday, and that is all it does do, editorially. But it is full of advertisements, and ‘that’s what pays.’” The Christian Leader (Universalist, Rev. Dr. Chapin), talks about “shutting up the king- dom of heaven."’ This is worse than fencing in Niagara Falls and charging stamps for admission to view them, The Leader, under the above caption, criticises a sermon of the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, which is character- ized as an “explicit proclamation of the doc- trine of eternal torments.’’ The Christian Intelligencer devotes the most of its editorial space to the consideration of the Plymouth church matters, which, having been settled, have lost their public interest. The Observer, touching on the renunciation of Bishop Cummins, affirms that it is the leading topic of remark in religious circles, and in the words of a well known but now dethroned Tammany chieftain, asks, ‘‘What will they do about it?’’ The editor says “the movement is sustained by a considerable number of substantial laymen, and a few clergymen have given in their adhesion."' The Freeman's Journal gives an editorial upon the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which occurs to-morrow (Monday) and will be observed in all the dioceses of the proy- inces of New York and elsewhere. The Journal also indulges ia other topics of in- terest to its readers, The Kvangelist regards it as on important feature in the newly nominated Chief Justice that he has an “iron frame.’’ The Mvangelist does not often indulge in irony, The Catholic Review asks :—‘‘Would it not be in order, in view of the increasing devo- tion throughout the world to tho Sacred Heart, for the province of New York to petition the Holy See to hasten, so far as can be done, the canonization of the Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque?'’ The Church and State, commenting upon the new Episcopal movement, says:—‘Much a6 this movement meets with our disapproval, Sa tee and impossible as we find it to reconcile these proceedings with our convictions of duty, it would be vain to deny its significances and the merest folly to disregard the tendencies which it indicates." The Chicago Interior sympathizes with the Rey. Mr. Cheney's (coadjutor with Bishop Cummins in the new departure) theology, but not with his way of maintaining it. It thinks that Mr. Cheney's true course was to submit to censure or leave the Church. The Jewish Times elaborates upon the Holy Scriptures, averring that those are the true friends of the Bible who divest it of its super- natural, miraculous character, and is proud to say that the Jews themselves, the custodians of that treasure, are first and foremost im presenting it to the world in its true light, and thus contribute to the work of emancipa- tion from the yoke of a false religion, im- posed upon mankind by means of a gross misrepresentation of the Bible. We are glad to notice that religious revivals are occurring in various parts of the country, especially in North Carolina, where there ix such ample room for the dispensing of diving grace, among the Methodists. Poxontus wis @ famous Sectetary of State in his time, though he was once taken for a fishmonger ; and Mr. Fish’s resemblance to the garrulous, meddlesome and feeble old man is marvellous. In his diplomatizing with Admiral Polo he was first able to agree that the case of the Virginius was like a camel, then that it was backed liko a weasel, and, finally, he understands that it is very like a whale. Leading Ladies and First Old Women. Scarcely anything is more notorious than the fastidiousness of actors and actresses who have acquired some small reputation with respect to¥heir acceptability of certain réles which they may be called upon to perform. A suit, which has just been determined in favor of the defendant, and which was brought by an English actress who a season or two ago hada share in leading parts at our prin- cipal comedy theatre, is an amusing and not an uninstructive instance of this. The actress affirmed that she had been engaged as leading lady by the manager of a theatro on East Fourteenth street, but that some months after the season began he wanted her to appear as the Baroness in ‘Frou-Frou.’’ This sho indignantly refused to do, alleging that the réle of the Baroness was usually given to that member of a stock company technically designated as “first old woman.’’ The conse- quence was that the actress ceased to be member of the theatro in question, and the injury done to her feelings and pocket resulted in the suit we have just mentioned. Now, there are a certain kind and degree of profes- sional pride which are to be respected. They are those which render it impossible for an actress ever to do anything but her best. In the present instance the part of the Baroness happens to be more than usually brilliant, considering that it is not the most prominent in the piece. Itis full of sharp and sound- ing cynicisms, glittering verbal stings and biting rejoinders, uttered by @ woman of the first fashion, who givos fascinating but dangerous advice to the heroine. In fact, it is a part which even a leading lady, with laurels fresh upon her, need not by any means despise. And as for the imagined loss of professional prestigo which the occasional assumption of such a réle is supposed to entail, that is the sheerest nonsense, for which tho vanity of the ‘indi- vidual, and not the conscience of the artist, is responsible. We have no admiration for so mordant and acrid a tenacity, and think that the sooner such leading ladies as indulge in it are reminded that certain ‘first old woman” réles are not too insignificant for them the better. It is better to shine asa ‘firs’ old woman” than to flicker as a leading lady. Mr, Fisn has been weighed in his own scales and is found wanting. The United States Minister at Madrid ‘‘doubted the sin- cerity” of the Spaniards in the terms made through Polo. He apparently knew the true character of the men with whom he was deal- ing and knew when the point was reached at which fighting was imperatively necessary ; but poor old Fish insisted on a little more gabble, thinking the Spaniards could not pos- sibly resist his wonderiul skill in negotiation, and we hope he is proud of the result. Tae News rrom Mexico speaks of a pro vincial riot, produced by religious dissension and nativist intolerance, and of serious, and rather alarming, progress on the part of tha revolutionists in Yucatan. This is not health. ful for the material interests of the Republic, although it is said that the national territory is just now peaceful at all other points. The Prize Fighters’ Paradise. Pennsylvania can take the palm. Tho old “Keystone State” can take rank as the prize fighters’ paradise in this country. And hardly a paradise, after all; for, inasmuch as the first recalcitrant sinners were expelled from the original paradise, the authorities of Pennsyl- vania failed to expel the prize fighting sinnora who trespassed upon her sacred soil on the 3d inst. It seems that, notwithstanding unusual publicity had been given to the matter, all the preliminary arrangoments for a regular “mill” between two bruisers from Newark, N. J., were allowed to be perfected in the populous borough of Wilkesbarre, in Luzerne county, and the combatants, with their friends, permitted to depart openly for the scene of conflict, a few miles from the borough, where the ring was staked, without a word, sign or token of opposition from the local or county authorities. Everything wasiu readiness for the “battle.” One castor was cast into the ring (which is generally a square), and the gnarled muscular developments of one gladiator gave indications to his backers that they were safe in their calculations that he would prove the “better man.’’ (They were mostly betting men on the ground.) Alas, however, for human pluck and human forti- tude! The heart of the party of the other part failed him when he was 1 to the serateh, and he gat whimpering, like whipped school- boy, in his corner, pleading for a postpone- ment of the fight on account of injurics al- leged to have beon received the night before from some of the other side, but which inju- ries wore proved to be fabulous, according ta our reporter's description. And now ensued ascene that baffles description. It was not only a question whether twa pugnacious indi. 4 /