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

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the gear, Four cents per copy, Annual subscription price $12. Volume XXXVIIZ............cceseseres Oe 342 — "AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston and Bleecker sts.—Tux Marsie Heart, between Prince and Woop. NIBLO’S GARDEN, Broadway, Houston sis —Tux CuiLDREN IN Titk WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteentn street.—Home, UNION SQUARE THEATRS, Union square, near Broadway.—Lep AsTRAY. woop's MUS! , Broadway, corner Thirtieth st.— Ryruvvopy’s Fruxp, &c. Afternoon and evening. BROADWAY THEATRE, 728 and 730 Broadway.—A Oran. st.—Humery Dumpty ApKoa! PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn, opposite City Hall— @icHRLIED, FIFTH AVENU. th st. and Broadway.— Ouv Nwavs and LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth st—Srit, Waters 4@ Bui in 4 Cuina Suor. BOOTH’S THEATRE, Sixth ay. and Twenty-third st— Eiuwen O0Gr. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, lsth street and Irving place.— Carma. METROPOLITAN THEATRE, 585 Broadway.—Vanierr ENTERTAINMENT. MRS. F. B. CONWA Geneva Cross, BROOKLYN THEATRE.— THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 514 Broadway.—Vanierr Eytentaiene, TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Vaniery ENT&RTAINMENT. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner Sixth ay,—Necro Minstretsy, &c BAIN HALL, Great Jones street, between Broadway and Bowery.—Tux Pircria, THE RINK, $4 avenue and 61th street.—MeNaGeRIz AND Museum. Afternoon and evening, TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Monday, Dec. 8, 1873. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. Ko-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “THE NOMINATION FOR CHIEF JUSTICE! AN ABUSE UF POWER”—LEADING ARTICLE— SixTH PAGE, VAINGLORIUUS HIDALGODOM PREPARING TO SURRENDER THE VIRGINIUS IN A WAY TO AVOID INJURY TO THEIR FEELINGS! THE VESSEL TO BE SENT TO SPAIN TO “FIRE THE SPANISH HEART!” BURRIEL RETURNS TO THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE— SBVENTH PaGE. 4 MULTITUDE OF REASONS WHY CUBA SHOULD BE ACCORDED BELLIGERENT RIGHTS! APPEAL OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC TO PRESIDENT GRANT! THE SANGUINARY WAR WAGED AGAINST THE PATRIOTS AND THE AMERICAN POLICY—Fovrta Pags. PEREMPTORY ORDERS FOR A COMBINED LAND AND NAVAL ATTACK UPON CARTAGENA SAID TO HAVE BEEN ISSUED BY THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT! SMALLPOX AND CHOLERA RAVAGES IN ESTELLA! CAS- TELAR AND SALMERON RECONCILED— * SEVENTH Pace. THE MID-ATLANTIC HORROR! ARRIVAL OF THE CREW OF THE LOCH EARN IN ENG- ‘LAND! SHE ALSO GOES TO THE BOTTOM! INHUMAN AND DISGRACEFUL CONDUCT OF THE OFFICERS AND CREW OF THE VILLE DU HAVRE—SEVENTH PaGE. THE SINKING OF THE VILLE DU HAVRE, THE RIGHTEOUS PUNISHMENT OF THE “RING” ROBBERS, BISHOP CUMMINS’ NEW DE- PARTURE AND FREE DIVORCE, AS RE- VIEWED BY THE DIVINES YESTERDAY— EiguTH PaGE. ELEVEN CARDINALS AND FOUR NUNCIOS TO BE CREATED IN PAPAL CUONSISTORY ON TBE 22D 1NST.—BAZAINE’S DEFENCE— SEVENTH PaGE. GRAND CATHOLIC CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, 10-DAY—FAIR POR THE FRIENDLESS—Firtu Pace, RULING FRANCE! THE PLOTS AND HOPES OF THE LEADING FACTIONS STRUGGLING FOR THE MASTERY! WHAT IS ANTICIPATED FROM A PLEBISCITE—SevENTH Pace. AFTER THE EXPOSITION! THE AMERICAN COM- MISSIONERS AT VIENNA SECURING EX- HIBITS FOR THE PHILADELPHIA INTER- NATIONAL FAIR! EUROPEAN RULERS IN- VITED—TWELFTH Pace. THE IRISH NATIONAL MOVEMENT OUTLINED BY ITS LEADERS! THE AIM OF THE HOME RULE AGITATION! MR. BUTT'S OPINIONS! THE CONFERENCE IN DUB- LIN—Tuigp Pace. VALUE AND PLAN OF LIEUTENANT MAURY'S PROPOSED OCEAN STEAM LANES—THE REFORM CHURCH OF THE LATER LU- TRER—ELEVENTH PAGE. CORAL FISHING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN! IMPORTANT STATISTICS FROM THE ITAL- JAN MINISTRY OF COMMERCE! THE NA- TURE, QUALITIES AND COST OF OBTAIN- ING CORAL—Tuinp Pace. LITERATURE IN TH NGLISH CAPITAL! NEW BOOKS AND T AUTHORS—AID ASKED FOR THE ARCTIC HEROES—DEFENCE OF THE CAPIAIN UF THE SUNRISE—Firte Pack. FINANUIAL SCHEMES AND LESSONS! THE PERIL IN CURRENCY EXPANSION! THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK IN WALL STREET—Ninta Pace. Tae Kansas, we learn from a special Henatp despatch, is reported to be ashore on the Bahamas. While our correspondent gives this in 48 a rumor at Key West it should be said that it corresponds with the prevailing opinion in naval circles. Veny Impresstve CEREMONIES will be held in all the Catholic churches of New York to- day on the occasion of the dedication of the archdiocese to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The services at the Cathedral will be of an un- usually solemn character, and high mass will bo celebrated with all the grandeur and so- Jemnity characteristic of the Church of Rome. Tae Borcnen Burne, Rervrns To THE Stavonrer Hovsr.—Burriel, having been fated and applauded by the Havana rabble, and probably made a knight of some of the numer- ous orders of Spanish chivalry, is now on his way to the scene of his cold-blooded batch- eries, Itis a pity that too tender regard for international law may prevent Commander Cushing running the little savage up to the yardarm. Ho likes to have his swing, and we should like hugely to accommodate him in this particular, LL mr , NEW YURKK HERALD. MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1873,-T The Nomination for Chief Justice—An = Abuse of Power. Even the administration clague in the flunky press cannot applaud the appointment of Mr. Williams to the position of Chief Justice, which indicates two things of unequal im- portance—first, that the case for the govern- ment is deplorably bad, and, second, that the claqueurs are not altogether lost to shame. Nobody has a good word to say for the nomi- nation; yet it disappoints nobody. People had discounted it; it was largely and freely assumed that the worst possible appointment would be made. Any name would have pro- voked criticism, no doubt. But the little murmur that arises from the friends of the candidates who are neglected when a man is named for an office whom they respect, though they do not favor, is a very different noise from that raised by the general revolt of pub- lic intelligence against a nomination that is not merely a defiance of public opinion, but that is made in utter indifference to it, with- out so much as any but a contemptuous con- sideration that there is any public, or any opinion, or any other power but that of one individual will. Clearly enough the noise made over Mr. Williams’ appointment is of the latter sort. There is an outcry over the nomination, because nobody conceived that the legal adviser of the President through the Louisiana difficulties might ever come to be the head of that Court whose judgment on given cases can determine one way or the other—for the people or against them—nearly every principle on which our liberties rest. That is to say, there is an outery because a worse nomination has been made than was looked for, but everybody expected a bad one; and this general expectation—this assumption that the appointment would not involve any recognition of the character of the office or any endeavor to continue its great traditions—what is its significance? How comes it that the nation has beforehand made up its mind to the worst in regard to the discharge of grave and important functions of executive duty? Is there any other reason for it than that the people feel themselves to be in the hands of a personal power; that they recognize that there is no sense of responsi- bility to the people in the Executive, and that | office is only given through favor and personal service and is not bestowed as the recognition of public appreciation of great worth or great talent? Is irresponsible personal power already an acknowledged fact ? Although «we were apprehensive of an appointment like the one made we were not without hope that there was one office that the President’s advisers could not induce him thus to profane. We never speculated as to what man the President should choose for the place, but we endeavored to accumulate | in these columns the opinion of the Bench and Bar of the country on the two main points—what were the qualifications for the office and who among our great lawyers pos- sessed these qualifications in the most eminent degree. There can be no doubt that on such points the lawyers themselves are the best | authorities; just as the doctors are the most competent to say who is the best doctor; and, although professional and personal rivalries are apt somewhat to warp the judgment, great genius is universally recognized by the vast majority of laborers in the same field. In presenting to our readers, therefore, from time to time such a mass of testimony on this sub- ject as we did in the interviews of our corre- spondents with leading lawyers in all parts of | the country, we performed our legitimate function of instructing the people on a topic of great general interest. Indeed, as the opinions thus given were associated with the names of the eminent gentlemen who gave them, and as these names were worthy of the highest respect, our interviews might have served in this country to accomplish what is practically, if not professedly, done in every country having a well organized judi- ciary ; that is, the nomination for the highest judicial post would then have been made by the Bench and Bar themselves, and the Executive contented itself with giving to that nomina- tion legal force ; and we believe that no nom- ination to high judicial office is ever made in England without consideration of the opin- ions of the great lawyers ; and in France also this was a usage that only the corrupt days and the personal rule of the Empire put aside. Had the nomination of the lawyers been ac- cepted as made by our interviews, Mr. Evarts, of this city, or some other really emiment lawyer would have been Chief Justice by a large majority of the voices, and the position would have been filled as it should be. We are not aware whether the gentleman named would have made the sacrifices that we suppose he must have made to accept the position; but we cannot forget that when the country had a great suit in court; when it was called upon to argue its case before the Tribunal at Geneva, and knew that it would be opposed by the greatest legal talent that Great Brit- ain—a land of great lawyers—could array against it; when the standing or falling of the Executive before the country was involved in the fate of its case at Geneva; at that mo- ment the government was fully conscious of the wherabouts of great legal capacity, and the result proved the propriety of its choice of acounsel. Other facts in the history of that famous case are instructive, but scarcely to our credit. England’s counsel went home defeated, but his great service and his great endeavors were recognized, and he was made Lord Chancellor upon the falling vacant of that post of high honor. Our counsel came home victorious, and when a great judicial post fell vacant and great lawyers mentioned his name in connection with it he was passed over and the place was given away in official jugglery and Executive favor. How long can we pride ourselves on a system having such results? How futile are our constitutional guaran- tees! How pitiful are written restraints upon misgovernment and the abuse of power! Against improper appointments to offlce we suppose we have, in the first place, some as- surance in the President's sense of public pro- priety and national decency. It was thought that no man deficient in these could ever rise to such a point of honor in the eyes of the people that he could obtain the highest post within their gift. But, this assurance failing, we depend upon the Senate to reject a bad nomination ; and we are already assured that the Senate will confirm the nomination of Mr, Williams. In case of necessity it could, of course, bo done by the ‘‘party vote,’ inas- much as no conceivable iniquity could de- prive the Executive of that, Not to expect too much virtue in the Senate, however, it must be admitted that its confirmation of Mr. Williams’ nomination will stand on very dif- ferent ground morally from the President's act in presenting his name. Confirmation by the Senate does not discharge the President's responsibility, because the Senate may a8- sume that responsibility as in a great degree a guarantee for the man. It is not an act of public virtue to refrain from making a mischievously bad appoint- ment; but it would be an act of high moral courage, that no sane creature anticipates at the hands of the present Senate, to put itself in conflict with the Executive over an appoint- ment in which the main thing at stake is the respect, the reverence, which the people have for the office of Chief Justice—a reverence that may be easily crushed, but that generations will not restore. Our last provision against such wholesale abuse of the appointing power as has now culminated in the appointment of Mr. Williams is impeachment, and of course it would be ludicrous to consider the possi- bility of that remedy at present; for a blind, immoral power of party, right or wrong, in both houses will support whatever is done, with a self-satisfied conviction that it the deluge does come after, there will be little left for it to ruin. So all our contrivances, all our guarantees, all our constitutional restraints are vain and worthless; and we must simply accept the fact as we find it, that as the sol- diers littered their horses in the temple, so a badly advised Executive has put Mr. Williams, of Oregon, in the place once oceupied by John Marshall, of Virginia. Aspects of the Cuban Difficulty. Fortunately for themselves the Cubans seem to have found an ‘‘if,’’ more or less to their satisfaction, under cover of which they can accept the inevitable, and creep out of the position in which they have placed themselves by their magniloquent declarations of their own prowess and of their intention to die thousands of copsecutive deaths rather than yield a hair. Just now they are anxious only to yield, but are somewhat troubled as to how they shall compass that desirable result with the least possible appearance of submission. But a few days since there could be no sur- render; no power, no consideration on earth should change the resolution of the Cubans that the Virginius should never be given up. Now, however, they are content that the Vir- ginius shall be surrendered—if something else is done. Up to the present moment they haye suggested three conditions, in view of any one of which they will consent to bottle up their inextinguishable wrath and let the ship go. The first condition was that she should be handed over to a neutral Power, to be held till it should be legally decided who was right; the second was that she should be surrendered, and the United States compelled immediately after to pay a hundred million dol- lars damages; and the third is that she shall be sent from Havana, not to the United States, but to Spain, thence to be handed over to our authorities. All these wrigglings are amus- ingly indicative of the Cuban frame of mind, but they indicate none the less that Havana sees it is necessary to come down from her lofty position; only it is somewhat as if Captain Scott's coon should have tried to make a bargain with the famous hunter that she might be permitted to come down the tree in such a way that her neighbors and the world would never suspect that Captain Scott’s nile was the main inducement. The demand that the ship should be deliv- ered toa neutral Power was a logical conse- quence of one feeble point in our part of the negotiation with Spain. It was not insisted upon by our government that full reparation should absolutely be made; but part of the reparation was left to be contingent upon an investigation of the ship’s papers. We have already indicated that this was an error, inas- much as we had no right to interfere if the ship was not ours, and if she was ours no re- sult of inquiry could lessen our right to repa- ration. Into that bad place in our defences the Cubans naturally advanced the notion that if it was good to settle part of the difficulty after inquiry it would be good to settle all in that way. Their second fancy that they would give theship up and claim heavy damages for our having permitted her to sail from our ports is a funny attempt to apply to us the decision against England on the Alabama case. England paid fifteen millions for fitting out three privateers, and why should not the United States pay a hundred millions forone? They, of course, forgot that there is no war, and also forgot that the Virginius had not captured any of their ships or otherwise done them harm, but was only supposed to have a bad inten- tion. For the proposition to send the ship to Spain, to be thence handed over, they honestly giveareason. They are in hope that the sur- render of the vessel in a Spanish port would so offend the dignity of the Spanish nation as to excite the public mind to such a pitch that the present Ministry must surely fall; and they further hope and believe that the Re- public, which they hate, might possibly fall with it; in all of which the Madrid Ministry will probably not accommodate the people of the Casino. It may, indeed, be accepted as tolerably certain that the Spanish Ministry will not only not accommodate the Casino by damaging themselves in that particular way, but also that they will not venture a war through which they could not stand; and it may be further taken for granted that the Casino in its turn will not accommodate the patriots in arms in different parts of Cuba by plunging into a war that must inevitably finish the volunteer rule and give the insurgents possession of the island. There seems reason to believe, and the recent course of national preparation is calcu- lated to enforce the conviction, that the gov- ernment of the United States will not yield a point of its demands as they were formally conceded by Spain ; but that if the Virginius is not surrendered she will be taken, and if the captives are not given up they will be rescued by force of arms, withont considera- tion of the consequences. Should the govern- ment act directly, or should it present the case to Congress as one involving a necessary ex- ercise of the war power, it would receive, as it would be entitled to receive, the earnest and unqualified support of all who have at heart the maintenance of the national dignity. At the same time we must express tho wish that the administration will not for- get the horrible condition of the hundred and two captives, who are being mur dered by inches in the horrors of Cuban prisons. We know the character of the in- human wretches who hold our counirymen in duress, and yet we have already permitted more than a month to go by in diplomacy that is, up to this moment, fruitless of practical results. Every day’s delay costs a sailor's life, and the remedy, to be efficient, must be swift. Perhaps the Secretary of State, taking his ease at Washington, sleeping comfortably and dining well and talking diplomatic moon- shine with Admiral Polo, forgets the poor wretches that are now hounded and tortured as felons; but the country does not, we are sure, and it will hold to their responsibility all who permit the Spaniards to waste, by further delay, the lives of those poor fellows at Santi- ago de Cuba. The Gay Season in Washington and the Prospect for the National Treasury. While “hard times’’ is the general com- plaint of the country ; while in all our large cities, seaboard and inland, thousands of in- dustrious men and women are vainly wander- ing about the streets in search of employ- ment; while the general prospect for the winter, East and West, is very gloomy and discouraging to these multitudes of unem- ployed and destitute people ; while from Bos- ton to St. Louis and from Buffalo to New Orleans benevolent institutions, associations and individuals are devising ways and means for the relief of their helpless and suffering neighbors through the desolate winter which is before them, everything in Washington promises not only a gay, but an unusually gay season, The winter festivities of the national cap- ital, indeed, are but little affected by the de- pressing influences of panics or pestilence or famine elsewhere, or by any of the misfortunes of the outside world. During our late terrible civil war, when Washington was a city of mili- tary camps, of military hospitals and prisons, and a city under siege, with the enemy’s flag in view from the Capitol, the usual recreations there of the gay season were neither forgotten nor suspended. ‘Honest old Ben Wade’’ did, we believe, object on one occasion to joining in the lanciers while thero was danger of in- terruption by a sudden descent of the enemy upon Pennsylvania avenue; but he was only laughed at as a crabbed old Puritan, who would have his joke. So now, peace or war with Spain, the fashionable circles of Wash- ington, including the Cabinet, the Diplomatic Corps, the two houses of Congress, the city authorities and all the elements of the lobby, having resolved for this winter upon an unu- sually brilliant season, they will have it, good or bad times, peace or war. Mr. Secretary Richardson may, accordingly, prepare to foot the bills. The weekly round at the ‘West End’ of receptions, dinners, balls, parties and gay re- unions of all descriptions has already com- menced, and the expenditures involved in all these entertainments, in the interval to the closing fashionable reception at the White House next spring, will be heavy. The par- ties concerned who are not prepared to meet these costs undoubtedly, directly or indirectly, expect by some lucky bill or other to be in- demnified from the national Treasury, and the name of these parties is legion. “The moral, then, of a gay winter in Washington applies to the national Treasury. With a moderately gay season the appropriations of the session, regular and incidental, will be comparatively light; with a very brilliant, fashionable season the footing up of the appropriations for current and contingent ex- penses will be correspondingly large. The season for this session has opened with the promise of being remarkable for its gayety, pbrilliancy and disregard of expense in re- ceptions, dinners and balls to the end of the winter. Hrgo, the programme will call for heavy drafts upon the Treasury, and so there is little to hope for, peace or war, from this session of Congress in the way of retrench- ment and reform. The Ville du Havre Calamity. The crew of the ship Loch Earn, which ran into and sunk the steamship Ville du Havre, have arrived at Plymouth. They were landed at the English port by the commander of the British Queen, which vessel rescued then when the Loch Earn was in a sinking condi- tion on the 29th ult, The captain and men of the Loch Earn make statements which teflect deeply against the management of the French steamship, the discipline which was maintained on board of her, and even against the courage and moral qualities of the people who served in her, They allege that the majority of the French crew exhibited ‘Jamentable cowardice,” and that many of the French officers reached the Loch Earn with their clothing in a perfectly dry state, showing no signs of having been in the water, and that they positively refused to return in the boats to endeavor to save persons who were struggling in the water, leaving the per- formance of that gallant and eminently Chris- tian duty to Englishmen. This terrible indict- ment serves to darken the gloom which sur- rounds the previously known facts of the sad calamity. Quaker Innovations. Innovations are stealing in even among 80 conservative a portion of the community as that of the Friends. Year after year we have been accustomed to see the Quakers in their drab bonnets and sad-colored suits, not so numerously, indeed, as in Philadelphia, but numerously enough to lend, now and then, a quiet and mellow trait to our vivid and pic- turesque thoroughfares. If any association could stand perfectly still, it would be thought that that of the Friends could do so, But in one of their congregations—that of the Scher-. merhorn street Friends’ Society of Brook- lyn—a change has at last crept in which admits of whole families sitting together in meeting irrespective of sex. Of course the thing will not stop here. In a few months we shall have young Quakers and young Quaker- esses sitting together in mecting, whether in the family or out of it; and, this grand change being adopted, there is no telling where the matter will end. On the whole we cannot but congratulate the Schermerhorn street con- gregation upon the new step taken. We have @ great respect for the Society of Friends as a sect; but we have a reverence also for any spirit of progress which shall tend to draw the sexes together into a nearer relation, at the same time retaining pure and natural conditions, We think this Quaker step is in the right directions RIPLE SHEET. The Pulpit on the Occan Disastey. The terrible disaster to the Ville du Havre, and the loss of two hundred human beings thereby, received some attention from the pulpit in this city and in Brooklyn yesterday. This, like every other disaster by land and sea, has its lessons for every one of us, to which we do well to take heed. It demonstrates the truth of Mr. Hepworth’s assertion ‘that every man holds his life by a thread," and we know not how soon nor how suddenly it may be snapped asunder and we be launched into the unknown land of joy or of woe. This calamity, and the suddenness and certainty of death, should convince us that this world is not our abiding place, and, as Mr. Hepworth re- marked, ‘‘any plan of life that embraces only this world is a failure’? No man should, therefore, live without making provision for the future. We should not, however, always live as in the presence of death, and it was the aim of his discourse to lift the gloom and to lighten the sorrow, as much as could be done, from the hearts now stricken and bowed down in our midst, by inspiring them with a hope in Him who triumphed over death and the grave and led captivity captive. In the midst of such bereavement and sorrow only Jesus can give comfort and peace to the troubled soul. Rev. John Parker, drawing lessons from this disaster, combated the infidel idea that the world is governed by chance or by natural laws and blind forces without the interference of a personal Creator and Preserver. He also denied the Universalist theory of punishment partly inflicted here and partly hereafter on the sinner, and presented in opposition to these the Scriptural idea which recognizes the interference of God in the affairs of this world and the power and necessity of prayer. This disaster warned every impenitent person of the danger of delay, and called him to im- mediate repentance; and this was the burden of Mr. Parker’s appeal. Dr. John Cotton Smith, whose congregation has lost three members by this disaster, preached a memorial sermon last evening. He admitted the unsearchableness of God’s ways, and did not seek to give providential reasons for the loss of the steamer, but urged the living to imitate the virtues of the dead. Mr. Frothingham very briefly but touch- ingly and tenderly referred to the many homes throughout our land made desolate by the loss of the Ville du Havre, whose sudden destruc- tion ‘shows us how feeble is our tenure of life,’’ and should inspire our hearts with gratitude for our happy homes, This refer- ence was only incidental, The great theme of this minister was marriage and divorce. And no more lax views of the solemn com- pact of marriage have been uttered by any re- spectable public teacher for a long time than those which Mr. Frothingham has given utter- ance to. ‘Make divorces free,’’ he says, “so that people will make life along courtship from. beginning to end.’’ But he does not assure us that free divorce would do this thing. Nor are we certain that such a pro- longed period of courtship in the home or out of it would be profitable to either sex. Many homes are not as happy as they should be; but we do not agree with Mr. Frothingham that this is caused by secularizing marriage. The trouble arises from other sources, and can be healed only by substituting the spiritual passion called love for the animal passion called by the same name and reliance upon the Divine Mind to guide in the selection of partners for life. Dr. Talmage made this disaster the theme of his morning’s discourse yesterday, and in a highly imaginative manner depicted the scenes of the collision. The lessons which seemed to him most legibly written by it are, first, the responsibility of those who hold the lives or the property or the souls of men in their keeping. He thinks there was criminal carelessness somewhere, The second lesson is that when we part from our friends reunion is uncertain. The third lesson is that elegant surroundings are no security from the last foe, and, fourth, this disaster shows that some Christians are nearer to glory than they think. When the Loch Earn crashed in on one side of the steamer Mr. Talmage supposes the Lord Jesus Christ walked the water on the other side, and those men ot God on board went from one Evan- gelical Alliance to another, And another les- son taught by this disaster is that ‘the world has not yet been persuaded of the nonsense of prayer ;”’ and, finally, this catastrophe shows the importance of being always ready for transition. His are pertinent lessons and easily learned by us all, if we will only give them a moiety of the attention we bestow upon less important subjects. Dr. Wild referred to the disaster to condemn the carelessness that caused it or permitted it, and to hold the companies responsible for the loss of life and property thereby. Rey. Mr. Chadwick, while passing no cen- sure upon the officers of either vessel, declared that such disasters seldom occur without care- lessness. Ignorance cuts short our lives. A member of his congregation went down among the number who found a watery grave. He could not think her dead, and he indulged the hope of meeting her again. It may seem a strange illustration to bring in the loss of the Ville du Havre in treating of a creed and those who are bound by it, as Dr, Fulton did yesterday, and yet it is germane to the subject in hand as he treated it. This wreck, he said, occurred either because the wrong command was given or the right com- mand was misunderstood. But he believes there are more terrible wrecks continually occurring. Millions rush into the tides of an endless eternity because they trample on the edicts of God and the love words of Jesus Christ are unheeded by them. It will be a consolation, doubtless, to Mr. Beecher, now that he is likely to be read out of the Congre- gational fold, to find himself without form or ceremony in the Baptist Church, where Dr. Fulton says he has been in belief for years. It will also relieve the minds of a great many orthodox friends of Mr. Beecher who have been troubled to locate him and feared that he was fast drifting into Universalism, where they should not be able to find him it the next world, if indeed they ever dill in this. In illustration of the tenacity of faith, Rev. Henry Powers cited the recent conviction of Tweed, Ingersoll & Co. Mr. Powers thinks there is nothing in the ‘Arabian Nights” that surpasses for strangoness the career of Mr, ‘Tweed. Rev. J, Hyatt Smith made tho same parties illustrate the triumph of flwticy in Now York, and the truth ot tne proverb tuat thé> way of transgressors is hard. While Mr. Beecher made no reference, direct or indirect, to the recent convictions here, there were words of comfort to such criminals in his sermon. If a man were degraded and overcome of evil, such a man, he said, should feel that in Christ was his security and his remedy for that ruin. The identification of the Lord with the human race is that which is to win men back to God. Mr. Beecher has little faith in the terrors of hell driving men to love God. An innovation in Friends’ meetings was made yesterday in Brooklyn, where, for the first time, the sexes sat together, and David H. Barnes and Ed. Brown addressed the meet- ing on inspiration. Wanted, a Permanent Public Gallery of Pictures—Possessors of Private Gal- leries Invited to Contribute. There are plenty of fine pictures in New York, but few of them are ever seen by the public. On the contrary, they are kept hoarded in private galleries, and serve tor the delectation of the possessor and such of hia friends as take an interest in art matters. We are far from denying the right of the possessoxz of a private gallery to ‘do as he pleases with his pictures. When a man gratifies an ox- pensive taste that is commendable it would be unfair to make a formal demand that he should deprive himself of a gratification he has been at such pains to minister to. Yet a certain appeal may properly be made to thesa art collectors which they will not find it easy altogether to withstand. There aro a large number of residents in this city who have a good deal of natural taste for pictures without the means of gratifying that taste by making art purchases, They are obliged to admire at a distance, visiting the picture stores and the small galleries attached thereto, and patronize occasionally, in a small way, the auction sales which take place from December until May. At long intervals a card of admission to a really fine private gallery permits them a richer and more deeply artistic treat than they are able to enjoy on the average. The recent opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fourteenth street also, and the addition to the pictures already there by a really very ‘excellent loan collection, have extended these facilities to a wider limit than heretofore. But still, taking all these opportunities into consideration, the chances for artistic enjoy- ment possessed by a poor person who is au appreciator of pictures are very meagre. New York is too rich and is getting too art-loving a city to permit, without blame, this state of things to last a great while longer. What is needed, then, is that our wealthy possessors of fine private picture galleriea should prove that they have an unselfish loye for art, and we do not know that this can be done in any better way than by their coming forward and each contributing a few pictures in order to forma respectably large permanent exhibition. We could easily mention between thirty and forty names of wealthy gentlemen residing in this city who have private galleries and collections of pictures which the most fastidious connoisseur need not disdain. Were it expedient or courteous to do so we could make out such alist ata moment's notice ; but the question is one of some delicacy, and we should prefer to leave it entirely to tha decision of the parties concerned, without making so obtrusive an appeal as a premature mention of names might seem to imply. All that we have to say at present is that there ara between thirty and forty private picture collec- tions in this city, which give pleasure to the re- spective possessors and their friends, but which, for the most part, remain entirely closed to the world at large. A few brilliant exceptions to this view prevail. In these cases cards of admission are issued for a certain day of tha week or month, and any one who succeeds in obtaining such a card may have the benefit of the gallery. But in the majority of instances no such cards are issued, and the galleries. are remorselessly closed to the general public. Allthis might be remedied by a little gen- erosity. Let every one of the gallery posses- sors to whom we have referred make a free gift of several of his pictures for the sake of creating a permanent public gallery, the ad- mission to which shall either be free or placed atasmall price. This would be doing a prae- tically generous action, and, at the sama time, accomplishing a great good in the causa of art. We appreciate the few individual examples of artistic generosity which hava hitherto been set ; but we hope to see tho list speedily swollen by the adoption of somo such course as we have proposed. General Quesada’s Appeal to the Presi-« dent of the United States. We publish to-day in another part of the paper an address from General Quesada, the agent of the patriot government of Cuba in this country, to the President of the United States, in which the Cuban question is treated at great length and with ability, and an ap- peal is made for the recognition of the Cubans as belligerents. It represents, no doubt, tha sentiments of his government and compatriots, and is well worthy of consideration for tha facts presented, calmly and without exaggera< tion, and for its respectful and moderate tone. General Quesada writes like a man who feels the weight and im-* portance of his subject, and he handles it: with solemn and heartfelt earnestness. Should the present difficulty between the United’ States and Spain lead to war the freedom of Cuba must be the result ; but if war be avoided’ the question of recognizing the Cubans as bel- ligerents will remain an open one, and it would be well for the government at Washing-( ton to consider the arguments adduced in favor of recognition. The fact that a state, of war has existed for five years—a war, that has cost Spain over sixty thousand men and enormous treasure—cannot be doubted. | Indeed, we know that, so far from the war having any prospect of being ended,, the struggle has assumed larger pro= portions, The Cubans have a stronger force and are better prepared for war than heretofore, They have both an organized government and a military system. | They have even a reasonable prospect of suc~ cess in the end, though the struggle might last long, while there is little chance of Spain suppressing the insurrection. Holding the balance of justice fairly between the com- batants, if even our government and country, had no interest in the freedom of Cuba, it could not be impolitic or wrong to acknowl. edge the Cubams as belligerents if tho cule \