The New York Herald Newspaper, December 13, 1873, Page 4

4 INEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT. PROPRIETOR me XXXVIII... AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. METROPOLITAN THEATRE, 585 Broadway,—Vanterr Esineraixannt. Matinee at 28. MRS. F. B. ‘Tux Wire and Tux JaconiTE. = CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Matinee at2. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street—Lapy or WLrons. Matinee at 235. THEATRE COMIQUE, Ni \ENTRRTAINMENT. Matinee at 259. Sia Broadway.—Vaniery OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston aad Bleecker sts.—Ricuarp II. Matinee—Exoca AxpEn, NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and )Houston sts. —Curpxin iN THE Woop. Matinee at 13. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth street.—Homx. Matinee at it. UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Union square, near Broadway.—Lxp Astray. Matinee at 15. ‘WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st.— Poor GentLeman, &c. Afternoon and evening. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Mth street and Irving place.— Granp Concert. Matinee at 2—Samson. GERMANIA THEATRE, I4ih street and 3d avenue.— Dea Bueraant. BROADWAY THEATRE, 728 and 730 Broadway.— Diane, Matinee at 1). GRAND OPERA HO st.—Humery Duurry Ai th ay. and Twenty-third Matinee at 145. PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn, opposite City Hall.— Tack Cave. cis FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 28th st. and Broadway.— ALixg. Matinee at 13. BOOTH'S THEATRE, Sixth av. and Twenty-tnird st.— E.ceus Oce. Matince at 13s. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, Vanistr Entxrtaiumgnt. Matinee ‘0. 201 Bowery.— BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner ‘Sixth av.—Nx@mo Minstretsy, &c. Matinee at2. STEINWAY HALL, lth st, between 4th ay. and Irving place.—Matinee at 13;—Gnanp Concent. ASSOCIATION HALL, 23d street and 4th avenue.— ‘Lecrors. THE RINK, 3d avenue and 64th street.—MuNaGERiE AND ‘Musxus—Afternoon and evening, WITH SUPP : i New York, Saturday, Dec. 13, 1873. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. LEMENT. To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SALARY BILL! THE MOUNTAIN AND THE MOUSE”—TITLE OF THE LEADER—Fovrtu Page. POSTPONED PENITENCE! THE SALARY RE- PEAL BILL RECOMMITTED! WHAT THE SINNERS SAID YESTERDAY! THE HOUW- ARD DEFALCATIONS! OUR HARBOR IM- PREGNABLE! MORE MONEY FOR THE NAVY—SIxTH PGE. UNDER THE OLD FLAG! PROBABLE SURREN- DER OF THE VIRGINIUS AT BAHIA HONDA! THE SURVIVING CAPTIVES: OR- DERED TO BE DELIVERED TO AN AMERI- CAN WAR SHIP! TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNI- CATION WITH SANTIAGO BROKEN! THE OSSIPEE OFF FOR THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE! NO OFFICIAL NEWS—Firta Pace, MAP OF HAVANA HARBOR AND ADJACENT WATERS—FirtH PaGe. GRAND MASS DEMONSTRATION IN FAVUR OF PUNISHING THE SPANISH MISCREANTS IN CUBA! WHAT OUK HUNOR AS A GREAT NATION DEMANDS IN HE PRESENT TROUBLEs! GLOWING APPEALS FOR JUSTICE TO POOR CUBA—TuiRpD Pace. THE NEW PRESIDENT OF CUBA LIBRE—NAVAL AFFAIRS AT THIS STATIUN—ART MASTER- PIECES AT SCHAUS’ AND AT TIFFANY’S— THIRD PAGE. MORIONES ROUTS THE CARLISTS AND REUC- CUPIES TOLOSA, SPAIN—THE LONDON FOG DISPERSED—FovurTH PaGE. BAZAINE'S DEGRADATION TO BE EFFECTED WITHOUT THE HUMILIATING PUBLIC OBSERVANCES! NO WISH TO “PROLONG THE PAINFUL STRUGGLE'’ HE TRUSTS TO TIME FOR VINDICATION—TENTH PaGE. THE ACHEENESE PERMIT A PEACEFUL LAND- ING ON THEIR COAST OF THE DUTCH EXPEDITIOUN—BARON REUTER’S CONTRACT WITH THE SHAH—TENTH Pace. SWITZERLAND DECIDES TO DISMISS THE PAPAL NUNCIO! THE POPE'S LAST ENCYC- LICAL LETTER THE OBJECTIVE POINT— TENTH PaGE. A SEARCHING INQUIRY INTO THE CAUSES OF THE VILLE DU HAVRE CALAMITY TO BE INSTITUTED BY FRANCE AND ENGLAND— TENTH Pace. MICHAEL ©. BRODERICK FOUND GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER IN THE FOURTH DE- GREE! IMPORTANT STEAMSHIP CASE! OTHER LITIGATIONS—Eicutu Par. STARTLING SOCIAL TRAGEDY IN ST. LOUIS! A FATAL MARRIAGE DAY! AN HEIRESS’ OOACHMAN-LOVER KILLED BY HER BROTHER—EIGHTH PAGE. IMPORTANT SPECIAL ITEMS FROM WASHING- TON CITY—GENERAL NEWS—TentuH Pace. AN UPWARD JUMP IN THE SPECIE RATE! RAILROAD BONDS AS INVESTMENTS! FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRANSAC- TIONS—NINTH PaGE. THE PUBLIC DEBT AND INCREASED TAXA- TION—“ L’AFRICAINE” AT THE STADT THEATRE AND SALVINI AT THE ACAD- EMY—THE TURF APPEALS—LABOR AND POLITIOS—SixTH Pace. Our Map or Havana, on another page of the Hznatp, will be found to convey to our readers an accurate idea of the topography of the Cuban city which is the stronghold of the Spanish slaveowners. The fortifications are clearly marked, and our citizens can satisfy themselves that the capture of Havana would require some effort—just sufficient to make the affair interesting. The towing out of the Virginius may suggest that Havana is safe for the present from being the scene of a well merited chastisement; but the surrender of the vessel by no means ends our case. Tae Dorcn War Acatnst AcuErN.—Pre- pared with a powerful expedition of fifteen thousand troops the Dutch have begun active operations for the reduction of the Mahom- etan State of Acheen. A despatch, printed in another column, states that nine thousand soldiers have left Batavia and have succeeded in effecting a landing on the coast of the Sul- tan’s domain without opposition. We do not apprehend, however, that the Acheenese will be very suddenly vanquished. They have the support, moral, if not material, of Turkey, and likewise of the European nationalities in the Eastern Archipelago, who condemn and abhor the cruelties of the Dutch wherever they have essayed colonial government. Yet the Dutch owe it to themselves to redeem their arms 80 disgracefully beaten in April last, when the Sultan declined peace at any price. NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1873—WITH SUPPLEMENT. Whe House of Representatives and the Salary Bili—The Mountain and the Mouse. It is the old story of the mountain and the mouse. After an exhaustive discussion of several days the bill brought before the na- tional House of Representatives for the repeal of the obnoxious salary act of the last Con- gress was recommitted to the committee on the subject, with instructions to report a bill repealing said salary act of the last Congress as faras possible under the constitution; to ascertain the average amounts of salary, mile- age and all other allowances, exclusive of any estimate for the franking privilege, that were paid to Senators, Representatives and Dele- gates in the Forty-first Congress, and to re- port a bill fixing the compensation at the amount thus ascertained, as nearly as prac- ticable, with the necessary travelling ex- penses, and restoring all other salaries as they were before the passage of the act contem- plated under these instructions. Mr. Orth, of Indiana, the mover of these instructions, said that his proposition was more in the nature of a compromise than any- thing else, because it was apparent that, un- less there was a compromise, the House would never arrive at any conclusion. The widely differing views upon the subject developed in the debate justify this opinion ; for it appears from the discussion that this increased and back pay salary bill should be utterly re- pealed, because the increase is too high and the back pay clause isa simple fraud upon the Treasury ; that the act should not be re- pealed, because the increase of the salaries embraced in it is not too high, and because the back pay is not a fraud nora violation of | the constitution ; that, if the direct compensa- tion of the members of Congress, as fixed under the existing law, is to be cut down, their abandoned mileage, stationery per- quisites and franking privilege should be re- stored to them; that the people can secure their Representatives and Senators in Congress for five thousand a year; and that, on the other hand, fifteen thousand would not be too much; that the President's compensation, with the annual contingent appropriations for the White House, is extravagant ; and that, in the work of retrenchment, no distinctions should be made in favor even of the President ; and finelly, that, with all his extra allowances for his household expenses, fifty thousand a year as the President’s salary is little enough, considering the population, wealth and re- sources of the country, and the dignity and responsibilities of his great office. These conflicting opinions and numerous others are to be considered by the committee, and from them they are to report a compro- mise in the reconstruction of these official salaries, ‘repealing the existing salary act as far as possible under the constitution.’” How far, then, is it possible to carry this repeal? The constitution provides that ‘the President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected.’’ Now, when this existing salary act was passed, the President had been elected for the period of four years from the 4th of March last, and the proposed repeal, therefore, cannot be applied to his compensation. Next, under the consti- tution, the increased salaries of the Judges of the Supreme and inferior courts of the United States, cannot be diminished dur- ing their continuance in office. Nor can the repeal be applied to the back pay of the par- ties concerned. It must be limited to the Vice President, the members of Congress, the Cabi- net and the clerks and other employés of the two houses of Congress and the executive de- partments. Under the present law the com- pensation of a member of the Cabinet is ten thousand a year, raised from eight thousand, and that of a member of Congress is seven thousand five hundred a year, raised to this sum from five thousand. Is this increased compensation in either case too much, or is it to any appreciable extent the cause of the public indignation which has been so widely expressed against this salary bill of the last Congress? No. Had this increase of sala- ries been adopted without that abominable back pay clause of the bill there would have been no serious complaint from the country. This back pay was the unpardonable offence to the people, because it was a fraud and because it established a bad precedent for the repetition of the fraud and upon a larger scale. The worst of it is that a repeal cannot remedy or reach this fraud. Mr. Alexan- der H. Stephens says that this back pay clause of the existing salary act is clearly constitutional. There is certainly no express limitation in the constitution of the power of Congress over this subject. The only check, then, against a repetition of the ud in question lies in an amendment of the constitution itself. No compromise which the House committee may be able to patch up will on this back pay question serve as indemnity for the past or security for the future. We apprehend, too, that the House of Representatives has been too badly frightened by the late popular agitation of this ‘‘back pay gtab” to comprehend the political situation or the necessities and expectations of the country upon the more important living issues of the day. We suspect that all parties in Congress are too much under the impression that the extraordinary resulis of our recent State elections are due to the awakened public indignation against this back pay fraud, when, in fact, this was but that last extra package whick breaks the camel's back. Coming immediately upon the heels of the Louisiana usurpations, and the Crédit Mobilier scandals, and the Kansas Senatorial corruptions, and numerous other disclosures, indicating a general demoraliza- tion of the party in power, this back pay bill betrayed an indifference to and a flippant de- fiance of publig opinion which challenged the popular rebuke it has received. But this general rebuke from the people covers the whole catalogue of the shortcomings and transgressions of the raling party, and repa- ration upon this salary act is but an item and an incident in the responsibilities of this Con- gress and the administration. Our financial and business interests are bravely struggling to their feet from the pros- tration of the late panic, but they are none the less looking to Congress for early andsub- stantial measures of relief. For the Virginius outrages it is understood that the immediate reparation demanded by our government has been secured; but our troublesome complica- tions with Spain and Cuba, and tho state of fy defiant barbarism to which the colonial gov- ernment of that island has been reduced, call for a broader and more comprehensive adjust- ment than the restoration of the Virginius and her surviving passengers and crow. Again, the President in his late annual Message re- ferred to the obliteration of party lines in our recent elections, ‘€specially in the agricultu- ral regions.’’ He refers to this new political organization of the farmers’ granges, which, particularly in the West, number their members by hundreds of thousands. They are organ- ized for self-protection against the grinding exactions of railway monopolies and for the cheap transportation of the farmer’s produce to market; and they have shown that in the elections of 1874 for the next Congress they will hold the balance of power as between the republican and the democratic parties. Again, while from causes not necessary here to repro- duce, the receipts of the Treasury are falling off and its expenditures and liabilities are in- creasing, the country, with the continuance of peace, expects retrenchment, instead of in- creased taxation, though prepared for all the demands of war in defence of the national honor and the rights of our flag and our citi- zens and in the discharge of our duty to our republican neighbors under the Monroe doc- trine. These are the living issues of the day upon which the people look for practical measures of relief from the present Congress. The President has thrown the burden off his shoulders and has indicated the work required of the two houses. It is but natural, and it is perhaps. commendable, that they have held it to be their first duty to rectify, ‘‘as far as pos- sible under the constitution,” the offence and the blunder of that back pay embezzlement. But, while we have little hope of a satisfactory reparation, we fear from the confusion of opinions and the childish pleadings, accusa- tions and protestations made on this salary bill, and from the time wasted to no purpose in its discussion, that the country in its ex- pectations of relief from this session of Con- gress on any of the important subjects we have suggested is doomed to a bitter dis- appointment. In short, we expect a long and noisy session of Congress, profitless to the country, except in its consequences to the demoralized republican party. The Commutation of the Sentence of Marshal Bazaine. With a soldier's promptness and a soldier's generosity also President MacMahon has dis- charged the difficult task which devolved upon him in the matter of the Bazaine sentence. The death penalty has been commuted to twenty years’ seclusion; and although degra- dation will take effect the disgraced General will be spared the humiliating ceremony. Bazaine's life is spared, but his name is dis- honored; and whatever be the result of the present political uncertainty—whether the Republic is definitively established or the Monarchy restored or the Bonapartes re- called—he is little likely to make any figure again in the affairs of France. As the sentence did not surprise us so neither has the commutation been a disappointment. The sentence was no doubt sincere; but severe as many considered it, it could not be pronounced unjust. That Bazaine had violated the military code was clearly proved at the trial; and the sentence which the judges pronounced was the sentence prescribed bylaw. The recommendation to mercy so promptly made by the judges, after sentence had been passed, did not reflect the general sentiment of the French people. But Bazaine, if ke can do France no more service, can do her no more hurt. “It is not for us to mind state affairs, but to keep foreigners from fool- ing us’’—such were the words of Admiral Blake when his subordinate officers expressed dissatisfaction with the advent of Cromwell to power. They reveal the spirit of the soldier and the patriot. If such a spirit had animated Bazaine at Metz France would have been spared this trial and he his present humilia- tion and permanent disgrace. The Extraordinary Naval Appropria- tion Passed by the House. The House of Representatives, after some debate in Committee of the Whole, yesterday passed the bill appropriating four million dollars for immediately strengthening the navy. If the navy is to be properly strengthened much more than this will be required; but as it covers the amount asked for by Secretary Robeson, we may presume that it will be suffi- cient to put what vessels we at present possess into a condition of seaworthiness and arm and man them. In spite of all the pro- tests of the republican members this does not look very pacific. The unfortunate Mr Cox, who called the House pusillanimous and said that New York was at the mercy of any power- ful foreign fleet, was raked fore and aft by the administration guns. Generals of the late war accused him of hounding people from the paths of peace, and other members de- clared New York impregnable. It was a mistake on his part to call the House pusillanimous except in one sense; for, sooth to say, the ma- jority would be a unit for the most aggressive war measures if the administration held up its little finger. They are not afraid of Mr. Cox, however, and they decided, in a series of speeches, that the President was to be ad- mired for his policy leading to peace and satis- faction and Mr. Cox to be derided for what he had dared to say or not to say on war. The four million dollars may put the ad- ministration in a position to order a judicious change of tune, and if the trumpet blast kind of music be demanded we shall have all the republican brass in the House practising bugle calls. Tamperinc with Corresronpence.—Nearly every bad government finds some pretext for opening letters in the Post Office. In Russia they open or stop any letter they suspect be- cause it is their good pleasure, and they do not need a pretext. In Austria, where there is a glimmering sense of the rights of the people, they pretend the necessity of protect- ing the State. In England they once pre- tended a police necessity, but it had unfortu- nate ‘results for the Ministry. From a resolu- tion just offered in Congress it would seem that they pretend in this country that any letter they may want to peep into is guilty of smuggling, and on this ground it appears they may confiscate it altogether. We hope it will prove that the stories on this subject are exaggerated: for we believe it would be better to let all the smuggling that can possibly be done in letters go undetected and than to get the Post Office authorities in the habit of looking lightly on their obligations to respect the sacred character of private correspondence. Belligerent Rights for Cuba—Mecting at the Cooper Institute Last Night. An important meeting of citizens was held last night in the hall of the Cooper Institute, with the object of urging on Congress the desirability of recognizing as belligerents the Cuban insurgents. The claims of the insur- gents to recognition were put forward forcibly by the different speakers, and whatever pointed to the adoption of energetic measures in our dealings with the dominant Spanisb element in Cuba found ready and hearty approval from the audience. For more than five years a struggle has now gone on between the men who fight to secure freedom for their country and equal rights for all men, and the selfish oligarchy which holds on with grim resolution to the system of slavery. If there were no other reasons to sway our sympathies there would be enough in this circumstance to make us desire the triumph of the Cuban cause, and enough to render it the duty of every good citizen to extend to the champions of human freedom all encouragement and aid consistent with respect to the laws of our country. But this Quban fight has been marked by circumstances of revolting cruelty which have awakened a sentiment of horror in the public mind of America. It is not alone that measures of unjustifiable severity have been used against the armed rebels in the field, that the helpless wounded have been systematically butchered in cold blood, but that even women and children of tender age have been made victims to appease the thirst for blood of a fierce, licentious sol- diery. Nor have the atrocities against which the American people, in common with the civ- ilized world, protest been the result of sud- den anger or an ungovernable outbreak of popular violence. Even such poor palliation is wanting. The slaughter that has now gone on for five years has been carried out coldly, deliberately and under the sanction of laws approved by the government of Spain, and promulgated solemnly by the Spanish authorities in Cuba. We can, therefore, justly hold the government and people of Spain responsible for the acts of outrage committed, not alone against the Cuban people but against humanity. Relying upon these | facts the meeting last night called upon Congress to abandon its attitude of indifference and spread the mgis of the American nation over a long suffering and heroic people. The claim put forward last night was for simple justice; that the Cuban patriots should be granted equal privi- leges with their opponents, and all the rights that belong to a recognized belligerent. So much, at least, the nation will insist upon. The attempt to cover up the base alliance of this free nation with the Havana slave- holders under the specious pretence of tender- ness for a sister republic must in the end fail. We can only judge governments by their acts, and if the slaughter of poor Fry and his com- panions be a sample of what we are to expect from the Spanish Republic the sooner it is swept away the better pleased we shall be. Republican rule in Cuba was inaugurated by a baptism of blood. Almost before Car- telar’s eloquent assurance of fraternity and liberty had been bruited to the four cor- ners of the earth the echoes of the Cuban mountains were rudely awakened by the death dealing volley that robbed a wretched invalid of the few hours of remaining life. General Rubalcaba was captured in his refuge, where he had lain disabled by disease for over a year, and, under the rule of the Spanish Republic, with the eloquent and liberty loving Castelar at its head, this wretched invalid was shot to death. The outrage to our flag in the case of the Virginius and the slaughter of our citizens in cold blood were not isolated atrocities, but the culmination of many crimes, committed in the name and with the sanction of that Spanish Republic we are asked to be patient with and tosupport. We recommend these facts to Con- gress, and ask our Representatives to remem- ber, when sham sentiment about republicanism is made an excuse for Spanish atrocities, that the Cubans also are republicans and Amer- icans, and in both characters have some claim to our sympathy and protection. + A False Financial Policy—Why Should Our Taxes Be Increased? The increase in the national debt through decreased revenues, although by no means alarming to the country, appears to frighten our national financiers, whose hobby has been to pay off the debt with astonishing rapidity regardless of any other object. It is the opinion of a large number of intelligent and thoughtful people that this rapid payment policy of the administration has not been altogether wise ; that it has forced on the citizens of to-day, who had already made heavy sacrifices in the war for the Union, an undue share of the burden left upon the coun- try after the war, and that it would have been politic on the part of the government to have used more of our heretofore heavy surplus in abolishing such taxation as bears most heavily on the poorer classes and less in the gratifying exhibition of a decreasing debt. The contrac- tion constantly going onin the Treasury Depart- ment prior to the last election, for the purpose of making a good financial exhibit on paper, did much to bring about our recent commer- cial embarrassment, and we now see the error of the administration policy in a back- ward movement in our balances. Still the people are by no means alarmed, however the Secretary of the Treasury may tremble, at a small increase of our debt at a time when business has received a temporary check, especially as the falling off of our customs receipts at least affords a gratifying evidence that we are incurring less foreign indebted- ness and turning the balance of trade in our favor. What the country will object to is the rvsh- ing back in hot haste to taxation to meet the momentary deficiency of the revennes. Mr. Richardson proposes to restore the duty on tea and coffee; to raise the tax on distilled spirits and tobacco; to tax illuminating gas, and commerce gen- erally through railroads, — steamboats, telegraph and insurance companies, the main hardship of which would be felt by the poorer classes. There is no necessity for any such means a thankful task to pile these new bur- dens unnecessarily on the backs of its constit- uencies. The country is to-day richer and more prosperous than ever before, but the people need encouragement and aid, now that they are getting on their feet again after a commercial crisis. As money becomes easier and as values recover from their unnatural depression, the revenues of the government will increase. Meanwhile, until the return tide of an active commerce, which has already begun to flow, has acquired its full force, it is better that a small addition should be made to our debt than that the people should be sub- jected to annoying and burdensome taxation. The Surrender of the Virginius—Bom- bastes Swallowing All His Big Speeches. After all the bombast spoken, written and acted by those heroic Havana volunteers the Virginius has been quietly taken out of port, and by this time is probably under the protec- tion of American guns. So long as the violent rabble thought that bluster would be sufficient to frighten timid Mr. Fish their courage over- flowed. It was not until they became con- vinced that in the event of refusal to deliver up the captured ship force would be used that reason resumed her sway. But it only required the thorough conviction that the matter wi no longer in the hands of our vering diplomat at Washington, but had been earnestly taken up by the whole American people to convert Zulueta and his cut-throat supporters to pru- dence. The slave owners saw with real alarm the war preparations pushed on to support our demands for reparation, and what was inso- lently refused to peaceful protest was at once accorded to fear. We have before now pointed out to the Washington authorities that the volunteer party in Cuba only respect force. Appeals to right and justice have to them no meaning, unless backed up with guns. We shall expect to hear a chorus of satisfaction and exultation set up by the administration organs over this diplomatic success, although purchased at such a sacrifice of dignity, as if the surrender of an old ship had settled the Cuban question, or had farnished a guarantee that in the future Spanish men-of-war would not amuse them- selves hauling down our flag on the high seas and carrying our citizens to some Cubaa.sham- bles, to be shot to death at the good pleasure of Spanish butchers. Whatever’ may be said by the Hessian press over the delivery of the Virginius, the real question between America and the blood- thirsty Hispano-Cuban volunteers remains to be settled. Peace may be patched up by the fears of a timid Secre- tary, and newspapers may be bought up to proclaim peace where there is no peace; but, in spite of corruption and of cowardice, the question whether barbarism or civilization shall triumph in Cuba will have to be fought out in the end. The present moment of- fers a favorable opportunity ior putting an end once and forever to slay- ery in America and removing the last trace of Spanish tyranny from the New World, if our government would only act. But the occult influences that control our foreign rela- tions are seemingly stronger than public opin- ion or any consideration of national interest. General 0. 0. Howard and the Late Freedmen’s Bureau. It appears from a report laid before Con- gress yesterday by the Secretary of War that General O. O. Howard, who, we believe, had charge of the Freedmen’s Bureau from the time of its establishment until the period of its abolition, is a defaulter to the govern- ment for over a quarter of a million of dollars. And, singular to relate, the Secretary states that General Howard would have been tried by a military court of inquiry “were it not that most of the matters are barred by the statute of limitations.” Hence it appears that, after all the fuss and flummery attending the organization of the defunct Freedmen’s Bureau; after all the enormous drafts upon the public treasury it was the occasion of, and after all the humilia- tion which the enforcement of its regula- tions heaped upon the Southern whites for the benefit of the Southern negroes and for the personal aggrandizement of an army of carpet-baggers, there was still room for over a quarter of a million to slip over on the wrong side of the ledger in General Howard's accounts. We want, of course, to find out, if possible, why it got there. And the “statute of limitations’ precludes redress! Well may people wonder that, amid all the foul corruptions that notoriously infest many ot the departments of the government, with daily robberies of the most barefaced descrip- tion, from Congress down, or up, as the case may be, that we are able to hold up our heads in the face of other nations and proclaim ours an honest Republic. If official delinquencies, if the hungry grabs for spoils and corrupt jobs of all sorts go on much longer in the way they have been going for years past, we may be considered a non est Republic indeed. ‘The subject was referred by the House to the Com- mittee on Military Affairs. Sowing the Wind. In the name of the prophet, figs! In the name of the workingmen, gas! If people should take seriously all that was said the other night at Cooper Institute it would com- pel the recognition that this land of the free and home of the brave, instead of being the best of all known countries for the poor man, is one of the worst—no better than France, as bad as England, equal to China, perhaps. It is not laughable at all to know that there are two hundred thousand men in this city with- out occupation; but it is a subject for public congratulation that these two hundred thousand men stayed away from Cooper Institute and had not the least little particle of faith in the power of twaddle and rant to improve their condition. Sound sense of that sort is a good growth, and our workingmen are about the only ones in the world that have it, and with them it has been acquired through many disappointing experiences. They finally un- derstand that whenever a public meeting is called in the name of the workingmen and high wages and little labor, and so on, it simply has no reference to the condition of the workingmen, but only means that some coterie of agitators wants to be lifted into prominence and to get the sweet voices of the people to put them into office. As soon as the agitators get their offices there seems to be a exactions, wud Congross will fad it by no | genom, .Zarovement in all the aapects of go- i cial and political life, and the workingmen can only wonder where the difference is, as they generally do not see it. Nobody, there- fore, must suppose from the sayings at the in- ternational meeting that we are threatened with a proletarian revolt; these sayings only indicate the extravagant eagerness with which the agitators are disposed to urge their fitness to serve the people in good offices, with liberal salaries, Stanrricantr Army Movement.—We have published accounts, in view of our complica- tions with Spain, of the rendezvous at Key West of a number of our naval vessels. We now learn that an infantry regiment (the Nine- teenth) has been ordered from New Orleans to the same point, probably with the intention of garrisoning some of the Florida forts, At any rate, it is a somewhat significant move- ment on the part of the regular infantry, and may mean something more than appears upon the surface. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Miss Neilson has gone to Florida for the benefit of her health, Moses H, Grinnell, who is now in Parts, has very Poor healtn. Ex-Congressman Roswell Hart, of Rochester, ia at the Gilsey House. Ex-Governor J. B, Page, of Vermont, is again at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Wendell Phillips, of Boston, yesterday returned to the St. Denis Hotel. Mr. and Mrs. Scott-Siddons have apartments at the Clarendon Hotel. Jarvis Lord demands $25,000 from the Rochester Democrat for alleged libel. Dr. H. C. Cole has sued the Indianapolis Sentina for libel; damages $20,000, Ex-Senator James Harlan, of Iowa, yesterday arrived at the Windsor Hotel. Ex-Congressman 8, Newton Pettis, of Pennsyl- vania, is registered at the St. Nicholas Hotel. General J. N. Knapp, of Governor Dix’s staff, quartered at the Windsor Hotel. Ex-Mayor William Dwight, of Binghamton, ta staying at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Judge Jonn J. Monell, of Fishkill, N. Y., is among the late arrivals at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Henry Young, Treasurer of Shelby county, Mim- nesota, Is a defaulter to the amount of $32,000. Professor Montague Bernard intends to resign the chair of international law at Oxtord Univer- sity. Senator A. H. Cragin, of New Hampshire, yester day arrived from Washington at the Westmoreland Hotel. JUDGE PECKHAM'S SUCCESSOR ALBANY, Dec, 12, 1873. The report that Governor Dix has appointed Judge Fancher to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Peckham is contradicted, SEORETARY BELKNAP’S MARRIAGE. CrncINNATI, Dec. 12, 1873, Hon. W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War, was married at Harrodsburg, Ky., Clarten to Mra. H. L, Bowers, daughter of Dr. John A. Tomlinson. THE CONDITION OF PROFESSOR AGASSIZ Boston, Dec. 12, 1873. Professor Agassiz remains in about the samé@ condition. Dr. Brown Lequard remains constantly at the residence of the Professor. Paralysis seems to have affected the organs of the throat and in- cidentally almost the entire body. Fears are en- tertained that he may linger for a considerable time in this condition, and his recovery 1s con- sidered improbable. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE, HERALD special correspondence from the Sand wich Islands, dated at Honolulu on the 12th of No- vember, reports :—‘The United States ship Saranac is still in our harbor, awaiting her reliel, the Rich mond, Admirat Pennock has met with a cordtal reception from our officials and citizens generally.” Naval and Army Orders. WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 1873. First Assistant Engineer James A. Scott has been ordered to recruiting duty at Baltimore, re- lieving First Assistant Engineer Robert S. Harris, who is detached and placed on sick leave. Colonel Robert 8. Granger, Twenty-first infantry, is, at bis own request, retired trom active ser- vice. First Lieutenant Frederick Robinson, Fifth artil- lery, 1s detailed as protessor of military science a tactics at the University of Vermont, at Bur- lington. First Lieutenant J, A. Hinman, of the Engineer corps, has been ordered to duty at Mobile. Surgeon James T. Ghiselin has resigned. Lieutenant Colonel W. L. Elliott, First cavalry, has been ordered to duty in the Military Division ol the Atlantic. The Nineteenth Infantry Moving. [From the New Orleans Herald, Dec. 9.) This fine regiment is under marching orders for Key West, and detachments of it are expected ta leave to-day. Several of the companies are sta- tioned in the interior of the State, at Baton Rouge, Colfax, St. Martin and other points, It is supposed that the Nineteenth will garrison the fortifications. at Key West. THE BOSTON TRAGEDY. Verdict of the Jury in Accordance with the Facts Already Published. Boston, Dee. 12, 1873. ‘The Coroner’s jury in the inquest on the bodies ov the victims of the tragedy at Charlestown yester- day returned a verdict to-day to the effect that Orinda Wells came to her death by having her throat cut with a razor in the hands of her step- father, George N. Kimball, and that Orinda Caro- line Kimball was Cag ee! ar husband, and that the said husband, George N.. Kimball, commit- ted suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. TRANSUBSTANTIATION—CARD PROM DR. EWER To THE Eprror OF THE HERALD:— ‘Will you allow me to state that in the interview which I had with your courteous reporter I did not use the word “transubstantiation” at all. ‘This is @ technical word, too much misunderstood to warrant its use a8 an equivalent for the doctrine of the real objective presence of Christ in the Eucharist, as set forth by the Prayer Book and other standards of the Anglican Church. F, 0. EWER. JUDGE BUSTEED MULOTED, Ten Thousand Dollars Awarded Againsy Him for False Imprisonment. MonToomEry, Ala., Dec. 12, 1873. The jury in the case of Lewis E. Parsons against Richard Busteed, Judge of the United States Dis- trict Court, for false imprisonment, gave the pisin- tiff $10,000 damages, Parsons is Speaker of the House of Representa- tives. Mr. Hunter, of Lowndes, are a ~ yer last session looking to bringing about a new elec. tion for United States Senators in the place of Messrs. Sykes and Spencer. Parsons ruled Hunter out of order. Hunter refused to be silenced and Parsons caused the Sergeant-at-Arms to bring him betore the bar of the House, Hunter sued out a writ before Jus Busteed on @ complaint that Parsons was commpiring With certain other parties to defeat the right of the Representatives to elect a United States Senator. On a hearing of the case Basteed aischareed Parsons and the defend- thereupon Parsons sued Busteed for false imprisonment. Hunter ts a Fayscian, and hig idea was that neither Spencer nor Sykes were legally elected, because Attorney General Wii- Mame had not decided either the court room or the Capitol Legislature to be Mae Hence & compro- mise had then been effected. He desired to elect a compromise United States Senator, about whose election no doubt could exist, ~ OBITUARY. anita James W. Johnston. By cable despatch at Halifax, N. S., received yes- terday, we are informed of the death, in England, of Hon. James W. Johnston, late Equity Judge for Nova Scotia, and for many years the leader of the conservative party in that province, He was a man of great ability and much respected. He was appointed Iientenant Governor after Mr. Howe's death, but his health was so impaired that he could not accept the office. B. Frank Miller, Colonel F. Frank Miller, of Portiand, Me., died yea« terday, He waa Mayor of New Orleans, and after- ward Assistant Adjutant General of Virgin aud North Caroling under General Butler.