The New York Herald Newspaper, December 14, 1873, Page 8

8 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY "AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR ‘Volume XXXVIII. No. 348 AMUSEMENTS TC-YORROW EVENING, BOOTH'S THEATRE, Sixth ay. and Twenty-third st.— Bry; OR Taw ARKANSAS PRavELLER. METROPOLITAN THEATRE, 685 Broadway, —Vantery ENTERTAINMENT. rE MRS, F, B. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— Liuiay’s Last Love. LYCEUM THEATRE, Lyons. THEATRE COMIQUE, No. ENrkRTAINMEST. ee OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston and Bleecker sis—Deav' Heant, NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broad Houston sts. —Cuinprkn WALLACK'S THEAT! streeK—Sux Sroors To C Fourteenth street—Lapy or Broadway.—V axiety between Prince and OD, Broadway and Thirteenth UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Union square, near Broadway.—Lxb Astnay. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broad , corner Thirtieth st— Tue Leis Deticrive. Atternoon aud event ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Lith street and Irving place.— OrnE.1o. BROADWAY THE. Tux Woman is Wuiir and 730 Broadway.— GRAND OPERA HOUSS, Fighth ay, and Twenty-third ‘@t.—Hourry Dumpty Asroan. PARK THEATRE, Proo Atma; on, Hip 1y Bona: FIFTH AY E LONDON AssuRASCE. ek TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Vanisty ENTERTAINMENT. OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., Neano MINstRELSY, &c. n, opposite City Hall. — th st, and Broadway.— corner BRYAN’ ‘Sixth av. ARMORY, corner of 14th Prommnape Concent. STEINWAY HA ‘Irving place.—Le st..and 6th av,—Graxp and tween 4th ay. py," ASSOCIATION HALL, 23d street and 4th avenue.— ‘Lucrouny, “Waiters or Movers Fretioy.’ THE RINK, 3d avenue and 64th ee Atiernoou and evening, QUADRUPLE S s ——— New York, eet.—MENAGERIE AND SHEET. Sunday, Dee. iy 1873, THE NEWS oF YESTERDAY. To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. ‘THE FOTURE OF THE METROPOLIS! HOW IT MAY BE MADE OR MARRED"—LEADING ARTICLE—E1GHTH PAGE. @ MOB FIGHT IN HAVANA OVER THE SURREN- DER OF THE VIRGINIUS! BLOOD SHED! JOVELLAR ADDRESSES HIS “FRIEN THE SURRENDER CONFIRMED! A 4 SEOUS PEACE! § ES AT THE CUT: THROATS’ HEADQUARTERS—THE BLOCK- ADED ARAPILES--FirTH PAGE. MORE AMERICAN WAR SHIPS FOR CUBAN WATERS! TEE CONGRESS AND WACHU- SETT ON KEY WEST—Ninta PAGE. WAR CLOUD IN THE PHILIPPINE GROUP! GERMAN ANGER AROUSED AGATI THE ARROGAN PANIARDS! THE PRISONERS TREATED WITH EXTREME CRUELTY! THE FULLEST SATISFACTION DEMANDED— NISTH PaGE. NATIVE INSURRECTION AGAINS' RULE IN SOUTH AFRICA COMMITTED! THE VOLUNTEER QUELL THE REVOLT! A FATAL MISH—NINTH PaGE. GREAT BRITAIN'SS WAR WITH ASHANTEE! SIR GARNET WOLSELEY ILL! SL iT SKIRMISH NO IMPORTANT MO MENTS TO BE MADE UNTIL REINFORCE. MENTS ARRIVE! UTILIZING THE FAN- TEES—NINTH PaGs. BAZAINE’S LETTER TO McaMAHON! NO FEARS FOR HiS FATE! M. THIERS CONSIDERS THE LATE MARSHAL INNOCENT—Nintu PAGE. FRENCH LITERARY NOVELTIES! THE LEADING NOVEL WRITERS AND THEIR RB ky WORKS—SARDOU AND THE NOTORIETY OF HIS NEW PLAY “UNCLE SAM"—SixTH THE SKiR- PAGE. BRODERICK, THE PROLICIDE, SENTENCED! ANOTHER OF THE HARBOR PIRATES GIVEN A LONG PRISON TERM—TEntH PAGE. A FULL SPECIAL REPORT OF THE POLICE RAIDS ON THE GAMBLING HELLS BY A HERALD REPURTER WHO WAS CAP- TURED, BECAME A MARTYR IN THE CELLS AND SUFFERED AS DO THE COUNTRYMEN—Firtu Pace, IDLE LABOR TO BE EMPLOYED AT ONCE UPON THE CITY'S PUBLIC WORKS! PERMAN. WORK FOR HONEST MEN--LIPE INSUR+ ANCE COMPANIES’ TROUBLES—Szventu PaGe. ROBBING SHI suo! NARRATI “BLOOD | MONEY” = EXACTIONS— FUGL TIVES—TENTH Pace. A PAGE FOR SUNDAY Ff SERVICE BREVIARY! CUMMI IRMATION | DENOMINA- Tue Excuse War Acarnst THe AsHan- vers.—The war operations of the British army in the Ashantee country proceed slowly, A Herarp special telegram from the Gold Coast reports, under date of November 16, that Queen Victoria's Commander-in-Chief, Sir Garnet Wolseley, wus invalided by an attack of fever and remained on board ship, still ill, after six days’ suffering. The disease was regarded as being more dangerous from the fact that the patient is entirely unacclimatized. The Fantees, the native allies of the English, were being utilized as carriers, laborers and camp police, after having been forcibly enlisted into the service of their powerful friends from abroad. Skirmishing took place now and then in the field, but the actions appear to have been of an unimpor- tant character. The British command was looking out for the arrival of white reintorce- ments, after which it was expected that the work would become much more lively. So far the War Office in London has gained very little, either in glory or material profit, by the campaign in the Ashantee country—a fact which will not tend to elevate the Ministry in the estimation of Mr. John Bull. Arnican Ixsunnection Acainst Enorisn Avruontry.—From the Cape of Good Hope we are informed that the English have (rouble on their hands in that portion of the African territory, the cause being a nativist insurrec- tion against their administration, Several chiefs have led bands of their people against the Natal settlements and committed many excesses. Voluntecrs have been armed and marched against them. The parties have al- ready met in action and a son of the Colonial Secretary at Natal was killed in a recent skirmish. Africa is again looming up as a War power. THE WAY FROM FUNCHAL TO | NEW YORK HERALD, SUN DAY, DECEMBER i, 1878.— —QUADRUPLE SHEET. The Fatare of the Motropolis—How It | Worst ‘kina of extravagance. we sare ORT | lo! this fia of inquiry remain : Gnembentea: ing the annual period of legislation on these ; Science aud humanity demand that it should May Be Made or Muarred. America has possessed great advantages over count mere slowly brought into civili- zation. This peculiarity of growth allowed us to build a republic without enfeebling traditions of caste-pervaded centuries. It allowed us to plan the majority of our cities so that, with the exception of portions of those on the Eastern seaboard, the narrow, crooked streets and lanes that defy sanitary laws and inquiring strangers in European cities are to be found very rarely in the United States. We have occasionally in our superabundant enthusiasm laid out cities where villages cannot be induced to grow. The forcing process has been abundantly em- ployed, and with the usual results. Duluth is not even as populous as Boston to-day, despite all that was said about it in ecstatic puffs and prospectuses that were to be read by the light of Aladdin's lamp. But tHe Bu- chuism of those who laid ont all the Toadstool- towns and Mushroomyilles along Pacific rail- roads carries no discouragement to those who are deeply interested in the future of a great city like New York. Seated on its island throne, Gotham proclaims herself the Empire City, and those who accept the title for her may well exert themselves that her outer garb be worthy of her high destiny. bricks and mortar or stone ard cement has not descended as yet on many spots in our land. In our citys red brick house or two encloses all ths mural idealization which we can boast. The love of the beautiful may go hand in hand with the development of the useful and the uprearing of the permanent. | It is, therefore, to the realization of these three, in the growth of our city, that we should address ourselves, ‘The cultivation of msthetic taste is about all we can rely on for the production of beauty of exterior in our dwelling houses, but there are many things in the range of constructions for the public use which we have a right to insist should be pleasing to the eye as well as adapted to their end and lasting in substance. For a city like New York what can be more repulsive, ill-adapted and temporary than the series of crumbling wooden piers which com- pose its water frontage. We learn from time to time that they are very unsafe in spots, and that the Department of Docks has sent down half a dozen workmen to remove a few rotten planks and put in their place a few planks warranted to rot at the shortest notice. It is conceded on all hands that New York should Lave a water frontage of solid stone piers, backed by such a broad embankment as would let the enormous traffic choked in the narrow riparian streets have free vent. Thus would the entire water front he cleanly, beau- tiful, healthy and a permanent good to the city, instead of, as at present, a series of tot- tering, rotting timbers, forming a_pestilential eyesore. The paving of our streets in a sub- stantial, uniform manner is something very desirable; but he who hopes in this direction has great courage. From the disintegrating gulley-hollowed cobble stone, the city, with the exception of two or three thoroughfares, is fearfully and wonderfully paved, as that miserable broken-bottle road of Good Inten- tions which leads to the tropics of the un- known worl]. The peculiar shape of Man- hattan Island suggests that, since it bears on its bosom a populous city and that this is the nineteenth century, steam railroads should traverse it north and south—that is, along its greatest length. This is the naked statement cf the case for rapid transit. Since annex a large slice cf Westchester county rapid transit is all the greater necessity. The works at Hallett’s Point for the widening of Hell Gate approach completion, and when the tide of European commerce flows boldly in on the waters of the Sound rapid transit will be again more loudly demand.d, It is one of the mysteries why New York has not had, for many years past, at lea:t two longitudinal lines of railroad in active operation. There have been schemes enough, in all conscience. Bills authorizing rapid transit, projects to take the shape of actual enterprise have been passed in dozens by tk> Legislature; but, with the exception of the one-legged article on the west side, nothing has been done, Where nothing has been done it is curious to observe what a dog-in-the-manger policy has been pursued by certain capitalists. Bills have been defeated or out-manceuvred by | the agents of capitalists, in order that the ight rush through bills of their own, » mysterious part of the business is that when the capitalist has his new law in his pocket he leaves his money there along with it, and never so much as “breaks ground.’”’ It is to be hoped that this kind of playing with the people and their urgent needs will not be longer permitted. It is easy to demon- strate that the railroads will pay, whoever un- dertakes them, even as independent roads, while their value will be materially enhanecd by connections. The advantages which New York possesses over older cities should be preserved. The old cities which built their houses along cow- paths and then calied the latter streets strug- gled in their subsequent growth from hap- hazard to haphazard. We have more wisely projected alead of our immediate necessities in many things, and it is altogether absurd that our necessities in the matter of rapid transit should find us so’ sadly benindhand. To well-weighed public improvements of all kinds we should lend a hearty support, with the complacency of certainty that none of them | will be tco grand for the New York of the future. New York wants a dock system worthy of ier present as well as her future, American shipbuilding is growing once more, and the demand for dockage should not drive vessels to Jersey while New York can accommodate them. We do not desire that car city should be at the mercy of every Buchu speculator who has a gorgeous plan that will lea veneering of tar on our streets and a lining of greenbacks in his pocket. In city improvements the philosophy of Davy Crockett is safficient—“Be sure you are right, then go ahead."’ The false, drivel- lirg #hool of economy, which may have been well enough in tue time of the Dutch Gov- ernors, and which pares down scrubwomen’s salaries and brings laborers for the city io the edge of a bread revolt, will never make New York o sightly, a comfortable or a healthy city. A great undertaking, once begun, should be steadily pushed to completion. To {saa things aud leave them unfinished is the The poetry of tar poultice of Tammany times to the rut-and- | we have gone across the Harlem River to | ! matters, and we have no doubt that the | crop of projected improvements will be as largo as ever when the Legislature meets. We hope that our State Senators and members of Assembly will pay an honest attention to ali these matters. No law should be passed authorizing any more schemes of rapid transit without a clear guar- antee is given that the work sought will be commenced bona fide. Many of the schemes pushed through on this head were never in- tended for anything but ‘striking’? media; others were passed to neutralize real efforts towards building a railroad. Yhis subject of the future of New York city and what provis- ions are necessary to make it all that it should be in this generation is well worthy of discussion. But we do not want discussion only. Our demand is for action, And while so much unemployed labor is in our midst it would be a good time to begin. The Bazaine Sentence and Its Com- mutation, Public interest in France has not been allowed to cool down in regard to the Bazaine sentence and its commutation. Bazaine, since receiving notice of the commutation, has written to President MacMahon a letter in which gratitude is expressed with dignity. He was satisfied that the President had not forgotten the days when they served their country together; but he had fears that the impulse of his heart would be overmastered by state considerations. He adds that he could have died without regret, since the rec- ommendation of the Court for mercy vindi- eated his honor. It is natural enough for | Bazaine to take this view of his own case, but the unfortunate Marshal draws a conclusion which the premises scarcely justify. First to pronounce sentence and then to recommend to mercy is not a very satisfactory way to vin- dicate a man’s honor. We do not think that men of honor, as a rule, would be satisfied with such a vindication. As a proof that Frenchmen are not all of one mind regarding the sentence and commutation, it deserves to | be noted that ex-President Thiers thought that Bazaine was innocent of the charges upon which he was tried, and that he has treely e pressed his opinion to this effect. All things considered, it is well that the trial has ended | as it has done. So far, at least, justice has been satisfied, and the demands of mercy have not been despised. Provincial Monstrosities. Facts are confined to the metropolis. Im- aginution flourishes in the suburbs. We have kept no record of the number of sleeping beauties, fasting boys, living skeletons and babies with tails, who had a blighted but in- structive existence in the provinces, to say nothing of the male nonogenarians who have never tasted whiskey and can read the fincst print without spectacles. Probably people do exist who keep a ledger of these interesting aberrations from the path of nature, and who, as the year rolls round, compare the mon- strosities which are just beginning to dawn upon them with those that have vanished in the tomb. We regret that our memory is not so faithful to its work as that Rocky Moun- tain order of romance to which we are in- debted for these startling modifications of humanity. It would be interesting to read all the particulars with respect to the man with the perambulatory heart and that other jest of nature who, from being a blonde of the purest ala- baster, slowly assumed the complexion of the negro. Still, since the supply gives no sign of exhaustion, perhaps memory of those that have gone is not so essential as credulity in regard to those who are to follow. The latest example concerning which the public is re- quested to exercise its faith is that of a gentle- man named Willis Peyton, who is said to unite in his experiences some of the most charming of those enjoyed by Rip Van Winkle and Roger Tichborne. This announcement prepares one for the pleasure that is to come, and we are not surprised to learn that two years ago Mr. Peyton left his home at Malone, Washington county, N. Y., and visited Terre Haute; that at Terre Haute he lost consciousness (many a man loses consciousness when away from home), and when he came to himself found that he was recovering from smallpox ina hospital at Evansville, Ind.; that when he tricd to put his clothes on he found them all six inches too small for him; while his best friends disputed his identity. The account which furnishes these brief but telling facts adds, ‘He would have denied his own identity if it had not been for his mind and other evidences that had been familiar to him from his childhood."”” It is indeed gratifying to learn that Mr, Peyton knew his own mind. Not all of us enjoy that inestimable privilege, and the remark above quoted has a psychological smack about it which proves that the writer is a deep student of Herbert Spencer. ‘‘He first thought,’’ con- tinnes our narrator, ‘‘of suicide, and his next thought was of home.’ This is not the first ease in which reflections npon home and the impulse to suicide have been simultaneons, but we are sorry to think they should have been so with Mr. Peyton, with whom, on ac- count of his sufferings, as well as of the pain his narrator has been at, we feel inclined to sympathize. For though a man who attains six inches in six weeks naturally grows out of the recollection of his friends, he is not the less a fit subject for commiseration. However, to bring the history to a close, Mr. Peyton went back to his Wife, who, instead of receiy- ing him, looked upon him as an impostor, turned him out of doors and had him sent to jail. This, ofcourse, was the proper time to show the various marks upon his person by which identity could be established. A shield on his right arm and an anchor on his left were triumphantly exhibited and .recognized, though, of course, they had become elongated in order to correspond to Mr. Peyton's rapid increase of height. There is a delicious homo- geneousness in this part of the statement from which it would not be just to withhold a passing tribute. The case will, of course, come up in a court of law, but it would be an act of supererogation in us to pronounce any opinion as to the probable decision, What we wish to be distinctly understood is that our sympathies go with Mr. Peyton. We welcome him as the provincial monster par excellence, | worthy a distinguished place beside the cen- tenarian who saws his cord of wood every morning before breakfast. Furthermore, we i hope our suburban contemporaries wil not | age had been done. be turned to the best account. More provin- cial monstrosities, and let us have the statistics at once. Riotous Demonstrations at Havana— Shall Our Citizens Be Protected? It will be seen from despatches published in another column that the Havana volunteers have made good in part their threats, The news of the surrender of the Virginius offered an opportunity for a display of violence which they could not allow vo pass. While pretend- ing to be the true friends of Spain these vto- lent men never hesitate to set the authority of the Madrid government at defiance. Their own good will is with them their only code of law. To their sovereign wishes the govern- ments of America and Spain must bow. Such has been the pretension of the armed mob that for five years has ruled the destinies of Havana. How cruel and bloodthirsty that armed mov could be has been more than once sadly demonstrated. The massacre at the Louvre, and, later on, the shooting to death of a numn- ber of children, to avenge an imaginary in- sult, have placed the character of the Havana yolunteers in an infamous light before the civilized world, These gets will remain to all time a stain on the Spanish character. If we recail them now it is because symptoms of popular violence similar in character have again appeared. Nor has this danger of a popular outbreak been unforeseen. The Washington governmeni has been repeatedly warned to take steps for tho protection of our citizens in case of emergency, and yet nothing has been done. The riot mentioned in our special despatches seems to have been confined to Cubans and Spaniards. It resulted in the death of two men, and was, probably, suppressed before much serious dam- ‘The evidence it furnishes of popular excitement ought, however, not to be overlooked by the government at Washing- ton, Probably the irritation will grow, and we have no security that American citizens may not fall victims to the hatred of a blood- thirsty rabble, and yet no steps are taken to afford them protection. In the case of our regular correspondent threats of assassination haye been openly made in the Louvre, a place already made tamous by cowardly butcheries, Such threats are, no doubt, idle vapor- ing, and those who make them may Havod little intention to carry them out; but they reveal an unwholesome state of public feeling and point to the neces- sity of some check being put upon the popu- lace. In view of the gravity of the situation it is clearly the duty of the United States gov- ernment to take prompt steps for the protec- tion of our citizens. It is necessary that effee- | tive measures shall be taken, because the Spanish authorities in Havana are wholly unable to control the mob. And it is the mob that we fear. Late events have shown that the authorities even may be sometimes so carried away by passion as to be led to commit out- rages against humanity and civilization. We cannot consent to have the fate ef our citizens depend upon the good taith or sense of justice of the men who applaud the Santiago butch- eries. But even were the authorities strong enough to enforce respect, and worthy of our confidence, it does not become the dignity of a great nation to abandon the care ot the lives and property of its citizens to any foreign Power. The Weather—The Late “Heated Term” and Its General Rains and the Re- action. The closing week of November this year, with its fierce snow storms and freezing winds throughout our Northern States, it was gen- erally feared marked the regular beginning ofa rough and cruel winter. The Hudson River above the gate of the Highlands was frozen over hard and fast, the Albany boats were drawn off for the season, and five mill- ions worth of flour, wheat, corn, pork, &c., were locked up by the ice inthe Erie Canal. Then came a change, the freezing nor’ west winds from the snowy ranges of the Rocky Mountains veered to the southwest, the south and the southeast, and from the whole line of States on the western bank of the Mississippi to the Atlantic coast we have had a remarkable season of warm skies and abounding rains, replenishing wells, springs, brooks, lakes and rivers and thoroughly saturating the thirsty land. This general and liberal rainfall is worth millions upon millions to the vital productive forces of the country—a fact which should not be forgotten by the inhabitants of this great city while gram. bling against this dreadiul weather and at the slippery tarlike mud of our almost impassable streets, or avkile denouncing the city authori- ties for permitting even Broadway to be reduced to its present frightfully filthy condi- tion. This warm term, we know, with all its rains of the last week or two, has been a posi- tive blessing to the many thonsands of poor people in all our great cities short of clothing and food. It has been a good thing for this city in another respect—that is, in the reopening not only of the Hudson to Albany, but of the Erie Canal for half its length, thus reopening the pns- sage for millions of produce now on the way to the city from the interior. On the other hand, this ‘‘warm spell’’ out West has been damaging to the pork packers, large quanti- ties of their green meat having sourced and spoiled in the houses, while hundreds of hogs on the railway trains have died trom the un seasonable heat en route from the interior of Kentucky to Lonisville. But all these and other incidental drawbacks and losses are mere trifles compared with the incalculable value of the saturating rainfall of the last two weeks to the country at large. The thaw of the past week was sharply checked last night, and may not lst long enough to be of very great service to trade ; but if promptly and energetically improved it may suffice for the canal boatmen to reach the destinations they were secking when they were unceremoniously ‘frozen up” in November. The storm of the past two days may have further unlocked canals; but there is no counting upon the thermometer remaining above the freezing point at this season, and the present storm will be followed by cold. In 1826, 1827, 1828, and also in 1853 and 1867, the Erie Canal remained open till the 20th of December, and in 1846 and 1862 the Welland Canal was not closed till December 15. We may hope that one of these exceptionable spells of weather may cx- tricate the boats that were suddenly caught and ice-bound, and enable them to reach the ports they were seeking, From the present aspect, shouid the boats after starting be again stopped they may be again released before the canals become wholly unnavigable for the winter. The Ethics of Dramatio Criticism. Two discussions which have lately taken place with regard to the limits and preroga- tives of dramatic criticism are too valuable in suggestions to be passed over in silence. The first took place in London, and had respect to an article in the Pall Mall Gazette in refer- ence to Mr. W. S. Gilbert's play entitled “The Wicked World.” The other has taken place in this city, and was elicited by strictures of some severity published in the Heratp in relation to Mr. Boucicault’s drama of ‘Led Astray.” The first mentioned case was tried in court of law, and, strange to say, a decis- ion was rendered in favor of both the plain- tiff and the def.ndant, nothing offeusive to good morals having been found in the play, and nothing objectionable in point of unfair- ness in the criticism. The second case which we have specified has been judged in the high court of public opinion, through the liberal use of the columns of the Heratp, and perhaps, as in the English case, both classes of contestants will claim the victory. ‘Led Astray,”’ in short, has elicited interesting and spicy letters from both sides, and having pub- lished an equal number of each, impartially, we had intended to close the discussion as summarily as the English judge with respect to Mr. Gilbert's play. The subject, however, has obtained such prominence, and has pre- sented so many valuable suggestions with re- spect to what true dramatic criticism consists in, that, together with these remarks, we print another communication, recognizing that at such a crisis, manager, author and actor have a right to be heard, provided they have any- thing to say worth listening to and couch their sentiments in such language as a sensi- tive ear can receive without offence. Certain other communications, however, we must de- cline publishing upon any ground, dragging in, as they do, extraneous questions under guise of legitimate protest, and venting them- selves in phrases which reflect the scandal of theiy authors’ brains, There are some convictions which are so plainly essential to a good dramatic critic that but one opinion can exist with respect to them. With the idea of criticism is insepu- rably identified that of candid investigation and courageous expression. To be intelligent enough to perceive the truth, to be frank or fearless enough, as the case may be, to utter it, and to have the art of so uttering it as to be interesting to the: public—these appear to be the three principal requisites in the case under consideration. We shall not stop now to inquire how often these demands are com- plied with—seldom enough, as the history of the stage and of journalism, not only in New York, but in every other civilized city, will show. And what critics chiefly err in is not too much rigor, but too much leni- ency. Perhaps we are not assigning too great a proportion when we say that in nine cases out of ten, taking as a whole, all over the civilized world, what is called dramatic criticism, such criticism is one of the count- less modifications of puffery in some more or less insidious form. There are bright and valuable exceptions to this rule, and New York can claim a few. But while we advocate the strictest impar- tiality in the judgments that are pronounced by journals with respect to public entertain- ments, we are far from conceding to the critic that license which steps behind the profes- sional relations of the artist, attacks private character and smuggles in scandalous insinua- tions under the pretence of devotion to the purity of art. The theatres themselves are publie places of entertainment, and managers and artists should expect to be sometimes se- verely handled. The misfortune to the pub- lic is that they are not handled severely enough. Another idea we must take issue against is that which the dramatic critic sometimes shares, in common with dramatists who de- pend for their material upon those variega- tions of the broken Seventh Commandment of which society is full. To maintain that chastity and virtue are merely conventional, and that no absolute standard of them ‘exists, is to launch into a sea of scepticism whence no harbor can be descried for the security of those sweet and pure affections that fulfil the idea of home. There are certain principles which are eternal and unalterable. A demon- stration in Euclid is not less capable of change. Among the principles is that of moral cleanli- ness, The views entertained by particular peoples at particular times undergo various modifications, but these prinsiples remain the same, and the wisest and best men in every civilized age have perceived their beauty, their fitness and their uniformity. ‘To defend, therefore, a piece of dramatic pruriency on the ground that no absolute standard of morality exists and that virtue is a mere flect- ing phantasm, having no essential place in the economy of the universe, is merely to employ the dodge cf the reckless advertiser who snaps up the first conscienceless plea that occurs to him. It can scarcely be ont ot place here to add that, having liberally opened our columns for several days in order to admit the pros and cons with respect to Mr. Boucicault’s latest acted lucubration, we now, with the leave of | the gentlemen and ladies most interested, pro- pose to close the discussion, and with it the extensive and gratuitous advertisement which it has been the means of conferring. Still, we bear no grudge against theatre or manager for this. Our mission is to tell the truth and do good, irrespective of the accidental pecu- niary benefit which may thus accrue to deserv- ing or undeserving parties. We shall be quite satisfied if our course is an illustration of our conviction that the only criticism worth any- thing is that which does not care for anything but the truth. This is the only principle upon which honest criticism can be given, and this is the principle which the HmraLp proposes to continue to follow, regardless of what may be individually agreeable to dramatist, manager or actor. Srarn AND Grnmany,—According to a Ber- lin despatch to the London Hour Spain has fallen into fresh trouble. This time she is likely to be sharply called to account. It ap- pears that the German officers and crews of the vessels recently seized by a Spanish man- of-war in the Sooloo Archipe'ayo nave been - very badly treated. At Manila, whither they were conveyed, they were thrown into prison, held for two months and subjected to the roughest kind of usage. Puble feeling ia Germany is said to be greatly excited, and the fullest satisfaction is demanded for the insult tothe German flag. We shall see how the Berlin government will act. Apologies on the part of Spain will, no doubt, be offered in abundance; but Bismarck is not at all likely to prove a Fish. The Religious Press on the Religious and Other Topics of the Day. | Our religious contemporaries this week, in the absence of any fresh or novel texts upon which to base their editorial discourses, renew their discussions upon the Cummins move- ment towards the founding of the new Re- formed Episcopal Church, enlarge upon tho split among the Congregationalists in Brook- lyn and the founding of another new seck called ‘Beecherism,’’ while the chief Univer- salist organ ventilates certain malepractices and deceits among sham Universalist clergymen and pretended missionaries, The rostoration of the barbarous custom of corporal punish- ment in the public schools is also the subject of animadversion by some of our brethren of the religious press. The Observer remarks that there was no un- seemly haste in the proceedings of the Re- formed Episcopal Church Council last week. They moved slowly, and adjourned without any demonstration to challenge public atten- tion. What will come of the movement re- mains to be seen. The Observer has no doubt it will work for good. ‘It will,” it says, “arouse the Church to inquirs into its causes, and if it be true, as Dr. Tyng, Jr., alleges, that the tendencies are Romeward, every hon- est minister and man in the Church will set himself against the current.’ “The occasion which has led to this moves ment,’’ ayers the Evangelist, ‘‘bespenks cur sympathy. But what is the exact basis of this new Church? It is, concisely stated, evan- gelical Low Churchism, repudiating the ob- jectionable phrases and features of the Prayer Book, and assuming, or perbaps we should say retaining, Episcopal organization.” The Evangelist has no reason to surmise that Bishop Cummins or his adherents have any, even the slightest, Romeward tendency; but if, says the editor, ‘‘on leaving his former cone nection he had renounced all the Episcopal yirtue thence derived, or assumed to bo de- rived, and insisted on holding no office to, which he was not duly elected, we believe that in the end his success would have been better assured.” ! The Independent treats of ‘Arraignment of the Plymouth Church,” and asserts that it is a very common thing for churches to drop from their rolls the names of those who have voluntarily withdrawn from Church obliga- tions. It knows of a Congregational church in Brooklyn, of unquestioned strictness, which three years ago dropped fifty names for this reason. The Independent supposes ‘that the chief object cf discipline is to protect the Church against those who are using their con- nection with it as a cover to wrongdoing, and not to pursue those with censure whose volun- tary withdrawal has relieved the Church of responsibility for their character and repu- tation.”’ The Baptist Weekly, referring to the Cume mins movement, remarks that its most sane guine friends can hardly feel encouraged from the numbers or influence of those who have espoused it. ‘There are doubtless many people in the land,’’ says the editor, “‘who desire a liturgical worship, like that of the Episcopal Church, and who, if they can gratify their desire without sacrificing their conscien- tious scruples, weald gladly make use of a prayer book. But tke open door which per- miis ministers or ali denominations, without reordination, to become ministers of the new Church, is such a complete surrender of Epis- copal ideas of the ministry that it will be diffi- cult for many of the lowest of ‘Low Church” pecple to bring themselves to accept the basis which has been adopted.’’ The Reformed Church Messenger (Philadel phia) thinks the new movement will at least have the effect of ‘adding one more to the already too many divisions in Protestantism.” The Christian Intelligencer, referring to the determination of Plymouth church to prevent an investigation into its affairs, suggests that if silence ‘is the policy now resolved upon, the unfortunate subject of it should procure at once a brain of marble and nerves of steel, for no man of human mould can long endure a public life upon such terms.'' The Intelli- gencer earnestly trusts that the effort to restore the use of the rod, that relic of barbarism, in our public schools, will not succeed. The Christian Union does not presume to judge of the “wisdom or unwisdom of the step which Bishop Cummins and his friends have taken. ‘Their right to form a new Church in accordance with their own convic- tions will be generally adiaitted, The new Church certainly offers a middle ground be- tween ritualistic episcopacy and the non- prelatical orthodox denominations, and may, therefore, meet the wants of large numbers of people who desire to form religions associa- tions in more entire consonance with their feelings and convictions.” The Christian Leader is of opinion that it only requires a little persecution to make the Reformed Episcopal Church an assured suc~ cess. This promists to be done in the trial of Bishop Cummins by the Episcopal Chureh for breaking the rules and violating his vow. The Leader also touches upon what it calis “Clerical Filibustering’ to show how some sham missionaries and clergymen professing to be Universalists impose upon true adhe-~ rents of the Church in distant places, The Liberal Christian characterizes the last week as ‘‘a,week of schisms,” and affirms that Roman Catholic might say “I told you so” with more than usual point, in view of the proofs which the last week has afforded of his charge that Protestantism is in o state of rapid disintegration. ‘There have been two schisms in a week,” says the editor, ‘There is now the new Episcopal Church, which did not exist a weck ago, and the new sect of the Beecherites." So far as the Plymouth church scandal is concerned, the Liberal Christian will hold Mr, Beecher innocent until he is proved guilty, and thinks the schism in the Episcopal OCharch, as the first-born of the Evangelical Alliance, a very remarkable child, Could tha High Church party or the Low Church party ask of Jesus, gays the editor, “What have we