The New York Herald Newspaper, December 18, 1873, Page 6

6 ‘NEW YORK HERALD “BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR » JAMES .-No. 352 Volume XXXVIIL........0004+ AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, BROADWAY THEATRE, 728 and 730 Broadway.— Tux Woman in Wars. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Eighth ay. and Twenty-third ‘et.—Hoarry Duarty Asnoan PARK THEATRE, Procklyn, opposte City Hall.— Awa; on, Hxtp tx Boxpace. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 28th st. and Broadway.— Pangicipe. BOOTHS ‘THEATRE, Sixth av. and Twenty-third st— Err; on THe Arkansas 1 Re METROPOLITAN THEATRE, 585 Broadway,—Vanisrr ENTERTAINMENT. MRS. F. B. CONWAY'S BRCOKLYN THEATRE.— Liwiay’s Last Love. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street—Lany or Lyons. THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 514 Broadway.—Vanisty ENTERTAINMENT. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston @nd Bleecker sis.—Drap Heart, Matinee at NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Houst.1 sts.—Caipaks in 1k Woon. WALLACK'S THEAT! sizect.—hoxn. Ey Broadway and Thirteenth WARE THEATRE, Union square, bear D ASTRAY. UNION §& -Broadway.—! WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st— Tax Iggsu Derxctive Atternoon and evening. GERMANIA THEATRE, Iéth street and 3d avenue.— ‘Den Everuant. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Vauiery ENTERTAINMENT. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st, corner Sixth av.—Necuo Minstezusr, &. THE RINK, 3 avenne and 64th street.—MrnaGente aND Museum. Afjernoon and evening, TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Thursday, Dee. 18, 1873, — THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. ‘Lo-Day’s Contents of the Kferald. “SURRENDER OF THE VIRGINIUS! OUR RELA- TIONS WITH CUBA"—LEADING ARTICLE— SixTa Pace. WHE VIRGINIUS FINALE! THE VESSEL AND THE CAPTIVES PLACED UNDER THE OLD FLAG AT BAHIA HONDA! AMERI- CAN REJOICINGS! OUR FLEET TO PARADE BEFORE THE HIDALGOS— SEVENTH PAGE. ‘RE-ENLISTMENT OF THE EDGAR STUART IN THE CAUSE OF CUBA LIBRE! COLONEL AGUERO IN COMMAND—Tuirp Paz. THE CUBAN PATRIOTS TO BE SUMMARILY SQUELCHED! SPANISH COUNCIL OF WAR AT MADRID—SEVENTH PaaE. SLAVERY IN CUBA! ABOLITIONISM GROWING IN FAVOK—Tuinp Pace. THE SPANISH REPUBLICAN AUTHORITIES ARREST 50 CANTONAL REVOLUTIONISTS— INCREASED SALARY GRANTED THE FRENCH PRESIDENT—Taigp Pace. THE METROPOLIS AND THE CUBAN QUESTION— LAW REPORTING—EIGHTH Pace. SPAIN'S SEIZURE OF GERMAN TRADERS IN THE SOOLOO ARCHIPELAGO! THE MATTER TO BE DECIDED “ACCORDING TO SPANISH LAW"—Tuinp Pace. A BATTLE IN PRO ESS SKIRMISH R. FOR THE DUTCH! A NIGHT ATTACK—Tuind Pace. THE ARCHBISHOPS OF PARIS, CAMBRAY AND VALENCIA CREATED CARDINALS—GER- MANY EXACTS AN OATH OF FEALTY FROM ALL BISHOPS—?HiRD Pace. THE EXTRA NAVAL APPROPRIATION PASSED BY THE NATIONAL SENATE! BUTLER UNCORKS TH VIALS OF HIS WRATH! MR. FENTON ON ECONOMY AND CONTRAC- TION OF THE CURRENCY—Firti Pace, SPECIAL ITEMS OF WASHINGTON NEWs— AWARD OF PRIZES BY THE BROOKLYN YACHT CLUB—THREE DECEASED JU- RISTS—TenTH Pace. WEW YORK BEFUGGED{ CASUALTIES AND IN- CIDENTS ON THE RIVERS AND STREETS YESTERDAY—BRIDGING THE HUDSON— HEAVY BUSINESS FAILURES—Turrp PAGE. POVERTY OF THE FEDERAL TREASURY! THE FACTS OF THE FINANCIAL SITUATION! YESTERDAY'S BUSINESS—NintH Pace. MONEY AND REALTY! FALSE FINANCIERING AND FALSER ECONOMY BEARING DEAD SEA FRUIT IN THE CITY AND IN THE NATION—EicutH Pace, THE CRIME OF MURDERING GILBERT H. ROBINSON RAPIDLY PROVING AGALNST PETER TERRELL! CURIOUS LINKS 1N THE CHAIN OF GUILT—E1cHTH Pace NOBODY TO BLAME FOR THE KILLING OF DORA D. BOLAN—THE CHIEF JUSTICE- SHIP MUDDLE—Firta Pace. 60NS CHAKGED WITH POISONING THEIR OWN FATHER—THE BRENNAN WIFE MURDER TRIAL—E1cuTn Pace. GOTHAM’S FIGHT FOR HARBOR SAFEGUVARDS— WOMAN'S SOCIAL TRAINING—THE BOARD OF EDUCATION HONORS AGASSIZ'S MEM- ORY—Erantu Pa PortueaL AnD ENGuANp.—One of our latest despatches has it that the Portuguese authori- ties at Madeira are placing all the obstacles they can in the way of an establishment there of a sanatorium for the sick of the British army engaged in the war against the Ashan- tees. For the sake of humanity we hope the report is not true. Portugal owes much to England, and it is not unfair to say that the comparative peace which Portugal has for so many years enjoyed is due to the English fleet which is always conveniently near the capital of the little kingdom. Who can think of the Tagus without the floating monuments of England's strength? It may turn out, after all, that the English doctors in Madeira and their English patients are more to blame in this matter than the Portuguese authorities, ‘We must wait for further developments before we blame Portugal too much. In this case it aay be found that England is her own enemy. A Famous Victory.—The Philadelphia Press claims that the new constitution of Pennsylvania has been adopted by one hun- dred and seventy-five thousand majority. ‘This is rightfully claimed as a “famous vic- tory’’ by the people over political and rail- road rings and lobby jobbers gencrally. One of the best features in the new instrument is the provision requiring the holding of bien- nial instead of annual sessions of the Legisla- ture, which is both a wise and an economical measure, It is m noteworthy fact that the press of both parties, with few exceptions, aided by the independent journals, unjted in securing this great triumph, A FIRST | NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1873—TRIPLE SHEET. Surrender of the Virginius—Our Re- lations with Cuba. Tardy information comes from Key West and Washington of the surrender of the Virginius, and thus an incident of our relations with Spain upon which the country cannot look with satisfaction is likely to pass out of the public thought for atime at least. Already other occurrences have crowded it away, and public attention, always turning toward the latest event, has scarcely remembered the murdered sailors at Santiago de Cuba in its sympathy with the distress of the Ville du Havre catas- trophe, while the perennial theme of political misdoings at Washington has had its share in casting an oblivion, very grateful, no doubt, to the Secretary of State, over his deplorable diplomatic fiasco. But the case of the Vir- ginius is yet sufficiently kept in view for the people to get a full impression of the fact that the surrender has been made in such a way as to deprive it of the greater part of its effect as a reparation to us, and of the whole of its effect as a humili- ation to those persons from whose outspoken and declared contempt for this nation the out- rage came. Contrast fora moment the scene, the tone, the style of the capture with the manner of the surrender. Seized on the open sea in defiance of her flag, the Virginius was taken into Santiago de Cuba with a noisy éclat, which seemed to call the world to wit- ness the event as one more of the glories of Spanish valor, and which especially insisted that the world should take notice of the fact that in the capture of the ship the Spaniards had violated the protection the colors of this country gave her and had defied and insulted the emblem of our sovereignty. Such was the spirit and meaning of the first fact, and then the killing of the men found on the ship gave to this fact the dreadful emphasis of a butchery of which only Spaniards among the nominally civilized nations are capable. As if this were not sufficient the ship was taken to Havana and her reception there was a demonstration against this country, and the whole population turned out to glorify themselves in the out- rage and insult that the Spanish heroes had put upon the Yankees. Two months pass away and the ship is returned to us ; but here it is all in bated breath ; lest Spanish suscep- tibilities should be offended, we agree not to raise our voices above a whisper; and in order that the effect upon Havana of the tri- umph over us shall not be taken away we agree that the insult and the outrage shall stand valid until it can be atoned for in an out- of-the-way corner, and that then it shall be kept a secret if possible. In all this it should be remembered what kind of a people we are dealing with. Coarse, brutal, ignorant, the people in Havana who gloated over the seizure of the Virginius are capable of comprehending only coarse facts; and our failure to ram the insult down their throats passes with them as its justification in the fullest possible degree. Had the naval power of some civilized nation inadvertently cast an indignity upon us we can conceive that the acceptance of their apology in a way contrived to deprive the event of its unpleas- ant features, and not to leave a rankling re- membrance, might be wise and noble minded; but it is mistaken generosity to act thus with a people who will and can only attribute to cowardice or incapacity our failure to force them to apologize on their knees. And Mr. Fish’s neglect to consider in his negotiations the character of his adversary is one of the great blunders of this transaction, but not the greatest; for his disregard of the character of the persons with whom he is dealing is trivial by comparison with his misconception of the functions of his department. If the Secretary of State were the representative ot the country only asa small attorney is the representative of his client, it would, perhaps, have been sufficient for him to have recovered the poor remnant of the stolen property, and he has practically acted as if that were the sum of his obligation. To such a case, as viewed from the small attorney's standpoint, there is no element that cannot be measured by possible indemnity and no occasion to provide for the safety of the future, because if we guard against trouble in the future there will be no need for the assistance of the small attorney. From the result of this negotiation it is impossible to draw any lesson calculated to deter the Spaniards from the repetition of the offence against us. On the contrary, they find our ships at their mercy with no effective defence, and if they choose to capture them the utmost they need fear is the bare possi- bility that as the result of a tedious litigation they may have to pay damages to plundered owners or to the relatives of murdered soldiers. There are owners and heirs to settle with; there is no nation. There is in- demnity for ship and cargo, and blood money if you like; but the rag at the masthead is not wortha thought. There are lawyers to face, but there is no government to declare and to sustain the declaration that its sovereignty must be respected. And if o diplomate at Madrid, acting on the better notion of our position as a people, does declare for the sovereignty of the country, what is the sentiment his course awakens at Washington? Eagerness to repudiate his action; uneasy anxiety lest the Spaniards should take offence; solicitude to assure them over the head of the too zealous diplomate that the violation of our sovereignty is a thing we do not take unkindly. But the story of the Virginius is only an incident in the larger story of our relations with Cuba, and in this its settlement has made nochange. There’is still a war raging at our doors in which a people who are our neighbors are fighting for their freedom against the remnant of: that barbarous power which began its career on this side the ocean with the characteristic butcheries of Cortes and Pizarro, There can be, of course, no doubt as to the ultimate result of this struggle. Excepting Cuba, the countries of North and South America originally held by the Spaniards are happily relieved of their presence, Every people has been able to drive them out; and to this the Cubans will be no exception. It is, therefore, only a question of some years—more or less—wasting the resources of the island and the useless slaughter of its people in isolated groups by the armed forces of Spain; and it is u ques- tion for the American people to determine how long they will quictly look on at that slaughter and at a manner of conducting hos- tilities which is not only in violation of the usages of war, but in violation of every notion of humanity. How long shall Spain continue her efforts to crush the Cubans when those efforts involve the constant outrage of that humanity which we pretend to respect, and involve furthermore tho regular recurrence of insults to this nation and of acts in derogation of the rights of our ships? It is all very true that we ourselves do not want any more terri- tory and do not want Cuba; but this is a case in which our position will ultimately compel us to take a certain course. As to whether we will have Cuba it is a subject outside our choice. We cannot help ourselves, We must have it. It is only for us to determine whether, in the meantime, we will permit it to be made a waste and a mere refuge for piratical cruisers under the Spanish colors, or whether, by the early adoption of a positive policy, we shall save ourselves future trouble and spare humanity the continuance of a barbarous conflict. The New Pennsylvania State Consti- tution—A Great Triumph for the People. The new State constitution of Pennsylvania, framed by a convention of able men of all parties elected for the purpose, and ratified on ‘Tuesday last in an overwhelming majority of the popular vote, marks a great and glorious revolution in that sturdy old Commonwealth in behalf of honest elections, honest legisla- tion, the curtailment of the powers and privi- leges of grasping railway monopolies, and for the protection of the public treasury against bribery, corruption and frauds and leakages. Indeed, since the adoption of the constitution of the United States no State in the Union at asingle bound has advanced so far in the good work of reform on the broad platform of popular sovereignty and popular rights as Pennsylvania has advanced in the adoption of this new constitution, this Magna Charta, as we may call it, of a new dispensation. This new constitution, among other things, provides that the term of the Governor shall be four years, and that he shall be limited to one term; that the representatives of the State Legislature shall be elected for two and the Senators for four years, and that the elections and the sessions of the Legislature shail be biennial. The term of the Supreme Court Judges is extended from fifteen to twenty-one years, and varied as modifications are made in the terms of other State officers, the ‘one term principle” being generally applied to them. This is a good principle, and will operate as a salutary check against corrupt political intrigues among the officers con- cerned in reference to the succession in their respective offices. The American people are looking for the application of this one term principle to the President of the United States, or for some limitation of his elegibility, in an amendment of our national constitution. But, again, this new constitution of Pennsyl- vania provides that the regular State elec- tions shall be held on the same day as the Presidential election, and that the municipal elections shall be held in February. This merging the State election of the Presidential year in the Presidential election is an immense reform; for we all know that Pennsylvania, being considered the balance of power in many of our Pres- idential contests of the last forty years, her October State election has too frequently been made the wager of battle for the Presidency itself. We all know that this thing has operated not only to spread broadcast over Pennsylvania all the vices of political corrup- tion, but that it has brought in from time to time corrupt appliances from other States and from Washington, to carry the Penn- sylvania October election in the Presidential year, ¥ This fruitful source of political corruption no longer exists; and if we could have all our State elections in the Presidential year on the same day with the election for President, the scheming politicians, whose game it is to carry the State elections of August, Septem- ber and October for their Presidential pur- poses in November, would find their occupa- tion gone. Our State elections would be carried, even in the Presidential year, upon their own merits, and the politicians of every State would be kept too actively employed at home to interfere in the affairs of their neighbors. But, again, this new constitution of Pennsyl- vania for the purification of the ballot box provides that the allots cast shall be num- bered, that voters may put their names on their ballots, and that the confidences of the voters shall not be betrayed by the election officers. Various other safeguards of the ballot box are provided, all calculated to se- cure fair voting and honest returns. Next, the checks and balances upon the Legislature are well considered for the prevention of cor- rupt or hasty legislation. Each bill, forexam- ple, is to be limited to one subject named in the bill, and every bill is to be read three times in full on three different days, and where appropriations are made the Governor may veto a part or parts of the bill and approve the restof it. The hint to the Conven- tion on this subject was, perhaps, taken from the “back pay grab,”’ slipped into a regular appropriation bill in the closing hours of the last Congress. Stringent provisions for the protection of the State treasury are made in this new con- stitution in the heavy penalties ordered against corrupt or negligent officials ; but the par- ticular feature of this new State charter, which was doubtless most heartily approved by the people, is the strong controlling power which it gives to the State ver its railways and canals, and over grasping corporations gen- erally. In short, Pennsylvania, in this new charter, ltas achieved a great revolution of wholesome reforms in the administration of her local affairs, and particularly in throttling her corrupt Philadelphia and Harrisburg rings of political gamesters, and in clipping the wings of her railway kings, so that they cannot pass beyond the limits assigned them. We congratulate the people of Pennsylvania on the good work achieved in their new constitution. The Siege of the Spanish Ram. During those days of uncertainty when we watched with anxiety the condition of the erderde cordiale between Mr. Fish and Sefior Castelar, the formidable Spanish iron-clad Arapiles, which was undergoing repairs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, became an object of in- terest and apprehension. As the clouds of war thickened on the horizon, and even Mr. Fish’s pen lost a little of its snavity, the proposed departure of the Arapiles for the shores of Cuba was looked for with no pleasant feclings. Just then an unfortunate coal barge wos ill-patured qgouch to sink ip front of the dock where the Spanish ram was lying, and to constitute itself an insurmount- able obstacle to the patriotic yearnings of the hidalgos on board. It is singular that the famous protocol was drawn up without any reference to the coal barge or the ram, as the extreme good nature of our worthy Secretary of State might have led him to apologize for the detention of the Spaniard, and might have induced him to modify his demands. It is to be hoped, now, that we shall not be compelled to deliver up the Arapiles formally when the plaguy barge is removed, pay indemnity and salute the Spanish flag. The officers on board declare their disbelief in the detention being the re- sult of accident, facts to the contrary notwith- standing, and, of course, the opinion of a Spanish official must have considerable weight with the State Department. Here isa glorious opportunity for Secretary Fish to apologize to the chivalrous Burriel, the high- toned Casino Espafiol and the immaculate government at Madrid. It will be soothing to his feclings, after the naughty things which the voice of the American nation compelled him to utter. _ The North Atlantic squadron escorting the Arapiles with all honors into the harbor of Havana will compensate for the foul wrong done to the high-spirited volunteers in depriving them of the Virginius and the rea- sonable pleasure they anticipated in shooting the remainder of her crew. The Expenditures of the Government and Demands of the Treasury De- partment. > : i The Secretary of the Treasury has asked Congress for an increase of taxation to the amount of $40,000,000. His estimate of the revenue from all sources for the &scal year ending June 30, 1874, after making due allowance for the financial distress and exceptional condition of the country, was $271,304,310—that is, he had actually received during the first quarter, from June 30 to Sep- tember 30,. . $84,204,310, of which sum $2,350,818 was from the premium on sale of gold. For the three quarters, from Sep- tember 30, 1873, to June 30, 1874, he estimates the receipts at $187,100,000. In this there 1s no estimate of any- thing from the sale of gold, and we sup- pose the Secretary docs not expect to Sell any or to have any for sale. It will be seen that the estimated revenue for each of the remaining quarters of the fiscal year only amounts to a fraction over $62,333,000, which is less by nearly $22,000,000 9 quarter than the receipts for the first quarter. Will there be such an extraordinary falling off in the revenue even under the industrial and finan- cial difficulties of the times? Or has the Secretary, in order to be on the right side and to keep the Treasury full, greatly underesti- mated the receipts. In the receipts for the first quarter we have not reckoned the $15,500,000 Geneva award that went into the Treasury, nor have we taken any account of the money lying in the Treasury. The $84,204,310 were from ordinary sources of revenue and premium on the sale of gold. The estimated expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874, amount to $289,348,578. There would be accordingly a deficiency of $18,044,268. But the Secre- tary makes it in his report $13,530,000. The difference may be accounted for from the premium on purchased bonds or other sources not expressed in detail. But whether the deficiency will be $18,044,268 or $13,530,000, if Mr. Richardson's estimated receipts be not too low, the difficulty has to be mgt. Still we do not see why $40,000,000 additional taxa- tion should be demanded. All the expendi- tures have been estimated, including the sink- ing fund for the public debt and interest on the Pacific Railroad bonds, The balance in the Treasury June 30, 1873, exclusive of the $15,500,000 Geneva award, which is placed to investment account, was $115,692,028. The net redemption of the public debt for the quarter ending Septem- ber 30 is set down at $32,988,828. This left & balance in the Treasury on September 30 ae of $92,388,985. How is it, then, that with this balance in the Treasury so late as the end of September the Secretary has been compelled to draw eighteen millions from the legal tender reserve and that nine millions have been added to the public debt during the last month? The Secretary has been presery- ing his gold to meet the interest on the debt and to take up the due bonds of 1858 and called bonds of 1862, and, consequently, the small balance of currency which he had held was exhausted. The redemption of the bonds that have fallen due and have been called in is depleting the Treasury of the balance it held. In fact, ithas been estimated that when these are redeemed and the interest on the debt paid, at the beginning of next month, not only will all the coin be gone, but that there will be a deficiency of ten to fifteen millions. Still, if the revenue were to come in for the rest of the fiscal year propor- tionately as it did the first quarter the Treas- ury would have funds enough. The Secretary does not expect this, and, as we have shown, makes the estimates very low. What, then, is to be done? Either the estimated expendi- tures must be cut down considerably or more money must be provided. Should the expen- ditures be kept up more taxes will have to be imposed, or additional legal-tender currency be issued. Should more currency be issued, that would add to the debt, though it would be no burden to the people, as this debt does not bear interest. The way to solve the = difficulty is to reduce the expenditures. It is not necessary at the pres- ent time to spend $33,168,287 on public works, as the Secretary has estimated. This is about half as much as the whole government cost just before the war. Nor do we think $34,881,678 is absolutely necessary for our small military establishment in these times ot peace. No doubt, too, the $11,000,000 or thereabouts for miscellaneous expenses could be pared down considerably, Then there is an item under the head of “permanent” set down at $16,926,800. Whatisthat? Itis not the sinking fund, for that is a separate csti- mate of $29,918,856. Reduction might safely be made, undoubtedly, in other estimates not mentioned, A hundred and ninety millions, exclusive of interest on the national debt, is an enormous expenditure for this Republic. It is nearly three times as much as the govern. ment cost before the war. Whatever else may be said of Mr. Richardson, he is certainly an economical Segretary of the Treasury or on able Apancigs, Vee How Our Streets Might Be Made | to Tolerable. A city government with a real desire to make things comfortable for residents and transient visitors might do much for our metropolis. There are a great many little nuisances, annoyances and wants that it seems nobody's business to look after, yet which every official, animated with a proper sense of duty, should seek to remedy. A few days since we called attention to the impas- sable condition of some of the streets up town—new streets in course of opening or old streets being paved or guttered—and showed how little exertion it would demand on the part of the authorities to make these thorough- fares at least tolerable. In the muddy, un- paved streets, where filthy pools spread ankle deep, the simple plan of placing ordinary stones at the crossings or spanning the mud with common planks «could be adopted without adding much to the daily sweat of the patrolmen. How comfortable such simple means would make pedestrianism, and how many cases of rheumatism leading to total loss of locomotive power and of severe colds leading to consumption it would pre- vent, that now find their first causes in wet feet, obtained while exploring city mud and snow or the soakings of putrescent garbage! People who traverse our city daily little dream how much future sickness they absorb through saturated boots and shoes, and how much money might be saved from the apothecaries and undertakers by our municipal authorities aS 8_very little common sense, The “guthorities,” doubtless, suffer in person occa- sionally from the Ver Baie éAtie but, to use a popular expression, ‘they don’t Sed it’’ while they aro squabbling about big jobs or | racking their brains about the wire-pulling of political schemes. The marrow of their real official usefulness is left to freeze as well as their spinal marrow. While they busy themselves making capital in the old worn-out fashion they let slip thousands of opportunities of benefiting their constituents and themselves in their neglect to care for the little wants of the people. It is the habit of most people— latterday politicians particularly—to despise litle things. Tiny services are given the cold shoulder, and men essay only the big things of life. The Buchu glare and tinsel of the present day have led away men’s eyes and thoughts, so that the glamour of ostentation and the genius of quick fortunes are the only objects prayed to or yearned after. Everybody seems intent on making “big hits,” “big strikes’ and “big piles,” rather than on attending to the solid little acts which under- lie substantial and permanent success. Duty, in any other shape than to self, is conse- quently left out of the calendar. We must change all this, for it is all wrong. Why cannot our authorities strike out on an original voyage of discovery in search of duty? Why will they not devote themselves to pro- viding those little comforts for the people? Let us ask again, Why cannot our policemen be utilized for this purpose? It would be more creditable to provide dry feet than to smash weak heads, as our policemen are too prone todo. Why cannot they be employed, not only to report nuisances, but also to abate them, and see that life and limb are secure, from the Battery to Spuyten Duyvil and be- tween the East and North Rivers? Asan instance of how all this is not done we call attention once more to the disgraceful manner in which the Fourth avenue ‘“im- provement” is prosecuted. The avenue, from Fiftieth street to Harlem, is upturned; the side streets are filled with mountains of earth and rock; the street crossings are almost obliterated ; vast chasms yawn at every step, and, in most cases, nothing prevents the un- wary pedestrian from tumbling to the bottom but a carelessly placed piece of railroad iron, under or over which it would be the easiest thing in life toslip. We have called the at- tention of the authorities several times to the dangerous condition of this work ; but, ap- parently, no attention is paid to the matter. Some fine or foggy morning, no doubt, the city will be startled by the news of a terrible loss of life in consequence of this neglect, and then there will be the usual great outcry. Why not prevent disaster when we know the danger? ‘The style in which rock-blasting along the route is managed is simply out- rageous. The heaviest charges are exploded, and at each blast the houses in the vicinity are shaken from foundation to roof. The damage thus done is at present incalculable, because most of itis nowimperceptible. It is nottoo much, however, to say that each house thus shaken will be injured to the amount of a thousand dollars or more without any remedy. Light blasting charges, if causing a little more expense to the contractors, should be insisted on. Small blasts, exploded more frequently, would accomplish the work just as well as the present perilous efforts of the rock men, and life and property would be, as they should, safe. The tremendous blasts our citizens have been treated to would do very well for the remote islands of the Granite State; on Manhattan Island they should be sternly pro- hibited. A great public improvement, we are aware, cannot be carried on without some inconvenience to the public, and the public does not object to what is necessary. But it should be done with the least possible public inconvenience, and certainly always without danger to life. Will our reform authorities note these timely suggestions and be gov- erned by them? Congress and the Congressional Case of Conscience. All the virtue of Congress has ended in a dodge, and a bill has been passed which, though a good measure in itself, is in the cir- cumstances not satisfactory because it is a compromise, and as such shirks the direct issue which the people have made with their dishonest representatives. It provides that the Secretary of the Treasury shall receive all moneys that may be offered by the conscience- stricken members ; makes the salary of mem- bers of Congress six thousand dollars, with payment of their actual expenses in going to Washington and returning home; is to take effect on its passage and repeals all laws in- consistent with it; so that the back pay thett is sustained, thongh, if anybody finds the money too hot to hold, the Secretary of the ‘Treasury is authorized to receive it. ‘This bill passed the House on a division of 122 to 74— the yeas and nays being refused, for they don't like to be followed too closely in their dodg- ing. In supporting the bill thus passed Ben Butler bad big usual courtly relgsenoe te make the press, and discussed the popular clamor. He dislikes it, Sometimes a rogue is detected in his villany, when a whole street re-echoes with the cry of “Stop thief!’ and the hunted rogue in such case seldom escapes. Now, that is a typical case of “popular clamor,” and it is very likely the thief thinks it excessively vulgar and objectionable, and se it is not strange if some Congressmen take @ similar view of a not dissimilar event. In the Senate there was some discussion of the re- cent naval preparations with regard to the Virginius case, apropos to the measure to appropriate money to cover the expenditurea actually made. ‘The bill was pussed giving four millions, Our International Friend, the Fog. The home of Cockneydom, the modern Babylon, in short, that three and a half mil- lion microcosm, London, has enjoyed from time immemorial a specialty in fogs. His Brumous Highness was a close ally of the aboriginals who, under Cassivelaunus or the Amazon Queen, Boadicca, withstood the Roman, and we doubt not that Casar himself would have any day preferred a battle with the Britons to a struggle with their fog. It is a London institution, as much to be hankered after just for once as the Tower or the dome of St. Paul’s, both of which the American tourist will ‘do’? before he is twenty-four hours old in the British metropolis. We have had a fog, and despite the delays on the ferries, the accidents, on the streets and the sudden prevalengg 6 ¢atarrh, the mijority of our citizeps relished, it as the Chinese did a late ‘snowfall in Sacramento, and thought that America had produced a misty article equal to any in the foreign market. Men who had read of London fogs called the yesterday of Gotham a “pea soup day.’’ Vain aspira- tion! We confess toa failure. Our business men who sleep in Brooklyn or degenerate during the watches of the night in Jersey may think that they had fog enough yesterday, but out of sheer compassion for the New World let them not dare the worst that the fog demon’ can do. We did not have a London fog yes- terday, and we do not want to have one. Yes- terday's was a fog, possibly of the Banks of Newfoundland breed, whitish, long-haired, smoky-wreathed. In this it may have a cer- tain British air about it, but it is not a cir- cumstance to the real old genuine original’ London fog. Yesterday you could see a blue sky. The child of Bethnal Green would, on this fact being admitted, at once declare it “a himposture, not a fog you know.” Yesterday’s atmosphere, O children of the New World, rapresented the average morning air of London, with the blue sky out of the question. It was the sort of day on which old Samuel Johnson, emerg- ing, in his nearest approach to cheerfulness, from his lodgings, would say to his friend,’ “Sir, et us take a walk down Fleet street.” When London complains of a fog you may be certain, in the classic language of the Cockney, “Hit’s a fog has his a fog,’’ and none of your poetic mists, like thoso that the old Ema heroes, Cuthullin and Fingal, rode in over. shady Morven, or that Jupiter rolled around: Olympus when he was not at home for “‘com- pany.” No, it must be a counterpart of that horrific visitation with which Moses frightened Pharaoh and his followers out of their wits, and which he describes under the pleasing euphemism of ‘palpable darkness.’’ London looks out of its windows and calls it ‘pea soup day.’’ A glance towards the place where the sky should be reveals a thick soggy blanket of color between yellow and brown. The sun is red as the sun of the Apocalypse, and he is “shorn of his beams,’’ with as close a shave as Samson. was of his Nazarene strength-containing locks, Across the street a dull blur of red or yellow glimmers through the ambient blackness to tell you that a light struggles there. The effort of making these observations over, you are conscious of a choking sensation as if a clammy-handed footpad had you by the throat and was squeezing your windpipe. It is only the fog. Your eyes weep involuntarily for your lungs. You cough, and the momentary opening of the mouth causes an inrush of the aérial pea soup. You are fed on that mouth- ful for the day, and the acrid taste thereof is worse than unripe persimmons. If you were a fiddleless Nero you could no more whistle over the woe than fly. Your nostrils are clogged with soot, the chill permeates your warm clothes and you can shiver and perspire to- gether. Meteoric linkboys rush shouting along the greasy footpath. You are jostled by people who live in the fog as creatures of the mist. You feel your weakness and cease to wonder at the insular pride of the Cockney. Go to, Old Probabilities, thou didst not give us a fog like unto this, and, if thou lovest America, never do. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. —— General W. B. Tibbits, of Troy, is at the Sturte- vant House. Horace Fairbanks, of Vermont, is registered at the Filth Avenue Hotel. Daniel Pratt, Attorney Ueneral elect, of Syracuse, is staying at the Windsor Hotel. Ex-Congressman Thomas Cornell, of Rondout, is quartered at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Ex-Speaker Dewitt C. Littlejohn, of Oswego, is registered at the Metropolitan Hotel. Mayor Charles M. Reed, of Erte, Pa., 18 among the arrivals at the St. Nicholas Hotel. George W. Childs, of the Philadelphia Ledger, has apartments at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Lieutenant Colonel W. L. Elliott, United States Ariny, is quartered at the Sturtevant House. Hillyard Cameron, member of Parliament, has arrived at the St. Nicholas Hotel from Toronto, James H. Hoyt, for 18 years Superintendent of: the New York and New Haven Rallroad, is dead. “Fish of one and foul of the other” is what the Havanese think of the surrender of the Virginius. Ex-Governor T. F. Randolph, of New Jersey, has returned to his old quarters at the New York Hotel. Solicitor Banfleld, of the Treasury Department, arrived from Washington yesterday at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. William J. McAlpine, £ngineer-in-Chiet of the new Capitol, arrived at the Hofman House from Albany yesterday. Mr. Appleton Oaksmith has issued an addrese from the Langham Hotei, in London, on the Cuban matters, In it he speaks of the Spanish repre- sentatives there as tools of “the worst and most unprincipled of the slave-trading cliques.” This indicates @ reformation of Appleton’s mind, Ha has turned against siavery and the slave trade, Those who perished by the Ville du Havre dis. aster are not the only victims of that melancholy occurrence, Besides the death of Judge Pecknam's brother, We have to chronicle the decease of Chas. F. Hammond, of Crown Point, N. Y., whose decease was accelerated by the death of his son, who waa on board the ill-fated steamer, and now the mother is prostrated, and fears are entertained as to tla FORA