The New York Herald Newspaper, December 26, 1873, Page 4

— 4 NEW YORK HERALD EROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. METROPOLITAN THEATRE, 585 Broadway,—Vaniery EnterrarnmeEst, F, B, CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE.— MRS. Tux Wicker W THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 514 Broad way.—Vanierr Enverrainwent. TERRACE GARDEN THEATRE, Ssth st., hetween Lex- ington and 3d avs.—Orera Bourrs—Bansy Birve. NIBLO’S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Houston sts.—Campren 1x tux Woon, WALLACK’S THEAT! Broadway and Thirteenth street.—A Maw or Honor. USEUM, Broadway, corner Thirticth st.— Susan. Afternoon and evening. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Ith street and Irving place.— Trautay Orrna—Lvcia pi Lasxewoon, BROADWAY | THEAT! Tax Woman ix Wark. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Bighth ay. and Twenty-third st.—Humery Dumpty Avnoap. 8 and 730 Broadway.— FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 28th st. and Broadway.— Panaicive, BOOTHS THEATRE, Sixth Err; on THe Angansas Tray: OLYMPIC THEATRE, Bre and Bleecker sts—Gannizt ( and Twenty-third st.— y, between Houston GERMANIA THEATRE, lith street and 3d avenue.— Overs Bourre—Les U KORGIENNES. PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn, opposite City Hall.— Exoon Anprs. STADT THEATRE, Nos. 45 and 47 Bowery.—Gnman Orrns—Dix Levstigsw Weiser. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Motarr Goosz— Ispian Box Trick. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.— Vanuery ENTERTAINMENT, BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st, corner Sixth av.—Negro Minstaxtsy, &c. STEINWAY HALL Mth st, between 4th av. and Irving place.—Granp Conczrt. THE RINK, $4 avenue and (th strect—Mxxaceniz AND Museum Afternoon and evening. ROBINSON HALL, Sixteenth street —Macica, Eyrmr- ‘TAINMENT. DR. KAHN’S MUSEUM, No. 688 Broadway.—Scrence anp Arr. New York, Friday, Dee. 26, 1873. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. ‘To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “SECRETARY RICHARDSON COMING TO A COMMON SENSE VIEW OF THE FINAN- ClaL SITUATION’ —LEADING ARTICLE— Fourta Pag. CONTINUED VENOM OF THE SPANIARDS IN THE EVER FAITHFUL ISLE! OUR CITIZENS IN- SULTED AND OUR FLAG LOWERED TO THE RABBLE! WAR SHIPS AT SANTIAGO— Firru Pace. MOURNFUL DIATRIBES OF THE SPANISH PRESS IN CUBA ON THE VIRGINIUS SET- TLEMENT! A PASSION IN TATTERS! FU- RIOUS IMPEACHMENT OF CASTELAR— TamD Pace. THE SIEGE OF CARTAGENA! A BREACH IN THE CITY'S STRONGHOLD ’ FATAL BAT- TERY EXPLOSION—Firtu Pace. BPAIN’S EMANCIPATORY PROGRAMME IN CUBA! VIEWS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CA- SING ESPANOL! THE VOLUNTEERS! NO CHANCE FOR THE MAMBL“S—TuIEp Pace. {HE AUTHORIZED AGENTS ABROAD OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC—THE OFFICIAL MAMBI ORGAN ON THE INSURRECTION—TuImp PasE. THE NEW FRENCH CABINET AND THEIR POLICY AND RECORDS! FATAL DUEL BETWEEN WALLACHIAN PRINCES! FRENCH THRIFT— Firra Page. CHEERFUL CHRISTMAS! AN UNSURPASSED OBSERVANCE OF THE DAY, IN CRURCH AND AT HOME, BY RICH AND POOR, THE TON AND TRE PARIAHS! GLADDENED HEARTS IN THE INSTITUTIONS! THE SUBURBAN CELEBRATIONS—SixtH AND SEVENTH PaGEs. ASSETS OF THE CLOOKE HOUSE! REAL PROP- ERTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS— E1onTH Pace. A LEGISLATIVE FORECAST! THE INTERESTS THAT W COMBAT IN THE CHOICE FOR THE SPEAKERSHIP! SIGNS UF TROUBLE FOR THE REPUBLICANS—PRIZE FIGHT ON LONG ISLAND*{Tuixp Page, KIDO, THE JAPANESE DIPLOMATE, RELATES HIS EXPERIENCES AMONG THE “OUTSIDE BARBARIANS!) THE NEW CABINET OF JAPAN—EIGHTH PAGE. OF THE DISASTER Tu THE STEAM- SHIP ARIEL—FORREST HOME—LITERARY GLINTINGS—SECOND PaGE, FREE TRADE IN GOLD! THE HOW-NOT-TO-DU- IT TREASURY POLICY IN RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS! NO BUSINESS IN WALL STREET—SrEvENTH Pace. NEWARK ROUGHS ON THE RAMPAGE—THE HUNT FOR HARRY—IRADE STATISTICSO— SEVENTH PAGE. CAUSI Jay Cooxr’s Accounts.—We published a few days since the complete list of the cred- itors of Jay Cooke & Co., and to-day we give in part the natural pendant to that document in a statement of the assets of that house. In the light of these documents the world of financial readers will find much assistance for ® full comprehension of the consequences of that great collapse. Warre Is rae Drevomatic ConrEsPonpENcE on the Virginius affair, and why is it not given to the public? The pretence for its suppres- sion on the assembling of Congress was the desire to compare the cable messages on a sub- ject of so much importance with the originals before laying them before the country, That excuse no longer holds good. The “settle- ment,” as Mr, Fish’s miserable patchwork is called, has been completed. ‘Time enough has elapsed to place the originals of the cable messages from Madrid in the hands of our government. Now let the people see the cor- respondence which Mr. Fish so suspiciously suppresses. Sourmmnn Trave Revivina.—The Charles. ton News remarks that its issue of the 19th inst. contained the largest list of vessels in port that has been seen at any one time since 1865, and in amount of tonnage probably the heaviest that has ever oconpied the harbor. ‘These vessels have been attracted thither from all points by the liberal offerings of cotton, rice, naval stores, phosphates, &c. In cotton receipts alone Charleston shows gain of twenty thousand bales over those of last year. These are auspicious indications of the revival of trade and commerce in the Southern marts, and, with the completion of the works of in- ternal improvement already in progress, the future prosperity of the South may be safely assured, NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1873. ee Secretary Richardson Common Sense View mancial Situation. The Secretary of the Treasury has changed his opinion of the financial condition of the country and of his department since writing tho letter of the 12th of this month to Mr. Dawes, the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. Ho has learned a great deal in ten days. We sincerely commend him for his aptitude. There is no one so high in position or so able that he may not learn something. A stubborn adherence to one’s opinion in the face of opposing facts shows a narrow mind, Mr. Richardson thinks now, if we can rely upon the news from Washing- ton, that the condition of the government finances presents a more hopeful aspect than when he wrote his letter to Congress. This letter, it will be remembered, was of the same tenor as his report to Congress at the begin- ning of the month as regards the necessities of the Treasury, only it appeared to be more urgent for the imposition of fresh taxes to the amount of forty millions. He even presented the bills to the Committee of Ways and Means, and asked Congress to pass them at an early day. We have shown from the first and throughout the discussion that the govern- ment could and ought to get along without additional taxation. Though Mr. Richardson. has not come quite around to this opinion, he is approaching it, and we have hope in him. We are told that signs of reviving activity at home and in importations are already per- ceptible in the revenue, and there is every in- dication that the increase, though yet small, will go on till it approximates, if it should not entirely reach, the old figures. This, it is said, is the present view the Secretary has of the financial situation and prospect. Still he wants to feel secure, and hopes Congress will take some action to provide for possible con- tingencies. The best provision that can be made is to reduce the estimates thirty or forty millions, for the expenditures have been on too extravagant a scale. They have led to jobs, corruption and demoralization. The more economical the government is and the closer the revenue fits the expenditures, allow, ing always a moderate sum for a sinking fund, the better it is for the morals of the country. Mr. Richardson suggests that, by using a portion or all of the thirty millions estimated for the sinking fund to meet the current demands of the Treasury, he might bridge over all his difficulties, but adds that if there were no money convenient to be applied to the sinking fand he would | not attempt to reduce the national debt. Well, we think he and his predecessor have been too intent on rapidly paying off the debt, and that this has been the chief cause of the | financial troubles of the country and his em- barrassment. A hundred millions or so a year taken from the pockets of the people and from productive industry, to say nothing of the cost of the expensive office-holding ma- chinery to collect that sum, bore heavily upon all classes. A sinking fund of twenty to thirty millions a year would have been quite sufficient until the country recovered fully from the effects of the war. The credit of the government would have been promoted just as well or better by such a policy. We have necessarily come to that at last. There will be no more hundred millions or fifty millions a year raised forthe liquidation of the debt. Yet it will be well to havea certain sum, if not over twen.y millions a year, applied to the reduction of the debt. This, at com- pound interest, would, in the course of some Coming to a of the Fi- would be gratified with such a gradual but constant decline of the debt. We think the Secretary can have such a sinking fond, even with existing taxation, if the estimates be cut down and economy be practised. In this matter, too, Mr. Richardson, we are happy to say, is coming to our views, though he had not thought of it before. There are, he is reported as saying, many unneccssary offices and other sources of expenditure which could just as well be abolished. He thinks the laws creating them should be repealed. Very good. We think the same. Will he point out to Congress the offices that have out- lived their usefulness and are unnecessary, beginning with the Internal Revenue ser- vice? He does not hold himself respon- sible for the estimates of the departments of government other than of his own depart- ment. While this is true there is no reason why he should not, as the financial agent and representative of the government, represent to Congress where extravagant and unnecessary outlays are embarrassing and might be stopped. The official delicacy he manifests should not deter him from doing his duty to the country. From this reference to the estimates of other departments he appears to intimate that there might be an economical revision. If the Secretary out of delicacy can- not speak of the estimates of other depart- ments, the President, as the head of the gov- ernment, can call upon them to revise their estimates. At any rate the money appropri- ating power—Congress, and its agents, the Committees of Ways and Means and on Appropriations—can insist upon a revision. Unfortunately Congress is too lavish of the public money, particularly when it sees a large surplus revenue, such as we have had, to draw upon. Mr. Richard- son remarked that last year Congress appropriated twenty millions more than was asked for by the estimates, and added that the same power could reduce the amount. The truth is almost every member has some bill to draw money from the Treasury, and they log roll to help each other in their schemes until the appropriations are enormously swelled. Now, however, the public will understand that Congress is responsible and that that body must answer for the future financial affairs of the country. After saying many good things and ap- proaching the main question cautiously Mr. Richardson comes squarely to the point at last. He was, he said, in favor of culting down expenditures to the smallestamount pos- sible; for such action would, he was convinced, very satisfactorily relieve the present un- desirable turn in the balance between re- ceipts and expenditures. Here is the whole matter in the smallest compass, Let him stick to this, let the President and Con- gress call upon the several departments to reduce their estimates, and let Congress’ abandon log-rolling appropriations, and then no additional taxation will be necessary. Mr. | Richardson is hopeful even that the reviving years, show a grand result, and the people | in the spring, will bring the revenue up to the needs of the government. In connection with this subject we may notice that the Commis- sioner of Internal Revenue gives a flattering account of the returns from the various collec- tion districts, and that the income from cus- toms duties is improving. Another favorable indication that we shall get out of the present difficulty without more taxation is, that tho several executive departments are about to commence, next week, it is said, to revise their estimates in detail. It will be necessary, however, to keep the pressure upon them, for no executive officer likes to cut down expenses in his department. They all like to handle as much money as possible, believing that necessary to make their branch of the public service specially efficient. We have, heretofore, pointed out where the expenditures could be reduced, and need not repeat what was said. There was a report that the Secretary of War had said he could not reduce the estimates of his department, but now we are informed from Washington that he can and is willing to cut them down. He proposes even to revise the estimates for the military service proper, though he thought he had calculated them closely, and he thinks the sums put down for fortifications, armaments and rivers and harbors can be reduced considerably. And why not? Surely thirty-four millions—half as much as the whole government cost at the commencement of the late war—is a larger sum than necessary. The army is not large, and we do not needa large one in time of peace. Indeed, from the peculiar geographical position of the country and the nature of our institutions, we shall never want more than an efficient nuclens in the regular army for war purposes. It is different with the navy. As a great maritime and commercial nation we require a respect- able navy. With regard to the War Depart- ment, public works, the Indians, public printing, the Internal Revenue Service and other branches of the service, particularly in the large and ambiguous estimate of ‘‘mis- cellaneous,’’ a great reduction can be made. Thirty to forty millions can very well be saved, and there is no necessity for additional taxation. The Emigrant Exodus trom England. In a recent issue the London Times men- tions the prospective large exodus of emigrants from England, and comments upon it in the most dissuasive and deprecating terms. No wonder the English journalist is excited by the announcement that a single emigration agent will next spring send out 10,000 labor- ing families to a selected field in which to seek their fortunes. Since the Times made this announcement, in ignorance of the destination of these families, it has been reported that a large number of emigrants, under the auspices of some English management, will be sent to Virginia. However this may be, it is evident that the tide of population setting westward to our shores is on the rise, and not on the ebb. The English emigrant arrivals at New York for the quarter ending September 30 alone amounted to 15,399, exclusive of the Scotch and Irish, who swelled the number immensely. The remarkable fact to be observed is that the 10,000 to leave England in the spring of 1874 (under the auspices of two English agents, Messrs. Arch and Clayden, ) are in fami- lies. The early colonists of America and Aus- tralia were mostly single adventurers, impelled by necessity to cross the ocean; but the exodus of so many English families argues a social movement of an organized and exten- sive kind, impelled not so much by necessity as by the attractive and ascertained benefits to be derived from the transter of home. It the destination of these families be the “Old Dominion’ the promise for the invest- ment of their labor and capital will be most encouraging both to that State and to the emigrant families. The people of the South have thoronghly recovered from the demorali- zation of the war, and its peaceful but labor- prostrated society earnestly desires emigration of the kind mentioned. The extreme South may not be a congenial climate for the Englishman; but the climate of the border States is unsurpassed. There never was a time when the emigrants’ capital could be more judiciously and profitably in- vested in lands than it can now be in Virginia; and, no doubt, the tide of new settlers will soon be largely diverted from the remote regions of the West in a southern direction. The Times strongly urges upon the outgoing families to wait a year and see how tho experi- ment works with those who have gone, citing the sufferings of the first settlers of America. But such a dissuasive will not be likely to have much effect, for the United’ States is not now what it was a century ago, and the Euro- pean coming hither is not making ‘‘a leap in the dark.” Tue Sovrn, raz West anp tHe Repusii- can Party.—We are informed from Washing - ton that the republicans of the South are indignant at the milk and water course of the administration in the Virginius affair; that they are moving for a new organiza- tion looking ont for the dominant party of the fnture, and that they will probably unite with the grangers on a new depar- ture; that wide-awake and progressive re- publicans are freely discussing the short- comings and the blundersgof the administra- tion party and its bungling in the State elec- tions of last October and November, and that the plain men of the party from the rural dis- tricts are disgusted with the silly working of civil service reform. In a word, the cohesive power of the republican party, as the party of the administration, is broken, the work of disintegration in the party has commenced, and from all the signs of the times the party of the future that will next come to the front will begin to crop out boldly in the West and South in the elections of 1874 for the next Congress. OnristTmss Smason AND THE Frnancran Paussune.—All the surface indications are that there is no pressure. There never were so many splendid shops in this city, and they never did in any season so swarm with busy buyers; never were the shops better sup- plied with temptingly displayed commodities, and never apparently was money more readily forthcoming. Recovery from the consequences of financial trouble seems to be general, and while the wail of the wounded by the great catastrophe lingers in the air the public at large has crept out of the extensive rain and is 80 busy with new endeavors that it has for- teade ond business of the cowniunarticulady. | gotwn all about the late collapse. The Great Gold Discoveries in South | whole slave property, but also-the loss of Africa. The recent tidings of South African gold discoveries furnished by our Natal corre- spondent bear strong internal evidence of reliability. In his earlier researches Hum- boldt first pointed out the striking geo- logical fact that the gold bearing fields are found in mountains having a northerly and southerly trend. So far in the history of gold discovery this geological rule has held good, as seen in the auriferous regions of the Ural, Australia, the Alleghanies and that long band of gold which threads the continuous Andean, Isthmian and Roéky Mountain chains, from Patagonia to California, a distance of six thou- sand statute miles, All of these richly stored chains, it will be observed, have no east and west trend, but from southeast to northwest or from southwest to northeast, as in the Austra- lian Blue Mountains and Australian Alps. The largest gold nugget ever seen was ob- tained from the latter, and weighed one hun- dred and eighty-four pounds, and sold for over ten thousand pounds sterling; and it ap- pears from our correspondent’s information the gold bearing reefs of the Transvaal Re- public have the same geological and geographic position as those of the Australian mines. This circumstance, if alone, would give credibility to the accounts of profitable ‘gold reefs’’ in this long shut up land of the African. The specimens of the quartz from the vicinity of Marabastadt ought to settle the question be- yond all doubt, for the geologist is now able to predict quite correctly from the nature of the quartz, and even the associated rocks, whether the precious metal is near by. This was actually done in 1840, when Count Strzelecki ascended the sienitic dome of Mount Kos- cuisko, in Southeastern Australia. He sub- mitted specimens of the rocks he had collected in his wanderings to Sir Rod- erick Murchison, and that sagacious scien- tist, perceiving their correspondence with those of the auriferous Ural mountains, announced the existence of the Australian gold mines some time before their ac- tual discovery. The outcome from this scien- tifie forecast was illustrated at the Interna- tional Exposition at London in 1862 by a pyramidal trophy representing the quantity of gold up to that time exported from Victoria, which was eight hundred tons in weight and one hundred and four million six hundred and forty-nine thousand pounds sterling in valne. Such an enormous yield may lie in the stores of the South African mountains, wait- ing only the axe and pick of the pioneer and digger. If, as seems probably true, alluvial gold has been extensively discovered in the Leydenburg district, the mysterious El Do- rado may yet be realized in that far-off, but not inhospitable, clime. One thing, however, should surely damp the ardor of any adventurer who would go forth, as so many went to California, alone and moneyless. The machinery necessary for extracting the shining metal must be transported over great distances and at great cost, and the solitary miner, unless he can afford to wait a long time for his harvest, must undergo great perils and hardships. For large moneyed corporations and companies the prospect is very bright for an abundant gold crop if they can put their faith and funds into it. An Unveiled Mystery of Marine Dis- asters. A most startling inquiry has recently been raised in England regarding a new theory of the cause of deviation in the mariner’s com- pass. Not long since a writer in the Nautical Magazine, a very high authority on marine matters, advanced some remarkable facts, going to show that in iron steamships one hitherto unsuspected source of magnetic deviation arises from the effects of unequal and varying distribution of heat over the metallic hall. He illustrated his meaning by citing the case of aniron steamship going up the Red Sea, which had the rays of a blazing sun impinging on one side of her hull in the morning and on the other side in the evening, the effect being a very marked difference in the morning and evening deviation. Again is cited the case of an iron steamship making @ passage from Liverpool to New York, and, when in the alternate bands of tepid Gulf Stream and frigid Polar water, between Georges and Nantucket, with about thirty fathoms of shoal water, the master found a compass alteration of ten degrees, A similar deviation has been observed on board vessels lying in port when the sun has been shining powerfully on one side of the ship and the other has been shaded. An experi- ment in thermal electricity shows that if different parts of a metallic bar be un- equally heated, or if one part be cooled by application of ice and the other heated by a spirit lamp, the electric current is set up; and the quantity of electricity excited is proportionate, not to the absolute heat com- municated, but to the difference of tempera- ture in different parts of the body. But, as yet, no experiments have been conducted to test the correctness of this novel view, and to determine how far, if at all, under the condi- tions named, the magnetic guide of the sea- man may lead him ruinously astray. Not strange to say, the writer of the article, who modestly suggested merely putting his views ond deductions toa crucial test, has been sharply overhauled for his presumption in proposing such magnetic inquiry. The venerable head of the Admiralty Compass De- partment severely criticises him on the ground that his own observations have brought no such result to light, and dismisses the theory as not holding water. But, despite the weight of such high authority, the facts stated and their consonance with a known law of thermo- electricity, as well as the difficulty of explain- ing many compass deviations in iron ships upon any principle heretofore propounded by scientists, warrant and demand some satisfac- tory, if not exhaustive, experiments to decide the question at issue. Sexon ZunveTa on Staveny m Copa.— Elsewhere we give an interesting report of a conversation on the subject of slavery in Juba, with Sefior Zulueta, the great man of the Havana Casino and the owner of twenty-five hundred slaves. It appears from the views of this gentleman that the rich slaveholders of the island are willing to face the possibility of heavy loss to get rid of the moral odium of decrease in production, and accept a system of gradual emancipation by an apprenticeship of ten years, and en. deavor during that period to substitute Sambo the Heathen Chines. Affairs in Spain—The Carlists Still in the Field. Spanish affairs do not indicate many en- couraging signs of improvement. Cartagena still holds out; and, although we are now told that General Dominguez is making active pre- parations for an assault, it is not impossible that the rebel city may defy the national gov- ernment for months to come. In almost any other country the town would have been taken by storm long ago. But there seams to be no soul in the Spanish armies. The soldiers will not fight. This is just as apparent in the Army of the North as in the Army of the Southeast, According to one of our latest despatches the republican forces under the command of General Moriones are surrounded by thirty thousand Carlists, and all way of escape except by sea is cut off. Steamers, it is said, have been sent to San Sebastian to take on board the retreating troops. It is quite possible that this news is a little too highly colored; but that there is some good foundation for the report we have no justi- fiable reason to doubt. For some time past we have heard but little of the Carlists. The silence has been almost ominous. If there be any truth in the above report, it is quite clear that the Carlists during these weeks of quict have not been idle. The presumption is that while we were led to believe that they wero broken up and dispersed they were concen- trating their strength. With thirty thousand soldiers at his back Don Carlos ought not to have much difficulty in forcing his way to the Spanish capital. The President and the Chief Justice- ship. The determination of President Grant to leave the name of Attorney General Williams for the Chief Justiceship before the Senate until the nominee shall be rejected or con- firmed is repeated from Washington. It is natural enough that the President should take this position. He probably regards Mr. Wil- liams as a lawyer of respectable ability; he certainly knows him to be a serviceable politi- cal friend. Looking upon the Supreme Court of the United States only as one of the most valuable sources of reward at his command, the President does not understand why he should be proscribed from bestowing its rich- est position upon one of his most faithfal servitors, But Senators of the United States at present owe allegiance to the people, not to the President. It is their duty to reject all improper nominees for public offices. Espe- cially is it their duty to prevent the degrada- tion of the Supreme Court. While they may excuse the obstinacy with which the soldier President adheres to his unfortunate selection, they could not justify their own confirmation of a Chief Justice whose elevation to the im- portant office would be a disgrace and a peril to the nation. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. General Burnside and James Fisk, Sr., are in Baltimore. John Mitchel, the Irish patriot, is to be publicly Tecetved in Chicago, Juage Frank Fuller, of Salt Lake City, is staying at the Sturtevant House. State Senator-elect Frank Abbott, of Port Jervis, N. Y., is again at the Hoffman House. Colonel Albert G. Brackett, United States Army, is quartered at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Congressman William Loughridge, of Iowa, is Tegistered at the Grand Central Hotel, General William Mahone, of Virginia, is among the late arrivals at the St. Nicholas Hotel. A Kansas county treasurer has ‘‘got away” with $70,000. The Chicago Times, however, insists that city is still ahead. Robert J. Breckinridge, now of New York, but formerly of Danville, Ky., ison a visit to his old home in the latter town. Professors Ezra Abbot, of Harvard College, and H. B. Hackett, of Rochester University, have apartments at the Everett House. Wultam 0, Butler, candidate on the Cass ticket years ago for Vice President, has been elected President of a Bible society in Carroll county, Ky. Two male principais resigned their positions in an Iowa school because the female teachers were too much for them. There were no breaches of the peace, Three widows are candidates dor the office of Postmistress at Kankakee, Ill. Samuel Kenoga its the only male aspirant. ‘“Bevare of the vidders, Samivel."” Charies F. Coffin, for half a century one of the most gifted members of the Society of Friends in Fairfleld, Me., died on the 19th inst., nearly 80 years of age. Mrs. Jennie Chamberlain, of Garnettaville, Ky., is 102 years old, and retains some interesting Tecollections of the history of the “dark and bloody ground.” Rev. Mr. Venables, who officiated at the recent marriage of Secretary of War Belknap and Mrs. Bower, performed a similar service at the marriage of the bride eight years ago. A private letter from Mrs. Lincoln denies that she ever hela with Mr. Herndon any such conver- sation as he claims to quote in bis late lecture on Mr. Lincoln’s religious belief. Ozro J. Dodds, ex-Representative from tne First Ohio district, was married recently at Lima, Ohio, tothe daaghter of Hon. C. N. Lamison, member of Congress from the Filth district. ‘The Charleston News insists that John J, Patter- son obtained nis seat in the United States Senate by bribery, notwithstanding the assertions to the contrary telegraphed all over the country, Chillicothe is in @ ferment because a colored coachman has eloped with a white girl of German extraction, employed as nurse jor the grand- children of Governor elect Allen, of Ohio, Colors don’t mtx well in that highly democratic family. A solemn warning might be taken from the fate of a Western editor who started out to “astonish the natives’? with a lecture; but a snow storm arose, the driver lost his way, the wagon upset, and the lecturer broke his collar bone and two ribs. Alexander Keith, formerly Mayor of Halifax, and long known a8 an active member of the Masonic fraternity, died on the 14th inst, A large number of Masons from Amherst, Pictou, Truro, Windsor and other parts of the Province attended the funert The late Professor Agassiz was never injured by by the bite of a snake or the poison of any venom- ous reptile, herb or Nower—a fact attributed to the courage and impanity with which the naturalist moved among them in their wild and heterogene- ous state, One Gillespie, cashier of the Michigan Southern Freight Depot at Chicago, ts short in his accounts only to the amount of $60,000, go far as yet known. “When will they stop?” asks the Jnter-Ocean, When Diogenes makes a success of his prospecting tour in search of an honest man. An intelligent Western clergyman, being in poor heaith, instead of visiting Europe went to the Rocky Mountains and spent five months in tramp- ing about on foot, He got entirely well, and has from Spain, and count upon the necessity of | hair of those publio clergymen who spena thou- the institution; that they expect no indemnity | resumed his pulpit work with more unction than facing eveniuallx got onlx the loss of on adaugt vo tbe Continent of Buroge. ART MATTERS. ————_-+-—__ “The Shadow of Death,” by Holman Bant. “The Shadow of Death,” by Holman Hunt, upon which he bas been laboring for three years, has just been completed, and is now exhibiting in Bond street, London, Our readers will feel inter- ested @ hearing the criticisms bestowed on it by Some of the principal London reviews. The Speota- tor remarks :— The motive of the picture is twofotd. First, the painter is required to exhibit in its fullest tnten- sity, and as the pi and leading idea, the feel- ings and emotions of Christ at the moment of ces- eal from daily labor; and then, as a sort of second plot in the drama, he has to introduce, and to keep in due subordination, the incident of the shadow, with its effect upon the mother of Jesus, Besides these, there ts a window to be d in the background, the rforatioms of which but stro) @ nimbus rouud the Saviour’s head, and ‘the star Bethlehem above it; and a variety of accesso! have been added, including a comprehenstve local landscape. All this must be reecn red under an effect of the most brilliant, horizontal sun, shining on near objects, which gives strong definition to the shadows, brings out all the forms in a manner eq iy. aber} clear and telling, and strikes the upturned face after the Du c AnDEr of bot- htson the stage. Everytliing has mented with stern, realistic truth, ng softened off or left indefinite, and nothing accent uated in any manner inconsistent with absolute fidelity to nature. And among hare to be fngaet Ay me ver: e principal object musi ing hearty from top to bottom of the canvas stand- ing in about as upbeautifal an attitude as it is possible for a m to be set in. These were the conditions under which he had to work, and it surely reanired no slight ingenuity and manage- it to Féconelie such conticting elements and At them together as to produce anything like the unity ofimpression which we have in this picture. The Saturday Review says :— The picture admtts of easy description; the char- acters are but two—Christ and uhe Madonna; the Scene 1s laid in & carpenter's shop hung with tools and strewn with shavil ‘he accessories have been studied on the 3 Thus we are told that “the tools on the raok are from a collection of an- cient carpenters’ implements bought cy Bethle- hem.” In like manner the rounded arch of the windows, the supposed are substantiated by extant examples. is the creation of the nation; historic truth reached h selection of still existing facts, & prpooms whieh an, the more trustworthy irom the own pi nee of Oriental forms. This car- pente! op was indeea in part painted: “in a car. Penter’s shop,’ and the figure and head of Obrist Were studied from living models in Palestine. The characters introduced are, as we have said, on! two. The Madonna is the reverse of consptc! she is crouching down; shi Spectator; her lace is not seen. One advantage of Nothi v4 gained for the prinelfal tgure. Onrise ¢ fall grown ire. Christ, & wok Tan, st least six tect tally stands in the midst of a workshop; the day is done, and toil ar tes one the arms are upstretched as if in f from long tension, and the down-going sun which fits the room with light and illumines the face with radiant glory, casts the figure in shadow upon the wail ie arms are uplifted, the shadow 1s the figure of the cross—“The Shadow of Death.'? The head of tae Saviour and the figure, the reater part of which is undraped, have evidently, , f common with every other part of the picture,’ received anxious thought. And the result is an independence of treatment which will throw the world into controversy. In the first place we may remark that, though the idea of the existence of Sera, portrait of Chmst has long been abandoned, yet there is, as we all know, a type which for centuries obtains acceptance. Mr. Hunt, throwing aside the traditional form, goes to na- ture and makes for himself a new type. To this there can be no objection, provided only he real- izes the fundamental idea of the character, whish is the divine residing in the human. We believe that two or more models have been employed, a practice for obvious reasons habitual with both painters and sculptors; the defects of one model gre thus rectified by the others. In the present instance the torso and limbs have been studied from a man in Syria, better known for his physique than for his moral attributes. The artist has ar- ticnlated the form firmly; the anatomy has nerve and sinew; the modelling is sharp and even se- vere; the style and ipulation are somewhat between the early Italian and the early German; the color is warm to crudity. The physical trame 1s that of a man_ well proportioned, strongly and compactly knitin bone and muscle, fitted by nature jor 1d manual labor, and so far the artist gains what he aimsat. Yet, nudged by the highest standa’ more be desired. *«* /Mr. Hans, it is understood, met with an ac- tual heaa which, with modifloations, served him for a model, just as Leonardo is said to have used the Study from the life now in the Brera, Milan, for his consummated wall picture. The Italian artist, itis stated, could not satisfy himself for a long time—a story which may well be believed when wo crowned with auburn hair, which talls in disordered curis upon the shoulders; the beard is short, the mouth open, showing tPee white as ivory; the eyes, liquid and lustr a8 ieee are turned upwards, It is often written “And Christ looked up to heaven ;” the artist hag seized on such @ moment, and in his upraised taco we read not only the weariness o! the fesh through labor, but the ai h of the spirit and the prayer for divine aid, The conception is truly Christian. The fall Mal Gazette expresses the following opinion :— Unfortunately, Mr. Hunt's realism would seem not to go very far. It delights in establishing a series of petty 1acts, and of convincing us of shallower incidents of life. These accomplish- ments, however, are scarcely enough for art that 1s to be valuable. We find here, for instance, un- doubted evidence that a r’s blood 1s apt to run to a carpenter’s feet, and to swell the veins unduly, and, also, if we observe attentively, that the teeth of an Eastern saw are turned upwards, But these facts might both have been missed, and the pleture still possess a claim to be called realis- tic. If the form of the carpenter had been nobly lanned, and carried with it the sense of an artia- ‘ic vision keen to apprehend each varying expres- sion of Ife and movement, aud if the face had been cast in some large mould of natural beauty, there would be no difculty tm finding a justi- fication for Mr. Hunts desire of realism. With this motive in the figure—half in weari- ness of toil and half expectant of approaching rest, there was room for grand design. ir. Hunt, however, has supplied but a meagre type of man- hood, and has granted to the face no compensating nobility. The realism here, as elsewhere in the icture, is not of a deep or lasting kind, the painter eing, a3 it would scem, anxious to register pre- cisely what is unimportant, and scarcely conscious that higher truth has been missed. In all the de- tails of the picture there is an amount of elaborate and painstaking work which only serves to sug- gest the need for the same successtui fidelity in Matters of greater import. Unfortunately, how- ever, Mr. Hunt has not yet found out the way of truth that leads to beaaty. So far as he has yet advanced the achievement of realism stands in conflict with a desire of loveliness. The floeving and accidental ateributes of things about which his artistic spirit is 30 eae een conscientious Stul hide from him both the truth and the beauty that ie beyond. There are patnters who search out truth for beauty’s sake, and their work then stands highest in respect of either. Mr. Hunt is still overpowered by the endeavor to realize what is Dearest, without a thought that the reward is not worth tne labor. It is not pleasant to think of patient courage and artistic toil being spent upon no better object than the study of “na- tional characteristics and climatic effects.” For this reason the picture, with all its evidence of in- dustry, is not an encouraging manifestation of art. The uninspired drawing, that seems to travel Weartly and without understanding in faithfal de- sire to copy What it sees, and the color, brilliant without sustained harmony, do not leave upon the mind any sense of the joy which a work of geen 4 brings, and the work is remembered rather witl sympathetic pain for the labor bestowed than with jelight at the result. We had almost forgotten the title and the fact by which it has been sug As Christ stands with arms extended in the even- ing light a shadow falls upon the wall which, in form, 18 like the form of the cross. If the prinet of art are ever remodelled 80 that serious aaa tion shall give place toa trick of surprise this no- tion might come to be regarded as a fine example Of fortuitous symbolism. ITALIAN OPERA, Of all the holiday spectacles which were pre sented on Christmas night at the various places of amusement in this city nove could give more un- alloyed pleasure and enjoyment than the per- formance of ‘‘Afda’’ at the Academy of Music. Good as the first representation may have been, the company have since made such progress to- wards the complete mastery of the intricacies of Verdi's great work as to surprise even those acquainted with the excellence of the materials of which the Strakosch troupe is composed, Last night’s performance was a proof of progress. Mile, Torrani has gained a considerable share ot that emotional power, intensity of feeling and sympathetic expression which the trying réle of Aida demands, and her voice was richer and more effective than at any previous representation, Miss Cary has not rested idly on the laurels she won the firat night in the role of Amneris, but she has evidently striven to attain a still higher stand~ ard of merit, and with success, too. Signor Campanini’s Radames ts only equalled by his Raoul, and no other tenor has reached either {mpersous: tion on our operatic stage since the palmy days Me Salvi and Mario. The areca bass voice = in of the muste of Ramfls, and " has a fitting representative in M. Maurel. the in chef @Worchestre, Musio, the a Signor Nannettt Malo oy reltef the best share of praise ts due for the completeness ore . 10 ue en Com