The New York Herald Newspaper, December 29, 1873, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD’ BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Herap. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. pene THE DAILY HERALD, pudlished every day tn the qear, Four cents per copy, Annual subscription price $12. Volume XXXVIII AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. BOOTS THEATRE, Sixth av. aud Twenty-third st.— Kir; OR Tue ARKANSAS TRAVELLER. PARK THEATRE, Brooklyn, opposite City Hall— Exocu Ampex. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery,—Miscnrer Maxtnc— Motuer Goosx OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston and Bleecker sts—Faaicy Jaxs—Gasrist Gros. METROPOLITAN THE. A’ , 585 Rroadway.—Vanisty ENTERTAINMENT. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Houston sta—Caitpaen ry Tux Woon. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth street—A Man or Honom WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st— Witp Oars. Afternoon and evenin) BROADWAY THEATRE, 728 and 730 Broadway.— Tue Woman ww Waits. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Eighth ay. and Twenty-third ‘st—Humrry Domrry FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 28th st. and Broadway.— Paunicive. TONY PASTOR’S OPERA HOUSE, No. 20! Bowery.— Variety ENTkRTAINMEN BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner Sixth av.—Nagno Minstrxisy, &c. STEINWAY HALL, Mth st, between 4th av. ard Irving place.—Oxb Fouxs Coxcunt. THE RINK, 84 avenne and ¢4th street—Munacunrs axp Musxux. ' Afternoon and evening. BAIN HALL, Great Jones street, between Broadway ‘and Bowery.—fux Pircnim. ABSOCIATION HALL, 234 street and 4th avenue.— weOTURE—“Laxd OF THE MipxiGHT Sux.” NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, No. 618 Broad- away.—Sorence anv Apr. DR KAHN'S MUSEUM, No. 688 Broadway.—Sctaxce a) Ant. WITH “SUPPLEMENT. New York, Monday, D Dee. 29, 1873. THE NEWS 0F YESTER DAY. "To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. “RESCUED FROM SANTIAGO! THE SURVIVORS OF THE VIRGINIUS TRAGEDY’—LEADING ARTICLE—Fovntu PaGE. ARRIVAL OF THE UNBUTCHERED VIRGINIUS CAPTIVES! THE CAPTURE, THE EXE- CRABLE INSULTS TO OUR FLAG, THE INQUISITION-LIKE TREATMENT OF THE PRISONERS, THE MOCK TRIALS AND THE MASSACRES! WAR SHIPS CHECKMATE BURRIEL! THE WRONGS AND HISTORIES OF THE MEN! ATROCITIES JUST BEFORE TEE SURRENDER—SECOND AND THIRD PAGES. THE RESURRENDER OF THE VIRGINIUS AND PAYMENT OF AN INDEMNITY AGAIN DE- CLARED TO BE REQUIRED BY SPAIN— FirTa Pace. & RUMOR THAT SHOULD BE WELL FOUNDED! ORDERS POR THE REMOVAL OF BUR- RIEL PROM COMMAND SAID TO HAVE BEEN ISSUED IN MADRID—Foversg PaGE. POWERS OF THE CUBAN CAPTAIN GENERAL CONTINUED AND EXTENDED BY THE MADRID GOVERNMENT! THE FORMER AND THE PRESENT AMERICAN MINISTER TO SPAIN “JUST THE TICKET!” SPANISH REPORTS FROM FREE CUBA! THE DEPOSING OF CESPEDES—FirTH Paas. DONFERENCE OF THE SPANISH CABINET! CONFLICTING REPORTS OF THE RESULT— THE GERMAN EMPEROR'S HEALTH— Fourti Pace. GREAT BRITAIN’S WAR FOR ITS AFRICAN PRO- TECTORATE! A REVIEW OF THE CAMPAIGN AND ITS PUERILE INCEPTION BY THE HERALD CORRESPONDENT ON THE GOLD COAST! THE FIGHT NEAR ELMINA! SIR GARNET’S ILLNESS—FirTH Paag. IMPOSING CIVIL OBSEQUIES OF A PARISIAN RADICAL! M. LOUIS BLANC DELIVERS THE FUNERAL DISCOURSE—Firrn Page. DETERMINED RESISTANCE OF THE RAILROAD EMPLOYES 10 THE WAGES REDUCTION! A TERRIBLE TIME IN CINCINNATI—NEWS FROM WASHINGTON—Firta PaGgE. MECHELLA’S SANITY—GENERAL TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES—FirTH PAGE. LAST APPEALS! THE SERMONS ON THE FINAL SUNDAY OF THE FAST WANING YEAR! ‘OPEN DOORS, PERFECT MANHOOD, PHIL- OSOPHICAL CONUNORUMS AND A VARIETY OF OTHER TOPICS CONSIVERED BY BISHOP ODENHEIMER AND THE LEADING PUL- PIT LIGHTS OF THE METROPOLIS AND BROOKLYN—EicutTu PacE. BARTLE FRERE ON FAMINES IN THE EASt INDIES—THE UNITED STATES FLEET IN THE MEDITERRANEAN—Turrp PaGe. EXTRAORDINARY ACTION AND STARTLING PROPOSED ACTION OF THE CHIEF OF THE NATIONAL FINANCES! THE MISTAKEN IDEA OF A PREVIOUS SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RECTIFIED! A LESSON FOR THE PRESENT CONGRESS! THE $44,000,000 ISSUE] FINANCIAL FEATURES OF TRE PAST WEEK—Ninti Pace. THE ‘Tae Missixo Newsparen CovREsPONDENT.— From the information brought by our special correspondent who arrived with the Juniata, it is almost certain that br. Ralph Keeler, correspondent of the New York Tribune, has been murdered while on hix’ Way from Santiago de Cuba to Manzanillo, ‘ihe unfortunate gentleman left the office of Mr. Young, the American Consul, with the inten- tion of taking passage to Havana. A son of Captain Braine saw him on the Spanish Steamer, and saluted him as he passed the Juniata. When the Spanish steamer arrived et Manzanillo Mr. Keeler was missing, and his luggage was delivered over to the Consul. In all probability the mystery of his disappear- ance will remain unexplained, though there Can be little doubt about the manner of his taking off. The matter is one which needs explanation and clearing up, and we hope the Washington authorities will insist on a most searching investigation being instituted. There is a list of passengers kept on all the steam- ‘boats which ply on the south coast of Cuba, end if the authorities in Havana desire to throw light on Mr. Keeler's fate it will be easy 0 do so. At present the appearances point to 4oul vlay, NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1873.—WITH SUPPLEMENT. ued from Santiago—The Survivors of the Virginius Trageay- The United States steamer Juniata has arrived at this port with one hundred and two rescued prisoners—the survivors of those taken on the steamer Virginius; and the arrival of these poor fellows, saved not only from death, but froma the bepron of 9 Cuban prison and the cruelty of Spanish jailers, while it will turn public attention once more to the subject of the ontrage to this country done by the capture of the Virginius, will, assuredly, provoke new indignation that the case has been settled on conditions so easy to the wretches that represent the Spanish power in Cuba. Some new light is cast upon the capture and the immediately related ovents by the account we give elsewhere, the details of which were gathered by the Hrnaxp corre- spondent at the scene of the massacre, and from the men now brought hither.’ By this detailed story the history of the massacre is somewhat redeemed from the con- fusion into which it was thrown by the several contradictory statements of the numbers of persons killed on the vari- ous days of the executions. It appears that in all fifty-three persons were shot—four at first, on November 4; thirty-seven on Novem- ber 7and twelve on November 8—and that the executions were only stopped by the arri- val at Santiago of the British man-of-war Niobe. There is a further report that the thirty-seven who were killed on the 7th were at first to have been shot on the 8th, but that a change was made in the day in consequence of its becoming known to these official assas- sins that the British man-of-war would arrive on the 8th, and that if they did not do some of their murders before her arrival they might altogether lose the opportunity to indulge in their bloody revel. And this fact is in keep- ing with the general course of their conduct through the whole transaction; for we know, as they knew at the time, that any delay, any opportunity offered for inquiry, would have deprived the savages of their prey; and as they killed all that they did kill absolutely without trial lest the time occupied by that formality should enable their own government to forbid the murders, we can readily credit the statement that their apprehension of the arrival of the Niobe and her gallant, whole- souled and generous commander, hurried their action as reported. As fifty-three were thus slain, and one hundred and two are now set at liberty, the whole number of persons who sailed on the Virginius, one hundred and fifty- five, is thus accounted for. All the names of the killed on the respective days and of the survivors are given in our report. As we would naturally expect from the Spanish character in general, and especially from the character ot those concerned in these murders, the men who were not killed suffered atthe hands of their keepers treatment to which death would be preferable in the minds of persons of the slightest sensibility. The hourly insults, the hectoring before the per- sons who made the little inquiry designed by the authorities, the national and personal degradation, the atrocious attempt to excite fear by the frequent information that all were to be shot, and this only in hope that out of the momentary weakness of some poor wretch they might get testimony against the ship and those on her—all this together might well break down ordinary resolution. And this wns but part; for to the merely mental misery was added the physical distress of privation, not only of food and drink, but even of those pro- visions for personal propriety and the decen- cies of life that any others than Spaniards would accord to cattle. And the short com- pulsory voyage of the prisoners, when they were sent to Cienfuegos and again returned to Santiago de Cuba, recalls in its salient features the dreadful history of the middle passage in the worst stories of the slave trader. Another trait of the Spanish character is indicated in this minute history when are seen the brilliant Dons, no doubt of the purest possible Castilian blood, anticipating their murders by robbery, and before imbruing their hands in the blood of their helpless captives, chivalrously thrusting the same hands into the prisoners’ pockets or trunks and gallantly helping themselves to the contents. Ransacking staterooms for money, rifling trunks for valuables of every sort, helping themselves to even the passable garments of their captives—these are the noble achievements of the heroes of the Spanish Navy; these are the acts that will cover their national standard with glory—the only glory that the Spanish Navy is ever likely to cast on it Spain, it is true, has no army. It has rotted away because thoroughly satu- rated with the national spirit. Her soldiers stand bravely to their duty so long as that duty consists in eating a regular ration in safe barracks, but they desert or rebel whenever called upon to face the enemy. But though she has no longer an army, let us at least con- gratulate the land of so much glory that it has @ navy left; and, therefore, all is not lost— not even honor, as the Spaniards under- stand it. It is infamous that there is no punishment for these wretches ; infamous that our govern- ment can have so betrayed its duty to the peo- ple that the seizure of an American ship on the high seas, the murder of fifty-three per- sons entitled to the protection of our flag, and treatment so barbarous of a hundred others, can all pass as if the acts were the pardonable vagaries of amiable persons instead of the calmly contrived outrages of bloodthirsty desperadoes. Fifty men are shot in the shadow of the standard of the American peo- ple; a hundred are torn from the protection of that standard like slaves, and not a word is ,to be snid to the scoundrel guilty of all this ; nut a syllable of rebuke is to be uttered, not a feafizer’s weight of punishment is to be in- flicted.. Surely it is time this government was swept away in ‘ke contempt it has so richly earned in every chanel of its activity; it is time its place was oceupicd by one not pluming itself on the philosophic can™ness with which it can contemplate disgrace. Tue Wrex or Puayrn.—It has been the custom among several ofthe religious denom inations for some years past to observe the first week of the year as @ week of prayer. Ar- rangements, we notice, are already being made for the occasion, and some of the churches in which the meetings are to be held have been designated. In spite of the phi- losophers, the pastors are determined to stand in the old pathways. In this they do woll. Until we ne more light pars men pen true—the salt of the earth—will continue to believe that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. We speak a word for the meetings in advance, and we shall rejoice to learn that up town, as well as down town, the week of prayer has | boon fnith. fully observed, The English Attempt To Take Coffee. Coffee Calcalli evidently made uPhis mind that he would not be captured by Sir Garnet Wolseley without making a respectable Asl™n- tee resistance, as our graphic correspondence from Cape Coast Castle indicates this morn- ing. The campaign, as we have frequently predicted, has not been a brilliant success, and it does not promise to be so, if the fight at Dunquah and the siege of Abracampa be | taken as exemplifying the relative strength of the combatants. So we are not surprised to learn that a Quaker policy is to be pursued by the British government, and that an attempt is to be made to settle the questions in dispute by treaty stipulations with an irresponsible negro chief, whose most imposing ceremonial is to drink wine from the hollow of an English general’s skull. Our correspond- ent, with a feeling natural to a journalist equipped for war, deplores this con- templated action, as the brave English officers do who have jeoparded health and life in an expedition which would seem to be the most unwieldy enterprise ever undertaken by the British Empire. It is plain that England did not know exactly what she was doing when she set the enterprise on foot, and it is also clear that the difficulties and obstacles which would embarrass her on the Gold Coast were underestimated. We can perceive no other possible issue to the campaign than a protracted war, followed by conquest and per- manent military occupation, unless the re- inforcements sent from England since the Hxrarp correspondent mailed his lastiletter are strong enough in numbers and physique to overcome the Ashantee army and the destroying climate. The reader will read- ily understand the severe character of the operations by perusing our excellent account of the bush fighting at Dunquah and Abra- campa. Jungle warfare to civilized troops is both the most dangerous and unsatisfactory, and even when severe losses are inflicted on the enemy the results are seldom more than negative, because it is difficult to follow up a success. It would seem, however, that Sir Garnet, though attacked by the native mal- ady, is a fine commander, energetic and de- termined to do his best. The proclamation to the tribes of the Protectorate at Beulah Camp isa serious piece of business ; for every able-bodied man is summoned to do labor or bear arms, refractory subjects to suffer the punishment of flogging. We shall watch with great interest the progress of these opera- tions on the Gold Coast, feeling sure that they will add much that will be new to military history, if they supply also fresh chapters of misery, disaster and inhumanity. The New York Harbor Obstructions, The removal during the winter months of the iron buoys from the harbor has called forth a protest from the underwriters and pilots, These classes have a practical ac- quaintance with the necessities of the naviga- tion of the harbor which entitles their repre- sentations to the careful consideration of the Lighthouse Board at Washington. We have already called attention to the increasing danger of navigation in New York Harbor, and suggested that measures should be promptly taken to remove all obstructions to navigation. The difficulty of bringing large ships into our port grows yearly greater, be- cause, while the depth of water decreases, the large ocean steamers, which now carry on the chief commerce of the world, draw twenty- three and twenty-six feet of water—a draught quite unknown a few yearsago. But, while the tendency is to ships of greater draught, the navigable channel is growing shallow with alarming rapidity. It is only a few days since public attention was called to this most important subject by the grounding of the Greece in a spot where a few years ago there was ample water to float the largest ves- sel even of the present day. These growing obstructions are due to the negligence of the harbor authorities in enforcing the port regu- lations, but chiefly, perhaps, to the defect of the law which deals with breaches of the regu- lations for preventing obstructions, The evil can perhaps only be dealt with effeetively by legislation, and by severe laws which will make the throwing of cinders and other refuse into the harbor a crime punishable by heavy fine and imprisonment. Under the present system all that a captain or company has to fear is the imposition of a fine of fifty dollars in case of detection, while the difficulty of making ont a case against the offenders is very great. This ought to be at once remedied, and such power given to the harbor authori- ties as will enable them to punish severely any parties who are guilty of throwing refuse of any kind into the harbor. The suggestion of the pilots that the number of buoys should rather be increased than diminished appears sound, and ought to be acted upon by the Lighthouse Board. Manicipal Disturbances in Mexico. Our latest despatches from Matamoras do not confirm the recent good reports from the capital of Mexico of the reign of law and order throughout the Republic. On the 27th instant there was a fight between some of Gen- eral Cortina’s men and the police at Meta- moras, in which » policeman was killed. The assassin sought refuge in Cortina’s headquar. ters, but was surrendered to the police by the General, and lodged in prison—an unusual act of submission to the civil authorities from Cortina. He is a candidate for Mayor, and his friends have given notice that they will install him on New Year's Day, and the at- tempt, it is believed, will lead to a lively fight between the two contending factions, both sides being armed and eager for the fray. Next, it appears that at Monterey (famons as the locality of one of the bloodiest battles of our war with Mexico), there was a very animated and exciting ‘‘scrimmage’ a few days go over the municipal election, in which several pisos were killed and, wounded. Next there was 4 go7008 disturbance down at Tampico, in the settlamiens of which the Mayor was seized and imprisoneu by the State troops. From various other parts of the Republic similar local disturbances have been recently reported; but these are mere trifles compared with the revolutionary factions, amare and south, with ae Juarez had to contend, and which before his death he suc- ceeded in breaking up and dispersing. Presi- dont Lerdo, to a greater extent than Juarez possessed them, has the troops, the sinows of war and the confidence of the country, while ‘in the fact that instead of the occupation of States and large sections of the country, as ‘hherotofore, by revolutionary leaders they have now in Mexico only these local riots over mu- nicipal elections We have the evidence that anarchy in our sister Republic is passing away, and that the days of ‘revolutionary up- starts therein are numbered. All that now is wanted to secure law and order throughout the country is a railroad system which will connect the principal frontier States with the national capital, and this railroad system will within a few years be established. Sermons, Good, Bad and Indifferent. Wo have to-day a budgot of sermons deliv- ered yesterday, which are something like the Babylonian King’s image—partly strong and partly weak, part iron and part clay, and not even well mixed. Some there are, however, that have the strength and burnish of the upper part of that image, so that those who can digest strong meat, as well as those who are babes and must be fed on milk, may find something to suit their intel- lectual and moral appetites. The discourse by Dr. Storrs on “Christ, the Wonderft is one of thought and of power. Christ, won- derful in His person, wonderful in the extent of His influence, in the variety of His teaching and His example, wonderful in the energy and penetration of His truth, which touches art and science and philosophy and music and architecture; which lifts up and regenerates individuals and nations, breaks down caste, unites the race and makes mankind one brotherhood in Himself. To deny the influ- ence of Christ in the world to-day would be like denying ocular science, And the extent and variety of this influence demonstrate the divinity of Christ and His ability to do all that He has promised to His people in this lite and also in the life to come. How strange and contradictory the words of Mr. Frotingham appear beside those of Dr. Storrs! Mr. Frothingham sees in this “Wonderful Man of Nazareth” nothing more than he sees in other men. Indeed, rather a little less than in some men of the present day. Christ was not a reformer in the true sense, because ‘‘He never said a word to ele- vate the condition of woman,” albeit woman is elevated only where the Word of Christ is believed and His name is honored. Christ never spoke a word for the abolition of slavery, whereas we modern men have abol- ished it. The inference to be drawn from this fact, therefore, is that Christ was inferior to some of us. But where would slavery be if we obeyed the golden rule or kept the second of the two great commandments, on which this insignificant personage (according to Mr. Frothingham) called Jesus declared that the law and the prophets rested? Of course there would be no slavery to abolish, and our virtue in putting it away would be thrown in the shade. Why, then, asks this preacher, do we celebrate the birth of Christ? “He is not the ideal man nor the perfect man,’’ for these are in the future. But He is the typical man, and it is the birth of a typical man that we cele- brate. But a man who, according to this same witness, is not equal to a thoroughgoing abolitionist or woman suffragist of the pres- ent day can hardly be a typical man or worthy of commemoration in the annals of humanity. A perfect life—how grand and beautiful it is! A perfect man, how noble and symmetri- cal he is! Such a man was He, and such a life was that which Mr. Beecher yesterday, imperfectly though it may be, sought to por- tray. The end and aim ofall the forces and influences of Christianity are to produce a per- fect man in Christ Jesus; and to understand Christianity we must understand it in living forms. The best and most pungent sermons are the purest Christian lives. Mr. Beecher thinks that “high spiritual rapture’’ has been to a very large degree substituted for the spirit of Christ in a living form. This is, perhaps, in a measure true, but not “to a very large degree.’’ But nothing truer ever fell from Mr. Beecher’s lips than the statement that ‘‘the true power of a church is its ca- pacity in the productiveness of men who are true men in Christ Jesus.’’ The closing year gave Dr. Hall his in- spiration to set before his people the brevity of human life and the changeableness of all things earthly; and yet, because these things ere so and men are so familiar with them, they can remain unmoved and almost unconcerned in the midst of the greatest changes. We for- get ‘‘what poor evanescent, transient, weak creatures we are while God is from everlasting to everlasting.” But ‘‘there is a way of mak- ing our hope, our home and our dwelling in the Lord,” and the Doctor set this way plainly before his congregation. Mr. Talmage traced the analogy between “the baptism of fire’ last December, when his Tabernacle was burned down, and the spiritual baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, by which so many since that sad event have been brought through his church to a saving knowledge of Christ. The two baptisms were alike in their suddenness, in their irresisti- bility, in their melting influence. We most heartily agree with Mr. Talmage that “the great want of the Church to-day is a thaw,”’ and we join with him in prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit to melt the hardened hearts of men. The Rev. Henry Powers delivered a sermon yesterday very much resembling the feet of the image already referred to. No one, we think, will object to the practical or child part of it, and all will agree with him that ‘the whole future of blessing to mankind and the hope of us all lie notin the sepal- chre, no matter how beautiful and costly it may be, but in the nursery, even though that nursery be @ stable.” And because Jesus saw this in thom He said, ‘Suffer little children to come unto me," &, But few, we think, will agree with this preacher in his effort, however speciously made, and his arguments, however dexterously put forth, to overthrow the generally accepted miraculous birth of Christ. If Ho was the “Son of God” in no other or greater sense than every other man-child born into the { world is the son of God, His sufferings and daith, His resurrection, ascension and medin- tion ate Of very little benefit to us. We might atill try to fimsate His boly life and tollow His Dleeand exiitiplo, but we could hardly attain to the righteousness which is by faith. Dr. McGlynn commemorated two festivals in his church yesterday—that of St. Stephen, the protomartyr, after whom his church is named, and also that of the Holy Innocents, which fell on yesterday. His discourse was P te children, for whom a “‘mission’’ has dest inaugurated, and partly to adults, to ‘whom Stephon's life of faith and triumphant death, with prayer on his lips for his murder- ers, were held up for admiration and imitation. Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of St. Thomas’ church. Bishop Odenheimer delivered a discourse, partly his- torical and partly practical; and, setting the past and the future over against each other, he urged the church to go forward and ac- complish greater results in the next fifty years than it has accomplished in the past. The diocese of Richmond, Va., was yester- day dedicated to ‘‘the Sacred Heart,” when, in St. Peter's Cathedral, Richmond, Bishop Gross, of Savannah, Ga., preached a sermon on the union of the divine and human natures in Christ, and giving therein some reasons for this devotion to His sacred heart. The Railroad Strike. There is, unfortunately, some prospect that the strike of the railroad engineers will extend to the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad in consequence of a determination by that company to reduce the wages ten per cent after January 1, 1874, as they have been reduced on the lines running west from Pitts- burg. The community cannot afford to have all communication cut off in this manner. A widespread snow storm which blockades the roads for a day or two causes considerable in- convenience, but then we are conscious that every effort is being made to extricate com- merce from its snow fetters, and we wait with the best humor we can muster. In the pres- ent cases of disagreement we should be glad to learn that every effort was in progress which could bring about an early settlement. The strike of the London gasmen, which threatened a whole clty with darkness, gave the world an instance of where labor and capi- tal in their fight get the public between them to bear the blows. The companies should make their case os clear as possible, and, if the reduction is a necessity, the men should not be stupid enough to think they will better their case by holding out an hour longer than their becoming aware of the state of the case. The men, unless they worked by contract, could not be compelled to labor, and, even if the law reached their case, it would certainly be inadvisable to trust the lives and proper- ties of citizens to the care of men laboring under such a sense of oppression. The par- ties concerned must find their way out of the difficulty as rapidly as possible. The suc- cess of a strike consists in cutting off a neces- sary labor supply. If capital cannot procure the needed supply from other quarters at its own rates it has to consider the duty it owes to society. In the case of the railroads there is an undoubted obligation on the part of the companies to provide travelling facilities for the public, and the excuse of their inability to force a reduction of wages upon their en- gineers will not suffice. The Senate Transportation Committee at New Orleans. The Committee of the Senate, which has been peramubulating about in many parts of the country to investigate the matter of trans- portation by water and railroad routes, has now arrived at a most important point. It is at New Orleans, the greatest and cheapest outlet for the lower Mississippi Valley and the great cotton producing region embraced within it. There never has been a question as to New Orleans being the cheapest route, by means of the Mississippi River and its tribu- taries, for the bulk of the cottonof that | region, as wellas a large portion of other bulky products of the soil. Transportation by water, and ospecially by natural water courses, is necessarily much cheaper than by rail- roads. But it is not so _ rapid, and some products are not delivered in as good condition by water carriage as by land. The drawback to New Orleans has been the bar at the mouth of the Missis- sippi and the tedious voyage down that river to the Gulf of Mexico. To obviate this a ship canal has been proposed from the river at New Orleans to Lake Pontchartrain. This would shorten the voyage to New York and other ports, as well as to Europe, twenty-four hours under ordinary circumstances, and save days sometimes when the water at the bar is very low, besides saving great expense of tow- age. The committee will, no doubt, look into this matter. Such a work as proposed would be of great advantage to commerce. What the government should do to promote it must de- pend upon facts to be investigated by the com- mittee. We are opposed to internal improve- ments generally at the cost of government, and this is not the time to think of spending large sums of money in that way. Then, it has been intimated that there isa company of shrewd speculators who want to make a job out of this canal scheme. Still, if encourage- ment can be given to the work, while avoiding jobbery or any considerable aid from the Treasury, it deserves the consideration of Congress. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. —_—. General McClellan ts in Sicily. Senator Reuben K. Fenton yesterday arrived at the F ifth Avenue Hotel. Sanjo, the Prince Minister of the Japanese gov- ernment, is dangerously tl). Judge William H. Hunt, of New Orleans, is regis- tered at the New York Hotel. Colonel R. H. Ofley, United States Army, ts quartered at the Glenham Hotel. Congressman William Loughridge, of lowa, has apartments at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Congressman Bugene Hale, of Maine, is among the late arrivals at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Clayton McMichael, of the Philadelphia North Amertoan, is staying at the Windsor Hotel. Congressman ©. L. Merriam, of Locust Grove, N. ¥., has arrived at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. . Kenealy, “for his fearless defence of the Tichborne case,’ is to get a public testimonial. Colonel) Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, Of Balti. more, has returned to Paris, and is living in the Rue a’Albe. Lord Chief Justice Coleridge's title on his eleva tion to the peerage is to be Baron Coleridge, of Ottery St. Mary's, The Pope has conferred the decoration of the Order of Knighthood of Pius IX. on Mr. Cashei Hoey, & London journalist and barrister. The Empress of Anstria is expected on & visit to Munich about the end of January, when the con- finement of her daughter, the Princ ess Otsola, Is anticipated. ‘Tue Rav. 0, H, Spur@con. on account of the state of his health, ts about to proceed from London fer @ few weeks to the Continent of Europe, as he dia this time a year ago. Marshal Bazaine will be allowed to walk about tiS island of Sainte Marguerite, his place of ‘‘se- clusion,” His wife, who is near her confinement, bas solictted permission to live with her husband, and it is generally believed that this request will be granted, Higoshi Fushima no Mya, nephew of the Mikado of Japan, who had some slight military experience during the revolution, but who has of late been re- siding in England to be educated, has petitioned to be allowed to enter the military or naval service of the Empire of Japan. M. Boris Dangas, who was M. Catacazy’s Se2re- tary of Legation, and who remained in Washingtom as Chargé d’Affairs a short time after the little diplomat left, has just been tarried in Constan- tinople to Mile. Arghiropoulo, daughter of another Russian civil service oMcial. M. Danzas is now tttached to the Russian mission at Athens, WEATHER REPORT. + Wan DEPARMENT, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SIGNAJ OFFICER, WASHINGTON, Deo. 20—1 A, M. Probabilities. For the Southern States east of the Mississippt River generally clear weather will prevail, with light to fresh variable winds and continued low temperature, For New ENGLAND AND THE MIDDLE ATLANTIO STATES, LIGHT TO FRESH NORTHWESTERLY AND SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS, WITH CONTINUED LOW TEMPERATURE AND PARTLY CLOUDY WEATHER, For the lake region fresh to brisk southerly and westerly winds, with generally cloudy weather, lower temperature and possibly areas of light snow. For the Ohio Valley southerly winds, veering te westerly, with lower temperature and generally fair weather. For the Northwest, decidedly lower temperature, with northerly to westerly winds and lesa cloudl- ness. The Weather in This City Yesterday. The following record will show tho changes in the temperature for the past 24 hours in compar- ison with the corresponding day of last year, as indicated by the thermometer at Hudnut’s Phar- ‘1872, 1873. 24 8S uw 31 2 Average temperature yesterday. B25 Average temperature for ‘corresponding date last year........+ been ss dedbiodesvoscosevequene’ 11% Snow and Ice on the Hudson. Poucnkgeraig, Dec, 28, 1873. Eight inches of snow feil along the Hudson last night and this morning, but the weather to-night is comparatively mild. Fears are entertained that the ice crop this winter will be found a partial failure. Last winter at this time the ice was 10 inches thick, and many of the honses were halt full. As yet ice cutting has not commenced at any point, and hundreds of men and boys are watuing lor employment. Snow Fall in Boston. Boston, Dec. 28, 1873. Four or five inches of snow fell last night and to-day. The weather cleared up at noon. Snow Storm at Hartford. Harrrorp, Conn., Dec. 28, 1873. There was a steady fall of snow in this city from Saturday morning to Sunday forenoon, following a considerable storm on Friday. The weather cleared this afternoon. The depen of snow on & level is {rom 22 to 24 inches. The Snow Storm in Maine. Brunswi0K, Dec. 28, 1873, A severe northeast snow storm has prevailed since five o’clock last night, About six inches have fallen and it is still snowing. The wind blows @ gale, ana the snow drifts badly. THE HERALD AND JAY COOKE’S CREDITORS AND DEBTORS, {From the Cumberland (Md.) News, Dec, 27.] Great interest has been felt, and newspapers have been much scanned to see who are the cred- itors of the famous house of Jay Cooke & Co. An official list of the debts was completed on Tuesday and filed in the United States District Court in Philadelphia on Wednesday last. That ubiquitous gentieman, the reporter of the New York HERALD- managed in some way to procure an advance copy of the list on Tuesday, and it appears tn full in the HERALD of Wednesday morning. It occupies 13 columns of very small type, and 1s the most lengthy news item we remember having ever seen in any news paper. {From the Lancaster (Pa) Examiner, Dec. 27.) The New York HERALD of Wednesday publishes a complete list of the names of all the creditors of the three banking houses of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, New York and Washington. The total amount of indebtedness of the three houses is $9,842,250, of which amount about $2,000,000 ts secured by collaterals, and, therefore, reducing the indebtedness of the firms to that amount, {From the Wheeling (W. Va.) Intelligencer, Dec. 27.) The New York Heratp contains a list of the creditors of Jay Cooke & Co. Among them we find the following parties—viz.: J. P. Keener, Morgan- town, W. Va., $11,725; Clifford Arrick, formerly of St. Clairsville, $572; B. R, Cowen, formerly of the same place, $518, and the Jefferson County Nattonal Bank, of Steubenville, $3,930. The whole amount of their indebtedness is $9,848,250. Nothing ts said in the HERALD about what they will pay, but we hear that it will be 15 cents in cash and the balance in Northern Pacific bonds. THE GENET CASE. There were no new developments in the Genet case yesterday. As usual, it is anderstood that the Sheriff's deputies have been as indefatigable as ever, but that the odds have been against them, as they have been from the start. What will be the | result of the non-production of Mr. Genet tn the Court of Oyer and Terminer this morning ts a question which agitated the friends of Mr. Brennan considerably all day yesterday. It {3 said, how- ever, that Mr. Burrill, his counsel, ts fully prepared to meet the issue, and that the grand finale wil not be of a character that the Sherif need be over anxious about—the idea of his counsel being that the Deputy, and not the Sheriff himself, is the re- sponsible party. MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS. Tell-Tale Tracks in the Snow—Clever Captare of Burglars at Yonkers. Utfizing the blinaing snow storm which pre- valied during Saturday night and the early morn of yesterday, three New York thieves, who gave their names respectively as John 8. Mitchell, Henry Wilson and August Cromwell “cracked” tho rest- dence of John R. Wells, situated on East Main street, Yonkers, Westchester county, and baving helped themselves to ® comfortable repast of cold meats, well washed down with’ brandy, decamped, taking with them ta- ble linen, wearing apparel and plateaware, in all valded at $125. Shortly after three o'clock a ee officer Of patrol, observing suspicious ‘acka in the deep snow, followed the trail to the old raliroad depot, where he saw @ man attempt unsuccessfully to board a passing fretzht train ing south, The stranger then walked a shore jistance down the ratiros track, when, at a sig- nal from him, his two confederates came out of their hiding places, each carrying @ large hand basket filled with the stolen prop- erty, After @ short chase the ofmcer overhauled the trio, who Were about to offer resiat- ance, but the prompt appearance of a revolver in- ducea them to change their minds. Meantime Patrotman Berrian bad discovered the burglary, ana aiter arousing the family of Mr. Wells, algo tracked the marauders to the scene of their cap. ture, The parties were taken beiore City Judge Baird yesterday, and by him committed to await the action of the Grand Jury. SUSPICION OF POUL PLAY IN BROOKLYN. Yesterday Coroner Jones was notified by Dr. Gregory to make an investigation touching the death of Mra, Wills, who resided at No. 2 Richard street, South Brooklyn. The doctor stated that he had been called to attend the woman and dia alt he conid to save her. From her symptoms he som peoted that she had been the victim of foal pl and therefore he refused to give a certificate death. The Coroner has ordered a post examination to be made of the body.