The New York Herald Newspaper, January 4, 1874, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR = Ne. & To-noRROW EVEMING, BOOTH’S THEATRE, Sixth avenue and Twenty-third street KIT; OR, THE ARBANSAS TRAVELLER, at 7.48 1, Mis closes ai 10:30 M. Mr. FS Chantrau, Siiss Bella Pageman, OLYMPIC THEATA i . . between Houston an leecker streets. — Bea GOR at 8PM: closesatilP. M. Majliton- Raynor Family. PARK THEATRE, m.—JOHN GARTH, at 8 P. mnie Firmin, Mr, John Jack. BROOKLY? opposite City Hall, Brook! SPP loses at P.M. Miss ERY THEATRE, 8 P.M.; closes at 11:15. Miss B Bowery —MAZEP? Kate Fisher. TAN THEATRE, ENTERTAINMENT, at 7:45 585 Broadway. —VARIE: BM; closes at 10:30 P, M. RDEN, and Mouston streets. — and THe BELLES OF M.; closes at 10:45 P.M. Wwoop's M Broadway, corner ‘Thirtiet ORDER, at 2 P. M.; closes at 4:30 P; NEW YOuKK, at 8 PM; closes at 11 P.M. UM, reet,HUSBAND TO STREETS OF GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Eighth avenue and Twenty-third street.—HUMPTY DUMPTY ABKOAD, at 745 FP) M.; closes at 10:45 P. M. Mr. G. L. Fox. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-cighth street aud Broadway.—MAN AND WIFE, ats P.M; closes at ll P.M. Mr. Harkins, Miss Ada Dyas. MRS, CONWAY'S BROOKLYN TH Washington street, Brookiva.—LITTLE 5 8 P. M.;closes util P.M. Miss Lilian Cow RE, HINE, at WALLACK’S THEATRE, _ i Broadway and Thirteenth stree.—A MAN OF HONOR, at P.M; closes at 10:50 P.M. Mr. Lester Wallack, Miss Annie Deland, )PERA HOUSE TONY PASTOR’ ERA SE, NTERTAINMENT, at 8 P, No. 21 Bowery. -VARIETY ‘M.; closes at 11 P. M. Fo HOUSE, ALL, ENTERTAINMENT AND ses at 10:30 P.M. Sixteenth street.—M A LAUGHING Gas, at 5 BAIN HALL, Great Jones street, corner Latay: GRIM, ats’, M.; closes at 9:30 P. e place.—THE PIL- DR. _KAHN'S MU! No. 638 Broad way.—SCIEN TRIE New York, Sunday, January 4, 1874. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. To-Day’s Contents ot the Herald. “AFFAIRS IN SPAIN! THE REOPENING OF THE CORTES ! THE MESSAGE OF THE PRESI- DENT AND THE CRISIS’—LEADING ARTI- CLE—SIXTH PaGE. CASTELAR DEPOSED AND GENERAL PAVIA GIVEN SUPREME POWER IN CORTES DISSOLVED ! MADR VIRGINIUS DIPLOMACY ! THE CORTES! HOW SPAIN STANDS TO- | DAY! THE CARL AND INTRANSI- GENTES IN LEAG MORIONES’ COM- MAND AGAIN IN ENTH PaGE. GOLD STILL DEMANDED IN PAYMENT OF LA- BOR IN HAVANA! THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INCREASING IN GRAVITY—Sevenra Pace. LARGE INCREASE OF THE SPECIE IN THE BANK OF FRANCE—IMPORTANT GENERAL NEWS—SEVENTH Pace. VESUVIUS RUMBLING! A VOLCANIU OUTBURST IMMINENI—ENGLISH FINANCES—SgvenTe PAGE. A $15,000 CURE FOR A HEART WOUND! A HANDSOME ENGLISH GIRL DECLINES TO BE TRIFLED WITH—Tuirp Pace. HONORED AGE OF A GRAY-HAIRED AUTHORESS | LITERARY REVIEWS— FRIGHTFUL FATE OF A SHIP’S CREW— THIRD PaGE. DISCOMFORTS AND PERILS—AFFAIRS IN THE FEDERAL OFFICES—THE EDGAR STUART—Tenta Pace. THE FUEL PROBLEM! A HERALD WRITER'S TOUR AMONG THE COAL DEALERS! WHAT THEY THINK OF THE MARKET AND THE COMBINATION! THE ADVANCING SCALE OF PRICES! LARGE INCREASE IN THE PRODUCTION—FirtH Pace. CHURCH SERVICE BREVIARY FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF THE NEW YEAR! THE WEEK OF PRAYER! RELIGIOU: ws AND CORRESPONVENCE—DR, HUEBSCH ON THE PERILS OF UNBELIEF—Fourts PaGr. DEGRADING THE SUPREME BENCH! MORE OF THE SCATHING BOLTS OF POPULAR IN- DIGNATION—Fovurtu Paces. A BRITISH ARISTOCRAT “BEFORE THE MAST” FOR OVER 30 YEARS! A REMARKABLE ROMANCE OF THE SEA—NEWS FROM WASHINGTON—TeNTH Pace. FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS YESTERDAY! GOLD UP TO 111%! THE NA- TIONAL TREASURY AND THE BANKS’ EX- HIBIT—A DIAMOND “FIND” IN WALL STREET—EIGHTH PAGE. GRAND JURY PRESENT THE TRUE STATE OF OUR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS! THE TOMBS COMMENDED! PRISON FEES OF THE SHERIFF! GENERAL LEGAL BUSI- NESS—FirtTH Pace. 4 SIDEWALK PANIC AT WASHINGTON MAR- KET— NEW STEAMSHIP — THE “NEW DEAL” IN THE MUNIC\PAL OFFICES—Firtu PaaE. “HOT WATER”—Sey- THE FOG Tae Pacrric Ratroap IxpeBrepyess To tue Untrep States, as shown by the January debt statement of the Treasury Department, is nearly sixteen millions of dollars for inter- est paid, after deducting compensation for mail service, and independent of the sixty- four million four hundred and fifty-three thou- sand two bundred and seventy-two dollars of _ principal, for which the government is liable. Is it not time that the government should begin to make preparations for closing this insolvent concern, as well ag to get back what it has advanced, and to prevent the people being burdened in the future? There must be an end to this drain on the ‘Treasury and burden upon the taxpayers, and the sooner measures are taken to that end the better, Aumany Gerrmo Livery.—The clans are gathering at Albany, our elected lawmakers rand the lobby, and they are already working up the organization of the two houses, which meet on Tuesday morning. There will be ‘gnuch ado sbout nothing” in the old town ‘to-day and more to-morrow. Anormme Sreut or Wanm Sars snp Hezavx Foas means, we calculate, that on- NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 1874—TRIPLE SHEET. Affairs im Spain—Reopening and Dis- solution of the Cortes—Thne Message of the President—A Crisis at Hand. Our attention this morning is afresh called to Spain and Spanish affairs, to the existing government, its present complications and the future of the country. On Friday, according to arrangement, the Cortes reassembled after the recess, and President Castelar read his Message. The description of the opening is brief, and we are left to infer much of the character of the opening ceremonies. We know here, and the fact is much better known in Madrid than it is in New York, that a fresh and serious crisis has arrived in the somewhat protracted and fruitless Spanish revolution. In a special despatch some days ago we announced that when the Cortes reassembled on the 2d of January Serrano would be the word which represented Spanish thought, feeling and desire, and that his return to power was to be regarded as certain. While we write our anticipations are all but confirmed. Yesterday a test vote was taken in the Cortes, when twice over majorities were given against Castelar. It was feared that the vote would be against him, but it was not dreamed that the adverse vote would reach the high figure of one hundred and twenty. General Pavia, a friend of Castelar, has taken charge of the Palace of the Cortes and other public buildings with a force of fourteen thousand men. He has dissolved the Cortes and summoned the men of all parties, excepting only the Carlists | and the intransigentes, to unite and form a new government. While refusing personally to take office he declares that a new govern- ment so composed is the only means of saving the country. Great excitement, we are told, | prevails in the capital ; the streets are crowded, but, as yet, no blood has been shed. The news of this morning, taken as a whole, confirms the truth of our despatches given days in advance, as well as justifies the view which we have all along taken of the Spanish situation. The synopsis which we give of the Spanish President's Message is brief, but it is clear, simple and intelligible. It does not, notwithstanding what has followed, alter our faith in Castelar. It rather heightens our opinion of the man and intensifies our con- yiction of his difficulties. His Message re- veals despair; butit also reveals sound sense and good judgment. He doubts, yet he tries to believe. Order, he says, prevails every- where throughout the country, except in the North and at Cartagena. Why order does not prevail in both those places as well as he tries to explain. he tells us, by a criminal insurrection, and if the city and fortresses and iron-clads have not been recaptured it is because of the want of troops and resources. With regard to the continuance of trouble in the North he has a similar explanation to offer. But for the dis- organization, lack of discipline and dissension in the republican ranks the war against the Carlists would long since have been brought to a satisfactory conclusion. In view of the troubles of the country, and while fully ad- in the rest of Spain | mitting the failure of his party, he makes an open appeal to Spain as a whole, calling upon all the factions to sink party differences and to unite in defence of the Republic. It is his conviction that there is a direct connection between the Carlists and the Cartagena insurgents. How the Carlist war is to be ended he does not tell us; but he has no doubt of the early and final overthrow of the Cartagena insurgents. While war exists, he says, and says not unwisely, a war policy is necessary. The war expenses during the recess have been fearful. The struggle against the Carlists on the one hand and against the intransigentes on the other has cost the government within the brief space over which the recess has lasted not less than four hundred million reals—an amount of money which, if the country as a whole had been in sympathy with the government, ought to have enabled Castelar, at this stage of his career, to say, ‘‘I have made an end of your civil war ; I found Spain divided ; I leave her a unit.’’ Such is the burden of the Message as it re- lates to home affairs. With regard to foreign affairs the Message commends approbation as well as attention. Castelar sees and recognizes the weakness of his country and his people, and he recommends the passage of bills for free public instruction. If Spain is to be strong, to resume her place among the nations and to recommend herself abroad, her people must be raised in the scale of education. This is Castelar’s opinion, and it is a wise one. Spain is weak, and is losing her place in the onward march of the nations because, in spite of all the wealth she has gorged and all the opportunities she has enjoyed, her people, in the mass, are steeped in ignorance. Castelar, as a lover of liberty, could not be indifferent to the existence of slavery in the Spanish colonies. He recom- mends, therefore, the abolition of slavery—of involuntary. servitude—on both sides of the Atlantic. Spain's latest trouble out- side of her own territory has been with the United States. All the documents relating to the Virginius affair Castelar prom- ises to lay before the Cortes, and it is his opinion that these documents will show that, while war has been avoided, the principles of international law have been upheld. It has naturally enough been a drawback to the success of the Spanish Republic that the European governments have refused to grant it recognition. In refer- ence to this fact of non-recognition Castelar, in words worthy of the situation and in every respect worthy of himself, says :— “You must first establish a stable government, then the European Powers will soon recognize the Republic. No nation has any irremovable antipathy to the Republic. All countries first desire to see order maintained and protection given to the immense commercial interests.” Such, then, is the Message of President Cas- telar—a man who is not without thought power, who is largely endowed with the gift of oratory and who has long been looked upon as one of the most prominent of the rising hopes of the republican party in the south of Europe. iter years of patient waiting he has come to the surface, he has found his opportunity and made his maiden effort as the chief ruler of his people. He has tried, in ruling his country, to put his theories into practice, but he has failed. His Message reveals wisdom and good intentions; but it also reveals a sadness almost approach- ing to despair, the result of a larger ex- Derience than perhaps, in years cane bv. he ever dreamed would fall to his lot. We can- not blame Castelar because he has failed. Good men, in causes both great and good, have failed before him; and it is but seldom that pioncers are made of better stuff. He has sown seed which cannot—which will not—die; and time alone ig needed to reveal the full harvest. Now that he has been voted down by a power- ful majority he ought to accept the lesson which his knowledge of men and books ought long since to have taught him—that be- fore a people are fit for liberty they must be trained to enjoy it. Spain needs to be educated before she can enjoy the blessings of republican institutions. We may now regard it as certain that Spain has once again fallen under the power of the sword. The advent of Serrano is no longer doubtful; and when Serrano takes the reins he takes them for the purpose of protecting and ad- vancing the interests of Don Alfonso, the Prince of the Asturias, Isabella’s son. It is not impossible that this coup d'éfal may have been seriously made in the interests of Castelar and the Republic. We are unwilling to believe that Castelar, with his purity of soul and lofty patriotism, would lend countenance to any such measure. However it may be the ap- peal to the sword must end in a dictatorship; and all the facts of the moment point to Ser- rano as the coming man. The new govern- Cartagena was captured, [ j ence even the application of the law. ment will no doubt bring with it fresh trouble; but the world will not complain if Spain fora little while longer is restored to herself. The Evidence of the vivors. A telegram from Washingtan informs us that United States District Attorney Bliss has examined the surviving passengers of the Virginius. It appears the accounts given by the survivors were not in accordance with what an obedient servant of the admuinistra- tion desired. The men declare they did not know that the vessel was engaged in a filibus- tering expedition. This unanimity of tes- timony seems to have greatly annoyed the legal agent of the Washington government. We suppose it is to Mr. Bliss’ bad temper that we owe such an exhibition of bad taste as is involved in charging a number of prisoners Virginius Sar- with being guilty of falsehood. There are ample opportunities afforded to the supporters of the government to ventilate in the hireling Buchu press their bad manners, without allowing sub- serviency to betray them into bringing disgrace on the administration of the law. The animus shown toward the Virginius pris- oners in the Washington despatch of the United States District Attorney affords the public an opportunity of judging of the lengths to which partisan feeling may influ- District Attorney Bliss will unwittingly do good service to his employers if he will advise them to abandon the attempt to cover up their own weakness and want of tact in dealing with Spain by making out a case against the Vir- ginius prisoners. These men have already been severely punished for the crime of believing that there was enough ‘sense of dignity and manhood in the Washington gov- ernment to protect the honor and independ- ence of the national flag. It was bad enough that the Spaniards should punish them for such folly, but it is carrying a bad joke a little too far to have the rod applied by the men who furnished the Virginius with regular papers, and then allowed her to be seized as a pirate on the high seas. Presentments of the Grand Jury. Two or three subjects are broached by the Grand Jury that are worthy public attention— the state of the Tombs and the ne- cessity for a new City Prison, the absence of any proper restraint upon the Sheriff's charges against the county, and the scan- dalous abuse of the House of Detention. All these are good old abuses that have been frequently the subject of animadversion in the press and that are standard topics with the Grand Jury. But we do not see that that con- stitutional impersonation of the public con- science is likely to touch these subjects any more practically now than it has done hitherto; and we know how ineffective must be the drowsy recommendations of a Grand Jury for the discontinuance of abuses on which official classes fatten. Innocent people will be de- tained as criminals, though only witnesses, be- cause an arbitrary administration of the police always goes with an ineffective one, and we have both. As to the Sheriff's fees, they are, of course, an open robbery. Under the estab- lished system the Sheriff of a county is, per- haps, only well paid tor his service by his fees; but if we put the transactions of a nation into one county, as we have it here, and con- tinue the fee system, it is evident that the Sheriff must get a remuneration far beyond what it is proper that any single functionary should receive. Cannot the Grand Jury take this subject up in a more practical way? It needs agitation, Commence oF THE Pont or New Yorg.— It is a good sign for Austrian commerce that the number of vessels coming to this port during the year just closed is one hundred per cent in excess of the arrivals of 1872. Italy has improved forty per cent during the same period, and the Norwegians seem to be extending their commercial relations with this port The shipping statistics, however, as a whole, indicate that the number of arrivals has been increased by twelve per cent, and the total shows 6,135 vessels, of which 1,057 were steamers. While Great Britain and America own more than two-thirds of these vessels the other nationalities are fairly repre- sented. The lesson of these figures is a sim- ple one. Austria, Italy and Norway have prosperous and increasing commercial ma- rines, while that of the United States is slowly fading away. Can we not do some- thing as o nation to reconstruct our com- merce; to foster shipbuilding; to provide for the education of boys in order that they may become trained seamen; to improve the har- bor, as demanded by Professor Pierce; to hasten the slow process of the blasting out at Hell Gate? As Ir Ovont To Bz.—The Postmaster General orders that hereafter letters from foreign countries, whether they are or are not suspected as enclosures of smuggled goods, shall be sent to their destination before they are examined by Custom House officers. Gerrmae Croupy—The prospect for the confirmation of Williams os Chief Justice, Review of the Re ous Pre “The review of the religious preas!"’ These would be pleasant words, indeed, if there ap- peared any new thought or idea in the col- umns of our religious contemporaries this week. New Year's Day appears to have ab- sorbed the attention of the fraternity of the clerical editorial order, and yet not one of them represents a view of the important religious events of the year just closed. What is the meaning of this? Have our brethren been anticipating some new dispensation? Has the Cummins fever extended beyond the limits of the Reformed Episcopal body? Has the call upon English authority for evidence in tke case of the Rey. Dr. Cheney, of Chicago, been the means of creating this extraordinary quietude in the holy cycle? The Independent is of opinion that the Freeman's Journal's faculty to develop a possi- bility into a fact rivals Darwin's evolution, and abuse of the Jews, in which the latter paper indulges, is stigmatized as ‘‘contempti- ble.” **We can conceive,” says the Independ- ent, “of an almost extinct prejudice against that nation which has given us not only the Old Testament worthies, but the founders and all the heroes of the early Christian Church— a nation in which Jesus Christ felt a patriotic pride, if we may judge trom his reply to the Syrophenician woman; while it is an ex- tremely happy instance of airily mounting to @ conclusion.”” The editor of the Independent also discourses upon ‘Constitutional Right and Duty,” bear- ing upon the peculiar situation in Louisiana pertaining to the relative claims of certain aspirants to Senatorial honors in the National Legislature. ‘The plain duty of the Senate,” declares the writer, “being the sole and final judges as to whether Pinchback or McMillen, if either of them, is entitled to represent the State of Louisiana in the Senate of the United States, is to decide this question of law ac- cording to law and evidence, irrespectively of all collateral and party considerations. The constitution makes it a court for this pur- pose—the final court—and it will be recreant alike to duty and to the vital principle in- volved if it permits party bias or interests to control its decision.” The Evangelist givesa kindly article about topics designated for the week of prayer, and is struck by their number and variety. ‘No ne,” affirms the editor, ‘‘can find in them any warrant for the belief that Christian views are narrow or contracted.’’ The Hvan- gelist contemns ‘a railroad to knowledge’’—in other words, abridging the college course—and comes to this conclusion, ‘‘thatwhile men hew Hoosac tunnels through mountains they can, therefore, level all difficulties of intellectual discipline or attainment, or find any mechani- cal substitute for hard labor of the brain.” “Hoping Against Hope; or, Bishop Against Bishop,” is the text for, another editorial in the Evangelist. It comprises comments on a recent letter from Bishop Lee, of lowa, to Bishop Cummins, in which the Iowa prelate endeavors to dissuade his Kentucky brother from his proposed (?) secession from the Episcopal body. Bishop Lee, according to the writer in the Evangelist, ‘‘doubtless repre- sented the views generally entertained by those who are classed as the Low Church. But the prospect of another century ‘of the mingling of clean beasts with unclean is not dissolved by the charm of Episcopal assurance.” And when speaking of the Episcopal as the Scriptural and historical Church, a branch of the universal Church of Christ, he says, ‘Take her allin all, I believe her to be the purest branch of that Church in all the world, in her doc- trines, polity, discipline and worship,” we must, pronounces the Presbyterian Zvan- gelist, ‘confess that we are compelled still more emphatically than ever to part company with him in his hopes, and to doubt whether, like Esther, he has ‘come to the kingdom for such a time as this.’” The Christian Intelligencer puts the query— ‘Is Bishop Cummins guilty of schism ?” and concludes that ‘those moderate Episcopalians and others who talk about him as a schismatic should consider where they are putting Luther and Calvin and Robinson and Wesley. The grotesqueness of ‘this new separation lies in the fact that itis bent both on leaving what exclusives call ‘the Church,’ and on taking it along. Whichever of these inconsistent things it may do at last, it is absurd for any Protes- tant to call it a schism.” The Presbyterian Observer is suggestive on the Pope’s last encyclical. ‘Secession and Succession”’ (referring to Rev. Dr. John Cotton Smith in an article in Church and State in regard to Dr. Cummins) is also the subject of an editorial in the Observer. It quotes from Dr. Smith :—‘‘The proceedings are irregular, un- canonical, schismatical ; but they carry with them, we are compelled by our own principles to acknowledge, the succession and orders of the Church.” And the Observer adds :— “This opinion of Dr. Smith is directly op- posed to that of Bishop Smith, who has de- clared that all the acts of Bishop Cummins are invalid. We believe with the Doctor and not with the Bishop.’ The Methodist takes up the Pope’s encyclical and remarks that the Roman Catholic claim is of ‘a spiritual empire, visibly organized in all the earth, over secular governments. It is the domi- nance, by divine right, of one corporate body over all other corporate bodies, in such sense that the latter are to be instructed what they may do and what they may not do, It is the medimval idea over again, that the spiritual power, though it does not wield, may yet com- mand, the secular sword. On this theory there is really but one power in the world— the Church—for Casar is not a rnoler, buta servant. One thing is certain, the modern State will trample this theory under foot, and all the talk of the gates of hell not prevailing against the Church will go for nothing.” The Tablet (Roman Catholic) discusses the points of the encyclical, and makes especial reference to the election of the ‘notorious apostate from the Catholic faith—Joseph Hu- bert Reinkens—as their pseudo-bishop of the new German sect culling themselves ‘Old Catholics.’ ” The Christian Union (H. W. Beecher) is of opinion that the appointment of Caleb Cush- ing as Minister to Spain will be ‘gratefully welcomed by the whole American people and have@ wholesome effect in Spain.” A little wholesome effect in Spain is what the Ameri- can people desire about these days. The Jewish Messenger utters a ‘warning to Israelites,’ concluding that the essence of their hallowed creed ia, “Be ye perfect with the Lord your God." “And such perfection,” says the editor, ‘can only be attained when we perform our duties as Jews in our religious acts, and as men and brothers in the walks of life.’" The Liberal Christian is profound upon “Evolution and Revolution in Religion,” de- claring that the ‘loose, wandering, cloudy, sentimental liberalism that floats in the whole religious air of this country, rusting and rend- ing the old dogmatic chains and dissolving the creeds, has its work to do—an immense and providential one. It does it without aid and without resistance. It is the pressure and gravitation and compulsion of the age.” The Christian at Work takes as its leading theme ‘Morbid Religion,” and asserts that “morbidity in religion might be partially cured by more outdoor exercise.’ This is a good idea for the Shaking Quakers. A Proposed Revolution in Municipal Architecture—A New Invention. An important revolution in municipal archi- tecture has recently been proposed by an English architect of much talent and experi- ence. He announces, in a paper read before the Liverpool Architectural Society, an inven- tion which promises to be a grand step towards fireproof construction. This inven- tion—which has already been severely tested and is commanding a large share of confidence in England—consists in the utilization of earthenware and cement concrete with iron and steel and metal wire in such combina- tions as to resist the most glowing furnace heat. The object of the inventor is to pro- vide walls, partitions, floors and roofs light, cheap, durable and thoroughly fireproof. The great fires at Chicago and Boston proved the unreliability of iron girders, which, when exposed to great heat, are sure to snap or twist, and are turned about by the flames like ribbons, falling without notice and causing great loss of life among the firemen. The iron columns are proved to be equally dangerous, for, if not fused by the fiery glow, are cracked and split asunder, or col- lapse the moment the fire engines play upon them with cold water. These facts are also attested by French and English architects who have exhaustively studied the London and Paris fires; and to obviate these dangers the new invention, by Mr. Hornblower (the English inventor to whom we refer), has a very simple and ingenious expedient. Walls, Partitions and roofs are constructed of sheet iron or steel, so formed as to represent one- half of an octagonal honeycomb cell in trans- verse section, reversed and placed as flitches parallel to each other, with a space of six inches intervening. In this space are pipes of hollow earthenware, in two feet lengths, and the iron flitches are bolted to and through the pipes, thus forming a composite girder, which is light and strong and capable of re- sisting the flame. Partitions are constructed of half-octagonal honeycomb iron or steel cells, with metal wire stretched across (instead of inflammable laths) to receive the cement concrete or plaster, the wire serving to tie the iron and steel lengths and to give strength to the concrete. One great excellence of the in- vention is that through the hollow earthen- ware pipes ventilation to any part of the structure can be secured, and, if desired, hot air may be conveyed from the basement fur- nace, It is well known that Portland cement, with which the floors are laid by Mr. Hornblower, is more intractable to fire than granite or any of the stones, and, while its tensile strength is very great after it has had a fortnight to harden, it continues to increase for years. ‘The cheapness, however, is a not less desirable feature in the proposed new architecture than the solidity afforded. The Portland cement may be amalgamated with old bricks crushed small, well washed gravel, sand and furnace slag. Such material, besides being more fireproof than granite or solid iron, is so inexpensive as to put fireproof houses within the reach of the thrifty poor and all house builders. The system of imbedding or encasing the metal uprights and girders in concrete and passing the metal rods in concrete or fireproof pipes is certainly, of itself, one of the greatest contributions to domestic and municipal safety yet made by the architectural genius of the age. The tensile strength of the flooring thus made, after it had been given eighteen days to crystallize, was safely loaded with thirty-one tons of dead weight, showing a carrying power greater than any other kind of material would afford. There is scarcely any invention possible to inventive genius more urgently demanded than such a one as that now announced, and which appears to stand the crucial tests of non-inflammability, strength and’ cheapness in the highest degree. Nearly sixty houses have been constructed by the inventor on his plan, and it will, we doubt not, be further im- proved and largely adopted in cities and towns where there is so much to dread from the conflagration. The Attitude of the Wealthy Cubans Towards the Army Fighting in the Field. We publish elsewhere a short, pithy letter from the well-known commander of the Edgar Stuart, Colonel Melchor Agiiero, which touches on the weak spot of the Cuban insurrection. Colonel Agtiero has for years been engaged in the work of supplying the men in the field with the arms and munitions necessary to carry on the war of independence. His enter- prises have been marked by great daring and unusual success. Whatever faults the Colonel may have, he has shown decided courage and unusual devotion to the cause of his country, In his letter he complains of the indifference shown to him by those wealthy Cubans who have the means of sending effective help to their brothers in the field, but who fail to do so through some paltry spirit of jealousy. Our Special Commissioner to the Cuban insur- genss learned from Calixto Garcia, General Gomez and President Cespedes that the only resources which had reached them from the exterior for over two years had been brought by Colonel Agiiero. All the other ex- peditions had either failed to land their car- goes or had been lost. Under these circum- stances it appears very strange that Cubans interested in the welfare of their country, and really anxious to aid the men struggling for freedom, should hesitate about giving suck nid te Colonel Agiiero as would enable him to carry the needed supplies to the gallant fel- lows who have so long strugeled qgainst over- whelming odds. ‘Teli our countrymen to send us powder and machetes, and some medi- cines for the sick and wounded,” were the last words addressed to our Cuban Commissioner by the General, Calixto Garcia, and if the Ou- bans here have the good of their cause at heart they will forget their petty jealousies and un- worthy squabbles, and send help by the man best able to convey it to the army in the field— that is Melchor Agtero, Heart-Hurt, Among the pleasant episodes which may occur in the career of a warm-hearted English- man we may note that of Mr, George Henry Wildes as being of particular interest, and which we publish in another colamn, Having been once married, and not finding his domes- tic tie to his liking, he rudely broke it by divorce, and some time thereafter meeting Miss Nuttall, a fascinating young lady of twenty-two, he was not slow in assuring her | that he lived for her alone. Miss Nuttall be- lieved this and was happy in the belief, as her darling George told her that he had an income of about seven thousand dollars a year. The usual burning epistles were written. Suddenly one fine morning the suitor met his divorced wife again, was enchanted by her appearance, fell in love with her a second time and hastened away to have the nuptial knot retied. Miss Nuttall was duly in- formed of this melancholy proceeding, and she notified her solicitor, who began an action for breach ot promise against the twice mar- ried George, and the jury found that Misa Nuttall has suffered to the extent of fifteen thousand dollars. Moral—Divorces are better in the observance than the breach. Ann Exiza on Mormonism.—Ann Eliza Young, nineteenth wife of the much married Mormon Prophet, and now in search of a di- yorce and alimony, has advanced as far east- ward as St. Louis ona lecturing éxéursion, her exhaustless subject being the sins of Mor- monism, or of Mormon polygamy. From the brief report given of the St. Louis lecture, she evidently speaks as one having authority. She is ‘‘smart,”’ she is in earnest, she knows whereof she speaks, and she rakes the polyg- amous saints of Utah fore and aft. She de- scribes from experience the heart burnings, the strife, the deceptions, the unspeakable misery and degradation of Mormon polygamy. She denounces it as without one redeeming feature and as utterly diabolical and repulsive. She rejoices in her emancipation from thia loathsome system of bondage, and is in a fair way to turn ittoa good account. Itis said that she is on her way to Washington to illuminate the darkness of the Mormon system of many wives before the benighted lawmakers of Con- gress. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Colonel John M. Wilson, United States Army, has arrived at the Everett House. Senator Stephen W. Dorsey, of Arkansas, is stay- ing at the St, Nicholas Hotel. H. B, James, ot the Treasury Department, ts again at the Metropolitan Hotel. General Godfrey Weitzel, United States Army, is quartered at the Metropolitan Hotel. Senator Henry B, Anthony. of Rhode Island, has apartments at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Chief Engineer W. H. Shock, United States Navy, is registered at the Metropolitan Hotel. General B. F, Butler yesterday: arrived at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, on the way to Washington. Dr. L, Marsh, one of the English delegates to the Evangelical Alliance, is confined by iliness at the Medical College Infirmary, in Ricbmond, Va, where he will probab y be detained for months. JOURNALISTIC NOTES. O. B. Perkins, late of the Beloit (Wis.) Journal, has editorial charge of the Quincy (Ill.) Whig. J, J. McNally has sold the Newburg Telegraph to Dr. Theodore H. Cooper. Victor M. Drake will be the editor. George B. Clark has disposed of his interest in the St. Louis datly Times to Charles A. Mantz, one of tne largest stockholders, Samuel Cadwaliader, of the Milwaukee News, has been chosen clerk of the Printing Committee of the Wisconsin Legislature. The Griffin (Ga.) Star, Temperance Watchman and the Cultivator have united their interests, and the result is the publica§ion of a newspaper called the Star, A.C. Bodkin, manager of the Chicago Tribune, on January 1 became manager of the Milwaukee Sentinel. Chicago editors gave him @ $300 watch as a reminder. The Independent is the name of a new paper just started in the village of Mohawk, Herkimer county, New York. It is edited and published by Rich & Tucker. Dr. L. F. W. Andrews, an old editor and pub- lisher, has commenced the publication of a Univer- salist magazine at Atlanta, Ga, called the Messen- ger of the Covenant. One Stevens, editor of the Minneapolis (Minn.) Sunday Mirror, having been called a liar and other uncomplimentary names by Chief of Police Hay, has had the Chief arrested. 4 The Arcadian, of this city, will celebrate the be- ginning of 1874 by coming out with all its editorials in poetry, which certainly will embrace the feature of novelty, if nothing more. The Cleveland Herald announces its intention ta go into the quarto form of dress. When is the Inter-Ocean going to assume a more acceptable form? It is the most inconvenient in size of any journal in the country. Dr. E. Morwitz, of the German Demokrat, of Phil- adelphia, and owner of many other newspapers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, variously estimated at from 10 to 30, of different politics, has purchased the democratic organ, the Age, and, by way of in troduction to its changed purpose as @ journal in- dependent of party, has christened it the New Age. Warren Hussey, President of the First National Bank of Salt. Lake, claims $100,000 damages from the Indianapolis Journal company because they asserted thut years ago aman by the same name at Indianapolis was tried for counterfeiting and embezzlement, and suggested that the Salt Lake man might be the fugitive. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. Arrival of the Wabash at Key West— More Light To Be Thrown on the Vir- ginius Surrender. Key WEST, Jan. 3, 1874. The United States steamer Wabash, Admiral Case, from the European squadron, anchored this morning in the harbor here outside of Franklin. ‘The Pinta left this port this afternoon for Cedar Captain Whiting and Lieutenant Marx were revengers on board. They go to Washington to explain to the administration the actual condition os the Virginius when she was delivered up by the as. ' Speamiral Case now commands the fleet. Assignments. First Assistant Engineer John A. Scott is de- tached from recruiting service in California and placed on waiting orders, First Assistant Engineer W. W. Hinton, from the Powhattan, is ordered to special duty at Kev West. First Assistant Engineer James Entwistle, from the Florida, is ordered to the Powhatan. Lieutenant Commander Thomas L, Swann is or- dered to special oranance duty, Ensign ‘George A. Calhoun rf detached from the Worcester sy ordered to report im person to the Departinen ‘Assistant Paymaster Geotge © Bougnam from the receiving shiv Potomac ta vlaced on waite ing orders.