The New York Herald Newspaper, February 26, 1874, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HWERALD| sROADWAY AND “ANN STREET. po JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. A}l business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yonre Heranp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. LONDON OFFICE. OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions and Advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. Volume XXXIX... AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING MRS. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE, Washington street, Brooklyn.—ELIZABLTH, at 3 P.M. closes atl P.M. Mrs, Bowers. METROPOLITAN THEATRE, ‘85 Broadway,—VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at M.; closes wt 10:30 P.M. No. 706 8 NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Houston. streets. — PEMIERSTOCKING, ats P.M.t Closes at 10:30 P.M. ACADEMY OF MUSIO, Montague street, Brookiyn—Strakgsch Italian Opera Fount LES MUGUENOTS, at8 f M.; closes at II Mile. Torriani, Sigs. Campaniint and Maurel Tuthedi street -DOMBEY AND SON, & orner Thirtieth street, Dk A eres ‘closes, at 4: THE SUAS WITH THE kp BEARD. at 8 ¥ Fig at ll P.M. FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, reetand Broadway.—LOV) closes at 10:30 P.M, Mr, "3 LABOR'S USE, nd. third street.—NUMPTY HoOL, and VARIRTY ENTERTAIN: Dower Yat vcloses #1045 0. M. Mr. G. 1 MENT. Begins at 745 YM Fox. GE. ANIA THEATRE, LD LolTE BURSEHE, Wourteenth street. —SOE Begins at 32. M. ; closes at 10 THEATRE COMIQUE, No, Sif Broadway.—VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, P.M. ; closes at 10°30 P.M. at3 BOOTH’S THEATRE, Sixth avenue and Twenty-third street.—CHESNEY WOLD, at745 FP. M.; closes at 10:45 P.M. Mime. Fanny Jauauschek. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth street—MONEY, at8P_M.; | closes at Ll P. M. Mr, Lester Wallack, Miss Jeffreys Lewis. OLYMPIC THEATRE, between Houston and Bleecker streets. — VtLbis and NOVELTY ENTERTAINMENT, at j closes at 10:45 P.M. Broadway, AUDEN 745 P.M. BROOKLYN PARK THEATRE, gprorite City Hall, Brookiy: n.—WHITE SWAN, at 3 P. ; closes atl P.M. nowERy THEATRE, Bower: STEAMBOAT TRIP TO’ JERSE’ Ligh? tikovad THE MIST. Begins at 8 P. at il. ; SUN. j closes TONY PASTOR’S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery.—VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at 3 P. Bi. ; closes at 11 P. M. "S OPERA HOUSE, rner of Sixth avenue.—CINDER- GRO MINSTRELSY, &c., at 5 P. M.; cloves at 10 P. BAIN HALL, Great Jones street and Lafayette place Te Hey cEne, | atSP. M.; closes ati0 P.M. Matinee at3 P. M, 1th street.—PARIS BY P.M; COLos! Broadway, corner of Thirty- NIGHT, at 1 FM; closes at P. M.; same at? closes at lu P. M. TRIPLE ‘SHEET. New York, Thursday, Feb. 26, 4674. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. A GREAT DISASTER TO THE BRITISH ARMS RE- PORTED FROM ASHANTEE! A SEVERE BATTLE AND CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS OF THE RESULT! KING KOFFEE CALCALI IN PERSUNAL COMMAND! GENERAL WOLSELEY ADVISED TO RETREAT— SEVENTH PaGE. M. THIERS RAPTUROUSLY RECEIVED IN THE FRENCH CURPS LEGISLATIF—THE SPAN- ISH STEAMSHIP MURILLO CHANGES HER NAME—SBEVENTH Pace. COOLIES FROM THE TROCHA ARRIVING IN HAVANA! SANTA ANNA OFF FOR MEX- ICO—SEVENTH PaGE. THE RECENT BATTLE IN CUBA THE “SE- VEREST” OF THE WAR! BASUCONES AND THE SPANISH FORCES ROUTED, WITH HEAVY LOSSES! 8,000 MEN ENGAGED— FouRTH PaGE. A YOUNG WOMAN KILLED BY A DRUNKEN POLICEMAN! JEALOUSY THE CAUSE! THE MURDERER ARRESTED—EIGHTH PaGE. A MURDERER AND FIVE BURGLARS LIBER- ATED BY MASKED SCOUNDRELS IN DELA- WARE! A WOMAN IN THE CASE—SEVENTH Paar. OUR SUPERB NATIONAL NAVAL SPECTACLE— WASHINGTON NEWS—Turnp Pace. LEGISLATIVE DOINGS—TENTH Pace. THE SCOTTISH CANVASS AND ELECTIONS FOR MEMBERS UF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT! LOYALTY TO THE CROWN AND FRIEND- LINESS TO AMERICA—FourTH PaGE. SUFFERINGS OF AND ABUNDANT RELIEF FOR THE POOR! SUPERINTENDENT PEASE ON THE SOUP KITCHENS—DISTRESS AMONG THE OPERATIVES IN LYNN, MASS.—FrrtH Pace. IMPORTANT MEETING OF THE NAVAL INSTI- TUTE ! THE MARINER'S COMPASS—ARMY MATTERS—Etcurn Pace. & BROOKLYN EX-OOLLECTOR OF TAXES AR- RESTED FUR EMBEZZLEMENT—A CRIP- PLED RAILROAD—Eicuta Pace. STIRRING TIMES ON THE ERIE ROAD! TRAVEL ENTIRELY STOPPED BY THE IRATE STRIKERS—EieuTH PaGr. FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS— NINTH Pace. WALTER ROCHE HEAVILY MULCT! THE MID- LAND RAILROAD TROUBLES—SANITARY MATTERS—ELEVENTH PAGE. THE COMMUNISTS’ REPLY TO THE EXPOSE OF THE FRENCH DETECTIVE—THE “WORK- INGMEN” AND THE TOMPKINS SQUARE RIOT—FouRTH PAGE. PREPARATIONS FOR THE OBSEQUIES OF THE LATE COMMISSIONER SMITH —FIFTH Page. Goverxon Aus, or Mississrprt, in a reeent message to the Legislature, recommends re- trenchment as 4 sure means of bettering the financial condition of the State, and he tells the legislators that they cannot make their session too short, This is sound advice, and we hope the press of the State, without regard to party, will assist in enforcing it. Tae Towser Mvapers in Fourth avenue continue in spite of the condemnation of coroners’ juries, as is illustrated by the reports | of the Henaty this morning. Punishment must follow neglect if other warnings faib . | the discussion of these questions that the ‘| that it is an irresponsible, independent | universe; that the wisdom and ex- | perience of centuries of civilization arkins, Miss | NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1874.-TRIPLE SHEET. the Finances—I: mae Currency Moral Ke- | Tre Debate on | thom of the | pudtation. | We regret exceedingly that Mr. Senator | Schurz should have stooped from his high | place as the author of the most eloquent and effective speech made during the present ses- | sion of Congress to permit a debate with Mr. | Senator Morton upon the foolish question of his nationality. Mr. Schurz should remem- | ber that a taunt of this kind always answers itself, and all debate springing from it belongs | to the lowest level of politics, which is saying | a good deal. It is, furthermore, a curious illustration of the tone of our public life that | a debate could not come to anend upon a | grave financial subject without Senators call- ing each other “‘atrocious’’ and ‘disingen- | uous."’ It is this tendency to mud-throwing | and mire-wallowing that makes our Senatorial debates so valueless and the influence of Con- gress so limited in its effect upon the country. With this exception we cannot give too | high praise to Mr. Schurz. He shares with | Mr. Senator Sherman the honor of having | made tho most effective speech that has as yet | been delivered upon our finances. It is in unique and admirable genius of Mr. Schurz finds its highest expression. We trust our | Representatives will compare his thoughtful and philosophical analysis of the whole ques- tion with the wild Rocky Mountain states- manship of Mr. Senator Morton, who begins | his argument with the maxims that America belongs to a solar system of its own; can teach us nothing, and that in dealing with questions whose importance comes home to | every citizen we must obey the mad and | ignorant clamors of prairie politicians who do not see beyond their own horizon. Tho dif- | ference between Mr. Schurz and Mr. Morton is the difference between a statesman and a | demagogue. It is mournful that a man of Mr. Morton's vigorous and rude gifts, and of more than common power, should identify himself with a measure that can only bring misfortune | to the country. We may lay it down as a safe rule that what- | ever looks .to inflation of the currency leads ‘ to a policy which will bring disaster to the country. This whole question of finance is too delicate to be determined by Rocky | Mountain statesmen, whose main function is | to abuse England at barbecues or accept and | | preach whatever new fancy happens to be in | the air. The laws of finance represent the | experience and wisdom of centuries, the | growth of society, the rise of commerce and trade, the uses of banking, exchange and | money. Upon their careful observance rests the health of the body politic, just as the body | in which we live is controlled by the observance | of the laws of health. It may be laid down | as inexorable that when parliaments or mass meetings or representative bodies devote themselves to the amendment or dis- | cussion of these financial laws, the result qill be mischief—chaos, perhaps. When our Con- | gress clamors for inflation, to please the West | orthe South, or any section, it makes precisely | | the same mistake that was made by the slave- holders when they ruled the country in the interest of slavery, or by the ironmasters of Pennsylvania, who demanded that iron shall have protection, no matter what interests are paralyzed. If this Union has any value as a -| political symbol it is that there shall be no | legislation for any one section at the expense of other sections; for the result in the end must be a sad one. The sections are bound together by ties that cannot be torn without misery. Inflation in the West means another money panic in New York. A money panic in New York means bankruptcy, mis- fortune, ruin in the West. The way for the body to gather strength is not to drink brandy, for in the end we do not gain nour- ishing activity and power, but delirium tre- mens. When we propose to relieve the West by cheap money we simply propose to recruit @ system recovering from dissipation with strong drink, or to extinguish a fire with petroleum. The real trouble with the “country is the | financial dissipation of the war. We still feel the effects of that mad time. All our cur- rency notions, our greenback fancies, our five- twenties, seven-thirties and ten-forties, our schemes to put down gold and raise artificial taxation, our tariff laws, as incomprehensible as the Talmud, were so many forms of finan- cial dissipation. If we have fever and exhaus- tion what else can we expect, and what must we do to remedy the evil? The Rocky Moun- tain statesmen say, We are suffering from inflation; let us cure ourselves by still further inflation. The truth is there is no real prosperity in paper circula- tion. When we are told to look at Austria, Italy and the other nations who “‘prosper” with paper money we answer that there is nothing in the prosperity of Austria or Italy to excite the emulation of the United States; that whatever prosperity those coun- tries may claim is in spite of the paper circu- lation, which is regarded as an evil and to the abolition of which the best minds of these nations are laboring. We cannot pay by promises to pay. We do not discharge the debt, but aggravate and postpone it. An ir- redeemable currency is not an advantage to the people, but to the speculator in money. If people have no money how can they buy money, and how can they obtain it without buying it? So far from any increase of currency being an advantage to the people, they would be the first to suffer. The majority of the people deal in fixed values and live on fixed incomes, Now, let the currency be in- creased, and these values and incomes are at once affected. Already our credit abroad is tainted by these constantly reviving proposi- tions to repudiate the debt, to pay interest in currency, not gold, and to increase the currency. Foreign capitalists do not know how to regard the United States. Our financial policy has been like a series of shifting quicksands, and they steer from it as mariners steer from those treacherous, uncertain coasts on which somany | argosies have been wrecked. We have a poisoned credit. We cannot sell a loan with- | | ous binding ourselves to pay it in gold. We | pay o larger interest than any nation in the | | world, all things considered. And, although | | in the administration of the Treasury we pay | our interest and principal with promptness, still we are an uncertain country; and we are constantly mistrusted, because there is nota 7 tea know the reason of Mr. Gilgdstone’s ‘fall, as well as the secret of Mr. | Disraeli’s success; and the immediate Rocky Mountain statesman committing Con- | gress to a scheme as wild as that of Thaddeus Stevens during the war, when he proposed that a law should be passed regulating the price of gold. Mr. Senator Morton, among other extraor- dinary averments, says that we have been prosperous during our period of inflation, and that this prosperity would increase if Mr. Richardson would only set a few new presses to work in the Treasury building. He warns us to keep away from the contamination of the old nations of Europe—from an example like France, we suppose, which carried its credit unscathed through the terrible war, or, it may be, of England, who staggered dobt-burdened from Waterloo to gain strength from wisdom and so adjust her burdens that she is now the richest country in the world, practically lending money to tho world. For our own part it is no derogation of patri- otism to say that we gather more wisdom from France and England in finance than from Mr. Morton and the whole tribe of Rocky Moun- tain statesmen. The measure to keep bank resesves from New York—to compel them to remain in the West—is a type of the whole discussion. The bank reserves come to New York just as railways and ships come here— because it is the metropolis of the American people; because money, industry, trade centre here; because nature and enterprise have made it the head and heart of the Continent Mr. Morton might as well try to prevent the wild geese from flying north when the warm weather approaches as to prohibit the bank reserves from coming to our money market. So far from his mountain of freshly printed currency making the West easier in business and industry, and moro in- dependent of New York, we shall only have temptations to new speculations in Wall street, new conspiracies and combinations against the Treasury, new ‘Black Fridays’ and new panics like those which came with the suspen- sion of Jay Cooke, who built his house upon the sandy foundation that ‘a national debt was a national blessing ;” that inflation was prosperity and printed bank bills money, only to see it fall when the storm came. An inflation of the currency would be moral repudiation. It would be the beginning of disasters more terrible than any that have as yet fallen upon the country. The way to do well is not to do ill; and no expedient which adds to the debt of a nation so largely in debt as ourselves will ever bring happiness to the country or anything but shame and dishonor to the men who support it in obedience to an ignorant and unmeasuring public senti- ment. Scottish Politics amd the Late General We print this morning a letter from our correspondent in Edinburgh, Scotland—a let- ter which gives a fuller and clearer view than anything yet printed on this side of the Atlantic of the present political condition of | the land of Robert Bruce and Robert Burns. The sudden dissolution of Parliament, the general a which followed and the con- e and power, not yet ended, be- tween the two great political parties, have for the present invested British politics with more than ordinary importance. All are anxious to future of British politics constitutes a problem which many are trying to solve, but with regard to which different minds are arriving at very different conclusions. It is our anxious desire to place our readers ina position in which they will be able to judge for themselves. Our letter of this morning will thus be interesting to all who take an in- terest in British politics. It will be especially interesting to our Scottish fellow citizens, who in this land of their adoption never cease to look back with a lingering love to the land of their forefathers. Our correspondent inter- viewed three representative men—Mr. Boa, the President of the Trades Council; Mr. Ferguson, a home rule man—who, of course, is an Irishman—and a conservative, whose name is not given. It will be seen that each of the three men is an extremist. Their views are very different; but taken together they present Scottish political life in an aspect which is at once novel and instructive. We commend the letter to the attention of all our readers. The Jail Delivery in Delaware, The escape of the convicts from the Dela- ware State Prison yesterday morning is another illustration of the ease with which men held for crime may break jail by the aid of outside help under the present prison system. So carelessly guarded was this prison that men could scale the wallsand break off the bars of a cell without attracting any atten- tion further than to induce a keeper incau- tiously to open agate in inquiring into the noises he heard. The ease with which he was captured and gagged shows that he was utterly unconscious of danger. At that time two prisoners had already escaped from their cells, and, with the jailer a captive, the res- cue of the others was easy. The most astonishing part of the story is that a tug took the rescuers to Newcastle, and, after waiting for the jail delivery, carried the whole party away. An affair of this kind might take place at Sing Sing, but we thought it impossible that any such occurrence should happen in Delaware, especially as we were assured some years ago that Delaware had an eye big enough for the whole country. The escape of Sharkey from the Tombs was consid- ered an exceedingly well planned affair; but the skill and confidence of this jail delivery in Delaware leave scarcely a shadow of glory for Sharkey’s rescuers. Next we shall probably have a fleet of tugboats going up the Hudson in open day and inviting the palatial residents at Sing Sing to an excursion on the river and a chase in the woods. Tax Orrick Fravps iy Brooxtrs,—Mr. Isaac Badeau, who was for six years Collector of Taxes in Brooklyn, and who is reported to be worth nearly half a million of dollars, was arrested yesterday ona charge of embezzle- ment. The method by which the alleged frauds were committed was simply by retain- ing the default and interest on unpaid taxes. It is said that the amount of the alleged em- bezzlement aggregates twenty-four thousand | dollars, and Mr. Badeau’s bail was fived at thirty thousand dollars. These crimes have become so common that they scarcely excite remark, and the only way to stop them is to punish with severity the men who are found to be guilty of offences such as that with which | moment when we are not in danger of somo this man is charged Mr. Bergh and mas Private Police. It is o great pity that a gentleman so ami- able, patient, polite and humane as Mr. Bergh should ever lose his temper, for it does not become him to be ina rage; and to storm and vituperate, and give way to an apparently nat- ural but usually well restrained disposi- tion to be abusive and intolerant is to imperil public faith in his superiority, and to give the censorious a fair opportunity to say that the man who would restrain the world should at least be able to restrain him- self. If we could ever bring ourselves to re- gret the utterance of an important truth it would certainly be from. finding that we had touched Mr, Bergh too sharply (perhaps, as the subject is horsey, we may be permitted to say, had touched him on the “‘raw”) by our sug- gestion that his persecution of the public in behalf of the rights of animals would prob- ably excite a reaction and be the means of for- feiting what had already been gained for the legitimate objects of his society. : But, alas! our respect for the truth i greater even than our regard for Mr. Bergh; and, much as it distresses us to sce him wince, we are compelled to say again that his success- fuldemand at Albany for greater power is mis- chievous and unwise, and is a great step toward that extromo assertion of a fanatical idea which univemally provokes general revolt. Our special objection to the new and hastily made law is that it organ- izes for this oity an ontirely new and independent system of police, which is to operate side by side with the ordinary public police, but is supposed to direct its attention solely to those dreadful examples of their kind who have not such morbidly tender hearts as the President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Hitherto we believe Mr. Bergh’s subordinates have only had authority to make arrosts, &., when suthor- ized os deputies by the Sheriff, and to the appointment of such deputies there could be no objection, because we know, under the law, who tho Sheriff is, and if there is an abuse of power by any of his subordinates we can locate the responsibility. It is the same with the public police. It isin the hands of the people who elect the men with whom the appointing power begins. There is a definite responsibility to the public. But now public authority has been given to a private police—not from any need in the public interest—simply because Mr. Bergh wanted it, and because he would havo lost his temper and scolded dreadfully if he had not obtained it. By the proposed law any one whom Mr. Bergh designates becomes a police- man, so far as relates to his authority to make arrests, enter houses, &.; but he is not a policeman otherwise, because no one is respon- sible for him but Mr. Bergh. If it is a good thing for a police to be organ- ized here under the entire control of Mr. Bergh and to act at his discretion in the ex- travagant pursuit of his ‘‘particular vanity’ we do not see ahy good reason why a great many other amiable and humane gentlemen with somewhat extravagant notions might not also move to have authority 40 organize a private police to give effect to their opinions. It would simplify life greatly, for whodver could pay the larger number of policemen would carry the” day in every argu- ment. And Mr Berks police and his new law tend to simplification in the same way. His law gives him author- ity to go into any house, if he only imagines somebody is perpetrating “any cruelty on any animal”—say trying a physiological experi- ment on a rat—and his police give him the power to carry the physiologist off and collect a fine to support the society that does these wonders for the protection of animals. Our opinion is that this law will before long defeat itself, and we are not sure that it will not defeat also the more mod- erate acts on the same subject now in force. Everybody sympathizes with the legitimate protection of dumb animals; everybody grows impatient when the subject becomes a nui- sance, as it does when pushed beyond its legitimate sphere. Mr. Bergh, in defence of the horse against his too often brutal driver, will always have the public consent with him; Mr. Bergh prosecuting restaurant keepers for putting turtles on their backs simply shows his wits to be on the wrong side of the ‘‘thin partition;” but Mr. Bergh, with a private po- lice at his heels, breaking into people’s houses to put down vivisection or other pur- suits that he dislikes, threatens to offend pub- lic patience. Extravagant zeal in any propaganda uni- versally defeats its presumed purpose. Buckle has cogently shown this in his view of religious persecutions; Addison gracefully discasses it in the Spectator as a law of hu- man action, and our philanthropist of one idea, who would turn the world inside out to cure the toothache in a cat, is furnishing a familiar illustration of the principle. Tax Murper or a Youna Grint by a police- man yesterday is not to be considered in the same category as the police murder of a few days‘before. The latter crime was without a parallel in the history of homicide, while in the present case there was the jealousy from which even policemen are notexempt. In its details, however, it was a most brutal murder, and cannot fail to bring discredit upon the police force of the metropolis, organized apparently 80 a8 to include many of the worst men in the city. The readiness with which these men are encouraged to use the pistol cannot fail to have fruits like the crime of yesterday. Two inquests on the same day over the victims of police ruffianism will be a sorry commentary on the morals of our municipal ‘‘preservers’’ of the peace. Srztyyn Senr-sacriricinc CONGRESSMEN were toiling over the legislation at the capital last night, while the remaining two hundred and seventy-six were hugging their cosey fire- sides, All honor to the noble sixteen! And let us remember that what was a travesty upon legislation was, at the same time, a severe condemmation of the greater number who so tailed in their dut ‘Tax Dewr ov Nowrn Canorana.—There is a rumor that Governor Caldwell, of North Caro. lina, will call a special session of the Legisla- ture to consider the State debt. The manner in which ignorant legislators and dishonest politicians piled up the debt of the State is a lesson which no people wishing to be free can easily forget; but to provide against some of the evil effects of this indebtedness is a neces- sity fur the future prosperity of the State, “nayy, the Marine Corps and the academic staff The Sounding Brass of Bogus Ohari ties. All that we have recently said on the sub- ject of speculators in benevolence will have its full effect it it deepens public interest in the undertaking commended to the people of the city by Mr. Thoodore Roosevelt, Rev. Father McGlynn, Judge Daly, Dr. Hall, Pro- fessor Joy andall the other gentlemen active in the organization of the Bureau of Charities. This body proposes to perform in the scheme of public benevolence the functions of a cen- tral committee, which, uniting at one point the knowledge of the combined efforts of all the charity organizations of the city, will ren- der possible-an- intelligent application of pub- lic aid, and will make it very difficult for im- Postors, either as mendicants or as pre- tefided distributors of charity, to divert from the proper channel what is intended for the poor. In the report of preliminary operations tead at the meeting of this body on Monday night Mr. Roosevelt touched point- edly on the fraudulent gatherers of charity who make this first of the Christian virtues a cover for their peculations. He said: —‘‘Some societies have been brought to our notice un- worthy of support, conducted for the purpose of putting money in the pockets of those who asked for it in the name of charity. These it will be our duty to expose.” Judge Daly said: —“The great difficulty is that the public know so little of the administration of institu- tions which attempted to be the people's almoners.” The Hon. Thomas W. Conway “mentioned the case of an agent of one of the charitable institutions of this city who was a swindler of the worst kind,’’ and he hoped that such men, “‘instead of being paid large salaries might soon be sent to Sing Sing."’ Rev. Mr. Hall thought that what was given in charity in this city would amply relieve all the poor, “provided it reached the right hands and the provisions reached the right mouths," and he believod that ‘nothing chilled the heart of charity so much aa the fact that there were well-known societies here / actually trading on public benevolence.” All these expressions indicate that our people are moving in the right direction. Great frauds exist in our charities. There are abuses of pro- fessional mendicancy that must be kept down, but the men who make the greatest outcry about these are the hypocritical till-tappers who have charge of the expenditures for charity, and we believe our efforts to fix public attention on their transactions will be useful to the community, The New United ates tute. The establishment during the present win- ter of a ‘‘Naval Institute,” for the purpose of advancing scientific and professional ‘mowl- edge in the navy, is a step in the right direc- tion that cannot fail to exert a most salutary influence upon all departments of the service,” By the constitution, as lately adopted, the iu- stitute is organized with the Secretary of the Navy as its patron es officio, the Admiral of the Navy its President ex oficio, and the commanding officer of the station where it may hold its regular meetings its Vice Presi- dent ex officio. A ‘Council of Regents’ is also constituted, with advisory powers, consist- ing of the Vice Admiral, commandants of all shore st Stations, chiefs of bureaus and the Com- manding General of the Marine Corps ; whilo the actual government is vested in the hands of an ‘Executive Council’’ of five officers, to be chosen annually by ballot. All officers of the Naval Insti- of the Naval Academy are eligible to member- ship without ballot, by payment of an annual assessment of five dollars, and ‘“‘army officers, eminent men of learning in civil life and dis- tinguished inventors of articles connected with the naval and military professions,’’ may be elected associates. The society, which is known as the ‘United States Naval Institute,” will hold regular monthly meetings at such place as may be most convenient, although it is presumed that its meetings will usually be held at the Naval Academy, as being the most easily accessible tothe greatest number of its members. At these meetings papers upon subjects of pro- fessional interest will be read and discussed, and afterward printed for distribution among the members. Although as yet in its infancy several papers of the greatest interest and value have already been read before the society, and others have been promised by some of the most distinguished officers of the service. Among the papers that have been read thus far are:—‘‘The Battle of Lepanto,” by Commodore F. A. Parker, author of our present system of naval tactics and now Chief of Staff to the North Atlantic fleet; “Manning the Navy,’’ by Captain 8. B. Luce; “The Cruise of the Tigress,’’ by Lieutenant Com- mander H. C. White, Executive Officer of the Tigress while on her expedition for the relief of the Polaris survivors; ‘Compound En- gines,’’ by Chief Engineer Baker, Head of De- partment of Steam Enginery at the Naval Academy, and, at the last meeting, a paper upon ‘Ship's Compasses,” &e., by Professor B. F. Green, United States Navy, Superin- tendent of Compasses for the United States Navy, an abstract ot which appears elsewhere. The distribution of such matter as these papers contain among our officers must cer- tainly be of the greatest benefit to them— directly by increasing their knowledge, and indirectly by stimulating professional pride and fostering scientific and literary tastes. It is to be hoped that every officer in the service will lend his influence to promote the success of this society by enrolling himself at once as amember. The following officers constitute the Executive Committee for the current year:—Commodore ©. R. P. Rodgers, chair- man; Commodore F. A. Parker, Commander K. R. Breeze, Chief Engineer C. H. Baker, Medical Inspector A. C. Gorgas. At regular meetings the chair will be occupied by the President, Vice President or one of the Execu- tive Committee, who will invite to preside during the reading of papers some one of the members present, the selection being made with reference to the nature of the paper to be read, Tux Next Pennsyivania Exzcrioy. —Already the first general election in Pennsylvania un- der the new constitution, which does not take place till November next, is beginning to at- tract the attention of the press, and candidates are named in abundance. The officers to be chosen are a Lieutenant Governor, a Secretary of Internal Affairs, who is to take the place of the present Surveyor General, and two Judges of the Supreme Court, who are to serve for twenty-one years, Though twa Sopreme Judges are to be olected no voter can vote for more than one; consequently it is likely exch party will name only one candidate. The other offices will be hotly contested, for it iw understood that the democracy will mako-# last stand in the Keystone State with tho hope of retrioving its fallen fortunos. The Police and the Communists. By a report published in the Hynaun yea terday it appears that some dangerous French~ men have actually gathered themselves to- gether in a room somewhere in this city and there gone to the length of hurrabing for “the Commune or death.'’ Exactly why they should thus couple these sinister facts is not obvions. It may be that they wish to express. a philosophical opinion that one is as good as the other, in which case we can scarcely believe they have a great admiration: for the Commune. But if they mean to say that they shall require society to kill them unless it is. willing to indulge them in their quaint fancy for such political rubbish as the Com- mune, why, then indeed, they are- dreadfully desperate fellows—in their private room. Perhaps it would scarcely be considerate to call the operations of the police in regard to the Communists the mere discovery of a mare's nest, because it is proper enough for the fanctionaries charged with preserving the public peace to keep their eyes upon all per- sons or organizations that they have any reason to suppose are animated. by mischievous intentions ; but there must be at Police Head- quarters a want of capacity to judge of the relative importance of things if the report of their detective did not convince the Commis sioners that there was nothing to be feared from these frothy and ranting Frenchmen. Cowper once exclaimed, to the justice of his country— What! hang 9 man for going mad? ‘Then farewelh British {reedomt And in a similar vein it may be said new that if it is a crime -to talk nonsense in thie city the authorities must prepare a great deal of rope, and that wonderfully ‘‘literate” creat- ure from whose face Doré drew his pictures for Don Quixote must be on his guard. Unless we have all been greatly mistaken for many years, our laws permit persons to “intend’* pretty much what they choose, and even the indescribable wickedness of proposing to throw the venerable Mr. Havemeyer ‘‘by the windows,"’ though it may make people catch their breath suddenly at the thought of what the city has escaped—even this the lawyers would shake their heads at, especially the very old lawyers, whose heads rattle when they shake them. Our police authorities must have but little faith in the stability of our social fabric if they believe it has anything to apprehend from the attitudinizing of thirty or forty wretched French outlaws, who are here merely because they were too cowardly to fight it out in, Paris, and came three thousand mileg out of the way to avoid the death they Prate about. Defeat of the English in Africa. Tho reported defeat of the British forces im Ashantee will be a surprise to many readers who believed the expedition to the Gold Coast of Africa had already proved successful. In- deed, it is not impossible—if the news of the check received by Sir Garnet Wolseley be true and the victorious Ashantees are coming up in still stronger force—that the expedi- tionary army may be driven back to the coast. The reported action took place at Acromboo, within a few milea of Coomassie, so that the British “On to Richmond!"’ like our own, was checked when the town seemed gained. It may be assumed that, if Sir Garnet Wolseley has failed to realize the great expectations which were formed of his military abilities, he will not speedily have an opportunity of retrieving his fallen fortunes, and the result may be that England will lose her hold upon the Gold Coast altogether. The present expedition was exceedingly unpopular, al- though unavoidable, and in some measure accounts for the defeat of the Gladstone Min- istry. The English people are in no temper to send men at great expense into the mala- rial districts of Africa, there only to earn discredit to British prowess. Nations often sanction mistakes after they become disas- trous; butitis not likely that Mr. Disraeli will imitate the blunders of his predecessor to retrieve a loss for which Mr. Gladstone is alone responsible. Even if the expedition is abandoned, and British power on the Gold Coast ceases, we see no particular reason for regret; for it is too late in the history of civilization for great Powers to carve depen- dencies out of the territory of savage tribes, and it would be especially unwise for England to attempt it in the face of Lord Derby’s promise that Great Britain has no intention of founding a new empire in Africa. Tar American Grocrapnicat Society To- Nicut.—Mr. MacGahan, who is to read his paper on Khiva before the Society to- night at the large hall of the Cooper Institute, detailing his marvellous adven- tures in Central Asia, will disclose infor- mation never before made public, and it is this character of information that the public craves and will applaud. Distinguished trav- ellers like Mr. John M. Francis, late United States Minister to Greece, and Professor Fran- cis V. Hayden, will read papers at the subse quent meetings. Tux Srame on THE Ente has assumed such significance that all the traffic west of Hor- nellsville is suspended. In spite of the pros. tration of business the prospects of the strikers for an improvement of their condition seems better than at the outset of their dis- astrous failure four years ago. ‘An Important Conan Success. —The severity of the engagement between the Spaniards and Cubans, concerning which some reports appear in the Henarp this morning, might well be doubted if the one side was not as eager to suppress evil tidings as the other is to exaggerate good news, One thing at least seems certain, and this is that the Spanish forces under General Bascone have received a serious feverse. A few more victories will give the Cubans strength enough to let the world know it when they defeat the Spaniards. VIOLENCE MET BY FORCE, Crnoinnatt, Ohio, Feb. 25, 1874. Alexander Swift says he will appeal to the Gov- ernor of Kentucky to-morrow to protect by the military the employés in his rolling mili im Newport from the strikers.