The New York Herald Newspaper, March 22, 1874, Page 8

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY aND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. ‘All business or news Jetters and telegraphic Gespatches must be addressed New Youre Haznaw. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLBET STREET. €ubseriptions and Advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW. ACADEMY OF MUSTO, Fourteenth street —Strukosch Italian “Opera Troune— LOHENGRIN, at 8 P. M.; closes at IP, M. Mme. Nilsson, Miss Cary; Campaniui, Dei Puente, Nanmett. OLYMPIC THEATRE, . between Houston Bleecker. strects.— J NOVELLY ENTERTAINMENT, at M. VAUDEVILLE and 745 P.M. ; closes at 1045 BROOKLYN Pal TRE, opposite Cliy Hall, Brooklyn, —1 NouL AND THE ABC HION Eds, At 8 P.M. ; Closes al 1 P.M. Lotta, BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery. —REVEN.E, and VAKLOTY ENTERTAIN- MENT. begins at 8 P. M.; closes at 11 P.M, METROPOLITAN THEATRE, No, 58 Broatway.—VAuILTY ENTERTAINMENT, at 7:4 P.M. closes a ly 330 P.M. NIBLI Ny Broadway. between trince and how CROCKLT(A, ato P. Mo; cicses at le Muyo. ‘eets.—DAVY Xr. Frank z LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street, wear sixth avenue, Boufle—LA Vie. PARISIENNE, at 3 P, a. French Opera j choses atldsd Aille. Marie Aunee. WOOD'S MUSEUM, corner Ihirtieth street"—RUM; OR, THE UsADE OF TEMPENANCE, at 2 P. M.: P.M. Same ats ?. M. ; closes at lu 20 P.M FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, t and Broadway.—CHARITY, at 8 P. at M Mos Ada Dyas, Miss Fanny Mr. Fisher, a \ a Daveaport, TH MIQUE, No, 5H Broadway. TY KNIERTAINMENT, at 8 2. AL; closes at 10 30 P. STADT THEATRE, Bowery.—Grand German Opera—i AUST, at 8 P. Mt; Gioses wi P.M. Mme. Luces BOOTH'S THE. 1 Awenty-third . M.; closes at Sixth ave! BAWN, ai cault —THE COLLEEN Dion Kouci- Seba PF preteate asd TA a roadway and ‘turteeuth st NTRAL PAR! BPM Closes atl FM. Mr Lester Wallace, Ae MRS. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN Washington street, near Fuiton str FAZIO; OR, Tit [ALIAN WIPE, at UP. M Muss Kellogg, Mr. Frank Koche, EATRE, Brooklyn.— + Closes at TONY PASTUR’'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Rowery.—VARIETY KNTERTAINMENT, at 8 P. M. ; closes at M BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, wreet, near Sixth avenu SP. M. Twenty-third “Ba oT oS Bt 1U PM RELSY, & NEGRO MIN- TWENTY-SECOND Fourteenth street, nea more's Ban |, ats P.M Wienlawski, Arbuckle GIMENT ARMORY, xth avenue.—Concert ‘of Gil- clo-es at 10:30 P.M. Soloists— \d Letebre, Proadway, MOONLIGHT, att ‘M.; closes at 10 ¥, M. SatS P.M; same at7 P. New York, Sunday, March 22, 1874. From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cloudy, with | tendency to rain. AssassrnatinG Jupcys my Anrxansas is be- coming quite fashionable. Some time since Judge Mears was murdered. Yesterday Cir- cuit Judge Fox, of the Eleventh district, was shot down in the streets of Forest City bya vindictive Southern lawyer. Who comes next? | HicuwayMen ry Onto are becoming as bold as when Dick Turpin ruled the London roads, though less romantic. As our special de- spatch elsewhere relates, they not only shot and robbed a wealthy merchant, but plundered his coachman. Ovn Vzsvvivs, or ‘Old Baldy,’’ as the rus- tics of North Carolina term Bald Mountain, continues to alarm the regions round about by incessant roaring and quaking. If these voleanic symptoms continue much longer every dweller in the vicinity will become Christian, tor every shock produces prayer and penitence. Mr. Disrarit anp tHe Fantans.—It would feom from our news this morning that tl British Promier does not bid for the Irish | vote, and that the home rule men and the Fenians have little to expect at his hands. He has positively refused to receive a delega- tion whose object was to solicit his inter- ference in the matter of the Fenian convicts. This will certainly deprive him of the home rule vote, and the presnmption is that it will greatly strengthen Mr. Gladstone's opposition. It is not the first time that the Irish members have held the balance of power in the House. If they remain united they may yet obtain more tian either Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Dis- raeli is willing at present to concede. Sm Ganxet Woxserzy bas done his work and returned home to receive all the honors which the British people delight to pay to successful soldiers. Yesterday London gave him a grand ovation, and thousands upon thousands turned out to see the conqueror as he passed. His reception by the Lord Mayor wasa magnificent affair. hero of the day, and England seems pleased with the thought that, after all, she has sol- dicrs who can fight and win. The ‘more vigorous foreign policy’’ is likely to receive some encouragement irom this Ashantee affair. ‘Tux Sxr-Saw or Goup.—Day after day the quotations of the gold premium rise and fall about one-eighth to three-cighths. The mar- ket may open at 111} or 111}, and then go up to 112. Sometimes the fluctuations occur sev- eral times a day, but almost always the price settles down at where it commenced. The gambling cannot be very heavy under such s state of things, and these little margins of fluctuation must be very disgusting to the large and adventurous operators. The pre- mium seems to hang waiting on the final ac- tion of Congress with regard to the currency. | Inflation, as far as it is likely to go, has been discounted in Wall street, and as soon as the volume of currency becomes fixed we may ex- pecta decline of the premium on gold. It does not go up, and the state of uncertainty appears to vravent it eoing dowm closes at | 7M, arth street.—PARIS BY | Sir Garnet is the | The Woman's Temperance Movement— | they swill themeclres to death with oold | Goss will preseut Christianity in some of its Reform by Frenzy. Intolerance never assumes a worse form than when it appears in frantic persecution of the people for indulgences that are common and for tastes that are as universal as the air wherever man exists. Fora few hundreds or | thousands of persons to seat themselves in | judgment on a people of forty millions and to | arrogate the right to say that certain things shall or shall not be done as they fancy it good or bad, is an extreme piece of imperti- nence, and, of course, can only pretend a | justification under the elastic mantle of the moral law, which pretence has covered all the | extravagant vagaries of human action, all the | frenzies, fanaticisms and lunacies that have plagued the world. As this country is politically a republic, | ruled by the majority, and as, intellectually, itis a land in which intelligence determines | and doubtful subjects are never thought set- | tled in anybody’s favor until they have been | discussed, it is, of course, only on moral grounds that the few pretend to judge tor the many, and the unthinking and ignorant to solve in a twinkling points as to which the most deeply learned are altogether doubtful ; but the absurdity of endeavoring to promote amoral propaganda by acts that are quite out of the category of moral agencies is alone sufficient to condemn the woman’s movement as a folly of the first order. But the mis- chievous incongruity goes deeper than this. On moral grounds a dozen condemn ten thou- sand, though the ten thousand do not assent at all to the morality as the dozen view it If, because of this difference, the dozen were con- tent to assume a position of lofty superiority and te banish the ten thousand to the outer seclusion of their own bad company by them- selves retiring into miniature worlds that they could govern according to their | fancies, as was done by the ascetics and churchmen of old and as is practised in our own time by tho Shakers and people of that sort, no fault could be found with them, and the world might respect their devotion and honor their con- victions. But instead of thus depriving a bad world of their excellent company and leaving the wicked to take alone the chances of an in- definite and lurid future, they come forth witi their dozen against ten thousand, and pretend, by divine right of their private opinions, to reverse the judgment that the laws and the general intelligence have given against them. Their morality condemns the law as the people have made it, so away with the law. Their morality is against the intelligence of the whole community, and the intelligence, therefore, must be renounced. It does not matter that your cakes please your palate, which you fancy it is well to please sometimes, nor that you do not feel alto- gether happy without your ale; you must have neither, because a baker’s dozen of pretty little moral bullies, led on by canting sensa- tion parsons, all of whom are virtuous, have pronounced against the said ‘‘cakes and ale.” One of the clearest of American thinkers used to maintain that the world had been too hard on the poor old doctors who had no faith in Columbus and objected to Galileo, ‘‘be- cause,’’ he said, “‘you must absolutely compel the new men to prove their new notions, and you may even puta penalty on the propaga- tion of new notions that prove nonsensical. | There must be an ordeal. Good ideas will survive, nonsense only will perish, and crack- bramed people will be prevented from turning the world into a bedlam of their fancies.’’ But the world has been made thoroughly free. There is no Inquisition; there is even as little as possible restraint on the score of good taste and common sense; and in the temperance frenzy we see the tendeacy of the result. It ravels out toward individualism. There is no social power to restrain extravagance. Every little Dorcas Circle, under the inspiration of its private Stiggins, creates the world anew for itself morally and otherwise, and mazches out to compel asseut by prayers. They must be wonderfully good, then, these women and men who are better than all the world beside—whose virtue is such that it cannot longer tolerate what has been tolerated and practised in every land, in every age and by all men and women, and what the law permits. Yet their platform of moral regen- eration is simple enough. They want to do right and to compel others to do right. So | far they are like every one else, and most men will agree with them, save that under our government people may fairly that they have the right to do wrong if they want to on all those scarcely numerable points not covered by the law. | But, in fact, nearly everybody wants to do | | right, and has wanted to always. Only, what | | isright? On this point they differ, of course, | for the howling dervises ot temperance arise | to define the right on the subject of beverages. | Man, they say, may take water and milk, | and probably cider, though, of course, they | must specity the age of the latter fluid; and he may flavor the water with coffee, peas, | beans, taraxacine, chiccory, tea, sassafras or other herbs and sugar. Beyond this there is | no safety. He has not restraint enough to be | trusted with wine or distilled spirits or malt | liquors—or, at least, ten in twenty thousand | have not, wherefore all the others must be re- | stricted on account of the ten; for whiskey, | wine and beer, they say, are the causes of all the evils that afflict humanity. It is a cheap | phrase, this last, but wonderfully hot in the mouths of all the dervises. People who know more decide less readily; and they who have considered the social statistics, and who have looked largely at the effects of alcohol in the history of the human race, are far from | taking the same view with the women—which | | makes but little difference to the women, | however, for they do not know it— | since they look at life through a pinhole in a blanket, and can declare only what | they see. Human acts and appetites that are universal must, with thinking persons, be regarded as of some weight, and they favor indulgence. Although we see the bad results of excess in this indulgence as we see the bad results of excess in every indulgence, no one is in a position tosay that by the absolute fnd | universal discontinuance of the use of drinks containing alcohol the world around would not be infinitely more deplorable. It is | obvious to every observer that the beer drink- ing classes of our people are the more robust and have » physical standard and a nervous stability far above those of the water and tea drinkers, Indeed, we believe the fanlt of large sections of our veovle is that | | | claim | water. Faults: in that direction are leas | practical aspects, and will indicate how it flagrant, less appaling immediately in their results; but naturally they are worse than the others, Agitations like the present one are not new. ‘They are, indeed, of regular recurrence, and it may be well if they evaporate without results other than the stimulation of inquiry and dis- cussion. Perhaps they aggravate what they governments, on a large field, that the attempt to repress the use of alcoholic beverages, even if desirable, can never be successful. Pro- hibitory laws, the latest form of repressive en- deavor, are an acknowledged failure, On this, as on 60 many other subjects, society, discov- ering experimentally that it cannot prevent, has contented itself with regulating, aud at this point the supporters of the two sides of the case respectively have established a truce. They who oppose prohibition accept the less offensive notion of regulation, and, meeting on this ground, the combatants have registered their truce in the laws. That truce is now violated in the name of morality, and the law is compelled to defend a traffic that the vir- tuous declare to be the first of vices, or the liquor sellers, not receiving the protection guaranteed, wiil not respect the obligations in- curred. So either the law is discredited in the eyes of the people as seeming to protect what is wrong, or the whole whiskey traffic without regulation will be made free. And this is the brilliant consequence of the aban- donment of the fireside for the public arena by woman, the first evident result of her in- dulgence in “rights.”’ A Remarkable Combination in tatiar Opera. Mr. Strakosch yesterday effected an ongage- ment with Mme. Pauline Lucea, the renowned prima donna, for a season of thirty-six repre- months. By securing this additional feature to his excellent company the enterprising impresario will be enabled to present any opera with the strongest cast imaginable. A company which contains two such surpissing artists as Nilsson and Lucca cannot fail to gain the heartiest encouragement and support of the American public. We have constantly urged the advisability of a grand ensemble in Italian opera, such as may be found in Lon- don, Paris and St. Petersburg. Mr. Strakosch has accomplished this desirable object, and it may be reasonrbly expected that the close of his season in this city will be more brilliant than its commencement. The season has been very interesting in the production of the greatest werks in the lyric répertoire and in the liberality of management which characterized each performance. Seldom has Meyerbeer’s masterwork, ‘The Hu- guenots,” been given on any stage with the completeness and excellence in every de- tail that marked its representation by the present troupe. The scenic splendor and grand musical features of ‘‘Aidu’’ have re- ceived unstinted praise from every one who appreciates art. The manager, in fulfilment ot the promises of his prospectus, proposes to supplement the triumphs of his company in the operas we have just mentioned by the performance of Richard Wagner's colossal opera, ‘‘Lohengrin.’’ It will be given for the first time in Italian form to-morrow evening. It is such a rare thing to find an impresario who carries out to the letter the abundant promises of his prospectus that we can only characterize the present season as one of un- usual brilliancy. But in the engagement of Mme. Lucca Mr. Strakosch has madea bold move for the attainment of perfection in the representation of an opera. She will appear on April 1 in one of her best réles—Leonora, in ‘La Favorita,""—with Campanini as Fer- nando. It is probable that some combination performances will be given, with Nilsson and Lucca in the same opera. Enterprise of this kind wiil be sure to be appreciated at its full value by the metropolitan public. To-Day’s Pulpit Topics. By a sort of mutual consent, as well as by request of the lady temperance crusaders, the topic of temperance, or the vice of intemper- ance, will receive special attention in very many of the churches of this city to-day. The Rev. Mr. Underwood will talk about “Drunkards and Drunkard Makers,” and, we suppose, will tell us how to treat both classes. If intemperance is a disease, as the doctors say, and should be treated as such, what shall we call that which produces the disease, and how shall we treat those who vend it? Mr. Underwood will doubtless tell us. But if he should not we may obtain this knowledge through the Rev. Mr. Barnhart, who not only conducts a temperance meeting in his church in the afternoon, but preaches on the general subject in the evening. And should those two ministers fail to give us some practical thoughts on the great theme we may gain some light and inspiration at the meeting in Dr. Deems’ Church of the Strangers in the after- noon, or from the address of the Rev. J. Spen- cer Kennard before the Lodge of Good Tem- plars. The presence of members of the practical exponents of temperance principles ought to inspire a man to say good things and true on this topic. And, akin to this, “The Ministers’ Temperance Resolutions,” adopted lately at the Association Hall meeting, will re- ceive some attention from the Rev. Mr. Boole, who has organized and led the crusaders on the east side up to this time. The resolu- tions referred to tasted too strongly of whiskey and water to suit the Methodist ministers, and last week they unanimously reaffirmed their belief in total abstinence as the only temper- ance doctrine. We may expect, therefore, that Mr. Boole will not touch the ministers or their resolutions with kid gloves, but, with the assurance of the position of his brethren on this question, will open his theological bat- teries on both. But another portion of our local pastors, realizing that, like the poor, this question will be always with them, and they can discuss it whenever they please, have turned their medi- tations towards Charles Sumner, from whose | life the Rev. Mr. Sweetser will draw an im- | portant lesson on ‘Loyalty to Truth,” and Dr. Fulton will tell us what ‘The Great Les- | son of His Life’ is. The Doctor will vary his meditations, too, by telling his people how and what it means to be “Complete in Christ.” Then there are another few of our preach- ers who will talk on topics more or less theo- logical, practical or Utoviap, The Rev. Mx. endeavor to remedy. It is the experience of | sentations, extending over a period of three | the existing law. can be brought more nearly and beneficially to the masses of this city. Dr. Ludlow will give us the result of “Studies from the Book of Daniel’’—that book so full of mysteries, in which Second Adventists delight to revel, and of which men, know so little and pretend to know so much. And then we have, as a wind- up, ‘The Antichrist,” considered by an apostle who claims the line by Catholic descent from the Apostles, He ought to know who Anti- christ is, where he came from, whither he will go and all about him. We presume he will enlighten his hearers on these points, and thus, perhaps, ease the minds of many. The Demand for an Investigation of Our City Financial Management. Over one hundred of the leading business men of New York, inclutling many presidents of banks, insurance companies and trust com- panies, ask of the Legislature an investigation into the condition and management of the | city finances. Their request is a proper ono to be made, and should be promptly granted. Charges of a serious character have been made by responsible citizens against Comp- troller Green, and Mayor Havemeyer, whose official duty requires him to investigate them, has neglected to do so, and treated those who made them with contempt. The matter is too serious to be thus cavalierly dismissed, and it is the duty of the Legislature to invostiyate the charges, and to ip@yire also whether the Mayor has, by his neglect, committed an offi- cial me%cteasance, When Mr. Green hired a lawyer to repre- sent him in the Albdny lobby, and paid his agent one hundred dollars a day fee and twelve dollars a day for hotel expenses out of the public treasury, he violated the city char- ter, at all events for the period during which the questionable services were rendered, under Tf, as alleged, he pays out of the public treasury paymasters and others who do the business of the Chamberlain's office, and who ought to be paid out of the thirty thousand dollars salary allowed the Chamberlain, he violates the law. If he han- dles the city moncys, pays warrants without the Chamberlain’s check, or in any manner interferes with the public cash, he not only violates law, but breaks down those barriers which are erected for the public protection, and which are intended to keep the Comp- troller’s and Chamberlain’s offices entirely distinct and independent of each other. The Legislature should inquire into these matters, for they are all embraced in the charges the investigation of which is asked by our leading business firms. Besides, the fact is before us that the city and county debt bas increased nearly fifty million dollars in less than three years, or since January 1, 1871, while the taxation is sixteen million dollars higher this year than it was in 1871. We have, besides, liabilities in the shape of claims, &c., called a ‘floating debt,” the amount of which Mr. Green persists in concealing. The charter provides for com- missioners of accounts, and makes it their duty to examine the condition of the finances, the management of that and other depart- ments, the amount of debt, &c., and to report the same. Mr. Green obstructs these commis- sioners in the performance of their duties, and gives them no information except such as they can ferret out. They have found his department under confused, unclerkly and dangerously loose management. They discover that the amount of the debt, as stated by the Comptroller on December 31 last, is incorrect, and less than it ought to have been. They find warrants and checks drawn that have never been paid to claimants, and we believe they have“unearthed cases of double payment through incapacity and want of system. They find the sinking fund securities kept in a loose and unsatistactory manner. Yet we hear nothing from them, be- cause, we presume, they hold their offices at the Mayor's pleasure, and if they tell the truth in these matters they anticipate a sudden ter- mination of their official lives. This is why a thorough investigation of the Finance De- partment is needed. The people should know how far their enormously increased bur- dens are due to official incapacity. The Religious Press on Sumner. The life and death of Mr. Sumner claim the attention more or less of the religious press this week. The Christian Union thinks that in his death the nation has lost a states- man of atype in which he had no peer. It compares him to Moses, and says that he, like the Hebrew prophet, was raised up by Providence to lead his nation out of the “house of bondage”’ into the ‘(promised land’’ of freedom. Not once during the last twenty- five years did he falter nor was he diverted from his purpose; not once did he fail to speak the word for the hour. He was the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night to the oppressed millions of the land, and the negro race will deplore in him the loss of their mightiest and most faithful champion. The Union admits that Mr. Sumner was not perfect. He had some faults, a few of which the editor points out, but regrets that such a life was thus cut short, He rejoices, however, that Mr. Sum- ner lived long enough to make his name illus- trious in his country’s annals and to leave behind him an example the power of which will be felt for generations to come. The Union approves of Mr. Cox’s bill in Congress for an art council, to be composed of artists, and not of politicians. And between these two topics it has sandwiched an article on “God's Personal Revelation.” The Independent thinks that in the cheaper sense of the word statesman we have had a great many men superior to Charles Sumner. He was called to the Senate through no in- trigue of his. From the day that he was chosen to represent his State in the national legislature till the day of his death no grander figure than that of Charles Sumner has adorned the halls of Congress. Thur- low Weed, it admits, was a great politician— far greater than Charles Sumner—but he will leave nothing behind him to go into that per- | manent history which shall never cease to re- cord Sumner’s as a central name of fame in the story of the regeneration of America. In him the nation’s wards have lost their truest and ablest friend and justice its stoutest | champion. The Observer contents itself with an ordi- | nary biographical notice of Mr. Sumner and a brief reference to his faneral and a few briefer comments, It indirectly, however, applauds the deceased statesman for living and dying with the harness on, and for acting through life, as a public man, in view of death and eternity. It thinks tho lesson that ought to be learned at the funerals of dead statesmen is the infinite folly of self-seeking, the infinite wickedness of abusing the power of a lawmaker, and the infinite value of a good record when a statesman stands before the King of kings. The Methodist glorifies Mr. Sumner as a scholar, statesman, orator and philanthropist, whose life was a long war waged against wrong, but in no sense was that life fragmen- tary, but rather a complete, well rounded whole. He both lived and died well. He had accomplished the ends to which he had con- secrated his powers, and had filled up the measure of a great fame. He took hold of all subjects by their fundamental principles, and hence had that wisdom which discerns re- motest results. If not without fault, he was without stain. No spot remains to defy the labor of friendly hands to wash itaway. It adds:—*From Sumner to Butler! O, what a fail is there, my countrymen !"” The Evangelist, whose editor, Dr. Field, had lately met the late Senator in this city, is pained that the last hours of Mr. Sumner were spent in regrets that he could not live to pmplete his literary work, instead of longings for or rejoicings in the near approach to him of the great future, It was a last confession of personal vanity, thal the editor wishes he had been spared in the memory of the<de- parted. He would have been glad had Mr. Sumner left some such record behind as Daniel Webster loft. And yet it doubts not that Sumner, like Agassiz, though he spoke not much, yet believed in an Almighty Creator and in the great hereafter, The Jewish Messenger says of Sumner:— “The death of a pure and upright man, who filled go prominent a place in American his- tory as Charles Sumner, éreaizs an iwpression which no patriot would desire to have effaced. So to his rest goes another American whose public life is wholly worthy of honor and grateful memory.’’ The Christian Intelligencer is cortain that Mr. Sumner’s place in American history is secure. His fame is world-wide, The millions of the colored race in our country feel his loss with 4 grief second only to that which they poured out over the grave of Prasident Linccln. No such genuine sorrow of this emancipated race finds utterance at the tomb of Mr. Fillmore. It could not be. The Inieliigencer regrets, however, that neither Sumner nor Fillmore left any testimony behind of the power and grace of God or of the Christian religion in their hearts, The Catholic press is silent on Sumner and Fillmore. They treat of the Pilgrimage, which will include at least three bishops, three vicars general and twelve other priests, and of the terminii of that journey. Many pre- fer Loretto to Lourdes, and some think Paray le Monial is preferable to either. The Tublet is convinced that ‘Ireland’s Mission” is the propagation of God's holy faith from end to end of the habitable globe, and it is the more certain of this because of Ireland’s allegiance to the “Vicar of Christ.” The Freeman's Jour- nal has given up its accommodation of ap- plicants for the water of Lourdes, because some silly fellow out West insinuated that the editor was going into the “premium” business on too small a scale. The Catholic Review applauds ‘the priest-ridden Irish voters’ for returning fifty instead of thirty-seven Catholics to the British Parliament in the Jast election. And so they go. The Police and the Citizens. Rip Van Winkle, when he woke up from his long sleep, was astonished to find that everything about him was changed, and that even George the Third had disappeared from the tavern sign. Could some suc- cessor to the famous sleeper who was acquainted with the abuses of the New York police system - twenty years ago suddenly wake up he _ would find little to surprise him. Familiar names would fall upon his ear, and the images of Mat- sell and Havemeyer might induce him to be- lieve that nothing had been changed during his slumber. This would be tho more remarkable that, while everything else had moved on and progressed, alone the police system of New York remains in its old demor- alized and rotten state—something to bring the blush of shame to the cheek of every honest citizen. We have men uniformed, armed and supported at the expense of the city, but no police foree in the sense in which the term is used in civilized communities. The Matsells, Gardners and Williamses, who control the men paid to protect life and property in our streets resemble rather the pacha of some Eastern despot than the law-abiding and law-obeying officials of a free and civilized community. These men rule over the lives and properties of the citizens with irresponsible power. Under the pre- tended sanction of the law they enforce their own good will in defiance of the con- stitutional rights of the citizens, and there is no remedy for the acts of injustice and violence they may commit. It is not too much to say that the citizens of New York, under existing circumstances, are as much at the mercy of their police masters os are the natives of Cairo at the mercy of an Egyptian pacha. So great is the demoralization in the force that the police are really more dangerous to the peaceable and honest citizens than they are to thieves and murderers. From time to time, under the Rip Van Winkle guid- ance of a Matsell, they make theatrical discoveries of imaginary conspiracies, which end in humbuggery, in order to coverup the stupidity and incompetence of the department. The violation of the sanctity of the domicile is but another step in advance, another proof of the utter disregard of the rights of the — citizens; and hence we have honest workingmen shot down in their homes or clubbed so brutally’ that their lives are endangered because they dare to imagine that they have some rights which the men they pay and support to protect them are | bound to respect. It is evident from what Commissioner Gardner and General Duryee stated to our reporter that even they look upon the constitutional rights of a citizen as merely enjoyed on police sufferance, and that every police officer is justified in breaking the law, provided his intention be good. Nothing 4s sacred but the will of thé voliceman. He may break ® man’s house without authority. may break tho man’s head # the spirit move him; or, if a nervous man, he may shoot the unfortunate occupant if only he imagines he is justified, and the Police Commissioners will see no reason why the public should create a fuss about so trifling a matter. McNamara was shot because he objected to a band of men bursting into his house in the middie of the night; but it might havo been Dutch Harmon who was resisting, and, as the policeman fired for the good of the community, neither McNamara nor bis widow nor the public have any right to complain, Such, at least, is the logic of the police authorities; but do these persons really imagine that this community will suffer patiently such outrages to continue? There does appear to be an idea enter- tained by Police Commissioners, Captains and other small fry that they can set public opinion at defiance and club down all op- position to their measures and decrees, Within the past few days we havo had a monstrous and shameful exam- ple of tho extent to which contempt for decency and public opinion may be carried by an official of a corrupt and rotten system. . Every honest man in this city sympathizes with the efforts being made by the Board of Education to protect the school children from contamination ; yet two captains of po- lice had the temerity and insolence to come forward and publicly put themselves on reo- ord as the protectors of houses of ill-fame. Such a defiance of public opinion must re- ceive prompt and condign punishment. The police have made themselves obnoxious as the friends and associates of po litical thieves, aud 1t¢ only required this list step to fill the measure of their dis- grace. The iriends of thieves are bad enough 5 but this city gannot be lett under the caro of men who are not ashamed to exhibit theme selves as the protect.’T3 of houses of prostita- tion, into He The Rapid Transw Jobs The indignation of Mr. Lincoln, of the Ag. sembly Railroad Committee, and last yeare member of the Erie Investigation Committee, has failed to impress upoa the people of New York the propriety of giving rapid transit franchises to the Third Avenue City Railroad corporation and Commodore Vanderbilt, one for a steam railroad from the City Hall to Harlem on the line of Third avenue, and another for o steam railroad from tha City Hall to Harlem on the line of Fourth avenue. Indeed, Mr. Lincolns indignation has strengthened the con- viction that one or both propositions must be a fraud on the people, so far as rapid transit accommodation is concerned, however profitable they may prove to the legislators who vote for them. With the Third and Fourth avenues thus occupied, the dead Gil- bert project galvanized, the Beach Pneumatia Tube underground humbug legalized and one or two other paying jobs slipped through, every avenue will be ‘‘plastered’’ with fran- chises, rapid transit will be effectually killed, the city railroad and the Harlem road corpo- rations will remain undisturbed in the enjoy- ment of their large profits and Mr. Lincolm and his friends will be happy. This is the lesson taught by Mr. Lincoln’s indignant virtue. THE STILTZENEITER BUTOHERY. A Visit to the House of Death at Centre ville, Mo. Sr. Louis, Mo., March 21, 1874, A gentleman just from Belleville, Ill., reports that Sherif’ Hughes, of St. Clair county, had returned irom the scene of the murder of the Stiltzeneiter jamily, near Centreville. He obtained no clew te the assassins, hut the murder was evidentuy com- mitted for plunder, as the house was thoroughly ransacked, and the conteuta of bureaus, closets, &c., were strewed all around. The elder Stiltzen- either had considerable money in the honse, which it is Supposed the murderers have got. The house is situated some distance irom any other dwelling in the vicinity, It 18 believed that the murder was committed on Thursday aa as the bodies of Mrs, Stiltzensiter and her children were in bed when found, aif that ol her husband on tue floor beside a lounge on which he had slept, The heads of the men were nearly severed from their bodies, while those of the mother and children were crushed with some blunt instrument. The County Court has offered a re ward of $1,000 for the capture of the murderers, The Probable Murderer. Sr. Lovrs, Mo., March 21—Midnight. Additional but still meagre information has bee® received from the scene of the Centreville butchery. The name of the murderel family is Stelzenriede, not “Stiltzeneiter,” as pre- viously reported, At the inquest this after- noon held by Coroner Kyan, of East St. Louis, severai witnesses were examined and facts elicited which lod to the belie! that Fredevick Boeitz, hus- band of a sisier of Mrs. Stelzenriede, committed the horripie deed. He was present, but retused te testify until forced, and thet his answers and gen- eral condact were such as to excite tae strongest suspicion of his guiit, Hie acknowledged that he bad been on bad terms with the murdered family some moaths, epter- tained feiiings ofenmity toward them and was in the old inan’s debt several hundred dollars. These and other facts broughc out, together with anotner fact, that the house was not ransacked and pillaged, ag previously stated, and that the old imun’s money was Jound, established veyond a doubt that the murder was not committed for plunder, and tend more strongly to fasten suspicion upon Boelts, When our iniormant leit the scene the inquest was stillin progress, and it was probable that Boelta would be committed, MME, LICHTMAY EXPLAINS, New York, March 21, 1874, To THE EpiToR OF THE HERALD:— By publishing the following apology and justifi- cation for my non-appearance at the German Stad@ ‘Theatre last night you will greatly obiige the um dersigned. A certificate from Dr. Meyer, stating that { was suffering from gastric fever, and not merely irom sore throat, was sent to Mr. mann a suiicient time before the performance. ‘The testimony of Dr. Parker was given after a mos? superficial and one-sided investigation of my con- dition, as that physician refused to listen to any to throat disease. statement except that relay TE LICHTMAY. REWARDING BRAVE SAILORS. Third Officer Hartford, of the Steamship Algeria, Presented With a Silver Cup and the Crew Under Him with a Purse as an Appreciation of Gallant Conduct. ‘The cabin passengers of the steamship Algeria, on her late trip to this port, presented Third OMcer Hartioréwith a silver cup, and the crew under him with a purse, as an appreciation of their gallant conduct in rescuing the shipwrecked crew of the Norwegian bark Foldin. Tne lollowing letter ‘di was received by Mr. Hartfor SreaMsiir ALGERtA, AT Sma, ‘ Bora Maw i Matte } tron, Third OMleer :— Winatag F anrrofersened capin passongera of the steamship Algeria, before landing in Now York, desire to Express our appreciation of your brave condict during Sour last voyage from New York to Liverpool, when, Zommand of ® liteboat with seven seamen , in a vory heavy gale and high sea, yor all nobly raked your lives in rescuing the captain aid crew ot the Norwestan bark Foldin. Yo congratulate the owners of the Cunard line in having such oficers and crow, and We hope that your promotion may soon follow. We present you a silver cup, with an Inscription expressing buses of your noble and’ akiltul efforts upon that occasion. intact oa sg am a favor to distribu content ee Peeper ten Lie doubling the amount to the poot el jured. “wishin myoun muccessful geste with hoaith and tong re yours, respectfully, hy ait tha newaneary - B WSewed