The New York Herald Newspaper, March 25, 1874, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. HE DAILY HERALD, published every day tn the qear, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription wrice $12. AU business or news letters and telegraphic Gespatches must be addressed New York Weraxp. Rejected communications will not be re- ‘turned. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. ee 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. No. AMUSEMENT® THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING | BOWERY THEATRE, WVowery.-REVENGE, and VARIETY BISNT. begins at 8 P) M.; closes at 11 P. M. ' ENTERTAIN. | METROP HBATRE, (No, S85 Rroadway.—V. ENTERPAINMENT, at | Gab P.M. ; closes ai RDEN, Broadway, betw ce and Houston streets.—DAVY | \OROCKETI, atSP. ML; closes at 10:30. M. Mr, Frank Mayo. 1Y¢ THEATRE, Fourteenth street, 1 th avenue —French Opera | Boufte—LAa Vit PARIS 1 AE SP. M.; Closes at 1045 P.M. Mille, Marie Au woo Broadway, corner Th OR, THE | CRUSADE OF TEMPER + closes at 4PM. Same atSP. M | —4 | DALY’s FIrTH AV tewenty-eighth street and Broa. Mey closes at 1020 Vo Mk M Davenport, Mr. Fis! UE THEATRE, ay.—CHARITY, at 8 P. Ada Dyas, Miss Fanny THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 5M Broadway.—VARIETY KENIERTAINMENT, at 8 wm’. M.j closes at 1030 P.M. | Peepers | BOOTH’S THEATRE, | avenue and Twenty-third str: ‘THE COLLEEN | ALT ADP. M.; closes at luo P.M. Dion Bouci- | RE, } CENTRAL PARK, at ¢ r Wallack. MRS. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEAT: hingwn street, near Fulton street, Brooklyn.— | ¥, at 8 PM; closes at P.M Miss Minnie THEATRE, ing place.—DIE 73 + Mi closes at U1 F GERMAN street, near VERWANDTEN, a LI | OLYMPIC THEATRE, | rween Houston and r streets.— and NOVELIY £NTERTAINMENT, at Sat 1045 P.M. Matinee a! | ACADEMY OF MUSIC, | Yourteenth. street. ks lian’ Opera Troupe— | LOHENGRIN, at M. Mine. Ausson, Miss Cary i BROOKLYN PARK THEATRE, opposite Clty Hall, Brooklyn.—LITTLE SARCHIONEDs, at P.M; closes at 1 P. TONY PASTOR'S No. 201 Rowery.—VARIETY Mj closes at i P.M. AND THE | Lotta. OPERA HOS! ENTERTAINMENT, at SP. | OPERA HOUSE, | near Sixth avenue.—NEGRO MIN- . M.; closes at 10 P.M. BRYAN “Twenty-third STRALSY, de. COLOSSEUM, Rroadway, corner of ihirty-fitth street.—PARIS BY MOONLIGHT, at LP. M.; closes at 51. M.; same at7 P, M. ; closes at 10 P, M. New York, Wednesday, March 25, 15 From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be moderately cool and clear. Sreampoat Exrrosion.—The steam towboat ‘Crescent City was blown up on the Mississippi yesterday and a number of lives were lost. No information is at hand to explain the cause of the accident, but it would seem due to the usual overstraiping of the boilers. Tae Carnuist Wan.—The Carlists are throw- ing incendiary shells into Bilbao with, it is said, great effect. This news, however, may be received with caution. Spanish towns are built specially with a view to being bom- barded and do not burn easily. If the Carlists do not get the town by other means than bombardment they are not likely to come goon into possession. A more important feature of the news is the capture of some of the outworks. If the army of the pretender is strong enough to storm the place Bilbao may yet fall into the hands of Don Carlos. The conduct of the war by the Spanish generals has been a most disgraceful exhibition of incompetence. Tue Massacnusetts Execrion.—The poli- ticians in Massachusetts are casting lots for the mantle of the dead Senator, but as yet the selection has not been made. In the Senate yesterday there were three ballots, in all of them Mr. Dawes leading. Judge Hoar came next, with only two votes for Adams and one for Mr. Whittier. On the third ballot Mr. Dawes’ vote had increased—Judge Hoar’s decreasing. In the House there was one ballot, Judge Hoar leading Mr. Dawes by seven votes, There were sev- eral scattering votes, for Mr. Adams, Wendell Phillips, Williem Lloyd Garrison, General Banks and others. These test ballots show that Judge Hoar has more strength than ‘wag supposed—that Mr. Dawes is really the favorite, and that to-morrow the ‘‘scattering’’ members and democrats may select a third man, as Mr. Sumner was himself selected | measures offensive to the other sections. | cussed; for, whatever may be said of the | and hence the passage of the act of Monday, | expansion, A good deal has been said in | subject was kept in the background on Mon- - War Against the Na- tional Credit—Worse Than Fort Sumter. There was especially one point in the speech of Mr. Senator Sherman yesterday which has the merit of being intelligible. richest people in the world, and yet we have not the power to resume specie payments. Americans have never been suspected of self- depreciation. Yet, as Mr. Sherman shows, the one thing that every American feels should be done, and without delay, for the honor of the country, its commercial stability at home and its credit abroad, is precisely what Con- gress does not dare to do On the con- trary, a vote has been passed by the | House which, unless amended by the Senate, will have in its train graver and | more disastrous consequences than any meas- | ure that has for years been enacted by an American Congress, We refer to the vote in- creasing the volume of the currency. This vote has two unpleasant phases. In the first | place, the country is launched upon a wild | sea of uncertain and dangerous courses—a sea | of speculation, inflation and irresponsible | financial legislation. In the second place, we | find two sections of the Union—the West and the South—practically combining to adopt This is the spirit of nullification and slavery in another form, and we encounter that bane- tul element of sectionalism again antagoniz- ‘ ing the best interests of the Union. We can understand the difficulty of arriving at a result in our financial legislation when we learn that we have had in the Senate over sixty propositions to “settle the question.’’ This shows the national intensity of feeling on the question of the finances." We do not be- lieve that it represents any special desire for an increase of currency. We should regard such desire as unhealthy and morbid, to die away when the question was honestly dis- American character, it is essentially severe and strict in matters affecting the national credit. A people who could welcome war in an hour and wage it for years in defence of an idea, a sentiment of liberty for a subordinate and uninteresting race, alien to us in every way, would do as much to defend the national credit. But the people have never been educated to understand it which means simply further paper money Congress about free banking, though that day. Most of the Western and Southern members, in that spirit of unreasoning sec- tionalism to which we referred, voted for the measure, and are also in favor of free banking. In fact, some of the members and Senators who have been opposed to increasing the legal tender currency favor free banking, and among them, we believe, is Mr. Sherman. Of course there are different opinions as to what is meant by free banking; but we understand the term to mean—as, no doubt, most of the members of Congress do—the freedom of banking generally, anywhere and by any one who chooses to de- posit United States bonds, take out national bank currency and put up his shingle asa banker. The argument of those who advocate this measure is that bonds having to be deposited, and there being a natural limit to profits ona circulating medium, under such circumstances more banks would not be estab- lished than the country needs. But the temp- tation to establish banks under the system in operation is great. A man deposi‘s a hundred thousand dollars in bonds. This is fixed capital on which he draws interest. The gov- ernment generously gives him ninety thou- sand dollars in notes, and on this floating capital he makes at least as much more, and in most cases a larger amount, particularly where money is worth from ten to twenty per cent. In short, the government kindly doubles his capital within ten per cent for him. Who would not be tempted to be a banker under such circumstances? The next movement will be, probably, to pass a free banking law, and the argument will be made, undoubtedly, that there onght to be a corresponding in- crease of national bank currency with legal tender notes. The East and North are not willing to give up any of their national bank circulation, privileges and profits, and the West and South demand a more equal share. The indications are that there will be an ex- pansion of the national bank currency as well as of the legal tender notes, to what extent we cannot conjecture at present. But if there is to be free banking really paper money will become abundant enough. The best way to check overissues, with a free banking law, and at the same time to bring money into the Treasury and make the national banks pay something for their privileges, is to tax their circulation five or six percent. This would | not only be just and bring into the Treasury twenty to twenty-five millions a year, but would do more to limit the number of national banks and their circulation than anything else. So, step by step, we have the easy descent into the slough of financial despond. The time will come when we must pay, and why notnow? Or, if the results of the war still barricade our path, let us take the preliminary steps toward the result. As Mr. Adams | showed in the admirable letter read at the | meeting last evening, the evil began with an when he came into public life. In the event of this coalition the candidate will most likely be Mr. Adams or General Banks. Ovrtaws tx Muzssour.—The Governor of the State of Missouri has sent a Message to the | Legislature announcing the existence of a issue of legal tenders as a war measure. That enactment, although an expedient and justified in the eyes of many of | our most loyal and_ resolute states- men as necessary to find immediate | resources for the campaigns, was, as | | Mr. Adams shows, » rank absurdity. We | Here weare, forty millions of the proudest and | retains the power of expressing a vigorous truth, These opinions were elaborated elo- quently and with plain, practical force by eminent merchants like Mr. Low, Mr. Cowdin and Mr. Chittenden. Mr. Atkinson, of Mas- sachusetts, made the mistake of supposing that the source of all the trouble was in the Sanborn and Jayne matters. This was simply to regard as a disease what was only a sign of & diseased condition. A still greater error, and one underlying the speech of Mr. Bryant, is that in some way the inflation question and free trade are the same. The sure way to de- feat true financial reform is for extreme and persistent free traders to endeavor to unite the two issues. Let us have specie payments and an honest currency now, and we can wait for free trade. For the present we must wait. We cannot underrate or deny the importance of the issue. The American people have encountered none 80 grave since the rebels in Charleston harbor opened fire upon Fort Sumter. Then the war was that of ambitious, frenzied men, who knew not what they did, and whose aim was a dishonored dominion based on slavery. Now the war is that of eager, reckless specu- lators, who would make war upon the national credit to satisfy their avarice and spirit of speculation. The issue to-day is no less grave than that forced upon us in 1861. Then we fought for one flag. But of what value is that flag when the credit it represents is dis- honored in every capital, and when, with all of our wealth, our power, our zeal in defence of national honor and our active, rich and far-seeing millions, our financial condition is no better than that of Turkey, Russia or Brazil? Early Opening of the Spring Busi- ness=The Herald und Its Advertisers. The vigorous opening of the spring trade is not indicated more clearly by any of the signs of the times than by the rapid increase in the advertising patronage of the Hxnaxp. In the sprig we always look forward to a great increase in our business, but this year we were fairly surprised at its amount and the very early period of its increase, the season being fully a fortnight earlier this year than is usual. For our Sunday issue so over- flowing was the advertising presented at the Heratp's counters that with all our facilities we were in a measure unprepared for it. As @ consequence, while our advertisers were ac- commodated, we were compelled to condense the news into smaller space than was desir- able. Could we have anticipated so early an opening of the spring trade and such great demands upon our advertising columns, our paper of Sunday would have been even larger than a quadruple. A glance at that immense sheet is a revelation of all the varied wants and business of the metropolis, and that these are fully reflected in the Henatp is apparent from a comparison with the other journals of this city. Last Sunday the seven large morning papers contained only 1,142 advertisements, making eighty-two columns, while the Heratp had 2,880 advertisements, making seventy columns. From this it will be seen that the Hrnatp’s advertisers out- number those of all the other papers combined two anda half to one. Even the excess of twelve columns over the Heraun’s seventy columns of advertising is not in favor of the combined press ; for the other journals admit woodcuts and displayed figures into their pages, while the Herarp excludes them. Henraxp space is valuable, and its advertising compact. All this tends to limit the length of advertisements, each advertiser reaching the public in as few lines as possible; but it increases the number of the advertisements immensely, thus showing a healthier busi- ness in every way'than is shown by long advertisements and display type. Asa matter of course the receipt and classification of so many advertisements in asingle day require the greatest facilities in both the clerical and mechanical departments of anewspaper. That the Heraxp possesses all these is proved from the complete disposition of the immense busi- ness of Saturday and Saturday night for Sun- day’s paper. Other papers, even the London Times, would have been satisfied with so great an achievement ; but the Herarp could and would have done more if the surprise at the increase of our business on that day had allowed time in which more could have been done. But forewarned is always forearmed with the Heraxp, and no increase of advertis- ing shall hereafter prove a surprise. The Heratp will always grow with its business, and its business will not be allowed to en- croach upon its news. Sunday seems to bea favorite day with our advertisers, and next Sunday we expect even greater demands upon our columns than were made last week ; but we are fully prepared for any emergency. Macadamizing Fifth Avenue—Another Appeal to Mr. Bergh. We again commend to Mr. Bergh the good he can accomplish by working in behalf of better pavement in the metropolis. The streets are in a fearful condition, and are the cause of constant cruelty to animals, In no city in the world are the pavements so bad as in New York. This evil condition is not con- fined to cross streets and the less frequented avenues, but Broadway and all the leading thoroughfares are as bad as bad canbe. Asa matter of course, it would be asking too much to demand that all the strects which need it should be macadamized; but Fifth ave- nue, at least, might be made an agreeable drive. So terrible is the condition of that noble street that lady pedestrians are con- stantly frightened by falling horses and wounded in their sensibilities by the suffer- ings of the poor beasts. The fault is in the pavements, and yet Mr. Bergh has never made war upon this cruel method of paving streets. Now is his time to doa band of outlaws who defy the authori- | should never forget that credit is the child of | real good by assisting in a practical reform. ties, and complaining that he has no adequate force to deal with them. This is certainly bad news, and reflects rather severely on the valor and worth of the State police. Either the vatlaws must be very terrible fellows or the Missouri police do not amount to much if the Governor must go whin- ing to the Legislature for an army to put down a few desperate thieves. One would imagine that a company of militia, under the command ot a man mod- erately intelligent and not quite as brave as the Cid, aided by a few bloodhounds, would be able to rid Missonri of the terrible banditti, We offer the suggestion for the consideration of the worthy Governor. integrity, and that until we base our financial | Let us have at least one good macadamized | legislation upon principles of unbending and | road from Washington Parade Ground to | unchallenged integrity we can never have | the upper part of the island. If this ave- confidence at home or credit abroad. We do | nue is properly macadamized it will be more not want legislation from Congress of an | popular above Fifty-ninth street than even irritating character. Let the measures adopted | the delightful drive through Central Park be brief, firm and clear. This conservative | itself. Besides all this, it will givea quietus | | | doctrine was supported by the venerabls | to all the experimental road builders on whom considering his extreme age, is remarkable | cities of Europe, London, Paris and Berlin, more as an intellectual curiosity than for what | the macadamized pavements bear more and the orator said. The rhetoric was youth- | heavier vehicles than pass up and down Fifth ful enough to have come from an orator of | avenue and with more satisfactory results in twenty or eighty; but one remark—that | every way. By macadamizing this thorough- currency can never have real value | fare we shall have a better street, a better and when it comes in the shape of dise | more comfortable drive and less cruelty to honored notes—shows that Mr. Bryant still | animals, This is eminently a case for Mr. | William Cullen Bryant. Mr. Bryant's speech, | so much money has been wasted. In the | Bergh, and we shall expect him to take hold of it for the good he can accomplish for the ani- mals of which he is the recognized protector. Plymouth Church and the Congrega- tional Council. We print elsewhere the proceedings of the Congregational Council, held in Clinton ave- nue, Brooklyn, yesterday, in the matter of Plymouth church, a church and congregation known the wide world over, in connection with the name of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. It is not often that, even in eccle- siastical cases, the molehill takes the place of the mountain so effectively as it has done in this case. The case is a very simple one. On the 31st of October, 1873, a member was dropped from the roll of Plymouth church. Because this member was allowed to go forth from the ‘church without a full investigation of his case and a publication of the same two sister churches felt aggrieved and made a formal complaint. Plymouth church was asked to consent to a conference on tho question at issue. To this request Plymouth church refused to accede. Later, attempts were made by the two sister churches to induce Plymouth .church to agree to submit their differences to a Congrega- tional Council This led to private con- ferences with Drs. Budington and Storrs on the one hand and Mr. Beecher on the other, and to a lengthened correspond- ence, most of which has been made public. The conferences and the correspondence failed to reduce Plymouth church to submission; they equally failed to obtain its consent to the calling of a Council. On their own responsi- bility, therefore, Clinton avenue church and the Church of the Pilgrims convened the Coun- cil, which is now in session. It is not time to pronounce on the merits of the case. While the Council is in session it is prudent to sus- pend judgment. The discussion of last even- ing resulted in the appointment of a commit- tee to invite Plymouth church, through its pastor and other representatives, to appear before the Council to-morrow, that they might be able to state their own case. It remains to be seen whether Plymouth church will accept the invitation or whether it will leave the Council severely alone. It will be seen from the tone of the debate that sympathy with Mr. Beecher is much stronger than can be pleasing to Messrs. Budington and Storrs. The pre- sumption already is that the action ot the Council will favor the idea that congregations, like individuals, always act most wisely when they attend to their own affairs. Livingstone and Sumner. The arrival of the body of Dr. David Livingstone at Aden is the most convincing proof that the greatest of modern explorers has perished \in the midst of the labors to which he had devoted a life full of noble enthusiasm and matchless physical and moral courage. Ina few days now the appreciative people of England will gather at his bier to speak in tearful sorrow those last words which throngh all ages England has paid to the memory of her illustrious dvad. When Sumner passed away from us there was a momentary hush here, the engine of public ac- tivity was stopped and the national woe received more than ordinary expression. Sumner and Livingstone in many: respects were men of the same school—they were both chieftains. In no station of life would either of them ever have been of Lili- putian intellectual stature. Both were men of large brain, grand aims, resolute minds— sledge-hammer men, striking seldom, but making every blow tell. Both hated slavery, from an intense feeling that it was a base and ignoble institution. One saw it where it had grown up a blot on the institutions of a great people, poisoning its social life, corrupting its political principles and arraying section against section, culminating in a stupendous war. The other saw it where it had existed for thousands of years as a patriarchal and tribal despotism, where slave owned and sold slave in turn, and where human life had not the value of a string of beads or an ounce of copper. Living- stone took his early lessons in a calling which stands in no high repute among those who have painted the picture of the conven- tional missionary. Neither was Sumner a favorite with the timeserving politicians who keep close to the issues of the day, being unable or unwilling to espouse right because it is mot wrong. The Scot saw his opportunity when a_ loud outburst of indignation swept over England and her publicists put their knives to the throat of slavery. He plunged into Africa almost at the same time that Sumner put his hand to the throat of the curse in the Southern States. They both struggled on, Livingstone losing his wife and impairing his health ; Sumner driven from the Senate Chamber by a blow that ultimately was to terminate his life. It is not, perhaps, the moment to make a sum- mary of the great works which these two great men, laboring in different fields, but for ao common aim, achieved throughout the course of long careers. Yet we cannot let the oppor- tunity pass without pointing out their deeds and wondering why we have few such public men. Is it due toa depraved age? Is it be- cause the standard of moral courage and greatness has lowered? Is it because power is necessary to intellectual grandeur? We think not. It is good sign that the Massa- chusetts Legislature has paused even to enter- tain the name of Charles Francis Adams, who has no other indorsement than his worth and culture asa man. It isa good sign that the mere charlatans of all classes are taking ‘‘back seats,” and that, after all, malefeasance, defal- cation and scoundrelism are passing away. The genuine national grief that will meet Liv- ingstone’s remains in England will, we hope, have no inconsiderable influence in stimu- lating honorable ambition among those who may be called upon to take up his uncom- pleted work, or indeed any works that have higher rewards than pecuniary gain. Tue Portce Seem Resonvep to force to an issue their right to brain any man who happens to displease them. Yesterday a mostindefensi- ble case of clubbing took place in Broadway in view of a number of citizens, and the victim, as usual, after being barbarously punished for some trivial breach of regulation, was taken before a magistrate to be tried and further punished. The cause of this last police outrage was so trivial that the Judge at once discharged the prisoner, but allowed the uniformed bully also to return to his scalping ‘NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1874.—TRIPLE SHEET, on the next occasion Officer Lindsey will club his prisoner to death, so that no squeamish judge will be able to defeat that Pugnacious officer's ideas of justice. An Epidemic of Fire. For some days past our news columns have been filled with accounts of fires, which have raged and destroyed on a most extensive scale. To-day the record is repeated, and the fires are as destructive as usual. Yesterday a severe fire broke out in Philadelphia, and destroyed property valued at one hundred thousand dollars. At Elmira, in this State, yesterday, @ fire broke out which destroyed property to the extent of two hundred thousand dollars, and according to last accounts the demon of fire was still raging. The fire at Wooster, Ohio, on Monday, has proved to be alarmingly ruinous, In our own city destructive fires have extensively prevailed. Why, with all our modern science and scientific appliances, should fires be so common and s0 little under control? One thing we have observed is that whenever high winds prevail fires break out all around. This seems to prove that our present system of building houses does not sufficiently guard against the fire fiend. Tho great fault of American building is that wood is allowed to approach too near the flues. No one who knows anything of our present sys- tem of building houses can fail to wonder that fires are not more frequent than they are. If we cannot build more safely, then our plain duty is to provide more extensive means for extinguishing fires when they occur. We have often had occasion to blame the insur- ance companies. It is our privilege to blame where there is wrong. We must siill censure the insurance companies if they cannot see and do their duty. On-them largely lies the responsibility of these frequently recurring fires. Let them insist on a higher standard of security before they consent to insure. Let them adbere to their standard, and in a brief space of time they will curo a disease which afilicts the community and from which. they themselves severely suffer. The cure is simple, but it will be found to be as effective as it is simple. Disraeli and the Imprisoned Fenians, Seventy Irish members of Parliament are about to present themselves as a deputation to Mr. Disraeli to request tho release of the remaining Fenian prisoners, ‘This is the most remarkable demonstration of Irish Parliamentary opinion that has taken place since the Union of Great Britain and Ireland. It offers Mr. Disraeli an opportunity to makea change in the policy of the government towards Ireland which no wise statesman would allow to pass. What- ever opinion may be entertained of the wisdom of the Fenian movement, there can be no question of the earnestness and single- mindedness of the men who engaged in it in Ireland. It is now nine years since the arrest and conviction of the leaders of the move- ment, and during that period the prisoners have been treated like ordinary convicts, or rather with greater severity. The moral effect of their punishment has been felt by those likely to imitate them, and its prolonga- tion can serve no useful purpose, The deep sympathy felt for these men has increased with the repeated refusals to set them at liberty, and much of Mr. Gladstone's unpopularity in Ireland was due to, this cause. Whenever a candidate of the government presented him- self the amnesty cry always secured his defeat. Disraeli will act wisely to profit by the occa- sion, and deprive Irish disaffection of a power- ful means of annoyance by setting the impris- oned Fenians at liberty. The Dramatic Fund. We have received from Mr. John Brougham a most opportune letter, which we publish elsewhere. Mr. Brougham thinks that at a time when actors are doing so much to aid charitable performances for the relief of the general distress they might be induced to pay some attention to the special interest of the poor and wornout of their own profession. The hint is timely, and while the remembrance of theatrical charity is fresh in the public mind an appeal on behalf of the wornout and needy members of the profession would be certain to meet with a hearty and generous re- sponse. Ivis to be regretted that lack of or- ganization allows the existing Dramatic Fund to becoine practically useless, and some effort ought to be made by the profession to place it on a sounder basis. The example set by the English actors might be followed with advantage. London has its yearly perform- ance for the benefit of the Dramatic Fund, and there is no reason why the course should not be adopted in New York. The receipts from this source and a little wise manage- ment of the resources already available would render the Dramatic Fund of practical utility in securing wornout actors from actual pov- erty. The existing state of things is cer- tainly not creditable to the profession, and steps ought to be taken by the more prom- inent actors and managers to remedy the defects pointed out by Mr. Brougham. Cuanrry IN THE THEATRES.—A grand com- bination performance will be given at several of the prominent theatres to-morrow for the benefit of the poor. The success of the un- dertaking is assured, owing to the active co- operation of the men engaged in the public departments of the city. Itis pleasing to note the ready response which our proposition to give charity performances has mot with from the various theatres, and no doubt the people | will remember in prosperity the alacrity with which the theatrical profession came to the will give their charity matinées to-morrow, and so great has been the rush for seats at the Lyceum that the management has resolved to give the proposed matinée in the Academy of Music, in order to be able to accommodate the crowd of friends who wish to contribute to the good work through the opéra bougfe. On Satur- day evening Mr. Strakosch will give his grand concert for the same benevolent purpose, when such a collection of artists will appear as is not often assembled on any stage. ‘The result, we do not doubt, will be a lerge addition to the funds of the St. John’s Guild and the St. Vincent Society, to which charitable organ- izations the distribution of the receipts will be intrusted. Tue Wasninoton Pavement.—The commis- sion of investigation into the alleged frauds in ground to seck for new victims. Probably | laying new pavement in the Washington | wilihe do with it? Will it have the consideration alongside the gigantic jobs with which Washington is familiar, must appear contemptible to the national rep- resentatives. We should not be much asion- ished if the guilty parties in the pare- ment frauds were punished severcly. Smill jobbery must appear demoralizing to men at customed to Crédit Mobilier and Pacifi¢ Railway subsidies. Besides, if men are allowed to steal small sums with impunity dishonest jobbery would cease to be the fashionable and distinguished profession it is at present, and, many very respectable parties would be com- pletely ruined. The Folly of the Obstructionists, The folly of the ‘obstruction’ policy, which insists that we must do nothing to improve the northern area of the city and to render it habitable until we have torn up our rotten wooden pavements, rolled the cobble stones into the river and finished Church street, is. most aptly illustrated by a glance at our past experience. When the Central Park was first proposed the proposition met with the same sort of opposition to which ‘uptown’ im- provements are now subjected. Highly re- spectable citizens, with pockets better fur- nished than their heads, regarded it as a bold attempt to burden them with taxes for the enrichment of a few interested individuals, Several city journals denounced the scheme ag a ‘job,’ und one in especial insisted that “we had better spend our money in improv, ing the condition of the city in which we live than throw it away in digging ponds and ornamenting rocks where no person will ever be likely to go.” he Cen- tral Park was made, nevertheless, and the increased valuation of property in its neigh- borhood, directly due to the improvement, has been so large that the taxes realized on the increase alone, in the last ten years, reach a sum suflicient to cover the entire cost of the work, When the boulevards and avenues above the Park were first projected a similar cry was raised, and if the obstructionists had suc- ceeded in preventing the commencement of. the work on St. Nicholas avenue, Sixth and Seventh avenues, the Western Boulevard, &., the upper part of the island would have been to-day in the same condition it was twenty years ago. But the avenues and streets already opened are not built up, is the argument, and let us wait until these are covered with resi- dences before we undertake any more improve- ments up town. The real estate market has been dull, and building has been at a stand- still, mainly on account of the stop- page of all public improvements, and the un- certainty which has existed as to our future policy. New York is now at a point in its career when discreet and liberal investments in public works and improvements can be made with o certainty of beneficial results ; when they are absolutely necessary, in fact, for the further progress and prosperity of the city. The fact that the natural population of New York is driven into the suburbs through our present condition does not rest upon mere assertion, but is established by the figures of the census. No one pretends that any one particular uptown improvement will remedy the evil; but the general improvement of the upper part of the island where there is room for us to grow; the opening, grading and paving of-streets in all directions so as to make the entire area fit for habitation ; these, with the construction of steam railroads, are what we must rely upon for making New York in the next decade one of the largest, handsomest and most prosperous of the great cities of the world. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Beauregard wants Congress thrust from the capital. Buffalo Bill has slighted Buffalo by buyinga bouse in Rochester. General George J. Stannard, of Vermont, is at the Grand Central Hotel. Judge W. 8. Lincoln, of Washington, is staying at the Grand Central Hotel. Congressman George W. Hendee, of Vermont, is at the Fiith Avenue Hotel. Ex-Congressmin 0, B, Matteson, of Utica, ia again at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. General Wiliam Meyers, United States Army, is quartered at the St. James Hotel. Edward Atkinson, the Boston freetrader, has apartments at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Chief Engineer W. H. Shock, United States Navy, has quarters at the Metropolitan Hotel. Sepastian B. Schlesinger, German Consul at Bos- ton, is residing at the Westminster Hotel. Mr. G. A. Thomson, United States Consul at Stet- tin, Germany, 1s at the Sturtevant House. Assistant Adjutant General J. B, Stonehouse ar- rived from Albany yesterday at the Hotel Bruns- wick. Queen Victoria will be fifty-five next 24th of May. She 1s in the thirty-seventh year of her reign. President J. H. Devereux, of the Cleveland, Co- Jumbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad Com- pany, is at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Colonel Valette has asked to be retired irom the French army with a pension and to be allowed to share the captivity of Marshal Bazaine, General Regis de Trobriand, of the United States Army, is visiting his birthplace in Brittany, France, and intends to remain there until May. The Duke of Edinburgh and his bride landed in England at Gravesend, and among the attendant officials to receive them was @ Mr. Death. “Methodists think about doing away with the itinerant system. Brother Newman will come home then.” There is consul-ation in that. Major E. Fechet, of the United States Army, who during a leave of absence has been in the Khe- dive’s service, has resigned from it and is about to return home. Mr. George H. Boker, our Minister to Constanti- opie, is on atrip through Greece and Italy, He will shortly permanently give up his post and re- turn to his home in Philadelphia. They are going to tear down the hous? in which Ben Butler was born. In youth it sheltered him, é | but the fellow who has the mortgage on it doesn’§ aid of the suffering poor. Booth’s and Niblo’s | a ; seem to care a cent for sentiment. cent PROOONSUL BUTLER, [From the Evening Mail.] Nothing but General Butler’s retiring and modest disposition will prevent his assuming the airs and authority of a“proconsul,” now that the HeRaLm has invented for him so deserving, yet mysterious, a designation. But now that he has the title, whaw jotency ta dispose Of such sinall matters as United State¢ Senatorships and Governorships, as being out of the reach of more ordinary politicians and only, prope playthings fora “proconsul ?? A “proconsul for New England” is four or five Senators rolled m one, He is not limited by State lines, and can hardly now stoop to such trifling adairt as collectorships, &c, Te will make the men wu will make collectors—being, $0 lar as New Bnglan: is concerned, a general regulator and acting Pres= jaent, on tue spot. We may know befure our, Jourth edition goes to press how the new pro« consular powers work, what potency they have over a Massachusetts Legisiature, and how far New England men have sunk their old individuals ies of character and mcependenge of restraint. Meanwhile we regard with pecuilar and aimost painiui interest the revealings of the new feature of “Proconsularism.” What @ fine old Roman titie, for that noble and unselish’patrigt, General Butier &