The New York Herald Newspaper, April 24, 1874, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY aND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. ‘THE DAILY HERALD, pubditshed every day tn the vear, Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $12. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions and Advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms 8 in New York. M BTROFOLITAN THEATRE, No. 585 Broadway.—VARI fas PM. closes at 10: NIBLO'S: GARDEN, tween Prince and Houston streets —VARE oy TP ENTERTAINMENT. at at8P. M.; closes at 10:30 P. 'CEUM THEATRE, street eee mage olned MARJO- Fait mee closes at iP. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth staat. corner of Irving place. Tralian Oj GIOVANAT. rie f sd ACRE a Mme Lucca, Signot Viszanl. closes at Woon's MUSEUM, Broadway. compar of Thistieth street. LADY PM SEO! ‘at 2 P. M.; closes at 4:30 P.M. HE [- BLER’S CRIME, at 8 P.M; closes at Toso. M Mr. Dom inick Murray. PARK THEATRE, Broadway and Twenty-se street.—LOVE’S PEN- ANCE, at8 P. M. ; closes at lL aP. M. Charles Fechter. GERMA ANTA RE AT ER aes is F th street, near lace. —! al Pyteenscrinw Haag Sasuacheee IETY. KNTERTAINMENT, at DALY'S FIFTH = THEATRE. ‘Twenty-cighth street ent a ae ee ALPHONSE, at 8 P. Mas closes at W:30 Mias yas, Mis ‘Kappy Davenport, Bijou Heron, Mr. Fisher, THEATRE COMIQUE, No, 5l4 Broadwar.—VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at 8 B®. M. ; closes at 10:30 P. M. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth street—T1E VETERAN, at 8 .; closes at P.M. Mr. Lester Wallack,’ Miss Jenreye Lewis, ne. GONWAY'S BROOKLYN ) SERATER, ‘Washi street, near Fulton en CAML Be at SES Mey closes at Li's Miss Clara Morris. ta a PIC Lng rig Houston streets.— Bai Vive ae ood, NOVELTY ENTEMIAINMER at 7:45 P, M. ; closes at 10:45 P. M. pe ‘and Twenty-third sirect: TIOKET.OF fear on . Tifave Wak ‘StBP. Me; closes atl P.M. Mr. and Mrs. BROADWAY THEATR! B, ‘Broad ace.—HUMPTY pit TY aT WOME Ack at BEAM. ; Sloss aE LP. Me tg ny) boomy be ype ae Hees tga a aera a Mile. di Murska, Signor: antl ‘and Wienta wait NEW PARK THEATRE, BROOKLYN, e foe English Overa Boufle—LA SONNAMBULA, BOOTH’S THEATRE, Sixth avenue, corner of Twenty-third street.—ROMKO AND Joust, at5 P.M; closes at 10:45. M. Miss BOWERY THEATRI Bowery.—OLD SLEUTH THE DETE E, and Yani Ey ENTERTAINMENT. Begins at 8P. M.; closes at IL wery.—| N P. closes ai MP. M. ie ual ‘ONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 naan —VARIBTY ENVERTAINMENT, at = ek: closes at 5:30 P. M.; also, at 8 Y. M.; closes at er near avenue. a IsEosy &c.. at 8 P.M. ; closes at 10 P.M. ROBINSON HALL, Sixteenth strect—ART ENTERTAINMENT, at8 P. M. “anh street LONDON IN | eee ers closes ate : M, Same at7 P. M.; closes TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Friday, =— 24, 1874. —=—- From our reports ab co the probabili- ties are that the weather to-day will be clearing, Tue Veto ApgoaD.—Our special cable de- spatches from London and Paris show the wonderful effect of a timely act timely done. ‘The American in foreign lands need no longer ‘be ashamed of his country. It cannot now be said that the liberty to repudiate is among the liberties insured to us by the constitution. ‘The moral effect of the veto will be to give our credit an impetus and a position such as it has never known since the war closed. ‘The value and moral power of this veto will increase from day to day. Governor Drx, in one of those masterly sentences which become part of a nation’s literature, says, in speaking of the veto mes- sage of the President, ‘The veto is not for the North nor the East, but for the entire nation.” This telis the best side of the story. The President has destroyed sectional legislation, ‘We shall have no more of that in this genera- tion. | Tae Meerme Last Nicwr in memory of Dr. Livingstone, the famous African explorer, was worthy of the character and deeds of the man, the achievements of his life, and ite sad though beautiful and dramatic close. Else- ‘where we print a full report of the proceed- ings. This report will have a melancholy NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1874,—TRIPLE SHEET, Amarchy in Arkansas. The suspension of civil government in Arkansas by @ conflict of wretched factions, held in check by the fortunate presence of challenges anarchical tendencies and spirit of factious turbulence which exist in the South and Southwest, accompanied by an unsettled feverish feeling in the West which might ensily be kindled into a dangerous flame. The condition of the public mind in large sections of the country has seldom given so much reason for appre- hension and foreboding anxiety. The recent occurrences at Little Rock are among the symptoms of a deep-seated disease, whose nature we will, at some future time, attempt to point out, in the hope that its threatened consequences may be averted. The latest news from Arkansas indicates that the difficulties, if we may so distinguish them, have been postponed. What threatened to be a tragedy is only a comedy. The oppos- ing forces have succeeded in killing one man, who was slain by accident, as though he had fallen from @ railway train. So what threat- ened to be treason is little more than a high- way brawl or assault and battery. The Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island—the only case of constructive treason on our books before the war—was a contest between two rival State governments, and really affords no parallel. Governor Dorr, the usurper, and Governor King, his rival, had not been voted for at the same election. The controversy differed from what we see in Arkansas in this, that one had been regularly elected according to law, while his rival claimed election by votes given without authority of law by a party which had pretended to form a State constitution. No one doubted that King was Governor. The courts so held. Dorr assumed the attitude of rebellion, and all the powers of the general government were necessarily used to crush him. Therefore the Arkansas trouble does not form in any way a parallel case. That pro- vision of the constitution which requizeg . the. federal government to protest each State against domestic violence is, no doubt, one of the wisest in that instrument. But it is doubt- ful whether its framers ever contemplated its application to cases like the three which have arisen within the last year or so in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. They are simply cases of contested élections, and it was not supposed that State elections Would ever need to be settled by any other authority than the State judicatures. There is a manifest un- fitness in the federal government undertaking to decide such questions. Each house of Con- gress is made the sole judge of the elections and qualifications of its own members, but it is seldom that a contested seat is awarded with impartial justice or on any other than party considerations. No | great mischief is done beyond injustice to the rejected claimants and their constituents ; for | the admission or exclusion of one or two mem- | bers of a large body does not obstruct the regular eourse of legislation, and the excluded claimants are helpless. But if Congress should assume to decide contested elections of State officers, not only would State govern- cumbrons investigations, not only would the final decision be partisan, but calls for inter- | ference would be multiplied until Congress | could transact no other business. The Presi- dent is even less fitted to decide such ques- tions than Congress. He has a host of depend- ent appointees in every State, who, as politics sre managed in recent years, are required to do their utmost to prevent the success of the opposition candidates. He listens to and is disposed to credit their representations, and decides with a mind prepossessed, like a juror whose opinion is fixed before he comes into court to be sworn ora judge who has a per- sonal interest in a suit. Assuredly it was not | the intention of the constitution to make the federal government, or any branch of it, a judge of contested elections in the States. The Federalist, in discussing the clause re- lating to protection against domestic violenve, makes these observations: —*‘In cases where it may be doubtful on which side justice lies, what better umpires could be desired by two violent factions flying to arms and tearing a State to pieces than the representatives of the Confederate States not heated by the local flame? To the impartiality of judges they would add the affection of friends.” Trae and forcible as this doubtless is when applied to the kind of cases in contemplation by the founders of the government, it would be egregiously false if applied to contested elec- tions. Instead of ‘‘the impartiality of judges” there would be nothing but the unscrupulous zeal of partisans. {n discussing the same provision the Feder- alist says:—‘‘The existence of a right to inter- fere will generally prevent the necessity of ex- erting it.” Most true again, as the provision was meant to be understood, but quite absurd if extended to contested elections, as experi- interest to all who honor Livingstone for his ‘wonderful work, and who see in him a pioneer of Christianity and civilization. Tx Evousa Buperr. —We infer from ‘what Mr. Gladstone said last evening in the House of Commons, in commenting upon the budget introduced by the Disraeli Ministry, that no serious opposition will be made to the government plan of finances. The liberal party evidently mean to make what is calied a “waiting fight.” ence demonstrates, For the first eighty years after the organization of the government there was but one application by a State for aid in sup- pressing domestic violence, but since the clause has been stretched to include contested elec- tions there have been three applications within & period of sixteen months. The hope of federal interference is a strong incentive to the defeated party to make trouble. The Kellogg faction would have acquiesced in McEnery’s election had it not calculated on — | Toe Distress iN THE Sovuruwest.—The distress occasioned by the floods in the South- swest and the unusual rising of the waters weems to be more widespread than was at first | anticipated. Our people have now a chance federal support, and the more recent resist- ance in Texas proceeded from the same mo- tive. President Grant unwisely interfered in Lonisiana ; he wisely refrained in Texas, and wisely stands neutral and attempts to enforce | | order in Arkansas. But if he had persisted to aid our suffering fellow citizens, and we | in his policy of interference there would be an are glad to know that the appeal which has been made for aid has not been made in vain. To Aeamarqua:—The French | government vannounces that it will make a rigid investi- sgation os to the causes leading to the aban- .donment of the Amérique. We are glad for ithe honor of France that this course bas been determined upon. “As it now looks French seamanship has received a severe blow. We trust that the investigation will dispel the ‘unpleasant impressions in reference to French courage and skill which the event has pro- duced upon the public opinion of maritime ‘nations. ies | We Have another painful story from New (England relative toa murder in Dorchester, near Boston. It would really seem as if the ‘times were out of joint, | endless crop of such troubles. What the framers of the constitution hed principally in mind was cases like Shay’s Rebellion the year before the Convention met, That rebellion spread alarm through the coun- | try ; it did more than anything else to disarm | opposition to the establishment of a stronger federal government. It was an armed con- spiracy of private citizens against the govern- ment of Massachusetts. It was not a con- test between two pretended authorities, but o collision between authority on one side and inisurrection on the other. And it is worth remembering for present instruction that it was @ rebellion gotten up by the debtor class with a view to abolish debts by a forced circulation of irredeemable currency. ‘The old Congress | General Knox, the Secretary of War, to repair immediately to Springfield, ostensibly to pro- tect the federal magazine at that place, but really to observe and report upon the rebel- lion. After his return he wrote, in a letter to General Washington:—‘They are de- termined to annihilate all debts, and have agrarian laws, which are easily effected by means of unfunded paper money to be a tender in all cases whatever.” Thus it will be seen that the first famous and for- midable rebellion which ever occurred in this country was by a debtor class clamorous for irredeemable paper money. Let us hope that history will not repeat itself in this instance. With Shay’s Rebellion fresh in the minds ot the framers of the constitution nothing was further from their thoughts than contested election cases when they provided for the protection of the States against domestic vio- lence. The Transit of Venus. Early in December next the planct Venus will pass across the sun's face, The event is regarded with the greatest interest by the scientific world, and already extensive prepara- tions are making for the observation of the transit. The results to be gained are the accurate determination of our distance from the sun and a more certain knowledge of the distances of the planets and some of the fixed stars. Solar photography willbe largely em- ployed in making the observations as auxiliary to the scientific work of the astronomers. A majority of the nations taking part in this study will employ the method of observation known as Delisle’s, but many of them will also employ the Fags he: ymethod, which will necessitate choice of different stations for po: ® station suitable to the one being unsuited to the other. The choice of these stations is@ matter of the utmost importance, especially in the matter of placing the observers in opposite parts of the globe, it being plain that the ‘tingresa” of the planet upon the sun’s face will be witnessed at the eastern than the western sta- nd its “egrées"’ will be last seen by the pir observers. The English, who are taking the most active interest in these ob- servations, will establish their opposite sta- tions at Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands, and Rodriguez Island, near the Mauritius. Besides these there will be secondary stations co-operating with each of the principal points of observation, two of them being in other parts of the Sandwich Islands and two in Ker- gnelen Land, sometimes called the ‘Island of Desoiatioti’ in the Southern Ocean, And, last, Chrulchurch, in New” Zealand, aid Alexandria will pair together for the observa- tion of the “accelerated” and ‘retarded’ egress, France, it is understood, will have stations in the Marquesas and other islands, in the Southern Hemisphere, and at Pekin and Yokohama for the north. Ger- many’s northern observations will also ‘ be made at some points in Ohina and Japan, with a photographic station in Persia, on the line of the Indian telegraph, and in the south at Mauritius and other islands, Russia will have mo fewer than twenty-seven stations, though more moderately equipped than those of other nations, extending all the way from ments be paralyzed by the delay which attends | Odessa to Japan. Strange to say, the infor- mation as yet afforded us in regard to the in- tentions of our own scientists is more meagre than that from any other country. We only know the location of the stations, which are to to be at Viadirostock, in Northern Siberia, Pe- kin, Nagasaki, Hobart. Town, in Van Diemen’s Land, in New Zealand and in Chatham, Crozet and Kerguelen Islands. The parties going to the southern stations are to be sent out in a naval vessel; but we have not yet been in- formed of the personnel of the expeditions, and, excepting the work that is now doing by the Board of which Admiral Sands is chief no very active preparations have yet been made for the event by the Navy Department, to which all the credit that falls to our share will be due. But for the Secretary we might have had no expeditions at all, Congress never offering timely aid to scientific enter- prises and our official scientists not being too eager to earn glory by their investigations and discoveries. Preparations and experiments ought actively to go forward at Washington from this time if American science is to be honored in this enterprise. The English are already busy at Greenwich, and, asthe result of their study and experiments, the best results may be expected from all of their stations. We cannot afford to be behind them, either in the excellence of the equipments we carry out to our stations or the value of the scientific in- formation we bring home from them. If wa would sustain a proper comparison with other nations we must lose no further time in carry- ing out the scheme which the Secretary of the Navy seems to have adopted; for though De- cember may be a far way off, no time is to be lost in preparation, for Venus will make her transit at the time appointed, whether or not the Americans are on hand to witness it, The Police and the Law, The delay in bringing police officers Leahy and Doyle to justice causes general dissatisfac- tion, and the people are asking why the Dis- trict Attorney fails to push on the prosecution. Above all others crimes committed by agents of the law should receive swift and condign punishment. This is a condition necessary to respect for the law, without which officers of justice cannot command the confidence of the public. There is always danger of the growth of a feeling of irresponsibility among @ body of men intrusted with a discretionary power such as must be given to the police, and to counteract this natural tendency in humanity there is needed the strictest disci- pline, and the knowledge that breaches of the law by officials will be promptly and severely punished. To adopt a contrary course is to encourage the growth of a dangerous spirit in the guardians of the public pence and lessen public confidence in a body of men who should be above suspicion. We do not expect that a large force like the police of New York can be permanently freed trom the presence of violent and ill-conditioned | men, but we insist that when such men show themselves in their true characters that no attempt shall be made to shield them from the action of the law by those charged with its administration. Oomradeship is all very well in its way, but it ought not to exist between hon- est men and felons, and, above all, should not exist between agents of the law and persons | | known to have committed grave crimes. The | mere suspicion that sympathy is felt by the | was in seasion at the time, and it instructed | police for members of their body who have broken the law, and that such sympathy acts asa clog on justice, is very damaging. In- deed, no effort should be spared to prevent the growth of such a suspicion, and the cases of men like Doyle and Leahy ought to be sent to trial with the least possible delay, in order to satisfy the public that official oonnec- tion is never allowed to shield 9 wrong-doer or influence the course of justice. The Finances of England and the United States Compared. According to the estimates submitted by the British Cabinet to Parliament for the financial year 1874-5 the revenue called for is 8 little over £75,000,000 sterling. This calcu- lated in dollars, at $4 84, amounts in round numbers to about $363,000,000. The ex- penditure, it is believed, will amount to £72,500,000. It seems to be the policy of the present administration to carry out the finan- cial programme of Mr. Gladstone as regards raising a surplus revenue of £5,000, 000 sterling over the sum required for current expenditures, to be applied to the reduction of the national debt. To do this there will be needed, prob- ably, £77,500,000 of revenue. But a million or two more or less is of no consequence in the comparison we shall make of the financial condition of Great Britain and the United States. We shall take the sum of $363,000,000, therefore, as the revenue for 1874-5. The Secretary of the Treasury, in his report to Congress last December, estimated the receipts of government from all sources for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, at $305,700,000, and the expenditure at $319,189,736. To meet the deficiency of revenue, amounting to $13,489,736, he ap- pealed. to Congress for additional taxation, and when the panic reduced his income con- siderably, and he had to draw upon the legal tender réserve, he became more urgent for fresh taxes. Our readers remember struggle between Congress and the Department during the winter on this subject, the latter pleading the necessity of the situa- tion and the former standing out against in- creased taxation, The compromise, if it may be called so, was to reduce the expenditures and to sanction the use of the legal tender reserve. We question if more than $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 reduction in expenditare will be made, notwithstanding all the talk about economy. We take it for granted that the expenditure for the fiseal year ending June 30, 1875, will amount to $300,000,000, or about that, and it may be more. Great Britain, then, spends $363,000,000 and the United States $300,000,000. The difference is $63,000,000. The interest bear- ing debt of the United States was, on the 1st of January, 1874, $1,737,204,062. The inter- est calculated by the Treasury Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, amounts to $98,000,000. The debt of Great Britain in round numbers is £800,000,000, or $3,872,000,000, The interest is £26, 630,000, or $128,889,200. England, with a debt far more than double that of the interest bearing debt of the United States, pays only $30,889,200 more interest than this country, her debt being in three and three and a half per cents and ours bearing five and six per cent, more than two-thirds of which bears six per cent. Deducting, then, the difference of the debt charges upon the revenue of the two countries we find that there is lett in Great Britain for current expenditures about $235,000,000, and for the United States $202,000,000. That is, apart from the debt burden, our government spends only $33,000,000 less than that of England. Yet we have no costly royal establishment to maintain, no great army or navy,and no such empire, covering every quarter of the globe and counting hun- dreds of millions of population to govern. In fact, our army and navy are insignificant com- pared with the army and navy of Great Britain, and these branehes of the public sex- vice in both countries are the heaviest charge upon the revenue. There is evidently great mismanagement or. incapacity in our financial affairs. They are controlled by apprentice hands, both in Con- gress and the departments. There is no sys- tem based either upon the principles of politi- cal economy or the logic of experience and the necessities of our condition. We seem to be at sea withouta rudder. Our system of taxation is crude and unnecessarily expensive. England, for example, raises over £58,000,000 sterling out of the £75,000,000 revenue from three items—namely, customs, excise and stamps, and upwards of £27,000,000 from ex- cise alone, while we have the most complicated system, spreading taxation over the widest field, and often where the cost eats up the retarns. Certainly our public men have much to learn on the subject of national finance, and until they do learn there is little hope of a better state of things. Learning to Cook. The English have been noted the world over as the most immoderately ill-ted people of modern times; but unless we improve upon the methods bequeathed to us by our so-called Anglo-Saxon ancestors the palm of bad cooking may eventually be accorded to us. This remark is more especially applicable to the cities than to the rural districts. In the country, especially in those parte where the favorite Anglo-Saxon element is not en- tirely predominant, all the young girls learn to cook, if not according to the best methods, at least as well as their mothers and grand- mothers before them; and among the Penn- sylvania Germans the ability to cook is the great charm of a sweetheart and the principal qualification for a wife. But in the towns and'villages even the tendency is to neglect the kitchen for the parlor, and to give up cookery for what Hans Breitman calls ‘‘biano blayin’."” The tendency is an evil one, and leaves the American household completely at the mercy of professional but often igno- rant and inexperienced cooks, As a con- sequence, instead of dishes such as have made the French famous, the family meal is frequently a poor excuse for a dinner, and unless the prevailing tendency be checked American cookery can only grow worse in- stead of better. We are losing our taste for ‘thome-made” dishes, and even the English women are becoming better cooks than Ameri- can girls. Af last we have something to learn from the English, and in this city we may | for taking possession of the Fiji Islands, as copy their National Training School for | there are thousands of others in the Pacific Cookory with advantage. The English Training School, which has | been putin operation in London, is the direct result of Mr, Buckmaster’s lectnraa an eonk. ery at the International Exhibition last year. The school has only been open a few weeks, but the best results were obtained from the beginning. In the first week alone sixteen pupils joined the classes, the most gratifying part of this success being in the fact that the young women come from every rank and grade in society. ‘Side by side in these classes,"’ says a London journal, ‘may be seen pretty girls of what is called ‘family’ and position, young matrons who declare they had no idea kitchen work could be so ‘nice,’ cooks anxious to improve themselves, rosy cheeked country girls about to take their first place—all working together with a will and vying as to who shall turn out the most brilliant copper lid or the most resplendently clean saucepan.”’ Englishmen at last have a chance of getting something to eat at their own homes, and we should not be surprised if after a while a certificate from the Training School for Cookery became the most desirable part of a marriageable young woman’s fortune. If we had a similar institution in this city its recommendations would of a certainty not be overlooked by our marrying men. Like the young Dutchman referred to in Mrs, Gibbons’ book on the peculiarities of the Pennsylvania Mennonists, who had married a pretty girl, an heiress and an expert cook, the metropoli- tan exquisite would be only too happy to be assured of “‘good eating’’ at his own house for a whole lifetime, Let us have a training school for cookery by all means, for, thoughit may lessen the attractions of the restau- rants and the clubs, it cannot fail to contrib- ute immensely toward making domestic lite charming and home a very different thing from a place to go to when there is no other place available. American girls only need to learn to cook to become complete house-: wives as well ag accomplished and beautiful gentlewomen. | The Annexation of the Fiji Islands by England. The British press is discussing the question of annexing the Fiji Islands, and it is amus- ing to notice the characteristic affectation of caution, prudence and nice calculation of the advantages and disadvantages in doing so, while there was a foregone conclusion to ac- complish the object. England having it all her own way, the newspapers can afford to enter into this discussion. Then this is a convenient theme on which to hitch the criti- cal remarks and journalistic ideas which over- flow the British mind. Nevertheless it is all talk. England is well pleased to annex the Fiji Islands, and had resolved to do so. This” truth is expressed in a leading London jour- nal, after considering the objections, It says:—‘‘The non-annerxation policy has been proved over and over again to be utterly un- tenable for a progressive people such as ours, and it might be well not to assume that it is sound any longer.’’ Here is the whole matter in the, mogt condensed form. This same writer “says, however, just before, ‘“Enclish- men are perpetually declaring that upon no consideration whatever will they enlarge their dominions; yet we go om acquiring territory at @ fearful rate, and in the most shiftless way, in all parts of the world.” True enough, the English are a progressive people, and in this matter of annexing territory or enlarging their dominion they will continue to be so. The Fiji Islands, estimated to be about two hundred in number, and' containing a popula- tion of about two hundred thousand natives and: four thousand whites, lie between twelve and twenty degrees of latitude, south of the Equator, and in a hundred and eighty west longitude. They are from fifteen hun- dred to eighteen hundred miles from Aug tralia, in the midst of the South Pacific | Ocean and the innumerable islands which jut out like mountain peaks from the bosom of that ocean. They occupy a central position tothe Friendly, Navigator's, New Hebrides;. | Society, Depeyster, and Solomon Islands and other groups which lie thick in the Pacific, both cides of the Equator, and which give one the impression of a vast continent rising out of this mighty occan. The Fiji Islands are nearly in a direct line from Sydney, Australia, to our Pacific coast, and, of course, not far from a direct route to Mexico and Central America, As colonies they will have an importance in connection with the trade of America, and of Europe by | the way of America, particularly when a ship | canal shall be made through some part of Central America. No doubt the British gov- ernment and people, and especially the Aus- tralians, who have urged the annexatibn of the Fiji Islands, have considered the com- mercial aspects of the question. Then theso islands, like almost all others in the Pacific between or bordering on the trop- | ics, have a rich soil and fine climate, and are capable of producing in abundance sugar, cof- | fee, spices, fraits and other things of tropical | growth. And no doubt sea island cotton could be grown on the islands lying farthest to the south, for the temperature is greatly | modified in those latitudes by the vast body | of the surrounding Pacific Ocean. On most of the islands there is a rich soil to the very shores of the sea, and the cocoanut tree and other fruit trees and palms grow thick both over the valleys and hills. The natives have lived upon the fruits, yams and fish which na- ture affords in abundance without labor, and many of them are fine, healthy looking peo- ple. The islands south of the Equator aro, for the most part, more prolific than the Sand- wich Islands. No finer or greater yield of sugar and coffee could be produced, probably, in any other part.of the world. If the natives | can be made to labor—and England has the | knack of making people work—or if labor can | be introduced, there is every prospect of establishing prosperous colonies. The | greatest difficulty will be found, however, to prevent sharp English traders from carrying on the coolie trade or from erecting a sort of slavery in that remote part of the world. Still, colonizing the Fiji Islands will tend to destroy cannibalism in that region and to civilize the natives. As Americans we wish England success in her efforts to colonize the unsettled parts of the globe and to spread civilization, for the benefit will extend to all nations, and particu- | larly to those largely engaged in commerce, Nor need there be any jealousy of England equally prolific and capable of improvement of which the United States, France, Germany or any other Power can take ‘possession. As to the native savages ceding their territory in ae a ee Dn nn Se a ce ner So Ln oat ASNUAMMINUINI deni aae-GRk dane. ace PORN hae ome form, thatis mere pretence, to give the appear.- ance of fair dealing. A few beads, trinkets and a little money are sufficient to obtain all the cession necessary. It is only a few years ago that the South Pacific was almost un- known, except to whalers, and now steamships are regularly ploughing that ocean, and it will not be long before its thousands of beautiful islands will be brought under the influence of civilization, Have Pedestrians Rights in the Publie Streots? Even of greater importance than the rights of passengers in the street cars is the question whether pedestrians ‘have rights in the publie streets. If this inquiry could be answered upon theoretic grounds the reply would be in the affirmative, but practically it can only receive a negative response. The drivers of the Broadway stages deny that people on foot have any rights which they are bound to re- spect. The liveried lackey, who calls himself not a gentleman’s coachman but a coachman onda gentleman, laughs at the simplicity of such a proposition. The express wagons seem to be made expressly for running over people who dare to cross a créwded thorough- fare. The whole brotherhood of profane- tongued Jehus appear knit together in a league as indissoluble os the line of their vehicles in Broadway of an afternoon for the extin- guishment of the pretensions of pedestrians. ‘We were about to say that, strangest of all, the policemen were apparently a part of the league; but anything a policeman may choose to do. is a mere matter of course, There is one thing, however, these preservers of the public peace never do, and that is to make the street crossings safe and available. A network of vehicles, each over- lapping the one immediately before it, for often a mile in length, is never ‘broken, unless for a handsome woman who is likely to sub- mit to a policeman’s attentions, which fall little short of an embrace. The Broadway policeman especially thinks himself a being set apart for the purpose of paying attention to all the pretty girls inthe metropolis. Thereis an obsolete law that gives precedence in the streets to foot passengers, but with the guar dians of the law blind to the mad courses of impudent drivers it could not be made effec- tive if it were re-enacted every year. Perhaps the worst feature in the invasion of the rights of pedestrians in our streets is the use made of the sidewalks by our merchants, Not content with taking complete possession of such streets as Crosby and Mercer they miust also monopolize Broadway by making the sidewalk in frout as well as in the rear of their storés the receptacle of boxes and bales’ of goods, At many places our leading street ia almost impassable, and yet neither police nor people seem to take the matter seri- ously to heart. It hes often been said that the people of New York are the most pa-’ tient and long-suffering people in the world. We not only never complain, but sybmit so quietly to the invasions of our rights that the right seems to be in the wrong-doer. We ap- pear to think our Jehus have the privilege of running overusif they can. We bow pleas- antly to the merchaut who impedes our steps in Broadway. We regard the rights of the ap- ple womanas inalienable, and even the booths and soda water fountains on the sidewalk we affect to consider a blessing—no, it is not merely an affectation, for do not some of us go to them for our cakes and carbonic acid gas? We are always willing to acknowledge the prerogatives of the venders of patent dolls in the streets as superior to our own, and we cheerfully get out of the way of walking signs and animated bill boards. | Everybody has rights in the streets of New York except pe- | destrians; but, speaking seriously about the abuses to which we have just called attention, we do not think. it-is' altogether to the credit of our people that they submit so uncomplain- ingly. An: Aeronautic Experiment. 'T'woFrench aeronauts have recently made an'interesting experiment in aerial navigation, The balloon. ‘Etoile Polaire” was sent up to aseertain if the respiration of highly oxygen- izéd- sir would mitigate the suffocating effects of high levels and thus enable the acronaut to venture beyond altitudes already reached. This experiment was suggested by the French physicist de Fonvielle, and was made by the balloonists Sivel snd Croce-Spinelli, in an airship constructed for the purpose. The last named aeronaut, when he had reached a height of sixteen thousand four hundred feet, was nearly suffocated; but upon using the oxygenized-air respirator he soon recovered. The temperatures encountered, even at this comparatively moderate level, were very low. At twenty-four thousand six hundred feet elevation the spectroscopic observations showed none of the lines which indicate the presence of aqueous vapor, and the solar rays were nearly invisible. When not using the j respirator the skies appeared to the observers quite dark, but when freely respiring the oxygenized air the blue color of the heavens ‘was restored. In ascending the summit of one of the Andean peaks Humboldt was overcome by the aerial tenuity a little over sixteen thousand feet; but in the 'Thibetan Himalayas the Ger- man brothers Schlagintweit slept all night nineteen thousand two hundred feet above the sea, and afterward scaled the peak of the Ibj Gamin, three thousand feet higher. The effect of height is felt on most men at sixteen thou- sand feet or less, but varies with their physical condition and with the circumstances of alti- tude to which they have been accustomed. In the recent experiment, while the pulse at the ground was beating eighty-six a minute at | sixteen thousand feet the number of beats rose to one hundred and forty ; but on bring- | ing the oxygenized-air respirator into requisi- tion the number fell to one hundred and twenty. This fact would show that those who will venture their lives on the problematic and air voyage would do well to supply their balloons with an apparatus for generating pure oxygen, to be respired if necossary, M. de Fonvielle’s experiment has demon- strated nothing further. Mr. Glaisher, the English balloonist, it is claimed, went tem thousand feet higher than the recent voyagers, and did not need oxygenized air or experience any very serious suffocation till nearing thirty- twothousand feet above the sea. The results of late ballooning afford, therefore, little or no encouragement to its votaries, and the perils 80 far have heavily overborne any benefits, present or prospective, which science can reap from these Icarian ventures,