The New York Herald Newspaper, April 29, 1874, Page 8

8 NEW YORK HERAL BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Youu Hana. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. Letters and packages should be prop- erly sealed. 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. PARK THEATRE, and Twenty-second street.—LOVE’S PEN- rer aerd ateP. M.; closes at li P.M. Charies Fechter. sere GEEMANEA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Irving piace.—EMILIA GAL- LOT, at ? P.M.; closesat i P.M. Panny Janauschek. LYS FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twentycigith street and Broadway. MONSIEUR ALPHON at8P. M.; closes at 100 oy ben Panny Davenport, Bijou Poco’ un » THEAIRE COMIQUE, No, 514 Broadway — VARIETY ENTRTAINMENT, at 8 P.M. ; closes at 10:30 P. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth street —TH! VETERAN, at 8 to i. a closes at 11 P, M. Mr. Lester Wallack, MissJeffreys aaa CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE, ion street, near Fuiton street, Brooklyn.— wi ad ae at § P. M.; closes at 1) P.M, OLYMPIC THEATRE, | Broadway. between Houston and Bleecker streets.— VAUDEVILLE and, NUVELEY ENTERTAINMENT. ‘at 7:45 P.M. ; cloves at 10:45 P. GRAND Moaenteg HOUSE, Eighth avenue and Twenty-third stroet.—DONALD MoKAY, at 3 P. M.; closes at 11’ P. M. Oliver Doud Bvron. BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway, opposite | Washington place.—HUMPTY pumry AT 1 ROazy den at8 EM; closes at ll P.M. ox. BOOTH'S THEATRE, Sixth avenue, corner of Twenty-third _ street. one bd aco at 8 P, M.; closes at 1045 P.M. Miss ei METROPOLITAN THEATR! No. 585 Broadway.—V aniery ENTERTAINMENT, a 746 P. M. ; closes at 10:30 P. NIELO’S GARDEN, alae, Broadway, between Prince and Houston streets.—VA! Ety ENTERTAISMENT at8 Yr. M.; closes-at 10:30 P. M. NEW PARK THEATRE, BROOKLYN. MEPHIS10, at2P.M. Lydia Thompson Troupe. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Sixth avenue.—LA MARJO- LaIN&, at 8 P. M.;'closes at 11 P. M. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, ng he) ea corner of ares place.—Miss Cush- M." Strakosch Italian Opera Compan: BIGNON. at SP. Mer closes atl PM Nilsson, Tor mani, Cary, Capoul, Del Puente, Nannetti. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Brosdway, corner of Thirtieth street.—EAST LYNNR, at 2 P.M.; closes at 4:30 ¥. M. UNCLE TOMS CABIN, = SP. M.; closes at 10:30 P.M. Sophie Miles, Gussie de forrest. STADT THEATRE, Bowery.—MLLE. ANGOT, at 8 P. M.; Pet Pr. closes at 11 P. M. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUS 201 Bowery.—VAKIe.TY ENTERTAINMENT, at 2:30, 5:30 P.M.; wlsoat8 P.M ; closesat ll cloves ‘at &c., at 8 P.M. Twent MELOY be ROBINSON HA! LL, Sixteenth street—AKT KNTERTAINMENT, at 8 P. M, COLOSSEUM, corner of Ihirty-Aith street.—LONDON IN Broadway, M.; closes at5 P.M. Same at7 P. M.; cioses ‘1874, at L sri: QUADRUPLE SHEET. New York, bor sacks April a9, 1874. From our (iporis Uda shoratng the iprotblitlae are that the weather to-day will be clear towards evening. é Caprure or a Deravurer.—Klenen, the defaulting secretary of the Hoboken Savings Bank, has been brought back from England, where he was cleverly captured by Detective McDonough. Klenen, it is alleged, has em- bezzled one hundred and forty thousand dollars. De. Lrvmestoyz.—A description of the arrival of the Malwa with the remains of this illustrious man at Southampton, and the honors thereupon paid to his memory by his fellow countrymen, will be found elsewhere. Dr. Livingstone’s black servant accompanied the remains and found an old acquaintance in our distinguished correspondent, Mr. Stanley, who was the recipient of warm acknowledg- ments from the people and authorities. Anz tae Pouce Asove THE Law?—The police seem resolved to keep public attention fixed on their marked indifference to the law, which is supposed to be supreme over every citizen. Captain Williams, who figured so Conspicuously a few weeks ago, appeared in Court yesterday in connection with the alleged carrying off of a young girl twelve years of age. A writ was served on himself and the venerable Matsell demanding the production of the child in Court, but neither of the worthies felt called on to obey. The matter will come up again to-day. Tae Neweatz Diwsasten.—Yesterday three several persons were crushed in the ruins. It is not said whether the buildings were old and decayed or whether they were only un- | der process of construction. If new, it only buildings in Newgate street, London, tell, and | these men or their enemy. NEW YORK Controversy im Arkansas—The Story of the ‘Olaimants.” As yet there has been no warin Arkansas, and we yesterday called attention to the com- forting presence of so many brigadiers in “command” in that State as an assurance that there would not be war. Where there is abundance of brigadiers we are certain of peace. The claimants of the Governorship, Messrs. Baxter and Brooks, show their pacific intentions by sending us the statements which we print elsewhere. We understand that these gentlemen mean to press their case to a high ju- dicial decision. Butin the meantime they seek the supreme tribunal, that of public opinion; and, recognizing in the Hzraup a court of the highest jurisdiction as a court of public opinion, they come before us this morning— all the way by telegraph—and ask to be heard. This is a most sensible procecding, and we gladly give their argument, and shall now proceed as carefully and impartially as pos- sible to state it and to give the impressions it makes upon us. Joseph Brooks, one of the claimants, assures us that in the first place he was chosen Gov- ernor of Arkansas by a fair and sufficient ma- jority. This majority was illy used. When the returns indicating the vote were read in the Logislature three counties were thrown out. These counties had given him large ma- jorities, which were not carried to his credit in estimating the votes. More than all, there were other counties where the majority in his favor was fair and sufficient, but rascally county clerks and other wicked officers changed the returns and made the result appear in favor of Baxter. So shameless was this action that in one county alone the majority was changed from sixty voters to thres hundred majority in Baxter's favor, As if these manifold villanies were insufficient to seat Baxter firmly on his throne, that officer took the astounding step of actually purchasing the Legislature. Like Macbeth, he was evidently resolved to be in a con- dition as broad and general as the casing air. The Legislature was actually “purchased,” and was so emphatically owned by Baxter that an honest man would run the risk of asphyxia within its fetid and unwholesome walls. Brooks incurred no such risk. Nor did he even seek ‘‘justice” in the courts. He was content to await and bide his time. But his friends were now zealous, and so they went into the courts. Here Baxter did not dare to follow him, and so conclusive was the evidence that Brooks procured a decision in his favor. So justified he quietly took the oath of office and assumed the duties of “Governor.” Mr. Brooks gives us many legal reasons for these proceedings, and assures us that there is nothing like a writ of quo warranto to give an honest but badly cheated Governor his dues. Our New York lawyers, he is cer- tain, will confirm him in this opinion. But this is not a great deal, as we have New York lawyers who would confirm any opinion. By the courts he has risen and by them he is willing to fall In the meantime he will hold on to his “authority.” He gives us the practical information that Baxter has no money; that he has it all himself, and that the State Treasurer and Auditor will not pay a Baxter draft. Baxtcr already, he adds, has robbed all of his friends, going so faras to plunder the merchants of fifty thousand dollars. This, he shrewdly inti- mates, is a proceeding that even friends will not endure very long. Mr. Baxter, the incumbent, and also a claim- ant, gives usa calm and picturesque statement of his case. He paints his quiet, retired man- ner of life on the bench, a position suited to his scholarly and pastoral tastes, and with no ambition for political honors. He shows us the anxious condition of the republican leaders, Senator Clayton among others, whose supremacy had fallen into a bad way from many causes, not necessary to specify, but quite intelligible to all who know anything of carpet-bag governments. While in this dilemma and in search of an honest man, they found Baxter, and dragged him from retire- ment and made him Governor. As to the in- tegrity of the election, no one ever questioned that, to his knowledge. He had thirty-two hundred majority, and the oath was admin- istered by Chief Justice McClure, who, in ad- dition to his judicial station, is likewise the editor of an important newspaper, an example of double duty and responsibility which our New York brethren might well follow in these days of libel suits. If there were frauds the pastoral and judicial Baxter did not know of them, and they must have been the work of Senator Clayton, of Chief Justice and editor Mc- Clure and the rest of the anxious republicans who had seduced him into the Governorship, but who now seek his overthrow. All went very well in the beginning, but, oddly and sadly enough, the men who had made him Governor insisted upon using him. They wanted the ell as well as the inch. They had a number of bills which it was necessary he should approve. But the effect of them would be not only to rob the State of its money, but place a ‘triumvirate’ over the,liberties and happiness of the people. There does not seem to have been much lib- erty or happiness in Arkansas recently ; but what little remained would have been taken away. So Baxter found he must be the tool of He made his deci- sion. He would save the people by becoming the | enemy of “the triumvirate.’’ Accordingly, they shows that bad management prevails in Lon- | don as it does in New York, and that builders have to be carefully watched. If old, it shows the need that exists for extensive demolition and quite as extensive reconstruction. As we showed a few days ago, the habitations of the London po greatest of modern Passacz or THe Aprzoraiuation Bri1.—The House yesterday took up and passed the Gen- eral Appropriation bill, agreeing to some of the amendments proposed by the committee. The celebrated landaulet item, which in o moment of virtue had been stricken out, was Festored by the House. The Department of Justice is to have horses and carriages a in the old days and no retrenchment will be listened to in this direction. An effort to give gaugers Deven dollars a day, instead of five, was, how- ever, defeated, and after this display of virtue the members could well afford to show their cities. are @ standing disgrace to the | began their war. The constitution provides that all questions like a contest for the Gover- norsbip shall be submitted to the Legislature. But here they would not come. They went to the courts, and before the full Supreme Bench the case was heard ‘The result was that, with only a single dissenting voiee, the Court decided in Baxter's favor. This dissentient was McClure, the editorial Chief Justice. This Court remanded the whole question back to the Assembly, that body beimg wloue compe- tent to decide. Mr. Baxter gives us the law op the subject at length, and he makes « keen poimt by quot- ing approvals of his course by Senators Clay- ton and Dorsey. He prints telegraph de- spatches from Clayton deploring the guo war- rarto proceeding by which he was subsequently assail@l os detrimental to the Miberesis of the State. But when the differenee Wok place these Senators offered the Governor bigh in ducements if he would assent to their wishes. He declined, and the “conspiracy” begen. The quo warranto case was revived and a fespect for the law by voting horses an/ car- | sudden judgment obtained in the sbeence fiages to the Department of Justice. A his counsel Brooks camo with HERALD, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 1874.-QUADRUPLE SHEET, an armed body of men and seized the State House. There Brooks remains, and the only reason why Baxter has not taken it is that he ‘does not desire bloodshed.” He awaits the decision of the Supreme Court, and in the meantime has summoned the Legis- lature. He will “hold the office’? until the end of the term or until legally removed by the one or the other. Tt seems to us that Baxter has the best case of the two; but the unfortunate fact remains that he has no money. That is an important feature in Arkansas politics. Baxter also may ‘have persuasive qualities which the blunt and crisp Brooks does not exhibit in his argument, and our readers must wait further evidence before coming to a decision. So we permit the case to stand over for the present. The painful fact remains that the condition of affairs in Arkansas is a misfortune to that State, a sad evidence of misgevernment, of crime, folly, corruption and shame; but it is only another in the series ot seandals that have marked recon- struction in the South since the close of the war. We have closed the war, but we have not made # pence. Chaos remains, but chaos is not reconstruc- tion. The major general has been withdrawn, but the adventurer has taken his place. Mili- tary severity has been succeeded by untram- melled license. The natural leaders of the South are disfranchised, banished, silent, dead. The new rulers have gone, like the English to India or the Spanish to Cuba, to wring wealth out of the people, and leave when enriched. Splendid States like Arkan- sas, Louisiana and the Carolinas, rich in natural resources, climate and all the bless- ings that nature can bestow, are plundered. They have no enterprise, no growth, no prosperity, no encouragement to industry or enterprise, no security at home, no credit abroad, It is indeed a sorry sight, a dis- grace to our Republic more marked even than Poland or Ireland. Poland has a government which keeps the peace and protects property, and Ireland is ruled by men who may despise her history, her traditions and her hopes, but who do not plunder the treasury and oppress the people for their personal gain. Inflation in Congress. The question of passing the Inflation bill over the veto of the President was brought rather unexpectedly before the Senate yester- day, and went toa vote without any extended discussion. The motion was put merely as a matter of form, as the sup- porters of the measure well understood their inability to obtain the required two- third majority. The motion to ‘‘pass the bill notwithstanding the objection of the Presi- dent” received only thirty-four yeas, while thirty nays were recorded. As a two-third majority was necessary to make the bill law, the veto was sustained, and the country may congratulate itself on an escape from one of the most revolutionary and dan- gerous measures which have been attempted since Fort Sumter was fired on. General Grant has deserved the best thanks of the nation for his independence and firmness in putting his foot on this inflation scheme, and has restored confidence among native and for- eign capitalists, The spectre of repudiation was looming up, and had the Inflation bill be- come law the evil effects of the measure would not have long delayed in making themselves visible, Unsafe Buildings. The falling of the house in Brooklyn on Friday and the discovery that the splendid apartment building in Twenty-seventh street, extending from Broadway to Fifth avenue, known as the Stevens building, is unsafe are fresh evidences of the necessity of a stricter supervision by the departments having these things in charge in the two cities. We are afraid the title of inspector of buildings is a legal fiction, or else that the term superin- tendent conveys a very different meaning from that usually attributed to it. Are these offices mere sinecures created for the personal gain of a few officeholders but imposing no teal duties upon theincumbents? This question is a startling one, but the accidents which occur trom time to time by the falling of buildings supposed to be safe seem to be an answer quite as startling os the question. No eye, except the practised eye of a builder, could have detected a flaw in the Fifth avenue front of the Stevens house; yet within a few days of the first discovery of weakness in the im- mense structure there were seams in the ceil- ing and a fissure in the walls. It was this ac- cidental discovery, perhaps, that prevented a great crash and terrible loss of life, Let it be understood that the public offisers whose duty it is to remove unsafe buildings and to see that only safe structures are erected are equally responsible with the architects, and that all are to be rigorously punished whenever culpability is proved, and much of the danger will be avoided. In this matter the good old notion of “making an example’’ would prove of immense advantage. Tae Loxssyino Casz.—Chief Justice Daly took occasion yesterday, in reviewing the evi- dence in the case of Shaw vs. Babcock, to re- mark on the peculiar condition of the Legis- lature of this State as pointing either to the existence of widespread corruption or a most vexatious cumbrousness in procedure. The latter was the charitable view to take, but we fear Judge Daly was much nearer the mark when he arrived at the other conclusion. About the lobbying case, as it stands at pres- ent, we have nothing to say ; but we are glad | to hear a Judge of the land denounce in bold and unmistakable terms the evils which are sapping the very foundations of pope gov- | ernment, | OvercHarcine Emionanrs, —The practice of selling through tickets in Europe seems to be attended with abuses which deserve the closest attention on the part of the authori- ties. A case was brought under the notice of the Emigration Commissioners yesterday where as much as twenty-one dollars are | alleged to have been overcharged. The worst | of the matter seems to be that the law for the protection of emigrants does not reach per- sons engaged in this ticket-selling business in Europe, and no remedy can be had against companies making the overcharge. If this be | really the case the flaw in the law should be repsired with the least possible delay, so that | steamship companies trading to this port | shall be compelled to ‘respect the law rade for the protection of omigranta. the Administration. Congress is threatened with an avalanche of financial propositions, and if we are not speedily “relieved” in regard to money troubles it will not be for want of readiness on the part of our lawmakers. Inflation, re- sumption and taxation appear in almost equal proportions in the new bills. Some of them have the air of spiteful retorts at parts of the President's Veto Message, and one of them, re- citing a portion of the Message as a ‘‘whereas,"* proposes to meet its call for further revenue by a round re-enactment of nearly all the objec- tionable taxes levied under the pressure of war necessities, but since wisely repealed. It is greatly to be regretted that the government seems in the situation to consider itself as re- lieved of all the responsibilities that are ordi- narily supposed to rest on governments in cases of this nature. Many have thought it a detect in our parliamentary system that it did not provide a regular machinery for the presentation and support of government meas- ures in Congress; but the absence of such a machinery has never been found to cause especial embarrassment, though it has been quite otherwise with the absence of a policy. If the government has a policy to maintain there are ways enough to have it maintainéd ; and, indeéd, with the Congresa and the Ex- ecutive both in the hands of the same party, the leader of the House for the majority is practically a ministerial voice on the floor, and might be supposed to advocate only measures with which the assurance of Executive sym- pathy was clear, At present, certainly, a hitch in the course of legislation and a serious party mishap are the consequences of want of clear perception in Congress of the purposes and policy of the government. Perhaps there will shortly be an improvement in this respect, for it is scarcely conceivable, in view of what has occurred, that all we have recently heard on the subject of the impending retirement of Secretary Richardson can be absolutely with- out significance. We take it for a certainty that there will soon be a new Secretary of the Treasury. Persistent report may often be of very little value as to facts, but when report of this nature coincides with every one’s per- ceptions as to the propriety of a course that it is asserted will be taken, the report seems to assumea foundation in the general conscious- ness of what is likely to be true. Mr. Rich- ardson will probably go out because his posi- tion at the head of the Treasury Department seems untenable. Very unpleasant facts have been brought out by the moiety investigation, facts which require that his rectitude should be shown, and his failure to clear away the doubts that they suggested is scarcely con- sistent with his presence at the head of the national exchequer. It is tolerably clear, also, that he is financially incapable, and it is to this we must attribute the unprecedented fact that ina great parliamentary contest, in a struggle which enlisted the sympathies and excited the attention of the people so greatly as the debate on inflation, there was no policy at issue that could, by any license of speech, be called the policy of the government. Our financial minister was a nonentity in the conflict. He was not only unknown and unheard of in our greatest de- liberation of recent years—a deliberation directly involving the principles that underlie the administration of his department—but while that very deliberation was in progress he was under discussion and investigation by & committee charged with © inquiring into cor- rupt practices. With a new Secretary of the Treasury we could do better than this; for the President, advised very evidently outside of his Cabinet, has boldly left the negative ground hitherto held, and his veto is itself a strongly affirma- tive financial policy. It presentsin few words all the essential points of the objects to be attained in giving stability to our money sys- tem and confidence to the country, and with ® capable financier in the Treasury Depart- ment to indicate by what steps we should reach the points indicated there would be no further trouble; for there is not in our finan- cial condition any difficulty that is great in itself or that is insuperable to even moderate capacity; but the difficulties that exist threaten the future only because it is painfully evident how little they are understood by those whose position should be suyposed to imply knowl- edge on such subjects. From a new Secre- tary, therefore, if wisely chosen, we have much to hope. In the anomalous position in which the gov- ernment stands the door is opened to such misadventures in legislation as happened with regard to the Four Hundred Million bill. General Butler answered for the ad- ministration on the floor of the House, and covertly seemed to give notice of knowledge that the President would sign the bill He was stopped by the rules, as he knew he would be, but not before he had said all that he intended to say. All that the rules accomplished was to cover his retreat— to prevent a discussion which might have brought out the fact that he spoke without au- thority or knowledge in a casein which his adroitly dropped words had already influenced the votes of all those who were ready and anx- ious to support any measure the administra- tion thought necessary. He represented the government, it was thought—was a friend and supporter of its policy; and yet the measure that thus obtained great support was rejected by the government. It was a case, therefore, something like false pretences; but, as the government had no authoritatively declared policy outside its regular messages, the occa- sion was given, and hence the success of the fraud. Senators Morton and Logan were also known especially as administration men, and their earnest advocacy gave color to the notion that the measure would receive the President's assent. But their position was based appar- ently on a false pretence; for in the course events have taken it is unmistakably clear they were not in sympathy with the Presi- dent's ideas. Were they any more really in sympathy with the ideas of the Western peo- ple, whom they pretend to represent? Or is that pretence also false? From the tone of the Western press of the best class, and from such declarations as that of the Chicago Board of Trade, we should not be surprised to find that the loud declaration of the Western de- mand for paper money was, on the part of the noisy advocators, as thorough a Congressional confidence game as the pretence of the infla- tionists that Grant was with them, down to the aa A en ee Financia! Propositions—The Policy of | Moment when men’s eyes’ wore opened by the veto, The Paths of the Sea and Steam Lanes. The paths of the sea ought to be as well understood as the highways on the land. It is noteworthy that when caravans through the great deserts were more numerous than they are now they mostly pursued the same beaten track. The same thing was true of the pioneer parties which followed each other far beyond the bounds of civilization into the Far West in such rapid succession in the early part of the century. Indeed, it was found extremely hazardous, both in ancient and in modern times, to wander from the defined courses through uninhabited regions. These truths, gathered from experience in land traffic, are now especially applicable to the ocean. Science will be busy during the next few years in finding paths over the sea for sailing ves- sels of every kind, paths best suited to times and seasons, and where winds and currents are most favorable. But because steamships are not sore subject to the wind and the tide ig no reason why they also should not have their allotted paths. Indeed, they are moré at the mercy of the sea than the brave little schooners which can outride every storm. We have had many examples lately of steamers going to pieces on the high seas, magnificent vessels filling with water and certain to result in great loss of life if other vessels had not been near by to save the passengers, or dashing upon the rocks in the night because they were out of their reckon- ing. An intelligent method of navigating the ocean as certain in its courses as the drives through the Central Park is the great neces- sity of steam travel. Within the next ten years fully two hundred steamers will ply be- tween New York and distant ports. Increased iravel ought to secure increased safety, and as the majority of these vessels cross the Atlantic no effort must be spared to secure it. All the dangerous routes must be avoided and practi- cal pathways established which will be safe in all seasons and secure for the public all the advantages of ocean travel. It is in vain to look to legislation for this great necessity of steam lanes. Congress can not prescribe a pathway for foreign vessels, nor Parliament define the course of American ships. But the leading steamship companies can do what no legislation can effect. They can define the paths for their ships and compel the officers of their vessels to pursue the courses laid down on their charts. A sim- ple agreement on their part to do this will have more than the force of law. We look to the companies for the realization of this idea of steam lanes across the Atlantic. They have simply to bring their knowledge and experi- ence to bear upon the question to settle upon @ course for outward and inward bound ves- sels, and, having found the most secure routes, tosee that their vessels pursue them. This will be the solution of the whole matter, and in practice will restore lost confidence in steam vessels and prevent the frequently recurring accidents and loss of life of the last two or three years. The Approaching Close of the Musical Season. Notwithstanding the panic, stagnation in business and other adverse circumstances which might be supposed to exercise a deleterious effect upon everything in the line of public entertainments, the musical season which is now fast drawing to a close has been the most brilliant ever known in this city. The history of the operatic or concert stage in the American metropolis cannot furnish a parallel to the varied programmes furnished at the Academy of Music and Steinway Hall, the Lyceum and Stadt theatres and the Grand Opera House since the commencement of the fall season of music. The Strakosch Italian Opera Company deserves to be placed at the head of all lyric organizations which have sung before the New York public, as artistic excellence has characterized its performances from first to last. The production of ‘The Huguenots,” “Aida” and ‘Lohengrin” par- took of the nature of a reform in opera. Many great artists have appeared before the metro- politan public within the last quarter of a century, but, as a general rule, they have been very inadequately supported in opera. For the first time we have had the choral and orches- tral departments placed on the same level with the solo artists and a chef d'orchestre possessing Costa-like firmness, experience and talents. No longer are the ears of the public regaled with the variety performance that was so long mis- named opera, or their eyes offended with a lyric jewel in a pinchbeck setting. The re- form is of the most complete kind, and, as we long ago predicted, it has met with the most hearty encouragement and support of the public, Managerial enterprise, when guided by art, will never fail to win substan- tial admiration here. As the season draws towards a close its brilliancy seems to become intensified and the attractions are multiplied tenfold. Last night there was a gala per- formance, consisting of the choicest extracts from the operatic works of Meyerbeer; Ros- sini, Wagner, Auber and Verdi, and we are promised on Sunday evening an attraction no less great—namely, the immortal ‘‘Stabat Mater” of Rossini, with Nilason and Lucca and the rest of the company. Italian opera every day for o fortnight, at a high price for admission and seats, and yet drawing large houses, is @ significant proof of the apprecia- tion of the New York public for good music. No less hearty has been the public recognition of the valuable services of Theodore Thomas in the cause of art, and his symphony con- certs and classical matinées have become as fashionatfe as they are artistic. We have also had English, German and French opera served up to us in every shape, and concerts without number, and in very few cases have the public failed to exhibit appreciation of the efforts of the various managers. Even with the departure of the Strakosch troupe next week the musical season ig this city will not end, as Mile. Ima di Murska then com- mences a German opera engagement at the Stadt Theatre, The present season has been fruitful in novelties, and many standard works of the old and new schools have been heard for the first time. Such an exhibit, in face of a terrible financial crisis, speaks volumes for the artistic taste of the metropolis. Tae Can Tumr Nuisanom.—Some light- fingered thief did a good day's work lately in stealing five thousand dollars from a passenger on one of the street cars. No effort is made by the police or by the hom car companies to abate the nuisance of gang: of roughs blocking the platforms of the street cars, though it isa well known dodge of thé thieves. The conductors dare not interfere } & word, even of warning, might cost them their lives. Truly 9 pleasant state of things for a civilized community ! American Academies of Art. oe Progress has been mada in the m of making the Academy of Design what the representative arf institution of America ought to be, @ cradle of really high art, much remains to be done. Unfortunately it is not possible as yee for persons well informed about art to deceive themselves as to the inferior position we oo cupy in the highest walks of art, Where marked success has been attained by individual artists the credit has been almost always due to their foreign educa. tion, and their methods have been bor rowed from the schools in which they happened to receive their training. ‘The want of just such an institution as the Academy of Design should be has left this country without a school of art. Individuals, it is true, have asserted their idiosyncrasies and given us pictures with a truly American flavor, which are not wanting in cleverness, but do not belong to a high class of art. They are crude, as is the art of all countries in the beginning, but give indication of what might be effected towards building up a distinctive school of American art wero the facilities of training and art education given to our students, In this age of inter- communication and rapid exchange of ideas it appears monstrous that the art students of the country should be compelled to grope their way to perfection, just as the artists of the Middle Ages went over ground that had already been travelled by the lost art of Greece. So far as the teaching of American students has been concerned the art of Europe might almost as well have boen lost, so little has it hitherto affected the instruction of our young artists. They have been left to invent methods and grope their way to what excel lence they have attained with infinito labor and difficulty. The reformed Academy aima at mending this painful and regretable state of things. In order to obtain public countenance and support the reform has been begun where the public will most appreciate it—on the walla of the annual exhibition. When we look back at the deplorable condition of affaim which existed four years ago, and then turn to the exhibition of to-day, we feel confident that in the future the Academy of Design will fill worthily its mission as the teacher of the stadent and instructor of the public. Ite destiny is to be the art light of this Continent, and this is an end worth working for. The High Tariff Men on the Alert. The Committee of Ways and Means re ceived a deputation of gentlemen yesterday and heard arguments from them in favor of increasing the tariff. These gentlemen want the act of June 6, 1873, which reduced the duty on certain imported articles, repealed. They hail from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. Among them, and prominent as spokesmen, were Mr. Reeves, of Philadelphia, President of the American Iron and Steel Association; General Robert Pat- terson, of the same city, owner of several cotton and woollen factories, and Mr. Whar- ton, the proprietor of large nickel works. They seemed to represent the Illinois, Wis- consin and Michigan men, whoever these latter might be, in the conference. We da not think there are any representative Western men who could advocate a ten per cent increase of the tariff, though there may be some representing their own interesta who would do so. Of course there was a good deal said about the depressed con- dition of the manufacturing interests and the necessity of fostering them. It is the old story. This movement of the manufacturers was inspired, no doubt, by the significant remarks of the President in his late Veto Mea- sage of the Financial and Currency bill. The President, it will be remembered, urged an increase of the revenue, with a view, osten- sibly, of augmenting the resources of the government so as to bring about specie pay- ments. Then the refusal to increase the cur- reney may make it necessary to raise a larger revenue in order to meet the expenditures. The policy of the administration, as indicated by the remarks referred t6, would call for more taxation, and as it is not likely direct taxation will be resorted to the revenue required must be obtained from higher duties. The manufacturers see their opportunity and are wise enough not to neglect it. This we regard as the secret of the movement men- tioned and the appeal made before the Com. mittee of Ways and Means to repeal the act of last year reducing the tariff, Affairs in Spain. Our news from Spain resolves itself into two points—the first is that the Carlists have asked Serrano for amnesty; the second is that Sefior Castelar has written a letter in favor of a federal republic, We have not much re- spect for ‘‘News from Spain,” as it seems ta be written altogether for effect on the London money market. Spanish statesmen are alwaya borrowing money, and the news they permit to go over their wires is meant to encourage the English to give them more credit. The first point, about the Carlists asking for am- nesty, is absurd. Serrano has never had the Carlists in a position to expect them to seek mercy and oblivion. The Carlist cause is now where it was forty years ago—where it hag always been—intrenched in the Biscayan mountains, almost inaccessible to regular troops, and sustained by a people who live on romance, adventure and wartare. Castelar’s declaration means that he is onea more in full communion with his party. But he returns, we have little doubt, as a penitent, not asa leader, “With all of his extraordinary gifta—and as an orator he probably is sure passed by no man that lives and few that ever lived—he showed no foresight as President; none of those sterner and less attractive qual- ities by which men are governed, not moved. Conresston or Murpzr.—Waltz, the Cate- kill murderer, having confessed to the killing of an organ grinder, the authorities are search- ing for the body under the direction of the assassin, We hope the rurals will suspend his operations and himself at the earliest con- venient moment. He is too good for thie world,