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

6 NEW YORK HERAL BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR THE DAILY HERALD, pudlished every day in he ‘ear. Four cents per copy. Annual subscription | Price $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yore Hunarp. 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 XXXxIx.. No. 145 a pe iy nae NIBLO'S GARDEN, y, between \eapes] and Houston streets —THR ° THE Laks, at8 ve HEATRE COMIQUR, VARIETY ENTKRTAINMENT, at 8 Broadw: LADY 0 No. 5t4 Broad wi P. aL; closes at WALLACK’S THEATRE, ay and Thirtecnth street TH CLANDESTINE MCRRTAT Eat gi a closes at il P.M. Mr. Lester allack, Miss Jeffreys Lewis. OLYMPIC TUEATRE, roadway, between Houston und Bleecker AUD: Duy TLLE and NOVELTY ENTERTAINMENT. ‘at 45 P.M. ; closes at 1045 P.M. Bi v 7 BOOTH'S THEATRE, Sixth avenue, corner of Twenty third street.—KING JOHN, atS P.M; closes at 1046 PM. Mr. John McCul- Jough. METROPOLITAN THY ATR No. 585 Broadway.—VARI“TY EN MRTAISMENT, at 7:45 P.M. ; closes at 10:30 P. M. WOOD'3 MUSEU Broadway, corner of Thirtieth GIRL, at 2 P.M; closes at 4 POM. MARKED FOR LIFE, at's P. Mr closes at 10 M. Lonts Aidrich. DALY'S FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, \dway.—OLIVER TWIST, Twenty eighth street and Bros 7. M.:closes at 10 Migs Fann, Bijou Heron, Mr, Louis James. vation asi MRS. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE, LONDON AsSURANU . Miss Jane Coombs, NEW PARK THE. CHRIS AND LENA, at3 BROOKLYN. Baker and Faron. TONY PASTOR'S No. 201 Bowery.—VARIE-TY § £. M-j closes at 5:30 P. M BRYANTS OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third street. near Sixth avenue STBKLSY, &c., at 3 P.M. ; closes at 10 P. hee CENTRAL PARK GARDEN, Fifty-ninth street and Sixth avenue.—THOMAS' CON- OBE, at 3 P. M. ; closes at 10:30 P. M. STEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth street-—CONCSRT. Padovani, Miss Mendes, Ferrant, Agramonte, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN. ‘qurth avenue and Twenty-third street.—ANNUAL EX. Burro ‘Open day and evening. COLOSSEUM, Broadway, corner of Thirty fifth street.—-LONDON IN Ise att Pe M.; closesatS P.M. Same at7P. M.; closes at ; ROMAN HIPPO) ROME, Madison avenue and Twenty-sixth ‘street.—GRAND i eee OF NATIONS, at 1:30 P. M. and TRIPLE. SHEET. Monday, 1874. “May 25, From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be cloudy, with light rains. A Deapty Arrray, which took place on a St. John’s schooner off the coast of Maine, on Saturday night, reveals an almost unparalleled ease of daring on the part of a robber who nearly succeeded in killing the entire crew and got off scot free. The crew do not seem to have displayed even ordinary courage. Tae Guatemaxa Ovtaace, in which a Brit- ish Vice Consul received very harsh treatment, has brought forth an unqualified apology from the government responsible for the affair and an ample offer of the payment of all necessary damages. How different would have been the case had an American citizen been the suf- ferer ! Tue Unrversrries’ Recarra.—We publish to-day an interesting account of the pre- liminary work in which the gallant students of Harvard are engaged for the forthcoming regatta at Lake Saratoga with Wesleyan, Williams, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia, Yale and Princeton colleges. Certainly there can be no fault-finding this time with the course, as the lake is admirably suited for wah a grand aquatic event. No Sraczs To-Day.—It seem there are to be uo stages to-day unless the managers of the | lines are able to employ new drivers in place of the old ones. The demand for three dollars per day by the drivers is certainly not an ex- orbitant one when the length and severity of the labor is con.idered and it ought to be acceded to. We hope the companies will deal justly with the drivers, particularly as the latter come forward in the guise of honest men. The reason for this honesty should uot be too closely scrutinized by a carping world. Am For THE Massicnuserts SurreRERS. — The Mill River Relict Committee report that seven hundred and forty persons, who have lost nearly $20,000 by the late awful disaster, stand in need of immediate assistance. Thus far less than $39,000 have been received by the committee for this purpose, and that sum is entirely inadequate to carry out the benevo- lent intentions of the committee. The County Commissioners, it appears, inspected the reservoir a year ago, and refused to approve of | it in its then leaky condition. Yet it was snf- fered to remain, with what result the world now knows. Repvction or tae Army.—Mr. Coburn’s bill for the gradual reduction of the army is one of those measures which are proposed by the chairmen of committees that have really nothing to do. As the bill is entirely unnec- essary it is a very bad bill. The reduction of the number of regiments, and consequently of the officers of the line, is especially bad. It will be seen that the bill, a copy of which we print this morning, contemplates a reorgani- zation of the army, but the only idea which enters into this reorganization is the idea of redaction. to protect the extensive territory west of tho Mississippi from the marauding excursions of | the savages, and the army register does not | contain too many names for the speedy organ- ization of a sufficient force in case of war. Nobody expected an army bill from Mr. Coburn, merely because he happens to be Chaitman of the House Committee on Military Affairs, and his bill must be thrown out a6 an UdUOCrenarY InAManTe, eet —THE ORANGE | D!} The Amended finance Bill—The Duty of Congress. The country must not permit itself to be confused by the march and countermarch of amendments between the Senate and the | House. Attention must be kept steadily di- rected to the main features and general scope of the bill, and not be distracted by mere changes of detail. The Senate amendments to the original House bill were alterations for the worse ; the counter amendments agreed on by the House Committee on Banking and Cur- not render it a wise measure nor even restore it to as good a condition as that in which it first left the House. The original bill re- quired the withdrawal of fifty per cent of greenbacks for all the new issues of bank notes ; the Senate changed the filty per cent to twenty-five per cent, and the Committee on Banking and Currency propose forty per cent as acompromise. Each of these rates is bad in proportion to its smallness. What ought to be done is the retirement, dollar for dollar, of an amount of greenbacks equal to the new bank issues. Even this would permit of an expansion of the cur- rency, because the amount of bank notes which the bill in all its forms anthor- hundred millions below which the total of legal tenders is not to be diminished. They are needed only for reserves, and three hundred millions would furnish ample reserves for more than twice the circulation the country needs, The principles underlying this Finance bill should never be forgotten in any attempted legislation. No finance measure can suit the wants of the country unless it is a measure of financial peace and reconstruction. The evil of the bill vetoed by the President was that under the pretence of peace there was chaos; | the assurance that instead of building upon a policy we had seized upon an expedient, and that in the end we should find ourselves drift- ing into bankruptcy. It would be the severest blow to the administration of General Grant if, after all the pretences to pay the debt and relieve the Treasury from the financial embar- rassments of the war, we were really in a more deplorable condition than at any time since the war. As it is the financial situation to-day is deplorable. During the war there was always the stimulus of combat and effort to excite us to renewed exertions and to induce an activity that was actually prosperity. The uncertainty of war led naturally to that spirit of specula- tion which always has a life and attractive- ness of its own, and which is by the general multitude mistaken for prosperity. No such artificial stimulus now exists, and what the country wants is not to drift and float upon the uncertain seas of inflation and repudia- tion, but to find repose, opportunity and peace. Therefore, we look upon this amended bill or upon any bill dealing with finance with jeal- ous eyes. The effect of this bill on the cur- rency, if it becomes a law, can be easily fore- seen. The intended withdrawal of eighty-two It is to be hoped, therefore, that | it will not pasa, Our army is already too smaik | | to reserve one-fourth of the gold they receive millions of greenbacks is not a measure of contraction, but of expansion. Five dollars of new bank notes are to be issued for every two dollars of greenbacks withdrawn. In re- ducing the latter to the fixed limit of three hundred millions, two hundred and five millions of additional bank notes will be put in circulation. When tbat limit is reached the amount of the currency will be as fol- lows: — Legal tender notes.... Preseut authorized bai Additional bank notes This is about ove hundred and sixty millions of dollars more currency than existed previous to the panic of last autumn. It may be said that although the banks would have the power to swell the currency to colossal pro- portions they would not exercise it. But what is to check them? If they were com- pelled to redeem their notes in gold that would be an effectual check. Their man- agers would be compelled to keep a sharp and constant outlook on the amount of gold in the country and the causes which might lead to its exportation, and to regulate their affairs accordingly. But they will be exempt from any watchful anxiety respecting the green- backs. The greenbacks are more than double the amount of gold that would ever stay in the country, and no bank would be restrained from putting out its notes by fears that it could not procure legal tenders to redeom them. If the panic was a consequence of in- flation what are we to expect when the chan- nels of circulation are to be swollen by an additional one hundred and sixty millions? It has been often said by the inflationists, in Congress and out of it, that the increase of currency by free banking would be very slow and gradual. But they are misled by a false analogy. Their argument is that when Con- gress authorized an increase of the national bank circulation trom the original three hun- dred millions to three hundred and fifty-four millions years intervened before the new notes were taken, and that we should experience a similar result. The fact is true, but the in- ference does not follow. That addition was be no necessity for organizing new institu. tions in order to flood the sountry with more currency. The machinery for doing it is al- ready in working order. stay for the engraving of new plates. All banks wishing to make great profits by the autumnal moving of the crops this year will have merely to deposit the requisite amount of bonds previously to the ist of Septem- ber, and the Comptroller of the Currency will sapply them with all the new notes they can use, printed from the old plates, The other new amendments will be accepta- ble to the banks and not much censured by the community. With specie payments so distant as this bill would make them, there is no reason why the banks should be compelled from. the government as interest on the | deposited bonds, and that part of the bill is | properly enongh stricken out. When wo | really approach specie payments the interest | and pradence of the banks may be relied on | for a supply of gold to meet their obligations. We can never have specie payments until the government is ready to redeem the green- i backs wud when buat period arrives the bauks | rency are doubtless improvements on the bill | as it came back from the Senate, but they do | izes is unlimited, with a fixed limit of three 4 to be chiefly given to new banks in particular | sections and localities; but by the pending | bill any amount of additional circulation may | be issued by the existing banks. There will | It need not even | will have an easy method of supplying them- selves with gold. The committee has also wisely dropped the requirement that banks keep the reserves for their posits in their own vaults. When the customers of the country banks draw out their deposits it is as often to make payments | check on New York better suits the conveni- ence of the depositors than payment in green- backs, and it would be a wanton interference with the natural course of business to forbid the banks to keep a part of their reserves at point where they can best accommodate their customers. The alterations in the redemption feature of the bill are of little consequence one way oF the other. Legislation which is not to take effect until July 1, 1878, is so exposed to repeal or modification in the long intervening | period, within which two new Congresses will be elected and two-thirds of the seats of the | present Senators be vacated, that nobody need borrow any trouble oris justified in founding | any hopes on its practical operation. The country is likely to learn a great deal during the next four years in the dear school of ex- perience, and it would require a great stretch of credulity to believe that the seesaw legisla- tion of the present session is to be stable and final. A Memorable Massachusetts Sabbath. The feature in the Hxnaxp's reports of re- ligious discourses to-day will be found in our summary of the sermons of the clergy in the Mill River Valley. One week ago that beautiful valley was a scene of desolation and death so grievous in their character that no services could be held in the churches. These sacred edifices were the charnel houses of the dead or were used to protect from the impending storm the poor creatures who had lost everything except their lives in the flood that had overwhelmed their homes and their friends, Yesterday, however, the people of that valley of deso- lation again assembled in their places of worship, where the pastors endeavored to console their flocks in their great bereavements. The texts in the majority of the sermons we print this morning are indicative of the spirit of the discourses. The Rev. Mr. Thorndike, the pastor of the Methodist church at the village of Williamsburg, preached from the text, ‘Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh.” Even more appropriate was the text of the Rev. Mr. Kimball, the Congrega- tional pastor at Haydensville, ‘“Thou carriest them away as with a flood.” And more touching still was the text of the Rev. Father Barry at the Catholic church at the latter vil- lage, ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." In the neighboring towns and villages the disaster was also the subject of clerical discourse. The Rev. Dr. Herrick, of the South Hadley Congregational church, in enforcing tho lesson of the calamity, took occasion to point out the fact that a tithe of the money lost by the flood would have made everything secure and saved many lives if it had been used in the construction of the dam. In following the same line of thought the Rey. Dr. Hall, of Northampton, asked, with the prophet, ‘‘Can a man take fire in his bosom and not be burned?’’; and the Rev. Dr. Leavitt thought there is no heretical opinion so bad as sham work. But perhaps the sermon likely to attract most attention as the one giving the clearest insight into the bereavements of the Mill River congregations, is that of the Rev. Mr. Gleason, of the Williamsburg Congregational church. Thirty members of his charge—thirteen members of his church alone—were swept away—Dr. Johnson, a deacon, his mother, his wife and his children, three generations in one grave, with other instances equally -heartrending. But even this clergyman, with the signs of mourning all around him, did not forget to say that the fatal reservoir was not dug with the shovel of divine decrees, and this is a lesson that needs to be learned all over the country. Steam Lanes—Their Most Feature. After ‘steam lanes” are established a marine patrol of these highways will become essen- tial. The outgoing ‘‘lane’’ will be to south- ward of the incoming “‘lane,’’ and between them there will bea neutral zone of the sea, elliptical in shape (on a projection), upon which steamships should not be permitted to trespass, This zone, it is believed by nauti- cal men, should not exceed sixty miles in breadth at its greatest width, and it would necessarily taper toward both termini. The maritime nations could easily holda combined squadron upon this zone, cruising at such times as might be considered seasons of the greatest danger, in order to arrest any steam- ship found out of her “‘lane.’’ Should the captain of a man-ot-war find a steamship going beyond her specified limits, without good and sufficient reasons it would be his duty to dispossess tho captain of his position and replace him by a competent offi- cer ‘from the marine patrol. This in many cases might be a severe and ex- treme measure; but it would be salutary, in any event, as showing commanders that they cannot violate & marine regulation simply because they are on the ‘‘vasty deep.”’ It may be argued that this plan is entirely too theoretical and cannot be put into easy opera- tion, We reply that it has often been done in | the earlier wars, when squadron fought against | squadron, and that nothing is easier than for vessels to have a fixed rendezvous at a deter- minate point of latitude and longitude. We will suppose that two vessels leave the port of New York bound for Queenstown ; they are compelled to keep company across the ocean ; if one spring a leak or be set on fire or break down, her convoy is at hand toassist her and, if necessary, to relieve her of passengers, mails and cargo. We do not believe the captain and crew, in any event, should abandon a vessel. To do it strikes at the root of all mari- time polity and establishes a precedent which would have tho effect of transforming the traditional sailox into » coward. These may, seem cruel words,, but they mean that, without the born instincts of a seaman, come mercial daring, which has brought us to our | present high degree of civilization, will pass away, and with it prestige on the seas. Yot, sbould a ship’s company take to the boats in | the final moment, they would inevitably be important | picked up by the twin steamers, which would | be but forty-eight hours behind them, and if | | not by them, then by the international mari- time patrol It will thus ba seen that . de- | in New York as for any other purpose. A) | _NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MAY 25, 1874.—TRIPLE security to life may be guaranteed by a few timely, expedient, inexpensive measures, which we have from time to time urged, and which we shall continue to urge until there be @ practical outcome of the discussion. ‘Woe have always sought to interest the author- ities of this country and of Europe in the lives and property of our citizens who travel by the sea, and we are gratified now to ob- serve that action is near at hand. The Complication in French Politics. The important despatch elsewhere printed from Paris giving the views of M. Thiers on the present orisis has unusual importance. M. Thiers, who, when President, regarded the- cry forthe dissolution of the Assembly asa crime against the sovereignty of the State, now advises that there can be no government without the approval of France, and that this can only come from the dissolution of the As- sembly and an appeal to the people. If a Ministry were altogether like one of those candy pyramids that are sometimes met in the streets on their perilous journey from the confectioner’s laboratory to the dinner party, then the Ministry just organized in Franee might be able to goon and might outlive, for at least a fortnight, the first col- lision of the factions that any accident may provoke. But, alas! thongh there are resem- blances between a Ministry and a confection- ery pyramid the dissimilarities are far greater in number and importance; tor, while the wonderful structure, marvellously combined to dazule the eye and tickle the palate, is made up of all the sweetness and the spice of life, as a good Ministry also should be, it is, un- fortunately, desperately brittle, and the co- hesive power of its particles is so slight, its tenuity is so delicate that it exists as a unity only through a considerateness and a courtesy on the part of the whole community that has often seemed to us thoroughly sublime. How beautiful it is to see the world give way as the confectioner’s men come down the street with o handbarrow on which the dainty fabric towers between them! How the man with a ladder on his shoulder waits till they get by ! How the boy with a butcher's cart throws his horse on his haunches rather than go over these men as they cross the street, and how the two small ruffians who have jostled all propriety out of the sireet for the last half mile suddenly stand rapt with ecstasy in the presence of art and transparent sugar! If there were in a political Ministry any quality which compelled this sort of involuntary homage and consideration, then it seems to ug just possible the new French Ministry might stand. But as a Ministry is made to weather all sorts of political storms, and is only successtul in proportion to its capacity in that way, it seems to us the new Ministry must go to pieces. Its defects are radical. In a political con- dition where there is no absolutely dominant party, and where, consequently, not a step can be taken that is not a compromise with everybody on some particular point, it is endeavored to make a Ministry by ruling out at least one of the factions, and this, also, on acase that involves no real crisis. Broglie went out on a point of dignity: nay, on something even of less magnitude, and ina spirit very like that which inspires the pout- ing of a spoiled child. It is only by parlia- mentary fiction that this could be called a crisis, and the endeavor to construe the case as involving the relation of parties to the constitutional bills has been altogether a failure, for the simple reason that in regard to those bills all the parties—or cer- tainly enough to make a clear majority—hold the same position of hostility and opposition. No party wants to make a constitution for a country save when it is itself dominant, and when therefore it may hope to give its domi- nancy the support and assistance of the per- manent law; but in the Assembly the par- ties are so near a balance that a constitution which precisely pleases any one, and which therefore displeases the others in the same proportion, cannot be carried. No constitu- tion is possible, therefore, save one that in- volves compromise, and the French would rather have none thin such a one. They aro an uncompromising people. They must have their absolute way when it comes to a clear contest, or they will explode the magazine. The thing that they hate above all others in their present condition of provisionalism is that it is based on the compromise made at Bordeaux. The one aspiration of every party | is to overcome this compromise in its own in- terest ; and-the proposition, therefore, to give the state of compromise the permanency of a constitutional compact is one that all parties will oppose. The Bonapartists will have un- usual influence from the strength and delicacy of their position, but afterall M. Thiers shows us how the Republic may conquer. England and the Kast African Slave Trade, In another place in the Hera of this morning we print a letter from one of our London correspondents descriptive of an anti- slavery meeting held at Stafford House under the auspices of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland. In such a place the assembly | was necessarily select; but a glance at the | names will show that there was a fair repre- sentation of those orders which control the public sentiment of England. With but one exception the speeches on the occasion seem | to have been more or less of that class with which we have been familiar for the last | twenty or thirty years. The slave trade on the east coast of Africa all admitted was a dis- gtace to the civilized nations, and the most vigorous measures should be adopted to make | on end of the evil. This was the opinion of the Duke of Teck, of Sir Bartle Frere, of the Austrian Ambassador, Count Beust, of W. O. Forster, the late Education Minister, of Dr. | Magee, the dashing and outspoken Bishop of Peterborough, and also of the venerable Dr, Moffat, the father-in-law of the lamented Livingstone. It was not until Mr. Henry M. Stanley rose that any practical suggestion was made for the suppression of the iniquitous traffic. Mr. Stanley's cure was briefly but emphatically stated. His remedy is simple, and, if applied, it could not fail to be effec- tive. He would have every trader entering the country bound in a heavy penalty not to | deal in slaves. On the evidence of three re- spectable persons he would have the slave- dealer convicted and heavily fined. ‘Towards | measures adopted. He suggests a court, composed of the officers of the shiv or ships , that all the papers im the case sbail be called , Jona the captain of a slaver he would have harsher | SHEET, which might capture him, to be presided over by the Consul General of the place. If found guilty he would have the offender sum- marily hung. Pungent language in such a place! But Mr. Stanley commanded the ap- proval of the audience, England can put down the slave trade if she is only willing. What she did on the west coast of Africa she can do on the east coast, The great trouble is that the slave trade pays, and John Bull is always slow to act when he knows he is to suffer in his pocket. Researches in Electricity—A Practical Suggestion. Sir William Thomson, the eminent scholar, has recently been agitating, before the tele- graphic engineers of England, a novel and comprehensive plan for researches in terres- trial electricity. It has now been nearly three centuries since Gilbert, the contemporary of Galileo, declared that the earth itself is a great magnet. But, though laboriously attacked by the astutest minds of modern science, the problem he suggested and the numerous kindred inquiries relating té practical matters of terrestrial and atmospheric electricity and the laws of magnetic variation are as yet in'a maze of scientific obscurity. The violent magnetic storms which derange our telegraph wires, as well as the ever-changing secular and annual oscillations of the mariner’s needle, are still mysteries and need elucidation. Sir William Thomson, who has had so much ex- perience as the scientific director of the Atlan- tic cable-laying parties, proposes a simple and inexpensive method of obtaining the electric data requisite for clearing up these mysteries, which now so befog the mariner and the tele- grapher. The first point to be elucidated is the strange secular vibration of the compass. In the middle of the sixteenth century the needle pointed towards the northeast; after a few years it pointed due north; then, till 1820, its direction was west of north, and now it is again returning to thenorth. Itisconfidently asserted by electricians that the dip of the needle is, within the next two cen- turies, to be greater than it has been for a thousand years or will be for another thousand years. Then the north mag- netic pole will lie a little to the west of Spitz- bergen, instead of, as now, in Boothia, latitude 78 deg. north, longitude 97 deg. west, where the nomadic point is nearly identical with the pole of maximum cold. This shifting of the north magnetic pole is, therefore, over 95 deg. of longitude, or more than one-quarter of the terrestrial parallel. Great as is this variation, necessitating, as it does, a continuous alteration of the mag- netic charts, it might be of secondary im- portance if it stood alone. But it is not the only nor most important perturbation which the needle undergoes. More rapid diurnal and even horary changes occur, apart from all local causes and apart from all disturbing forces, which sometimes lurk unsuspected on board ships. Between the tropics the hour of the day, we are told by Humboldt, may be quite nicely told by the direction of the needle. There are also localities where the sailor, who has been many days enveloped in mist and denied all means of determining the time, may know from the variations in the inclination of the magnetic needle whether his ship is north or south of the port he is trying to enter. But the magnetic storm, suddenly bursting on him, may at any time, and in a way not now understood, deflect his mysterious guide and derange all his calculations and courses. The flash of the Northern Light is the signal for still greater disturbances in the directive torce, the auroral waves instantly causing violent agitation and forcing the needle to make irregular oscillations on each side of ite mean position. During the auroral displays of September, 1859, the agitation extended, as it usually does, over vast sections of the globe where the display itself was not visible. On that occasion, at Toronto, the needle changed three degrees and forty-five minutes in half an hour; the inclination was observed to change nearly threo degrees, when it passed beyond the limit of the scale; while, elsewhere, equal or greater perturbations were recorded. These phenomena are among the greatest mysteries of science; but, if Sir William Thomson's plan of investigation can be car- ried out, their solution is by no means hope- less. He proposes that practical telegraphers devote a little of their leisure time to simul- taneous observations of the earth currents. The one common link connecting the phe- nomena and bringing them within the scope of observation is the electric telegraph, whether an air lino or submarine, And the eminent electrician judiciously recommends the operators to give the matter their study, assuring them that any single observation or series of observations on the electric poten- tials at one end of an insulated line will give results from which definite answers to the long-mooted questions might be fairly con-. cluded. It would not be the least of the many great benefits that the electric telegraph has con- ferred on the world should its practical work- men thus utilize its agency for solving the great problems Sir William Thomson has pro- pounded. If abstract science gives so many practical inventions to the arts, we know that the simplest mechanical contrivance has often | led the philosopher into new worlds of discov- ery. ‘There is no reason why, in this case, the electric telegraph should not requite four- fold the science which gave it existence. Professor Thomson's appeal suggests a line of | profitable occupation for the many active and thoughtful telegraphers in the employ of the large companies, Ganrrau Wenn ANp THE CanoLine Avram, — The explanation of General James Watson | Webb in regard to the Caroline affair, which | we print this morning, requires still further explanation to render it satisfactory, if not to make it intelligible. A large sum was paid by the Brazilian government on account of this claim, only twenty-five thousand dollars reaching the Treasury at Washington, the rest going to the ‘agents’ who assisted in press- ing the demand, Apparently {t was@ very | | great job. General Webb, as the American Minister to Brazil, according to his own showing, made the proposition to the State De- ' partment through which this disposition of the money was agreed upon, Secretary Seward as- senting to it, and the honor of the American government, | the afternoon of the 13th inst, for by Congress, and we hope the corre. spondence relating to the case will clear away every suspicion which now attaches to the transaction. The Sermons Yesterday. The natal day of Christianity, as White Sunday or Pentecost is happily called, drew forth the eloquence of some prominené preachers at the churches yesterday. Rev. Mr. Frothingham treated the subject in a rather deprecatory style. He did not repose! much confidence in ‘a descending spirit, con~ trolling and directing, sent at the caprice of God,” but counselled his hearers to depend. upon the interior spirit that beats within each breast. He also ventured the remarks that “all men can be bought and sold,” and “Jesus, Mahomet and Paul lighted up humanity.” Rev. Mr. Beecherspoke of salva tion by grace through faith, and in discussing ideal manhood maintained that “man at birth is a city sketched out on paper, but not built.” Rev. Mr. Hepworth spoke exhaus- tively on the difficulty of gaining a definite knowledge of a Supreme Being. Dr. McGlynn, of St. Stephen’s church, besides a sermon in the morning on the Christian Pentecost, gave an interesting lecture in the evening on the sub- ject of Church and State, taking for his text the words of the Saviour, ‘‘Render unte Cmsar the things that are Crsar’s.” He pointed out the many warnings that may be found in the pages of history to temporal rulers not to interfere in the affairs of God. The awful fate of Pilate, Herod and the Jews showed the importance of the words of our Redeemer, when this phase of Cesarism was brought to his notice. He also alluded to the proud boast of the first Emperor Napoleon, when the news of his excommunication by Pope Pius VIL was brought to him, and the long train of disasters that from that time forth attended the arms of France. The Charch is now being persecuted in Germany and Switzerland, and the lecturer warned the Prussian Chancellor and the Alpine Republic of the consequences of attacking the chosen children of God. The churches were all well attended yesterday. Hazing. This subject is again attracting the atten- tion of those who are interested in our educa= tional institutions, Several fierce attacks have been made upon the practice, but the only result has been to put students more on. their guard for a few months until the vigi- lant eye of the proctor again slumbers, when it bursts forth in all its former splendor. Boys will be boys, and fun of all kinds is as necessary} to their education as Greek and Latin. An honest practical joke, in which no personal injury is involved, helps one vastly to learn the conjugation of a difficult irregn- lar verb. In every class of a hundred stu- dents there is an inevitable proportion of about ten per cent who, by their bearing, habits and peculiarities, tir up the hazing propensities of another inevitable proportion about equal to the first. Tho tendency to play a practical joke upon those who seem to be eternally decreed to be- come victims is quite irresistible. They are daily temptations, and by their habits and eccentricities suggest to the quick ‘minds of their classmates the way in which they can be fretted and teased. If a sober-faced boy is constantly uttering diatribes against tobacco what is more natural than to visit his room with a dozen confirmed smokers, each armed with the implements of a nicotine warfare, and make life entirely undesirable for a couple of hours? Exactly where the joke lies some people with a drop of vinegar in the left lobe of the heart may fail to see; but that it is one of the most delightful experiences, and well worth running the risk of a rustication te enjoy, no Sophomore or Junior ever doubta, But there is one element of hazing which ought to be disposed of very summarily. It is that which involves the risk of life and limb. There is something peculiar about that period when one is too big for a boy and too small for a man; when one for the first time mounta a ilk hat and looks anxiously on his upper lip to encourage that growth which gives him a_ clear title to the masculine gender. Connected with this period is a certain recklessness of con sequences which needs to be checked by harsh measures. It is marked by a mannish laying of the plot with a boy’s thoughtlessness con- cerning results. In many of our colleges hazing has been carried to such an extent as to render the prime movers amenable to the criminal court. Gunpowder has been freely used and in some ivstances lives have been putin jeopardy. However pleasant it may be to see one of the college buildings with its sides bulging out, its windows smashed in, its roof twisted into shapes not to be described in any manual of geometry, it is not to be for~ gotten even by boys in their later teens that a proctor's life has some small value, to himself at least, and that the chief end of freshmen is not to be scattered piecemeal over the col lege green. We are glad to see a general movement on the part of our different faculties to repress this foolish recklessness and to insist upon a more healthy discipline. We do not want to insure our boys’ lives when we send them to college, and though perfectly willing that they should indulge in all harmless sports, at which we who are older laugh as heartily as any one, it is but right that those practical jokes which endanger life should receive con- dign punishment. M. Hewat Roonevont is travelling Enst on his way from San Francisco by way of Salt Lake City. He is moved with the intention of exerting himself actively in opposition to the prosent government of France, of which fact he has already given assurance in the special telegram which we published in the Hznaxp yesterday. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE, Movements of Rear Admiral Almy and His Flagship. The Panama Herald of the 16th says:—The United States steamer Omaha, flying the pennans of Rear Admiral Jonn J. Aimy, arrived in port om On coming to an- ay) jaaship juise, whicl from the Omana, ‘The Guived States sveamet Saranac also saluted tne Admiral. The officers of the Omaha are as follows :—Cap- | tain Wilaw K. Mayo, Commanding; Lieutenant | Commander, Smith W. Nichola: jentenants, 5. Buvpard, 5. M. Ackley and J. 8, Morse: Master, Thomas N, Lee; Midshipmen, Free It is due to Mr, Seward’s mem- | ory, a3 well as to General Webb's reputation | a M. Koper, and ¥, 8, Hotcukin; ) Spear; Assistant surgeon, H. Samet W, Goldsborongh; First Assistant Aston; Secona Assistant Engineer, Second Lieutenant Marines, 4 r | wam, J, | aotun| ‘sauuaKer, Guevauere