The New York Herald Newspaper, May 26, 1874, Page 6

NE EW Y ORK HERALD) PBR lt. ad pnoapWaAY AND ANN STREET... eicaiemed JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the | year. Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price $12. Letters and packages should be prop- wry 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. XXXIX.. Volume F 2 ANUSEWESTS THIS “AFTERNOON AND EVENING —— THEATRE COMIQUE, ‘No. 514 Broadway.—ON HAND, and V ‘QRIETY ENTER. VALINMENS, at § P.M ji cheated oP. ‘Broadway This ORME. and Tie Nanvous MAN, P iP. M. “Mr. Lester Wallack, Miss Edie Geriuun. OLYMPIC THEATRE, mone ton any jeeckor VRAD fut "and, NOVELTY EATERUAINMENT. at | 7a P. M Twenty third. street.—KING s corner of Sh ee M. Mr. Joba McCal- JOHN, at BP. My closes at 10 5 P. dough. METROPOLITA. Lae Broadw ay. —VAR THO ATRE, No. o 7:45 P.M. ; closes at 1030 P. NUERTACINMENT, at M. treet. —THE ORANGE M. MARKED FOR . M. Louass. 0. France. nS Fi UE THEATRE, treet and Broadway.—OLIVER TWIST, sat 10:30 P.M. Miss Fanny Davenport, | Mr. Louis James CR Jane Coombs. Brosdway, bet on streets. —THE | LADY oF nie LAKE, at 8 ¥. M.; closes at lu 45 P. M, ‘Mr. Joseph Wheelock and Miss Jane Burke. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street. LA NUIT D'OC’ TOBRE, at 8 P.M. TERRACE GARDEN THEATRE, Fitty-eighth street, between d and Lexington ave- nues.—HOHE GAESTE, at 8 EW PARK THE. N ATRE, BROOKLYN. CHRIS AND LENA, até P. Baker and Faron. TONY PASTOR! ‘0. 201 Bowery.—VARIET' M.; Closes “at 5:30 P. M. BRYANT OPE ‘Twenty-third street. near si STRELSY, de., at 5 P. M.; closes ‘SE, enue. NEGRO MIN- tle. CENTRAL PARK GARDEN, Fifty.ninth street and Sixth avenue. —THOMAS’ CON- CERT:, at 8 P.M. ; closes at 10:30 P. M. ASSOCIATION HALL, ‘Twenty-third street.—-HARLEM MENDELSSOHN UNLON, at 8 P.M. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, Fourth avenue and Twenty-third street—ANNUAL EX. HisiTION. Open day and cvening cOLos M, setae: corner of Thirty-ffth 'street.—LONDON IN ‘1574. at M.; closes at5 P.M. Same at7P. M.; closes atl0P. ROMAN HIPPODROME, Madison avenue and Twenty-sixth ‘street-—GRAND FAGBANT—OONGHBSS OF NATIONS, at 1:30 P.M. and | war. | John C. Calhoun. | tropolis ? Our Political Sphinxes and What They Mean. The political situation is unusually un- settled. Events may be read now in the same spirit in which we read our weather reports—‘‘variable winds, with tendencies to light rains and cloudy skies.” The horizon looks like one of the mists which we see hanging over the Scottish lakes. Gloom, darkness, damp, the trailing fogs, and now and then strange shadows coming out of the atmosphere. We look towards the South and see volcanic influences, Arkansas and Louisi- ana throwing out smoke and fire, darkening the heavens with the lurid gleams of civil We look towards the East, and over that terrified community Butlerism hangs like the Afrite in the fable, and no one knows whom the monster will next devour. In Connecticut a sudden democratic vic- | tory is followed by the election of a Bour- bon democrat to the Senate, a statesman whose principal qualifications are that he once re- sided in South Carolina and still believes in the clash of contest between the ‘‘grangers’’ and the railways fills the air, threatening to be the most serious problem submitted to the people since the downfall of slavery. All is contusion, anxiety, uproar, uncertainty; and the ambitious politician aspiring to lead events is in the position of one of our intrepid Arctic navigators who finds himself in northern lati- tudes, where there is no day, who sails on and on, through icebergs and fogs and snow and unpitying cold, and no guide but what comes from the illusive auroral light flushing the | sombre heavens. What, for instance, do we see in the me- Mainly what is seen in every part of the country. Chaos and doubt every- | where. The leaders of Tammany have van- | ished ; a new ring has taken their place; a ring of venerable statesmen, and at the head our time-honored Mayor, whose radiant Dutch face, with the white mass of silver hair, remind us of what Holmes calls ‘a rose in the snow.” We fancy that the spirit of Van Twiller or Stuyvesant has | returned in the old Mayor; and we half believe that he wears a pigtail and a wooden leg, like old Peter the Governor, as we see his likeness presiding over insurance companies and benevolent associations. If anything could increase | our perplexity it would be the Mayor. The politicians turn him over and over again } as a curious formation. What is he? Can | anybody tell what function be performs in nature? Upon what theory can we account for him? There was never so much perplex- ity among the experienced politicians, Some- | times he looks like a weasel and then like a camel, and, again, like a whale. One day we are told he is run by the Custom House ring, | the next day we discover that he runs the | ring, only the next day to run away from it and appear with a ring of his own, and Dis- | becker as a solitary diamond setting. Peter Bismarck Sweeny (may he find peage in his TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Tuesday, May 26, 187 “ Eromwe our reports this morning the "probabilities | \ are that the weather to-day will be clearing. Wat Srreer Yesterpay.—Gold opened at 112} and ciosed at 112}. Stocks were firmer. Yxsterpay Was tHE Sxconp Day of the | Pentecostal season. It was Whit-Monday and it was the Queen’s birthday. Over a large portion of the world it was a day of joy and | rejoicing. In New York the fates were evi-- dently angry. All was gloom. In place of the sweet May sunshiue clouds and darkness gathered over us. Mormonrs Runnivc Into Communism. — Our interesting correspondence from Salt | Lake City, published to-day, throws light upon a new movement of Brigham Young, or rather the revival of an old one, calculated to give this “‘prophetic’’ man more power and wealth. | Agrand conference had been held, lasting four days, in the ‘Eabernacts, to consider the ‘‘Or- der of Enoch,”’ an organization parporting to have all temporal things in common—a system of Communism pure and simple—but which will, of course, give the head of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young, absolute power over the property and labor of his deluded fol- lowers. Monz Disastnovs Fimzs.—We learn by tele- gram of a destructive fire at St. John, N. B., on Sunday night. It was mostly among the frame houses of working people, and spread rapidly. The loss is not stated, but there was little insurance, it appears, upon the build- ings. The sufferers are chiefly the poor residents. Several people were injured bodily, ond one brave fireman lost his life in doing his duty. ‘there was a fire also at Independence, Iowa, and that the place was burned down. The particulars are not given. These disasters should make people careful. ‘Tue Inquest on THe Mux River Disaster is going on, as will be seen by our corre- spondence elsewhere, he testimony so far changes in no respect the information given by our special correspondent imme- diately after the sad catastrophe as to the ingceure condition of the dam and the culpable indifference of the mill owners. They ony’ht to have known, if they did not | know, that. there was danger of a break. The investigation). if thorough, may take some time. We hope the gentlemen on the inquest | will do their duty to the public and speak | plainly of the conditi.t of the dam and of the tonduct of those whe’ were responsible, AppRopntations FOR THE ae s4N3, —While the Deficiency bill was up in the Senate yes- terday several appropriations for Mx? Indians | | were proposed and discussed. Lary, sums were voted. In the course of the debute,and while the amendment to increase the appr” priation of two hundred thousand dollars to half a million for the Apache Indians in Ayi. zona and New Mexico was pending, Mr. Sar. | gent remarked that the government must either feed or fight these Indians, and that it was much cheaper to feed them. Some years ago, he said, there was a war with the Sioux | Indians, when forty-five of these people were killed, at a cost of forty-five millions of dol- Jars. At that rate it is decidedly cheaper to feed them if feeding will keep them from the warpath. The disposition of the Senate seemed to be favorable to the feeding policy, A despatch from Chicago says | Boulevard exile!) was wont to be a mystery e | in his ruling days, but no such mystery as this contemporary and representative of Stuyves- | ant and Van Twiller. We have often thought that most things, for | instance the reading of the Rosetta stone and | Runic inscriptions, were only difficult because | we made a merit of doing them in the most | difficult manner. We think the same about | Havemeyer. He is only difficult because we | will not see how simple and plain and trans- | parent is his honest old Dutch soul. Did it | ever occur to our political wiseacres, as they | studied over his actions and tried to find a place for him in the geology of political formations, that what he wanted to be was really Mayor, and Mayor in his own way, and Mayor again by the vote of | the people? We can understand how he might be Mayor to please John Kelly or Thomas Murphy or A. H. Green or twenty other eminent metropolitan statesmen who | would like to be pleased. If he adopted any | of these policies his course would be simple and plain. But he chooses to be Mayor to please William F. Havemeyer, and this the | politicians can never comprehend, and so the wise men of all parties sit in endless counsel over him, and weary the public mind with their discussions and controversies. When we consider, however, that the Mayor is now in the second tenure of his power, that he returns to its possession after the lapse of a new generation, that he is like an old widower who has wedded a young wife or a merchant who has found again the for- tune he lost in earlier years, we can under- stand the deep, sweeping current of his pas- | sion. The passion for power, like love and avarice, when it returns takes possession of | its victim, and ambition burns in the soul like mines of sulphur. So our venerable Chief Magistrate who puzzles everybody by his course is simply a politician newly wedded to power, and so much in love with his bride that, to use the tremendous metaphor of Rich- ard IIL, he would undertake the death of all the world to live one more term in sweet and undisturbed possession. But if we are puzzled by the stolid old Knickerbocker, who smokes his pipe and sits in contented, silent bliss, over in the City Hall, watching the swarming politicians with half closed eyes, what shall we say of the | silent Ulysses in ‘Washington, “the sashed and girded sphinx,’’ who presides over the | destinies of this happy land? Surely, if we listen to the experienced statesmen who live in Washington without any visible means of support and give their lives to the people's welfare, or of those Christian statesmen who | beam upon us in a holy way and preach | about the increase of suspicion and scandal, | we shall say that there never was in history or fable so extraordinary a problem as this | President of our free and independent States. How they clatter about him! He likes horses | and field sports, smokes, drives a four-in- | hand with white reins, will not read the news- | , ' papers, and disdains journalists as an unneces- ny "y class in any civilized society. He will nog Ousult the trained statesman, and finds a | Cabfuct.in Borie and Akerman and Belknap, ignoring ten, thousand other patriots who have | given tho pr’ rty infinitely more ser- vice. But scvaeb.'¥—exactly bow the poli- ticians cannot Ja and so we must even regard it ag a gecius for blundering in the right direction—this impor *bable prob- lem, who is as much a mystery to-day 9% when he entered the White House, who never ented on enthusiasm in bis whole life and woala .! fancies of the rain and the mist-burdened | | the Alabama problem, which even Seward We look to the West, and | seem to have no followers in politics, has suc- coeded in defeating before the people the two men, Seymour and Greeley, who, ten years — ago, led the two great parties of the country, and in inspiring a degree of confidence in his | character and conservative intentions for the | good of the country that no President has re- ceived since Washington, Only look for a moment at his strange chances! He made a mistake in St. Domingo, | but he retrieved the mistake as soon as he saw it, and in doing so destroyed the men who | had thwarted him in that darling dream of | tropical empire. He was confronted by could not solve, and he solved it. He found himself in the Niagara whirls of a war with | Spain, and he steered out of them. He was tempted to regain his popularity with the West on the inflation question. Those who knew him best knew that he would sign the bill. He vetoed it in a message remarkable for its thought, and in an | hour from being one of the most unpopular | he became one of the most popular men in the country. He is so strong in this strength that no one in his party dares to cross his path. The Mortons and the Logans would gladly do it, but they see the political ghosts of Sumner and Schurz. Surely there never was such for- tune, and the politicians clatter over it as a phenomenon of destiny without parallel in history, romance or even in legerdemain. What does he mean? What will he do? What does he want? Who advises him? Who possesses his confidence?. Who is his choice for the Presidency? What will he do with his Cabinet? Where did he ever find such a Cabinet? Why does he not remove Richardson? ‘These are the questions that all Washington constantly asks, and we donot hear them answered. We only see the sphinx solemnly meditating over his horses and his cigars—silent, incomprehensible, alone. And there is one other question which is in every Washington mind but which no one yet has dared to ask of the Sphynx. Who will dare to ask it? The Omnibus Strike. The interruption of stage travel on Broad- way is an event in our municipal life, and many elderly gentlemen who yesterday after- noon found themselves beleaguered at Trinity church, without their slow, easy-going, com- fortable omnibus, must have regretted that they had not gone into pedestrian training earlier in life. The drivers could not have taken a less convenient time, for the day was unusually bleak and wretched, with rain and thunder anda continuance of our dreadful spring weather. As we understand the case, itis this: Un- der the old omnibus system, when there was no check upon the collection of fares, the own- ers did not earn within forty per cent of what they earn now, For now there isa new system—a mysterious machine with traps and pulleys enough to alarm timid old ladies, which makes every passenger his own fare collector and general auditor of the accounts of the company. The result is that the forty per cent which was wont to swell the revenues of the drivers no longer goes to them. Con- sequently they demanded higher wages. They say, virtually, that before they were paid small wages with the knowledge that they taxed the general receipts of the company. In other words, the owners condoned and approved their act, and virtually became partners in it by paying insufficient and absurd salaries. Now that there is no longer any chance to add to their wages from the common till they de- mand an increase from the company. The first point that arises is this: If the company have had an addition of forty per cent to their receipts they can afford to in- crease the wages of the drivers and to reduce the stage fare to the same price charged by the horse cars. Another point is that in all business the payment of small wages is simply a premium upon dishonesty. All labor is worth its price and is sure to obtain its price. Poor pay means poor work. We do not dis- cuss the honesty of the drivers who helped themselves out of the till. Bad as that proceed- ing was, it was practically what the stage owners expected. Now that there is no longer the temptation or the opportunity to do this wrong let the owners promptly pay the drivers what their labor is worth. Their de- mand is just and it should be conceded. Board of Edueation and City Taxation. The | liberal system. NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1874.—TRIPLE SHEET, Italian Opera in New York. The history of music in New York, in spite of many failures, is a story of well sustained effort and rapid growth. The taste for classi- cal music has been developed with the increase of skill in its performance, and Italian opera, long discouraged, is now a living, growing | taste, and successful in its artistic and financial | aspects. This gratifying fact is due to the application of correct principles to the pro- duction of operatic works. It had long been the practice with managers to present operas badly mounted and with a weak chorus and discordant orchestra, the prima donna being thought sufficient to carry through the season. ‘That failure followed every attempt of this kind was not surprising, and the H»raxp steadily and earnestly opposed a policy so short-sighted until a manager was found bold enough to cast it aside for a more We demanded not only a prima donna and a tenor, but a well selected company, a full chorus and a trained orchestra—in a word, a perfect ensemble and a fresh mise en scéne, with the production of a fair proportion of new works to supplement the old favorites. At the begin- ning of the last season the Brothers Strakosch came here with a company which seemed to fulfil what we conceived to be the first requisites of a season of Italian opera in New York, the promises of the management including everything that the Heraup had so often recommended as certain to insure suc- cess. Their promises wero redeemed to the letter, and the result has been not only to verify our predictions, but to make a return to less perfect methods of presenting Italian opera in New York impossible. In looking back over the season which so recently closed we are not more gratified at ita complete triumph than surprised that the result should have been attained in spite of great obstacles, When the season opened the panic fever was still burning in the public pulse. Many of the best patrons of the opera were suffering from the disasters in Wall street and people generally felt that it was a time to dis- pense with luxuries. Every theatre in the city was suffering and the managers felt that no season for years had begun under gloomier auspices. The first nights of the opera showed that the Academy of Music was included in the general bad fortune. But Nilsson had come back fresh voiced as ever, and her support was a surprise to everybody. Miss Cary, always a favorite, had greatly improved. Torriani was acceptable. Capoul held his old admirers, and Campanini at once beeame an admitted and welcome favorite. Maurel, Del Puente and Nan- netti filled the parts for which they were cast so much better than we were accustomed to see them filled that the acknowledgment was freely made that Mr. Strakosch had indeed an excellent company. The chorus was large, and Signor Muzio held the baton over an orchestra such as had never been heard at the Academy. Excellence conquered, in spite of difficulties of every kind, and much of the victory was due to the intelligent direction of Muzio. At last Italian opera was given in New York as the Henatp had long demanded that it should be given, and the results which followed were overwhelming proof that worth is the only high road to fortune. We not only had a splendid season of Italian opera in every way, but we even surpassed Paris and St. Petersburg in the production of new works, Verdi's ‘‘Aida’’ and Wagner’s ‘‘Lohen- grin’’ being sung here before they were heard in any of the great capitals of Europe. It was a season of which we may well be proud and one that will be long remembered in the his- tory of Italian opera in New York, for it was the year of departure from the older and fee- bler methods and of the adoption of a wise, a generous and a liberal policy. Already we have the proofs of the achieve- ments of the past season in the preparations which are making for the season of 1874-5. The anneuncements which we make this morning of the artists already engaged for the Strakosch company show that the next season is to be in no way inferior to the last. Mlle. Heilbron is ® prima donna who has been very successful in Paris and London, and from the reports of her merits which reach us from time to time it is fair to assume that her triumphs in this country will not fall short of those of Lucca and Nilsson. In this connection it may be re- marked that it is to be regretted that Mlle. The Board of Education have agreed to re- spond to the application of the Board of Ap- portionment for a reduction of the expenses of the several departments of the city govern- ment by cutting down their former estimates one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The saving is effected by suspending the ‘‘pur- chasing of sites and erection of new school Belocea, who was the rival of Heilbron in Paris, and whom we expected to hear in New York next season, cannot be tempted to brave the dangers of the sea, Many of the old favorites have been re-engaged and the new engagements present a number of attractive names. Mile. Donadio takes the place of Tor- riani, and in the places of the tenors Capoul buildings,’ which dispenses this year with an expenditure of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and by reducing tke ap- propriation for ‘alteration and repairs to school houses’’ to the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars more. The work is needed. The interests of the public schools demand that itshall be done. But, in view of the necessity of ‘curtailing every expense’’ that can possibly be postponed, the Board of Edu- cation come to the conclusion that they will do as well as they can with their present accom- modations until “the public treasury is in a more favorable condition.” It isto be hoped that the example of the Board of Education will be followed by other departments. Wherever work that can afford to await “a more favorable condition of the public treasury’’ is in progress or in contem- plation it should be dispensed with as the building and repair of school houses are dis- pensed with. The large outlays on tunnels, bridges, museums and other buildings in Central Park can be better suspended than the expenditures on the public schools. It would be better that the Dock Department should be abolished altogether and its duties transferred to some other department than that a single school district should be left without sufficient accommodation. Every member of the Board of Apportionment should bear these facts in mind in voting on the new “final estimate’’ for the current year’s taxation. Wit Onty Have Gorp ror on Dorms, —Mr. Beck, of Kentucky, offered a bill in the House of Representatives yesterday to make the pay- ment of one-third of customs duties in legal tenders or national bank notes. He moved the previous question, but the House, by large majority, refused to accept the bill and .Campanini we are to. have Da- villier, Debassini and Bonfratelli. Best of all, we are to have Muzio back again with an increased orchestra and even greater control over the musical forces of the Academy. In addition to the favorite works of last season, a number of operas are .promised which require the resources of a very strong company to present them properly, and we are assured they are to be properly presented. The experience of last season makes this assurance doubly sure, and en- courages us to believe that Italian opera is at last a permanent institution in New York, in- dependent of subventions and any extraneous aid whatever, except that which comes from the love of our people tor good music. An- other season of Italian opera like the last one— a season of which we are now assured by the arrangements olready made—will solve the operatic problem and make the opera as safe a business os a well managed theatre. Mr. Lester Wallack has managed his theatre for years with absolute security by presenting what is best in the best way, and by doing the same thing Mr. Daly has accomplished like results, The same policy amply rewarded Mr. Strakosch, and so long as it is applied to operatic management it will have equally gratifying results, Ratner Damacrxe ror De.ecate Canyon, or Utan—The testimony of a daughter of Kimball, one of the great chiefs of the Mor- mon Church, before the investigating com- qmittee, to the effect that Cannon had four wives. If the Mormons can be brought to the point of telling the trath, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, both Cannon and the remaining ‘‘twin relic of barbarism” are likely to get a shock before Congress has done with the investigation, Proposed Army Reduction. Under the pretence of economy meddle- some politicians desire to further reduce the army. Nottbat there is any real intention of saving the people from taxation. But there | exists a class of men in all free countries who | seek to obtain a little cheap notoriety by ‘‘cut- ting down the army.’’ If any doubt existed as to the motives which underlie the present attack on the army it would be set at rest by reading the proposed bill. The aim is not to correct any abuses that may have crept into the army administration, not to lessen the number of parasites that cling to arsenals and the civil posts, where the friends of Congress- men find pleasant sinecures ; but it is levelled at the efficiency, at the very life of that gal- lant army which is ever ready to defend the interests of the country against the enemies of internal order as well as against the savage enemy which lines our extensive frontiers. Recent events have called attention to the inadequacy of the present small army to properly cover the immense territory ex- posed to the raids of the Indian tribes, and were the force that holds them in check to be perceptibly weakened the savages would unquestionably become un- manageable. When we glance at the cost of the Modoc war and consider the many millions which were spent to subdue even a small band of desperate warriors, we are encouraged to pro- test against any pretended system of economy which might deprive the frontiers of protec- tion and expose us to the expense and annoy- ance of Indian wars, The attempt to effect a little saving at the expense of the safety of the Western settlers is unworthy of any one hay- ing any claims to intelligent statesmanship. The proposition to send a number of these gentlemen away with one year’s pay as a compensation for having devoted the most valuable years of their life to the public ser- vice is unspeakably mean, and argues a thorough want of appreciation of the relations which exist between an army officer and the public. Inthe present state of warfare it is absolutely necessary that army officers should be highly educated, not alone in all the subjects with which well educated civilians are familiar, but still more in technical knowl- edge which has little value and no applica- tion outside the ranks of the army. In order toinduce gentlemen to follow these studies and devote themselves to a profession which is beset with inconveniences and dangers it is necessary that full security shall be felt by the aspirant for army honors that the country will faithfully perform its duty to the well de- serving. The officer devotes his life to the public service on the understanding that so long as he fulfils his duties to the State he shall continue to enjoy the rank be may ac- quire and just promotion. In exchange he de- votes his talents and life to the service of his country. It is of the greatestimportance toall well regulated States that the soldiers to whom the safety of the nation is intrusted in the hour of trial and danger should be men of the highest attainments and the strictest honor. Wherever a high civilization exists the officer is treated with the greatest consideration, and the mere wearing of a shoulder knot is a social guarantee which unlocks all doors. But in States where insecurity exists in the military profession and the army is made the play- thing of politicians disorder and insecurity threaten not alone the public well being, but even the national life. Mexico and Spain fur- nish examples of States deprived of national armies, and the value of a self-contained and thoroughly reliable force has very lately been shown in the Arkansas conflict. But if there were no other reason than the insufficiency of the present military force to protect the border from the incursions of savages and marauders, we should be opposed to any reduction of the army. There is no need for such a measure. The proposed reduction would scarcely be per- ceptible on the budget, and might cause the Joss of more millions in one year than could be saved in twenty. The Consolidation Act. The Board of Supervisors yesterday re- ceived two legal opinions on the act to con- solidate the New York city and county gov- ernments; one from ex-Judge John K. Porter and Mr. John H. Strahan, covering the con- stitutional point and defining the effect of the provisions of the new law; the other from the Corporation Counsel as to the right of the Aldermen to continue to draw their extra pay as Supervisors in addition to their salaries as Aldermen. The act is declared to be consti- tutional, since both in the original law and the explanatory act the continuance of the Board of Supervisors for the purposes of the county organization contemplated in the con- stitution is expressly recognized. The effect of the new law is to consolidate all the prop- erty and liabilities of, the city and county, to impose upon and transfer to the city all con- tracts to which the county is a party, to put an end to the double machinery of adminis- tration which has heretofore necessitated sep- arate accounts, books and clerical labor in the Finance Department, and by so doing fo se- cure greater simplicity, efficiency and economy in that department. The control over the public buildings heretofore exercised by the Supervisors, the counsel say, is transferred to the Department of Public Works; the Alder- men are charged with regulating the use of the property formerly belonging to the county and specifying the purposes to which it is to be applied ; while the Supervisors retain only such powers as under the State constitution cannot be exercised by any other body. The Corporation Counsel concurs in the opinions expressed by Judge Porter and Mr. Strahan on ! these points, and in his separate opinion he } decides that as the provisions of the city | charter cannot apply to county affairs the Aldermen are still entitled to draw the extra salary they receive as Supervisors. ‘These opinions dispose of the absurd pre- tence of Comptroller Green that the new law vests the control and patronage of the County Court House in the Commissioners ap- pointed by Mayor Havemeyer, on very doubt. | fal authority, Aah tao the building. It is | therefore scarcely probable that Mr. Green will persist in his efforts to embarrass the con- solidation act by further intermeddling with this portion of its provisions, While, through the blunders and incapacity of its authors, the iaw does not accomplish oll that was promised for it, there is some satisfaction in the fact that it will abolish our past double- headed, complicated and expensive method of keeping the public accounts, and will effect a material saving in the cost of the Finance De- — partment, which will no doubt make itself ap- parent in the revised estimates soon to be con- sidered by the Board of Apportionment, It is to be regretted that it does not cut off the ex- tra pay of the Supervisors, which is so much money thrown away. Whether the rumor that the omission to abolish the extra salary by direct provision in the act was the result of a friendly bargain between the Aldermen and the sponsors for the law be true or false it is certain that the blunder was an inexcusable one. Mr. Van Schaick patriotically offered a resolution in the Board declaring that the Al- dermen will not draw pay as Supervisors after June 1; but this was ‘laid over.” If adopted it would only affect the present Board; but the chances are in favor of its laying over until next year, Witch Burning in Mexico, Our enterprising neighbors across the Rio Grande have, from time to time, given many astonishing evidences of their peculiar civiliza- tion, but of late years there has been little to chronicle of a startling nature except an occa- sional foray on a stage coach or some trifling insurrection in a remote province. Even the outrages on United States citizens, which at one time were so disagreeably frequont, seem to have become a subject of the past In the State. of Sinaloa, however, the en- lightened citizens have got up a real sensa- .tion, in the shape of an auto da fé, the victims being two suspected sorcerers, man and wife, accused of having bewitched a poor fellow named Zachary. The Alcalde of the town in which this terrible example of superstition took place not only super- intended and approved of the barbarous execution in question, but actually had the audacity to make an official report of it to the Prefect of his district. He cites, as an argu- ment against the sorcerers, that, in order to test the truth of the bewitchment of Zachary, they forced him to swallow some blessed water, wWuich had the effect of bringing up from the depths of his inner consciousness portions of a blanket and bunches of hair. The only inference to be drawn from such an occurrence is that some poor Indian must have been missing in that district. The terrible official finally in- forms his superior that he has his eye on other sorcerers. In fact, it is said that two others have since suffered death. It is almost incred- ible to read of the ignorance and superstition of the days of the Inquisition and the Salem witchcraft in the nineteenth cen- tury, and by persons calling them- selves Christians. It is gratifying to learn that the general government of Mexico has shown a disposition to interfere in the cause of humanity and to check further out- rages by the people of Sinaloa. No nation of the present day can expect to be classed among civilized communities that will permit Srames AND "Eanoaation.—The miners” strikes in England have thrown thousands of industrious and hard working men out of employment. Neither the men nor the employers are inclined to surrender, and the workers are turning their eyes “West” ward. It is said to be their intention to organize emigration on a large scale, and so deprive the masters permanently of help.in the working of the mines. If the working classes of Europe cannot obtain in their own countries fair remuneration for their toil the best thing they can do is tocome here. We want lusty arms to develop the immense riches of the soil, and we shall welcome all who are willing to labor. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. - Sir Alexander T. Galt, of Montreal, ia at the Git- sey House, Mrs. Caroline A. Soule is the name of a new preacher in Cincinnatl. They have a John Gilpin in Lockport, but he is not the renowned rider. Congressman W. 4. Barnum, of Connecticut, is at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Jay F. Howard, United States Consul at Leghorn, is at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Major H.C. Smith, of the British Army, ts. quar- tered at the Brevoort House, State Senator D. P. Wood, of Syracuse, le resid- ihg at tne Fifth Avenue Hotel. Ex-Congressman John F. Farnsworth, of Illinois, has arrived at the Windsor Hotel. Mr. Jonas, the Governor of Newgate Jail, in Lon- don, for fifty years, has just retired. Ex-Revenue Commissioner David A. Wells, has apartments at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, “Our Native Young Scrub” is what the George- town (S. 0.) 7imes calls Governor Moses, Captain Glover's great services in the Ashantee war have been rewarded with a present of £2,000, Assemblyman Smith M. Weed, of Plattsburg, ts among the recent arrivals at the Fifth Avenue Ho- tel. Major Augustus 8. Nicholson, of the United States Marine Corps, has quarters at the Clarendom Hotel. Lieutenant Governor John C. Robinson arrived at the St. Denis Hotel yesterday trom his home in Binghamton. The Patrons of Husbanary have made one point in Wiimington, N. ©. J. B. Granger has been chosen Mayor. Colonel E. P.O. Lewis, of Virginia, ts in Paris, having returned there with his tamtly after 9 tour in Italy and Egypt. M. and Mme. de Lesseps have recently been in gerusalem, the motive of fer visit being a ee ious vow fade by the Yatter: ~~ “ Miss Collins, a missionary among the California Indians, counts up $00 converts among the various tribes from her ministrations, Senator George F, Verry and Messrs. Merritt, Phillips and Morrissey, of the Massachusetts Legis. lature, are at the Windsor Hotel. Professor Montague Bernard has definitely re- signed the chair of international law and dipio- macy at Oxford, which he has held since 1859, M. Troneim du Mersan, for a number of years a government employé under the Empire and the Republic, has been arrested to Paris on a charge of forgery. Aneccentric person named Johnson has just died in England who spent the whole of his for- tune, estimated at £100,000, in trying to demolish the Malvern Hills. Aristides Welch, of Philade!phia, whose name ts associated with the names Of Horace Greeley ana Gerrit Smith, on the bali bond o! Jefferson Davis, yesterday arrived at the Hofman House. The Springfeld (Mass.) Repubtioan says:—-The gentleman who bas made the largest iudividuay subscription for the sufferers is Mr. George Bliss, of Morton, Biiss & Co., Of New York, who ta nasive of Northampton, where a sister still resides,” M. Mendes Leal, the new Portuguese Minister to Paris, isa gentieman with a multitude of excel- lencies. He is the greatest living poet of his country, 4 fine dramatic writer, an eminent jour- nalist and an orator whose speeches are models of eloquence. THE EXAMINATIONS AT WEST POINT, POUGHKEEPSIE, May 25, 1874, The examination of applicants for admission to West Point Academy commences at that post to day. Out of the 110 registered applicants onty fity-six have arrived, but every train brings others, and re expected dy poop to-morrow. The regular summer visitors bave already com- Menced ta arrive ot tha nase