The New York Herald Newspaper, June 21, 1874, Page 8

8 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY aND ANN STREET, —_-— JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. ARES All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Heravp. 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. No. 172 Volume XXX AMUSEMEN s TO-MORROW OLYMPIC TH Broadway, between Houston and, Bleecker streets. — Sores ENTERTAINMENT, at 745 P.M; closes at woop’ Broadway, corner of hurt AND, at'2 P. : PM. He HK SKELETON ame at 8 P. closes ai 10: ee Broadway, between Prince and Uouston streets. THE TWO si- S; OK, THE DePORMED, at P. M.; closes at 10:45 P.M. Mr, Jose, k and’ Migs Ione Burke. TERRACE GAR! THEATRE Fifty-eighth street, near | hird avenu cert, Dram- atig aud Operatic Performance, ats. M.; closos at lL IMIQUE, R, THE PRIDE closes at 10:30 P. THEATRE OF M. ip LYNNE, ats Clercq. Broadway and Thartec P. M.; closes atl P.M. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street.—Oi/HuLLO, at $ P.M, Signor Sal- vin. BR’ eas stree SYBELSY, &o., ats CENTRAL PARK GARDEN. Fifty-nintn street and Seventh avcnue.—THOMAS) CON- CERI, at 8 P. M.; closes Y. Mf. reix hg I. j closes COLOS: Broadway, corner of Ih rty NIGHT, at 1 P. closes ut 10’, M. ROMAN HIPPODROME, fch ‘street. M.; closes at 5 P.M, Madison. nus and Twenty-sixth street.—GRAND | Agee UNGRESS OF NATIONS, at 1:30 P. M. and at? P. QUADRUPL Jane 21, 1874. From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the weather to-day will be generally fair. Wax Srrezr Yesterpar.—The stock mar- ket was dull and steady. Gold opened and closed at 111}. Tux Courr House Commissioners yester- day took forcible possession of a room in the new Court House building. The act will, no doubt, bring a prompt legal decision as to the status of these officials. Grave doubts exist as to the legality of their appointment, and | the well timed letter of Presidents Vance and Wheeler shows that if they are en- titled to hold the offices they claim to fill the public interests demand that they should at present refrain from any official acts. There is no money for them to expend on the work of completing the Court House, and all they can do is to entail need- less expense on the taxpayers. If they persist in forcing themselves into sinecure positions they should at least be restrained by injunc- tion from incurring any liabilities for which the city may be held responsible. Our Crry political gossip to-day shows that there is at present but little activity among the politicians. The question of interest among them is who shall be the next Mayor of New York. Mr. John Kelly rules Tam- many, and he can nominate himself for the gratification of personal ambition, or he can name a candidate who will anite the democratic party and insure victory. If he places his own name at the head of the ticket he will render a division of the party certain and risk another overthrow. If he accepts the position of leader of the democracy for the good of the party and / nominates a people’s candidate for Mayor he willstrengthen himself, unite the party and render success a certainty. Queen Victoria yesterday commenced the thirty-seventh year of her reign. The day was celebrated in England by the ring- ing of bells, the firing of salutes and other demonstrations suitable to the occa- sion. It is noteworthy that on Tues- day of inst week the Pope completed the twenty-seventh year of his reign. It is not unfair, we think, to say that of all the European rulers of the time these two are the most popular. They have ruled during the most momentous years of modern history; and we believe we express the general senti- ment of the American people when we say that the death of the one or the other would be felt to be a world-wide calamity. T tronblous times the Qneen has main- tained the dignity of the throne and won the love of her suhjects. In times of serious peril the Pope has maintained the authority of the chair of St, Peter, and, if the toy. jorq] ower is gone, tite spiritual “power is greater than ever, Both wave ruled wisely and well, and both have won the respect of the world. Tur Jvrome Parx sXaces,—In the presence of @ numerons and briViant assemblage the , last races of the spring mueting wore ran yes- terday at Jerome Park. If any proof’ yere needed of the growing interest felt by the public in the noble sport of horse racing it | would have been furnished by the gay and brilliant assemblage gathered in Jerome Park, Fortunately the weather, which for a moment | was threatening, held up bravely, and the six events cam@ happily off, so that there was Bothing to mar the pleasure of the day. Year by year this course grows in public esteem and thongh the masses do not yet evince the same interest in Jerome Park that the London mul- titade takes in the Derby, yet we believe that with time Jerome Park will’ occupy the same | requiring information as to the manner in | at ir* great agricultural exhibition now position in America as Longchamps and the | which the large amounts xeqnested by the | held at Reemen, in Germany, M5 | |The City Debt and Taxation—The | | Work Before the Board of Appor- | | tionment, | Itis about time that the taxpayers of the | | city of New York should be permitted to know | | their exact financial condition, and to ascer- | tain why itis that their debt goes on increas- ing, while their taxes are higher than im any former year, Whenever a finan- | cial statement is published by the City | Comptroller it is accompanied by an } { | | elaborate explanation designed to show that figures are deceptive, and ‘that, while we | evidently owe nearly $40,000,000 more in 1874 than we owed in 1871, the public debt has only increased about $11,000,000. In order | to prove this remarkable arithmetical prob- | lem the figures are twisted into all manner | | of shapes, and the mind is so confused by | | comparisons between funded debt, bonded | | debt and temporary debt, between assessment | bonds, revenue bonds, sinking fund bonds | and consolidated stock, that we should begin to doubt whether we owe anything at all if it were not for the fact that we are paying aboat | three per cent on the assessed value of our | property for a year’s taxes and that ovr annual | interest account reaches nearly $10,000,000. If Comptroller Green would let the people know the exact amount of their liabilities | and the true condition of the city | treasury these curious explanations would | be unnecessary. But we have not} had for two years a trathfual financial state- ment.from that officer. Whenever the Com- missioners of Accounts have reported the condition of the city debt their figures have falsified those put forth by Mr. Green, We are not pernoutted to know the amount of claims existing aguinst the city which are not included iu any debt statement, but which are | unquestionably a part of the public indebted- ness, at least so far as they cain be recovered in a court of law. The Commissioners of Ac- counts were reported to be engaged in making out a list of these claims some months ago, but, by some means, they have been deterred from publishing it. We know that the gross amount is about $12,000,000, and that a great portion of this sum is for liabilities incurred since the overthrow of the Tammany govern- ment. But, independent of the concealment of the unsatisfied and contested claims, the Comptroller's debt statements have been marked by an inaccuracy which is equally reprehensible whether attributable to incom- petency or intentional deception. What we really know of the condition of the city debt is that, at the last report on the 30th of May, our gross liabilities on that day, ex- elusive of floating debt and revenue bonds issued in anticipation of the year's taxation, amounted to $134,381,472. The Mayor's mes- sage to the Common Council in January last showed the liabilities of the city on Sepicm- ber 16, 1871, the day on which the present Comptroller assumed the management of the Finance Department, to be $93,943,658, exclu- sive of revenue bonds issued in anticipation of taxation. Thus we find an increase of debt in less than three years to the amount of $40,337,814, without including the floating debt or liabilities for outstanding claims against the city, some of which are no doubt fraudulent, but a great portion of which will no doubt be collected through legal proceed- ings. If we put this floating debt down as low as $12,000,000 we find our present liabilities, exclusive of revenue bonds, to be over $146,000,000. This is certainly a discourag- | ing exhibit; but it becomes more so when we consider the heavy expenditures of the mu- uicipal departments at the present time, and the little progress and improvement we have to show for the outlay. The extent to which the expense of govern- ing the city of New York has increased within the last three years cannot be understood simply by a comparison between the rate of taxation in 1871 and in 1874 without taking into consideratior also the valuations of the two years. The valuation of real and per- sonal estate im the city and county in 1871 was $1,076,253,633, ond in 1873 was $1,129,141,023. If the latter figures remain unchanged this year, adding $20,219,379 for the two new wards, the valuation of 1874 will be $1, 149,360,402, or $73,106,769 higher than in 1871. Theamonnt to be raised by taxation this year under the present estimate is over $39,000,000, which is about 3.70 per cent on the valuation of 1871. If the course. pursued by Comptroller Green does not altogether de- feat the reduction of the estimate it ought to be cut down at least $5,000,000, including the amounts to be “bridged over’ until | another year. At an aggregate of, say | $34,500,000 of taxation, the rate on this year’s valuation on the above basis, in- cluding the new wards, will be about three per cent; but on the valuations of 1871 the rate wonld be about 3.25 per cent. If the | aggregate amount of the estimate should re- main as it now is, through the obstractiveness of Mr. Green, the rate on the present year’s | valuation, including the new wards, will be | about 3,40 per cent. These figures show the necessity of de- creasing our expenditures wherever economy can be practised without damage to the public | interests. Two members of the Board of \ | sum of $20,000 set down for the information necessary to a proper dis- charge ot their duties and to a discreet reduc- tion of taxation. So far as the Park Commis- sion is concerned, its President, Colonel Henry G. Stebbins, will, of course, be willing to lay before the Board the whole financial names of the employés, their salaries or per- centages and the authority under which they draw money from the construction account. But Mr. Green obstinately neglects to furnish ment, and refers his associates on the Board of Apportionment to bis old estimate, made in October, 1873. In this old estimate the Board will find much that is objectionable. The Comptrol- ler places in his list of employés a ‘Deputy Comptroller,” at a salary of $8,000 4 year, although there is no such officer in existence, and the position has remained vacant during Mr. Green’s whole term of office. This same item has appeared in all former estimates of the Finance Department and been allowed. What has become of the money? Mr. Green has no right under the law to appropriate it to any other object than that to which it is applied in the estimate, and, as he has had no deputy, what unauthorized use has he made of the $8,000 appropriated for the salary of such an officer? The office of Collector of Assessments has likewise been vacant until about two months ago, when Mr. Spencer Kirby was appointed to the position. Yet Mr. Green claims in his estimate $6,000 for this office, the full amount of a year's salary. Does he intend to pay Mr. Kirby a year’s salary for eight or nine months’ service, or what does he propose to do with the balance of the money? Passing for the present oyer the enormous salaries paid in the Finance Department, and the army of clerks, deputies, bookkeepers, assistants, &c., with which its offices are crowded, we finda lump “examiners, experts, &c.”. This is the fund out of which Mr. Green has paid friendly Bohemians for services as amateur detectives, and it allowed at all, the name and rate of recom- pense of each individual should be explained. The appropriation for the Finance Depart- ment will on examination be found suscepti- ble of reduction to the amount of at least $100,000, and even then the expense of the department will be greater than it was under a Tammany Comptroller. 5 The Summer Solstice and Thermomet- ric Eccentricities—fhe Best Time for Sanitary Rustication. The arrival of the solstice on the 2ist of Jane, although it often escapes notice, is an event of the season not less important than the stormy equinox. A few days ago it seemed as if the hottest blasts of summer had been let loose, and even in the Middic States, in some localities, the thermometer regis- tered over 101 degrees in the shade, Since then the cool spell came over the same _ Jocalities and the mercury ranged in the sixties and seven- ties. The northward march of the sun, we should have expected, would bring a steadier thermal increase; but instead, we see, within short periods, the presence of that luminary climatically eclipsed. It is a mysterious fact, hardly intelligible, that so early in June the thermometer should mount up in Virginia and Maryland even higher than it does in Florida and Cuba. The only explanation we can give of the phenomenon is that the hottest air stratum is not that which touches the earth, but is suspended, and may, even in high latitudes, be deflected downwards, Mr. Glaisher, the scientific aégronaut, found that at times an ascent of over ten thousand feet above the sea level did not cause a fall, but a rise, in his ther- mometers, showing that the radiation of ter- restrial heat accumulates in the higher aérial strata. This discovery overthrows the uni- versality of the rule which so many scientists have always followed, and by which they con- fidently reckon the temperature will diminish one degree for every three hundred feet of perpendicular ascent, Strange, too, as it may appear, physical geographers have shown that though Canada and Lonisiana have respec- tively in July the mean temperatures sixty-nine degrees and eighty-one degrees Fahrenheit, yet on the 21st of June Canada receives more heat from the sun than Louisiana, and, what is more surprising still, the Arctic regions then receive as much as the equatorial. The climatic effects of the solstitial con- ditions do not, it is true, attain their maxi- mum until some time has elapsed. At New York the greatest cold does not occur till a month after the winter solstice, nor is the maximum heat of summer reached till nearly a month after the 2ist of June. But for some time past (as will be the case for some weeks to come) the earth has been receiving, in the |. long days, more heat by day than it can radi- ate in the short nights. The only influential agency bringing cool weather to us now is that which tempers our heat by the atrial waves of | low temperature coming from the cold-tipped summits of the Rocky Mountains or from the boreal regions of British America. These essential facts of the summer chmatology of | Apportionment—Mr. Vance and Mr. Wheeler— | insist upon a fall exhibit of the detailed | expenses of all the departments, inorder that | they may discover where # BAY~ng can prop- erly be effected. Comptrolics’ Green issued a | stump speech to the city depart. 28 preach- | ing economy and calling upon the heads of | each department for a revised estimate us! its | expenses for the balance of the year-—a state ~ ment of the expenditares already made during | 1874 and a list of all employés, with the | duties performed and the salary received | . by each. When the revised estimates } wre placed before the Board of Apportion- | ment ‘¢ was found that the Comptroller alone | had disre,“«'ded his own instractions and had given the exsenses of his office in bulk, | not haying “revigéx’’ them at all. It was | found also that the Patt Commissioners had | increased their demand 1% §ppropriations | under tax account, while negle“4ng to give | their full salary list or to make any exibit of their expenditures under construction accou | To have passed upon these estimates without | the United States should warn cur sanitary | authorities to prepare for the maximum vio- lence of the heated term, which will come in twenty days. For those who are contem- | plating a trip for health it is more important, | therefore, to rusticate for the next three or four weeks than atany other period af the sum- | mer. Once tide over the dangerous early and mid-July heats, so deadly to our young and fy fant population, and the worst is past, syslen: is braced, the nights then get the . eoler and the season becomes endurable. The sumn. “* death rates prove that such pra- ‘on of July for sanitary rustica- for in the first part of that ‘ty mounts up to its most $ ‘ ‘ at By the exercise of a startling proportiouga. in bridging little timely and judicious care. te over the three or four weeks of maximum — stitial heat hundreds of lives can be and the health of many thortsa dential select. tion is the wiser. month the morte ands invigorated. Tar. Bremen Aaricurrvnat Snow. —It will be seen from ovr news of this mornin; transactions of the department, with the | any revised estimate tor the Finance Depar'- | saved | ¢ that | cannot fail to have at DX being | and its adhorents are respons ®+ | “Nowhere,” said the Prince, ‘‘was the wish | | for the peaceful continuance of the labors-of | civilization stronger than in the rebabilitated | | Gorman Empire.’’ Well spokeu words, and \ | suitable to the occasion, But they mean | peace only so fur as peace will serve the ends of the present rulers of the restored Empire. | } lo | Richard Wagner and His Music Drama. | We publish elsewhere to-day a letter from our correspondent at Buireuth, Bavaria, the result of an interview with Richard Wagner, the man who must be acknowledged as the mest remarkable among living musicians, and whose sweeping reforms on the operatic stage constitute the chief subject of discussion in art circles to-day, He has long waged an irre- pressible conflict against the rule of fashion, caprice, individual fuvoritism and even tra- ditional canons in the lyric drama, and, although like many revolutionists, in his zeal to correct abuses he may be occasionzlly led to attack principles which, in the sense of musi- cal art, must be considered as imperishable, yet the honesty of purpose and undoubted genius of the man, united to the unwearying perseverance, undaunted courage and skill with which he bas carried on his musical war single handed against all Europe, entitle him to the consideration, study and admiration ot every triend of music, Whether his theory of the music drama, magnificent and colossal as it undoubtedly is, can become generally practi- cal; whether vocal and instrumental per- formers. in an opera will merge their individuality in the laudable desire to present a perfectly symmetrical performance, in which no undue prominence is given to any one de- partment on the lyric stage, and whether the public will consent to abandon the cherished forms of opera which have so long held sway, are questions inadmissible of thorough dis- cussion within the limits of a single article. But no one can jusily refuse to grant un- stinted praise to Wagner for the high standard of art, pure and undefiled, to which he would elevate the opera, When the motto of a re- former is “Excelsior” his theory certainly commands respect. In the interview referred to the great re- former makes a flattering allusion to the progress of musical art in America, and ex- presses his gratitude to Mr, Thomas and our public for their appreciation of his works. In reference to the production of ‘Lohengrin,’ which he poetically calls a messenger sent out into the wilderness to prepare the way for the heroes and gods to follow, Wagner regrets only that it should have been heard in an Italian form. He is of opinion that the English language would have been preferable, owing to its near relation to the German. His remarks upon the necessity of vernacular opera will be heartily indorsed by every one desirous of in- telligibility instead of mere fashion on the lyric stage. The grand, whole-souled gener- osity of the American public is contrasted with the lukewarm and parsimonious spirit of his own countrymen. The ‘Nibelungen” project is designed tor the establishment of a national school of German art, in which music and drama will be more closely united, and in which the existing abuses of the operatic stage, the egotism of the singer, the slipshod work of the librettist, the caprices of the orchestral director and the inattention of the public to the true principles of art will be removed. The rule of French fashion and taste on the German stage comes in fora share of Wag- ner’s indignation, as also the low state of opera in Germany. In a recent trip which he made for the purpose of selecting singers for his ‘‘Nibelungen’’ performance he visited the principal opera houses in his native land, and was considerably shocked at the condition in which he found the lyric drama. He calls the opera in one city ‘‘unbearable,” in an- other “horrid,” in a third ‘‘abominable,” and urges the necessity of reforming the public as well as the stage. The inability of the public and the singers to comprehend the true mission of dramatic opera as set down in his theory, is indeed the greatest obstacle Wagner has had to contend against and one which for along time has been a Sisyphean task to remove. That the public seek amusement more than pure, elevated music on the oper- atic stage is unfortunately the case, and in this one fact will be seen the magnitude of the task undertaken by Wagner. Not the least noble and interesting trait in the musical character of this bold reformer is his single- minded worship of Beethoven, in whom, he admits, music reached its highest possible development. His mission is to unite drama to the divine art on the same grand plane. The performance of the ‘Ring of the Nibel- ungen’’ will be the first great effort to accom- plish such an end, and for years to come, perhaps, the little town of Baireuth will be the musical Mecca to which pilgrims will flock from all parts of the earth to gather wisdom end inspiration from the lips of the prophet himself, and to learn the true mission ot the music drama, Pulpit Topics Bo-Day. Three general topics will occupy the atten- tion of our city pastors to-day—religion, ortho- dox, liberal and imperfect; death and resur- reétion and suffering, and work. The treat- ment of these topics will doubtless run on the lines of speculation and practical thought, and, according to the deliberation and care dis- played by the several pastors, will prove fruit- ful or barren of good works and better lives in the congregations. Mr. Rossiter will be- gin with “Our Religion,’’ telling what it is and what it does, and showing forth its in- trinsic value and its inherent goodness, so that men may love it for its own sake. Mr. Corbit will illustrate phases of ‘Impertect Religion,” and will set over against this the | | religion of taith and obedience as portrayed by Abraham in the offering up of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. Mr. Pratt will take | up another phase of religion and, will show us what ‘True Liberal | Religion’ is—something the opposite f that which is so often credited _ vality, but which is so crainped and with line. ‘ives no sign of liberalism in crooked that it». its nature or make-tip» True liberal religion fluence upon men, for the kind | Pratt | NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 1874.-QUADRUPLE SHEET, ee) consists, and Rey. C. H. Brigham, of Michi- | {o the gentlomen of the Loft and the Leit gan, will illustrate what is meant by “SuSer- | Contre. It remains to be seen whether the ing for Christ.” Death and resurrection and” immortality are doctrines and facts connected with Christianity which follow closely after ‘sufferings for Christ. Mr. Hepworth will describe certain events which transpired in and around Jerusalem “ihe night after the resurrection,” and will draw appropriate les- sons therefrom; and Mr. Bronton will pre- sent “Death in the Ligut of Nature’’ and “Immortality in the Light of Spiritualism.” To make those topics harmonious and lueid and of any influence on the lives of* his auditors Mr. Brouton should have presented both in the light of Bible truth, as well as in | that of nature and Spiritualism. Human nature is a complicated thing—a “harp of a thousand strings,”’ capable of fur- nishing the divinest music, but requiring a thorough knowledge of its parts to keep it in harmony. Mr. Frothingham will this morn- ing furnish certain “‘Keys to Human Nature,” and will set forth also ‘The Doctrine of Man's Diguity,’’ as he interprets it. But since man, whether dignified or degraded, has his begin- ning in the family, Mr. M. H. Smith will show “The Relation of the Family to the Sabbath School,”’ and the mutual dependence of one upon the other in the building up of the Church. Dr. Deems, too, will show how ‘All Things Work Together” for good to those who love God and keep His commandments. This 1 one of the bardest doctrines that most persons are called upon to accept. When the wheels of life run smoothly they have no diffi- culty in believing it; but when a clash and a crash comes, and they do not see the way clear ahead, how apt men are to deny or to forget this great truth! Its restatement in most positive terms is therefore timely and proper. The Editorial Johuny Horner=“What a Big Boy Am I!” In our happy country, the least of whose glories is that it is the land of the free and the home of the brave, there is a constant produc- tion of the most exuberant variations in the human family. Variation and natural selec- tion, as Darwin has taught the world, are to- gether the efficient causes of all the beautiful, useful and especially well adapted types in species; and when we consider the richness of the variations produced in our atmosphere of indiscriminate liberty, and consider in how deep a sense selection and even appropriation are natural to us, the patriotic fancy becomes bewildered in its endeavor to contemplate the future in store for humanity in this ger-reat and gel-lorious refuge of the downtrodden races who are not permitted to ‘‘variate” to any extent in their own countries, Our latest variation is Master J. Hor- ner, from Great Britain. Johnny is a fine fellow, though he is not the same one who ‘went tor a soger.’’ He ‘goes’ tor things of greater promise. In his very infancy he performed an exploit which has become famous in song. He putin his thumb and pulled out a plum. But, alas! he was unduly impressed with a sense of the importance of what he had done. He boasted tremendously of his achievement. He kept on boasting about it so incessantly that he became intoler- able, and has been o bore ever since. His spasmodic declaration, ‘‘What a big boy am I!’ was one he could never get done with; and he adds it, in brackets as it were, to everything he has to say even to this hour. Johnny saw the way to fame and fortune open to him as he placed himsélf in the editorial chair of a city contemporary, which till then had been a genial, well conducted journal, capable of instructing the people,: and not generally offending every day the common sense of those who read it. But Horner soon changed all that, and now he rails so bitterly and biliously at an unappre- ciative public that the once amiable sheet has become as disagreeable as a sick monkey who fancies he has the hydrophobia. Indeed, Horner finds in this world only one thing to admire besides himself, which is the govern- ment of this metropolis ; and he admires that because he regards it as part of himself— @ mere extension of his personality. He says to the public, ‘‘Whata big boy am I! Didn’t I pull out a plum? Didn’t I mke Tammany? And wasn’t reform the result? And isn’t this city government the result of reform?” And in this spirit he runs on and glorifies what he has persuaded himself he made, and what, indeed, is quite worthy of having been made by him. Horner is part proprietor of one of the finest islands in the world, and of “the fing that’s braved a thousand years” the disrepute of such allegiance as his. This fact of his nationality, as we know and as Horner feels, is altogether to his honor. So poor @ country as ours could never produce anything so splendid as Johnny, and he is aware of it. He chuckles occasionally over our “intellectual department’ and airs his self-complacency in the declaration that it is only “half foreign,” which might provoke the ill natured to reflect that, therefore, it may be only half imbecile ; but Horner thus points out to the public its unfavorable com- parison with on intellectual department that is “all European ;” and that is carried under his particular hat and peeps at the world through a single eyeglass, supported with the true cockney dexterity between ono of Horner's cheekbones and one of his eyebrows. If Johnny were not such an awfully big boy he would be one of the amusing points in city life, and guides would carry strangers toseehim. He would even be tolerable if there were any likelihood as he gets bigger and bigger that he would ever be a man and get sense. But he only grows in self-conceit and acquires size without quality. That plum was his ruin. What can you do with a tellow who wants to make one plum last him through a whole career, and who must always throw himself in a corner and begin and end every utterance, whether song or sermon, billet-doux | or answer to adun, with the unchanging | strain, ‘(What a big boy am 1?” Tar Monicrpat Bua iw otae Frencu As- seMpLy.—The difficulty which threatened to bring about a serious crisis in France has, as will be seey from our special despatch of this morning, been temporarily got over. ‘The gov- ernment has consented to accept an amend. ment to the municipal bill extending for two French people will tamely submit to an As ssmbly whose chief aim seems to be to pre- serverits own existence, The Pith of the Religious Press, In view of the recent gatherings of Presby- terians, Methodists and Reformed churches the subject of denominational union receives consideration this week from the Christian at Work, the Christian Advocate, the Observer and the Christian Intelligencer, The former, in its slashing style, declares that the greatest bar- riers to the union of the several branches of Methodists, Presbyterians, &c., are the sec~ retaries and their friends, who would have toseek other spheres of usefulness, and the theological professors and their friends, who could be spared for other work if once the theological seminaries were united. The Advo- cate, in a careful review of the efforts to unite the several denominational branches, does not think such union either desirable or practi- cable in the present state of denominational thought and feeling, especially among Metho- dists and Presbyterians. Some few of the minor divisions of each might profitably com- bine, but the present diversities of sects do not injure. the effectiveness of the Church, but in many things rather help it. The Intelligencer is not very sanguine of the results of the conference of the Reformed and Presbyterian (North) com- mittees on the question of union, Such union, it thinks, cannot be forced, and it had better not be than that it should create a schisns in the ranks of either Church. The Observer is slightly hopeful that, though the Reformed Synod has refused to treat with the Northern Presbyterians on the subject of organic union, it may, through its committee, come to that point yet. The hope is, however, a very slight one. The Independent indorses the plea of 9 cor- respondent, ‘‘A Presbyterian Minister,”’ for a revision of the Presbyterian ‘‘standards."* The writer shows that Calvin was not a whit less fallible than other men, and ‘if he erred in minor matters his interpretation of the mind of God may not have been correct either. Many of the phrases in the creeda formed in the sixteenth century, it thinks, are aclog to faith and a scandal to reason, and should be amended or rajected altogether. The Christian Union litts its. voice against the preaching of sermons to phantom congre- gations. A great many preachers have in their mind’s eye a company of heathen and they goon Sunday after Sunday expounding the elementary truths of the Gospel. Other min- isters preach to imaginary congregations of in- fidels, and yet others to scholars and scientifie men. Thesermons may be unexceptionable im thought and treatment, but they are delivered to the wrong audiences. The work of the Christian ministry is to help men in the spirit in which Christ helped them, and to do that one must go close to men, know them as they are and meet their actual living necessities. The Catholic Review now wants the Catholie women of America to do something to show their love, devotion and sympathy for the Pope amid his manifold sorrows and unpar- alleled wrongs. The Freeman's Journal sup- plies its readers with editorial scraps of news from the pilgrims, and the Tablet urges a union of all Catholic associations in the Sacred Heart for mutual encouragement in the prac tice of Christian piety and virtue and the maintenance of Christian traditions among Catholics everywhere. The Jewish Times appeals to American Is raelites to remember their famine stricken co- religionists in Palestine, and throws back the imputation upon its faith that the Gov- ernorof South Carolina, Moses, belongs to that faith. There is nothing Jewish about him, if says, but his name, and he is neither Jew nos Christian. ‘The Jewish Messenger also appeala for aid in behalf of the Jews in the Holy Land. It applauds Herr Lasker for his manly defence of personal liberty in the German Parliament, and has a word of caution for parents concerm ing their children. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Major H. 0. Merriam, United States Army, is at the Brevoort House. General Fitz Henry Warren, of Jowa, 18 residing at the Hoffman House. General Johu N. Sarber, of Arkansas, is staying at the St. Nicholas Hotel At Dayton, Obio, a preacher has thrashed as editor on account of his chast. Professor E. N. Horsford, of Cambridge, Mase, has arrived at the Albemarle Hotel. French exhibitors at the Vienna Exposition have not yet received their medals and diplomas. Vastelar is In Lisbon. Portuguese democrats are lionizing him. Imagine Porthgnese democratst Don Carlos’ people say a great battle isimmb nent in Spain. It has been imminent three years. Acrusader says that she would rather marry . Zach. Chandler than & moderate drinker, Hard on the moderate drinker. President Isaac Hinckley, of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Balttmore Railroad Company, hag arrived at the St. Nicholas Hotel. One hundred and fifty-three members of the Massachusetts Press Association left Montreal fom Quebec and the Saguenay last nigh. Dake Decazes announced lately that France would be represented at the Postal Congress um Bern this year. Last time sne felt too poor. ‘The Rev. Morgan Dix, rector of Trinity parisk, and his newly-wedded wife, sailed for Europe yes- terday worning in the North German Lloyd steamship Neckar. An exchange mixes Senator Carpenter up with the scandal about Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. What had Carpenter todo with it? Is he a friena of Joseph or the lady? Van Swicten, the Dutch General who was sweetened by the Acheenese, is not in high flavor in Holland, where they fancy he should have oute shone Sir Garnet Wolseley. Mgr. Meglia, ® new apostolic nuncio, has pre- sented himself at the seat of government im France, Meglia hopes to ameliorate the relationa of the Republic and the Pope, Bluford Wilson, nominated by the President te be Solicitor of the Treasury, vice Banfield, re signed, is at present United States District Attor- ney for the Southern District of Iilinols, Melvil Bloncourt was condemned to death tm Paris, June 4, for participation in the Commune, He will not be executed just yet; for, though they Jound him gutity, they have not iound where he ts, NAVAL INTELLIGENOE. WASHINGTON, June 20, 1874. Despatches dated the 23d of May, have been re- ceived from Reat Admiral Strong, commanding the naval forces on the South Atlantic station, The Monongahela was then at Rio Janeiro, an@ the Wasp was at Montevideo, The health of the squadron continues good, The Monongahela had Frio Har. recently returned from a visit to Cape bor, Where the crew were exercised in Varivut duties, America hag | and character of that influence, years the operation of the present law, which come off with some | will tell his hearers to what extent the,” Seer oy menave, | Zhe members of the “ides for the nomination of the mayors by | Finance and Park departments were to be | made a fair show, and hax = |: American Jockey Club deserve the highest / ee se have beon & gross violation of honor. Not a few of the prizes will come to | responsible therefor, OTO,. ment. This, for the present, bridges | All the iron-clads at Key West, except the Dio- praise for their untiring efforts to place horse | duty on the part of the Boatd of Apportion- | this side of the Atlantic. At a banquet given | To enable men to do or to suffer for Christ | the g ¥*,, ) wother illastration of the con- | coin where. they wil! te tayoted with saicient racing in America on ® sound footing apd | ment and would have defeated the object of | by the Senate of Bremen the Crown Prince | or for His cause they must bo “thoronghly | the gulf. Tt, “€ the Assembly. The ar- | force to Keep tem in readiness for securing 6 render the sport as attractive as it bas been | the law authorizing the reopening of the esti- <n OS ghly warna of antiafantoey | Smaemens oF omnoers and men should occaaiog reaulre, Frederick William made a telling speech in | eqnipped.”” Mr. \ rad mates. Mr. Vance and Mr. Wheeler iets | ‘vetity. tid tonntiter tha ks ‘pece! | eqnipp rt. Hepworth wi show this | servative charac: ink Land F ot Germany, | evening wherein this thor uipment u.ust be thi? Eha :